A – Absolutely Cindy. Look out Rags to Riches, there’s a new filly on the Triple Crown scene. Absolutely Cindy wasn’t well regarded in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway on Saturday – she went off at 20-1. It will be a long time until she sees a price like that again. She was dead last at the top of the stretch before making one of the more breathtaking moves to beat the field full of boys. Her next move isn’t clear, but it seems likely that she will be given another chance to prove herself against the boys.

B – Brad Richards. The former Tampa Bay Lightning star who had struggled to find his form this year was one of the biggest names to get a new address at the NHL trading deadline when he was traded to Dallas. The Stars are looking ahead to what will be a ridiculously tough playoff run in the Western Conference, and the added scoring will help. The trade paid off handsomely in Richards’ first start – he erupted for five assists.

C – Colonel John. While Absolutely Cindy was owning the East Coast on the road to the Derby, Colonel John staked his claim to the West. He won the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, holding off a late charge by the previously undefeated El Gato Malo. It was the first start of the year for the colt, and his next start will be in the Santa Anita Derby. That means that the Kentucky Derby, if he makes it, will be just his third start of the year, and his first on anything besides the ridiculous new surface at Santa Anita.

D – David Carr. I’ve given this guy the benefit of the doubt for a long time, but I may finally have to call the former No. 1 pick a bust. After a disastrous season in Carolina, Carr was cut loose by the Panthers last week. Carr was terrible when called on to start in Carolina, but the league is starved for quarterbacking talent, so it will be very interesting to see if he finds a new team.

E – Edwards, Carl. NASCAR’s back-flipper is off to an impressive start to the season. He won at Las Vegas this weekend. It was the second time in six days that he had grabbed the checkered flag. It’s the kind of start that is great for Roush, and it must be driving Hendrick crazy. There is a dark cloud on the horizon, though – Edwards failed the post-race inspection. Inspectors found that the lid was off his oil tank box. That’s typically worth a penalty of 25 points, and that would cost Edwards his first-ever lead in the standings.

F – Fielder, Prince. What a shock – a star athlete feels that he is underpaid. For once, though, I agree. Fielder isn’t arbitration-eligible yet, so he is pretty much at the mercy of his team. Because of that, the Brewers were able to renew his contract for just $670,000. That’s a ridiculous bargain for a guy who had 50 homers and 119 RBI last year. Hopefully Fielder’s discontent doesn’t spill onto the field – the Brew Crew badly need his bat if they want to improve on last year.

G – Geezers. NBA teams looking for a little extra push down the stretch are looking at old guys to make the difference. 36-year-old Brent Barry was the subject of an unlikely bidding war between Phoenix and the eventual winners, San Antonio. The Spurs traded him to the Sonics 10 days later, so he will have to wait 30 days before he can re-sign. Another old guy playing a waiting game is 38-year-old Sam Cassell. He was bought out by the Clippers and has to clear waivers before reportedly signing with the Celtics.

H – Hossa, Marian. The Pittsburgh Penguins can’t catch a break. Sidney Crosby has been out of action for well over a month, so the Pens made a deadline deal to add some scoring. They picked up Marian Hossa from Atlanta, but the cost was very high – several young prospects. Murphy’s Law was in full effect in Hossa’s first game – he strained his MCL in a collision and will be out of action for a while. The only good news is that they are in very good shape to make the playoffs, so there is time for everyone to heal.

I – Islanders. New York had some terrible luck on Sunday. They played well against Florida and got a great showing from their backup goalie, but they couldn’t solve Panthers’ backup Craig Anderson and lost 1-0. The game was noteworthy because of Anderson. He faced 53 shots, including a franchise record 29 in the second period, and he stopped them all. It was just Anderson’s fourth win of the year.

J – Josh Beckett. The reigning ALCS MVP returned to action with a bang this year. Beckett threw 18 strikes in 25 pitches over two scoreless innings in his first appearance of the spring. There are a couple of reasons to ease up on the excitement a bit, though. First, he wasn’t at all happy with his curve ball. More significantly, though, the game was only against Boston College, and the 24-0 score is an indicator of how tough the outing was for Beckett.

K – Kazmir, Scott. I’m one of those people who is thinking the unthinkable – that the Rays might finally be competitive after years of being truly terrible. You can imagine, then, the sinking feeling in my stomach when I read that Kazmir needed an MRI on a sore elbow. The test turned up nothing, but it’s still bad news. The team would struggle to be their best without Kazmir, so this is far from the ideal start to a big year.

L – Louisville. The Cardinals are on fire. Wins over Notre Dame and Villanova this week put them in control of their own destiny – a win at Georgetown on Saturday and they are the champs of the Big East. They have won nine straight conference games, and they have covered in all but one of those games. I don’t know how Rick Pitino does it, but he always seems to get his team going right around this time of year.

M – Mavericks. Though it is too early to say for sure, this week gave us a good indication that the addition of Jason Kidd isn’t enough to put Dallas over the top. They played the Lakers and San Antonio this week, and weren’t good enough to beat either of them. It would be virtually impossible for Dallas to win it all without beating at least one of those teams, and the Mavs definitely look like they are a step behind.

N – North Carolina. The Tar Heels keep winning, but they aren’t inspiring a lot of confidence as they do it. They got a 10-point win against Boston College on Saturday, but it wasn’t pretty. They were down by 18 early in the second half before rallying. They will keep getting better as Ty Lawson gets healthier and more comfortable, but they need to tighten up on defense – Tyrese Rice scored 34 points in the first half.

O – Oscar De La Hoya. The Golden Boy announced last week that he will be finished after three more fights. After crushing former reality TV star Steve Forbes, De La Hoya will likely fight new wrestling icon Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September, followed by a career finale. I understand why he would want to pursue the money and the limelight, but you could make a pretty good argument that he looked like he was done three fights ago.

P – PGA. This week’s winner was very familiar, but he hadn’t won in a while. Ernie Els earned his first PGA victory since 2004 at the Honda Classic. Though Els hasn’t been winning as much as he used to, this win still moves him up to No. 3 in the world rankings. There is the standard asterisk beside the win, of course – Tiger decided to stay home and give the rest of the golfers in the world a chance.

Q – Quit. It seems like coaches and players retire soon after they reach a major milestone. It seems like too much to hope for, though, that Mike Krzyzewski would pack it in now that he has reached 800 wins. As a Duke hater, nothing would make me happier than the departure of Coach K, but I strongly suspect that we are going to be stuck with him for a couple 100 more wins.

R – Rob McKiver. You might not recognize the name of the guard for the Houston Cougars, but you wouldn’t forget him once you saw him play – the guy is a scoring machine. He exploded for a Division I season-high 52 points on Wednesday against Southern Mississippi. Unfortunately, his 29 on Sunday weren’t enough to avoid a big upset at East Carolina that is a huge blow to the Cougars’ tournament hopes.

S – Spartans. Michigan State continues to be one of the more perplexing teams in the country. They looked terrible on Thursday when they lost to Wisconsin by 15. That lackluster performance made what happened on Sunday seem truly unlikely. They were very uncharitable hosts to Indiana, beating them by 29. The 103 points they scored was by far the most they have scored all year, and a stunning 61 points more than they had against Wisconsin.

T – Texas Tech. Turns out that the Red Raiders don’t miss Coach Knight at all. The new Coach Knight is doing a heck of a job with his new team. Texas Tech has won three of four, capped by a huge upset of Texas on the weekend. That win has to give people a ton of hope for the future, but there is still work to do – the one loss was a stunningly ugly 44-point loss to Texas A&M. Still, the fact that they bounced back the next game to beat Texas is a great sign.

U – UFC 82. Anderson Silva yet again showed the world just how nasty he is on Saturday in Columbus. He had a chance to be UFC’s first unified champion when he put his UFC middleweight title on the line against Dan Henderson, the Pride middleweight champ, and he made the most of it. Silva dominated throughout before getting a submission late in the second round. Silva is unquestionably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world in my mind.

V – Volunteers. Tennessee. Some teams really come into themselves and grow and bloom after a big accomplishment like hitting No. 1 in the rankings. Tennessee is apparently not one of those teams. They were only at No. 1 for one day before they lost to Vanderbilt by three. If that wasn’t bad enough, they came out against a Kentucky team crippled by the loss of Patrick Patterson and almost lost again. Either this is a serious wake-up call, or this team is going to be a serious disappointment.

W – What? I know that NFL free agency is supposed to be crazy, but there were some truly bizarre moves this year. Everything Oakland did was insane, and I think the Eagles overpaid for Asante Samuel. The one I really don’t get, though, is Michael Turner to Atlanta. The Falcons paid him $35 million over six years. I don’t get why they would pay that much for a guy who is unproven as a starter and who has amassed his admittedly impressive stats behind a ridiculously good offensive line in San Diego. He may work out, but the Falcons have lots of needs, they have a decent back in Jerious Norwood, and they could easily add a decent second back from the very deep draft, so I don’t see why they overstretched for Turner.

X – Xavier. The mascots of this column are a ridiculously easy team to write about this year. They just keep winning and winning. Their lone game this week was a win over George Washington, That was their 11th-straight conference win, and their 17th victory in 18 games. They have totally run away from the conference, and are a very legitimate contender heading into the tournament.

Y – Yao Ming. The incredibly hot Houston Rockets suffered a major blow this week when they lost their star center for the rest of the season. The cause of the giant’s absence was a stress fracture in his left foot. Dikembe Mutumbo has stepped into the starting lineup in Yao’s place, and so far they have not missed a beat – they have won three times to stretch their winning streak to 15, and they covered each time. The team is now 12-1 ATS in their last 13.

Z – Zito, Barry. After a rough initial season in San Francisco, the highly paid pitcher says that he is ready to turn it around this year. That may be true, but the first game of the year didn’t give us much confidence that he will pull it off. He gave up eight runs and seven hits against Oakland, and he only managed two outs before getting the hook. Ouch.

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Again. For the second time in just over half a season, Gerald Green has a new home. Minnesota traded him to Houston for Kirk Snyder. The only place Green has shone in his brief career is the slam dunk contest. Beyond that, the athletic freak who was drafted out of high school has been disappointing. He’s from Houston, so maybe the change of scenery will be just what he needs. If not, though, this could be the end of the line. He’s not a bust yet, but the fat lady is warming up her voice.

B – Bibby, Mike. Bibby’s first game for Atlanta was a successful debut, just not for him. Pau Gasol won his first game in his new home arena as his Lakers rolled over the Hawks by 29. Bibby only had five points and three assists, but he only played 16 minutes so not much more could have been expected. Thankfully for Atlanta fans, Bibby has been much better while playing more minutes in his three games since that ominous start.

C – Crown of Thorns. This impressive colt jumped into the heart of the Triple Crown trail with an impressive victory in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 2. A couple weeks later he showed us just what an emotional roller coaster being a horse racing fan can be. A stress fracture in his left front shin will keep him off the track for several months, and makes the Derby an impossibility. He’s the first major contender to fall to the side, but sadly he sure won’t be the last.

D – Drake. I’ve written about the Bulldogs quite a bit this year, but I am still unsure what to think of them. Their loss at home against Bradley on Tuesday was their second loss in three games. That’s a bit of a concern. Or it would be if they hadn’t come out and beat Butler soundly in their BracketBuster on Saturday. That game alone would have you believe that they are very much for real. In the end, I guess I just have to keep holding off before taking a real stand on this team.

E – End of a streak. Duke hadn’t lost to Miami since 1962. That’s a long time. The streak came to an end this week when the Hurricanes shocked the Blue Devils in Miami, winning by a single point. It was a huge win for a Miami team that is suddenly hot, and suddenly could make the tournament. For Duke the loss sound alarms – it was their second setback in four days. They righted the ship with a big win on Saturday, but it was it was only against St. John’s, so it doesn’t tell us anything about how the team is really doing.

F – Fountain of Youth. This prep race for the Florida Derby at Gulfstream on Sunday was by far the biggest and best collection of youngsters we have seen in one place this year. All 12 horses had something interesting to offer. In the end it was Nick Zito’s Cool Coal Man who came out on top. The 7/1 fourth choice got pretty much a perfect trip to secure the first stakes victory of his career. Monba, the Todd Pletcher trained favorite making his season debut, never fired and finished last.

G – Garnett, Kevin. KG finally returned to action for the Celtics after a longer-than-expected absence. Unfortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, his return didn’t light a fire under his team – they lost his first three back before finally beating Portland on Sunday. That’s certainly not what you would have expected, and it is especially confounding since Boston had won five in a row before Garnett returned.

