1) Has boxing become utterly irrelevant?  Boxers used to be cultural icons and household names, like Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.  Now the world's old great champions are respectively reduced to Parkinson's Disease and the selling of mufflers and grills.  I'm not sure which is worse.  Perhaps boxing's last gasp as being truly part of our culture died with Evander Holyfield's right ear, bitten off my crazy ex-champ Mike Tyson, who thankfully has finally retired.  Who is the heavyweight champion of the world now?  Can you name him?  Nicolay Valuev, who recently won the WBA title, is a 7 foot tall Russian.  Wait, is this the plot of Rocky 6? Will Rocky Balboa show up to tame the Beast from the East once more?  Speaking of Rocky 6...am I the only that thinks this has gone on for far too long?  Of course not, I don't even need to ask that question.  Everyone knew it had gone on far too long by Rocky 5, if not sooner.   Sylvester Stallone is going to be 60 years old by the time the film is released.  60!  Who is he going to fight, his grandkids? Is he going have a mouthpiece or dentures? I'm sorry, but watching this film is of no interest to me.  I would rather have seen a fight between the late Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, finally settling once and for all who is the best blind black musician.

2) The new rules in hockey have made the game much more bearable to watch, but I am coming out against them.   Mainly because they have ruined my New Jersey Devil's ability to play their famous defense, the trap.  Sure people criticized the trap for being boring, but it brought home championships, so I was okay with that.  Now I'm wondering when are the Devils going to sell their souls to themselves to get a good hockey team.

3) Reaction to the Four Point Line concept for basketball was sufficient that I've decided to rip myself off and transplant it to another sport: football.  My thought is about the two point conversion.  What if you could elect to have the ball moved back, to say the 10 yard line, and go for 3?  Or perhaps chuck a hail mary from the 40 yard line and go for 5?  Obviously you'd never choose to do that unless you needed to tie the game, but just having the option might make comebacks more exciting.  All too often in the fourth quarter the game is all but over once it becomes the dreaded two possession lead, with futile onside kicks being the only way to come back.  Just a thought.

4) I honestly thought I was hallucinating the first time I saw Nike's new "The LeBrons" ad campaign.  No joke.

5) I have to give props to Wikipedia.  The other day I found myself suddenly and inexplicably wondering about Kordell Stewart.  I thought back to The Catch back in 1994, when Stewart's 64 yard Hail Mary landed in the arms of Michael Westbrook to give Colorado a dramatic 27-26 victory over Michigan.  I thought back to his memorable days as Slash, when he played running back, receiver and quarterback in his open years in the NFL.  I thought of his struggles upon becoming a full time quarterback.  I even remembered him leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers for one ill fated season as starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears.  But after that...nothing.  I didn't remember what happened to him, if he retired, if he was in the CFl or if he was benchwarming somewhere in the NFL - and I needed to know.  Thank you Wikipedia, which let me know he's currently the 1000th string QB for the Baltimore Ravens, where he has yet to throw a pass this season.

(photo courtesy of the film 'Rocky', the first and only good one)