NFL Week 17 or as I like to Call it, The Early Super Sunday

Three great things about the last week of the NFL's regular season:

1. The Patriots, despite an 11-5 record, missed the playoffs. I can't say enough how sick I am of the Patriots and their obnoxious head coach. What's even better is that the Chargers did make the playoffs at 8-8, which will drive Pats fans crazy and make them even bigger whiners.

2. The Cowboys got destroyed in another must win game. Can we stop calling Tony Romo an elite Quarterback now? This guy has never won a big game in three years as a starter and has choked in playoff games and this one.

The sad part about them missing the playoffs? Owner Jerry Jones probably doesn't care because the 'Boys got so much press this year. I really don't think he cares about on field performance anymore. How else would you explain the continued presence of Terrell Owens?

3. The single best thing that happened was Brett Favre and the Jets missing the playoffs with Favre throwing another thee picks against the Dolphins. This team gagged it's way to a 1-4 finish after an 8-3 start and that is due in large part to Favre. You got what you wanted Brett, and you played like most of the people who have not drunk your Kool Aid knew you would. 22 TDS and 22 picks, most of them in the last 5 games. And this guy made the Pro Bowl? Get real. Voting for that game has to start taking place after week 17 not week 15.

Seeing Chad Pennington stick it up the Jets as as the Dolphins starter made this game even sweeter to watch.

UPDATE on January 2 - Apparently Favre's new teammates weren't too impressed with him either.

- I wouldn't categorize the Lions successfully(?) completing an 0-16 season as great but it certainly was historical. The sad thing is they weren't even close in any games. Every time you looked at the scores rolling in on the ticker they were down 35-0 or 28-3. Hasn't the city of Detroit suffered enough lately? Did they really need to have the worst team in the history of the NFL this year?

LeBron and Stephon

- I guess I'll start with LeBron. My first question now that a lot of teams, especially the Knicks are throwing in the towel on the next two years, is why does everyone automatically assume LeBron is going to end up with the Knicks?

The first myth is that the league needs him there for the Knicks to be competitive. The Knicks haven't won a title since the 70's and the two Finals they went to in the 90's were with boring, uninteresting teams and had low TV ratings. The two marquee teams in the NBA have always been the Celtics and the Lakers, not the Knicks. Last years Celtic revival was far more important to the league than LeBron to the Knicks.

The second myth is that LeBron needs to go to New York to become the global icon he wants to become. Michael Jordan seemed to do all right in the endorsement department without playing in NYC. Tiger (and Phil to a far lesser degree) seems to be doing OK on the global icon scale without ever having lived anywhere but California and Florida. In this day and age you do not need to live in LA or NYC to make endorsement money. To argue otherwise is false.

Now, LeBron actually wanting to go to the Knicks,which he can't come out and say, is a different scenario. If the rumours that he, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade talked openly about all going to the Knicks in '10 are true, well God help the rest of the league because they would be unbeatable for 8 years. But if that is not the case and LeBron is honest about wanting to win Championships more than anything else than the Knicks are one of the last places he should go. Adding him would obviously make them better immediately, and the thought of the 35-12-12 numbers he could put up in Mike D'Antoni's offense makes me giddy, but they would be worse than the Cavs team he would be leaving because there would be nobody else there for a couple of years.

If LeBron's main goal is to win there is only one choice - Portland. Putting him out there with Oden, Roy, Aldridge and Fernandez is an automatic 7o wins every year. And he could live next to Nike HQ.

- I'm begging to Knicks to keep Stephon Marbury all year. Pretty please. You deprived me of another year of Isiah bashing, at least give me the Stephon saga, which is turning out better than any of us ever could have hoped for, all season. And at least give it to your fans. They completely accept you giving up on the next two years for a run at LeBron, at least give them some entertainment in the interim.