H – Habs. The Montreal Canadiens have more history than any team in hockey – they are the Yankees on skates. Given all of their accomplishments, it seems surprising whenever they do something they have never done before. That’s just what they did this week, though, when they came back from a five-goal deficit to win, 6-5, in a shootout against the Rangers. The story would be even better if the streaky Canadiens hadn’t lost their next two after the heroic comeback.

I – Indianapolis. All of the eyes in the football world are trained on Indianapolis this week for the Combine. As I write, the offensive players have made their way through the annual meat market. As always, some players have been very impressive – Jake Long looked like a man among a bunch of offensive linemen boys, Darren McFadden ran like a rocket and proved why most think he is the top back prospect, Joe Flacco threw well and rocketed up draft boards, and Appalachian State’s Dexter Jackson was ridiculously fast and made himself a lot of money.

J – James, LeBron. That sound you hear is the world’s loudest sigh of relief. King LeBron finally has players to play with. The Cavs went out and added Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak. To do it they had to ship away a big part of their starting lineup. That would be a big concern if the starting lineup wasn’t so lousy. The debut of the new lineup was a success – both new additions played well and the Cavs won by 20. It was only against Memphis, but a big win is a big win. This move makes the East’s playoff picture even muddier than it already was.

K – Klitschko, Wladimir. Did you know that there is still a heavyweight division? Neither did I. Klitschko beat Sultan Ibragimov on Saturday in one of the most boring decisions in boxing history. With the win, Klitschko now has two of the four major heavyweight titles. In theory he will continue to collect belts in a bid to unify the belts. Boxing desperately needs that. In reality, though, it is more likely that some bizarre, ridiculous development will lead to him forfeiting the belts so that guys we have never heard of can win them. That’s the kind of thing we have come to expect from boxing.

L – Lasorda, Tommy. The great manager is coming back to manage a few games, but unlike the return of Eddie Sutton, another ancient legend, this return doesn’t make you cringe. Lasorda will be managing a Dodgers split squad for eight games while the main team heads to China for two exhibition games. It’s a great tribute to a great Dodger. It’s also a series of games that I will be watching instead of betting on. I love gimmicks, but not as a bettor.

M – Maria Sharapova. The Russian tennis princess won the WTA event in Qatar this weekend to take home the biggest prize of the year outside of the majors. She improved to a perfect 14-0 on the season. Incredibly attractive, and a consistently profitable bet to boot. If I weren’t already married I’d fly over to Russia and propose to her – she’s the perfect woman for a sports bettor.

N – New man. The Calgary Flames are unquestionably the streakiest team in the NHL. When they are reeling off the wins they look unbeatable. When they are losing they look as bad as any team can look. What they have lacked this year compared to previous seasons is the stellar goaltending they have gotten used to from Miika Kiprusoff. This week, though, Kipper appears to have recaptured that familiar form. He has allowed just one goal on 79 shots in his last two games against division leaders Detroit and Minnesota. If he continues to play as only he can the Flames are a serious contender down the stretch.

O – Ouch. Brad Lidge is clearly cursed. It was not that long ago that he was the nastiest closer in baseball, but then Albert Pujols crushed his fastball out of the park in the NLCS and he has never been the same. A trade to Philadelphia in the offseason gave him the fresh start he desperately needed. The next part is almost enough to make you cry – on his very first pitch of spring training, Lidge injured his knee and will likely be out at least until the start of the season. Some guys can’t get a break.

P – Perfect. Memphis lost to Tennessee on Saturday thanks to some monumentally cold shooting down the stretch. It’s a setback for the Tigers, and it elevates the Volunteers to the top of the heap for now. So much for perfection in college basketball this year. Or not quite – New Jersey Institute of Technology finished their second Division I season with an unblemished record – they lost all 29 games they played. Needless to say, they are already in the market for a new coach.

Q – Quite bizarre. Rex Grossman did everything in his power last year to prove that he was not a long-term solution for the Bears at quarterback. Most of the time, in fact, he looked like he was trying to prove he wasn’t a quarterback. With his contract mercifully over, what did the Bears do about their woeful QB situation? They re-signed Grossman. It’s just a one-year contract, but it’s among the more unexpected and inexplicable developments of the offseason. On the other hand, if Eli Manning can suddenly figure out how to play, there is hope for Grossman.

R – Reunited. After many false starts, IRL and Champ have ended their divorce and merged back into one league. From a spectators’ perspective, there is a huge advantage to the new arrangement – now there is just one North American open wheel league that we only care about one week per year instead of two. That’s half the effort for the same level of satisfaction. Somehow, I don’t think NASCAR is too worried about this development.

S – Shaq. I am optimistic that the giant one will be a good addition to the Suns, but apparently it will take a while. The Suns have won just one of the three games since Shaq started playing. The first loss, against the Lakers, showed that defense could be a bit of a problem without Marion – the Suns scored 124 in regulation and lost by six. They beat Boston, but then lost to Detroit by 30 on Sunday. That’s the biggest loss of the year for the team, and a clear sign that there is a lot of work left to do.

T – Tiger. Tiger Woods goes out every single week and makes the rest of the golf world his bitches. For a brief moment it look like J.B. Holmes might beat him. That didn’t last long, and it was the only point during the entire Match Play that he looked vulnerable. The final against Stewart Cink was an absolute joke – he won 8-and-7, and it wasn’t that close. Tiger is making a mockery of the sport, and draining all the fun out of betting on golf.

U – Ugly. Kelvin Sampson disgusts me. Indiana had no choice but to fire him and send the program into turmoil after Sampson had committed at least five major NCAA violations. The sad part is that it’s the kids, and not Sampson, who have to endure the chaos. The post-Sampson era didn’t get off to a flying start. Six players boycotted a practice, and then the team only barely squeaked past lowly Northwestern. Here’s hoping that an impressive season isn’t wasted because the school made the mistake of hiring a total waste of oxygen.

V – Villanova. The Wildcats are not a team that I can figure out. A month ago they embarked on a disastrous five-game losing streak, and it seemed as if their season was over. Since then, they have won four of five. The most recent win was impressive – they ended UConn’s 10-game winning streak. They’ve turned it around from a betting perspective, too – they have covered four in a row after previously paying off just once in 13 games. With the win over the Huskies they are now back in the hunt for a tournament bid.

W – War Pass. You can never be sure how the two-year old champion is going to look when he returns to the track as a three-year-old. There was no need to worry with War Pass. He came off a four-month layoff to win a one-mile allowance at Gulfstream by more than seven lengths. It was against a field of nobodies, but it was still a comfortingly impressive win that re-asserts his prominent place on the road to the Derby.

X – Xavier. Another week, another series of accomplishments for the mascots of this column. There were three games for the team, and three impressive covers. They beat Rhode Island on Monday, blew out Duquesne on Thursday, and clinched at least a share of the A-10 title with a win over Dayton on Sunday. That’s 10 wins in a row, and 16 of 17. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, but I love the way this team is heading into the postseason.

Y – Yikes. I want so badly to believe in Kansas State because Michael Beasley and Bill Walker are so darned good. They showed on Saturday that believing in them might not be a good long-term plan. Beasley unleashed 44 points and 13 rebounds against Baylor, and Walker added 31. The sad part is that that wasn’t enough – the Wildcats lost to Baylor by six. The two freshman are brilliant, but they can’t do it alone. The rest of the roster combined for just 11 points. That’s almost unbelievably bad, and it is a recipe for a quick exit in March.

Z – Zzzzzz. It is going to be a truly unwatchable year for baseball fans in Miami. The Marlins have traded away pretty much every asset they have, and they stand a good chance of making that other pitiful team in their state look decent by comparison. As proof of just how out of touch the team’s management is, they have come up with the worst idea in the history of ideas in a desperate attempt to entertain fans – they are holding auditions for the Manatees, an all-male, plus sized cheerleading group. Maybe it’s time for contraction again.

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Adios. Now is the time every year when we see just how ruthless the NFL can be – it’s the time when formerly valued players get tossed aside by their teams to clear up cap space. There have been some impressive names given a pink slip so far – Trent Green, Zach Thomas, Byron Leftwich, Alge Crumpler. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, and a reminder to every current Pro Bowler that that recognition guarantees nothing down the road.

B – Boilermakers. This is the second straight week I’ve written about Purdue basketball. Those who regularly read this column will know that that brings the grand total of times I have written about them to two. They deserve the new attention, though. They had a huge win over Michigan State on Tuesday to tighten their improbable hold on the Big Ten. The most impressive thing with this team is that with three freshmen and two sophomores starting they are only going to get better.

C – Cleveland. There was a fascinating sports betting case study on Monday. The Cavs got beat badly on Sunday night in Denver, and then they had plane troubles and couldn’t leave town. They had to play the next night in Orlando, and didn’t arrive until well into the afternoon for a 7:00 game. Bettors reacted strongly, pumping the Magic up from 4-point favorites to 9.5 points because of the disruption to the Cavs’ schedule. Cleveland won by seven. Just when you thought that maybe this sports betting game was easy.

D – Demon Deacons. It wouldn’t have been a total surprise to see Wake Forest cover against Duke on Sunday. After all, they have covered eight of their last nine games. It’s far more surprising, though, that they crushed Duke by 13. The Blue Devils were one of the elite teams that had looked truly dominating lately, so this complete no-show is totally unexpected and wildly frustrating, I’m sure, for a large number of sports bettors.

E – End. All good things have to come to and end. Just ask New England. Drake is the most recent team to see an incredible string of success end. After 21-straight wins they finally lost to Southern Illinois on Wednesday. They bounced back nicely on the weekend, though. By beating Northern Iowa they clinched the Missouri Valley Conference title. No conference winner this season will have been less predictable at the beginning of the season than Drake.

F – Fierce Wind. This colt was the winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday. That race wouldn’t be particularly remarkable for any reason besides being the only major prep race of the weekend if it weren’t for the fact that Street Sense went on to much bigger and better things after winning it last year. That being said, I would be willing to bet quite a lot that Fierce Wind won’t make it two straight Derby wins coming from this race.

G – Gibson, Daniel. Gibson might not be good enough to start for the Cavs, but he is good enough to beat up on a bunch of rookies. Gibson potted a staggering 11 three pointers on Friday night to lead the sophomores to victory over the rookies as part of the All-Star festivities in New Orleans. Gibson only had 33 points, but you don’t need to shoot from anywhere else if your threes are draining like that.

H – Howard, Dwight. Wow. That’s really all that there is to say. The giant from Orlando unleashed four dunks in the Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday, and each one was almost totally unbelievable. His Superman impression took my breath away, but that was nothing compared the dunk scored off of his own rebound off the back board. The dunk contest spent a lot of years sucking, but that has certainly changed.

I – Insanity. There was a lot of silliness in the sports world this week. There was that total farce in Congress when two guys told lies and left us to decide which one was closer to the ugly truth. Then there was the bitter, washed up former St. Louis Ram who is suing the Patriots for $100 million because he claims the Pats filmed his team before they met in the Super Bowl. Add in an arrest or two for current NFL players this week, and it’s all enough to make us long for the days when sports were only about the games played on the field.

J – Jason Kidd. All it takes is a little whining to get what you want. The Mavericks kept up with the Joneses, or at least the Lakers and the Suns, by acquiring the veteran point guard for the stretch run. Like the Lakers, Dallas didn’t have to rip apart their lineup to add the vet, but they did have to give up Devin Harris, their continuously improving young point guard. The Western conference playoff race just keeps getting more interesting and harder to handicap.

K – Kobe Bryant. After all that whining Kobe finally got the help he wanted, and now he might not be able to enjoy it for a while. He is sporting an injured pinky finger, and that tiny digit could be enough to sideline him, or at least to limit his effectiveness. Doctors are suggesting surgery, but for now he hopes to be able to play through it. His teammates likely hope that he is right.

L – Liverpool. The major English soccer powerhouse suffered an upset of historic proportions on the weekend. The seven-time FA Cup champs lost to Barnsley in FA Cup action. Barnsley is in the second-tier domestic league, and they aren’t even at the top of the standings. For a comparison, the loss by Liverpoll was the equivalent of a loss by the Yankees to the Durham Bulls. You can imagine just how thrilled all those soccer hooligans must be.

M – Michigan. I’d find a way to write about the Wolverines regardless, but it’s much easier to do so when there is actually something worth writing about. They beat Ohio State on Sunday, which was their first win over their hated rivals since 2004. That was also their third-straight conference win. They haven’t done that for an amount of time that is embarrassing to me and every other fan of the team. Things are getting better, and only partly because they couldn’t have gotten much worse.

