Karma hits you in the face, like an 18-pound sledge...

Ever since LeBron James "karma" blast on his former team, his Miami Heat have gone 0-4.  God is indeed watching, self-proclaimed Chosen 1.

ESPN SoccerNet looks at the potential moves to be made this month by EPL sides Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool.  Apparently, all is quiet in Manchester as far as they're concerned.

Will there be an NBA lockout next season?  Carmelo Anthony says "without a doubt".  Imagine a stretch next fall with potentially no NFL or NBA? 

Since losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl in 2003, the Oakland Raiders are 37-91.  And why can't the NFL get over the Roman numeral thing and just call it "Super Bowl 2011", for example?

Now that is a Lego project at right, a replica of Ohio State's Horseshoe.   Thanks for the hook up, Bukakke.

Sports Illustrated has a piece in an issue next week that ties Lance Armstrong to a doctor connected to performance enhancing drugsand blood doping.  If true, baseball has to be thrilled.  After all, nobody has more vehemently denied usage, or profited from his image and story than Livealie "Livestrong" Lance.  Not surprisingly, Lance is denying.  If there's one thing SI is great at, it is getting its story in line every year around this time on a drug case.

The NFL Players Association has filed collusion charges against the NFL, because if there's one thing a union knows about, it is collusion.  SI's Peter King says, however, that there are some owners that would rather lose the entire 2011 season than to continue under the current system.  I'll believe that when I see it.  Besides, if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has time to think about defining what is over the line in trash talk, then all must be well, right?

Milwaukee Buck Andrew Bogut has put together a hell of an auction to benefit Australian flooding relief on eBay.  This is as good a package as a sports fan with a pile of cash will ever win.

10 must-see sporting venues. 

Green Bay Packer Ryan Grant is telling Packers fans to book their flights to Dallas in early February for the Super Bowl.  Of course, said fans will have as much impact on the game as Grant, who has been sidelined since Week 1 with an injury, so not sure why he's talking so much.

Sergio Ramos, about as good a defender as there is in the world, wants out of Real Madrid after a bust-up with Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.

The Indianapolis Colts are set to make Peyton Manning the highest paid player in the NFL.  Not sure why, given he'd rank below Tom Brady, Ben Roethlesberger and probably Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers on most people's lists of best QB's right now, and certainly not going forward in his mid-30's.

A little food for thought as you contemplate the NFL Conference Championships this weekend:

only three teams have won three straight road games to get to the Super Bowl: the 1985 New England Patriots, 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers and the 2007 New York Giants.  Seems plenty are thinking that total will grow by two this weekend with Green Bay and New York Jets wins.

Gang green?

Since I've beaten up on the New York Jets quite a bit the last month or two, here's one for the Jets fans: what do the New England Patriots and Zsa Zsa Gabor's leg have in common?  Both were owned by Gang Green.

Going into last weekend, the AFC was a 4 point fav in the Super Bowl.  It is now down to AFC -1. Updated Super Bowl odds from The Hilton: Pittsburgh 2-1, New York Jets 7-2, Green Bay 8-5, Chicago 9-2.

So the Toronto Blue Jays told Russell Martin they'd match whatever the New York Yankees offered to bring him to his homeland.  He still chose New York.  The Jays were in hard on Brian Fuentes.  He chose Oakland.  More than a few second place finishes for Toronto, which, of course, is a vast improvement.  Oh, the Jays did sign Jon Rauch yesterday, but I wrote the previous bit before that happened and didn't feel it worth ditching over that mere detail.

For signing former Tampa Bay Ray Rafael Soriano last week, the Rays will get the Yankees first-round pick, adding more to Tampa Bay's huge haul of picks for this summer's draft, which is thought to be the deepest in years. The Rays will have nine picks before the start of the second round.  Of course, it bears mentioning that the baseball draft remains a crap shoot.  After all, Tim Beckham, who was a No. 1 pick for the Rays, is struggling mightily, and Tampa Bay, who do drafting perhaps better than anyone, passed on San Francisco Giant Buster Posey to take Beckham.

ESPN's Buster Olney says the St. Louis Cardinals have about a month to sign Albert Pujols to an extension.  After that he's going to be intent on exploring free agency.  Betting his agent wishes the Yankees and Boston Red Sox didn't have first base already tied up.  Pujols is said to be after A-Rod money, and the Cards don't seem willing to oblige.

Toronto boy and reigning NL MVP Joey Votto signed a three-year extension with Cincinnati worth $38 million.  Good for Votto, good for the Reds.

Don't let the "Brett Favre has filed his retirement papers" fool you too much - he can ask to be reinstated, and has before.   But, he is shilling "Thanks for the memories" memorabilia on his website, and in what is likely a bid to suck up to the Packers fans, he's picking them to win the Super Bowl.

1,023.  That's the number of league managers that have been sacked since Sir Alex Ferguson took over as Manchester United boss in 1986. Mindblowing.

Those voodoo dolls of mine are in fine form - LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Ringo Bosh all missed practice yesterday with injuries. Maybe they just needed some time to "chill".

If you're wondering what every happened to former first rounder of the Toronto Raptors, Rafael Araujo, here he is, shattering a backboard this past weekend.

Shocker in Beantown (suburb)

Yep, that's Ray Lewis hanging in effigy in a Pittsburgh back-yard.  No word if the dog used him as a fire hydrant.

I really, really cannot say I even gave the New York Jets a 1% chance of winning yesterday in New England.  Not with Tom Brady et al's home record over the years, not with the Jets poking the Patriots all week with their smack talk, not when the Patriots had their way with them just 6 weeks ago in a 45-3 beatdown. But credit in particular to the Jets secondary, who stuck to the Pats receivers for long periods and gave Brady nothing to throw to all day and the Jets won 28-21.  I have a feeling that's their Super Bowl, however, and the Green Bay Packers are now the likely winners.  The Jets will travel to Pittsburgh next Sunday, where they are 3.5 point underdogs.  Patriot Deion Branch, who before he dropped a key fourth down pass late in the game taunted the Jets bench after an earlier catch, called the Jets classless, and refused to shake hands with certain players post-game, as did a few of his teammates.

On the NFC side, the Chicago Bears were easy 35-24 winners over Seattle in a game nowhere near as close as that score suggests, and will host Green Bay next Sunday in the early game.  Somehow, the Packers have opened as 3.5 point favs.  Don't get me wrong, I think the Packers win, but how are the Bears home dogs like that?

Not sure if it is a sign of the apocalypse, but there have been thousands of dead birds in Arkansas, and this weekend, another 53 won't be making it back to their respective homes in Baltimore or Seattle, and 53 more perished in Atlanta.

Credit to the Jets through, if they're going to go the distance, they will and may have to navigate some pretty impressive quarterbacks in Peyton Manning (fading, though he may be), Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, and potentially Aaron Rodgers.

After the Jets win, Bart Scott channeled his inner WWE Superstar with this promo. 

And speaking of the WWE, if you're wondering where Randy "Macho Man" Savage is these days, turns out, everywhere. Amazing site.

I have to ask: why couldn't Fireman Ed have been in the Twin Towers?

