VOTE FOR ANDREW!

UMD senior forward Andrew Carroll is one of ten finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which is in its third year of rewarding the "complete student-athlete".

According to the press release announcing the finalists, CLASS is "an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award encourages student-athletes to use their platform in college athletics to make a positive impact on their circle of influence."

There are nine other finalists, but we can only congratulate them on not being as awesome as Andrew.

Follow this link to vote daily for Andrew Carroll.

TIMBERWOLVES ARE SCREWED

They're only 13-17 since Kevin McHale took over as head coach, but there were some obvious signs of improvement with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Throw it all out the window, and stick the Wolves in the mix for the top pick in this summer's NBA Draft. Center Al Jefferson will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. That should sufficiently blow up any outside chance Minnesota had at a respectable season.

It's unfortunate when any player goes down, but it's especially heartbreaking to see this happen to a guy who's playing the best ball of his career -- he's one of three players in the league averaging at least 20 point and 10 boards a game this year, and he's put up an incredible 26.9 and 11.8 boards in his last 10 games.

It's devastating news for Minnesota fans. Jefferson was really coming into his own, and he was a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

On the bright side, McHale is not running the basketball operations now. He's coaching. And I'll say it: He's doing a pretty good job. Maybe owner Glen Taylor can convince McHale to continue coaching, and the front office can move on without its most incompetent member.

That would be a real sign of hope, in another lost season.

A-FRAUD 'COMES CLEAN' OR WHATEVER

On Saturday, it was reported that Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was on the list of baseball's cheaters.

To the credit of the cheating, adulterous fraud, Rodriguez responded in a hurry, giving an interview to ESPN's Peter Gammons on Monday. In it, he admits to using performance-enhancing drugs.

"When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure, felt all the weight of the world on top of me to perform, and perform at a high level every day," Rodriguez told ESPN's Peter Gammons in an exclusive interview in Miami Beach, Fla. An extended interview will air on SportsCenter at 6 p.m. ET.

"Back then, [baseball] was a different culture," Rodriguez said. "It was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time.

"I did take a banned substance. For that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful."

Check out the video.



I'm not about to "credit" someone for coming clean about cheating. Rodriguez cheated, and Rodriguez deserves to be thrown under the same bus everyone else was. He was already one of the best players in baseball.

He foolishly took $252 million from the Rangers, even though he had to understand it would destroy the team's budget, making it impossible for them to field a competitive pitching staff. Then, all these years after taking that initial contract, he has the audacity to blame it for his decision to take banned substances.

If Rodriguez was some unintelligible dope, I would understand his inability to comprehend reality past dollar signs. Instead, he always has come across as one of the more articulate and well-spoken players in the game. Clearly, he knew what he was doing, and he did it anyway.

Perhaps, at some point in July, it will hit Rodriguez like a ton of bricks. He'll realize that he's spending another summer being the second most-popular player on the left side of the Yankees' infield. At that point, we can only hope he understands the utter stupidity behind what he did in Texas, and how he ruined what was a great opportunity to be part of the rebuilding of baseball's integrity.

Instead of helping rebuild it, he'll forever be looked at as one of the people who tore it down to begin with.

WHY GOVERNMENT IS USELESS, NO MATTER WHO IS PRESIDENT

WARNING - Non-sports post ahead

Sorry. This one is the fault of our current President. I voted for him, and I think he'll do an admirable job.

However, this is entirely stupid.

Michael J. Copps, the acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said in a statement that the additional four months of (digital TV) transition time would afford “urgently needed time for a more phased transition.”

Broadcasters were scheduled to end analog broadcasts on Feb. 17.

To me, this is an admission that the government wasted $1 billion on an information blitz for the DTV switch. If one person who uses their television more than once a day is not ready for the changeover now, four months isn't going to help any. Not one bit. Those stupid people will be equally not ready then.

So what's the point?

“Yes, it would be great if everyone had received their coupons, and if everybody understood the transition to digital, but they don’t,” Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, said Wednesday during the House’s debate. She said that some people, senior citizens in particular, were going to be “terribly inconvenienced.”

