Oh no, not again...

Okay, I only want to talk about this once. Then we'll never bring it up again... except as backhanded comments and jokes. I promise.

Brett Favre has played 18 season in the NFL. Some of them have been fantastic. Some of them, less so. He was the face of a franchise (Green Bay), went to a Jets team that mismanaged pretty much everything, and now is at that first franchise's greatest rival (Minnesota).

A few years ago, Favre appeared on national television to announce his retirement. He cried. Green Bay cried. America was sad - it was the end of an era. A man who simply loved to play football, and was able to play it at a very high level had decided to end his career. Just kidding!

And then he did it again. And again. And again. The media doesn't help the situation. Favre gets his own block on the ESPN Bottom Line. He gets his own 5 minute bullet on PTI. He dominates media coverage like Tiger Woods. It is April 30, 2010, the NFL season still about 5 months away, and the first Favre sightings on ESPN.com are beginning to surface.

Dude. Get off my TV. I really don't need Hannah Storm and Ed Werner to debate for 4 minutes the merits of you having an ankle surgery to continue playing football at 41 years of age. You went to the NFC Championship game. You redeemed the miserable end to the Jets season. How many more times are we going to go through this? Are we going to wait until 2 weeks before the season to decide again? There won't be any new information for any of those 5 months, just hours of endless, pointless speculation.

Granted, Favre had a career season statistically: 68.4% completions (1st, career), 4,202 yards (3rd), 33 touchdowns (T-4th), and a 107.2 QB rating (1st by almost 10pts). He only threw 7 interceptions. If I ever need surgery, I want the guy who did Brett's shoulder. The way people feel about this depends on one thing: which Favre will we see (if we see him...)? 2009 Favre or 2008 Favre? Or even worse, 2005 Favre (20 touchdowns, 29 interceptions, 70.9 QB rating)?

The point is this: if you're going to keep playing, get the surgery now, do your rehab, get to training camp, practice, and go play. If you're not going to play, go back to Mississippi and coach your high school team, build them a new stadium, open a restaurant - I don't care. Just get off my TV until the NFL season starts.

A Final Performance?

Near the end of the 3rd quarter of today's NBA Playoff game between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, I saw a Celtics team I haven't seen in far too long. Kevin Garnett was yelling at his troops, the defense was aggressive and persistent, and the offense was clicking on all cylinders and could not be contained. We surmounted an eighteen point deficit to take the lead in the 3rd quarter. Paul Pierce simply wasn't missing shots no matter where they came from. I know, it feels like 2008, right?
Up 3-0 in the series, the Celtics looked they were ready to put the Heat away and give the veterans a break before facing the winner of the Cavaliers/Bulls series. And then I witnessed something I haven't seen in much longer. Dwyane Wade single handedly took over the game - there was not a force on this Earth that could prevent Wade from scoring.

It began with a jumper in traffic that looked harmless and effortless, but there was something about the way ran back down the court after making it. Call it a look, an attitude, a certain "I don't care what it takes, there's no way I'm losing this game" mentality. And he did not disappoint.

Three point shots, drives, screens, cuts - there was nothing that Wade wasn't executing perfectly. Miami out-dueled Boston in a brutal five minute stretch that had Paul Pierce going for shot-for-shot with Dwyane until the older forward couldn't do it anymore. Dwyane was being double and triple teamed, Pierce and the Celtics could not stop anything. Advantage Wade.

The Celtics had given their fans so much hope after winning Games 1 and 2, the second with such conviction and without Garnett in the lineup; we held our breaths at the end of Game 3 as Paul Pierce drained a 22-foot jumper from the right side as time expired, and it felt like 2008 - if only for a moment.

And in Game 4, potentially the last time Dwyane Wade will ever play "at-home" in Miami, the performance was spectacular. He gave every single fan that attended American Airlines Arena what they paid for and more.

So what's going to happen this off season? Is Wade leaving? Is he going to get help? We'll see, but for now, let it suffice that for 48 minutes, Dwyane Wade picked his team up and carried them to victory. I have a friend of mine at work who once said something to the effect of, "Wade is overrated." I submit to you now that there is no such thing.

(4/25 BOS v. MIA: D. Wade: 46 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl - 43 minutes)

NFL, give me my Thursday back.

When I was in college, the NFL draft meant setting up shop with my computer in the living room of our apartment with my laptop out pretending to care while I feverishly plotted the next month of my pre-doomed fantasy baseball campaign. Now, I don't even have the energy to pretend.