The 2008 0-16 Detroit Lions lost seven games by at least 15 points. The Seattle Seahawks were a late run yesterday from losing their tenth.
Manchester United and Tottenham played to an entertaining scoreless draw - yes, it is possible, people - in London yesterday that sees the Reds through.  Spurs dominated the first and last 20 minutes, the latter aided by a weak red card call on Rafael.  Nemanja Vidic was an absolute rock in the back for the leaders. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp figures there's no chance that United stays undefeated for the year if they couldn't do it a couple year's back when they had Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez in the lineup.  The way they defend, I wouldn't put it past them.

Christal Bosh whined after an opponent had the audacity to go to the ground after a loose ball, which resulted in Christal getting a boo-boo.  Wince Carturd thinks this guy is embarrassing with the whining.  Bosh says you shouldn't dive at loose balls around players legs.  One, I'm pretty sure that would be the only ball around Bosh' legs.  Two, I don't recall a time - ever - where there has been a loose ball on an NBA floor without a guy around it.  Shut your mouth, Christal.

So Christina Aguilera is singing the U.S. anthem at the Super Bowl. Two things. One, is the game still slated to start on time?  She might delay the start 20 minutes with a less-than-faithful rendition. Two, what year is this?  Xtina to open, Black Eyed Peas at the half? 

I finally figured out why Ben Roethlesberger wears a visor: because mace stings.

One thing I won't be doing on January 28th: watching this lame NHL draft for the all-star game. Get Dr. Kevorkian, stat.

Things got testy in Los Angeles last night as the "visiting" Clippers downed the "home" Lakers.  With 5.7 seconds on the clock, four players were ejected.

Pats/Jets finally get it on

Yesterday's Prime Time Picks worked out about as well as one might have expected for all the confidence shown in them.  Nice of the Baltimore Ravens to extend Christmas into January and give away a game that they had signed, sealed and delivered.  One thing I'll promise: if the New England Patriots win today, and they will, they will have an easy time with the Pittsburgh Steelers next weekend.  Far too sloppy, Steelers.  So yeah, I'm playing the Pats -8.5 today.  They may not go 45-3 like last month, but suspect we're looking at 38-17 or something thereabouts.  This one could be 1,000-0 and it'll be worth watching for all the bile spewed this week.

In the NFC yesterday, the Atlanta Falcons started well and then lost their game in a hurry as the Green Bay Packers roared back and absolutely crushed them 48-21.  Silly me for giving the Falcons love after a year of thinking they were way overrated.

Today's NFC contest is about the least appealing of the bunch this weekend, so it'll likely end up being a gem the way the Seattle/New Orleans game was last weekend.  The Seahawks are 10 point dogs in Chicago today, a place they won earlier in the year as 7 point dogs.  I really, really can't see the Seahawks winning - they're 8-9 on the year, travelled to a cold city across the country, and are facing a team that has been up a lot more than down all year - so lean to Chicago.  It would be funny seeing a Seahawks win, however, as they'd host the NFC Championship with a win.

A guy who knows a thing or two about delivering when it matters - Reggie Jackson - had some choice words for the New York Jets, telling them to shut up and focus on playing instead of a meaningless campaign to trash talk the New England Patriots. Says Mr. October:  "Go look at the hardware, dude. Walk through the lobby up there and look at the stuff that's there. You don't have that, you don't have anything close to that [what the Patriots have]. You might want to shut up, you might learn something. Read, you might figure something out. Watch film, you might get educated. If not, you have a chance to get embarrassed on Sunday.

The big game of the English Premier League this weekend comes from London, where first  place and undefeated Manchester United will visit Tottenham.  Historically, these two play some wildly entertaining games, but I suspect a far tighter affair with so much at stake for both teams.  Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic are back to health for United.  Should be a cracker, as the saying goes.  11am on Setanta Sports.

Enjoy the games!

A pair of NFL Divisional Round games go today - in case you didn't know and we hadn't already beat that home this week - starting with a 4pm kickoff in Pittsburgh where the Steelers will host the Baltimore Ravens.  Off the top, I have to say I'm not near as confident about the picks this weekend as I was last, when we dropped a 3-1 record on your man (that's for you, GS!).  The one sure prediction for this one?  As Clubber Lang said in Rocky III: "prediction?  Paaaaiiiin."  The Steelers and Ravens have an old school, legit hate on for each other and these games usually leave the winner in trouble for the next round.  Ben Roethlesberger is a career 8-2 against the Ravens, while Ravens QB Joe Flacco has quietly won four road playoff games, something very few ever do.  The Ravens should be in good shape physically after an easy win in K.C. last Sunday, and we're playing the Ravens at +3 against the odds which favor the home teams this round.

The late game sees Green Bay visiting Atlanta, with the line a ridiculously low -1 for the home Falcons.  Sure, the Packers have talent and have finally found healthy players late in the season, but hard to ignore that they need to go to the dying minutes to hold on against Philadelphia on the road last weekend, and Matty Ice (Falcons QB Matt Ryan) is a career 17-2 at home.  The Falcons are one of those classic low profile, under the radar teams that have talent in spades at the skill positions, and a vastly underrated defence, and I think the bookmakers are luring you to bet Green Bay by almost making them a fav in this one.  Admittedly something of a hunch as well, but liking the Falcons here, though I think Green Bay in the Super Bowl would be a better opponent for whoever wins the AFC (*cough* New England *cough*).  Back early tomorrow with the Sunday games.

Mike Florio and Ken Rosenthal at ProFootballTalk give their takes on who wins this weekend.  They've got three games they can't agree on.  Sounds about right.

Did you read about or see New England Patriots' Wes Welker's presser on Thursday?  He worked in no fewer than ten foot references, needling the New York Jets coach Rex Ryan no doubt.  All ten are recounted here.  The Patriots are finally a team from Boston I don't absolutely despise, and this move is awesome.  I'm guessing a Celtics v. Miami Heat playoff matchup would at least temporarily make two.

Heading into the Divisional Round today of the NFL Playoffs, Don Banks at SI.com ranks the potential Super Bowl match-ups.

Bruce Arthur at The National Post - yes, it still exists - looks at Steve Nash in 2011 and concludes he's wasting away in Phoenix right now, still capable but on a going nowhere team.

The 50 Most Awkward Moments in Sports.  Also awkward?  The spelling of "awkward".

CBC's John Molinaro says that simply making the playoffs is not enough for Toronto FC in 2011.  Can't say I disagree, but I'll sure take it for starters.

Wallace Mathews at ESPN.com looks at the New York Yankees signing of Rafael Soriano and says they might now have the best bullpen in all of baseball, and so strong it might wipe out their starting pitching concerns. Mariano Rivera was instrumental in selling the Yankees on the move.

Without Joe Thiesmann, who would know the Patriots have somebody named Danny Woodcock?


Great ad that ESPN Sports Center is running with Alexander Ovechkin.  Shame for the NHL that the 30 second ad matches about how much hockey they show on a given night.  Thanks to Bukakke for the link.

Baltimore Raven Terrell Suggs has a message for the good people of Pittsburgh on his t-shirt at right.

Some playoff stats to be aware of heading into the weekend: since 1976, in the Divisional Round, favorites are 86-33 straight up, and 64-52-3 against the spread.  Interestingly, almost half (56 of 120 games) have been decided by 14 points or more.  Loads more here, including break downs by margin of victory, against spread and so on.

