Friday Tidbits - 11/17/06

It's Friday. That means it's payday for many, Casual Friday for some, and Friday's Tidbit time for my faithful readers.


I'll start with the NFL. Congress is looking into the NFL Network's plans to air live games starting on Thanksgiving. I ask myself, why is Congress wasting their time and our money on this, and if there are valid reasons, why wait until a week before the Thanksgiving game (Denver vs. KC by the way)? NFC East running backs took a beating last week. Clinton Portis broke his hand and Tiki broke his thumb. It appears Tiki will fight through his injury, while CP and his many personalities take a spot on the shelf for the year. Trent Green is getting his gig back. Damon Huard did a great job in relief. If the Chiefs would have beat Miami last week, I bet Huard would be starting this week. Another disaster out of Garrard and Leftwich may be found suddenly healthy by Jack Del Rio. Apparently the Patriots need someone to buy beer for the younger players as they have signed Vinny Testaverde. I don't know if it's a common practice to have a player that's older than the head coach and the owner, but the Patriots can check that off their list. Testaverde is eligible for Social Security next year so don't think this is a long term arrangement. It appears Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander are close to returning. Do they become the NFC favorites again when they get up to speed? The hoopla this week will be surrounding the Colts-Cowboys game. ESPN must be falling all over themselves for this matchup. They always have to start a broadcast by telling us what's happening in Dallas, what MeO had for breakfast, and how long it took for him to digest it. They also love the undefeated run the Colts are having again. They'll be in their full glory when MeO takes on Archie's boy.


I'll skip to MLB only because of the buzz surrounding my beloved Red Sox. The Red Sox dropped a cool $51.1 million for the chance to speak with Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Seibu Lions. My memory can be fuzzy at times, just ask my wife, but I seem to recall the Red Sox saying they didn't have the money to compete with the Yankees last year when they failed to do ANYTHING to help their team before the trading deadline. On top of the $51.1 Matsuzaka could get around $10 million per year for four or five years. If I dot the i and carry the one, I put Matsuzaka at roughly $20 million per year to take the mound every five days. I realize they will probably make money in merchandising, advertising, and TV rights, but that sure seems like a lot of money for a team that was supposedly trying to live on a smaller budget. Could they have signed Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt for the same amount? Dan Patrick brought up an interesting point. Maybe they are going to lowball Matsuzaka so they won't be willing to make a deal. Then the Sox are off the hook for the $51 million, he can't sign with another team for a year, the Yankees or Mets can't have him this year, and they can focus on signing other free agents. Hanley Ramirez and Jason Verlander won Rookies of the Year in their respective leagues. If you recall (Baseball Awards) I pegged both ROYs in October. Brandon Webb took home the NL selection (I was hoping Trevor Hoffman would bring home the hardware). His 16 wins aren't overly impressive, but the starting pitching in the NL was far from dominant this past year. Johan Santana took home his second Cy Young after a brilliant season. I feel it should be his third straight Cy, but they don't give me a vote. Punks. Despite not having a gig, Joe Girardi took home the Manager of the Year in the NL. He's just waiting for the right job opening. In the AL, Jim Leyland beat out Ron Gardenhire. I think Gardy deserved it a touch more because of the pitching injuries he had to overcome. He had a lot less to work with than Leyland had. Punto, Tyner, Bartlett, etc. Not striking fear in anyone's hearts. Despite signing free agent busts like Rondell White and Tony Batista, Twins GM Terry Ryan took home the Major League Exec of the Year award. His trade of A.J. Pierzynski to the Giants for All-Star closer Joe Nathan, next year's #2 starter Boof Bonser, and Francisco Liriano, who finished third in ROY voting despite an elbow injury that will cost him half of this year and all of next year clearly helped Ryan's cause. Drafting catching stud Joe Mauer also helped. Not bad for a guy with champagne tastes on a beer budget.


