Lost Rewatch: Week 18

The Lost Rewatch begins to wind down season 3 this week with some of the season's strongest episodes that are all-time fan favorites, especially "The Man Behind the Curtain" featuring one of the most anticipated flashbacks ever on Lost. Season 3 had its rocky moments (Nikki and Paulo, the 6 episode mini season, "Stranger in a Strange Land"), but the writers ultimately had a plan for a solid finish to the season and those pieces are being put into place here. So check out this week's batch of Lost Rewatch episodes:

D.O.C. (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback focuses on Sun and Jin just after they were married. Turns out the work Jin has to do for Sun's father was set up reluctantly by Sun herself. Sun's father mentions the Hanso foundation during a phone call in the flashback (per fan translations).
  
• Juliette brings Sun to the Staff for an ultrasound and they learn that the baby was conceived on island and it's Jin's, despite him being infertile. Juliette comments that men are 5 times more fertile on the island. Why is that?
• Mikhail reappears despite the survivors thinking he had died at the sonic fence. How/why is Mikhail indestructible? Is he the same as Richard (never aging)? Mikhail helps Naomi and says she'll be better in a day, alluding to the healing power on the island.
  
• Naomi speaks five different languages to them: "I am dying" in Spanish; "Help me, I'm dying" in Italian; "What happened" in Chinese; "I am not alone" in Portuguese; and No, No, Flight 815... they, they found the plane. There were no survivors. They were all dead." in English.

The Brig (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback focuses on Locke's time with the Others since the events in "The Man from Tallahassee" and "Left Behind."
• Cindy tells Locke that everyone's excited and that they've been waiting for him. Yeah, since 1954 (when he walked into the Others camp and spoke with Richard Alpert).
• I still have so many questions about the Others. Richard talks about the more important reason they are there and how they are wasting their time with fertility issues. It's crazy that everyone came to watch as Ben tried to get Locke to kill his father, right in front of the whole camp of women and children.
  
• Ben says the "magic box" is just a metaphor. Are we going to learn more about it? Does the island really provide whatever you imagine? How does this work?
• From screen captures and fans analyzing everything, the folder that Richard gave Locke about Sawyer was in French. How was Locke able to read it?
• Who gave Naomi her backstory about working for Penny to find Desmond? Was that provided by Charles Widmore through Matthew Abbadon?
  
• The satellite phone is technology that Sayid has never seen before. Is this relevant? Are we supposed to question where the phone's technology came from? The rest of the things on the freighter didn't look technologically advanced.

The Man Behind the Curtain (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback starts at Ben's premature birth (where his mother dies during the childbirth, just outside Portland ... hmm) then shows how Ben and his father were brought to the island as part of the DHARMA Initiative and ends with Ben killing his father and others in DHARMA via the purge.
  
• A few remaining questions from the flashback: What happened to Ben's childhood friend Annie? Was the vision of Ben's mother the smoke monster? What's up with the volcano? (It's been alluded to many times (in Ben's classroom, lava rocks in S.O.S.), but we haven't seen anything more about it. What's the story of the ageless Richard Alpert (we should be getting his backstory in season 6). Did we see the full purge? Who ordered it?
• We learned the origin of the DHARMA van that Hurley found, including the DHARMA beer in it and Roger "Work Man," from "Tricia Tanaka is Dead."
  
• A big WOW to the Jacob cabin scene. We still don't know what to make of it. Ben had never seen or heard Jacob, but then Locke hears him say "Help Me" and there's all that chaos in the cabin. What was Ben thinking while that was going on? Locke was scared to death, but did Ben know what was happening? What is the true story of the cabin? It moves locations, has gray ash surrounding it and Ben says its where Jacob is. Who was really in that cabin (man in black)? How much about Jacob does Ben know or thinks he knows?
  

Are the Saints the new Broncos?

Look out fantasy football fans. The league's top offense, and one of the top fantasy football producers, has a firmly established running game.

Check out these stats through three week: 490 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns. Those are great fantasy football numbers, but unfortunately, those rushing totals are shared by not two, not three, but four running backs. Now you see the Denver Broncos comparison.

Former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan was a well-known figure to fantasy football players. Shanahan's running back by committee approach killed many a fantasy team, but at the end of the season, Denver always ended up with a top running back who usually topped 1,000 yards.

Now look at the Saints this year. Mike Bell, who ironically got his NFL start in Denver, is the leading rusher with 229 yards and a touchdown, but he hurt his knee last week. Pierre Thomas is now second on the team in rushing after not even carrying the ball in the first half against the Bills. He has 126 yards and two touchdowns. Reggie Bush is still getting his touches and is involved in both rushing, receiving and returning punts. He has 111 yards rushing and a touchdown. Now throw in Lynell Hamilton, who got his first NFL carry this week and finished with 24 yards and a touchdown and you see the dilemma.