Some House Republicans had opposed a delay, saying that it would only increase confusion about the impending transition. “No matter what date you establish, there’s always going to be somebody who doesn’t get the message,” Representative Cliff Stearns, a Republican from Florida, said during the House debate.

THANK YOU, MR. STEARNS.

Listen. I've got plenty of respect for the fact that there are a lot of people who don't understand what this is all about. I also understand that I watch enough TV that I've had the message beaten over my head, and I have no choice but to understand it by now.

But with all the annoucements running during all hours of the day, how could someone not understand what's going on? At the very least, how could people not make the call to a toll-free number and get some answers to their questions?

We've had a long time to prepare for this changeover. The Obama administration may think they mean well, but all they are going to do is add confusion ... especially when you look at the fact some stations have already made the change. Others plan to make it as scheduled on February 17/18. Once they get FCC approval, a station can make the change before June 12.

How is that not going to be confusing?

Thanks, government. Way to drop the ball. Again.

LEBRON HAS A GOOD NIGHT

Sometimes, you just post the video and shut up.

This is one of those instances. LeBron James enjoyed himself at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night.

STALOCK DPOW ... AGAIN

WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors to Alex Stalock ... again. It's his fourth time winning the award, and the second week in a row.

(He shares with Minnesota State goaltender Mike Zacharias, who backstopped the Mavericks to a scintillating sweep of Minnesota.)

Stalock shut out Wisconsin with 33 saves and a fortunate gag by Tom Gorowsky in the first period. With the win, UMD pulled into a three-way tie for fourth in the WCHA.

The final four WCHA series will be huge for UMD. The Bulldogs have a better-than-puncher's chance at home ice, but they need to keep playing well. Denver and Alaska-Anchorage visit the DECC, while UMD must travel to Michigan Tech and Minnesota.

Stalock is the league's best player, a shoo-in for All-WCHA first-team honors in goal. He's got a money shot at the achievement Colorado College goalie Richard Bachman - last year's WCHA Player of the Year - pulled off last year.

It would be absolutely fitting for goalies to win that award in back-to-back years, considering how far scoring has dipped over the last five years.

NASCAR STARTS SEASON IN A FOG

A lot has happened since Jimmie Johnson hoisted his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship trophy at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Many have opined that the sport is now at a crossroads. Economic hardship has hit many areas of our nation very hard, and there are a ton of companies who have stopped spending money in racing. Automakers are in trouble, and the funding NASCAR gets from said automakers has taken a hit.

While the Sprint Cup series has the look of being relatively healthy and able to get 43-car fields in all 36 events, questions still surround the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series. In Nationwide, the problem of "start and park" teams reared its ugly head numerous times last season, as the back of their 43-car fields would be taken by teams intent on starting the race, running to the first caution, and parking for the day/night.

Debate the merits of such programs all you want, but it seemed to be the only way NASCAR could field a full 43 cars for Nationwide races.

In the Truck series, there were races that didn't even get a full field of 36 trucks. 11 of the first 21 events on the 25-race schedule fell short. As of this writing, the Jayski.com Truck Series team chart is a disaster. Full-time sponsorships are rare, and there is still a goodly number of drivers looking for rides.

It seems like a remote possibility that we'll have a full field of 43 cars/36 trucks for a high percentage of the races on NASCAR's secondary circuits.

That said, Ed Hinton of ESPN.com posted an article that did make me happy. Hinton is a racing veteran who knows a lot more about this than I do (if you don't follow along much, I'm only in my third full season as a serious follower of NASCAR). What he had to say really caught my eye.

Not enough people have been around long enough to remember this: The tougher times are, the better NASCAR gets.

Stock car racing was born of the Great Depression, and NASCAR was organized amid the economic downturns following World War II.

And always, the more unknowns, the more charged the atmosphere around the garages.

Without offseason testing, the suspense over who'll come out on top, when, for how long -- and who might suddenly fade -- will linger, maybe grow, well after the Daytona 500.

So the plot should thicken as the season progresses.

The test ban "could affect the latter part of the season even more than the early part," (Jeff) Burton says. "Right now you can kind of race on what you did at the end of last year. But if you're still racing in May on what you did the end of last year, you're in big trouble."

