Feb 16 - See you in October

So the Hockey season is Kaput. The two sides seemed to be on the verge of cutting a deal as late as this morning, but, as always, differences over money could not be succesfully negotiated. The players finally seemed willing to play under a salary cap, but the union wanted the cap set near $50M per team while the owners weren't willing to go much higher then $42M. So at one o'clock this afternoon, the NHL pulled the plug on the season. The pundits will invariably say this is a black day for Hockey, but the cancellation of the season may actually be a blessing in disguise. This league needs to be cleaned out. Weak franchises have to be expunged and the talent pool must be winnowed. This is a league that is suffering from dilution and it needs to be broken so that it can be fixed. Had the two sides reached a deal, the league's underlying issues would have simply been swept under the rug. And as far as I could tell, nothing in the deal being negotiated to this point mentioned contraction and that is the medicine that this patient desperately needs. Until the owners and the players put contraction on the table, they are merely performing triage and hockey will continue to be a zero growth sport whose television ratings can't compete with celebrity poker. Its a sad fact, but the public would rather watch Jason Alexander pull an insde stratight then see Jarome Iginla go top shelf on Martin Brodeur. Baseball fans take note - the expiration of baseball's Collective Bargaining Agreement is only two years away!

There was a good old fashioned shootout at Madison Square Garden last night and when the smoke had cleared, a short haired bitch emerged as a champion. I am not talking about an indoor track meet or a professional wrestling event. Instead I am referring to the Westminster Dog Show which culminated last night when Carlee - a German Shorthaired Pointer - was named Best in Show. Carlee was up against at least three powerful competitors, but she "showed" great and walked away with this year's title. The key moment of the competition came when Carlee was asked to strike a pose and she responded be pretending she was a statue for he next 15 seconds. Her competiion, which included a champion Norfolk Terrier, a beautiful Pyreneees and a crowd pleasing bloodhound, was stiff, but Carlee clearly won the night. I was partial to the Pyr, but my dog was outclassed by the very athletic pointer. Interestingy, Carlee was handled last night by the same handler who won last year with the Josh, the giant Newfoundland. Michelle Ostermiller is becoming the New England Patriots of dog handling. Lets see now: the Patriots repeated this year. Ostermiller repeated this year. Whose next? The Red Sox? If I own a contender going into next year's show, I pay whatever I have to pay to get Michelle on my dog's leash. Lastly, Josh the Newf made a appearance at MSG last night and was greeted with huge applause. This may be the most popular dog in show history. Josh is a unquestionably a first ballot Westminster Hall of Famer and a giant banner with his picture should be hung at MSG next to Clyde Frazier's number.

The nation's number two team in college basketball lost on the road Monday night and the number three team lost last night. Whose next - North Carolina? In Columbia last night, South Carolina upset Kentucky 73-61 and in doing so, got themselves in the hunt for an NCAA bid. South Carolina came into this game 0-4 against ranked teams but they did play UK to a four point game in Lexington last month so I am not sure this was a surprise of Herculian proportions. Lets be frank, the SEC is having an abyssmal year and because of this medicority, its a bit tough to gauge whether Kentucky is a powerhouse or a pretender. With that said, the conference will probably get five bids to the tourney and South Carolina should be in the mix for one of these spots. A win at Tuscaloosa on Saturday would go a long way towards building the Cocks' resume.

Boy have things fallen apart in Bloomington Indiana. Last night, Mike Davis took his team into Columbus and came out with a measly 44 points and his team's eleventh loss of the year. Indiana was without leading scorer Bracey Wright for the third straight game, but this team has had trouble scoring all year and it showed again in the loss at Ohio State. At IU, 11-11, does not cut it and the seat under Davis must be getting hotter each day. In Davis' five years, his teams have amassed a not so gaudy record of 92-64 and without a strong finish, the Hooisers will finish with back-to-back losing seasons. Davis built up some capital with that run to the finals in 2002, but patience has got to be wearing thin in Bloomington. Davis record would be fine at a Purdue or Minnesota, but in Indiana, the fans expect a bit more. I suspect that Davis will keep his job this offseason, but he will be in the crosshairs next year.

