Eclectic Sporting Notes of the Week

Take a TO. Terrell Owens broke down in a post-game press conference after the Dallas Cowboys lost to the New York Giants in their Divisional Round Playoff game. The Cowboys were the NFC's top seed, while the Giants were the #5 seed. "T.O." defended his quarterback, Tony Romo, from behind oversized, blacked out, aviator glasses. In a classic case of "for every finger you point, 4 point back at you," TO immediately went to "You guys can point the finger at him. You can talk about the vacation. ..." Terrell is famous for having been all-team in supporting his quarterbacks, Jeff Garcia and Donovan McNabb.

Speaking of Tony Romo...The New York Post, knowing Mr. Romo's proclivity toward being distracted by his significant other, Jessica Simpson - an issue highlighted by one Mr. Owens a few weeks back, following a subpar performance by his quarterback - hired a Jessica-look-a-like to sit on the 50-yard line during the game. For her performance, Lynsey Nordstrom got a little notoriety and tickets presumably worth a couple of grand; the Post gets the front page story.

Meanwhile, no one can say this is a "Do-nothing" congress...not when the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform takes on one of the biggest issues concerning the country today: Steroids in baseball. On Tuesday, the house committee heard from former Senator George Mitchell, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, and players union leader Donald Fehr to hear recommendations and to pressure, embarrass and cajole MLB into accepting the Mitchell Report recommendations. This, of course, is nothing but the opening act for the February 13 appearances of Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee - an event designed for pay-per-view, but delivered to your home free of charge via C-Span. Other pressing issues this house committee is looking at when not looking at baseball include Executive Pay and Compensation, TSA Airport Security, and the consequences of drug resistant infections.

The Vampires are guarding the Blood Bank. Chicago Bulls' rookie Joakim Noah spoke out of school to assistant coach Ron Adams and was suspended for a game by interim head coach Jim Boylan. Mr. Boylan is "interim" head coach because the Bulls have recently fired their head coach Scott Skyles. In an effort to express confidence in their interim head coach, the players unanimously voted to recommend the team extend Mr. Noah's suspension by a day. Now, on one hand it shows the veterans are trying to demonstrate leadership and accountability of players to each other - on the other, it demonstrates a complete lack of belief in the administration of the Bulls management, up to and including their head coach. Much of the media coverage has discussed the ramifications of the interpersonal relationships between the players, this writer questions how dysfunctional a team has to be for this to happen. Clearly, it goes a lot deeper than a pathetic performance on the court and the management of Mr. Skyles.

Yankees Announce they are no longer pursuing Johan Santana (again). And THIS time, we mean it. According to Yankees brass, there is no current offer on the table and that they're planning to into spring training with Phil Hughes in their rotation - Hughes having been mentioned as part of a trade offer that would have brought Santana to the Bronx. Of course, if the new Steinbrenner regime has demonstrated nothing else, it is their unfettered right to go back on their hard and fast, resolute word when convenience arises. Resolute in their statement they would not resign Alex Rodriguez if he opted out of his contract, they bravely went back on their word in signing him to a 10-year deal. In this case on Monday ESPN reported the door was closed, on Tuesday it's still in the "deciding" process.

This concludes this weeks ridiculous and sublime.

Previous edition:

Eclectic Sporting News of the Week - January 6-12, 2008

REFERENCE:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/sports/baseball/15Yankees.html?ref=sports
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/mariotti/740759,mariotti011508.article
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1703513,00.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=4132194&page=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/sports/football/14dallas.html?em&ex=1200459600&en=cd68fbc3e36709eb&ei=5087%0A