Short Outs

There are some columnists complaining about all of the hype surrounding the Colts/Patriots clash this weekend. Why? The unbeaten defending Super Bowl champion is playing an unbeaten intra-conference rival most people have picked to win it all. New England looks unstoppable and the winner of this game could finish the season with a perfect record. The only problem with this game is that it should be moved the prime time spot. You can’t hype this game enough. The two best teams in football are going head to head.

Barry Bonds issued a half-hearted threat: If the asterisk-emblazoned 756 ball ends up enshrined in the Hall of Fame, he won’t go. Then he qualified his remark and said that he’s simply expressing how he feels now but that in five years he might change his mind…so Barry did leave wiggle room for his ego. Barry also talked about history and records and stated that you can’t put an asterisk in baseball. Well Mark Ecko proved that you can. He seared a big red one into that record-breaking ball and everybody knows it. The fans have spoken, Barry. You’re a liar, a cheater and a jerk.

Am I the only person who doesn’t give a flying F**K about Joe Torre? Can we stop the pity party? The fact of the matter is that Torre was overpaid and overrated. The Yankees offered him a very generous contract to come back next year and they were not out of line by including incentives. I hate the Yankees and think that George Steinbrenner is an enormous ass who raised two sons to be even worse but the man isn’t spending twice as much as anybody in baseball to lose in the ALDS. Joe Torre didn’t get the job done.

Is Ohio State the best team in the country? Yes. I didn’t think so a few weeks ago but after clobbering Penn State 37-17 in Beaver Stadium the Buckeyes proved their point. Nobody can make a stronger case for the top ranking in the country. The SEC has been enjoying a lot of respect this year but the Big 10 proved to be rather formidable against the SEC in head to head competition this past January. Wisconsin and Penn State defeated their vaunted SEC opponents in convincing fashion and Florida’s win over Ohio State didn’t raise as many eyebrows as Ohio State’s soft performance did. The Big 10 is still a football powerhouse and at this point in the season Ohio State’s record is worthy of respect. There’s still football left to be played and Ohio State will have to avoid looking ahead to its finale against Michigan but until the Buckeyes go out and prove otherwise they’re the team to beat.

In case you missed it, the NHL and NBA both opened their seasons. You don’t have to pay attention yet, but mark your calendar to check the standings after the Super Bowl. Your favorite team might be playoff bound.

Were you surprised to see the Red Sox sweep the Rockies? Yeah? You’re an idiot. The Red Sox were better in every facet of the game. The Rockies ran off an impressive winning streak at the end of the season but they did it in the National League. Money talks people. The Red Sox spent a lot of money picking apart small market teams in free agency. Unlike the Yankees, the Red Sox guessed right on their purchases and it paid off. Your first clue that the Sox would win was in the 100 million dollar disparity in payroll. Duh.

Speaking of exercises in futility, who’s your Heisman favorite? Don’t tell me another Boston College QB is going to win it on the strength of one miraculous performance. Can anybody recall a more wide open race? Perhaps we could if the media would stop picking the front runners right after the previous season’s trophy is handed out. Darren McFadden was crowned as this year’s winner last December but a funny thing happened on the way to the podium, he played another season. Now everybody’s confused because the best players in college football weren’t on the short list of contenders. The solution? Stop making short lists! Let the players play a few games before we start worrying about who will hoist the Heisman albatross…I mean trophy.