Woe is LeBron et al

  They showed - physically - up to Anfield a half hour late, and barely showed up on the field at all, and the result saw Liverpool move into sixth place with a 3-1 win over a very flat Manchester United yesterday morning.  Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt netted a hat trick from a combined six or so feet in front of the goal.  If you're wondering what United midfielder Nani was so upset about after a nasty tackle from Jamie Carragher yesterday, wonder no more.  Nasty, nasty pictures here of his leg cut to the bone, and he's said to be done for the year.  United striker Chicharito scored the lone goal for the leaders, his 10th on 14 shots this year.

Memo to the Heatles: The Fab Four used to make girls cry, not the other way around.  Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said several of his players were crying in the locker room after yesterday's 87-86 loss to the Chicago Bulls.  And isn't it awesome how the Heat have gone from this last summer to this yesterday?  That's no photoshop work, either.  Said Dwayne Wade: "the Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted, losing games. The world is better now because the Heat is losing."  Yep, couldn't agree more.  And might D-Wade wish he jumped to Chicago in the off-season, as was heavily speculated?  The Heat are now 1-15 in game tying/winning shots in final 10 seconds.  Imagine what they'd be if they had no timeouts and not 17 a half!? 

After yesterday's 3-2 win over the New York Islanders, the New Jersey Devils are now 20-2-2 in their last 24 games, and find themselves 7 points out of last playoff spot in East. They likely won't have enough games to make it, but impressive given the huge hole they dug for themselves in the first few months of the season.

The NHL regular season ends five weeks from today and only six teams are more than seven points out of a playoff spot.  They are Colorado, Edmonton, Florida, New Jersey, Ottawa and St. Louis.
A hilarious graphic to help determine which baseball team you should cheer for.  Sadly, the Toronto Blue Jays don't even make the grade, which is about right. Kidding.  They did make it.  Just had to get that in.  I have no soul, after all.

Perhaps I was a bit harsh Thursday in hammering Trevor Gillies of the New York Islanders.  I mean, a guy with 16 goals and 47 assists for 63 points in 775 hockey games in various leagues, including the Ontario Hockey League, East Coast Hockey League, American Hockey League, and of course, the NHL, deserves far more respect.  Gillies has also collected 3,302 penalty minutes...a mere 55 hours in the penalty box.  Gillies was suspended 10 games for his latest nasty hit.  On the Hotstove on Hockey Night in Canada Saturday, Mike Milbury had an epiphany, and seemed to suggest fighting has no place in hockey: "The only reason we have fighting in the game is because we like it." He laughed off the suggestion it polices anything, and this is a guy that used to be as hawkish as they come.

The Sports Guy (Bill Simmons) best summed up the NBA foisting a pair of Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets games on London, England this past weekend, both won by the Nets: Love that we're trying to pique England's interest in NBA basketball with 2 Nets-Raptors games. Plan B: WNBApalooza.

Good to see Brett Favre being made fun of even in his home state, as you can see in this Mardi Gras video with 2:44 remaining.

FIFA banned the "snood" finally.  I've played piles of games of 90+ minutes, with the odd 120, and never once thought a glorified scarf would be a good idea.  In protest, Italian players worldwide are contemplating a strike this weekend.

I probably follow boxing more than 99% of the people I know, but have no idea who this David Haye is that will be fighting Wladimir Klitschko to unify the heavyweight title.

How bad has attendance been in Atlanta at Trashers games? The 50/50 jackpot winner has owed the team money each time out.  We jest.

This is how concussions happen.  Guaranteed.