For fantasy fans, what do you do with Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush and Mike Bell (when he returns healthy)? How is Sean Payton going to split up the workload? You know Reggie Bush will still be a big part of the offense but that doesn't mean in the running game, and Thomas and Bell will take carries from each other. Both Bell and Thomas looked great when they got the chance to carry the load, but both have knee injuries.

It looks like the Saints will soon have a three-headed-monster running attack and that means headaches for fantasy football owners. But for Saints fans, as long as the team keeps producing on the field and in the win column, they'll take the production any way they can get it. Heck, fullback Heath Evans has some big fantasy days on his resume. Don't be surprised to see him in the mix and take a few touchdowns away from the others.

The bad news for me, I have Reggie Bush on my fantasy team. I'll take wins by the Saints any day, but having a fantasy player on my favorite team adds a little something on Sundays. So look I look forward to the rest of the season and seeing what running back 1a, 1b and 1c can do. But determining which order the a, b and c go, I have no clue.

Saints at Bills

The 2-0 Saints take their offense on the road again this week as they travel to Buffalo to play T.O and the Bills. The Saints will have their hands full with the 1-1 Bills, who could easily be 2-0 themselves had they not handed their first game to the Patriots.

The Saints are scoring more than 40 points a game and the offense doesn't look like it can be stopped. The defense is allowing some points and yardage, but much of that is garbage time after the team has established a nice lead. The defense is forcing timely turnovers though and giving the offense a short field to work with.

Mike Bell has been the work-horse that the team needs, but he's banged up this week with a knee issue. Look for Reggie Bush to get a few more carries and Pierre Thomas will be worked back into the running game as well. But does it really matter when you have Drew Brees playing as well as any QB on the planet? Brees is the early leader for NFL MVP and the Saints will be a playoff contender as long as he's healthy.

The Bills have a good offense, but their defense can be passed against. Not good news when the Saints are coming to town. The Saints defense will key in on Fred Jackson, who's been an early season surprise for the Bills, and then put pressure on Trent Edwards in the passing game. Terrell Owens presents match up problems, but the new look Saints secondary will relish in the challenge.

Prediction:
Saints 28
Bills 17

LSU at Miss State

vs.

LSU travels for its first road SEC game this weekend to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. LSU has dominated the series recently, and they should be able to handle the Bulldogs again.

LSU has been so-so thus far this season. Fans have expected more from the offense, especially from the running game. LSU is still winning games significantly, but they just aren't looking like the #7 team in the nation when doing so.

Thus far, LSU's offense has been pretty vanilla. Will the playbook open up now that the team is entering the meat of its schedule? That's the big question fans are waiting to answer. This weekend might be more of the same as the Tigers should be able to beat Miss State by using the same style of offense that was successful against Vandy and ULL.

Miss State is a different team than the one the Tigers have beat up on in the past. New coach Dan Mullen brought his spread offense from Florida and is encorporating it in Starkville. It may take some time for Miss State to become an offensive juggernaut, but they are already one of the top rushing teams in the SEC. It's passing the football that's giving them trouble.

The weather may also be a factor again on Saturday. Rain is expected, but this won't be a big issue becuase LSU hasn't shown that its a vertical passing team yet anyway.

Prediction:
LSU 30
Miss State 16

Lost Rewatch: Week 17

Just three episodes in this week's Rewatch as we continue through season 3. This batch of episodes gives us a little more info on the Others, we see some old faces again like Cassidy, Ethan and Goodwin, and we meet our first of the freighter folks, putting into motion the storyline that will last through season 4.

Enjoy this week's edition of the Lost Rewatch:

Left Behind (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback focuses on Kate meet Cassidy (yep, Sawyer's Cassidy), who helps her talk to her mom.
• The episode title comes from the Others leaving Juliette behind with Kate, Sayid and Jack.
  
• Juliette plays off knowing about the Smoke Monster, but she then confirms that she doesn't know what it is, but knows it doesn't like the sonic fence. How much do the Others really know about the monster? Was the monster scanning Juliette and Kate when they were hiding (we saw the flashing light similar to when it scanned Eko)? Why was the monster after them anyway?
  
• After the Others abandon the barracks, Sayid comments that it's as though 50 people simply vanished since there are no tracks. Since we now know the barracks are above the tunnels, I wonder if the Others left through them.

One of Us (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback focuses on Juliette coming to the island to work on the issues of pregnant women dying.
  
• Mittelos = Lost Time; Mittelos Bioscience was first introduced in "Not in Portland," but the anagram introduces the time manipulation of the island.
• Richard told Juliette that she would see that time flies on the island. Boy, does it ever.
  
