You have to wonder if the Cinderella ride for the hurricanes is not coming to a grinding halt. Ranked as high as number two in the country and writing another fairy tale for Coach Jim Larranaga, the canes recent struggles give cause for alarm.

     It's been a bit of a sustained down period, signaled first by a couple of narrow victories against Clemson and Virginia, followed by subsequent losses in three of their next four games.

     In a bandwagon jumping town like South Florida is, and against a sports landscape that viewed college basketball as only slightly above world team tennis in terms of recognition, the canes have been fighting many stigmas in an effort to get the fans attention and now seem to be fighting themselves.

     One can only hope a strong run in the acc tournament serves as a springboard into a long stay in the NCAA championship competition, otherwise, it may be back to "as mike Tyson would say," Bolivian for this one time Cinderella team.

 If you are still slightly bloated or hungover after the Christmas Holiday,
it may be time to kick in some of those empty resolutions a little bit early
this year.
     And the sports world would be wise to immediately consider the same.
     Among the many things that should be resolved is the notion the NFL needs
to expand its playoff format. It's a bit dicey to discuss, because, while being
radically opposed to the extra two wild card teams in baseball this year, the
playoffs and various races to get in, actually made for higher drama and
entertainment than the previous season, which most thought would never be
equalled in terms of interest or excitement.
     But the NFL should resist the temptation to make a change.
     While Roger Goodell hides behind his Florence Nightingale dedication to
player safety, expanded playoffs are yet another ploy to a longer, 18 game
regular season, a condition wrought with added danger in a game that already has serious medical issues casting a giant shadow over its classification as sport.
     All one needs to do is examine this week's playoff scenarios to conclude to leave it alone. Does Dallas really need Barcelona to win the world cup to get
in. Enough said. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Resign yourself to that and
2013 will be just fine.

It's impossible to discuss sports today without going Gordon
Gecko......yes, there isn't a game being played that doesn't reflect upon the
notion "greed is good."
     Witness the NBA's new Christmas day strategy of scheduling five games, ten
of its 30 teams to play on this most sacred of holidays.
     What started as somewhat of a novelty with a game featuring a couple of
marquis teams, eventually has expanded to the point where there may as well be a full compliment of games, featuring the entire league in an all day, 24-hour
ESPN/ABC marathon.
     The doubleheader became the triple header and now we have the pentaheader,
a noon to midnight visual bloodbath that should be sold to visine, as even the
most ardent of pro hoops fans would have to be gargling with the stuff somewhere around the time the Heat took the court against the Thunder, still with two more games to go.
     The concept that less is more has long been lost on the modern day sporting world, and, after cramming that ridiculous 66 game schedule down the fans
throats a year ago, the five game Christmas special is further proof the
almighty television dollar drives the league a lot harder than any of its
supposed stars.

     When the New York Knicks decided to pass on paying zillions of dollars to
free agent Jeremy Lin, many basketball observers thought this was just the
latest form of Linsanity.
     How could a team starved for an indentity since the retirement of Willis
Reed, and hungry to ignite a spark with its fan base turn its back on Jeremy Lin.  Lin the Asian point guard from Harvard who lit up the baksetball world for a three week
stretch, when finally given a chance to play signficant minutes due to a rash of
injuries suffered by New York last season.
     Lin was more popular in New York than the bagel, and it appeared that long
stretch of bagels in terms of championships won might have a chance of finally
vanishing through Lin's leadership.
     But, as Lin returned to the Garden this week in a Rockets uniform, it
seems, for once, the Knicks made the right move.
     Lin's modest stats make his inflated contract look like a Bernie Madoff
stock portfolio, and the Knicks have prospered, boasting the best record in the
east through 23 games. It didn't take long for Lin to evaporate from superstar
into little more than a novelty.

     It's probably good if I decide to lay off potatoes forever. At least the
Idaho Potato bowl. That after the late meltdown by the underdog Toledo Mud Hens,
who were facing 22nd ranked Utah State in the second of a wave of bowl games
that run through next February, or so it seems.
     Toldedo, orginally getting nine points in the game, went off as an 11 point
dog, and, after squandering opportunities for touchdowns twice in the early
going, still was hanging tough into the third quarter, trailing just 10-6.
     This after losing their best defensive player on the game's opening play
and having thier top QB suffer an injury early on as well. Their late, fourth
quarter collapse, however, was monumental, and made me never want to see another
one of those hideous commercials with Denise Austin wandering through some
potato patch trying to hide the fact that the whole state of Idaho is
essentially a barren wasteland whose only meaningful contribution to mankind is
a variety of spuds and a blue astro turf football field.
     Besides, the Potato bowl used to be the humanitarian bowl, and, if it was
truly humanitarian, then my bookie would give me my money back. But, like my
love of potatoes, that simply just ain't happening any more.

    The song, these are a few of my favorite things, includes an appropriate
sports reference of the times when a line aludes to the great Emile
Griffith......
   "Watchin' Emile Griffith fight, sung by anyone, makes you think of the
fluidity and precision of one of the world's best competing in an essentially
brutal sport.
     If someone were to write the same song today, it would have to include a
reference to watching Tom Brady QB a football team.
     His systematic dismantling of the Houston Texans was a reminder of what
quarterback play is supposed to be. Demonstrating a deep rooted understanding of
opposing defenses, Brady was able to, not only pick apart, but knock the Texans
right out of the game in the early going.
      He has done this for years, whether he was throwing to Randy Moss, or the
set of curcus midgets he currently has in Wes Welder and Danny Woodhead.
      Brady will be commemorated with first ballot Hall of Fame status, and a
number of championship rings, but it would not be out of place for some song
writer to step out and create some lyrics that could evoke images of the almost
poetic nature of his play.......

I can’t say I had high hopes for this video titled “How Drinking Beer” — apparently cavemen are now sending in videos — but it’s shockingly worth a watch. You’ll immediately see why.