Run . . . Down

Let's jump right in:

1. Ow, Yao. Just when the Houston Rockets and the Western Conference were heating up comes the news that Yao Ming is done (I decided against a bad joke here) for the season with a stress fracture in his foot. Tough spot to keep playing on it. This is a bad blow to the Rockets but the league will also be smarting because Yao in the playoffs was going to mean billions of fans. Easy come, easy go. These guys are dropping like NFL players. What's going on?

2. LeBron scored his 10,000th point - youngest in history to get there - but couldn't help the Cavs get past the Boston Celtics. Sorry, Bronie. You can break a whole bunch of records when you are the only guy scoring points on the team. Before you ask, yes, I'm hating.

3. Rutgers University women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer won her 800th game, joining an elite party of three (including her) with Rutgers' win over DePaul. And effectively putting more distance between her squad and an unnamed radio talk show host. Bravo.

4. Congress has requested an inquiry into whether Roger Clemens should be brought up on perjury charges related to his statements about his steroid use, or rather the lack thereof. I don't know about you, but while this could be important to someone somewhere, I think there may be other issues they could be addressing. Like, hunger or crime. But that's just me.

5. The Seattle Supersonics apparently forgot that defense is a necessary part of basketball, falling to the Denver Nuggets by 42 points. I am thinking that the Sonics could have just not suited a team at all, let the Nuggets just shoot the entire game, and they still probably wouldn't have won by less points. The Nuggets had to travel to Seattle for that? I know A.I. and the boys had to be a little annoyed. I know Starbucks is downsizing these days but they may need to get their team a percolator or something because they are seriously flatlining.

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.

Run-Down: To Tell the Truth; Is Kidd's Cake Gone?

Despite today's high drama on Capitol Hill, I must get my sleep. Doing taxes takes a lot out of you, and I need another day to recover. Onward and upward:

1. On Wednesday, Roger Clemens lied his ____ off testified in front of Congress regarding his steroid use, in a game of he said-he said with his former trainer, Brian McNamee, who testified that he gave Clemens the juice on several occasions. There was some high drama during the hearing, of course. I want to go on record as saying that Roger Clemens stole the word "misremembers" from me. A word like that has lawyer written all over it. The Republicans beating up on McNamee was classic. Listening to their tirades (i.e., shouts of "You are a drug dealer!"), these guys sound a lot like disgruntled trial lawyers. This was their chance to show off their "tough cross" skills, and show off they did. All I have to say about this is somebody is clearly lying! And guess who won't be doing time if it turns out he was lying? His name does not rhyme with lemons.

2. You know how you eye that last piece of cake before you leave for work in the morning, dream about the cake all day, Google pictures of the cake and put it on your desktop, come home, eat dinner, get ready to eat the cake . . . and it turns out someone has already eaten it? Well, that's probably something similar to what Jason Kidd is feeling. The afternoon hype was that Kidd was on his way to the Dallas Mavericks, the trade he has been yearning for for a very long time. But alas, when you're part of a package deal, and part of the package doesn't want to go, there goes your deal. That refusing package part is one Devean George, who used his "trump card" allowing him to refuse to be traded. So there goes that deal, for now anyway. I saw George out and about in L.A. one time, I am sure he is not trying to get dumped in dirty jerz, never to be heard from again. So George has dodged a bullet for now but his other teammates may not be so lucky. Mavs' owner Mark Cuban is desperate for a ring. I see one more attempt with some different players before this deal falls through completely.

That's all, folks. I may post mid-day if the feeling strikes me . . .

How Many Times?

I know you all aren't used to the one topic-one post articles anymore but I have to shake things up every now and then. Schedule suddenly clears, Pleats 'n Cleats only benefits.

I put a notice out to Roger Clemens yesterday that if you testify falsely under oath, you might as well start notifying your current job that you will be incarcerated sometime in the future. People, it's really not worth it. Plead the fifth. I know admitting it can be problematic due to records and such, but if given the opportunity, just don't say anything.

Now he has invoked the wrath of the former trainer who saved Clemens' alleged syringes for a DNA sample just in case Clemens lied. I like how Clemens has his own ESPN tab at the bottom of the screen called "Clemens" . . . does anyone else think the MLB called and said please don't put him on our tab, we're trying to rehab our image? I'd put five on it.

Now the feds are trying to get a court order to have the syringes tested for Clemens' DNA. Had this occurred prior to the days when we knew our DNA stays on everything - forever - then perhaps I would feel differently, but at this point I have little sympathy for you, Roger. I know you're somewhere right now saying, "D'oh!"

To be continued . . .

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.