• A few questions: Why won't Ben let Juliette take a patient off the island to test why pregnancies fail? Did Juliette's sister's cancer really come back or was Ben lying? Is Ben really the first person on the island to get cancer? Why did he get cancer if they island has such healing powers? How are the Others (Mikhail) able to gather so much info on the passengers? Juliette knew about the man Sawyer killed in Sydney, how were they able to find that out?
• How much of Juliette's story about Claire's pregnancy and Ethan is true? Was Ethan acting on his own or was it all part of the Others' plan? Juliette tells Jack and Kate that she needs to get the serum to save Claire, but it's because of the implant they put in her, not the withdrawal symptoms she tells them about.

Catch-22 (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback focuses on Desmond's time at a monastery and when he first met Penny.
  
• Brother Campbell has a photo of himself and Ms. Hawking on his desk. What's their connection?
• Desmond's vision leads him, Hurley, Jin and Charlie to find Naomi, who isn't named in this episode. Desmond didn't tell Charlie about his vision because he thought the parachutist was Penny. So by saving Charlie did Desmond change it to be Naomi instead of Penny? Or was his vision fooled by the picture Naomi carried?
  
• How/why did Naomi have the picture of Desmond and Penny? Is that the only picture of them that exists? (that's a joke, but it's the only picture of the two we've seen and it seems that everyone has a copy. What kind of printing deal was that photographer running?)
  
• We'll learn more about Naomi in the next few episodes, but it's interesting that she recognizes Desmond right away. I guess Widmore always knew that Desmond landed on the island. Maybe Ms. Hawking filled him in on Desmond's button-pushing destiny.

Congratulations Michael Emerson

Michael Emerson (aka Ben Linus) took home the Emmy for best supporting actor last night. It was the only Emmy award Lost was given.

Saints at Eagles

The Saints have a chance to set themeselves up as one of the top teams in the NFC if they can take care of the Eagles this weekend on the road. The Eagles are expected to be without starting quarterback Donavan McNabb, so the Saints will go against a quarterback making his first career start for the second week in a row with Kevin Kolb expected to start.

The Saints offense looked even better than the #1 ranked unit of last year in the team's week one game against Detroit. Mike Bell showed that the team can run the ball, and Drew Brees is still playing like he's part of a video game with a career high 6 touchdown passes.

The Saints defense actually looked better than the final score indicated and look for them to be more aggressive against the Eagles. The players claimed that they were running a "vanilla" version of their scheme and that's all they needed against the Lions. This week should be a tougher test.

Last week, Reggie Bush played one of his worst games as a Saint. Look for him to get involved early and often this week to show that he's still the playmaker Sean Payton needs him to be. He'll also remember the big hit Sheldon Brown gave him in the playoffs a few years ago and will likely want to show Eagles fans that he's not scared to go across the middle.

Prediction:
Saints 28
Eagles 24

LSU vs. ULL

vs.

LSU is once again at home this week as they take on fellow a fellow 2-0 team in in-state rival University of Louisiana-Lafayette. LSU has played the Ragin' Cajuns 21 times in the schools' histories and has never lost to them. The all-time score in the series is a way one sided 957-22.

But this ULL team is different. Last week, the Cajuns knocked off the Big 12's Kansas State. Sure K-State is rebuilding, but it's still a big win for ULL. Their other victory was over Southern in front of one of the largest crowds ever at Cajun Field.

LSU has seen some ups and downs so far this year. Against Washington, the defense gave up huge chunks of yards and had trouble on 3rd down. Last week against Vanderbilt, the defense showed improvement, but the offense wasn't anything to brag about. Thanks to Keiland Williams getting into the end zone twice, LSU was able to take care of Vandy during last Saturday's rain storm.

There's expected to be inclement weather in Baton Rouge once again this weekend, so will it be more of the same for the LSU offense? They haven't really opened up the passing game, as Jordan Jefferson is throwing a lot of sideline routes and the running game hasn't seen many holes up the middle.

The Sun Belt's Ragin' Cajuns might be exactly what LSU needs to get themselves in gear. LSU typically overmatches ULL, and I see this one being no different. ULL can move the ball on the ground, but LSU has been hearing that they are overrated this year, so they'll be out to prove a point.

Prediction:
ULL 10
LSU 35

A Very Early Look at the 2010 NFL Draft

Sure it's only week 2 of the NFL season, but it's never too early to start looking toward the NFL Draft. Many draft pundits and Web sites had mock drafts out for 2010 only minutes after the 2009 draft ended (some even before).

With a whole lot of things changing between now and next April, let's have some fun and see who a few sites have the Saints eying next year.

