FanHouse

The wide receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson is still known as C. Johnson on the back of his jersey.

Although he legally changed his name to Chad Ochocinco and planned to put "Ocho Cinco" on the back of his Cincinnati Bengals jersey, he took the field with his old name on his back today against the Baltimore Ravens.

Here's the official statement from the team:

"While the NFL has recognized the legal name change of Chad Johnson to Chad Ocho Cinco, the league informed the Bengals today that certain issues remain to be resolved before Ocho Cinco will be permitted to wear his new surname on his jersey. He will wear the name Johnson on his jersey today and will be referred to as Chad Johnson on the official play-by-play sheet. Further questions should be directed to the league office."

The NFL apparently is worried that allowing Johnson to change the name on his jersey would set a bad precedent. Johnson may have changed his name to Ochocinco for nothing.

The weather at Richmond International Raceway is simply phenomenal the day after Tropical Storm Hanna breezed through, and after a day off, the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series are ready to roll in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400.

Kyle Busch leads the field to the green just after 1pm/ET and FanHouse has you covered the whole way. Can David Ragan or Kasey Kahne make the Chase? Will Jeff Gordon get booted out?

Jump in below to the conversation as we get a heavy dose of NASCAR live bloggin' -- just in time to set the field for the 12-driver Chase to the Championship!

As the rumors about a deal pitching Zach Randolph to Memphis for a Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric package continue to fester, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News gets Knicks boss Donnie Walsh to confirm on the record that he's been chatting with his Grizzly counterpart. The rumor mill continues to press Knick subsidies to help pay Z-Bo's deal as the sticking point.

The Darko & Marko package isn't completely clear in 2010: Jaric makes $7.6 million in 2010-11. That still saves New York almost $10 million that summer, and -- without accounting for David Lee, Nate Robinson and Mardy Collins, who will all be free agents in the next couple years -- that's almost enough to free up the Knicks for a max contract in the vaunted summer of '10. The targeted max players of '10 -- LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Amare -- will draw starting salaries of $20 million. With this deal (and again, no new deals for the free agents) the Knicks will sit about $15-16 million under the cap in '10.

There would also still be two years to work on a smaller project. New York doesn't need to be the first team to clear the cap, they just need to get it done by July 1, 2010, if they want to play ball. Things are certainly getting more interesting ...

With one of the biggest punches in the history of mixed martial arts, Rashad Evans knocked out Chuck Liddell at UFC 88 last night, earning himself a shot at the light heavyweight title.

But what about Liddell, who held that title for two years and would have gotten another shot at it if he had beaten Evans? What is the future of The Iceman, who for years has been UFC's most popular fighter? Here are four possibilities:

Fight Anderson Silva: Silva is the middleweight champion and widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Assuming he successfully defends his middleweight title against Patrick Cote at UFC 90, Silva will have cleared out the middleweight division to such an extent that there really aren't any interesting fights left for him at 185 pounds.

Silva's manager has said that Silva would like to fight Liddell, and the fight would make big money for UFC. The only reason not to do it would be the fear that Silva would absolutely destroy Liddell. Which leads us to another option...

GO. TIME. PEOPLE.

That's right. Football started on Thursday night and it was glorious (insomuch as a Giants - Redskins, "Hey, we're both .500 teams!" type of game can be). But today ... today is when everything becomes wonderful once a week for 10 hours at a time.

And part of that glory is fantasy football of course. Which is why the Sunday Morning Tailgate returns for 2008, complete with live chat capabilities. We've already covered the positional rankings, talked about important fantasy injuries, we've discussed sleepers, we've examined a few coinflips, we named some last-minute upside plays, we made total point predictions, and we've even told you what stars to sit.

Now, we will hang out and chat with you, answering your questions, talking strategy and drooling at the thought of 16 more weeks of sweet, sweet foosball.

You bring the chicken biscuits, we'll bring the expertise. We go live at 10:30, and maybe earlier if I can't sleep Saturday night.

It's finally here, people: the NFL season is upon us. In the seven months since the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, front-office types have wheeled and dealed, players have trained, and coaches have game-planned, all for this moment.

