Back from a long week of workshops and ready to talk some Winter Olympics …

- If there is a story of redemption in these Olympics, it has to be skier Bode Miller.  He arrived at the Olympics four years ago expecting to compete for gold, but with his head in clearly the wrong place.  His lack of discipline and conflicts with the US Ski Team forced him to leave Torino empty handed and the subject of justified ridicule.  Four years later, Miller comes to Vancouver a changed man – the father of a two-year old who has completely changed his attitude.  He’s returned to the national team and is skiing better than he has in years.  Even with that, however, no one really expected him to score medals in each of his first races, but that’s exactly what he’s done – including an impressive gold in the combined.  He’s considered a medal favorite in two more events, which would leave him the most decorated skiier ever for a single Olympic games – quite a change from the last go around …

- Another guy who as performed above expectation – at least, the expectation of anyone but himself – is short track skater Apolo Ono.  After starring in the last two winter games, Ono stepped away from skating and expanded his fame significantly by competing in – and winning – TV’s “Dancing With The Stars”.  Most viewers assumed you’d never again see Ono back on the ice, but he still had the itch and regained his competitive form.  In a sport marked by notoriously short careers – Ono has repeatedly pointed out he’s skating against people coached by people he used to skate against – Ono has scored a pair of medals at the half-way point in the games.  Some will point out that his achievements have come in part due to the misfortune of others, but he’s been a victim of that same kind of bad luck himself over the years and it all balances out.  He’s now the most-decorated US Winter Olympian, and still has two more events to skate.

- Unlike most of her teammates, skier Lindsay Vonn was expected to win her events – at least until a training injury mere days before the Games began left her unable to ski.  Frankly, only the unpredictable weather of Vancouver gave her a chance to even compete, and she made the most of her opportunity, scoring the gold in the women’s downhill.  Her results since that first race haven’t been as fruitful, mixing a DNF with a bronze medal, but the joyous yells she lets out at the end of a run – win or lose – show how happy she is just to be competing.

- Americans like to look at Canada as our 51st state, but I suspect most Canadians see Americans as their boorish neighbors to the south.  Louder, ruder, clumsier – we’re the bulls in the Canadians china shop.  Imagine how it must feel, then, for the American hockey team to go to Vancouver and beat the Canadians at their national game – and yet, that’s just what happened in group play yesterday.  The Canadians outshot the Americans 2-to-1, but inspired defense and goalkeeping kept the US squad in the game long enough to take a 4-3 lead late into the game.  An open netter set the final score, and started the spin doctoring of the results.  Publicly, the Canadians are saying it’s just another game, but most people think these are the two teams destined to meet for the gold, and you really don’t want to lose a game like this.  For all their ho-hum reaction, it’s worth noting that the Canadians have benched goalie Martin Brodeur in favor of Roberto Luongo for the remainder of the tournament.   Those cold fingers are closing on the Canadian team’s necks …

-  Did I mention that the US Women’s hockey team is playing the Canadians for the gold?  Imagine if both teams bring home the gold – they’d have to close the bars in Canada …

There was probably some other sports this weekend, but c’mon – you know what we all watched …

- Last week, if you’d put money on the New Orleans Saints to win Super Bowl XLIV, it would have been considered a sucker bet or, at best, a sentimental bet. But today, it’s a winning bet after the long-suffering Saints defeated the Colts 31-17 last night in Miami. There will be a lot of talk about how the Saints uplifted the spirit of New Orleans, and that is a great thing that comes out of this game no matter who you were pulling for. But for now, let’s talk about who won the game – or, more importantly, lost it. Drew Brees has one of the greatest post-seasons by a quarterback, and the rest of the Saints did what they had to do to get their hands on the Lombardi Trophy. But to me, the real story of this game is the inexplicable performance by the Colts. This is a team built to win the big game, one that sacrificed the possibility of a perfect season to get to the big game – and once there, acted like they never arrived. League MVP Peyton Manning had a decent game statistically (with one significant exception), but the Colts played like a team more worried about not losing than winning – and that’s a recipe for disaster. Incredibly dull play calling by the Colts’ coaching staff led to field goals instead of touchdowns – and punts instead of first downs – and left the door open for the Saints. And the Saints came marching through …

