Madden 2007
EA Sports
Xbox 360
$59.95 EA Sports is reportedly a video game sweatshop, pushing programmers to churn out next year's title before the current game hits shelves, working hard to ensure each new Madden offers more than just improved graphics and roster updates. The work shows. This is the best looking Madden ever, and the roster is so awesomely current it makes last year's roster look ridiculous. Come on, Madden 2006: Edgerrin James on the Colts? LaVar Arrington on the Redskins? What is this, an episode of VH1's I Love 2005?

The Lady Longhorns have two big home games this weekend: Oklahoma State at 7pm Friday, and Oklahoma at 1pm Sunday. The Sooners are the big rivalry game, of course, but OSU is the better team this year – they expect to challenge UT and A&M for the Big 12 title. Both games are at Myers Stadium; $7, but see Bevo's Bargains for coupons that'll get you in for $1. Last weekend, the Horns opened Big 12 play with two road wins, 2-0 over Texas Tech, and 2-1 over Baylor. Carrie Schmit got both goals against Tech; Amy Burlingham got the game-winner in Waco in the 76th minute, off a 75-yard pass from goalkeeper Dianna Pfenninger, her second assist of the year. Champions League game day two this Tuesday and Wednesday, and it was another huge week for the Brits, as all four EPL teams won (as did Glasgow Celtic). Arsenal and Manchester United both handled good Portuguese teams, while Didier Drogba got a hat trick to lead Chelsea over Levski Sofia in Bulgaria, and Liverpool held off Galatasaray Merseyside. All four teams lead their groups, a third of the way through; AC Milan, Lyon, Valencia, and Bayern Munich lead the other groups. There was one significant "upset": Italian champ Inter Milan had a disastrous second half – two red cards and two goals allowed – in falling at home to Bayern. Click below for full results.

Program note: NBC’s Friday Night Lights, filmed in Pflugerville and based on the Buzz Bissinger book and Peter Berg film (and not, sadly, this column), premieres 7pm Tuesday, Oct. 3 on KXAN. UT head coach Mack Brown has a cameo in the pilot. (See "TV Eye" for more.)

Meanwhile, most area high schools open district play this week, but the pick matches are a pair of nondistrict affairs: undefeated Blanco, ranked No. 10 in 2A by TexasHSFootball.com, visits Hyde Park Baptist, and Liberty Hill (3-1) pays a call on defending 3A Division I champs Wimberley.

Terrell Owens is reportedly allergic to his pain medication. According to this AP story T.O. entered the hospital for what his publicist called an "allergic reaction" to the pain killers Owens was taking for the broken bone in his hand. The publicist failed to mention, however, that Owens had taken 33 of them. Looks like T.O.'s breakdown may be coming sooner than anybody guessed, but different from, and a lot less amusing than, we expected. Considering he took some of the pills in front of his friend, this is probably one of those cry-for-help type things, but it's obviously a serious issue. I guess everybody will have to go back to making fun of Drew Bledsoe for a while. I'd say odds are still even T.O. will be on the field in Philadelphia Oct. 8. Update: At a press conference this afternoon, Owens said he was hospitalized for an allergic reaction from a mixture of hydrocodone and supplements. And in an awesomely bulletproof and completely un-made-up sounding excuse, he said the pill bottle his friend saw was empty because Owens had emptied the pills into a drawer. This sounds odd, but many pharmacists advise you to dump prescription medication into your sock drawer (or your tummy) for safe keeping. He also says he'll play Sunday against the Titans.

These are the dark and quiet days.

Days when the basketball gods retreat to their beds, pull down the shades, and leave us mortals down on earth without even an exhibition game to watch. Until October 31st and the start of the NBA season, we, like existential man, are alone in the universe.

And to make matters worse, it’s been a rough summer for American basketball fans. The world FIBA championships, full of promise for a young and philosophically reconstituted American team, have come and gone, and for all the work and tryouts and avowed recommitment to good team basketball, Team USA faced the gods’ wrath for past sins of selfish one-on-one play and a lack of commitment to fundamentals and returned home from Japan with only a bronze medal after a humiliating loss to Greece, a country where they only started playing basketball two weeks before the tournament started. (Please click below for actual Toros news.)

The Texans' promising 3-1 preseason record and almost-complete offseason overhaul of their roster and coaching staff has failed to show any improvement over last year's horrid outing. Houston's record stands at 2-17 over the past two seasons, and they've failed to even put up a fight in their three games in the '06 campaign.

The Texans defense is by far the worst in the league, and their running game is nonexistent. Losing all-time franchise-leading rusher Domanick Davis for the season was certainly a blow, but first-year coach Gary Kubiak's running scheme was supposed to be successful regardless of who is starting in the backfield. Wasn't that one of the reasons Houston chose Mario Williams over Reggie Bush (or Vince Young) as the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft?

The Cowboys did pretty well for a bye week. Though a miraculous loss for either Washington in Houston or Philadelphia in San Francisco would’ve been sweet, fans have to be happy about the Seahawks' "hope they paid for dinner first" embarrassment of the Giants at home. At this point of the season, the 'Boys are sitting at the top of the NFC East going into what amounts to another week off in Nashville.

After dropping the Loser Bowl to the Dolphins by three, the Titans may as well shoot the moon and go for draft picks. If they go 0-16, maybe they can pick up Troy Smith to fill the gap on the bench between Vince Young and LenDale White.

There are conflicting accounts of what happened in the final minutes of the Sept. 16 football game between Oklahoma and Oregon in Eugene. But those with knowledge of the controversial decisions and the replay process said it appeared to unfold this way:
1. Oregon scored a touchdown to cut Oklahoma's lead to 33-27 with 1:12 remaining in the game. Oregon kicker Luke Bellotti lined up for an onside kick attempt. Replay official Gordon Riese communicated to his assistant, Roger Judd, that the ensuing call would automatically be a reviewable play regardless of who recovered.
2. The kick bounced high off the Autzen Stadium turf, and in the scramble for the ball, an official on the field blew his whistle, believing Oregon's Patrick Chung had recovered. Officials signaled that it was Oregon's ball with 1:06 left.
3. As per his duties as replay official, Riese radioed referee Dave Cutaia and said he wanted to review the play. Riese had questions about whether the ball had traveled the required 10 yards before being touched and whether it had been first touched by an Oklahoma player, as ruled on the field.
4. The network production team rushed to prepare video feeds and then sent them to Riese and Judd. The replay officials received the feeds but struggled with technical aspects of the equipment. The replay booth does not have access to the over-the-air broadcast, so officials did not see the angles that fans at home saw. All the officials watched was a single angle being played on the Autzen Stadium monitor for fans.
5. After a delay of several minutes, Cutaia radioed to ask Riese if he had a decision. Riese, who had been admonished by the Pacific-10 conference last season for taking nearly four minutes to review a play, said, "I didn't get a view. Dave, there's no way I can overturn this."
6. Cutaia then announced there was "conclusive evidence that an Oklahoma player touched the ball first." The ruling on the field stood.

In case you missed it in print, this was my preseason "Pig Skinny" column:

I'll Place Money That One of These 10 Teams Will Win the BCS Championship
(You Get Everybody Else and Texas)

Sorry, Longhorns. The schedule is too tough, and the quarterback situation is going to be worse than you think, especially in the first half of the season. That being said, that's exactly how this list was compiled: talent level balanced against the favorability of the slate. The race for the glass football is wide open this year, and I predict that nobody finishes the regular season undefeated (click below for Top 10 and first-month analysis)...