the colts will only score points from their kicker, while grossmans offense will struggle, and the defense of the bears is what will carry the team over the colts by 9

K-Will backs off statement.....sort of

In a busy off-season that has seen him trade 17-game winner Freddy Garcia to the Phillies and his likely rotation replacement Brandon McCarthy to the pitching depleted Rangers, always controversial White Sox general manager Kenny Williams backed off a statement he made in December about overpaying for average pitching......well, sort of.

In December as MLB teams overpaid for average to below-average pitching, cough Gil Meche cough, K-Will made a statement about his recent moves that brought in several young pitching prospects so he could avoid overpaying those pitchers. When asked if the trades were unpopular with fans, Williams responded:

"But you know what would be more unpopular? It would be if we did nothing and got old and got too expensive and then had to go scrounging for leftover talent and overpaying for mediocre talent."

Well, apparently Sox southpaw Mark Buehrle didn't appreciate the comments and assumed that his playing days with the South Siders would come to an end once his contract ran out at the end of the 2007 season. Williams had a sit-down with Buehrle although he never apologized for what he said, just that he said it in public. Wasn't that nice of him? Either way, the two seem to be on the same page now.

Buehrle had his worst MLB season in 2006 as he compiled a 12-13 record with a 4.99 ERA. Blame overworking during the World Series championship 2005 season, arm mechanics, batters figuring out his tricky style, whatever, it doesn't matter. The Sox need Buehrle, and if he rebounds this season, he'll be due a big pay-day.

But K-Will's comments bring up an interesting point. Sure, the market is set for overpaying pitchers, but does that mean teams should pay for those crazy salaries? I know, stupid question, teams need pitching. So is Williams insane or a genius for trading one big-game pitcher in Garcia and an unproven but highly thought of pitcher in McCarthy?

I'll hold judgement for now, but Williams and Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will need some of those recently arrived young pitching prospects to step up if the 2007 Sox plan to contend in a loaded AL Central. But here's the question that MLB and fans will have to answer in the coming years? Baseball is as popular as ever, but will it keep up? With these bloated salaries, only time will tell. And just to say it again, $55 million for Gil Meche?!

Who?

After Duke University sophomore David McClure made the game winning shot in their 68-66 win over Clemson, ESPN personality Erin Andrews wrapped up an interview with the hero by saying, "Thanks Mike." She only got his name wrong that once though . . .

Highly overshadowed by other teammates, McClure finally had his moment of glory. The buzzer-beating shot was highly controversial due to a clock reset that even Duke fans find a little sketchy. After a painful Duke turnover with 5 seconds left, Clemson inbounded the ball and Clemson's game scoring leader, Vernon Hamilton, hit a clutch three-pointer, quieting all of Cameron Indoor. The game clock had not started when the ball was inbounded and the officials had the clock restored to 4.4 seconds. This would allow only .6 seconds for Hamilton to get the shot off . . . ya right.

Duke's Jon Scheyer summed up the game's ending.

"That's about as crazy as it gets."

Unfortunately, this gives all those Duke haters out there more ammunition in their ludicrous claim that the ACC officials favor Duke. But if we think about this from a logical perspective, it becomes obvious that with less game time, the brilliant Coach Krzyzewski would have used a different strategy that took less time to win the game (eg. last year's win against Virginia Tech). And even if that didn't happen, the game still would have gone into overtime, allowing for Duke's solid defense and unequivocal offensive strategies to take out Clemson in OT.

Duke had a 40-24 rebounding advantage over Clemson allowing for 19 second chance, most coming from Duke's big man, Josh McRoberts, who ended the game with 17 points. David McClure finished with eight points and six boards. But stats are not what everyone is talking about. I have never had so many hateful voicemails.

Poor Duke. So many haters out there.

Serena gives a Clinic in the final.

Guess who's back? Serena Williams was not only the solitaire American in the singles finals of the Australian Open (men and women), she got the title without blinking. Serena captured the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup by defeating Russian Number 1 seed Maria Sharapova.