Not sure how you can be called a "Professor" but you're not smart enough to realize that rolling down to Philadelphia in Green Bay Packers gear and a Wisconsin license plate last weekend might be a bad idea.

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson leads all current NHL coaches in wins (600) but he also leads in losses (519).  So Toronto can say it had guys in those positions in two sports now, with former Raptors coach Lenny Wilkins leading both categories during his stay in Toronto.

With MLB all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman retiring with 601 career saves, New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera starts the 2011 season 42 saves behind. Only injury would stop him from blowing that away with a two-year deal in his back pocket.  30 days until pitchers and catchers report.

Here's one reason the Washington Capitals might be struggling this year:  they are scoring exactly one goal less (2.82) per game than last year (3.82).

I keep hearing that Apple has an app for everything on their iPhone's and iPad's, and with a "Fireman Ed" app - the guy that gets the "J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!" chant going, there may well be.

The New York Yankees may have some concerns about the back end of their rotation in particular, but they're about certain to have the best bullpen in the game now that they've signed former Tampa Bay Ray closer Rafael Soriano to play set-up man for Mariano Rivera and potentially succeed Mo if he ever slows down and loses his dominance.

Hot girls wearings sports jersey's.  Exactly what it sounds like.

Not surprisingly, RM didn't make Brett Favre's Christmas card list - an eCard, of course - but friend to all Bukakke passed me said eCard so I wouldn't feel too terribly left out.

"God sees everything!"

The Cleveland Cavaliers were absolutely crushed by the LA Lakers two nights ago, 112-57, or two points shy of a double up for those that aren't mathletes here.  In response, LeBron James took to Twitter and hammered out this: "Crazy. Karma is a bitch. Gets you every time. It's not good to wish bad on anybody. God sees everything!"  So in addition to being a self-absorbed prick, 'bron is now tight with God.  Good to know.  Oh, LeBron?  Karma may indeed be a "bitch", but your mother is a teammate banging whore.  Nobody's perfect.  Enjoy your knees while they last.  You're looking gimpier by the day.  I'll cheer for an all-star team of war criminals before I pull for the Miami Heat to win anything.  And not surprisingly, LeBron now says it wasn't him that hit wrote it on Twitter.  Uh-huh.

Looks like Brock Lesnar will have at least one more fight for the UFC. He'll be one of the coaches in the next season of the always awesome The Ultimate Fighter. Junior dos Santos will coach the other squad, and the two will tangle at the conclusion in June. As always, Spike and SportsNet will be airing the show, beginning March 30th.


50 NFL playoff fails, with video.

A lot of hate flying around ahead of the NFL divisional games this weekend.  We'll start with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, who will meet for the 8th time in 28 months.  Baltimore coach John Harbaugh threw some gas on the fire by saying he's glad the Ravens broke Ben Roethlisberger's nose.

No shortage of talking ahead of the New York Jets visit to New England, with cornerback and breeder Antonio Cromartie going nuclear on Tom Brady, calling him an "asshole" and cracking on him for pointing at the Jets sidelines after a touchdown pass in the Pats 45-3 win a few weeks back, which only the Jets are referencing.  In typical Pats fashion, they're not talking back.  If the Pats start out quick, they're going to make that 45-3 shredding look like a warmup and there won't be a thing Mark Sanchez will be able to do to bring them back.

Look under 'L' column in the NHL standings: Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton all have 20 already.

The NFL players union has a real big issue with an 18-game schedule.

The Office won't be back with a new episode until next week, but for now, try on the 25 best "that's what she said" moment's in comic books.

Brett Favre's sister Brandi was arrested for producing and selling crystal meth.  Gonna be a banner year in the Favre household.

RM returns tomorrow...

The ground shook?

When Troy Palomalou plays the last two years, the Pittsburgh Steelers are 15-4 when he plays, and 6-7 when he doesn't

The Seattle Seahawks already own a road win over the Chicago Bears this year as 7-point underdogs.  They couldn't, could they?  A seismologist in the Pacific Northwest U.S. was curious to see if there was any movements in Seattle when Marshawn Lynch scored that ridiculous touchdown on Saturday, and believe it or not, he found that the ground did indeed shake.  Incredible. 

Jason Whitlock takes a look at this past weekend's NFL action and says that compared to Michael Vick, Peyton Manning has some maturing to do when it comes to being a player.  Wonder if The Manning Myth survives the fact he's now sub-.500 over 19 (NINETEEEN) career playoff starts?  Manning is 9-10, with an 88.4 QB rating, 29 TD's and 19 INT's.

No big shock that Barcelona's Lionel Messi was named FIFA's player of the year for the second straight time.  He's just that good.

The Philadelphia Eagles are now one of eight teams in four major professional sports with no titles in 50 seasons.  The others: Chicago Cubs, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Sacramento Kings, Detroit Lions, Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Vikings.

The war of words is getting good in the lead up to the New York Jets visit to New England this weekend, though the Patriots aren't really biting.  I haven't a clue why Rex Ryan is talking at all after the curb stomping the Patriots delivered just weeks back, but he's at it. 

Cam Cole at the Vancouver Sun writes that it is time that the NHL ban head shots of any kind - but what to do with fighting then? - if they're to get serious.  Funny that Sidney Crosby is now speaking out about head shots in the same way.  Don't recall him saying too much when Marc Savard was decked by Pittsburgh Penguin Matt Cooke last year.  Hypocrisy aside, the NHL would be wise to listen to Crosby.  He's the face of the game and with him out with a concussion, you can't do much more to highlite the problem than that. 

Andre Agassi was at a charity auction in Taiwan last week, and offered to show a winning bidder a naked picture of his wife Steffi Graf on his cell phone if the winning bid was over $4,000.  And when the extra money came through, he delivered.




A ridiculous buzzer beating shot in a high school hoops game in Ohio.




Sir Charles Barkley receives and demos "The Shake Weight".

Wild-card Wrap, and loads more

I'm in this ridiculous NFL pool south of the border that would take far too long to explain so I won't bother.  But as part of the pool, you need to pick each playoff game straight up.  Of the 145 entrants, not a single one had Seattle to win the game.  And win the Seahawks did, upsetting the New Orleans Saints.  Seattle now meets Chicago on Sunday afternoon and have opened as 10 point underdogs. Did you see Marshawn Lynch's awesome touchdown run?  I'd say it was right about here that the 'hawks started thinking they just might win.


One game I will not call an upset is the New York Jets win over the Indianapolis Colts, who just aren't very good.  And when is Peyton Manning gonna get the stick he so deserves for repeated playoff flameouts?  What is that now, seven times he's gone out his first playoff game, the vast majority at home?  The Jets will now face the New England Patriots, and will  need Mark Sanchez to be a far better QB than he's historically been playing in New England.  Here are his combined stats to date: he completed 25 of 54, one touchdown, SEVEN (7!) interceptions, two fumbles (1 lost) and he took three sacks.  The Pats opened -8.5 for that one.

Yesterday's games went more to the form yours truly called in the Prime Time Picks (see column at right), and made for a 3-1 playoff weekend.  The Baltimore Ravens hammered Kansas City with an easy 30-7 win, which sets up what feels like an annual playoff game (and bloodbath) with Pittsburgh, who are favored by a field goal.  The late game saw Green Bay down Philadelphia 21-16, and they'll face Atlanta next Saturday night with the Falcons two point favs.

