Spurious thoughts and idle musings from the world of sports ...Oh no, here we go again ... The Annual Brett Favre Un-Re-Un-Re-Retirement Rumorfest Circus Maximus and Amalgamated Media Feeding Frenzy might be (is) back. A year ago, Jet Favre was a fun novelty act but down the stretch his poor play got Jets coach Eric Mangini whacked. This time around the Vikes are the hot whisper. All I can say to Brad Childress is be careful, coach. Your seat is hot enough already and he's not the Holy Grail anymore. Choose wisely, Brad.A 51-1 longshot, Mine That Bird, won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Man, that was a sweet ride by jockey Calvin Borel. The spectacular overhead blimp shots showed Borel steering MTB along the rail until they busted out and just flew home. And as The Bird crossed the finish line with the win, for just a brief second or two, I swear you could hear the sound of 150,000 betting slips being torn up.Because of the new swine flu outbreak, soccer games in Mexico are still being played but the gates are locked and fans aren't allowed in. Pro soccer games in front of empty stands? Well then, I guess that's one more thing we've exported to Mexico.Hold the phones, I think we have a winner ... Or at least an early front runner for Dumbest New Made-Up Sports Word of the Year. Bolts LB Shawne Merriman, unplugged last season by a knee injury, is stirring up his anger to recharge his "Lights Out" act so that everybody will know he's back. And to all his doubters, Shawne's got just this to say ... "My footballhood has been questioned. That is worse than questioning someone's manhood." Great, glad we got that settled. My bloghood thanks you.Speaking of rumors, another good one that won't go away is the notion of playing a future Super Bowl in London. London, England, the UK, Great Britain, that is. You know, it's really not that bad an idea. I mean, seriously, would you rather see the Supe go back to Jacksonville? But if the big game does go to London, we will need some guarantees ... They can't make both teams wear all white, no strawberries and cream in the press box and above all, no curtsies to the Ye Olde Royal Luxury Suite. And we get to pick the halftime act too. So you can tell Oasis not to even bother.Rest in peace, Jack Kemp.See ya next time.
Spurious thoughts and idle musings from the world of sports ...Derby Day is almost here. "The Fastest Two Minutes In Sports" or as we like to call it ... "The Only Two Minutes When Anybody Gets Excited About Horse Racing Anymore" ... is always a great show. From the rich ladies wearing UFO hats and Jackie O sunglasses to the bourbon-soaked infield party to the wild bump-and-grind of a 20-pack of frisky 3-year-olds going a mile and a quarter, the Kentucky Derby is grand theater bluegrass-style. Recession be damned, it's mint julep time. Anybody know how to make one ???Just a hunch but New Orleans coach Byron Scott might want to update his resume. C'mon, it doesn't take a genius to see that Scott's lost his team. Game 4 says it all ... Nuggets 121, Hornets 63. Okay, so a 58 point loss ties the NBA record for worst ever playoff beatdown but sometimes a game gets out of hand, right ??? Try telling that to the home crowd. Yeah, that spankjob was down on the Pontchartrain. Folks, those are rollover minutes right there. Bon soir, Byron.Man, I thought my teams were the only ones who went down hard in the playoffs. But the New Jersey Devils aren't my guys and yes, that was them with a one goal lead coughing up two late scores in a Game 7 honk to the Carolina Hurricanes at home in the swamps of Jersey. With all-time winningest goalie ever, Martin Brodeur, playing the role of collander for the Devs too. Ouch. Tough luck, guys. Time to break out your golf bags.Are you ready to order ??? Yeah, I'll have whatever Zack Greinke is having.Off we go into the wild blue yonder, climbing high into the ... catch fence. Yep, it's been 40 years since Talladega was built and NASCAR still can't keep cars from flying the friendly skies in that Alabama launch pad. This time it was Carl Edwards' turn to prove Bernoulli's Principle in a last lap furball that sent him airborne and seven fans to the infirmary last Sunday. Look, we know the gearheads love their "Big One" crashes and they do look "oooh" great on the tube. But someday somebody's gonna get killed. It's not the cars and it's not the drivers. And it's not the restrictor plates or the yellow line either. It's the track. Dig it up and slow it down. Git 'er done. Here in Charlotte at this week's Quail Hollow Champeenship, Colts QB Peyton Manning teamed up with Tiger Woods in the Wednesday pro-am before the real golf got started. I like the pro-ams for two reasons ... One is it's fun to see the pros play with no pressure. Even better though is watching the ams play under real pressure not to look like, in this case, a quarterback playing golf. Apparently, Manning played just fine although Tiger had to explain to him several times that he couldn't audible his way out of that fried egg he left in the bunker on 18.See ya next time.
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