12) Milwaukee Bucks won their only NBA championship because they won a coin flip with the Phoenix Suns for the draft pick that became Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar); they haven’t won much against Suns since. Bucks are now 0-24 in their last 24 visits to the Valley of the Sun.

11) Mets are bringing in the fences at CitiField for 2012, but will it help Jason Bay? Bay hasn’t hit a HR to rightfield since June 28, 2010, he’s in his 30’s, and there are those who believe he’s pretty much finished as a star player, except when it comes to cashing big paychecks.

10) Dallas Mavericks went to the White House Monday; all of them except for Delonte West, who ironically enough grew up near the White House. West didn’t pass the Secret Service’s background check, due to his numerous run-ins with the law.

9) Home teams went 4-0 in NFL this weekend, after being 13-15 in this round the previous four years, and 34-10 the 11 years before that.

8) Broncos—Ran for 251 yards against Patriots in Week 15’s 41-23 home loss, but lost three fumbles and had 24-yard disadvantage in starting field position. Still, running for 251 yards is an awful lot.

7) Texans—Lost 29-14 (+7.5) at Baltimore with Schaub at QB in Week 6, despite +2 turnover margin; Texans started nine of 12 drives 80+ yards from end zone. Winning in Baltimore with rookie Yates under center is going to be tall order.

6) Giants—Won at Lambeau in NFC title game four years ago; total yardage was 449-447 Packers in Green Bay’s 38-35 Week 13 win at Swamp Stadium.

5) 49ers—My notebook with spreads from this round goes back ten years; no home underdogs in this round during that time. Over last decade, home favorites of 3 or less points in this round are 3-5-1 vs spread.

4) Saints—Offense isn’t same well-oiled machine outdoors, but unless 49ers (+25 in turnovers) win turnover battle, can’t see them beating New Orleans here.

3) Ravens—Teams fight so hard to get bye and home field in this round, but over last eight years, home side is 18-14 SU, 14-18 vs spread in this round, where you think teams with bye would have a big advantage.

2) Patriots—This is 6th time Belichick has had 1st-round bye in playoffs; he was 4-1 in this round other five years, 0-3 vs spread as #1 seed, 1-0-1 vs spread as #2 seed. Loss came LY to Jets.

1) Packers—Been six years since defending Super Bowl champ won a playoff game (0-4 since last win); last team to repeat was ’03-’04 Pats.

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend........
13) CBS has to be deliriously happy Denver won; not only was the OT win a dramatic lead-in to 60 Minutes, now they get Tebow-Brady II on Saturday night from Foxboro.

12) Over last 14 years, the previous year's Super Bowl loser is now 2-6 in playoff games, 0-4 vs spread as the favorite.

11) So next week, Tebow-mania hits New England, where an old friend awaits; Josh McDaniels, the only person in America who thought Tebow was worth a first-round draft pick, is back with the Patriots, after being fired by both the Broncos and Rams. Interesting subplot.

10) Indiana broke its 16-game Big Dozen road losing streak with an 88-82 win at Penn State; don't think Hoosiers are an elite team just yet, but they are winning enough games to make the NCAAs this year.

9) Of the 74 teams in the six BCS conferences, only four came came into conference play with losing records: ASU-Utah-USC-Boston College. In other words, the Pac-12 isn't very strong.

8) Arizona State's leading scorer Keala King left the team, as things get worse for a struggling Sun Devil squad. Interesting to see if Herb Sendek is going to still be in Tempe when prize point guard Jahii Carson finally becomes eligible next season.

7) Last three NFL teams to make playoffs without a winning record won their first playoff game. I'm not a fan of an 8-8 division winner getting a home game. Think the 12-4 Wild Card deserves it more.

6) Interesting to see the Saints 3.5-point favorites at San Francisco next week; last seven red zone drives for New Orleans in outdoor games: one touchdown, five field goals.

5) There's a pretty good chance that Murray State isn't going to lose any OVC games; they're very good, and the league isn't, which begs a couple questions: a) Will they get an NCAA bid even of they lost in conference tournament? b) How high a seed would an undefeated Racer squad get in the tournament?

Don't forget, Murray State beat Vanderbilt last March and took Butler to the wire in the second round before losing. They're damn good.

4) Mentioned yesterday how Doug McDermott scored 44 for Creighton Saturday; well he did it on only 23 shots, making 18-23 from floor, 3-5 from the arc, 5-5 from the line. He also grabbed eight rebounds.

3) Northern Illinois-Arkansas State played a bowl game in Mobile Sunday night; teams share the same colors, almost looked like a practice, but the Huskies rode senior QB Harnish to a 38-20 win, fourth win in five bowl games for the MAC this year (4-17 previous six years).

2) Should be an interesting week: full moon and Friday-the-13th.

1) Opening lines for next weekend's football:

New England -13.5 Denver	Baltimore -7.5 Houston
New Orleans -3.5 San Francisco	Green Bay -7.5 Giants

Sunday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but........
13) So Elin Nordegren, the former Mrs Eldrick Woods, bought a $12M house in Florida, then had it leveled a few months later? No one seems to know why, but early returns are bashing her wastefulness pretty good. If she hated the house so much, why spend $12M to buy it?

12) UL-Lafayette beat Western Kentucky with a last-second basket Thursday when they had six players on the court; Friday morning, WKU fired its coach, Ken MacDonald. No word on whether the refs involved have been fired. They should be.

11) Over last two seasons, Dallas Cowboys are 4-16-1 vs spread as a favorite, 7-4 as an underdog. That’s underdogs covering 74.2% of the time, if you’re scoring at home.

10) Georgetown was picked to finish 10th in the Big East this season; last two years, West Virginia and UConn were picked to finish 10th—both teams made the Final Four.

9) Greedy bastard update: It is January 8, and gas has already gone up 16 cents a gallon this year. Terrific. Can’t wait to hear someone blame George W Bush for this. Bottom line: I’m not sure there are political parties anymore; just two different sets of corrupt fatcats who could give a rat’s ass about the average American.

8) Speaking of which, who is the genius that put the Republican debate on a Saturday TV opposite the NFL playoffs? Who the hell is going to see that, or is that the idea?

7) Say what you want about Alex Rodriguez, but seems like he has a hell of a lot of fun. Hanging around with those WWE divas isn’t going to do anything to help the PED rumors go away, though.

6) Didn’t realize the Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since 2000.

5) Barry Sanders Jr chose Stanford over Oklahoma State (his dad’s alma mater) as his college choice. Being the son of a celebrity has its burdens; going to a place like Stanford eliminates a lot of them, since lot of the kids there are related to celebrities or are famous themselves.

4) Miami Marlins sure are assembling an interesting cast of characters for their first season in that new ballpark. From the owner right on down, seems like they’ve got lot of people who like to run their mouth. We’ll see how this turns out, but I’ve got four Marlins on my fantasy team, so it better turn out well.

3) Cubs saved $3M by dumping Carlos Zambrano on the Marlins; they still have to pay $15M of his $18M salary this year for him not to pitch for the Cubs, thats how much they think of Zambrano.

2) People in New York City have donated a total of $2,076,065 to a fund for the four daughters of a NYPD detective who murdered in the line of duty a few weeks ago; while scanning thru Facebook last week, I was surprised/saddened to see some comments critical of the memorial fund, basically saying that if a person gets shot by a cop, no one takes up a collection for their family. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but.....

......people are actually jealous of youngsters who lost their dad to a senseless murder. What a world this is becoming.

1) Thoughts and prayers go out to one of my childhood heroes, Dave Duncan, who has left the Cardinals to be with his wife as she bravely battles cancer. Duncan was a catcher for the A’s teams in late 60’s/early 70’s; he had a big game in Game 7 of the 1972 World Series, in my opinion the greatest baseball game ever played (I’m an A’s fan, and I was a very happy 12-year old that day). Hopefully someday soon Duncan will be the first pitching coach inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Saturday's List of 13: Things I've (re-)learned this football season
13) ACC teams are 2-13 in BCS bowl games; they expanded the league with football riches in mind, but at same time hurt the league's basketball, its traditional strong suit. Someone has some 'splainin' to do........

12) Back in September I made a sarcastic joke in this space to effect that we’ll know when college conference realignment is done, when Cal-Santa Barbara joins America East. Eight weeks later, San Diego State joined the Big East (just for football). Real life is stranger than fiction.

11) Jerry Jones is a better owner than a general manager. Much better. His worst fault as an owner is that he won’t fire the GM.

10) Most underrated place in Las Vegas to watch Saturday/Sunday football is the sports book at SouthPoint casino; seats were available all weekend, there are 75 cent hot dogs very close to the betting windows and there are a lot of big screens. Enjoyed it a lot.

9) Mike Martz doesn’t get along well with others. None of this mattered until Jay Cutler got hurt, but he’s now coached in five different places since 1998, all in the NFC, by the way.

8) Best way to impress your girlfriend or wife? Buy her a Lexus for Christmas. Commercials say it works like a charm.

7) Apparently, Urban Meyer’s family would rather he go back to work coaching and earn millions, rather than spend more time with them.

6) Addition by subtraction, 2011 edition: Chad85Johnson left Cincinnati, and the Bengals made the playoffs. Go figure.

5) Apparently, the Chiefs’ players like Romeo Crennel a lot better than they liked Todd Haley, which is why Haley is currently unemployed.

4) This isn’t football-related, but there are people in this world who are basically dishonest, which is both disappointing and educational.

3) Very delicate situation playing out in Indianapolis, where the star QB is nearing the end of a brilliant career; when do the Colts draft his replacement? This season showed graphically that the team, as it is built now, is useless without him, which isn’t the way teams are supposed to be built. At some point, they have to move on to the future, but when?

2) NFL Sunday ticket isn’t as much fun when your favorite team is 2-14.

1) BCS has ruined New Year’s Day, and bowls in general; they stretch the games out over such a long period of time you forget there are still games going on. Northern Illinois-Arkansas State? It seems ridiculous, but its lot better than the Illinois-UCLA game, where both teams had already fired its coach and neither team had a winning record going in. Not good.

Friday's List of 13: Things I'm looking for this weekend
13) From 1993-2003, home teams were 34-10 in the Wild Card round; the last eight years, home teams are just 13-15 in Wild Card round. Whatever happened to home field advantage?

12) Wisconsin already has two conference losses at home; they go to Michigan Sunday, hoping to avoid a dismal start in Big Dozen play.

11) This is my last weekend this season with NBA League Pass; they did not come off their $170 price, which is a blatant rip-off, considering how much shorter this season is, so I didn't buy it this year. If you know me, you know I love basketball, but their arrogance in this is galling.

