Boxing Day

A few technical issues cost me a good chunk of today's RM. Here it is, take 2, in addition to the below entry.

Is it too late to throw Phillip Rivers into the MVP discussion? Rivers was dynamite in leading his San Diego Chargers to another December win. Shocked the Tennessee Titans were pounded 52-17 like that at home. It would not shock me to see the Bolts in the Super Bowl.

The big free agent signing of last off-season, Albert Haynesworth, is tired of the Washington Redskins system and their losing ways and wants out. He was also sent home for disciplinary reasons this week. Just the kind of thing I like to see around a team with my Dallas Cowboys set to visit tomorrow.

The LA Clippers are 8-1 against Minnesota, Golden State, Memphis, Philadelphia and Washington and 4-16 against everyone else, including 1-10. against teams above .500.

The LA Lakers were crushed at home last night by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Lakers fans were so in the Christmas mood that they pelted the court late in the game with foam fingers and at least one water bottle. Classy.

The World Junior Hockey Championships start today for host Canada. This is definitely one of my fav traditions of the sporting year, and usually reminds me how great a game hockey can be without goonery and other "part of the game" nonsense more prevalent in the NHL. Canada faces xxx today in Saskatoon.

The English Premier League continues its torrid December schedule. Up today in terms of interesting matchups are xxxxx

Can't figure why the NFL would have a game last night but not today. Odd.

Elephants (Live)

Merry Christmas all...enjoy.

Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas to all, or whatever it is you're celebrating today.

Not a tonne going in the sporting world today, but the NBA as always has some juicy matchups at the ready. Up today are five games, including Cleveland visiting the LA Lakers in what should be a dandy. That one goes at 2:30 on ABC. The rest of the games here.

The NFL gives us a game tonight, with San Diego visiting Tennessee. Kickoff there is 7:30. With San Diego having their division wrapped up and traveling across the country to play on Christmas Day, and Tennessee desperately needing a win, you have to like the Titans today at -3.

Seems Manchester City didn't take into account one important factor when they axed manager Mark Hughes last weekend: that the players may revolt. Welcome to Manchester, Roberto Mancini. Good luck.

Chelsea/Germany midfielder Michael Ballack weighs in on who he feels are the World Cup favs next year. He lists Brazil, Italy, England and France as favs and ranks them ahead of his own squad. Normally, I find such honesty refreshing, but you know with Ballack it was delivered with total smugness.

The LA Clippers #1 pick in last year's draft is a step closer to returning and making his debut - does that make sense? Can't wait to see Blake Griffin take his game to the big leagues. Shame about the whole Clipper thing, though.

Rick Reilly at ESPN The Magazine does an overview of the Tiger Woods fiasco of the last month or so. Solid read. He cites Tiger's legendary cheapness as a main cause.

Jersey Shore sound board? Hell yes I want that.

And finally on this day, the 40 Hottest WAGs of 2009.

Have a great Christmas.

Battle of the Brutal

Guess Shannon Brown of the LA Lakers wasn't aware that cameras were rolling when he was busy getting changed last night.

The Minnesota T-Wolves and New Jersey Nets faced each other last night in the swamps of Jersey. Their records entering were a combined 7-50. Attendance was listed at 10,204 but if you saw the "hilites", there's no way it was even half that.

The Cleveland Browns are looking into whether Eric Mangini violated terms of his contract so they can fire him and save paying out the remainder of his salary. Would it shock anyone if they kept him on to save the cash if they find they don't have cause, other than him being a terrible coach, of course?

After losing on Sunday, New York Jet coach Rex Ryan figured his team was out of the playoff hunt, only to be informed later they weren't. Donovan McNabb Not Knowing Games Can End In A Tie thinks that's ridiculous.

Another Top 10 goals of the year from the soccer world. Never get tired of these.

Manny Pacquiao/Floyd Mayweather could be off as Manny is refusing to undergo a full drug test within 30 days of the fight, as demanded by Money May. Manny cites superstition as a reason to not do it. In this day and age, does anybody buy that? Take the test, make your $40-$50 million. Thanks to ROTR for that piece.

