While most of Favre's fan mail is sent to Lambeau Field, that mail is forwarded to the Maddens, who sort through it and bring it back to Green Bay so fans will see a Green Bay postmark on anything they receive.

With hundreds of requests from fans every week, there's no way Favre would be able to keep up with it.

"He'd have to spend his entire offseason signing pictures," Sue Madden said. "He's a busy man. He doesn't have time to do that."

To make up for that, most of the items sent to fans are stamped with Favre's autograph.

"It's just a stamp of his autograph. There's a small one for cards and a bigger one for pictures. Even jerseys can be stamped," Sue Madden said.

"There's a Web site, officialbrettfavre.com, and on there, there's a fan mail policy where it says that you can send fan mail to Brett, but he's authorized this stamp to be used."

After playing a competitive first half against an Eagles team missing its key offensive weapon and two of its top three cornerbacks, the Packers melted down in the third quarter and ended up as blowout fodder for the Eagles, 31-9 at Lincoln Financial Field.

The Packers certainly can't complain about not having their chance against a 3-1 Eagles team that figures to challenge for the NFC East Division title this year.

Without halfback Brian Westbrook, the Eagles were deprived one of the NFL's premier multi-purpose weapon and player around whom their offense runs because of his ability to run well out of the backfield and split out with receiver-like skills.

McNabb finished with two rushing touchdowns in addition to his 288 yards and two TD passes to Greg Lewis.

If the Oakland Athletics make it all the way to the World Series, the Raiders may have to shift the dates of two home games. The teams share the Coliseum and the Raiders have home games scheduled for Oct. 22 against Arizona and Oct. 29 against Pittsburgh. Those are the scheduled days for Games 2 and 7 of the World Series, which will be hosted by the American League team because the AL won the All-Star game.

The way the Raiders have been playing, they deserve to be kicked out of their home stadium. Go A's!!

Let's stop the confusion here. There were rumors earlier that Alexander's foot may not have been broken at all. The latest test have confirmed that the foot is indeed broken.

Shaun Alexander confirmed the Times' earlier report today that he still has a crack in the "ring toe" or fourth metatarsal, of his left foot.

Despite Alexander's "wishful thinking" don't get your hopes up about him playing Sunday. He will almost certainly be out.

Let's hope this one play doesn't become a defining moment for the 49ers season.

San Francisco running back Frank Gore and rookie tight end Vernon Davis were injured on the same wacky play -- a 98-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Philadelphia's Mike Patterson.

Gore fumbled and apparently strained his abdomen while trying to stretch over the goal line late in the third quarter. Patterson, a 292-pound defensive lineman, picked up the ball and lumbered downfield for the longest fumble return for a touchdown in Eagles history.

Davis, the sixth overall pick in the draft, strained his calf while trying to chase down Patterson from behind. Gore walked to the locker room after the play, and Davis was taken out on a cart.

The Bengals converted two Steelers turnovers into fourth-quarter touchdowns to win 28-20 this afternoon at Heinz Field.

With the Bengals scoring 21 points off Steelers turnovers, Palmer twice hit Henry for touchdowns for a 14-7 halftime lead. Then, after the Steelers seemed in control even while leading only 17-14 in the fourth, Palmer took advantage of fumbles by punt returner Ricardo Colclough and running back Verron Haynes to hit Houshmandzadeh on TD throws of 9 and 30 yards only 54 seconds apart.



Houshmandzadeh had missed two games with a heel injury but, with the Steelers limiting star Chad Johnson to one catch for 11 yards, took advantage of man coverage to make nine catches for 94 yards.

Cincinnati moves to 3-0. The Steelers dropped to 1-2.

On Sunday, Jason Elam missed a 44-yard attempt through a strong crosswind against Kansas City in the first half at Invesco Field, but nailed a 39-yarder through the same uprights in overtime for a 9-6 Denver win.

"On that last one, it was kind of nice when Kansas City called a timeout. I was able to go out there, see what the wind was doing, see what the plant foot area was like," Elam said.

And visualize the ball going through the uprights.

Huh. So calling an "icing" timeout actually gives the kicker a better shot at making the game-winner? Who'da thunk it?

