It’s time to put the baseball season to bed after seven months of insight and analysis. And since the Yankees are the World Series champions, I will break down the biggest story of the season. In case you missed it following the Yankees’ series-clinching victory over the Phils on Wednesday evening, the players celebrated together as if they actually liked each other. It almost looked like a Yankees championship celebration, circa 1996. As was often the case in the moments after the Yankees clinched World Series titles in the 1990s, Derek Jeter was in the middle of it all. He spent a good amount of time celebrating with the veterans with whom he’s now shared five championships over the better part of 15 years — Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. Then he even mixed it up with the first-time champs, guys such as CC Sabathia, Nick Swisher, A.J. Burnett, Joba Chamberlain and, yes, even Alex Rodriguez.

"Let's pretend we like each other." (AP)

And that’s when it hit me. In order for the Yankees to win the title, Jeter and A-Rod had to figure out how to make their relationship work. For the first five years of A-Rod’s Yankees experience, it didn’t work at all. When A-Rod went to the Yankees in 2004, he envisioned a situation in which he and Jeter would become best friends immediately. Right after the trade from the Rangers, A-Rod volunteered to switch to third base in order to make a concession for his new “buddy.” He figured the key to becoming beloved in New York was winning over Jeter.

On the other hand, Jeter already had the perfect life in New York. He was making $20 million a year, dating the best-looking women in the country, and had little interest in forming a bromance with A-Rod. Add all that to the fact that it’s well documented that A-Rod is socially awkward and even borderline creepy, and you can see why this relationship didn’t inspire fireworks right off the bat.

We’ve all been in Jeter’s situation before. You have a few close buddies at work. Everyone gets along well. No one stretches the relationship beyond the acceptable limitations of a work friendship (happy hour is OK, weekend plans are not). Then a new guy is hired, and he immediately hears you talking about happy hour. He invites himself, shows up just in time for the first round, and proceeds to talk about how much he hates work for the next two hours. You’re not going to want to go out with that guy again, particularly when he checks on your weekend plans on the way out of the bar. The new guy thinks he’s doing you a favor by hanging out … kind of like how A-Rod thought he was doing Jeter a favor by always saying they were best friends.

Well, how do you avoid spending time with the new annoying guy at work? You stop going to happy hour. You stop making plans with your other work buddies. You discontinue everything you used to enjoy just so the new guy won’t call your cell phone 14 times on a random Saturday. And when Monday rolls around, you make up lies about your weekend so he doesn’t think you blew him off. “What’d I do this weekend? Nothing.” At that point, you become the guy at work with no personality.

Well, this is what happened to Jeter from 2004-08. In order to distance himself from A-Rod, he distanced himself from all of his teammates. That way, he could pretend it wasn’t just A-Rod he avoided, it was all of his teammates. The glue guy for four championship teams turned into the biggest loner on the team.

What was different this year? A-Rod was different. We all know last offseason was absolutely horrendous for him. He had the Madonna saga, an ugly divorce, and then the steroid scandal. If anyone didn’t hate A-Rod before, they certainly hated him now. Jeter didn’t even have to pretend anymore.

Who would have imagined that situation would only make A-Rod stronger? Instead of pouting, he went public with the fact that he and Jeter were never friends. He had the steroids admission. When he was rehabbing his injured hip this spring, he stayed away from the team. All the while, this allowed Jeter a chance to befriend his teammates. He didn’t need to lie to A-Rod anymore, so he could openly have friendships with other teammates. A-Rod knew the deal and so did Jeter. They didn’t need to be friends, but Jeter needed to be friends with everyone else.

At some point, A-Rod even embraced the loner role. He started dating a celebrity and sitting on the opposite side of the bench as Jeter. He didn’t struggle in the postseason because he didn’t care about letting down his teammates. A-Rod was free to care about the only thing that ever mattered to him — himself. And Jeter could go back to being the consummate teammate. Now the Yankees finally have their 27th championship. And it’s because it took six years for A-Rod and Jeter to realize they only had to be co-workers, not friends. Either that, or it’s because the Yankees spent $455 million last offseason. One or the other.

Before I get to the Best of the Week, I want to thank everyone who came out to the Pollard Library last evening for the Parker Lecture Series in Lowell. I really enjoyed the evening.

Story of the Week: Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski is on fire with the anti-Rajon Rondo columns. First, he wrote a story on Oct. 22 that depicted a scene last season in which Rondo organized a team meeting on the back of a flight home from a road game. After Rondo gathered everyone in the back of the plane, he challenged the Big Three to hand over the reins of the team to him. This week, Wojnarowski has a story about Rondo’s showdown with Chris Paul last Sunday night, when the two traded technicals and had a verbal altercation after the final whistle. Apparently, in the heat of the battle, Rondo said, “I’ve got a ring, and you’re never gonna get one.” Following the game, Ray Allen walked over to the Hornets locker room and — according to the story but denied by Allen — apologized to Paul for his teammate’s behavior. Weird stuff.

Quote of the Week: Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark is returning to Denver this weekend for the first time since 2007, when the change in altitude caused such severe health problems due to his sickle cell condition that he was hospitalized and eventually had to have his spleen removed. He lost 30 pounds and missed the remainder of the 2007 season. Doctors have cleared Clark to play again in Denver this weekend. Here are Hines Ward’s thoughts on the matter.

“If it were me, no, I wouldn’t go,” Ward said. “You know what? Football’s second when it comes to someone’s life. Life is more important than football to me.”

E-mail of the Week: My brother, cousin and I had an e-mail chain going throughout the course of the World Series. My brother’s work computer is restricted from reading most sports sites (ESPN, Yahoo!, etc.), so he’s unable to track down any actual stats. He always goes on what he sees with his own eyes when he’s trying to make sports arguments. Here’s my brother’s e-mail regarding Game 6 of the World Series.

“And here’s a tidbit I only know because I go to a Philly bar every Wednesday. I go for cheap wings and beer with a couple of buddies and it annoys us that the place gets packed late in the year for the Phils fans. BUT, the Phils’ success on Wednesdays is unreal. They won the World Series road game in Tampa last year on a Wednesday. They completed Game 5 and won the World Series last year on a Wednesday. They won the NLCS this year on a Wednesday. Cliff Lee’s Game 1 win was on a Wednesday. I’m 95 percent sure they even clinched the playoffs this year on a Wednesday. And it’s Wednesday.”

And here’s my cousin’s response:

“Wednesday? I like Wednesdays, too. Yankees are 21-7 on Wednesdays since April, while the Phils are 14-15. I know you didn’t see that one coming! I’d say the Wednesday thing is a wash.”

Comment of the Week: There were some funny comments this week, but I laughed hardest at The Gravy’s comment on yesterday’s blog regarding Brett Favre. That was some creative imagery. I’m not even sure I’m allowed to post that in this section of the blog, so you’ll have to find that on your own.

Conversation Starter of the Week: Go out in your Halloween costume again this Saturday night. When people make comments or shoot you looks, call them snobs. “So, I’m wearing the same outfit twice in a week, get a life.”

Tip of the Week: Every New York fan should be redirected to the following topics of conversation for the next year: 1.) the New York Knicks, 2.) Bernie Madoff, 3.) college sports, 4.) Wall Street arrogance, 5.) Elliot Spitzer’s decision to make love in his socks, 6.) Plaxico Burress and the 2009 Giants, 7.) Joba’s third DUI (coming soon), 8. the cost of living, 9. the Stephon Marbury experience, and 10.) universal health care.

