Erek Jeter!

LeBron James is talking openly of how he may not get to face Dwayne Wade in an NBA Final but how he'd be fine facing him even if only in practice. In response, the New York Knicks started clearing cap room...Steven Gerrard scored three for Liverpool in yesterday's 5-0 fisting of Aston Villa, who have dropped two straight now and have Manchester United lined up in a couple weeks after the international break this weekend...for my money, Villanova vs Duke is the intriguing Sweet 16 matchup in the NCAA hoops parenthesis. As always, I'll be pulling for whoever faces Duke. UConn looks the most dominant at this point...if you're wondering, Barrack Obama went 14-2 in his second round picks. Much better than a weak 19-13 opening round...bottom of the 8th, down 6-4, who makes an error for the United States that allows three more runs to make it 9-4 for Japan? Derek Jeter. But it is okay, it is Jeter after all. His defence gets any worse and we'll be calling him the Jose Calderon of MLB, dubbing him "Erek" Jeter...the latest in The Life of A-Rod: he dated a former madam, in addition to him tapping some of her escorts. David Duchovny is recognizing some symptoms in Alex...hard as it may be to believe, but Detroit Tigers starters Dontrelle Willis and Nate Robertson - both one-time studs - could be done at early ages. Fire up the performance enhancing drug speculation...Jeremy Roenick calls an interview with Sidney Crosby "as boring to watch as possible." JR hasn't scored many this year, but he's lighting the red light on that one...here's some word on the NHL changing the draft lottery to factor in years out of the playoffs and factor in previous first overall picks, good ideas both. Also mentioned: Vinny Lecavalier will be a Montreal Canadien on draft day. Guaranteed...think those NCAA lines are sharp at all? So far, we've seen wins and losses as narrow as a point either way. Yesterday, a push on Missouri at -4. Tough sledding. Have a great Monday, back with your PTP later.

Watch Erek go high and wide...

Dominican't

So, about the idea that Real Madrid is a soccer power in Europe? Nevermind. Liverpool were never threatened by the Spanish side in yesterdays second leg of their Champions League round of 16 game, taking Real apart with stunning ease 4-0, and it wasn't even that close. Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were beasts all game. Why Cristiano Ronaldo would contemplate leaving Manchester United for that outfit is beyond me. Real is likely heading toward another coaching change and more roster turmoil. Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Villareal also advanced to the final eight..SI.com's Peter King, between sips of Starbucks, figures Arizona Cardinal Anquan Boldin will be a Philadelphia Eagle or New York Giant before July hits. As a Cowboy fan, at least the Redskins will always suck...Koko B. Ware is going into the WWE Hall of Fame? Who is next, The Berzerker?...Carlos Marmol came on to close out Holland and the Dutch proved too much and downed the Dominican 2-1 in 12 innings. Anybody else think that he's going to get the Andreas Escobar treatment when he goes home to the D.R.?...it didn't take long for the conspiracy theorists to figure A-Rod's sudden hip injury and surgery is merely cover for an MLB suspension...since November 28th, the New York Isles are 1-19-2 on the road. The 1980's must seem decades ago. Forgive me while I channel Yogi Berra...among the many interesting points in Declan Hill's book "The Fix" - a look at the extent to which soccer is fixed in the gambling world - is a revelation that some bookmakers in Russia stopped taking bets on the NHL in the 1990's, such was the level of fixing going on there with Russian players in particular. At the time, there were rumblings of "protection money" being extorted from Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny, but I don't recall gambling ever being brought up...Bret Hart once gave Vince McMahon a clothesline in a strip joint. True story. By the way, if you've never read Hart's bio "Hitman", do yourself a favor and start now...in Champions League action today, it doesn't get any bigger than Inter Milan at Manchester United. Also a big one in Rome, as Arsenal travel to face AS Roma. Again, I feel a strange fever coming over me today at the office around 3pm...Adam "Pacman" Jones has a new job, but it isn't in the NFL. He's on the terrible show "Pros vs. Joes", which led to this awesome email to Jim Rome: "Dear Jim, is Pacman a 'Pro' or a 'Joe'?"...line of the day from Gary Loewen at the Toronto Sun: "the NBA Development League is being innovative by allowing its three division winners to choose their first-round playoff opponents. No Raptors jokes here, please"...finally on my 10th listen, I figured out what Quinton "Rampage" Jackson screamed into the mic as he and champion Rashad Evans faced off in the ring after Jackson's win over Keith Jardine to hype their fight down the road: "there's gonna be some black on black crime." Amazing. Love me some Rampage...have a great Wednesday, back later with your PTP.

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

If Ulf Samuellson is looking for his shoulder pads, they can be found on the person of Kurt Warner...the Pittsburgh Penguins are continuing the recent trend of Stanley Cup finalists who suffer a hangover the following year. Not sure how a team with that talent can struggle like they have this year, and lately as they've lost five of six. Hopefully nobody thinks it is the result of losing the eternally overrated Gary Roberts like was often thought by knucklehead Toronto Maple Leafs fans...wagering advice: bet against the Arizona Cardinals next week. They don't travel well at all, and only managed to beat a horribly performing Atlanta Falcons squad by six...at the World Junior Hockey Championships, Canada had everything lined up: a reputedly soft Russian team playing its second game in two days, home ice, four leads, five power plays in a row at one point and it was almost all for naught as they needed to go to the shootout to win their semi-final game and are off to face Sweden in the gold medal game Monday night while Russia is left to play Slovakia for the bronze medal. Too often, the Pat Quinn coached team resembled the Leafs defence from his days coaching there: undisciplined, sloppy in their zone, and too many risky passes and bad penalties. They deserved to lose, to be fair, especially with goalie Dustin Tokarski looking awful...now that they've lost, wonder if Peyton Manning still thinks his comments from Thursday when he was named MVP hold true and that this is the most satisfying season he's had. Tell you one thing: in a big game, Eli is the better QB...2-1 on Prime Time Picks - thanks, Peyton. Sticking with the NFL here and playing the Philadelphia Eagles (-3) at Minnesota. Yes, the Vikes are a strong home side and the Eagles aren't nearly as strong on the road, but the Eagles D will terrorize Vikes QB Tarvaris Jackson and the Eagles have a more dynamic offence too, plus a hot Donovan McNabb. I like this pick so much I'm afraid...isn't it a little odd to see all these companies - banks, notably - who are receiving bailout funds from the U.S. federal government still maintaining their sponsorships of college bowl games? There’s the Capital One Bowl. Or the GMAC Bowl. The Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl brought to you by Bank of America. The EagleBank Bowl. You'd think these companies might want to stay under the radar, no? No way this would fly in Canada, at least not without people marching in the streets...word is the meltdown in Liverpool that ended with Steven Gerrard arrested started when the DJ blew off Gerrard's request that he play some Phil Collins, something the DJ flat out refused to do. My respect for Gerrard just disappeared but this is the world we live in, where such a man of steel and man of power, loses control by the hour...Philadelphia, Denver, New York and Boston are all in the hunt to host the Winter Classic next year. Where are the Canadian entries?...further evidence fan voting is a joke for All-Star games: four Montreal Canadiens are in the starting lineup. Nothing against the Habs players in particular, but if your team has four guys starting, you best be miles ahead of everyone else. That not being the case, the result is ridiculous...have a great Sunday.