10) You forget how great Sunday afternoons are during the NFL’s regular season; Sunday will be a grim reminder, now that the regular season is over. Little hoops, couple football games, a little golf, but my thumb will be in withdrawal from not hitting the remote every 30 seconds for six hours. And you think I'm kidding.

9) Unbeaten Missouri is down to seven scholarship players; they visit Kansas State Saturday, after the Wildcats lost to rival Kansas for the 43rd time in their last 46 meetings- this should be a very good game.

8) Detroit Lions made Packer backup QB Matt Flynn look like freakin’ Dan Fouts last week, in a meaningless game for Green Bay; now they’re up against Drew Brees in the Superdome. Good luck there.

7) Can the Texans shake their December funk and get a win in their first-ever playoff game? Weird game, with both starting QBs rookies.

6) Much-improved Fordham beat Georgia Tech/Harvard in its last two games, now reeling Xavier visits the Bronx, having lost five of last six games. Interesting game.

5) Sunday is the Giants’ 4th straight home game, thought technically their Week 16 game against the Jets was a road tilt, but it wasn’t. Figure big Blue to come out flat against Atlanta, having won two big-hype games the last two weeks.

4) Florida at Tennessee at 11am Saturday? Why?

3) Pittsburgh-Denver is lead-in to 60 Minutes Sunday night; CBS better hope Tebow doesn’t go 6-22 again. Could we get a shot of Brady Quinn during this game, just to make sure he’s still alive?

2) Monday night we get LSU-Alabama II; hopefully this time, there are a couple touchdowns scored. If the Crimson Tide wins, chaos will ensue over who wins the mythical national title-- until we have a real playoff, like other sports do, any national title is purely mythical. .

1) Over last 20 years, #6 seed in NFC is 11-9 against the #3 seed; the #6 seed in the AFC is just 5-15, but 4-2 the last six years. More than ever before, just getting in the tournament gives you a legit chance to win it.

Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud.......
13) This is how good San Francisco’s defense/special teams have been this year; 49ers scored 32 offensive TDs this season, 17 of which (53.1%) came on drives of 50 or less yards; if you look at the other 31 NFL teams, they combined to score 1,110 TDs, only 238 of which (21.4%) came on drives of 50 or less yards.

12) By way of contrast, Browns had 20 offensive TDs, two on “short” drives, Indianapolis 2 of 21, the Chargers 3 of 42. Their defense/special teams rarely set them up with easy chances and when they did, they usually failed to capitalize.

11) Patriots had only seven short TD drives out of 57, but five of the seven came in the last three games, against Redskins-Miami-Buffalo, three non-contenders. Interesting to see how they play in the playoffs, against better teams.

10) Ex-Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo is a religious man; he was married at the Vatican in Rome, where the Pope lives, but even the power of prayer couldn’t help the Ram offense. St Louis scored only 10 TDs all season on drives that went longer than 50 yards; next worst were Jacksonville (14) and the Browns (18).

9) So this election in Iowa was decided by 8 votes? I must admit that I’ve never heard of the guy who finished second in Iowa to Mitt Romney. If that makes me a tunnel-visioned idiot who only knows one thing, then guilty as charged. I did Google Rick Santorum though; seems as though he went to Penn State, a school that could use some good things to happen for it these days.

8) Xavier lost at LaSalle, its fifth loss in six games since they had four guys suspended for the fracas at Cincinnati. Odd thing is, Bearcats have not lost since then.

7) During the regular season this year, college kickers made 18-20 field goals in OT; during the bowl games, they’re just 6-10.

6) The football coach at Boise State makes $2M a year? Wow......

5) The last two years, underdogs are 6-2 against the spread on Wild Card weekend; over the last nine years, the #6 seed is 5-4 against the #3 seed in this round, in both conferences, making them 10-8 overall. Without the spread. Interesting fact.....

4) Joe Torre quit his cushy $2M a year job with MLB to join a group that is trying to buy the Dodgers, meaning that if his group is successful, Torre will get an even easier job that pays more than $2M a year.

3) NBA home teams who played the night before are 13-8-1 against the spread; road teams are 10-17.

2) Carolina Panthers finished 5th in NFL in scoring, with a rookie coach, rookie QB and no offseason program to learn the playbook or practice it, which voids the lame excuse that the lack of an offseason program retards the growth of a team’s progress.

1) If you’ve got OCD and like college football, go ahead already and circle next November 3 on your calendar; Alabama visits LSU and Oregon goes to USC that day. Just thought you’d like to know.

Wednesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but......
13) Optimism for Lions/Bengals: over the last six seasons, more #6 seeds (2) have won the Super Bowl than #1 seeds (1).

12) Surprising stat: Rutgers won its last five bowl games.

11) An average of 44.4 ppg were scored in NFL games this year, the most since 46.1 ppg were scored in 1965.

10) NHL used 20,000 gallons of water on the outdoor rink at Citizens Bank Park for the outdoor hockey game Monday.

9) Miami Dolphins once chose free agent QB Daunte Culpepper over free agent QB Drew Brees, because Brees had just had shoulder surgery; since that fateful decision, Miami is 38-58, the Saints are 62-34.

8) Lets read between the lines; the Colts have the first draft pick, but fired their very successful GM, Bill Polian, whose son coaches at Stanford, where Andrew Luck is the #1 star right now. That tells me Jim Irsay has no intention of having young Luck on his team next fall.

7) ABC Family, supposedly a family channel, aired Pretty Woman right before the Reverend Joel Osteen’s preacher show Sunday night. I really like the movie, but this is IMDB’s synopsis of Pretty Woman—you tell me if this is a family movie-- "A corporate raider pays a gorgeous hooker to be his escort for a business week in Beverly Hills." Alrighty then.

6) Oakland Raiders had 163 ACCEPTED penalties this year, the most ever. Wonder how many of their penalties were declined?

5) Towson State has lost its last 33 basketball games; they didn’t win one in the whole calendar year 2011.

4) If your favorite NFL team goes 4-0 in preseason next summer, don’t get excited; the ’08 Lions (0-16) and ’11 Rams (2-14) went 4-0, too. If you do get excited about it, please don’t tell me. Chaos could ensue.

3) Wonder what NFL honchos thought about the Texans going for two points and the win instead of the tie from the 7-yard line (after a penalty) in the last minute against Tennessee Sunday. If the Raiders had won their game later that day, Titans would’ve been handed a playoff spot because Houston basically tanked a big game (odds of scoring on one play from the 7 are low).

That would’ve gone over great in Cincinnati, don’t ya think?

2) Washington Huskies fired DC Nick Holt after they gave up 777 yards and 67 points in a bowl loss to Baylor. If your team scores 56 points and still doesn’t cover as a 9-point dog, chances are the DC is going to be job-hunting soon, but Holt was once head coach at Idaho and quit to go back to being a Pac-12 coordinator, so his career arc has taken a big downturn.

1) The Polian/Colts situation illustrates how difficult it is for some teams to part ways with an aging star; makes what the Packers did with Brett Favre all the more admirable, but it was easier for them, since Green Bay is owned by the public, not by one owner who may/may not have an emotional attachment to that star player.

Tuesday's List of 13........Ranking NFL playoff teams......
T30) Colts-- Didn't see the Polians getting fired; does that mean Caldwell gets to stay? That would be bizarre.
T30) Rams-- Whats done is done. Time to move on.
T30) Buccaneers-- Were worst team in league the last month.

12) Broncos-- In fairness, Tebow had better WRs at Florida than he does now, but he was 6-22 Sunday. Thats horrendous.

11) Lions-- Gave up 480 passing yards and six TDs to QB making his second NFL start. Now they play the Saints this week. Ouch.

10) Texans-- Survived lot of injuries to make playoffs for first time. Go out and enjoy it, Houstonians.

9) Bengals-- Have two rookie QBs ever faced each other in playoffs?

8) Falcons-- Underdog with best chance to win this weekend.

7) Giants-- Tough spot here, coming off emotional Jet/Dallas games.

6) Steelers-- 8-point road favorites at 8-8 Denver Sunday night.

5) 49ers-- If need be, Can Alex Smith go out and win the game?

4) Saints-- Bye or no bye, they're better than the 49ers.

3) Ravens-- Finally get a home playoff game under Harbaugh.

2) Patriots-- Fell behind at home 17-0/21-0 in their last two games against non-contenders. If defense wins championships, look out below.....

1) Packers-- Atlanta was first road team to win a playoff game on frozen tundra; Giants beat them in Lambeau playoff game four years ago. Pack wants Detroit to upset the Saints.

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up an NFL Sunday.........
13) Giants averaged 9.5 ypa, with Victor Cruz catching six balls for 178 yards, as they won NFC East with a surprisingly-easy 31-14 win, but the fact of the matter is this-- Giants just had emotionally-charged games with Jets/Cowboys the last two weeks. When Atlanta comes calling on Sunday, the Giants wouldn't be human if they didn't come out flat.

Falcons are a very live underdog next week.

12) Its funny; I was in Las Vegas for Week 8 of the regular season, when the Texans beat Jacksonville 24-14 to get to 5-3; if you had told me that in Week 17, the Texans would be resting TJ Yates to get ready for a playoff game, I would've looked at you strange, because I'm not sure I knew Yates was in the NFL back then. But now Yates is a big man in Houston, and the Texans are hosting their first playoff game Saturday.

11) Say what you want about the Bengals, but they struck gold when they drafted Andy Dalton with 35th pick last April; Locker-Gabbard-Ponder were all picked ahead of him (so was Cam Newton).

10) Miami had a 21-play, 94-yard TD drive that put them ahead for good in fourth quarter against the Jets. I'm telling ya, Dolphins don't need a QB in the draft-- Matt Moore should be their guy going forward.

9) Back in August, did anyone have Matthew Stafford passing for 5,000+ yards this season? Nah, me either.......

8) With 6:49 left before halftime, Buccaneers trailed 42-0 in Atlanta. This is the definition of quitting, especially when the sixth TD was an 81-yard running play. Tampa Bay's last win was in October.

7) Interesting that 49ers got a home playoff game during the day, since the ballpark had electrical problems during their Monday night home game vs Pittsburgh in Week 15. NFL doesn't want to chance that happening again.

6) Half of Arizona's eight home games went OT this year, and Cardinals won them all, still finishing 8-8. Not sure if thats good or bad. Guess it is probably a little of both.

