With Brett Favre finding a new home with the Jets and Steven Jackson threatening to stay home all season there are some shake ups on the GSI Cheat Sheet. 

Favre checks in at No. 15, best rest assured if he shows good signs early he could slide up the ladder quickly. He isn't the only Jet on the rise though. Both Jerricho Cotchery (No. 21) and Laveranues Coles (No. 28) moved up slightly, as did tight ends Dustin Keller (No. 30) and Favre's old buddy Bubba Franks (No. 34). We opted not to move Thomas Jones (No. 24) up yet, but there is no doubt that his production should benefit from the boost to the passing game.

As for Jackson, he is threatening to sit out the enitre season and while he is still a top-three back in my eyes, if I had to draft today I would have a tough time taking him over Brian Westbrook and possibly even Joseph Addai. For the time being Mr. Jackson slips to No. 5 at his position.

UPDATED PLAYER RANKINGS 

Let's take a quick look at some of the latest Bengals' news: 

--After already seeing starting DE Antwaan Odom, their biggest free-agent signing, the Bengals' defense took another hit this week when safety Chinedum Ndukwe left Wednesday morning's practice on a cart, then returned to practice before having an MRI on his leg. He, like Odom is out indefinitely and will definitely miss the opening preseason game. It's a setback for Ndukwe, who's competing with Dexter Jackson for a starting job.

--Georgetown College Athletic Director Eric Ward said attendance is down 45 to 50 percent at camp this year, according to the Dayton Daily News. Heat, rain, high gas prices and the fact that camp opened on a Monday (July 28) — robbing the team and college of an extra practice weekend — all conspired to keep attendance down.

--Cornerback Deltha O'Neal is going from starter to backup this year and now he is listed as the team's top punt returner. So far the veteran appears to be accepting the role well, according to Mark Crunette of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Previously too indispensable as a starting cornerback to expose on punt returns, O'Neal could improve the Bengals' league-worst 4.9-yard average on punt returns from 2007. He has a 10.1-yard average and two touchdowns on 136 career returns, though his eight attempts in Cincinnati yielded just a 5.4-yard average.

--Defensive tackle John Thornton, who has made a mark in the community for his fundraising to fight Autism and runs a web site development company, is on The Cincinnati Business Courier's 40 under 40 list of notable young Cincinnatians.

--Running back Rudi Johnson, wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, cornerback Ethan Kilmer, safety Herana-Daze Jones, and linebacker Rashad Jeanty, to go along with Odom and Ndukwe, are players that Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson speculates will not play Monday night in Green Bay.

--Quote of Note: "He looked like he's been working out, he looks like he's in fair shape right now," linebackers coach Jeff FitzGerald said of first-round pick Keith Rivers, who ended his holdout earlier this week. "We cut his reps a little bit; we let him run with the second bunch to get filled in a little bit. He remembers. He's got a good memory. He took good notes; he did a good job in spring." 

The Brett Favre saga appears to be over. The future Hall of Famer has landed with the Jets and as the dust settles let's take a look at the winners and losers.

WINNERS

Brett Favre - He gets  a starting job again. This guy led his team to hosting the NFC Championship last season and his team didn't want him back. I'm sorry, but if Favre wants to play he should be given the chance. 

Jets - This team went from 7-9 in my book to 11-5. They had one of the NFL's best off-seasons before this move, but still were going into the season with Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens at QB. The days of stacking the box against the Jets are over.

Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery - The duo is one of the top five in the NFL in talent, but had problems with getting the ball delivered to them. I expect both wideouts to see a spike in production with Favre's arrival.

NFL - With the season weeks away there is plenty to get excited about, but all fans have been hearing about is Brett freaking Favre. Now, attention can be put back into all of the exciting news around the league. In addition, the league keeps one of its most marketable names and now has him playing in the nation's largest market. 

Tavaris Jackson - The youngster improved down the stretch this year and is playing in the perfect situation - great line, awesome running game, top-ranked defense. With Favre not coming to town Jackson's development will not be derailed. He is a player on the rise.

LOSERS

Aaron Rodgers - This could get ugly. Has there ever been a quarterback to take over the reigns of his offense under more pressure? On top of that his rookie contract is up and this is pretty much his one chance to get paid. He's handled it great so far, but the season hasn't even started yet.

