Boxing never lets us figure out what year it really is

Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, pictured at right, was yanked in last night's 6-3 loss to the Chicago Black Hawks after giving up five less than impressive goals. But hey, he's a champion now at the major level, so really, the rest of Canada doesn't much care.

If it were April 1st it couldn't be more lame, except it isn't a joke apparently. Mike Tyson is said to be set to make a comeback and as if that wasn't ridiculous enough, after a tune-up fight, he'll fight - wait for it! - Evander Holyfield. No, seriously. At least heavyweight boxing isn't a joke. Hey, what's Larry Holmes up to?

And speaking of what is old being new again, along comes Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlesberger and his latest sexual assault accusation. This time the 20-year old accuser sounds like she's got her story well in order. And me being a fan of a great crack, here's a name for Big Ben passed my way from TS: Ben Rapelesberger. Strong. I like it.

NFL free agency is under way and the Chicago Bears made a big splash in inking Julius Peppers and Chester Taylor. Anquian Boldin is now a Baltimore Raven too in a solid pickup for a wideout challenged squad.

The Phoenix Coyotes are 6th in the NHL this season, a surprise to everybody. Not a surprise? That they continue to draw small crowds. They had just over 10,000 for a game a few days ago. Yeah, save that market Bettman!

ESPN SoccerNet ranks the Top 50 players who will be at this year's World Cup. Man is that top 10 ever good.

Here's a peak at the Top 10 Saturday Night Live sketches over the years, and yes, the videos work.

Not surprisingly, the New York Yankees players are willing to go on the record about how glad they are that Roy Halladay is no longer in the division. Pretty impressive quotes here, in which the Yankees also crack Mariano Rivera for showing Halladay how to throw the cutter.

Have a great Saturday.

This will end badly

It must be spring, or at least spring training, if baseball people are making predictions. Texas Rangers exec Nolan Ryan predicts his squad will win the AL West with 92 wins. That division is going to be real tough this year with only the Oakland A's not in the division winner mix I'd guess.

Gary Bettman told ESPN New York Radio's Michael Kay that the NHL has "never been more entertaining and faster". No, seriously, he said that. Thanks for putting me in a spot where I have to play the "when I was growing up..." card, GB. At its most entertaining, the best of teams don't hold a candle to the Edmonton Oilers of the 80's for entertainment.

The last four seasons, the Toronto Blue Jays were 30 games over .500 when Roy Halladay starting. In games he didn't start over that time frame, they were 72 games under. This is going to be a Toronto-Maple-Leafs-ugly season for the Jays.

Recall Prince Fielder and the Milwaukee Brewers celebration after a 9th inning walk off shot from Fielder late last year, in which the San Francisco Giants were sour the Brew Crew played bowling pins and all fell down when Fielder reached the plate? Seems the Giants recall, as Barry Zito's first pitch to Fielder yesterday landed right between his shoulder blades. Fielder said it wasn't a big deal. Might have been the benefit of the soft throwing Zito.

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. has the Hyperbole Machine cranked up to 11, as he told ESPN Radio: "I'm the best to ever put on a pair of boxing gloves. Better than Ali.". Uh-huh.

So in a year or so, Allen Iverson has burned through 4 NBA teams, is now on leave because of an illness to a daughter - or so we are told - and now comes news his wife is filing for divorce. Do you get the feeling this guys life will end badly?

Check out this collection of middle finger flippers in the NFL over the years. Nice stuff.

Here are the 50 Funniest Facebook Fails. I've left it open to my personal fav, one which I know Bukakke will appreciate.

Have a great Friday, all.

What a wa$te

I would love to know how much money TSN, SportsNet et al poured in to covering the NHL trade deadline yesterday with probably 24 hours of combined coverage - easy - and almost no deals of significance taking place. I'd have lost the plot if Champions League play was pre-empted for that non-event.

ESPN's Erin Andrews, just named to the next season of Dancing With The Stars, is covered with 100 pictures here, and more than a few feature her ass, which isn't saying her front side is terrible (not even close), but is more a testament to an ass that should have a cape on it, because it's a super ass, as depicted at right.

Be sure to catch Cleveland Cavs highlites of their easy win in New Jersey last night. LeBron et al were pulling schoolyard meets All-Star Game type plays in the first quarter.

The Sports Guy (aka Bill Simmons) offers up a lengthy view on how to fix the NBA. Love his idea about charging less for season's tickets for every season your team misses the playoffs. Incentive to fans to stay on board, incentive to the team to turn it around. It'd never happen, but a great idea.

I thought Wikipedia was pretty handy. Handier? Ten Word Wiki. Exactly how it sounds.

Peter Crouch with two and Sean Wright-Phillips provided the goals for England in a 3-1 win over Egypt in an international friendly yesterday. Hate to break it to the English, but if those two are prominent come World Cup time, England is in a lot of trouble.