N – Newman, Ryan. Newman only led one lap at the Daytona 500, but it was the one that mattered. Owner Roger Penske got his first win at Daytona after 14 wins in the Indy 500, but it was by the narrowest of margins. Newman was able to get past leader Tony Stewart only because he was bumped from behind by teammate Kurt Busch. Stewart made a tactical decision that backfired on the last lap and gave Newman the win, which was his first anywhere in over two years.

O – One more time. The first time Kelly Pavlik beat Jermain Taylor it was a surprise to many. It had to be much less of a surprise on Saturday when he did it again. Pavlik won a unanimous decision in a fight that saw both fighters seizing the edge at different points. It was the first time Pavlik had ever gone 12 rounds, and the fight wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the first one, but it was still an impressive display by Pavlik.

P – Phil Mickelson. There seems to be a simple formula that Phil can follow to pile up as many wins as he wants – play in California or Arizona in tournaments that Tiger skips. Mickelson won at Riviera this weekend, and it was his 16th win in the two western states. It was a nice way to bounce back from missing the cut at Pebble Beach last week – A million bucks will make a six over par 11 seem like it never happened.

Q – Qualifier. James Blake probably thought he had it made on Sunday. He was the top seed at the International Tennis Championships in Delray Beach, Florida, and he had drawn unknown qualifier Kei Nishikori in the final. Oops. Nishikori, who is just 18 and ranked 244th in the world, won 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. He is the first Japanese man to win a tournament since 1992.

R – Red Wings, Detroit. Stop me if you have heard this before – a team full of veteran stars looks totally unbeatable for much of the season, but start to fade and look vulnerable as their age catches up to them as the season progresses. It’s not the Patriots, it the Wings. After piling up 86 points in just 55 games, the Wings have dropped six straight. They suddenly can’t score or stop the other team from doing so almost at will. Things will come around for the team – they are too talented to struggle forever – but the rest of the teams have to be breathing a sigh of relief as the playoffs draw nearer now that there is a chink in the armor.

S – Samson, Kelvin. This guy is quite possibly the slimiest coach in the history of coaches. He’s almost certain to lose his job this week after racking up an impressive list of NCAA violations. Indiana is the second program in three years that he has tried to destroy with his total lack of ethics. The players are the victims in this mess, but at first glance they don’t seem too immediately bothered – they beat Michigan State by 19 on Saturday.

T – Texas. There was a showdown for Big 12 supremacy on Monday night, and the result was a bit surprising. The Longhorns hosted the Jayhawks and ended up with a three-point win. The impressive part of the performance was that Texas was thoroughly unimpressive with their shooting, so they instead relied on their defense to get it done. That versatility is a big part of the reason why the Longhorns are 8-2 in their conference, and why they keep winning impressively.

U – Unbelievable. The Michael Beasley legend just keeps growing. If you have been under a rock all year, here’s the summary – Kansas State has a rookie who is stunningly good. Most recently, Beasley scored a career-high matching 40 points, and added 17 rebounds for good measure, as his Wildcats blew past Missouri by 37. It would have been an even more impressive week if K-State hadn’t given Pat Knight his first career win on Wednesday night.

V – Villanova. There was a robbery this week, and ‘Nova was the victim. They were tied with Georgetown and headed to overtime. With 0.1 seconds left Georgetown had the ball and was a solid 80 feet from the Villanova basket. A Villanova defender brushed the ball carrier with about as much force as a butterfly exerts on a leaf when he lands on it. The ref called one of the worst fouls in the history of sports, and Georgetown accepted the gift by sinking the winning free throw. Truly and utterly terrible.

W – Wildcats. Remember all of those signs that indicated that maybe Kentucky had turned the corner and got their act together after a terrible start? Premature, at best. In perhaps the most pathetic performance by any team all year, Kentucky traveled to Vanderbilt as four-point favorites and proceeded to lose by 41. You really have to work hard to be that bad. They bounced back with a win over LSU, but that doesn’t erase even a fraction of the shame.

X – Xavier. It was a relatively light week for the mascots of the column. They had just one game. It was a win against Charlotte, but it could have gone better – they only won by two. Things get much more difficult on Monday against Rhode Island. A win there would put them even closer to their seemingly inevitable conference title. A lacking performance like they had against Charlotte, though, and that win may not happen.

Y – Yikes. Memphis maintained their claim as the only undefeated team in college basketball, but it wasn’t pretty. They were down by seven with less than a minute and a half to go at UAB, but they were able to unleash a furious 9-1 rush down the stretch to eke out the win. Chris Douglas-Roberts was the hero with six of the nine points. The margin of victory doesn’t build a lot of confidence in the Tigers, but you have to be particularly impressed with the heart they showed in the win.

Z – Zzzzzz. We finally got to see Kimbo Slice make his official MMA debut. If you can call it that. He fought Tank Abbott at an Elite XC event on Saturday night, and it couldn’t have been more of a joke. Abbott looked far more washed up than I expected, and I expected him to look pretty terrible. The match went about a minute before Slice scored a knockout, and it would have ended sooner if the ref hadn’t stepped to break the fighters up once.

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Ascension. Few would be able to name the team at the top of the Big Ten standings at first guess. It’s Purdue. It  might seem like they are upstarts compared to the four other likely tournament bound teams in the conference, but the Boilermakers proved they belonged this weekend by completing a season sweep of Wisconsin. Add in a sweep of Illinois, a solid beating of Ohio State, and a tight loss at Michigan State that far exceeded expectations and you havea team that has legitimately ascended to the upper tier of the conference.

B – Brady, John. LSU did a great disservice to sports bettors this week. They fired coach John Brady. Ever since Brady made the Final Four with Tyrus Thomas and Glen Davis it seems he has completely forgotten how to coach and recruit. His teams have been been terrible, and betting against them has been a virtual lock. The good days will end sooner or later for bettors, but the good news is he has made such a mess with the program that John Wooden himself wouldn’t be able to turn it around in a hurry.

C – Chris Webber. Webber made his debut for Golden State this week and, well, it was a debut. It was a bit of a surprise to see him start after missing so much time, and it was pretty obvious that he was rusty. He had four points in 12 minutes as the Warriors lost to the Bulls. His two points next time out against Sacramento were even worse, but at least he added five rebounds. I’m sure he’ll come around in time, but it’s a good that that the team doesn’t need a lot of immediate help.

D – Drake Bulldogs. Coming into the season, Drake was expected to be completely irrelevant in the Missouri Valley Conference. After all, the team has one winning season to its credit in the last two decades. You would be very rich if you had been able to predict before the season that this would be the team to reel off 21 straight wins. They have virtually clinched the conference already, and they are an incredible 15-4 ATS, to boot.

E – Earnhardt, Dale Jr. So much for an adjustment period for Junior with his new car and new team. In his Hendrick Motorsports debut, Earnhardt won the Bud Shootout at Daytona. It may have only come in an exhibition, but it was still a much needed win for the driver – he hasn’t had a win of any kind since the summer of 2006. maybe this is a sign of what can happen when the popular driver has a good team on top of their game behind him. No team is stronger than Hendrick these days – they had four drivers in the top six.

F – Faint hope. Indulge me for a second here. As a guy who lives and dies for Michigan it has not been a fun basketball season. Not only have wins been scarce, but we haven’t even been competitive. I knew it was going to be a painful transition to John Beilein but I wasn’t expecting anything quite like this. It pleases me, then, that we have shown signs of hope in the last five games. They actually won one on the weekend against Penn State, and they have covered spreads against three impressive teams – Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State – as well. Bright days are still way off, but at least I can actually believe that they might eventually arrive. That’s progress.

G – Gasol, Pau. How is Gasol fitting in with his new team? It depends upon the game. His first start was brilliant – Kobe Bryant struggled, but Gasol picked up the slack and led the Lakers to an easy win. The very next game, though, was a disaster. They lost to the Hawks of all teams, and Al Horford looked like Wilt Chamberlain as he posted a career high 20 rebounds. Overall, though, they have little to complain about – they’ve won three of four on the road since the trade, including a nice win at Orlando.

H – Hurler. The Mariners should that they are heading into the season serious about winning. They were closer than people expected last year, and they are significantly better after finally adding Erik Bedard from the Orioles to the top of the rotation after weeks of flirting. The Canadian lefty is a true star who will only be better now that he is out of the dysfunctional mess in Baltimore. The surprising part is that Baltimore got a better package of players for Bedard than Minnesota did for Johan Santana. I really like Bedard, but I’d take Santana any day.

I – Insanity. At some point in this column this week I planned to write about the Pro Bowl. In the end, though, I couldn’t even bring myself to read a recap of the game, never mind watch the game itself. I honestly have no idea why the league still insists on playing this glorified flag football game between all the good players who aren’t smart enough or important enough to come up with an excuse to skip it. This dog needs to be taken out back and put down humanely.

J – Jozy Altidore. The future is now for the U.S. Soccer team. Altidore, the biggest soccer phenom in the country not named Freddy Adu, made his first career start for the national side in a friendly against Mexico this week. Altidore made a big impression in the game that was played to a 2-2 draw in front on a shockingly large crowd of 70,000 in Houston. He scored the second goal to give his team a lead, but they couldn’t play the defense to stay ahead.

K – Knight, Bobby. The old coach pulled off his final surprise this week. Or maybe it won’t be his final surprise and he has one up his sleeve that will put Eddie Sutton to shame. Regardless, it was a shock when word came down at the start of the week that Knight had resigned effectively immediately and passed his team off to his son. It wasn’t hugely relevant because the Texas Tech was on a slow road to nowhere, but I would have liked to see the guy get a better send off than this.

L – Louisville. It was an exceptional week for the Cardinals. Any week with two wins against ranked teams is one to remember. On Monday they went on the road and made Marquette look ridiculous in a crushing defeat. On Saturday they hosted a tougher opponent in Georgetown, but they were able to fight back from a big halftime deficit to win going away. Louisville has found their form at just the right tie, and I expect them to be extremely tough down the stretch.

M – Malkin, Evgeni. It could very easily have been a disaster for the Pittsburgh Penguins when Sidney Crosby was hurt. Instead, Malkin has stepped up and filled the gap nicely. The Russian has 21 points in the ten games since Crosby went down, including 15 in the last five. The Pens have won six of ten, and picked up a point in two overtime losses, so they’ve hardly noticed that Crosby is gone. Not that they won’t be thrilled to have him back, of course.

N – Nowitzki, Dirk. It probably doesn’t seem like much of a surprise that the German star of the Mavs had a big triple double on Wednesday to lead his team past the Bucks. It should. As incredible as it seems, that was the first triple double of Nowitzki’s career. The 29 points, 12 assists and 10 boards weren’t enough to help his boys cover, though. For a team with a .680 win percentage, the Mavs are just a terrible bet – 20-27-3 ATS.

O – Older horse division. With Curlin off to Dubai for his next two starts, the division is very wide open in the States. All the names we have gotten used to in the last couple of years have been retired and it is time for new stars to emerge. One of the first appears to be Grasshopper. He got his first graded stakes win on Saturday in the Mineshaft, and he looked good doing it. Though he hadn’t won before he had a solid record – he was a strong second to Street Sense in the Travers last summer.

P – Pyro. I have my first crush on the Triple Crown trail this year, and for the second straight year he is from the Steve Asmussen stable. Curlin’s stable mate Pyro was a strong second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last year, but he looked like a whole new horse in the Risen Star Saturday. He was last of 12 at the top of the stretch before totally exploding in a move you have to see to believe to take it going away. If you missed it, you had better head to Youtube right away. You don’t have to be a racing fan to be in awe of this one.

Q – Quite insane. I was on the edge of my seat for all of Wednesday because it was national signing day. Once I thought about it, though, I was a bit embarrassed that I was so interested and affected by the decisions of 17 year olds. It made me feel very old. Regardless, I was shocked by how well Miami and Notre Dame were able to do despite on-field struggles, I was saddened by the success of the devil himself in Alabama, and I was pleased by how well Michigan did despite the coaching change. It was nice to see USC not quite do as well as usual, too.

R – Reversal. Washington State had been free falling after a strong start, with consecutive losses to Cal, Stanford and UCLA, and six games without a cover. They found their form again with a bang on Saturday, though. USC rolled into town and probably wished they had just stayed at home. They lost by 24, and Wazzu shut down everything the team tried. O.J. Mayo was ineffective, and his teammates were no better. We’ll have to wait to see if the Cougars just got lucky or if their mojo is back, but for one game at least we remembered why people were so high on this team a month ago.

S – Shaq. For the second time in two weeks we have been caught completely off guard by a huge NBA trade. Unlike the Gasol move, though, it isn’t completely obvious why the better team made the deal. Shaq has a lot to offer, but he’s also well past his prime, not totally healthy, and way to slow even at his best to fit seamlessly into the Phoenix offense. Still, I am cautiously optimistic that the deal will end up as a winner for the Suns. My biggest wish is a Phoenix – Lakers Western Final – the hate on that court could be cut with a knife.

