Weekly Sporties

-In an interview with the Boston Globe that was about four days too late, Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester admitted that he was among those player who were drinking beer in the clubhouse during games, but it was usually just one beer and typically a "ninth inning rally-beer." Also, they only ordered the fried chicken once a month. Yeah, that's not really the point, Jon. What people are pissed about is the perception that you and your fellow pitchers didn't really care what happened in the game or to the team and were only worried about yourself. This perception wasn't help when Clay Buchholz came out and said that Red Sox pitching coach Curt Young wasn't tough enough on them. (It was announced on Friday that Young will be return to his old job as pitching coach of the Oakland A's.) You guys are multi-millionaires and professionals. You shouldn't have to be told to stay on the bench or put in extra work while your team is imploding. Look, Lester and the others should have spoken in the original Boston Globe article and gotten out ahead of this story. But they didn't and now they have missed that chance. Instead they should all just forget about it and shut up, because something tells me talking about it like this isn't going to help them.

-While on the subject of the Red Sox, Theo Epstein is still technically the General Manager of the team, even though he's got his staff already in place in Chicago and the Sox have his successor at the ready. The issue holding up the deal from being announced is figuring out what the Red Sox are going to get from the Cubs in exchange for Theo and who Epstein is allowed to bring with him from Boston to Chicago. At first the Sox wanted the Cubs best pitcher, Matt Garza, but the Cubs refused. (Considering the reports that Epstein is the one brokering the deal for the Cubs, does that mean he essentially refused a trade for himself? How does that work? "I'm not worth Matt Garza! Have you seen the deals I sign? You guys are lucky the Cubs were stupid enough to hire me!") Personally, I liked the idea that rather than sending a player or cash back in return, the Sox told the Cubs they were going to have to take John Lackey and his awful deal. Hey, you want the boy genius, you should have to take his biggest mistake. At the very least it'll give you a sign of things to come.

-Because so little progress has been made in the ongoing NBA lockout negotiations, both sides agreed to meet with a federal mediator during the week. The mediator thought that, since the two sides are so far apart on the key issue of revenue sharing between players and owners (it's currently 57% to the players and the owners want it to be 50/50), they should ignore that issue for the time being and concentrate on several smaller disputes. Well, most of those issues were resolved within a day. I know that sounds like a good thing, but it really isn't. Because it doesn't matter how much progress is made with the smaller stuff, a deal isn't getting made until the issue of revenue sharing is resolved. I understand why the mediator thought it would be a good idea to get the sides in a negotiating frame of mind, but it is a little like going in to buy a car and figuring out what accessories will be included before you come to an agreement on the cost of the car. It's nice that they've agreed to throw in satellite radio and all but it still doesn't make it your car. They should be concentrating on the only issue that matter. I'm still saying it will be January before the NBA returns.

-Texas and Texas A&M have been playing football against each other since 1894. They have played every year since 1915, typically on Thanksgiving. When A&M announced they were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, they went to Texas and hoped to continue the tradition. Texas promptly told them their non-conference schedule was full until 2018. Now, it is entirely possible that this is true. Schools sign long-term contracts to play other school all the time. (Notre Dame and Michigan are contractually obligated to face one another through 2025.) But, on its way out the door of the Big 12 Texas A&M made a big show of the fact that Texas had its own network deal and refused to share that money with the rest of the conference, basically saying Texas was the reason the Big 12 was on the verge of collapse. Therefore, it is also entirely possible Texas is just refusing to deal with A&M out of spite. You know, this is what worries me about all these conference realignments. I don't really care if the Big 12 has 10 teams while the Big 10 has 12, nor do I care when the Big East's potential members include schools that touch the Pacific Ocean. It is when rivalries which have lived for a century start to die away that I get bothered. Some of these schools need to remember it is those rivalries which make college football so great and stop messing with them just to squeeze out an extra buck.

-One of the things I don't enjoy about college football is the BCS. I think having a playoff instead just makes too much sense. However, I will grant this to the BCS defenders: at least it gets people talking. With only a few spots available the rankings matter, no matter how skewed and awful they may be. The total opposite end of the spectrum is college basketball. Because they have what may be the best and fairest college championship format of them all, the rankings do not matter. It doesn't matter if you are only Top-10 when you should be Top-5, you'll have your chance to state your case come March Madness. But, it does suck all the fun out of the in-season debate over who should be #1. When it was announced the other day that North Carolina is the near-unanimous choice as the topped-ranked team in college basketball, no one was mad and no one demanded the system be changed. Instead the announcement was met with a shrugging of shoulders and a "Eh, we'll see." The rankings will be decided on the court. It may be the most fair system, but fair doesn't exactly light up the sports-talk airways.

-After last Sunday's Lions/49ers game, the two coach came to mid-field for the traditional handshake. It had been a close, contentious game which the 49ers had won so their coach, Jim Harbaugh, was a little fired up. As such he aggressively went in to shake Lions coach Jim Schwartz's hand and slapped Schwartz on the back. After a second to think it over, Schwartz decided he didn't like that and chased Harbaugh down the field to ask him just what the hell that was all about. Harbaugh said something back and the two coaches had to be separated. This led to a week-long debate in NFL circles about whether all this is necessary. Not two guys in their late 40s trying to show people how macho they are (that's obviously necessary for football), but whether coaches should be expected to shake hands after a football game. The old school guys don't think you shake hands with people you just tried to beat, while the new-school guys think it wouldn't kill them to act like adults for the one minute it takes to walk over and pretend like you care whether or not the other guy ever wins a game again. I'm with the new-school guys: you can and should show some sportsmanship, even if it's fake. But, at the end of the day, mostly I'm just happy there is an NFL handshake controversy going on that has nothing to do with Bill Belichick.

-I can't stand it when idiots are rewarded for being idiots. Mike Brown, the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals and generally considered one of the worst owners in sports, has held firm over the last few months that he was not going to trade hold-out quarterback Carson Palmer. Palmer had simply had enough of the Bengals and said he would rather retire than play for them anymore. Brown said that Palmer was under contract and he expects players to honor contracts, because apparently Mike Brown lives in the 1940s. Anyway, the Bengals drafted Palmer's replacement (Andy Dalton) and shot down any offers from other teams for Carson. Surprisingly, Dalton has played better than expected this year which made people think the Bengals would soften their stance on Palmer. People also assumed this was going to kill the Bengals' leverage since you can't start two quarterbacks and with Dalton's play Carson was now seen as expendable. Everyone was saying the Bengals would have to trade him for 50 cents on the dollar. Enter the Oakland Raiders. On Tuesday, the Raiders sent a first and second round (which could become another first if the Raiders make the playoffs) pick to Cincinnati for Palmer. That's two first round picks for a guy who hasn't been that good in about five years (Palmer should have been worth a third rounder at best). So, instead of settling for a fifth round pick which should have been a third, the Bengals are getting at least a first round pick, maybe two. Now Mike Brown, whose franchise has one good season a decade, looks brilliant. It just goes to show you, it doesn't matter how stupid you are, as long as you get to deal with an even bigger idiot you'll come out looking like the smart one.