Off tomorrow...

Just a couple things I was thinking about tonight as I take the day off from the air.

I'm sorry, but I can't picture Pudge Rodriguez in a Yanks uniform.  I've always liked him, but will I be able to like him as a fixture in Yankee Stadium?

That's about all the baseball I can talk about since I'm finally ready to nail in the last hammer on the Reds and their wild card hopes (my hopes lasted longer than all other Reds fans, for better or worse).  But if you want to read about the Reds, the Red Reporter is always a good place.

So now onto college football.  I'm getting super-excited.  Even though UK and U of L are two teams that will have to fight tooth and nail to get to a bowl, I'm still excited to see both of them play each other.  Here's some more season previews (from CollegeFootballNews.com) on UK, U of L, and IU. And even a little Ohio State for you Big Ten fans.

Can't leave without a little Brian Brohm, who was successfully taught by my man Rocco Gasparro (U of L Media Relations Director for Football) how to avoid any tough questions.  That guy won't crack to the NFL media either.  He's going to represent Louisville great.

Thoughts on a Monday

While I'm thinking about it...

(1) Doesn't the whole Billy Donovan thing just make you laugh? Donovan deciding to reneg on his contract with the Magic. What the hell? Did you not think it through before? And what happened with him this weekend? What changed? I'm very pumped for the next Donovan presser. What will he say?

(2) The Sports Mob has Billy Gillispie today. That should be interesting. My top question for Billy: Do we really have to call you Billy Clyde? Or can we all be grown up and not sound like we're from Hicktown, USA and just call you Coach Gillispie?

(3) We're starting to put a whole lot more video on here. And in the spirit of that, how about on of the coolest experiences of my life... the Colts winning the Super Bowl! I was at the Hooters in Downtown Indy watching it with tons of crazy Colts fans! Here was the scene as time ran out on the victory!

COLTS WIN and yours truly hits the streets!

I was in Downtown Indy to truly take in what may have been a once-in-a-lifetime event... my favorite team in the Super Bowl.

So I thought it would be great for me and my lady to go up there and take it all in. So we went downtown, to the Hooters just across the street from the RCA Dome.

And when the clock ran out on a Colts World Championship, we hit the streets. And just about 60 seconds after the clock ran out, this is what we witnessed.

It's kind of fun watching the crowd get a little bigger, and the scene gettinga little louder with each second.

What I did today...

Well, it's Sunday... the day after U of L-UK. An interesting day... lots of reading of different columns and such, from Rick Bozich to Eric Crawford to Mike Hutsell and then even got a link to an old column from Ralph WIley that was very interesting about Rick Pitino.

In the meantime, I sat on my lazy ass nearly all day, watched the Bears survive at home against freakin' Tampa Bay, witnessed Jeff Garcia (Philly's 'answer' post-Allen Iverson) put his Eagles on his back and defeat the NY Giants. Then, I saw a very good game between two college hoops teams that would probably give our local squads a good run for their money in Virginia Tech's close win at home against Wake Forest.

Now, I'm doing some serious channel-flipping between the following:

1. College hoops: Indiana vs. Southern Illinois... good game... lots of defense per Kelvin Sampson's usual. The Salukis are a really good team.

2. Sunday Night Football: Chiefs/Chargers

3. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation... without a doubt, one of my top 10 movies.

There will be a lot of U of L-UK talk tomorrow, so I want to save all of that stuff for tomorrow. I've got so much stuff to talk about on that game and the two teams, that if I don't get to it all, I will definitely post it here.

NEW POLL: A new edition to this puppy! We'll change up the poll as often as I can get around to it. Feel free to vote.

And more EZ Money to come this week. Get ready! Talk to you tomorrow at 11 AM. John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader sports columnist, will be among the guests on Monday!

Is the Grossman bashing really recessary?

When do we look at something and just decide, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The NFL is arguably the toughest league to win a championship. You have 11 players of offense, 11 players on defense, 11 players on special teams... all working in unison. It's a tough thing to accomplish.

So why, when a team is tied for the best record in the league after 14 weeks (11-2) do we still question the starting of a quarterback? Do we question Thomas Jones? Do we question Mushin Muhammed?

We don't.

Now granted, the quarterback position is unique. But that position doesn't have to be BRILLIANT when you have a defense like Chicago's.

Even after all of the times we've said "defense wins championships", we still question Chicago and their chances, just because they have Rex Grossman. Enough is enough already.

OK, now it's time once again for a little EZ Money.

EZ MONEY: College Hoops
Record going in: 4-0-1

Central Florida (+4) vs. MINNESOTA ** LOSS **

Record going out: 4-1-1

Thoughts over the weekend...

Nothing spectacular here, just thought I'd throw together a couple of things that I was thinking about over this weekend:

1. Sorry, but I just don't think that Louisville basketball is all that great right now. Louisville is a VERY GOOD run and gun team. But all other teams are beginning to do are throw up a simple 2-3 zone against them, and all of the sudden, it becomes tough for Louisville to really manhandle the teams they are supposed to.

And try this on for size.

Is it possible that now we are in the second year of "cupcake" non-conference scheduling, that the team just maybe subconciously plays 'down' to their opponent? Because there has GOT to be a reason that teams like Ohio keep it close with Louisville. Louisville has WAY too much talent and athleticism for that to happen.

That being said, you've got to love what Derrick Caracter and Juan Palacios are doing for the Cards. Let's see our guards get the ball to them a little bit more. Most times, they are very successful against the kids guarding them. But let's see what they do against better competition.

We'll see what happens as the season progresses.

2. I didn't put two and two together.

As I watch this Dallas-New Orleans game (it's at halftime right now), I failed to remember that Sean Payton not only came from Dallas, but coached Tony Romo last year. That's got to be worth a couple of points to the Saints, right? Wish I would've known that before, because now I think the Cowboys are going to keep me from winning my five-team parlay!

3. So another sports movie (and basketball, no less) with Will Farrell. I'm in!

4. Not much else from me, because I want to get back to watching this Sunday Night Football game. One random thing... I get mesmerized by the shot clock at Freedom Hall sometimes. If you watch it intently for about two minutes, you'll catch it going haywire, or the shot clock operator is doing something weird... one of the two. The shot clock will sometimes just change from "5" to "35" during times in a game. I can't figure out why. And I feel like I'm crazy, so I don't share it with anyone on press row, but once again, I saw it tonight. Check it out, and see if I'm sane.

HOPE YOU LISTEN TOMORROW! Lots to talk about!