A few links this week before the Big game:

Who knew bobsledders wore thongs?

Your friend, his favorite, Mark Titus has a sweet retro video.

Now we know how Greg Oden spends his free time…breaking it down house party style.

Your Weekly Chuck Norris Fact:

When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

* Please note that Chuck Norris is in no way affiliated with The Drubbing or its writers. If he did find out we were using his name in a gimmick he would roundhouse kick all of us to death.

Last week i was a little better, going 2-2 in my picks.  These playoffs are a joke.  Sure the “ratings” are the highest i 16 years, but all but 1 game has been a blow out and decided before the 2nd half.  I can’t remember a more boring set of playoff games in the NFL.  Also, did you know that all underdogs who have covered the spread, have won outright?  Thats unreal.  Off to the games:

Jets at Colts (-8.5)

That is an absurdly high line for, once again, a Colts team that does not blow teams out (thanks Ravens for laying a turd burger on me last week).  I think the Colts will win, but it will be close so i am taking the Jets and the points.  I hope this game ends in a tie and neither team can advance to the Super Bowl.

Vikings at Saints (-3.5)

Lets see, we have a defense that lives off big play turnovers, and a QB with the history of throwing it to the wrong colored team multiple times in big situations.  I am taking the Saints.  And i am hoping they continue on to win the SB, for the city’s first NFL Championship.

Alrighty,  whelp last week i proclaimed myself the Drubbing God of the week…this week i am the Goat of the week after going 0-4.  Those games were absurd.  3 blowouts and one overthrow in OT followed by a face mask fumble recovery for winning TD play.  Lets see if i can redeem myself this week.

Cards at Saints (-7)

The cards are an enigma.  They can beat anyone in the league or they can lose to anyone in the league.  It just depends on what Cards team shows up.  I think this will be a close game, or an Arizona win.  With that said, i am taking the points and the Cards.

Ravens at Colts (-6.5)

The Ravens absolutely destroyed my Patriots.  I can’t remember purposely not watching the 4th Quarter of a Patriots playoff game ever in my lifetime.  Well last weekend was the first time.  Now, will the Ravens suffer a let down after a huge win? Possibly.  But, the Colts do not blow teams out this year, they just don’t.  Because of that, i don’t think the Colts, if they win, will cover the spread.  Let’s go Ravens.

‘Boys at Vikings (-3)

God i wish neither team can win.  Romo or Favre, that is as close to my personal hell in choosing teams as it can get.  Outside of choosing Manning vs Manning in the Super Bowl.  If that happens my eyes may start bleeding.  Anywho, i think the Vikings can stuff the run with the wall of Williams and force the Cowboys to be one dimensional.  I got the Vikes covering the spread and winning fairly easily.  Yup, i am taking Favre to hopefully hand off the ball to the running backs 30-40 times.

Jets at Chargers (-7)

This is a tough one.  I think the Chargers will win, and god i hope they win, but its a bad, bad, match-up for them.  I am going to take the Jets (wincing) and the points as i believe it will be a low scoring affair.

The Tally is in on the 60yd race….. and its a tie with 33% of the voters saying Chris Johnson and also 33% of the voters saying Usain Bolt.  I personally think Trinidad Holliday would smoke both in 60yds (4.2 40yd).

Check out the top 10 dunks from the NBA so far this season.  My personal fav is Wade doing the Iverson, to Sideshow Bob.

The Bird man, gives his endorsement for….mattresses?

Check out this article on the quiet Marvin Harrison.  So bizzarre.

Your Weekly Chuck Norris Fact:

Chuck Norris has good reason to believe that Mary was, in fact, not a virgin.

* Please note that Chuck Norris is in no way affiliated with The Drubbing or its writers. If he did find out we were using his name in a gimmick he would roundhouse kick all of us to death.

From the summer of ‘61, to the spring of ‘98. From androstene to HGH. 61. 70. 73. 715. 755. 762.
It comes down to 3 single words.

I don’t care.