• NFL Draft Blitz: Pick #14 - Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Georgia Tech
• Walter Football: Pick #29 - Rennie Curran, OLB, Georgia
• NFL Draft Dog: Pick #29 - Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma
• New NFL Draft: Pick #28 - Ras-I Dowling, CB, Virginia
• NE Patriots Draft: Pick #19 - Reshad Jones, S, Georgia
• Sports Fantasy Guide: Pick #21 - Terrance Cody, DT, Alabama
• DraftTek: Pick #21 - Trevard Lindley, CB, Kentucky
• DK Sports: Pick #19 - Reshad Jones, S, Georgia
• Great Blue North: Pick #28 - Kris O'Dowd, C, USC
• Football Draft Analysis: Pick #17 - Jermaine Gresham, TE, Oklahoma
• Draft King: Pick #20 - Trevard Lindley, CB, Kentucky
• Sports2Debate: Pick #20 - George Selvie, DE, South Florida
  

Lost Rewatch: Week 16

The Lost Rewatch continues to plow through season 3 and we get introduced to some new faces and see familiar people in new places. We also say goodbye to a couple who turned out to be the other big mistake of season 3 (the first being the episode focusing on Jack's tattoos). Enjoy this week in the Rewatch.


Enter 77 (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's Original Recap.
• Flashback focuses on a time when Sayid was captured by Sami and punished for torturing his wife.
  
• Hurley shows made ping pong skills and Sawyer is forced to not use any nicknames for a week (taking away one of the best parts of Sawyer's character for a few episodes).
• We get our first at The Flame and are introduced to Mikhail, who originally plays himself off as a member of DHARMA. He claims that everything he said was true except the DHARMA part, but are we to believe him? He know about the purge, the truces DHARMA had with the hostiles and the line they weren't supposed to cross.
• What's the deal with Nadia the cat? Is she the same cat from Sayid's flashback?
• Who programmed the computer protocol to be hidden in a chess game? Was it Radzinsky, who we saw working in the station in DHARMA past? Was it the same person who programmed the Looking Glass code to be the song Good Vibrations?
• Out of all the choices the computer gave, why was Locke so eager to Enter 77? He tried the communications ones, but as we know, ever since the sky turned purple, communications was down. It also seems that the food drops are initiated from The Flame, so did Mikhail activate the drop we saw in "Lockdown?"

Par Avion (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's Original Recap.
• Flashback focuses on when Claire and her mother got into a car accident. Through this Claire learns who her real father is, but she doesn't learn his name. Fans already know his name is Christian Sheppard.
• Claire's plan of tying a note to migrating birds hasn't been referenced since this episode, so I don't guess anyone found the note. Could this even work with the island moving locations so much? Can the birds fly away from the island or do they have to fly at the correct bearing to leave?
• More items introduced/reintroduced into Lost lore: the list, the great man (Jacob), the sonic fence, Mikhail's nine lives, the Other's barracks, and Mr. Friendly and Jack's awkward football game.
• Mikhail gives some great information here and almost reveals that Locke was paralyzed to the group. He listed the reasons that they were not on the list: Kate is flawed, Locke is angry and Sayid is weak and afraid. For these reasons they aren't capable of understanding why they willingly stay on the island.

The Man from Tallahassee (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's Original Recap.
• Flashback finally reveals why Locke was in a wheelchair. He was pushed out of an eight-story window by his father. Good thing a now familiar face was sitting on a bench nearby when Locke fell.
• Ben and Locke together again. These two have the best, most island mystery riddled conversations. Their conversation will give plenty of fuel to Locke being Jacob's enemy early in the series. Locke's whole tirade about the Others using electricity and guns and becoming self-righteous, arrogant and powerful ... sounds like the man in black talking there.
• Locke appears to blow up the sub, but there's been hints dropped from the producers that it may only appear that he did. He was soaking wet when he returned from it, so did he simply dive the sub down and escape it or did he dive the sub down and activate the C-4 in it? Why was he soaked when he returned from the sub? At any rate, Ben was able to manipulate Locke into doing his work for him.
• Questions still remain about the magic box. Is he talking about the island itself or is there a place on the island where things manifest? Does anything you wish for really appear?
  

Expose (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's Original Recap.
• Flashback catches the audience up on everything Nikki and Paulo, from why they were in Australia to the crash to searching for their diamonds then hiding them from each other on the island to their deaths by being buried alive.
• Nikki and Paulo were the first to find the drug smugglers plane and the Pearl, and Paulo was the first to encounter Ben when he overheard him and Juliette talking in the Pearl. Why didn't he tell anyone about Ben's plan to use Michael? Why didn't he do anything with the walkie talkie he took?
  
• Locke line "Things don't stay buried on this island," is such a loaded one since we've seen people seemingly raised from the dead. Many fans feared that this meant Nikki and Paulo would return to the show.
• We haven't seen or heard anything else about the Medusa spiders again on Lost. Will they come into play again or was this a one time use for the writers to get rid of Nikki and Paulo?
• Charlie confesses to Sun that he and Sawyer were behind her kidnapping attempt in "The Long Con."
  

Drew Brees is the Man

If there was even any doubt left, Drew Brees erased it with his stellar season opening performance against the Lions. Brees completed 26 of 34 passes for 358 yards and a career high 6 touchdowns. Saints fans, we've been spoiled the last few years. Enjoy the Drew Brees era, we are watching one of the NFL's all-time greats at work.