After holding serve in the first game and then breaking Maria's serve twice in the first set, Williams put herself in position to control the match. Serena played very solid tennis to make her way to the 6-1 6-2 victory.
After the match Williams declared:

"when I'm playing well, it's difficult for anyone to beat me...because I have a unique style."

ESPN's writer Pam Shriver thinks that this win by Serena Williams could be ranked as the major surprise of William's career because of the authority and level of game that she showed in the final. I think it's more surprising to see that Serena only played 4 events on 2006 due to an injury on the knee, she was out of shape because of the injury, and still having the emotions of losing her sister because she was murdered on 2003; and then overcome everything and hug the trophy.

Serena entered the tournament ranked 81, she became the first unseeded champion in 29 years. After this week Serena will jump to the top 20 in the rankings and her expectations will be higher for next tournament.

New Orleans Saints~Tough Year

Although the New Orleans Saints took a loss on Sunday's game against the Chicago bears with the score of 39 to 14. This game is sending the Chicago Bears to face the Indianapolis Colts in Superbowl XLI !

The city of New Orleans in still suffering from the hurricane that wiped away many of their lives. In an article at espn.com it discusses the feelings of New Orleans Saints fans after watching their team loose the NFC Championship.

One citizen of the New Orleans area made a comment that stands out. Yes they are upset that the team lost but their true feeling show through.

"I'm going to the airport," he announced. "They brought hope to this city
when nobody else could. The mayor sucks. The governor sucks. The legislature
sucks. The president sucks. The only thing that doesn't suck is that team. They
brought hope to this city, and I'm going to the airport."

The town stands by their team. As the city walks the streets standing in the rain, supporting their home team. The team that stood by them through all their tough times. The welcomed home the team by standing outside in the cold night. Sean Payton made a comment in an Associated Press article,

"It was cold and wet, and the reception we received, I know everyone felt
very grateful," he said. "Their resolve and loyalty to this team is
certainly felt throughout this locker-room and the organization."

The team is upset about the loss but the town proven that they are behind their team one hundred percent. Just like the team was behind them through the horrible tragedy that they all suffered.

The Super Bowl Shuffle

Well, they're baaaaack. It's been 21 long years, but Sunday afternoon the Chicago Bears defeated the New Orleans Saints 39-14 to advance to the Super Bowl. Bears' quarterback Rex Grossman didn't have a great game by any stretch of the imagination. But he also did not commit a single turnover and was 6-for-6 passing down a crucial stretch of the game.

After all was said and done, Grossman's overall statistics...or lack thereof...didn't seem to bother any of the Bears' players, including star linebacker Brian Urlacher.

When we asked him to do it, he has. He's a winner. I don't know what his career record is, I don't care what his stats are, he's a winner.

But we can't ignore the AFC champion either, as much as I'd like to. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts finally dethroned pretty boy Tom Brady and the Patriots. Their 18-point rally will go down as one of the best playoff feats ever and it's in large part to Manning and his poise in the pocket.

Now, even though this year's Super Bowl won't include the beloved Saints or Patriots, it will include two teams with incredibly athletic defenses, good running games and ...uh...strong-throwing quarterbacks? I guess there really aren't many similarities between the Bears and Colts at all other than the fact that they both live and die by their quarterbacks and defense.

It will be interesting to see how the two teams match up against each other though. Each team has all the momentum in the world coming into the game and each has an incredible fan base backing them, especially on this campus. I don't know who the winner will be two weeks from now in Miami, but I do know that this campus will be the place to be for the Super Bowl.

So I'll pose this question to all you Colts fans out there: do the Bears stand a chance against Peyton Manning? Or will they be doing a new version of the Super Bowl Shuffle two weeks from now?

The "Fourth" Sport

The NHL can't get anything to go their way, can they? The league loses its entire 2004-05 season to a strike. Despite rules changes that make the game far more entertaining, they basically lose the entire 2005-06 season because most of America couldn't watch the games (owing to the league's truly STUPID decision to put themselves on the Outdoor Life Network, which promptly changed its name to Versus after last season). Now, in 2006-07, even more controversy reigns.

