GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

 It's been one of those weeks when you don't know whether to laugh or cry...sometimes both.

**THE GOOD NEWS

Congratulations to Sarah Thomas who will become the first female official in the Superbowl. She will be wearing #53 and she will be the Head Linesman...er lineswoman (?) linesperson(?). So if your particular team is not playing, or you're not rooting for either team, and (I never thought I'd say this) here is a good choice. Root for Sarah Thomas.

Certainly good news to George Springer who signed a 6-year, $150 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. I would bet that J.T Realmuto and Trevor Bauer are not unhappy with this news since both are probable $100 million plus when they eventually sign.

**THE BAD NEWS

We have lost another baseball star. Hall of Famer Don Sutton has passed on at age 75. He won 324 games in his 23 seasons with 58 shutouts. He also had 178 complete games. Someone needs to explain to today's managers and pitching coaches what a complete game is. 

Another idiot texting inappropriate comments and pictures to women. When Jared Porter was the Director of Professional Scouting for the Chicago Cubs, he sent some 60 texts and pictures to a female reporter under the guise of inside information to trick her into opening the e-mails. On December 13, 2020, he was hired by the NY Mets as General Manager. He lasted barely 5 weeks before the story surfaced and the Mets canned him. Two questions: How did this idiot think this was appropriate behavior let alone get away with it and how did the Mets not research his background a little more closely before hiring him? Hopefully, we've heard the last of Porter unless you go to a McDonald's and he asks you if you want fries with that. Actually, no way McDonald's would ever hire him either.

**MORE GOOD NEWS

Could have added this to the above section but I didn't want to end on a sour note. This Sunday's football games will probably be the best of the year. The teams will fight the hardest of any games in the season just to get into the Super Bowl. They will go all out and that makes for exciting games for us fans. (This is to keep Annie-O happy: Go Bills)

Watching the Syracuse  Orange play basketball is really exciting when their two sharpshooters, Joe Girard III and Buddy Boeheim are hitting their long range shots. Especially Girard's shots which sometimes look like he's shooting from half court. When he takes that kind of shot,  it's fun to hear Annie-O: "Oh lord! What's he think he's....wow! Attaboy, Joe."  

I don't know if this is good news or bad news. Throughout his coaching career, Urban Meyer's reputation has been tarnished by charges that when he was the head coach of the Florida gators, he turned a blind eye to the outside activities of his players when 31 were arrested at various times for charges ranging from minor (possession of alcohol by a minor) to aggravated assault, carrying a concealed weapon and burglary. At Ohio State, he was suspended for three games for failure to act on the spousal abuse activities of  his assistant coach. In December of 2018, he announced that he was retiring from coaching for health reasons.  Of course, the best treatment for that is money. Meyer recently signed a contract to coach the Jacksonville Jaguars for a reported $12 million annually. I'm sure he feels better already.

***THEY SAID IT***

"Cleveland's AFC wild-card victory in Pittsburgh was their first playoff win away from home since beating the Cowboys in Dallas on Dec 28th, 1969! They've had more calamity on the road than Hope and Crosby."  -- RJ Currie

"Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron got vaccinated against COVID-19 in Georgia on Tuesday, hoping to send a message to Black Americans that the shots are safe.Hey, after getting drilled countless times by Gibson and Drysdale, what’s one more?"  -- Dwight Perry

"ESPN reports Philip Rivers “is retiring from football, ending his 17-year career as one of the most prolific quarterbacks in NFL history.” In his announcement Rivers thanked his wife and NINE children. So “prolific” is a nice choice of words."  -- Janice Hough

"Prop Bets: Which playoff telecast Sunday will include the loudest fake crowd noise?"  -- Phil Mushnick

"Some words of advice to any San Antonio Spur contemplating divorce. Remember the alimony."  -- RJ Currie 

" Steph Curry's rookie card sold at auction for  $611,000. So now we have a better understanding of why the very rich need those tax breaks."  -- Bob Molinaro

"We will soon find out if the Nets new ball-hungry big three, James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant learned their lessons about ‘sharing with others’ in kindergarten."  -- Jack Finarelli 

"Rams quarterback Jared Goff dislocated and broke his thumb, popped it back in himself and finished the game. I once called in sick with a case of hiccups."  -- Alex Kaseberg

"So little consistency now in this world. But after a 5-3 start, good to know that with 5 straight losses the NY Knicks have shown they are still the Knicks."  -- Janice Hough

"After Titans defensive back Kenny Vaccaro knocked down a pass, ESPN’s Louis Riddick called it “a PBU.” Pro Bowl Underwear? Public Bath Ukulele? Editor and sparring partner Drew Loftis informs us, it’s for “pass breakup."  -- Phil Mushnick.

"The NHL announced that each division will have a sponsor names this year, The NFL is expected to follow suit starting with Waste Management NFC East"  -- fark.com

"A spicy peanut butter six times hotter than the strongest chili was being sold in England under the label Instant Regret. No, wait — that may be the name of a new Jacksonville Jaguars season ticket package."  -- RJ Currie

Chad Picasner