Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for February 8, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* The New Orleans Saints win their first ever Super Bowl, beating Indianapolis 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV. Mardis Gras comes early to the French Quarter.
* Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith are among those elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So was my fraternity brother Floyd Little from Syracuse and the Denver Broncos. More on Floyd tomorrow.
* Danica Patrick has an impressive 6th place finish in her stock car debut in a race in Daytona Beach.
* And now with the Super Bowl out of the way, we can finally get down to business. America's Cup yacht racing begins today in Valencia Spain, wind permitting.
2. XLIV
Have the Colts finished missing tackles yet? Their defense was picked clean and was no match for Drew Brees and the Saints. You never remember coaches' moves in Super Bowls. You won't forget this one. Sean Payton with a successful onside kick to start the second half. And the Saints went marching in. He gets the "most creative" award. The "lease creative" award goes to the advertisers. By my count 5 different commercials featured guys without pants. It doesn't get any more hilarious than that.
If nothing else, yesterday got us another year closer to Super Bowl 50. Or, as the late Ray Fitzgerald of the Boston Globe wrote 35 years ago, "It'll be an L of a game."
So was last night's.
3. Running an Audible
Turns out schools in Indy didn't open two hours late today. That was the plan, since the bus drivers forgot to show up for work on Monday the last time the Colts played in the Super Bowl. Subscriber James D. alerted me to the fact that they altered the original plan and would open schools an hour later, but keep the kids 30 minutes longer. Something about getting credit for a full day. Those picky educrats.
4. Say What?
That sure got my attention when a report surfaced that the L.A. Clippers had reached out to Isiah Thomas about becoming their new coach, general manager, and president. Why not just give him ownership of the team as well? Turns out a Clippers executive says it's not true. They haven't called him, and they don't plan to. Perhaps the Clippers did their due diligence and asked some experts about Thomas' capabilities. That would be a random phone call to anyone in the Manhattan phone book.
5. Appalling
The captain of the English soccer team, John Terry, has lost his captaincy because he had an affair. He's married, and he was carrying on with a teammate's ex-girlfriend. What's wrong with those athletes over there? Can't they keep it in their pants? We don't have problems like that over here.... no wait....
Happy Birthday: Former NBA center Alonzo Mourning. 40.
Bonus Birthday: What chu talkin' 'bout Willis? Diff'rent Strokes actor Gary Coleman. 42.
Today in Sports: The first NFL draft was held. ESPN chose not to televise it. 1936.
Bonus Event: Baseball orders Mickey Mantle to sever ties with the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City. 1983.