T – Ty Lawson. Tyler Hansbrough may be the superstar on the Tar Heels, but it is pretty clear that Ty Lawson is the engine that keeps the team rolling strong. Lawson has missed two games, and it hasn’t been pretty. The Tar Heels got blown out at home by hated rivals Duke, and then needed a miraculous late comeback and two overtime periods to get past Clemson. Lawson can’t heal fast enough.

U – UCLA. The Bruins will have to work very hard to find ways to spin the embarrassment they suffered on Sunday. They were playing Washington, a team that is just 4-7 in conference, and a pitiful 9-14 ATS, so there was no reason for them, the best team in the conference, to have any problems at all. There was really no reason for them to lose by 10, but they did it anyway. Darren Collison was terrible in the loss – three points in 38 minutes.

V – Vijay. Singh hung around all weekend, and was able to close with a birdie to force a playoff at Pebble Beach this weekend. It wasn’t meant to be, though – the pride of Fiji was dispatched by Steve Lowery on the extra hole. The highlights of the tournament were elsewhere, though – seeing Phil Mickelson shoot an 11 on a par five on Friday made every amateur golfer in the world feel better, and it was a treat to see 48 year old Corey Pavin finish an unexpected third.

W – Wildcats. Kansas State played an emotional game against Nebraska on Wednesday. Senior guard Clent Stewart lost his mother to bone cancer, and the team played in her honor. Michael Beasley, like he does so often we have almost become numb to it, stepped up and had a huge game. He pretty much beat Nebraska single-handedly with 35 points and 13 rebounds as the much improved Wildcats won by 15.

X – Xavier. Our mascots made us nervous on Sunday when they looked like they were going to drop one to St. Joe’s, the third best team in the A-10. In the end, though, our faith was rewarded as they won by four. There’s a bit of a disturbing trend, though – that’s the seventh time in none that they have failed to cover, and the second straight game when they won by far less than they really should have.

Y – Yahoo. I really don’t like cheering for an injury, but I will make an exception in Curt Schilling’s case. The Boston hurler has a serious arm injury, and there is at least a decent chance that it could be career ending for the aging player. I know that retirement won’t totally shut the guy up, and it certainly won’t make him any less annoying, but at least it would mean that he’d find himself in front of a microphone less often. That would make the world a better place.

Z – Zorn, Jim. The Redskins found yet another way to prove that they are a confused and ultimately doomed franchise. First they hire coordinators before they have a coach, then they strike out on landing their top choices for their empty head job, then they string along three contenders seemingly forever before ultimately elevating their new offensive coordinator, Zorn, to head coach. No one saw that one coming, and even fewer will be excited by this move that reeks of desperation and chronic ineptness. Zorn has never even been a coordinator before (unless you count his two weeks for the Redskins).

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Aggies. It’s been a pretty great 10 days for Texas A&M, with big conference wins over Oklahoma State, Texas and Oklahoma. The 17-point victory over Texas was particularly striking. The only problem is that the team preceded this nice string with three conferences losses in a row, and they weren’t close in two of them. This is one of those teams I find so hard to figure out – which team is the real one, and which one can we expect to show up in any given game?

B – Brock Lesnar. Well that was disappointing. It turns out that a couple of years of being a fake fighter does nothing to prepare you to be a real one. Lesnar made his much-hyped UFC debut on Saturday night against Frank Mir. For a brief while Lesnar looked okay. But then 90 seconds passed and it was all over. Lesnar tapped out to Mir, not exactly the toughest heavyweight in the UFC stable these days. I hope Dana White hadn’t pinned the hopes for the future on Lesnar, because he has a lot of work still to do. To say the least.

C – Crennel, Romeo. For a while it looked like they might screw it up, but the Browns did the right thing by bringing their coach back for two more years. Crennel managed something that hasn’t happened much in Cleveland for a decade or so – his team believed in themselves and were tough to play against. The defense was a disaster, but he can work on that, and he has much more to build on than he did when he arrived in town.

D – Ducks, Anaheim. The defending Stanley Cup champs keep getting better piece by piece. First, Scott Niedermayer, the best defenseman in the league for my money, ended a brief retirement and returned to action. Now he has been joined by Teemu Selanne, the Finnish sniper who took the first half of the season off. They need the help, too – they have lost six in a row and have just five goals over that stretch.

E – Eli Manning. Sure, you got a Super Bowl and your MVP. Congrats. That doesn’t mean I like you. In fact, I still find you pretty unimpressive. You’re a decent quarterback, and by that I mean better than 20 starters in the league, but you still haven’t done anything to make me believe that you are a legitimate star over the long term, and I can’t wait to feast on the lines that are inflated by the betting fools next season who think that you are the second coming of your brother. I don’t like him, either, but you can’t carry his jock strap.

F – FBR Open. A rock concert atmosphere hits the PGA tour ever year in Scottsdale, and it looks like one heck of a party. Despite unseasonably cool weather and the Super Bowl being in town, the crowds poured in the gates, and they were treated to a heck of a finish. J.B. Holmes birdied 18, and then did it again in a playoff to hold off Phil Mickelson and take home the title. Holmes may not be a household name, but he sure loves Arizona – this is his second win in three years at the FBR. It helps that Tiger is in Dubai at this time every year.

G – Gonzaga. The Bulldogs aren’t the team that they have been in recent years, but they reminded me yet again why I love college basketball on Saturday. I meant just to have their game at Santa Clara on in the background as I did some work, but I ended up being glued to the sloppy but totally captivating action. After trailing all day, they tied it up with 0.3 seconds left thanks to free throws from perhaps the most brainless foul I have ever seen a player commit. They got ahead in overtime, couldn’t hold, and had to do it all over again. They finally pulled away and won by five, but not before my emotions had been taken on a roller coaster like only college hoops can provide. And I don’t even care about either team.

H – Hughes, B. Wayne. You might not know the name, but the thoroughbred world does. He’s a ridiculously wealthy horse owner, and he is one happy dude this weekend. Crown of Thorns, a three year old stretching out around two turns for the first time in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Saturday, made it look easy in winning, and he placed himself directly on the road to the Derby. He looked like he might get stuck on the rail, but when he found space he pounced and ran away.

I – Incredible. On a list of things I never thought I would see in sports, a second go-round in the relationship between Chris Webber and Don Nelson would have been right up there near the top. The first time they were together it was a disaster. Both guys are much older now, though, and Webber is much more aware of his role, so it could work. If he can fit into the Warriors’ lineup without disrupting all that is already working for the hot team then he could be a huge addition down the stretch for a team that could do some playoff damage.

J – Johan Santana. I wouldn’t have believed it, but apparently a guy who will make more than $20 million a year can be a bargain. The Mets won the long and drawn out Santana Derby, and they had to send surprisingly little to Minnesota in the end to do it. Santana is pricey, but he is going to an easier league, he’ll be in a pitcher’s paradise at Shea, and he should be able to truly dominate. It’s a good time to be a Mets fan, I would guess. As a bettor, though, you can throw away any hope of value every fifth day.

K – Kansas State. If I was a fan of the Wildcats I would be slitting my wrists right about now. They had a historic win on Wednesday, knocking rival Kansas from the ranks of the undefeated, and ending a home losing streak against the Jayhawks that stretched back a quarter century. But then they came out on Saturday and lost to Missouri. Yes, that is the same Missouri squad that suspended five players indefinitely this week after they were in a brawl at a nightclub.

L – Lakers. Wow. that’s really all their is to say about that. They get an all-star caliber player in Pau Gasol, and all they had to give up was spare parts and some draft picks which, thanks to Gasol, won’t be very high. I haven’t understood how the Lakers have done it so far, but all I know now is that they are way up among the elite of the league now, and that front court is really going to be something to watch when Andrew Bynum returns to action.

M – Mountaineers. It was a humiliating Wednesday night at home for West Virginia. They had what should have been an easy game against coach Bob Huggins old team from Cincinnati. They were favored by 13.5, but you’d have never guessed it from the scoreboard – they lost by 23. No matter how bad it gets for the team, though, they can rest assured that things are worse for former coach John Beilein. His Michigan team has won just once in their last 11, and look as bad as a basketball team can look.

N – Notre Dame. That scent you can catch in the air is the smell of desperation, and it is coming from South Bend. The Irish added a pretty high profile piece to their coaching staff this week. Jon Tenuta, the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, is the new assistant head coach for defense at Notre Dame. Both sides of the ball were a total disaster last year, and Charlie Weis seems to be better at recruiting than coaching, so the move makes sense for a program desperate for a return to respectability.

O – Ovechkin, Alexander. Who says Russian hockey players are soft? Ovechkin had a tough night on Thursday against Montreal. He broke his nose when he was pounded into the boards, and he needed stitches in his lip after someone tried to make him eat the puck. All he did in response was score four goals, including the overtime winner, and added an assist as the Caps beat the Habs, 5-4. Washington still can’t be mistaken for a good team, but they have won 10 of 15, and they are at .500 on the season – a level they haven’t been at this late for a while.

P – Patriots. I have just two questions for this team. First, how in the world did you manage to win 18 straight games when you apparently have no ability to tackle? There were three of you with your hands on Manning with the game on the line and he got away. Come on, now. Second, you had two weeks to prepare for this game. Didn’t you consider even for a second that they might rush Brady hard on every single snap? I’m no hoodie-wearing genius or anything, but I might have planned for that or something.

Q – Quit it. Does Arlen Specter really have nothing more important to worry about than Spy-gate? If I lived in Pennsylvania I would really wonder why my senator is spending his time worrying about why some essentially meaningless tapes were erased instead of focusing on, I don’t know, say education, war, health care, or any one of a million other things that actually matter even a little bit. I could feel my brain cells taking their own lives as I listened to Specter speak.

R – Redskins. Washington has made a total mess of their coaching search, but at least they are showing signs that they may get it right. Or, if nothing else, they at least paid attention during the Super Bowl. The word is that they will interview Giants’ defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo on Tuesday, and they have decided against their original plan of also interviewing New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Those two coaches played a high profile chess match on Sunday and Spagnuolo scored an impressive checkmate.

S – Sutton, Eddie. The veteran coach got what he came out for – his 800th win. That’s why he came out of retirement to take over San Francisco, and it is unquestionably an impressive total, but I can’t help wondering if it really matters. Nobody can believe he is at San Francisco for the long term, or for any reason other than the record, and the whole thing seems hollow given the reason for his retirement just short of the mark in the first place. In this case maybe sleeping dogs should have stayed lying down.

T – Tony Parker. Mr. Longoria will be spending a lot of time with his hot wife for now, because he is sidelined with heel spurs. He’s been shelved, and there is no timeline for his return. Needless to say, this is not good news for the Spurs. They signed Damon Stoudamire to help fill the gap, but Mighty Mouse is a big step down from the Frenchman. Still, no need to panic – they went in to Phoenix without Parker and won by three as 7.5 point underdogs.

U – Ugly. The Top 25 was not particularly impressive in Saturday action. Nineteen ranked teams played unranked opponents on the day. Five of those teams lost outright. A couple showings were particularly embarrassing – Michigan State was favored by nine over Penn State but lost by the same margin, and Villanova lost to Syracuse by 14. The news was even more grim for bettors – only eight of the 19 ranked teams covered the spread. Trusting the opinion of the polls was a quick road to poverty.

V – Varejao, Anderson. Apparently teams from Cleveland aren’t allowed to have any luck. The Cavs lost Varejao, their second leading rebounder, for three weeks with an ankle sprain this week. That comes just after they lost Sasha Pavlovic, a starting guard, for six weeks. Those are tough breaks for a team that has won 12 of 15, covered seven of nine, and is finally playing like many expected them to coming into the season.

W – Washington State. The Cougars are, it appears, falling from grace. They were media darlings earlier in the season, but two losses this week, and three in their last four games, has decreased their appeal quite dramatically. They at least made it to overtime with Stanford, but there is no excuse for losing to Cal at home. Next up this week is UCLA and USC, so it could really get ugly if they don’t get their act together.

X – Xavier. It was an easy week for the mascots of the column, but they did what they had to do. Their lone game was at home against the outclassed La Salle, and they cruised to a 13-point win without breaking a sweat. That wasn’t a cover against a 20.5-point spread, but I’m not at all convinced that there is enough difference between a 13 and 20-point margin to get worried about. At some point the big spreads are pretty meaningless, really.

