The Year in 140 Characters (more or less)

Winners cheat.  Cheaters win.  Until they get caught.

Bounties had a place in the Old West, not in the modern-day NFL.

If you whine long enough about your sports franchise losing money and threaten to take your toys and play elsewhere, panicked government officials will give you a new stadium.

Jack Jablonski, what happened to you on the ice was not your fault.  But how can we miss you if the media won't leave you and your family alone?

NBC, we were not impressed with your London Olympics coverage.  But as long as the money and ratings poured in, you didn't care what we thought, so long as we watched.

We had to look up who won medals at the London Olympics.

Never sign two big-name free agents to your struggling hockey team with decade-long contracts when the NHL threatens to shut down its season due to a labor dispute.

Getting whacked on the head during a game is no longer a badge of honor.  It just makes you dizzy.

Replacement officials are no substitute for regular officials, whose livelihoods depend on making bad calls that can be corrected by instant replay.

The time that it took for Penn State to look the other way when one of its football coaches had his way with young boys, that will make it harder for the school to get their reputation back.

LeBron James took his talents to South Florida, and all that got him was an NBA championship.

In terms of Mannings winning Super Bowls, it is currently Eli 2, Peyton 1.

No one thought, with all their issues, the Minnesota Vikings would be relevant again after last season.  Then they started giving a miraculously-healed Adrian Peterson the ball . . .

Cold shooting at the wrong time during the WNBA finals proved fatal to the Minnesota Lynx' chances of winning a second title.

No one thought the Minnesota Twins would have a worse season than they did in 2011.  Until it happened again in 2012.

Rory McElroy may not be the next Tiger Woods, but he's getting there.  Meanwhile, Tiger himself has yet to restore the roar.

Where would women's tennis be without Venus and Serena Williams?

Will anyone outside Los Angeles still care about the Dodgers when Vin Scully finally hangs it up?

Olympic athlete by day.  High-priced call girl by night.  For Suzy Favor Hamilton, truth is stranger than fiction.

With Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, basketball fans no longer hold their noses when the Minnesota Timberwolves play.

Junior Seau, Alex Karras, Don Carter, Gary Carter, Ben Davidson, Art Modell, Joe Paterno and Steve Sabol all died this year.

John Gagliardi was not like other football coaches.  Until his retirement, his laid-back style won him 489 games and four national championships for St. John's of Minnesota over a 60 year period.  Like we said, he wasn't like any other football coach.

On to 2013.

NHL Lockout: Season On Ice

Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Three months into what was supposed to be the National Hockey League's 2012-13 season, arenas are sitting empty except for the occasional basketball game or concert.  Players are either playing in Europe, the minor leagues, or just hanging out.  Fans are twiddling their thumbs watching old hockey games on You Tube.

That's how long the owners have been locking out the players over the new collective bargaining agreement.  The owners want a 50/50 split of the profits in a 10 year deal.  The players union want a little more than half, and for the agreement to run at least five years.  See the problem?

It's not as if the players and owners haven't been serious about negotiating.  Heck, they've tried everything, including arbitration through a federal mediator and a dramatic face-to-face meeting between players and owners--without their representatives in the room.  But the two sides haven't come close to anything resembling a deal.   Now they're trying the courts, in the hope that a friendly judge will see things their way.

The NHL has now canceled games through mid-January, which is over 50% of the regular season schedule..  That includes the Winter Classic, which was scheduled for the University of Michigan on New Year's Day, and the All-Star Game in Columbus, Ohio.

If the season ever does return, there's talk of a 48-game schedule with a one-time expanded Stanley Cup playoffs with more teams than the current top 16.  But that's not going to bring the fans back for a gimmick like that.  Anything less than a full season is unacceptable.

The NHL and the players union now have only a few weeks to save their season with a new labor agreement.  But the longer this goes, the more this is getting to be a waste of time.  Why doesn't the NHL just stop stringing people along and just cancel the season right now?  We can wait until next October.

Kevin's Not In Love With The Wolves

Wizards v/s Timberwolves 03/05/11 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's not unusual for people to whine and gripe about their jobs, how management treats them, how underpaid they are, etc.  It's usually done over a few beers or cocktails with either your significant other, or your buddies down at the local watering hole.  Those who aren't currently employed would love to have those kinds of problems right now, instead of wondering where their next meal is coming from.

When someone like Kevin Love, who plays professional basketball for a living, wanted to whine and gripe about his job, he chose to do it with a reporter from Yahoo Sports.

In a lengthy interview released this week, Love ripped into Minnesota Timberwolves management for giving him a four-year contract (for which he can opt out of in 2015) instead of the five years he wanted, accusing them of saving it for teammate Ricky Rubio.  Love also wanted to know why the Wolves are dragging their feet when it comes to building a playoff-caliber team around him.

Love's just stating the obvious.  He was embarrassed to be the only member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team who has yet to play in the NBA playoffs.  And the Wolves have been surrounding Love with somebody else's castoffs and European imports, with mixed results.

Love's comments have been rubbing Wolves fans the wrong way, especially when they remember how Sam Cassell, Stephon Marbury and Latrell Sprewell (among others) whined their way out of Minnesota.  And Kevin Garnett didn't exactly leave under the best circumstances, either.  It's also no secret that Love is angling to someday join a certain team in Los Angeles, and it's not the Clippers.

With all that going on, it might surprise you to learn that, in spite of injuries to nearly everyone on the roster including Love and Rubio, the Wolves have a record above .500 in the first few weeks of the 2012-13 NBA season.  Their record as of this post is 10-9 after defeating the Denver Nuggets at Target Center 108-105 on December 12.  Love, it should be noted, scored eight points that night.

