Even though we treat them like celebrities, athletes are really just normal people like you and I. When they're not preparing for the next game or swimming in a vault filled with their money, they do a lot of normal everyday things just like you and me. So when Halloween rolls around, NFL athletes get just as excited about the prospect of dressing up and scaring some little kids. You can tell a lot about a person based on what they choose to dress up as, and we happened to have tracked down a few less-than-esoteric costumes around the league.

There's been a lot of controversy recently about Brett Favre and his alleged late night phone calls to Lions' President Matt Millen before their matchup against the Pack. While Favre maintains that any accusations of espionage against him are unsubstantiated, his legacy in Green Bay is even worse-off than it was after his rough break with the Packers earlier this year. Let's face facts: one way or another, Brett isn't the genuine "Aw Shucks!" blue collar guy from Mississippi that we all thought he was.

But while many in the mainstream media are prowling league insiders for more information on what Favre is doing in his leisure time, I've discovered a more fruitful insight into No. 4's psyche. If you've even gazed at a television in the last three months, you're likely already intimately familiar with my source: Brett's godawful Wrangler commercials. First take a look at the commercial, then let's go over the breakdown.

I must say, after anxiously anticipating the first weekend full of NHL action for months now, I'm left with an unsettling taste on the roof of my mouth. Don't get me wrong, the money I dropped on NHL Gamecenter Live has already paid for itself a€" four different games went to overtime on Saturday a€" and lucky guy that I am, I was on the clock to watch them all. It was a little disheartening that the story about Palin being booed was the most noteworthy happening of the week in the eyes of the mainstream media, but I digress.

No, what bothered me was the fact that the percentage of the hockey rink that remains ad or graphic free seems to be slowly dwindling. Where ads were once the exclusive province of the boards, faceoff circle and scoreboard, they've been slowly bleeding to just about everywhere from the graphics out of the broadcast booth to the logos that are now officially worming their way inside the blue line.

It's easy to wax poetic about why your team of choice has high hopes for success in the 2008-9 season. When all you have to go on are the rosters on a piece of paper, everybody has an equal chance of being a winner.

As you probably well know however, hockey is not a game where everybody gets to be a winner. It's a hard-nosed game full of blood, sweat, and grit, and I feel that any preview that doesn't reflect this spirit does a disservice to hockey fans everywhere. So, having said that, here is my breakdown of why your team won't hoist Lord Stanley's cup at season's end. We'll start with the East Conference, and next week take a look at the West.



Atlantic Conference

Pittsburgh Penguins: As impressive as this team was in their run to the Stanley Cup, I think they still suffered for a lack of veteran leadership, especially compared to the seasoned Detroit team. Losing Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone was a big blow in this respect. If anybody seriously thinks that Miroslav Satan is the same kind of offensive stud as Marian Hossa, I've got some ocean front property to sell that you might be interested ina€¦

Philadelphia Flyers: This Flyers squad is young and excited about their prospects about making another run for the top of the Atlantic division. And while they do indeed show promise, there is no way in hell they are raising Lord Stanley's cup with Martin Biron in net. The guy posted a .876 save percentage in the playoffs and will continue to be a liability in big game situations.

New Jersey Devils: The Devils' Stanley Cup formula used to be air-tight goaltending, excellent defense, and adequate offense. What happens when you remove excellent defense from that equation? Trouble, that's what. The Devils did shore up their offense, bringing in Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik to provide some leadership at center, but both players are on the tail end of their careers. They're still playoff bound, but probably lack the punch for a Cup run.

New York Rangers: The Rangers are going to have some trouble producing offense this year, despite the addition of Marcus Naslund. I think the boys in blue are banking on Scott Gomez returning to form, which is far from a given in the void left by the departing Jaromir Jagr. Until they can reliably produce offense on the power play, they are a first-round loser.

