Friday Random Thoughts

1. Sasha, I apologize. I shouldn't have let you know that I thought you were sexy prior to your final skate. It's irresponsible of me to think that any woman can go about her normal routine, knowing that I find them attractive. I'm sure that Sasha was thinking about me and getting her hands on all my Barstool riches when she botched a couple of jumps during her long performance. Silver may be good enough for her, but it doesn't meet my high standards. For me, it's gold or nothing. Sorry, Sasha, looks like you have to wait until Vancouver to truly win my heart.
2. In a surprise move, the Patriots did not use the franchise player tag on Adam Vinatieri. The Pats now have until March 3rd to sign Vinatieri or else he becomes an unrestricted free agent. This is a terrifying situation. I firmly believe that other than Tom Brady, Vinatieri is the only indispensable Patriots' player. My reasoning is simple- the gap between Vinatieri and the NFL's other kickers is very, very wide. There are other solid, reliable kickers, guys like David Akers or Neil Rackers, but Vinatieri's ability to kick in bad weather and the most clutch of clutch situations makes him irreplaceable. Of the top 10 kicks in NFL history, Vinatieri probably has three of the top five and a claim could be made that he deserves half the spots on the list.  I'm hoping that the Pats' decision not to franchise him is based on the fact that a deal is imminent. If Vinatieri hits the open market, he will become the highest paid kicker in NFL history and the Pats won't be able to stay in the bidding. It's a nightmare scenario for a player personnel department that does a great job making sure that the team holds onto its key players.
3. Jamal Lewis, who recently led the NFL in both rushing and time spent in prison, identified the Pats as one of the four teams he would go to now that the Ravens have decided against franchising him. The other teams in contention for Lewis' services are the Cardinals, Packers and Steelers. Character issues aside, Lewis is an intriguing player. He had a miserable 2005 but prior to that he was an All-Pro, a big back with breakaway speed. A lot of people thought that he never recovered from the few months he spent behind bars and his 2005 season was like quicksand- the harder he tried to get going, the deeper he sunk. I don't know if the Pats can afford him but if he's cheap and Bill and Scott are convinced that he won't be turning Foxboro into Bogotá North than why not give him a shot?
4. Mike Modano must have seen that my list of douchebags had already been published because he let loose a tirade after the US loss to Finland that would have definitely earned him inclusion into my Top 20.

"You'd think USA Hockey would be a well-oiled machine, but it's not," he said. "Basically we were on our own for hotels, tickets, flights, stuff like that.

"Normally we wouldn't have to worry about stuff like that."

      I manage to book my own flights all the time and I don't make millions of dollars like Modano. How hard is it to call United and say that you need a bunch of first class tickets to Italy? Is that really all that taxing? I just don't get it. Apparently, Modano was so tired after booking a hotel that he was unable to do one noteworthy thing in the entire Olympics. Coach Peter Laviolette essentially benched Modano during the entire 3rd period of the Finland game and wasn't afraid to call him out after Modano ripped the coach's tactics. But I'm sure Modano was great in the locker-room. Douchebag.

5. Holy shit. If you ever regretted not taking up some fringe sport like snowboarding, prepare to slap yourself silly. American gold medalist Shaun White, he of the world's worst nickname, is apparently banging Lindsey Lohan. The two were seen canoodling at New York club, Bungalow 8, which is Barstool's NYC clubhouse. One of my favorite websites, www.idontlikeyouinthatway.com, gave the best ever description of White: "he looks like the little sister of the red-headed kid from Harry Potter with an acne problem." But I guess that's what happens when you win the gold. Can't fault the kid. He was on the top step on the podium and now he's joined the long list of subpar looking guys who've nailed Lohan.

