Weekly Sporties

-As the calendar prepares to flip to December, the Boston Red Sox still don't have a manager. The guy who was their first choice, Dale Sveum, ended up taking the Cubs job and none of the other candidates appear to have done a very good job of distinguishing themselves from the pack. As such, the media cry for the Sox to hire Bobby Valentine (the biggest name left on the pile) is getting louder. It isn't because they think Bobby V will be the best man for the job - they'll tell you otherwise, but in reality the media doesn't care about that. The real reason they want him in Boston is that Valentine is open, talkative and quick with a quote. In other words, he will make their jobs much, much easier. If they are smart about it the Sox will hurry up and make a decision, because if they don't the talking heads are going to get behind Valentine, the sports talk radio listeners will follow and convince themselves Valentine is the only man for the job. Then if the team ends up hiring someone else that guy is going to have an uphill climb to win over a fanbase who thinks the better option got away. So, the sooner the Sox can get this behind them the better off the next guy will be.

-Staying in baseball, it was announced earlier this week that the players union and the front offices for Major League Baseball had agreed on a new labor agreement. The old one was set to expire next month and both sides wanted to get a deal done before that. So, even though they had a few sticking points, like expanded playoffs and increased drug testing, the deal was negotiated behind closed doors and is expected to be signed off in a few days, so the league won't miss a beat. I'm sorry, do the two sides not know how this is done? First you let the old deal expire, then you lock out the players, then you both hold grand-standing press conferences to negotiate through the media while the days tick away, then you come together right before the season is about to be cancelled and agree on the deal that has been on the table from the beginning. At least, that is how everyone else appears to do it. I mean, since when the hell is baseball the most well-run sports league?

-I don't know if the baseball labor agreement being agreed to quietly was the sign that everyone involved in the NBA labor negotiations needed, but late last night the sides came together on a new deal behind closed doors which is expected to be ratified in a couple days and the league should kick off on Christmas Day, with each team playing about 65 games. Now, the deal that was signed is very similar to the deal which had been proposed for a couple of weeks, so just like I said would happen the two sides could and should have been at this point well before now. And the union's grand bargaining idea of decertification of the player's union is now only going to slow things down, as they have to re-form as a union to agree to the new deal. In other words, they missed a paycheck for nothing. But, at least the season will get started without missing too many games and that probably isn't a bad thing, as there are too many games to begin with. Honestly, I think I will survive if the Celtics only play the Bobcats twice instead of three times.

-After the Internationals lost the Presidents' Cup for the 7th time in 9 meetings, Captain Greg Norman came out and suggested a few changes to the format. First thing he wants to get rid of is the schedule of the foursome sessions, where partners hit alternate shots. The Internationals lost the two foursome sessions by a score of 8-3, which is also how many shots the lost the Presidents' Cup by. (Weird, right? Got to be a coincidence.) Norman said the American team has an advantage since they play the Ryder Cup in the years that the Presidents' Cup is not being played and therefore they get more practice time with it. For now we'll ignore the fact the the Europeans don't appear to have any problems with the format and if it was such an advantage then the Americans' record in the Ryder Cup would be much better. Instead I'll just say that Norman has picked the wrong time to voice these complaints. You can't come out and suggest changes to the event you just lost, specifically to the format that you were worst in. Even if your concerns are valid they are just going to come across as sour grapes. This is one of those moments where you should just write any ideas you have down on a list and come back with them in a little while. For example, Norman also wants more captain's picks. Considering that one of his picks was the only man on either team not to record a point, I don't see that getting much traction. Maybe with a little time to gain perspective, he will see that is one suggestion he can leave off his list. See, I'm helping.

-In the 3rd quarter of the Thanksgiving Day game between the Lions and the Packers, Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh got tangled up with a Packers' offensive lineman. Both fought their way to the ground, where the fight continued (as it usually does) well after the whistle. As he was being pulled off the lineman, Suh took the opportunity to fire one last shot and stomped at the Packer, landing on his arm. For his actions Suh was ejected and will likely be suspended for a game. All that is fine with me. It's football - these things happen. What annoyed me the most was after the game, when Suh tried to defend himself by saying he wasn't trying to stomp on the guy, he was turning to leave and he would never do such a thing. Dude, we have it on video. We all saw it in double slow-motion. I know everything looks worse in slow-mo, but there is no getting around this. By trying to convince us that something we all witnessed happen didn't happen, you insult our intelligence. That isn't going to win you any fans. Had you just own up to it and chalk it up to the heat of the moment and we would have all moved on. Now people are not only going to think you're dirty, but they're going to make fun of you for saying something so stupid on top of it. (Of course, they won't do it to your face. You have a history of stomping on people. No one taunts the violent guys to their face.)

-In the middle of the week the University of Arizona hired former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez to run their program. Now, I don't have a problem with the hire, I actually really like it. I think Rodriguez's open style of offense will play very well in the Pac-12 and with no expectations on him he'll be able to build the program up at a reasonable pace. No, what I took exception to was the fact that the University first announced his hire on Twitter. Now, look, I've become quite fond of Twitter in the two years that I have been using it. That being said, it is not how I would choose to announce an important decision for my university. Maybe you send out a Tweet linking back to the University's website and the official press release, but the first place you turn to when announcing something like this should hold a little more weight than where most people go to announce their dinner plans.

-Another university about to undergo a coaching change is that of THE Ohio State University. Apparently, Ohio State has an agreement in place with former Florida coach and current ESPN analyst Urban Meyer. Reports from various ESPN reporters say the money is all figured out, Meyer just wants to make sure the school isn't going to be under any NCAA sanctions for prior problems before he officially takes the job. Now, all someone has to do is tell that to Urban Meyer, because he has spent the better part of a week telling anyone who will listen that he has no such agreement in place, he has not been offered any coaching job and he certainly hasn't accepted any job. Clearly, someone in this equation is either loud-wrong or lying. I assume it is Meyer because he is a football coach and they always lie about this kind of stuff. Still, that has to make for a few super-awkward moments around the ESPN production meetings.