More MLB WAGs to check out. Does this ever get old?

I nearly screamed in horror at the site of a commercial last night for the Brier, starting in a few days. How can you go from the height of the Olympics to them going to your national championship? Does curling ever end?

Have a great Thursday...1 hour The Office tonight!

Boo Crosby?

I get the fans in Pittsburgh cheering Buffalo Sabres and Team USA goalie Ryan Miller during pre-game introductions last night. But there was also a healthy chunk who figured it was a good idea to boo their own captain, Sidney Crosby, who while he won gold for Canada, also happened to win a Stanley Cup for them last year. Lame.

Word is the NFL Pro Bowl will be back in Hawaii the week between the conference championships and Super Bowl for 2011. I'd say that must surely mean they drop the lame idea of flying in the Super Bowl contestants who would've otherwise been in the Pro Bowl like they did this year, but there is very little that is rationale when it comes to the Pro Bore.

Michael Jordan looks set to be the next owner of the Charlotte Bobcats and took the opportunity immediately to play - and lose - a game of HORSE. Somebody might want to let MJ know that being owner doesn't mean getting your competitive itch scratched on the court.

How is it the Toronto Blue Jays have a full page ad for their home opener in the Toronto Star but have nothing to identify the player at bat? If you're trying to build familiarity among fans for a largely unfamiliar team, that is not the way to do it.

99 days until the World Cup kicks off. Pass it on.

U.S. authorities have already talked to New York Met Carlos Beltran about his involvement with Canadian doctor Anthony Galea who was pushing some not approved pharmaceuticals and conducting some blood enriching work.

Longtime reader Bukakke passed on pics of this most ridiculous man cave. Clearly, we've all got work to do to compete with this.

Great story of how Jerry Jones called a restaurant in Indianapolis during the NFL combine last Friday to reserve a great bottle of wine for his staff on Saturday night. Problem was that New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and his crew were in on Friday night and asked for the same bottle of wine, the lone such varietal. Be sure to read the rest. Good stuff. SI.com's Peter King noted that Jones would appreciate such a move.

Check out this chart on how close events at the Olympics were, complete with audio that indicates the closeness. Incredible.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman responded to questions about whether the NHL should shut down franchises who aren't getting good attendance by asking "did people think we should fold the Chicago Black Hawks when the United Center was half empty?" A couple things on that. One, even when half empty, the United Center holds north of 10,000, but that's besides the point. Nobody suggested ditching the Hawks because they were a storied franchise who had run into trouble with bad ownership and management, and who had been greatly supported before. That's far easier to turn around than Atlanta, for example, who have been a virtual disaster since entering the league, and are better known outside of Atlanta than in it. And they're not the only franchise people are suggesting that should be moved that you could say that about.

Have a great Wednesday.

Guess who's back in circulation?

Seth Meyers on Saturday Night Live this past weekend: "Gatorade dropped Tiger Woods as their spokesperson after realizing his thirst would never be quenched."

The Utah Jazz are the only team in the NBA without a fourth quarter come from behind win.

Seems hard to believe that more people watched the 2002 Gold Medal hockey game at 17.1 million (average) in Canada than Sunday's 16.6, what with the game on home soil and the incredible overkil...errr...buildup. The game also pulled a big number in the U.S., with 27.6 million tuning in. That isn't Super Bowl territory, but did top the Grammy's and Rose Bowl, and about 25 regular season NHL games combined.

Seems the Toronto Raptors, the version that is roadkill and can't play a lick of defense, are back. The Raps have now lost four straight after getting hammered 116-92 in Houston. They were minus Chris Bosh for the night and for parts, Hedo Turkoglu (knee) and Jose Calderon (boo boo on his elbow). Shame that trade deadline came and went so quietly.

Tough times if you're a Russian sporting official, what with President Dmitry Medvedev demanding you resign or be fired. The Russians only won 15 medals in Vancouver.

Alex Rodriguez has been contacted by U.S. investigators looking at Canadian doctor Anthony Galea. Galea has been linked to Tiger Woods and New York Met Jose Reyes in the past. Would love to see Woods on there giving his robotic answers.

Toss up: Jay Leno came back last night. The Toronto Maple Leafs play the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. Which is less interesting?

The controversy! If you open today's Toronto Star to page A9 and check out the big picture with Prime Minister Stephen Harper sitting among Team Canada hockey players, is that not - gasp! - a beer in Shea Weber's hand? The horror!

From the "Department of If It Ain't Broke, Break It", the idea is percolating of adding teams to the NCAA March Madness tournament. Why would you mess with a perfect 64 teamer that grabs peoples attentions like few other events? 96 teams is a bad, bad idea.

