Here’s a look at this week’s Mid-Week Grades. To listen in for the big reveal, check out ESPN 1440 around 8:20 or so on Wednesdays when Josh Houchins and I break these down on WGEM SportsCenter presented by Hardee’s.

A — Palmyra softball team. For the third straight season, the Lady Panthers proved they are the best team that Class 2 has to offer in the Show-Me State. Pitcher Taylor Baxter gets a lot of pub (and rightfully so) for her pitching ability. But this is far from a one-person show. She’s had great offensive and defensive support behind her every year. The chances of a four-peat next October look pretty good.

B — Mike Singletary. Loved him as a Chicago Bear during the team’s hey day in the mid 1980s. I already love him as a head coach in the NFL. Made the interim head coach in San Francisco last week, Singletary didn’t mess around Sunday. Quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan stunk it up, so he pulled him. Tight end Vernon Davis was doing stupid stuff on the field and not giving 100 percent, so Singletary sent him to the showers. If only more coaches did this, pro athletes might not be seen as prima donnas. For video of his post-game press conference, click here. It's worth it.

C — “Error” Bud Selig. It seems that baseball’s commissioner learned something from the All-Star Game fiasco from 2002. He wasn’t about ready to let the Phillies win a World Series in a rain-shortened game. He made the right move on Monday night to suspend the game and demand it be restarted. Still, it would have been nice to let the players know about his plan.

D — Illinois High School Association. Could someone please explain to me how Quincy Notre Dame, Bloomington Central Catholic, Mahomet-Seymour and Mount Zion can all be in the same quadrant of the Class 4 playoffs? I understand there are some travel issues involved, but its surprising to have so many power teams in the same bracket. The eight teams in QND’s bracket are a combined 61-11. The other quadrant down south isn’t nearly as tough with those teams a combined 50-22.

F — Evan Longoria. The kid got a ton of dough from the Rays just a week into his major-league career (nine years and $44 million). And being the American League Rookie of the Year (an award the Tampa Bay third baseman will win) is nice. But players are defined by how they do in the postseason. Just ask Barry Bonds (terrible for the most part) or Derek Jeter (awesome for the most part). Longoria is just 1 for 19 in the World Series and has struck out nine times. If the Rays don’t rally to win the title, Longoria should shoulder a lot of the blame.

I hate the clueless.

Take this stupid quote from last week's World Series coverage:

"This is one stolen base that goes into the record book more than just a stat," Taco Bell chief marketing Officer David Ovens said prior to Game 1.

Thanks to Jason Bartlett, everyone in America can go to Taco Bell on Tuesday between 2 and 6 p.m. to get a free taco. Bartlett, the Rays' shortstop, swiped a base in Game 1, which forced Taco Bell to make good on its "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion for the second straight year.

I will forever be thankful to Bartlett for getting me a free taco. If I have another child, maybe I can convince my wife to name him "Bartlett" in honor of the guy who got me a free taco during the 2008 World Series.

Yep, Bartlett's steal will rank up there in World Series lore with Jackie Robinson's steal of home in the 1955 World Series. And to think, no restaurant gave out anything for that steal.

"More than just a stat."

Puh-leeze.

Can someone please get that chihuahua dog back to market Taco Bell's food, and slap David Ovens in the process?

Gracias.

First off, sorry for the lack of a Slap of the Week last week. Too many things going on around here, so I’ll make myself the Slap for not getting it done. Here is the latest batch of grades. Listen in to hear these around 8:15 or so on Wednesday on WGEM SportsCenter presented by Hardees on ESPN 1440.

A — Jim Haslett. So much for the talk of the St. Louis Rams going 0-16 this season. The team’s decision to dump Scott Linehan has paid off with two wins under Haslett. A late field goal gave them a win at Washington two weeks ago and they followed that with a trouncing of mighty Dallas at the Edward Jones Dome. Haslett’s contract says if the can go 6-6 in the 12 games that he’s in charge then he becomes the team’s new coach. Should the Rams win at New England this week, the team should do away with the formalities and just give him the job — Rooney Rule or not.

B — Parker Freiburg and the QHS boys golf team. Freiburg came close to getting the Blue Devils their third straight individual state champion at last week’s Class 3A state meet in Bloomington-Normal. It took a birdie binge by St. Viator’s Joe Carlson to beat him. Meanwhile, the young Blue Devils squad picked up some state experience by finishing sixth. With four of their top six players back next fall, expect another state run from QHS.

C — St. Louis Cardinals. The team decided on Tuesday that it was finished with Mark Mulder. Mulder is one of three players whose options the team declined, the lefty joining the since-released Scott Spiezio and Matt Clement on that list. All three were gambles when they were signed. None panned out in the long run. Hopefully, the Cardinals are more prudent (or at least a little more lucky) when they roll the dice on players like these.

