Information is not knowledge. -Albert Einstein
Public Knowledge:
1. Watching the kids is fun and all, but life without Paul Pierce is nothing nice. I thought it would be Gerald Green filling those big shoes. I was wrong. It’s been Tony Allen, the Celtics assassin, I gotta ask him, are you that type? You best believe the hype.
2. Mighty Vince the Nashville prince. Mighty Vince Young won The Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year Award on Wednesday. As well he should have. Nobody did more to help his football team. Not St. Reggie. Not Marques Colston. Not Maurice Jones-Drew. Not Marcus McNeill. Not nobody. Vince took his team from 0-5 and led them to an 8-8 season barely missing the play-offs. I can’t wait to watch this cat next year.
3. The New England Patriots will go into their grudge match playoff game against the New York Jets without safety Rodney Harrison. That’s a shame. I love that guy. My favorite Patriot. He sure can lay a lick on a fella. Scares the bejeezus out of folks out there. The heart and soul of the Patriot defense. He will be missed.
4. The Kansas City Penguins? I sure hope not.
5. How is Bruce Sutter in the Hall and Goose Gossage is not. It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham. Goose was the best closer I ever saw not named Mariano Rivera. I wish I saw Dick Monster Radatz. In 1964, as a closer, he went 16-9 to go along with his 29 saves, 181 strike-outs and 2.29 ERA. My goodness!
6. Dennis Green is what we thought he was. An abject disastah. Maybe now this young Cardinal team can do something they have only done once in the last 22 seasons. Have a winning record.
7. The Big Tuna was right. We were passing around those anointing oils just a Tad Hamilton too early. If he loses this week-end, Romo falls into the same heap with C.W. McCall and Super Joe Charbeneau.
8. How does a Matt Millen still have a job? Huh? How? Tell me dammit!
9. If not for the Patriots, I’d be picking Baltimore. They scare me. They scare more than anybody else. More than Jason Vorhees. Air McNair plays so much better than his numbers. And the Raven defense is extrememly deep. Captain Fish Tanner style. Think about it. Ray Lewis might be their third-best linebacker. Bart Scott and Adalius Thomas are playing out of their minds.
10. So Paris Hilton’s baby daddy ex-boyfriend is now K-Feds ex-wife’s boyfriend? Being an NFL quarterback sure must be fun. Just ask Jeff Garcia or AJ feeley or Tony Romo.
11. Geez, you just can’t get away from this stuff. A 17-year-old former employee of a downtown sports bar owned by the Detroit Red Wings’ Chris Chelios was arrested in the stabbing deaths of the restaurant’s manager and a cook. What is wrong with people?
12. Amare Stoudemire scored 24 points with 18 rebounds in the Suns’ 97-96 win at Chicago. Only one other player has started at center opposite Big Ben Wallace and reached those totals in the same game: The Admiral, in 2001 (29 points, 22 rebounds). Amare dunked on Wallace’s head. He hit jumpers from the perimeter. He even threw in the baby hook. Big Ben Could not stop him. At this point, it’s looking like no one can.
13. Madison Square Gordon. Ben Gordon scored 41 points in the Bulls’ loss, six days after scoring 40 points against the Heat. So what? Big deal? Who cares? Gordon didn’t start either game. Over the last 30 seasons, only one other player, Brian Winters, recorded at least two 40-point games off the bench over his entire career. Gordon has done it twice in a week.
14. Don’t look now, but the Mavericks look awfully good. Championship good. They just extended their current winning streak to 11 games. Don’t forget, they already had a 12 game streak. The NBA is a game of runs. The Mavericks are in the middle of one.
15. The Red Wings retired Stevie Yzerman’s uniform No. 19 before Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over the Ducks. Yzerman scored 1,755 points over 22 NHL seasons from 1983 to 2006, playing only for Detroit. That’s not only the second-highest point total in Red Wings history, it’s the second-highest total by any player for any team. Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe’s total of 1,809 points for Detroit is the most scored by one player for any NHL team.
16. Shaq back. Well January 15, he will be. That’s bad news for everybody else.
17. Old friend Keith Foulke arrived in Cleveland to take his physical. Good luck Tribe, you’re gonna need it.
Peace out homies. Six two and Even!