FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Connor Atchley and the 'Horns beat UCLA in L.A. last year.

Louis Lopez/Cal Sports Media

All times Eastern.

• 8:00 p.m., TNT: NBA fans are sure to enjoy this Western Conference twinbill, with Phoenix and Dallas getting things underway and San Antonio clashing with Denver in the nightcap (scheduled for a 10:30 p.m. tip).

• 8:00 and 11:00 p.m., FitTV: Art of the Athlete profiles marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, who stroked the longest swim in history (at the time) in 1979, making the 102.5-mile journey from the Bahamas to Florida.

• 8:30 p.m., HBO: In the final episode of De Le Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7, Oscar de la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao break camp and head to Las Vegas for their last fight week activities as the Dec. 6 welterweight showdown approaches.

• 9:00 p.m., ESPN2: No. 8 Texas and No. 12 UCLA meet in the marquee matchup of the the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. The Bruins hope to avenge the 63-61 defeat they suffered at the hands of the Longhorns last year at Pauley Pavilion.

Can late-season games featuring bad teams be interesting?

John Sommers II/Reuters

The system of promotion and relegation -- a staple of most of the world's sports leagues outside North America and Australia -- makes games between teams at the bottom of the standings almost as engaging as games between title contenders.

A structure where the worst-ranked teams are relegated to a lower division at the end of every season, with the best-ranked teams from the lower division getting promoted in their place, creates a compelling sense of desperation among the teams in danger of getting demoted.

If pro hoops in the U.S. employed this practice, the Miami Heat (15-67 in '07-08), Seattle SuperSonics (20-62) and Minnesota Timberwolves would have moved down to the NBDL for the '08-09 season -- with the Idaho Stampede (36-14), Los Angeles D-Fenders (32-18) and Austin Toros (30-20) moving up to take their place in the NBA. Don't you think Wolves games in April would've been just a little more exciting knowing the team was fighting for its future in America's premier hoops league?

But since we don't employ promotion and relegation in our sports leagues, we're stuck with dozens of meaningless games at the end of every season, featuring teams with zero incentive of winning. (If anything, they're better off losing and getting better draft position.) And so Robbie Gillies of RealClearSports has compiled a list of suggestions to make games featuring the NFL's non-playoff teams more interesting.

Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer suggests the Bengals go for it on fourth down every time, while Pat McManamon of the Akron Beacon Journal says the Browns should insert their kick returner at quarterback. But Gillies' suggestions are, shall we say, slightly more unorthodox.

Anders Wiklund/AP

Germany's Michael Greis pauses at the range yesterday during his victory at the opening event of the 2008-09 Biathlon World Cup in Ostersund, Sweden. The nine-race tournament started Tuesday and concludes in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia on Mar. 29, 2009.

Each Thursday, we'll rank the games from least to most watchable. The following Tuesday, we'll re-rank the games based on what actually went down. At season's end, we'll tally up the pre- and post-game rankings from throughout the year to determine the league's most and least watchable squads -- and the 30 teams in between. All times Eastern.

ONLY IF YOUR OTHER OPTION IS YARDWORK

Look for lots of offense in Arizona - at least from the Cards

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

16. St. Louis at Arizona, 4:15 p.m., FOX

The Cardinals have dropped two straight and have struggled running the ball. That shouldn't matter against a Rams defense that yields 30 points and 381 yards per game.

15. Cincinnati at Indianapolis, 1:00 p.m., CBS

With the Begals in town, Peyton Manning and the Colts gun for their sixth straight victory. Shouldn't be too tough against a 1-10 Cincinnati club that boasts the league's most anemic offense.

14. Oakland at San Diego, 8:15 p.m. (Thursday), NFL Network

Two teams, zero playoff hopes. Maybe we can get another record-long field goal attempt or fake field goal try from Sebastian Janikowski, though.

Should the Giants offensive line be serious candidates for the Associated Press NFL MVP award? A campaign is mounting.

John W. McDonough/SI

Newsday sports media and business columnist Neil Best proposes an interesting candidate for this year's Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player award: The offensive line of the New York Giants.

Best asked Dave Goldberg, one of the AP football writers with intimate knowledge of the process, about the possibility of awarding the MVP award to a team's entire offensive line.

"We do a Player of the Week every week, and a couple of weeks ago we did the Giants' offensive line. We have 50 voters, and it's up to the 50 voters. But I would think there is nothing to prevent it. If X number of people voted for it, and they got the most votes, you'd say, yeah, it's five guys, but we've had ties. We had Brett Favre and Barry Sanders. It's kind of a novel idea. There's no clear-cut winner. You look at Drew Brees, who's going to put up big numbers on a last-place team. Kurt Warner has dropped off.

"Everyone says the key to the Giants' season is their offensive line, and the Giants are the best team in football. As individuals none of them is a superstar offensive lineman. Chris Snee is probably the best. I don't think it's a crazy idea. [Sports Illustrated's] Paul Zimmerman would love it."

Bob Glauber, veteran NFL columnist for Newsday, called Best's proposal an "interesting idea" in a live chat today. But what do you think? Does a group entity like the offensive line ever deserve an honor as prestigious as Most Valuable Player? Or should MVP always be reserved for individuals?

MVP award administrator on Giants' o-line: why not? [Watchdog]
Bob Glauber calls Giants o-line MVP idea 'interesting' [Watchdog]