D — Jose Canseco. Canseco’s sorry for writing his whistle-blowing book, "Juiced." He shouldn’t be. The book helped clean up baseball. He gets dinged here for his endless quest for attention. A&E has produced a documentary on Canseco title "Jose Canseco: The Last Shot." (No way is this his last shot at trying to grab attention.) He’s even going to fight Danny Bonaduce in January as part of a celebrity boxing match. Sad. Just sad.

F — Larry Johnson. I’ll try to put aside the fact that he’s killing my fantasy football team — the Notorious DOBs. Johnson is a knucklehead. It looks like he’ll be suspended for the second straight week by the Kansas City Chiefs after getting into an incident at a nightclub during the team’s off week. Now the NFL is looking at the situation, which can’t be good. Then again, if I were a Chief maybe I’d be looking at ways not to have to go to their games, too.

I’m stuck in the office, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hand out some grades. Listen in to see how well the Highland school district and Culver-Stockton College prepared Josh Houchins, who will hand these out around 8:15. You can listen to WGEM SportsCenter presented by Hardee’s online by clicking here anytime between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Monday through Friday. Have your own grade you’d like to get out there. Email the show or text us at 217-617-9437.

A — Highland pitcher Julie Schultz. I feel like I’ve been hired as a lobbyist for the National Organization for Women. For the last few weeks, I’ve been stumping for female athletes to win the Prep Athlete of the Week award on the SportsCenter program. Something that has never been done (a girl beating a boys field in golf) and something that hasn’t been done in two decades (someone beating Putnam County in a district softball game) weren’t good enough for the rest of the SportsCenter crew. Since I gave Rachel Powers an "A" a few weeks back, Schultz gets my top mark this week for taking down the mighty Midgets. Putnam County had won 51 straight district games dating back to 1988 since it last lost in district. Schultz killed that streak in the semifinals, striking out 10 Midgets. She came back and shut down Clark County in the title game to push the Cougars into tonight’s sectional with two-time defending Class 2 state champion Palmyra. Maybe if she’s fortunate enough to beat the Panthers, Schultz will get a little respect from the AOTW panel. She’s already earned mine.

B — Western Illinois football team. The Leathernecks went on the road last week and got a big win at North Dakota State. WIU is up to No. 15 in the Football Championship Subdivision writers poll. The ’Necks are tied for first in the Missouri Valley Football Conference standings and have what looks to be a gimmie this week against hapless Indiana State (0-6) before a bye week next week. Four of WIU’s last five games are at home, but the only road game is a toughie — Nov. 8 at Southern Illinois.

C — Albert Pujols’ surgery. Some may be worried about El Hombre going under the knife this week, but they shouldn’t be. According to doctors, he’ll be back for spring training. With a bad wing this year, he hit .357 with 37 homers and 116 RBI. Just imagine what he’ll be able to do without the pain.

D — Rock Island football coaching staff. I couldn’t believe my ears when listening to the Quincy High School-Rock Island football game last Friday night. With a second left and leading 30-7, the Rocks scored from a yard out. Only after they scored the touchdown did the Rocky coaching staff decided it didn’t need any more points and kneeled down on the extra point. They may be No. 1 in the state, but the Rocks’ coaching staff lacks for sportsmanship a bit after that move.

F — The Dallas Cowboys‘ offensive line. Yes, this is a homer pick. They were TERRIBLE against Arizona as Tony Romo had to run around all day. To top things off, Romo broke his pinkie on the first play of overtime because the line couldn’t block. I feel for Brad Johnson. They may have to scrape him off the turf before he’s finished. Anyone up for Brooks Bollinger? I’m still going to wear my Romo jersey to the Edward Jones Dome this Sunday to watch the Cowboys and Rams.

In case you missed it Sunday (and how couldn’t you with all of the NFL and playoff baseball on the slate), Quincy’s D.A. Weibring broke through to win his first major championship.

Weibring held off a star-studded field at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. He shot a final round of 2-under 68 to beat Fred Funk by one shot. Weibring trailed Nick Price, the 54-hole leader, by as many as four shots early in the round, but played steady golf the entire final round as Price floundered down the stretch.

Weibring made a key up and down for par on No. 16 and No. 17 and didn’t run into any trouble on the closing hole to reach one of his big goals when he joined the Champions Tour — winning a major. Weibring came close, but never won a major in 39 tries during a 25-year PGA Tour career. He was 0 for 25 on the Champions Tour until Sunday.

