Odds & Ends...

• First, I will try to update the blog over the weekend with a couple quick hits if I come up with anything worthwhile, so check back over the weekend for new stuff. Also, if you missed Kmart’s Nascar preview or Kevin J. Marvel’s article on space exploration, they are posted below this post.
• This is the first weekend since August when there are no football games. Is anyone else going through withdrawal worse than Courtney Love during her first few days of a rehab stint?
• I am starting to think espn.com is monitoring this blog and getting all their story ideas from it. First, I write about how Quin Snyder is doing his best coaching job, and two days later Andy Katz writes a similar story. This of course is right before Missouri gets whacked in two winnable games. The lesson, as always, is that I am an idiot. Evidently Andy Katz is too. Now, after my campaign about how Jerome Bettis is as overrated as he is overweight, David Schoenfield of espn.com comes out with a similar article. This should ensure that Willie Parker goes down on the opening play of the Super Bowl, and Bettis goes on to have 277 rushing yards to cement his legacy. You can find Schoenfield’s article at the attached link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=schoenfield/060125
• Rest in Peace, Chris Penn. Despite the fact that he was over 300 pounds and allegedly had some drug problems, something about the fact that these celebrities that are keeling over are now my age makes me reflect a little bit. And also gives me a great reason to re-watch Reservoir Dogs, a great movie. In fact, when you think back on all of Tarantino’s movies, you really have to give the guy credit as one of the great directors of our era. But I digress….
• Everybody likes to play the “separated-at-birth” game. My personal favorite is Tom Petty and Martina Navratilova. But now, one that can give that one a run for its money is Sinead O’Conner and Tyler Hansbrough, freshman hoops star at North Carolina. If you do not believe me, click on this link: http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/main/index.cgi?7199
• I recognize that this could be completely due to the fact that the Eagles are nowhere to be found in the Super Bowl this season, but does it seem to any non-Philly or New England folks that there is less hype around the Super Bowl this year than usual. I am guessing that has nothing to do with any decline in football’s popularity, but rather the lack of big market teams playing in the game.
• How did any of us survive as kids when they were only doling out sodas in 12 oz. cans. It is not enough soda. When I go to a place for lunch and they have cans of soda, I am inevitably disappointed when I finish the soda and still have food left. You need the full 20 oz. In fact, if I were President, I would ban the 12 oz. soda can. Maybe George Bush should put this in his State of the Union Address. I am certain it would help his approval ratings, probably spiking them in to the mid 30% range!
• Duke bounced back with a win over Virginia Tech, who always gives them fits, last night. Shelden Williams had a monster game with 24 points and 15 boards, which J.J. hurt his scoring average by only scoring 24. He did, however, pass David Thompson on the career scoring list. David Thompson is widely considered one of the top 5 players ever to play college ball, so Redick passing him is a pretty big accomplishment. He is all but assured of becoming Duke and the ACC’s leading all time scorer before the end of the season. Remarkable! In the meantime, Duke continued its tradition of playing great basketball after a loss. In fact, in the last nine seasons, Duke has only lost back-to-back games four times, which is stunning. Look for them to handle UVa this weekend before a very tough game on the road against a suddenly resurgent Boston College next Wednesday.
• Speaking of college hoops, there have been some bizarre results in the past week. First of all, last Saturday saw all three of the last unbeatens get upset (according to Vegas) and lose on the same day. The same day, North Dakota St in their first year of Division 1 beat Wisconsin. This was supposed to be such a mismatch that Vegas did not even put a line out no the game. Then Wednesday came. First, Maryland, after losing arguably their player and definitively their leading scorer in Chris McCray for the rest of the season, easily handled Georgia Tech on the road. Then NC State, ranked 14th and coming off a game where they almost beat Duke at Duke, got blown out at home by a mediocre Seton Hall team that lost by 53 at Duke. West Virginia has won about 10 in a row, including wins AT Villanova and AT UCLA, but could not beat 7-9 Marshall. Florida lost their second in a row, this time to the 10-8 Shamecocks of South Carolina, which according to Kmart has a better business school than basketball team!!! These are the reasons that college hoops is so great, and why March Madness is the premier sporting event in the land.
• Isaiah “JR” Rider was arrested on kidnapping charges. Is this news? Does this surprise anyone? This is the same guy who was suspended for spitting at a fan, who once kicked a woman in the back at an autograph signing session, who was convicted on drug charges at least once and pleaded no contest to possessing unregistered cell phones. I think his next step is being signed as a manager in the WWE.
• I still maintain than about 112 people in the whole United States care about the winter Olympics, which is getting less attention than the Supreme Court nominations. Bode Miller is a skier for the US and probably our most famous non-professional athlete at the games. He supposedly hates media attention. If you hated media attention, would you a) announce in an interview that sometimes you ski under the influence of alcohol, b) announce in a subsequent interview that Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong knowingly cheated, or c) all of the above. Here’s an idea, Bode: if don’t want media attention, keep quiet, or at the very most give boring answers. By the way, he may have spiked the US consumer interest in the Olympics up to 114 people.
• Why in the world would the Sacramento Kings trade for Ron Artest? Yes, Artest is a great player, but he is clearly a psychopath, and a much worse risk than the risk by which all others are measured, signing T.O. At least T.O. keeps his nose clean off the field and always plays hard. Artest in the past 16 months has asked for time off to promote his rap album, started a riot by rushing into the stands, turned his back on the team that stood behind him by demanding a trade, and played in less than 19% of his team’s games. This cannot end well. I am guessing that Artest will be a man on a mission for about a month, and then one of his teammates will say something fatal like “Hey, nice shirt, Ron” and it will be all downhill from there….