Packers - They were in a tough spot and I'm can't even say that I disagree with their decision. Still, the way that it was handled from top to bottom was embarassing. It was Bud-Selig like. I am starting to wonder if has something to do with that Wisconsin cheese.

Ted Thompson - The guy didn't want to sign his name on the trade. It felt dirty didn't it Teddy. Let's face it, if the Packers' bomb this year Thompson could go to Bartman-level hatered in Green Bay. At least he wasn't stupid enough to trade Favre to the Vikings, who by the way are MY PICK to win the NFC North.

Chad Pennington - One day your the starter, the next day you are cut. I don't blame the Jets, but it's just funny how things work. For Pennington, he may never get a chance to start in this league again. He makes for a decent backup though and will land somewhere quickly.

Jeff Garcia - Alright people are just now starting to believe that he is not gay, and that only came after he married a smoking-hot wife, Carmella DeCesare. Now the guy is in tears and getting himself all worked up in front of the media. The Bucs made it clear they wanted Favre and didn't get him. Now, they must soothe the over-sensitive Garcia and move forward.

ESPN - What in the world is the world wide leader in sports going to talk about now? Let's try the other 31 teams, pennant races, or the Olympics. As usual ESPN totally took something and blew it up 24/7. Hopefully, everybody can get back to playing football now.

From TopEndSports.com: 

It is fascinating the number and variety of sports that have at one time been part of the Olympic Games. Since the first modern Games in 1896, 12 sports have disappeared completely from the Olympic schedule. These are golf, rugby, croquet, cricket, Jeu de Paume, pelota, polo, roque, rackets, tug-of-war, lacrosse and motor boating. Added to this is a large number of discontinued events from sports that are still on the program, such as the swimming events of plunge for distance and underwater swimming, the track and field events of the standing highjump and tug-of-war, and the shooting events of pigeon shooting and duelling pistol.

You can have a look at the complete list of all discontinued sports, or my list of some the more unusual sports.

In the past, the host country often included their own sports. Some of the discontinued events were simply updated to metric distances or modified into the well-known events of today, especially in track and field and swimming. There are also some interesting sports that were included as demonstration sports, some eventually becoming part of the official program, others disappearing as they should. See more about demonstration sports and the complete list of demo sports.

From HardballTimes.com:  

Win Shares. Invented by Bill James. Win Shares is a very complicated statistic that takes all the contributions a player makes toward his team’s wins and distills them into a single number that represents the number of wins contributed to the team, times three. The website has tweaked James’ original formula somewhat.

Win Shares Above Bench, or Baseline. WSAB is a refined approach to Win Shares, in which each player's total Win Shares are compared to the Win Shares an average bench player would have received, given that player's time at bat, on the mound or in the field.

This is an important adjustment to Win Shares, as we discovered during the 2003-2004 offseason. The bench player approach is explained in this article. It is essentially 75% of Expected Win Shares for all players except Starting Pitchers, for whom it is 60% of Expected Win Shares.

With all that said here there five most valuable players:

• Lance Berkman - WSAB = 18
• Albert Pujols -  WSAB = 16
• Ian Kinsler - WSAB = 16
• Justin Morneau - WSAB = 16
• Josh Hamilton - WSAB = 16

COMPLETE LIST

Whether its the All-Star break hangover, his arm getting tired, N.L. hitter's figuring him out, or a combination of all the above, you can not deny the fact that Reds' RHP Edinson Volquez is in a slump. Volquez (13-5) got roughed up again on Tuesday night and has now lost twice in his last three starts after losing just three times in his first 20 starts. He has allowed four or more runs in three of his last four outings.

The nine hits allowed were Tuesday were a season high, and Volquez managed just two strikeouts in the game. Certainly, his lackluster play lately gives cause for concern. He was 10-2 with a 1.91 ERA after defeating the Yankees on June 20; since that point he has gone 3-3 with a 5.65 ERA in eight starts. The league seems to be adjusting to him, and now it's Volquez's job to make some adjustments of his own.