Check out these 10 quickest and funniest knockouts from the MMA and boxing worlds. Awesome stuff. #4 is still my fav.

Have a great Christmas Eve, and yes, back in the morning.

Old Has Been Knows All, Or So He Thinks

Good of the Toronto Star to run numbers "for the 30" MLB teams payrolls for 2009 but only include 23 teams in actuality. They trying to make the Jays stipend look low-end when it is really middle, even with a nearly 15% cut from 2008?

Talk about what comes around, goes around. The New York Yankees traded Javier Vazquez in 2004 after he gave up that game 7 grand-slam to then Boston Red Sock Johnny Damon. Vazquez was acquired in a trade for Nick Johnson, whose signing by the Yanks last week likely means the end of Damon's stay in The Bronx. Seems like that great movie Crash, no? With the Vazquez move, and the Sox loading up, Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports says the rest of the East should just pack it in. Well, duh.

Speaking of Boston, the ice is down at Fenway Park for the Winter Classic that will see the Philadelphia Flyers face the Boston Bruins. Check out the time lapse vid here. And why is it time lapse vids are always playing banjo's in the background?

If anyone can explain why people are generally pricks at this time of year if you're out and about, I'd love to hear it. People act like they're the only ones that have things to get done and places to be.

Snow + Philadelphia Eagles Fan Spotting 49ers Fans In Their Midst = Good times. Check out these two 49er fans getting pelted on Sunday. They hung in their longer than Ben Roethlesberger hangs in the face of a pass rush.

Some serious work goes into making Jabulani, the official game ball of the World Cup 2010.

If you have 27 kids, your first name can only be Philander, no? Yep, Philander Rodman. That's a name a porn star should have. And yes, Dennis is but one.

SI gives us their top 20 male athletes of the decade. Absolute hilarity that Derek Jeter ranks ahead of Alex Rodriguez here, that's the first list I've seen Jeter rank in the top 20 on and never ahead of A-Rod.

The Old Has Been figures not only should he decide if and when he comes out of games, he should also decide how he runs the offence. Knock me over with a feather, #4 thinks he knows more than everyone else?

Thanks for showing up, Oregon State.

Have a great Wednesday.

Skinned in Washington

The New York Giants thrust themselves back into the playoff picture with a thorough dismantling of the Washington Redskins last night, 45-12. Wonder if Mike Shanahan is backing away from the negotiating table after that one?

Johnny Damon hosted Monday Night Raw last night. Guess that's the best deal his agent Scott Boras could swing him after overplaying his hand thinking he'd pull another four year deal out of the New York Yankees and they moved on. Don't want to crack on Damon too badly - he'll always be one of my fav players.

You know what's annoying? Those half page ads that newspapers have covering half of the front page. Just check out the Toronto Star someday. Lame.

I get that in the NBA that rallies happen, but they shouldn't happen if you're up 35 in the third quarter no matter who you are and no matter who you're playing. But, the Chicago Bulls went and blew such a lead last night - at home! - to that powerhouse known as the Sacramento Kings.

In a blast from the past, the Yankees are about to add another workhorse to their rotation, allegedly dealing - again - for Javier Vazquez, a guy I long ago said they never should've dealt when they decided to keep that plank Kevin Brown over J.V. There is also talk of Josh Johnson in the mix, who would be about my fav Christmas present this year. Not sure how much you all follow the Florida Marlins, but Johnson is a man.

Frequent contributor T.S. responded to my query as to why Derek Jeter wasn't at Curtis Granderson's presser but A-Rod and CC Sabathia were by saying they couldn't or wouldn't accommodate his schedule. My reply: the Yankees know who really carries the freight.

Check out Hannah Storm whoring it up. Cougariffic.

If you're wondering, yes, RM will be going straight through the holiday season, occasionally impeded by hangovers or family proceedings, but will definitely be up daily.

Back tomorrow, have a great Tuesday.

