A - AL Central. It was a September frustratingly devoid of drama in baseball, but the AL Central has come through in the end. The Twins have surged, the Tigers have faltered, and that brings us to where we are now - tied and awaiting a one-game playoff for the playoff berth. The game was supposed to be played Monday night in Minnesota, but Monday Night Football in the Metrodome has bumped the game to Tuesday afternoon. The one-game playoff is the cruelest event in sports, but they sure are fun to watch.

B - Bears. Cal Should be incredibly embarrassed with themselves. Two weeks ago they were seen as a potential national champion. Now they have totally and utterly forgotten how to play football. Last week's loss at Oregon was humiliating, but getting blown out by USC at home this week brings them to an entirely new low. Cal was painfully incompetent on both sides of the ball, and there's not much more you can say about this 30-3 debacle.

C - Colorado Avalanche. Coming into this new NHL season it seemed like the Avs had last place in the league wrapped up. They likely still do, but they certainly haven't come out of the gate playing like it. They manhandled the Sharks, perhaps the best team in the West, in their opener. That could be explained by momentum from the retirement of Joe Sakic's jersey before the game. That excuse doesn't carry over to Game 2, though. That's when they shut out the Canucks - another of the top teams in the conference. Those are two highly unlikely results that have made sportsbooks a whole lot of money.

D - Debut. John Tavares faces tremendous pressure this year on Long Island. Not only did he come into the NHL as the top pick in the draft, but he joins a team in the Islanders that has pretty much nothing else going for it, so he carries the whole franchise on his shoulders. Tavares is no stranger to pressure - he was the presumed top pick since he was 14 - so he thrived in his opening game, scoring a goal and adding an assist. He almost got a true fairy tale finish, but he failed to score in the shootout and lost to the defending Stanley Cup champs from Pittsburgh. Despite the loss, Tavares gave a preview of an extremely promising career.

E - Explosive. Alex Rodriguez isn't exactly the king of October, but there are signs that he could finally be ready to make a meaningful contribution in the playoffs. He couldn't be entering the postseason with more momentum - he had two home runs and seven RBI as the Yankees crushed the Rays on Sunday in the final game of the season. Both home runs came in the 10-run sixth, and seven RBI in one inning is an AL record. Of course, the game was absolutely meaningless, so we don't yet know how he will perform when games actually matter.

F - Fired. There are likely many more to come, but the first round of post-season firings in baseball got off to an early start. The Indians started first when they fired manager Eric Wedge. To add to the indignity, the team required him to finish out the season after firing him a week before the season ended. Next up were a couple of GMs - the Jays got rid of the worst GM in the league in J.P. Ricciardi after eight lousy years, and the Padres ditched talented but inconsistent long time leader Kevin Towers.

G - Giants. New York remained undefeated, though they were hardly tested. The score in their 27-16 win over the Chiefs was flattering to Kansas City - Matt Cassel scored two late TDs after the game was all but over. The Giants played a complete and effective game, but they did have a potential scare late in the game - Eli Manning left with a bruised heel in the fourth quarter and was visibly limping. He'll likely be fine, but this is yet another case where you have to wonder what the valuable starter was still doing playing in a game that was already decided.

H - Hurricanes. There aren't a lot of teams in the country that could have wound up at 3-1 after facing the opening four-game schedule that Miami did. By beating Oklahoma, though, the Hurricanes proved that they are for real. It was a nail-biter of a finish, and it came with backup QB Landry Jones at the helm for the Sooners, but it shouldn't take away from what Miami has accomplished, or the potential they have. The trick will be to maintain the momentum after this difficult start, but if they can, and if Virginia Tech stumbles, then Miami could easily be BCS bound.

I - Iowa. The Hawkeyes are one of the surprises of the first half of the college football season, but they almost blew it on Saturday. Winning a tight one against ASU isn't a bad thing, but only when we're talking about Arizona State and not Arkansas State. Iowa got out to an easy 21-7 lead and looked like they would cover the 18-point spread, but Arkansas State bounced back and won the fourth quarter, 14-3, to close to 24-21. Next up for Iowa is the inconsistent and green but offensively explosive Michigan Wolverines.

