Thought #1- Remember that first time you tried to get away with cussing in front of your parents? You know you thought you were grown up enough that it would be cool and they would just let it go, so you went ahead and dropped a bomb in casual conversation. Do you remember what happened next? Depending on how public of a location you were in you most likely caught some combination of a soul piercing dirty look and/or a back hand across your face. Either way, the law was laid down and it was firmly established you ain't grown yet and that's not a decision you have the freedom to make. Humbled is the only word to describe it.

I bet Minnesota Viking's coach Brad Childress could tell you a good bit about being humbled after Brett Favre reminded him Sunday who the adult was on the team. During the third quarter, with a one point lead, Childress attempted to take Brett out of the game. Yeah, that didn't go over so well with the future Hall of Famer, who basically laughed and said "I don't think so Brad, now go on back over there and continue to look like the bald Ned Flanders."

Listen Brad, you can't bring in the gunslinger and then expect him to let you dictate when and where he shoots.You have to know when you give him the keys to the car, you're not getting them back. He may run that thing into the ground, burn up the engine, shred the tires, and run into every mail box in the neighbor hood, but he ain't getting out of that drivers seat. It's a high risk high reward situation, but either way this ride goes, you punched your ticket back in August. So just sit back, buckle up, and try not to think too hard as you watch Brett out there drawing plays up for the offense on the back of his hand.

Thought #2 - Jimmie Johnson was named AP Male Athlete of the Year Monday after winning his forth straight Cup championship. Johnson becomes the first driver to ever win this award and plenty of people are taking issue with this, claiming drivers are not athletes. Now let's be honest, when is the last time you heard someone complain that a basketball or baseball player wasn't an athlete? I mean seriously Jimmie, I know what you do is athletic, but that doesn't put you automatically into the athlete category.  I mean technically mowing my yard is an athletic activity, it takes some skill and to be honest, I'm pretty dang good at it. (I usually go circles, makes it feel more like laps.) But I'm not expecting to be labeled an athlete because of this. Bowling, same thing, it takes some athletic skill, but doesn't make you an athlete.

Anywho, my second beef with this decision is that Johnson isn't on a level playing field with the other competitors in his sport. He's driving for the best team, with the best equipment, and the most money to support testing. This is like giving Albert Pujols a metal bat while the rest of the field is swinging wood. I mean how much better would Kobe Bryant or Lebron James be if they were the only guys who could afford to work out with legit exercise equipment while the rest of the league was forced to work out with that old Nautilus equipment from the 70's, which still fills every hotel workout room in the country. More than any other sport today Nascar success is dependent on money, which makes it hard to acknowledge Johnson as "Athlete of the Year."

Thought #3- The Russian's cut! The New Orleans Saints lost Saturday night for the first time this season. Now the Saints have flirted with losing all year and just like flirting with an ugly girl, you can only do it so many times before she starts telling your friends and you start losing respect. The Saints lost some respect Saturday night and now no doubt look very beatable by the rest of the NFC. Props to the Cowboys for the exposing their weakness; Drew Brees struggles to throw the football when he is laying on his back. Maybe this loss helps the Saints regroup and takes a little of the pressure off, or maybe it robbed them of their "chosen one" status and will provide the other teams in the league with the confidence to attack them.

Thought #4 - Thinking back on the decade there have been a lot of great memories but here is one I think is worth mentioning.

Remember when 2K Sports  and ESPN brought out NFL 2k5 for $19.99? Absolutely awesome. Now for some of you this might not have been a big deal, but for a kid in college this made the decision to forgo buying that suggested commentary on the Paul's letter to the Corinthians and instead drop it on a XBOX game with TO on the cover pretty easy.

What are you best/worst thoughts from the sports world this decade?