What Would Hideki Matsui Do? Let’s pretend you have a sick dog. You bring your pet to the veterinarian for a check-up, and he determines the dog has incurable cancer. The veterinarian breaks the news to you, and you ask for one final moment with your old buddy. If the veterinarian was Hideki Matsui, what would he do? He’d ignore your request and inject the dog on the spot. When you screamed at him with a horrified look on your face, he’d glare at the dog stoically and push his eyelids shut.

Stat of the Week: 3 — the number of times all four major sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey) have been played all on the same day. Two of those days occurred last week. The other was on Oct. 29, 2001.

Video of the Week: In appreciation of a two-year run in which the Phillies posted 205 total wins, including 20 in the playoffs, made it to two World Series and won one, let’s have a Charlie Manuel tribute video. Enjoy.

Before I get started with the NFL Week 9 picks, I’ll make a promise to lead off tomorrow’s column with my thoughts on the World Series. I’ve spent a lot of time writing about baseball, and the Phillies in particular, over the last six months. I’m not trying to ignore the elephant in the room. I will break down the Yankees’ 27th championship at length tomorrow. For now, since it is a Thursday tradition during football season, I’ll stick with the picks column. But let me take a moment to congratulate the Yankee fans who visit this blog regularly even though the anti-Yankee sentiment is fairly obvious. The Yankees had the best team this year. So carry yourselves with pride this offseason. Just go easy on the over-the-top statements like, “Order is restored!” As for the Phils, they won 205 games over the last two seasons, including two postseasons. They defended their title by taking the Yankees to six games in the World Series. I know better than to mope around for too long.

On to the picks.

Last week’s record: 4-9

Season record: 54-61-1

Home teams are in caps.

Kansas City (+6.5) over JACKSONVILLE

Question of the Week: Who in their right mind would want to play the Chiefs coming off a bye?

Alright, there are probably 28 teams that wouldn’t mind playing the Chiefs, but I think the Jags have quit on their season. That was evidenced by last week’s 30-13 loss to previously winless Tennessee. One other important note: David Garrard isn’t very good. He completed 14 of 27 passes for 139 yards and two interceptions against the same defense that allowed 59 points to the Patriots. Yeah, in case you haven’t picked up on this yet, it may be an angry edition of the NFL picks.

Baltimore (-3) over CINCINNATI

Question: Where does Ray Rice rank among the top NFL running backs?

Let’s figure that out right now. Statistically speaking, he’s 10th in the NFL in rushing yards this season. But we know Rice is sharing carries with Willis McGahee and even Le’Ron McClain to some extent. So let’s go at this another way. If you were starting a team, and you could draft any running back in the league, what pick would Rice go? Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson would go No. 1 and 2. Maurice Jones-Drew would probably go third. But who else would get picked before Rice? Steven Jackson? Ronnie Brown? DeAngelo Williams? Michael Turner? I think I’d take Rice with the fourth pick. The guy always seems to make plays in the fourth quarter of close games. Consider me a Ray Rice fan.

Houston (+9) over INDIANAPOLIS

Question: What’s going to happen with Steve Slaton?

Slaton’s fantasy football owners can relax. He will get his job back even though he was benched after one carry last week. Slaton has been treating the football like a bag of dog crap this season. He’s fumbled seven times and lost five. Texans coach Gary Kubiak benched him after he fumbled on his opening carry of the game last week. Then Ryan Moats played in Slaton’s place and had 23 carries for 126 yards and three touchdowns. The ironic part is that Moats struggles with the same problem that paved the way for his opportunity last week. Moats was drafted by the Eagles in the third round of the 2005 draft with the idea that he’d be Brian Westbrook’s eventual replacement. Then Moats reported to training camp and fumbled almost every time he touched the ball. He had a grand total of 55 carries his rookie year and fumbled three times. He only carried the ball 22 times his second season and was cut in training camp during his third year. Leading into last week’s game, Moats had a total of 118 carries in 30 NFL games. Don’t expect him to carry the load the rest of the way.

ATLANTA (-10) over Washington

Question: Is Jim Zorn still the coach of the Redskins?

Yeah, he survived the bye week. Speaking of the Redskins, you know who I don’t miss? Tony Kornheiser on Monday Night Football. He was the worst. I hated when they’d come back from the halftime show, and Kornheiser would monopolize the lead-in to the second half by saying things like, “In the eyes of a newspaper columnist, I think the story of this game is how the Washington Redskins may have hit the lowest point any franchise in the history of sports — and maybe even the history of business.” Then he’d spend the entire second half interrupting the broadcast with questions like, “Jaws, if you’re starting a franchise, and you’re trying to win games in this league, is Jason Campbell your top choice for a starting quarterback?” Then Jaws would say something like, “No, but it’s not like the Redskins have a better option.” Then Kornheiser would scream, “BUT SHOULDN’T THEY?! THEY’RE AN NFL FRANCHISE ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER! SHOULDN’T THEY!?” Mike Tirico, “Back to the game, guys, it’s third-and-10 from the Atlanta 45.”

Green Bay (-10) over TAMPA BAY

Question: When will Green Bay escape the post-Brett Favre malaise?

Who knows? But since this is an angry picks column, let me share the Favre-related column tidbit I learned this week that almost made me puke. It comes from Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback column.

Favre told me he pulled or strained his groin in practice on Wednesday and took it easy in practice for the rest of the week. There was never any question he’d play, he said. But about an hour before the game, during pregame warmups at Lambeau with the groin wrapped tightly, he aggravated the muscle on the field. “I told T-Jack [backup Tarvaris Jackson] and [offensive coordinator] Darrell Bevell I may not be able to do it,” he said. “I didn’t know if I’d be able to drop back very well. After I aggravated it, there was no way I was going to be able to move around in the pocket very much. We never called one bootleg the whole game. But we made it through OK.”

And now, I wondered, how was the groin four hours and a lot of lost adrenalin later?

“It’s throbbing right now,” he said.

Very dramatic, Brett. Heroic stuff.

CHICAGO (-3) over ARIZONA

Question: Which quarterback is better at aggravating his fan base: Kurt Warner or Jay Cutler?

Tough one. Warner is maddening because he has no regard for taking care of the football. He’ll throw interceptions into double coverage and attempt the same throw on the next possession. He’ll drop the ball on the turf while he’s getting sacked, even if he’s staring down the pass rush the entire play. He’ll throw picks because his arm’s getting tired, and he doesn’t want to wait until fourth down to punt it. Cutler’s pretty much in the same boat. They both have 11 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. Cutler has seven fumbles to Warner’s four. Cutler has been sacked 15 times, while Warner has only been dropped 14. I’m going to have to give the award for quarterback-who-should-be-good-but-really-isn’t to Cutler over Warner. Congratulations, Jay.

Miami (+10.5) over NEW ENGLAND

Question: Will this game be fun to watch?