6. I loved Tiger Woods' attitude yesterday at the Accenture World Match Play Championship. Some golfing nobody talked just the littlest bit of trash about Tiger before their match, basically saying that he would have a chance if Tiger's accuracy was off as it had been recently. Tiger found out and essentially castrated Stephen Ames, 9 & 8. When asked if he had any response to Ames' comments, Tiger's answer was short and sweet: "9 and 8." Too bad some Europeans won't say the same thing about Tiger during the Ryder Cup.

7.  Anyone catch the story on that autistic kid from Rochester on SportsCenter? This autistic high school kid, Jason McElwain, had been the manager of the hoops' team and in the team's final game the coach decided to get him into the game- the kid had been suiting up but had never played. So the team gets a lead, only about 5 minutes left, so the coach puts McElwain in. What does the kid do? Only scores 20-points, including 6 three-pointers. I freakin' love stories like this. I love seeing athletes taking kids like Jason under their wing and treating them with respect. I loved seeing the bench going absolutely bananas every time this kid hit a shot and I loved seeing him get carried off the court. It's guaranteed goosebumps. Autistic Larry Bird.

Reader Email

Have you noticed how hot the USA's Johnson sisters are?  This is the best thing I have watched in the olympics.  The sports is even somewhat entertaining.  It's definitinely worthy of some random thoughts discussion.

-dizzle

I have definitely noticed the Johnson sisters mostly because I'm a curling maniac. There were actually a couple of cute curling chicks from some other countries too. Curling is an up-and-coming sport. So many of the Winter Olympics' sports are so foreign to American audiences that a sport like curling has a great chance to get bigger. Every American male who watches curling is convinced that with a few months of instruction they will be carrying the American flag in the opening ceremonies in Vancouver. And I think that's great. That's why the classic American sports are so popular- every guy is convinced that if they were pulled out of the stands at Fenway that they could play a few innings at 2nd and hold down the fort. If you're interested in curling, the Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland is holding an open house this Saturday from noon to 5. And here is a blurry picture of the Johnsons.

  I'm not sure if this is a random thought or possibly an article, but the
other day I was talking to my buddy about the athletes we hate the most. So
the idea is a top 5 or top 10 list of the most unlikeable athletes and why.
Off the top of our heads this is who we came up with...

gay-rod
peyton manning
TO
barry bonds
kobe bryant
roger clemens

tp

I think you're off to a great start. The only problem is that your top 6 are all no-brainers. It's harder to come up with another four to fill out the roster. Let's see, unlikable, how about Mike Modano, J.J. Redick, most of the Bruins and Mark Blount?

On the heels of yet another roundly critized trade, I was wondering was Bill
Simmons the first to call out Isiah Thomas as being a terrible GM or did
someone beat him to the punch? If he was the first, how high would you rank
that on the Good Call Scale, considering Thomas has never even came close to
making a good decision in his life (See: sexually harrassing co-workers
instead of NBA groupies.)

Also, please tell the Prez to do a better job with the models. Normally the
guy has good taste, but I'm guessing this issue's cover either came in at a
discount or was a friend's girlfriend. And, one last thing, what happened to
Stool Samples? It was pretty good.

That's all I got.

Charles from SC

Let's start from the bottom and work our way up. I don't think that there is anything fishy going on with Stool Samples. You have to remember that we don't have anyone under contract so this may have just been an off week for the Stool Samples guys. They're probably overloaded from all the crappy reporting at the Olympics.

In terms of Bryonny the newest cover model, in general, I've heard very positive things. Obviously, each girl has her fans and detractors and I think I know which camp you're in this week. I can only tell that I've seen some previews of some of the upcoming models and they are smoking hot. Sick, sick bodies.

I'm not sure if Simmons was the first person to call out Isiah but he has definitely been the most vocal. And he's also been 100% correct. Isiah sucks and unless the Knicks can actually land Kevin Garnett over the summer with all their mismatched pieces- as reported on ESPN.com- Isiah can't last another season. Larry Brown must be ready to kill himself. Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis in the same backcourt? Even Spike Lee thinks Isiah sucks.