You would think that after throwing six touchdown passes, Brees would be able to step back and admire his handy work, but that's not the type of competitor he is. One of his first responses was focusing on the missed opportunities.

Drew Brees is the unquestioned leader of the Saints and the team will go as far as his right arms takes them. Saints fans hope that the ride ends at the Super Bowl.

Saints vs. Lions

The Saints open their 2009 NFL season against the team that went 0-16 last year, the Detroit Lions. It would be typical Saints to lose this game to the Lions, but this isn't your typical Saints team. This team doesn't only want to win some games. Simply making the playoffs wouldn't satisfy this bunch either. No, this team is poised for a Super Bowl run.

Just a few short years ago, the Saints were one game away from the Super Bowl, but in those years since, the team and head coach Sean Payton have learned some lessons. Now the team has put the pieces in place for a defense to compliment the league's #1 offense. Gregg Williams has instilled a new attitude for the black and gold and look for guys like Jonathan Vilma, Malcolm Jenkins and Sedrick Ellis to shine in the new look D.

As for the Lions, the are bringing in their rookie QB Matthew Stafford to not only make his first NFL start, but his first road NFL start in one of the toughest environments to play, the Louisiana Superdome. The Lions do have one of the top receivers in the game in Calvin Johnson, who will provide a good test for the Saints new look secondary. They also bring in second year running back Kevin Smith, who is looking to make a name for himself after a solid rookie outing.

The unknown on the Lions is their defense with new coach Jim Schwartz. There are new pieces in place and this won't be the same Swiss cheese defense that the Saints torched 42-7 last December. There's also unknowns for the Saints, mainly the running game, which will be without Pierre Thomas, and left tackle, where Jermon Bushrod gets his first NFL action.

With all that said, look for the "Who-Dat Nation" to be out in full force and for the Saints to feed off of that energy. The defense wants to show the rest of the league that they've turned things around, and Drew Brees will continue to be Drew Brees and lead the offense through the air.

Prediction:
Lions 16
Saints 31

LSU vs. Vanderbilt

vs.

LSU's opening week victory against Washington wasn't pretty, but a win's a win. Washington exposed that LSU still has issues on defense and fans didn't get to see heralded freshman Russell Sheppard take the field. The running game never really got going and the offensive line wasn't able to open up holes. Other than that, there's nothing to worry about.

Well this week, LSU gets a chance to show improvement at home against a conference opponent, if Vandy even counts as an SEC foe these days. Playing in front of 92,000+ Tiger fans for the first time this season should be enough by itself to give the Tigers the victory. Look for them to showcase some of their newcomers like Sheppard and be out to prove that the defense is improved.

Prediction:
LSU 29
Vanderbilt 10

NFL Preview

The NFL is back! The season kicks off tonight and real football is finally here. To get ready for the season, across the Internet analysts are putting in their picks for the Superbowl. This week, all of the writers from Sports Illustrated weighed in on their choices for division winners, Superbowl and individual awards. Following their lead, here are my selections:

NFL Playoffs:
AFC North: Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
AFC East: New England Patriots
AFC West: San Diego Chargers
Wild Cards: Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars

NFC North: Green Bay Packers
NFC South: New Orleans Saints
NFC East: New York Giants
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks
Wild Cards: Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears

AFC Championship: Patriots over Colts
NFC Championship: Saints over Bears

Super Bowl: Saints over Patriots (A boy can dream can't he?)

#1 Pick in 2010 Draft: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

League Awards:
MVP: Drew Brees, QB, Saints (Drew finally gets what he deserves)
Offensive Player of the Year: Adrian Peterson, RB, Vikings (Peterson will make at run at 2,000)
Defensive Player of the Year: Brian Urlacher, LB, Bears (Urlacher will be rejuvenated with the offense finally having a QB)
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Mark Sanchez, QB, Jets (The league loves to push its QBs, so Sanchez has a leg up on the award)
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Malcolm Jenkins, CB/S, Saints (Gregg Williams will use him in a variety of ways at CB, S and rushing the QB)
Comeback Player of the Year: Tom Brady, QB, Patriots (Does anyone else even have a chance?)
Coach of the Year: Mike McCarthy, Packers (Packers will return to the playoffs with their potent offense)

Lost Rewatch: Week 15

This week in the Rewatch, we get to the 2nd premiere of season 3. "Not in Portland" originally aired following the six episode fall mini-season. This week also gives us one of the most controversial Lost episodes, yep, the one about the origins of Jack's tattoos. This is the episode that persuaded ABC and the producers of Lost to agree on an end date for the series. Can you image how many "stalling" episodes we would have gotten if they wouldn't have agreed to six seasons? Onto this week's episodes:

Not in Portland (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback focuses on Juliette's recruitment to the island by Richard (his first appearance) and Ethan. The episode title is a play off Richard telling Juliette that their facilities (the island) is not quite in Portland.
• Juliette is recruited because she is a fertility doctor, and this episode subtly introduces the pregnancy issue on the island by showing the X-ray of 26 year old woman, who Juliette assumed was in her 70s.
• Room 23, man that thing is still crazy. We've learned more and more about the Others over the years, but there's still so much we don't know. "God loves you as He loved Jacob" ... what is going on in this room? Do all the Others have to sit through it to be indoctrinated or is it just punishment?
• Juliet helps Kate and Sawyer escape with Karl because Ben promised he'd let her leave. He's really a man of his word.