Not if Belichick can help it. The Patriots have the Colts, Jets and Saints the following three weeks, so this will be the classic Belichickian, “I’m not going to show you anything we’re saving for next week” 20-10 victory. The only thing that could be mildly entertaining is the postgame press conference when someone asks Belichick how he stopped the Wildcat offense. That’s the best. The look on Belichick’s face is always priceless when that question comes up. It looks like he’s reacting to a reporter who decided to drop his pants rather than ask a question. The Dolphins burned the Pats with that gimmick offense once last year, and now Belichick absolutely despises any mention of Wildcat. The Patriots may be the only team in the NFL to never run a single Wildcat formation. His typical response to the Wildcat question is something like this, “Oh, I don’t know about that formation you just mentioned … We saw that they had a rushing quarterback lined up behind center in some formations, so we identified him and tackled him.”

NEW ORLEANS (-13) over Carolina

Question: Who’s going to beat the Saints?

Nobody in the next three weeks. After the Panthers, they have the Rams and Bucs. So they’ll likely be 10-0 when they host the Patriots on November 30. I could see Belichick and Brady firing up the team with speeches about how nobody goes 16-0 besides the Patriots. I guess I could see the Patriots beating the Saints. They have the right formula. A team with a great defense and an OK offense isn’t going to knock off the Saints. You have to assume New Orleans is going to hang 30 points on you. The Saints have put up at least 45 points in four of their seven wins, and their low point total of the season is 24 against the Jets. So you need an offense that can score 30, and you need a defense that can make an occasional stop or force a turnover. The Patriots have the right formula. The Cowboys have the right formula, and they play the Saints on December 19. Atlanta has a chance on December 13. Besides that, the Saints have the Bucs and Panthers twice, the Rams and Redskins. I’m calling a 15-1 season for the Saints.

Detroit (+10) over SEATTLE

Question: Who cares?

Not me.

Tennessee (+4) over SAN FRANCISCO

Question: Does Jeff Fisher feel stupid about waiting so long to play Vince Young?

He should. The season’s over for the Titans at 1-6, and they just realized they have a decent team when Vince Young is the quarterback. When he lines up in the shotgun, the defense has to account for the potential quarterback draw (Young ran 12 last week) and keep an eye on the best stop-and-go runner in the league in Chris Johnson (24 carries, 228 yards, 2 TDs last week). So the running options alone kept the Jacksonville defense pinned to the line of scrimmage. And then Vince Young, even with his shaky passing fundamentals, completed 15 of 18 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Be grateful the Patriots played the Titans two weeks before the owner, Bud Adams, forced Fisher to start Young over Kerry Collins.

San Diego (+5) over GIANTS

Question: What’s up with Eli Manning?

Either the plantar fasciitis is really bothering Eli, or his one Super Bowl season was a complete fluke. Eli was diagosed with plantar fasciitis on October 4, and he’s supposedly having trouble planting his back foot into the ground when he throws. Regardless, here are his quarterback ratings by month this season.

September: 104.1

October: 82.7

November: 55.7

The last three weeks — all three of which were Giants’ losses — Eli had a rating of 61.0 against the Saints, 47.5 against the Cardinals and 55.4 against the Eagles. By the way, that injury won’t heal this season. It requires 4-6 weeks of rest.

PHILADELPHIA (-3) over Dallas

Question: How bad will I need an Eagles win on Sunday night?

Pretty bad, and I think I’ll get it. The Eagles have actually owned the Cowboys in the Andy Reid era. They have won seven of their last nine at home against the Cowboys. Ten times this decade, they beat the Cowboys by 20 or more points, including a 44-6 drubbing with a playoff berth at stake in the regular-season finale last year. Here’s my only concern with the Eagles. They can’t sustain drives on offense. Of the Eagles’ 20 touchdown drives this season, only three have been longer than six plays. They basically score on long strikes to DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin, or they score directly off turnovers. I’m not complaining about the big plays, but everyone knows great teams have to be able to put together an occasional clock-killing 12- or 15-play scoring drive once it gets cold.

Pittsburgh (-3) over DENVER

Question: Has Denver been exposed?

Yeah, Baltimore exposed the Broncos last week. Cover the short passes, challenge Kyle Orton to beat you deep, and you can beat the Broncos. Have at it, Pittsburgh.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a legitimate World Series for the first time since 2002. I know a Yankees-Phillies series isn’t going to rival 2004 or 2007 for Red Sox fans. However, this year is the first time a World Series has gone more than five games since the Angels-Giants seven-game set in 2002. The Yankees lead the Phillies, 3-2, but they showed flashes of 2004 on Monday evening when they failed to close the door on a fiery, never-say-die team. In case you’re late to the party, here are the key storylines heading into Game 6 this evening.

Does this look like the type of guy who can pitch on three days' rest? (AP)

1. Pedro Martinez is on the hill AGAIN in Yankee Stadium. When we assess the career of Pedro when it’s all said and done, we’ll likely remember a stretch from 1997-2002 when he was the best pitcher of his era. Then we’ll say 2003-04 was his last stand at Fenway. From 2005-08, we’ll say he was just trying to fit in with his teammates on the Mets. And by that, I mean he was trying to be a former star who underperformed while making a ton of money. But what if we have to add a final chapter, in which Pedro shows flashes of his prime during a 2009 postseason for the Phillies? He’s on his way to writing that chapter. He pitched seven shutout innings in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Dodgers. He came back for Game 2 of the World Series and pitched an effective six innings, allowing three runs in a loss. How will Pedro react with his back against the wall this evening in Game 6? Will we want to read the final chapter in The Pedro Martinez Autobiography — One Flew Under the Mango Tree?

2. A 37-year-old, steroid-free Andy Pettitte will pitch on three days’ rest this evening. In all fairness, I don’t know for sure that Pettitte is steroid-free. That’s an unfair accusation to make without all the facts. But if you ask me, pitching on three days’ rest is like unexpectedly having to make a three-hour drive at 6 p.m. When you’re in college, you might receive a call from a friend who tells you he’s having a huge party in New York City that night. You think about it for a second, grab your toothbrush and head to your car. You’re there in three hours. After you turn 30, you think about that offer for a few more minutes, pack an overnight bag with contact solution, pajamas and a cell phone charger, and you probably make the trip in closer to four hours. When you’re 37 years old, you round up your wife and ask if she’s willing to split the driving. You call your parents to see if they can babysit the kids for the night. You pack two overnight bags, just in case you want to spend the next day sightseeing in New York. You might only make it an hour down the road before you pull off in Worcester to switch seats with your wife. Then you pass out in the passenger seat for the next three hours. In other words, I don’t see Pettitte getting out of the fifth inning tonight.

3. There is legitimate Game 7 intrigue. If Pedro can force a Game 7 tonight, we know the Yankees will bring back CC Sabathia for the third time this series. He’ll pitch his third game in nine days. That’s not to say he can’t do it. Sometimes he can, and sometimes he can’t. Over the last two postseasons, he’s broken down when he’s tried to pitch on three days’ rest in multiple starts. He was definitely better in Game 1 than Game 4. We can probably expect a good but not great Sabathia in Game 7. Who are the Phils running out to match up with CC? Good question. Things have gotten so bad for Cole Hamels this season, the Phils are considering shutting down the reigning World Series MVP for the remainder of the playoffs so that they can bring back Cliff Lee on two days’ rest. Not good for Hamels. Hamels displayed the opposite of intestinal fortitude following his Game 3 loss, when he said he just wanted the season to be over. In an attempt to earn himself a Game 7 start, Phillies good-guy Brett Myers started trash-talking the mental midget Hamels following the Game 5 win, taunting him in the locker room with: “Why are you here? I thought you quit.” So, if you ask me, I’m fine with the Phillies bringing back Cliff Lee on two days’ rest. The weather forecast for a potential Game 7 also is in the Phils’ favor. It may snow and rain in New York (and Boston) tomorrow evening, so Game 7 could be postponed until Friday. Then the Phils could bring back Lee on three days’ rest.