Looks like an insurance issue has scuttled Tottenham's plans to bring in David Beckham for a loan run.  Sometimes insurance saves you from yourself, Spurs.

Might Brett Favre return to the NFL again...as a Buffalo Bill?

By now, I'm sure you've seen and heard of Ted Williams, the great story of a homeless Columbus man with a booming set of pipes.  He's not picked up a few side jobs, including some work for the Cleveland Cavaliers that will buy him a house, not that there's a shortage of good real estate in Cleveland.  Anyways, check out his mugshots over the year as dug up by The Smoking Gun.  In related news, not sure who the knucklehead in Indianapolis is that thought taking to the streets in search of homeless people with talents was a great idea.

Here's a quick look at season ticket prices for MLS teams and the EPL.

The Anaheim Angels are considering a run at signing Albert Pujols if the St. Louis Cardinals don't re-sign him.  Of course, the Angels are often in on prime time free agents, they just don't generally sign any of them.

Ridiculous bowling shot...


Slapshot, post...two pieces of puck.  In case you missed it last week.


Alex Ovechkin scores while being tripped.  Oh, he was merely beating Bryan McCabe?  Well, still impressive.


Stevenage - a fourth division side in England - upset Premier League club Newcastle United in FA Cup play 3-1 this weekend.  How happy were the Stevenage supporters?  Well, one got loose and cold-cocked one of the Stevenage players in the post-game celebrations.

Prime Time Picks

A 1-1 day yesterday thanks to a shocking win from the Seattle Seahawks. Not sure anybody saw that coming. Up today are another two games to set up the divisional round next weekend.

The 1pm start today sees the Baltimore Ravens as 3 point favs in Kansas City, and we're thinking Ravens win a low-scoing game in the 20-10 range.

The late start has fireworks written all over it with the Green Bay Packers 2 point dogs at Philadelphia. Thinking the Packers pass at will on the weak secondary of the Eagles, and blitz Michael Vick all day and win a high scoring game somewhere in the 35-28 range. Should be the game of the weekend.

Good luck, enjoy the games.

Wildcard Weekend starts today!

Everybody knew the Tampa Bay Rays were going to clean some payroll out this off-season - largely because they said they would - but they're almost down half now that they've dealt Matt Garza.  They started 2010 with a payroll of $71.9 million, and look like they're set for a $38.9 million payroll for this year.  Get out of Tampa.

No EPL action today.  Boo.

What do Neil Carr, Donn Lewin, Paul Morton, Hans Mortier, King Curtis Iaukea, Skip Young, Jack Laskin, El Hijo del Cien Caras, Kantaro Hoshino, Chris Long, Joe Higuchi, Taro Myaki, Mike Masarky, Edouard "Flying Frenchman" Carpentier, Gran Naniwa, Mike Porter, Jorge Gonzalez, Mike Shaw, La Fiera, Randy Morse, Jose Nieves, Herb Larson, Mickey Garagiola, Beverly Lehmer, J.C. Bailey, Kotetsu Yamamoto, Luna Vachon, El Espanto II, Anton Geesink, "Tough" Tony Borne, Skandor Akbar, "Nightmare" Ted Allen, Jeremy Wood, Lance Cade, Arpad Weber, Steve Stanlee, El Scorpio, Toni Adams, Cowboy Bob Bradley, Big Mikey, J.J. Jenkins, Chuck Etchels, Trent Acid, Grizzly Smith, Rocket Monroe, Rusher Kimura, Jet Monroe, El Supremo, Kinji Shibuya, Screamer, Peggy Ann Kawa-Baker, Gorgeous George Grant, Mr. Hito, Steve Stack, Gene Kiniski, Chris Kanyon, Tiny Tim/Little Brutus, Tom "The Butcher" Burton, Kenneth Laymon, Mikel Scicluna, Corsica Joe, Jerry Valiant, Sandy Scott, Angelo Poffo, Moose Mahoney, George "Red" Eakin, Ron Martinez, Gilbert Guerrero, Charles Baillargeon, Bryan Hart, Jack Brisco, Blackjack Hedden, Georgiann Makropoulos, Nick Pacchiano, Ida Mae Martinez, Katsuhisa Shibata, Ed Chuman, Ludvig Borga, and Jim White all have in common?  Yes, they're former pro wrestlers.  But they also all died in 2010.  Crazy.

As a Yankee fan, it may seem a bit obvious to crack on Boston types as being especially sad souls, so I'll leave it to Boston's own Dan Shaughnessy to do the work for me by writing a ridiculous piece saying the NHL's Winter Classic doesn't belong in places like Pittsburgh because it isn't a place associated with hockey.  Remind me again the last time the Bruins won the cup, DS?   Speaking of "DS", the good people at Deadspin take apart Shaughnessy's take with awesome viciousness.

Maybe Tottenham is looking to sell some extra jersey's, but can't imagine how they figure David Beckham is going to add much to arguably the best midfield outside of Barcelona.  Beckham could sign with Spurs in the next 24 hours.

Just to keep things rolling, am going to be picking each NFL playoff game as part of the Prime Time Picks for the season.  When you're sitting above 70%, why wouldn't you?  All logic says to take any home underdog at +10.5 but when that home dog is Seattle, and the New Orleans Saints are rolling in, even minus much of a rushing attack, I'm playing the Saints here.  I'm fully expecting a total beatdown here.  In the late one, the New York Jets visit Indianapolis, with the Colts favored by 2 points.  Peyton Manning has willed his team into the playoff dance with a four game win streak, but I'm not buying it.  Not when their rushing attack has been shoddy all year, not minus Dallas Clark, and not when Peyton looks terrified in the face of pressure, which the Jets should bring plenty of.  Yes, I know that Manning owns Rex Ryan teams historically, but he also had a lot more to work with.  If the Jets can get their running game going, they win this one outright.  If they can't, and rely too heavily on banged up Mark Sanchez, then they're in trouble.  A tight one, but am calling the Jets outright.  Yep, two roadies.  Crazy, but I like it.

Speaking of Rex Ryan, not sure why he felt the need to poke Tom Brady and say he doesn't work as hard as Peyton Manning does.  Wasn't it Brady that shredded the Jets for 40+ a few weeks ago?  Ryan would be wise to shut it there, as his Jets will be getting the Patriots should they win today and a pissed off Brady is a deadly one.

Back tomorrow with the other two NFL picks, but be sure to watch this  fine Taiwanese piece on Brett Favre's antics.  Freaking awesome, frankly.

"I hope you all die"

Not all UFC fans are going to threaten Mensa membership, but how can you not laugh at the news that some fans, so amped up to get tickets for UFC 129 in Toronto this April, have bought bogus tickets.  You'd think they'd at least be aware that, you know, tickets aren't even on sale yet.

Very classy of the Miami Dolphins to announce that they will be keeping Tony Sparano as coach.  Not classy?  That they were interviewing other coaches for the job before making said announcement.

After the bronze medal game at the World Junior Hockey Championships, a reporter as asked US player John Ramage if his parents were in attendance. His dad, former NHLer Rob Ramage, is in jail of course after killing a friend while driving drunk.