The way I see it, struggles can be expected. I just don't want Volquez' magical season to end in disappointment. There's no doubt control has been a problem at times. The Rangers knew it, the Reds know it and even when he was mowing down hitters in the season's first three months, Volquez was walking batters at an alarming rate. The biggest difference over the past 10 starts or so though is the strikeout totals.

During his last 9 starts, Volquez has watched his ERA go from 1.71 to 2.93, his win-loss record has gone from 10-2 to 13-5. His walks haven't been terrible (19 BB in 9 starts), but the strikeouts have not been there. He hasn't pitched his way out of jams like he did earlier in the year. Only once in that span did he have 10+ strikeouts, three times he struck out 5 batters, and he had five starts where he struck out three or less batters. He went from leading the NL in strikeouts being sixth. 

Fantasy owners that waited all year for Yankees' young sensation Joba Chamberlain to get into the rotation and become the man have now had their bubble bursted as the right hander is headed to the disable list due to rotator cuff tendinitis in his pitching shoulder. He is the fifth Yankees' starter to hit the DL this season.

Best case scenario is that the 23-year old will be in action in two weeks, but it could be much longer than that.  Chamberlain was diagnosed after visiting Dr.James AndrewsWednesday in Pensacola, Fla. The trip followed two exams by doctors in New York and an MRI Tuesday in New York.

Chamberlain will rest his arm for "approximately a week," then begin a throwing program "shortly thereafter," according to Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo. Assuming Chamberlain begins throwing in a week, the earliest he would likely return to the rotation would be the weekend series in Baltimore Aug. 22-24, meaning he will miss a minimum of three starts in the best-case scenario.

"You can't sit here and hang your head about it," Derek Jeter told the New York Daily News. "Hopefully it's not something that goes for an extended period of time, but we have to play well whether he's pitching or he's not pitching."

Ian Kennedy is likely to get called up this weekend and fill the void in the Yankees' rotation.  Kennedy has been pitching well at Triple-A, going 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA in his last four starts for Scranton.

With only four to six weeks left in most fantasy baseball leagues' regular season, Chamberlain's injury is bad news for owners that in the hunt for their playoffs. 

From the Dayton Daily News:

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said he knew where Keith Rivers was staying and the prized rookie could get here in a hurry — that he was a phone call away.

The call came Tuesday night, Aug. 5.

Rivers, the Bengals' top pick in the NFL draft, wheeled into the driveway at Georgetown College at 9:16 p.m. to sign a contract and end his 10-day holdout.

The 6-foot-2, 241-pound outside linebacker from Southern Cal — demoted to second string behind Brandon Johnson — is expected on the practice field at 9 a.m. today.

Last year at this time Steelers' running back Willie Parker was one of the most coveted players at his position in fantasy footaball. He was coming off a 2006 season in which he amassed 1712 total yards and 16 TD's. However, much has changed since then.

Parker was frustrating in 2007. He was leading the league in yards when he went down to a knee injury in Week 16, but he only scored two touchdowns. New Steelers' head coach Mike Timlin opened up Pittsburgh's passing attack and Parker became an afterthought at the goalline as Najeh Davenport (now departed) often came in to relieve him as Pittsburgh approached the end zone.

The Steelers, not happy with their backfield options, spent the first round pick in April's draft on Rashard Mendenhall and signed free agent Mewelde Moore. Mendenhall is a strong runner and will be force running between the tackles. Moore is a versatitle player and immediately becomes Pittsburgh's best receiving option out of the backfield. Both players figured to be involved in the team's gameplan on a weekly basis.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin outlined Mendenhall's role as a "supplemental runner."

"The growth of his role will be determined on his ability to execute from an assignment standpoint, how he deals with being a professional athlete," the coach told the Pittsburgh-Tribune as camp opened last week.

As an advanced pass-blocker and good receiver, Mendenhall shouldn't have an issue with missing assignments. Mendenhall could be used similarly to Maurice Jones-Drew in Jacksonville, as a short-yardage back with a prominent role in the passing game.

Coming off major off-season surgery is concern as is the recent workload. Back-to-back seasons with more than 320 carries appears to have taken its toll on Parker and his small frame.

