Howdy, Partner
Posted September 27, 2009, 5:51 PM ET

Welcome to Dallas.

I'm loving the Tex Mex...con queso dip...salsa...chips....and great margaritas.

The steaks are great, and even the BBQ is delicious, even though I'm a North Carolina boy at heart, when it comes to my vinegar-based pork barbecue.

It's refreshing to pick up the local paper and read a great sports section. The Dallas Morning News is sensational.

I'm loving the view from high atop the bars and clubs on McKinney & Lemmon. There is nothing like blondes, short skirts and the best plastic surgery has to offer. Everything in Texas is indeed bigger.

I'm also loving the fact that the Dallas Cowboys have yet to win a regular season game in their new home....at least they haven't won one, heading into their Monday Night showdown with the Panthers.

I just returned from a tour of the new $1.4 billion-dollar Cowboys Stadium....the place is simply incredible, and that's without 90,000 Cowboy fans littered inside and outside the premises. I'm really looking forward to the game on Monday night. I thought it was incredibly ironic that directly across from the mega-structure is the largest Wal-Mart store on the planet.....somehow, that is the perfect match.

And for the record, regardless of the outcome on Monday evening, it will be 4,657 days since the 'Boys won their last playoff game. Just the facts.

After the completion of the two-hour tour of the stadium, you are directed to enter the Cowboy Pro Shop which is jammed with anything "Cowboy". You name it, and they've got it...shirts, hats, trinkets, autographs....but nowhere can you purchase a playoff win in recent memory.....and one more thing: they don't sell Jessica Simpson's latest album, either.

I've had a great time the last few days "Messing with Texas", and in all seriousness, I love it down here. The people are great, friendly and the city of Dallas is terrific. It's one of my favorite locations. I can only imagine what this place along with Jerry Jones will do when the Super Bowl comes to town in 2011. It will be the best venue the sport/event has ever seen, and you know they will roll out the red carpet Texas-style for the world to see.

Texas has been great, and the trip has been a blast. Now, after spending a few days in Big D, it comes down to an important NFL game. At stake is the 2009 Carolina Panthers' season.....0-2, and playing on the road against a wounded team. That is not a great combo.

I will tell you that the locals are really down on their QB.....Tony Romo has been ripped by nearly every Cowboys fan I've talked with, since arriving on Saturday morning. If you think Jake Delhomme caught grief after the Philly game, you ain't seen or heard nothing yet.

Both QB's have the ability to get hot and perform at All-Pro levels. Both guys also have the ability for their respective fans to disown them at a moment's notice. The uncertainty of the quarterback play is what makes the game so interesting.

It's also the "must-win" scenario that awaits the Panthers. Only three teams have started 0-3 and made the playoffs since the playoff system was reformed in the early 90's.

The Panthers know they have to find a way to win on Monday night. Both teams seem to have the same problem: erratic QB play, and defenses that forget how to tackle or create any pressure. Trust me, there will be a ton of pressure on both sidelines Monday night....Dallas trying to make sure Jerry Jones gets a victorious house-warming gift, and Carolina trying to make sure the season isn't lost before we reach October.

I can't wait to watch it unfold while sitting in Cowboys Stadium. There's nothing a $14 Cowboyrita and a $60 pizza can't cure.

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As we head into the month of October, we can finally get serious about the college football season.

I have long argued that the pre-season polls are a complete joke, and you don't have to do much homework to realize how ridiculous the rankings truly are....

After a few weeks of the 2009 season, 18 of the Top 25 teams in USA Today Coaches pre-season poll have lost at least a single game.

Just look at how many frauds were exposed this past week in the Top 10: Ole Miss, Penn State, Cal and Miami, just to name a few Top 10 pretenders. It doesn't mean these teams are dogs; they're just not national title contenders.

I'm still not buying Boise State, LSU and TCU as serious factors.....but the season will play itself out. To be honest with you, other than Bama, Florida, and maybe Texas, there might not be a handful of legitimate title teams.

One thing hasn't been surprising, and that's ACC football.

It has been as brutal as advertised.

Every weekend, you're bound to have the conference's ultra-thin confidence shattered. Just last week, Clemson, Maryland, and Florida State lost to non-conference foes while being favored and playing at home.

Throw in noncompetitive blowout conference losses by UNC and Miami, and you get the ugly picture. Thank goodness that N.C. State rallied to beat Pittsburgh in Raleigh.

October marks the start of basketball practice at every ACC school, and it comes at a perfect time. Apparently, the Virginia Tech Hokies will handle the league's heavy lifting in football while everyone else gets prepared for the roundball season.

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This week, the MLB regular season comes to an end - and I'm proud to say that it looks like my "Packman 9" will be a perfect 9-for-9.

For the past three years, I always select 9 teams (one from each division), one week into the season that have absolutely zero chance at making the post-season. This year, I selected the following teams:

Baltimore Kansas City Seattle Oakland Washington Houston Pittsburgh San Francisco San Diego

I love my SF Giants, but their playoff dreams have died down the stretch, and it finalized a perfect 9-9 in 2009. For anybody keeping score, I'm now 25 of 27 the last three baseball seasons in this department.

Bobby Cox announced last week that the 2010 season would be his final one as skipper of the Atlanta Braves. He has had a remarkable run with the Bravos. He is one of only two managers to have six 100-win seasons, and his team continues to play great down the stretch this year.

It just won't look the same in the dugout without Bobby Cox....of course, as often as he gets thrown out of games, maybe we should be semi-used to it.

Finally, as the season winds down, I'm trying to figure out what sucks more...Congress, or both baseball teams in the DC-Baltimore loop?

Both the O's and Nats are approaching mind-numbing deficits of 40 games in their respective divisions.

Nice job, guys.....it's time for playoff-baseball.