This week in sports

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Sorry this is a little out dated. With the holidays be hide us I will be updating more often.
December and January are not the best time to be a sports fan. The NBA and the NHL don’t get interesting until after the All-Star games in late January or early February.
The NFL has just finished up their regular season with most of the playoff teams set.
College Basketball doesn’t get interesting until the first of the year, when they start their conference play. College basketball teams also take ten days or more off for final exams. And then in December there is no college football.

There is some big news like the 20-month investigation into steroids and other performance enhancing drug abuse in Major League Baseball. This all came out in the middle of December with the Mitchell Report. First off, at least half the players named in the report are no longer in baseball. The question coming out of The Mitchell Report will be if baseball does any thing with this information. The commissioner said, “This report is a call to action, and I will act”. Lets hope so.

It will be interesting to see what the players who were named in the report say in the next few days and weeks. The players were asked during the investigation to defend themselves but did not for whatever reason. Roger Clemens came out after the investigation and declared that he did not take Steroids or HGH. Andy Pettitte also came out after and admitted that he took HGH.
In early January the powers that be for Major League Baseball will go in front of a congressional committee. This should prove to be great political theater for those of us who are interested.

I would like to answer some of my fan mail. I will write the question then the answer below.

Q: How good is Jim Calhoun? Over-rated? Is he a bully instead of a motivator?
A: Jim Calhoun is a top ten coach. He has two National Championships where Gary Williams, Head coach of University of Maryland has one and Jimmy Boeheim, Head Coach of Syracuse has one and and John Thompson , Head Coach of Georgetown has one, just to name a few. So, in my opion he is not over-rated he is probably under-rated. The bully part I’M not sure, I would have to go to a practice to see how he is with his players with out TV cameras around. I do know this, in 21 years at UCONN, Calhoun has been ejected only five times. Also, there are 14 UCONN alumni playing in the NBA right now. This is more than any other NCAA program. So just by that he is a motivator and an all time great.

Q: Has Pat Summit made the wrong decision to not play UCONN?
A: No, Tennessee doesn’t need UCONN, they already play a tough schedule. Tennessee plays 14 Top 25 teams this year to 7 for UCONN. From a fan point of view, I’M disappointed that they’re no playing each other, next to Red Sox Vs. Yankees, UCONN Vs. Tennessee is the best rivalry in sports. We will see in March how this plays out.

Q: Should Johan Santana be a Red Sox?
A: No. They won the 2007 World Series Championship without him. They should not give up someone like Dustin Pedroia for someone like Santana who has never even won in the postseason.


Q: Has the rest of the NFL caught up to the Patriots with a “ blueprint”?

A: Yes and No. Yes I think the rest of the NFL is catching up with the Pats. But every time you think they are down and loosing they come back and win. Every game is different, one time they may pass the ball 50 times, the next game they may run the ball 50 times. I don’t think there is a blueprint to beat them or it would have been done already.

Great questions,!!
I would like to compare your answers to mine so I shoot the same questions back at you and others who are interested.
Check the blog regularly as I will be up dating it more often in the New Year.
That’s my take; I would like to hear yours

Jamie Lazaroff