He still has a chance to proudce for owners in 2008, but based off his peformance the last two years Parker will likely be overpaid for in your draft this year. You saw it happen in the GSI Mock Draft last month when Ian Preuth tabbed him the 12th overall pick. I say he is a RB3 at best and while he sees a spike in yardage leagues. He is currently ranked  29th on our GSI Cheat Sheet. 

Did you miss our RB Breakdown on GetSportsRadio.com? Check it out below:
Fantasy Playbook - RB Breakdown - join myself and Larry Schmitt as we preview fantasy wideouts. 

It's hard to believe that it was just about 10 days ago that Milwaukee Brewers had won their seventh straight game, forcing a deadlock with the Chicago Cubs atop the N.L. Central.  Oh how things have changed for the Brew Crew. The Brewers have dropped seven of nine. They got swept by the Cubs in a four-game showdown last week, and saw their lead for the wild card reduced to a half-game over idle St. Louis with their latest loss on Monday night.

The frustration reached its boiling point as Milwaukee opened up their series with Reds at Great American Ballpark. With the Brewers en route to a 6-3 loss, starting pitcher Manny Parra and first baseman Prince Fielder engaged in a dispute in the visiting dugout during the top of the seventh inning that resulted in Fielder physically attacking Parra. The irate Fielder had to be pulled off the stunned pitcher by several teammates and wrestled to the floor. The whole thing was caught on camera and has already been played 462 times this morning on SportsCenter.

It was Aug. 2 of last season when manager Ned Yost became involved in a dugout dispute with catcher Johnny Estrada and infielder Tony Graffanino, neither of whom is with the team this year. Yost at the time downplayed the incident and said it was nobody’s business, a refrain he repeated this time around.

“It’s not a big deal,” Yost told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “For eight months a year, we’re a family. At times things happen, flare up, but it’s between the family. It’s in the family. 

Yost can write it off all that he wants, but as his team is fighting each other and losing their poise once again this August, the Cubs are getting seperation and gearing up for a second straight division title.  The Brewers laid it on the line when they rented C.C. Sabathia and have some of the best young talent in baseball, but if they don't get to the post-season in '08, Yost might be finding a new job.

The Cincinnati Bengals and first-round pick Keith Rivers are still "far apart" in contract negotiations, a source told ESPN.com Sunday. Rivers, the No. 9 overall pick in April's NFL draft, has missed the entire first week of training camp with Cincinnati.

The two sides remain in constant negotiations. The source added that talks could improve dramatically at any time, but as of Sunday afternoon the team was not close to striking a deal with Rivers.

To alleviate the hassle, and avoid a Rivers-style holdout, which reached eight days on Sunday, Aug. 3, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell favors a rookie salary slotting system.

The trouble with a rookie salary slotting system is "it has to be collectively bargained," Goodell told the Dayton Daily News during his visit to Bengals' training camp this weekend. It's a big issue for the owners and players' union, but one that must be tackled and resolved.

"Something is wrong with the system and we have to address it," Goodell said. "I think it's better for the players, the teams and, most important, for the fans. It's a disservice when players aren't in camp."

from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Even as Favre flew into Green Bay on Sunday, conflicting reports appeared about Favre's status, ranging from his competing for the Packers starting quarterback job to him being offered to the Vikings in a trade.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal reported earlier Sunday that Favre would be reinstated to the active roster today and that the Packers planned to hold an open quarterback competition involving Favre and Aaron Rodgers.

But the Journal Sentinel reported later Sunday that the Packers called the Vikings on Friday to inform them that Favre was available in a trade.

"Although we built this year around the assumption that Brett meant what he said about retiring, Brett is coming back," Packers president Mark Murphy said in statement. "We will welcome him back and turn this situation to our advantage." 

NFL commissioner Roger Goddell reinstated Brett Favre on Sunday, forcing the Packers to put him on the active roster. He will be at Packers' camp on Monday where he is expected to undergo a physical and could be practicing with the team as early as Tuesday.

STUDS OF THE WEEK
Yankees' OF Bobby Abreu is heating up just at the right time. He hit his fourth homer in as many games in Saturday's win over the Angels and has now hit safely in seven of his last eight games. His .387 clip this week has raised his season average to .286 and once again made him a must-start in fantasy. Ubaldo Jimenez allowed two hits in seven shutout innings to win his fourth straight start for the Rockies on Friday night. He increased his shutout streak to 13 innings and has allowed just one run in his last three starts.

