Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for January 11, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* This weekend's NFL playoff winners were the Jets, Baltimore, Dallas and Arizona. Arizona's 51-45 win in overtime over Green Bay was the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history.
* Pete Carroll is expected to take the Seattle Seahawks coaching job. Cynics believe he's leaving USC just in time to avoid NCAA sanctions for various violations.
* The Bachelor... no more. Derek Jeter will reportedly marry actress Minka Kelly on Long Island November 5th.
2. J-E-T-S
Did Mark Sanchez pitch a perfect game or what? It has to rank as one of the greatest playoff debuts in quarterbacking history. The few passes that were incompletions were drops by his wide receivers. Maybe Rex Ryan was right... maybe the Jets are the favorites. Or maybe get back to me after the San Diego game.
3. How 'Bout dem 'Boys!
So lets say you're a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan, and you just had to drive to the new stadium for Saturday night's playoff game against Philadelphia. Here's the deal. Parking: as much as $75.00. A Kobe beef burger: $13.00. You got to wash it down with a $9.00 beer. And here's the best part, the cheapest ticket, for standing-room, only $35.00. But the ticket didn't guarantee a view of the field. This is not a cheesy take-off of a Master Card commercial. Just being there....Pricey!
4. Whats a Picture Worth?
So what's a picture worth? A thousand words? Ten thousand? The phrase is attributed to Confucius when it was really concocted by an advertising guy. Anyway, we now know it's really worth $40,000. That's the total amount four Washington Wizards were fined for yucking it up in the huddle during a game when Gilbert Arenas was pretending to "fire guns" with his fingers. The "smoking gun" was a picture of the levity. We may never know what a picture is really worth, but smiling at the wrong time in the NBA will cost ya' 10 large.
5. Fore!!!
Under the heading of you can't make this stuff up, there's a lawsuit proceeding in San Francisco over the patent rights to gunpowder-loaded golf clubs that can hit a ball over 200 yards. They are golf clubs that you don't have to swing. They involve using a system of pistons and explosives to launch your drives. I don't know where to begin. Is there a point to playing golf if all you do is pull a trigger? The only value I can see is to provide a little giddyap to that poky foursome in front of you.
Happy Birthday: Gentle Ben. Good guy golfer Ben Crenshaw. 58.
Bonus Birthday: Singer Mary J. Blige. 39.
Today in Sports: The birth of fat sluggers. American League owners vote to adopt the designated hitter. 1973.
Bonus Event: Making it much easier to cry if it spills, milk is delivered in glass bottles for the first time. 1878.