Mark Sanchez's Hot-Doggin'

Mark Sanchez got himself into some hot water last week.

During the New York Jets 38-0 dismantling of the Oakland Raiders, Sanchez, the prized rookie QB was seen scarfing down a hot dog on the sidelines after the Jets lifted him from the game.

It's not like he was caught scoping out girls from the sidelines and getting numbers but getting food from the concessions doesn't make you look the best in your coaches eyes.

To make amends Sanchez did a pretty admirable thing by making a large donation to a local food shelter in a fun tongue and cheek kind of manner.

Sanchez bought 500 hot dogs and 500 hamburgers, along with buns and rolls, through A&P supermarket, and donated them to the Community Soup Kitchen of Morristown, N.J.

"Something happened here and wanted to turn it into a positive," Sanchez said Wednesday. - Source: AP

UFC vs. StrikeForce

In what has become a signature move for UFC whenever they are faced with the slightest form of competition, UFC is offering counter-programming free on Spike TV to combat CBS' airing of a major Strikeforce fight card.

On November 7th Strikeforce's live card will include Fedor Emelianenko in the main event against Brett Rogers, and others like Jake Shields, Gegard Mousasi and Jason 'Mayhem' Miller in action. Meanwhile UFC will be offering a compliation fight card from some of their most recent PPVs.

The headlining-headlining bout will be Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the main event from UFC 102. The special will also feature Vitor Belfort vs. Rich Franklin (UFC 103), BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian and Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva (UFC 102). - Source: The Sporting News

I personally think Strikeforce will have strong ratings with their poster boy Fedor making his Strikeforce and US network TV debut. Counter-programming works well for UFC when they offer a free product up against a competitors' PPV option but with their competition being available on free network TV (which has far greater distribution than cable tv i.e. Spike), I don't think it will make a big dent in Strikeforce's projected ratings.

Let's see how things turn out with this one.

Ocho Cinco: Now there's an app for that

Love or hate him, Chad Ochocinco is the NFL's best self promoter. He constantly keeps his name in the headlines, a name which has been converted from the pedestrian "Johnson" surname to a grammatically incorrect translation of his jersey number. Now the Cincinnati Bengals' star wideout has his own iPhone app.

For $4.99, Ochocinco fans can follow his daily exploits in photos, videos and tweets. They can ask his advice on dating or anything else, send their own photos for posting, and track where he is each day when he's on the road.

There are sound bites in English and Spanish; a "What Would Ochocinco Do?" section; a place to post fan pictures; videos; a "Where's Ocho?" section that tracks his travels; a place for news and more. - Source: AP

The interesting part about the story is the fact that Rock Software, the company who created the app is led in part by non-other than Jordan Palmer, third-string Bengals QB and younger brother of staring Bengals QB Carson Palmer.

Rock Software has designs on creating a similar app for Terrel Owens and other athletes.

It's a good thing that the Bengals are one of the league's most pleasant surprises this year because some would term this kind of stuff as unfocused and a distraction.

Coyotes Attendance: Not so good

So despite selling out their home opener (with a little boost from extreme price discounts) the Phoenix Coyotes are not exactly drawing well at the gate. Through five games the Coyotes are averaging just 10,699 fans. In fact after selling out their home opener in their next game the 'Yotes drew less than 7,000 fans. Yeesh! This is uglier than a contract negotiation with Dana White.

Meanwhile the ongoing saga of the Phoenix Coyotes continues with the latest news item being that owner Jerry Moyes has agreed in principle to sell the club to the NHL.

What happens when Guarantee Win Night doesn't happen?

The answer in the Dallas Stars' case is to give fans free tickets to the next game. Not a bad a deal for the fans.

So how did this all come about? Prior to their season and home opener Dallas Stars' TV colour commentator Daryl 'Razor' Reaugh guaranteed that the Dallas Stars would start the season with a win against the Nashville Predators. The Preds ended up winning the game. As a result Reaugh (really the Dallas Stars) have offered up a free ticket to those in attendance for that failed guarantee win night to an upcoming game against either the Preds on Oct 14th or the LA Kings on Oct 19th.

You have to hand it to the Stars this is a creative yet expensive way to drum up some positive PR for the team.

Phoenix Coyotes Sellout Home Opener

The Phoenix Coyotes had their home opener on Saturday Night against the Columbus Blue Jackets - their first meaningful home game after a tumultuous off-season(to say the least) which was full of bankruptcy claims, an unsuccessful sale of the team, the stepping down of their head coach days before the start of the season and so on.

The good news about the home opener is that it was a sellout. 17,000+ fans came out to show support for a franchise that may soon be on the move out of the state and the country. The bad news about the home opener , it took heavily discounting tickets in order to entice fans to come out to the game. According to reports, some tickets were discounted by over $300.

A rousing show of support for a financially beleaguered team? Well, tickets discounted as much as $305 may have played a role. In hopes of filling Jobing.com Arena, the Coyotes sold lower bowl tickets for $25 and upper deck seats for $15. The best tickets in those sections usually sell for $330 and $40, respectively. - Source: Wall Street Journal Blogs

It will be interesting to follow the Coyotes' attendance figures over the course of the season.

Kimbo Delivers Ratings

The casting of Kimbo Slice on UFC's latest season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has proven to be a big ratings boon for the Spike TV series. Slice ended fighting former IFL-champion and fellow TUF contestant Roy Nelson on the 3rd episode of the series and even though he ended up losing, the fight-centered episode was the highest rated episode in both TUF's and Spike TV's history. 6.1 million viewers tuned in for the episode. The episode surpassed the previous network and TUF high set in the season premiere (http://sellingthegame.blogspot.com/2009/09/ultimate-fighter-ultimate-ratings.html)