TGIF everyone, here's my Top 5 for January 14, 2011 from Len Berman at ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* Heisman Trophy winner and national champion, Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, will skip his senior year and enter the NFL draft.
* The NFL playoffs resume with 4 games this weekend. The final 4 teams will be left standing.
* Two coaching vacancies filled. John Fox (formerly Carolina Panthers) to Denver. St. Louis offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur takes over the Cleveland Browns. The Raiders are the only team "still on the clock."
* Former Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor is sentenced to 6 years probation on sex charges. He'll have to register as a sex offender.
* The Yankees have found their eventual successor to Mariano Rivera in the bullpen. They have signed American League saves leader Rafael Soriano from Tampa Bay.
* It even rains in paradise. The first round of the Sony Open was rained out yesterday in Hawaii.
2. Tee it Up
The best part about the NFL may be that there's only one game a week per team. The worst part about the NFL is that there's only one game a week. That means too many days to fill up too many sports pages, airwaves and blogs with drivel. That's why I love the kickoff so much. It officially puts an end to all the yapping. I'm anxious to see the Baltimore/Pittsburgh game tomorrow. Two years ago they played one of the most brutally physical games I've ever seen. Pittsburgh won on their way to the Super Bowl title. With new rules in effect, we'll see if tomorrow's game gets toned down. And the reason you want to see the Jets lose to the Patriots, is you're curious what the coach will say. And the reason you want to see the Jets beat the Patriots, is you're curious what dopey stuff the coach and his players will say next week. You'll either get a day or two, or an entire week of Rex. Pick your poison.
3. Celebrate Good Times, Come On!
You guys had tons of suggestions about when celebrating began in football for big (and not so big plays) on offense and defense. Many thought Billy "White Shoes" Johnson. Others mentioned the Ickey Shuffle and Mark Gastineau's sack dance. Homer Jones might have been the first to spike the ball in the end zone. A New York Times article a few years back, suggested that wide receiver Elmo Wright was the first to perform an end zone dance at the University of Houston in 1969. And he brought it to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1973. I was amused that several of you brought up the quote, when you score a touchdown, "act like you've been there before." You attributed that quote to Vince Lombardi, Joe Paterno, and Bear Bryant. So who really said it? Noodle around the Internet and you will also see attributions to former Texas coach Darrell Royal and even NFL ref Tim Tunney. Whoever said it first, take a bow. But not too demonstrably.
4. Friday eMailbag
F.G. asks a simple question in regards to Michigan hiring Brady Hoke as its new coach. "Whatever happened to looking for coaches with winning records?" (Hoke is a career 47-50 as a head coach.)
Editor's Note: It must be the Seattle Seahawks playoff syndrome at work.
J.R. has some new Bowl games for next year, among them: The Why Do We Watch The Bowl Games Bowl? The, Oh My Goodness It's 2012 Bowl, and the Timeout Bowl. (Commercials only.)
Editor's Note: Makes as much sense as any of the other bowls, minus the commercial tie-ins.
As for my line wondering if at next year's Meineke Car Care Bowl the winning kick will be for "all the carburetors?" M.S. writes, "Next year the Meineke Car Care Bowl here in Charlotte is being renamed the Belk Bowl as the sponsorship is changing."
Editor's Note: Belk is a department store chain. What fun is that?
And E.G. has yet another twist on my disappointment that new Mets infielder Chin-lung Hu isn't a first baseman. (Hu's on first?) He writes, "KC has a 1B in the minor leagues named Murray Watts. If he makes it to the majors, and Hu hits a double, you could have Watts on first and Hu's on Second."
Editor's Note: I (still) don't know.
5. Spanning The World
This week's Spanning the World highlight comes from a marathon relay in Tokyo among universities. The leader decides to follow the TV trucks which is a major oops. Take a look.
Turns out the poor guy recovered to finish 10th which was good enough to quality for next year's race. By the way, the translation of the play-by-play is, "that guy earned himself a Len Berman That's Sports hat."
Happy Birthday: Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey. 27.
Bonus Birthday: Giants fan Andy "60 Minutes" Rooney. 92.
Today in Sports: The birth of touch football. The Pro Bowl is revived in L.A. pitting the conferences against each other. 1951.
Bonus Event: The first country club is formed in the U.S. in Brookline Mass. Using that famed Yankee ingenuity, they name it The Country Club. 1882.
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