10. NBC Continues Heavy Ad Campaign For “The Cape”
I know NBC has fallen on very hard times, but are they that desperate that they would invent a superhero? Based on what I’ve seen, it looks like the show was created by two 12-year-olds who were a little too into “The Dark Knight”. I’m not sure if there is a betting line on how long the series will last, but I will go ahead and set it at 3.5 episodes. And I will take the under.
9. Lady Huskies Finally Lose a Basketball Game
Connecticut’s 90-game win streak certainly brought plenty of attention to women’s college basketball, but it’s ultimately better to have a team or two that can compete with them. Kudos to Stanford (ironically, the last team to beat Connecticut before the Huskies won 90 straight) for ending the run.
8. Seahawks Earn Right to Get Slaughtered By Saints in Wildcard Round
I had the bulk of this headline typed about an hour before the Rams-Seahawks game kicked off. Did it really matter who won this game? After watching parts of this game, no wonder the Saints stopped trying in the 2nd half against Tampa Bay. They are essentially getting a bye with their wildcard date with Seattle.
In all seriousness, it was pretty embarrassing that these two teams were fighting for a playoff spot. There are probably ten teams that didn’t make the playoffs that wish they were in the NFC West. It felt like watching preschoolers playing a game of checkers. Or two old men in a fist fight (alright, the game wasn’t as funny as that would be). Or two gerbils having a staring contest. Or Snooki trying to learn calculus. Or…never mind, I could do this all day.
7. Rondo Returns
For those of you that don’t watch the NBA, this is not the title of a movie. Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo returned to the Celtics starting lineup Sunday against the Raptors after being out for over two weeks with an ankle injury. He had a quiet game (4 points on 2-3 shooting, with 8 assists), but the return of the Celtics quarterback will go along way in keeping the Celtics ahead of the Heat in the Eastern Conference.
6. Big Ten Schools Go 0 for 5 in New Year’s Day Bowl Games
I’ll save most of my thoughts on this for the #1 item on this list, but I will say that it’s awesome when one of the BCS conferences gets their doors blown off in bowl games. Boise St. could’ve beaten any of the teams that lost Saturday.
5. Brett Favre Says He’s Done
I hope he really means it this time.
4. Packers Defeat Bears, Eliminate Giants From Postseason
Green Bay had more trouble than I expected with a Bears team that had nothing to play for, but were able to get the job done. Green Bay has the greater potential to advance in the playoffs (in my opinion, which means very little, but anyways…) than the Giants would’ve. The Giants owner has already come out and said Tom Coughlin will return next season, which almost makes me forget that the Cowboys are probably going to bring back Jason Garrett.
(QUICK RANT ALERT: I know that Garrett coached the Cowboys to a 5-3 record since he took over, and did not lose a game by more than 3 points. All of this while having Jon Kitna and Stephen McGee at quarterback. But has Garrett really done enough to rule out attempting to bring someone like Jeff Fisher or Bill Cowher in for an interview? Has Jerry Jones forgotten that Garrett was the offensive coordinator when the team was 1-7? I have a bad feeling about going into next year with Garrett at the helm.)
3. Syfy Airs Annual New Year’s Day “Twilight Zone” Marathon
Short of airing the epic movie “Sharktopus”, this is my favorite thing that Syfy does. I almost gave up on this network when they changed their name from “Sci-Fi” to “Syfy”, but the annual event sucked me back in.
If anyone with knowledge of the television industry reads this, I would love a detailed answer to this question…why couldn’t a new version of “Twilight Zone” work? Forget the low budget 1980s version. I’m challenging the folks at AMC to conceive a “Twilight Zone” reboot. You wouldn’t have to worry about your audience missing an episode and loosing track of what’s going on, as each story would stand on its own. Actors wouldn’t have to commit to filming a full series, so assuming the scripts are good, you should have quality actors jumping out of planes to star in an episode. Someone message me about why this wouldn’t work. We need to stop producing crappy television (see: “The Cape”) and bring back something worthwhile.
2. Capitals Win Winter Classic in Pittsburgh
Heavy rain during the 3rd period could not dampen the spectacle that was the 4th annual Winter Classic (the same can’t be said for the quality of play, but that’s not what this event is about). I don’t know what it is about outdoor hockey that is so damn fascinating, but I can’t look away. As long as the NHL sticks to just one outdoor winter game being played in the United States a year (there will be a second outdoor game played in Calgary next month), this will remain the coolest sporting event on New Year’s Day. The next thing the suits in charge of the NHL need to figure out is how to do an outdoor game on the beach in Los Angeles. It’s 2011 now. We should be able to figure this out.
1. TCU Defeats Wisconsin in Rose Bowl
No matter what happens the rest of college bowl season (which now seems to stretch out until mid-March), there will be no result that I will enjoy more than TCU 21, Wisconsin 19. Not because I’m a big TCU fan, but the principle of a non-BCS school winning the 2nd biggest bowl game of the season. It’s a shame that there is no playoff, because it would be fun to see TCU get a crack at Oregon or Auburn (I think they’d get there doors blown off by either team, but at least they would get their chance). Hopefully this win will lend more credibility to the Boise St. type schools that get passed over for a BCS game so a team like Connecticut (the pathetic champion of the Big East) can make it in.