Kurt Warner, who is by all indications as good a person as there is in the sporting game, took a pretty nice run at Brett Favre, telling the NFL Network his actions on and off the field in recent years have tarnished his legacy, at least in the short term: “I think he did.  Not only this season, but the last few seasons, going back and forth [on retirement] and bouncing around to a few different teams.  I think about it and I have to really think hard to think back when he was a Green Bay Packer and when he played his best football and was in Super Bowls.” Well said, Kurt.  Well, except he only won one.  And then, you've got Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocino - the latter who is hanging in Spain with Cristiano Ronaldo in one of the odder pairings I've heard - cracking on Favre as well.  Owens said Favre strung the league along and was only fined $50,000 for the sexting allegations and earned $4 million extra this year to do it, while 85 chimed in that T.O. wouldn't get that extra money because he's black.  Shame you went there, Ocho.  Not like you haven't raked it in.

Love hearing that Marvin Morgan, a second division player in England has been suspended for two weeks and placed on the transfer list for Aldershot for tweeting out this gem: "Like to thank the fans who booed me off the pitch. Where's that going to get you! I hope you all die.''

Beauty from Mikhael Grabovski last night in the shootout, won 6-5 by the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Love when the commentator says "this place is on its feet" comes exactly when they show half the crowd sitting down.


Oakland A's Craig Breslow has used Rex Ryan's foot fettish vid as inspiration for this bit.  Awesome.

Oh, Canada

As bed shittings go, last night's was absolutely spectacular (craptacular?).  Up 3-0 in the third, Canada managed to lose 5-3 and deserved every bit of it to a hard charging Russian team.  Cannot recall a more amazing flameout.

Some Tuesday night hockey attendance figures.  From the NHL: 12,000 in Denver, 8,000 in Phoenix, and 13,000 in New Jersey.  Washington and Edmonton were both sell-outs.  Meanwhile, in Winnipeg for the World Under 17 finals, 12,000 showed up.  Take a hint, Gary Bettman.  Go where people care.

Word is that three lottery tickets and Blake Griffin are entering the NBA's usually irrelevant, but suddenly slightly interesting Slam Dunk Contest.  BG is a beast.

Fans of the home team tend to bet the home team, regardless of sport.  So this NFL season must've been a good one for the people of Detroit.  Their Lions were 13-3 against the spread this year.

Toronto FC will confirm their new management hires today with a 1pm presser in Toronto.  Nice work, especially since the team is due in Turkey in a month for a pair of friendlies against Dinamo Zagreb, Croatian champion, and Partizan Belgrade, Serbian champion.

As speculated yesterday, Robbie Alomar and - finally! - Bert Blyleven were finally chosen to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Denied again was Jack Morris.  Joke.

"Prediction? Pain...."

Canada faces Russia tonight in the World Junior Hockey Championship's gold medal game in Buffalo, Ontario New York.  Puck drop is 7:30pm on TSN.  It is hard to imagine Canada playing as air tight a game as they did in Monday's semi-final win over the U.S., but they also beat Russia in group play with a less than air-tight performance.  Prediction? I'll say Canada, but leave it to Clubber Lang to deliver


Baseball's Hall of Fame voting goes today and you can bet that Roberto Alomar gets in, which I'm sure the Toronto Blue Jays will be whoring for the next decade or two.  Question is, which Jays hat does he wear?  The old school one?  The one with the stylized "T", the one with the Maple Leaf?  So many decisions.  Me, I'm not sure how Jack Morris isn't in yet - he was as reliable as a starter got in his day.  Tom Verducci looks at the ballot and assesses the field, and Jayson Stark says baseball needs to address the steroids era or they'll likely have a year or several where there is an empty podium.

The Miami Dolphins are said to be chasing both Bill Cowher and Jim Harbaugh as their future head coaches.  Can't lose with either guy, but then again, it is the Dolphins we're talking about.

The Guardian UK looks at David Beckham's latest footsie match with a team other than his own LA Galaxy and concludes he hasn't exactly been a great investment for the Galaxy with no championships delivered and constant flirting with European clubs in the off-season, and sliding impact on the MLS as a whole.  He might want to remember who threw him a face-saving life-raft when nobody else was interested in him as his days at Real Madrid drew to a close.  Also, how does Beck's figure he'll get any time at Spurs when they've got Luka Modric, Rafael Van der Vaart, Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Niko Kranjcar, Jermaine Jenas, all younger, faster and almost all better, options?

Speaking of Bale and Real, they are said to be ready to make a big offer to Tottenham to snag out-of-this-world midfielder Gareth Bale this month.  Don't do it, Spurs.  Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus are said to be lurking for an off-season bid.  Again, don't do it, Spurs.

Check out the best animated sports GIF's of 2010.  Some awesome stuff here.  Love the Lakers entry at #40, and of course #5.  Here's my personal fav.

LeBron James has dubbed his Miami Heat "The Heatles", because they sell so many tickets on the road.  Very, very lame.

If you've got 10 minutes or so to spare, I can guarantee you love this Fail 2010 compilation.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Well lookie here, a goalie!

A funny thing happened last night at the World Junior Hockey Championships.  Facing the home side USA - and we use that term loosely - who were unbeaten and untied in the tourney, and with far better performances albeit against softer competition, the goalie challenged and up and down Canadian team showed up.  Big.  Riding a superb performance in net from Mark Visentin and were dominant in beating the hosts 4-1.  Up Wednesday night is a gold medal game against Russia, who took out the whiny Swedes in a shootout.  Hey, don't hear Hockey Fan cracking on that as the way to end a game the way you do soccer!  Speaking of, nice work rocking the soccer scarves with Canada on them and lifting Toronto FC's well known "this is our house" chant.  Good to see people evolving from the ridiculously lame "Go [insert team name here] go!"

What hurts more, going 6-0 in your division and not making the playoffs like the Oakland Raiders did, or going 10-6 overall and not making it, like the New York Giants did? Oh, and nice year Eli Manning. Only 24 interceptions? 

Also on those two teams, the Oakland Raiders look like they'll be kicking Tom Cable to curb.  The New York Giants have a worse record in the last 8 games in all 7 of Tom Coughlin's seasons. Not once did they match wins from first 8 games.  They've also got four playoff wins over that run, all in their Super Bowl winning year.  Interesting thought on why keeping some continuity in the coaching area isn't a bad thing: if the league does go to a lockout and comes back, you might see a coach with just a couple weeks to work with before the season starts. 

Jason Garrett looks like he'll be named the full-time Dallas Cowboys coach, once the charade of respecting the Rooney Rule is complete. Dallas last minute comeback at Philly Sunday saw them drop from a #5 overall draft pick to #9. Ouch. Carolina, Denver and Buffalo have the top three picks, in that order.

The NFL Most Improved Team award goes to the Detroit Lions for finishing 6-10 after a 2-14 year last year, and of course going winless the year prior.  That's also their best record since 1995.

Great read from Kristian Jack at The Score as he takes his annual stab at the 100 top players in the English Premier League.  Be sure to check out the ridiculous graphic alongside Luka Modric's entry at #7 that covers his passes during one game and where they were from and to.  The man covers more ground than a lawn mower.

7 of 12 NFL playoff teams also made it last year. Did you know MLB hasn't had season w/ more than 1/2 of playoff teams repeating since '05?  Once again, another blow to the simplistic view that "salary cap = parity".

