Friday Tidibits - 12/8/06

You've waited patiently all week for the Tidbits. Wait no longer.

The Jay Cutler Experience didn't go as well as Shanahan would have liked. I don't know about you, but I was glad it blew up in his face. Why you make a change at Quarterback while you're in the playoff hunt is beyond me. Heck, even Chicago is sticking with Rex Grossman despite his horrific play of late. Clinton Portis went under the knife this week to repair his broken wing. He should be good to go next season. Brett Favre may also have to have surgery this offseason on his ankle. I'm sure we'll hear plenty about that this summer. Vince Young has taken the NFL by storm. Many questioned his mechanics and intelligence heading into the draft. He has showed everyone that he has the poise and the "it" factor to succeed in this league. Hats of to VY. Jake Delhomme has ligament damage in his thumb. He injured it early in the MNF game. He played pretty well despite the injury. If you read my Fantasy Football Forum entry on Tuesday you know I wish he would have left the game when he got hurt. I have to commend his toughness, but I would be breathing easier this week if he just gave into the pain on Monday. Vikings coach Brad Childress is being coy about naming a starting quarterback against the Lions. Hey, Brad. Your team sucks. Detroit's even worse. Nobody cares if you bring Fran Tarkenton in to lead your team. Willie Parker had his way with the Cleveland run defense to the tune of a Steelers' record 223 yards on Thursday night. It's the second time he's eclipsed the 200 yard barrier this season. Pretty impressive work.

The shopping spree has continued in MLB. The Red Sox ponied up $70 million to J.D. Drew for five years (ahem...overpaid) and $36 million for Julio Lugo. Jason Schmidt is moving down the coast from SF to LA for $47 million over three years. Greg Maddux is getting $10 million to pitch for San Diego next year. The A's landed Mike Piazza. It makes sense for Piazza to play in the AL. He can DH and handle the occasional catcher duty. They A's are hoping he can replace Frank Thomas, who departed to Toronto earlier. Thomas received a one year $8.5 million deal. Andy Pettitte will be back next year, but he hasn't decided where he's going to pitch. I'm guesing a return to the Yankees. Moths flew out KC's wallet as the Royals signed Gil Meche to a five year $55 million deal. The White Sox traded Freddy Garcia to the Phillies for Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez. Barry B*nds is coming back to steal the record from Hank Aaron. The Giants feel it's worth $16 million to have a side show all season. Mark my words. The Giants have just been eliminated from playoff contention with this signing. I was hoping if he would be blackballed, but I'll have to ask Santa for something else. The Cardinals supposedly expressed interest in baseball's most notorious steroid abuser before the signing, but I'm guessing it was a ploy by his agent. My guess is their thoughts were LaRussa has had McGwir* and Cansec*, so what's one more cheat? In positive news, my brother (not really) Jon Lester is cancer-free.

In hoops, the tyrant David Stern shocked the heck out of me. His quote "But if our players are unhappy with it, we have to analyze to the nth degree the cause of their unhappiness. Everything is on the table. I'm not pleased, but I'm realistic. We've got to do the right thing here. And, of course, the right thing is to listen to our players. Whether it's a day late or not, we're dealing with this." surprised me, but this one "In hindsight, we could have done a better job. I take responsibility for that." nearly floored me. Is our little tyrant turning over a new leaf? I doubt it, but it is refreshing for him to take a step down from his self-appointed pedestal for a change. Steve Nash didn't seem to mind the new ball when he dished out 20 assists Tuesday night. When he is rolling, he gets everyone involved making the Suns hard to beat. Stephen Jackson is going to have to stand trial for his roll in the OK Corral shootout at a strip club. He's facing a felony charge of criminal recklessness and misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct. Kings forward Maurice Taylor did his Bob Marley impression. The league didn't look to kindly upon it. They suspended the pot smoker for five games for his third marijuana violation. U.S. House of Representatives honored the late Red Auerbach by passing The Auerbach Resolution. Want to feel old? Larry Bird turned 50 this week. Want a reminder of what the league used to be like? The Suns dropped the Nets 161-157 in double overtime. Steve Nash fired in 42 points. Jason Kidd made his fantasy owners proud with his 78th career triple-double. His 38 points, 14 rebounds, and 14 assists were pretty darn impressive. Ray Allen will be on the shelf for a while with a bone bruise in his ankle. The top three records in the league are Utah (15-4), San Antonio (14-5), and Orlando (14-6). New Jersey and Toronto share the lead of the Atlantic division at 7-11. That's a .389 winning percentage. Dreadful. Carmelo Anthony is back in the lead with 32.2 pts/gm, while Howard (13.5 rb/gm) and Nash (10.8 a/g) maintain their rebounding and assist leads.

