Steelers Injury Woes

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be without star running back Willie Parker and four time Pro-Bowl nose tackle Casey Hampton for Monday night's game against Baltimore.

Parker suffered a sprained left knee late in Sunday's game against Philadelphia. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin indicated that the injury may require Parker to miss more than one game but no time table has yet been established. 2008 first-round draft pick Rashard Mendenhall will make his first NFL start in Parker's absence.

Hampton is suffering from a groin strain and is only expected to miss one week.

Sox To Retire #6

1, 4, 8, 9, 27. Those are the only five numbers that the Boston Red Sox have retired in their storied history as a Major League Baseball franchise. On Friday they will do something that they have not in quite some time (2000) as they will add a sixth number to that list. Ironically, that number will be the number 6, worn proudly by Johnny Pesky for ten years as a player for the Red Sox and several more as a coach.

Pesky, who is best known for Fenway's right field foul pole which bares his name, has ties with all five of the other retirees. He played with Bobby Doerr (No. 1), Joe Cronin (No. 4), and Ted Williams (No. 9) and then coached both Carl Yastrzemski (No. 8) and Carlton Fisk (No. 27).

U-S-A!

For the first time since 1999 the United States captured the Ryder Cup, golf's version of the Olympics. Every two years the event is played with the United States taking on a usually dominant Europe team.

After losing the previous three Ryder Cups, the Americans, led by first time Captain Paul Azinger, were determined not to go down on home soil. They wasted no time getting out of the gates jumping out to a 5 1/2 to 2 1/2 lead after day one. Europe made a push day 2 by winning the day 4 1/2 points to 3 1/2 cutting USA's lead to 2. In the end it was the Americans, led by Ryder Cup rookies Bubba Watson and Kenny Perry, who sealed the deal putting the United States back in the winner's circle 16 1/2 to 11 1/2.

Saying Goodbye to Yankee Stadium

While Sundays in fall are usually reserved for watching football, there is something much bigger going on tonight. The house that Ruth built, Yankee Stadium, is hosting its final game in its 85 year life. It's been the home of 26 World Championships, Monument Park, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Rodger Marris, Lou Gehric, Yogi Berra, and countless others. It's hosted the Pope, boxing matches featuring Muhammad Ali, and was the setting of the memorable "Win One for the Gipper" speech. It was their for the United States after 9/11. So as Andy Pettite throws the last first pitch in stadium history, we bid adu to a national treasure.

Yankee Stadium is a baseball cathedral, and the moments that have taken place there will last a lifetime. Goodbye, Yankee Stadium.

Dolphins Running Wild

In a very unexpected development the Miami Dolphins lead the New England Patriots 21-6 at half time. Led by three rushing touchdowns from Ronnie Brown and little trickery from the offense the Dolphins are looking less and less like a team that has won just once in their last twenty regular season games.

Matt Cassel and the Patriots will need to get their acts together in the second half if they want to avoid the upset.

Be sure to check back with WAY Back Sports throughout the day for the latest NFL week 3 news!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Here we are once again! Its week 3 of the NFL schedule. Be sure to check in with WAY Back Sports all day for the latest NFL news.

This week's top match-ups include:

Dallas Cowboys (2-0) at Green Bay Packers (2-0)

Aaron Rodgers faces his first real test as he takes on what may believe to be the best team in the entire National Football League.

Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2) at Indianapolis Colts (1-1)

Traditionally a tough match-up between AFC South foes. The Jags will be looking to ride their high powered running game to their first victory. The Colts will look to build upon last week's victory over the Vikings. Dallas Clark will be back for the first time this season for the Colts, only improving an already powerful offense.

New York Jets (1-1) at San Diego Chargers (0-2)

Its may seem a little premature to say this but this game could be the make or break point in the season for the Chargers. 0-3 is a hole that they just may not be able to overcoming. With LT questionable there will be a lot of pressure put on the arm of Philip Rivers.

