In case some of you didn't know, Michael Phelps spent most of the four years before the Beijing Olympics training at the University of Michigan. Which is funny, because I would have thought that alone would have doomed him to have a terrible Olympics.

But anyway, as a result of his Michigan ties, Phelps has had the chance to meet a number of rather famous Michigan alums, such as Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards. And make some pretty hilarious bets with them.

Yep, Edwards made a bet with Phelps that this season he would more than double in touchdown catches the number of gold medals that Phelps won at the Olympics. Unfortunately for Edwards, he made that bet BEFORE Phelps actually went to Beijing. Whoops.

So now all Edwards has to do is catch an absurd 17 touchdown passes this year. It's definitely possible, seeing as Edwards caught 16 last year to set a new Cleveland Browns receiving record, but it obviously won't be easy to top that.

There's no word on what the prize is for winning the bet, but I hope it involves the loser having to pick up the other guy's tab at the Playboy Club at the Palms Casino in Vegas. Apparently Phelps enjoys that place, a lot. So you better start catching some touchdowns pronto, Braylon.

Happy to B. back: Edwards ready for Sunday’s opener, but says game won’t be a personal battle with Cowboys’ Owens [The Chronicle-Telegram]

Hanna delayed the race until Sunday, but it's FINALLY time to go racing for 400 laps at Richmond!  It's time to find out who makes the Chase and who gets left out. 

Two nights ago it was a disaster in the area, today it's currently 79 degrees and partly cloudy with a forecast of mostly sunny and 86 degrees.  The race will be quite different than we expected thanks to all the rubber being washed away, but the action still promises to be just as intense. 

Who gets in and who gets left in the dust?  Will anyone pull a Mayfield?  There have been quite a few first-time winners at this track, will we see another this afternoon?  There's only one way to find out the answers to these questions and many more.  Coverage starts at 1:00 ET on ESPN.  This is your official open race thread to discuss the happenings before, during, and after the race...so what are we waiting for, let's get this show on the road!  LET'S GO RACING!

Hell yes. Opening NFL Sunday is here and so is Chad Ocho Cinco.

Normally we'll start this NFL weekly live thread a little later, but I always enjoy the pregame shows this first week. Especially today with the debut of Michael Strahan on FOX.

The sad news is Emmitt Smith won't be enlightening us with his unique form of English.

As for the games themselves, I'm looking most forward to Brett Favre - Chad Pennington showdown in Miami. Maybe showdown isn't the appropriate word, but with the added change of uniform drama I expect a heated game. Oh, and a few Favre laser rocket touchdown passes.

Enjoy the games. We'll have another thread up this evening for Kyle Orton Football Night in America.

It's a great day. Your team finally takes the field and by team, I do mean your fantasy football squad of course. One sure fire way to start the season out with a loss is to bypass an injury news this morning and no take that into consideration.

Here's some last minute Sunday morning news:

- Jamal Lewis will likely play, but is suffering from a hamstring injury and could very well be a gametime decision. I don't like his odds for a big game anyway, so if you've got a backup that will get carries, go with him.

- Willis McGahee was upgraded to probable and thus is a good start against the Bengals. Expect Ray Rice to still he carries, but I think Willis is good for a touchdown this afternoon at the very least. This is Cincy's defense we're talking about.

- Antonio Gates is good to go.

- Reggie Brown is out for the Philadelphia Eagles. This is bigger news for Donovan McNabb owners than Brown who is likely a deep reserve. That's both his starting wide receivers on the bench, so insert rookie DeSean Jackson and Hank Baskett. Jackson could impress and is a solid start today actually, but I don't know that McNabb will be putting up anything special today.

- Ryan Grant is banged up and while he's probable, having practiced on Friday, he shouldn't be counted on against Minnesota.

- Javon Walker is questionable Monday night versus his old team. I certainly hope you have better options, but if you're desperate I say he definitely plays with that added fuel against the Broncos.

As is the case with the NFL, you can expect this injury report to grow significantly by Tuesday. Good luck this weekend.

For a week that was supposed to be void of any big games or exciting outcomes, I was definitely satisfied with the results. One big upset, several more that were close and plenty of learnings that make for an extremely interesting third week in college football.