5) Ravens' guard Marshal Yanda committed a false start with 2:39 left in Sunday's win at Cincinnati; it was his first penalty all season.

4) Other than the hefty paycheck, coaching an NBA team can't be lot of fun; DeMarcus Cousins demanded to be traded from the Kings Saturday, after the fourth game of the season. Four games.

3) Redskins' PK Graham Gano had five field goals blocked this year, most for any kicker since 1997.

2) Charger-Raider game was an old-fashioned AFL shootout; no sacks, no 3/outs, with teams a combined 15-23 on third down. Bolts averaged 11.9 ypa, Oakland 9.7. Fun game to watch, but in the end, Raiders paid a hefty praice for Carson Palmer and they didn't make the playoffs. Not good.

1) Chiefs 7, Broncos 3 will do nothing to quiet the discussion of whether the Tim Tebow era will continue next season in Denver. It does confirm why they got rid of Kyle Orton, though. In two games against the Chiefs this year, Tebow completed 8 of 30 passes. Mr Elway can't be liking that.

Sunday's List of 13: Wishing you all a Happy New Year.....
13) Idea for reality TV—NFL Films should follow Adrian Peterson as he rehabs his injured knee. Average fans like myself have no idea how much work he has ahead of him. We’d have lot more respect for these athletes if we could see the work they put in to get back on the field.

12) Wish the NFL would take the radios out of players’ helmets; coaches get to coach six days a week, preparing the players to play. Gameday should be the players’ day, where they do what they’ve been trained to do. Radios in the helmets makes the players too robotic.

11) According to ESPN.com, Miami Heat’s Big 3 earns a total of $635,537 every single game; Heat rookie Norris Cole will earn $861,220…..all year.

10) San Diego State is going to play football in the Big East, so shouldn’t they have to change the name of the league?

9) Having NFL Network, its fun to get reacquainted with NFL Films and its great work. Still though, my favorite NFL Films moment was 30 years ago, when Marv Levy calls an official who is an old schoolmate of his an “……overofficious jerk.” Tremendous television.

8) Raven-Bengal game Sunday is a sellout, meaning game will be televised locally, so if it’s a bad weather day, they’re still going to wind up a lot of no-shows.

7) A’s trading closer Bailey makes perfect sense,s ince whats the point of a cruddy team paying a good closer. Not like Oakland will have a lot of leads to protect the next 2-3 summers.

6) We need a Chick-fil-A and a Steak ‘n Shake here in Albany; both would do a tremendous business.

5) Whomever planted the rumor about Mike Munchak going to Penn State embarrassed the school bigtime, unless Munchak is lying thru his teeth when he says he has no interest in replacing Joe Paterno. When the most prominent coaching alumni of a school says he has no interest, why should anyone else have any interest? Replacing a legend is very tough duty.

4) If you had NBA League Pass on DirecTV last year, and you didn’t cancel during the lockout, they automatically re-newed you for this year at last year’s price, which is insane, since there are 19.5% less games this year than last. Greedy bastards. I’m waiting until next week to have my talk with them about whether or not I’m signing up this year.

3) Once in a while I stop at the Burger King drive-thru window on way to work to get breakfast; always order two sausage/egg/cheese biscuits, and without fail, they ALWAYS tell me they only have one biscuit left.

How is this possible? Do they get commission for selling the croissants? I’m just curious.

2) I’d like to see a bald man elected President in 2016; it would say something for this country if, for once, we could elect someone who doesn’t look that good on TV. We don’t have any smart bald men in this country?

1) Spring training starts in about seven weeks and still no word on where Prince Fielder will be playing; this is holding up the other free agent 1B’s from signing with new teams. Scumweasel agent Scott Boras must’ve gone on vacation for the holidays, though I thought greed never took a holiday.

Happy New Year, everyone; lets make 2012 a great year for all of us.

Saturday's List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind..........
13) There have been 12 Super Bowl-winning coaches who went on to coach another NFL team; seven of the 12 had losing records at their next stop, only two (its our quiz question today) made it back to a Super Bowl (neither won).

12) Surprisingly, only eight coaches who lost Super Bowls without winning one moved on to other jobs; of the seven, Don Shula/Dick Vermeil won titles in the new job- the other five all had losing records at their next job. The 8th one, John Fox, is 8-7 in his first year with his new team, the Broncos.

11) Five coaches led two teams to the Super Bowl; Dan Reeves is the only one of the five not to win with either team.

10) Last time the Bengals had consecutive winning seasons? 1975-77, they had three in a row.

9) Coming into this season, Lions’ QB Matthew Stafford had trouble staying on the field and had a 3-10 record as a starting QB in NFL; this year. he stayed healthier, and now he’s 13-15.

8) Aaron Rodgers doesn’t do lot of autograph shows, which is why a Wheaties box signed by him sold for $760 at a charity auction.

7) Bengals’ RB Cedric Benson earns a $250,000 bonus if he rushes for 84+ yards this week- that would kick in one of his incentive clauses.

6) I feel really old; Mary Tyler Moore turned 75 this week.

5) When was the last time conference play in college hoop started with the SEC more highly rated than the ACC?

4) Pitt released freshman center Khem Birch to transfer to wherever place he wanted, as long as that place isn’t Missouri—he is blocked from getting a scholarship there.

That means we need a Pitt-Missouri game soon…..lol

3) Four smallest TV markets in NFL? Jacksonville (#49), Buffalo (51), New Orleans (52), Green Bay (71). Albany is #58.

2) Its ironic that the Colts won’t bench starters to lose Sunday, since they benched starters to sabotage their perfect season two years ago, saying it took pressure off the team and reduced the chance of a damaging injury. The quickest way for Indy to get back to a Super Bowl is to hit a bonanza of draft picks, which drafting/trading Andrew Luck would provide.

1) In 1997-98, the Colts went 6-26, then drafted Peyton Manning; they won 10+ games in 11 of last 13 years, so don’t tell me losing to get a franchise QB isn’t worth it. In this case, the rights to the franchise QB will be traded to someone who will pay a king’s ransom, which will provide the draft picks to hopefully help replenish the depleted talent pool of either the Colts/Rams. In some cases, losing really does help. Unless your franchise QB turns out to be Ryan Leaf; then, then you get to repeat the same process three years later.

Friday's List of 13: Wrapping up the early bowls.........
Here are some thoughts I’ve had about the early bowl games, through the Alamo Bowl on Thursday night……..
14) Best Game—UL-Lafayette 32, San Diego State 30 (New Orleans Bowl)—Kid on ULL booted a 50-yard FG at the gun to win it, after Aztecs were penalized because one of their linemen spit on a Ragin’ Cajun lineman, to try and get him to jump offside.

13) Best game, runnerup—Toledo 42, Air Force 41—Rockets scored TDs on plays of 41-49-33 yards, ran a kick back for a TD, had a defensive TD and won still only won by a point, in a game played outdoors. In the East. At night.

12) Worst effort—Arizona State lost 56-24 to Boise State in Las Vegas Bowl, giving up two defensive scores and having opening kick returned for a TD. You tell me Western Kentucky couldn’t have done better?

11) Best QB whose dad played in major leagues—Ohio U QB Tyler Tettleton led Bobcats to their first-ever bowl win, 24-23 over Utah State in the Idaho Potato Bowl, leading a TD in the last minute to win it. Utah State lost despite running ball for 345 yards, which doesn’t happen much.

10) Least passes thrown in a bowl so far--- Temple waxed Wyoming 37-15 in the New Mexico Bowl, despite completing only 8-12 passes, albeit for 169 yards (14.1 ypa, 21.1 ypc). Only team that might throw fewer than 12 passes rest of bowl season is Georgia Tech.

9) When its windy in Hawai’i, bet the under—Southern Miss 24, Nevada 17 never got anywhere near the total (64); neither team completed half its passes. Game was semi-interesting because it was close, but there were hardly any fans at the game and Southern Miss seem distracted having a lame duck coach.

8) Notre Dame has two bowl wins since 1994; they came in El Paso and Honolulu, yet TV types still treat them as an elite program. Why is this?

7) Most points scored in a bowl. Poor Chris Spielman, who was a great linebacker and is a terrific analyst, but he was not happy watching the defenses in this game. Baylor 67, Washington 56. Bears ran ball for 482 yards, with three different kids running for 100+ yards. I'm serious, Spielman sounded like he wanted to go down and hit someone. Hard.

6) Least points scored in a bowl so far—Marshall 20, FIU 10—Rare opportunity to bet against a Sun Belt team favored in a bowl. Marshall’s freshman QB is pretty good, but Thundering Herd almost lost to a dreadful Memphis team- why were they even in a bowl?

5) Whats with coaches wearing sun visors? Missouri beat North Carolina 41-24 at a rainy Independence bowl in Shreveport; Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel wore a parka on a cold, wet night, but still wore the same sun visor he always wears, despite the game being played in the dark. In the rain. Parkas and sun visors don’t go together. Tigers ran ball down Carolina's throat in this game-- 337 yards.

4) Most turnovers ever in an indoor game—Purdue 39, Western Michigan 32 in the Little Ceaser’s Bowl. Has a team ever turned the ball over seven times in one game and won? Western turned it over seven times, Purdue four and teams still scored 71 points, with no defensive TDs. Broncos passed for 439 yards with a sophomore QB, so they should be good for a while.

3) Vindication bowl—NC State coach Tom O’Brien basically fired his starting QB Russell Wilson because he played minor league baseball instead of spring football. Wilson then transferred to Wisconsin and led the Badgers to a 10-2 record, while State struggled early in the season, putting heat on O’Brien, but the Wolfpack rallied late in the season, and junior QB Glennon justified his coach’s faith in him by throwing for 264 yards in State’s 31-24 Belk Bowl win over Louisville.

Side Note: I had zero idea who/what Belk was. Actually it is a leading retail department store located in the south, according to belk.com.

2) Teams who should’ve met in a better bowl: TCU 31, Louisiana Tech 24 (Poinsettia Bowl)—Curious to see how Horned Frogs do in Big X; think they would’ve dominated the Big East, albeit from very far away. This was a good game.

1) Texas 21, Cal 10— First time ever the Poinsettia Bowl was more fun to watch than the Holiday Bowl. How do the Texas freakin’ Longhorns not have a decent QB on their roster? Manny Diaz’ defense forced five turnovers and held Cal to 195 total yards, or else Mack Brown wouldn’t be as happy as he is today.

Thursday's List of 13: Things I'm looking for this weekend.....
13) Unusual NFL Sunday this week, in that all 16 games this week are on Sunday, and all 16 are divisional rivalries; doesn’t happen very much.