- Football is a team game, but this more than most was a story of individual moments. There were good moments – Tracy Porter’s interception return to seal the victory, Sean Peyton’s decision to go with an onside kick at the beginning of the second half that left the Colts’ flat-footed and flabbergasted – and bad – Pierre Garcon’s drop of an easy pass on a crucial third down. But the one that will stick with me will be Hank Baskett’s flub of the aforementioned kickoff. Look, the reason you put wide receivers on the front line of a kickoff is for this very occurance – that’s why it’s called the “good hands team”. Baskett, better known as the guy who stole Kendra Wilkinson from Hugh Hefner, was a mid-season pickup by the Colts after getting dumped by the Eagles. After this gaffe, I think he’s gonna be looking for a job once again …

-  OK, let’s talk about the real game … the commercials.  For the last decade or so, the buzz before the big game has often been more about the commercials than the game itself – blame Apple and the original Mac commercial in ‘84 for that, I guess.  But, much like the action on the field, the commercials seldom live up to the hype, and this year was no exception.  There were nearly 70 commercials during the game (!), but I’d say only a half-dozen or so were even memorable.  Some of my favorites were the Snickers commercial with Betty White and Abe Vigoda (who’s still alive – who knew?) or the Coke commercial with the entire cast of the Simpsons.  Both were cute in entirely different ways.  There were plenty of attempts to sell with a different cute (Megan Fox taking self-portraits in the hot tub, for example), but for me they fell short.  Same goes for perennial SB advertisers GoDaddy and e-Trade (the new baby sucks).  Among the big winners were Focus on the Family, whose Tim Tebow commercial was remarkably understated compared to the controversy it stirred up, and Toyota, who threw itself on its sword in a mea culpa commercial aimed at the largest audience possible.  Doubt that’s gonna save the stock value, though. The best of the bunch, though, has to be the one in which an entire trans-Atlantic love affair played itself out in the simple interface of a search window, reminding the world that no matter how much money Microsoft and Yahoo invest in hyping their search engines, when the world wants a question answered, it still “Googles it”.

I’m trying something new here at the ol’ MB by not automatically having certain posts on certain days (goodbye, Weekend Eye Candy …). But if it’s Monday, and I’ve seen sports I need to rant about, whatcha gonna go …

- For once, everyone in the NFL stuck to the script, and the teams that should be going to the Super Bowl will actually meet in Miami in two weeks. The Colts wore down a gritty but ultimately overwhelmed New York Jets team to take the AFC championship, and the Saints continued their feel-good story season by surviving in overtime against a battered Vikings squad. A couple of things came to mind watching the games. First, if teams take on the personality of their leader, then Peyton Manning must be as cool as the other side of the pillow. Down 11 at the half after a pair of TD passes by rookie Mark Sanchez, the Colts never panicked – hell, they never even cracked a sweat. They just rolled off 24 unanswered points and reminded everyone why they started the season 14-0. One more performance like this, and they’ll justify coach Jim Caldwell’s decision to tank the last two regular season games – and a shot at a perfect season – to rest the starters. Meanwhile, down in the Big Easy, the Saints turned Vikings QB Brett Favre into their own personal voodoo doll, sticking him and bending him into positions no man was designed to assume. Give Brett credit for courage and pain tolerance, but the repeated hits may have led him to force a pass he wishes he could have back – the one intercepted with 15 seconds to go in regulation. Sure, it would have been a 55-yd field goal attempt, but indoors. Whatever your thoughts on that, it’s likely to be the last throw of a Hall of Fame career. Given a healthy offense and a little protection, Favre would be facing Manning in the Super Bowl; instead, he’s facing one more offseason of decision.