Winter Classic ratings were up 22 per cent from last year south of the border to 4.65 million overall. Not bad, considering game was moved from afternoon to the black hole of Saturday night prime time.  If you don't think the NHL keeps with it, you're begging.  Best comment I heard on the subject: the whinging over the weather and such is largely coming from Canadians sour that Canadian teams are not hosting or participating in these games.

Because I can never get enough of people dumping on Brett Favre, here's former Vikings QB Fran Tarkenton with his latest round of verbal assassination that leaves me saying "That's Incredible!"

Looks like Toronto FC are about to announce a huge change in the way they do things - and good on them! - with the hiring of former Dutch international Aron Winter to lead the coaching staff with Paul Mariner, formerly with New England in the MLS, riding shotgun.  Great stuff.

Those that dislike Cristiano Ronaldo will love reading that pretty much his entire Real Madrid team hates him after a blow-up with goalie/captain Iker Cassilas over comments made by his girlfriend, media hottie Sara Carbonero. Shame they can't win a thing without him.  Should've stayed at United, CR7!  Oh, and now comes word that the club has banned Sara Carbonero from even mentioning Ronaldo.  Nice team, gents.

Love seeing that the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL - below - have taken to practicing goal scoring celebrations in the style of EA Sports NHL '94.  I had it in mind to use this to take a dig at KD, who promised delivery of a video game, and he did indeed deliver.  Thanks bro!

Guessing the director that worked the Wichita State and Missouri State game this past weekend got called on the carpet for calling for this shot as they went to commercial?

Chelsea host Manchester United today in a huge game for both clubs hopes for this season.  For Chelsea, they're looking to solidify a Champions League spot for next year, while Manchester United would love a positive result here to move a step closer to the EPL title for this season.  Kickoff is 2:45pm on Setanta.

Fear not, Buffalo Bills fans, "Chan [Gailey] has a plan" says new Bills assistant head coach Dave Wannstedt.  Well that takes care of that.  Love that he says "everywhere he's been he's been successsful" of a career 22-26 coach.

The NBA, in a bid to speed up games, is cracking down on teams that treat the horn to signal the end of a timeout as merely a suggestion to wrap up their conversation, and the early results suggest it is shaving some time off.  Also likely to shave off time: eliminating all the bloody timeouts.  Just a thought.

Weekend wrap

Great picture at right, though I'm sure the NFL will clamp down on "Sterger #69" jersey's before this update makes it to the interweb.

And speaking of Brett Favre, All you need to know about his priorities: he wore a hat with #4 on it yesterday, not a Vikings hat, and didn't stick around for handshakes. What did the Vikes expect for a guy making $20 million this season? Here's hoping we never have to see him again or hear a word about him that doesn't conclude with how old he was when he died.

Seldom have I ever seen a guy take a beating for five minutes the way Frankie Edgar did in defending his lightweight title Saturday night against Gray Maynard - who yours truly met in Vegas in November - and stick around for a second round.  Maynard hit Edgar with 97 shots in the opening round, most staggering bombs, and Edgar survived to work his way into a draw, though I haven't a clue how one judge scored him a 48-46 winner.  UFC President Dana White says that Anthony Pettis - the guy that executed that ridiculous Matrix-style kick last month - will step aside while these two stage a rematch.  Makes sense.  And in other great UFC news, Brittney Palmer made her ring girl debut for UFC after a run in the WEC.  Me likey.

The Canadian World Junior entry were hardly awe inspiring in a 4-1 win over Switzerland that wasn't salted away til well into the third.  They've got a date with the host American team - though you won't know they're host with the crowd likely to be 2/3rds Canadian in Buffalo - and will have to be far, far better if they're to advance to the final.

Canadian World Junior coach Dave Cameron says "there are three or four" legitimate teams in the tourney. So worst case, you've got a 75% shot at medalling if form holds.  And TSN pumps it up like it is the be all, end all. 

The New England Patriots are 82-3 when winning turnover battle since 2001 and 13-0 this year.  Nobody was even close to them this year for protecting the ball. They turned it over 9 times. Second? Kansas City with 12.

The puckhead's screaming about the poor quality of ice leading to a decrease in competitive integrity (because all 82 games are equally fought by every team), or the glare of the stadium light's in Pittsburgh are missing the point. This event is about promoting the league first and foremost, and with the ratings it draws, it isn't going away. The elements are part of the story, and a game played in cold, snow, fog or whatever other element is always going to beat an arena game for the casual fan anyways.  Besides, we wouldn't get GIF's like this Alex Ovechkin spill.  Oh, the Caps won 3-1.

Tampa Bay Bolt Steven Stamkos scored 61 goals during 2010, the calendar year.  Nobody scored more.

The New Orleans Saints loss yesterday ensured they'd play Seattle instead of Philadelphia. I wouldn't go so far as to suggest they were looking to lose yesterday, but you might.   Looks like the NFL is going with a "last in, first out" approach for the NFC West winner.  Despite a 7-9 record, the Seahawks make the playoffs.  All nine losses were by 15+ points, for those interested in that kind of thing.

A mere 75 days until Toronto FC has its curtain raiser on the 2011 season.  So far, they're without a GM, a coach, possibly have lost their captain, and have about a half dozen holes to fill (at least).  Other than that, all is well.

UFC 129 in Toronto will see Georges St. Pierre defend his Welterweight title against Jake Shields, and Randy Couture take on Lyoto Machida. There's supposed to be at least one more major fight, likely Brock Lesnar. 

It has been over a week now since Christmas, and The Sports Pickle tells us that Rex Ryan is very disappointed that he received socks for Christmas.  The question remains, however, is did his wife?

Not a fan of any soccer game that has to go to penalty kicks as it isn't a great way to decide a game.  But it did provide this moment.  Yep, that's a player springing a leak at midfield as he awaits the shootout.

An awesome collection of great sports quotes from 2010 in the National Post.

Paul Daugherty at Sports Illustrated says "why not?" to whether athletes should be allowed to use performance enhancing drugs.  Interesting take.

The New York Yankees had their hearts set on a former Cleveland Indian, former Cy Young Award winner, and they just may deliver him after all in the form of...Bartolo Colon? 

In 2011, I need this in my life more, or at least some.  No clue how it works, but every sports team should have this in their buildings.

Final prime timer of the year, playing Seattle +3.

Happy 2011!

A Happy 2011 to you all.  Going to guess most are in a bit of a haze today - good for you! - so we'll keep it light today with this gem that comes to us all the way from 1974.  A letter exchange, when people still did that, from a season ticket holder of the Cleveland Browns, and the reply provided.  Back Monday with the full edition.

Last call for 2010!

Canada faces Sweden today in World Junior Hockey play with first place at stake in Group A, which brings with it a bye to the semi-finals.  That would come in handy for a very beat up Canadian squad.  Puck drop is 4pm on TSN, great way to get the New Year's Eve festivities started early.  Be sure to check out yesterday's post and the comments section for a spirited diatribe by Bukakke and yours truly on the "hats during anthem" issue.

Jason Whitlock says that Rex Ryan needs to be less clown and more coach.

Here's a great bit on some of the best plays in sports in 2010, and you can get your votes in to rate them as well. Worth the time, though more than a few were highlighted in this space over the course of the year.  For me, Landon Donovan's goal for the U.S. at the World Cup was the play of the year.  Goosebumps.  Yes, moreso than Canada's Olympic Gold winning goal from Sydney Crosby even, which didn't make the cut.

