All around North America this week, there was big news in sports.  From Olympic hockey up north, to pro hoops in the southeast, to college hoops in the northeast and out west, to the NFL across the continent, there were stories coming to a climax, including a national healthcare system that dodged a major disaster. 

1. Sidney Crosby saves Canada’s psyche.  Sometimes, the effect of sports on society is overblown.  But if Canada had lost the gold medal hockey game after being within 25 seconds of winning it, the entire nation might have plunged into a deep depression.  I’m not joking.
2. Perhaps politicians should concentrate on politics.  It’s one thing for political leaders to make friendly bets on their country to be victorious in sporting events.  It’s quite another to bet AGAINST your own team.  Yet that’s exactly what Russian Presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko did, wagering a bottle of cognac against Russia in its semifinal game against Canada.  I’m guessing if this was the old Soviet Union, he wouldn’t be alive to confirm the story!  
3. Now he really gets to make the rules.  Pending league approval, Michael Jordan will become the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.   He ran the Chicago Bulls while still in uniform and that led to six titles.  He ran the Washington Wizards in and out of uniform and that led to disaster.  It will be interesting to see if he’s figured out how to make it work when he’s not on the floor.
4. This orange crop is fantastic.  Syracuse moved to the top of the AP poll for the first time in 20 years.  The Orangemen are also ranked #1 in the Coach’s poll for the second time ever.  The first time was at the end of the 2003 season after they had won the NCAA Tournament.  Which they will do again this year.  Unless they get stopped by the Jake’s Jinx!
5. One isn’t a good number out west.  Cal will finish first in the Pac-10 regular season.  If they win the Pac-10 tournament, the Bears will be the loneliest number as the only team in the conference advancing to the Big Dance.  That’s never happened since the tourney expanded in 1985.  There’s good, there’s bad, there’s ugly, and then there’s Pac-10 basketball.
6. The NFL is reading this blog.  On January 26 in this very space, I wrote how the NFL could tweak overtime to satisfy those concerned about both teams getting a chance on offense.  Over the weekend, an NFL spokesman said the league might change its rules for the playoffs to a system that is exactly what I laid out.  Kudos to the National Football League for reading my post and realizing how brilliant it was!

THERE IT IS!

-Jake Stevens

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