Here's your wakeup call -- a combination of newsworthy andor interesting tidbits -- for Monday, November 5:
BASEBALL
Two ex-Red Sox executives (Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer) tried and failed to acquire Dan Haren late last week. And that may have opened the door for another ex-Sox exec (Josh Byrnes) to bring Haren to San Diego. (NBC's Hardball Talk)
That positive test for testosterone didn't sour the A's on Bartolo Colon. (AP)
Dominican police arrest three suspects in the murder of former MLB pitcher Pascual Perez. (AP)
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Giving up 51 points Saturday night didn't prevent Oregon from moving past Notre Dame and into No. 3 in the BCS standings. (AP)
Not that it matters much to the Irish. (CSN Chicago)
LSU was Osama bin Laden to Alabama's SEAL Team Six on Saturday night. At least that's how Nick Saban saw it. (AP)
Joker Phillips has affably played the role of dead man walking for weeks now, and a 40-0 pounding at the hands of Vanderbilt -- at home no less, in what was Kentucky's worst loss to the Commodores in 96 years -- sealed his fate. (AP)
GOLF
A 14-year-old at the Masters? And from China, to boot? First women and now this, eh, Hootie? (AP)
Ian Poulter rallies to win the HSBC Champions a year too early . . . (AP)
. . . because next season, this will be an official PGA Tour event. (AP)
Your seniors champion for 2012: Tom Lehman. (AP)
HOCKEY
So that's why we haven't seen Manny Malhotra and friends at Five Guys! (NBC's Pro Hockey Talk)
PRO BASKETBALL
Well, I guess it was too much to hope that the Lakers would go 0-for-2012-13. (AP)
But every silver lining has its dark cloud in LaLa Land these days: Steve Nash could be out for four weeks because of a non-displaced fracture in his left leg. (NBC's Pro Basketball Talk)
Not for nothing (as they say in my neck of the woods), but the Knicks look pretty good coming out of the gate. (AP)
PRO FOOTBALL
They're stirring uncomfortably in the old folks' homes of Miami: The Falcons are 8-0 after their 19-13 win over the Cowboys. (AP)
Ben Roethlisberger hopes Sunday's game enabled the storm-ravaged people of New Jersey "to take their minds off their problems just a little." But I don't know that a Steelers' come-from-behind win over the Giants made them feel any better. (AP)
On a weekend of strange coaching decisions -- hello there, Les Miles (AP) -- the Browns' Pat Shurmur made the strangest one of all in Cleveland's loss to the Ravens. (CSN Baltimore)
Remember when the Cardinals were the talk of the NFL? Yeah, me neither. (AP)
This Andrew Luck guy is pretty good. Better yet, Chuck Pagano was there in person to see it. (AP)
Luck's predecessor, Peyton Manning, is pretty good, too. (AP)
Hope you had Doug Martin in your fantasy league. (AP)
Yes, his new team (the Bills) lost to his old one (the Texans), but Mario Williams walked away from his return to Houston smiling because he was booed every time he made a play. (AP) "I know I'm in your heart," he explained. "That's the most important thing." Funny, I thought winning the game (youtube.com) was the most important thing, but that's just me. And Herm.