4. There is an enormous mismatch in the matchup between the bullpens. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is the best relief pitcher in postseason history. Phillies closer Brad Lidge is the equivalent of a friend who shouts out every funny line in a movie the moment before it’s actually said. He’s the human spoiler. Stay away from him, Charlie Manuel. Why do I envision a Game 7 moment in which Charlie stumbles out to the mound and points at Lidge in the bullpen?

5. The managerial matchup is like comparing David Gray to Rage Against the Machine. Charlie Manuel might fall asleep during Game 6. He might not. He doesn’t really care. He’s just going to run his guys out there, avoid overmanaging at all costs, and let the chips fall where they may. There wasn’t even any debate in Philadelphia about bringing back Cliff Lee on three days’ rest in Game 4. Charlie said no, and that was final. Meanwhile, Joe Girardi has been sitting out in his bullpen before each game, evaluating whether that night’s starting pitcher looks strong enough to pitch on three days’ rest. He blew it with A.J. Burnett, who was awful in Game 5. He’s running out guys such as Brett Gardner and Jerry Hairston Jr. just to make moves. In my opinion, the biggest difference between these two managers lies in the fact that Girardi is happy to join Joe Buck and Tim McCarver for the in-game interview and Charlie Manuel has never agreed to a single one. Girardi takes advantage of the time to let everyone in the world know how smart he is. Manuel hands the headset to one of his assistants, allowing them to audition for their next job while he continues to allow the top rail of the dugout to support his body weight.

6. Alex Rodriguez is teetering between being off the hook for eternity to having the longest postseason of his life. Look, there’s a Mr. November lurking in this series. It could be A-Rod if he finishes with the same clutch heroics he demonstrated during this year’s ALDS and ALCS. He’s been a relative force all postseason. But if the Yankees lose, A-Rod may want to take a trip to Nowhere, Antarctica, for the remainder of the offseason. Otherwise, he can expect to spend the offseason hearing, “You’ll nevah be a Yankee, A-ROID!” In fact, A-Rod, if you leave the country, do us a favor and bring Kate Hudson with you. Nobody likes her movies anyway. And if we’re taking bets, I like Chase Utley’s chances to earn the title Mr. November. But don’t count out Ryan Howard. There’s no way he goes this entire series without doing anything.

By the way, I will be speaking about online media as part of the Moses Greeley Parker Lecture Series tomorrow night (7 p.m.) at the Pollard Library on the UMass-Lowell campus. Admission is free, and Game 7 of the World Series will start immediately following the talk. Please join me if that sort of thing interests you.

Leigh Montville, 66, was a sports writer and columnist at The Boston Globe for 21 years before serving as a senior writer at Sports Illustrated until 2002. The New Haven, Conn., native has authored several books, including The Big Bam, a biography of Babe Ruth; Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero; At the Altar of Speed: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of Dale Earnhardt; Manute: The Center of Two Worlds, Manute Bol’s biography; Why Not Us?, a book about the 2004 Red Sox; and Dare to Dream: Connecticut Basketball’s Remarkable March to the National Championship with UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun. I had a chance to chat with Montville last week about his career experiences. Here’s the transcript.

What made you decide to start writing about sports?

“When I was 10 years old, I used to deliver the morning newspaper in New Haven, Connecticut. It was a job that existed back then — paper boy. When I was done work each day, I met another kid who sold newspapers at the corner. We’d have breakfast. I had Crush grape soda and Hostess cupcakes for breakfast, and I’d read the paper. Every day I’d throw away the front page and read this guy, Frank Birmingham, in The New Haven Journal Courier. I noticed he would sometimes be at the World Series, or he’d be at the Kentucky Derby, or he might be at Yale football games, different things. I said, ‘This is the greatest job in the world.’ When I was 10, I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ There are not a lot of people who end up doing the thing they wanted to do when they were 10 years old. The moral of the story is to shoot low with your expectations and you can reach them.”

When did you realize you had gift for writing?

“I don’t know. I went to UConn and got involved with the daily student newspaper. I was the editor of the paper my senior year. Then I got a job in New Haven and I worked there for three years before I came to the Globe. I came to the Globe before I was 25, and I was a columnist before I was 30. I don’t know, it just kind of worked out. I’ve always been kind of an imagination guy. That hurts you in sports because you’ll be playing center field and your mind will be in Yankee Stadium, and you’ll be hearing all the roars and then the ball drops next to you, and you’re back to reality. I was a dreamer kind of kid. It hurts in athletics, but it’s OK in sports writing.”

I’ve heard stories about you sitting at your desk for hours at night, trying to come up with an idea for a column. Then 30 minutes before deadline, you’d just start writing, and it would turn into a great column. What was your process for writing columns?

“I think panic has always been the big motivator. I’d always fear there would be this big hole in the paper. It was OK in the newspaper business because you could come up with your 1,000 words or 800 words and fill that hole. Then when I was at Sports Illustrated, I had to panic like two days before because I was writing these 5,000-word stories. Writing books now, I have to get the panic feeling six months before it needs to be finished.”

How did you land the gig at Sports Illustrated?

“They called me up. Frank Deford left to start the national newspaper, The National. They just called me up and offered me a job. I’d been at the Globe for 21 years. This was a whole different way to handle things and do things.”

What is your least favorite part about sports writing?

“My least favorite part is that the whole job is blowing up. There is no sports writing any more. What I’ve done for my entire work life really seems to be floundering and changing so much. Nobody knows what will happen next. The idea that The Boston Globe should be on the ropes the way it is … Sports Illustrated has cut people. It’s become a tough time for the printed word. It’s amazing to me.”

What do you think will happen?

“I have no idea. I have no idea. I don’t know how they’re going to work out an apparatus where people will pay money. People always say, ‘I’d do what you do for nothing.’ Now they can. And they actually do it for nothing. But they don’t do it the same way because they don’t have access to things, so they’re commenting from afar. A guy at ESPN told me that the way it works now is one person finds out something and everyone else just talks about it. It used to be 20 people would try to find out the same thing. Now there’s just one person trying to find it out. I don’t know how you get back to 20 people trying to find it out.”

How did you come up with your topics for books?

“Varying ways. The first book I wrote was about Manute Bol. I did a story on him — the 7-foot-7 guy from Sudan — for Sports Illustrated. He seemed really interesting to me. His whole life seemed interesting. But the book did nothing. I kind of sat down and said, ‘That’s it for book writing.’ But then Jim Calhoun and UConn won the NCAAs (in 1999). Jim Calhoun asked me to write a book with him. And that did nothing. But the people at Doubleday Publishing liked the way I wrote it. They said, ‘Let’s do another book.’ I gave them a bunch of subjects and one of them was Dale Earnhardt. I’d done a story on him and he seemed like an interesting guy to me. They rejected it real quick. Then there was the Daytona 500, and he crashed on the last turn on the last lap and died in the biggest race. The guy was on the phone with me two days later and said, ‘Let’s do a book on Dale Earnhardt.’ That sold a billion, I mean it sold a lot. And that kind of got me into the book writing.”

