I have to rant about a great sports-related pet peeve of mine. It has to do with a professional athlete feels the need to guarantee a victory over an upcoming opponent. It started back in Super Bowl III (I can't use '3' or 'three' when referring to Super Bowls) when Joe Namath of the New York Jets guaranteed a victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. It was an outrageous statement at the time, but he was able to back it up and his legend grew.

Now, whenever a player predicts his team will win a game, as Cincinnati Bengals reciever Chad Johnson did this past week, it makes big headlines. The Bengals did in fact defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, who until this weekend had been undefeated, and all the media wants to is show clips of Mr. Johnson's comments from the previous week.

My problem is this: Aren't these professional athletes being paid huge amounts of money to win games? Isn't it part of their job description to help bring victory to their team? Why then does the media feel it is a big deal when a player tells us only what he is supposed to do? They should expect every single game to end in victory. I have never once heard a player say 'I don't think we will win this week,' or 'I guarantee we will lose.' If there is a single player on any professional team that does not think his team is able to beat their opponent, why would the coach have this player around?

Last week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were facing the Carolina Panthers. Simeon Rice, a defensive end from the Tampa team made the bold move of guaranteeing a victory against the Panthers, who had beaten the Bucs earlier this season in a closely contested game. What happened? The Buccaneers lose another close game when the defense (Simeon Rice included) could not stop a last minute touchdown drive. Did Mr. Rice learn his lesson about predicting victories? Of course not! He promptly guaranteed his team would come back to win the next game they played, saying he expects to win every time out. They lost, but at least he has the right attitude in declaring victories.

This leads to my second problem with these guarantees: how do they back them up if they lose? Will the player who ran his mouth have to cover all the lost bets placed on their team? Will the team offer Chalupas to the home crowd if the team doesn't deliver? Do they guarantee a win the next time to bring their guarantee percentage up to 50%?

Last football note as I eagerly wait until Tuesday for TMQ: Az Hakim had his best game of the seaon today, catching 6 passes for 60 yards and his first TD of the season. Pick him up in your fantasy leagues now. He will rack up big numbers the next few weeks. I guarantee it.