Turns out I didn’t need to wait for the BCS Title Game to be played, I could’ve just congratulated Alabama for thrashing Notre Dame and been done with it Monday.  The only bad part of the Fighting Irish being exposed as the luckiest team to ever go undefeated in a regular season was it resulted in a fourth national title for Nick Satan (on my phone, Saban auto-corrects to Satan so I decided to just make the correction here myself).  In a perfect world, both teams would’ve lost, but I’ll settle for all the Notre Dame fans having to shut up about being back among the nation’s elite.

CHEERS for Alabama’s offensive line, including LT Cyrus Kouandijo, LG Chance Warmack, C Barrett Jones, RG Anthony Steen and RT D.J. Fluker.  They were the reason QB AJ McCarron was able to complete 20 of 28 passes for 264 yards and 4 touchdowns and RB Eddie Lacy ran for 140 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns in the 42-14 rout.  Media members love to talk about how great the QB and RB are, but none of them can do it without the offensive line.
BOOS to announcers Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit for embarrassing themselves with comments about McCarron’s girlfriend, Katherine Webb.  Yes, she’s Miss Alabama, but that’s no reason to act like a couple of horny high school boys when she’s shown on TV.  Interestingly, Webb went to Auburn University, hated rival of Alabama, but there’s no truth to the rumor she has a poster of Cam Newton on her bedroom wall.
BOOS to the bowl system.  Now that the season is over, it’s time to take a closer look at the broken system and, gasp, possibly even act to fix it.  Last month, USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer brought to light just how ridiculous the salaries are for bowl directors.  This week, ESPN’s Shaun Assael points out how athletic directors and school presidents are complicit in the corruption.
CHEERS (I think) for Houston Texans RB Arian Foster, using whatever motivation he can to fire himself and his team up for this weekend’s game against the New England Patriots.  Bothered by statements written by the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy, Foster made his profile picture on twitter a screen shot of the critical comments.  If his team gets crushed by the Patriots again, like the 42-14 beatdown on Monday Night Football in Week 14, I wonder if Foster will change his profile picture to “Shaughnessy Was Right!”
DEAFENING BOOS to Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan for risking the career of QB Robert Griffin III.  Shanahan left RGIII in the game Sunday when he was clearly hobbled and in danger of being injured further, not to mention completely ineffective.  Sure enough, RGIII’s right knee gave out after a low snap went awry and apparently tore ligaments.  Even sicker, it turns out Redskins team physician Dr. James Andrews said Shanahan lied about getting his approval before sending RGIII back into the game after the original injury against the Baltimore Ravens on December 9.  In fact, Dr. Andrews said he didn’t even get to examine RGIII before he went back out on the field.  Hey NFL Players Association, where’s all the outrage about player safety in this case?  Yeah, I thought so!
BOOS to the NY Jets for addressing their quarterback problem by getting rid of everybody except the actual problem, namely Mark Sanchez.  The GM Mike Tannenbaum and QB coach Matt Cavanaugh are both gone.  The OC Tony Sparano is expected to be shown the door.  Yet somehow, Sanchez remains on the roster.  My best guess is owner Woody Johnson has the same tattoo of Sanchez as head coach Rex Ryan and doesn’t want to get it removed.
CHEERS for Boston Celtics F Jared Sullinger’s hilarious comments following some on-court skirmishes between the Celtics and the NY Knicks Monday night.  Told the actions by his teammate C Kevin Garnett and Knicks F Carmelo Anthony were testy, Sullinger was amused.  “That’s testy? That’s testy?” he asked. “I’ve seen way worse stuff in the 80s and I wasn’t even born in the 80s. So, if that’s testy, I didn’t see it.”
CHEERS for the LA Lakers having fun with reports of their dissension in the midst of a disastrous season.  After the NY Daily News reported G Kobe Bryant and C Dwight Howard had a heated exchange in the locker room, Kobe tweeted out a photo of them fake fighting.  Sadly, the posed picture was the best the two have played together all season.
CHEERS for the end of the NHL lockout.  Of course, it could’ve and should’ve happened a long time ago, but then we wouldn’t have read great articles about what reporters were dealing with like this one.  But it’s over and time to move on and see the Los Angeles Kings raise a Stanley Cup banner at Staples Center!

THERE IT IS!

-Jake Stevens

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