Love's ready to make nice after the firestorm his comments created.  He still stands by what he said, but now believes the Wolves really are headed in the right direction.  And he's even talking about how much he likes playing with Rubio.

What must concern Kevin Love is that he has something in common with Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin of the Vikings, and Joe Mauer of the Twins (We'd count the Wild, but they're not playing right now.):  They're the best players whose talents are being wasted on Minnesota pro sports teams that are going nowhere fast.

The 2012 Owljock Bowl Guide

Publicity photo of musician Lawrence Welk. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the third year in a row, we are somewhat pleased to present our list of the 35 college football bowl games scheduled to be played between December 15, 2012 and January 7, 2013.  If the Mayans are wrong about their calendar, we should get through this without too much problem.

What's different about this list is not so much about who's playing in these games, but who's sponsoring them.  How many times have you clicked on ESPN (or some other network) during a bowl game and asked yourself, "Gee, this is a great game between two teams I've never heard of.  But what's a Belk?  Isn't he that guy who used to be on TV Saturday nights when I was a kid, and it was my parents' favorite show, and I hated it?"  Uh, sir, the man's name was Lawrence Welk.  Not Belk. 

So anyway, this is how the bowl guide works:  We list the name of the bowl game, when and where it's played, who's in it, who televises it, and what the title sponsor's business is.  The list comes from ESPN.com.

Gildan New Mexico Bowl:  Nevada vs. Arizona  (Albuquerque, NM  12/15)  ESPN
Clothing supplier.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl:  Toledo vs. Utah State  (Boise, ID  12/15)  ESPN

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl:  Brigham Young vs. San Diego State  (San Diego, CA  12/20)  ESPN

Beef O'Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl:  Central Florida vs. Ball State  (St. Petersburg, FL  12/21)  ESPN  
Restaurant chain.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl:  East Carolina vs. Louisiana-Lafayette  (New Orleans, LA  12/22)  ESPN
Shipping firm.

MAACO Las Vegas Bowl:  Washington vs. Boise State  (Las Vegas, NV  12/22)  ESPN
Auto repair shops.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl:  Fresno State vs. Southern Methodist  (Honolulu, HW  12/24)  ESPN
Hotel chain.

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl:  Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan  (Detroit, MI  12/26)  ESPN
Pizza delivery chain.

Military Bowl Presented By Northrup Grumman:  San Jose State vs. Bowling Green  (Washington, DC  12/27)  ESPN
Defense contractor.

Belk Bowl:  Cincinnati vs. Duke  (Charlotte, NC  12/27)  ESPN
Regional department store chain.

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl:  Baylor vs. UCLA  (San Diego, CA  12/27)  ESPN
Online college.

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl:  Ohio vs. Louisiana-Monroe  (Shreveport, LA  12/28)  ESPN
Nutrition supplements.

Russell Athletic Bowl:  Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech  (Orlando, FL  12/28)  ESPN
Sports apparel.

Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl:  Minnesota vs. Texas Tech  (Houston, TX  12/28)  ESPN
Auto repair shops.

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl:  Rice vs. Air Force  (Fort Worth, TX  12/29)  ESPN
Defense contractor.

New Era Pinstripe Bowl:  West Virginia vs. Syracuse  (New York, NY  12/29)  ESPN
Sports apparel.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl:  Navy vs. Arizona State  (San Francisco, CA  12/29)  ESPN2
Food giant collaborates with anti-hunger organization.

Valero Alamo Bowl:  Texas vs. Oregon State  (San Antonio, TX  12/29)  ESPN
Energy company.

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl:  Texas Christian vs. Michigan State  (Tempe, AZ  12/29)  ESPN
Sports-themed restaurant chain.

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl:  North Carolina State vs. Vanderbilt  (Nashville, TN  12/31)  ESPN
Financial services.

Hyundai Sun Bowl:  Southern California vs. Georgia Tech  (El Paso, TX  12/31)  CBS
Automaker.

AutoZone Liberty Bowl:  Iowa State vs. Tulsa  (Memphis, TN  12/31)  ESPN
Auto parts chain.

Chick-fil-A Bowl:  Louisiana State vs. Clemson  (Atlanta, GA  12/31)  ESPN
Chicken restaurant chain.

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl:  Mississippi State vs. Northwestern  (Jacksonville, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN2
Tax preparation website.

Heart of Dallas Bowl:  Purdue vs. Oklahoma State  (Dallas, TX  1/1/13)  ESPNU
Non-profit for local charities.

Outback Bowl:  South Carolina vs. Michigan  (Tampa, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN
Restaurant chain.

Capital One Bowl:  Georgia vs. Nebraska  (Orlando, FL  1/1/13)  ABC
Financial services.

Rose Bowl Game Presented By Vizio:  Wisconsin vs. Stanford  (Pasadena, CA  1/1/13)  ESPN
Consumer electronics.

Discover Orange Bowl:  Northern Illinois vs. Florida State  (Miami, FL  1/1/13)  ESPN
Credit cards.

Allstate Sugar Bowl:  Louisville vs. Florida  (New Orleans, LA  1/2)  ESPN
Insurance.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl:  Oregon vs. Kansas State  (Glendale, AZ  1/3)  ESPN
Snack food.

AT&T Cotton Bowl:  Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma  (Arlington, TX  1/4)  Fox
Communications giant.

BBVA Compass Bowl:  Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi  (Birmingham, AL  1/5)  ESPN
Financial services.

GoDaddy.com Bowl:  Kent State vs. Arkansas State  (Mobile, AL  1/6)  ESPN
Domain name registration.

Discover BCS National Championship Game:  Notre Dame vs. Alabama  (Miami, FL  1/7)  ESPN
Credit cards.