Today everybody's upbeat -- ecstatic, even -- especially the fans, many of whom use football as an escape from real-world drudgeries that can sometimes make the offseason seem unbearably long. And by "everybody", I mean "everybody but Greg Cosell." Cosell is the guy behind the guy behind the guy at NFL Films, and he's basically Ron Jaworski's off-camera alter ego.

His most recent column is about as uplifting as a funeral procession, but without all the ceremony. The title pretty much sets the tone, and if you're a Raiders or Jets fans, it just gets more depressing/infuriating from there: "McFadden, Gholston have look of NFL busts."

Now this could very well be the case, but jeebus, man, we haven't even seen either of them play a snap in a regular-season game. It's one thing to call out Alex Smith and Matt Leinart for their shortcomings -- there's plenty of film of those two in various states of underachievement -- but Darren McFadden and Vernon Gholston? Okay, let's hear it.

Today's game against the St. Louis Rams will kick off the tenth year of the Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid era in Philadelphia. After a decade together, you'd think Big Red would reward the franchise QB with a stud receiver or two.

Jason Avant, Hank Baskett, and DeSean Jackson aren't exactly household names. But with Kevin Curtis out with a sports hernia and Reggie Brown looking doubtful, those three guys will be Donovan McNabb's starting receivers today against the Rams.

Fear not, Eagles fans. While there's no stud in that bunch, the Eagles also have a healthy tight end in L.J. Smith and perhaps the best receiving running back in the game, Brian Westbrook. Throw in the Birds' speedy new half back addition of Lorenzo Booker and the Eagles can certainly catch some passes without their top two guys in the line up.

In the moments after Rashad Evans knocked out Chuck Liddell at UFC 88 last night, the UFC's top brass huddled up and decided that the KO earned Evans a title shot.

UFC President Dana White announced in the wee hours of Sunday morning that Evans would fight Forrest Griffin for the UFC light heavyweight title. Although a date hasn't been chosen, it will most likely be a co-main event on the December 27 UFC 92 card, which also features the interim heavyweight title clash between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir.

Although UFC executives have to be disappointed that Liddell lost -- he is, after all, their most proven pay-per-view draw, and even Griffin wanted him to win -- it makes sense that they would give Evans the next title shot. He's undefeated and he's just provided UFC fans with one of the greatest highlights in mixed martial arts history. A Griffin-Evans fight won't draw the way a Griffin-Liddell fight would have, but it's still a fight every UFC fan will want to see.

I kept hearing "23 years" this, "23 years" that, based on the length of time that it has been since the University of Florida Gators, keepers of The Tebow, formerly of the Old Ball Coach and recently of a National Championship, beat the University of Miami.

It's fairly shocking to believe that it's even humanly -- or Tebowly -- possible for two powerhouse teams located so close hadn't played each other since the 2004 post season, although that does mean that very few people involved in the action tonight actually had anything to do with either team the last time they played.

And it also gives a semi-logical explanation for why that streak has stayed intact as Miami has fallen from grace and Urban Meyer -- who wasn't around either -- has pushed Florida back into the upper echelon of college teams.

Not helping matters is the fact that Florida was a 21 point favorite (and with good reason, seemingly) but the halftime score -- nine to three (again, coaches, typing the score out = poor offensive performance) -- kind of held out a little hope for a close game.

Don't blame Tebow though; as Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit, Erin Andrews and anyone else with a microphone or a camera in their face pointed out, it was just the rest of the Gators looking slovenly in the first half and failing to meet the WonderKid's expectations.

Rashad Evans knocked out Chuck Liddell with a brutal punch to pull off a stunning upset tonight at UFC 88 in Atlanta.

It was the best moment of Evans' young career, a powerful right-handed strike directly on the chin in the second round. That right hand firmly establishes the undefeated Evans as one of the up-and-coming stars of the UFC, and potentially a light heavyweight title contender.

On the other side of the coin, the loss was Liddell's third in his last four fights, and it raises the question of whether The Iceman -- long UFC's biggest star -- still has anything left. One of the most accomplished fighters in the history of the sport may be nearing retirement.

Liddell's professional MMA record falls to 21-6. Evans improves his record to 12-0-1.