Weekly Sporties

-When the New York Jets lost to the Tennessee Titans on Monday night, it officially (and mercifully) ended any chance they had to make the playoffs. Since they have nothing left to fight for this season the team has begun to look towards the future and announced that they will bench struggling starting quarterback Mark Sanchez. However, they will not replace him with backup Tim Tebow, but will jump Tim in favor of 3rd-string QB Greg McElroy, who led the team to a 4th-quarter comeback a few weeks ago. After that revelation the New York Daily News reported that if Greg McElroy starts the final two games of the season, Tim Tebow will request a trade. There have since been additional reports that the Jets will try and trade Sanchez this offseason. Even though the Patriots and Jets share a division I usually don't consider the Jets rivals and take no great joy in their failure. The thing is everyone told them bringing in Tebow was a bad idea the second they did it. Everyone tried to warn them it would rattle Sanchez, who has never had a competent backup his entire NFL career to threaten his playing time, and cause more trouble than it was worth. So now that it has played out in exactly that fashion everyone is having a good time with the "I told you so"s. But to me the really funny part where the Jets mention trading Tebow and Sanchez, as if the league is going to be knocking down their door for the opportunity. The reality is that no one wants these guys. Tebow has somehow become more damaged even though he barely played and Sanchez got a massive extension before last season and no one is going to want to take on that contract. They may release Tebow, but I expect Sanchez to be back with the team next season. The real question is whether or not the front office who signed off on this mess will be back with them.

-No player has been fined more during NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's attempts to "enhance player safety" than Pittsburgh Steelers' linebacker James Harrison. For a while there it seemed as if Harrison was getting docked massive fines every week for illegal hits to the head, to the point he said he would retire rather than keep dealing with it. (Shockingly, that was a bluff, as Harrison is still around.) I hadn't heard much from Harrison lately, which made me think he may have cleaned up his play, but in an interview given late in the week James showed me that wasn't the case, because now says he goes more for guy's knees than he does for their heads which he believes is just as dangerous a hit. I didn't hear the audio and so I can't judge his tone, but reports are that he went on to clarify, saying he isn't trying to injure people - just pointing out the hypocrisy of Roger Goodell saying he wants player safety while condoning hits which could end a player's season or career. On the one hand I have to agree with Harrison - it does seem to create a strange double standard. The problem is the messenger. This is the same guy who was essentially whining because he could no longer nearly decapitate another player and suddenly I'm supposed to believe he cares about another player's career? Also, you could easily make the case that while knee injuries are more devastating in the short-term concussions are the bigger issue in the long run. I know it sucks walking with a limp when you are 30, but that is still better that than not being able to remember your child's name by the time you are 40. I do appreciate what the players are trying to say, but if they want anyone to listen they need to pick a better spokesman.

-For the last few years people have wondered about the fate of the Buffalo Bills. Owner Ralph Wilson is in his mid-90s and has reportedly told his kids to sell the team when he passes. With a stadium being built in Los Angeles that doesn't currently have a team to occupy it and team playing one "home" game a year in Toronto, many people have speculated the Bills could be moving sooner rather than later. Well, some of those fears can be put to rest as this week the team signed a 7-year deal to remain in Ralph Wilson Stadium. Obviously, like all announced deal it had an opt-out clause which means in reality it is only a 4-year deal, but Bills fans can at least take some comfort in knowing the league will probably have their Los Angeles franchise in place by then and this takes them out of jeopardy of losing their franchise. That being said, I'm not a fan of the deal. It is not that I want the Bills to move - far from it actually. But all this deal does is keep them in their current stadium with a few upgrades. If you have ever seen Ralph Wilson stadium than you know it is not exactly the envy of the league. No amount of make-up or new luxury boxes are going to cover up its obvious flaws. The Bills already have a tough time attracting free agents unless they want to over-pay them and having sub-par facilities is not going to make that fight any easier. What they need to do is start looking at ways to get a new stadium. If they don't do something to improve their image around the league they are going to stay in their current position, which is the middle of the pack with no signs that a turnaround is coming. If that is where they are happy to be than they may as well be in Los Angeles because at least that way the fans in Buffalo will know they can stop caring.

