Shanoff's Wake-Up Call: Sabathia, Tebow, More

Today's Calls: Sabathia vs. Mussina, Brett Favre vs. Donovan McNabb, Caleb Campbell vs. Devin Hester, Josh Childress vs. Brandon Jennings, LeBron James vs. Tim Tebow, WNBA vs. David Stern and More.

The Opening Pitch: And just like that, the lull in sports over the past week is SO over.

Sabathia as NL Cy front-runner after 4 starts! The Army denying NFL dreams! Brett Favre displacing Donovan McNabb! Josh Childress going Greek! LeBron guarantees Olympic gold! WNBA suspensions! Tim Tebow!

Hope you enjoyed your vacation. Let's get right to it. ...

MLB Instant History: CC Sabathia is unstoppable in the NL. Three complete-game Ws in a row (!), yesterday's a 3-hitter over the division and playoff rival Cardinals. The '84 Sutcliffe comparison was supposed to be a joke; Sabathia is performing even better than that. Is it too early to declare Sabathia the new front-runner for NL Cy Young? (Nope!)

Army forcing NFL draftee Caleb Campbell to serve: This, despite "good faith" assurances that if he made a team, he could play now.

Obviously, Campbell went to West Point with eyes open to his commitment and obligation; don't understand why Army couldn't honor the exemption.

Brett Favre Watch: The Commish steps in. I don't think it would save the Packers execs from being savaged by their fans for trading Favre to whine, "Roger Goodell made us!"

I appreciate that Goodell thinks the Favre thing is a distraction to the start of training camp league-wide, but -- newsflash -- the Favre story will dominate, wherever it might be.

For Goodell essentially to play the role of Favre's agent and force a trade seems inappropriate. Will the Commish also force Favre to accept a trade to a team he might not be interested in playing for?

Meanwhile, are the Eagles interested in Favre? Oh, that would be SUPER: Because the Eagles don't have their own superstar vet QB at the tail end of his career who might be a little miffed about being bumped.

NBA: Josh Childress flees to Greece. Good for him; the Hawks were screwing him. Now he goes from promising talent to Euro-trailblazer. Let's hope the media keeps his career on the radar. Between he and Brandon Jennings, European hoops is an NBA beat. (I'm with Shoals: This is a big deal.)

WNBA Brawl, Day 2: Indeed, it turned out to be the national sensation predicted here yesterday morning. Next question: What kind of suspensions will come down today? I'm guessing 8-10 games each for everyone involved. The spotlight is on Rick Mahorn.

More MLB: What a difference a closer makes. Billy Wagner returns, shuts down Phils. ... 10-game win streak for the Yankees; Mike Mussina is pitching like it's 15 years ago. ... Injury Watch: Chipper Jones (hamstring), Manny Ramirez (knee). ... Fantasy Stud: Jeff Mathis (4/5, HR, 6 RBI). ... Name to Know: Michael Inoa. ... Jim Riggleman is getting some attention for this quote about Jose Vidro. ...

NFL: Today's Camp Openings:
Giants (Albany, N.Y.): How to top last season?
Vikings (Mankato, Minn.): Trendy pick to win NFC?
Colts (Terre Haute, Ind.): Peyton partaking?
49ers (Santa Clara, Calif.): Whither Alex Smith?
Chiefs (River Falls, Wis.): Rebuilding.
Raiders (Napa Valley, Calif.): McFadden time!
Eagles: Favre? Favre?!
Seahawks: Need new relevancy.

Meanwhile, Devin Hester didn't show for the Bears' first day of camp. Geez: Give the guy one season of reps on offense and all of a sudden he's a holdout? He's cool and all, but have a big season first.

CFB Media Daze: 'Twas Tebow Time. The Heisman winner headlined yesterday's kickoff to SEC Media Day(s), and he continued to project an even-keeled (and entirely sincere) perspective on ... well, everything. Not sure a "rock star" level athlete has ever handled pressure this well -- especially considering he is only entering his junior year in college.

More: Les Miles disappointed me by backing off his recent funny comments about Alabama. (To recap: Don't "make too much of that (Alabama) game, as it seems like a lot of teams in Louisiana beat that team." Come on, Les: You have no chance of repeating as national champs; why not take some shots this season?)

The Last Word: LeBron "absolutely" guarantees that the U.S. will win gold in Beijing.

I appreciate the confidence -- having Kobe (and not having Larry Brown) will go a long way to justifying it -- but it's like he assumes simply because the U.S. shows up, gold is theirs.

But it's hardly a bold thing for LeBron to guarantee gold; it's not like this U.S. team isn't the prohibitive favorite.

And yet, has LeBron not been following international basketball over the last 5 years? The U.S. can't afford to be arrogant this time.

What LeBron should fear -- absolutely -- is what happens if this U.S. team doesn't win gold.

Dan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.

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