Weekly Sporties

-Last Friday night Lakers' star Kobe Bryant went down with a torn Achilles tendon and is expected to miss 6-9 months, which could be most of next basketball season. With this dire prognosis and Bryant's own talk that next season could be his last anyway, there is talk the Lakers will amnesty him, which allows teams to cut players without the money left on their deal counting against the cap. You see, because they are so far over the salary ceiling for every dollar the Lakers exceed the limit the league penalizes them a dollar and a half (it is supposed to cut down on the divide between small-market and big-market teams, but teams like the Knicks and Lakers make so much money it doesn't phase them). So, releasing Bryant and his $30 million salary will save the Lakers nearly $80 million, which they could use to surround Dwight Howard with better players (assuming he stays in LA). If this were any other player the decision would be a no-brainer. However, Bryant has been with the Lakers for so long he has entered hallowed territory and any decision regarding the end of his tenure with the team must be done very carefully. It's the question as old as professional sports: business versus sentimentality. No fan wants to see their favorite player end his career in another team's jersey, but at the same time killing any chance the franchise has to win by taking up half the salary cap with a player who is a shell of his former self won't make any fans happy either. In the end I think the Lakers are going to end up making the smart but tough decision and give Bryant his release. This allows the Lakers to try and remain competitive (and Los Angeles will always a free agent destination when they have money) and it isn't the worse thing for Kobe either, as he can wait to see which teams are playing well before signing in the middle of next year. It's going to be weird seeing Kobe play for another team, but since this is Hollywood - where half the fans in the stands are only pretending to care about the outcome of the game anyway - I'm sure they will get over it before too long.

-The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted point guard Kyrie Irving with the hope that one day he would be mentioned among the greatest players in franchise history, but I have to say he is not off to the greatest start. No one questions Irving's abilities, but his talent has yet to translate to wins and every now and again he still does very immature things. The latest example came this week during Cavs' fan appreciation night. Usually taking place during a team's final home game of the season, fan appreciation night has a lot of giveaways and finishes with the players literally giving the jerseys off their backs to a few lucky winners. Since Irving is the Cavs' best player I'm sure everyone was hoping to get his jersey. However, that never happened because as the clock wound down to zero, Irving sprinted off the court and skipped the entire festivities. That behavior was bad enough, but the Cavs made it worse by saying Irving left the court to deal with an injury only they never told Kyrie this, so when he was asked about his injury by the media Irving appeared to have no idea what reporters were talking about. Now, I'm sure no pro ever enjoys fan appreciation night, regardless of the sport but especially when you have had a bad season, but it is part of the job. Plus, if they haven't enjoyed the season, imagine how the fans who paid to watch it feel? Irving was being a baby after having a bad second half and losing another game, but to me the Cavs actions were worse because they made an excuse for him. They should have made him stand up and be accountable. Seriously, have they learned nothing? They coddled LeBron James for years and what did it get them? They should have let Irving stand up an apologize to Cleveland fans, not tried to cover for him. I mean, if he's not going to win many games the least Kyrie could do is be an adult about the situation. Going forward what the Cavs need the most is leadership and covering for him is not going to make Kyrie Irving lead that franchise anywhere but the lottery for the next several years.

-The NFL draft is just a week away, which means we are right on schedule for teams leaking bad stuff about the players they really like. It happens every year right about this time - anonymous sources tell national media outlets about bad Wonderlic scores to make a certain player appear stupid or raise questions about a player's past in an effort to make other teams question whether they want to draft him. The result is that a player slides a few spots too many and suddenly the team that wanted him all along gets that player. Plus they get him without having to trade up to get him and they get to pay him less thanks to the salary slotting system. The only person who gets hurt are the kids, but since they still end up in the NFL no one feels too bad for them. (Of course, this is only when it works. More often than not other teams see through this and will draft a kid anyway. Then the only thing which has happened is the kid has had people on TV questioning his intelligence and his character. Seriously, the NFL is quite messed up at times. All NFL fans know this, but we try not to think about that part too often. It's like eating a hotdog. Don't think about the ingredients, just enjoy.) Anyway, right on cue a report surfaced this week that two anonymous players trashed the hotel room they stayed in during the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis last month. It didn't take too long before the players were named and while both deny they trashed the room and reports have arisen that the word 'trashed' may be over-blown, the damage has been done. I will be curious to see where the two players land, because chances are better than average the team that drafts them was the one who leaked the story to the national press. If that is the case they'd just better hope the players never find out or else that could make for some really awkward team meetings.