I assume you got to know Ted Williams’ family a little bit when you wrote the book about him. Are you sad about what’s going on with his head? Is this the way he would want it to play out?

“Oh, I don’t know. None of us want to die. You know? That’s the big thing. I’m less and less outraged as it goes on. After you’re dead, a million bad things happen to you. They put you in the ground and the worms come. There’s all this bizarre stuff that happens to you after you’re dead. This, for sure, is notably different. You know, I don’t know. I suppose most people wouldn’t want that, but most people would probably say, ‘Who cares what happens to me?’ ”

What’s the most surprising thing you learned about Babe Ruth when you wrote that book?

“I think he was smarter than most people think he was. He grew up without much education. He came out of an orphanage. He had that reputation, and it was well-deserved, of being a late-night guy, a carouser who ate a million hot dogs and all that stuff. But he was very smart in lining up his career. He had the first real business manager of any athlete. The guy took care of him and his money. Babe Ruth had money until he died and lived a good life. He made sound decisions in the people he enlisted to help him. He got a personal trainer back when nobody had personal trainers, when he was starting to fall apart. The personal trainer got him on the road and got him hitting again. He had the knowledge to straighten himself out. A lot of guys don’t have that — Antoine Walker being the latest one. He had more self-control that I think most people give him credit for.”

What was your favorite topic for columns?

“Boxing was always easy because it’s right there in front of you. Marvin Hagler was a lot of fun going out to all those fights with him. Watching him come from fighting in a TV studio at Channel 7 at Hynes Auditorium to being the middleweight champion of the world. The Winter Olympics in 1980 were great because of those Boston kids and the Miracle on Ice and that whole deal at Lake Placid. The Celtics … all of it was a lot of fun. The people were more approachable in those days. Their lives were more like your life and my life than Clark Gable’s life or George Clooney’s life. They lived with the constant thought about mortgage payments and that stuff. They’ve moved to a new economic sphere and left the rest of us behind.”

Jim Calhoun had a tough year last year with the contract controversy and his alleged recruiting violations. What did you make of that after working with him on a book?

“He’s been there a long time. He’s had some health issues. I think if you’ve been anywhere a long time in college sports, things are going to happen to you. That’s simply because there are so many rules and so much stuff to pay attention to. Everybody is skating right up to the border on every issue, you know? I think he’s had a wonderful run there. He’s an outspoken and controversial guy. As far as his contract, it’s America. It’s capitalism. You get paid for making money. He just doesn’t have a real public relations way of saying things sometimes. That’s the way it goes in our society. If you make money, you make money, you know? The recruiting stuff is always happening everywhere. If you looked into Harvard long enough, you’d probably find recruiting stuff, especially in hockey.”

That 2004 Red Sox book seems like it was fun to write. Was it your favorite?

“That was just a fast book. After I stopped writing columns, people always asked, ‘Do you ever feel like you have something to say?’ I’d say, ‘No, I don’t have anything to say.’ Then the Red Sox won the whole thing. I’d been a Red Sox fan my whole life. I said, ‘Maybe I do have something to say.’ My agent wrangled a real small book deal. I did the book in four weeks. I just started calling people — Red Sox fans — and writing. The big problem was that Stephen King and Steward O’Nan wrote the book at the same time. That book was all set to go right when the season ended. They’d been doing it in installments. So that book came roaring out of the presses. My book came out around Christmas, and to get to my book, you had to climb over these mountains of books with Stephen King and Stewart O’Nan. A bunch of other books came out after that. They all kind of beat each other to death. But it was a lot of fun to do that book. I’d just call up a bunch of people and hear their different stories.”

Did you befriend many athletes?

“I treated it as a business thing, pretty much. I’d be friendly but I wouldn’t befriend. That was my kind of thinking. Other guys do it differently, but that was my kind of thinking. I covered the Patriots for a while before I became a columnist. I always seemed to have an affinity for the Patriots. It’s funny, now after it’s all over, a lot of those guys I’m pretty friendly with. If I see them somewhere, it’s like we have shared experiences and memories. It’s pretty cool.”

Did you ever have any run-ins with athletes? Who were the toughest guys to work with?

“I didn’t have too many run-ins. Wade Boggs went off on me one time. Mean Joe Greene of the Pittsburgh Steelers got mad at me. I used to do football predictions. I’d pick football games, but I wasn’t any good at picking the games, so I’d just pick out of a hat. I used to write funny explanations. I wrote some funny explanation that Joe Greene didn’t like. For me, it was the humor that would get me in trouble. The thing with Wade Boggs, it was about what he’d be like as a hitter when he’s 60 years old. I don’t know, but he didn’t get the joke. But I didn’t have many big run-ins. Not many at all.”

Are you strictly writing books now?

“Yeah, I’m just doing the books.”

Why did you leave Sports Illustrated?

“I did that book on Dale Earnhardt. I took a three-month leave to do that book. Like I said, it did pretty well. It was a New York Times best-seller. I said to my agent, ‘Can I do this again?’ She said, ‘Oh, yeah, you can do better than this.’ She might have overstated the case. To me, Sports Illustrated was evolving into a different thing. The longer stories were getting short and disappearing. It was becoming a little factoid thing. If you look at it now, the feature stories don’t even start until after the staple in the middle of the magazine. I always had another problem there. All of their stories are edited by four different people. I’d tell a joke, but who can make four people laugh? You can make three, but the fourth person will take it out. It really bothered me. I figured writing books would be a different way of doing things.”

If you landed a job at the Globe before you turned 25, and you became a columnist by 30, you must have received other job offers. Did you turn down many offers?

“I had a few, like in Detroit and Chicago, but it was never spectacular money. I’m a Boston/New England kind of guy anyway. Whenever I heard about Chicago or Detroit, I was always kind of like, ‘I don’t think so.’ ”

Are you still living in the Boston area?

“Yeah, I live in Winthrop.”

Who do you like to read these days?

“Oh, I don’t know. Dan [Shaughnessy] and Bob [Ryan], for sure. Jackie MacMullan. My friends that are still around.”

What are you working on now?

“I’m working on a book on Evel Knievel.”

When do you expect to publish it?

“I’m hoping for a year from now.”

You always hear sports writers say they become jaded by covering the teams. Do you still love sports?

“In a way, it’s better now that I’m just watching sports. I don’t know the people involved anymore. I don’t know anyone on the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins or Patriots. I know Tom Brady a little bit. I did a couple of things with him. But not knowing the people, I can kind of root like a fan again. I can put whatever virtues or vices to them without having knowledge of who they are. I won’t have an opinion change by whether a guy blows me off or is really nice to me. It’s like being a brand new fan again.”

There’s pain. There’s throbbing pain. And then there’s the pain associated with watching Alex Rodriguez hammer a game-winning double off closer Brad Lidge in the most important game of the Phillies’ season. If there was any doubt before last evening that Lidge’s season was an indisputable failure, he solidified his case in Game 4 of the World Series — a 7-4 Yankees win.

