Green Bay Packers

Lane Kiffin's long-anticipated firing this week instantly bestowed him membership in the ever-growing ranks of ex-Raiders head coaches, and there's certainly no shame in that.

Three quarters of the year has passed, and 2008 has taken on the look of an alternate dimension. Somewhere Rod Serling is lisping quietly while eerie music fades in the background. The Tampa Bay Rays, not the Yankees...

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'' -- Spanish philosopher/poet/novelist George Santayana, 1906

Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we take in a Week 4 that turned into a veritable points-palooza in so many NFL locales (six of Sunday's early eight games saw the winner score 30 points or more) ...

They are afterthoughts, second options, bailouts. Vikings quarterback Gus Frerotte is 37, a veteran of 15 NFL seasons and six clubs, one of them twice. Kerry Collins of the Titans is 35, and his resume includes five...