We begin Odds & Ends with DeMarcus Cousins and something that has nothing to do with his play on the basketball court.

On Friday afternoon, a football player at Grant High School in Sacramento was shot in the neck while driving with four of his teammates. Jaulon Clavo,16, died just hours before the Grant Pacers were to host the Beyer Patriots of Modesto in a playoff game,which was postponed.’

Though he wanted it to remain anonymous, Cousins has offered to pay for Clavo’s funeral expenses. Sacramento city councilman confirmed the report to a crowd at a candlelight vigil being held for Clavo on Saturday.

Cousins is sometimes a fixture at football and basketball games for Grant,telling The Sacramento Bee in 2013 that he goes to games because “That was me not too long ago, a high school kid trying to figure out life.”

I admire Cousins’ gesture even though his wish of anonymity was violated. It’s clear to me and other sports fans in town that he does care about this community very much and is very much committed to it. I’m not sure if Clavo’s family has accepted his kind gesture,but it goes to show you that when a local athlete in a small market hears about tragic events such as this,they want to help and I’m glad Cousins does.

Moving on to crazy NBA hypotheticals. Is it possible that the Golden State Warriors can go 82-0?

The way this team has played thus far is beyond ridiculous. They’re 11-0 and picking up where they left off.

They not only beat their opponents, they demolish them! They beat the Grizzlies by 50 points on Nov. 2, they’ve scored 100 points or more in every one of their games and oh, by the way,they’re without their head coach,Steve Kerr,who is recovering from back surgery. Luke Walton is filling in during the interim.

But wait,didn’t they almost lose to Brooklyn at home on Saturday night?

Yes,that’s a valid point,but the thing is,they didn’t and haven’t lost yet. The next team to test that quest for perfection will be Toronto on Tuesday. I know the idea of 82-0 is downright ridiculous,but as of right now,if any team can do it,it’s this one with the way they’re playing. They’ll probably end up matching or exceeding their 67-win total from last season,but if they do run the table,you read it here first!

Switching to football and what turned out to be the game of the day between the Patriots and Giants. Many people were picking the Giants to pull off the upset and end the perfection that was the Patriots’ season,and it almost happened!

The Giants,as much as I hate them, did what they needed to do to have any chance of beating the Patriots. They tested a secondary that hadn’t been tested too much this season and Eli Manning threw guys like Odell Beckham, Jr., Rueben Randle,Dwayne Harris, and Will Tye (who I had never heard of until Sunday) at the Pats corners and safeties.

The Giants also tested the offensive line that has been weakened over time and they got to Tom Brady a few times. The Patriots,however,came up with the right plays at the right time. Danny Amendola’s punt return (where his teammate tripped him up at the 10-yard line), was to me the turning point for the Patriots. They were down by 10 at that time and Amendola providing a spark with a return that was headed nowhere before he turned the corner and got downfield. Then the Rob Gronkowski touchdown,and then the final drive where Brady had no timeouts and made all the right moves to get Stephen Gostkowski in range to kick the game-winner.

I was going to go off on a big giant rant on how bad the Patriots were had they lost,but I have to give the Giants credit. They know the Patriots as well as they know themselves and anytime these two teams play it’s very competitive and never boring. It scares the hell out of me that they could not only win the NFC East,but maybe get to the Super Bowl again and face this New England team. If there’s a God in heaven, or if my Dad’s reading up there, I hope that forces beyond my control have a say in that. I can’t go through that again.

Speaking of the other Manning brother, I hate to say it,but I think this is Peyton’s final season and it shows.

Despite taking the crown of the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards during Sunday’s loss to Kansas City, Manning was benched in favor of back-up Brock Osweiler,ending his day throwing for 35 yards on five completions and 20 attempts. He has 17 interceptions compared to nine touchdowns despite their 7-2 record. Osweiler finished the day 14-of-24 for 146 yards to go with a touchdown and an interception.

It is presumed that coach Gary Kubiak will start Osweiler in place of Manning next week.

