Weekly Sporties

-You may recall last week when I said despite Rajon Rondo's injury I was not in favor of Celtics GM Danny Ainge blowing up the current roster because I believed the current team could still make a little noise this season. So far it turns out I am right, as the team has yet to lose with Rondo on the shelf (sub-quality opponents have helped). That is why it may surprise you to learn that my position on the first half of that statement has changed. This week a rumor surfaced which said the Los Angeles Clippers are interested in Kevin Garnett and would be willing to part with DeAndre Jordan and Eric Bledsoe to get him. I have to say, that is more than I ever expected the team to be able to get for a 36 year-old forward with 18 years of NBA-level punishment on his knees. I'm not saying I want KG gone, but the reality is he may retire at the end of this season anyway and almost definitely will call it a career after next season. If you can get 23 year-old stud like Bledsoe and a legitimate big man like Jordan for him and solidify the future of the franchise you almost have to make that deal. Boston is not Los Angeles, Miami or New York - free agents are always reluctant to come here. The only way to get big stars in this market is to trade for them and once KG and Pierce retire that will only leave Rondo as the only asset the team has and who knows what shape his knee will be in? I admit that the fact KG has only been here for five years makes it a little easier to send him packing, but he maintains a home in Malibu in the offseason and will probably be best remembered as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves anyway, so it is not like he has strong ties to the area. Honestly, Danny would be doing a disservice to the team to not at least consider it.

-Obviously, the biggest story of the week was the Super Bowl power outage which lasted for 34 long minutes and totally shifted the momentum of the game. To me the wait wouldn't have felt like it was lasting such an interminable amount of time if the NFL had done a better job of explaining what was going on. Instead they just had the CBS studio team give incorrect guesses about how much longer the delay was going to be. I mean, I could have told them it was going to be at least 30 minutes because the lighting banks like that have to cool down before they can be restarted and if I know that there had to be someone there to pass along that information. Some people are saying this will be the last time New Orleans will host a Super Bowl. I say that I hope that fiasco will convince a few TV executives to change their studio shows. Seriously, watching these ex-athletes who barely have anything useful to say when they have multiple games to pick apart try to vamp with no new information to hand out was just awful. Seriously, at one point Bill Cowher suggested the 49ers should put in Alex Smith. It reminded me of the "Saturday Night Live" skit about the newsreaders when the teleprompter goes out. I was thinking about it after the game (and if you read the reviews online, I was not the only one), but I have a hard time believing these four and five-man panels are very popular among viewers. I feel like they probably get decent ratings, but only because everything associated with the NFL gets good ratings. This showed what they really need are people who can make good, coherent points and just because someone played the game at a high level that does not automatically make them qualified to do so. They seriously need to trim some of the less-useful guys, which means pretty much anyone of them is a candidate to be fired.

-The day before the Super Bowl the NFL also announced its Hall of Fame class for this year. Cris Carter finally got in, as did Warren Sapp and others. But the most important name for me was Bill Parcells, who made in on his second time around. I could start by saying I can't believe he didn't make in the first ballot, but I guess as long as he lived long enough to see his name get called that is better than nothing. Beyond that, even though I know he is most well know for his time as the Super Bowl winning coach of the New York Giants, as a Patriots fan I have a tremendous amount of admiration for that man. The bandwagon jumpers of the last decade probably don't remember this, but before Parcells took over the team in the mid-90s the Patriots were a joke of a franchise. Back then if there was a choice to be made you were pretty much assured the Patriots would make the wrong one. He immediately legitimized them and while he never finished the job of winning a Super Bowl in New England, he laid the foundation for everything which was to come. The choice of Drew Bledsoe over Rick Mirer was correct, even though not everyone would have made it and he was the one who brought in guys like Tedy Bruschi and converted him from undersized defensive end to inside linebacker. Most importantly, he was the guy who introduced Bob Kraft to Bill Belichick, a relationship which has so far resulted in 3 Super Bowl titles. His defection to the Jets could have been handled better but given all that has happened since there hasn't been any lasting animosity. Besides, he eventually left the Jets for the Cowboys and then the Dolphins, which proves it was nothing personal, he's just part-gypsy, as all coaches are. While I am sure there are still a few stubborn holdouts who refuse to admit all the good he did here, the majority of New Englanders are happy for the Big Tuna.

