Phil Doesn't Choke
Usually when Tiger Woods is breathing down the neck of the leader in the final round of a tournament, the leader crumbles like the Berlin Wall. Usually when Phil Mickelson is the leader in the final round of a tournament, he crumbles like a buffet line under assault by John Daly. Neither of those things happened on Monday, as Phil held off Tiger down the stretch to win the Deutsche Bank Championship by two strokes.

As the pair approached the par-5 18th hole, Phil had a two stroke lead, and the feeling in the air was that somehow, someway, he would blow it. Tiger's tee shot was a ridiculous 270 yard blast with a 3-wood. 270 yards! How the hell does any human being hit the ball that far with a 3-wood? The man is a true beast.

Anyway, Tiger gets on in two, and Phil tries to do the same, but his second shot goes just far of the green and ends up in some nasty thick rough. At this point, you couldn't help but think that Tiger would putt in for eagle and Phil would choke after a pitch and two-putt for par, forcing a playoff. But that didn't happen. Tiger two-putt for a birdie, which allowed Mickelson to walk away with the tournament and the #1 standing in the Fed Ex Cup.

Is this where Phil ceases to ole as Tiger bulls by him? Will this mark the day where the so-called "rivalry" changes from pre-'04 Sox-Yanks to post-'04 Sox-Yanks? Only time will tell. But in the Tiger vs. the field discussion, the field just got a wee bit more defensible.

Esteban Esta Bien
In his first start for the Dodgers, Esteban Loaiza went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs as the Dodgers whooped the Cubs 11-3. This is exactly what Dodger fans should have expect out of Loaiza: A middle of the rotation guy who isn't spectacular, but gives you a lot of innings and quality starts. The important bottom line is, once again, that he's infinitely better than Mark Hendrickson and Brett Tomko. For $1 million for the stretch run, and another $7 million next season, I'm glad he's on our side.

Week 1 Predictions
Are you ready for some football? The new season starts Thursday with Saints @ Colts, so remember to set your fantasy rosters! Here are my predictions for week 1. This is the first season where I'm picking the spreads, so if it turns out I'm good at this I might end up sticking some actual money into it next year. So here goes nothin':

Indianapolis (-5.5) over New Orleans
Kansas City (+3) over Houston
Denver (-3.5) over Buffalo
Pittsburgh (-4.5) over Cleveland
Tennessee (+6.5) over Jacksonville
St. Louis (Even) over Carolina
Philadelphia (-3) over Green Bay
Minnesota (-3) over Atlanta
Washington (-3) over Miami
NY Jets (+6.5) over New England
Seattle (-6) over Tampa Bay
San Diego (-6) over Chicago
Detroit (+2) over Oakland
Dallas (-5.5) over NY Giants
Baltimore (+3) over Cincinnati
San Francisco (-3) over Arizona

So there you have 'em. I'll keep track of my record throughout the season to see how I do.