Steve Simmons at The Toronto Sun gives us his view of the year in sports.

I'll leave the analysis of Octavio Dotel's signing by the Toronto Blue Jays to Fark.com: Octavio Dotel agrees to a one-year contract of choking in the 9th inning for the Blue Jays.  Drunk Jays Fan is similarly unimpressed.  Or furious.  One or the other. 

LeBron James now says that he didn't advocate for contraction, and needed to go to the internet to see what the word meant.  See kids, stay in school. 

Thanks for reminding us we're watching a "football game" with "football teams", idiot colour guy at The Music City Bowl.  Also, you don't need to start every sentence with "when you talk about..."  Just talk about it, FFS.

If you're a fan of the chalkboard quotes that Woody Paige uses on ESPN's Around The Horn, you can see them here.  Updated often.

Not sure how they managed it, but the good folks at The Bleacher Report managed to narrow down Mike Singletary's coaching run - and I'd bet hard he never gets another head coaching job - with the San Francisco 49ers to 10 Most Bizarre moments.

UFC 125 goes tomorrow night with Gray Maynard - a good guy I met in Las Vegas in November - facing Frankie Edgar for his Lightweight title. Full card here.  The prelims are airing on Rogers SportsNet, free of charge.  A bit of a blow yesterday to the potential card for Toronto with word that Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez suffered a torn rotator cuff in his title win over Brock Lesnar.  He'll be out 6-8 months now.

A couple UFC entries here in the Top 24 Knockouts of 2010.

Dallas Cowboys fans will not be lamenting this Sunday's game likely being the last with one Roy E. Williams.

You may recall a few weeks back that Edmonton Oiler Linus Omark took a verbal beating from the Tampa Bay Lightning after his spin move - nowhere near the net, mind you - before scoring in a shootout against the Bolts.  Funny, I don't hear the Bolts crying now that Steve Stamkos pulled a similar move in tight against the Montreal Canadiens last night.  Hockey's "codes" are no less a joke than baseball's.

Complex delivers the best 90 women of the 1990's.  Some real blasts from the past here.

I read a reference to Chris Bosh yesterday that called him "Ringo".  Freaking awesome.

20 fantastic Bar Rafaeli photos, and some fresh Megan Fox ones.  You're welcome.

Before we close the day, there will be a brief entry tomorrow morning.  You're going to want to see it for sure.  Be safe tonight, don't drink and drive.  Catch you on the other side.

Now THIS is how you get jacked up for a soccer game.  Oh wait...the kids are 10-year olds?  Wild video from Poland.  Remember this the next time you hear an announcer talk about a "raucous" NBA/NFL/NHL/MLB crowd.

"Executed"? Really?

Managed to tune in to the dying minutes and post-game of Canada's 10-1 beatdown of Norway yesterday at the World Junior Hockey Championship's in Buffalo.  Not sure what was more embarrassing, seeing the Canadian fans celebrating the 10th goal like it was a gold medal winner, or seeing the losers wearing their hats for the national anthem post-game after you could clearly hear it announced in the building that one should "please remove (your) hat" for the playing thereof.  There's no excuse for wearing a hat during the playing of any anthem, ever.  Would love to see that caricature Don Cherry take that subject on, no way he'd talk down to his minions like that.

Brett Favre was fined $50,000 for not cooperating with the NFL's investigation into the sext messages he sent Jenn Sterger. Let that be a lesson to you, NFLers: don't cooperate. Far cheaper, and no suspension.

That nut Tucker Carlson says that "Mike Vick should have been executed" for his dog fighting crimes. No, seriously.

Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports looks at steroids, responsibility and why the Hall of Fame vote gets more agonizing every year: 

Further to yesterday's Brock Lesnar bit, word is he is looking for a way out of the MMA game after completing his last fight for UFC.  Having your ass handed to you can have that effect. He's got a $2 million offer from WWE to work a match at WrestleMania. Speaking of packing it in, Chuck Lidell took some time to tell us what we already knew yesterday: he's done as a fighter.

13 NHL teams received revenue sharing last season.  Would you believe that all 13 are in the United States?  Strange, isn't it?

Rudi at Canadian Soccer News looks at the Toronto FC and Dwayne De Rosario situation and concludes it is time for MeRo to go.

The hottest 30 calendars of 2011.  And if that wasn't enough, here's the Nuts 2011 calendar.  NSFW, people.

All the best jukes, step-overs, goals and moves from the 2010 World Cup all in one convenient mix-tape. You're welcome.  No better way to spend nearly 9 minutes today.

Total Skills FIFA World Cup 2010 Edition By Fuentes from fuentesquatre on Vimeo.

The Vikings win?

At the World Junior Hockey Championships, Canada went down a goal in the opening minute to the Czech's before scoring a touchdown in what ended up a 7-2 final.  So far, so good for the red and white.  Up tonight is a 7:30pm curbstomping game with Norway.

Absolutely stunned that the Minnesota Vikings not only covered last night in Philadelphia, but won outright by a 24-14 score. Who saw that coming?  Crazy, crazy NFL season.

The San Antonio Spurs become just the fourth team in NBA history to go 11-0 at home in a single month when they smoked the LA Lakers 87-82 last night. That also marked the first time the Lakers have lost 10 games by the end of December since 2007.

Manchester City hammered Aston Villa 4-0 to temporarily jump into top spot in the EPL yesterday, but cross-town rivals Manchester United drew Birmingham in a tough game 1-1 thanks to a last minute controversial goal by Birmingham that tied it to leave it as a Manchester split of first place, albeit with United having two games in hand.  Tottenham were impressive 2-0 winners at Newcastle. Up today, Chelsea has a tricky one in visiting Bolton (Setanta, 2:45pm), Arsenal is at Wigan, and Liverpool hosts Wolverhampton. The latter two are on Setanta, albeit on tape delay.  Does "tape delay" still apply?

Brock Lesnar allegedly has an offer from the WWE to do a WrestleMania match.  Perhaps the Undertaker thing in October was a precursor to that? Can't imagine Dana White and the UFC go for that, not when White said he won't allow it on a recent appearance on the George Strombolopolous Show.  Besides, my bet is he's got an end of April date in Toronto in front of a huge UFC crowd at the Rogers Centre. Yes, I just said "huge crowd" and "Rogers Centre" in the same sentence.

Hey, don't look now, but the Toronto Blue Jays added a piece this off-season. Octavio Dotel is in, ostensibly as their new closer. Now they just need some (serious) bullpen help and a first baseman.

Not sure what it is, but the Toronto Raptors seem to run into good fortune occasionally when visiting the Dallas Mavericks. Sure the Mavs may have been missing Dirk Nowitzki, but the Raps still got it done without Andrea Bargnani and others with a 84-76 win.  Yes, the Raps kept somebody out of triple digits.  Caleron was out people, recognize.

The circus that is Toronto FC never ends. Captain - and the term is used loosely in his case - Dwayne MeRosario DeRosario has gone off to Scotland to work out with Glasgow Celtic without the team's knowledge and now, by all indications, against their wishes. If this is some power play to get a raise from TFC, here's hoping it fails.  I suspect MeRo's days with TFC are done whatever the case.  MLS and TFC are now arranging the proper trial paperwork with Celtic.  Also, Gerry Dobson at SportsNet weighs in.