Flashes Before Your Eyes (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Unique flashback focuses on what happened after Desmond turned the failsafe key in the Swan. Desmond became "unstuck in time" and traveled back to a time in his past.
• Lots of island clues and Lost lore in Desmond's past: "the end of the world," clock reading 1:08, microwave sounding like the timer, 815, the race around the world, the painting in Widmore's office, MacCutcheon Whiskey, "Make Your Own Kind of Music"
• Desmond runs into Charlie playing "Wonderwall," with the lyrics "maybe you're gonna be the one that saves me" ... yep, for a while. As Desmond later told Charlie on the island, no matter what he does, no matter how many times he tries, the universe will course correct and he's going to die.
• Where'd Desmond get that course correct line? Oh yeah, he ran into Ms. Hawking during his flash. A few questions remain regarding his meeting with her/his flashback: Why'd he flash to the past after turning the failsafe? Did his past always happen that way or where they changed? How was Hawking a part of Desmond's past? Did she travel back with him or was she always there? Is pushing the button the only great thing Desmond will do? Every single one of us is dead, what does she mean by that?

Stranger in a Strange Land (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback focuses on Jack's time in Thailand when he received one of his tattoos, which according to Isabel translates to "he walks amongst us, but he's not one of us." Jack says it may say that, but it's not what it means. O-K.
  
• Why were Cindy, the kids and some of the Others watching Jack? What did the Others do to them to get them to buy into their lifestyle? When Jack asks her about being captured, she says it's not that simple.
  
• Ben reveals that Ethan was their surgeon. Why'd he send their only surgeon to investigate the 815 crash?
• What does Juliette's mark mean?
  

Tricia Tanaka is Dead (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's original recap.
• Flashback focuses on Hurley after winning the lottery, just before his trip to Australia. His father has returned after being absent from his life for 17 years.
• Roger Workman makes his first appearance on Lost. Crazy seeing him with Sawyer joking about "Skeletor," especially since LaFleur lived in DHARMAville with Roger Linus.
  
• Hurley needs some hope after everything that's gone bad for him and the other survivors and the DHARMA van represents that hope as they enjoy a joy ride around the island. The van will also become more important in the season finale.
  
• Kate, Sayid, Locke and Danielle form the group that will follow the directions on Eko's stick, setting up the next episode, "Enter 77."
  

Saints Cut Roster to 53, Stay Busy

Over the weekend, NFL teams had to get their rosters down to 53 players. The Saints made a couple of surprising moves to meet the mandated number.

The major standouts in the cuts were QB Joey Harrington and DE Paul Spicer. I guess the Saints final saw enough of Harrington and figured they needed to go younger with their developmental quarterback. As for Spicer, he was brought in for depth and to fill-in while Will Smith and Charles Grant served their four-game suspensions. But with those suspensions not being enforced yet, Spicer was the odd man out in a now crowded position. He may be brought back once the suspensions are issued, but until then, Grant and Smith will get to play and practice.

Among the other cuts were recent draft picks WR Adrian Arrington and DT DeMario Pressley. Arrington has battled through injuries and wasn't a major contributor on special teams, while Pressley wasn't able to make his mark on the d-line. Other cuts included OG Nate Bennett, OT Mike Brown, C Digger Bujnoch, RB Herb Donaldson, OG Tim Duckworth, CB Danny Gorrer, WR Skyler Green, DT Earl Heyman, RB P.J. Hill, TE Martrez Milner, OT Jeremy Parnell, WR Courtney Roby, WR Matt Simon, LB Anthony Waters, OG/T Anthony Davis. The team also placed TE Bill Miller, S Chip Vaughn and FB Olaniyi Sobomehin on injured reserve.

To help with the now lack of depth at TE with Billy Miller's injury, the Saints traded a 2011 7th round pick to New England for TE David Thomas. Thomas will be behind the 8-ball coming in this late, but he is a talent and has shown signs of being a good pass catcher. He gives the team a young tight end to groom for the future.

With Courtney Roby being released, the team will now look for a new kick returner. That person could be Pierre Thomas again or someone new like Robert Meachem or the surprise of training camp, Rod Harper. Harper had two punt returns for TDs in preseason and solidified his roster spot with his special teams play. He may get a look at kick returner too now.