Darius Miles had surgery on his knee and he'll miss the remainder of the year. He truly is the Bizzaro Kevin Garnett. They look very similar, KG is always healthy while Miles is always hurt, and KG never gets into trouble while Miles occasionally finds himself there. NBA's ironman Kenyon Martin is also out for the year. He has five years, $66 million left on his contract. At that rate he earned $6.6 million a game for the two games he logged this year. Not a bad gig if you can get it. Mr. Moustache Adam Morrison scored a career high 27 points Wednesday night. No word on whether he cried afterwards. Joking aside, it is nice to see someone play with the passion that Morrison plays with. Milwaukee forward Charlie Villanueva is on the shelf for 4-6 weeks with an elbow injury. The second year forward out of UConn was off to another good start. Chris Webber has been benched for the entire 4th quarter two of the seven games this year. He is scoring half his career average. Is this the beginning of the end or does he need a new home? I'm guessing a little bit of both. Baron Davis had one of the best games of this young season Thursday night. He scored 38 points, grabbed 8 boards, and handed out 18 assists. Pretty impressive game. A quick look at the standings shows Utah leading the way with a 7-1 record. San Antonio and Cleveland are next best at 6-2. The Hornets and Warriors are early surprises at 6-3. A look at the leaders shows Michael Redd leading the league in scoring at 31.3/gm (no doubt his 57 point eruption helped vault him to the top), Chris Bosh leads in rebounding at 13.9/gm, and Steve Nash leads with 10.9 assists/gm.


In the NHL a judge ruled that Evgeni Malkin could stay with the Penguins. No word on whether "possession is nine-tenths of the law" was muttered during the arbitration. It would be a lot cooler if it was. Florida's Olli Jokinen scored a hat trick in a 5-1 victory over Montreal Thursday night. The NHL announced a deal with YouTube to show video clips of NHL games. Looks like the NHL is going after a younger audience. This is a smart move for both parties. The NHL's reigning goal scoring champion Jonathan Cheechoo left Wednesday's contest between San Jose and Colorado. No word yet as to how long he'll be out. A peek at the standings and you'll see Buffalo still leading the way with 31 points. Anaheim is next with 30. San Jose (28.), Atlanta (27), and Toronto (26) make up the top 5. Marian Hassa still leads the league in scoring with 31. Jaromir Jagr is right behind with 30 points. Hoss is your goal leader and Jagr is your assist leader. Dominik Hasek leads the league with a 1.76 GAA. Ray Emery (only 6 starts) is next at 1.88 followed by Marty Turco at 1.92. Leading all rookies in scoring is Anze Kopitar with 17 points. Malkin is on his heels with 15.


In college football there is really only one game this weekend. Bowling Green vs. Toledo. Oh wait, #2 Michigan travels to #1 Ohio State. The winner can punch their invite to the National Title game. If it's close, the loser has a chance of a rematch with higher stakes. There are actually some other good games this weekend. #4 USC takes on #17 Cal, #10 Louisville takes on 7-3 South Florida, #14 Wake Forest takes on #19 Virginia Tech, and #20 BC faces #21 Maryland. Last week's upsets: #3 Louisville lost to #15 Rutgers, #4 Texas lost to Kansas State, #5 Auburn got crushed by Georgia, #8 Cal got beat by Arizona, and #24 Texas A&M lost to Nebraska. Joe Paterno may be back at Beaver Stadium for their game against Michigan State. He won't be roaming the sidelines, but hopefully he'll be able to call some plays from a press box. Not taking a hint from Bob Barker, JoePa will be back on the sidelines next year despite turning 80.


The college basketball season has slowly started rolling. I must take this time to thank Bobby Knight for popping me in the chin so I could focus on finishing this entry. His former team got off to a rocky start when Butler beat Indiana in the NIT Season Tip-Off. Preseason All-American Tyler Hansbrough got off to a nice start by scoring 29 points on 11 of 14 shooting. #3 Kansas must have thought it was NCAA tourney time. They got upset by Oral Roberts. Either that or they thought they were going to the dentist and didn't prepare. #19 Texas fell to an unranked Michigan State team. At 4-0 now, the Spartans will be ranked soon enough. USC scored a huge victory when O.J. Mayo signed a national letter of intent to be a Trojan. He has played varsity basketball since he was 13.

That concludes the Tidbits. As always, feel free to add any stories you liked this week in sports or discuss any of the stories I mentioned. Thanks again for supporting my blog.