Matt Youmans
It’s probably premature to bury Ben Howland, the UCLA basketball coach with the soiled image and uncertain future. He suddenly is under siege, with the media wolves howling at his door.
It’s easy to bet on Michigan State, especially in February and March, and that’s because Tom Izzo is tough. That trait not only rubs off on his players, it wears opponents thin.
About a week before Lin-sanity turned the NBA upside down, Isaiah Canaan had made Murray State the hottest story in college hoops. But just as no second-half lead is safe anymore, hot stories come and go.
Feeling sorry for Tom Brady would be foolish. The NFL’s model quarterback has a supermodel wife on his left arm and a right arm that has produced three Super Bowl wins.
Apparently, Bill Belichick is running lower on brain power and Tom Brady’s man card is expiring. A high percentage of the betting public no longer respects the New England Patriots’ greatness.
One of the most memorable quotes of the NFL season came from New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin. It was not something he said during a news conference, rather a sarcastic line he shouted during a raucous locker-room celebration.
With the stage set for heroes to emerge, Eli Manning came the closest to resembling one. Manning again proved he’s an elite quarterback by guiding the New York Giants to another Super Bowl.
We keep hearing the window of opportunity is closing on the Baltimore Ravens, mostly because Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, the defensive leaders on a team that plays old-fashioned football, are getting old. It would not be a bad thing if that window got slammed shut this week.
It’s mid-January, and Alex Smith is leading the San Francisco 49ers to the NFC Championship Game. Read that sentence again and let it soak in, because it’s not the setup line for a joke.
How about that dominant defensive line for the New York Giants? And Eli Manning looked sharp throwing the ball, too. Obviously, when the weekend’s NFL playoff games are recapped on radio shows and in office conversations today, those two topics will be hottest.