MORE RANDOMNESS

***YANKS NOT LOOKING GOOD***
Sabathia and Chamberlain didn't look too good against Washington yesterday. The New York papers said no one was worried about CC, but there were questions about Joba's performance. It's still spring and records and stats mean nothing, people. Pitchers are especially prone to up and down outings.
Cervelli is out for about 6 weeks, which means Montero is currently the back up to Russell Martin. The only Yankee who is hitting with any consistency is minor leaguer Jorge Vasquez, but because the Yanks signed Eric Chavez, he's probably going to end up in Scranton.

***STARS DON'T MAKE A TEAM***
Especially in basketball. Adding Carmelo Anthony hasn't made the Knicks any scarier. Neither he nor Stoudemire play any defense. In Miami, the "Big Three" haven't shown they can beat teams with a winning record. Instead of calling them the Miami Heat, maybe they should be called the Miami Lukewarm. The pressure seems to be getting to them, LeBron isn't making the clutch shots that the team needs. Meanwhile, the Chicago Bulls are showing you that it's a true TEAM game.

***WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?***
The suits at ESPN are in an uproar because Bobby Knight was heard to utter a curse while discussing defensive sets with Digger Phelps. At one point, he called one set-up a "...chicken#&@* defense." What's the big deal? When you hire Bobby Knight, why are you surprised when you get Bobby Knight?

***IT'S ALL ABOUT THE GAME***
When they discussed the NFL-Players negotiations on the Sports Reporters today, Mike Lupica said it's actually about the money. He then repeated a very telling quote from Red Smith: "The owners have a very moral attitude about taking a dollar from the fans...unless there's a chance that a dollar and a quarter is involved." Good point.

***THE NICKNAMES***
About a year ago, I posted some team nicknames that I thought were pretty funny. I dealt with professional and college names but ESPN the Magazine has gone me one better: they dug up High School nicknames. That's where the real beauties are.
The Watersmeet (Mich.) NIMRODS - Not a compliment where I come from.
The Yuma (Ariz) CRIMINALS - Might as well get it right out in the open.
The Avon Oldfarms (Conn) WINGED BEAVERS - I have no comment (that I can print).
The Dunn (Calif) EARWIGS - Doesn't that inspire school spirit? Stick it in your ear now has a whole new meaning.
...and my personal favorite:
The Poca (WVA) DOTS - Is the team mascot a bowling ball?

Annie-O wasn't sure what the Corfu Central High School in Corfu, NY, team nickname was. She thought it was the Dragons, or the the Drag-Ons, or maybe the Draggin's. She played on the school Honors Volleyball team, whose nickname she claimed was "Those Girls." I guess I should add those to the list.

***KIND OF DISAPPOINTING***
The Duke-North Carolina wasn't exactly a prize fight last night. Duke never seemed to be in the game and the final score was not indicative the contest. Duke lost 81-67, and didn't look at all like a well-coached team. These two teams should meet again in the conference tournament. Maybe we'll see the real Duke team.

CP-