Weekly Sporties

-As a diehard Celtics fan, you can probably understand why I am experiencing a fair amount of joy from the Los Angeles Lakers' struggles this season (after all, misery loves company). For those of you who do not follow the NBA, the Lakers spent this offseason acquiring All-Star players and built a starting line-up that many thought had eclipsed the Miami Heat in terms of star power. Several analysts predicted they would cruise to at least the Western Conference Finals. Instead they currently several games under .500 and if the playoffs started today they would be watching them from home. If you go back and read my posts at the time of all these signings I had my concerns about how all these egos would mesh together, but even I didn't see this coming. The main problem has been the lack of chemistry between Kobe Bryant and center Dwight Howard. Howard has always been more of a fun-loving guy than someone who will step on you to win, which was fine when he was in Orlando. However, that simply does not fly with guys who have mindsets like Bryant and the two have reportedly been at odds the entire season. It has gotten so bad that the Lakers are reportedly already shopping Howard, convinced he will not re-sign with the team this summer and they won't get anything in return for their investment in him. (Personally, despite any on-court issues, I see Howard staying in LA. He wants to be a big star more than a champion and the Lakers are the best chance for him to do both.) So far the team has been saying all the right things about needing to improve focus and getting back on track, but at this point their words haven't done anything to change the results. I guess this once again proves something we all should remember the next time a team spends the summer assembling a supposed juggernaut - you don't win Championships in August.

-For the last two season the University of Miami was dealing with a self-imposed bowl ban while they waited for the NCAA to finish an investigation into booster Nevin Shapiro, who reportedly wined and dined players and recruits for years with expensive gifts. Teams always self-impose bans like these (conveniently when the program isn't expected to contend anyway) in an effort to lessen the penalties when the NCAA finally reaches its verdict. The Miami program has always had a reputation for pushing the NCAA's limits and doing so with pride, so the feeling was the Hurricanes had to know they had done something seriously wrong this time, otherwise they would have fought the NCAA a lot harder than they did. Well, it turns out they shouldn't have been so quick to fall on the sword because the this week the NCAA had to suspend its investigation of misconduct by the University of Miami because they obtained some of their evidence illegally. Apparently, they hired Shapiro's bankruptcy lawyer in an effort to gain access to his financial records, which included his donations to the University. Once again, this just shows how the organization which claims to exist to fight to keep college athletics clean may be the most corrupt thing of all. (The fact that anyone, for even a second, thought that was a good idea proves just how messed up the NCAA is.) Honestly, at this point even if the NCAA does conclude Miami did something wrong, why should the Hurricanes listen? It's pretty clear that the NCAA was determined to find something to charge the school with and they didn't care if they broke rules to do so. It is the ultimate case of "do as we say, not as we do." People are always saying that the NCAA is the only thing keeping college sports from turning into the wild west. If this is their idea of law and order then I seriously think I would rather have the anarchy.

-The two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl are some of the most insufferable in all of sports. Honestly, every storyline for the game has already been beaten into the ground by now and the teams haven't even gotten to New Orleans yet. In an effort to make the time go a little faster, a couple years ago the NFL moved the Pro Bowl from it's traditional place of the Sunday after the Super Bowl to the week before it. Unfortunately, all that move managed to do was shine a light on just how sloppy the level of play in that game really is. After weeks of playoff games which are usually some of the best contests of the year, the Pro Bowl is played at half speed by guys who are more worried about not getting hurt than making the tackle. The contrast in styles is staggering. As such the NFL has tried a few new tactics in the last couple of years to improve play, but none have worked and now the future of the game is in doubt. This weekend's edition could determine if the Pro Bowl continues as currently formatted and it all hinges on how much effort the players put out. This will be kind of a tricky answer, because you can't really measure effort. Peyton Manning is promising the players will be more up for this game, but that is easy to say when no one hits you (no one blitzes during the Pro Bowl). On the other hand Texans running back Arian Foster, who gets whacked every time he carries the ball no matter how intense guys are playing, won't make the same promise. Personally, I don't care if they never play this game again and I don't think the players do either. So many guys fake injuries to get out of the game that it hardly matters anymore. Players want the bonus checks and that is it. If they decided to never have the Pro Bowl again I think there would be an initial outcry, but in two years people would forget all about it, which should tell the NFL all they need to know about whether to keep the game alive or not.

-There seems to be some weird phenomenon that when players become finalists for the football Hall of Fame they use the opportunity to air long-held grievances. Last year it was Richard Dent saying Mike Ditka held the Bears back and was the reason a team with an historic defense only won one Super Bowl. This year it is Tim Brown saying that Raiders' coach Bill Callahan sabotaged the team during the Super Bowl game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by scrapping their entire game plan two days before the game, opting to throw the ball more rather than run it. Brown contends Callahan did this because he hated the Raiders organization and only came to the team because of previous coach Jon Gruden, who at this point was now the Bucs head coach. Brown also contended that Callahan was more interested in letting his friend Gruden win than adding another trophy to the Raiders' legacy. Brown has been backed up by Jerry Rice, who is a good person to have in your corner on any matter concerning the NFL, but several Raiders have come out and said that while Callahan did change the game plan it was not to sabotage the team. I will say that I always thought Tampa Bay's Super Bowl victory was less impressive than most, due to Gruden's familiarity with the Raiders' personnel, but this accusations seem far-fetched. I simply can't see any coach, no matter how much he may hate his boss, sabotaging his chance to win the Super Bowl. Gruden rode that Super Bowl win right into the Monday Night Football booth and the chance to become this generation's John Madden. Callahan was a mediocre coach for Nebraska and hasn't come close to a head coaching job since. That is a lot to give up in the name of friendship. Either way, if Brown had this much of a problem with Callahan he probably should have brought it up, oh, I don't know, before the game and not 11 years later.

