First down

TODAY’S BEST BET ON TELEVISION

Looking for a bright spot in the Wizards’ season opener against the Nets? No way will there be a rain delay. 7 p.m., CSN and ESPN

NEWSMAKERS

Bruce Smith

Former Redskins end is a first-year candidate for the Hall of Fame. Here’s hoping he wears his “Greatest of All Time” jacket and hands out some of his coins.

Peyton Manning

Speaking of Hall of Famers, Manning is a shoo-in, but he’s looked awful this season, tossing four picks over his last two games, and his Colts are struggling.

Kerry Collins

He’s found new life again, this time with the unbeaten Titans. They have asked Collins to hand off and make no mistakes; so far, so good for the 15-year veteran.

Greg Oden

The brittle big guy finally makes his professional debut this week with the Portland Trail Blazers more than a year after they took him with the No. 1 pick.

Bud Selig

Bud’s back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. His track record doesn’t earn baseball’s commish much sympathy, especially in these parts.

ON WASHINGTONTIMES.COM

A hungry Tim Lemke did a little self-serving investigative journalism on his SportsBiz Blog.

Taco Bell said it would give free tacos to everyone in America because someone in the World Series got a stolen base. It’s the “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion. The restaurant chain said it would give out the tacos between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. So Tuesday afternoon, I drove down to the Taco Bell at the corner of Bladensburg and New York Avenue in Northeast D.C.

And I did not receive a free taco.

Turns out, this particular establishment was not participating in the promotion because they are a combined Taco Bell/KFC.

From what I can tell, there is nothing in Taco Bell’s fine print that exempts the Taco Bell/KFC joints specifically, but the promotion does say the free tacos will be handed out at all “participating” Taco Bell restaurants. So there you go.

In protest, I went across the street and got some McNuggets.