With the busy holiday schedule on tap for many, I'm posting this week's picks a little early so everyone will have plenty of time to so what they're up against and get their picks in before the Turkey Day games. As always, make sure you get you picks posted 1/2 before the start of the first game on Thursday to be eligible to win. Simply Beat The Bloggers total and outpick the rest of the field to win an authentic signed 8-by-10 photo. Good luck and have a great holiday.

Blogger Picks
Detroit +11 over Tennessee
Dallas -12.5 over Seattle
Philadelphia -3 over Arizona
Denver +8 over NY Jets
Buffalo -7 over SF
Tampa Bay -4.5 over New Orleans
Green Bay -3 over Carolina
NY Giants -3.5 over Washington
Miami -8 over St. Louis
Baltimore -7 over Cincinnati
Indianapolis -4.5 over Cleveland
San Diego -5.5 over Atlanta
New England -1 over Pittsburgh
Kansas City +3 over Oakland
Chicago +3.5 over Minnesota
Jacksonville +3 over Houston

Michael Murphy correctly picked 13 of the 16 games to take down the Blogger (10 correct) and win last week's prize. Congrats Mr. Murphy and good luck to everybody this week.

Here are this week's Beat The Blogger matchups. Click on comment, make your picks factoring in the point spreads, and fill out the required fields in the contact information area at the bottom of the page. Then check back to see if you're a winner. Beat the Blogger's total and post the highest number of correct picks to become the weekly winner. Remember to get your picks in 1/2 hour before the start of the week's first game (Thursday a.m.). And don't forget to spread the word about the contest. If we can get more than 100 entries in a single week, I'll increase the prize to (3) authentic signed 8-by-10 photos instead of one. Good luck.

                  YOU MAKE THE CALL
Tennessee -11 at Detroit
Seattle +12.5 at Dallas
Arizona +3 at Philadelphia
Denver +8 at NY Jets
San Francisco -7 at Buffalo
New Orleans +4.5 at Tampa Bay
Carolina +3 at Green Bay
Washington +3.5 at NY Giants
St. Louis +8 at Miami
Baltimore -7 at Cincinnati
Indianapolis -4.5 at Cleveland
Atlanta +5.5 at San Diego
Pittsburgh +1 at New England
Kansas City +3 at Oakland
Chicago +3.5 at Minnesota
Jacksonville +3 at Houston

Either Tony Romo has the world's best publicist or he's simply one of the nicest guys out there. The Dallas Morning News reported that the Dallas Cowboys quarterback recently befriended a homeless man outside a movie theater and offered to pay his way to see a movie. The homeless man was scheduled to hand out some fliers at a consignment store across the street so he initially declined the offer but once he realized he had just turned down the quarterback of America's Team he decided to take Romo up on the offer.

According to the story, the homeless man, who goes by "Doc," ran across the street, asked for the day off and ran back to the theater. Romo and Doc ended up sitting together watching the movie "Role Model." Doc told the newspaper that he informed Romo that he hadn't showered in days but Romo said "Don't worry about it, I'm used to locker rooms."

While a story about a multi-million dollar athlete shelling out $12 so a guy down on his luck could see a movie isn't exactly front-page news, Romo's generous ways didn't stop there. According to another report in the story, Romo also changed the tire of a couple on the way home the night of the season opener and showed up to a high school pep rally with actor Will Smith earlier this week. The modest Romo confirmed the encounter with Doc but wouldn't elaborate.

In a time when positive stories about athletes are as rare as a day without one appearing on the police blotter, it sure is nice to see that genuine role models still exist. Irony is alive and well in Big D.

Here are this week's Beat The Blogger matchups. Click on comment, make your picks factoring in the point spreads, and fill out the required fields in the contact information area at the bottom of the page. Then check back to see if you're a winner. Beat the Blogger's total and post the highest number of correct picks to become the weekly winner. Remember to get your picks in 1/2 hour before the start of the week's first game (Thursday). And don't forget to spread the word about the contest. If we can get more than 100 entries in a single week, I'll increase the prize to (3) authentic signed 8-by-10 photos instead of one. Good luck.

