D-Wade is the toughest?

The Miami Heat went to the White House today. Did you see the ESPN vid clip where Dwayne Wade was asked about his dislocated shoulder? Did you notice the dude standing behind him? Alonzo Mourning? He lost a freakin' kidney! And probably 4 good years of service. I never bought the whole 'Dwayne Wade is the toughest guy in the NBA' meme. But after seeing him get wheel-chaired away with a dislocated shoulder, I'd forgive Zo if he smirked behind Wade's back when asked if he felt okay. But he didn't. Zo's cool. And he knows D-Wade won him a championship.

Trade deadline looming

Hockey? Do they still play hockey? They do and I still dig it. And, come on, man, you know you love talking about sports, contemplating trade possibilities, more than the sports themselves. (Proof: Here's a page recapping all the action at the NFL combine, I defy you to not check it out.) And a trade deadline is a trade deadline even in a sport you don't watch.

ESPN with the NHL Trade Tracker
Pro Sports Daily with the NHL rumors

Back to back in Cali for Kenseth

It was looking Harvick was gonna pull it off--dude, bad re-start killed him near the end--thought Harvick was going undefeated this season. Guess not.

Mark Martin looking pretty good early in the season.

7 Chevys in the top 10. Yowza.

Kenseth takes the Auto 500

6 Nations Update

Each team still has 2 matches left. Note that France has the best offense and best defense. Looking good for France. Check out the whipping Ireland laid on England.
Standings

Scotland 17-37 Italy
Ireland 43-13 England
France 32-21 Wales

Big NBA deadline deal

ESPN says:
The Utah Jazz acquired veteran forward Alan Henderson from Philadelphia just before the trade deadlineThursday. The Jazz and 76ers exchanged the right to trade second-round picks in the 2007 draft. Philadelphia also included undisclosed cash considerations in the deal.

So, wait a minute…what? Henderson was traded for 'the right to trade 2nd round picks'? What the fuck is that? So if Utah has the #42 pick in the draft and Philly has #46, they swap? Philly gave up a player and cash to maybe get a better 2nd round draft pick which they probably won't get. And what did they get for it? Uh, nothing. WTF?

RB re-assessment

games, yards rushing, avg, yards receiving, avg, total, TD
Emmit Smith
TOTAL 226 18,355 4.2 3,224 6.3 21,597 175
8 all pro
Curtis Martin
TOTAL 168 14,101 4.0 3,329 6.9 17,430 100
5 all pro
Jerome Bettis
TOTAL 192 13,662 3.9 1,449 7.2 15,111 94
6 all pro
Mashall Faulk
TOTAL 176 12,279 4.3 6,875 9.0 19,154 136
7 all pro
Corey Dillon
TOTAL 150 11,241 4.3 1,913 7.8 13,154 89
4 all pro
Rickey Watters
TOTAL 144 10,643 4.1 4,248 9.1 14,891 91
5 all pro
Tiki Barber
TOTAL 154 10,448 4.7 5,183 8.8 15,631 67
3 all pro
Edgerrin James
TOTAL 112 10,385 4.1 3,056 7.8 13,441 81
4 all pro
Priest Holmes
TOTAL 108 8,035 4.6 2,945 8.8 10,980 94
3 all pro

Rank (rushing yards):
Emmit, Martin, Bettis, Faulk, Dillon, Watters, Tiki, Edgerrin, Priest

Rank (yards from scimmage):
Emmit, Faulk, Martin, Tiki, Bettis, Watters, Edge, Dillon, Priest

Rank (yards per carry):
Tiki, Priest, Faulk/Dillon, Emmit, Watters/Edge, Martin, Bettis

(With touchdowns I'm inclined to give points but not really to subtract points. For example, I'm inclined to overlook Tiki's paltry (by comparison) number of TD's because perhaps finishing just wasn't in the game plan and considering his YPC it makes sense that he'd be tired after carrying his team downfield. And I'll overlook the last few years of Bettis's career where he rarely touched the ball outside of the 8 yard line. But, you gotta give it up to Emmit's Gretzky-like number of touchdowns or Priest's impressive total in a smaller body of work.)

Rank (touchdowns):
Emmit, Faulk, Martin, Bettis/Priest, Watters, Dillon, Edge, Tiki

All time?
Emmit (dude, he's just killer)
Faulk (I grade him high on total yards and TD's)
Martin (you got to credit his consistency, durability)
Bettis (carry a load over the years)
Tiki (ypc jumps out at you)
Watters (underrated)
Dillon (underrated)
Edge (won't end up better than Martin)
Priest (fewer games played tells the tale)

Emmitt and Faulk are the only clear Hall of Famers to me. Hard to leave out Martin and Bettis though.

