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Not just the mail.

"It's hard to imagine Mario Williams and the Texans as an 'It' team (NFL Preview 2008, Sept. 8). We're so used to people bashing us."¹ -UDELEON3

"There is no reason to think the Texans will do any better² than last year, seeing as they went 15 in the division." -LW25TITANS

"Ranking the Panthers above the Saints in the NFC South is moronic. Have you seen New Orleans' preseason performance?"³ -MAMOU_81

"The Vikings have Adrian Peterson … and Chris Kluwe, one of the most powerful punters in the game."4 -ANGELSMAN394

1. There's lots to live up to in Houston. The Oilers were division winners their first three years in the AFL. The Texans? Six years of nada and counting.
2. Have some faith. Williams and Amobi Okoye combined for 19.5 sacks, leading the league among DT-DE pairs in '07. Neither is yet 24 years old.
3. Preseason matters as much as August presidential polls. The '04 Pats, '06 Colts and '07 Giants were each 1–3 before the season in which they won it all.
4. Kluwe can punt (44.7 yards per, eighth best in the NFL). But what he can really do is shred: He beat the reigning Guinness record holder in Guitar Hero this July.

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Fans of China's Sun Yue (Team Travel, April 24, 2006) have long called the 6'9" guard the Chinese Magic. Now he'll get to prove he's worthy of the tag. On Aug. 26, the 22-year-old signed a two-year, $1.1M deal with the Lakers. LA scouts discovered Sun in 2006 when his Chinese team, Aoshen, relocated to Maywood, Calif. Soon after, the Lakers picked him in the second round of the '07 draft. And now that he's percolated for a year on the Chinese national team, which included a turn at the Olympics, he's ready to take on Tinseltown. But don't expect a second coming.
"I don't see the leadership skills for him to be Magic," says Lakers assistant GM Ronnie Lester. "I think he's more Toni Kukoc." Who better than Phil Jackson to decide if that's true? -RIC BUCHER

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