J - Josh McDaniels. Is it possible that McDaniels isn't the total moron that he appeared to be after all? The offseason was a total disaster for the young Broncos' coach, but the start to the regular season has been better than virtually anyone could have imagined. Kyle Orton and the Broncos are 4-0 and are building a shocking cushion atop the AFC West. What stands out most about the team is their determination. Each time they find a different way to win. This time it was a goal line stand with little time remaining to get past the Cowboys.

K - Killed. There were a whole lot of teams on Sunday that got absolutely killed by their opponents. It wasn't pretty. The Lions looked good until it was 21-21, but then they quit playing, ultimately losing to the Bears by 24. The Raiders lost to Houston by 23. The Rams lost by 35 to the Niners. The Bills lost by four touchdowns in the starting debut of Michigan alum Chad Henne. The Titans lost by 20, and the Seahawks by 17. In total, nine of the 13 games on Sunday were won by double digits. It was not a day for nail-biters.

L - LSU. The Tigers are still undefeated and highly ranked, but they sure don't look the part. A week after barely surviving Mississippi State, their game against Georgia again came down to the last minute. A defensive battle opened wide up at the end with the teams scoring three times in the final three minutes. LSU got the last laugh, winning by seven when they scored with 46 seconds remaining. The Tigers are winning by the skins of their teeth, and that isn't likely to work for them next week against the Gators. Regardless of how that game turns out it will have one interesting side effect - the losers will drop in the rankings, allowing Boise State to move one step closer to a potential BCS championship berth.

M - Michigan. So much for an undefeated season for my beloved Wolverines. The young Michigan team lost in overtime to Michigan State in their first road contest of the season. It was a heartbreaking ending, but the truth is that they didn't deserve to be in the overtime in the first place. They needed two late touchdowns to tie it up, and that late surge hid a game full of struggles on both sides of the ball. Michigan has a schedule that will almost certainly allow them to be bowl eligible after last year's debacle, but they need to be much better than they have been the last two weeks if they don't want that bowl to be played well before Christmas.

N - New England. Don't count the Patriots out just yet. They were hosting arguably the best team in football through the first three weeks in the Ravens, and New England looked a lot like the Patriots of old as they won. There are still problems, but what matters is that the Pats faced a tough opponent in a smash mouth game and they came out on top. It's a good sign for a team that had struggled up to this point. Considering that they are 3-1 despite their woes, the Pats are in a very good position if they can keep moving forward.

O - Old guy. The Phillies are heading back to the playoffs, and they look like they could be ready to go deep again. Unfortunately, Jamie Moyer isn't going to be along for the ride. The ageless hurler injured his groin on Tuesday, and he requires surgery that will keep him out of action until next spring. Moyer was relegated to the bullpen after Pedro Martinez returned, so the impact of this injury isn't going to be huge for the team. It's just fun to watch a guy like this do what he has done the last couple of years at this point in his career.

P - Phoenix. Just when you thought that the NHL's debacle in Phoenix couldn't get any uglier. After delaying his decision for a surprisingly long time, the judge ruling on the Coyotes' bankruptcy case rejected both offers for the team that were on the table - one from Jim Balsillie, the founder of the company that makes the Blackberry, and one from the league itself. That means that the team starts the season with no owner, no fans, and very little hope. Pathetic.

Q - Quit. When the two worst coaches in all of football play, the loser should have to immediately quit - especially when the game is the farce that we had to watch on Sunday when the Bengals and Browns met. Cincinnati won it, but only in the final seconds of overtime with a field goal. There are more than enough reasons for both teams to be embarrassed in this mess, and I' more than willing to explain all of them away due to terrible coaching and lousy preparation. The fact that Marvin Lewis and Eric Mangini still have a job makes a mockery of the league.