Porto 1-1 Chelsea

I watched Chelsea come back and take the draw in Portugal yesterday. It was an exciting game, not much D. I thought the ref favored Chelsea a little (we'll see if they get the same love in the next match), and while they played well enough to steal a draw on the road I wasn't blown away by their performance. For Chelsea, I thought Essien was great, Shevchenko was pretty good (excellent goal), but the backline was suspect, Terry got hurt, Lampard didn't contribute, Robben came and went, Michael Ballack kinda sucked (I don't think he had one good touch in the entire game). Porto didn't get any luck and they only played good enough to hang, not good enough to win.

Roma 0-0 Lyon (a goal on the road might be enough for Roma to win)

Barca 1-2 Liverpool (I watched the first half of the game, I thought the were fairly evenly matched squads, but I left at halftime and missed the winning goal)

Inter 2-2 Valencia (I thought Inter was supposed to be the shiz this year, giving up 2 goals at home doesn't look so strong to me)

PSV 1-0 Arsenal

Arsenal has bursts of offensive brilliance that just don't result in goals while PSV has long stretches of offensive competence that don't result in goals. Then: what a goal by Mendez! Just when I was settling into the notion that PSV can't finish, Mendez drills one from 25 yards just beyond the reach of Lehmann.

Celtic 0-0 AC Milan (does Celtic feel lucky with this result?)

Lille 0-1 Manchester United (sounds like United really got away with one--good teams do)

Real Madrid 3-2 Bayern Munich (2 road goals could come in handy for Bayern)

Tomorrow's tilt:
Porto v Chelsea (ESPN)
Roma v Lyon
Barca v Liverpool (ESPN Deportes)
Inter v Valencia

Sweet 16

Ah, the European Champions League! Breath it in! There's no more Superbowls, NASCAR is just another non-football sport, baseball still has another 6 weeks before it gets started (and roughly 7 weeks before it gets boring), college basketball has another sludgy 3 weeks or so before it gets interesting. The sports world is cold and bitter right now, the frigid days of the shortest month.

So where do you go for excitement? Europe, friend, the Euros are just getting into the best part of their season. Today's tilt:

Celtic v. Milan
PSV v. Arsenal
Lille v. Manchester United
Real Madrid v. Bayern Munich

Only 364 more days until the next NASCAR Super Bowl

What a finish! I thought Martin had it. I had my eye on Busch and didn't even see Harvick coming til he was already in the lead. They jostled back and forth, it looked to me like Martin was just ahead when the crash behind them occurred. Personally I thought it was a good no-call, Harvick is the uncontroversial champion. Daytona 500 results

I had Tony Stewart and though he was 2nd in laps led and by all accounts had the fastest car, he was dead last. Hey, man, if you ain't first you're last. He's a tenacious man, I expect he'll be there at the end of the year.

In football and baseball I always expect the 'contract year' guys to have good seasons. Little E is into the last year of his deal and the negotiations are just getting started (and apparently Little E's crew chief ready to bolt). So clearly I think he'll bounce back from a tight car and a disappointing Daytona and have a strong year.

I thought Jimmie Johnson never looked in control of his car. He's too good to suffer that too long.

All Star Vegas style

NBA.com has some sweet video breaking the all-star game into a solid 15 minute chunk of all star goodness. I thought Shawn Marion should've been MVP. Sometimes no defense can be a beautiful thing.

Highlights from the (yawn) dunk contest too. The dunk contest at the all-star game ought to be a write-in vote of everybody's favorite dunks in the games of the season up to that point. Dunks in games are rousing and they serve a purpose, that's what makes them exciting. All the dunks in the all star game itself are far more compelling than any of the entries in the dunk contest. Watching these guys trying to create something interesting, something beautiful with only a ball and a hoop, without context, is mostly just brutal.

Don't sleep on Andy Murray

Keep an eye on the lanky Scot, Andy Murray, this year. Big serve, big game, atheltic enough to hang with the best hitters. He could win some big matches. He already got served by Nadal in the Aussie but he can return that (maybe at the US). He dusted off Leyton Hewitt in San Jose over the weekend, a nice win.

Al-Jaz got the goods

Distance divided by time--I'm talking speed

I've only been a peripheral watcher of NASCAR over the years. But its back on ESPN again and with my addiction to ESPN raging, I suspect I'll be getting a heapin' helpin' of the shinola so I might as well get used to it. I like auto racing (especially the stock cars), there's more action in NASCAR then the novice gives it credit for and more strategy than Mr. Snooty-sport probably realizes.