- Did you know the 2010 PGA season had started? Probably not, and I’m not surprised. Welcome to the Tigerless-PGA – and it’s not pretty. This is the downside of the legend – much as he was responsible for the addition of new events and inflation of prize checks and audiences, his dramatic fall from grace has left the tour in the hands of a bunch of young, flavorless touring pros. Sure, they have talent, but no one knows who they are – and unless the PGA can figure out how to market them, they’re in trouble. Meanwhile, Eldrick is cooling his … heels … in a Mississippi clinic, purportedly to recover from sex addiction. As I recall, that was the same dodge that Lindsay Lohan pulled, so excuse me if I’m less than sold. One things for sure, though – the tour will be without Woods longer than it thinks. There’s a great article by Jason Sobel on ESPN.com that outlines his belief that Woods simply lost his love for the game long ago, making it all the harder to come back now. I think he’s right, but we’ll see …

-  Maybe it’s just me, but there’s something fundamentally unnerving about seeing Khloe Kardashian at the White House shaking the President’s hand.  And yet, that was just part of the … um, excitement … as the Lakers made their appearance with President Obama for the traditional White House greeting.  Khloe, for those whose tastes don’t take them to places like TMZ.com, is the new wife of forward Lamar Odom.  Dude – next time, just buy a dog and a Bentley … it’s a much better investment, and likely to last a whole lot longer.

Well, give USC’s embattled athletic director Mike Garrett credit for one thing – he’s not afraid to go bold. Less than 24 hours after Pete Carroll was introduced as the new head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, there was Garrett, introducing the Trojans’ new field boss – Tennessee head coach (and former SC assistant) Lane Kiffin.

To say that this is a controversial hiring is the height of understatement. Kiffin was with the Volunteers barely a year after a very acrimonious firing by the Oakland Raiders (remember Al Davis leaving his coffin long enough to read Kiffin’s termination letter to the press?), and caused enough controversy during his tenure in the SEC to last most coaches a decade. Now he’s bailing on that program to come “home” – and his departure from Knoxville is as controversial as his arrival. Students were so irritated that they nearly rioted back in Tennessee, and everyone from the press to the AD blasted his lack of professionalism.

None of this seems to bother Kiffin – or Garrett. With Carroll leaving town, the precious momentum his time in LA created was at risk, and it would take a bold move to keep it going. This is just that move. Kiffin brings with him both former SC recruiter deluxe Ed Orgeron and own father Monte Kiffin – who was the man who mentored Carroll on how to be a defensive coach. Pretty good pickups, and if they’re successful at stealing Norm Chow from UCLA (a longshot at best, worth the shot), it’ll feel like Carroll never left. That could be a blessing or a curse, of course, since you want your coach to stand on his two feet and not hide behind the shadow of his precedessor (ask Bill Callahan how that went with the Raiders). But for all the drama, you have to respect the decision.

Now they just need to make it all work …

Look – you knew this day was going to come. Pete Carroll sitting behind an SC microphone in Heritage Hall – but bereft of a single item of cardinal and gold in his wardrobe – explaining why he was leaving for the NFL. Don’t pretend you’re shocked or anything more than surprised by the timing. It was as inevitable as the sunset.

For all his success as the head football coach as USC – and you could easily make the argument for USC being the premier college football program of the last decade – Carroll was first and foremost an NFL guy. Remember, he came to the Trojans fresh off his firing as the head coach of the Patriots (where he was replaced by some guy named Belichick). He has two stints as a head coach totalling 4 years and a lot more experience as a defensive coordinator – and an itch to show he wasn’t a failure at the highest level. He never said he had no interest in returning to the NFL, just that the right opportunity hadn’t come along. Now it has.

There are those who will argue the timing of Carroll’s departure is questionable, and while he tried mightily to deflect those ideas in his news conference today they clearly remain. The Trojans are coming off their worst season since his first with them, and are looking at a significant rebuilding effort. They lost two key offensive weapons with the departure of juniors Joe McKnight and Damian Williams to the pros, and the NCAA will soon wrap up its investigations into issues regarding McKnight and former Trojan Reggie Bush and hand down some kind of punishment. Not the kind of situation you’d expect a fighter to shy away from, but it is what it is.

The big question now for USC is who’s next. Mike Garrett, the school’s athetic director, doesn’t exactly have a sterling track record when it comes to football hires – remember, Carroll was his fourth pick, and his only other coaching selections were Paul Hackett and a burned-out John Robinson. With rules compliance issues issues swirling around both the football and basketball programs, you can bet his choice will be heavily scrutinized.