A-Rod and Swisher share a manly moment. (AP)

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel called upon Lidge to close the door in the ninth inning with the game tied, 4-4, five minutes after Pedro Feliz gave the Phillies a HUGE shot in the arm by hitting a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth. Feliz appeared to save the day with his team trailing 4-3. Joba Chamberlain was in the middle of mowing down the bottom of the Phillies’ order with 96 mph fastballs as Mariano Rivera began stretching in the Yankees bullpen. Feliz sat on a belt-high fastball, smashed a home run and tied the score at 4-4. The Phillies needed one more run to tie the series at two games a piece.

Never has momentum been flushed down the toilet so quickly. Lidge took the mound and recorded two quick outs while showcasing a straight fastball that looked as if it had been shot out of a tube. Finally, the same crappy repertoire of pitches that led to 11 blown saves and a 7.20 ERA in the regular season ruined the evening. Johnny Damon worked a nine-pitch at bat, fouling off all of Lidge’s attempted “strikeout pitches.” Damon then laced a single to left, and Lidge responded by showing his “resilience.” He gave up two stolen bases to Damon on one pitch and plunked Mark Teixeira. That’s when A-Rod smashed an RBI double. Jorge Posada followed it up with a two-run single. Yankees 7, Phillies 4. Lidge had turned a potential Phillies’ comeback victory into another ho-hum blown save. That makes 12 blown saves for Lidge in 47 chances this season. He stuck with his tradition of blowing a save every fourth opportunity.

Somewhere along the way this season, Phillies fans knew they were resigned to this fate. Lidge never put together a stretch of games that instilled confidence in anyone — with the possible exception of Charlie Manuel. Most nights, even when he converted a save opportunity, the opposing team hammered his fastball. By midseason, the Phillies even kicked around the idea that Lidge might be tipping his pitches. Regardless, most players don’t hit the ball as hard in batting practice as they do against Lidge. He’s been the opposite of a closer all season. He’s done for the season.

As a Phillies fan, I’m reeling from two-heartbreaking losses this weekend. On Saturday night, the Phils had the Yankees on the ropes, holding a 3-0 lead after three innings. Phils pitcher Cole Hamels had a no-hitter going through three. Andy Pettitte’s pitch count was soaring, and he was having trouble finding the strike zone. Two hours later, the Yankees led two games to one after an 8-5 victory. One arguable call by the umpire completely ruined Hamels’ night. As has been the case all season, Hamels was unraveled by a little adversity. Rather than fight back, he moped around and took the loss.

On one hand, this World Series seems like one of those perfect storms in which all of one team’s blemishes come to the surface against a strong team. The Phillies have been without a reliable closer all season. Cole Hamels has been emotionally weak. The Phils rely on the long ball more than any other team. The Yankees have exposed those flaws. They’re one win away from winning title No. 27.

Rather than act like Cole Hamels, I’ll take a page out of Kevin Millar’s book and look at this as optimistically as I possibly can. As Millar would say (if he was on the Phillies), “Don’t let us win Game 5.” The Phils have Cliff Lee going tonight, Pedro vs. Pettitte on Wednesday, and anything can happen in Game 7. I’m not quitting on this series by any means. However, I am quitting on Brad Lidge. Let’s hope Charlie Manuel is with me.

Some other thoughts from a day around the NFL …

The Eagles salvage the day? That was a weird fall Sunday for Philly sports fans to stomach. Apparently it was opposite day. The Eagles posted a convincing victory — 40-17 over the Giants — in the biggest game of the season to date. The Eagles’ best players (Donovan McNabb, DeSean Jackson) played like they should in a huge game. And then the Phillies went out and dropped a crushing game in the worst way imaginable. Ummmm … thank you, Eagles, for sparing Philly fans additional frustration. That even feels weird to write.

The Ravens exposed the Broncos. So much for the perfect Broncos. The Ravens’ spotty defense played close to the line of scrimmage, forcing Kyle Orton to beat them with intermediate and deep routes. He didn’t have it in him. He completed 23 of 37 passes for 152 yards — good for 4.1 yards per passing attempt. Orton might see that defensive scheme again in the coming weeks.

Apparently Steve Slaton lost his job yesterday. In Houston’s 31-10 victory over Buffalo, Slaton had one carry for one yard, and he lost a fumble on the play. He didn’t get another carry for the entire game. His backup, Ryan Moats, had 23 carries for 126 yards and three touchdowns. Make your move, fantasy football owners. Quickly.

Brett Favre gets his way. Listen, there’s not much you can say about Favre at this point other than he’s proving his point. He wins. The Packers lose. He was 17 for 28 for 244 yards and four touchdowns in yesterday’s 38-26 Vikings’ victory over the Packers. The Vikings don’t win that game with Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback. Favre was the difference. There, Brett, everyone is singing your praise.

Kurt Warner really stinks sometimes. Honestly, the guy carries himself like a rookie. His bad days rival those of Derek Anderson (6 for 17, 76 yards, 2 INT in yesterday’s 30-6 loss to Chicago) and JaMarcus Russell (14 of 22, 109 yards, 1 INT in yesterday’s 24-16 loss to San Diego). Yesterday, Warner had six turnovers. Five interceptions and one fumble. On the season, he has 11 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. He’s been in the league for about 12 years. When does this nonsense end?

Rondo got paid. Rajon Rondo reportedly agreed to a five-year, $55 million deal yesterday, meaning he’ll be in Boston until 2015. I’m all for the extension, but I will never understand why Danny Ainge felt it was appropriate to go public with his concerns about Rondo last summer if he intended to ink him to a new deal this fall. Thanks for the info, Danny. I’m sure you and Doc Rivers have your hands full. Let us know if Rondo steps out of line again.

If you’re still sleeping on the World Series, Boston sports fans, you’re missing some Red Sox-related story lines. Yes, I realize the Celtics opened their season in style this week with a victory over LeBron James and, to a lesser degree, the Cavs. And, yes, I realize baseball season officially ended in New England about three weeks ago. But here are some pieces of baseball news for Red Sox fans.

Pedro enjoyed his exit. (AP)

1. Pedro Martinez has some life left in him. After pitching seven shutout innings for the Phillies against the Dodgers in the NLCS, Pedro came back last night with a courageous effort against the Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series. Pedro took the loss but really pitched the way every Red Sox fan imagined he’d pitch once he grew old and lost 10 mph from his prime. He mixed an 88 mph fastball with a 67 mph change up. And he relied on all of the tricks he’s learned over his 17 years in the big leagues. He painted the corners, changed his arm angle and even changed the pace of his delivery. He struck out Derek Jeter twice. The second time, he started the at-bat by taking a ridiculously long time between pitches. He’d stare in for the sign for 10 seconds, pause for 10 seconds, wind up slowly and deliver his pitch. After lulling Jeter to sleep en route to recording two strikes, Pedro changed the pace mid at-bat, accepting the first sign he saw and throwing a quick pitch for strike three. By the way, I almost predicted Pedro’s line perfectly in yesterday’s blog.

My prediction: 6 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HBP.

Pedro’s actual line: 6 IP, 3 ER, 6H, 2 BB, 8 K, 0 HBP.

2. A-Rod is back to sucking. Alex Rodriguez’ numbers through two World Series games: 0-for-8 with six strikeouts. Let’s go easy on declaring that A-Rod has exorcised his clutch demons until he stops the three strikeouts per game routine.