Y – Yawn. I am about to write the most predictable thing on this list – Tiger won a tournament this week. It wasn’t looking good for him in Dubai. He was chasing Ernie Els after three rounds, he had been inconsistent in the third round, and Dubai hadn’t always been kind to him in the past. The freak did what is now expected of him each time he touches his clubs, though – he birdied five of his last seven to charge back and win it by a stroke. That’s four wins in a row in official tournaments and six in his last seven. The more he plays, the more a Grand Slam seems not only possible but likely.

Z – Zzzzz. That was not a good Super Bowl game. In fact, it was, for the most part, pretty terrible. The first half was almost entirely unwatchable, and the third quarter was only barely better. The fourth quarter was better, but by that point it was almost too far gone to be saved in my eyes. I should know better than to expect anything other than utter disappointment from the biggest of NFL games. Give me a good week 13 slate of games over that circus any day.

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Alfredsson, Daniel. The captain of the Ottawa Senators had a pretty good night on Thursday when his team traveled to Tampa Bay. If you call seven points a good night, that is. The Swede scored a hat trick and added four more assists to help his team double up on the Lightning 8-4. The offensive star hadn’t scored in two previous games, so this was a heck of a way to break a slump.

B – Baylor. The Bears aren’t used to being ranked, but they made the most of being on the prestigious list this week. They won an amazing game on Wednesday when they took the higher ranked Aggies of Texas A&M to five overtimes before coming out on top. Unfortunately they couldn’t build on the momentum – they lost at home as 4.5 point favorites to Oklahoma on Saturday. It doesn’t get any easier either, with a trip to play Texas next up.

C – Chicago Bulls. Things have not been going well for the Bulls recently, but it’s even worse lately. Luol Deng is out of action with Achilles tendinitis and he’ll miss anywhere from one to three weeks. Ben Gordon joined him on the sidelines with a sore wrist. After a good run to beat Indiana the first time the team had to play without the two players, the team has struggled offensively in two unimpressive losses.

D – Djokovic, Novak. The king is dead, long live the king. Djokovic, who has long been the future of tennis, let the world know that the future is here. He won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this week, and he did it in grand style. Others have beaten Roger Federer, but few have done it as convincingly as Djokovic did in the semifinals. The third seed was 12/1 to win the tournament, but his triumph guarantees that it will be along time before we see a price like that again.

E – Edmonton Oilers. I live in Calgary. That makes Edmonton my sworn enemy. Every time I have to say something nice about the city or its teams, then, a little piece of me dies. There’s no avoiding it here, though. Jarret Stoll scored two goals in the last 1:23 of the third period against Carolina on Thursday to tie it up, and then his team won the game in the shootout. Thankfully for me and everyone in my city, even with the win the Oilers are still far out of contention.

F – Flyers, Dayton. Dayton started the season with a bang – they were 13-1 and they posted big wins over Louisville and Pitt. Things have not gone particularly well since then, though. In fact, they have been dismal. Losses to Xavier and Richmond this week make it three losses in a row, and all by large gaps as the team has struggled to shoot and has seemingly forgotten how to play defense. A disappointing turn of events for the team’s fans and backers – they had covered seven of eight before blowing the last three.

G – Golden State. There is a clear sign that age brings maturity in San Francisco. Chris Webber is reportedly about to sign with the Warriors. Fourteen years ago C-Webb demanded a trade from the team after clashing with coach Don Nelson. A lot of time has past since then, and now both guys are about to give it a try again. I’m betting that they will get along much better now, and that the Michigan alum will be a great addition to an already talented team.

H – Heat. It may have seemed like it would never happen again, but Miami finally won a game. They ended their 15 game skid against Indiana on Saturday, and they actually showed some heart in doing it – they fought back from a nine point halftime deficit to win by two. It was the second game in a row that they had covered, but just the third in 16 games. Is it possible that it was just two years ago that this team won it all?

I – Indiana. The Hoosiers don’t often play out of conference games during their conference schedule. They picked a bad time to start. They invited UConn into their home on Saturday, and the guests left with an unlikely win. To make matters worse for Indiana, Connecticut was playing without a starting guard and a reserve after the players were suspended for the game for violating team rules.

J – Jason Kidd. New Jersey’s point guard has apparently asked for a trade. I can’t say I blame him – Vince Carter makes me sick and I live on the other side of the continent, so I can only imagine what playing with him would be like. My only wish for the whole thing is that he doesn’t act like a baby while the whole process plays out. I can only handle so much whining from athletes, and my quota is pretty much filled for now.

K – Kentucky. It had been a pretty terrible season for the Wildcats, but the team got something to build on in a big way on Tuesday when they beat Tennessee by six. For perhaps the first time this year, Kentucky played the kind of defense that Billy Gillispie was supposed to bring with him from Texas A&M, and they played with a poise and confidence that was too much for a team that was clearly superior on paper to handle. They rode that momentum to another win and a return to .500 on Saturday.

L – Lame duck. Tony Dungy and Mike Holmgren both became lame duck coaches this week. Dungy returned to coach another year, but not before getting permission to spend more time in Florida, and not before the the Colts named his eventual replacement. Holmgren announced that this will be his last season. In both cases, it will be interesting to watch what happens if either team starts to struggle and the players decide they don’t like listening to the guy on his way out any more.

M – Minnesota. The T-Wolves shocked the world (or at least the part of it that pays attention to the NBA on a Wednesday night) when they beat the Suns by 10 points as eight point dogs. That’s three wins in four games for the lowly Wolves, and they were a point away from beating Boston to make it four straight. That’s a good week for any team, never mind one that only has eight wins on the season. Phoenix doesn’t have to be too worried about the slip – the team has covered six of seven.

N – Nate Kaeding. This is without a doubt the craziest story of the year in the NFL. It pretty much has to be in order for me to be writing about a kicker. San Diego’s kicker broke his leg on December 24 when he was making a tackle, but went on to kick for almost five full games without doing anything about it. In his last game he had four field goals against New England. That’s another teammate that makes LaDainian Tomlinson look like a pansy.

O – Ole Miss. It seemed too good to be true when the Rebels jumped out to a 13-0 start. Turns out it was. The team lost to Mississippi State this week, and it was their third loss in the five games since conference play started. What is most concerning is how they lost to the Bulldogs – Ole Miss had their last lead eight minutes in and lost the game by 20. At this rate the team will have to work hard to make the tournament.

P – Pitt. Speaking of teams that are struggling after a quick start. The Panthers have won two of three, and have dropped three of their first seven conference games. The last loss was as humiliating as any defeat by any team all year. Pitt was paying Rutgers at home, and they were favored by 18, so they had no business losing the game by 13. To make matters worse, they blew a seven point halftime lead.

Q – Quit. Please, please, please stop talking about Tom Brady’s ankle, or the kind of footwear he may be wearing, or if he was limping when he went out to buy flowers, or anything else to do with how he walks between now and kickoff. He’ll be fine, we won’t learn anything more before game time, and that won’t change no matter how much time we spend analyzing grainy videos shot on phone cameras.

R – Raptors. Toronto has won and covered seven of nine, so it was no shock that they beat Milwaukee on Friday. What was shocking was how badly they beat them – 106-75. Chris Bosh led the way for the Raps with 32, while the Bucks couldn’t score – two players tied for the team lead with 12 points each. Toronto must have no regrets about past transactions – the Bucks with Charlie Villanueva couldn’t even remotely compete with the Raps, and T.J. Ford is nowhere near the court.

S – Slump? It has not been a good week for the Boston Celtics. After their blazing hot start they aren’t used to losing much, but they did it twice this week. Toronto beat them at home, then they lost at Orlando in a battle of Eastern Conference upstarts. In between they needed a last second steal to squeak past Minnesota by one. The bigger concern is that Kevin Garnett missed the Orlando game with an injury. Boston has only won five of the last ten, and just covered four of those games.

T – Tiger Woods. The guy is a freak. The guy crushed the competition so badly that it was a total and utter joke. I could say more about it, but why bother. The one thing that stuck is out that Tiger said that the Grand Slam is, in his mind, a possibility. The fact that he is saying that means he is thinking about it, and when you combine that with the way he played this weekend it certainly isn’t hard to imagine him pulling it off.

U – UFC. Handicapping UFC Fight Night on Wednesday was incredibly easy, and especially so if you were willing to blindly follow the public. Favorites won eight of the nine fights. If only it were always that easy. The biggest statement on the night was made by Mike Swick, who won his first fight at welterweight. He didn’t look like he was handling the weight particularly well, though – he looked like he desperately needed a cheeseburger.

V – Vanderbilt. Is Sunday’s result a sign that Vanderbilt isn’t as good as their start, or that Florida is better than we have been giving them credit for? A bit of both, I figure. Vandy has played a very weak schedule, and is yet another team that has faltered when things get tougher in conference play. Florida hasn’t exactly played a group of powerhouses, either, but they seem to be getting stronger as things roll along.

W – Wazzu. The Cougars have gained a ton of respect this year, but they didn’t help their case much when they got manhandled by Arizona on Thursday. Arizona won by 12. The Wildcats have struggled to find consistency against a tough schedule this year, but this was their second win over a top ten team this year, and Arizona has the look and the skill of a team that could do some serious damage if they can plug the leaks by the time the tournament rolls around.

X – Xavier. Regular readers will know that I was a little bit concerned last week when our beloved mascots lost a stinker to Temple. I’m not worried at all anymore after this week. The Musketeers played two big games this week, and they couldn’t have done better. They crushed Dayton by 26, then traveled to UMass and won by 12. With the wins the team served notice that the A-10 is theirs and they don’t plan to give it up.

Y – Yikes. People are worried about whether Tom Brady will be able to play on Sunday I’m more concerned about whether Plaxico Burress will be available. He may be in rehab by game time, or at least he should be. He told the media this week that his team has a better receiving corps that the Patriots. That’s clear proof that the guy smokes a lot of crack.

Z – Zzzz. The NHL All-Star game was played on Sunday, and only the players’ families cared. Actually, I’m not sure they even could stay awake for this game. This annual mess of an exhibition features absolutely no defense, lackluster goaltending, and the offensive players play well enough to score a ton, but not well enough to be exciting as they do it. This year the East won 8-7 despite being outshot 51-33. No good, interesting, competitive game has ever played in which one team gets 51 shots.

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Andy Murray. The former tennis prodigy won his first tournament of the year and was showing new maturity and focus after ditching coach Brad Gilbert late last year, so I boldly chose him as an upset pick at the Australian Open. The Brit rewarded my faith by going out and getting smoked in the first round. He went home with his tail between his legs and my pocket was a little bit lighter. Nice work, Andy.

B – Bynum, Andrew. The Lakers are the biggest surprise in the NBA, but they suffered a big blow on Sunday night when they lost their third year center for two months with a knee injury at the start of he second half. Bynum is leading the league in field goal percentage and he has been an increasingly big part of the team’s success, so this could hurt. The impact is already showing – L.A. only beat Memphis by one the day he was injured, snuck by Seattle by two the next night, and weren’t as competitive as they can be in losing to the Suns on Thursday.

C- Celtics, Boston. The new NBA superpower had a pretty rough week. Or at least the start of the week. They lost twice in three days to the Washington Wizards. As if to rub in just how rough that is, the Wiz went out in their next game and lost to the Knicks by 12. It’s far from time to panic, but those losses combined with a loss to the Bobcats last week dims the shining light a little bit.

D – D.J. Trahan. Trahan came from behind to win the Bob Hope Classic on Sunday for his second career PGA Tour victory. He finished at 26-under over 90 holes, but he needed help to get it done. Justin Leonard was up by four going into the final round, but he collapsed, shooting a 79 on the back nine and finding the water on the 18th to throw away the title. George Lopez, Samuel L. Jackson and Luke Wilson teamed up to win the Pro-Am. Lopez is the host of the event, so the result seems a bit suspicious. Or at least it would if I was enough of a degenerate to bet on a Pro-Am.

E – Eli Manning. The Giants’ pivot owes me money. Three weeks in a row I have picked against the guy and his team because I refuse to believe in them. You know how well that has turned out for me. Despite my doubts and hatred, the Giants found a way to pull out an overtime victory in the Green Bay deep freeze, and they would have won with far less stress if Lawrence Tynes hadn’t done his impression of a soon-to-be-unemployed kicker twice when he had a chance to score and win.

F – Flop. I’ve been very  high on the A-10 all year, and particularly so for Xavier and Dayton. You can imagine my agony, then, when both teams lost games they definitely should have won on Wednesday night. At least they weren’t alone – ranked teams fell like flies this week – UNC, UCLA, Texas A&M, Marquette, Pittsburgh and Butler lost to unranked teams as well.

