More drunks

With the growth of international events, almost feels like UFC is becoming a weekly thing. Tonight, "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine faces Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC96. As a fine service from RM to you, check out mmahacks.com if you're looking to watch from the comfort of your PC, free...hot on the heels of yesterday's photos of drunken athletes comes word that Chelsea's John Terry and Ashley Cole are in hot water with manager Guus Hiddink after Cole was arrested after a drunken night out with Terry in London...and speaking of athletes drinking - still - good to hear former NFLer Brian Bosworth was busted for driving under the influence. On his Harley...limited EPL schedule this weekend with the FA Cup fifth round on the go...Canada hosts the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic today at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Meaningful baseball has returned, spring is here again...Dwayne Wade is making a hell of a case to be in the MVP conversation this year after dumping in another 42 in a Miami Heat win over the Toronto Raptors...an SI.com poll of NBA players had 45% of players call San Antonio Spur Bruce Bowen the most annoying defensive player - a compliment, obviously. Here's guessing a poll of favorite defensive player would see Josee Caleron rated tops among competitors...Carey Price finally had a strong game in goal for the Montreal Canadiens, but remains winless in eight. The Habs have scored 1 goal in the last 8 periods of play...sometimes NHLer Steve Downie must be insane. How else do you explain a guy who slashes a linesman? Video here...Frank Mir is out of UFC98 due to injury, so no rematch with Brock Lesnar unfortunately...check out this great history of Shaq's emasculations of other players and coaches over the years. So good...have a great Saturday, don't forget to vote in the poll at the top right.

PTP

Sorry for the delay. Your 4th straight winner is Denver +9 -103. Enjoy.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Drunk Athletes Unite

Sean Avery came back to the NHL last night, this time with the New York Rangers, and as usual with him in the lineup, they won. But, it was the New York Islanders, so the Canyon of Heroes shouldn't be planning a parade quite yet...not a great day yesterday for yours truly. Terrell Owens gets bounced by the Dallas Cowboys, as did Roy Williams - the safety -and tests reveal A-Rod could miss up to four months of the Yankees season if he goes the route of surgery. I've never understood how these athletes can know they've got a problem - as it has been said the Yankees and A-Rod knew last May - and not take care of it immediately after the previous season so they're good to go. That said, I'm waiting for the conspiracy theorists to call it a 10-week suspension..living dangerously on the PTP with a third consecutive narrow win, but we'll take it and build one it with your pick later today...Chris Bosh responded to Shaq calling him RuPaul declaring that it wasn't funny or professional. Not sure about the latter, but hell to the yes it was funny...here's a massive collection of drunk athlete photos. Way too fun seeing some of these pics. Brady Quinn and Dirk Nowitzki are multiple entrants, Chris Bosh a surprising one, Michael Jordan a cross-eyed one. Enjoy...hungry? How about a bacon, cheese and burger stuffed pizza, courtesy of Bukkake, complete with instructions on how to make your very own. This must be seen to be believed...Soccer By Ives files this look at Toronto FC for the 2009 season. Optimism abounds, folks...there is rumbling south of the border that the U.S. government may look to repeal the ban on online gambling of all varieties and heavily tax winners. Welcome to 2009, it took you that long to figure out that possibility?...River Avenue Blues floats the idea of Derek Jeter as a possible fill-in at third if A-Rod is out. Yeah, great idea. Take a guy who is horrible going to the left and make him have to go predominantely to the left...anyone interested in a used Roy Williams #31 (the safety) Cowboys jersey? If you want it authentic, I'll even work in some burn marks on it. Available cheap...have a great Friday.