How happy were the New Orleans Saints to clinch a playoff birth on Monday night in Atlanta?  Happy enough they returned to the field post-game to take a team picture on the Falcon at mid-field.  Speaking of clinching, here is who needs what to wrap up a birth in Week 17.

There might be only three backs - Michael Turner, Steven Jackson and Rashard Mendenhall - who average 20 carries a game this year.

Carolina has the top pick in the NFL draft, assuming that's still a go next year, and will almost certainly be taking quarterback Andrew Luck, assuming he comes out.

I've got three words for Hugh Hefner, who just got engaged to 24-year old girlfriend Crystal Harris: Anna.  Nicole.  Smith.

The Kansas City Chiefs won 10 games - total - the three years prior to this season, in which they're at 10 already and a division winner.

And for the third year running, if you use "frozen tundra", you are not smart. That's like saying "frozen ice".  Redundant. I prayed that would fade when John Madden rode home on his bus with his eye shadow, but still happens.

NHL referee Paul Devorski allegedly mocked fans in Columbus who were upset about a call he made with the old "rub my eyes like I'm crying bit" and then dropped a middle finger on them.  Classy.

With warm weather slated for Pittsburgh on Saturday, the NHLWinter Classic is lining up its various backup plans for the , which sounds like it might not be so wintery in any case.

Here's a ridiculous idea to speed up sports: eliminate timeouts. All of them.  Would love to see a basketball game or football game played without them.

There is penalty killing, and then there is this gem you may have heard about from Tyler Carroll of the Guelph Storm killing a 5-on-3 at the Kitchener Rangers last week.  As impressive as it gets.


I don't know who this team is, but they sure are terrible.

Great Monday Nighter last night in Atlanta where despite giving the home Falcons repeated chances to put the game away in the fourth, the New Orleans Saints emerged victorious 17-14.  The Saints are getting healthy at just the right time and while they seem to lack the mojo they worked last year, are going to be a serious threat come January and the playoffs.

How long til somebody in the Canadian media says snow in Northeastern U.S. is just Canada invading with World Jr's in upstate New York?  Canada takes on the Czech Republic at 4pm today on TSN.

A year ago at this time, the New Jersey Devils sat top of the NHL. Today, they sit 30th.

In the New York Jets last 4 games, 3 that ended in losses, they trailed 17-0 to New England after the first quarter, 10-0 to Miami after the first quarter,  and 10-0 to Chicago after the first quarter. Generally not the way you want to start games.

After five straight losses to Chelsea, Arsenal turned the tables with a 3-1 win at home that really puts a dent in Chelsea's title hopes. Still strikes me as odd tuning in to the Monday EPL broadcast and seeing ESPN logos plastered on the microphones of the commentators, among other places. Not sure if it is ESPN gone global as much as it is the EPL becoming a big property on The Worldwide Leader.  Another round of games starts today during the busy holiday time in the EPL, including Manchester United at Birmingham at 3pm on TSN2.  I suspect Newcastle at Tottenham at 10am will see more than couple goals there.

What does it say of the Toronto Raptors that they use their mascot - entertaining though he may be - and a member of their Dance Pak flanking DeMar Derozan to push tickets?

In Sunday's Toronto Sun, Steve Simmons took the Blue Jays to task for a very underwhelming, step back off-season. On Monday, he tweeted out that he's had problems with his Rogers Yahoo! email.  Coincidence?

The storm that has pounded the northeastern U.S. has made for some interesting scenarios, but few as comedic as the New York Giants being (still) stuck in Green Bay after the whipping they took Sunday. Am sure Tom Coughlin's made it a real relaxing time for them.

For reasons I'm not sure anyone can fathom, the San Diego Chargers say they're sticking with their G.M. A.J. Smith and coach Norvelle Turner.

Not sure what I wanted more, the almost annual Kitchener fire to hit Fairview Park Mall on Sunday when Justin Bieber visited, or an IED to take out Don Cherry during his visit to Afghanistan. Thinking the latter as The Bieb's days are numbered as is.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats may move to Burlington?  Is there anyone in favor of that, especially the good people of Burlington?

Tough week ahead for the Philadelphia Eagles as they battle for the second seed in the NFC.  They've got Minnesota at home, and then an extra-rested Dallas team on Sunday just five days later.  On second thought, maybe not that tough.  The Eagles are 14 point favs tonight and while I don't normally like taking chalk at that large a number, tough to bet on the Vikes.  Eagles it is.

The New England Patriots haven't lost a fumble or thrown an interception in the last six games, the longest such streak in NFL history, with the record interception streak running since October 23rd against Baltimore for Tom Brady, 319 pass attempts.  That's the stuff of champions.

Check out this Arizona Cardinals cheerleader in a panic. 

Loved Kobe Bryant telling LeBron James on Saturday that "I'm a f&%#ing champ"...


Detroit Lions centre Dominic Raiola tells Miami Dolphins fans to suck a part of his anatomy.

Back!

Back after a few down days celebrating Christmas, and celebrating it hard more often than not. Hope the holidays have treated you well. The plan is to be here daily through the week.

The NFL made an early decision to cancel the Sunday Night game in Philadelphia with a massive snow storm on the boil, marking the third straight week Minnesota has been bounced around. That game will go on Tuesday now. Meanwhile, despite the New York Islanders requesting their game last night against Montreal be postponed, the NHL declined. Wouldn't want to piss off the 2,000 or so loyal Islanders followers.  And better still, the New Jersey Devils announced at the end of the first period - around 8pm - to the 5,329 in attendance that buses leaving their arena would stop running after 8:30pm because of the storm. Way to go, NHL. Those there are Winter Classics!

The hockey tourney only Canada cares about opened, and Canada started well, with a 6-3 win over Russia. Up tomorrow at 4pm is the Czech Republic. Warning to those dialing in on TSN: bring a mop to keep near your TV. After all, Pierre Macguire is gushing all kinds of man juices on colour commentary.

In the last 68 minutes, the New York Giants have allowed 73 points, including yesterday's 45-17 loss at Green Bay.  Yeah, that's all on the punter, Tom Coughlin. Enjoy unemployment.  Speaking of, the San Francisco 49ers parted ways with coach Mike Singletary after an embarrassing season on the field, and on the sidelines.  He got into a ridiculous shouting match with QB Troy Smith yesterday.
 
The Seattle Seahawks have been outscored 114-58 their last three weeks but somehow, still have a shot to make the playoffs in this wild NFL season.

Manchester United strengthened their grip on first place in the English Premier League with a far-easier-than-the-2-0-scoreline suggests win over Sunderland, leaving them with 37 points. Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney were fantastic, with the former scoring both.  Manchester City move into second place after yesterday's 3-1 win at Newcastle, giving them 35 points, although they've played two more games than the rest of the top four.  Up today is a killer matchup that sees third-place Arsenal host fourth-place cross-town rival Chelsea. 3pm kick-off on TSN2.

What is better than former MLBer Lenny Dykstra, well known to have some money troubles, bouncing a cheque on an escort?  And since when do the pros accept cheques?

The 2000 Baltimore Ravens didn't use the word "playoffs" all season—they substituted "Festivus." The Super Bowl was referred to as "Festivus Maximus."  Weird.

Back tomorrow (Monday) morning. Check back often.