What’s this? The Cowboys and Packers in a battle to determine the No. 2 team in the NFL behind New England? I wonder who drew that one up in the marketing room.

The Indianapolis Colts are sitting there at 7-1 on the Super Bowl futures market, just begging to be picked. This is a team that came very, very close to beating the Patriots, even with injuries on offense. Those players are working their way back into the lineup – players like Tony Ugoh, Anthony Gonzalez, and looking toward the playoffs, Marvin Harrison. It seems likely we’ll see the Colts and Pats lock horns again in the AFC Championship.

Naturally, the Pats have proven themselves not only the best team in the NFL over the course of the regular season, but one of the best ever assembled. That doesn’t make them a good bet at 1-4. Wouldn’t you rather take Indy at 28 times the potential earnings?

We’re through the looking glass, people. The Patriots are 23-point favorites Sunday against the visiting Eagles. This is the highest spread, according to ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio, since the Steelers laid 24 points to the Buccaneers back in 1976. Pittsburgh won that game 42-0 in a battle of first against worst.

Philadelphia is hardly the worst team in the league at 5-5 SU and ATS. But bettors have swarmed the Pats like killer bees, bumping the spread in Vegas up from 17 at the open. That’s one hell of a middle opportunity.

Part of the reason for this mammoth spread are the thumb and ankle injuries suffered by Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, who may not play Sunday. The bigger reason is that New England coach Bill Belichick is refusing to bow to football tradition. He’s keeping his first-team unit on the field even in blowout situations. Critics say Belichick is running up the score. Bettors have no problem with that.

Sol Campbell is the latest victim of his age. Sol has not only been smarting from a voice mail message left by Steve McClaren informing him of his omission from the England squad; but he’s been openly critical about the lack of “30-somethings”, such as David Beckham, whose names are also missing from England’s team sheet. This begs the question: is the world’s most famous soccer superstar too old to be playing professional sports? Me thinks hogwash.

Beckham may be too old to date Hilary Duff (according to her, not according to Becks) but there are loads of players who are in their prime in their 30s. After all isn’t it when we are in our 30s that our brains finally catch up with our bodies? Granted there is a fine line, a grey area we can call it, when our noggins are ticking at optimal capacity and our body has not yet started its decent into the grave. Whether Beckham is there yet or has surpassed this fine line is up for debate.
If you were to wager a bet according to Becks himself though you might want to count the old fuddy duddy out. Here’s what he had to say about his age: “I find it harder to get out of bed in the morning. It could be because I’m getting older, or it could be because I’ve got three sons.
“For a woman, I think 30 is one of the best ages - for a man, they say it’s all downhill from there.
“You start putting on weight and getting lumps and bumps in places you didn’t have them when you were 20.”
Bye bye David.

Fashion trends come and go, and some sports teams change their brands more often than the Chicago Bears change quarterbacks. But those teams that stick with their heritage develop brand loyalty, and no fans are more loyal than those of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

According to a survey by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, the Steelers ranked No. 1 out of 122 North American pro sports teams in brand loyalty. “In the fan loyalty index they scored first; in team popularity they scored first, and in grade of ownership they scored third among NFL teams,” said Turnkey senior VP Haynes Hendrickson.

There’s no denying the Steelers are one of the enduring brands in pro sports. But polling 12,000 fans on their subjective views doesn’t always produce results that make sense. How about the Baltimore Ravens (No. 11) finishing higher than the Dallas Cowboys (No. 28)? Maybe the fact that this was an online survey had something to do with it.

The EPL hasn’t been lacking for storylines this year. No doubt we’ll see some dramatics on Sunday when Portsmouth hosts Manchester City in a battle of Top 5 teams. Man City (+275) have just one win, one draw and three losses on the road, but
Portsmouth (-105) are not getting much of a home-pitch advantage this year, with two wins and three draws in five contests. A fourth draw would pay +225.

In another top-flight match, rejuvenated Chelsea host Everton in a battle of the Blues. Chelsea’s recent form under new manager Avram Grant (five clean sheets in five EPL games) has the Pensioners pegged at –300, with the Toffees at +850 and the draw at +340. But Chelsea keeper Petr Cech is out after suffering a torn calf muscle during a listless 0-0 Champions League saw-off at Schalke. That effort won’t do Sunday at Stamford Bridge versus an Everton side that has won four in a row.