There are a lot of names being kicked about as Carroll’s replacement, but two jump out in my mind. Jack Del Rio has head coaching experience (he’s currently the embattled coach of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars) and is a former Trojan. He also brings the same competitive fire the program knew with Carroll. The other potential candidate is Butch Davis, who is currently with North Carolina. He’s one of the long list of successful coaches who tried unsuccessfully to jump to the pros (Dallas) only to be beaten back down and forced to lick their wounds at a lesser school. But he was successful at pulling Miami’s fat out of the NCAA fire and might be just what the Trojans need right now.

Sometime tomorrow, the ex-Trojan coach will sit behind another microphone in another hall – this one in Renton, WA – outfitted in the green and blue of his new team, the Seattle Seahawks. He’ll say the same basic things and talk about how hard the decision was and how excited he is at the challenge. And if you’re a true Trojan fan, you’ll tip your hat to the man and cheer for his ‘Hawks.

Ever since Don Henley sang about the bubbleheaded bleach-blonde at 5, the stereotypical portrayal of local newscasters has been of talking heads hired more for looks than brains. I’ve had the chance to get to know several of our local anchors through Facebook, and I can tell you that it couldn’t be more true for them, yet the visual remains. Here in SoCal, where the loca; stations go on “StormWatch” at the first cloud, or break into programming for yet another car chase, they’re ripe targets for parody.

I was forwarded this video from a couple different sources, and it’s a classic. We’ve all seen the competing local stations trying their hardest to squeeze in as much in as little time as possible – this may be where the concept jumped the shark …

Let me be clear – I’m a baseball fan, which is why I’m not an Angels fan. To me, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim represent pretty much everything that’s wrong with America’s pastime all wrapped up in one pathetic package. An out of town owner trying (in this case, successfully) a championship, a complete lack of respect for the home town (Anaheim should have evicted the bastards for the whole “LA of A” thing … ), a long string of ugly uniforms and, of course, the designated hitter. All in all, not much to recommend them.

If there’s been one saving grace over the years, it’s been their announcers. Homers, to be sure, but at least entertaining – none so much as Rory Markas. Yeah, he coined the schmaltzy “just another halo victory” line, but you could hear in his voice that there was a genuine passion and a childlike love of the game, and that made it all worthwhile.

Shocking, Rory Markas has died of a heart attack at the frighteningly young age of 53. Everyone is doing their own tributes, but none have been as touching and obvously heartfelt as the one by former colleague Keith Olbermann on his “Countdown” show:

Ironically, the Angels had recently announced a cutback in their on-air staff, with Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler leaving the staff. Rory was scheduled to handle the play-by-play duties on radio, but now will regrettably require a replacement.

I could probably go on for at least a week talking about nothing more than the silly sports antics from the last few weeks (hello, Gilbert Arenas …), but I think I’ll stick to a few key points …

- There’s no shortage of people who hate the current format of the Bowl Championship Series, the oft-adjusted and still-dysfunctional method used to determine a national college football champion. I’ll leave it to others to bitch about how it isn’t any better at picking a winner than the previous poll-based system. Rather, I’d like to point out the damage it’s done to some fundamental holiday traditions. Back in the day (ie – pre-BCS), the dozen or so bowl games started around Christmas and culiminated with a gridiron orgasm on New Year’s Day – Cotton Bowl in the morning, Rose and Sugar Bowls unfortunately competing in the afternoon, and the Orange Bowl and it’s amazing electric halftime show in the evening. The Fiesta Bowl? Not even a wet dream in some bowl organizers eye. Today, with the sponsors and networks calling the shots, the BCS bowls are dragged out for a full week, with the last one not playing until January 7th! Naturally, other stadiums and sponsors smell blood in the water, and all jump in with their own version of a bowl game, resulting in a glut of 34 mostly meaningless games that started back in mid-December. I’ve got news for you, folks – there aren’t 68 bowl-worthy Division 1 football teams out there, and some of the stinkers we’ve seen in the last week just proves it. But when money and ego calls the shots, you can bet it’ll only get worse.