Works for me. I'm all for anything that heightens competition.

Because of the nature of NASCAR fans, who travel hundreds or maybe thousands of miles to spend a weekend at their favorite racetrack, the economy is going to continue to have an impact on the sport. Instead of leaving their fans worried about how the economy will affect their real lives, NASCAR would do well to give them as good a show as possible every weekend. After all, six hours without thinking about reality is better than you get most weeks these days.

It all starts again Saturday night at Daytona, with the annual Bud Shootout. Qualifying for the Daytona 500 starts Sunday afternoon, and continues next week with the Gatorade Duel at Daytona. The Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series run there next weekend, too.

SHEETS OR GET OFF THE POT

It's not been a great offseason for the Milwaukee Brewers. Pitching coach Mike Maddux went to Texas, leaving behind a gaggle of rebuilt careers and successful reclamation projects. Utility outfielder/cult hero Gabe Kapler signed in Tampa Bay, and it sounds like rubber-armed left-handed reliever Brian Shouse is headed that way.

Of course, you all know about that big left-hander who decided to move on.

Still in limbo is Milwaukee's other veteran starting pitcher. Ben Sheets missed the end of last season with another injury. As frustrating as his injury issues are, there's no doubt Sheets has plenty of talent. He's not as snakebit as Mark Prior was, and he's a free agent. It's amazing to me that no pitching-starved team has thrown money at Ben yet, but that's the situation we are in.

Sheets is still unsigned.

Part of this is his own doing. He's been looking for too much money. It's pretty obvious that baseball free agency has been impacted quite a bit by the economy. I get Sporting News Today delivered to my email every morning, and it's amazing how many good players are still without jobs. Guys like Joe Crede, Ivan Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu, Adam Dunn, and Manny Ramirez (!) join Sheets on the unemployment line. The World Baseball Classic begins on March 5, and if the next month is as quiet on the "baseball signing" front as the previous one was, there are some guys who may want to play in the WBC to showcase their abilities.

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Brewers grand master Tom Haudricourt is more blunt than I. He says Sheets screwed up by not taking arbitration and at least $12 million from the Brewers.)

Sheets is one of the players who probably doesn't have the WBC as an option. With no team to go to spring training with, there's no guarantee Sheets would be in any kind of game shape, and if he's not in shape, why would you let him pitch exhibition games?

Some players may have options, but Sheets really isn't one of them. He needs to find a team, work out a deal, and show up early to spring training. The longer he sits, the less money he'll find waiting for him when he actually signs somewhere.

As aggravating as his injury history is, I'd much rather see him re-sign in Milwaukee than go anywhere else. Yes, the Brewers have young guns Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra. Yes, they have an apparently emerging Dave Bush and a potentially returning Chris Capuano. But Parra faded down the stretch, Bush has never been consistently effective, and Gallardo was hurt for much of last season.

Even with Sheets, it could be a long year for the Brewers' starting pitching.

FORGING AHEAD

I hope to keep a strong readership on this blog. I don't have a specific goal or anything, but I'm also hoping that I'm not writing into space here.

Moving forward, I'm going to be using this blog to rant about basketball (NBA and college), racing, baseball, and local sports of all varieties.

You can keep up on what I'm doing with FanHouse on the right side of the page, and if you have any other suggestions or requests for the links section, please do drop me a line.

THE FUTURE OF THIS BLOG

Over the past month or so, I've been keeping very busy. You can see on the right side of the page that I've been very active with FanHouse. I'm grateful to them for all the work they've allowed me to do and will be soon allowing me to do. It's been a super experience writing for them, and I'd love to stay there until they kick me out.

(And as we've learned, you do sometimes get kicked out.)

Anyway, I haven't updated this blog in a month. It's probably a record. And it's one that, one way or another, I don't plan on repeating.

I'm a bit conflicted as to where to take this blog. It's pointless to reproduce stuff you can read at FanHouse, and it's practically pointless for me to write about things I'm writing about at FanHouse.

Seems to me that my options are to:

1. Shut down.
2. Find another use for the blog.

What do you think, all 13 readers? Let me know. Trust me. Your opinion counts.