| NFL NOTES
ATLANTA: Facing millions in claims from banks, creditors and prosecutors, suspended Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has put his seven bedroom, 8 1/2-bath house in Duluth, Ga., up for sale. The asking price for the sprawling home and $1.5 acres grounds? $4.5 million. Only buyers with proof of income sufficient to buy the property and house are provided access to the home. The Web listing for the house has attracted more than 10 million page views. Vick is in a Virginia jail and awaiting sentencing Dec. 10 for felony dogfighting charges. CAROLINA: Memo to Saints fans: As you watch Panthers quarterback Vinny Testaverde (Nov. 13, 1963) do his thing today at the tender age of 44, keep in mind that he is 46 days older than Saints Coach Sean Payton (Dec. 29, 1963). TAMPA BAY: Today's game between the NFC South-leading Buccaneers and Washington will be the Redskins' fourth at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., in less than 25 months and the sixth between the teams in five years.
NFL gives fans the boot
The Green Bay Packers against the Dallas Cowboys. It's a behemoth battle Thursday night between a pair of 10-1 teams - the first in the NFL since 1990 and just the second since 1970. A prime-time battle for NFC supremacy. The game football fans have been looking forward to for weeks. The game hardly anyone on the Grand Strand will get to see in their homes? Yes, sadly, that too. An impasse between the NFL Network and many of the nation's cable companies, including all that provide cable on the Strand, will keep the game out of most homes in America and send football fans to bars that have the network. The network is owned by the NFL and is broadcasting eight games late this year - exclusively in all but the home markets of the teams in each game - including Thursday's pivotal tilt.
Groban Gets Oprah Bounce, Jordin Sparks Doesn't Fly
The Grinch might be stealing Christmas from music retailers, but thanks to Josh Groban and Oprah, there's still some singing in Whoville. For the sales week kicked off by Super Tuesday—the release date before Thanksgiving when record labels typically schedule their big guns—the figures were abnormally bad, with only one Top 10 bow and a seven-week-old album topping the charts. Still, that album, Groban's Noël, can thank last week's performance on The Oprah Winfrey Show for driving it past Alicia Keys and into the number one spot. Noël crowned the Billboard 200 by selling 405,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to SoundScan numbers released today. The holiday disc, featuring Groban's take on "Silent Night," "O Come All Ye Faithful" and other wintery classics, originally debuted in the 10 spot in mid-October.
WORKING O.T.: Cavs without the Sideshow; Van Gundy tells Murray to keep his mouth shut
According to 76% of respondents to a poll at pistons.com, the Cleveland Cavaliers are De-troit Bask-et-ball's biggest rival, easily outpacing the Bulls and Heat. You wouldn't know it by the fact that several hundred tickets remain for tonight's rivalry game at the Palace (available through Ticketmaster, pistons.com or by calling 248-377-0100). But it's evident there are a fair number of Pistons fans still smarting from last season's ouster in the Eastern Conference finals. .
Bend It Like?Blanco
The Chicago Fire striker, like Beckham, has amped up pro soccer's star power. Plus, he's pulling in Latino fans
It was David Beckham, the fair-haired English midfielder, who garnered all the headlines early this year when he came to the U.S. to ply his trade for some $250 million over five years, including endorsements. But as American pro soccer has come of age this season--at least financially--the player most responsible isn't Beckham. Instead, it's Cuauhtemoc Blanco, a fiery striker who grew up in a barrio outside Mexico City. With an explosive season, Blanco has helped boost attendance across Major League Soccer (MLS), with the draw for his own Chicago Fire rising 60%, to 16,000 people a game. .
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