IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY?

## I had to live through 8 1/2 hours of Superbowl Pregame shows, but this is ridiculous. A 6 1/2 hour show for National Signing Day?  This is when high school football players (I almost lost my head and said "students") sign letters of intent for the college they want to play football for. Notice, I didn't say attend, because I'll bet most of them never see the inside of a classroom. I'll bet most of them can't even spell classroom.

Who cares? Well, let's see. There's Athletic Directors, coaches, players, some very rich alumnae and agents. Shhhh! The NCAA isn't supposed to know about the agents. They're treating this like the pro football draft. At least with the draft, the money is visible.  They'll be a lot of parties at the SEC schools tonight.

Isn't college and pro basketball enough? It's not like we're going to forget  that Alabama has a football team. Are there so many people working at ESPN that they can't keep them all busy without inventing these events? What's next? A 5 hour show documenting ESPN's search for a new janitor?  I probably shouldn't be giving them ideas.

## The Internet is still talking about the 35 minute blackout at the Super Bowl. Not everybody was upset about the blackout, though. As Charlie Sheen says, "It's a nice break in the day isn't it?"

## Jason Stark has rated the 6 divisions of Major League Baseball. No surprises here. The Al East is the strongest, the Al Central is the weakest. The NL East did have a lot of support from analysts and GMs.

## Two more names have surfaced from the Miami connection. Ryan Braun - where have we heard that name before? - and Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli? If last season was all he could produce while on the deer antler spray, then either the player or the spray is not what it's cracked up to be.
News flash: Jesus Montero has also been named. Boy, this deer antler stuff has got to be the bottom of the PED barrel.

***THEY SAID IT***
"Police were called to a Toronto-area hotel after eight figure skaters from the Canadian championships got into a fight. It was so bad, two combatants were going at it toe-loop-to-toe-loop."  -- RJ Currie
"The Super Bowl added $430 million to the New Orleans economy. Apparently none of which was used to pay the electric bill."  -- Jimmy Fallon
"The New York Mets’ owners want to open a Vegas-style casino next to Citi Field. What? Hoping to see a good game after buying high-priced Mets tickets isn’t enough of a gamble?."  -- Janice Hough
" Three of the nation's most respected prognosticators -- Princess the Popcorn Park (N.J.) Zoo camel, Chaco the Virginia Zoo armadillo, and Eli the Hogle (Utah) Zoo ape -- all say the Ravens will win Super Bowl XLVII. What, you were expecting Terry, Howie and Jimmy?"   -- Dwight Perry
"NFL Commish GODdell wants to reduce injuries by introducing two drastic changes. First, the kickoff play will be abolished. Secondly, all players will be required to strap pillows to their butts."  --  TC Chong
"The U.S. Postal Service announced that, starting in August, there will be no Saturday delivery. It doesn't take effect till August because it has to notify all the post offices by mail."  -- Brad Dickson

CP-