12) Bengals probably need to win to make the playoffs; their fans did sell this game out; Ravens need this game for their first home playoff game in the Harbaugh era (and a bye). Interesting game.

11) 16 of 35 bowls will be finished before an SEC team takes field, which means that an SEC team will play in nine of the last 19 bowls this year.

10) Detroit/Atlanta are both in the playoffs, but there’s a big difference between going to New Orleans and going to play the NFC East champs next weekend. Lions will fight like hell to win at Lambeau and get that #5 seed, to avoid another trip to Bourbon Street.

9) When was the last time the NBA headliner on a Friday night was Bulls-Clippers? It is this week. Should be a terrific game.

8) Kentucky-Louisville is the biggest non-conference rivalry in college basketball; Cardinals lost to Georgetown last night, but no one in the Commonwealth will remember that result if the Cardinals beat UK. Its a hell of a bad week if they lose to the Wildcats.

7) Can the Colts snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and clinch the #1 slot in next April’s draft? If Indy wins, that noise you hear will be me being happy for the first time this football season.

6) Vanderbilt is favored in a bowl game; seriously, they are. Granted its against a Big East team, but trust me, this scenario doesn’t happen much.

5) There are several conference basketball games this weekend in college ranks; will be curious to see if UCLA can win a game in the Bay Area against either Cal/Stanford, after a dismal pre-conference performance by the Bruins.

4) Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops played college football at Iowa; now he is a 14-point favorite over the Hawkeyes in the Insight Bowl, a game Iowa won LY. Stoops’ bowl record isn’t the best, while Kirk Ferentz is 6-1 vs the spread when a bowl underdog. Will the Hawkeye players be excited to be back in Tempe again this year? (Hey, its better than Iowa State’s game, in the South Bronx.)

3) Since UCLA-Illinois both fired their coach and decided to go in a different direction, shouldn’t they be playing in the Compass Bowl next weekend? I’m just asking.

2) Kyle Orton started this season as the Broncos’ starting QB; the team cut him after the trading deadline, and now he returns to Denver in Week 17 with a chance to knock the Broncos out of the playoffs; this has to be a unique scenario in NFL history.

1) Dallas-Giant game Sunday night is for NFC East title and the NFC’s #4 seed, which comes with a home playoff game. Good theater. Winner breathes a sigh of relief; loser thinks of reasons why they shouldn’t fire their head coach. That’s the world we live in today.

Wednesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but.........
13) Last April 13, Sacramento Kings played their last home game, which most people assumed would be the Kings’ last-ever game in Sacramento, before they moved to Anaheim. TV announcers Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds were actually close to tears as they signed off, with fans coming up to them and thanking them—it really was a moving thing to see, so it was a little odd Monday to sit there and watch the Kings beat the Lakers in Sacramento in this season’s opener.

Apparently, the Maloofs financial problems prevent them from getting out of their Sacramento lease, so the Kings stay put for now.

12) Through his first two games, Kings are +7 with Jimmer Fredette on the court, and -20 with him on bench. He's played 26-24 minutes in his first couple games.

11) Looking at NBA Opening Day rosters, Duke (16) has the most alums in the league, followed by Kentucky/UCLA (both 15).

10) Back in August, if you were going to guess which three NFL receivers would lead the league in receiving yardage, no one, and I mean not even his own family, would’ve pegged Victor Cruz to be 3rd in the NFL going into the last week of the season.

9) Has an NFL team ever won a division title when they were favored to win in only five of 16 games? Denver has a chance to do it this year. Hell, the 4-11 Browns have been favored six times.

8) A bettor from Texas laid down $10,000 on the Broncos to win this season’s Super Bowl, he got 17-1 odds, but this was before the Broncos’ debacle in Buffalo Sunday.

7) NFL Network did a bit on its Sunday morning show where Steve Mariucci played Santa Mooch, giving out gifts to show’s other analysts; tremendous TV, very funny.

6) NBA players/coaches get fined $2,000 for each of their first five technical fouls; after that, its $3,000 a pop for technicals #6-10.

5) New York Giants have played two games in New York State in the last 20 years; in 1996/2003, both in Buffalo. Do people in New Jersey care about this?

4) I’ve had DirecTV since August 22, but since I’m not terribly bright, I just realized Saturday night that there are 20 movie channels on my TV that I wasn’t aware of, so finally got to see The Blind Side late Saturday night. Very good movie.

3) HBO does a very good job following the NHL’s Flyers/Rangers around, as they lead up to the outdoor game in Philadelphia Monday. Its good TV, but better to watch late at night, when they don’t bleep out the coaches’ expletives in locker room speeches. During the day, they edit out the cursing. Funny thing is, there’s more cursing in VH1’s Mob Wives than there is on this show.

2) Saints led archrival Atlanta 38-16 with roughly 8:00 left Monday night; my thought was that Sean Payton wouldn’t throw (and risk injury to Drew Brees) against his biggest rival with the game in bag, and he’d wait until Sunday to let Brees break single season passing record, especially since there’s a good chance Saints-Falcons will meet again in the playoffs in two weeks. Not so much. Payton wanted the record Monday night and he eventually got it, but the Saints looked cheesy in doing so.

1) When something like that happens, why don’t the TV people have enough sense to show the two head coaches shaking hands after the game? Jon Gruden mentioned during the game that Atlanta might not be overjoyed by the Saints’ tactics; why not see if something happens?

Tuesday's List of 13........Our top 8, bottom 5 in NFL.........
32) Rams— 10-37 under Spagnuolo, 15-64 last five years; they're 0-12-1 vs spread in their losses this year, but the weird thing is, I think there is better talent there now-- they beat the Saints by 10 points, no?

31) Buccaneers— At least the Rams try; Bucs stopped weeks ago.

30) Colts— Shouldn't Jim Irsay order Caldwell to lose this game? Bench Orlovsky, make them go for it on every 4th down. What good does it do the Colt franchise to win this week?

29) Browns-- How were they favored six times this season?

28) Vikings— Is Joe Webb their QB of the future? Hard to believe that just two years ago, they were thisclose to being in the Super Bowl.

8) Lions-- Say what you will about their being a dirty team, but football is still a violent game, and Detroit doesn't get pushed around anymore.

7) Falcons— No shortage of motivation if they return to Superdome for first playoff game; they're more likely to visit NFC East winner.

6) Steelers— NFL trainers earn whatever money they make, no? I mean, how much is it worth for the franchise to get Big Ben's ankle healthy?

5) 49ers— +25 turnover ratio. Tremendous season. Still think they're going down in their first playoff game.

4) Ravens— Have been in seven playoff games under Harbaugh, all on the road; win at Cincinnati Sunday, and they get a home playoff game.

3) Patriots— Need win Sunday to clinch home field over the AFC North champ, or else I wouldn't let Brady put a uniform on Sunday.

2) Saints— Not sure why Brees had to set single season passing yardage record Monday; am guessing their rivals in Atlanta weren't too thrilled with Saints throwing ball in last 8:00 with 22-point lead.

1) Packers— Jordy Nelson was 36th player taken in 2008 NFL Draft out of Kansas State; those 2nd round picks that teams give up to move up in the draft- they can pay off bigtime.

Monday's List of 13: Things to look for in 2012.........
13) If Eldrick Woods ever dated Kim Kardashian, entire Internet would explode somewhere over Saskatchewan and all of North America would be littered with debris from millions of words colliding in cyberspace. This needs to happen, maybe in late May or June, just to liven things up a bit. They could be married and divorced before football season starts.

12) If Colts lose in Jacksonville Sunday, will they give Peyton Manning his $28M roster bonus in March, or will they give him his walking papers and move ahead with Andrew Luck as their QB of the future? Manning is the best Colts’ QB since Johnny Unitas, but even Johnny U finished his career as a Charger.

11) Milwaukee Brewers drew 3,071,373 fans to Miller Park LY, third time in four years they’ve top 3M fans; they’ve already sold 1M+ tickets for 2012, first time they’ve topped the million mark before Christmas. But how many tickets will they sell during the season next year with Prince Fielder likely gone and Ryan Braun done for the first 50 games? Hard to believe they’ll have a very good team.

10) The NBA season is going to be interesting, because the short training camp makes the season a work in progress for all 30 teams. Its going to take time for ome teams to develop teamwork/chemistry but with so many games in a shorter period, some teams will get buried early on.

9) So Urban Meyer quit the Florida Gators to spend more time with his family, then signed on with Ohio State less than a year later? Does this mean his family doesn’t like hanging out with him?

8) VCU making the Final Four last spring quieted any objections people had about teams #61-68 playing an extra game in the NCAA basketball tournament; will anyone make a similar run this spring? I’m thinking we’re understating what a terrific accomplishment that was.

7) Will my St Louis Rams make any coaching changes? You can make the (shaky) argument that because of last spring’s lockout, teams didn’t get a chance to fully implement their plans for this year (of course, Carolina has been improved with rookie coach/rookie QB). Its going to be very disappointing if no heads roll at Rams Park, but its not my money they’d be burning by purging the culprits.

6) How many NBA players will play in all 66 of their team’s games? By the way, if Grant Hill makes it through another season healthy, the Miami Marlins have to pay big money to steal away Suns’ trainers and assign them to Jose Reyes’ hamstrings. And you think I’m kidding.

5) Pardon me for babbling out loud here, but who the hell is going to play 1B for my fantasy team until Ryan Howard's achilles tendon heals? It'd be nice if someone other than Seattle signed Prince Fielder, so Mike Carp would be guaranteed a spot in the lineup every day.

4) I’d like to see the NCAA simplify their rule book in 2012 and only worry about serious offenses, not ticky-tack stuff about hosting recruits at the coach’s house and stuff like that. Bruce Pearl got fired for lying to the NCAA about some stupid rule that shouldn’t even be a rule. I know lying isn’t good, but come on, think about things that have come to light since Pearl got fired. He looks like a freakin’ saint, by comparison.

3) Someone is going to be really smart and buy the Dodgers; following Frank McCourt as owner is as easy a duty as following Mike Singletary as coach of the 49ers—its always good to follow an incompetent.

2) Coolest Christmas present I've seen this year: guy I know was given an authentic Shane Falco #16 Washington Sentinel jersey, like the one Keanu Reeves wore in The Replacements. Excellent. Not sure where they got it.

1) I hope all of you have a happy and healthy 2012; none of us are guaranteed anything in this life, so we need to make the most of the time we have. Make this year your best one yet!!!!

Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up an NFL Saturday.........
13) Giants beat the Jets, setting up Sunday night game next week as big game of the week, with the NFC East title at stake when Dallas visits the Garden State for a game in Swamp Stadium.

12) Another big game will be in Denver, where old friend Kyle Orton can knock the Broncos out of the playoffs if his Chiefs upset Denver. Not the best of days for the AFC West, with Chargers/Broncos getting crushed. Denver might be 7-3 with Tebow starting, but two of his three losses are by 45-10/40-14 scores. Tebow looks like a JV high school QB when he has an off day passing- he was 13-30 with four INTs Sunday.

11) We hope Adrian Peterson didn't tear his ACL as feared, but if he did, not only did Minnesota screw up its draft position by winning Sunday, they lost their best player heading into next season. Not good.

10) Bengals narrowly missed an enormous collapse; they led 23-0 in 4th quarter, and Cardinals had receiver wide open for tying TD in last minute, but Early Doucet fell down before pass got there and Bengals survived.

9) Why stats can be misleading: Carolina scored 48 points- they were 0-6 on third down. Steelers won 27-0; they were 1-7. Buffalo scored 40, and they only had one offensive TD. Have to look at the whole picture.

8) Woeful, pathetic Rams are 2-13; they're 0-12-1 vs spread in those 13 losses, thats how non-competitive their offense has been, because to be fair, their defense hasn't been terrible.

By way of comparison, by my quick count, the other 31 NFL teams are 38-181-6 vs spread (17.4%) when they lose a game.

7) Rams need Colts to win at Jacksonville next week; if so, they will have the #1 pick in the draft, which could turn into a trade bonanza if there are a lot of teams who are willing to trade for Andrew Luck.

6) Raiders won at Kansas City in OT, despite 15 accepted penalties for 92 yards, 7th time in last nine games they've had 10+ accepted penalties.

5) Titans didn't have one penalty Sunday; now thats unusual. Houston is locked into the #3 seed in AFC, so their game next week vs Tennessee won't mean anything to the Texans.

4) You see how the 49ers struggle when they don't dominate turnovers and field position; they were +1 in turnovers, but -3 in field position and were life-and-death to win at Seattle 19-17, getting their only takeaway when the Seahawks were driving for the game-winning field goal.

3) Going to be a long offseason for Mark Sanchez, who might be well-advised to lay off a little on the commercials.

2) Congrats to Lion fans; your team is in the playoffs for first time since 1999. 12 years is a long time in between playoff games.

1) Merry Christmas to everyone; Sunday has five NBA games, the NFL game at night and four college hoop games from Hawai'i. Enjoy.

Saturday's List of 13: Passing out some Christmas gifts........
13) For college football fans—An 8-team playoff, like the one in I-AA. This would be extremely popular and TV would love it.

12) Academics who like basketball—A Northwestern-Harvard first round tournament game. This could happen. Wildcats have never made the NCAAs; its been eons since Harvard made it, but both are expected to get there this time around.

11) Mr and Mrs Homer Drew—Improved health for former Valparaiso coach and his wife, and a Baylor run to the Final Four for their son Scott.

10) Steven Jackson—Five very large, healthy, angry men to block for him next season, so he can finally play in a playoff game.

9) Terry Francona-- A year of good health and peace/quiet, as well as some gratitude from Red Sox nation for the great work he did for them in winning two World Series and doing it with class.

8) Sidney Crosby—A clear head and a quick return to the ice.

7) College football TV viewers—We’ve already gotten one great gift; Craig James is running for US Senate and is off ESPN’s airwaves. Asking for anything else would be greedy.

6) Matt Barkley-- A healthy season next year, so his gamble of returning to USC for his senior year doesn't turn into a financial disaster.

5) Rex Ryan—A gig as a WWE manager when his coaching days are done. He’d be great doing interviews with Jerry Lawler, or getting hit over the head with a metal chair.

4) Met fans—Mayor Bloomberg (a billionaire) buys the Mets, then flips them for a quick profit to Mark Cuban. Imagine the NYC tabloids if Cuban owned the Mets?

3) TV golf people—Eldrick Woods winning an event or two early in 2012; they’re sucking up to him so much right now, praying that he wins—TV golf ratings desperately need Woods to get a win or two. It makes everyone wealthier, even his competitors.

2) NBA/DirecTV—Good sense to realize that if your schedule has 19.5% less games in it, then your pay-per-view package should be at least 19.5% cheaper than it was last year. If beer companies turned 6-packs into 5-packs, wouldn’t they lower the price?

1) Too all my readers—A happy, healthy Christmas/New Year’s. Thanks to all of you for reading. Hope 2012 is a great one for all of us.

Friday's List of 13: Things I'm looking for this weekend........
13) Eagle-Dallas game is at 4:15 Sunday; if Giants win at 1:00, then Philly is eliminated and this game means virtually nothing to the Cowboys. If the Giants lose, this becomes an elimination game for the Iggles and a potential division-clincher for Dallas.

12) Chargers-Lions is only 4:15 game in Eastern time zone on Christmas Eve. Good thing I’m already divorced.

11) Giant-Jet tickets are being scalped for significant amounts of money. High stakes with both teams struggling, but still having a shot at the playoffs. This is one of the few times these teams will play at the same time; otherwise, TV schedule dictates they play at different times.

10) 49ers are on an unthinkable roll, with a +25 turnover ratio; they’re doing all the little things extremely well. Seattle won four of its last five games and is still alive; this should be an interesting game. Ted Ginn had two return TDs in the first meeting on Opening Day at Candlestick.

9) Diamond Head Classic means we could see Frank Martin f-bombing his players while wearing a Hawai’ian shirt; Kansas State-Xavier was the expected final, until the Musketeers had all those suspensions. Now Long Beach State has a legit shot to get to the final.

8) How quickly will the Nevada-Southern Miss bowl game get over the total? Hawai’I Bowl, with a captive TV audience on Christmas Eve, is usually high-scoring, as teams try to impress TV-watching recruits.

7) A's traded Gio Gonzalez to Washington, which seriously set me off; I actually called the A's group sales office and vented to whomever it was that answered the phone. This is unthinkable, to break up your team so you can suck until someone promises to build you a new stadium. Just so you know, I apologized both before and after I vented, but for a team not to even try to win until they get a new stadium reeks of extortion.

6) How hideous are the NBA games going to be Sunday/Monday? Teams haven’t had enough time to get ready for the season.

5) Now that the Ravens got help from the 49ers Monday night, they have no excuse not to beat the Bengals/Browns and win the division title, giving them their first playoff home games in the John Harbaugh era. They do need to win two more games though.

4) John Skelton/Matt Moore are two backup QBs making statements for their teams’ starting job in 2012; can they keep it up? Both are underdogs playing in cold weather Sunday; interesting games.

3) Does the Rangers signing the Japanese pitcher indicate they’re out of the Prince Fielder race? I was hearing late Thursday Seattle was in lead to sign Fielder, another stake in the heart of an A's fan.

2) Will Lovie Smith put Josh McCown in at QB in place of Caleb Hanie? Will Matt Flynn see the field, with Green Bay having no reason to win? Sounds like McCown will get his start on the frozen tundra Sunday.

1) Xavier has been hurt pretty badly by these suspensions, losing again out in Hawai'i; if they lose to host Warriors Friday, they'll be 0-3 since a fight that started when a Cincinnati played decked a Xavier player, not the other way around. Cincinnati hasn't lost since the fight.

Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud........
13) Nine of 14 Cowboy games have been decided by 4 or less points; in their last four games, Dallas was outscored 66-33 in the second half. Curious to see if they finish the Eagles off and win the NFC East.

12) There are 32 leagues that play Division I college basketball. Ivy League, which doesn’t give athletic scholarships, is ranked #13, highest they’ve been in long time, ahead of the CAA-MAC-Horizon-MAAC, amongst others. Harvard might not give athletic scholarships per se, but their better players are not paying to go to college.

Its some non-athletic program they have and it is a loophole they use to get around the “no athletic scholarship” thing and its why they’re a top 25 team right now. Make no mistake about, Harvard is a very good team, and not because they shoot 3’s well, because they don’t. Their key players are legitimately good Division I players.

11) Ohio U’s hoop team is 10-1 after going to Cedar Rapids and waxing Northern Iowa by 16. Bobcats are a junior-laden bunch that is very impressive and will be heard from in March.

10) 49ers are on an unconscious roll, with a +25 turnover ratio and just tremendous special teams. The last time an opponent started a drive in 49er territory was in Week 3, back during baseball season. Impressive season they’ve put together.

9) Three weeks ago, the Colts were 10-15 on 3rd down in Foxboro; in their last six games other than that one, Indy is 20-81 (24.7%) on 3rd down. Go figure.

8) There is outrage in Quebec political circles because the new coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Randy Cunneyworth, doesn’t speak French. Sounds like nothing a 6 or 7-game winning streak wouldn’t solve.

7) According to letsfaceit.com, if you gave up smoking for a year, you would save yourself $2,872 a year. If saving your life isn’t a good enough reason to quit smoking, would saving $2,800+ a year help?

6) Louisville has only played one road game so far this season, but they pay for that imbalance in January, when they only play at home three times.

5) Mets supposedly lost $70M last year, which is hard to fathom, until you realize that their owners are friends with Bernie Madoff, who was known to make numbers do strange things.

Mets won’t have a team in the Florida State League this year; that was where players went to rehab injuries. Guess they figure with Reyes/ Beltran gone, they’ll be less injured players who will need rehab.

4) Jason Kubel’s home batting average was 40 points lower at Target Field than it had been in the Metrodome, which is a big part of why he now calls Arizona home.

3) Sad stat of the day: Rams converted only 2 of 13 on third down last week, which is sad enough, but on those 13 third down plays, the Rams gained a total of seven yards. 7. Seven. 0.54 yards per play. 19.44 inches per play. Unspeakably bad.

2) TCU won another bowl game and now that the Horned Frogs will be a Big X team starting next year, its doubtful coach Gary Patterson will be leaving Fort Worth anytime soon. He's an excellent coach.

1) Clippers play the Lakers three times this season; they haven't won a season series against their crosstown rivals since 1993. This better be the year they do it; right now, they've got the better team, with Kobe hurt.

Wednesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but........
13) Great win for LSU Monday night, beating Marquette 67-59 in game they trailed 13-0 early; it was first time the two teams met since the 1970 NIT, which was Pete Maravich’s last college game.

Trent Johnson is a good coach who won at Nevada/Stanford; it would be surprising if he doesn’t get the LSU program turned around.

