The Week in Sports Tidbits Style

New England took care of Jacksonville. Tom Brady was near perfect. Green Bay survived a bumpy start to blast Seattle. Brett Favre surpasses 5000 playoff passing yards in the process. San Diego got by Indianapolis despite two chances for Peyton Manning to send them packing. I got my popcorn ready, but Dallas and MeO won't be moving on to the NFC title game. The G-Men took that honor. Houston named Kyle Shanahan their next Offensive Coordinator. You may know his Dad, Mike. Atlanta hired Thomas Dimitroff to be their new GM. He was responsible for scounting college players for the Patriots. Dallas LB Greg Ellis won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Baltimore wants Jason Garrett bad. Jerry Jones just wanted him more He's now the highest paid assistant. I'm sure Wade Phillips feels a lot of job security. PacMoron Jones has been accused of sucker-punching a woman at a, you guessed it, strip club. Deion Branch will have knee surgery. Tennessee fired Norm Chow. Randy Moss was accused of battery on a woman. The Dolphin hired Tony Sparano as their next head coach. Kansas City hired Chan Gailey to be their new Offensive Coordinator.

Andrew Bynum will miss two months with a knee injury. LeBron stuffed the stat sheet against Charlotte with 31 points, 19 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, and 3 blocks. He also got a ticket for driving 101 mph. He topped that with a 51 point, 8 rebound, 9 assist, 3 steal effort against Memphis. His coach, Mike Brown, got a two-year extension. Chris Bosh had 40 for Toronto as Isiah benched Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph. Pao Gasol went for 43 of his own against Golden State. Gerald Wallace scored 40 against Denver in a game that saw Marcus Camby have 20 points and 23 boards. Kobe Bryant scored 48 in an overtime victory over Seattle. The Celtics lost back-to-back games. Luol Deng returned for Chicago. Nene had surgery to remove a tumor on his testicles. Hopefully, it wasn't cancerous. Shaq is back. So is Mike Bibby. Dwight Howard had 24 points and 21 rebounds in a loss to Charlotte. Jason Kidd had 17 assists in a loss to New York. Tyson Chandler grabbed 21 boards in a win over Seattle. Denver's Linas Kleiza scored 41 against Utah. He'll be popular on the waiver wire. Stephon Marbury is having surgery on his ankle. Chicago's JamesOn Curry was arrested for peeing in public. No word on whether or not he was charged with having a silly name.

Evgeni Malking netted a hat trick against the Rangers. Atlanta's Marian Hossa matched him against Detroit. This week's shutouts: Colorado's Jose Theodore vs. Tampa, Nashville's Chris Mason vs. Calgary. Minnesota C Mikko Koivu returned after missing 24 games with a broken leg from a slash by Vancouver D Mattias Ohlund. His teammate Defenseman Sean Hill landed on the IR with an ankle injury. Mattias was suspended four games for the cheap shot. Yeah, that seems fair. Wild lose 24 games to Vancouver's 4. Ottawa will be without Dany Heatley for a month with a separated shoulder. Calgary signed G Curtis Joseph. San Jose D Kyle McLare will miss a few games following knee surgery. Washington will be without Michael Nylander for the rest of the year following shoulder surgery. Colorado C Paul Stastny will miss a few weeks following his appendectomy.

St. Louis traded Scott Rolen to Toronto for Troy Glaus. Maybe a change of scenery will help the washed up third basemen. Mark McGwire should help Glaus make the transition by putting him in touch with his steroid pushers. If not, Rick Ankiel should help him out. In other steroid news, Congress wants to talk to Miguel Tejada. I think they said "Miggy, you've got some 'splaining to do. They also spoke with Bud Selig and Donald Fehr. It's fine and dandy, but don't we have an economy, a war, rising gas prices, etc. that Congress should be worrying about. Milwaukee signed CF Mike Cameron to a one-year, $7 million deal. Atlanta traded Joey Devine to Oakland for Mark Kotsay. Seattle signed Arthur Rhodes and George Sherrill. Dan Wheeler signed with Tampa. Jon Lieber signed a one-year deal with the Cubs worth $3.5 million. Nate Robinson signed a three-year deal with Detroit worth $21.25 million. Texas signed Jason Jennings to a one-year deal. St. Louis will be without Juan Encarnacion for the whole season because of an eye injury. Butt Selig signed on for three more years. Oh joy. Hudson Street signed a one-year deal with Oakland.

As expected, Arkansas RB Darren McFadden is turning pro. Joining him is teammate and backfield mate RB Felix Jones, Ohio State DE Vernon Gholston, West Virginia RB Steve Slaton, Michigan WR Mario Manningham, Florida State QB Xavier Lee (who is leaving after being asked to switch to TE), Cal WR DeSean Jackson, and Oregon S Patrick Chung . Ohio State LB James Laurinaitis will stay in school. Air Force signed coach Troy Calhoun to a five-year extension. Mississippi State extended coach Sylvester Crooms for two years. Buffalo extended the contract of coach Turner Gill. West Virginia wants to know where player files have gone since Rich Rodriguez's skipped town. Ryan Mallet, who transferred from Michigan, is going to Arkansas. Hawaii's new coach is Greg McMackin.

Bobby Knight became the first coach with 900 wins. #5 UCLA beat #4 Washington State. Freshman Kevin Love had 27 points and 14 rebounds for the Bruins. Iowa beat #6 Michigan State 43-36. Talk about a snoozefest. Kentucky upset #12 Vanderbilt. Missouri beat #13 Texas. Cincinnati knocked off #17 Villanova. Oregon beat #23 Stanford. New Mexico State's Herb Pope has been cleared to play as eligibility issues were solved. #16 Pitt beat #6 Georgetown. Oklahoma could be without Blake Griffin for a month with a knee injury. Boston College beat #24 Miami. Texas Tech beat #9 Texas A & M. UMass upset #18 Dayton. Temple beat #20 Xavier. UCLA has asked fans to leave John Wooden alone. Vance Walberg resigned as Pepperdine coach. #7 Tennessee beat #14 Vanderbilt. Cleveland State beat #12 Butler. Louisville pounde #13 Marquette. St. Louis beat #21 Rhode Island, which is a far cry from when they scored 20 in an entire game a week ago.

That concludes the Tidbits. As always, feel free to add any stories you liked this week in sports or discuss any of the stories I mentioned.