The Saints also filled their practice squad with some of the familiar names from the above cuts and one surprise new face, who could be groomed into Drew Brees' backup, in QB Chase Daniel. Daniel played in the preseason with the Redskins and could be relied upon as the Saints #3 QB, if he gets signed to the active roster. He's often been compared to Brees, as they are both shorter QBs, so he'll get to learn from the best practicing alongside Brees everyday. Others on the practice squad include Adrian Arrington, DeMario Pressley, P.J. Hill, Danny Gorrer, Tim Duckworth, Jeremy Parnell and Matt Simon.

LSU at Washington

vs.

LSU travels to take on the Washington Huskies of the PAC-10 to open the season on Saturday. While Washington was winless last year, they are a BCS school and should provide a good opening test for the Tigers.

LSU will have a new look this year with a new defensive coordinator and a definite starting quarterback. Last year's unorganized defense has been scraped and hopefully, the pick-sixes are a thing of the past on offense.

Look for LSU to establish the run early with senior Charles Scott. They'll also want to get freshman phenom Russell Sheppard involved in the offense by lining him up in the backfield or as a receiver. At the end of the day, this should be an easy one for the Tigers to bring home a win for the LSU faithful and get the season started the right way.

Prediction:
LSU 37
Washington 13

Preseason: Saints vs. Dolphins

The Saints will take on the Dolphins tonight in, perhaps, the most meaningless preseason game of the four. The starters are set to play about one series, if that much. But there are some roster bubble battles to look out for.

Here are a few to keep an eye on:

1. Wide Receiver/Returner: The last real battle in camp is for the 5th/6th WR spot and kick/punt returner. These two positions may be one in the same. Rod Harper has made a good impression on both special teams and as a receiver, and he may have earned a roster spot. Guys like Courtney Roby, Skyler Green and Adrian Arrington are his main competition, but if Robert Meachem proves to be a viable option as a kick returner, the Saints may only keep five receivers. Arrington was a coaching staff favorite, but he just can't seem to stay healthy and may be a goner.
   
2. Running Back: Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell are locked in, but who's the fourth back? Lynell Hamilton looked to have sewn up the spot, but rookie P.J. Hill's performance against the Raiders caused the team to give him another look.
   
3. Linebacker: Young linebackers like Jonathan Casillas and Anthony Waters are pushing guys like Troy Evans, Jo-Lonn Dunbar and Marvin Mitchell, but I think those three are safe. The question becomes what to do with Casillas and Waters, as both have performed well enough to make the roster.
   
4. Safety: The battle is coming down to Usama Young, Chris Reis and Pierson Prioleau ... and what does the team do with 4th round pick Chip Vaughn? I don't see Young being cut, even with his recent injury and arrest. Reis is a special teams ace and has tons of potential in Gregg Williams defense. Prioleau is a Williams favorite as well. It will be interesting to see who stays and who gets cut. Then there's Vaughn, who has been hurt most of the preseason. They could opt for the IR with him, but he said that he wants to play and doesn't want to go on the IR. What happens if they put him there, will he become upset all year?
   
5. Defensive Line: This group isn't so much about the competition, but about the fill-ins while Charles Grant and Will Smith serve their four game suspensions. Paul Spicer, Bobby McCray and Anthony Hargrove will likely get the most snaps with Grant and Smith out. Also watch for Jeff Charleston. It will be more interesting when the two starters return in week 5. At DT, the Saints cut Rod Coleman this week, so don't be surprised if they bring in someone else after the roster cuts, as this is probably the thinnest position on the team.
   

Other: Besides those positions, there aren't many roster spots up for grabs. The team may decide to go with only two quarterbacks, so check out both Mark Brunell and Joey Harrington tonight see if they can influence Coach Payton to keep all three.

Lost Rewatch: Week 14

This week, the Lost Rewatch continues season 3 and will bring an end to the "mini-season" that started season 3. Lucky for you, you don't have to wait months for "Not in Portland," as fans did in 2006. You get to watch it next week.

Further Instructions (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's Original Recap.
• Flashback focuses on Locke's time living on a commune. It shows the lengths he went to to find a family that would accept him, as the commune's real purpose was growing and selling marijuana.
  
• On the island, the episode shows the events following the hatch implosion. Locke wakes up but is mute, Eko is missing and Desmond is naked. Yep, pretty much what you expected to happen.Why did everyone end up in different places after the implosion?
  