LeBron James has made his desire to move to #6 official. Does that make owning his #23 in Cleveland Cavs colours a good idea, or a bad one? One thing for sure: I wouldn't want to be buying a Cavs jersey with #6 and "James" on the back just yet.

Rocker Liam Gallagher thinks there is a correlation between the fortunes of his former band, Oasis, and the on-field performance of his beloved Manchester City. When Oasis was up, City was down, and now that Oasis is done, City is climbing. Funny stuff.

Could the successful use of the three points system in the Olympic hockey tourney cause the NHL to see the light and move that way? Doubtful. The far more logical Olympic version sees three points for a regulation winner, along with the 2+1 for overtime/shootout.

Have a great Tuesday.

RM returns this afternoon...

Winners!

Heading into overtime of yesterday's gold medal hockey game, you'd have had your sanity questioned if you were picking Sidney Crosby to be the Canadian hero as for vast stretches of the game (approaching "all"), he was invisible again. But there he was less than half way through the wild 4-on-4 overtime, working a give and go with Jarome Iginla, who always seems to have big moments in these final games, to beat the U.S. goalie Ryan Miller, who again played fantastic. Miller was named tournament MVP, while Canuck forward Johnathan Toews was named forward of the tournament. Not bad for a guy who barely made the team as the 13th pick. The gold win was the 14th for the host Canadians, the most ever by a host nation in Winter Olympics history. Pretty impressive.

Tough times being Sidney Crosby: World Junior gold medalist, Stanley Cup Champion and now Olympic gold medalist, all by the age of 22. He wasn't impressive overall at this Olympics, but no argument that he's not a winner.

And out of all that, we're now back to the drudgery of the never ending NHL season. Somehow, Detroit is going to play Colorado tonight. Posed a question to several people this past weekend as to if they still believe the NHL product is better than the international game, talent aside. Still waiting for someone to tell me the scrums and fights are more entertaining than what we saw the past two weeks, though yesterday's game wasn't quite up to the level of some of the other games we saw as often is the case with a prize on the line in any sport.

Sounds like the NFL is ready to change the overtime rules. Here's how it'll work: if the team that receives the ball goes down the field and scores a TD, it is game over. However, if they kick a field goal, then the other team will get a shot with the ball to tie or beat that. If they just tie it, then it reverts to the old sudden death rules. A great, great improvement methinks though I still think both teams should get a possession regardless of if the first scores a TD to open OT. The idea will be put to a vote shortly.

What's the biggest threat to the New York Yankees? Aging contracts, says Joel Sherman at the NY Post. Sherman points to the contracts of Alex Rodriguez, A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixera, who will collect $90 million in 2013. That's before they re-sign Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, with Jeter surely in the mix for 2013. Risky stuff as guys hit their early/mid/late 30's and more.

Check out Dwight Schrute's tribute to Canada with his Office pals. Awesome stuff.

Guess Tiger Woods apology a couple weeks back isn't exactly going over well. After all, Gatorade dumped him as an endorser over the weekend. I don't get it - what could be a more perfect fit for Gatorade's traditional cardboard cutout ads of its endorsers? Who is stiffer than Woods?

UFC has been Chuck Lidell and his girlfriend Heidi Northcutt are in a new Reebok online ad working out. Naked. No, seriously.

Have a great Monday.

This. Is. Everything.

Showtime!

Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo has a 16-2-3 record playing for Canada in the World Championships and Olympics. He'll have to be at this best if he's to outshine the ridiculously in-the-zone Ryan Miller in the American goal.

Prediction? A Salt Lake matching 5-2 win for Canada.

Not sure if Own The Podium meant winning the most golds, but ended up being a hell of a run for Canada in Vancouver with 13 golds going into the final day. The red and white have collected 14 medals in four days.

Chelsea soiled the sheets yesterday at Manchester City, dropping a 4-2 decision that featured Wayne Bridge blowing past John Terry in the pre-game handshakes.

I haven't a clue how anyone finds Brent Butt remotely funny.

Now Bukakke, that guy is funny. His rant on Friday about the Canadian women's hockey team's coach Melody Davidson on the Friday entry was so good I couldn't even post yesterday. At least that's my story.

The Buffalo Bills will not be offering a contract to free agent Terrell Owens. As always, the Baltimore Ravens are the leading candidates to chase Original 81.

Safe to say the Boston Celtics won't be winning the NBA championship this year, not when they're losing to the lowly New Jersey Nets.

Hard to believe Wednesday is NHL trade deadline day, a day when Canadian sports networks forget there are far more interesting things in the sporting world and force feed us all a pile of rumors that mostly go unfounded, because we all really need to see eight hours of Bob McKenzie et al banging away on their BlackBerry's.

English Premier League stats: Burnley has all of one road point this season. Manchester United has benefitted from 10 own goals this year. United will play Aston Villa today in the Carling Cup final at Wembley Stadium in London.