There's no crying in football

That's it. I'm done. This columnist needs to go on the injured reserve list. \nThis past weekend I experienced the worst pain known to man. No, it wasn't a million paper cuts on my face nor was it being chewed apart limb by limb at the expense of Jaws himself. I was rushed to the emergency room of the Bloomington Hospital twice with a kidney stone. \nNow I'll give all of you "tough guys" a moment to laugh at my misfortune. Okay, time's up. For those of you who have experienced something like this before, though, you know what I'm talking about. This was the sort of pain that can bring even the biggest of men to his knees, bursting right into tears. \nBut just when I thought my weekend couldn't possibly get any worse, football came to the rescue and saved the day.\nIn perhaps the biggest upset of the weekend, the Bears beat the Packers. Now I know most of you Colts' fans are sick of hearing me talk about the Bears, but I'll get to your team in just a minute. This game brought tears of joy to my eyes. Bears' head coach Lovie Smith promised Chicagoans upon being signed that he would defeat the cheese heads from up north. \nSmith promised and delivered, but of course he had Lady Luck on his side. Brian Urlacher made the most critical play of the game when he forced an Ahman Green fumble in the red zone, which Mike Brown returned 95 yards for a touchdown. It was plays such as these that commonly occurred for the Bears back in 2001, the last time they made the playoffs. So who knows -- maybe my Bears playoff prediction a while back wasn't so crazy after all.\nDespite losing Charles Rogers for the season, the Detroit Lions improved to 2-0 Sunday, something they haven't been able to do since 2000. Joey Harrington has looked extremely sharp this season and, at this rate, Roy Williams has the Rookie of the Year award locked up. As scary as it seems, the playoff picture in the NFC North could look like this at the end of the season: Lions and Vikings and Bears ... oh my!\nI rarely laugh at the misfortune of NFL players, but in this case I'll make an exception. Browns' tight end Kellen Winslow, who at the University of Miami proclaimed himself to be a (choice word) soldier, broke his fibula in the Browns' loss to the Cowboys Sunday. Winslow is known more for his big mouth than his big play on the field, so we'll have to wait and see how he handles this ordeal. My advice though: Walk it off buddy; you're a soldier. \nNow the moment all you Colts' fans have been waiting for. I will now give credit to Peyton Manning and his crew in blue. Though Manning has not been very impressive thus far this season, Edgerrin James surprisingly has. "Edge" has been hitting the holes with a full head of steam, just like the days of old, and is a huge threat out of the backfield on screen passes. James has proved yet again, though, that dreadlocks just don't work in the NFL nowadays. Brandon Stokley and Reggie Wayne are fitting in well as compliments to Marvin Harrison, who will most likely be around until he's 50 or so. The defense remains suspect, but any defensive line with Dwight Freeney should be extremely happy.\nOverall, this weekend was pretty horrible, but football seemed to salvage it a bit. In case you were wondering, I'm not out for the season -- I'll be listed as day-to-day.