Sports fodder for a Friday morning ... And the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role goes to ... Alex Rodriguez. Cue music. Applause. Roll clip. Sorry, Mickey Rourke, Frank Langella and Brad Pitt. You don't stand a chance Sunday when the Oscars are handed out. Rodriguez's performance on Tuesday in Florida was sheer brilliance. It was The Reader (Nice script, huh?), Slumdog Millionaire (A poor kid grows up to be rich and famous and everyone thinks he cheated), Milk (That's all he injected, right?), the Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Rodriguez's body magically grew younger and stronger the older he got), Frost/Nixon (Lies? What lies?) and The Wrestler (Steroids? What steroids?) all rolled into one amazing performance.
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Those 30 or so seconds when Rodriguez glanced over at his New York Yankees teammates, fought back the tears, dramatically took a few gulps of water, sat silently with sad eyes, collected himself and uttered a simple, heartfelt "Thank you," were, well, amazing. I'm getting misty-eyed right now just recalling the moment. It was James Caan on his death bed as Brian Piccolo all over again. OK, it was more Terrell Owens crying over teammate Tony Romo, but you get the idea. It's time we take Oscar's name off the award. It's now the Alex. Didn't Madonna compare Rodriguez's body to that of a Greek God? Sorry, Oscar, you never hit 50 homers in a season or dated Madonna, did you? Imagine an Oscar wearing a little Yankee cap. Beautiful.
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The college basketball regular season is much too long. The Western Athletic Conference regular season is meaningless. An ESPN BracketBuster game in late February against a team from across the country is three steps below meaningless. But, hey, you can't pay coaches a half-million bucks a year based on gate receipts from the postseason tournaments, now can you? No matter what happens during the next three weeks always keep the following in mind " the entire Wolf Pack men's basketball season depends on what happens March 10-14 in the WAC tournament. Everything leading up to that point is a spring training game with the starting pitcher running laps in the outfield in the fifth inning.
Oh, yeah, and one other thing. There is not a single team in the WAC that the Wolf Pack cannot beat March 10-14. OK, there also is not a single team that the Wolf Pack cannot lose to March 10-14. That's the beauty and the curse of giving most of your minutes to freshmen and sophomores. So don't put any lofty expectations on this young Pack team. It's not fair. Save all that for 2010 and 2011. For now, just enjoy the basketball.
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If you are running the San Francisco 49ers do you want to add Michael Vick to your roster this summer? Of course you don't. Forget the fact that Vick is one of the most overrated quarterbacks in the history of the game. And forget all of the disgusting things he was convicted of in 2007. If you can somehow get past all that, there also is the matter of the Michael Vick circus. Do you really think that Mike Singletary wants the Michael Vick Circus to dominate his first training camp as 49ers head coach? Shaun Hill is more than adequate at quarterback to get the 49ers 10 wins and a playoff spot in 2009.
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Who needs the NFL Scouting Combine when you have YouTube? San Jose State defensive lineman Jarron Gilbert is now the hottest NFL draft prospect because of a YouTube video showing him jumping out of a pool. Yes, folks, the world has gone completely insane. You just know that some idiot NFL scout is going to mention the fact on draft day to his bosses that Gilbert is the best thing to jump out of a pool since Michael Phelps. You didn't think NFL scouting was more scientific than that, did you? Gilbert, by the way, had five tackles at Mackay Stadium in a 41-17 loss to the Pack on Nov. 15. Too bad the Pack offense didn't run its plays in three feet of water.
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Lost in all of the Alex Rodriguez mess is the fact the University of Miami had no problem accepting a $3.9 million gift from Liar, Liar last week after all of the steroid scandal broke. The Hurricanes also are having no problem renaming their stadium, "Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field." Nice message to the youth of America, huh?
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ESPN this week interviewed a former White House Communications Chief and a facial expressions expert about whether or not A-Rod handled his press conference properly and whether or not he lied. Wow. Our country's economy is in a free fall, our young men and women are fighting wars on the other side of the world, we are in the middle of a switch from analog to digital TV and this is what the national media is spending time on? A facial expressions expert? How does one become a facial expressions expert? Do you stand in front of a mirror and take extensive notes?