- The USC Mens basketball team made news over the weekend, but not the kind they wanted. Delivering a pre-emptive strike in advance of the NCAA, the school decided to impose significant sanctions on the program in the wake of the O J Mayo scandal. Mayo, a one-and-done freshman who played for the Trojans in 2007 before moving on to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, was determined to have been effectively paid to select SC, and received significant perks not available to your average student-athlete (I’m thinking the flat screen in the dorm room should have been a red flag …). The Trojans vacated all wins from Mayo’s one season, which ended in an early-round loss in the NCAA tourney, will give up a number of scholorship and recruiting days, and will not take part in the playoffs this season. That last part is a particularly tough blow to the program, which has performed amazingly well under new coach Kevin O’Neill, who had to pick up the pieces after punk-ass Tim Floyd quit rather than face the consequences of his actions. The SC BBall program operates in the shadow of Pete Carroll’s football machine, as well as crosstown rival UCLA and their storied history, and it led to desperate and ill-advised decisions – one that are being paid for only now. There’s a similar situation in Westwood with their football program as it struggles to create it’s own identity. There’s a lot of parallels between the history of Floyd and Bruin coach Rick Neuheisel, so the folks over there would be well-advised to tred lightly.

- I don’t know if it’s karma,or the current efforts to create parity in the NFL, or just the cosmos giving sports fans the finger, but three of the four first-round playoff games next weekend are rematches of games that happened this weekend – what are the odds? Philly, who got smoked 24-0 by the suddenly-meaningful Cowboys, will be back in Big D Saturday night, while the Packers can hang out in Phoenix and bask in their victory over the Cards while waiting to play them again Sunday afternoon. The Jets blanked the Bengals at home, but will have to travel to Cinncinnatti to see if they can repeat the perfomance. Then there’s the one unique matchup, the just-snuck-in Ravens at the suddenly-staggering Patriots. Personally, I don’t see any of these teams reaching the Super Bowl, although both Dallas and Green Bay are surging and there’s nothing as dangerous as a team on a roll. Personally, I still like the Colts and the Vikings in the big game.

Took a break from blogging to deal with a medical scare that, gratefully, was nothing more than that – a scare. As you might imagine, I’ve got a lot of rant to vent …

- With the exception of the Army-Navy game next weekend, the college football regular season has come to an end, and the bowl matchups have been announced. For the first time in as long as I can recall, five Division I teams ended their seasons with undefeated records – Alabama, Texas, Cinncinnatti, TCU and Boise State – and all five are being rewarded with spots in the coveted Bowl Championship Series games. Alabama horsewhipped previously undefeated Florida to earn a spot in the National Championship Game against Texas, which needed a reversed call to get past Nebraska. The most interesting matchup will be Boise St and TCU – a battle of undefeateds in the Fiesta Bowl. It’s a shame that they don’t get the chance to matchup against traditional powers and show what they have, the way Boise did with Oklahoma a couple of years ago, but at least they both got seats at the BCS table.

- File this under “how the mighty have fallen.” USC ended their forgettable season with a 17-14 loss to Arizona, leaving them at an anemic 8-4 (5-4 in the Pac-10 conference they dominated for a decade) and headed for the … Emerald Bowl. Notre Dame fared even worse, stumbling to 6-6 and will have a new coach and QB for next year. They at least had the good sense to turn down any bowl invited – more than could be said for Florida State, which will mark the ugly end of the Bobby Bowden era with a Gator Bowl beating by West Virginia. I appreciate the sentiment of Gator Bowl committee members wanting to give Bowden a chance to reclaim past glory, and I hope it works out, but I’m sceptical at best. I’ll say this, though – FlaSt should be the only 6-6 team even considering accepting a bowl bid (Are you listening, UCLA?).