G – Great Britain. The NFL announced that they are headed back to Britain for another regular season game next year. That’s great news because this year’s gem between the Giants and the Dolphins was an instant classic. Either that or it was the worst game I have ever seen in my life. I forget which one is the truth because I fell into a coma about halfway through that mess of a game and I don’t remember much. If anyone can figure out why the league thinks these intercontinental contests are a good idea they are smarter than me.

H – Hesanoldsalt. One of my favorite older horses met a sad end this week just days after he had returned to training in Florida after a layoff. He was being walked when he spooked, reared, and broke away from his handler. After running out of the barn, he swerved to avoid a groom who had stepped in front of him to try to stop him, crashed into a tree, and suffered injuries that proved fatal. The five year old never quite broke into the upper echelon, but he had strong finishes behind superstars like Invasor, Bernardini, Flashy Bull and Barbaro.

I – In the zone. Dre Smith, George Mason’s sophomore guard, had a better shooting night than anyone in history on Saturday. He took ten three point shots in the game, and he hit all of them. The rest of the players for both teams combined for nine threes.The previous record of nine in a game was held by three players. Remarkably, Smith had seven of his treys in the second half. He ended up with 34 points, eight points better than his previous career best.

J – Jason Garrett. This guy is a sign either of just how bizarre the NFL has become or that Jerry Jones is losing his mind. A year ago Jones was criticized for making Garrett his offensive coordinator because he was too young and inexperienced. Now, after a reasonably successful season (if you forget the last month) Garrett flirted with two head coaching jobs before agreeing to stay in Dallas as the highest paid assistant in the league. He’s paid about the same amount as head coach Wade Phillips. Given that Garrett is almost certainly the team’s next head coach, a nervous breakdown for Phillips seems like a good bet.

K – Knicks, New York. The Knicks are the biggest soap opera in sports, but somehow they have managed to overcome the drama to play some decent ball in the last week. They played five games in seven days, and they managed to win and cover four of them. They even beat some decent teams – the Pistons and Wizards are both well over .500. Because of those two wins I won’t even mention that they also beat the Heat, a team that has now lost 13 in a row.

L – Long. If you are a hockey purist who doesn’t like regular season shootouts then you really wouldn’t have like the Oilers-Capitals game on Thursday. Washington won, but not before 24 shooters and 12 shootout rounds. Remarkably, only one of the 24 shooters was able to score in the endless goaltenders duel. Not that the crowd noticed – there were 6,000 empty seats in Washington at the start of the game, and many more by the time overtime rolled around.

M – Maryland. The Terrapins are the reason why sports betting can be so frustrating. They couldn’t manage to beat Ohio or American earlier in the year, yet they went to Chapel Hill as 18 point underdogs on Sunday and came out with a win. Senior forward James Gist had 22 and 13 for the Terps, and Greivis Vasquez quarterbacked the upset with 12 points and 11 assists. The ACC race suddenly got more interesting after the unexpected upset. The loss by UNC wasn’t a total surprise – they squeaked out a one point win one Wednesday night.

N – Norm Chow. The offensive coordinator went from being a genius at USC to getting fired after three underwhelming years at Tennessee. Not surprisingly, he has decided to go back to school, and he is returning to the scene of his greatest success. Or close, anyway. The reports are that Chow is the new OC for the Trojans’ crosstown rivals UCLA. That should add a new element of intrigue to an already bitter annual contest.

O – Ouch. The Pittsburgh Penguins are currently having to do something they have no desire to get used to – they are playing without Sidney Crosby. The superstar has a high ankle sprain. At this point it’s not known how much time he will miss. This kind of thing is never good, but the timing could certainly be worse – the NHL is about to head into the All-Star break, so Crosby will have extra time to heal without missing time for his team.

P – Penn, B.J.. If you don’t like blood then Penn’s UFC lightweight title winning victory over Joe Stevenson was definitely not for you. Penn beat the former star of The Ultimate Fighter in the second round, but not before slicing him open with an elbow. As soon as Penn won the match by dominating on the ground, he was confronted by Sean Sherk, the former champ who was stripped after a positive steroid test. It looks as if Penn will defend against Sherk at UFC 85 in May.

Q – Quite awful. It was a truly terrible seven days for Texas A&M. The Aggies had only lost once before this week, and not since the second of December. This week they lost twice. First they gave Bobby Knight his 900th win on Wednesday, then they lost by 21 to Kansas State on Saturday in one of the worst performances by a ranked team in recent memory. It will be very interesting to see if they can forget that this week ever happened, regroup, and move on.

R – Roy Jones, Jr. – For a while at the start of the match it looked like Jones ad made a huge mistake by choosing to fight Felix Trinidad. In the end, though, Trinidad was just too small and couldn’t keep up with Jones. It was a win by decision for Jones. Now he thinks he should fight Joe Calzahge. He must have suffered a serious brain injury against Tito because that’s the only way he could come up with an idea that incredibly bad.

S – Sabres, Buffalo. After such a good year last year, things are not going well for the Sabres these days. They lost their tenth straight on Wednesday. Five of those losses were in the shootout, just adding to the feelings of frustration. They broke the streak in style on Friday, pounding Atlanta 10-1, but returned to their familiar losing ways against the struggling Maple Leafs the next night. The team suffered a free agent exodus in the offseason, and the impact is clearly showing.

T – Tony Sparano. The Miami Dolphins have tabbed their next head coach – Dallas Cowboys assistant head coach Tony Sparano. Anyone who is even somewhat literate can tell the difference between Sparano and Soprano, but that won’t stop us from being bombarded by an overwhelming number of bad mobster puns for as long as he has the job. The Fins are a mess, but Sparano should be fine. The biggest thing in his favor is that Cam Cameron set the bar so low in his one season at the helm that Sparano can’t help but look better by comparison.

U – USC. O.J. Mayo was pretty sure that he was going to turn things around and finally give his team a win over UCLA, but then Mayo likes to talk a lot so it was hard to get too excited about what he said. It turns out, though, that he was right. Mayo was solid, scoring 16 points as the Trojans beat the Bruins by nine. It was another freshman that stole the headlines, though, and it wasn’t Kevin Love. USC’s Davon Jefferson led the way with a career high 25 points.

V – Vanderbilt. It seems like I have been writing about the Commodores every week. I won’t be much longer if they keep playing like they did on Thursday. I understand that Tennessee is a good team that is really rounding into solid form, but Vandy needs to be able to stay closer than 20 points if their goal is to prove that the start to the season wasn’t a total fluke and that they do indeed deserve the respect afforded to top 25 teams.

W – Williams. You can never tell before a tournament starts how the Williams sisters are going to play these days. Their heads are often in the clouds, but they came to play when they headed to Australia for the Open. Both players finished the first week of the two week tournament by advancing to the quarter finals. The two can’t meet up until the finals, so their progress will be interesting to watch. Serena has had more success at this tourney in the past, but Venus has the easier route to the last game by far.

X – Xavier. It was not a good week for our boys. They were favored by 7.5 when they visited Temple on Wednesday, yet they found a way to lose by 19 in a truly disgraceful no-show. They bounced back on Saturday to beat George Washington, but they are in a concerning four game stretch without a cover. I’m not panicking yet by any means, but it would be nice to see them step it up a bit as they get deeper into the A-10. Their big game against Dayton on Thursday would be a good place to start.

Y – Yawn. The Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl. Wake me up when something surprising happens. Just how good are the Pats? Tom Brady was uncharacteristically terrible, throwing three bad interceptions, yet the Pats won a game with little drama. The media has two weeks to figure out how to make the Super Bowl seem interesting, but I don’t like their chances. Those looking for cracks in the behemoth will note that Randy Moss had just one catch for 18 yards. Is that a result of the distraction of his legal woes? The Giants sure hope so.

Z – Zoom. The racing year has just begun, but we saw one of the most impressive non-stakes performances of the year on Thursday. Commentator, who was a disappointing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last time out, won an allowance at Gulfstream by an astonishing 14 lengths, and he set a track record while doing it. The horse’s connections raised some eyebrows when they brought the seven year old back for another year, but Commentator emphatically showed he isn’t done just yet.

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Again. The NBA has ruled that the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat have to replay the last 51.9 seconds of their game played on December 19. Shaq got a foul with the score 112-111 for Atlanta in overtime. It was his fifth, but the scorers’ table said it was his sixth. With the giant center out, the Hawks went on to win 117-111 and cover the spread as two point favorites. They will play it again next time they meet. Two things. First, isn’t watching these two teams play once punishment enough? Second, I know I wouldn’t be very happy if the Heat win the second time around, and I had already lost my bet back in December.

B – Bobcats, Charlotte. I was about to write that the Bobcats got another big win for their franchise, but I’m not sure they’ve ever had a notable victory before. Regardless, they pulled the shocker of all shockers on Wednesday night when they rolled into Boston and beat the no-longer-green-because-they’re-red-hot Celtics by 12. The team’s second road win of the year (seriously) was fueled by 34 from Jason Richardson.

C – Crosby, Sidney. Sir Sidney and his band of merry Penguins are as hot as a hockey team can be without melting the ice. They won eight in a row and then lost the ninth in a shootout, and Crosby, who is mind-numbingly good when consider that he doesn’t turn 21 for eight more months, has had 14 points over that stretch to lead the way. It wasn’t a super strong start to the season for the team, but it is getting easier and easier to believe that this is the beginning of a run for this team that could last several years and involve a whole lot of hardware.

D – Dallas Cowboys. Oops. That was a waste of a good season. Losing to Eli Manning hurts at the best of times, and especially in a case like this he was good but not great, and he had very little support from his running game. Towards the end of the game Jerry Jones looked like he was more than a little homicidal. I don’t know who he will blame for this, but there will certainly be heads that roll. To start, I suspect Jessica Simpson will be drawn and quartered in front of City Hall early this week.

E – Eustachy, Larry. The Southern Miss coach is taking an indefinite leave from his team to be with his dying mother. That’s obviously totally understandable and admirable, and it makes me incredibly guilty about my initial reaction when I read the headline about his leave. Given his background at Iowa State, before I read the facts I again assumed that he had again done something regrettable involving beer and co-eds, and that someone had pictures. I’m a bad person.

F – Federer, Roger. In breaking news this week, Federer was given the top seed at the Australian Open, water is wet, and the sun is on fire. Equally shocking is that Rafael Nadal is number two. Federer has won the last three Opens, and made the last ten Grand Slam finals, so chances are pretty good he will still be standing at the end of the tournament that starts Monday and runs for two weeks. He missed his warm-up tournament with a stomach flu, though, so there is at least a little bit of hope for the mortals. Justine Henin is number one on the women’s side, and the Williams sisters are dangerous at numbers seven and eight.

G – Gibbs, Joe. The second Gibbs era came to an end this week in Washington when the once-great-and-now-only-mediocre coach retired. Probably for good this time. This wasn’t a widely expected move, and it reportedly even caught his team off guard, but that doesn’t mean it is a bad thing. The Skins had a good run this year, but it is hard to see how they were ever going to be better than just alright with a guy who is well beyond his best times at the helm. Gibbs is a legend, but I doubt anyone in Washington is crushed to see him leave.

H – ‘Hawks. I was pretty uninspried by the Seattle Seahawks this year, and by the looks of their performance on Saturday I wasn’t being unfair. The team looked flat, disinterested, and totally outclassed by Green Bay in a horrific snow storm. Mike Holmgren desperately needs to find a new career. Also, I don’t know how Brett Favre is doing what he is doing, and frankly I suspect it involves some sort of a contract with the devil, but whatever it is it is working and it is clearly worth it.

I – Isiah Thomas. The worst coach in the NBA got thrown out of his team’s game on Wednesday night against the Rockets, and nobody noticed. Sure, the Knicks still lost, but they were going to lose anyway because, well, they’re the Knicks. Other coaches have done huge damage to a franchise, but I’m not convinced any has ever done more to set a team back than Thomas. The most thankless job in the world is being the poor fool who has to replace this absolute moron.

J – Joakim Noah. The Chicago Bulls have done what I wish I could have figured out a way to do years ago – shut up the world’s most annoying basketball player for a while. In a strange move, the Bears players voted to suspend Noah for a game after he got into a run-in with the teams’ assistant coach. Maybe Noah will take the hint, get a haircut, and zip it for good.

K – Kansas. Is there a team that is more of an enigma in college basketball than Kansas? They are statistically brilliant and incredibly talented, and they are eaily undefeated, but they haven’t played a ton of top competition – and none in at least a month. They have the look of a team that is on a fast track to a number one seed, but there will be an inkling of doubt in my mind that will continue to grow and fester until they hit the tougher parts of the Big 12 schedule. I want to believe in this team, but they are a couple of wins away from having my faith.