-Thursday's news that the Bruins had traded goalie Tim Thomas to the New York Islanders officially closed the book on one of the strangest tenures of any athlete in Boston sports history. For those of you who may not remember, Thomas was the toast of the town when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago. However, the next season he began to exhibit some bizarre behavior, such as when he opted to skip a visit to the White House and then released a rambling explanation for it on his Facebook page (some say he was always strange, it was just that by that time the Bruins were tired of putting up with it.) After finishing out a solid if not spectacular season Thomas announced he was sitting out this season to spend time with family and friends, but he was not officially retiring. This left the Bruins in the awkward position where releasing him would have counted extra count against the cap, so he was technically a member of the team but never planned on playing. (If you're wondering why the Islanders traded for him it is because it gets them above the salary cap floor which is the minimum salary all teams are required to pay. Also, the Bruins only get a draft pick if Thomas plays for the Islanders. It is likely that he won't and so it didn't actually cost the Islanders anything.) Anyway, the question is how Thomas will be remembered in the area. Some say his exit will forever taint his legacy with the Bruins, but I disagree. The bottom line is they never would have won the Cup without him and it is not like he pulled this move in the prime of his career - he was on the way out within a couple of seasons anyway, so the Bruins and their fans can claim they were able to get all they could out of him. In my opinion that means whatever odd behavior he wanted to exhibit after the Stanley Cup victory was his prerogative. Remember, when it comes to sports, only losers are jerks - winners are simply considered eccentric.

-I'm always fascinated when a PED clinic gets raided and a ledger of names is discovered. Not because I particularly care about steroids, as the last decade has made me far too jaded about that. What I am interested in is the order in which the names in that document are released. Even in a scandal there is a pecking order of fame. Obviously Alex Rodriguez was the biggest name involved so his name came out first. But this week an equally interesting name came up - Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun. Some of you may remember Braun from last offseason when it was revealed he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and then became the first person to ever have his suspension overturned on appeal. Some thought that totally put him in the clear while others (read: me) thought he got off on more of a technicality regarding chain of evidence and that his win didn't mean he never took steroids. So, while he technically doesn't have any blemishes on his record, to a lot of people his inclusion on this list of names is strike 2. Braun says he only went to the clinic as a consultation and his name is on the list because of a dispute over payment. Either way I find his appearance on the list far more interesting than Alex Rodriguez, because while A-Rod is a shell of the player he used to be and the only question left with him is how much his Yankee buyout will end up being, Braun still has something to lose. He's only 29 and should be entering the prime of his career. He rebounded nicely from the last round of steroid allegations and had a very solid season, but you have to wonder if the constant whispering behind his back will finally start to get to him. The good news for him is he plays in a small market with a loyal fanbase, but those road games are not going to be fun. Moral of the story: no matter how legitimate a reason you may have for talking to the steroid dealer you probably shouldn't start haggling with him over the bill.

-National Signing Day was this week, the day where high school athletes of various sports officially declare where they will be playing their college careers. Personally, I am not a fan of all the coverage this day gets because, much like the draft, it takes at least two years to find out who is right. We sit through these long and drawn-out press conference waiting for these kids to make a decision and for all we know it could be the last we hear of them. Anyway, while Wednesday was supposed to a joyous day for all athletes some of them need a little extra time to make it official, such as highly-recruited running back prospect, Alex Collins. You see Collins is a Miami native and his mother wanted him to stay local and play for the Miami Hurricanes. Collins, for a variety of reasons, decided he wanted to be a Razorback and play at Arkansas. So, his mother did what any rational parent would do when their child wants to make a decision they don't agree with - she took his letter of intent and ran off with it. Since a parent needs to co-sign the letter, she held it hostage for two days before Collins father signed the letter of intent while his mother hired a lawyer to protect her from possible litigation. (I can't imagine why he would want to go to school in a different state.) Enjoy this family Arkansas. I'm sure the next four years will be drama-free. (Also, the fact he couldn't chase her down makes me wonder just how highly-rated of a running back prospect he should be.) Of course, considering the Razorbacks's last offseason featured their coach wrecking his motorcycle with his state-sponsored mistress on the back, hiring and overwhelmed interim replacement and sent what should have been a top-10 season into the toilet, this probably seems like nothing.

-Somehow that wasn't the strangest story this week. That distinction belongs to the news report which revealed a massive investigation into an organized crime syndicate in Singapore that had discovered criminals have a pretty serious gambling habit. However, unlike normal gamblers, these guys have enough power and money to influence the games. This investigation found something fishy about 680 games including World Cup qualifiers, Euro qualifiers and even Champions League matches. Investigators have identified 425 players and officials who were in on the match-fixing, and evidence that millions in bribes and bets have changed hands as a result of these shady matches. Now, the fact that organized crime had its hand in professional sports is hardly shocking or surprising. It is even less shocking in soccer, because FIBA just sells the World Cup to the highest bigger. Even less than that less-shocking news is that FIBA President Sepp Blatter says they did their own investigation and found no problems with these matches. (Pay no attention to the fact he was standing on a pile of money for his press conference.) If you have ever seen the "30 for 30" documentary about Pablo Escobar you know Colombia's soccer resurgence in the 90s was literally bought with drug money. I just wonder how hard it is to rig a soccer game. Isn't taking the under always a good bet? Of course, for all I know that is what these gangsters want me to think and they have been the ones keeping scoring down for years. You know, I can forgive a little bribery and the occasional player for taking a dive, but forcing people to watch a 0-0 tie just to fix a couple of matches? That is what makes you a true monster.