Keep in mind these words are coming from a person that has never done drugs, drank or smoke and was a really good athlete in his heyday. I take sports seriously, ask my wife. She once was winning in a game of horse and I kicked the ball to the playground side of the park and hit some kid with it. I also take cheating seriously shown by my straight C’s in high school. I don’t care though, I really don’t and you shouldn’t either. I’ll tell you why with a question.

Where do we draw the line?

This juiced-up chucklehead was forgiven the moment he admitted to being a cheater.

We have admitted steroids users such as Andy Pettite, Alex Rodriguez and now Mark McGwire and marked users by the media such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa in a big stew. Add in Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams (frozen head and all), Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and any other old guy my dad can mention. How do you separate this testosterone, drug and drunken infested stew?

For one thing you can’t. You can’t separate record books. You can’t have two Hall of Fames even though that would be sweet. Free program for one, free shots for the other. So what do we do about it? Not a damn thing because I don’t care.

It’s the changing ways of the sports realm and the world as we know it. 50 years ago doctors were in smoking ads and they said butter and eggs were good for you. Now they’re bad. Well not all of the egg just the yellow part is bad. What the hell are partially hydrogenated oils? I know what it isn’t. Tasty. And if you want to step it up a notch go organic. You know the definition of organic is: characteristic of, pertaining to, or derived from living organisms. Isn’t that everything?

Years ago the drug of choice in the majors was beer and cigarettes, now it’s something else and 25 years from now it’ll be something else. You don’t separate it because deep down all athletes want an edge. All cheat legally, some cheat illegally. That’s right, all cheat.

You’ve played sports if you’re reading this, if you haven’t, buy a jock then have your friend kick you in the crotch. For those that continued reading without pain or fear of being sterile you know the guys (or gals for you that are pc) that pull on your jersey or push and shove to gain an edge. Call fouls when you don’t’ touch’m. Trip and fall over the ball then raise their hand for a call. What’s so different about a guy stealing signs? Or the roughnecks that come in to hurt a player? Or even roids? Nothing, because I don’t care.

My main question is are you seriously going to keep the home run king, the next home run king, two of the greatest pitchers of our time and a couple 550+ HR hitters out of the Hall? Seriously? Did you just hear yourself? Again, where do you draw the line? Who’s in and who’s out?

Former Cardinals strength coach, Jack Lalanne

Don’t athletes in today’s games have better training facilities and equipment? Science to back their every play, every move, every itch and scratch they get on the field. Medical procedures to keep them playing til they reach the apex of Jack LaLanne standards. Aren’t the old timers at a disadvantage there too? Do we have to boost their stats and take down present day ‘roided players? Don’t’ let computers into the mix then we’ll have the BCS all over again and you know how that’s going.

In the end we should let them all in. Big Mac, Rocket and Arod. It’s a changing world. Records will continue to be broken legally or illegally. No one can police it just do your best to slow it down. Just like the police hire the best criminals to help them in their work, they should do the same here. Put them in as a display of the history of sports and a statement to the future. No asterick. No changing of record books. I think enough has been said by deeming it the “steroid era”. It’s just a different era and they’ll be another to come.

You know why my flippant regard for not caring? For one, I’m usually just like this and secondly, it really doesn’t matter because I won’t be here anyway. A big dirty asteroid will probably take us out one day which will be in the shape of a baseball not a needle. Ironic eh?

Note: This is a guest post by Kevin Tyburski, aka “The Hoff”. You can read more from The Hoff at Sports With The Hoff.

Life on the road for NBA players is hard. You spend days or weeks away from your home and your families. You spend night after night in hotel beds. Each day is spent mostly in transit from plane to bus to hotel to bus to stadium to bus to plane and so on. But every team has to do it. Some teams even have notoriously tough annual pilgrimages like the Chicago Bulls and their “Circus Road Trip” that they endure each year while The Ringling Brothers Circus takes over the United Center.We know it’s not all rainbows and unicorns, so most teams just play through it. But the New York Knicks aren’t most teams.