Streeters Revenge

If you're a pro athlete who has cheated on your spouse, fathered multiple children out of wedlock, not paid taxes, used drugs or any kind, committed armed robbery or any other crime, were once female but now male, killed anybody human or animal, today is your day to come clean because nobody will care. If you're a pro franchise, today is the day to increase ticket and beer prices, move the team if you so desire, and trade your star player because nobody will notice. Why? Because Terrell Owens has been cut by the Dallas Cowboys, and that is all you're going to hear about. Fire up the circus music, you've got your cover now for at least a couple days. It'll be interesting to hear what comes out of T.O.'s mouth now...the New England Patriots have four picks in the first 58 of the upcoming draft, cap space and just signed a very motivated Fred Taylor on the cheap. Seriously, when was the last time they were in bad shape in any way?...Warning: the following constitutes The Best Thing Ever. If you're not interested in seeing the height of human achievement, skip this section. Remember that prank that got pulled on Streeter at College Humor.com at Yankee Stadium in 2007? All-time hilarious, that one was, and be sure to click that link for a view if you need a refresher of have never seen it before you move on. Anyways, Streeter arranged his revenge, and hooked his boy Amir into thinking the half-time shot he was taking - and hit - paid $500k. Beautiful. Must see stuff that should be on every news channel...so much for Ray Lewis and Kurt Warner shopping around in free agency, both are staying with their current teams...the NHL trade deadline came and went and there wasn't many deals of consequence. The Calgary Flames look like they came out the winners of the day in landing Olli Jokinen and Jordan Leopold, most notably. The Edmonton Oilers took the most interesting shot of the day in landing Patrick O'Sullivan. The Toronto Maple Leafs had to view the day as a letdown after only landing a couple second rounders for Dominic Moore (to Buffalo) and Nik Antropov (New York Rangers). And as is seeming deadline tradition, Bill Guerin was dealt again, this time to Boston. Mostly yawn inducing, though I'm sure Pierre Macguire is still waxing on about the significance of the most minute details...another PTP winner last night. The NCAA has been exceedingly kind to date. May need to ride that for a bit like I did the NBA last month during a hot streak. Back with your pick later. Have a great Thursday.

Manny in or Manny out?

Finally the LA Dodgers and Manny Ramirez have gotten together and completed a two year, $45 million deal it appears, though ESPN.com reported it a done deal briefly last night before pulling back. Safe to assume that when Scott Boras pushed him to jump agencies over to him and opt out that he promised him a lot more than that when he was slated to pick up $40 million if he stayed with the Boston Red Sox...the World Baseball Classic is about to take another hit if the talk of there being a cyst in A-Rod's hip is accurate, as shown in a weekend exam. Maybe A-Rod is going the Jason Giambi route? First apologize, albeit with far greater detail than Giambi ever gave. Second, get some kind of mystery medical problem. Third step is to come back and kill the ball. Fourth, grow a moustache. Somehow, I think the latter would be impossible for A-Rod. Word is a cyst isn't a serious problem - just a bruise on bone - but will give the Yankees a good reason to pull A-Rod out of the WBC..tickets for the Tampa Bay Lightening can be had for $239. For the season. That's right, for $5.67 per game, you can get a seat in the upper bowl. Incredible value. And it isn't like only a handful of tickets are going at that rate - 20% of the arena is available at that price...the Seattle Sounders - the latest addition to MLS - are capping season tickets at 22,000 and will average north of 30,000 in their 32,000 configured Q-West Field...Chris Jericho could be the best heel in the history of wrestling...Andruw Jones is not exactly coming back hard after last year's terrible season: 1 for 9, 8 strikeouts...Manchester United's Darren Fletcher played last week's Champions League game hours after finding out his house in Manchester had been broken into while he was gone, and his fiancee threatened by a knife. He's the 14th player from Manchester or Liverpool - the cities and their four teams to be robbed this year while away...Nickelback's Chad Kroeger has a hockey rink in his basement big enough for three on three. Not a fan of them, but that's pretty freaking cool...the NHL Trade Deadline will be the talk of the day no doubt. Here's a look at some of the rumours overnight...tight PTP winner last night. Also had a narrow cover in the Houston Rockets as well. A sign of good things to come? Let's hope! Back with your pick later.

CB4 = RuPaul?

