Eagles, Celtics, Miller vs Kidd, Braves, etc

Random Thoughts:

The biggest play of yesterday's Eagles' win, and of David Akers' career, may have been on the opening play when Akers pushed kick returner Ahmad Bradshaw out of bounds to prevent a touchdown. Actually "push" may be too strong a word.

Including Friday night's pasting in Cleveland, the Celtics have lost 7 of 10. If Jim Stefanksi were calling the shots in Beantown, he would probably seek a "new direction" and fire Doc Rivers.

So far in the off-season, the Atlanta Braves failed to sign Rafael Furcal and lost John Schmoltz to the Red Sox. Coming off a horrible season, the Braves need to make some moves to challenge the Phils, Mets and Marlins but so far they're coming up empty.

Who's the better point guard, Jason Kidd or Andre Miller? Kidd certainly has the higher profile but Miller is the choice here.

The popularity of Dick Vitale is one of the great mysteries of western civilization ranking right up there with the Bermuda Triangle and the mysterious UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico.

Before North Carolina lost their conference opener to Boston College, they were virtually conceded the number 1 ranking and given an outside shot to be the first team in 33 years to run the table. On Sunday, NC lost again, this time to Wake Forest. The ACC is looking very strong and it's not inconceivable that Carolina could end up no better than third, or even fourth in their own conference behind Duke, Wake Forest and Clemson. The Tar Heels are a very good, and very deep team, but probably not as good as their hype. Hansbrough and Lawson, in particular, have been oversold.

Duke handily beat Davidson last week. Davidson's star Stephen Curry scored scored 29 points but 21 came in the second half when the game was all but decided. What was curious was that Curry took only one shot in the first 10 minutes of the game, even though he was not double-teamed. He insisted on repeatedly forcing passes to teammates which often resulted in turnovers. He didn't shoot much more in the remainder of the first half as Duke built up a commanding lead. It was a very odd performance from presumably the most potent offensive weapon in the college ranks.