News, Rumors,Champs & Chumps

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by Digger

It's been a wild few days in the world of sports. Most of the news surrounded the dramatic ending of Super Bowl XLIII. Plenty of items to talk about today.....

Super Bowl: Great ending to a somewhat undisciplined game. Personal foul penalties were plentiful and almost turned one of the games hero's into a goat. AP Defensive Player of the Year was hit for a 15 yard penalty late in the 4th quarter setting up Arizona's go ahead touchdown.
Game MVP Santonio Holmes seemed like a knee-jerk selection. Holmes was amazing on Pittsburgh's title winning drive. His game winning, toe-tipped catch between three Cardinal defenders will be celebrated on highlight reels for years to come. But, the hands down player of the game wasn't Holmes. Game MVP was clearly Ben Roethlisberger who side-stepped Cards pass rushers all game long making one tremendous play after another.

Pittsburgh vs Arizona has been billed as the greatest ever. Not in my book although it was one of the greatest 4th quarters in Super Bowl history.

BUST! Super Bowl Commercials: Advertisers can't blame an anemic economy for bad commercials... not at up to $3M per 30 second spot. Boring was the word. Especially when millions of viewers were waiting for their next "Whatzzzzuuuuup" slogan to irritate their friends, co-workers and family members for days to come. Perhaps, this is a good thing!

Williams, Nadal Win Australian Open Singles: Serena was in top form blowing away her rivals. One of the most powerful women ball strikers in history. She's fun to watch. Did anyone catch a teary eyed Federer after he lost to Nadal? Federer was trying to match Pete Sampras' record 14 major singles titles. For those of you who haven't been paying attention, Nadal is quickly carving his way into tennis history. 6 Grand Slam titles and he's only 22. It'll be a great year in tennis... we're only in February.

Countdown to Baseball Spring Training: Baseball will quickly become a hot topic for the next few weeks as teams get ready to open training facilities. Big name free agents remain unsigned. Manny Ramirez just rejected a 1 year $25M contract from LA. Ryan Howard will set an arbitration record unless the Phils sign their slugging star soon. Mets/Yankees circus is only beginning.

Joe Torre went on a book promo slash defense last week with appearances on Larry King and various sports outlets. Torre created a stir when his book was referenced to contain derogatory statements about Yankees star players and management. Just enough hoopla to get New York newspapers buzzing. ARod's going to have a long road season listening to "A-Fraud" geers in '09.

Evidence Presented vs Bonds & Clemens: Boo-hoo. Big bad cheater, perhaps the biggest cheater of all time, Barry Bonds is in deep. A 2003 urine sample tested by Major League Baseball came back positive for performance enhancing drugs. Perjury trial stemming from Bonds prior testimony begins March 2nd. It's a crime baseball allowed this cheating fool to shatter some of the games most sacred records. The sad part is Bonds was already one of the greatest players before juicing up. Now... he's just a disgrace to the game and should be banned from Hall of Fame eligibility.

Roger Clemens had evidence of PED use submitted by his former personal trainer. Brian McNamee testified he had injected Clemens more than a dozen times... a claim Roger has publicly denied. McNamee's evidence... used syringes with Rocket's DNA. Clemens will be proven a liar. Perjury charges will soon be filed. One of the games greatest pitchers was cheating too.

Funny how MLB Players Association and even commissioner often state how steroid or PED's weren't written into any agreements between players and owners. Guess what fellas? These substances are illegal by law, period! Get caught cheating... pay the price. Maybe they should all hang with Pete Rose.

College Basketball: What a great season! Top 20 teams playing extremely tough. UConn is the latest university to take over #1. But, for how long? #1 teams haven't been able to take a firm grip. North Carolina was pre-season unanimous #1 and remained on top until week 9 rankings. Pittsburgh took over (week 9). Wake Forrest moved up (week 10). Then it was Duke's turn for what seemed like minutes. Now it's UConn. Guess what? North Carolina has climbed back into the picture at #3. It's going to be a great run-up to the Tournament.

NBA: Kobe dazzled New Yorkers in Madison Square Garden with a record setting 61 point game. The Knicks have been somewhat respectable after becoming the NBA's laughingstock under Isiah Thomas. After an early season trade to clear up salary cap room... rumors of LeBron James keep circulating. Better days are ahead for the new look Knicks. Defending Champ Boston only gets better. Playoff competition will be fierce this season. Many clubs have made great strides in 2008-09. Cleveland, Orlando & Denver have all turned heads with their inspired play.

NHL Ice Time: I'll be devoting more time to NHL rants. There are only 3 great teams... the rest are far behind. Boston, San Jose and Detroit represent the best in hockey. They skate circles around all others. It's getting close to crunch time. For most of the year Florida and Dallas were afterthoughts. Now they're surging up the standings ladder. In Playoff hockey, sometimes it's hotter teams stunning better teams. Long way to go before playoff talk but these two teams are playing great.