- Speaking of undefeated, anyone notice that not one but two NFL teams are undefeated at the 3/4 pole of the season? Before the Pats ran the table a couple of seasons ago, perfect seasons were a pretty big thing, but we’ve become so blase’ in the have/have not world of the NFL that teams reaching 13 or 14 wins just aren’t that big of a deal. To be honest, it’s realistic that both New Orleans and Indy could end the regular season perfect; the Saints have the Cowboys at home and the Colts have to go into Jacksonville, but that’s really the only challenges they face. Of course, it’s conceiveable that both teams could reach the Super Bowl undefeated. Talk about a game for the ages, with the winner joining the 1972 Dolphins as the only team to finish a perfect season. Oh, and where’s the Super Bowl this year? Yup – Miami …

- I’m going to resist the temptation to pile on Tiger Woods; we already have TMZ and RadarOnline to handle that for us. I guess it’s really just one more example of power and money allowing someone to believe that somehow they are “above” the norms of acceptable behavior. It’s gonna cost him dearly in all forms of capital – prestige, respect, money – and I don’t think we’ve heard the last of it by far. Gotta think that Earl would kick his ass if he were still alive …

- It’s been a couple of weeks since the end of the NASCAR season, but I want to say a few words about now-four-consecutive-time champion Jimmie Johnson. I don’t think the average sports fan – or even race fan – appreciates just how amazing this accomplishment really is. This isn’t F1 where a technological breakthrough can allow a team to dominate for a few seasons – this is NASCAR, where the governing body will blatantly tweak the rules mid-season just to rebalance the field. The steps taken by NASCAR to keep things close and “interesting” for the fans, while deemed appaling by racing purists, make it incredibly hard for a team to dominate for longer than a few races. For one team to year after year perform at such a high level is amazing, and much harder than it was in decades past. Perhaps more amazing than anything else is that in the middle of the streak NASCAR introduced their so-called “Car of Tomorrow” – an entirely new race car with little in common with its predecessor. But that hardly slowed down the 48 team, which after a slow start with the COT found a way to win the championship in spite of it. Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus are going to remain together for a long time, and I see no reason to believe the streak can’t continue next year.

Interesting goings on in the sports world …

- Somewhere, TrojanFan is breathing into a paper bag. For the second time in three weeks, the SC football program was dealt the worst loss in the Pete Carroll era, as Jim Harbaugh and his Stanford Cardinal rolled into the Coliseum and rolled over the Trojans, 55-21. For years, people have criticised Carroll and his team for not rolling big numbers against weak opponents – clearly, not a lesson lost on Harbaugh. SC is now 7-3, with games left against a wheezing UCLA and a decent Arizona. It’s not impossible that they’ll end up 8-4 – good for most programs, but enough to remind Trojan fans of the Paul Hackett era. We’ve said it before, but this was a rebuilding season for the Trojans. The losses shouldn’t really worry true fans who understand, but the performance of Matt Barkley should. After an early season when you understood he was a true freshman learning on the job, he’s starting to look suspiciously like a guy who’s tapped out on the potential. He was bad in the Oregon loss, but was overshadowed by the pathetic defensive effort. Against Stanford, there was nowhere for him to hide, and the Cardinal exploited his every misstep. I don’t know who else will be in spring practice for the Trojans, but I’d look for a QB competition – or another long season.

- For most of this decade, the New England Patriots have been the dominant team in the NFL. The combination of QB Tom Brady and Head Coach Bill Belichick have been so successful that their late-game collapse last night was all the more shocking. Leading 34-27 with two minutes to play, Belichick opted to go for it on 4th-and-2 on their own 29. When Brady’s pass danced off the receiver’s hands, Colts QB Peyton Manning made them pay. His touchdown pass with seconds remaining handed the Pats a 35-34 defeat.

- Congratulations to Florida Marlin left fielder Chris Coghlan for his selection as the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year. An infielder who played a total of 1 game as an outfielder in the minors – without ever getting a fly ball – Coghlan was shifted to left field after his May call-up. His prowess in the field (he only had 5 errors for the season) added to an outstanding turn as the team’s leadoff hitter to net him the award. He’s the third Marlin to win the award in this decade, joining Dontrelle Willis in 2003 and Hanley Ramirez three years ago. Expect to see him in the Marlins’ lineup for quite some time.