Hype?

* Can you possibly hype a game more than the Brett Favre saga about to play out? I'm a huge Viking fan....but I'm tired. Can we just play football? I can't wait for this to be all over. I'm ecstatic Favre is a Viking. I think we have a great chance to make some noise this year. But, I just want to be a fan. Let's talk about something else can we?

* The roughing the passer penalties on the Ravens vs. the Pats was atrocious. Those 2 roughing penalites directly resulted in 14 points for the Pats. Not right.

* There is definitely no respect for the Buckeyes. They win handily and get jumped by Cincinnati. Until they win a big game, the Bucks will go no higher than 5 despite what they do the rest of the way. We will get another shot at redemption....expect the Rose Bowl rematch with USC.

* Imagine playing 162 games and it all comes down to 1 baseball game. Imagine being a player & thinking about all of the opportunities you were given throughout the year to win just 1 more game. Could you have focused a little more, ran a little harder, studied the scout chart, warmed up, etc... just a little more to make that one play to create one more win?

* Magical couple of days in Minnesota. The Twins play their last regular season game in the Metrodome, the Vikes are home in the Brett Favre battle, and the 1 game playoff tomorrow night. Fun town.

* The Saints have been ridiculous on offense. They have scored 144 points in 4 games. That is 20 more points than the 2nd best offense - get this....the 2nd highest scoring team is the Baltimore Ravens. Are you kidding me? I thought they only played defense in that city.

* The Broncos have only given up 26 points in 4 games. That's less than 7 per game. It helps that they played the Browns.

* Braylon Edwards is a solid citizen.

* The Indians only lost 97 games. Shrew...I thought they were gonna lose 100. Why fire the manager with only 6 games left? Silly.

* Below is a parenting tip that I recently read & liked.

Parenting Tips – The Importance of Respect and Guidance
This will bring us to our next parenting tip which is guidance. Kids will learn what they live. If we disrespect our kids, they will disrespect us and others. A common way we as parents disrespect our children is by letting them get away with being disrespectful to us.

For example, I say to my four year old son Johnny, “It’s time for bed, hurry off now.” His response is, “NO” and I laugh and say, “How cute.” I have disrespected him. In other words, I didn’t care about his need for guidance. If we walked into someone’s house and smoked after they have expressed their desire for not smoking in their house, I would be showing disrespect for the needs of the home owner. If we laugh at our kids when they are disrespectful to us (which they will be at times) or don’t correct them, we show disrespect for their needs. Children need guidance. But unless our guidance stems from love, it will come off as nothing but orders: “I am parent and you are a nothing child, do as I say!”

As a parent, we owe it to our kids to guide them into being respectful children. Otherwise they will grow to be disrespectful to all authority.

• Guidance takes time and love -- lots of time and lots of love. Never, ever give up.

If children know beyond a doubt that they are loved, special, and important to their parents, and are learning respect for others, they are well on their way to a healthy happy future. But the key is to be persistent and realize that this bundle of joy came into this world with a number of great needs that we can meet if we realize the demands of parenting and love them all the way through their growing up stages.