FIVE MO' THINGS, 1/18/13
1) Sports. Actual games. Stuff happening on fields and courts. After Lance and Oprah, Manti and "Lennay," and whatever the hell John Rocker was talking about this week, I'm ready for a weekend where sports becomes about, you know, sports. We have two intriguing NFL conference championship games, a long slate of promising college basketball tilts, some decent NBA matchups, and I hear that the NHL is starting their season this weekend. Can anyone confirm this?
Anyway, after a few days of all of us playing amateur detective or having to get reacquainted with Lance Armstrong's various legal entanglements, it'll be nice to get reacquainted with the reason most of us like sports in the first place.
2) Cashmere Wright. He might play tomorrow. He might not. He didn't practice yesterday. I know we all want to pretend like Cash's knees aren't less stable than my grandmother's, and I know we want to pretend that we didn't see him writing in pain on Tuesday night, and yes, this injury clearly could have been worse. Hopefully Cash plays, and plays well.
But can we at least explore the possibility that even if he plays tomorrow, and even if he's his normal self, the Bearcats still need to find ways to get by when Cash isn't on the floor. This is a different team when he's not in the game. We saw that, especially late, against DePaul, we saw it to amplified degrees in the New Mexico game, and we've seen it when Mick Cronin has rested Cash on the bench. There's a chance, even if Cash plays, that UC will cut back his minutes. What happens to a team without the firepower to blow teams out when its most important player can't play nearly as much as they need him to? This might not be something they have to deal with tomorrow, but if they do, I wonder whom they can count on to make up for all of the things Cashmere does.
3) Conference title game picks. I'm taking the 49ers, only because I really want a couple of days of "SEE! I TOLD YOU THE BENGALS SHOULD HAVE TAKEN COLIN KAEPERNICK EVEN THOUGH I HAD NO I IDEA WHO COLIN KAEPERNICK WAS" calls next week.
Atlanta isn't slowing him down, they're not consistently defending any read option plays San Fran runs, and I wouldn't trust Mike Smith to walk across the street without somehow screwing up.
And I'm counting on a key Atlanta turnover.
I'm really excited about two weeks of "The Niners are officially back" storylines filled with flashbacks to Super Bowls 16 and 23 (no Roman numerals on this blog, bub), so I'd prefer the Falcons win. We don't always get what we want. San Francisco 31 Atlanta 21
(Obligatory 49ers cheerleader pick to interrupt the drivel)
And I'm taking the Ravens, for completely unscientific reasons. The aura of Brady/Belichick at home in the postseason has been stripped away. They were lucky to win last year's AFC Championship Game. They were beaten by the Jets the year before and by the Ravens the year before that. They dicked around in the '07 title game. They've got a history of statement wins like the one we saw against the Texans last week being offset by total turds the following week. And given their success against them this season, plus how well they played in last year's championship game, no team will be less intimidated by playing in Foxboro.
Joe Flacco is not Tom Brady, but I like Flacco's playmakers more. And I like Baltimore's running game more. I think we get a classic on Sunday night, and I think we get the second of two road teams advancing to New Orleans. Baltimore 27 New England 24.
(Obligatory Ravens cheerleader pick to make this blog somewhat more appealing)
4) Lance Armstrong. I watched NBA hoops while Lance was 'fessing up to Oprah, meaning I've just watched the interview. With it fresh in my mind, I'm pretty unmoved by what I saw. He comes across as a guy less interested in helping revive and clean up a sport, less contrite, and more like a guy who's simply been caught with little resort, and in need of cash.
I wasn't, and I'm still not, interested in the mechanics of him cheating. I'm more interested in how he makes whole the reputations and livelihoods of the people he bullied and stepped on while denying his doping. I didn't hear much of that in part one of the interview, and I'm doubting I'll hear much of it in part two.
5) Manti Te'o, the media, and the future of sports reporting. If there's any real meaningful fallout from the Manti Te'o/fake girlfriend story, it's that media outlets will get back into the business of reporting instead of storytelling, and when they do tell stories, there's a sufficient amount of fact-checking.
But fans need to comply.
Let's pretend Todd Frazier has an amazing statistical season, with a batting average hovering around .400 heading into the All-Star break, and about 25 homers. Extreme numbers, no? And let's say that while we're celebrating both his amazing individual accomplishments and its impact on the Reds' success, some enterprising reported digs deeper and discovers that Todd is cheating, maybe corking his bat, or (gasp!) doing PEDs. And let's say this reporter runs with the story. What do you think the initial reaction will be from certain corners of the public?
Correct. He'll get hammered by them.
(Relax, Todd Frazier Fan. I was using him as a hypothetical example.)
No reporter should ever not do their job because they fear negative reaction from the audience. I was told when I got into this business (which is not, by the way, reporting) years ago that I was in the wrong field if I cared much about making people mad or people disagreeing with me. Same for more traditional journalists. But we can yell out of one corner of our mouths that the media needs to dig deeper, ask more questions, and be a little more cynical (which they should), then go nuts on them when they do.
When someone takes a legit, cynical look into your favorite team's recruiting, don't send them death threats. When a columnist wonders if your favorite team's coach might take a job elsewhere, don't flood their inbox with hate mail. When someone takes a closer look at your hero and wonders if they are indeed what they're being made out to be, don't go on a crusade against them.
If you want the media to ask more questions, be prepared and willing to hear them.
But Wait There's More....
-The Florence Freedom are having Manti Te'o Girlfriend Bobblehead Day. In May. Months after everyone has forgotten about Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend.
-The Kris Kross reunion concert. I'm oddly intrigued by this. They have to wear their clothes backward, right? 
VIEW PHOTOS >> Kris Kross Then and Now
-The World Baseball Classic. Here's a rundown now that rosters are set. I want to get into the World Baseball Classic because the games are pretty compelling, but the event just coincides too much with what March is really all about. Quick, who won the last World Baseball Classic?
-Mike Zimmer. Mike wants to be a head coach. The NFL has no openings, and those recently filled never looked like they were realistic possibilities. Teams are thinking outside the box more than ever, so if Mike wants to be a head coach, why shouldn't he consider thinking outside the box and becoming a head coach....in Canada?
The Montreal Alouettes have an opening. Why not apply for it?
Mike can't do much more as an NFL defensive coordinator, and what he's done apparently hasn't convinced NFL execs that he's head coaching material. Know what might? Proving that he's head coaching material.
Is the CFL a step down? Duh. But sometimes in life you have to take a step down to take two steps up. I think Mike should take a step down by moving north, if he really wants to be a head man in the NFL.
-Plenty more this afternoon on ESPN1530. We start at 3:04 today. Plus, I've got SportsCenter Sunday on ESPNRadio this Sunday from 6:00p - 10:00. Hear it here, or join in progress on ESPN1530 after the AFC Championship Game. Here's some otters playing football. Otters playing football, you say? Yes, otters playing football.