New York Islanders: This is a team that just transparently has no shot. They're still lacking a head coach, and their biggest offensive threats are the octogenarians Doug Weight and Bill Guerin. Goaltender Rick DiPietro is back from surgery, just in time to continue to regret signing that ridiculous 15-year contract with the Isles. On the plus side, when you don't expect anything from a team, it's easy to be surprised!



Northeast

Boston Bruins: While they looked good late last season in the run-up to their spectacular loss to the Canadiens, the Bruins are far from a lock to reappear in the playoffs. With Glen Murray finally hitting the road, a big part of their production in the front six is dependent on Patrice Bergeron, who was limited to just 10 games last season. And free agent signing Michael Ryder is coming off his worst season ever. Big question marks here.

Montreal Canadiens: People seem to be taking for granted the fact that Alexei Kovalev can repeat his stellar 84 point performance from last year, but seem to forget that he managed just 47 points the year before. The Canadiens will likely make the playoffs with or without the old winger, but they have yet to be able to time their momentum to carry them through the playoffs.

Buffalo Sabres: After a disappointing 10th place finish last year, the Sabres are a big question mark. They don't score very much though, which is a concern in a conference full of flashy playmakers. They'll benefit from the return of Teppo Numminen, but their defensive core doesn't help to generate many opportunities and will likely hold them back this year.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Yeah, this is what they're going to call a "rebuilding year." Their defensive core, in Kabrele, McCabe, and Kubina can all produce on the offensive side of the puck, but paradoxically, they don't have any forwards with 30 or more goals last season. Poor Vesa Toskala is going to have his work cut out for him again this year in net as well.

Ottawa Senators: Like the Canadiens, the Ottawa Senators are a tremendously talented team that just can't seem to put together any momentum towards the end of the year. Besides simply showing that they can win in the playoffs, the Sens are going to need to find a way to account for the loss of Wade Redden back on the blueline, as well as pray that Martin Gerber doesn't continue the downward trend he showed late last year.



Southeast

Florida Panthers: The decision to trade away star forward Olli Jokinen wasn't entirely without merit, but it left the team without a consistent goal scoring threat. Hockey in South Florida is already a shaky proposition, but without a face for the organization (does Bouwmeester count?) to provide that spark, it could be a long year for the Panthers.

Washington Capitals: Former Caps netminder Olaf Kolzig shouldered a lot of the blame for a poor defensive game in Washington last year. The truth of the matter is that Kolzig was a fall guy for a poor game plan, which saw the fast-paced Caps offense turtle any time they took the lead. Jose Theodore won't fare any better than Olli did unless the Caps learn to stick with their guns and keep attacking.

Carolina Hurricanes: Carolina is betting the farm on goaltender Cam Ward this year, taking it on faith that the young netminder will be able to improve the team's abysmal GAA. Ditching John Grahame as a backup was a sound move, but young Michael Leighton hasn't proven himself on the highest levels yet. Give the young duo another year to develop and they may be formidable, but this year isn't their's.

Atlanta Thrashers: Ilya Kovalchuk remains the lone proven scoring threat for a Thrashers team still reeling from their collapse into obscurity last year. Their goaltending is mediocre at best and their defense gives up an inordinate number of shots. I'd be shocked if they even showed signs of climbing out of the basement in the Southeast.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The shakeups in Tampa this off-season were huge. They managed to coax Barry Melrose out of the broadcast booth to coach the team, and brought in a ton of new talent in Ryan Malone, Mark Recchi, Michel Ouellet, Gary Roberts, and Olaf Kolzig, among others. They're basically throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. Even assuming the team does gel, they have at least a year before they should be looking towards the Cup. Not this year guys.

Former NFL QB and current OPEN Sports football analyst Sean Salisbury will chat with users at 11 a.m. ET before Sunday's games, Sept. 21. Ask him some questions about your favorite team, your fantasy stars or just discuss all things pigskin.