I think two things are happening with Manning. One thing, he and Kubiak aren’t a match made in heaven. I think the way he coaches and the way Peyton plays aren’t benefiting each other. Yes,they went 7-0 before losing two straight together,but I think Kubiak was hired so that John Elway and the Broncos could move on with life after Peyton. Secondly,I think you’re seeing what a hurt 39-year-old quarterback looks like. His best days are behind him now and you could argue that since their loss in Super Bowl XLVIII that he hasn’t been the same. I think he should sit and rest a couple of games so that the team can see what they have in Osweiler and if he can make the grade as their future quarterback.

What has happened to the Green Bay Packers?

After starting 6-0, the Packers are falling and fast. Their latest defeat was to the Detroit Lions at home 18-16 on Sunday,giving them a third straight loss and the Lions their first win in Lambeau Field since 1991.

The offense looked sluggish. Yes,Aaron Rodgers threw for 333 yards,but was 35-for-61. No quarterback should have to throw the ball 61 times,in my opinion. Randall Cobb and Devante Adams were dropping many of Rodgers’ throws,which garnered the Green Bay crowd to boo and boo often.

Despite their woes on offense, the Packers did get an onside kick recovered and attempted a late comeback to try and win the game,but kicker Mason Crosby missed a 52-yard field goal attempt to end Green Bay’s losing streak.

“We played physical,” Lions cornerback Crezdon Butler said. “We wanted to control (Rodgers) so we brought pressure and we were in their faces.”

“We dropped one today that we felt we had a very good opportunity to win,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.

Not only are the Packers 6-3,but they now look up at second place in the NFC North to the Minnesota Vikings who are 7-2. Those two teams play each other next week.

You know what really grinded my gears this weekend? People who were shouting during various moments of silence before Sunday’s games. The moments of silence were held in honor of the victims of the terror attacks in Paris on Friday.

http://sports.yahoo.com/video/lions-vs-packers-moment-silence-183500693.html

In the aforementioned game with Lions-Packers game, a fan shouted “Muslims suck” during the moment of silence at Lambeau Field. Aaron Rodgers took issue with it!

Rodgers called the comment “really inappropriate” and “it’s that kind of prejudicial ideology that I think puts us in the position we’re in today as a world.”

Other incidents included the Giants-Patriots game where a fan yelled “ISIS sucks” and the same sentence was shouted in Seattle before the Seahawks took on the Cardinals.

Seriously? You’re going to be this disrespectful at an event and during a time where the NFL is trying to honor the victims in a senseless attack. I think it’s pretty childish to do. I get it,you’re pissed about what happened,but shouting those words makes you look bad.

Is it just me or do these NFL Color Rush uniforms suck out loud?

In case you missed it,the Bills and Jets played Thursday night in some special edition uniforms called Color Rush uniforms. The Bills were in all red uniforms and the Jets wore all green uniforms,which looked bad not only on the field,but also to the color-blind, red-green color blindness affects 8-percent of men according to the National Eye Institute.

Even the NFL admits fault in not accounting for those who are color-blind.

“The Color Rush jerseys are a test for four games this season, the first of which was last night,” the league said in a statement. “We did test the jerseys this summer on field and on television. The standard television test did not account for color blindness for fans at home that became apparent last night. We will enhance our testing to include a color blindness analysis to better address this issue in the future.”

This experiment honestly is a bad one. I had a little hope for it before I heard its announcement,but after seeing it with all four eyes,it’s god awful and is just another cash grab for Nike in their quest to ruin NFL uniforms.

Finally, ESPN’s Ray Lewis is hoping to launch a possible second career after football in the form of becoming a rapper. Last week,Lewis included a snippet of his new song “Can You Stand the Rain?” on his Instagram account. You can find the audio here.

Some people liked it,some people thought it was okay,and some people thought it was a joke and god awful. I thought it was a puzzling 15 seconds of audio.

First off, the song is called “Can You Stand the Rain?”. Did you ask the fellas in New Edition if you could steal the title of one of their biggest hits? Second of all, why does it keeping repeatedly saying “Women?”, is it a song about women or rain? When do we get to hear the rest of the song?

I think Lewis should stick to his day job.