L – Louisville. remember last season for the Cardinals? They started out looking vulnerable due mainly to injuries, then they got healthy and did some damage. They must have really enjoyed that script, because they seem to be following it again this season. They have healed up, they’ve won seven of eight, and they are giving every indication that they will win a pile of games in the Big East en route to another strong tournament seeding.

M – Majerus, Rick. If Majerus doesn’t have blood pressure problems already, he sure will after his Billikens played Thursday night. They set a D-1 record for fewest points in a game when they managed just 20. George Washington scored 49 and won by 29 – that just shouldn’t happen. At one point Saint Louis missed 23 straight shots, and they ended up shooting less than 15 percent from the field on the game. Ugly.

N – New England. These guys are just too darned good. Jacksonville put up a decent fight, but Tom Brady was essentially perfect, and the rest of the team was clearly a step or two better than their opponents. I expect for that same small but significant advantage to continue right through to the most undramatic Super Bowl we have seen since… well, it’s been a while since we have had a dramatic, interesting Super Bowl isn’t it. At least Tom Petty should be good.

O – Ole Miss. The Rebels lost their first game of the season on Wednesday when they lost in Tennessee. The surprise isn’t hat they finally lost after 13 wins. It’s that they were able to set a schedule so easy that they couldn’t help but win at least 12 games. They were only underdogs once before Tennessee, and the only played two teams from major conferences (Clemson and DePaul) in their first 13. Many teams aren’t nearly as good as their record, but none more so than Mississippi.

P – Phoenix Suns. The Suns had a pretty good shooting day on Monday night. In fact, their 20 three pointers were just one short of the NBA record. They only took 31 shots, so that’s 64.5 percent, and that’s not bad. Of course, to do that ridiculously well you have to have a secret weapon, and the Suns did – GM Steve Kerr came down before some of the game, addressed the team, and let some of his scrawny white man shooting mojo rub off.

Q – Quick work. It didn’t take UCLA long to restore the balance of power in the Pac-10. Washington State was ranked higher than the Bruins, and many people were under the impression that the Cougars might be  the best team in the conference, but UCLA had a very different opinion. The Bruins took a huge lead at the half, stayed ahead despite a weaker second half, and won by seven to firmly entrench themselves as the Pac-10 team to beat.

R – Richmond Spiders. It’s probably a sign that I am a true degenerate that I know this, but Richmond and LaSalle played a heck of a game in a rare Wednesday afternoon college basketball game this week. The Spiders took a 12 point lead in the first half, LaSalle rallied to tie it up in the second half, and it took three overtimes for Richmond to finally win by one. It would have been a frustrating game for total bettors – the game didn’t go over the total until two minutes into the second overtime.

S – Savannah State. These upstarts almost beat the high powered Kansas State Wildcats on Monday night. And by almost I mean that they lost by 60 points and only managed to score one field goal and four points in the second half. Rest assured, there is not a single mistake in that last sentence. Needless to say, this set two NCAA records and tied a third. I don’t know what kind of offense Savannah State runs, but they need to go back to the drawing board.

T – Ty Willingham. At least one Washington alum is not happy with how Willingham is handling his team – he has offered the school a $200,000 donation on the condition that they fire Willingham and the AD. If I were a wealthy Notre Dame alum I’d offer my school at least that much if they would rehire Willingham as coach there – even his darkest days with the Irish are blindingly bright compared to today. I’d keep Charlie Weis around as recruiting coordinator, though – he is a lousy coach, but he sure can coerce kids into signing on the dotted line.

U – USC. The O.J. Mayo era is not going at all like it was supposed to for the Trojans. They lost on Thursday to Washington State to drop to 9-6 on the season and a lousy 0-3 in the Pac-10. They have beat two solid teams in San Diego and Southern Illinois, but for the most part they jest aren’t good enough to measure up to the best teams, and they could have a bumpy ride in conference play. You can’t blame Mayo for the problems, though – he hasn’t quite been worth to the five years of hype we have been subjected to, but he is far and away the best player on the team.

V – Vanderbilt. They made it through non-conference play unscathed, but the Commodores crashed back to earth at the hands of an unlikely opponent. The previously struggling Wildcats of Kentucky fought to a big early lead, gave it up late, but found a way to come out ahead in the second overtime period on Saturday. Now Vanderbilt has a loss on their record, and a second one seems likely this week as they travel to play a very good Tennessee team.

W – White, D.J.. Eric Gordon may be hogging most of the headlines coming out of Indiana, but White made a serious statement on Tuesday that he stills deserves some attention. He had 21 points and 22 rebounds against Michigan to become the first Hoosier since 1995 to join the 20/20 club. Gordon poured in 23 points in the game just to make sure that we didn’t forget about him, and Indiana again proved that they are a very legitimate team (not that you have to be too legitimate to beat Michigan these days).

X – Xavier. It was another big week for our mascots. They won the first two games of their conference schedule with ease to further secure their spot in the top 25 and show the rest of the division that they are serious this year. The only possible criticism is that they’re easy wins weren’t quite easy enough – they faced lines of 18.5 and 26, and didn’t quite cover either of them. Even with that, they are still profitable (if only barely) and will face more realistic spreads in coming games against better competition.

Y – Yikes. The Peyton Manning legend took a bit of a hit Sunday afternoon. I’m not suggesting for a second that the guy isn’t truly amazing, but a player like him should definitely be able to beat a ten point underdog at home when the opponent loses their starting quarterback and their superstar running back for most of the second half. He and his teammates will take some flack for what happened, but just imagine what the outscry would be like if they hadn’t won it all last year. The most notable thing for Manning is that, after starting 14-for-14, he was just 19 of 34 with two interceptions. That’s a long way from immortal.

Z – Zoom. The road from California to the Triple Crown started out on the weekend, and a budding potential superstar has emerged. El Gato Malo crushed the life out of solid field of three year olds, winning the San Rafael Stakes by 6-1/4 lengths and setting a track record in the process. He’s undefeated, and clearly handled the jump in class to graded stakes company with ease. It’s way too early to get too excited, but this is certainly a horse to keep an eye on.

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Antonio Gates. San Diego beat Tennessee relatively easily once they decided to actually try, but it was a costly victory. Tight end Gates was injured, and in the replay it looks like his toe was folded  over like origami. That’s really gotta sting, and it certainly doesn’t help the team’s cause against the Colts. Philip Rivers wasn’t exactly looking comfy on Sunday, so it could get ugly if his security blanket has to miss the game.

B – Botched call. There would have been a serious karmic imbalance in the world if Pittsburgh had beat Jacksonville. I have seen few calls blown so badly as the one that gave Pittsburgh the lead late – Hines Ward tried to rip the corner’s head off by the face mask, yet the DB got called for pass interference. Instead of ending a drive, the Steel got first down from the one. Terrible call that thankfully didn’t affect a pretty good game.

C – Curlin. The guaranteed Horse of the Year, and one of the best horses we’ve seen in a long time, is getting closer to a possible return to action. We still haven’t heard for sure that he’s coming back this year, and his ownership is a total mess, but it is a very good sign that he got his first official workout on Sunday. He went half a  mile in :53 2/5, which is nothing to dance about, but at least he’s running..

D – Daniel Chopra. He’s not exactly a household name, but Chopra is the only guy who can claim a PGA victory so far this year. Chopra won the winners-only Mercedes-Benz in a playoff on Sunday. He shouldn’t have needed the playoff at all – he missed the winning putt on the 18th by the smallest possible margin. As a proud Canadian I can’t help but point out that our only two relevant golfers – Stepehen Ames and Mike Weir – finished a strong third and fourth.

E – 899. The fact that Bobby Knight is now just one win away from 900 is pretty amazing. You never have to worry about entertainment with Knight, though, and his landmark 899th win wasn’t the best part of the story on Saturday. He lost his shoe when he kicked the scorer’s table, and then his son had to physically haul him back to the bench when he wouldn’t quit screaming at the ref who had already given him a technical. He gets his first shot at 900, assuming he isn’t suspended for his latest of many referee criticizing incidents, is Saturday against Oklahoma State.

F – Freak. I was stunned by Terrelle Pryor in the U.S. Army All-American game on Saturday, and not just because I desperately hope he comes to Michigan. The quarterback was named MVP of the game after rushing for 79 yards and a touchdown and passing for 76 yards and another score while sharing action with two others pivots. He was impressive and explosive despite operating in an unfamiliar offense, and he is going to make whichever team he decides to go to significantly better. Please, please, please, please, please make it Michigan.

G – Ginobili, Manu. The Spurs beat the Clippers this weekend, but the big news was that their Argentinian star was back in action after missing five games with a finger injury. The finger was wrapped up, but it obviously didn’t bother him – he had 23 points, including 12 in fourth quarter, in the win. He wasn’t as comfortable shooting as he wants to be, but the team has to be thrilled to have him back.

H – Hawaii. June Jones has done the move that, while not necessarily admirable, is completely understandable – he has bolted Hawaii. There is really no upside for staying – he got totally and utterly outclassed by Georgia despite going undefeated, and he’d have to break in a new QB next year. The only flaw in the plan is that he is going to SMU, and they are only marginally better positioned to be nationally relevant than the Warriors.

I – International Bowl. Rutgers won the only bowl game played outside of the U.S.. More correctly, running back Ray Rice won the game, and he brought the rest of his team along for the ride. Rice ran for a school record 280 yards and four touchdowns to lead his team by a totally outclassed Ball State team 52-30. The worst prediction I made at the start of this season – that Rice would be too beat up this year to contribute by the end of the year.

J – Jobs. The coaching carousel is spinning in the NFL, and there have been few big surprises. The best drama so far has come out of Oakland. Coach Lane Kiffin apparently tried to fire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, but Ryan has held on (because he  is very good), and now Kiffin might be vulnerable after just one year. Cam Cameron couldn’t survive more than a year in Miami. The amazing thing is that his ‘briliant’ 1-15 mind is in demand as an offensive coordinator – St. Louis and the 49ers are among the interested. What exactly would you have to do to be blacklisted in the coaching ranks? Total incompetence doesn’t seem to be enough.

K – Kansas. The Jayhawks weren’t getting much respect on the gridiron this year despite a gaudy record. Against Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl they showed that they deserved respect after all. Their offense was, not surprisingly, challenged by the Hokies, but Kansas did something out of character when they stepped up their defense and rode it to the win. That’s the fourth straight BCS loss for the Hokies.

L – LeBron. This King James guy is going to be pretty decent. The Cavs were in trouble against the Raptors, so James took his team on his back and led them to victory. He scored 24 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter (two-thirds of the team’s total scoring in the quarter) to close a 13 point deficit and win by three. The Raptors will have to spend a couple of days trying to figure out what the heck hit them.

M – Michigan. I can hardly write this because I am so excited. I expected my beloved Wolverines to get crushed lifeless by the Gators in the Capital One bowl, but I couldn’t have been  more wrong. They were creative on offense for the first time in years, their defense was solid, their pass rush was truly incredible, and Lloyd Carr gets to leave with a win. Of course, if his team had played like that in recent years he wouldn’t have had to leave.

N – New York. One thing came very clear as I watched the Giants on Sunday – I really, really hate Eli and his team. I was giddy early on when the Giants looked awful and Tampa Bay drove for an easy touchdown and the lead. that giddiness faded quickly as Manning finally played well enough in a playoff game to deserve his name, and New York won easily. Now they have to hope that the third time is lucky against the Cowboys. My guess is that it isn’t.

O – One moron. There has to be one in every group. Brett Favre has had an impressive and inspiring year, but that doesn’t justify the decision by one moron to vote for him over Tom Brady for MVP. If Brady’s numbers and accomplishments this year aren’t worthy of a unanimous MVP then no player should ever win one. The voters and their decisions really should be made public to avoid silliness like this. Not that it matters, of course.

P – Prep Race. The first Kentucky Derby prep of the season, the Hutcheson at Gulfstream, is in the books, and it didn’t go true to form. Smooth Air had won two of four, but none against top competition, and he was poorly regarded at 9/1. He launched a solid move down the stretch, though, to win by a length and move at least temporarily into the Derby picture. Two Derby winners – Spectacular Bid and Gato Del Sol – won the Hutcheson first. King of the Roxy won it last year.

Q – Quite close. North Carolina is still undefeated, but they are lucky to be so. They trailed Clemson for most of the game, were barely able to tie it up late to make it to overtime, and only won by a pair. This was another case of something we have seen a bit too much so far this year – a ridiculously talented team that doesn’t seem to have the killer instinct it will need to go all the way.