In hockey, Scott Niedermayer leads the league in All-Star voting. Joe Nieuwendyk ended his 20 year career this week because of back pain. He leaves with 1126 (564 goals and 562 assists) career points. Buffalo's Daniel Briere netted his first career hat trick this week. The Edmonton Oilers are going to retire Mark Messier's number next year. It will be fitting because they will be playing Gretzky's Coyotes when they hang his #11 in the rafters. In other number retiring news, the Blues retired Brett Hull's #16 this week. Martin Brodeur tied Eddie Balfour with his 461st victory between the pipes. Only Patrick Roy's 551 wins are greater. A quick look at the standing shows Anaheim (48 points), Buffalo (44), Atlanta (40), and San Jose (40) as the top teams. Marian Hassa and Jaromir Jagr are tied with 41 points apiece. Hossa and Brendan Shanahan have the most goals with 21 each. Jagr's 28 assists are a league high. Dominik Hasek is the only sub-2.00 GAA goalie at 1.88. "Being" Evgeni Malkin leads all rookies with 25 points.

In college football, USC dropped the ball and blew their National Championship hopes. Florida leapfrogged Michigan to take a run at Ohio State. Michigan loses out on the BCS game, but will face USC in the Rose Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl matches up Oklahoma and unbeaten Boise State. Louisville and Wake Forest meet in the Orange Bowl. Finally, the Sugar Bowl pits Notre Dame (ahem overrated) against LSU. Bernie Kosar is throwing his hat in the ring for the Miami head coaching position. Maybe he should get some coaching experience before he takes on one of the nation's most prestigous programs. The Cleveland Browns want to name him their president. Again, a little experience would probably help. Too bad for Bernie, Randy Shannon is taking the gig. We will soon know who the 2006 Heisman winner is. The choices are Ohio State's Troy Smith, Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, and Arkansas Running Back Darren McFadden. Brady Quinn took home the Maxwell Award (Outstanding Player). Troy Smith took home the Walter Camp Award (Player of the Year). Darren McFadden took home the Doak Walker Award (Best Running Back). They all have an award to be proud of, but I'd be shocked if Troy Smith doesn't bring home college football's biggest award. Other award winners are Patrick Willis - Ole Miss (Dick Butkus Award - Best Linebacker), Joe Thomas - Wisconsin (Outland Trophy - Best Interior Lineman), Paul Posluszny - Penn State (Chuck Bednarik Award - Defensive Player of the Year), Troy Smith (Davey O'Brien Award - Best QB), Calvin Johnson - Ga Tech (Fred Biletnikoff Award - Best WR), Aaron Ross - Texas (Jim Thorpe Award - Best DB), Matt Spaeth - Minnesota (John Mackey Award - Best TE), Art Carmody - Louisville (Lou Groza Award - Besk K), James Laurinaitis - Ohio St (Bronko Nagurski Award - Defensive Player of the Year), Daniel Sepulveda - Baylor (Ray Guy Award - Best Punter), and Dan Mozes - W Virginia (Rimington Trophy - Best Center).

In college hoops, Ohio State center Greg Oden has arrived. He would have been the #1 pick in the NBA draft if there wasn't an age limit. In his first game, he went 3-4 from the field, 8-15 from the charity stripe for 14 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and blocked 5 shots. He shot his free throws lefty because his right wrist was still bothering him. Here I thought Shaq taught him to shoot free throws when I read the box score. Role Model Bob Knight tied Adolph Rupp for 2nd on the all-time wins list with his 876th victory. He's three short of Dean Smith. Since the last tidbits, Depaul knocked off #5 Kansas, North Dakota State beat #9 Marquette, #10 Duke beat #23 Georgetown, #22 Wichita State beat #14 Syracuse (boo), #21 Gonzaga beat #25 Texas, Florida State beat #4 Florida, Notre Dame beat #19 Maryland, Miami beat #24 Georgia Tech, #11 LSU beat #6 Texas A&M, Washington State beat #18 Gonzaga, #24 Oklahoma State beat #21 Syracuse (boo hoo), Tennessee beat #17 Memphis, and Notre Dame stunned #5 Alabama. Good matchups this weekend are #1 UCLA vs. #6 Texas A&M, #8 Washington vs. #18 Gonzaga in a battle of Washington, and #12 Wisconsin vs. #20 Marquette to see who reigns supreme in the Land of Cheese.

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.