12) Was surprised how wildly enthusiastic some of the Chiefs were after they beat Green Bay Sunday; if you didn’t know better, you’d swear they were trying harder for Romeo Crennel than they did for the departed Todd Haley. Now that wouldn’t be very professional of them, would it?

11) Divisional games in the NFL schedule: Week 15, only three. Week 16, 10 out of 16 games, then in Week 17, all 16 games are divisional rivalries.

Best reality TV ever would be to sit in on the meetings where they draw up next year's schedule over the winter.

10) At one point, I thought that if Mike Martz coached him, Chuckles the Clown could play QB and pass for 250 yards with two TDs, but Caleb Hanie disproved that theory. The Hanie era isn’t going to be remembered fondly in Chicago. Some Bear fans might prefer the clown play QB.

Bears’ passing yards the last three weeks: 88-86-89. All losses.

9) NFL needs to go back to the rule where they have the #3 emergency QB available to be put into games; otherwise, they’re going to wind up with a WR or TE playing QB in a playoff game- that makes the product look bad.

8) My father/cousin are both Giant football fans, and they both hate Troy Aikman as a game analyst, saying he roots against the Giants because of his Dallas playing roots. Myself, I like Aikman as an analyst, while I’m not thrilled with Joe Buck on football, but I do enjoy listening to Aikman. Funny how everyone has different preferences for announcers.

7) Raiders had 10+ accepted penalties in six of their last eight games.

6) Jason Kubel got $15M to play leftfield for two years in Arizona; Snakes must’ve made some money LY, trading for Trevor Cahill and now signing Kubel. Putting Kubel in LF hurts them defensively.

5) In their last three games, Seahawks outscored their opponents 65-17 in the second half. That’s a good sign. Seahawks have 119+ rushing yards in six of last seven games; I’m giving credit to OL coach/former Raider HC Tom Cable for improving their run game. Must be nice to root for a team with a good offensive line.

4) Over the last five games, three teams with worst 3rd down defenses: 32) Giants 34-63, .540
31) Chargers 33-69, .478
30) Bucs 32-68, .471.

3) Over same period, teams with best 3rd down offenses:
1) Saints 34-64, .531
2) Panthers 29-60, .483
3) Ravens 35-73, .478.

2) When in doubt of what game to watch on the NFL Sunday Ticket, its gotten to the point where I put the Panthers on. Entertaining team to watch. Credit to Cam Newton for that one.

1) Buffalo Bills lost twice to Miami this season; in those two games, they had 23 third down plays, and didn’t get one first down. Zero. Bupkus.

Tuesday's List of 13........Our top 8, bottom 5 in NFL.........
32) Colts—Should they bench Orlovsky, to make sure they don’t win another game and blow the #1 pick?

31) Rams—Finish with Steelers/49ers, which means yet another fun-filled 2-14 season. Terrific.

30) Vikings—These guys led first three games of season by double digits at halftime and they’re 2-12 while Tarvaris Jackson is making late run for playoffs. Someone has some ‘splainin’ to do.

29) Buccaneers—Trying to remember why they fired Jon Gruden.

28) Bills—Lost at home in December to team from Miami that just fired its coach. Their $60M QB didn’t get a football scholarship to college. Need I go on?

8) Texans—Hopefully Wade Phillips will get well soon. Would be nice if they get some injured players back for first playoff appearance.

7) Falcons—Thursday night game gives them 11 days to rest up for rivalry game Monday night in Superdome.

6) Steelers—Finish with Rams/Browns, now need help from an unlikely source to win division title.

5) 49ers—If Saints go to Candlestick January 21-22, who will be favored?

4) Ravens— John Harbaugh can thank his brother for being back in first.

3) Saints—On a serious roll now. Will be very tough out in January.

2) Patriots—Denver ran for over 250 yards against them; don’t trust defense against playoff-caliber offense.

1) Packers—Why was Aaron Rodgers smiling on sidelines at end of the game Sunday? Loss to Chiefs makes their lives a lot easier the next couple weeks. Think McCarthy not challenging that play was intentional?

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend.........
13) Huge blunder by Oakland coach Jackson Sunday; Raiders scored TD on defense with 7:47 left to grab a 26-14 lead on the Lions. THEY HAVE TO GO FOR 2 POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why? Because Detroit won't kick a field goal from that point on, so being up 13 points is no different than a 12-point lead, but a 14-point lead is way better. But no, Oakland kicked a PAT, led 27-14, then watched as Matthew Stafford tore their hearts out with TD drives of 71-98 yards to beat the Raiders 28-27.

NFL teams are worth almost a billion dollars, yet the most basic elements of game management are screwed up week after week. How? Why?

12) Tough day for football in New Jersey, as Giants got whacked by the Redskins at home, getting swept by Washington for first time in 12 years, and Jets lost 45-19 at Philly, trailing 28-0 after 20:03 had been played. It sets up a big Christmas Eve game in Swamp Stadium next Saturday.

11) Put it this way; if Eagles can win out and get to 8-8, they'll win NFC East if Jets beat Giants, then the Giants beat Dallas. It could happen.

10) Why did the Vikings get rid of Tarvaris Jackson?

9) After being 4-17 in their last 21 bowl games, MAC teams went 2-0 on Saturday to get off to an uncharacteristically good start in this year's bowl season. Ohio U beat Utah State 24-23 in the last minute, as QB Tettleton, son of former big league catcher Mickey Tettleton, led the winning drive. Temple crushed Wyoming 37-15 in the New Mexico Bowl.

8) San Diego State lost New Orleans Bowl because of a spitting penalty; UL-Lafayette was lining up for a 55-yard FG to win the game, unlikely as the Cajuns had already missed two PATs, but an Aztec lineman spit on a ULL lineman, hoping to draw him offsides. Officials caught him, the ball was moved five yards closer and ULL made the winning FG. Wow.

7) Things got even worse over the weekend at Penn State, as starting QB McGloin was knocked unconscious in a scuffle with one of his receivers, then had a seizure as the result of a possible concussion. Hopefully he is OK; head injuries are scary, but obviouly this team has serious problems as the bowl game with Houston gets closer.

6) Murray State's basketball team is 12-0; you look at who they have left to play, and you realize they could easily be unbeaten when March rolls around, and I'm not kidding. As of right now, Racers have played the #98 schedule in America, which is pretty strong.

5) In a span of eight days, NFL Network will televise games involving the Jaguars-Buccaneers-Colts. Not exactly the best way to get customers to call the cable provider to add NFL Network to its basic tier.

4) Five teams were minus-2 or worse in turnovers this week; those teams all lost, by an average score of 35-15. Denver ran ball for 252 yards but lost three fumbles and wound up with a 24-yard deficit in field position.

3) Seattle scored five TDs in Chicago Sunday; two by the defense, one on a 80-yard drive, the other two on drives of 22-29 yards, one set up by a Chicago fumble. Offense gets short fields, your team should win.

2) Buffalo lost its 7th game in row since giving Ryan Fitzpatrick a $60M contract; am I the only cynic who has a problem with giving such a huge contract to someone who didn't get a college scholarship for football? I mean, the Dolphins scored 30 points and they only got three FGs out of four trips to the Buffalo red zone.

1) Here are Sunday's 3rd down conversions, divided by winners/losers:
Winning teams converted 83 of 187 3rd down plays: 44.4%.
Losing teams converted 47 of 154 3rd down plays: 30.5%.

Sunday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but........
13) They have a playoff in I-AA college football; none of the kids seem to be traumatized by it; there are three weeks between the semifinals and the national championship game. Interesting concept.

12) Alabama hoop coach Anthony Grant and Kansas State coach Frank Martin were high school teammates in Florida, now they're both making over a million bucks a year. The two old friends met Saturday night in Kansas City, with Kansas State winning 71-58.

11) Las Vegas is trying to get the Pac-12 hoop tournament; they already have the Mountain West, WAC and WCC. Addition of Colorado, Utah to the Pac-12 makes Vegas more geographically feasible, plus, who doesn't love to go there anyway? Right now, the Pac-12 tourney is always in LA.

10) Attendance at Saturday's New Mexico Bowl was 25,762; attendance at the finals of the Texas state high school tournament Friday was 32,314.

9) 1st hole at the Australian Masters is a 250-yard driveable par-4 that Geoff Ogilvy almost aced Saturday using an iron. Seemed too easy.

8) UC-Santa Barbara has an NBA-type player in Orlando Johnson, who had 24 points, 10 rebounds in close loss at Washington Friday. Big West is going to be decided by the UCSB-Long Beach State games. Good teams.

7) Read somewhere Friday that government spent roughly $75M trying to nail Barry Bonds and send him to jail. Hope that number is way off, since all Bonds got is house arrest, and I'm guessing his house is pretty damned nice. Some prosecutor's ego got the best of him/her.

6) Wouldn't you just love to know how much money Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson got to keep quiet? The guy went to jail to protect Bonds!!!!!!! He had to get serious money to keep his mouth shut.

5) Why do kids jump early to the NBA? Look at Jared Sullinger hobbling around South Carolina's gym Saturday- thats why. If his foot problems become chronic, he doesn't get a big payday. Look at Greg Oden; kid has not played a full season since high school, but at least he got paid.

4) If all my knowledge came from watching latenight TV, I'd swear that being bald was worse than having cancer or HIV. Listen to some of those commercials they run- I go get a hat every time I hear one.

3) Butler/Purdue played their hearts out Saturday, but teams combined to make just 7-18 from foul line in second half of Butler's 67-65 upset win.

2) If you have Mat Latos on your fantasy baseball team, your team got worse after Latos was traded from the pitcher's paradise in San Diego to the hitter's haven in Cincinnati. Latos just became a lesser pitcher.

1) Lesson of the Week for you aspiring husbands: Always get a pre-nup. Estimates have Kobe Bryant worth $360M; divorce laws usually give half to each party, which means he will be worth $180M when all is said/done. As I said before, pre-nups can save you mucho dinero.

Saturday's List of 13: Clearing out a cluttered mind.........
13) Memo to directors of televised basketball games: If clock is running, always have the camera on the ball, especially in the last 5:00 of a close game. Never, ever take the camera off the ball, especially to show fans or coaches watching what we want to watch. Trust me on this.

12) There are 35 bowl games this year; in 1969, there were eight, none of which was called the Idaho Potato Bowl.

11) Craig Ehlo, who played 14 years in NBA, and then was a broadcaster when he stopped playing, is now a 1st-year assistant coach with Eastern Washington. He will probably have a head coaching job pretty quickly, if he wants one, which should make the current coach at Washington State (Ehlo’s alma mater) at least a little nervous.

