Shooting from the lip

Looking back the weekend of televised sports ...

Biggest conundrum
Watching the Lightning lose again Saturday night, maybe this question popped into your head: What's wrong with the Bolts? The answer: maybe nothing. Since winning the Stanley Cup in 2004, know what the Lightning's record is? 102-84-14. It is 27-11 in overtimes and shootouts. If you counted those games as ties, like in the old days, that pans out to a 75-73-52 record. It is 3-8 in the two one-round-and-out postseasons. A .500 team is about what it is -- for more than two years now.
What's troubling this season is that unless Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, Brad Richards or Vinny Prospal has the puck, you get the feeling the Lightning has absolutely no chance of creating a scoring chance let alone scoring a goal.

Best wishes
Ever have that unsettling feeling that something is missing? You check to make sure you have your keys. You check to make sure you have your wallet. You check to see if you left the oven on. That's how the weekend felt without hearing Dick Vitale, and that's how it’s going to feel until he returns in February after having surgery to treat ulcers on his vocal cords. February can't get here soon enough.

Best exchange
On CBS' NFL Today, Armen Keteyian asked a good question and Patriots coach Bill Belichick gave a better, albeit not very satisfying, answer.
Keteyian: "You have steadfastly refused to deal with what I would call the big three: SpyGate, Perfect Season and your relationship with Eric Mangini. Why is that?''
Belichick: "I think that would be a conversation for another day, Armen. I think right now … the best thing for our team is to focus on the job at hand, what we're doing, and deal with that some other time.''
That answer is why the Patriots are going to go undefeated this season.

Biggest missing player
Know whom the Lightning misses? Cory Stillman. He's a bit of an odd bird, but the guy produces. He's on pace for 84 points this season. And it seems the teams he plays on do well.

Easiest schedule
It should be no surprise that the Florida basketball team was pounded by Ohio State on Saturday because the Gators weren't prepared to play anybody. Why is Billy Donovan scheduling teams such as North Carolina Central, Tennessee Tech, North Florida, Stetson and Vermont? And those aren't the only weaklings Florida has played. Why not toughen up your team by playing a meaty early season schedule, even if you lose a few times? Look at UCLA. The Bruins have already played Maryland, Michigan State and Texas. Pitt has played Duke, Oklahoma State and Washington. Duke has played Marquette, Wisconsin and Pitt. That's how you do it.
By the way, whom does Florida play next? Temple  then High Point. High Point? Is that even a school?

Worst excuse
Well, who's to say it's the "worst excuse,'' because Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt has never really given an excuse for why her powerhouse no longer plays UConn in the regular season. The assumption, as Times staff writer Greg Auman pointed out in Saturday's paper, is that she flat-out hates UConn coach Geno Auriemma. Whatever the reason, Summitt needs to get over it because Tennessee and UConn not playing in the regular season hurts women's basketball. Summitt needs to realize that the game is bigger than she is.

Just wondering
BYU-UCLA? Nevada-New Mexico? Cincinnati-Southern Miss? With all due respect, is anyone getting into these bowl games? These aren't even good games on a regular old Saturday in October. Unless you’re a big fan of one of the schools, the bowl games are a snooze until Jan. 1.

Worst call
Another sign that officials take their jobs way too seriously: Did you see the chintzy technical foul picked up Saturday by Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl? The guy took a couple of steps out of the coaching box — not to yell at an official, but to say something to one of his players. In other words, he was coaching. The ensuing free throw  gave Xavier a four-point lead with 3:47 left. Tennessee came back to win, but officials can't get that nitpicky in a tight game with only a few minutes left.

Worst scheduling
Can someone please explain why the NFL is playing a game on Christmas Eve? Come on, Christmas Eve? There's no reason the NFL needs to have players, coaches, media, team personnel and stadium workers, and all the extra security and police and so forth working instead of being at home with their families on Christmas Eve. Another thing, since we're talking about the NFL schedule. Doesn't it seem unfair to have Thursday night games this late in the season? Teams are battling for playoff spots and the league is making them play on three days' rest? All to make a little more money for a sport that practically prints money?

