WOW.  This is pretty big.

Franzen out with torn ACL  via ESPN

see also article at mlive.com

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2009/10/red_wings_johan_franzen_out_fo.html

Apparently he tore the ACL in his left knee sometime during their game last night against the Blackhawks. He had the gamewinning goal for them in the 2nd period.

Franzen is a huge part of that team. He was playing on a line with Datsyuk and Holmstrom.  Not sure who they shift up to play with those two now. 

Reports are saying minimum of 4 months, but Im not sure where they are coming up with that number.  Says he will wait for swelling to come down and have surgery to repair. Id be surprise if he plays again this season, as we saw with Morrow last year.

I heard the rumors swirling this morning, but my OU buddy just confirmed.  Oklahoma Sooners TE Jermaine Gresham is electing to have surgery to repair his cartilage injury, rather than to just have it removed.  It is still an arthroscopic procedure, but the recovery time for the repair of cartilage is significantly longer than having a menisectomy.  This should allow him to recover in time for the combine at year-end.  See the link for confirmation.

I feel bad for the kid.  Best wishes to him and hope he recovers 100%.

Bumped: Editor's Note -- While this is bad news for Oklahoma and their redshirt-freshman QB, it sounds like Gresham made a good decision.  Maybe he could have come back earlier if he had just excised the damaged tissue, but repair will hopefully have him back 100% to start his career.  Hopefully this is an indicator that Stoops and his staff are encouraging their players to make the smartest decision for their own well-being, instead of pushing someone to come back early.  Best of luck to Gresham, who is clearly the best TE in the nation, despite being a Sooner.  Quite an accomplishment.  -Horn Brain-

UPDATE: As drbadass notes below, the Tulsa World has come out with an article quoting Bob Stoops that refutes the KOCO-TV report on Jermaine Gresham.  The Tulsa World article notes the following from Stoops:

 "That's not accurate," said Stoops, who replied in a text message to the World that Gresham's status won't be known until after Gresham's surgical procedure -- "a scope" of the knee -- today. 

So who knows whats really going on in Norman.

Thought we could use someplace to chat about the early games today.  Theres some interesting games to kick things off.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/schedule

Ohio St and Navy looks to be a good one from the early going.  

Tim Brewster's Minnesota ballclub is taking on the fighting Greg Paulus' of Syracuse.

Penn St is taking on an overmatched Akron team.

And, everyone's favorite new head coach, Lane Kiffin, is taking on Western KY.

Its great to have college ball back on Saturdays....

Hook 'Em!

Searched the site and didnt see this posted anywhere yet.  So if it has been, and I just missed it, let me know and Ill delete.

There was an article posted on the SportingNews.com over the weekend about JMJ's outstanding spring training with the Phillies and his chances of making the opening day roster.  see link below

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=527006

I briefly caught the Hardline discussing the article yesterday evening.  Their discussion focused heavily on whether this would be a significant black mark on JD if JMJ makes the Phillies roster and has a productive year for them. 

I found this to be silly for a number of reasons.  But thought it was interesting nonetheless.

My girlfriend of 2 years got me the greatest Christmas present ever, and I feel obligated  to share. 

As a disclaimer, I must state that she is a Baylor grad.  She was a kinesiology major, and during her senior year she did an internship with a speed & agility called Championship Speed & Strength.  And it just so happens that one of the athletes she was assigned to work with back then was Quan Cosby.  This was back when Quan was playing in the Angels minor league system and prior to his committment to play football at UT.  Since then, they have maintained their friendship.  In fact, after every game this season she would pull out her phone and send him a quick text to congratulate him (something I found to be enormously cool).

Being a Baylor grad, she doesnt really understand my obsession with UT sports.  But she never complains and actually has embraced watching games with me.  She actually surprised me and scored tickets from a friend for us for the Missouri game back in October, which I thought was absolutely pure awesomness.  DKR was unreal that night. Its something Ill never forget, and didnt think it could soon be topped.  I was wrong.

A few weeks back, she had the thought that she would ask Quan for a big favor.  She had gone online and ordered a Texas collectors football, with the three sides covered in the white leather embroidered with the the Longhorn symbol on one side and "Longhorns" on the other.  She asked if Quan might be able to get a few players to sign it if she shipped it to him and then came down to pick it up.  He readily agreed, saying it was no problem at all.  Over the past couple weeks, he would frequently text her asking her who all she wanted him to get to sign it.  She, not really knowing the names of many of the players and not wanting to trouble him, would just tell him it didnt really matter and whoever he could get.  She felt bad about asking and would thank him profusely, even though he would insist it was not a big deal.

She had been stressing about it not arriving in time, but hadnt wanted to pressure Quan about it, knowing he was likely busy with his family and with his obligations to the team and school.  But he got in touch with her last weekend and apologized for not getting it shipped earlier and let her know it would be getting in this week. It arrived Tuesday.  And when I opened the box earlier today, i was floored.

Quan had gotten signatures from Mack and Coach Muschamp, as well as Colt, Orakpo, Shipley, Dan Buckner, and himself.  It was one of the coolest things Ive ever received from anyone.  The fact that its not like a collectors item bought from an autograph shop and that I know the story behind how it got signed makes it that much cooler. It will be going in a case to be displayed on the mantle above the fire place at the house, which will be sure to rile up my Red Raider roommates.

Not to be lost in all of this is the fact that Quan did something amazingly generous for someone he didnt even know.  Lord knows he has enough on his plate, raising two kids and spending time with his wife in addition to taking class and training in preparation for the Fiesta Bowl.  That he would go out of his way to help give me the coolest Christmas present ever, and to act like its not a big deal, just amazes me.

I hope everyone here has had an awesome Christmas.  I just wanted to take a second to share what I found to be a really cool story and something that has me so pumped up that I doubt Ill fall asleep anytime soon.

Hook 'em

http://www.tellshowbcs.com/CP.html

Link

Looks like Florida will need a 80-85 total lead over us in the Harris to jump.  They will likely get this, but the computer average was much higher than anyone was projecting.  The highest I saw was .06, but most were projecting .05 or .04.

Unbelievable. With a computer edge that big, I dont think anyone in their right mind would have expected Florida to jump us.....

just announced on Fox.

Texas stays at #3 with rating of .891

Florida #4.

OU at #5 with a rating of .838

Link to follow.

This is good news. Our margin is pretty narrow, but holding strong.  Florida will most assuredly jump us with a win in the SEC championship game, but not before then.  Which means they continue to serve as a buffer between us and OU.  Only the human voters will be able to vault OU ahead of us it appears at this point.

Texas holds at 2.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt08.htm

it will be interesting to see how much our computer lead over OU will decrease and how much our human poll gap will decrease as the next 3 weeks play out.  its going to be very very close.

i dont understand why it takes them so long to publish the  damn rankings. i feel like ive been refreshing over and over all morning.

For those of you that dont enjoy the greatness that is the Ticket, disregard this post.  Also, those of you with no sense of humor, you may want to disregard as well.

For all the rest of you who may be in dire need of a break or some entertainment today, I encourage you to listen to BaD radio on the Ticket this afternoon.  They have Computer, the assistant to Three 6 Mafia on their reality series Adventures in Hollyhood, guest hosting with them out in Oxnard at Cowboys training camp. 

He's a big Cowboys fan and a P1.  And he's full of radio gold.  Ive been laughing nonstop for the past hour.

http://www.theticket.com/listen.htm