By Bob Baum TEMPE, Ariz. Twelve running backs were chosen ahead of Tim Hightower in the 2008 draft. He wasn't even invited to the NFL combine. Yet halfway through his rookie season, Hightower has replaced one of the great names of the past decade as a starter for the Arizona Cardinals.

The agent for Chesapeake's DeAngelo Hall said Wednesday night the Oakland Raiders' release of Hall eight games into his first season with the team stunned him and the cornerback from Deep Creek High and Virginia Tech.

By JOSH DUBOW   ALAMEDA, Calif DeAngelo Hall's disappointing stint with the Oakland Raiders is apparently coming to an early finish. The Raiders are close to waiving Hall, a Deep Creek High School graduate, less than eight months after they traded for the former Pro Bowl cornerback and gave him a $70 million contract.

There are inconspicuous ways to enter the NFL. Going in as the No. 1 draft pick of the New England Patriots, who have played in four of the past seven Super Bowls, isn’t one of them. Beyond that, Jerod Mayo – the 10th overall selection last spring – is the first linebacker drafted by Patriots coach Bill Belichick before the fifth round since Belichick arrived in 2000.

Entering Week 8 of the NFL season … I think of the money I could have won had I wagered the four teams most likely to be a combined 21-3 so far reside in Tennessee, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and East Rutherford, N.J.

Chesapeake's Deangelo Hall  got what he wanted in the offseason, a trade from a rocky situation in Atlanta to the Oakland Raiders and a seven-year contract worth some $70 million. Now Raider fans are waiting for Hall, a two-time Pro Bowl cornerback at 24, to deliver value along with the 2-4 Raiders. Hall is waiting, too.

You might not have predicted a lengthy NFL career for Norfolk's David Martin when he was drafted in the sixth round by the Green Bay Packers in 2001. An All-Tidewater wide receiver at Norview High - he also played that position at the University of Tennessee - Martin was immediately told to sink or swim as a tight end.

By Jimmy Golen BOSTON They fluttered in and rocketed out: Three more homers sent sailing over the Green Monster to help the Tampa Bay Rays blow out Boston for the second straight game and move within a win of their first AL pennant.

By Jimmy Golen BOSTON B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and the rest of the Tampa Bay Rays have quickly become a playoff monster.

In hi second season with the Arizona Cardinals, Norfolk’s Levi Brown is part of the first Cardinals team in 20 years to be perched atop its division five weeks into the season. And that means … not much to Brown right about now.