Shaquille O'Neal dubbing Chris Bosh the RuPaul of the NBA might be the funniest thing in a string of funny from Shaq. Not sure if it was the hair, the cheekbones or his occasionally soft game that set off Shaq, but that's good stuff. Bosh best not fire back, nobody wins a war of words with Shaq...with the next round of the FA Cup on the go in England this weekend, the English Premier League will resume its hectic schedule with a full slate of games the next two days...Manchester United is said to be eying Bayern Munich's French star Franck Ribery as a replacement should Cristiano Ronaldo leave to Real Madrid this summer. Not sure you could fully replace CR7, but Ribery is an awesome player...any team that is willing to pay Kurt Warner $14 million per season - like the San Francisco 49ers are said to be - will live to regret that move...GBVH looked into tickets for Saturday's World Baseball Classic game in Toronto where Canada will host the United States. Plenty of good seats in the 100 level can be had. Guess when the media is covering who isn't playing more than who is, you've got a problem...the New England Patriots could have had the 12th overall pick for Matt Cassel but instead went for the 33rd overall pick. Make of this what you will, but sure seems more than a bit odd...Bill Simmons (aka "The Sports Guy") at ESPN Page 2 mentioned this came out at the NBA all-star game in Phoenix: "of all the wildest predictions I heard in Phoenix, the craziest came from a connected executive who predicted that fifteen NHL teams would go under within the next two years (and was dead serious)." I'm sure Gary Bettman will say that it isn't nearly that bad, and is only 12. Thanks to TS for that link...the latest, and likely final, word on David Beckham is he'll stay with AC Milan through the end of the season in May and then immediately return to play for the LA Galaxy in MLS. That's a lot of miles to put on his legs...have a great day, we'll look to get off the schneid on the PTP later today.

Prime Time Picks - February

• Feb. 28 - Liverpool -110 (14-14, +$117) (28-30-1, -$154) - L
• Feb. 27 - NY Knicks -2.5 -110 (14-13, +$217) (28-29-1, -$54) - L
• Feb. 26 - Louisiana Tech -2.5 -105 (14-12, +$337) (28-28-1, +$56) - W
• Feb. 25 - Boston Celtics/LA Clippers U 199.5 -107 (13-12, +$237) (27-28-1, -$44) - W
• Feb. 24 - Phoenix Suns -7 -105 (12-12, +$137) (26-28-1, -$144) - W
• Feb. 23 - NJ Nets U 192.5 -105 (11-12, +$37) (25-18-1, -$244) - L
• Feb. 22 - Liverpool -1 +109 (11-11, +$142) (25-27-1, -$139) - L
• Feb. 21 - Vancouver Canucks -1.5 +178 (11-10, +$242) (25-26-1, -$39) - L
• Feb. 20 - Phoenix Suns/Oklahoma City U 231 -108 (11-9, +$351) (25-25-1, +$69) - L
• Feb. 19 - Columbus Blue Jackets -0.5 +139 (11-8, +$459) (25-24-1, +$177) - L
• Feb. 18 - Manchester United -1.5 -121 (11-7, +$559) (25-23-1, +$277) - W
• Feb. 17 - Orlando Magic -8.5 -105 (10-7, +$459) (24-23-1, +$177) - L
• Feb. 16 - Ottawa Sens/Colorado Avs O 5.5 -120 (10-6, +$579) (24-22-1, +$297) - L
• Feb. 15 - Anaheim Ducks -1.5 +139 (10-5, +$679) (24-21-1 +$397) - L
• Feb. 14 - Pittsburgh Penguins -0.5 +118 (10-4, +$779) (24-20-1, +$497) - L
• Feb. 13 - Montreal Canadiens -1.5 +275 (10-3, +$879) (24-19-1, +$597) - W
• Feb. 12 - Vancouver Canucks -0.5 +117 (9-3, +604) (23-19-1, +$322) - W
• Feb. 11 - Denver/Orlando U 209.5 +102 (8-3, +$487) (22-19-1, +$215) - W
• Feb. 10 - Cleveland Cavs -6.5 -105 (7-3, +$385) (21-19-1, +$113) - L
• Feb. 9 - Houston/Milwaukee O 195 -105 (7-2, +$490) (21-18-1, +$218) - W
• Feb. 8 - Man United -0.5 -155 (6-2, +$390) (20-18-1, +$118) - W
• Feb. 7 - Aston Villa Pk -119 (5-2, +$290) (19-18-1, +$18) - W
• Feb. 6 - Portland/OKC U 199 -107 (4-2, +$190) (18-18-1, -$82) - W
• Feb. 5 - LA Lakers +7 -109 (3-2, +$90) (17-18-1, -$182) - W
• Feb. 4 - Orlando Magic -13 -105 (2-2, -$10) (16-18-1, -$282) - W
• Feb. 3 - Boston Celtics/Philly 76ers U 191.5 +100 (1-2, -$105) (15-18-1, -$382) - L
• Feb. 2 - Dallas Mavs/Orlando Magic U 208 (1-1, -$5) (15-17-1, -$282) - W
• Feb. 1 - Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 -105 (0-1, $-105) (14-17-1, -$382) - L

