When you spend an afternoon watching football on television — oh, my gawd, I’ve just spent a month of them — you think about crazy stuff.
Like did CTV finally put the Olympic rings on its logo bug in the corner of the screen? Did it finally occur to them that this is and Olympic year? Or, how in hell can a referee come to the conclusion that Ahmad Bradshaw didn’t fumble with 2:21 to play on his own 20 yard line? I guess, a referee that blew his whistle w-a-a-a-a-y too soon.
Those are the things you think about when a game takes almost 4 1/2 hours to play.
In fact, I wrote down 10 of the things I was thinking about…
1. How can Steven Tyler be a judge on American Idol when he can’t sing a lick? I guess the same way Mike Milbury can pass judgment on the job being done by an actual working NHL general manager after Milbury himself destroyed two franchises — and one, the Islanders, still hasn’t recovered. It has nothing to with his ability to sing. It has everything to do with the fact he passes judgment on other people.
2. Did I miss something? Did Joe Flacco not outplay Tom Brady by about a mile and a half? Damn, Flacco was good yesterday.
3. Was Brady hurt more than anyone would let on and while the Patriots said it was his non-throwing shoulder, when he missed a wide-open Rob Gronkowski by 20 feet, it looked as if he had bigger problems than that.
4. Boy is young Winnipeg Jets star Evander Kane getting beaten up this week. He really must have done something to piss off a city that is so madly in love with its Jets that, when you actually think about it, not one of them could possibly do anything wrong. I’m not sure Kane did anything at all, but suddenly people all over Winnipeg are convinced he did.
5. Just watched the replay of the Bradshaw fumble again. It was a fumble. Sorry. In fact, that call was so bad it looked like the fix was in. I’m sure the officials can find a way to justify it with the old “quick whistle” excuse but I agree with Niners coach Jim Harbaugh: “It looked like a fumble,” Harbaugh told Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. “Every play that happened in the game except that one was played out to the conclusion of the play.” That call was just horrible. Maybe the officials just believed that after they screwed the Giants twice in Green Bay last week, it was time to make it up. There had to be some reason.
6. Guess the Orlando Magic aren’t thinking about trading Dwight Howard anymore. At 11-4, the Magic are the No. 2 team in the East, a half a game ahead of Miami. Meanwhile, Howard is averaging 20.2 points and 16 rebounds a game. I wouldn’t trade him either.
7. The best thing that happened this week to the rest of MLB’s American League? The Texas Rangers paid $52 million to negotiate with Yu Darvish and then $60 million over six years to sign him. Now they say they’ve pulled out of the Prince Fielder Sweepstakes. If I were the Tigers or the Yankees or the Angels, I’d fear Prince Fielder — especially in a lineup that already boasts Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinzler, Adrian Beltre and Michael Young — a lot more than a Japanese pitcher who just might be the next Diasuke Matsuzaka, or maybe even Hideki Irabu.
8. Flipped over to watch the golf tournament from PGA West on Sunday and dozed off. Can’t wait for Tiger to show up at Pebble Beach on Feb. 6. At least there will be something to watch. Man golf is dull without Woods. Of course, we should be OK this week. The Golf Channel should have plenty of coverage from Abu Dhabi where Tiger opens his 2012 season.
9. Even though he said, “You don’t have to worry about me jumping off a ledge,” I still feel sorry for Baltimore Ravens kicker, Billy Cundiff. Missing a 32-yard field goal at the NFL level (whether it’s to send a game to overtime or was just pooched sometime in the first quarter) has to make you sick to your stomach. Not surprisingly, I got three Facebook messages which essentially read: “The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have announced the signing of kicker Billy Cundiff.”
10. Speaking of the Bombers, many Winnipeg football fans are upset that the Bombers haven’t done anything at all to get better this off-season. Why worry? They didn’t do anything at all last winter and they went to the Grey Cup.










