I don’t know much about the stock market, trading or even an extensive amount of investing my money, but I will tell you this: Mark Cuban is in trouble. It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to know that insider trading is illegal because, let’s face it, we all know what happened to Martha Stewart not too long ago. Granted, as far as I’ve learned about Cuban’s situation so far is that he’s not in as much trouble as good ol’ Martha got herself into but it’ll be hard for Cuban to walk out of this unscathed.

Firstly, all of those rumours about Cuban being interested in buying the Chicago Cubs will never come to fruition now. With a red flag in his past like this, it’s hard to believe that MLB owners would ever let Cuban into their old boys club. Word was that they already weren’t too hot on Cuban joining their ranks so now he can kiss his dream goodbye.

Secondly, Cuban is — of course — challenging this suit being brought against him. From everything I’ve gained about this case it comes down to a he-said, she-said type deal and you don’t have to watch Law And Order to know how iffy those can be. I don’t see this ending up with Cuban on the losing end but this might be drawn out, much to his ire.

Finally, when you look at how sketchy some NBA owners are, there’s no way that Cuban will be forced into selling his team. Jerry Buss, owner of the Lakers has been charged with drinking and driving; Clay Bennett stole an entire franchise from its loved ones; even Michael Jordan, part owner of Charlotte has a checkered past involving gambling.

And of course, all of this post is pretty much just hearsay on my behalf. Like I said, I’m no financial expert, I’m just going on what I’ve learned thus far.

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A tie? Seriously? What bothers me more than the way that Philadelphia couldn’t hit a field goal within the 15 minutes of overtime — or score more than 13 points for that matter — is that now we’ll be subjected to the hopelessly annoying x-x-1 at the ends of the Eagles and Bengals records on all the crawls we’ll see on sports highlight shows and news programs. I hate those -1s.

So the Titans are still undefeated and are getting it done when teams have started to shut down their vaunted running game. Hmm, a team adjusting as other teams try to take away their strengths? That sounds an awful lot like the Patriots of last year. The Pats passed like it was nobody’s difference and ran the ball when it was ineffective, the Titans are now doing that in reverse. The biggest difference is that the Titans actually have a good coach who doesn’t cheat and won’t run up the score.

What a bizarre end to the Steelers-Chargers game. I’m still unclear as to why Polamalu’s fumble return on the botched lateral didn’t count but in the end it doesn’t really matter in the standings. The only thing is that it’s was quite a swerve for gamblers. The difference between the one point win and a eight point win would’ve had the Steelers covering instead of the Chargers beating the spread.

How about them Bucs? They looked impressive against the Vikings on both offence and defence. They consistently stuffed the Vikes running game and ran up the middle against the Williamses like nobody has done this season. If only they can take that act on the road and dominate away from the Bay. Maybe they were just trying to impress Tiger Woods, who was there on the sidelines.

Quickly: You know it’s a bad blow out when network affiliates switch away from your game like they did when Green Bay turned it full-on against the Bears … The Colts own Sage Rosenfels … So apparently Miami can win, but I’ll never trust them to cover big spreads, that’s for certain.

I don’t usually comment on NCAA football unless something big happens in a bowl game but this outcome was surprising to say the least. Houston 70, Tulsa 30. Why is this surprising you may ask (if you don’t follow college football that is)? Well Tulsa happened to be the 23rd ranked team in the country and had a record of 8-1. Houston was and is unranked with a record of 5-4 going into the game. How in the world does a top-25 team lose a team that’s just barely over .500? I guess it just proves that anything can happen in sports.

Finally, why was there any doubt that Brock Lesnar couldn’t beat Randy Couture? The guy is a monster and had almost every physical advantage possible over the defending champ. When a fighter outweighs his opponent by 45 pounds, is two inches taller and 14 years younger, those are huge advantages. Not to mention Couture hadn’t fought in 15 months as well. Also, how does a guy not defend a title for over a year? There should be a minimum time you can hold a title and not defend it — 15 months of inactivity is way too long.

The Cowboys and especially Marion Barber played like a good team should last night. They visited their rival and defeated them in prime time. They looked fresh coming off the bye week and kept on getting better as the game went along. That’s what you need to do as a potential playoff team and as Tony Romo heals while playing, he’ll only become more confident. I’m pretty certain that his first pick was a bad throw resulting from his finger while the second was because TO was blasted while catching the ball, causing to pop out.

And silly me, I totally forgot to pick the Monday Nighter this week. I’ll take Cleveland +5 in Buffalo. Edwards has not looked sharp under the centre the past few weeks and while safety Donte Whitner might play, the Bills are still missing Aaron Schobel. Brady Quinn covers it.

This week: 8-5
This season: 73-58-2

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Time is running down quickly for teams to solidify their chances to make the playoffs. What that means for us, the fans, is some fantastic efforts coming out of teams desperate to make the post-season as well as players on vacation-bound teams aiming for off-season free agency or contract incentives. Yes, that’s the sports world we live in today.

