I Against I

So...

I was all set to post something last Thursday, didn't, and the next thing you know, it's a week later. We've had some crazy temperature swings, from sunny and mid-50s late last week to bone-chillingly cold on Sunday and Monday (try temps in the teens with wind chills below zero) and back into the 50s and monsoony today. Somewhere a polar bear is getting a tan.

Flibbidy floo:

• Much depression here in New England after the Patriots bowed out to Denver in the second round of the NFL playoffs Saturday. So much for the threepeat. Five turnovers, including three fumbles and a killer interception, did the Pats in. And then the Colts, so heavily favored to win it all, get knocked off by the Steelers when Mike Vanderjagoff missed a game-tying field goal by a couple of car lengths. I'm still trying to figure out who I'll root for the rest of the way. Maybe the Seahawks, since I lived out that way for a few years and rooted for them in the early '80s.
• So does anyone care about the World Baseball Classic? You know, that big tournament scheduled for early March before the MLB season starts. I'm finding it difficult to get very excited about it. Even though I'm a fan of the World Cup and the Olympic hockey tournament, this thing just doesn't have much 'zazz. Normally, early March is when players are half-assing it in exhibition games in Florida and Arizona; we're supposed to believe they'll be in midseason form in a manufactured tournament? Remains to be seen. To really give it a global feel, organizers are really relaxing the eligibility requirements, so we're seeing guys like Mike Piazza and Frank Catalanotto on the Italian roster even though they've never lived in Italy before. Shea Hillenbrand of the Jays is on the Netherlands' roster, as is Andruw Jones of the Braves (he was born in Dutch territory Curacao). Hey, maybe I can get in on the action by joining the Indian team.
• And I wonder if they're going to have an Indian hockey team in the Olympics...we could get me, my brother, NHLer Manny Malhotra, AHLer Ajay Baines, and retired pro player Robin Bawa to play, too. We'd get killed, but we'd get cool uniforms and the right to party in the Olympic Village. I've been skating once a week; popped in five goals last night. I'd better make some calls.
• Speaking of hockey, it was nice to see Mike Milbury finally get the boot as Islanders GM/insane dictator. Technically, he plans to step down once a replacement is found; he managed to land a job working for Islanders owner Charles Wang's sports properties. But as any Islanders fan will tell you, Milbury spent the last nine years making one disastrous move after another. He fired eight coaches in that span, traded an all-star team's worth of players (Roberto Luongo, the first-round pick that became Jason Spezza, Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi, Zdeno Chara, Bryan Berard, Olli Jokinen, and many more). They've made the playoffs the last few seasons, but have been awful this year and never really contended during the entire Milbury era. So how did he keep his job? I can only surmise that he has photos of Wang in a compromising position.
• One last hockey item: The New York Rangers honored Mark Messier last week by retiring his number with a lavish ceremony that featured most of the members of the 1994 Cup-winning team and many tears from the man who was one of the toughest players ever. In my opinion, in his prime, Messier was the greatest example of a complete hockey player. While Gretzky was the best player, Messier combined offense, toughness and leadership in one imposing package. He won four Cups on the Oilers with Gretzky, one more after Gretzky was traded, and then came to New York to end the Rangers' 54-year Cup drought. For that, he is beloved in NYC. I'm not an emotional guy, and I'm not a Rangers fan, but I have to admit I got a little verklempt while watching the ceremony.
• The great series 24 kicked off its fifth season with a bang on Sunday and Monday by airing two episodes each night. We've been watching it since the first season and man, it's good TV. Pretty preposterous at times, but who cares? If I want reality, I can watch C-Span. Give me Jack Bauer kicking terrorist arse any day.
• Embattled New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin stepped in it again on MLK Day when he made a Pat Robertson-esque speech talking about how God must be mad at black people, what with all the hurricanes and the devastation and whatnot. But he also remarked, "It´s time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans." Nagin caught some heat for that, but come on, peoples: Haven't you ever heard the classic P-Funk tune "Chocolate City"? My dogg Nagin is just feeling the funk, y'all.