Indians Fire Wedge

The Cleveland Indians have decided to fire Eric Wedge, which will take place at the conclusion of the season. The Indians record is 65-93, far below what they were expected to do this year. Wedge became the manager in 2003 and has only been to the playoffs once, in 2007. In the 2007 season, they beat the New York Yankees in the ALDS, and were one game away from the World Series, losing to the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS. Wedge has the fifth most franchise victories, with 560 wins. It's not certain who the Indians will go after for the job.

The firing of Wedge should've came a long time ago. Managers who have been fired this season include Clint Hurdle of the Colorado Rockies, Manny Acta of the Washington Nationals, Bob Melvin of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Cecil Cooper of the Houston Astros. With the exception of Hurdle, all of the managers were fired haven't been given enough time. Yet, they were still fired. Wedge should've been fired during the 2008 season. The Indians had no reason to fail after doing well in 2007.

All of the years other than 2007 haven't been successful either. It also didn't appear that Wedge was getting into his team for poor play. Wedge was a likeable guy by the players, which was his downfall. Managers get fired too soon nowadays, but Wedge got an opportunity to stay a while and he hasn't done anything in his years there. He deserved to get fired and I don't see anything in his track record to suggest he should be a manager again. He doesn't get the job done.

Cowboys Defeat Panthers

The Dallas Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers 21-7 on Monday Night Football to improve to 2-1. The Panthers are now 0-3, still in search of their first win. The game was scoreless in the first quarter, with both defenses playing solidly. The Panthers struck first on Jake Delhomme's touchdown pass to Dante Rosario in the second quarter. The Cowboys got their first score in the third quarter from a field goal from Nick Folk. Later in the quarter, Tashard Choice had a touchdown run to give the Cowboys a 10-7 lead. The Cowboys finished off the Panthers when Terrence Newman intercepted Delhomme's pass and returned it for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, giving them a 21-7 lead.

Delhomme and Tony Romo passed the ball better than in the past. Both Romo and Delhomme completed 22 out of 33 passes, but Romo threw for 255 yards and no interceptions. He also didn't throw for a touchdown pass either. Delhomme threw for 220 yards, but was intercepted twice, with the second one being a turning point in the game. The only offensive touchdown from the Cowboys came from Choice's touchdown run. Jason Witten had a big game receiving, catching 9 passes for 77 yards. Steve Smith was shut down by the Cowboys' defense, only catching 4 passes for 38 yards.

The Cowboys should be happy that Romo didn't make any mistakes, but they still have work to do. The Panthers are clearly being left behind at 0-3, and they continue to be inconsistent. This team was 12-4 last year, and they can't follow it up with another good season. This happened after they lost in the Super Bowl in 2004 and after they lost in the NFC Championship Game to the Seattle Seahawks in 2006. The Panthers should look to draft a quarterback in the next draft because Delhomme should not be around much longer. He's been too inconsistent his entire career after the Super Bowl appearance.

Iverson Going To Memphis

Free agent guard Allen Iverson has decided to sign with the Memphis Grizzlies for one year worth reportedly $3.5 million. Iverson posted on his Twitter that he is headed to Memphis. Iverson now joins a team already loaded with scorers in Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo, and Zach Randolph. Iverson had career-lows last year in points per game and minutes per game. He started the season with the Denver Nuggets but was traded early in the season to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups. Iverson will become a free agent in the exciting 2010 free agent class that will include Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire and Chris Bosh.

I think the Grizzlies' pursuit of Iverson is strictly about getting fans to come to the games. Iverson may not be as electrifying as he once was, but he can still fill up seats. I don't think this is a good idea to add him to a roster with Gay, Mayo and Randolph because they all want to score. Gay is not as established a scorer as Mayo, Randolph and Iverson, but they all want the ball and all want to score so it is not a good blend. The Grizzlies won't do anything next season, and Iverson will definitely look to boost his stock for the next free agency period.

BYU Jumps To Ninth Spot

Brigham Young University (BYU) has jumped to the ninth spot from the 20th spot after beating third ranked Oklahoma on Saturday. There were a couple of other schools that got into the top 25 as well after winning their first game. The University of Miami got into the top 25 at 20 after beating Florida St. in Talahassee. Cincinnati also got into the top 25 at 23 after blowing out Rutgers in Piscataway on Monday. Schools that dropped out of the top 25 are Oregon after losing to Boise St, Florida St. after their home loss to Miami, and Iowa, after barely squeaking by Northern Iowa at home.

I believe Notre Dame's jump to 18 on the top 25 poll is premature. I don't understand the hype surrounding them and the hype surrounding Jimmy Clausen because he hasn't proven anything last season. People have him as a Heisman trophy candidate. I don't think he'll be close. They should beat Michigan as well next week but they'll most likely lose to Michigan St. I also don't believe BYU deserves to move up that many spots because Oklahoma's quarterback Sam Bradford, the defending Heisman trophy winner, was injured in the second quarter and will be out an extended period of time. I think this kills Oklahoma's chances of getting back to the championship game.

Jones Joins CFL

Adam "Pacman" Jones has signed with Winnipeg of the Canadian Football League to a one-year deal. Jones played with the Dallas Cowboys last season. He played until midway through the season. He was suspended midway through the season for six games for getting into a fight with a team-issued bodyguard. He came back and played the last couple of games in the season, in which the Cowboys did not make the playoffs. They released him in the offseason to rid themselves of any further trouble after new allegation surfaced of his past troubles.

This doesn't do much for Jones because I don't believe an NFL team will sign him in the near future. Jones got a second chance at a long NFL career and he decided to get drunk and fight with a bodyguard. He hasn't shown much responsibility and hasn't shown that he is willing to leave all of the negative things behind him to make sure he will have a long career. If he wants to continue playing football, it probably will be in Canada if he doesn't screw that up.