-Speaking of the Raiders, one of the worst draft picks in their history is attempting a comeback. JaMarcus Russell, the first overall pick in the 2007 draft, who was never able to live up to the hype of his big arm coming out of LSU, fought weight and motivation problems while in the league and hasn't thrown a pass in the NFL since 2009, is determined to give the game one more shot. He has even gone so far as to hire a team of life coaches, trainers and nutritionists to get him back into shape. He claims to weigh 308 lbs, down from the 320 he weighed in September. (12 pounds in 3 months? I hope he isn't paying this team too much, because they don't seem to be very good at their jobs.) While I admire his desire and the fact he is motivated to remove the stain of the 'bust' tag from his name, I do not see this working out for Russell. Besides the issues with weight (he played at 260, which means he has another 40 lbs to lose), there was the simple fact that he just wasn't very good. I know there is some part of every coach which makes them think they will be the one genius who can bring out talent where all others have failed, but I'm not sure Russell ever showed enough to be worth the effort. The simple fact of the matter is that there are plenty of quarterbacks on the street who could bring you just as much upside and won't have nearly as much baggage. Hell, even if you are looking for a redemption project you could sign Vince Young, because at least he got his team to the playoffs. I know we are in an era where big quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger and Cam Newton are the same size as linemen from the 60s, but those two have more mobility than Russell ever did. Also working against Russell is that fact that the team who usually gives second chances to reclamation projects is the Raiders and I don't think even they are dumb enough to try that experiment a second time.

-If there is one thing which is universal to sports, regardless of what professional level or activity we are talking about, it is that no one wants to hear professional athletes complain about money... ever. Golfer Phil Mickelson was the latest to be reminded about this after catching a lot of flack for his comments stating he may make 'significant changes' to his playing schedule due to the tax rates of California, which he said would take around 60% of his earnings. (By the way, if that number is accurate Phil needs to hire a new team of financial advisers, because his current team are idiots.) Mickelson was never clear on what those changes might be, so speculation ran from simply moving to a state with no income tax like Florida or Texas to severely reducing his schedule in a form of semi-retirement. I don't know if Phil was trying to rally some sort of fan support to his cause or thought the idea of less Mickelson in our lives was going to cause America to revolt, but mostly he was met with scorn and the sentiment that if he wanted to quit he shouldn't let the door hit him on the way out, a sentiment which grew louder once it was revealed that Mickelson made $48 million last year. (No athlete should ever try the "Well, I may just quit!" routine. Not only are people prepared to call their bluff, we won't miss a beat if they do actually go through with it. Golf, like any sport, is bigger than any one person.) Now, you can argue whether or not it is fair that Mickelson has to pay such high taxes, especially when he is essentially an independent contractor with no guarantees or union to protect him should he suffer an injury. But, this is one of those things where the messenger is drowning out the message. Now, Phil is media-savvy enough that he quickly backed away from the comments and being a fan favorite will allow him to side-step this with minimal ramifications. Which is a good move because previous fan-favorite Arnold Palmer made around $35 million last year and he hasn't been an active member of the tour for decades, so something tells me that unless Mickelson continues to say stupid things he won't have to worry about money any time soon.

-With the Daytona 500 still a few weeks away, there hasn't been much news from the racing world to get people talking. At least, that was the case until Friday, when lighting rod driver Danica Patrick revealed she is dating fellow NASCAR rookie Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Other than a few jokes about wrecking him if he forgets their anniversary, the good news for Danica is that so far people are only wondering how this will affect things on the track, such as whether the two will work together more easily. Personally, I don't see how this is any different from the countless brothers or father/son teams who have raced at the same time throughout the sport's history. It isn't even uncommon for drivers from different race teams to form tight bonds. (For example, Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart have quite the bromance.) Still, Danica needs to be careful here, because she is starting to approach that danger zone of being more famous for what she does off the track than on it. Before this people didn't really know much about her personal life and it was probably for the best. They could complain that she got a lot of attention for a driver who had never won anything, but at least their beef was centered around her ability to do her job. Now that this window has been opened she needs to make sure she can control how much personal information people are allowed to have, otherwise they are going to start focusing on that and her career will be more of a publicity stunt than anything else. It's a fine line for an athlete between the amount of attention they get and the level of talent they have proven they have (ask a guy like Kris Humphries how much fun that kind of publicity is). Still, they say winning cures everything, so the sooner Danica gets that first win the sooner people won't care who she is going home with.