I’m reserving my thoughts on the Super Bowl until tomorrow, for what will be my final NFL recap of the season, but the episode of Criminal Minds (which my mother deemed too creepy) that followed is fair game. FINALLY we see James Van Der Beek on television again. Additionally, on the other end of the handsome scale, it’s the second time in a month that Don Swayze has made an appearance on CBS. It appears that the folks on CBS seem to have a fetish with remarkably unattractive, less famous brothers. It’s only a matter of time before Frank Stallone kills someone on CSI.
But good gravy, what happened to Don? How did Patrick get all the positive Swayze genes? Don is stuck to being typecast as a hillbilly and making James Woods and Matthew Gray Gubler a little less nauseating. Ugh. Let’s talk about sports.
ITEM ONE: This past week, the the Wild proved that when they skate hard they can pull off some fairly impressive wins. Of course, beating St. Louis isn’t all that impressive, as they did on Tuesday, but a win against Colorado, especially in such a hard fought game, as well as victory in Phoenix against a streaking Coyotes team on Saturday were revelations. The issue isn’t necessarily the absence of star players when the Wild are losing, its the absence of an extra effort by the checking lines. (Of course, against the Blues, it had something to do with Pavol Demitra playing with a chip on his shoulder). While skill players like Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Marian Gaborik pile in goals, its those guys down the line that are limiting the Avelanche chances, and shutting down the Coyotes while Manny Fernandez nurses a knee injury. So, frankly, if things start slipping again, shaking things up may not be such a bad idea. Not necessarily on defense of course (where it turns out the return of Petteri Numellin means more than the return of all prior injured, save for Gaborik) but perhaps on the third and fourth forward lines. Rattle some cages, bring in a tough grinder. Just a thought.
ITEM TWO: Ohio State looks scary this year. To gamblers. No doubt they are cruising for a 1-2 seed in the Big Dance, however, buyer beware when picking them to do anything. Sure they have some good wins here and there, but they also have some horrific losses, like at North Carolina. Sure, that was a tough game, but if you are as good as you pretend, you shouldn’t be losing games like that. In any case, several people in their pools will pick Ohio State into the Final Four based purely on Greg Oden and his reputation. All it takes though, is one Patriot League team that is hitting their threes and Ohio State is done. The effort just isn’t there. (Right now I’ve got North Carolina, UCLA, Texas A&M and Wisconsin in the Final 4. That will change.)
ITEM THREE: It’s interesting how long it takes for someone to get reviled in the media. Especially when it involves the length to which someone goes to make a tough decision. First it was Roger Clemens, who, sure, I don’t like, but give me a break. It can’t be an easy decision to either save your body for the golden years or continue the profession you love. Then there was Nick Saban who I mentioned last month, who is reviled because Alabama chose to give him a ton of cash to coach the Tide. He wanted to be loyal, but eventually, when you have a family cash becomes important. But before either of them, there was Brett Favre who grappled with retirement last year because his team, frankly, sucked. Now that they have improved to mediocre, he was able to quickly decide that he was still going to play. So what happens? Folks in the media say “shut up, we’re sick of hearing about you!” Yeah. I feel a little bad for him too.
ITEM FOUR: Ok, one more thing on basketball (by the way, Temple-St. Bonaventure? We’re liveblogging!). Purdue looks pretty ok, when they want to be. They would make life miserable if they make the tournament as an 11-12 seed this year. Will that happen? They better start picking up some good looking wins and go deep in the Big Ten tournament, otherwise the answer is no.
That’s it, kids. Shows over. And I promise to not mention Don Swayze again. Apologies to those who Googled him. – Ryan
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