Weekly Sporties

-Now that Shaquille O'Neal officially retired (I will refrain from making the bitter Celtic fan joke about him actually retiring in February and just not telling anyone), people have been trying to figure out his place in history. I'll be honest, I always viewed Shaq as a guy who really should have been a lot better than he ended up. I thought he could have really dominated if he put his mind to it. Occasionally he would decide to take over the game (which was even more annoying, because you saw the brilliance that could have been there all the time), just not frequently enough to make him the top center of all time. I have him behind Russell, Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabbar, but ahead of guys like Olajuwon.

-Speaking of former Celtic big-men, last week Kevin McHale agreed to become the head coach of the Houston Rockets, which I just don't get. Not that I don't think he's a good head coach, but because I didn't think it was something he was interested in. The two times the Timberwolves demanded he come down and coach the mess he had created he almost seemed hostile to the idea. McHale was always great on TV, an ok coach and a terrible executive, so I assumed he would stay as an analyst. I'm going to be very interested to see how this works out. I don't have particularly high hopes.

-Before the NBA Finals started, ESPN did a story about a party that Mavericks forward DeShawn Stevenson threw prior to the start of the season, where he invited the entire team to his house and also had his personal tattoo artist available should anyone want one. Jason Terry got the Larry O'Brien trophy tattooed on his bicep. Everyone talks about how this was a great bit of foreshadowing on Terry's part. I'm sitting here wondering why DeShawn Stevenson has a personal tattoo artist.

-Speaking of tattoos, on Monday Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel decided to resign after even more indiscretions by football players under Tressel's watch were scheduled to come to light. What's amazing to me are all the people who still defend Tressel, even though he's the one who decided not to bring the violations to attention of the NCAA compliance office. Most Ohio State fans still just blame the players. Seriously, Tressel is Teflon to these people - it's amazing. Some people have even decided to use this as an excuse to re-visit the debate over paying football players, saying this proves they need money to survive. That argument would hold a lot more weight if the players were selling their gear for food or books. They were trading their stuff for tattoos, which you don't actually need. Nice try, though.

-The man at the center of this scandal is quarterback Terrelle Pryor. In addition to the tattoo issues, Pryor has also been seen driving around campus with a suspended licence and in a new car every couple of months (he does not come from the type of money that would make this possible). If I'm an Ohio State fan, as mad as I am about the fact the school is facing serious issues, I would be extra mad that we were facing these problems because of that guy. At least Maurice Clarett helped win a National Championship. Pryor isn't even good enough to justify all these gifts. If you're going to be a jerk who plays while expecting special treatment, at least win. Just ask Cam Newton.

-Sounds like Daisuke Matsuzaka is going to have Tommy John surgery, which will effectively end his tenure with the Red Sox. While his time here could best be described as 'rocky', I don't look at the Dice-K signing as a bad deal. Everyone focuses on the price the Red Sox had to pay just to negotiate with him, but I choose to look at it as a massive marketing campaign. Before Dice-K every Japanese prospect would only sign with the Yankees, because that was the only team they knew. If there is just one great Japanese prospect down the line who signs with the Red Sox because he grew up with a picture of Matsuzaka wearing a Red Sox uniform above his bed then it will turn out to be money well spent.