If you read my blog you know I have taken it upon myself to provide a glimpse into the painful world which is my career. This should have been a big week. Performance evaluations and office Christmas party. So we had the Christmas party last night . . . let me tell you, my friends, the blog Gods are angry. I don’t know what I have done to offend. Every year there is enough fodder to fill days worth of screen space. This year? Nothing. I was going to make up something but I didn’t have the heart. Other than one of the Linewomen’s sweater briefly catching on fire, it was uneventful. (It was “The Fridge,” for those of you who read my post “ARod, TO, and The Linewomen,” and she came out of the conflagration unscathed. I tell you, I haven’t seen quicker feet since Jerry Rice was in his prime. It was a sight to behold.)

My performance evaluations were even more predictable. Not much performance to evaluate. I finished ahead of some, behind most. Which means if I were a major league pitcher I would get 4 years and $56 Million.

On to some sports ramblings . . .

According to the LA Times, an annulment was granted in court on Thursday, meaning that in the eyes of the law, Renee Zellweger's marriage to Kenny Chesney never existed. No truth to the rumor that several Jets fans unsuccessfully tried to have this season annulled.

Continuing with the theme of terrible teams, an AP story reports that the State of Louisiana has formally requested that the New Orleans Saints return home . . . everyone except Aaron Brooks.

More awful football. The Arizona Cardinals have played their final game in Sun Devil Stadium, the home field of Arizona State University. Average attendance over the 2003-2004 seasons was about 36,000. Let’s put it into perspective: The average league attendance for 2004 was 67,000. Even more humiliating is the fact that Arizona State averaged 62,641 during the same time period. How pissed off do you think taxpayers are going to be watching Cade McNown and Kurt Warner gimp to perpetual four win seasons in an empty stadium built on tax payers dollars? What a terrible organization.

I’m a sucker for entertainment news. So, did you hear about the controversy on Chris Rock’s TV show? During the most recent episode of UPN’s “Everybody Hates Chris," the character of Rock's brother suddenly told his younger sister that Santa doesn't exist. WHAT??? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING!!!!! SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT CHRIS ROCK HAS A TV SHOW ON UPN????? YOU’RE OUT OF YOUR MIND!

No matter how many times I remind myself it’s a business, no matter that I know he hasn’t always been a Red Sock, Damon’s departure rips my guts out. (“Johnny, you had me at the grandslam in game 7 of the ’04 ADLS . . . you had me at the grandslam . . .”) I am going to try and write a blog about this, but it is proving too difficult to write a column that doesn’t have all the attributes of the Kubler-Ross grief cycle, and doesn’t end with me crying into my key-board. “WWJDD?” Sell his soul to the Devil, apparently . . .

Finally, Dan Wetzel of Yahoo.com makes the point today that I have been yammering about for the last year. First. Let me say that I hate the BCS. College Football needs a playoff. But if USC wins this year, they will not be 3-peating. They will have won their second BSC National Championship in a row. USC was as much of a BCS champion in ’03 as Auburn was in ’04. Why don’t people remember this? Because Wetzel says it better than I can, I’ll close with his words:

“Yes, the Trojans wound up being crowned champs by the Associated Press pollsters [in '03], which is fine and dandy, but that has no official bearing on anything. Before the 1997 creation of the BCS, the AP was about all anyone had, so it is understandable why teams cited its results. But post-'97 it is meaningless.
The agreed upon system was and is the BCS, not the BCS or a popularity contest if it turns out a certain team doesn't like the BCS. You can't rewrite the rules after the fact just because it benefits you.
Now, we understand why the Trojans would lay claim to the 2003 title. The BCS is so pathetic, untrustworthy and impossibly bad, it is human nature to just selectively ignore it. But intellectually it doesn't work that way. The official 2003 champion was LSU.”

More later . . .