For his efforts, Weibring moved up to No. 11 on the Charles Schwab Cup points list. He also jumped up from No. 30 on the Champions Tour money list to No. 18 thanks to the $390,000 pay day. He also earned a spot in next year’s PGA Tour Championship thanks to the win.

To read what Weibring had to say in his post-round interview, click here.

A second straight gorgeous Saturday weather-wise, another glorious day for the QU football team. Once again, the defense took center stage as the Hawks moved to 2-0 in the Mid-States Football Association with a win at QU-Stadium.

Saturday’s three stars

1. QU linebacker/defensive end Austin Welti
The junior from Fort Wayne, Ind., made a couple of big plays in the third quarter to keep the Tigers’ offense stuck in neutral. First, he sacked Olivet quarterback Ryan Forneris for a 10-yard loss. That forced the Tigers to punt — on third down. Geez, talk about waving the white flag. Later in the quarter, he penetrated the Olivet backfield again to force a fumble. He nearly caught a pitch from Forneris on an option play. "I thought I caught in in the air," Welti said. Somehow, Forneris wrestled the ball away from QU linebacker Jacob Zsuppon, but it didn’t matter. The Tigers later punted, this time on fourth down.

2. QU running back Ben Marron
Marron, a hard-running junior from Tremont, made his reappearance in the QU ground attack. He was MIA for the first few weeks of the season and came into the game with just 18 yards rushing. He finished with 59 yards rushing on 13 carries, including a 1-yard TD plunge near the end of the first half that gave QU a 13-0 lead.

3. QU freshman guinea pig Tyler Truttmann
OK, so Truttman is really a quarterback, but the Hawks coaching staff is using the Columbia product a little like a lab rat. And that’s not a bad thing. After making his mark in the punting game in last week’s win over McKendree, Truttmann engineered an 11-play, 54-yard drive that he capped with a strong 14-yard TD run up the middle on the second play of the fourth quarter. He’s come through in every spot the Hawk coaches have put him in, not too shabby for a true freshman.

DOBservations
I don’t like ripping on the officials. It’s a tough job. But Saturday’s crew blew one big time. After Marron’s TD run, QU kicker Alex Beard knocked his PAT attempt off the left upright. The ball bounced to the right and through the goal. None of the officials saw what the nearly 600 people in the stands did and called the kick no good. The ball would have had to defy the laws of gravity to land where it did and not go through the uprights. Fortunately for QU, the play didn’t hurt … There’s plenty of room left on the Hawks’ bandwagon. After a good homecoming crowd, the parking lot was nearly empty on Saturday with Olivet bringing in a good contingent of fans. … Thumbs up to the Olivet uniforms, which made the Tigers look like they were the Minnesota Vikings. … Welti is called "Triple H" by his defensive teammates. Seems he’s a big fan of the WWE. He even sports a HHH-like beard. Don’t know if he sprays water all over the field before he starts to play though.

It wasn’t too surprising to see Missouri’s Chase Daniel on the cover of the latest edition of ESPN The Magazine.

He’s the "it" guy right now. Mizzou is lighting up people on a weekly basis and he has a great chance to win the Heisman Trophy (as long as he can get the Tigers to the BCS championship game. At least that’s what I think it will take for him to stay in contention.)

The headline, which any good headline is supposed to do, drew me into the feature story on Daniel: "Chase Daniel may win the Heisman. His backup may win the Super Bowl. We’ll explain how."

The first thing I thought was, "Geez, that Blaine Gabbert must really be good."

Then I started reading the story and realized the story was about former Rock Bridge star Chase Patton, a guy who gets as much P.T. as the Tigers’ punter these days. (By the way, Patton is the guy on the right wearing No. 14 in the ESPN The Magazine photo to the left.)

For those of you who forgot about Patton, he’s married and looking forward to dental school. Not the NFL.

I understand the premise for the story. There are a lot of NFL QBs out there — like Tony Romo and Kurt Warner to name two — who came from nowhere to become NFL starters. Yes, Matt Cassel was a backup to two stars at USC and rarely played there, but that doesn’t mean every backup quarterback in college is tailor-made for the NFL.

I’m not hating on Patton by any means. My beef is with how ESPN The Magazine presented the story. If I were an NFL GM I’d probably be a little more interested in what Daniel could do for my team than what Patton could.

Imagine my shock when I found out the author of the article, Seth Wickersham, is a Mizzou Journalism School alum. ESPN The Mag should have called me a few years back for that unbiased story on Tony Romo that I could have whipped up for them.

More stuff like this and ESPN The Magazine may go the way of Sports Illustrated in my world.

Here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly in the sports world right now. These were revealed on WGEM  SportsCenter presented by Hardee’s on Wednesday. Listen in every day from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. for the area’s only local sports show on ESPN 1440. (Check out the show’s Web site, too. A bunch of good stuff on there, including a chat with Jack Cornell’s position coach at the University of Illinois.)

