Surprisingly, a quick glance around the sports world this week shows that almost everything is as it should be. The Rams are destroying would-be contenders because they are the most dominant team in the league. Tony Dungy has a head-coaching job again because he is one of the smartest coaches in football. The Twins are assured of playing next year because Kirby Puckett is the de facto governor of Minnesota. Mike Tyson is doing more damage in interviews than in the ring because he hasn’t been a good boxer since some guy named Buster knocked him around. And, the Knicks are playing bad because, well, they just suck.
Similarly, our Georgetown Hoyas basketball team is playing as it has all season?inconsistently. Lose to an average Pittsburgh team because of a terrible 10 minutes in the second half and then beat a talented Notre Dame team on the road in a game that was much more lopsided than the score indicated. Still, as uncomfortable as it seems, the Hoyas probably need to win out next week, a rematch against Pittsburgh and then a showdown against hated Syracuse, to maintain credible tournament hopes. The Big East will not get more than five teams in the dance, and the Hoyas have to jump a lot of teams to be in that group, beating two of them wouldn’t hurt.
However, not everything is right in sportsland as the greatest and the worst announcing duo of my lifetime, John Madden and Pat Summerall are parting ways. Gone are the times watching the NFL and saying to yourself, “What did this idiot Madden just say and why is Summerall agreeing with him?” Or, “Why is a seemingly-normal person like Summerall hanging around a guy who drives all over the country in a painted bus with nine-legged turkeys?” Still, their chemistry was impossible to deny and appreciate; nowhere else could anyone get as interesting, informative and hilarious sports commentary on a regular basis. For that, their partnership will be missed.
We’ve had enough with the sappy stuff, so we’ll end this week with some predictions. The Steelers beat the Patriots in the AFC title game because Steelers’ linebacker Jason Gildon and his defensive buddies will make Pats’ QB Tom Brady fumble unequivocally many times on Sunday. The Hoyas will beat the Orangemen on Kevin Braswell’s three-point hits from behind the arc and because three skinny guys named Shumpert, Duany and Williams, can’t handle one behemoth named Sweetney inside. Finally, the Knicks will continue their losing streak because, well, they just suck.