Pittsburgh -10.5 vs. Cincinnati                  YOU MAKE THE CALL
Cleveland -3 vs. Houston
Buffalo -3 vs. Kansas City
Tennessee -5 vs. NY Jets
Miami -2 vs. New England
Dallas -10.5 vs. San Francisco
Tampa Bay -8.5 vs. Detroit
Baltimore -1 vs. Philadelphia
Chicago -8 vs. St. Louis
Jacksonville -2 vs. Minnesota
Atlanta -1.5 vs. Carolina
Denver -9.5 vs. Oakland
Washington -3.5 vs. Seattle
NY. Giants -3.5 vs. Arizona
San Diego -2.5 vs. Indianapolis
New Orleans -2.5 vs. Green Bay

By now, I'm sure everybody has heard about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb's latest foot-in-the-mouth moment. It came shortly after McNabb's Eagles came up empty in overtime and his team had to settle for the NFL's first tie since 2002. Once the overtime session ended and neither team had managed to score, McNabb was under the impression that the two teams would continue playing until somebody scored.

"I've never been a part of a tie. I never even knew that was in the rule book," McNabb said after the game. "It's part of the rules, and we have to go with it. I was looking forward to getting the opportunity to get out there and try to drive to win the game. But unfortunately, with the rules, we settled with a tie."

"I guess we're aware of it now," McNabb said. "In college, there are multiple overtimes, and in high school and Pop Warner. I never knew in the professional ranks it would end that way. I hate to see what would happen in the Super Bowl and in the playoffs."

Have no fear idiot, there are no ties in the playoffs or the Super Bowl. But as for McNabb not knowing the rule on overtime during the regular season. Are you kidding me? A 10-year veteran and team leader who makes nearly $10 million a year doesn't know the rules? That would be like a sports writer not knowing he needed to have his story in by deadline. That would be like an actor not knowing he needed to memorize his lines. That would be like a ... well, you get the idea.

The fact that the overtime rule was established in 1974 and McNabb and the Eagles have been a part of 12 overtime games since he joined the team in 1999 makes him just that much more of an idiot. Eagles coach Andy Reid tried to take some of the responsibility for McNabb's ignorance and he probably should. Andy, instead of wasting time bailing out your players' ignorance of the rules, your time might be better served teaching them the rules so the next time your Eagles find themselves in overtime, they might play with a little more sense of urgency.

Having a team leader who doesn't know what the hell is going on and possibly not giving his all on every single play of the extra session is inexcusable and cause to look for a new team leader in my book.

Watched some NBA action last night and came away with a couple thoughts. The first is, and I realize it's way too early to have a true indication, the Celtics and the Lakers appear to be on another collison course for a rematch in the Finals. Both teams provide several proven scoring threats so opposing teams can't look to shut down one player and make them one-dimensional, and although the Celtics have a major edge in the experience department, both have been there before and know what it takes. If anybody can break up this possible collision course it's the Hornets and the Rockets in the West and the Pistons and maybe the Cavs in the East.

Portland center Greg Oden is back after being out with a foot injury since opening night and scored three points in 16 minutes of play in his return. While I'm sure he isn't totally recovered from the injury, I don't think he's ever going to be the dominating center that many envisined him to be coming out of Ohio State. Don't get me wrong, I do believe in time, Oden will be a dominating force on the defensive end but his offensive skills remain very raw and I don't think he'll ever be more than an average center on the offensive end. Think Dikembe Mutumbo in his prime. Only time will tell but I remain steadfast in my belief that Kevin Durant will ultimately be the better pro when all is said and done.

Another ML award was announced recently and I'm once again confused by the balloting results. Rays skipper Joe Maddon was the obvious choice for Manager of the Year in the AL and anybody who witnessed Tampa's unbelievable worst-to-first turnaround this year would have to agree with that one. It's the NL results I have an issue with. Lou Piniella beat out Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel and Florida's Fredi Gonzalez to win his third MOY award. Don't get me wrong, both Piniella and Manuel did nice jobs with their respective squads but were leading playoff teams from the previous year. Gonzalez on the other hand led the young Marlins into contention which is far more impressive than Piniella leading the favored Cubs back into the playoffs.

Considering that the Cubs had the 7th-highest team payroll in the league while the Marlins ranked last in that category at just over $21 million compared to the Cubs $118 million and Gonzalez's effort was just that much more impressive. Remember back in March when everybody was making their postseason predictions? Almost everybody had the Cubs winning the Central and many made them the favorite to represent the NL in the World Series. Don't remember too many people even mentioning the Marlins in those talks and they were in contention in the NL East right up until the final week of the season.