3. The Yankees could be in trouble. Yes, the Yankees won last night, but they really didn’t want to split in Yankee Stadium. The Phillies are 11-1 at home and 19-6 overall over the last two postseasons. They’ve won each of their last three seven-game series in five games. They’ve only scored seven runs in two games this series after scoring 35 in five games in the NLCS. They’re due for an offensive outburst. Cliff Lee will pitch at least one more game. The Yankees hardly have No. 27 wrapped up.

4. You should find a Philly sports fan to hang out with on Sunday. Trust me, it’s the right move. I know Philly fans can be, ummm, rowdy sometimes. But you’ll want to witness what transpires on Sunday if the Eagles beat the Giants at 1 p.m. and then the Phils beat the Yankees at 8 p.m. We’re still accepting late arrivals to the Phillies’ bangwagon. You can even call it the anti-New York bandwagon if you want. We’re not picky. We’ve hardly even filled the first three rows. Join us.

On to the picks.

Story of the Week: Here’s a story in today’s New York Times about Pedro’s experience thus far in the World Series. Prior to Game 2, Pedro said in a press conference he was “the most influential player” to ever play at the old Yankee Stadium. Ben Shpigel speculates that Pedro said as much to motivate Yankee fans to boo him, which would, in turn, motivate Pedro. It talks about how Pedro ignored the fighter jet flyover last night during his warmup pitches, keeping his gaze fixed on the catcher. He also ignored the entrance of pregame entertainers Alycia Keys and Jay-Z, turning his back to them even as they stood 10 feet behind him. And then it details his crafty outing and smiling exit in the seventh inning as Yankee fans showered him with boos. Vintage Pedro.

Quote of the Week: I actually let this quote slide last week, but the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it sounds. During Theo Epstein’s end-of-season interview on the Dennis & Callahan show last week, the Red Sox general manager summarized the 2008 season this way:

“If we got one more clutch hit in the 2008 ALCS in Game 7, we were going to the World Series and probably winning it.”

First of all, that’s insulting to the 2008 world champion Phillies. Second of all, it’s a classic case of sour grapes. “If we beat Tampa Bay, we would have beaten the world champion Phillies, too.” Theo, you sound stupid. Take the rest of the offseason off.

E-mail of the Week: This one was sent by my uncle, a Yankees fan, following the Phillies’ Game 1 victory.

“Cliff Lee was impressive. Yanks will pick him up in the offseason.”

Comment of the Week: This was posted by The Gravy after I predicted Pedro would record one hit batsman in Game 2 of the World Series.

“The question then becomes, Dan, which batsman is Pedro going to hit? Jeter is the obvious favorite here, but I’m really rooting for Nick Swisher to win this one. He likes the Kings of Leon and his face is round. The man is clearly a pervert.”

Conversation Starter of the Week: Every Halloween costume is a conversation starter, but nothing gets it going like putting on tons of makeup and wearing as much wild stuff as possible (i.e. spiked shoulder pads, knee pads, something assless). Whenever someone asks about your costume, shoot them a confused look, and say, “My outfit is a window into my soul.”

Tip of the Week: If you’re over the age of 25, don’t use Halloween as an opportunity to showcase parts of your body you would never consider showcasing the other 364 days of the year. If you’re a guy, no one wants to see you as Michael Phelps in a speedo. No one wants to see you in a wrestling singlet. If you’re a girl, 25 is the age where it’s no longer appropriate to start every costume with the word “hot” or “slutty.” If you’re under 25, go crazy.

What Would A-Rod Do? Let’s say you’re in college and you have a reputation for getting sick every time you drink. Your friends begrudgingly invite you to a party one night, knowing they may have to clean up after you the next morning. So you set out to prove you can drink without getting sick. You have a great night, drinking casually without any major problems. You head home around midnight and make it back to your dorm just as your hall director is cleaning up the lobby in your dorm. He asks you how you’re doing. What would A-Rod do? He’d throw up all over the hall director’s shirt.

Stat of the Week: 1 — the number of days it took the Cleveland Cavaliers to lose at home this season. Last season, the Cavs didn’t lose at home until the 108th day of the season.

Video of the Week: You might start getting invites to flag football games over the next few weeks. If you decide to play, try not to look like this Marine, who nearly sprints 150 yards on the opening kickoff before ending the play with a front flip. Go easy, folks.

Enjoy the weekend. Support the Phils.

Patriots fans may be wondering what to do with themselves during their team’s bye week. If you ask me, you should do the same thing your favorite team will be doing — preparing for the stretch run. Use this week to cleanse your fantasy football team’s roster of all underachievers. I can’t recommend this strongly enough. It feels great. If you drafted a player in the second or third round, and he hasn’t scored a touchdown in weeks, take him out of your starting lineup and place him on the waiver wire. Don’t bench him. Cut him. Otherwise, you’ll put yourself through the weekly aggravation of having the following debate in your head: “Man, Steve Smith has been brutal this year. I shouldn’t start him, but I drafted him in the second round. I can’t just waste a high pick like that. I have to give him another chance.” No, you don’t. You have to cut him. Go ahead and do it, and let me know how it feels. I guarantee the moment you pull the trigger on the move, a huge smile will spread across your face.

Since you’ll likely be looking for non-Patriots games to watch this weekend, I’ll give you a rundown in the process of making my weekly picks below.

Last week’s record: 6-6-1

Overall record: 50-52-1

Home teams are in caps.

Broncos (+3.5) over RAVENS

Question of the Game: Can you find out how many times Denver has been favored this season?

Sure. I’ll do that for you … (Looking back one week at a time) … Despite the Broncos’ 6-0 record, they’ve only been favored twice all season. In Week 6, the Chargers were four-point favorites over the Broncos. In Week 5, the Patriots were three-point favorites over the Broncos. In Week 4, the Cowboys were three-point favorites over the Broncos. In Week 3, the Broncos were only 1.5-point favorites over Oakland. In Week 2, the Broncos were three-point favorites over the Browns. And in Week 1, the Bengals were four-point favorites over the Broncos. Let’s learn our lesson together and take the Broncos this week. Not only are they 6-0 this season, they’re 6-0 against the spread.

BEARS (-13.5) over Browns

Question: How many points would the Bears have to be giving for you to take the Browns?

I’m going to be conservative and say 27.5. Over the last three weeks, Browns quarterback Derek Anderson has completed 23 of 70 passes for 244 yards with one touchdown, three interceptions and four fumbles. Typically, you can get a good measure of how a team will fare based on its coach and quarterback. If a team has a top-10 coach and a top-10 quarterback, chances are it’s a playoff team. The Browns may have the worst coach in the NFL and the worst quarterback. The Raiders are close. The Buccaneers are right there. But I think the Browns rank worst among all NFL teams on the coach-quarterback rating system. One of these days, I might even rate the NFL coaches and quarterbacks from one to 32 and provide a “power rankings” of my own.

BILLS (+3.5) over TEXANS

Question: What’s the weather going to be like in Buffalo on Sunday?

That was the biggest factor in making this pick considering the Texans are a typical warm-weather team that wants to run up the score and throw the ball around the field. It’s going to be 50 degrees and rainy with 20 mile-per-hour winds in Buffalo on Sunday. If you’ve never seen Matt Schaub’s noodle arm come out in bad weather, tune in to this game.

Minnesota (+3) over GREEN BAY

Question: Did everyone see Brett Favre save himself rather than make a tackle attempt during the Vikings’ loss to the Steelers last week?