In comparing DB to WR matchups, you have to know if the team likes to match up their DBs or play left and right. What I mean by that is that some teams play left and right corners; they don't switch, regardless of which receiver comes to their side. Other teams match up their corners to get advantages and cover mismatches. The latter is the best way to do it, because if you're the DB, you can game plan every aspect of the opposing offense, allowing the defensive back to study the tendencies of the receiver he'll be facing the majority of the time.

The other aspect of matching up that helps is the receiver's position off of the ball. Every team has an X and a Z receiver. The X spends 95% of his time away from the tight end and lining up on the line of scrimmage. This is key when trying to press somebody, as the receiver is no more than a yard from you and can't go in motion. The Z receiver lines up with the tight end 95% of the time, so he can go in motion and, more importantly, he's lined up off of the ball about 1 to 2 yards away from you. This makes it more difficult to get your hands on the receiver at the line of scrimmage. By matching up, you allow each DB to focus on how to press the receiver on or off the ball, as well as learning that particular receiver's tendencies.

Now, onto the games!

Ever since veteran Patriots QB Tom Brady went down with a torn MCL/ACL in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs in week one, the sports media has been overwhelmed with speculation about how the AFC playoff picture has gotten suddenly and vehemently shaken up. With the Patriots' ship sinking back into the middle of the pack, a number of other teams suddenly seem like much stronger contenders.

Speaking personally, I've always found the personal storylines more intriguing. While everybody else seems preoccupied with the Patriots' prospects, I've spent a lot of time thinking about what Tom Brady is going to do to occupy his time this season. Here's my list of the Top 5 things Brady is going to do with his time.

Click below to check it out, with pictures!

I took part in a fantasy football draft with John Elway this week.

THE John Elway.

Do you understand what that means? Since 1989, when I first started playing the game, I was drafting John Elway a€" and now I'm drafting with him.

It's like playing air guitar alongside Jimi Hendrix. It's like doing shots of tequila with Jose Cuervo. It's like going to the movies with Angelina Jolie (she hogs the popcorn).

The former Denver great signed on with OPEN Sports and now he's part of my team. He's going to be blogging on our site weekly and sharing some knowledge. He'll also be part of our Tackle the Pros game, which pits a different professional football player against YOU each week in a fantasy challenge game.

So I helped handle his fantasy draft, with a number of his friends, in a live conference call. Fellow writer John Hett a€" a lifelong Elway fan a€" joined me on this end of the conference call to draft our teams.

A lot of times you'll see celebrity/athlete fantasy drafts, only to find out that an assistant did all the picks. That's not the case here. During our live phone draft, Elway was making his own picks a€" and he was even working on dropping down in the first round for an extra third-rounder -- to no avail.

Handling the draft was hilarious at times. I realized fantasy football is the great equalizer among men. They were goofing around during the draft just like your buddies would during your own draft. Heck, one of Elway's friends jokingly drafted Orson Mobley a€" John's tight end from the late '80s. Even 20 years ago that was a questionable pick!

On the phone, several guys were talking at once a€" with one owner getting fantasy tips from his son! (Good tips, too!) It really was just like every other fantasy draft!

Elway walked away with a pretty good team ( LaDainian Tomlinson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Anquan Boldin, Antonio Gates and Derek Anderson to name a few), and if fantasy mirrors life a€" he'll compete for a spot in the playoffs.

But in Week 8, if Elway's team is beating mine before the Monday night game, I might just have to call on the Stanford band to come out to screw up the final play of the game!

Among the players that have represented the NFL over the past decade, Tom Brady strikes me as one of the most iconic. At the helm of one of the most impressive dynasties ever to grace the game of football, he's has been the very picture of excellence since he took over the starting role from Drew Bledsoe in 2001. With three Super Bowl championships, two Super Bowl MVPs, four Pro Bowl nods, and a list of accomplishments as long as my arm, he's unquestionably one of the biggest faces of professional football today.

And yet, it is my belief that beneath that chiseled countenance lies some sort of dark secret too horrible to speak out loud. I've developed a number of theories, each backed by sound scientific evidence that might go a long way towards explaining the eerie vibe that has followed No. 12 for so long.