Eddy Curry was holding several Knicks players close during the Oklahoma City road trip

The Knicks most recent excuse for their dismal 15 and 22 record this season is something extraordinary. On a recent road trip which included a pit stop in Oklahoma City for an 18-point blowout loss, the Knicks later blamed their poor performance on ghosts. That’s right, ghosts. Several Knicks players complained after the game that they had gotten only a couple hours of sleep the previous night because of noises they heard in the historic and allegedly haunted Skirvin Hilton Oklahoma City hotel. One of the Knicks that was most disturbed by the haunting was Eddy Curry, who claimed he slept only two hours Sunday night before the game. That must have really effected the Knicks performance, since Curry never even made it off the bench.

And this can only be made more disappointing by a recent Knicks ad I saw that read:

No matter the opponent.

No matter the moment.

No fear plays here.

But apparently “No fear” does not play on the road. C’mon man!

American Needle is a small sports hat manufacturing company that you may have never heard of unless you’re a hat aficionado. But they are at the center of a Supreme Court case, pitted against the NFL, that has been building during 2009 and is set to kick off tomorrow. At the core of the argument is whether or not the NFL, a collection of individual teams, can act as a single entity. That is how the NFL signed their exclusive equipment and apparel deal with Reebok and that is how the NFL and Reebok have attempted to edge out American Needle from the lucrative apparel market.

Some chuckleheads would have you believe that the case will be just a blip on the sports legal radar screen, no matter which way the verdict falls. But predictions of what this case will do are far less important than the legal consequences such a decision could have. And doing just that, in mid-2009, Lester Munson painted a much scarier and far more realistic picture, if the NFL does prevail in this case.

• LeBron James, who had been expecting a free-agency bonanza when his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers expired after the 2009-2010 season, opens the 2010-11 season with … the Cavs, the only team with the right to sign him. Cleveland retains the NBA MVP by slotting his salary into the new league-wide scale.
• Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, the hottest commodity for every opening in the NFL over the past six months, signs on to be the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys … at a league-determined salary that will pay him far less than he’d have made if the Denver Broncos had chosen him over Josh McDaniels in 2009.
• The Ricketts family, new owner of the Chicago Cubs, scraps plans for its own cable channel because Major League Baseball has barred all such broadcasts, as well as webcasts, by individual teams.
• A young Detroit Red Wings fan who has saved his pennies for months shells out $300 to buy a replica sweater that would have cost him $80 in 2009.
• Lockouts and strikes loom large in all four major team sports as an era of relative peace on the sports labor front ends and owners begin to exercise their new power over player unions.

Drew Brees all Reebok-ed out

These are not guarantees, but these scenarios are very possible, again if the NFL wins the case. This weekend in the Washington Post, New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees told a similar and frightening story. Among the arguments he makes, Brees points out that price of an NFL hat has gone up 30-38% since the NFL inked their exclusive deal with Reebok. Now that is a real-world example of what this case could lead to. And even worse, that has already happened.

So if you really care about sports, because this court case will have ramifications across all sports, then keep an eye on this case when it kicks off on Wednesday. This could be big.

This week 142 people did something stupider than Gilbert Arenas’ 21 gun salute.

This week 142 people lost their collective minds and should lose their collective jobs.

This week 142 people decided that Roberto Alomar was not worthy of being elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.  As a result, Roberto Alomar, needlessly, must wait until 2011 to stand at the podium at Cooperstown and tell John Hirschbeck how he… deliver a Hall of Fame speech.

Not bad Robby, not bad at all

If it was numbers that the 142 baseball writers wanted, Roberto Alomar had plenty of numbers.  The 142 people stupider than Gilbert Arenas should ponder the following:

Career Batting Average: .300
Career Home Runs: 210
Career Hits: 2,724
Career RBI: 1,134
Career Steals: 474
Career OPS: .814
Career Gold Gloves: 10 (most by a second baseman in history)
Career All Star Teams: 12 (consecutively)
Won a World Series: 1992, 1993
ALCS MVP: 1992
Dated Mary Pierce: Yes.  Yes.  Yes.
First Ballot Hall of Famer: What?

Roberto Alomar is the definition of a Hall of Famer.  If dominance is the measure of a Hall of Famer, then 142 baseball writers failed to vote for the most dominant player on the most dominant team of the early 1990s.  If numbers define whether a player is a Hall of Famer, I directed to you to the numbers set forth above.  If dating hot chicks determines whether a player is a Hall of Famer, I direct you to Mary Pierce.