If not, here’s a video of Favre’s feet-first slide– which was only effective if he was trying to take himself out of the play — during Keyaron Fox’s interception return for a touchdown. If you’re looking for me to rip Favre for a move that appeared to lack courage, you came to the wrong place. If nothing else, Favre’s teammates will appreciate that The Gunslinger put himself before the team and thought about the long-term impact his tackle attempt could have on society. What if the 40-year-old man who plays like a kid got injured? Favre must have figured, “We’ll take this loss, but I’ll be back next week with my love for the game and infectious smile. I just have fun. I’m good for the game and good for sports in general. And when the defense is running interception returns at me, I stop having fun for a minute. But I preserve myself for the good of our country — and, in particular, all of the people out there who love watching me play.”

COLTS (-12.5) over 49ers

Question: Does anyone still dislike Peyton Manning?

I don’t believe so. Back in 2004 or 2005, one of my buddies — a Patriots fan — once had the Brady vs. Manning argument so loud on the deck of a beach house that he received a noise citation and $250 fine from the police later that night. He’s a Peyton Manning fan now. My brother — a University of Florida alum who hates all things Tennessee — almost strictly enjoys flashy players who boast about the numbers they put up. He was a huge Terrell Owens guy when he was in Philly. He loves Pedro Martinez. Loves players who make guarantees before big games. Loved Chad Ochocinco at one time. Peyton Manning is the opposite of the type of player he usually likes. And now he likes Peyton Manning. I don’t think all those commercials wore us down, Peyton. They let us into your heart, and we liked what we saw.

JETS (-3) over Miami

Question: Are you sure Tony Sparano is a good coach?

Maybe not. I was completely sold on Sparano last year when he was hand-picked by Parcells, and he led the Dolphins to a 10-win improvement from the 2007 season. I loved that he bucked the system and installed the Wildcat offense. I loved that his team simplified the game by cutting down on penalties and turnovers. His mistake-free style of coaching seemed to lend itself to winning in the NFL. But then he made the bonehead coaching move of the season last week in the Dolphins’ loss to the Saints. With the Dolphins leading 24-3 and less than 10 seconds remaining in the first half, Drew Brees appeared to connect with Marcus Colston for a touchdown pass. The refs reviewed the play and ruled that Colston’s knee was down on the 1-yard-line. The ref announced that the clock would resume running the moment the ball was spotted. Out of timeouts, the Saints rushed their kicking team on the field so that they could get off an 18-year field goal attempt in the 10-second window before the half. Sparano inexpicably called a timeout with four seconds remaining — possibly in an attempt to ice the Saints kicker before his 18-yard attempt. Brees went to the sideline and convinced Sean Payton to let him go for it. He punched it in himself from a yard out. The Dolphins lead was cut to two scores (24-10) at the half. The Dolphins had no chance from that point forward.

LIONS (-4) over Rams

Question: Will anyone read this breakdown, or will everyone just skip to the next game?

Let’s find out. The 6-0 Lions are a sure-thing to advance to their fourth straight Super Bowl. I had a chance to catch up with veteran coach Wayne Fontes this week, and this is what he said: “Dan, no one will even read this paragraph. You should just move on to the next game.” That’s horse (bleep), Fontes. Who isn’t stoked for the views of downtown Detroit from the MetLife blimp?

COWBOYS (-9.5) over Seahawks

Question: If you could take back anything you’ve written this entire year, what would it be?

That would actually be another worthwhile blog if I had some time to do the research because I’ve made some outlandish claims over the past 10 months. Hey, when you’re writing 1,000 words a day five days a week for a year, you don’t have time to let things play out. Let’s say I write a blog tomorrow that said, “I’m not sure what to think of the Patriots. Get back to me in eight weeks.” You wouldn’t read the next day. So I’ve made some bad predictions. One that jumps out at me is when I said — three weeks ago — that no player other than Peyton Manning was as valuable to his team as Matt Hasselbeck. Meanwhile, the Seahawks have been brutal since Hasselbeck returned from injury a few weeks ago. As Belichick would say, “I’m sure everyone had a few plays on Sunday that they’d like to have back.”

Oakland (+16.5) over SAN DIEGO

Question: What’s the funniest story you’ve read about JaMarcus Russell this season?

Man, there have been some good ones. I like that he keeps failing weigh-ins, causing him to get fined by the team, and yet he hasn’t lost a pound all season. I like that he falls asleep at game-plan installation meetings. The thought of that is just hilarious — an offensive coordinator is busy giving Russell specific instructions for combatting that week’s opponent, and he’s snoring in the front row like a backup rookie offensive guard. But here’s the funniest story I’ve read about Russell all season. Before the Raiders played the Giants at the Meadowlands in Week 5, both teams went through their pregame routines on the field. Eli Manning, a former No. 1 pick, and David Carr, a former No. 1 pick, went through their warmup routines on the Giants’ end. That included intense stretching exercises, running drills and then passing drills. Finally, the two took turns throwing every pass in the playbook to receivers as they ran routes at full speed. Supposedly, between the two of them, they threw over 100 pregame passes. All of them at game speed. All of them to receivers. On the other side of the field, JaMarcus Russell played catch with one of his buddies, who stood approximately five yards away from him. They did that for about 10 minutes and headed back to the locker room. I’m with Russell. Why throw out your arm in the pregame drills? Save it for the game, Eli.

Jaguars (+3) over Titans

Question: Did anyone in Vegas see the Titans-Patriots game?

Evidently not. The Titans quit in that game, and nothing has happened since to lead me to believe the Titans will be any better this week. Since the 59-0 drubbing at Foxboro, the Titans coach has worn an interdivision rival’s jersey in public. The coach has also kicked around the idea of switching quarterbacks — going with the most unstable member of his team to guide the rest of the players in a difficult time. The players had a week of vacation to “get away from football.” The Titans are done. Their quarterback-coach rating has dropped at least 30 points since the start of the season.

ARIZONA (-10) over Panthers

Question: You were talking about the Panthers’ Steve Smith when you mentioned failed second-round fantasy football draft picks, right?

Yes.

Giants (pick) over EAGLES

Sunday has a chance to be an unbelievable day in Philadelphia. The Eagles have a chance to take the lead in the NFC East with a victory over the Giants at 1 p.m. Later that evening, the Phillies host Game 4 of the World Series, with an outside chance of clinching the series in the event of a sweep. If the Eagles and Phillies win on Sunday, please don’t expect a blog post on Monday any time before noon. So why am I picking against the Eagles on this potentially legendary day? Because Brian Westbrook is going to be out with a concussion, and his backup, LeSean McCoy, is awful in pass protection. The Redskins exposed that weakness on Monday night, and the Eagles couldn’t sustain any drives. Westbrook won’t be back from a Grade 3 concussion on five days rest, so expect more of the same against a solid Giants defensive front.

Pedro Martinez (pick) over Yankee Stadium

Question: Can you give me a prediction for Pedro’s line tonight in Game 2?

I’m going to say 6 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, 6 hits, 0 walks, 8 strike outs, and of course, one hit batsman. And most importantly, he’ll pick up the win.

Saints (-10) over Falcons

Question: Are the Falcons the dividing line between good teams and crappy teams?

Yeah, it looks like it. The Falcons beat Miami, Carolina, San Francisco and Chicago. They got smoked by Dallas and New England. They can’t stop good offenses. The Saints always cover.