Here's a few of my thoughts on week 2:

10. The oversenstive celebration rule is terrible (see: Washington/BYU)
Jake Lockner is a 19-year-old who just scored the apparent game-tying touchdown with :03 seconds left against the 15th ranked team in the country in front of his own crowd. The kid is going to be excited. Football is an emotional sport with highs and lows and players tend to react outwardly with both. Thus, Lockner celebrated his touchdown run, a little too much somehow, and the Huskies were forced to kick a 35-yard PAT which was inevitably blocked. The PAT should have been made anyway, but a game shouldn't be decided like this. Thumbs down, NCAA.

9. Notre Dame is still terrible, for now
I'm still waiting for that Jimmy Clausen who was going to win four Heismans. Sunshine didn't have his best haircut, or game yesterday in barely beating a San Diego State team that had just lost to Cal-Poly. He missed a couple open receivers in the end zone and connected poorly with a couple Aztec defenders, enough to keep them in the game and ahead until well into the 4th quarter.

8. Michigan - ND next week should be a doozy
And by that, I mean two of the worst Michigan and Notre Dame teams to step on the field in a long time. The Wolverines defense found itself a little more Saturday, stopping the Miami Redhawks to just 6 points, but that offense is still light years from being competitive in the Big Ten. Early on I thought Steven Threet was the man, he moved the ball for two quick scores but then missed open wide receivers badly throughout the rest of the game. Thanks to that we had a 4-point game in the Big House heading into the fourth quarter. Who knows what to predict next weekend in South Bend.

7. Buckeyes went a little too vanilla, looking ahead
Ah yes, the Buckeye bashing is alive and well. That didn't take long. Have no fear, that was just Tressel ball at its finest. Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla with the USC Trojans up next. I wasn't too surprised this game was close... but dumbfounded that the Bobcats were able to lead going into the 4th quarter. Sure, Beanie Wells was missed and he could have set the tone early with some big, powerful runs up the middle, but that shouldn't have been needed against Ohio. OSU still did rush for 176 yards. Teams play poorly all the time in trap games, so lets not get too worked up here just because its the Buckeyes.

6. Wake Forest, Sam Swank save the ACC some face
That sound you hear is the collective fanbase of the Atlantic Coast Conference exhaling. A loss by Wake Forest, one of the ACC's best, to Ole Miss would have dug a hole that the conference couldn't get out of the rest of this season. Thanks to Riley Skinner orchestrating a game winning drive that ended up with Sam Swank drilling a 41-yard field goal with :03 seconds remaining and the ACC has something positive to draw on.

5. Big Least
Ouch, West Virginia, ouch. We know East Carolina is clearly very good, but scoring just three points against the best team from Conference USA is going to bring back that old Big East moniker. We were promised a passing Pat White this season from Bill Stewart, but all we got Saturday was 72 yards from a Heisman contender. White and Noel Devine ran for 97 and 94 yards respectively, but that wasn't enough for the No. 8 team in the country to get into the end zone. Adding to the Big Least-ness, Cincinnati wasn't even close to competing against Oklahoma, South Florida needed overtime against UCF, UConn needed overtime to get by Temple, and good ol' Syracuse lost to Akron.

4. California, Jahvid might be pretty damn good
I'm not saying this because they knocked off the Spartans last week, but I did get a lengthy look at the second best team in the Pac-10. They followed up that win with a 66-point offense outburst in Spokane, dropping Washington state 66-3. The Cougars had just 167 yards of total offense, Jahvid Best had 200 yards rushing. The Bears didn't even need to pass the ball, rolling up 391 rushing yards which is enough for me to put California in the number two spot behind USC for now.

3. Florida Gators defense impresses
Tim Tebow this, Tim Tebow that. the most important result from the Gators perspective is the defense performance. Tebow can roll up all kinds of numbers this fall, win the Heisman again, but he's not getting a ring unless Florida ups the play on defense. They did that Saturday, holding the very green Hurricanes to just 140 yards total offense.

2. East Carolina should be ranked around 15th
You'll get my Picking on the Pollsters tomorrow morning and I eagerly await the mass overreaction to the Pirates win. Hey, West Virginia just isn't all that great right now. Let's keep them around 15 for now and see how the season progresses. We know we'll see a few cats put the Pirates into their Top 5.

1. Skip Holtz, what job do you want next?
Is there any doubt he'll have his choice? Say, how about that Notre Dame gig.