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Texas QB Colt McCoy avenged last season's loss to OU.

AP

Some telling numbers in No. 5 Texas’ thrilling 45-35 victory over top-ranked Oklahoma Saturday in the Cotton Bowl:

48 -- Rushing yards by Oklahoma. The Sooners were unable to establish the run, averaging a mere 1.8 yards for their 26 carries.

161 -– Rushing yards by Texas. Chris Ogbonnaya was responsible for 127 of them, including a 62-yard scamper that set up the touchdown to make it a 10-point game late in the fourth quarter.

.800 -– Completion percentage by Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, who connected on 28 of his 35 passes.

20 –- Combined receptions by Texas wide receivers Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley. The two amassed 234 yards in receiving and 401 total yards, including a 96-yard kick return by Shipley for a touchdown.

37:10 -– Time of possession by Texas.

Charlie Manuel and Terry Francona have survived Manny.

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

This just occurred to me. If the Red Sox and Dodgers meet in the World Series, Manny Ramirez can’t lose. Regardless of the outcome, he figures to receive a bonus because he played for both teams this season. He might even come away with another ring, which would be his third.
 
Now that I think about it, a Phillies-Red Sox matchup in the Fall Classic also would be intriguing because it would pit the old school vs. the new school. On one side you have Phillies manager Charlie Manuel and GM Pat Gillick. On the other side is Red Sox manager Terry Francona and GM Theo Epstein. Sabertooth tigers vs. Sabermetricians.

The managers have a few things in common.

Manny Ramirez is happy with the Dodgers ... at least, so far.
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Greetings, FanNation. Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m the new weekend blogger, and let me be the first to say the pleasure is mine.
 
Some brief background about me. I recently left the Hartford Courant after a lengthy stint there that included seven years as the Red Sox beat writer, from 2000 to 2006. I also covered the New England Patriots and UConn women’s hoops, both for one season. My last day at the Courant was July 31, the day the Red Sox traded Manny Ramirez. I was hired earlier this week by SI.com, the same week Manny is gracing the cover of SI.

Upon pulling the magazine from my mailbox and seeing that marvelous picture of Manny sliding home feet first, I immediately thought about the night in Seattle in 2002 when he broke his finger on the catcher’s shin guard with a headfirst slide. I don’t remember him ever going headfirst to the plate and I’m guessing that was the last time he ever tried to score from first on a double to LEFT field.

The Dodgers' Joe Torre has never been one to panic easily.

AP

Although baseball is said to be a game of inches, the difference thus far in the National League Championship Series may very well be 409 feet. That is the distance of the deepest part of Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

The Dodgers could have returned to L.A. with a split or a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series if the ball that Manny Ramirez crushed in his first AB in Game 1 was a few inches higher or to the right. The Phillies might be the ones reeling if Casey Blake's fly ball in the seventh inning of Game 2 was hit to any other part of the park.

Some folks undoubtedly will classify Game 3 as a "must win" for the Dodgers after Joe Torre's team lost the first two games. I prefer to call it an utmost-importance-to-win game.

If this were a best-of-five series, then yeah, I'd agree the Dodgers need to win Sunday to keep playing. But now is not the time for the Dodgers to panic.

Magic Johnson "faked AIDS" to gain sympathy? Ridiculous.
AP

Tim McCarver calls Manny Ramirez "despicable."

Two talk-show hosts in Minneapolis say Magic Johnson "faked AIDS."

They may seem like two totally separate stories, but the link between two of the biggest sports headlines this week is that they should have been non-stories in my book.

First of all, who didn't call out Ramirez for basically quitting on the Red Sox before being traded this summer? Calling his actions "despicable" would have been one of the kinder adjectives used by the Boston media around the time of his trade to Los Angeles. So why was McCarver's comment in a 455-word story in the Philadelphia Inquirer treated the same way as if it was coming out of the mouth of a Phillies player, or better yet, one of his former teammates in Boston?

So what if McCarver is on the broadcast team for the NLCS? Does that mean every criticism he makes about every player should be headline news?