-If you want another example of how the people running NFL teams think the rules don't apply to them, this week officers for the FBI and IRS raided the offices of Pilot Flying J, which runs a chain of truck stops and is owned by the Haslam family, after a long fraud investigation. Apparently, the scheme would go like this - the company would offer trucking companies rebates and then either keep the money for themselves or not even tell companies rebates were available, apply for them and get the money sent directly to their offices. And, lest you think this was at just one or two stops and the brothers couldn't be held responsible for a couple of rogue employees, this was apparently a company-wide policy, the brothers were in the room when the decision was made and it has been going on for many years. Obviously no one has been convicted of anything yet and the family will have their day in court, but it doesn't look good for anyone involved. Bill Haslam is Governor of Tennessee and this is very bad for him, but since this is the weekly sporties we're going to focus on the fact that the other brother, Jimmy Haslam, just bought the Cleveland Browns a few months ago. Personally, I am going to be fascinated to see how this plays out. The NFL is paranoid about keeping a clean image and if this were a player caught up in a raid involving federal law enforcement officials they would be suspended for the rest of their lives. But this is an owner and technically one of Commissioner Roger Goodell's bosses. I feel like this one is going to be up to the other owners to ask Haslam to remove himself from the day-to-day operation of the Browns, but I also wonder how many other owners have engaged in similar shady activity and won't want to call out Haslam and risk having a spotlight turned on their business dealings? After all, most billionaires didn't get that way by being nice people. I just want us all to remember this next time we hear about and NFL player who has been accused of a crime - these guys had to learn it from someone.

-When the NHL lockout forced the league to start cancelling games, everyone assumed they would come to an agreement before they were forced to cancel the Winter Classic. The outdoor hockey game typically played on New Year's Day has quickly become one of the NHL's signature events and a fan favorite, so everyone thought both sides would fight hard to save it. When the Winter Classic was wiped off the schedule it was the first time people thought missing an entire season was possible. The season was eventually saved, but the game was not. Most hockey lovers expected the game to return next season, but it appears the NHL is trying to make up for lost time, as a rumor is circulating that the league is planning to have as many as six outdoor Winter Classics next season, including one in Los Angeles. I can not tell you how bad an idea this is. (Not the Los Angeles part. It would not have been my first choice, but it's the second biggest TV market in the country and the Kings just won the Stanley Cup, so I can see why they want to involve LA.) No, what I object to is six games in one season. What made the Winter Classic so visually stunning was how odd and rare it was to see hockey being played outdoors. When you begin to make the special common it dilutes the product. I get that it took the NHL forever to come up with this one good idea, but that doesn't mean they now have to beat that idea into the ground because that will just kill it. Not to mention the sudden expansion from 1 to 6 is far too big of a jump. They need to make sure there is enough interest to sustain that many games and the NHL should do that gradually. Maybe start with two games next year (this year's cancelled location and another of their choosing) and go from there. Otherwise casual fans are going to start ignoring the game and since the NHL lost a lot of them during the lockout I'm not sure how many they have left to lose.

-The idea behind NASCAR is supposed to be that every driver is working with the same equipment and can only adjust their cars so much to keep the playing field level. That is why the cars go through such a rigorous pre-race inspection to make sure every car is within those limits. Well, right before last weekend's NASCAR race both cars in the Penske Racing team were held up for a last minute inspection and nearly missed the start of the race. Apparently track officials had a reason to want to take one last look at the cars to make sure everything was in order (it wasn't and now the teams are facing point penalties and suspensions for several members of the pit crews and both crew chiefs.) Now, guys getting caught bending the rules is nothing new in NASCAR, but what has caused people to raise their eyebrows is that the two Penske cars had already gone through inspection twice and passed. It wasn't until they went through right before the race that they failed inspection, which has caused more than a few people to speculate the teams did a last-minute tweak to the cars and a rival team ratted them out to race officials. Since they were in the next stall a lot of people are pointing to Jimmy Johnson's team or someone from Hendrick Motorsports as the squealer. On the one hand it does make a lot of sense since Penske driver Brad Keselowski ended Jimmy Johnson's run of Championships and is a strong contender to do it again this year. As you would expect, Johnson is strongly denying it was him or anyone from his organization which got the officials attention. While it really doesn't matter who raised the red flag, I can't help but find this whole incident rather comical because NASCAR is supposed to be the preferred racing circuit for outlaws and here we have someone running to the principal's office and crying foul. They certain have come a long way from bootleggers trying to outrun the cops.

-After Adam Scott's amazing run to get into a playoff and eventually win the Masters, I thought one of the best things his caddy Steve Williams did was stay out of the way. For those of you who may not remember, Williams used to caddy for Tiger Woods, which made him just as much of a star as some golfer and when Scott won a WGC event with Tiger in the field during the early stages of his comeback, Williams called it "the best victory of my career." It made him look petty and pulled the attention away from Scott, effectively killing all the good will Williams had built up since Tiger fired him. So, I thought the fact that Williams recognized this and kept quiet after Scott's first major showed that he had realized nothing good comes from talking to the media. Well, that lasted all of three days, because late this week Williams gave an interview in New Zealand in which he said that Tiger should have been disqualified from the Masters because of the illegal drop he took on 15 before admitting that he didn't totally understand the rule which kept Tiger from having to withdraw. Now, I understand that every golfer gets asked about Tiger Woods whenever they are interviewed and given their history there is no way Williams will escape a similar situation. However, there is nothing which says Williams has to answer the question. I don't know if he thought since the interview was airing in New Zealand that he thought it would never make it back to the States, but I think the last few years have taught us that there is no such thing as local media anymore. Plus anytime Williams talks about Woods it continues to sound like sour grapes. A lot of golf pundits are saying this win could open the floodgates for Scott and that the Masters will just be the first of many majors. Well, if Williams isn't more careful with the media he's going to be watching Scott win those majors while carrying someone else's bag.