10 Awesome Things That Happened This Past Weekend (2/10-2/12)

10. Yankees Attempt to Trade A.J. Burnett to Pirates

            I like where the Pirates heads are at here. It’s not everyday they can acquire a starter with number one stuff, which Burnett has. I expect New York to eat $25 million of the $33 million owed to Burnett over the next two seasons, which makes this a low-risk gamble for the up and coming Pirates.

9. Kevin Youkilis Gets Engaged to Tom Brady’s Sister

            Thankfully, Brady’s sister won’t have to worry about Youkilis ever going up against Eli Manning in a baseball game.

8. Detroit Red Wings Win Twentieth Straight Home Game

            Even without Jimmy Howard, nothing has stopped the Red Wings from dominating at home. I still like them as the number one threat to Vancouver in the Western Conference.

7. Zambia Wins African Cup

            I know zilch about African futbol, but this story of a team winning a tournament nineteen years after the majority of it’s roster was lost in a plane crash is pretty epic.

6. Rick Grimes Rediscovers His Balls on “The Walking Dead” Mid-Season Premiere

            Grimes had been a sissy ever since his kid got shot, so it was good to see him kick some ass when he encountered a couple of Pantera fans in a bar.

5. Wayne Rooney Scores Twice, Leads Manchester United Over Liverpool

            Rooney proved to be the difference in a game marred by racial tension throughout.

4. Celtics Defeat Ailing Bulls

            I don’t mean to burst the bubble of Celtics fans everywhere, but they were only able to beat a team who was without the defending NBA MVP by four points.

3. Mickelson Steals Tiger’s Thunder at Pebble Beach

            Wood’s supporters should place the blame for Tiger’s miserable fourth round on Tony Romo, who was Wood’s amateur partner in the tournament. As for Phil, his six-stroke comeback will go down as one of his greatest non-major wins of his career.

2. Linsanity Strikes Down the Lakers

            It’s really hard to believe that an undrafted player out of Harvard is all of a sudden one of the ten most watchable players in the NBA, but after watching the entire second half of the Knicks-Lakers game Friday night, I’m a believer.

1. The World Remembers Whitney Houston

            Has a singer ever (for lack of a better word) picked a better day to pass away? She weaseled a second memorial service out of the Grammy Awards last night. In all seriousness though, I sincerely hope that wherever she has gone, Whitney Houston has found the peace that she could never find on Earth.

                                                                                                         

10 Awesome Things That Happened This Past Weekend (2/11-2/13)

10. Glen Davis Comes Up Short In Dunk Attempt

            What happens when you have a blue-collar NBA power forward that finds himself on his first breakaway since junior high school? This happens.

9. Sacramento Kings Rookie DeMarcus Cousins Not Allowed On Team Flight

            There’s one simple thing you need to know about DeMarcus Cousins…he’s f***ing crazy. Reportedly, he got into a fight with teammate Donte Green after Green did not pass to him on the inbounds play with 3 seconds left during their loss Saturday against Oklahoma City. It was so bad that the coaching staff banned Cousins from traveling to Phoenix for their game against the Suns the next night.

            I hope Cousins learns from his one game suspension and starts to put it together. Other than John Wall, there is no other rookie from the 2010 draft class that could potentially be the best player on a championship team other than Cousins. It would be a shame if he were to blow his chance in the NBA because of a poor attitude.

(Editors note: He also might be on the fantasy team of a certain writer of a certain blog that you are reading right now. Cousins better get his act together)

8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins Pole For Daytona 500

            Almost as bad as the PGA Tour needs Tiger Woods to compete for victories (which we will discuss at #5), NASCAR desperately needs a comeback season from its most popular (but struggling) driver. Winning the pole is a good start, but ending up in victory lane 10 years after his father’s death would be just the shot in the arm NASCAR needs to begin gaining back fans.

             

7. Wayne Rooney Nets Incredible Goal to Beat Manchester City

            I’m not qualified to properly comment on the epicness (new adjective I just invented) of Rooney’s goal, so click here to check it out. Not being much of a soccer guy, I thought Rooney was an overrated bum after his performance in the 2010 World Cup (his play for Manchester United so far this season was cementing that thought even more), but that goal was incredible.

6. Kurt Busch Wins Budweiser Shootout

            Busch got credit for the win in the season opening exhibition race because Denny Hamlin was disqualified for going out of bounds to pass Ryan Newman. The new pavement at Daytona has created racing conditions never seen before. Two cars hook up nose to tail (with the back car pushing the front car while the lead car drags his brakes so he doesn’t get too far ahead) and drive 205 mph around the entire track. It’s very bizarre. It will be interesting to see if the drivers can keep that up for 500 miles this coming Sunday.

5. Tiger Woods Gags in Final Round at Dubai, and Then Spits on the 12^th Green

            Tiger entered the 4^th round on Sunday only one stroke out of the lead. The folks running the PGA Tour must’ve been excited that their star attraction might win again. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, as Tiger imploded with a final round 75. To make matters worse, he hawked a loogie on the 12^th green, which pissed off a lot of European people (it’s a good thing Europeans don’t run Major League Baseball. They would all have ulcers after the 3^rd inning of opening day). We’ll have to wait another week for the Tiger Woods comeback to begin.  

4. Wisconsin Hands Ohio State First Loss

            Wisconsin was down 15 in the second half, but came back to knock off the top team in the nation. Badgers are looking like a potential top-2 seed come NCAA tournament time.

3. Mario Lemieux Calls Out the NHL After Penguins-Islanders Brawl

            Super Mario was disappointed about the penalties handed out after Pittsburgh and New York played a game that had 346 penalty minutes, 10 ejections, 15 fighting majors, and 20 misconduct penalties. Lemieux even suggested that he might leave the sport if the NHL continues to encourage such behavior.

            This is a very tricky topic. Mario played in a time when he was protected by such thugs as Ulf Samuelsson (who’s vicious check of Cam Neely forever altered his career), so for him to all of a sudden suggest that there is no place for fighting in the game is a bit hypocritical. It also doesn’t help that the team he owns leads the league in major penalties. Matt Cooke (the man who almost ended Bruins center Marc Savard’s career last spring) was resigned to a new contract this summer. Lemieux hasn’t exactly built a team that is built on all skill with no rough stuff.

            Mario’s words were probably on point, but it just seems that he isn’t in a position where he has the footing to make them. If the suits at the NHL want to find a more mainstream audience, it would be in there best interest do ditch fighting (I’m not sure the NHL should try to find a more mainstream audience, but that would take a whole column to debate). The gold medal game between Canada and the United States was the most watched hockey game ever. Did anyone think it would’ve been better if there were a couple of fights in the 3^rd period?    

2. Celtics Beat Heat For 3^rd Time This Season

            Gutty effort by the Celtics who won in spite of Paul Pierce having a terrible game (1 point scored in 40 minutes, 0-10 from the field). Doc Rivers switched Rajon Rondo onto Lebron James in the second half, and Miami never adjusted. Rondo’s averaging over 14 assists per game in three games against the Heat this season. If Miami can’t figure out how to disrupt him, they better hope someone else knocks Boston out of the playoffs.

1. Rondo Spies On Heat Huddle

            Check this out to see one of the five best point guards in the NBA acting like a 10 year old. My favorite part of the clip is when Ray Allen (playing the role of Rondo’s older brother) comes over to pull him away before one of the Heat knocks Rondo out.