10) I’m guessing additional NFL Thursday night games will be wrapped in between the bye weeks in October, which is OK. Just don’t think football games were meant to be played on three days’ rest.

9) UNLV’s Justin Hawkins also played two years of volleyball in high school. I think schools in the east miss out by not having volleyball as a more prominent sport. Volleyball is a good compliment to basketball.

8) There are ten football coaches in the Big X. Kansas’ Charlie Weis has the 3rd-highest salary. I’m guessing Mike Gundy’s agent might be calling Stillwater about that pretty soon.

7) You know those Fatheads, the big stickers of players you can put on a wall? Company is owned by Dan Gilbert, owner of Cleveland Cavaliers.

6) Mets signed journeyman lefty pitcher Chuck James this week; once a big prospect with Atlanta, James was 11-4, 3.78 in 2006, but since then is 13-15, 5.08 and hasn’t started a game since ’08. Mets have a brand-new $850M ballpark, but run their franchie like they’re the Pirates.

5) Lot of people in Pittsburgh are very annoyed that football coach Todd Graham left after one year to go coach Arizona State. Making it worse is that Graham informed his players via mass text massage. Not classy. If Graham is smart, he’ll blame it on his wife hating Pittsburgh, whether that is true or not.

4) Pitt Panthers will now have had four head coaches in 14 months. The Steelers have had three head coaches since 1969.

3) Mitt Romney has supposedly raised $10M just in New York, where Jets’ owner Woody Johnson is one of his biggest backers. $10M buys a lot of TV commercials. Can't wait.

2) ACC is going to go to 18 conference games next year, imitating what the Big East does. What it does it helps RPI for league members, instead of playing two more non-league games against cruddy teams.

1) Twins gave Josh Willingham $21M for three years; he hit ball fairly well for the A’s, but he certainly was no difference maker. After 35 years of losing players via free agency, both great, good and average, I’m now numb when a guy like Willingham leaves for greener pastures. Good luck to him. We’ll be just as bad with someone else out in leftfield.

Friday's List of 13: Things I'm looking for this weekend........
13) Cowboys have a must-win game against the free-falling Buccaneers in Tampa Saturday night; if I’m Jerry Jones and Dallas loses this game, not many of my football-related employees would have a lot of job security, especially the QB and the head coach.

12) What will first few NBA preseason games look like? Will teammates be introducing themselves to each other as they check into the game?

11) Bears lost their last three games, but catch Seattle team this week travelling cross-country after a Monday night game. Chicago still has to play the Packers; they really, really need this won.

10) Syracuse’s top-ranked basketball team leaves New York State for the first time this season, playing potentially-dangerous NC State in Raleigh.

9) How will Houston Texans play this week, after clinching their first division title, and with DC Wade Phillips out for a while with a medical issue?

8) Memphis-Louisville was once a great basketball rivalry, but conference realignment has left Memphis far behind. Too bad; still not sure why the Big East hasn’t gobbled them up- they took freakin’ San Diego State, no?

7) Who will get more penalties, Detroit or Oakland? Can’t wait to see who the referee is for this game; either the NFL’s best or the one the league is annoyed with the most.

6) Kansas State-Alabama play a 10pm Saturday night game for TV; decent under-the-radar contest. As recently as 2000, Frank Martin was a high school coach in Miami; now he makes $1.5M a year, going 40-24 in his first four years in Big 12 play. What a country.

5) Raven-Charger Sunday night game should be fun; San Diego isn’t dead yet, especially if the Patriots win in Denver Sunday afternoon, and Ravens are playing for home field advantage.

4) Can Buffalo snap its losing streak against a Dolphin team that just fired its head coach? Hard to believe Miami’s players are too excited about spending four hours outdoors in western NY Sunday.

3) Jets are 0-8 in franchise history against Philadelphia, but they’re fighting for a playoff spot, while the Eagles’ season is pretty much dead. Philly is 1-5 at home, in front of a fanbase that can be very critical.

2) Which one of Saturday’s three bowl games will be the most fun to watch? The 9:00 game should be interesting; UL-Lafayette is in its first-ever bowl, against San Diego State and its terrific RB, Ronnie Hillman.

1) Patriots-Denver. Brady-Tebow. Ratings magic. Much as it probably disgusts them to do so, Raiders/Chargers are rooting like hell for New England to win.

Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud......
13) OK, allow me to vent for a minute. When you hear why, I trust you’ll agree. The NBA has reduced its season from 82 to 66 games, a reduction of 19.5%, so it figures that the NBA package on DirecTV should be 19.5% less than LY, right? Since it was $180 LY, that means it should be a maximum of $145 this season, since $145 is 80.5% of $180.

Am I making sense? Problem is, the greedy bastards are charging $170, a reduction of 5.6%. I will call and complain and see if they negotiate price, but no way am I paying more than $150. I’d rather go without than reward these creeps for their greed. What do you think?

12) Baseball’s All-Star break will now be four days, not three and the All-Star Game may get pushed to Wednesday instead of Tuesday, probably to allow more pitchers to be able to pitch in the game.

11) NFL’s Week 15 is a weird one, with only three divisional matchups. Ton of divisional rivalries in the last two weeks of the season.

10) If Jake locker starts in place of Matt Hasselbeck for Tennessee this week, the NFL’s oldest starting QB will be Tom Brady. Time sure flies.

9) Gus Malzahn took a $450,000 pay cut to go from being the offensive coordinator at Auburn to head coach at Arkansas State. Guy really wants to prove he can be a head coach. Problem for ASU is, if Malzahn proves to be a good HC, he ain’t staying in Jonesboro very long. Seems like no one stays anywhere too long these days.

8) Is it me, or do NHL teams fire head coaches a lot quicker than most pro sports?

7) Major league players will be miked during games next year, which should be interesting. It works pretty well in the NFL. Having a first baseman miked could be interesting, them and catchers.

6) Louisiana-Lafayette is playing in its first-ever bowl Saturday, so good for them; Ohio U (0-4) and Western Michigan (0-5) are each trying for their first bowl win.

5) ESPN’s 90-minute documentary on Todd Marinovich was very well done; it was sad yet interesting, but not 100% sad. Marinovich seems somewhat happy now, and that didn’t always seem like it would happen.

4) 35 bowls in 23 days start Saturday; still seems unfair that Illinois lost its last six games and got in, while 7-5 Western Kentucky stayed home. They should let those two teams play each other next year.

3) Whats up with the NBA? 10 days before the season starts and still a few of the best players have no idea what team they’ll be playing on.

2) When they study Contract Law in law school, do they ever talk about college football coaches? Contracts don’t seem to mean a whole lot to coaches. When Todd Graham leads Arizona State on the field next September, he’ll be starting his 7th year as a D-I head coach. At his 4th college. One year at Rice, four years at Tulsa, one year at Pitt, and now on to the desert. Hope he owns stock in a moving van company.

1) When Pitt hires a new coach sometime later this month, he’ll be their 4th coach in the last 14 months; they fired Dave Wannstedt LY, replaced him with a guy who got fired after two weeks because a domestic violence episode, then had Graham bolt on them after one unspectacular 6-6 season, which ends with a game against SMU in the Compass Bowl in early January. Seems like if anyone was meant to coach in the Compass Bowl it would be the nomadic Graham, who can’t seem to decide where he wants to settle down.

Wednesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but........
13) Ironic that the Lions benefitted from a non-call on last play of their win over the Vikings Sunday; in their last three games, Detroit has 32 penalties for 265 yards, their opponents 15 for 121; you could make a strong argument that the NFL has targeted Lions because of their alleged dirty play that hasn’t been policed by their coaching staff.

12) Curious to see who gets to ref Detroit-Oakland game this weekend; in their last seven games, Raiders have 75 penalties for 636 yards, their opponents 58 for 447. First team to ten flags wins.

11) KL Wheat reports from Long Island that there are 2012 New York Mets calendars on the shelf in stores that have been there for last seven weeks, with no pictures of Jose Reyes in them, so its safe to assume the team never planned on trying to re-sign their former shortstop. Good thing my tax dollars help fund their new $850M ballpark, since they’re making no effort to win.

10) In other words, if former used car dealer Alan R. Selig got rid of the owners in Arlington and LA, he should get rid of the hideous Wilpons too. They recently borrowed another $40M to stay afloat. Terrific.

9) Supposedly, the Angels’ first contact with Albert Pujols’ agent was roughly 48 hours before he signed with the team. Doesn’t usually work that way. Wonder what would’ve happened if Tony Larussa was still managing the Redbirds?

8) In 52 years of football, the Cowboys have lost five games when they led by 12+ points in the 4th quarter; three of those five games have been this season.

7) So San Diego State is in the Big East in football; can’t wait for those annual Aztec-Rutgers games. What a rivalry. Aztecs are comically enough in both the Big East (football) and Big West (most everything else)- they should dominate Big West basketball until Steve Fisher retires.

6) Surprising that Ravens-Chargers game Sunday night was still 2,000 fans short of a sellout as of Tuesday afternoon. Should be good game.

5) There is a butter shortage in Norway. Seriously, there is. Guess they had a rainy summer which hurt their milk production. Hey if you were in Oslo and had a bagel, you'd care about this. Don't look at me like that.

4) I love baseball, but if it weren’t for my fantasy team, I’d have a hard time being too interested these days; the A’s have basically forfeited the next three seasons already by trading away Trevor Cahill, with Gio Gonzalez/Andrew Bailey trades to follow; the owner’s actions say this: “I ain’t trying unless you build me a $500M ballpark.”

Lew Wulff is an old college buddy of former used car salesman Alan R Selig and expected a windfall when he bought the struggling Oakland franchise, but instead the economy crashed and now he has a team he probably wishes he never bought. Believe me, the feeling is mutual.

3) Its not much fun reading Internet articles where the only time your team is mentioned is in terms of selling off their better players, just as it was no fun Monday night to listen to Mike Tirico whine about having to watch bad football in Seattle. Hey stupid, you’re getting paid, shut up and do your job. Its not that hard.

2) ESPN’s Mike Breen/Jeff Van Gundy are going to work a doubleheader Christmas, doing Miami-Dallas during the day, then flying to Oakland to do the Clipper-Warrior game, the coaching debut of their former broadcast partner Mark Jackson. Good to see people who like each other so much that they’re willing to go the extra mile to honor them. I’ll miss Jackson on the air for the year or two he’ll be coaching, then he’ll come back after the Warriors fire him. Happens all the time.

