THE DEAD ZONE

We're currently in that in-between season, when spring training hasn't started, the Super Bowl is long gone, college basketball hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament seeding speculation, pro basketball is not interesting yet and that game on ice: figure skaters with terrible costumes (commonly known as 'hockey') still evokes interest to former players and analysts. So I'm reduced to off-the-cuff comments about random acts of events which make sense to...well, no one.

** Since neither the Yanks nor the Mets have made any big splashes over the winter, the NY papers keep dredging up the "Yanks-sign-Shields" rumors, even though it seems fairly certain that Shields will sign with the Padres. At least today, that is.

** A-Rod will try to mend fences with the Yankee brass by having a sit-down with them. What's the point? They won't believe anything he says and won't be interested unless he wants to give back the money they paid him (HA!).

**Speaking of bad contracts, the Rockies just signed pitcher Kyle Kendrick to a one year $5.5 million contract.  He's 30 years old  and has a won-loss average of 10-13 with a 4.40 ERA over the last three seasons.

** The city of San Jose, CA, is suing Major League Baseball because the Giants won't let the A's move there. How can they think that the courts will be any faster or be any more effective than MLB's Commissioner?

** I watched the Syracuse-Pittsburgh game last night and unless your cave doesn't have cable, you know that the Orange have declared themselves ineligible for ANY year-end tournaments. The announcers informed us of that fact over and over and over again. This was usually followed by, "The players haven't given up, they're still fighting hard in spite of that restriction."  They neglected to say, "...and they're still losing."
By the way, I've never seen a player mugged so badly and so often as Rakeem Christmas was in that game. They grabbed his arms, shoved him all over the court and sandwiched him between as many as three players. One time, they even hit him in the eye. The refs did nothing except to call the sweepers in to mop up the blood.

** New head coach, Rex Ryan, says the Jets...er, the Bills are going to the Super Bowl this year. I guess he thinks he can get 40 tickets.

** If you own a lousy team like the NY Knicks, you have to rely on promotions and goodwill to keep the fans buying tickets. Knick owner hasn't quite got that technique down yet: Dolan told a fan to "...start rooting for the Nets because the Knicks don't want you," in a contentious email exchange.

***THEY SAID IT***
"NY Yankees officials says they have now agreed to a sit-down meeting with A-Rod. Ah yes, an early sign that spring is approaching. The circus is coming to town."  -- Janice Hough
"Nebraska lost out on 6-foot-5, 344-pound offensive tackle Darrin Paulo, who chose Utah, reportedly after the state promised him his own time zone."  -- Brad Dickson
"There frigid temperatures in the Northeast: “New Yorkers haven’t seen cold like this since the last Knicks shoot-around."  -- Alan Ray

"So that’s where the Patriots’ missing air went!  Tipoff for the Boston College-Bucknell basketball game on Jan. 24 was delayed when referees discovered that the game ball was overinflated."  -- Dwight Perry

"Dan Marino was CNN’s Super Bowl expert. Compared to this, getting weather predictions from a groundhog doesn’t seem so silly."  -- Brad Dickson

"ESPN called Maria Sharapova meeting Serena Williams at the Aussie Open renewing their "rivalry," despite Sharapova’s 15 straight losses to Williams. That's like calling a fly a rival to a windshield"  -- RJ Currie

"The Atlanta Falcons got caught pumping in fake crowd noise. The NFL first became suspicious when the crowd began cheering the day before the game."  -- Tim Hunter

"My sports and entertainment heroes have been, roughly in order, Bill Cosby, O.J. Simpson, Bruce Jenner, Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, Charlie Sheen and Brian Williams. I am starting to think I might be the problem."  -- Alex Kaseberg
"The NFL fined 4 players from $8268 to $10,000 for their roles in the brawl at the end of the Super Bowl. Good to see the league has its priorities in order. Hitting people is almost as bad as wearing the wrong brand of clothing."  -- Janice Hough

"A boys high school basketball game in Alabama ended with a final score of 2-0, with the sole basket coming 15 seconds into the game. The cheerleaders left late in the third quarter. “There’s clearly nothing for us to do here.”  -- Brad Dickson
"Pistons guard Brandon Jennings recently recorded the NBA’s first 20-20 game in five years — 24 points, 21 assists. No one has looked so good in the paint since Sports Illustrated airbrushed a swimsuit on  Kate Upton."  -- RJ Currie

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