Ref killer

Come to find out that Tracy McGrady - Houston Rocket - picked the LA Lakers to win the NBA Championship. I appreciate honesty in athletes, but if I'm a teammate, I want to pop him in the mouth...not sure how the story of Slovak hockey player and Philadelphia Flyer prospect Ladislav Skurko escaped more widespread coverage. He is the guy who merely killed and buried a referee. No hyperbole or metaphors, he literally killed him. Thanks to RM reader Norway for passing that along...New York Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has blown 12 of 70 save opportunities against the Boston Red Sox. They own him more than they own Bud Selig...if not for the incredible performance of Arsenal's Manuel Almunia, Manchester United would be well on their way to the Champions League final. Almunia made at least three incredible saves to keep the United scoreline to 1-0, and was aided by his crossbar on a rocket from Cristiano Ronaldo. The second leg goes Tuesday...speaking of Ronaldo, I'm thinking his desire to go to Real Madrid will be more easily received from United given AC Milan star Kaka is reported to be wanting a move to United, and AC Milan management won't stand in his way. Talk about making an upgrade out of a seemingly lost position...Chicago and Vancouver will open their Western Conference semi-final tonight. Doesn't it feel like the Canucks have been off for weeks? Hopefully "Canada's Team" isn't too rusty from the layoff...Chris Cummins, 2-0 as Toronto FC's fill-in head coach, will take on coaching duties for the balance of the season...the Pittsburgh Pirates have now lost 18 straight at Miller Park in Milwaukee...the New York Jets have released Brett Favre from their reserve-retired list, but interestingly, it was Favre himself who was said to be clamoring for his release though he denies he's coming out of retirement. Surely he's not still thinking about a year in Minnesota, is he? This is becoming more embarrassing than Jerry Rice final years where he bounced from Oakland to Seattle to Denver...Zach Greinke finally gave up a run for the KC Royals - his first two of the year - but the Royals still pounded the Toronto Blue Jays 11-3 and Greinke is now 5-0...for your PTP today, play the LA Angels and Yankees over 10.5. May the winners be ours!

At least the Ontario Hockey League gets it. Hot on the heels of an amateur player dying after cracking his dome off the ice, the league has mandated that any player that takes his bucket off for a fight is tossed from that game and suspended for the next, and that should a player's helmet come off during a fight, the linesmen are to immediately intervene. In junior, where players where shields by rule, one Kitchener Ranger said that the new rules are going to wipe out almost all fights. That's not a bad thing...on the Max Kellerman Show, Stephen A. Smith talked about the Dallas Cowboys problems at length and boiled it down to a severe lack of trust among the players and the culprit is not Terrell Owens as one might suspect, but coordinator Jason Garrett and Tight End Jason Witten. Smith said that while T.O. may be juvenile in how he handles things and is overly sensitive, in this case, he is right, confirmed by several players on the team from both sides of the ball. Also taking a beating was Tony Romo, who some players say has "gone Hollywood" and is more concerned with Jessica Simpson than with the team. Smtih said the blame has to lay at the feet of Wade Phillips for allowing things to spiral to this point all the while saying things are fine. Interesting times in Big D...some time ago, your faithful blogger mentioned a severe disdain for the "Fox Robot". Come to find out it has a name - "Cleatus". Also come to find that one Conan O'Brien isn't a fan either, as you'll see in the vid here. Tremendous...Coed Magazine thinks they've got the 8 potential cover girls for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Check them out, and vote here. Sing along, "I love this Bar..."...clearly, Manchester City are not messing about. With Kaka looking like he's heading there from AC Milan, City are looking to get a top notch coach in the person of Jose Morinho, even talking of doubling his salary to 18 million (Euros). The Gallagher brothers have to be pretty thrilled with that...as mentioned a couple times now, the Philadelphia Eagles are your PTP today. Bet 'em hard...have a great Sunday.

Memo to Kaka: You'll Soon Belong To Man City

Andruw Jones was at the Duke hoops game Wednesday wearing an Atlanta Braves hat. Odd when you're being paid by the LA Dodgers, no? Unless, of course, the Dodgers are just paying him to eat. One report says the Dodgers are going to release him, which late yesterday they in fact did. The Dodgers might be wise to bring up who will eat the contract. Jones is likely willing if he hears "eat"...Cristiano Ronaldo operates his business dealings under the name CR7. Pretty obvious what that means, right? Does the fact he's since trademarked CR9, and Raul wears 7 at Real Madrid, suggest something?...more soccer moves. Updating yesterday's Manchester City/Kaka story, it looks like a deal could be on again and it could reach as high as £107 million ($196 million $CDN, $158 million $USD) before player terms. That's a wild figure and if you're Milan, how do you not? Another story places the figure at £243 million...the mayor of Pittsburgh Luke Ravenstahl has temporarily changed his last name to Steelerstahl. Clearly, unemployment, poverty and the state of the Pittsburgh Pirates must all be solved in Pittsburgh...who is the best team against the spread in the NBA? The Oklahoma City Thunder. At least they've got that...you know the NFL is crazy huge when the 23-11 score of the Philadelphia Eagles/New York Giants game Sunday is revealed as the first 23-11 score in NFL history. Now you can one day tell your grand kids...blame yesterday's PTP loss on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who gave up four goals in 10 minutes and then just had to get an empty netter to salt away a 6-4 win. Aren't the Grand Salami's fun? This daily wager thing is starting to become a chore. I need a beer to clear my head (see right of page!)..the NCAA has banned recruiting 13-year olds. In response, Michael Jackson is celebrating the reduced competition...back with your PTP later.

PRIME TIME PICK: Tonight, looking to go 2-0 on the year with the Raptors and get back to .500. Raptors +4.5 -106 is the pick.

Here's David Letterman's Top 10 Highlites of My Hall of Fame Baseball Career, with Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice: