Written by Rob Lazlo | 14 February 2012

Welcome to our latest new feature - a weekly wrap up of the interesting stuff going on in the world of sports.  Like the uproar this week over the New England Patriots partying like it's 2004, even though they lost the Super Bowl. 

Well, everybody put your shirt back on (not you, Gronk, you're cool).  This was an after party set up by owner Robert Kraft - it was a party whether you win or lose affair, and I give the Pats a pass here for being able to celebrate a good season, even though they didn't win the ultimate prize.  OK, Gronk.  Shirt time.

Hit the title/read more to continue reading. . .

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Stuff That Happened

Roundball

A pair of NBA milestones were reached early in the week, as Kobe Bryant passed Shaquille O'Neal on the all-time NBA scoring list (he's now #5) and Paul Pierce passed Larry Bird to become #2 on the all-time Celtics scoring list, trailing only John Havlicek.  Naturally, this drew speculation and comparisons trying to compare these players to the greats of the past. 

To which I say, STOP.  Great is great, leave it at that.  Otherwise, you're going to wind up in a debate trying to defend some indefensible position like explaining why Oscar Robertson really wasn't that good.  So stop - just enjoy watching the best in the game do their thing.

On Tuesday, the day after the Sixers' thrilling win over the Lakers, I got a text from my son letting me know he had taken care of some piece of business.  I wrote back "OK cool". . .then thought about it for a moment and added what should have been an incomprehensible string of letters "LOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"  Lou Williams, of course, was the Sixer who had come up with a couple of big baskets to seal what was being looked at as the most important win by a Sixer team since the Allen Iverson days.  I was smiling when I sent it, and I smiled even more when I got the response, "F*ck Yeah".  I guess non-sports fans wouldn't get it, but this is how sports makes your life better.  Can you imagine how Giants fans felt last Monday?  

I won't pretend to understand why apparently every NBA legend hates Lebron, but it's clear that they do.  First you had Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson going out of their way to criticize "The Decision."  Fair enough, that was a boneheaded thing to do, although lots of NBA players do boneheaded things all the time without running commentary from Magic or MJ. 

Then, this week, you had Larry Bird saying he'd rather play with Kobe Bryant  than Lebron.  Et tu, Larry Legend?  I don't have a problem with these guys criticizing current NBA players, but I don't get why they apparently love Kobe but can't stand LeBron James. 

Even Kendrick Perkins got into the act, claiming Lebron was "out for attention" when he congratulated Blake Griffin for posterizing Perkins last week.  Maybe Kendrick was still feeling a little embarrassed by the way Griffin made him look five feet tall with that dunk.  

Kendrick Perkins says, "This LeBron's fault."

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The All Star Game reserves were announced live on TNT on Thursday, and while there may be some controversy over who got snubbed and who didn't, it won't be nearly as entertaining as listening to Charles Barkley's rant about the NBA's "fake superstars" and how scoring a lot of points on a bad team doesn't mean a player doesn't suck.  I don't know how long the NBA will let Charles get away with speaking his mind, but I hope it's a long time.  Whether you agree with Barkley's opinions or not, he never colors them or softens them for the camera, and there has never been a more entertainingly honest commentator.

Still Haven't Had Enough Football?

Besides all the post-Super Bowl hoopla, two stories surfaced in the NFL this week.  First, RB Ricky Williams announced his retirement.  Williams' rocky career path was well documented this week, but a couple of things I remember about him were that Mike Ditka traded his entire draft to the Redskins so the Saints could draft him and an organized mob of Eagles fans at that draft booed the drafting of Donovan McNabb because they wanted Williams instead.  The other story, which has been around all along, is the fate of Peyton Manning.  No one knows what the Colts are going to do with the future HOF QB, but if they announce they are parting ways, get ready for a feeding frenzy of speculation about where he will end up.

You know, if Tom Brady and Eli Manning sniffed each other's butts before the Super Bowl, EVERYONE would watch

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Lost in the torrent of Super Bowl stories was a comment by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that the Pro Bowl was so bad this year the league would consider getting rid of the game altogether.  The Pro Bowl has been a joke for its entire existence, and you know what?  I think they should get rid of it.  Don't get rid of Pro Bowl weekend in Hawaii, just get rid of the Pro Bowl - find something else interesting for the players to do.  Have a pie-eating contest.  Have them play a Madden tournament.  Have them play basketball.  Anything but a game dressed up like a football game that isn't one.  There's nothing more boring.

Ice, Ice Baby

Looking at a third straight futile season, rumor has it that there are no untouchables on the Columbus Blue Jackets roster.  There is some legit talent in Columbus, including winger Rick Nash and center Jeff Carter, so as the trade deadline approaches, keep an eye out for teams looking to add punch to one of their scoring lines.

Nash could be moving on to a contender. . .

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Are the New York Rangers going to be the story of the 2012 NHL season?  After a string of seasons wavering between the bottom of the playoff ladder and being outside the bubble, New York is in first place in a division that includes Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and in first place in a conference that includes Washington & Boston.  With super-goalie Henrik Lundquist, the Rangers are always a dangerous playoff matchup, but this season, their 2nd ranked goals against average is complimented by an offense that, while not stellar, is at least in the top half of the league.  

Hot Stove League

The Yankees may finally be done with AJ Burnett, the disastrous big money signing they made the same year they added CC Sabathia to their starting rotation.  Not only has Burnett not been a viable #2, he has had stretches where he couldn't be trusted to pitch at all. To shed him, however, the Yankees are going to have to pay most of the $33 million he's still due on his deal.  Most recently, the Pittsburgh Pirates were said to have balked at a deal that would have had them picking up $10 million of the pricetag to take Burnett off New York's hands.

Verbal Gymnastics

"Congrats to Kobe for being the greatest laker ever thanks for making us the greatest laker one two punch ever and congrats on passin me up 2" - Shaquille O'Neal, via twitter, congratulating Kobe Bryant for passing him on the all time scoring list.  Unavailable for tweeting:  Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the ACTUAL greatest 1-2 punch ever for the Lakers.

"I'm riding him like freaking Secretariat.  I was going to take him out, and he looked at me and said, 'I don't want to come out.' " - embattled Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, on PG Jeremy Lin, who scored 28 points in his first career start to help the Knicks to a win with stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire out with injury.  Lin followed up his performance with 23 pts and 10 assists to quickly become a NY fan favorite.  On Friday he dropped 38 in a win against the Lakers to elevate his status to "phenomenon."

"It's not like we're enjoying this." - Blackhawks C Jonathan Toews, on his team's struggles during a long road trip.  

"It was supposed to help me sleep, but it kept me groggy the whole day. I was waiting for it to wear off and I started the game and I still was kind of groggy." - Pacers F Danny Granger, apparently blaming an off night on Lunesta.  

"First game back and I get a thousand dollar fine.  That's who I am. I can't turn it off." - Clippers F Kenyon Martin, on drawing a technical in his first game back in the US after returning from China.

"I'm an easy target.  You could be watching cartoons with your kids and you don't like it, you say, 'Blame it on LeBron.'  If you go to the grocery store and they don't have the milk that you like, you just say, 'It's LeBron's fault.'" - LeBron James, deflecting criticism from Kendrick Perkins after James tweeted that Blake Griffin's dunk on Perkins was the "Dunk of the Year."

"He used to say. . .it doesn't cost nothing to be nice.  It was like his mantra.  Whenever we saw Angelo there was a smile of his face. He was always a happy guy." - Lonnie Ali, wife of Muhammad Ali, on legendary boxing trainer Angelo Dundee, who passed away last week.

"No words.  Just tears." - Rihanna, via Twitter, reacting to the death of Whitney Houston.  Yeah, I know, not sports, but it's Whitney Houston.  I still can't believe it.