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...

Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid told Jim Rome that when he gets stressed, he eats Big Mac's. Who knew? Reid's Eagles are going to their fifth NFC Championship game in the last ten years where one team that only won 9 regular season games this year will be going to the Super Bowl...AskMen presents their Top 10 Necessary NFL Firings...if you're the NFL, you've got to believe they prefer and all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl to Arizona vs. Baltimore. I know I do, despite hating the Eagles. Who wants to see a pretty much non-descript Arizona team - Larry Fitzgerald aside - or a no-offence outfit like Baltimore? Beyond the marketing angle, I think it will indeed be Pittsburgh vs. Philly but the way things have gone for chalk so far, at least one of those is likely to flame out...with the Tampa Bay Lightning in some money trouble, they are said to be looking to unload some salary. First juicy rumor has Vinny Lecavalier going to Montreal for Tomas Plekanec, Chris Higgins, junior star P.K. Subban and draft picks. Lecavalier would give the Habs a legit star up front, a guy who has won the Cup and performs night in and out, unlike the mercurial Alexei Kovalev...I've often said that New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez has really good years in even numbered years and monster years in odd numbered years. He's off to a good start in 2009 by upgrading from alleged girlfriend Madonna last year and is now dating Kate Hudson...biggest shock last night during the Toronto Raptors loss? That Leo Rautins got a sentence off without slurping Jose Caleron. To clarify one question from a RM reader, yes, I'm aware that I'm spelling Jose's surname differently but it is intentional because there's no "D" in that guy. One thing that the Raptors are great for: stopping other teams losing funks...Boston Bruin Phil Kessel is out with mono. What else could it be other than "mono"? Think about it...wonder how it feels for now-former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy to retire the same day that one of his long-time favs Marvin Harrison is pointed at by a second person as having had a gun during a shooting in Philadelphia last year, a gun later found at Harrison's car wash...Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice are your baseball Hall of Fame inductees for this year. The Rickey was a no-brainer, only held up by his refusal to retire, and Jim Rice was long overdue. How is it though that Jack Morris isn't in? 175 complete games and a couple rings ought to outweigh him not being a warm and fuzzy personality for the voters, no?...six games straight for the Detroit Red Wings and they get named the Prime Time Pick and it turns into a loss to the Dallas Stars. Starting to feel cursed, but no time to feel sorry for myself, or the faithful gamblers riding shotgun here. Will be back with the play for tonight mid-afternoon, a winning play...have a great Tuesday.

UPDATE: Maybe it is YF suggesting it, or maybe it is the line dropping to -1, but tonight's pick is the Miami Heat -1 +100.