Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

Blowing out a few weekend observations while wondering who perpetrated the biggest fraud on America...the Tennessee Titans or Balloon Boy's family:

-The temptation is to say Tom Brady is back.

The five touchdown passes in a quarter are impressive, no matter what level of competition one is facing, even if those 5-TD's came against a college team. Of course, a college team at least would have put up more of a fight than the throwback uniform wearing Titans, who disgraced themselves by quitting somewhere around the time snow started falling on Foxboro, which was about 4-hours before kickoff.

That said, it was good to see Brady find a rhythm and build confidence. He gets another easy one on paper as the Patriots travel to London to take on a second consecutive winless foe in Tampa Bay. That should take New England into the bye week with a 5-2 record and end the "work out the rust" period of Brady's comeback. After that, we'll find out once and for all if the Pats QB is back for good, or if his days as a sure thing are behind him.

-This probably isn't a popular thing to say around these parts, but on a professional level, I'm kind of happy for Alex Rodriguez. (Would be even happier if he wore different laundry than pinstripes)

It's annoying to hear fans talk in absolutes about athletes and their failures, as if you can define an entire career based on a limited number of playoff performances. A great example was Barry Bonds, who was branded as a choke artist based on a few bad Octobers with the Pirates. A torrid playoff run with the Giants ended that silly thought. Same with Peyton Manning, who until finally leading the Colts to a Super Bowl victory, had to live with the "he'll never win one" label.

It appears A-Rod has put an end to his personal playoff hell and is about to load the Evil Empire on his back and carry it to another title. It's almost comical watching the same Yankee fraud fans who tried booing him out of town just a year ago now tripping over themselves to get a front row seat for his curtain calls. Heck, even "class act" Derek Jeter might be ready to stop throwing his rival for greatest shortstop of this generation under the bus.

(And to those of you who had some not-so-kind things to say in this direction two years ago when I dared suggest it might be a good time to say bye to Mike Lowell and go after Rodriguez in free agency, you can come out of hiding now. All is forgiven)

-It's fitting that Kevin Youkilis is going to be presented with the Lowell Spinners Dick Berardino Award at the team's December 29th Alumni Dinner.

The award is presented annually to a member of the Spinners alumni who has displayed tremendous coachability, determination, dedication, a passionate work ethic and the heart to make it to the major league level. That pretty much sums up the Greek God of Walks, who turned himself from an unlikely prospect into an All-Star.

When I think of players who've gone from the Spinners to the majors, he's the one who always pops to mind first.

That's the view from here...how do you see things? Is Brady back? Or do you need to see him do it against "NFL" competition before jumping back on the bandwagon? Can anyone stop A-Rod and the Yankees from another title? Are you still thinking it was a good idea to pass on Rodriguez when he became a free agent? Who is the first player you think of when you hear the words Lowell Spinners?