Easy Like Sunday Morning

Some Sunday morning thoughts to enjoy while sipping some good coffee…Oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!

- Summerslam goes down tonight live from the Staples Center in LA. No major news or rumors have seemingly come out that I have seen, however, Matt Hardy seemed to cause a slight stir on Twitter. According to Matt: “Here's an update for the "sheets"-Jeff & I might not team again due to pursuing singles careers. And Jeff will be with WWE after Summerslam.” Very interesting statement indeed don’t you think? Now there are a few ways to interpret this statement:

1. The whole contract speculation about Jeff Hardy the past few months has been a well orchestrated work by the WWE to make people think Jeff could leave at any point and you better watch him because he might not come back. All the while, Jeff could have quietly signed a new deal and he will be staying.
2. Saying that Jeff will be with the WWE after Summerslam could mean that he shows up at Monday Night Raw and the Smackdown tapings on Tuesday and THEN takes his time off. So really. Matt would be telling the truth, but he very well could be saying that it is only good for 2 more days.
3. The WWE realizes that Matt has a big following on Twitter and they flat out told him to not say anything of the sort that Jeff is taking a leave of absence after Summerslam.

I still am sticking with my prediction that Jeff will be taking time off because I believe that a contract signing would have somehow leaked to the internet and I have seen nothing. I am hopefully looking forward to a great TLC match tonight with CM Punk winning and becoming your new World Heavyweight Champion.

- Kyle Busch won last night’s Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The win pushed Busch up to 13th in the standings, just 34 points behind Matt Kenseth for the final spot in the Chase. I am a casual fan of NASCAR and have slowly grown to appreciate the sport over the years. I do think the Chase format has made the races more exciting and has given a better storyline to the end of the season. My favorite driver has always been Jeff Gordon. I remember how dominant and good he was early in his career and he was pretty much hated on because of it. So even though he was at the top of the sport, I guess it made it seem like he was an underdog to me and I became a fan. For this year’s Championship Chase, it is hard to argue that it won’t come down to a 2 man duel between Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. Stewart has been the most consistent and has looked dominant at times, but Johnson seems to slowly be rounding into form and he knows how to get it done in the final 10 races of the season…should be fun to see how it plays out.

- The Red Sox finally got a little measure of revenge after 5 straight losses to the Yankees, whooping up on them 14-1 yesterday. As much as I hate to say it though, I believe the Red Sox can kiss the division goodbye and the Yankees will be AL East Champs. Looks like the money might pay off this year for the Yanks, but one can hope that history repeats itself and they fall short again. And here’s your Baltimore Orioles update…they STILL suck! I long for the final glory days the franchise had when Cal Ripken still roamed between 2nd and 3rd and the team actually tried to field a winner. I hear all this talk that the O’s are 2 or 3 years away and I laugh. I have seen it too often for the last decade. No money is spent, no big time free agents want to come to Baltimore, and when the prospects develop, they will leave for bigger money. It is a perpetual cycle of rebuilding the way I see it. The only way the Orioles will contend is if all the young talent and some of the prospects simultaneously have breakout and surprise years and they make a run before the team would collapse. I hate to be a hater, but O’s baseball has just gone way downhill for too long.

- From the NFL preseason last night: Jay Cutler looked very sharp in leading 3 scoring drives and helping the Bears beat the Giants 17-3. If Cutler can focus and stop whining, the Bears could have a good season this year. I think they lack enough offensive weapons though to make a real run at the Super Bowl this year…Matthew Stafford looked shaky as the Browns beat the Lions 27-10. Cleveland is still trying to determine if Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn will be the starting QB come week 1 and the Lions could be more likely to turn to Daunte Culpepper to start the year. Bottom line though, the Lions and the Browns will have mediocre seasons this year at best…Andy Reid continues to inch toward confirming that Michael Vick will see game action this Thursday when the Eagles take on the Jaguars. No question, all eyes will be on the highlights of that game come Thursday night and into Friday…sources are saying that Shaun Hill will be named the 49ers starting QB over Alex Smith after Smith looked very shaky in last night’s 21-20 victory over the Raiders. The 49ers should be respectable this year and could be a team on the rise. Would be nice if Michael Crabtree stopped crying and tried to help in the effort though…

- Sources are reporting this morning that the Colorado Rockies have signed veteran Jason Giambi for the stretch run. I'm not really sure if this signing will be helping them any. It would make more sense to me if an AL team signed him to help out in the DH role. A 38 year old who would be taking up a positional spot and who has not really been swinging a powerful stick this year does not seem like a recipe for success to me. But putting Giambi in a pennant race could rejuvenate him for the rest of the year. The Rockies' run has been impressive after everyone assumed the Dodgers would just run away with the NL West, so who knows.

- And finally a little hockey news for everyone...Ottawa Senators winger Dany Heatley reiterated his request for a trade from the team this weekend and said that he has been troubled by his "diminished role" on the team. What? You've got a guy who is close to being a perennial 40 goal scorer (he had 39 last year in his "diminished role") and still in the prime of his playing years and you are telling me the team is trying to reduce your role and not play you? Come on. The guy is Ottawa's most talented scorer so something is not right here. He already rejected a trade to the Edmonton Oilers saying he wanted more "options". Unfortunately for Heatley, I believe this all stems from the tragic car accident he was involved in back 2003 which caused the death of Atlanta Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder. He requested to be traded from Atlanta for a "fresh start" and now it seems like he wants another. I feel Heatley is sadly trying to run from his past and just can't get comfortable. Hockey is king in Canada, so maybe he can't take the scrutiny. Maybe he needs to be tucked away in a smaller market, who knows. But for a guy as talented as Heatley, it just seems odd and empty that he wants out of Ottawa and he really is just making an excuse to try and get it. If he is truly still troubled and dogged by his past, then one can only hope he somehow finds peace.