-Sitting near the top of the Eastern Conference, New York Knicks are one of the NBA's feel-good stories of the season so far. Before the year got started everyone thought they would be too old, too mismanaged and too dysfunctional to even put together a playoff run, but they have come out of the gate and surprised everyone. Carmelo Anthony is having an MVP season, which is in stark contrast to last year. A lot of people are speculating the reason for this resurgence is that Anthony is playing so well because he doesn't have to worry about sharing the ball with forward Amare Stoudemire, who has missed this entire season due to an on-going knee injury. Now Stoudemire is set to return and Knicks fans are worried he may ruin the roll the team is on. I've always thought Stoudemire was a little over-rated and too fond of himself, so this sounds about right to me. Apparently some people who work for the team share this concern as well because reportedly they spent a few weeks this summer literally trying to give Stoudemire away to any NBA team that would take him. Unfortunately for the Knicks, due to his bad knees and huge contract no one wants him. To his credit, Stoudemire has said he has no problems coming off the bench, but I don't know how long that will last. I'm definitely going to be interested in keeping an eye on this going forward because with any other team you would suggest moving Amare and getting back less than equal value in the name of winning. But the Knicks, especially as long as they have been owned by James Dolan, do not have a history of choosing substance over style. I'll be interested to see if that philosophy survives should Stoudemire return and the Knicks lose a couple of games in a row.

-Last week I told you the first group of fan ballots are in for the NBA's All-Star game and the results had sparked a debate over whether the game should be considered an exhibition or a serious judge of who the best players in the game are. What is not up for debate is the fact that the All-Star Skills Challenge the night before has grown increasingly stale. The NBA has tried just about everything they can think of to spice up the proceedings but even the best marketing team in the world would admit there is only so much you can do to get people excited about 3-point shooting, players dribbling through an obstacle course and a dunk contest which ran out of fresh material 10 years ago. (I thought the idea of a game of H-O-R-S-E had potential, but the league gave up on it rather quickly.) Since they are not ones to be easily deterred, this week the NBA announced even more changes to the skills competition. This year the players will compete as teams, decided by conferences, with each skill contest getting a certain number of points with the winning conference getting the prizes. Personally, I'm not sure if these changes will be enough to get me to give the night more than a few passing glances. I still think the best way to get people to give a crap about the Skill Challenge is to make the game seem more interesting and if they want people to get interested in this game they need to really start switching it up and playing the All-Star game as US vs the World. Not only would it create some interesting matchups and teammates, it would create more buzz for USA Basketball. It wouldn't settle the 'exhibition vs serious contest' debate but at least it would get people interested, which is better than most people are about the event right now.

-The NBA decided to make these changes to All-Star weekend based on the successful integration of similar ideas during the NHL's All-Star event. It is too bad the NHL doesn't appear to want to take a page from the NBA's style of labor negotiations because while the NBA players were stubborn enough to lose a few paychecks and ultimately a couple weeks worth of the games, they weren't stupid enough to hold out to the point the season was cancelled. This week the NHL cancelled even more games, all the way through January 14th. That date is important because from the very start experts have said that if the league wants to cobble together any kind of legitimate regular season they would need to have a deal done by the middle of January to get things like free agency and training camps done. So, with no hockey into the new year and both side digging in for the long haul, it is looking more and more likely that pro hockey will lose its second full season in less than a decade. The players are scheduling a vote to disband the union, which would give them the right to sue the league individually and claim a monopoly, which is what several NFL players did during their labor negotiations a year ago. When the NFLPA did that it seemed to hasten the proceedings, but in that case both sides seemed as though they wanted to get a deal done and just needed a push - I don't get the same vibe here. I think there are plenty of hockey owners who are willing to kill the entire season just to get the better end of a deal. This is especially annoying because the only reason this lockout exists is because most of those same owners couldn't be trusted to work within the rules they had agreed to during the last labor negotiations. If only there were a way for hockey fans to lock those guys out.

-Back in September, I mentioned that Fred Couples had been elected to the Golf Hall of Fame by the slimmest of margins. The way this Hall of Fame voting works is that if no one gets the 65% of the vote needed for enshrinement, the person with highest number of votes over 50% gets in and Couples got 51% of the vote. Immediately this led to people in the golf media calling for a change in the way voting is done. Well, if the Hall wants to change the way its members vote, they shouldn't look to the foreign golf writers for leadership, because this week their votes were counted and Colin Montgomerie will receive enshrinement as a result of the same clause because he also received just 51% of the votes. The good news for Fred is that this should take him off the hot seat as the most controversial member of this year's class because at least he has a Major victory to his credit, whereas Monty not only doesn't have one of those, he's never won on North American soil. He does, however have 31 European Tour victories, which give him fourth-most all-time for that tour. Also, he is undefeated in Ryder Cup play and every golf fan knows the Euros value that more than the American writers. Still, this had led to a very heated debate about just how important Majors are to a career and just what makes a Hall of Famer. Monty was very good, but was he an All-Time great? The stats say no and while I know there is an 'it' factor which can't be explained in these situations, being unable to come through when the pressure is at its highest does make you wonder just how great a player really is. This isn't a team sport where you can claim your teammates let you down (which is something no Hall of Famer should be saying anyway). Either way, it leads me back to something I have said time and time again about Hall of Fame voting for every sport: sometimes not electing anyone that year is better than letting in people who are only marginally worthy. Lowering the bar does nothing but a disservice to the people who are already in.