The Daytona 500 is a pretty cool race. If you're only going to watch 1 race this year, make it the Dakar Rally. But if you're going to watch a second one, check this one out. Races are inherently different from other types of contests. The matter is only time, how fast can you get from A to B. In other games you have a ball and two contestants trying to put the ball somewhere while the other side attempts to stop them: soccer, basketball, football, rugby, lacrosse, hockey, even tennis. These are contests of strength and/or agility. In some races (but not all) strength and agility play a part when the racers are all in the same space together, where offense and defense come into play and physical positioning becomes a cornerstone of strategy. And everybody wants to win at Daytona, always making it a little better than all the other races.

I've got no real expertise here. Just watching the news this week it seems like there's been more cheating than usual (or is it just more reporting of cheating?). Michael Waltrip wears the Barry Bonds-tag this week: everyone's rooting for this guy to fail, no? I've been a little surprised at the relative lack of buzz about fresh face Montoya coming over Tom Cruise-style from Formula One. 'Little E' having trouble with step-mom is an interesting story that'll bubble throughout the season.

I'll take Tony Stewart. He kinda disappeared last year, as did Gordon and Earnhart. I just hope 10 strong drivers emerge by playoff time.

Arsenal out-gunned

Did you see the three great saves American Brad Freidel made in the final minutes against Arsenal the other day? Too bad, they were freakin' awesome! So-so Blackburn lives on for a replay against mighty Arsenal in the FA Cup. Arsenal did get robbed near the end--clearly a penalty in the box around the 80th minute--but with the way Freidel was playing a PK was by no means a gimme.

Blackburn 0 - 0 Arsenal (FA Cup 5th Round)

There's a new star in the sky, his name is Diamond Jim

Diamond Jim, today the world is your fire hydrant. I'll be waiting for the MTV Cribs edition at his pad. By this time next week I expect he'll be dating Jessica Simpson.

Westminster 2007 Group Results
Westminster 2007 Day 2 Video
Westminster 2007 Final Scoreboard

A look back at the All-Star break

The Wages of Wins guys have updated their NBA Analysis just in time for All-Star weekend. Interesting stuff.

Asian soccer gods demand better

The powers that be were disappointed at Asia's showing the last World Cup, only Australia made it past group play. An Asian Soccer Overhaul is probably a good idea. Dude, you've got almost half of the world's population, find some guys to get it done on the pitch. Now that the MLS is into the star-poaching phase of their existence, it'll be interesting to see if Australia, Japan or Saudi Arabia start snatching stars as well.

(Hopefully, young (economically intelligent) Americans will realize that the worldwide market for so-so soccer players is way bigger than the market for oft-injured football players. If the 256th best football player in USA played soccer, that guy and the game of soccer would both be better off and the NFL wouldn't even notice the loss. I'm just saying...)

NASCAR suspends 4 crew chiefs; Waltrip's status in doubt

I don't get this story. What did these chiefs do? 2 of them apparently had open air vents where they weren't supposed to be but how bad is that? And what's up with the other 2? And what's up with Waltrip putting sterno in his car--why the hell would anyone do that? Why can't reporters answer basic questions like, 'why are these guys getting suspended'?

What up dog?

Big drama at the first day of the Westminster Kennel Club beauty pageant. (Kinda lame that you gotta sit through the same commercial over and over but the highlights are strong)

Westminster Day 1 Highlights

Phil dusts the competition

Wooo-hooo, check out Mickelson dumping the field at Pebble. I had my doubts about his ability to comeback from his disastrous performance at the US Open last year but I'd love to see it. No doubt Tiger is a great champion but he's even greater when he's challenged every once in a while and Phil can be that challenger. Okay, another ho-hum Tiger-dominated year might have a little zest after all.

Pebble Beach Pro-Am

6 Nations Scores

France gets the big win over Ireland, they look to be in the driver's seat at this point. With Italy and Wales staking their claim to the bottom of the table, Scotland has a long way to go to overcome the throttling that England laid on them. France v. England on March 11 is looking like the decisive match.

6 Nations Scoreboard

Davis Cup Tennis

I love international sports competition of just about any kind, so I'm into Davis Cup. (Why aren't there more Asian countries? China, Japan, India, where are they?) USA draws Spain, hope we're not playing on clay.

Davis Cup Scoreboard

Did you realize...?

