By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

When the annual schedule is released, every player and coach has a game they look for on the schedule. For the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns, that game is the second Saturday in October, down in the Cotton Bowl, where the drive from Norman and Austin is virtually equidistant from one another. That game, is the Red River Shootout. (Yes, technically its called the Red River “Rivalry” now, to be politically correct….but, I’m not calling it that. I’m from Oklahoma, its a shootout. Period.)

The storyline behind this game is slightly precarious compared to games past. Usually, one or both teams have national title aspirations coming into the Cotton Bowl clash, as the two have been the kingpins of the Big 12. However, both teams have suffered early season in-conference losses (Oklahoma lost to Kansas State, Texas lost to West Virginia) and the cache has been lost for this game a bit. Therefore, the pressure is actually more intense for both teams. One more conference loss and the opportunity for a conference championship is flushed down the train, a win brings a boost in the rankings and an opportunity to stay on the fringe of conference and national championship glory.

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By Jose M. Romero

Let’s just state for the record that I didn’t start playing fantasy football until two years ago.

It wasn’t appealing to me. I had been a former NFL beat writer in Seattle and always felt (probably correctly) that I was not allowed to gamble or play such games when I was so close to the league.

Then I moved to Arizona and my wife’s friends started a league for friends and relatives. I somewhat reluctantly agreed to join as a team with my wife.

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By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

Well, that was another stinker of a game from Cam Newton. Good grief. A 12-of-29 passing performance is the type of stat line we’re used to seeing from quarterbacks like Blaine Gabbert and Mark Sanchez, not the rookie of the year and former Heisman trophy winner from Auburn. This is not the Cam Newton we’d grown accustomed to seeing.

Many pundits and prognosticators will come out on Monday and say that this is Cam Newton’s sophomore slump. Others will say that Cam’s body language, demeanor and how he carries himself and point to it as the reason why Cam and the Carolina Panthers are struggling. The rush to try and identify these problems will be done thoughtfully, but will only skim the surface of what’s underlying the true issues of this team. What are those issues? I’ll tell you.

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By Jose M. Romero

The National League playoffs are under way and of course, Latino players have made and will make an impact on what happens on the diamond.

It’s St. Louis and Washington in one divisional series, and San Francisco against Cincinnati in the other.

It just isn’t professional baseball without the players from Latin America, and here are a few to watch:

ST.  LOUIS CARDINALS

OF Carlos Beltran – Hit 32 home runs with 97 RBI and a .269 average, helping make up for the loss of Albert Pujols to free agency. Has 11 homers in 24 career postseason games.

C Yadier Molina – Four-time All-Star can do it all: .315 batting average, 22 home runs, 76 RBI and stole 12 bases, also one of the best defensive catchers in the game.

P Jaime Garcia – Cardinals will need a strong outing from native of Mexico in Game 2. Went 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA this season.

P Edward Mujica – One of the important bullpen guys for the Cards who had a 1.03 ERA after arriving in trade with Marlins.

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By Eduardo Maisonet, III / @edthesportsfan

I’m sorry West Virginia, but the Baylor Bears and their anemic defense is not a fair representation of the Big 12. No offense to the folks in Waco, who put up points like Family Guy shows re-runs, but their defense is audacious atrocious. Simply sucktastic. Terrifically terrible. Alliteration is fun.

So yes, West Virginia, you put up 70 points and scored touchdowns any time you damn well pleased. Geno Smith slanged the pigskin around the filed for 600+ yards, the Mountaineer wide receivers were running wind sprints up and down the field without breaking a sweat, and head coach Dana Holgorsen had a maniacal look on his face the entire time. Your entrance to the Big 12 has been filled with bombast and fireworks, yet now is the time for you to face an actual blue blood of the southwest. That would be the Texas Longhorns.

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By Adry Torres

New York - It’s been a great year for baseball back this season in the D.C. and Baltimore area as two teams that a lot of folks didn’t pick to make it this far into the season when the sounds of baseballs pounding gloves and the crack of the bat traveling through those backfields in the spring training complexes.

