It was the sort of sloppy NFL preseason game that made the coaches more interested in escaping with as few injuries as possible than with winning or evaluating talent. In a driving rainstorm at Arrowhead Stadium the Houston Texans outlasted the Kansas City Chiefs to take a 16-10 NFL exhibition victory. It was the first game of the NFL preseason for both teams, and they were more or less happy to emerge unscathed from the deluge though Houston did suffer a potentially significant injury to their backup QB.

The Washington Redskins are a mess right now. Head coach Jim Zorn has a tenuous hold on his job at best and has recently been stripped of his offensive play calling duties. Management installed newly hired ‘offensive consultant’ Sherman Lewis as the new offensive play caller and the team has set up an awkward arrangement for him to get the plays to the quarterbacks. For that reason, starting QB Jason Campbell has some serious misgivings about the efficacy of the setup.

The Indianapolis Colts offense was in high gear on Thursday night as Peyton Manning threw two TD passes in three series of action, leaving backup Curtis Painter with a 14-0 lead over the Philadelphia Eagles before exiting the game. The Colts went on to win 23-15 in NFL preseason action.

Reigning lightweight champ BJ Penn entered his main event battle against welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre looking to become the first man in UFC history to simultaneously hold titles in two weight classes. GSP never gave him the chance to make history, as he stopped Penn after four increasingly dominant rounds to retain his belt with a TKO victory.

Roller Derby has been around for years and was a staple of the early days of television. It was similar to its better known counterpart, pro wrestling and was seen on many of the same low powered UHF stations in the same bad timeslots. It had a similar borderline sleazy group of promoters and businessman that was common in the regional territory era of pro wrestling. Roller derby didn’t have the success or popularity that pro wrestling did. There was a serious athletic component to be sure, but the dim witted storylines made pro wrestling look like Shakespeare. The sport does have its own history–most know that the LA T-Birds were the perennial champions of’70’s, and Ann Calvello and Ralphie Valladares had been in the sport forever and were considered legends–but it never really stuck in the public consciousness like the pre-Hulk Hogan era of pro wrestling.

Former Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson got revenge on the team that let him go in the best possible way. Benson amassed 189 yards rushing and led his new team, the Cincinnati Bengals, to a 45-10 rout over the visiting Bears on Sunday. Carson Palmer threw for five touchdowns with no interceptions in the blowout victory. Cincinnati improved to 5-2 with the win while Chicago dropped to 3-3 on the NFL season.

Its not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game. That may be the oldest sports cliche in the world, but for the mainstream sports media, and the fans that depend on them for their information, its just not true. Its all about whether you win or lose. Turn on any sports talk radio show and you’ll be subjected to all manner of banal discussion to reinforce my point. Karl Malone and Dan Marino weren’t truly great because they never won a championship. The Utah Jazz and Buffalo Bills weren’t great teams because they were unable to take their sports ultimate honor. If teams and players aren’t being berated for a failure to win, they’re simply forgotten. If you can name the losing team in the past ten NBA championships you’ve got a disturbing knowledge of meaningless sports trivia.

The Oakland Raiders scored the only touchdown of the game in the first quarter and then prevailed in the kicking duel that followed en route to a–9 upset of the visiting Philadelphia Eagles. Much maligned quarterback Jamarcus Russell played his best game of the season despite two interceptions, throwing for 224 yards and a touchdown.

Behind a career day for quarterback Matt Schaub, the Houston Texans erased a 17-14 halftime deficit to score– points in the second half and defeat the host Cincinnati Bengals 28-17. Schaub threw for 342 yards and 4 touchdowns against one interception in the solid road victory. Against a team that had won three straight games in the final seconds, Houston never gave Cincinnati the chance to create any late drama. Cincinnati dropped to 4-2 with the loss while Houston evened their record at 3-3.

The Columbus Blue Jackets learned a valuable lesson about NHL hockey on Friday night-it’s dangerous to ’sit on a lead’ and particularly against the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Down 3-1, Pittsburgh tied the game late in the third period as Ruslan Fedotenko and Alex Goligoski each lit the lamp with less than three minutes remaining. After a scoreless overtime period, Sidney Crosby scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Penguins an improbable 4-3 victory. It was the 9th win in ten games for Pittsburgh, who are a perfect 6-0-0 on the road.