The Denver Nuggets are 9-15 since trading for Allen Iverson? I'm beginning to think David Beckham has a better shot of making the LA Galaxy relevant than Iverson has of making the Nuggets relevant. Just a thought.

Mexico can't get over the hump

I figured playing in Phoenix, a place USA would never play Mexico in a qualifying match, was all the advantage that Mexico needed. The Mexican side seemed to have a fuller collection of their stars as opposed to the Americans who had to leave Onyewu and Beasley, for example, back in Europe. The commentators on the game mentioned a few times that the Mexican season started a coupla weeks ago whereas the American season doesn't start for another month or so and it looked it! The Mexicans looked fit and the Americans for the most part didn't play that great. They made more of their opportunities than the Mexicans did and that was the difference. Jimmy Conrad was the man of the match.

USA 2 -- 0 Mexico

Stamm cruising in the Velux 5

Bernard Stamm is crushing the field at the Velux 5. He has rounded Cape Horn and is his way to the finish with a sizable lead, after a thorough thumping of the field on the first leg. He's Swiss, you know. How does a landlubber destroy the field in an ocean race? He's got the Federer vibe, I guess.

Velux 5 Leaderboard

Hall of Fame Inductees

Guard Gene Hickerson, wide receiver Michael Irvin, guard/tackle/center Bruce Matthews, tight end Charlie Sanders, running back Thurman Thomas, and cornerback Roger Wehrli.

I certainly don't have any problems with Matthews and Thomas, two of the best at their positions all through my formative football watching years. Hickerson, Sanders and Wehrli were before my time and I'll have to talk the committee's word for it.

I don't have any objection to Michael Irvin except that Art Monk and Andre Reed should both be in as well. When Art Monk retired 10 years ago he was the all-time world's greatest ever and five years later everyone had forgotten that he existed. The talk is that Monk will be in next year. But what about Reed? His impact on the Bills was almost identical to Irvin's impact on the Cowboys, no? Granted Irvin's squads won 3 Super Bowls and Reed's lost 4, but that's still pretty impressive.

If Irvin is so controversial why does he get in first? And why does Reed not get in at all when Thomas and Kelly are both in? And when is Art Monk going to be acknowledged as one of the best ever at his position? When you compare the stats, wouldn't you have to put Reed and Monk ahead of Irvin?

Only 364 more days until the next Super Bowl

I had the Bears and the under. I won the points but missed the cover and if the Bears had scored late I would've had the cover but not the points. I gave myself an out by saying if the Colts D gets turnovers then they will cover. The turnovers went back and forth but even that favored the Colts, I'd say.

If I was a Chicago Bears fan (which I am not), I would want Rex Grossman gone. After Scott Norwood pushed it wide against NYG, people forget that he came back the next season and was great for the Bills. Unfortunately in the next Super Bowl Kelly threw 2 quick interceptions and it was over long before Norwood got a chance to redeem himself. And after that he was cut even after having a good year because he was still considered the poster boy of failure. That's Rex's future: I imagine he'll be back next year and play okay and the Bears will make the playoffs and lose (to the Cowboys? Seahawks? Panthers?) and then the fans will burn him in effigy. Personally, I wouldn't wait for Rex to redeem himself. He's one of those guys that plays good every once in a while but for the most part he sucks and he's not gonna get better. And even when he is good he gets his receivers nailed, he makes the blockers go a few seconds longer, the running game becomes predictable, etc. Rex blows and I'd get rid of him. (That said, I'm not sure that Griese or Orton are viable options) Rex has that 'choker' tag and it'll stay there until he wins something. All the same was said about Peyton Manning--do you think Rex is as good as Peyton?

The Colts offensive line controlled the Bears consistently. The Bears D was too conservative, they didn't tackle well, that first Colts TD was busted coverage. Urlacher's a great player but his weakness is that he overpursues (as great players often do) and the Colts did a good job of exposing that but looking for the cutback on the run. And the Colts D did what needed to be done.

The Colts were the better team all year and they were in last night's game. When the Colts came out in the 3rd and dominated that first possession and the Bears were still backpedaling and failing to get pressure on the QB, it was pretty much over. That said, the score was close until that interception return for a TD.

I'm thinking both

Indianapolis -7
Chicago 49.5o

I waited til the last moment to make my Super Bowl pick because I wanted to get a sense of the weather forecast. Rain all morning, day and evening, high '60's around game time. In a dome, I'd take the Colts hands down. But the sloppy elements favor the Bears as we saw 2 weeks ago: the Saints couldn't get a handle on the ball and it doomed them from the gitty. However, I think slop favors the D and the Bears get bit just as much by that as the Colts.