Look at last night’s game; two bitter rivals duking it out to the end and eventually going to overtime. If you don’t think that’s a great game, well you don’t know football.

As for this week’s picks, our lines as always are straight from the Vegas and the home teams are in CAPS.

ATLANTA (-6) over Denver
Well, I’ve been saying the Matt Ryan winning at home era would be ending for weeks now. Maybe I should do an about-face on that theory. On the other hand, Denver has had ample time to rest after playing two Thursdays ago. Then there’s the fact that Peyton Hillis and Tatum Bell are the Broncos running backs.

Oakland (+10.5) over MIAMI
Unless you’re actually looking for it, it can be hard to find injury news about the Raiders. Last week I didn’t even know that JaMarcus Russell was injured, I just figured they pulled him because he stunk. This week he’ll start and while he can’t be worse than the guys who replaced him last week, he’s still pretty bad.

NEW YORK GIANTS (-6.5) over Baltimore
Okay, I am taking the Ravens seriously as playoff contenders but playing against the Giants in New Jersey is not a very easily winnable game. The Ravens have been getting by with a severely injured secondary too, that will catch up to them very soon.

Houston (+8) over INDIANAPOLIS
The last time these two teams played, the Texans literally gave the game to the Colts. I very much doubt that Sage Rosenfels will fumble twice in the last few minutes of this game. There is also the Bob Sanders factor for the Colts, though. He is healthy but since this is his third game playing in a row, he’s due for an injury.

Tennessee (-3) over JACKSONVILLE
So Jacksonville goes into Detroit and beats a winless team handily and we’re supposed to respect them again? Yeah right. The Jaguars lost to the Bengals of all teams two weeks ago. I’m sure they do have the potential to derail the Titans perfect season, but I wouldn’t bet on it. And hey, haven’t the Titans done a remarkable job of avoiding injuries? That’s got to change soon.

GREEN BAY (-3.5) over Chicago
When it comes to pivotal division games, it’s always safer to back the home team. Also, it’s always safer to back the team led by a QB who is not named Kyle Orton or Rex Grossman. And hey, I know Orton stepped it up earlier this season, but don’t you think there’d be a significant drop off since he’s not 100%?

Philadelphia (-9) over CINCINNATI
I don’t care how much Chad Ocho Cincho has grown up over a few weeks. Changing his outlook? Is he serious? The Bengals won’t be able to hang with the Eagles who always beat up on bad teams.

KANSAS CITY (+5.5) over New Orleans
I am very surprised at how well Tyler Thigpen is doing. This Chiefs team is consistently staying in games and even had a chance to beat the Chargers last week if not for horrific play calling on the convert attempt. With Drew Brees picking apart the Chiefs’ D, this one has shootout potential all over it.
 
CAROLINA (-14) over Detroit
The Panthers are a superb home team and might even be the second best team in the NFC overall. The Lions could cover this spread if they were in Detroit, but never in Raleigh. Look for a huge days for Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith in a bounce back.

TAMPA BAY (-3.5) over Minnesota
Adrian Peterson is going nowhere in this one. Does anyone find it concerning that he can throw out those huge 180 yard games and then put up stinkers were he’ll gain like 40 on 22 carries? It’s not as bad as Reggie Bush but I’d like some more consistency out of him. Of course that’s juts nit-picking a good player though. Anyway, I see this as an AP40 week and remember that the Bucs have one of the best run defences in the league.

St. Louis (+6) over SAN FRANCISCO
I’m not even sure if 49ers or Rams fans will watch this game. This one should be full of straight up bad football. I figure it’s won by a late field goal since both teams are pretty equal in their badness. Take the points.

Arizona (-3) over SEATTLE
Well Seattle, Matt Hasselbeck’s back so at least there’s one smidgen of good news this sporting year. Yes, that’s right, I’m not counting the fact that you landed an expansion MLS franchise. With Kurt Warner leading the Greatest Show on Turf: The Sequel and getting touted as an MVP candidate, it’s hard to pick against him with a line of three.

San Diego (+5.5) over PITTSBURGH
Big Ben looked bad last week. If he’s hurt, he should step up and say so instead of playing through the pain in his shoulder and hurting his team. I say he’s the type who mans up, plays hurt and eventually throws a pick that leads to a Chargers win.

Dallas (-1.5) at WASHINGTON
I was seriously surprised seeing the Cowboys favoured in this one. The Redskins are a good team, playing at home and always bring it hard against Dallas. Sure, Tony Romo is coming back but who knows how effective he’ll be with a splint on his not-100% broken pinkie? And while the Skins will most likely be without Clinton Portis, they do have a serviceable backup who happened to score 20+ TDs just two seasons ago.

This week: 0-1
Last week: 9-4
This season: 65-53-2

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