The 142 baseball writers who decided that Roberto Alomar was not worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame in 2010 cannot blame steroids—Roberto’s name is clean.  The 142 baseball writers cannot blame Roberto’s taste in women—as stated above it is fantastic (see, e.g., Mary Pierce).  The 142 baseball writers cannot blame Gilbert Arenas.  The 142 baseball writers cannot blame anyone or anything but themselves for the stupidity that they exhibited.

Nothing got by Roberto, until now

These 142 baseball writers (who likely never actually played baseball) are deciding who is inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Rather than receiving a ballot in the mail next year, these 142 writers should have received a pink slip in their mail yesterday.  When most of us commit an error that is so stupid as to be mind-blowing, we lose our jobs.  However, these 142 writers will lose nothing.  These 142 writers will receive their ballots again next year, and somehow Roberto Alomar will magically become more worthy.  Apparently being the best second baseman ever does not make you worthy of being elected to Cooperstown on the first ballot.  As long as these 142 writers continue to have their voting privileges, Cooperstown will continue on its path to becoming a bigger joke than home-field advantage being based upon who wins the All Star Game.

Roberto, you do not need the vindication of 142 idiots, you were a Hall of Famer the day you retired.

Writing for The Drubbing has some perks.  On top of the mass amounts of fame, money and women, i also get to have the final say in the articles.  So, i am brandishing myself, Ryan Doyle, the Drubbing God of the week.

During the 2009-2010 NFL season i somehow transformed into the modern day Jimmy the Greek.  Let me explain.  I finished #1 in a group of people that picked every NFL game against the spread each week.  I finished with a 140-113 record against the spread, pretty unreal.  Imagine if gambling was legal and money was involved, i would have won quite a lot of money from the 20+ person pot.  I was on fire all year.  I finished picking the most game correct from my group only once the entire year (and even that one i tied with someone else), but i finished 2nd 6 weeks.  That my friends is a model of consistency.  I used a combination of first instincts and taking the points when the Colts and Steelers were favored (both teams grossly over valued all season long) and rode that all season long.

So with that said, here are my picks for the Wildcard weekend:

Jets at Bengals (-2.5)

I am taking the Bengals to cover.  They have not really impressed me this year, with the exception of their defense.  That is an underrated group.  With that said, if the Bengals don’t put 8-10 guys in the box and make Sanchez throw the ball 20+ times, then Marvin Lewis should be stoned and burned at the stake.  A rookie QB on the road is not a good bet.

Eagles at Cowboys (-4)

In this match-up i am taking the Iggles.  We are 2 McNabb throws to DeSean Jackson and 3 Romo/Wade Phillips mistakes away from this being a blow out.  I think Dallas’s defense will keep this close as they are on fire right now, but i feel the Eagles will not only cover the spread, but win the game outright.

Ravens at Patriots (-3.5)

The Pats are 8-0 at home in the playoffs under Coach BB.  ‘Nuff said, give me the Pats to cover.  The Ravens do not have the receivers to make the big plays, and even though the Patriots lost Wes Welker, their RBs are finally healthy, and I feel that they will control the ball in the cold winter weather at Foxboro.

Packers at Cardinals (-2.5)

No team is hotter than the Pack (sorry San Diego).  I think they will win the game out right and also march through the playoffs.  When you have the offense Green Bay does, and a Defensive Player of the year (in my opinion) in Charles Woodson that is a dangerous combination that can make a deep run.

While we are headed into the NFL playoffs, its the NBA that has had some odd events lately.

Some odd things going on in the NBA recently.  From Scottie Pippen having a press release related to beating up midgets, to Chris Quinn’s Miami heat mobster bio photo, to Luc Longley naming a shrimp. And none of these even include Gilbert Arenas.

Then we have a Randy Moss mask.

Your Weekly Chuck Norris Fact:

Chuck Norris does not get frost bite.  He bites frost.

* Please note that Chuck Norris is in no way affiliated with The Drubbing or its writers. If he did find out we were using his name in a gimmick he would roundhouse kick all of us to death.