Is there a single NFL executive or fan who thinks Cincinati Bengal running back Rudi Johnson is actually going to sit out next year now that he has been designated a franchise player? Johnson had been seeking a long-term extension from the Bengals, but the team hasn't shown much interest in locking Rudi up and has instead has decided to slap the franchise tag on their pro bowl replacement. In doing so, the Bengals will pay Johnson $6.3 million to carry the ball for them next year. Johnson has been posturing for a year that he would sit out 2005 rather then play under another one-year contract. This ranks as one of the worst bluffs of the past year - right up there with the NHL Players Association saying they wouldn't play under any type of salary cap. Does anyone really think Johnson would sit out rather then collecting this "chump change?"I doubt the Bengals front office is really too concerned by this prospect since greed always prevails over integrity in the world of sports.

Annika Sorenstam is getting a divorce and that begs the question of whether a change in marital status will effect her career as it did Tiger Woods. There is a theory, to which I partially subscribe, that Tiger has not been himself since he met and married Elin Nordegren. After all, How can Tiger be expected to practice when he could be back on the couch playing xbox with Elin.Lets take a look at this. The single Tiger won eight majors and three U.S. amatuers. The post-Elin Tiger has no majors. Is there a connection? It will be interesting to see what now happens to Annika. Perhaps she will thrive with her new found freedom. On the other hand, maybe her husband was the staw that stirred the drink and she will fall apart now that she is back out there on the LPGA singles scene. I bet a lot of players on tour are licking their chops over this prospect.

So Trot Nixon and Arod are now at odds. Yesterday, Nixon unleashed a salvo at Arod, saying the third baseman is not the "yankee type." In other words, Nixon believes Arod is a prissy loser. This all stems from game 6 of the ALCS where Arod tried slapping the ball of of Bronson Arroyo's glove. Nixon specifically said, "when people ask me about the Yankees, I tell them about (Derek) Jeter and Bernie Williams and (Jorge) Posada. I don't tell them about Rodriguez. ... He can't stand up to Jeter in my book or Bernie Williams or Posada." Jeter is one thing, but Bernie Williams? Wow, those are fighting words. With bad blood between these two, I am really looking forward to game two of the upcoming season (Nixon won't play opening day against the lefty Randy Johnson). Specifically, I want to see what happens after Nixon rips one to right center and walks into third while Bernie rolls the ball back into Womack. Lets see what Arod does when Nixon asks, "hey Arod, where's your purse?"

So what do we have on tap tonight other then a new episode of Lost. Well, we have Pete Gillen's final appearance in Chapel Hill as coach of the Virginia Cavaliers. Numbers two and three in college basketball have lost this week but number four North Carolina will not fall into the same trap. The Heels will roll the Cavs! 17-7 Arkansas has a big game at Alabama tonight. Those 17 wins look impressive at first glance, but the hogs are only 5-6 in conference and their non-conference schedule reminds me of what John Thompson used to schedule when he was at Georgetown. Here are just a few of the teams that Arkansas played earlier this year: Winthrop, Troy, Gardener Webb, Praire View, Lipscomb and Hartford. I am a Little surprised they couldn't find an open date for Savannah State which finished its season the other night at 0-28. I suspect Arkansas is going to be one of those 20 win teams that finds itself dissappointed on Selection Sunday. The last game I will mention involves Minnesota and Michigan State. A week ago, Minnestoa was sitting pretty at 16-6 with two gimmies looming. Well, they lost those gimmies to Northwestern and Indiana and now they are looking about as solid as Jerry Lundegaard's alibi in Fargo. There is almost nothing of import on the NBA menu tonight although ten years from now we will probably refer back to February 15, 2005 as the day the Cliff Robinson era began in New Jersey. Here is a little ammunition for those of you pressed to argue the merits of Cliff Robinson. Cliff has averaged 4.8 rebounds a game over his career. That is not a misprint. 4.8 and that is skewed by some years in the early 90's when he put up a few years of six boards a game. This comes from a guy who is 6'11 and has never had trouble getting minutes. Cliff Robinson is the starting four and team captain on my all-Johnny Newman team, named of course after the immortal Hornet who once claimed "boxing out" was for suckers.