Raising the Bar

It didn't take long for the Congress grandstanding to begin. One Congressman wants A-Rod called on the carpet to see what else they can find out. Right, because the first time was so illuminating. Since these clowns figure they can review what happened in baseball five years ago and criticize, wonder who gets to call Congress on the carpet for letting the Wall Streeters take the global economy down the toilet? Way to keep your eye on the prize, fools...hope Tony Romo's girlfriend isn't a listener of the Jim Rome Show, where one caller dubbed her Jessicow Blimpson...Minnesota Wild defenceman Cal Clutterbuck has been the target of Don Cherry of late, and one Wild fan fired back with probably the best thing you could call Grapes on a variety of levels: Liberace. Amazing. Thanks to ROTR for passing this my way...good of an Ontario Provincial Police officer to get nailed - on duty - for breaking the province's racing laws, driving 165 kph in a 100 zone...the pressure of the Prime Time Picks got to me. I admit it. So I hit some 'roids. Forgive me for last nights dud of a pick...there are several soccer friendlies - and not so friendlies, like Mexico visiting the U.S. tonight - including England travelling to Spain to face the European Champions. English captain John Terry has vowed that if the Spanish fans continue with rascist taunts of England's black players, they'll walk off the field. Good for England. I'm sure, like the ill advised Spanish Olympic hoops picture, that the taunts are in tribute to the black players. Or not...it is no secret that I'm not a huge fan of Derek Jeter's personality - ask him if the sky is blue and he'll waffle on an answer - and even less a fan of the results of his leadership. But his plan to address the A-Rod steroids situation once and only once when camp gets together for the media is a great one. It'll minimize the distraction, at least to him, by not letting it become a daily discussion...Baseball Prospectus ran its projected finishes for the 2009 season for all teams and has the Boston Red Sox and Yankees finishing a game apart at the top of the AL East with the top records in the AL. A .500 season is forecast for the Toronto Blue Jays - I've got the under there. The Hardball Times ran 100 trials of the 2009 season and had the Yankees first in the East with an average of 101 wins...the NHL's best of the west - San Jose - dropped in to face the beasts of the east in Boston last night, and the Sharks exploded for three goals in a little over six minutes to win 5-2...Bar Rafaeli rode a RM plug last month to the cover of SI's Swimsuit Issue. Good stuff. More Bar from SI here. Also shockingly impressive in this issue is Danica Patrick..have a great Wednesday, back with your PTP later.

3:37pm UPDATE: Your PTP is up.

Serious Guacamole

How great is that caricature on the right? If you don't agree, you clearly haven't seen who is lounging on Jessica's couch...Shannon Sharpe says that on Super Bowl Sunday, there are enough avocado's consumed to stack them 18 feet high from endzone to endzone. Who figures this stuff out?...in 2008, there was only one left-handed starting pitcher who gave up fewer home runs, pitched more innings and had a lower rate of walks per 9 innings than the New York Yankees Andy Pettitte. That would be CC Sabathia. Two lefties at Yankee Stadium is going to be a real good thing..the Pittsburgh Steelers faced nine of the top 10 defenses this past season. Translation: they'll get theirs against the Arizona Cardinals who are not a top 10 team defensively...maybe it is just me, but I think I'm looking forward to Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn at UFC 94 tomorrow as much as I am the Super Bowl this weekend. If you get a chance to see UFC Primetime - a three part preview of the fight that goes to each man's camp - check it out on Spike pre-fight today or tomorrow. This is gonna be a war. My money is on GSP, but no result would surprise me...it wasn't looking good for the "under" on 195 play last night at 111 points at the half but thanks to a 29 point half for the Cleveland Cavs and 76 on the half including the Orlando Magic, it was a comfortable under in the end and a 99-88 Magic win...it'll be Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal in the finals of the Australian Open. Great weekend for sports, to state the obvious...I get that TSN paid some big bucks to cover the Olympics, but that watermark they're using on screen is a touch oversized, no? Then again, it is more subtle than the four billion ads they ran over the last year plus telling everyone they had the Grey Cup...how has Joe Torre's upcoming book been received by his former employers? Not good. Best line on the subject: "David Wells will be named the team nutritionist before Torre is invited back to the Bronx." Hope it was worth it, Torre. No more number retirement, no Old Timers Day, nada. Asked what he'd do if he saw Torre now, Wells said he'd "knock him out"...Dallas Cowboys Hall of Famer Michael Irvin told Jim Rome that not only will Anquoin Boldin have a greater impact on the Super Bowl than Larry Fitzgerald, he's also a better receiver overall...as you may have seen from GBVH yesterday, Mickey Rourke will not be taking on Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania after all. I'd expect Vince McMahon to kill Rourke for backing out over the coming weeks, but the publicity will be well worth it for the WWE...the United States is putting in bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup's. Bet on them getting one of the two. The beauty of the World Cup is that you don't even need to say what sport it is. Really, it is the only true World Cup...back with the Friday night PTP later. Have a great day.