• Boone appears to Locke during his sweat lodge vision and shares some interesting info about Locke's fellow survivors: on Charlie and Claire, fine for a while; Sun and Jin, Sayid can handle it; Desmond, he's helping himself; Kate, Sawyer, Jack and Ben, can't help them, at least not yet; and Mr. Eko, clean it up John, they've got him, you don't have much time. Lots of loaded info in those phrases. We now know what happens to each survivor group, but could some of this info be hints at what's still to come in the future (season 6)? We shall see.
• On their way to save Eko, Charlie and Locke see the imploded hatch, find Hurley (who tells them about what happened to Jack, Kate and Sawyer) and find Eko in a polar bear cave, which also has a skeleton with a Pearl Logo on its clothes (who was this?) and a Tonka truck (who'd that belong to?). Locke saves Eko, who in another apparent island vision tells Locke that he can still protect them and will find them. (it's unclear who he's talking about exactly, could be Jin/Sun/Sayid, Kate/Jack/Sawyer or possibly even the Others themselves, who Locke eventually comes to lead)
• Hurley finds naked Desmond (why'd he lose his clothes but neither Locke nor Eko did? Locke did lose his voice, but that's not really the same thing) and Desmond starts to show his ability to see the future, brotha. He tells Hurley about Locke's speech, which doesn't occur until later.
  
• Nikki and Paulo make their Lost debut, and after hearing fan backlash, the writers immediate start planning out "Expose." Do you realize they lasted 12 whole episodes on the show?
  

Every Man for Himself (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's Original Recap.
• Flashback focuses on a time when Sawyer was in prison and when he first finds out he has a daughter, Clementine, with Cassidy.
  
• Desmond's visions of Charlie dying start here, but we don't know it yet. He diverts a lightning strike from hitting Charlie & Claire's tent, using a golf club.
• Ben pulls a con on Sawyer, making him think that he was given a pacemaker and needs to keep his heart rate under 140. Ultimately, Ben fills Sawyer in on the con and also shows him that they are on a second island. At the time, this was one of the biggest reveals, but also made fans question if they writers were just making things up as they went along.
  
• Jack hears Sawyer and the Others through the same "broken" intercom that he'd previously heard his father. Jack also learns that someone in their mid-40s has a tumor on their spine, and figures this is why he was taken.
  
• Of Mice and Men and bunnies with numbers painted on them are now added to Lost lore.
  

The Cost of Living (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's Original Recap.
• Flashback focuses on Eko posing as a priest immediately after "The 23rd Psalm."
• Jack attends Colleen's funeral, and it's not your typical funeral, even the ones on Lost island. You can read my thoughts on the funeral here, when I included it as one of the big unanswered mysteries left on the show. Does the appearance of the "man in black" explain why the Others sent their dead out to sea?
• Ben reveals that he's the one with the tumor and Juliet plays a video for Jack telling him to kill Ben during the operation. She writes her message on cue cards that say that the Others want a change and want Ben dead. Who else wants to get rid of Ben at this point? We know that Juliette wanted to leave the island and had some issues with Ben, but we haven't really seen much about other Others wanting him killed. Even after this, Juliette still behaves as a good Other to Ben.
• Locke says that he saw the monster as a beautiful bright light, but all we've seen of it is black smoke. Did Locke see a different monster? Why did it appear as a bright light to him?
• In the Pearl, Locke and a few others get their first glimpse of Mikhail in the Flame station on one of the monitors.
• Eko is confronted and killed by the smoke monster. We get a major clue that the monster can take the form of the deceased (or was it the man in black?), when Yemi's body is no longer in the beach craft. Then when Eko is talking to Yemi, he replies, "You speak to me as if I were your brother," showing us that it wasn't really Yemi. We still aren't sure why the monster killed Eko. The only other time we've seen it this violent was after Keamy's men killed Alex.
  
• Locke heard Eko's last words and passed them along as "We're next." What does this mean? Next to be judged? Killed?
  

I Do (Zap2It Recap)

• LongLiveLocke's Original Recap.
• Flashback focuses on when Kate was married. She was still a fugitive on the run and ultimately, left her husband because she is "born to run." We also learn that she constantly calls the marshal, Edward Mars, who is hunting her down. We also see Kate take the pregnancy test that she told Sun about in "The Whole Truth."
  
• While burying Eko, Locke sees "Lift your eyes and look north, John 3:05." This gives John a plan, as we'll see in "Enter 77." The question remains about why did Eko write this? He documented lots of scripture on his stick, but was this always a message intended for Locke?
• Sawyer tells Kate about the 2nd island, but didn't tell her sooner to keep up her hope. Jack later sees them embraced on the video monitors and decides to do Ben's surgery. Once again the broken intercom worked and someone unlocked the doors for Jack. All part of Ben's master plan?
• But Jack had a plan of his own. Ben couldn't have thought Jack would just do the surgery with no questions asked, could he? Jack basically takes Ben hostage by cutting Ben's kidney sac and providing an opportunity for Kate (and Sawyer) to be free.
  
• Danny mentions that Jack isn't even on Jacob's list, giving us the first direct mention of Jacob and his list. So why wasn't Jack on the list? Mikhail later tells us in "Par Avion" why Sayid, Locke and Kate weren't on the list.