Saturday's Big 3: Week 4

Here are the top three games on the college football schedule for week four of the season:

3) #4 Florida at Tennessee
A SEC East rivalry is renewed at the Gators take on the Rocky-Top singing Vols. Tennessee is going to have their hands full now that Florida WR Percy Harvin is back to 100% after a heal injury that has limited his touches. With Harvin at Tim Tebow's disposal, I see the Gators going in to a hostile enviorment and picking up the W.

2) #3 Georgia at Arizona St.
This is as far west as the 'Dawgs have been for a regualr season game since 1960. Some of the appeal of this game was knocked off after ASU was upset last week, but it's a great game none the less. ASU QB Rudy Carpenter (975 passing yards) will look to slice up the secondary, and Georgia RB Knowshon Moreano looks to add to his Heisman resume. This will be a very close game, but Georgia will go get the win in the dessert.

1) #6 LSU at #10 Auburn.
The Tiger Bowl is the biggest game of this weekend. It's been 10 years since LSU has beat Auburn on the road, a streak that Auburn fans hope to see continue. Auburn's D, who only allowed 2 points last weekend, will look to limit LSU RB Charles Scott, who has rushed for an average of 11.4 yards per carry. Eleven of the last 18 matchups bewteen the two have been decided by a touchdown or less, including four in a row. This weekends game will be more of the same, but I see Auburn, with the home field advantge, getting the win over the Bayou Bengals.

It's no supurise that all of these games have a SEC team in them, it's clearly the deepest conference in college football.

Wizzards Lose Arenas

The AP is reporting that Washington Wizzards franchise point guard Gilbert Arenas will be out at least until December following surgery to his left knee Thursday. The procedure to remove what is being called "loose debris" is the third surgery that Arenas has had in the past 17 months.

This is bad news for a Wizzards team not known for its depth. The team in July signed the seven year pro to a six year $111 million deal.

Rays Prove Themselves Yet Again

Once again the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox had a series showdown in which first place was up for grabs and once again it was the Rays, not the defending champs, who came out on top.

Tampa scored ten runs, six of which came of Boston starter Tim Wakefield during his 2.1 innings of work, en route to a 10-3 victory and two game strong hold on the AL East. Willy Aybar, Fernando Perez, and Gabe Gross all homered in a winning effort for the Rays who now have 90 wins on the season.

The win makes Tampa Bay just the sixth team in Major League Baseball history to win 90 games in a season after having ten consecutive prior losing seasons.

David Ortiz homered twice for the Red Sox who have now lost four of their last five against the division leading Rays.

The two teams will not face each other again in the regular season, but both appear to be locks to make the playoffs at this point setting up a potential match-up in the ALCS. Tampa won the season series 10-8.

QB Shuffle

A pair of NFL teams announced today that they will be changing quarterbacks on Sunday.

The Minnesota Vikings have elected to go with 15 year veteran Gus Frerotte for their Sunday matchup with the Carolina Panthers. Frerotte will be replacing Tavaris Jackson who had started both games so far this season. Jackson had been the Vikings starter most of last season, nearly leading the Vikings to a playoff berth. Viking's coach Brad Childress had the following to say in regards to the move:

"I'm just not seeing right now the aggressiveness from Tarvaris that I saw throughout the offseason, training camp, the two preseason games that he played in. And part of it may be experience. I know Gus will give us that. And I know his approach will also lend itself to that."

Elsewhere in the NFL the Kansas City Chiefs announced that Tyler Thigpen will get the start Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. Thigpen will be the Chiefs third different quarterback in three games this season; Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard were the other two. The start will be the first of his career for the second year pro out of Coastal Carolina.

"For what we're trying to do, I think he can do a good job of it," coach Herm Edwards said. "He'll be limited in some things but we want to take a look at him. We're trying to look at young players, it's part of the process. Is he a two? Is he a one? Is he always going to be a three? You don't know until they play, until they have an opportunity to play."