A bevy of lists

AskMen.com give us their Top 10 Sports Moments for 2009. Pretty heavily North American influenced, but take it for what it is. Not sure how Chicago White Sock Mark Buehrle's no hitter and the catch by Dwayne Wise that kept it alive wasn't included.

Dave Feschuk at the Toronto Star takes another of his regular digs - and deservedly so - at the Toronto Raptors. The bright light for the squad is they played 30 games in 53 days, tops in the NBA, and then next 30 will be spread over 74 days. In other Raptors news, they're ready to show such love for their fans that they've declared February 3rd's game against the New Jersey Nets as "Fan Night" and are even rolling in - wait for it! - Vanilla Ice for entertainment. What, MC Hammer wasn't available?

Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopolous has already managed to do something his predecessor JP Ricciardi never did: have a back and forth with fans where he doesn't smugly talk down to them. A long but good read.

The Denver Broncos/Oakland Raiders game yesterday was stopped for a time because of fans were using lasers on players. Why is it I can't hear the word "laser" without thinking of Dr. Evil of Austin Powers fame?

The Philadelphia Flyers are shopping Jeff Carter, and are said to have turned down a deal with the Montreal Canadiens for goalie Jaroslav Halak. If you're the Montreal Canadiens, you do that deal in a heartbeat.

Check out the NHL's Christmas video featuring Igor Larionov's daughter's and plenty of cameo's by players, who love to show that they can spell one word each on a piece of paper. Bryan McCabe even stretches and uses two words!

Here's Paul Lukas at ESPN's Page 2 with his look on how to fix the more annoying aspects of the NFL. Great stuff.

It isn't often a week goes by here without some appearance by WAGs, and this is no different. Today, we go and look at the 50 Hottest WAGs of the Decade.

The NFL Playoff picture is starting to come clearer after most of Week 15 was completed yesterday. Here's a peak at what the playoffs look like at the moment, including a Dallas visit to Philadelphia that would see those two teams playing back to back games. How ugly would that Week 17 game be if both teams are trying to not show the other their tricks? Some wild games yesterday, including Pittsburgh's last gasp win over Green Bay, a deluge of points in a Cleveland win over Kansas City, and a last second win by Tennessee. What was a bigger upset - Dallas beating New Orleans, or Carolina beating Minnesota? I'm thinking Dallas, largely because I don't believe Minnesota is that good and it is The Old Has Been in December.

Have a great Monday.

With his Cleveland Browns at 2-11, talk of Mike Holmgren coming in to take over, and already a reputation for overworking his players and having ridiculous rules, you'd think Mike Mangini might look to get off the gas some and see if that changes his results - the definition of insanity being doing the same thing and expecting different results, after all. So what does Manginious do? Puts the squad through a 3.5 hour practice. In pads. If they weren't playing the weak Kansas City Chiefs, I'd wager heavily on the Browns to get slaughtered as they'll likely lay down rather than play for a coach they hate. May well happen anyways.

Minnesota Vikes QB The Old Has Been is musing how he'd pack it in if the Vikes win the Super Bowl. Two things: They're not winning the Super Bowl, and he's going to tease us with retirement again, because he thinks the world should care.

Add the FIFA Club World Cup to Barelona's impressive 2009. They beat Estudiantes, the South American champion, 2-1 to claim the trophy yesterday. That's Barca's sixth trophy for the season.

Chad Ochocino plans to wear Chris Henry's #15 tomorrow in honour of his late teammate. Of course, the NFL would likely fine him big time for such a move, and the NFL Players Union has vowed to pay the fine if they do. I'd say there's no way the league does, but they got on players for honouring Pat Tillman in the past, and he's a freaking war hero.

What is more stunning? Liverpool losing 2-0 on the road to last place Portsmouth, or Manchester United losing 3-0 at Craven Cottage to Fulham? Literally at a loss. United's in a world of trouble with seven defenders off with injuries, and have had to resort to midfielders playing in the back. Clearly, that isn't working.

Manchester City boss Mark Hughes was fired yesterday despite having a league low two losses in 17 games on the year. Problem is he only guided City to 7 wins over that time, and 2 in the last 11. Still seems an odd move.