Born a Lyon

Hard to believe I went through two days of Champions League play the last two days with nary a mention. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 7th goal in six games but it wasn't enough to send Real Madrid into the quarters as Olympic Lyon drew 1-1 in Madrid. Real captain Guti blames a lack of teamwork on their flaming out - didn't we say there would be problems with that many fresh faces and egos demanding the ball? Very classy of Ronaldo to saunter off to the dressing room without shaking hands post-game. Best talent in the world, but grow up and take it like a man, CR9. Manchester United advanced with a 4-0 win over AC Milan powered by two Wayne Rooney goals, knocking out former star David Beckham. Not a good week for former #7's of Manchester United, obviously, with Ronaldo and Beckham both getting to watch their former side advance. Arsenal and Bayern Munich also punched their tickets into the quarter-finals by finishing off their match-ups this week. The other four entrants will be sorted out next week.

Says the great Jason Whitlock via Twitter: "we ripped Pacman 4 lovin 'scrip clubs,' but malewhores r better off making it rain in 'scrip clubs' than trying 2 game college students, no?" Other than the part about people getting shot, he makes a solid point. Whitlock also says that David Copperfield couldn't extricate himself from the mess Ben Roethlesberger is in right now.

So much for a carry-over effect from the Olympics for the NHL on NBC. Ratings for this past Sunday's Detroit Red Wings/Chicago Black Hawks tilt - a matchup of two Original Six squads - drew ratings about as low as the games broadcast before the Olympic games. Tony Kornheiser at PTI says, semi-tongue in cheek - that maybe the ratings are abysmal for regular NHL games and much higher for the Olympic version because there isn't fighting. That, and games take about 40 minutes less, are more entertaining etc.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's committee for on-field matters is investigating a system that would see different divisional alignments year to year, not allowing teams to play in a division more than two timezones away. One example: the Cleveland Indians, in payroll slashing and rebuilding mode, might look to actually play in the AL East to capitalize on 18 visits - instead of eight - from the well-drawing New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. The divisions would align on competitive and budgetary reasons. Seems pretty convoluted, no? I think, as I've mentioned before, the easiest route is to open the playoffs to more Wild Cards and shave off a dozen or so regular season games. Sure, some will argue it negatively impacts the record book, but MLB clearly spent about a decade not concerned about the integrity of the record book, right?

Not sure which of these 10 awesome game show fails is my fav, but it is a toss-up between the wheel spin at The Price is Right and the bonus round answers on Family Feud. Great stuff.

Howard Stern held a beauty pageant among some of the ladies who Tiger Woods tapped in recent years and winner Jamie Jungers, among the rest, had all kinds of interesting information to reveal.

Check out these fans trying to hook Chelsea captain John Terry into signing an autograph "To Wayne...sorry...John Terry". "Wayne" of course would refer to former teammate, Wayne Bridge, a story we've covered here at length. Awesome.