R – Rose Bowl. I’m a bit of a Big Ten apologist, but even I can’t spin Illinois’ performance (or total lack thereof) in that very boring Rose Bowl game into something positive.  The Illini looked slow, unskilled and unprepared as USC cruised to a painfully easy  victory. Everyone is now saying that USC deserved a better matchup given how they played, but I’d have much more sympathy for that argument if they had beaten Stanford. You shouldn’t get a chance at anything resembling a national title if you lose at home to a team like that.

S – Streak. We don’t bet on high school sports, and we really don’t bet on high school wrestling, but this is too impressive to ignore. Florida’s Brandon High School lost a wrestling tournament on Saturday night. That’s noteworthy because it broke a streak of 459 victories dating back to 1973. 459 wins! 1973! That was 35 freaking years ago for those of you that can’t handle the math. Unreal. That makes the Pats look like amateurs.

T – Tulsa. Either Tulsa had the most perfect game plan in the history of football for the GMAC bowl on Sunday, or Bowling Green got the date wrong and didn’t actually show up. Solid senior quarterback Paul Smith went out with a bang – 312 yards and five touchdowns – as he led his team to a ridiculously dominating 63-7 victory. Tulsa ended their year on a high note without coach Kragthorpe, and his new team, Louisville, failed to make a bowl. Who saw that coming?

U – Unlikely. There were several unlikely and impressive performances this bowl season, but none more so than Oregon. The Ducks were so beat up that they had to rely on freshman QB Justin Roper. They would have had every excuse to lay down and quit, but instead they crushed another early season success story in South Florida. Jonathan Stewart was truly special, running for 253 yards and a touchdown in what could be his final game in those incredibly ugly uniforms.

V – Vanderbilt and Villanova. I didn’t want to choose between either of these ‘V’ teams because both deserve to be here. Vanderbilt handled UMass with surprising ease on Saturday to move to 15-0. That makes them a very intriguing team heading into conference play. Villanova took advantage of Pitt mistakes on Sunday to beat the Panthers by one. Both teams should have a solid seed come tournament time.

W – West Virginia. I’m not sure which side deserves more attention – West Virginia for overcoming a world of distractions and excuses to beat Oklahoma, or the Sooners for yet again coming up short in a BCS game. The Mountaineers were impressive, but I fear that they made a terrible decision by removing the interim tag from coach Stewart. He did a great job for that game, but several assistants are going to Michigan, and the team probably needed a totally new start.

X – Xavier. Wow. That’s about all you can say for the mascots of this column. They had perhaps the toughest week any team has had all year – three games against BCS conference teams with winning records. They couldn’t have handled it better. They averaged 97 points per game, and beat Kansas State, Virginia and Auburn by an average of more than 25 points. Look out A-10.

Y – Youzhny. The tennis season started out with a shock. The fact that 19th ranked Mikhail Youzhny beat Rafael Nadal in the final of the Chennai Open isn’t a huge surprise. What is surprising is that Nadal only won one game. Nadal only held serve once en route to a decisive 6-0, 6-1 loss. Nadal certainly deserves a mulligan at this point in the season, but Federer has to be at least a bit excited about this – the only way he may win the French Open is if Nadal struggles all year.

Z – Zoom. Bowl season was full incredible displays of speed and skill by talented players, but perhaps none more impressive or unexpected than senior running back Tony Temple of Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. Temple, who had less than 800 yards rushing all year, exploded for 281 yards and four touchdowns on only 24 touches. We all knew a running back would be a big story when Arkansas play Mizzou, but few would have guessed it would have been Temple.

This is a column I do every week for Doc’s Sports. You can, and should, check them out at docsports.com for all sorts of information, insights and picks. I do a lot of writing for them.

Post from: Ultra Sports Bet

A – Avalanche. Colorado will have to do something for the next eight to 12 weeks that they haven’t had to do for quite a while – play without their captain. After three straight injury-free seasons, Joe Sakic is out for a long stretch after opting to get surgery on a hernia that wouldn’t heal. Colorado’s mired in a tight playoff race, so the loss of their leader couldn’t come at a worse time. On the other hand, the last two times Sakic missed at least 20 games the team finished third in the conference, so maybe this is just the boost the team needs.

B – Browns. I feel truly terrible for Cleveland. They did enough to win their tenth game of the year, yet they don’t get a playoff spot because Tennessee beat Indianapolis. This is why the last week of the season makes me so mad every year – Tennessee gets into the playoffs because Indy couldn’t be bothered to show up and put up some effort. I’m not sure that there’s a solution, but the status quo makes a mockery of things pretty much every year.

C – Christmas, Merry. That Chicago Bulls organization sure has the Christmas spirit – they cut coach Scott Skiles loose on Christmas Eve. What a lovely gift. It’s not that he didn’t deserve it after the horrible start and wasted talent, but the timing is certainly suspect. On the bright side, Skiles is the only guy in the NBA who got an extended break to spend time with his family over the holidays.

D – DEI. That sound you hear is Dale, Sr. rolling in his grave. As if Dale Earnhardt Inc. wasn’t already enough of a soap opera – now the much maligned 8 car has lost a crew chief. Ryan Pemberton was supposed to keep the car on the road as Mark martin and Aric Almirola, but he left before he really got started, and Doug Richert – a guy who peaked when he won a title with Dale Earnhardt 27 years ago – is the new chief. Man, it could be a long year for the team.

E – Eddie Sutton. From straight out of the ‘What the heck?!?’ file, the former Oklahoma State coach returned to coaching this week at San Francisco to get his 800th win. He only needs two wins to get to the milestone. He needs to do a lot more than that to make us forget about the ugly circumstances that led him to lead the profession just two wins away from the mark in the first place.

F – Factor. If you don’t think that a coaching change before a bowl game is a distraction for a team then you aren’t paying attention. So far Southern Miss, Houston, Texas A&M, and UCLA have all played after the coach that led them through the year has quit or been fired. All four teams have lost. That’s not a good omen for Michigan and West Virginia.

G – Georges St. Pierre. Wow. It is almost impossible for a fighter to fight any better than the Canadian did in the main event of UFC 79 when he absolutely decimated Matt Hughes. The match wasn’t close at any point leading up to the submission late in the second round. Next up, St. Pierre will likely defend his interim Welterweight title against Matt Serra in Montreal in April. The crowd there will go absolutely insane for the hometown hero.

H – Hester, Devin. This guy is ridiculously good. Chicago’s kick return superstar scored his sixth touchdown on the year on Sunday to break his own record that he set last year as a rookie. He now has 11 career kick returns for a touchdown. The league record is 13. My bet is that he’ll break it. I know, I’m a reckless gambler.

I – Ineligible? It sounds like it might be all smoke and no fire, but a report out of Arkansas this week suggested that stud running back Darren McFadden may have eligibility issues heading into the Cotton Bowl. He was seen driving a new car around town, and it may have come from an agent. He’s denying the charges, and surely he’s not that stupid, so it could all go away.

J – JaMarcus Russell. It still seems odd that we had to wait 17 weeks to see Russell make his starting debut, but he wasn’t too bad in a totally meaningless game. His 224 yards, one touchdown and one interception were not overwhelming, but he completed 23 of 31 passes, and that kind of accuracy is something that can certainly be built upon.

K – Kentucky. It will get better for the Wildcats at some point, but apparently it is going to get worse first. The latest indignity for the once-mighty squad came on Saturday when they lost at home to San Diego. Kentucky was favored by 13, but the Toreros were ahead at the half and opened the lead down the stretch. Just a guess, but Billy Gillispie probably wishes he hadn’t taken the job right about now.

L – Liddell, Chuck. On the UFC 79 undercard, the Iceman scored a big win over Wanderlei Silva. It took six years to make the match happen, and you couldn’t help but wish that the match had happened a few years sooner. It’s not that it wasn’t a good match. It’s just that it could have been so much better if the fighters were at their peak, instead of on the inevitable decline.

M – Motor City Bowl. Few people were probably very excited about the showdown between Purdue and Central Michigan when it was set, and the first half wouldn’t have changed many opinions. The second half, however, was a true classic. Behind the brilliance of QB Dan LeFevour Central Michigan rallied back from a 34-13 deficit to tie the game up twice before losing by a field goal as time expired by a basketball-like 51-48 score. It wasn’t always pretty, but it couldn’t have been more exciting. It didn’t hurt that the underdogs covered, either.

N – Neuheisel, Rick. After a painfully long and drawn out coaching search in which an impressive list of candidates refused an interview, UCLA finally ended up with a coach – one who used to be their quarterback, to boot. Here’s my bet on how it all plays out – he’ll have reasonable success for a while then do something incredibly stupid to get himself fired in disgrace. Unlike the last two times, though, this may actually be the job he can’t afford to lose.

O – Ottawa. The Senators are the second best team in the NHL, but all is not rosy in Canada’s national capital. Ray Emery is being paid like a number one goalie, and he certainly thinks he is one, but his play has been terrible. He was sent home from a road trip, and he pouted ridiculously this week – throwing sticks and screaming at practice. The team will likely get rid of Emery as soon as they can, but he could be a serious distraction until that happens.

P – Pitt. Apparently the Panthers thought that they were still on holiday. It’s not a huge disgrace to lose to Dayton – a solid team in the A-10 that already has a win over Louisville. It is, however, a gigantic disgrace to lose to Dayton, or anyone else, by 25 when are the sixth ranked team in the country. It was a very costly loss – guard Levance Fields broke his foot and will miss the rest of the season. That comes just a week after Mike Cook went down for the year with a knee injury.

Q – QB changes. If it seems as if there has been a ridiculous number of starting quarterbacks in the NFL this year, it’s because there has been. Three more starters answered the call this week, lifting the total on the year to a record breaking 64 different starters. That compares unfavorably to the 50 starters last year. Eleven teams stuck to a single pivot, but ten had to try at least three, and Carolina and San Francisco used four each. Pretty pathetic.

R – Ray Allen. Seattle’s former favorite son made his first return to play the Sonics since he was shipped out of town. Given that the Celtics are on fire and Seattle really isn’t, it comes as no surprise that Boston won easily. The script wasn’t quite out of Hollywood, though – it was Paul Pierce and his season high 37 points, and not Allen, that led the team to the win. Maybe if Allen had scored more than 10 measly points his team would have covered.

S – Streak. I don’t know how they keep doing it, but the Trail Blazers seem to have forgotten how to lose. Portland won their 13th straight game on Sunday when they blew out Philadelphia. More impressive than the winning streak is the fact that bettors haven’t seemed to buy into the streak – the team has covered in 12 of the 13 wins.

T – Tigers. Memphis is very much for real. John Calipari’s boys won their second consecutive big game on Saturday when they beat Arizona almost as easily as they beat Georgetown the week before. Memphis is in fine form, and they likely only need to get past Gonzaga and Tennessee to end the year undefeated. The way they are playing that seems increasingly likely.

U – Unbeaten. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t particularly entertaining, but it was pretty impressive to see history made when New England finished off the undefeated season on Saturday night. The game wasn’t as close as the three point margin would indicate, and it was proof that New England is deadly when their back is against the wall. My favorite part was seeing Brady hit Moss for a very long touchdown just one play after Moss had dropped a pass on exactly the same route.

V – Vinny. Mr. Testaverde has retired at the young age of only 44. After a rousing start to the season when returning to action with Carolina following a start to the season that found him on his coach at home, Vinny looked more and more each week like what he is – an old man in football terms. If you’re a fan of the former Heisman winner, fear not – he’ll be back next year at some point. You can’t kill Vinny.

W – Wisconsin. The Badgers served notice that they intend to be a legitimate Big Ten contender this year with their upset of Texas. It wasn’t exactly a dominating victory – a late three pointer and a stolen inbound pass gave them a one point victory – but the fact that Wisconsin traveled to Austin to get the win should certainly open some eyes. Winning the Big Ten is not going to be an easy feat this year.

X – Xavier. It was an easy week for the mascots of the column – they came just one point short of doubling up Delaware State. It’s good news that they had a bit of a rest, because they need all of their energy for a challenging stretch of games over the next week – Kansas State, Virginia and Auburn. Auburn should be an easier game than it otherwise would have been – Kovotney Barber, the forward who was leading the nation in field goal shooting, broke his hand this week and will miss at least a month.

Y – Yikes. I know that you can’t bet on women’s college basketball, but this story is too crazy to ignore. Wayne, Michigan beat Temple Baptist reasonably handily on Saturday. If you call 132-13 a handy win, that is. The score was 38-0 before Temple Baptist broke the goose egg, and 76-8 at the half. What a gem.

Z – Zzzzz. With the exception of Saturday night’s game, this week’s NFL action sucked. I’d write more about it, but I’m only barely awake. The playoffs have to be better. They can’t be any worse.

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