This week in sports

It is doldrums of winter for sports fans. With little else going on The NFL playoffs are the best part of the season. The fact that in the playoffs you have one game to prove you deserve to be go on or if you loose you are out is what keeps the excitement and interest in the game. As John Madden said, “ It’s the finality of it all”. For example who knew that Indianapolis would loose to San Diego, not me, that’s for sure. With March Madness it’s the same, survive and advance, or won and done. I can’t wait for the month of March, I love March Madness.

I watched Roger Clemens on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace and at his press conference and I have one piece of advice for him: BE QUIET. Every time he opens his mouth he sticks his foot in it. At his press conference on Jan. 7th, Clemens played a 12-minute phone call with his former trainer Brian McNamee. Clemens had secretly taped this call with out McNamee knowing. In the tape Clemens was not clear about what he wanted and McNamee repeatedly asked Clemens “What do you want me to do?” This phone call, which Clemens taped, was on Friday, Jan. 4th, on Sunday, Jan. 6th before the press conference Clemens filed a defamation lawsuit against McNamee in Harris County District Court in Texas. The lawsuit listed 15 alleged statements McNamee made to the Mitchell Report. Clemens claimed the statements were "Untrue and Defamatory."
On February 13th, Clemens and McNamee will testify in front of The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The hearing was postponed from January 16th, giving lawmakers more time to gather evidence and to coordinate their investigation with the Justice Department. This should prove to be great political theater for those of us who are interested. The January 15th hearing before the same committee about the Mitchell Report featuring Commissioner Bud Selig, Union Leader Donald Fehr, and George Mitchell, the reports author, will go on as planned January 16th. Stay tuned for an update after the February 13th testimony.

I’m glad to see University Presidents are coming out saying, “Schools need to regain control of the college football post-season”. For years the Presidents have been opposed to a playoff system. Their opposition is largely for academic reasons and because the season is already too long. I have heard two different proposals; a Final Four system and an Eight-Team playoff. I have talked about this before and I have suggested a playoff but I think you need all 11 conference champs to make it work. I also think all conferences need to have champion games so you do not have
co-champions. I truly hope this is the start of people talking seriously about this subject.

Congratulations to LSU for winning the Bowl Championship Series National Title. At the end of the day you won it on the field of play and that’s what counts.

I know this is a sports column, but my other interest is in politics. This year is a presidential election, and the race for the white house is the tightest in a long, long time. I cannot belive I picked the winners of both parties in the Iowa Caucuses and the Republican winner of the New Hampshire Primary. I think both races will come down to the end at both parties’ conventions next summer.

On a sad note, former U.S. figure skating champion Christopher Bowman died Thursday of a possible drug overdose. Bowman was one of the great showmen that elevated figure skating in the late 80’s and early 90’s to the level of popularity it enjoys today. His rivalry with Todd Eldredge drew me to the sport and Men’s figure skating has not had a rivalry like it since. God Speed “Bowman the Showman”