As Simple As 1 +1

Out of town tomorrow. Late night tonight. Can only mean one thing . . .

1. I caught the end of the Chicago Bulls/Miami Heat game, in which the Heat racked up its 24th loss out of the last 25 games. I didn't see Shawn Marion playing at all. But I did see Dwyane Wade taking ill-advised shots and turning the ball over on numerous occasions. Is he still injured? They looked terrible.

2. Monica Seles officially retired from tennis today. I had no idea that she hadn't actually retired, and she hasn't played a match in five years, but apparently she was trying for a comeback. Nine Grand Slam titles is nothing to sneeze at, and she was really nearing her peak when she got stabbed by the crazed Steffi Graf fan. Everything happens for a reason, though. Enjoy life after tennis, Monica. You are certainly one of the greats of the game.

3. Going back to basketball for a moment. The All-Star game rolls into New Orleans this weekend. I went to the one last year in Las Vegas but somehow missed most of the "action" people were talking about when I got back. I also missed the mile-long line to check in at the airport. Literally. People are predicting that New Orleans will be . . . interesting, but let's hope it's not quite as interesting as last year. I just read earlier today about how the NBA has engaged all of its major sponsors in doing community service projects for the city. I'm happy to see that they aren't just coming in, tearing up the town, and leaving because I don't know how much more NOLA can take. Hopefully Mardi Gras got it all out of people's systems.

4. Super Bowl winner (not a Patriot) and New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce has been charged with neglecting his pitbulls in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. Two pits escaped from his property, and one dog was found to be underweight and suffering from a respiratory illness, which prompted the charges. The charges would bring a fine, not jail time like his fellow league member, Michael Vick. I am hopeful that this was just a mistake and that maybe (just maybe) they were all too quick to pin another pitbull case on an NFL player. That, or Pierce should really check into doggy day care when he's going to be gone for long periods of time.

5. Am I the only one who forgot that at least part of the reason Congress cares about Roger Clemens is because it's illegal to use steroids without a prescription? Now it makes more sense why the Repubs were so adamant about calling Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, being a drug dealer . . . he really was. But he didn't give any to Clemens. I have to work on not misremembering so much.

Now I know I didn't mention anything pertaining to the above pic of Manu Ginobili doing . . . I have no idea what he's doing, or if that move is even legal, but he looks funny. Something else that's funny is that he gave LeBron James and company the business on Wednesday night, scoring 46 points against the Cavs. I am a witness.

My Two on The Five

Adding a little twist on the RFTR theme, I present my two cents on the following stories, a few of which I might devote more ink space to in the coming days:

1. Congrats to LSU football for capturing the BCS title. It wasn't much of a title game, in that it didn't look like Ohio State was really the #2 team in the nation. Now they are finally getting serious about a playoff format for college football. I have no idea how they made it this long with the current system. I guess tradition really counts for a lot.

2. Dwyane Wade may be permanently injured for the rest of his playing career. I would say I hope he doesn't end up like Grant Hill, but Grant's actually not playing too badly these days, and at least Wade has one ring under his belt. He's so young, though. If I were him, I'd secretly hope that Miami doesn't make the playoffs so that he has more time to heal. At this rate, he will be able to get plenty of rest.

3. Interesting lawsuit involving the NCAA that looks to be near settlement. Basically, the plaintiffs want the NCAA to relax restrictions on what scholarship money can pay for - including travel, health insurance, and laundry. BRAVO! I have A LOT more to say about this and will devote a post to this topic in the very near future. Funny how most of the major sporting news outlets haven't run this story . . .

4. And speaking of lawsuits, Roger Clemens is trying to show that he means business by filing a defamation case against his former strength coach, Brian McNamee, because of what he claims are false allegations that he used steroids and other performance enhancing medicament (great word), as noted in the infamous Mitchell report. Well, everyone knows that if you are really serious about denying bad rumors, then a defamation suit is one of the first courses of action taken. Here, he has an even greater interest because of all of the awards he has won and the fact that he just might want to be a Hall of Famer one day, so the suit seems almost obligatory regardless of the actual truth. Good luck to you, Roger. Good luck to us all.

5. Finally, in part because I didn't want to end with #4 (groupings of odd numbers just look better), Tom Brady took AP honors for Offensive Player of the Year, with his wide receiver Randy Moss coming in second. I, for one, was surprised. I thought for sure T.O would take the award for his Keyshawn Johnson rant, but I guess they meant on the field.

Wade Returns. Doesn't Really Matter

Completing the NBA trio, Wednesday night Dwyane Wade returned . . . and the Miami Heat still lost. This was probably not the return he was hoping for, but now it's official: even with his help, the Heat are scraping the bottom basement of the league.

BUT, because every cloud has a silver lining, the Heat's loss gave Kevin Durant the Seattle Supersonics his its first win as a pro of the season.

Good. We killed two potential "news" stories with one stone. One, the story of Wade's return. Two, Durant's first win.

Tomorrow, when I'm not working until 1 a.m., I hope to tackle story #3 that I wish would die out: the Boston Celtics are the . . . I can't even say it. They're a good team, but they are SO overhyped, you'd think they drafted Larry Bird out of Indiana State again.

I guess this is better than Kobe-watch. Although, I did hear a comment during the Lakers game that Kobe Bryant was rumored to be coming to the Detroit Pistons, but the deal died. The Pistons? Detroit? Chicago - I might see him there. It was good enough for Michael Jordan, it's good enough for him. But Detroit? If you don't think the city he plays for has as much to do with any potential trade as the team that plays there, you are sadly mistaken. Big markets mean big money. If he leaves L.A. for Detroit, Kobe would be playing the best basketball of his life, because at that point, you know he is really getting desperate for a ring sans Shaq, and he's serious.

But I digress, because that won't happen. What will happen is that if the Heat don't start improving with Wade on the floor (and Pat Riley threatening to put his arthritic hip in the game over his current players), this has to be the last year of Shaq and Wade.

Get your tickets, people. I see a lot of shake-ups if this season is a bust for some of the more star-studded teams.

Be Like Mike . . . and Shaq!

Following on the (ginormous) heels of his teammate, Shaquille O'Neal, word on the street (or at least the Internet) is that Dwyane Wade has decided he had enough of his wife, Siohvaughn, for now, and they are due to get unhitched after five years of marriage (also the length of Shaq's marriage).

I'm all for mentoring, but this could be a bit much . . .