Sour Grapes

Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden resigned over the signing bonus skimming arrangement that saw some in the club take huge chunks of bonuses paid to signees from the Dominican Republic. With the U.S. government investigating, that might be the least of his problems. For his part, Bowden made the Cincinnati Reds worse in his days there, and took over a .500 team their first year after moving from Montreal and turned them into a joke...speaking of the Expos, did not know that among the banners hung from the rafters at the Bell Centre is one saluting the Expos time in Montreal and a few of their players...it may be just over the Ontario border but Quebec is a far better place for a sporting event. As I walked up to grab a beer, I noted no sign for a limit. So I asked how many I could get and the answer was "you're the boss, as many as you want." You could also still get beer in the third period. Amazing...I'm contemplating taking up a collection to close the mere $1.5 million gap between the LA Dodgers and Manny Ramirez so it can be over and done with. Four months of this talk is too much when neither have better options...SI.com's Don Banks says Ray Lewis is the big loser of the first weekend of NFL free agency, having talked of interest in the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets. Problem is neither have made any moves his way and now the Ravens have him at their mercy. Sounds a lot like Manny Ramirez plight, no?...Manchester United took their second title of the season, adding the Carling Cup to their World Club Championship in January. Still to come: the EPL title, looking a virtual certainty with a soon-to-be 10 point lead assuming they beat Newcastle United Wednesday, plus the FA Cup and Champions League...Don Cherry is anti-Alexander Ovechkin, and Ovechkin gave Cherry the best reply you give an old curmudgeon like that: he treated him as irrelevant. Good for Ovi...the Denver Broncos may move QB Jay Cutler, and Cutler is livid about it and refusing to meet with the team to discuss the matter. So if you're scoring at home, he's sour about the idea of leaving, and making it impossible to stay...the Detroit Red Wings have one fighting major in three months. Yeah, fighting is "part of the game" so they must really be suffering in the standings. Or not. They have eight fights all year, 13 lower than the second lowest team in Washington. Since 2005, they have 50 fights. The Anaheim Ducks have 66 this year...you bet two women you can have sex with both for 12 hours. They bet you can't. You pop a few Viagara to enhance your performance. You make it past 12 hours. Then, you die...back later with your PTP.

RM returns this afternoon...

Carling Cup Final

Another four games go in the English Premier League today in a light schedule overall. No real tricky fixtures for the top teams today. The big match of the day comes with the Carling Cup Final (10am, Setanta Sports) as Manchester United looks to grab the first of up to four trophies this year when they face the schedule challenged Tottenham Hotspur, who are in the midst of a brutal 7 games in 17 days stretch. I think United wins this one comfortably, and they're the PTP of the day on a split line of -0.5 -1 +100...if you're at all like me, you'll never, ever tire of Mike Tyson moments...here's a piece of the Joe Torre/Tom Verducci book on then-Texas Rangers pitcher Rick Helling, who warned the union about the use of steroids back in 1998 and ultimately was ignored. Pretty interesting stuff that says a lot about the mindset at the time, and it isn't a stretch to read between the lines and figure out that the majority were using something at the time, such was the environment...Tony Romo's comfort in Dallas - or as this author puts it, "lack of accountability" - is being aided and abetted by Jerry Jones. Starting to feel more like a Brett Favre thing, and you can imagine how I'm feeling about that given my disdain for Favre...after Friday's "I need another word for 'vagina'" thing, here's a bit on 50 words women really hate...have a great Sunday.