The Jaguars defense harassed Roethlisberger, held Willie Parker to 20 yards on 11 carries and ended the defending Super Bowl champions' nine-game winning streak with a 9-0 victory -- the lowest-scoring game in Monday Night Football history.

The Steelers (1-1) kept it close all game and had the ball with about five minutes to play, but Rashean Mathis intercepted Roethlisberger's slant pass and returned it into field goal range. Scobee kicked his third field goal, a 42-yarder with 4:26 to play. He had a 31-yarder late in the third and a 32-yarder earlier in the fourth.

It was a battle for field position for much of the game. And while Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward and speedy Willie Parker were shut down by the Jags D, the "tall guys" on the Jags' Offense kept catching the ball and dragging their toes to move the chains. Matt Jones and Reggie Williams came up big on third downs.

The San Diego Padres have now won eight of the last nine meetings against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thanks to their domination of the Dodgers, the Padres have taken a half-game lead in the division, passing Los Angeles with a 2-1 victory Sunday.

Chris Young pitched one-hit ball for six innings, pinch-hitter Terrmel Sledge singled home the go-ahead run in the ninth and Trevor Hoffman earned his 475th career save.

While the Dodgers dropped out of the division lead, they are one game ahead of Philadelphia for the wild card.

Smith passed for 233 yards and Frank Gore rushed for 127 yards as the 49ers (1-1) followed up a narrow loss at Arizona last week with a cohesive victory over the Rams.

The San Francisco 49ers looked solid on both sides of the ball Sunday afternoon. Coming out of halftime, the team trailed St. Louis by a touchdown. A great 59-yard kickoff return by Maruice Hicks set up a Frank Gore 32-yard TD scamper. Three minutes later, Alex Smith hit Antonio Bryant in full stride down the Rams sideline for his first touchdown with San Francisco. He finished with four catches for 131 yards.

Judging by the way St. Louis' defense manhandled the Broncos and Jake Plummer last week, the niners beat a decent team Sunday.

Jonathan Papelbon wants to be a starter next season. That's what he was supposed to do this year. But plans changed. And Pappy dominated. So now the BoSox are going to move this ROY-contending closer back into the rotation? It doesn't quite make sense when you think about the success that Papelbon had as the Sox's ninth-inning guy.

The free agent closers don't really seem to fit. So don't be surprised if GM Theo Epstein makes a deal. One guy he could be targeting: Brad Lidge. It wouldn't be the first time the Red Sox have looked at acquiring him. Lidge is still racking up the strikeouts, though his control has slipped to a dangerous level. He won't be a free agent until after the 2008 season.

Good thing for Giants fans eh? Now they actually have a chance. Benitez has to be the Giants most disappointing free agent signing from a couple years back. (Not the most disappointing transcation: that one goes to Liriano and Bonser for AJ).

The Giants announced Wednesday they will place injured closer Armando Benitez on the 60-day disabled list on Thursday and purchase the contract of right-handed reliever Billy Sadler from Triple-A Fresno.

If for some reason you still have Benitez on your fantasy team, feel safe dropping him now. Think about picking up Mike Stanton, his replacement.

Park Place, Boardwalk cya later. We got Fenway Park taking over for Park Place and Times Square for Boardwalk. Good idea I think.

Some other updates include: Chicago's Wrigley Field in place of North Carolina Ave. on the less-upscale green area of the game; Texas Stadium on the board's purple area, the cheapest real estate available on the Monopoly board. Playing pieces include a New Balance running shoe.

Pretty nifty I think. Comes out tomorrow.

There were rumors about Miami's interest in the former Lions' First Rounder when he was first released. They're no longer just rumors. Charles Rogers worked out for the team on Tuesday.

Personally I'd like to see Rogers get a chance somewhere. Let's see what this kid can do when healthy. We've only seen glimpses.

The Red Sox have been getting stellar performances from the most unlikely candidates. Tonight it was just recalled left-hander Kason Gabbard. He stymied Chicago, allowing just three hits in seven shutout innings while striking out six. This was important, for Javier Vazquez was on tonight. Vazquez pitched a complete game allowing just one run.

With Papelbon out suffering from an ailing shoulder, Mike Timlin pitched the last two frames to get his fourth save of the season.