A — Mizzou football. Unlike Schuckman, I rarely mark out for the Tigers, but you have to give them their due. Not only did they go into Lincoln, Neb., and win for the first time in 30 years last week, Mizzou did it in con
vincing fashion (52-17). They have to watch a trap game this week against Oklahoma State and not get caught looking down the road at Texas. I hope Mizzou kills Oklahoma State for just one reason: This guy.

B — Juice Williams. The Illini quarterback may be deserving of an A for his work at Michigan Stadium last Saturday. Williams made "The Big House" his personal playground, throwing for 310 yards and running for 121 more. His 431 yards of total offense were the most ever by a Wolverine opponent inside Michigan Stadium. Had the Illini not lost to Missouri and Penn State, Williams’ name would be right up there for the Heisman.

C — Quincy University’s football team. Some genius said the Hawks would be 0-5 at this point in the season. (That genius would be me.) The Hawks have put together two strong weeks, getting a win for the first time at Canton, Ohio, on Sept. 27 and following that up with a 20-13 win over McKendree last Saturday on homecoming. I had QU at 5-6 before the season started. Could they get over the six-win plateau they’ve reached the last two seasons?

D — Kimbo Slice. I don’t think Slice’s beatdown at the hands of some dude with pink hair last week is a crushing blow like some others on this show. And I don’t think that Slice’s loss to Seth Petruzelli was "the biggest upset in MMA history," like announcer Gus Johnson screamed on CBS after the 14-second bout was finished. There’s no doubt that Kimbo is a bad man. He’s just not cut out for this MMA stuff. It’s Mixed Martial Arts, not barroom brawling. Credit the folks around Kimbo for making him into an Internet legend and hooking him up with endorsements. He’ll need to live off that money.

F — The Chicago Cubs. I said all year that the Cubs were the best team in the National League and that they’d get back to the World Series. Well, I still think they’re probably the best team in the NL. But as we know, the best team doesn’t always make it to the World Series. For the second straight October, the team’s offense disappeared. Combine that with a terrible Game 1 outing by Ryan Dempster and some terrible fielding in Game 2 and you have the makings of a three-game sweep by the Dodgers. The long suffering Cubs fans will have to wait another year. God, bless them.

As expected, the Great Lakes Valley Conference‘s Council of Presidents has voted to extend membership invitations to Maryville University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois at Springfield. The council voted 13-0 in favor of both schools today during its fall meeting in Indianapolis.

The additions of Maryville, which is currently in the NCAA Division III ranks, and UIS, which is an NAIA member, will take the GLVC to 15 members. Both schools will begin competing in league play in the 2009-2010 season. Both are making the transition to NCAA Division II status. UIS will be a full member of Division II in 2010-11 and Maryville will follow suit the following school year, the first either will be eligible for GLVC championships.

GLVC commissioner Jim Naumovich will be at Maryville and Illinois-Springfield on Wednesday for introductory press conferences.

For more information about the schools, click here.

To read my original story on the expansion possibilities, click here.

My two cents: Trying to juggle a 15-team schedule in sports like men’s and women’s basketball will be tough, but it’s doable.

In a five-team, three-division format, Quincy University looks to do the most travel since it likely will be lumped in with Illinois-Springfield, Lewis, Wisconsin-Parkside and Saint Joseph’s. The five Missouri schools — Maryville, Drury, Missouri S&T, UMSL and Rockhurst — will be together and the eastern schools — Indianapolis, Southern Indiana, Northern Kentucky, Kentucky Wesleyan and Bellarmine — will be the other grouping.

Neither Maryville nor UIS has football, meaning the league is still looking for a sixth football-playing member to start a GLVC football conference. Lewis, which was rumored to be starting a program, has yet to make any announcement about adding that sport.

Not all of the news at Quincy University was good on Saturday.

Men’s basketball player Justin Brock was seen walking around with a cast on his right wrist. Brock, a Liberty product who transferred to QU this season from Eastern Illinois, suffered a fracture in his right wrist during an open gym last week. Hawks coach Marty Bell said Brock will be out for about six weeks, pegging his return date for mid-November.

Bell hopes Brock will be able to do some limited drills wearing a soft cast when the team starts preseason drills on Oct. 15. QU is scheduled to open its season Nov. 15 against Hannibal-LaGrange College at Pepsi Arena. Bell did not know if Brock would be ready by then or not.

Brock’s time at EIU was filled with injuries. As a freshman, he fought through various aliments that limited him during the early portion of his season. Last year, he suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and played in just three games.