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This week Ben Maller takes a look at the 2002 Heisman Trophy race. Ben tells you who should win the award and why its so obvious. Get this story and all the insider NFL and College Football notes.

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Monday, December 02, 2002

Monday Morning Quarterback

By Ben Maller

The Green Bay Packers clinched the NFC north title over the weekend beating the Bears. The Packers will not get to the Super Bowl. The Pack have had to many injuries and they can't stop the run. That's not a good combination in the playoffs.

As good as Michael Vick has looked for the Falcons I still have a feeling he's not going to get it done in the playoffs. Teams should be able to force Vick to beat them with the pass in the playoffs and Vick is not a good passing quarterback and other than Brian Finneran the Falcons don't have good receivers.

LaDanian Tomlinson is as good a running back as Michael Vick is a quarterback. Its interesting to think they were traded for each other on NFL draft day two years ago. Tomlinson sliced up the Broncos defense just like Barry Sanders or Eric Dickerson would have.

The Dolphins and cold weather go together about as well as Warren Sapp and Mike Sherman. Miami can change players but when they go north in December they are helpless. Ricky Williams ran for 228 yards against the Bills and the Dolphins still lost by 17 points.

I'm sure gamblers from coast to coast wanted to throw a brick at there TV's when San Francisco turned a 31-10 lead in the fourth quarter into a 31-24 win.

Kordell Stewart put on a clinic on how not to run a red zone offense. The Steelers scored 25 points but needed SIX field goals. That's something only Jim Mora could love.

Do the Arizona Cardinals get paid for taking Sunday off in Kansas City? The Cards lost 49-0. The NFL hasn't seen a team roll over that bad in 13 years.

The New York Giants can get ready for the NFL draft. The Giants blew an 8 point lead with 2:21 to go against the Titans.

Its official the St. Louis Rams have been killed and the LA Rams have returned. That was a performance only a Southern California Rams fan can appreciate. You have to wonder if the magic carpet ride is over for Kurt Warner. The Rams are 0-6 when Warner starts this season. The NFL is a league that is all about what have you done for me lately. Warner has done nothing.

The Cleveland Browns can probably forget about the playoffs after losing to the stinking Carolina Panthers. This was the most amazing score of the weekend. How does Tim Couch toss three interceptions and the Browns score just six stinking points against one of the NFL's worst teams.

College Football

I would like to thank a Los Angeles parking cop for ruining my Saturday. Despite having a media credential and parking pass for the USC vs. Notre Dame game the jackass would not allow me to enter the parking lot at the coliseum. This asshole then threatned to write me a ticket unless i left. He should be fired. It took me over an hour just to get into the entrance at Hoover and Martin Luther King to be told I could not even enter the parking lot.

USC should do a better job with the traffic at the Coliseum. I understand for the last 10 years nobody has wanted to see SC football but they are good again.

Carson Palmer helped his NFL draft status with a huge night against Notre Dame but Palmer is not going to win the Heisman.

Ken Dorsey of Miami is the heavy favorite at this point to take home the funny statue from the down town athletic club. I would vote for Iowa quarterback Brad Banks.

Southern Cal could still get left out of the BCS. That would cost the school close to $11 million in lost revenue. A BCS bowl pays $13 million. The Holiday Bowl pays between 1.5 and 2 million.

A year ago if you had told a USC fan Norm Chow might be leaving for a head coaching job they would have gotten him a limo to the airport. Now that Chow could get the Utah job fans are worried the offense next season will look like the Paul Hackett years.

I wonder if the boys in Westwood would let go of both Bob Toledo and Steve Lavin in the same year. In 1998 the Bruin football team blew a 17-point 3rd quarter lead against Miami at the Orange Bowl. If they had pulled that game out they would have played for the national title. Now they have been passed by SC.

NBA

The Lakers roster after Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal is the worst in the NBA.

Shaq had the best line of last week when he said the Lakers energy on the court reminds him of when Del Harris was the coach.

Sacramento made a good move picking up Jimmy Jackson from free agency. Jackson would have been a nice scorer off the Lakers bench.

Cleveland has a big early lead in the race to get LeBron James. If the Cavs end up trading Ricky Davis they become close to a lock to get the biggest lottery chance at the high school legend.

I watched the Clippers play last week and they looked like a bunch of guys just cashing paychecks who don't want to risk injury. Its pathetic! They don't really look like winning is the biggest thing on their minds. They could at least pretend and try and look like they care.

It was a good weekend for the JailBlazers nobody was arrested. The bad news is the NBA season dosen't end till late April.
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