Manning's 20-for-27, 185-yard, 2 touchdown performance didn't exactly silence the unforgiving New York media, but they are a few decibels quieter. They still need to beat the Cowboys next week for that to happen, at which point they'll continue to be quieter. This is dangerous territory. Any more silence over the city and we'll actually be able to hear people urinating on the subway.

4. C Shaquille O'Neal — Rumors are so much fun. (And easy to spread!) Apparently Shaq is handling his divorce pretty well:

"Every time Shaq is in town, I get the call, and let me tell you: He's got more women leaving his hotel room then any celebrity I've ever seen. Every time he stayed at the Marriott in South Beach, he had a blonde or a brunette with him."

That's from a cab driver who often drives Shaq around. Or at least used to drive him around Miami.

I can't imagine being Shaq's mistress would be all that fun. First of all, if the chick is any shorter than 6-feet tall, it's like sitting in the handicapped stall of the public bathroom. (Unnecessarily oversized.) And because of his toe, what should normally last an hour would be limited to 21 minutes.

5. DF Joleon Lescott — The sports photograph can sometimes capture the human condition at the most vivid moments of a match. In this case, you can see Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard (in green) looking at his white-clad teammate Lescott, the one about to head the ball back toward his own goal, muttering in his head, "What the HELL are you about to do?"

Because after Chelsea quickly built a 1-0 lead in the semifinal of the Carling Cup, only for the Gunners to fall to 10 men after a red card, allowing Everton to tie the game up, Howard was unable to block Lescott's header well into the second half's injury time, allowing Chelsea to escape with a 2-1 victory.

The term "own goal" seems, on the surface, like a warm, fuzzy term that doesn't belong in sports. My very own goal! I can cuddle it can give it a name and feed it every day, I promise! But they're nothing but embarrassing. Probably as humiliating as being curiously proficient at describing how to tend to a fictitious imaginary friend. Boy, I'd hate to be that guy.

6. 1B Carlos Delgado — The New York Mets first baseman earns our Batting Sixth Quote Of The Week after speaking out about how it felt to lose 12 of their last 17 games, missing the playoffs by a single game:

"It was very disappointing because we know that we had the best team."

Aw, that's adorable. They had the fifth most wins in the NL, but hey, they were the best team. Similarly, Milwaukee is disappointed they didn't win the World Series, even though they were the best team based on number of triples after the All-Star break.