R - Rio. According to the odds, the decision about who would win the right to host the 2016 Olympics would come down to Rio and Chicago. That proved to be only half right - Rio won, but Chicago was thoroughly humiliated. Four cities were in the running, and to the shock of many observers Chicago was the first one eliminated. That was a serious blow to the U.S. Olympic Committee, and a bit of a slap in the face to the two big O's who were in Copenhagen to impact the decision - Obama and Oprah.

S - Seahawks. Seattle is a team facing a whole lot of problems. You could say that problems were expected given the loss of Matt Hasselbeck, but the problems this team has go way, way deeper than that. In fact, the quarterbacking they got from Seneca Wallace was actually one of the few bright spots in the 34-17 loss to the Colts. Seattle scored twice in the last three minutes of the game to disguise just how badly they played. That can't hide how ineffective their offense was.

T - Triomphe, Arc de. Rachel Alexandra is clearly racing's biggest star in North America, but Sea The Stars has an equally compelling claim on that title in Europe. The three year old colt won the Arc de Triomphe this weekend - his sixth major stakes win of the year. No horse on that continent has been able to provide a challenge to Sea The Stars, and it seems doubtful that anyone in North America could either. We aren't likely to find out for sure, though - the Breeders' Cup hasn't been ruled out, but it seems unlikely given the length of the trip to Santa Anita and the time frame.

U - Ugly. Smart money has been loyal to the Titans despite their slow start. It might finally be time to reconsider that loyalty. Kerry Collins has been brutal, yet the team doesn't have enough faith in Vince Young to give him a try. The vaunted running game is, at best, inconsistent. The secondary is depleted and ridiculously vulnerable. Suddenly, a team that looked like a contender coming into the season now looks more like the Lions than the Lions do right now. There is clearly something very wrong with this team right now.

V - Very ugly. JaMarcus Russell gets mentioned often in this column, and it's only very rarely positive. I'll keep mentioning him, though, as long as he keeps making a mockery of the quarterback position. This week, he completed 36 percent of his passes and lost a fumble - a typical day at the office for this waste of talent. The Raiders will never be good with Russell at the helm, but they are so stubborn and short-sighted that they won't admit their error until the damage is all but irreversible.

W - Washington Capitals. The Capitals came into this season with high hopes. It's early, but they are certainly giving every indication that they are going to live up to those hopes. They have won twice, and they have looked good doing it - especially on offense. The early showing has made one thing we already knew even more clear - that Alexander Ovechkin is the best hockey player on the planet. He has three goals and three assists, and has looked stunningly dominant.

X - eXposed. News flash - Mark Sanchez is mortal. After an incredible start to his career through three games, Sanchez looked decidedly like a rookie on Sunday. Sanchez threw three interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown. He fumbled in the end zone, and that was recovered by the Saints for another TD. It was an ugly and likely humbling loss. Maybe the comparisons to Tom Brady were a little premature. Hidden in the result was the fact that Drew Brees had a substandard passing game for the second straight week. That has to be a little concerning for Saints' fans despite the 4-0 start.

Y - Yikes. Houston had it set up for them perfectly. They had beaten two Big 12 teams to earn national respect. All they had to do was win the rest of their games against a C-USA schedule that they badly outclassed and they would find themselves playing in an impressive bowl. It seemed like it was destined to happen. Until they screwed it all up by getting crushed by, of all teams, UTEP. The offense was as good as we have come to expect, but the defense was indescribably terrible in the 58-41 annihilation. UTEP junior running back Donald Buckram came into the game with four career TDs. He had 262 yards and four scores against Houston.

Z - Zoom. Summer Bird's Belmont win was unexpected, but since then the three year old colt has proven that he is definitely the real deal. He won the biggest three year old race of the summer in August when he took the Travers. This weekend he added to his impressive record when he beat a solid class of older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. This puts him in very good position heading into his next start in the Breeders' Cup Classic. We don't know how he will handle the synthetic surface of Santa Anita, but if he takes to it then he certainly wouldn't be a surprising winner.