Second-worst scheduling
The NHL's big outdoor game is coming up. Pittsburgh against Buffalo at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium. Great idea. Awful timing. These knuckleheads at the NHL are playing the game on Jan. 1. Gee, anything else going on that day? Uh, let's see. Yeah — a billion college football games! It's Jan. 1. Watching college football all day on New Year's Day is an American tradition.
This is another example of why the NHL struggles in this country. This is a game that might draw in a few nonhockey fans, so why not play the game on the afternoon of Jan. 5? The NFL playoffs start that day, but the first game isn't until 4 p.m. Maybe the league worried that the Bills would be in the playoffs and needed the stadium that day, but what were the odds of that? Bottom line: Any day would be better than Jan. 1.

Check it out
Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman will narrate a special Monday Night Football season retrospective at the conclusion of the game telecast. Think it's called Driving Mr. Kornheiser?

Best question
Fitness trainer Brian McNamee was the one who pointed a finger at Yankees pitchers Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, accusing both of using performance-enhancing drugs. Pettitte later admitted he did use HGH, but Clemens is adamant he has done nothing wrong. But Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News asked a good question during the Sports Reporters on ESPN: "Why would Brian McNamee, the trainer, be telling the truth about Andy Pettitte and then be lying about Roger Clemens?''

Best insight
ESPN's Chris Mortensen did a nice job breaking down what might happen to NFL coaches on the hot seat. He says the jury is out on Miami’s Cam Cameron and the Giants' Tom Coughlin. Meantime, it appears that St. Louis' Scott Linehan, San Francisco's Mike Nolan, Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis, Carolina's John Fox and Washington's Joe Gibbs are all safe. For now.

Most touching story
There are still good guys in sports. ESPN's Outside the Lines did a piece on Chargers defensive star Shawne Merriman, who, with his new construction company, built a new home for a family that lost everything in the San Diego fires. Merriman didn't just write a check, he poured concrete and swung a hammer on his off days. Why was it such a big deal to Merriman? Incredibly, he lost two homes to fires growing up. When he was 11, an arsonist set fire to his apartment building. When he was 16, his family had no electricity and a candle led to a fire that destroyed his home.
And how’s this? The San Diego family thought all the paperwork with their insurance company and the new construction would leave them without a home for two years. Merriman’s company finished the job in 56 days. Merriman's number is 56.

Comments

[joe hillman]

thank god for the nfl on christmas eve! why is that so bad??? it was on a monday night during the regular season. kudos to the nfl for not being lame and providing millions of football fans across the globe with some pigskin.

there's a helluva lot of people who work on christmas. i dropped off presents for needy kids at all childrends hospital on christmas afternoon (and what did you do for your fellow man on christmas day outside of whine?) and i didn't see any of the workers there complaining.

if there was any scheduling problem, it was the colleges for not having bowl games for two days.

poor players, front office personel media. wah! all of about, what, 40 media members total had to work christmas eve? wah! you think those kids in all childrens would happily trade places? or even a sportswriter stuck working for $22,000 and one week vacation in, say, pine bluff, ark. would trade places?

just when you think you are put upon, look around and see how lucky you are.

next christmas when i drop off more presents at all childrens, i'll be sure to tell the workers there and the sick kids that a handful of people have the awful, demeaning task of working an nfl game on the holidays.

[Darts and Laurels]

Dart: Since when is the sports media immune to working on holidays? I was a journalist (non-sports) and worked many holidays. You sound like a prima dona.

Laurel: Yes, the NHL scheduling is abominable. Until they get an effective Commissioner, these bonehead moves will contrinue.

Dart: Pat Summitt is all class. Geno Auriemma is a known p rick. I don't blame her for not scheduling the jerk off.

Laurel: Shawn Merriman is a great player and deserves some good press. Sure he made some mistakes but who doesn't?

Dart: Biggest missing player Cory Stillman? Are you still confined to a rubber room? How about Nikolai Khabibulin? That's the real missing player.

[DR]

Joe Hillman, thanks for your contributions to society. I participate with the Shriner's Hospital and people don't realize that even the smallest things have such great impact on these kids. Caring is the best support any child can get and just stopping by to visit and smile with the kids works wonders for them.

This must be the first year that a sporting event took place on a holiday or pre holiday. I must have been halucinating every year since I have been born. Tom sounds like a smoker crying about having lung cancer. Like you didn't know what you were getting into, ha? the last people I will ever feel sorry for are millionaires playing a kid's game and the writers who chose to write on it.