1) Really not sure how someone like Jackson, who has never coached at any level before, lands an NBA head coaching gig. An NBA point guard is like a coach on the floor, but it is hardly coaching. You’d think being an NBA head coach isn’t an entry level position.

Tuesday's List of 13: Our NFL top 8, bottom 5 teams.......
32) Colts—Peyton Manning is owed a $28M (yes, $28M) roster bonus in March; if Colts give it to him, the last four years of his contract kick in; awful lot of cash to give to a 36-year old who has had multiple neck operations since last time he played.

31) Rams— Why is it that three of worst teams (Vikings-Rams-Jaguars) have three of the best RBs (Peterson/Jackson/Jones-Drew)? Because it’s a passing league now, due to the recent rule changes.

30) Vikings—Those double digit halftime leads Minnesota blew back in September seem like an awful long time ago now. If I was Joe Webb, I’d spend the entire winter/spring becoming a more accurate passer, because there’s a job to be won here.

29) Browns—Courtside seats at Cavalier games are now only $3 a game cheaper than when Lebron James played for the Cavs. That would be called price-gouging.

28) Buccaneers—Wonder what would happen if they asked Jon Gruden to come back. Or his brother Jay (OC with Bengals).

8) Falcons—At 2:30 Sunday, they looked like a dead team. By 4:00, they had a good road win in their pocket. Week 16 game with Saints is as usual, a biggie, in NFL' most underrated rivalry.

7) 49ers-- Amazing how they dominate field position, but not often an NFL team loses when they’re +3 in turnovers. They did Sunday.

6) Texans—Good for Gary Kubiak. Good for the owner for not firing Kubiak LY. Good for Wade Phillips- he saved Kubiak’s job this year.

5) Steelers—Mainstream media can blab about Eli Manning all they want, and Eli is terrific, but I’ll Big Ben over him any day.

4) Ravens—Weird Week 15 schedule, with only three divisional games on the slate; they’ll make up for it the last two weeks, with tons of divisional rivalry games.

3) Saints—Have been ordinary on road, outdoors; may have to win at Candlestick/Lambeau on consecutive weekends to get to Super Bowl.

2) Patriots—Its been seven years since they’ve won a Super Bowl, and realization that winning one this year is a stretch might’ve been evident in suburban Maryland Sunday, with QB/coach blowup.

1) Packers—14-5 against the spread in last 19 games, all wins, all taking the other team’s best shot. Curious to see how they approach Week 16/ 17 rivalry games against contenders Bears and Lions.

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up a sports weekend........
13) Tim Tebow was 3-16 passing in the first three quarters against Bears Sunday; after that, he was 18-24, rallying Denver from a 10-0 deficit in the last 3:00 to beat Chicago in OT, providing FOX with more great TV ratings. Why does he play so much better late in the game?

12) Wouldn't be surprised if Cincinnati-Xavier rivalry took a year or two off after Saturday's brawl-filled debacle; either that, or put the game in the arena downtown instead of the on-campus gyms. Game has to be a huge moneymaker, so its hard to put it on ice, but can't have stuff going on that went on Saturday. Would also be nice if players showed some maturity.

11) Its too bad for the Atlantic 14, which had a big weekend, as Temple beat Villanova, Xavier won their game, St Joe's beat Creighton and Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus won his 500th career game, but no one noticed after what could have turned into a much uglier incident than it was.

10) How about the Houston Texans, who led for only 4:59 at Cincinnati Sunday, but scored winning TD with 0:02 left and clinched first division title when the Saints won at Tennessee? Wade Phillips turned a porous defense into a team strength. Do they have an award for the best assistant coach in the NFL? Phillips would get it this season.

9) Indiana's dramatic win over Kentucky was great theater Saturday, but they've got to provide better security for the visiting team. Very lucky no one got hurt with so many students rushing the floor.

8) Minnesota was -6 in turnovers and still had the ball on the 1-yard line to win on the last play in Detroit; Vikings ran ball for 269 yards but lost. Two of Detroit's four TDs were scored by the defense. Still puzzled as to how the officials missed the facemask penalty on the last play, but the Lions got a big break and a much-needed win.

7) Wisconsin soph Ben Brust was 7-7 behind the arc Saturday as he led the Badgers to a 62-51 win over a good UNLV team in Madison. Not too often anyone goes 7-7 from the foul line, much less behind the arc.

6) 49ers' loss in Arizona puts them in a tie with New Orleans for the #2 seed in the NFC, but Niners have one less conference loss right now, so they own the tie-breaker. 49ers play Pittsburgh next Monday night, and close with division rivals Seattle/St Louis.

5) ACC is down to #5 conference in college hoop so far this season, little unusual. Mountain West passed the Pac-12 this week, too, moving into the #6 spot. Down year for the Pac-12, except Arizona/Washington.

4) Football is an emotional game; its amazing there aren't more blowups on the sidelines between players/coaches like the one between Patriots' offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien and Tom Brady Sunday. Problem for the Patriots is that there is ton of pressure on the offense to score because their defense isn't very good. I mean, they already had 34 points when the big blowup happened. 34 points should be enough to win.

3) Villanova is just 5-4 and is going to struggle to make NCAA tourney in March; Wildcats lost 78-67 to Temple Saturday. They're just not good.

2) Favorites are 6-9 vs spread this week; home teams are 8-7, the over is 8-6-1. Six teams scored defensive TD's; all of them won except Buffalo, which also gave one up to the Chargers.

1) My friend John e-mailed Sunday to clue me in that while the Alabama-LSU bowl game is a pick 'em, other seven SEC bowl teams are all favored to win their games. Not much doubt which college league is best.

Sunday's List of 13: Some bowl knowledge for you to peruse.......
13) Earlier this week I said I’d look this up; over the last five years, double digit faves are 7-10 vs spread in bowl games, with five dogs winning SU.

12) I had to check this twice, but its true; over the last five years, teams from the Big Dozen Conference (Ohio State/Michigan/Penn State etc…) have been the underdog in 30 of their 37 bowl games; they’re 3-4 when the favorite, 17-13 as the dog (9-4 last two years).

11) Over last three years, SEC teams are 6-0 in bowls against Big X Conference (Texas/Oklahoma, etc) teams; last Big X win was Missouri’s 38-7 win over Arkansas in 2007, and starting next year, Mizzou will be an SEC team, too.

10) Underdogs are 29-13 vs spread in ACC’s last 42 bowls, with ACC clubs 7-15 as a favorite, 14-6 as an underdog.

9) Surprisingly, Big East teams are 20-8 in bowl games the last five years, but they’re also 9-0 vs C-USA/MAC teams, so they’ve been cleaning up in second-tier bowls. Still, 11-8 against everyone else is pretty good.

8) Over the last five years, Big X teams are a terrible 13-26 vs spread in bowls, 9-16 when favored, 4-9 when getting points. Something to think about when Baylor-Texas-Oklahoma schools take the field.

7) Somehow, Conference USA gets six bowl bids a year, probably because their schools are all in the South, near where the bowl games are. Anyway, C-USA teams are 11-19 in their last 30 bowls, 1-14 vs SEC/Big Dozen/Big East schools, 5-0 vs MAC teams, which tells you a lot about the MAC.

6) MAC teams lost 17 of their last 21 bowls; over last three years, they’re 2-11-1 vs spread in bowls. Guess all that weeknight TV exposure they had in October/November didn’t help.

5) MAC teams are 5-15-1 vs spread in those 21 bowls, 3-11 as the dog.

4) In last five years, there hasn’t been a bowl between a Big East/Big Dozen team; is there a reason for this or just a coincidence?

3) Mountain West teams won 14 of their last 19 bowls, covering eight of last 12 as a bowl underdog.

2) Over last five years, SEC teams are 18-11 vs spread when laying points in bowls.

1) Underdogs are 13-7 vs spread in WAC’s last 20 bowls, with WAC favorites covering two of last nine tries. Dogs dominated WAC’s league schedule the entire season this fall, so that makes some sense.

Saturday's List of 13: 13 other things David Stern should veto
David Stern vetoed the Chris Paul trade this week, which is fine with us; he has to do what he thinks is best for the NBA. While he’s at it, we’ve got a list of 13 other things we’d like Mr Stern to veto/change………

13) Staying with the NBA for a minute, we’d like NBA teams to be allowed to play any type of defense they want to; if the stars only want to play in big markets, then coaches in small markets should be able to defend them any way they see fit. How else can there be any type of competitive balance?

12) Possession of firearms. Too many people own guns. Too many innocent people are getting hurt/killed. Its ridiculous. Only policemen and soldiers should have firearms.

11) Mr Stern should veto Kansas hiring Charlie Weis as football coach; if the Jayhawks want to hire an overweight coach, they should go re-hire Mark Mangino, who they stupidly canned two years ago.

10) Mr Stern should veto the entire Kardashian family. All of them.

9) Major league managers/coaches shouldn’t wear uniforms and they shouldn’t be allowed between the white lines once the game starts. Want faster baseball games? No visits to the mound, no arguing with umpires. There you have it, faster games. Simple, no?

8) Thursday night NFL games should get vetoed; football wasn't meant to be played on three days' rest. Hurts the quality of the product.

7) Ban fighting in the NHL, just like it is in every other team sport. Hockey is a great game, you don’t need fighting.

6) Mr Stern should get the price of gasoline lowered; greedy bastards are still charging $3.57 a gallon at the hideous Mobil Mart near my house.

5) Baseball needs a salary floor and a salary cap; think everyone would make more money if they had one. Who wants to root for a team that doesn’t even try? $80M floor, $120M cap and everyone has a chance to win. If you can’t make afford an $80M payroll, sell the team to someone who can. And yes, Lewis Wolff, I'm looking at you........

4) Mr Stern definitely needs to veto the BCS. A college football playoff would be huge, but it would change who was making the big money. The current system is making certain somebodies a ton of cash, and those people are protecting their interests fiercely. Time for that to change.

3) Coaches shouldn’t be able to switch jobs while under contract; if they get fired before their contract is up, they get paid, so they should stay where they are until their contracts expire. It only seems fair.

2) As a society, we need to be less politically correct; there is so little tolerance for freedom of speech. No one says what they think because God forbid, someone might get offended. Too goddamn bad. People risk their lives daily to protect our freedoms; the least we can do is use them.

1) One more NBA thing for Mr Stern to fix; sell the Hornets to someone who will move the team to Seattle; that city supported the Supersonics and they deserve to have an NBA team, with or without a new arena.