Slate.com's Daniel Engber penned a fascinating story the other day which highlights the ne'er-do-well atmosphere that seems to permeate the NHL's landscape. According to the article, the NHL's All-Star voting for this year's game turned into a complete debacle, when a grass-roots write-in campaign for little known Vancouver defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick turned into a war between self-proclaimed computer geeks trying to rig the system and the NHL offices, who risked the embarrassment of a nondescript player gaining a spot in one of the league's showcase events.

Meanwhile, the league's most marketable young star, forward Sidney Crosby, is stuck on a financially decrepit team that can't get an arena deal done and is in constant danger of moving to parts unknown --- whether it's Hamilton, Kansas City, or Sheboygan. While franchise instability is hardly limited to the NHL, no other league seems to be as distracted by the financial health of its franchises. Heck, the Colts were in real danger of moving to Los Angeles for the first part of this decade, yet the story was effectively kept on the back burner until Indianapolis announced a new stadium deal.

And, as ESPN.com's Damien Cox pointed out recently, the Penguins aren't the only team in sport purgatory. Cox's living autopsy on the Florida Panthers contained this sad (yet accurate) portrayal of the team:

This is, arguably, the NHL's weakest link, a team that was once very popular playing out of the bandbox Miami Arena when a hail of plastic rats meant the home team had scored but now lives in virtual seclusion somewhere near, but not too near, Fort Lauderdale.

Despite all the bad press, the biggest tragedy for the NHL in all of this is that very few people seem to care. That, more than franchise instability or All-Star voting problems, is the largest hurdle the NHL has to overcome.

8 Player Deal

The AP reported Wednesday that the Golden State Warriors and the Indiana Pacers engaged in an eight-player deal.

The Pacers sent Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Sarunas Jasikevicius, and Josh Powell to the Warriors in exchange for Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Ike Diogu, and Keith McLeod.

This could be a hit-or-miss trade for both teams. Each side gets players who are underachieving (i.e. everyone listed above). However, all of the players aside from Jasikevicius are in their 20s and could play at a higher level after changing coaches and systems. Murphy's been good before - he averaged a double-double for a season three times - but he and Dunleavy hardly seem worth their ridiculous contracts. Diogu's the best acquisition of this deal for the Pacers.

The Warriors were the runner ups in the Harrington sweepstakes during the off season, and Don Nelson wanted to get rid of Dunleavy and Murphy. This trade seems to be good for them, though I'm not sure why anyone would voluntarily take Stephen Jackson. If he can manage to get into trouble in Indianapolis, I'm interested to see how long it will be before he has an incident in Oakland. Harrington's easily the best player involved in this trade right now, but he really never seems to get significantly better from year to year. Furthermore, the new Pacers - Diogu especially - could turn things around and become good players again.

I am a Pacers fan, and I like this trade. I'm not too disappointed to see Harrington go because I didn't think it was that big of a move to bring him back in the first place. He's really not that good. I love that the deal sends Stephen Jackson to the other side of the country. Murphy and Dunleavy could work - Dunleavy seems to have nowhere to go but up and that's not a compliment - but the most notable player for the Pacers is Diogu. Remember what happened when they traded a former All-Star in Dale Davis to Portland for Jermaine O'neal when Jermaine was in a situation comparable to Diogu's in Golden State. O'neal started getting playing time and started making an impact.

Drugs

Surprise, surprise...according to a investigative piece by the New York Daily News, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds tested positive for amphetamines last season. Barry, being the stand-up guy that he is, blamed it on a teammate.

The teammate, utility player Mark Sweeney, was apparently rather shocked about the whole incident. As was reported in the story:

"Mark was made aware of the fact that his name had been brought up," Sweeney's agent Barry Axelrod told the Daily News. "But he did not give Barry Bonds anything, and there was nothing he could have given Barry Bonds."

According to the AP, Bonds will not be suspended, since this is his first offense.

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