- Is it good for the league that teams are tanking and trading away salary in anticipation of the most loaded free agent class ever in '10? Essentially telling their fans We'll suck for a chance at getting a huge name? It's hard to say. I tend to think it doesn't but maybe that's because I'm a Raptors fan and and realize they will never be able to attract bi time free agents in their prime.

On the other hand, with the rise of 24 hour news coverage, team chat rooms and blogs, the "Hot Stove" element of sports has sadly become just as entertaining as the actual games for most fans. People are spending as much time speculating on where LeBron and Dwayne Wade are going to end up as they are checking standings and boxscores.

- If I had to pick one of the Spurs, Suns and Mavs to miss the playoffs, which looks like it will happen, I will pick the Mavs. The Spurs Big Three are to good to miss the playoffs, even with an old and thin bench, and the Suns will eventually figure out the half court offense and run more to start having fun again. But eventually Jason Kidd is just going to be killed by the West point guards. I don't see how they win more than 45 games.

Not Much To Say.

I could write about 5,000 words about our current Federal political situation right now without blinking but I just don't have the heart to. The events of the past week have made me genuinely embarrassed, sad and sick.

I love Canada and will always be proud to call it my home. But I fear for our political future right now as I think we are just turning into the World's coldest Banana Republic.

Miscellaneous Sports Stuff

- The Raptors had to fire Head Coach Sam Mitchell after their horrendous effort against Denver the other night.

Mitchell was never any good at x's and o's (notice the 20 point lead they blew against the Nets or taking a 5 second inbounds violation late in a tie game) but he could motivate players. Now that that ability is gone they can get motivated again under Jay Triano who should be given the job until the end of the year to prove himself. You can get by with a good tactical coach who players don't respond to for a while (Larry Brown is a prime example) but not the other way around. With 3/4 of the season left the Raps will improve and are still capable of getting home court in the first round.

- The reason I was so excited about the Leafs bringing in Brian Burke was because he helps put more E than S in MLSE, at least at first. The Leafs are going to stink for at least a couple more years but the thought of him going off on the Toronto media and butting heads with Ron Wilson, whose ego is almost as big as Burke's, is going to be priceless.

But can he turn the Leafs around? What a lot of Leaf fans are conveniently forgetting is that he inherited the Ducks team that won the Cup from Bryan Murray and only had to make a relatively easy trade for Chris Pronger, who demanded out of Edmonton, and sign Scott Neidermayer in large part because his brother was already in Anaheim. And his stops in Hartford and Vancouver were disasters to varying degrees. I think he is experienced enough that he will make the Leafs a consistent playoff team but I am not planning to schedule any vacation time around any parades in June along Yonge Street for at least five years.

- Just in case not everybody was sure before, Sean Avery went out and solidified his stature as the biggest asshole in the NHL. I realize the league needed to suspend him immediately but how great would it have been for him to half to face Dion Phaneuf the other night? Then again Avery is such a chicken shit little prick that he would not have gone within 30 feet of Phaneuf the whole night. He has to be done with the Stars at this point and I don't think any other team is going to bother with him. He's just not good enough to be worth the trouble.

I have said that Terrell Owens was the current athlete most likely to be found dead in a Vegas off-strip hotel room with three hookers and a vial of crack but I may have to break that into two categories. Owens will be accidental whereas Avery will be a murder.

- Just a quick note to say that I will be bringing back the fine tradition of the Pursuit of Leisure Hottie over the next couple of days.

Canadian Politics Can't Get Any Lower.

The thought of another Federal election is absolutely ridiculous but if the alternative is Finance Minister Jack Layton, and my fingers ache just typing that, then it may have to be the option.

Of course if Harper wasn't stupid enough to bring up the possibility of cutting the $30 million taxpayer subsidy to political parties this could have been avoided. I don't disagree with ending the subsidy in principle I just think his timing was awful. He never mentioned it once or even hinted at it until last Thursday. Now the government may be brought down over something as trivial as this at a time of economic crisis when leadership is required. Pathetic.