Feb 22 - Miracle on Ice

Today is the anniversary of the greatest sporting event in American sports history. It was on this day twenty-five years ago that the United States Olympic Hockey team skated past the heavily-favored Russains on its way to an olympic gold medal. In case any of you forgot the details of the game or haven't seen "Miracle," the U.S. trailed the Russians 3-2 in the third period of this classic, but goals by future Penguin Mark Johnson and Mike Eruzione put the stars and stripes up 4-3 with ten clicks to go. From there on out, American goalie Jim Craig was unflappable and the Americans were able to hold on for their historic victory. There is almost no debate in this country that this was the most memorable and inspiring event in U.S. sports history. Aside from just its sporting aspect, the game had plenty of political overtones and therefore it is revered as something that transcended sports. It was one of those rare events in history where people remember where they were when they heard that the US had won the game. But as great a moment as this was - was it the greatest upset in sports history? I think it gets a bit tricky at this point. The Russian hockey team was unquestionably the best in the world, but the U.S. had guys who could skate. Many of these guys went on to play in the NHL, and some even had lengthy careers. True, the Russians beat the US team 10-3 just days before the Olympics began, but I thnk its hard to argue that the US team didn't belong on the ice with the Russians. So what other upsets compare with this great moment. How about U.S. wrestler Rulon Gardner defeating Russian Aleksandr Karelin at the Sydney Olympics. Karelin was about as dominant as dominant gets, winning three straight Olympic golds going into Sydney. The Russian hadn't lost in over a decade when Gardner walked onto the mat in Austrailia. He walked off that mat with a 1-0 victory and an upset that ranks right up there with the US Hockey team. (I have a swimming upset candidate as well but I will spare the readers the details on that one.) And for those of you who want a big upset in a team sport - try this one on for size. In 1982, the University of Virginia lost a basketball game to NAIA also-ran Chaminade. Before you dismiss this as insignificant, you must realize that this Virginia team did not resemble the garbage that plays in Charlottsville today. Instead, Virginia was the top ranked team in the country at the time. They had played in the Final Four the previous year and were led by nation's 1981 Player of the Year Ralph Sampson. This was a team that shared the ACC 1982 regular season title with a UNC team that had Worthy, Jordan and Perkins. Chaminade, on the other hand, was basically a Oahu-based juco team led by a 6'6 center whose last name was Randolph. You want an analogy to this game? How about this year's Illinois team losing to a vocational night school? By the way, if you haven't seen Miracle, you should go out and rent it today. Aside from being inspirational, it represnts Kurt Russell's best work and that includes Overboard. My top-5 KR movies in order are: Miracle, Overboard, Used Cars, the Best of Times, and Unlawful Entry.

Somebody should tell Bill Self that losing three straight games in February is no way to impress the NCAA tourney selection committee. Self's Kansas Jayhawks, losers at Oklahoma last night, have now lost three straight and face a difficult test this weekend against Oklahoma State. To the Jayhawks credit, two of their losses have come in overtime and two were on the road. Nonetheless, Kansas has shown some weaknesses of late and it begins with spotty guard play. Arron Miles is routinely turning the ball over five times a game and J.R Giddens has suddenly found it difficult to make a shot. Moreover, during this recent streak, highly acclaimed center Wayne Simien has played a lot more like an all-conference player then an all-american. Ten days ago, the Jayhawks looked like a possible number one seed in the NCAA tourney. With a loss on Saturday, the Hawks will look a lot more like a three or four seed then a top seed.

Today marks the beginning of a very important period for NFL front offices. Why you may ask? Well, today is the first day that teams can start releasing veterans in advance of March 2, which happens to be the day that all teams must be in compliance with the Salary Cap. That also marks the beginning of the free agent signing period. So over the next ten days, a number of veterans will be released and a greater amount will have their contracts re-strucutred. Most fans and the pinheads at ESPN generally assume that the NFL draft reprepsents the big event of the NFL off-season, but the Sportsaholic believes that this upcomming period is much more interesting. This is when tough personnel deicsions have to be made and the succesful teams in the NFL are usually those that are willing and able to make the tough calls come this time of year. It is already shaping up to be a fascinating "release" season. A number of big names are already slated for relelase and the list could grow as teams come to grips with their 2005 payrolls.

According to the guys over at Pro Football Talk, the Raiders and Vikings had a deal in place as late as yesterday that would have had Oakland sending some picks and linebacker Napolean Harris to Minnesota for problem child Randy Moss. The deal, however, was scuttled today when Oakland was able to come to terms with thier own Jerry Porter. Minnesota's press department, at the request of their prospective new owner, publically removed Moss from the trading block over the weekend, but I guess the front office didn't get the word. Speculation is that Moss will continue to be shopped, although there are plenty of receivers available through free agency and so the potential universe of those willing to pay for Moss may be quite small.

One team facing devastating salary issues this off-season was the Tennessee Titans. As of last week, the Titans were aproximately $27 million over the salary cap. But rather then trying to massage the cap for another year, the Titans have decided to bite the bullet in 2005. As such, the team has released six players including the AFC's leading receiver Derrick Mason and corner Samari Rolle. Titans General manager Floyd Reese said yesterday the Titans wanted to mimic Baltimore's approach to the salary cap -- slash large salaries in one lump and, hopefully, limit any damage to one season. "We're done manipulating. Now we're going to fix this,'' Reese said. I think Reese has done the smart thing since his team could no longer stay competitive as it bled players every off-season. A season had to be sacrificed and Reese made the right call. But if 2005 is being tossed, why bring back Steve McNair? Is there any chance McNair will be a viable option come 2006? So long as Reese and the Ttians are starting anew, why not begin at quarterback? If Reese were truly interested in fixing the problem, McNair would be playing elsewhere next year.

The NBA trade deadline is fast approaching and Laker Lamar Odom seems to be at the center of the trade rumor vortex. One rumor has Odom going with Caron Butler to Utah in exchange for Carlos Boozer and Matt Harpring, while another has the forward headed to Sacramento in a deal that will net Peja Stoyakovic and Bobby Jackson. Is it really worth the time to discuss where Lamar Odom is going to end up next week? Lamar, although young and talented, is a starting forward on my "all who-cares?" team. Guys like Odom, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Jerry Stackhouse, Antoine Walker, Jalen Rose, and Donyell Marshall seem to get traded for each other every year and it never makes any difference to the teams involved. Guys like Odom are annual trade bait for two reasons - they are overpaid and they hang numbers without making their teams any better. This may be a bit unfair on Odom since he is probably a cut above Stackhouse or Rahim, but the truth is that Lamar has character issues and he has never been at the center of big winner. In Odom's defense, guys sometimes graduate off this list and end up contributing to championship teams, but the list is not exactly extensive. Bob McAdoo did it for the Lakers and James Edwards did it for the Pistons, but it doens't happen often. It doesn't look like Odom will get to join this club this year since the Lakers came out today and denied that anything involving Lamar is in the works.