The Week in Sports Tidbits Style

New England beat San Diego to earn a trip to the Super Bowl. Tom Brady wasn't all that effective. Laurence Maroney was great. The Patriots defense stepped it up when they needed to, keeping San Diego out of the endzone. One more game for true perfection. They'll face the Giants, who went into Lambeau and knocked off Brett Favre. The Road Warriors won their 10th straight road game, which is an NFL record. Eli played mistake free football. Favre made a costly pick. I wonder why Tiki isn't saying that Eli can't lead anymore? John Harbaugh was named Baltimore's new Head Coach. Buffalo DE Anthony Hargrove will miss next season because of a third substance abuse violation. Tom Brady was spotted in New York with a walking cast on his right foot. Naturally, ESPN hit everyone over the head with it. Mike Holmgren and Tony Dungy will be back next year. Tampa extended the contracts of Jon Gruden and GM Bruce Allen. The Chargers fired James Lofton as their WR coach. Charlie Joiner will replace him. Chris Cooley and Chris Samuel will both wear Sean Taylor's #21 in the Pro Bowl. I'm surprised the No Fun League would allow this. Atlanta named Jacksonville Defensive Coordinator Mike Smith their new Head Coach. Cam Cameron will be Baltimore's new Offensive Coordiantor. Green Bay T Chad Clifton has been added to the Pro Bowl roster. David Givens had surgery on his knee. Last week it was Branch. The Pats sure know when to cut WRs loose. Mike Alstott hung up his cleats. He stole a lot of TDs from Warrick Dunn. Aaron Schoble, Darnell Dockett, Trent Cole, and Ethan Albright were added to the lame Pro Bowl.

What do you know? Shaq is hurt again. Jermaine O'Neal will miss a couple weeks with a bruised knee. He gets hurt a lot. Baron Davis dropped 40 on Chicago. Jason Richardson scored 38 and grabbed 14 rebounds vs. Memphis. Tracy McGrady returned. Carmelo Anthony left Monday's game with a sprained ankle. The Lakers will be even more shorthanded after Trevor Ariza broke his foot. Minnesota actually won a game. Ryan Gomes went for 35. Make it two in a row as the Wolves beat Phoenix again. Big Al led the way with 39. The soft Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich played in the same game. Too bad Memphis beat them. Turns out Chicago will shut Deng down for a while. Dwayne Wade scored 42. Too bad LeBron and the Cavs beat him...their 14th straight loss. San Antonio made it 15. Toronto beat Boston. Kirk Hinrich had 38 points and 10 assists against Indiana. Atlanta's Josh Smith messed around and got a triple-double. Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman each grabbed 21 boards. Elton Brand has been cleared to run by doctors. I'm glad I drafted and held onto him on my fantasy team. Cleveland will be without Sasha Pavlovic for several weeks with a foot sprain.

Sid Crosby has a high ankle sprain. He'll be out several weeks. Carolina's Eric Staal netted a hat trick vs. Edmonton. Buffalo's Derek Roy and Drew Stafford each had one vs. Atlanta. Calgary's Daymond Langkow had one against Los Angeles. Philly's Scott Hartnell had one against the Islanders. Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson had a hat trick and four assist vs Tampa Bay. Phoenix's Radim Vrbata vs. Nashville. This week's shutouts: Tampa Bay's Johan Holmqvist vs. Pittsburgh and Ottawa. Pittsburgh's Dany Sabourin vs. Montreal. Nashville's Dan Ellis vs. Colorado. New York Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist vs. Atlanta. Detroit's Chris Osgood vs. the Kings. Columbus' Pascal Leclaire vs. Chicago. San Jose C Curtis Brown is out with a hand injury. Sergei Federov was placed on Injured Reserve. Toronto fired GM John Ferguson. Cliff Fletcher will replace him. Phoenix signed G Iyla Brzygalov to a three-year extension. New York Islander D Chris Campoli will miss the rest of the year after a shoulder surgery. New Jersey tied a record with five power play goals vs. Philadelphia. Brian Leech had his New York Rangers #2 retired. Ilya Kovalchuk got suspended a game for a dirty hit. Evgeni Malkin, Scott Niedemeyer, Tim Thomas, Corey Perry, and Mike Ribeiro have been added to this weekend's All-Star rosters.

Matt Holliday signed a two-year deal with Colorado worth $23 million. They also locked up Troy Tulowitzki for six years ($31 million). Minnesota signed former MVP to a one-year deal worth $7.4 million. Miguel Cabrera signed a one-year deal with Detroit worth $11.3 million. Cincy signed Jeremy Affeldt to a one-year deal. Kansas City signed Bret Tomko to a one-year deal. The White Sox signed Octavio Dotel to a two-year deal worth $11 million. St. Louis signed Yadier Molina to a four-year deal worth $15.5 million. San Diego GM Kevin Towers signed a two-year extension. Congress subpoenaed Chuck Knoblach in its steroid witch-hunt...err...hearing. Rafael Betancourt signed a two-year deal with Cleveland. Tampa signed James Shields to a four-year deal. Barry Bonds asked a judge to dismiss his perjury charges. Good luck with that. Jose Canseco tried to bribe Magglio Ordonez. He wanted cash to keep Mags name out of his book. I would not be surprised if he was telling the truth because Ozzie Guillen pretty much said he had the goods on Mags a few years back. Atlanta signed Rafael Soriano to a two-year deal. Robinson Cano is near a four-year with the Yankees worth $30 million.

#1 UNC got knocked off by Maryland 82-80. USC beat rival #4 UCLA 72-63. #5 Duke beat #23 Clemson 93-80. Kansas State pounded #9 Texas A&M 75-54. Auburn knocked off #15 Mississippi 80-77. Cincy upset #16 Pitt 62-59. NC State beat #24 Miami 79-77 in OT. Stanford finished the Saturday upsets with a 67-52 win over #25 Arizona State. George Mason's Dre Smith went 10-10 on three pointers to set an NCAA record. UConn smoked #13 Marquette 89-73. Oklahoma retired Stacey King's number (33). Oregon State kicked C.J. Giles off the team. Virginia Tech signed Coach Seth Greenberg to an extension. Drake's Josh Young returned from a three-game absence to hit the game-winner vs. Creighton. Kentucky knocked off #5 Tennessee. Tyler Hansbrough had 35 points in a UNC victory. Baylor dropped #16 Texas A & M 116-110 behind Curtis Jerrells' 36 points. Oh yeah, the game went five OTs. Rutgers bumped off #18 Villanova 80-68. O.J. Mayo may be in some hot water for accepting tickets from Carmelo Anthony. The NCAA is so lame. #22 Xavier beat #19 Dayton 69-43. Arizona upset #6 Washington State 76-64.

Clemson's James Davis will return to school. Good for him. There are a lot of solid RBs in the draft, which hurt his stock. Oklahoma State QB has decided to go back to school...however, he's transferring to Texas Southern. The West beat East 31-13 in the East-West Shrine Game. Joker Phillips will be Kentucky's Head Coach when Rich Brooks decides to step down. UConn signed Coach Randy Edsall to a five-year extension. Louisville QB Brian Brohm will skip the Senior Bowl because of a leg injury. Norm Chow became the new OC for UCLA. Boston College's Matt Ryan won the Manning Award.

In tennis, Roger Federer lost. In golf, Tiger Woods is two back at the Buick Invitational.

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