DUDS OF THE WEEK
J.J. Hardy has cooled off entering August as fast as he heated up entering July. Over the past seven games the Brewers' shortstop is hitting just .061 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. His performance  contributed to Milwaukee's disappointing effort earlier this week against Chicago, in which they were swept in a four-game series at Miller Park. It has been a week that White Sox pitcher Mark Buerhle would soon like to forget. He's 0-2 over the past 7 days as he's lasted just 9 2/3 innings in that stretch while posting a 11.57 ERA and a 2.46 WHIP.

KEY INJURIES
Brian McCann (concussion) - served as pinch-hitter this weekend
Rick Ankiel (abdominal) - hopes to return Tuesday
Chipper Jones (hamstring) - eligible to return from DL on 8/12
Kerry Wood (blister) - throwing with wound protected, could return this week
Tim Hudson (elbow) - set to undergo Tommy John surgery
Aaron Harang (forearm) - will make rehab start at Triple A on Monday
Erik Bedard (shoulder) - just now starting to throw and likely out this week
Jeff Francis (shoulder) - slated to start Tue night vs. WAS
Vernon Wells (hamstring) - hopes to return in mid-August
Chien-Ming Wang (foot) - Joe Girardi stated regular season return unlikely

TWICE AS NICE
Here are some two-start pitchers to consider this week:

AL
Must-starts:
Roy Halladay – OAK (Greg Smith), CLE (Matt Ginter)
Joe Saunders - BAL (Dennis Sarfate), NYY (Andy Pettite)
Matt Garza - CLE (Cliff Lee), @SEA (Miguel Batista)

Sleeper Picks:
Glen Perkins - @SEA (Miguel Batista), @KC (Gil Meche)
Edwin Jackson - CLE (Fausto Carmona), @SEA (R.A. Dickey)

NL
Must-Starts:
Dan Haren – PIT (Yoslan Herrera), ATL (Jair Jurrjens)
Ryan Dempster - HOU (Brian Moehler), STL (Chris Carpernter)
Chad Billingsley - @STL (Chris Carpernter), @SF (Matt Cain)

Sleeper Picks:
Josh Johnson - @PHI (Jamie Moyer), @NYM (Mike Pelfrey)
Jeff Francis - WAS (John Lannan), SD (Chris R. Young)

WAIVER WATCH (from leagues played at CBSSports.com)
Five most added:
SP Chris Carpenter (+33% roster change)
SP Chris R. Young (+31%)
SP Anibal Sanchez (+26%)
3B/C Brandon Inge (+22%)
RP Jeff Samardzija (+20%)

Five most dropped (non-injured):
RP Ryan Franklin (-15%)
SP Hiroki Kuroda (-11%)
1B Paul Konerko (-10%)
OF Cody Ross (-10%)
SP Jesse Litsch (-10%)

GAMES PLAYED
Let's take a look at how many games each team will be playing this week:

AL
7: NYY, TB, TOR, CHW, DET, OAK, SEA, TEX
6: BAL, BOS, CLE, KC, MIN, LAA

NL
7: ATL, FLA, NYM, PHI, WAS, CIN, HOU, ARI, COL, SF
6: CHC, MIL, PIT, STL, LAD, SD

The Reds continue to struggle against teams that they should beat and on Saturday night there was yet another indicator of this as they dropped their second straight to Major League Baseball's worst team, the Washington Nationals, 10-6.

A closer look at the team's performance against the league's weaker teams gives us great insight on why the Reds are nine games under .500 (51-60) and in last place once again in the NL Central, 15 games behind the division-leading Cubs. 

• 32-29 vs. teams .500 or better
• 19-31 vs. teams with record under .500
  

Playing on the road also continues to be a problem for the Redlegs. Saturday night's loss insures yet another losing road trip, the 20th losing road trip in the team's last 23 trips away from GABP dating back to 2006. Cincinnati's '08 road mark fell to 21-25 following Saturaday's loss.

If the Reds are ever going to turn things around they are going to have to find a way to win more frequently on the road and beat the teams they should beat. Until then, strap in and enjoy the ride as Cincinnati on its way to an eighth straight losing season.