Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken are currently debating whether San José Sharks rookie and #1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft Macklin Celebrini’s two-point night in his debut with the team in its first preseason game of the year, a 4-2 loss on September 22 to the Vegas Golden Knights, means anything other than leaning toward confirming what hockey fans already know. Namely, the kid is good. And, he looked outstanding on a line with the veteran Tyler Toffoli, who scored on a seeing-eye pass from Celebrini that would have done Joe Thornton in his prime proud. Ironically, despite his family living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Celebrini will spend this season living with the Thornton family. Will Smith, last year’s first-round draft pick by the Sharks, is living with Sharks veteran Patrick Marleau’s family. Hockey people do things differently, which helps explain why there are far fewer winding up on police blotters than is the case with athletes in other sports. But that is a tale for another time.

As you can see, Sammy and Karl are hard at work ...

You’d think these two were government bureaucrats, the way they carry themselves on the rare occasion they get off the couch. We move on.

College football kicks things off (SWIDT?) with a glance at the AP Top 10. Those of us who’ve traveled aboard this dusty orb on more than a few circles around the sun remember when the AP listing determined the national championship. Now we have playoffs for that; hence, the rankings are more for bragging rights than anything important. Nevertheless, they are still fun to look at, especially since I am a Cal fan. Therefore, I seldom, if ever, have to worry about seeing the Golden Bears on there (deep sigh). The top four spots remain unchanged, with Texas still having the run of the place, followed by Georgia, Ohio State, and Alabama. Tennessee and Ole Miss have swapped fifth and sixth, while Utah has climbed into the tenth position following its win over a tough Oklahoma State squad. Its entry into the rarefied air of the Top 10 comes at the expense of Missouri and its “Despite our best efforts, we won anyway” squeaker of a win against perpetual SEC doormat Vanderbilt, the Tigers dropping to 11th.

Off to the NFL. If Week 3 of the season has told us anything, it’s that while you need skilled players at the skill positions to win — how’s that for an understatement? — it is in the figurative trenches where things can go south quickly. Case in point: the New Orleans Saints spent the first two weeks of the season scoring seemingly at will. In their September 22 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, center and key offensive lineman Erik McCoy left early with an injury. While his absence was not the only factor that clipped the Saints’ wings as they went down to a 15-12 defeat, New Orleans’ inability to effectively run the ball played a large part in matters. That said, sometimes a team can persevere through offensive linemen woes. The Pittsburgh Steelers line is currently held together with duct tape, as three of its five projected starters are injured. The Steelers are 3-0, thanks to a smothering defense. To paraphrase the late great Yogi Berra, good defense always beats good offense. And vice versa.

Elsewhere around the league, the Minnesota Vikings are the surprise of the young season, playing at a top-tier level as evidenced by their 34-7 domination of the Houston Texans. While Houston was without its best running back (Joe Mixon) and therefore had to rely on a pass-heavy attack, which Minnesota effectively neutralized via blitzing hard, fast, and continuously, the level at which the Vikings controlled matters from start to finish was near astonishing. The Dallas Cowboys are in dire straits after yet another loss at home, this time to the previously struggling Baltimore Ravens. And finally, much to the deep satisfaction of yours truly, the Los Angeles Rams came back from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter and, minus their top two receivers, who were both unavailable due to injury, defeated the San Francisco 49ers 27-24. I can hardly wait to see my chockful of 49ers Faithful coworkers tomorrow.

And yes, the WNBA playoffs started September 22, and yes, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever got walloped by the Connecticut Sun 93-69 in Game One of their best-of-three series. Le sigh.

Survive your Monday, everyone.