TOP TEN- 9-11-06

Everybody has a Top 10. NS is no different. But rather than focus just on college football or Major League Baseball, we’ve decided to throw every sport –NFL, NBDL, NHL- into the same pool and simply fish out the best athletes/teams each Monday. Let the debating commence…

1. Detroit Shock- Leave it to the ladies to take Motown sports fans’ minds off the Tigers’ slow implosion in baseball. The Monarchs are still shaking their head at what happened in the WNBA Finals. ESPN is scratching its noggin as to why no one cared to watch.
2. Roger Federer- Tiger Woods with a ferocious backhand, Mr. Roger made Queens his neighborhood for a third straight year.
3. Ohio State- QB Troy Smith and WR Ted Ginn Jr. are the real deal. So is RB Antonio Pittman. Now that the Longhorns are outta the way, the Bucks won’t even think of stopping ‘til November 18’s match-up with Michigan.
4. Maria Sharapova- I believe her shirt read, “I’m prettier when I grunt.” Keep winning like you did at the U.S. Open and you can wear whatever you want.
5. Matt Kenseth- The man atop the most competitive Chase leaderboard ever (Jimmie, Jeff and Junior, oh my!), Kenseth and his crew have their work cut out over the next 10 weeks.
6. Big East Conference- Not only are 6 of the 8 teams undefeated, three of them (Louisville, Rutgers and West Virginia) won by a collective 147-3 last weekend.
7. New York baseball- A Subway Series becomes more and more likely by the week.
8. Andy Roddick/James Blake- Roddick was an Open semi-finalist. Blake made the quarters. And who was the wise-ass who said American tennis was dead?
9. Heavy-hearted teams- Though neither Georgia-Southern nor Northwestern could honor their deceased coaches with victories, pre-game ceremonies and emotional on-the-field performances were more than enough.
10. Detroit Tigers- Could this be the last week we see the Tigers on the NS list or atop the AL Central? Sure hope not…

Almost Made The Cut: Martina Navratilova (won her 10^th mixed doubles title at the U.S. Open), Notre Dame (crushed then-No. 19 Penn State), Troy State (scared Florida State into the fourth quarter), Air Force (almost beat Tennessee)

Four WORST: Tony Stewart (defending NASCAR champ failed to make the Chase), Tampa Bay, Green Bay and the Bay’s Oakland Raiders (all shutout in their NFL debuts)