The only clear advantage that I see for the Bears is special teams, they'll get near mid-field starting position pretty consistently I think. I haven't been impressed with the Bears passing (except Berrian) or running games. I think they're both pretty mediocre actually. And again the elements don't do their long passing game, Rex's strength, any favors.

I think the Colts will struggle at first but if they avoid turnovers, they'll get it going and blaze through the second half. If the Colts D gets turnovers, they'll cover easily.

I like the Bears to be up at halftime and to cover the spread, but I'll take the Colts to win straight up, 27-23. Bears and the under.

Henrik Stenson gets down in Dubai

Henrik Stenson holds off Ernie Els and Tiger to capture the Dubai Desert Classic. Man, what a pimpin' event that must be. The appearance fees are probably staggering, a nice purse and you get to roll through Persian Vegas like MacArthur after the war. Cool.

6 Nations Scores

Sat 3 Feb
Italy 3-39 France
Damn! France tagged Italy!

Sat 3 Feb
England 42-20 Scotland
England starting strong after a rough year.

Vital Statistics

Colts
19 games -- 14 favorites, 3 dogs, 2 no lines.
W-L Record -- 10-4 as a favorite, 3-0 as a dog, 2-0 with no line
Against the spread -- 6-8 as a favorite, 3-0 as a dog, 2-0 with no line

Bears
18 games -- 14 favorites, 3 dogs, 1 no line.
W-L Record -- 13-1 as a favorite, 2-1 as a dog, 0-1 with no line
Against the Spread -- 9-5 as a favorite, 3-0 as a dog, 0-1 with no line

Some notes on Bears-Colts

Both were dogs only 3 times this season. Indy was undefeated as an underdog (at Denver, at New England, at Baltimore). Chicago beat Seahawks at home, won at NYG but lost at New England. The Bears did cover the spread at New England, so both were perfect at covering as a dog.

They both beat the Bills at home and were double-digit faves. The Bears shellacked the Bills (40-7), the Colts won (17-16) but came nowhere close to covering the 12.5 spread.

They both played the Dolphins (but neither in Miami) with mixed results. The Colts won (27-22, no line), while the Bears struggled (13-31) and took their first loss of the season on home field to the Dolphins.

They both played at New England with mixed results. They both covered the spread as a dog but the Colts were able to win handily (27-20) while the Bears came up short (13-17).

They were both 2-0 in Giants Stadium. They each beat the Jets and the Giants on the road and while the Bears and Colts were favored in all 4 games, the Colts were unable to cover against the Jets. Both covered easily against the Giants.

Indy was 4-0 against AFC East teams (only 1-2 against the spread with 1 NL), but the Bears suffered 2 of their 3 losses to the Dolphins and the Pats (3-1 against the spread).

They both pushed in the week 3: Chicago 19, Vikings 16 & Colts 21, Jags 14. Colts at home, Bears on the road.

When was the last time a Super Bowl Champ suffered a 27-point loss during the season as the Colts did? Or losses of 18 & 19 in the same season as the Bears did?

The 6 Nations Cup starts tomorrow. Who ya got?

France has won 3 of the last 5 Cups. Italy used to be a European rugby powerhouse but have faded badly over the years.
Italy v. France 6 Nations Home preview

England is breaking in a new coach after losing 8 of their last 9 matches. Scotland has injury woes and hasn't won the 6N Cup in 20 years.
England v. Scotland 6 Nations Home preview

Ireland has dominated Wales over the years. Is that enough?
Ireland v. Wales Rugby.com preview

Fox's preview BBC's preview Al-Jazeera's preview

Scrum.com has the latest news on all 6 squads.
France England Wales Scotland Italy Ireland

Laying Barbaro to rest

Barbaro was a horse, a good horse. There are coupla reasons why this story resonates.

1) He had just finished a brilliant career and was headed toward an even more brilliant retirement when it was all cut short. That's sad. We work, as humans, hard all our lives in hopes that we can relax in our later years and when you do what you gotta do and fate still conspires against you, it's tragic to witness.

2) The tragedy extends to medical technology. They, quite possibly, tried as hard to save Barbaro as they've ever tried to save the life of a horse before and still they couldn't. In horse racing it is not at all uncommon that they bring a curtain out and just do the poor horse right there on the track, so to see all this effort come up short is depressing.

A productive working life should be rewarded but for Barbaro it was not. That's too bad. Say a little prayer for your dead homies.