Washington has come a long way since the team was relocated from Montreal after the 2004 season. During the team’s first six seasons in the nation’s capital, the Nationals suffered back-to-back 100-loss seasons, finished last in the NL East five out of six times, with a fourth place finish in their third season in D.C.

The Nats turned the page once Jim Riggleman unexpectedly quit on the team last season on June 23 right after a win put the team over the .500 mark. Three days later Davey Johnson took over the reigns and the team went 40-43 under him. Their strong September finish was a sign of what was to come.

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By Adry Torres

New York - I’ve seen my share of dejected, beaten down managers throughout the years after some losses but none like looked like Bobby Valentine,  appearing with a look of clear defeat as he sat down behind the desk inside the manager’s office after the season-ending loss at Yankee Stadium late Wednesday night.

Prior to the game CBSSports.com had already reported that the Red Sox would be firing him after the conclusion of his first year in Boston, the worst season for the Red Sox since 1965.

The Red Sox decided to part ways after a tumultuous season, following one of the worst collapses in baseball history and the dismissal of Terry Francona.

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By Jose M. Romero / 

The debate was on, the one between President Obama and “Guante” Romney (stolen from George Lopez). But it didn’t matter to me.

I know who I’m voting for. I was much more preoccupied with the heavy heart I had for the end of baseball’s regular season.

Driving home early Wednesday evening, the lights of Chase Field in Phoenix twinkled a short distance away. The season finale was in the eighth inning, and when those lights were turned off, they were to stay off for a long while.

What a final day of the season it had been. Ben Sheets got to pitch for the Atlanta Braves in Pittsburgh, and at game’s end retired from baseball. Chipper Jones heard cheers in PNC Park for the last regular-season game of his career.  Bobby Valentine, the manager of the Boston Red Sox for maybe his last day, lashed out at coaches who he felt undermined him as the Sox muddled their way through a nightmare season.

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By Jose M. Romero

When Tony Romo and Mark Sanchez became the starting quarterbacks of their respective franchises, the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets, a new generation of Latino quarterbacks in the NFL was born.

Their statuses as leaders of their team made them pillars in the Latino community as well, a couple of leading men living the dream.

Their toughness is unquestioned. Romo and Sanchez take a beating on Sundays and play through pain. But they’re still a ways from being elite signal callers, and games like they had in Week 4 are a testament to that current state.

The NFL is a “What have you done for me lately” league with a lot of fickle and demanding fans, and Sanchez and Romo happen to play in two of the premier markets in the country. So when they have really off games – as was the case Sunday and Monday in their respective home stadiums – frustrated fans start calling for them to be replaced.

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By Jose M. Romero

NBA teams all over the country held Media Days/openings of preseason training camps Monday, and serious basketball fans had to be pretty excited.

It will be a full season. No lockout, no protracted schedule, jamming dozens of games into a shorter time frame and no more back-to-back-to-back games for the players.

Not like they should complain anyway, given the salaries for NBA players. It’s unbelievable really. Good but not elite players got huge contracts in free agency this offseason. Roy Hibbert – back with Indiana for four years, $58 million for 13 points and nine rebounds a game. Landry Fields – three years, $20 million from Toronto. Brook Lopez (is he Latino?) – four years, $61 million for the Brooklyn Nets.

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By Adry Torres

The top-ranked Washington Nationals are still looking to lock up the NL East division title but their plans to do so unraveled over the weekend in St. Louis, losing two of three to the Cardinals, an opponent they could possibly face in the first round. Another twist in all of this is that the Cincinnati Reds are tied with the Nats for the best record in the National League at 96-63.

The magic number to clinch the East for the Nats remained at one after their loss at St. Louis on Sunday. They lead the Atlanta Braves by three games in the NL East.

Gio Gonzalez continued his push towards his first Cy Young as he became baseball’s first 21-game winner and has another start lined up Tuesday night against the Phillies in D.C. It would be interesting to see if the Nationals skip him in the rotation should they clinch tonight, allowing him to start Game 1 on Friday or Saturday.

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