Well, let me step back. I usually watch the first round to see where the big names go, and then when it's all over, I'll see how my Bengals (or Bungles, depending on how clinically depressed I feel at any given time about them) have decided to spend our money this year. But does the NFL Draft really matter?

Okay, of course it matters. The draft is how teams begin the campaign for next year, where late-round steals becomes starters and stars, and when Detroit Lions fans start thinking, "This might actually be our year..." until the first game of the season.

My frustration is with Mel Kiper Jr., Todd McShay, John Gruden, and the rest of the goon squad hogging 75% of ESPN time leading up to the draft with an endless repitition of speculation that amounts to a heaping pile of nothing.

And all the while, I'm trying to find the replay of Tuuka Rask and Ryan Miller showing the rest of the NHL what playoff goaltending is all about. I'm trying to watch a recap of how the Boston Celtics made Quentin Richardson and the Miami Heat look like a high school summer rec-league team. I want to see triple overtime hockey games and buzzer beaters, not Roger Goodell reading glorified index cards.

This year, the draft is dominating Thursday and Friday nights for only three rounds of the draft?! There are championships on the line in the NHL and the NBA and we care about a group of 96 people that essentially have a 50% chance of succeeding in the NFL. The history of the draft shows that the only thing we know for sure about Sam Bradford is he could be anywhere between Peyton Manning and Tim Couch.

2010: Sports Fan's Dream Come True

It all began with a thrilling NFL playoffs which gave us an overtime thriller between the Packers and the Cardinals, a nail-biter between the NY Jets and the SD Chargers, and of course one of the more memorable Super Bowls of our time, with the Saints winning the Vince Lombardi trophy in front of the largest American television audience of all time.

The end of the NFL season, while always bittersweet, was quickly followed by the Winter Olympics in Canada. The winter games are always exciting (who can forget the epic curling matchups or the climactic ice dancing championships?), but this years Olympics were highlighted by two breath-taking hockey games between the United States and Canada. If Canada didn't win the gold, the Olympics would have been a failure in their eyes. We put up a fight, but in the end Sidney Crosby put it past Ryan Miller for the win.

March Madness is a cultural movement in offices, high schools, college dorms, dominating conversation for a few weeks and destroying productivity for one fateful Thursday through Sunday. This year's tournament featured a deluge of upsets (come on, Georgetown!), Cinderella stories (I don't know a single person from Butler, but I was their biggest fan for one night), and some truly remarkable games (Kansas St./Xavier, Maryland/Michigan St., etc.). And even though Duke won (ugh), it was still a great tournament to watch.

Baseball Opening Day had it's own countdown at my apartment, in my work notebook, on my cubicle wall, on my computer, etc. Every season brings new hope, new prospects, walk-off home runs, web gems, Cy Youngs, Golden Gloves, no-hitters - you get the point. Baseball is awesome.

And while the MLB season is just getting underway, the NBA and the NHL have begun their playoffs. I would like the American Medical Association to do some research on the health risks of watching playoff hockey. The stress/tension/roller coaster of emotion cannot be good for you. In the words of those weird Dr. Pepper commercials, "I'm lookin' at you, scientists." The NBA playoffs are shaping up to produce some thrilling matchups. LeBron James is on a mission to secure a legacy; the Lakers want a repeat, the Magic want another shot at a title; the Suns don't think they can lose... the list goes on and on.

And when all of this wraps up, my most anticipated sports moment of 2010 will begin: the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. So far, this year has been great for sports fans, and I look forward to sharing my continuing thoughts as the year goes on. Follow me on Twitter, comment on the posts, email me - as many of my coworkers and friends know too well, I have a lot to say.

Thanks for reading,
Anand

PS - I can't stand Ben Roethlisberger, the St. Louis Cardinals, Sasha Vujicic, the French national soccer team, Rasheed Wallace, the Flo girl from the Progressive commercials, the Pittsburgh Steelers, J.J Redick, the Los Angeles Lakers, the NFL draft, and the jean-skirt and Ugg boots combination. Please, just stop.

PPS - I wholeheartedly support Chad Ochocino, the Cincinnati Reds, Ray Allen, the Cincinnati Bengals, Pete Rose (yeah, I said it), the Boston Celtics, Ryan Miller, Boston College everything, cutting Rasheed Wallace, the Brazilian national soccer team, the Buffalo Sabres, and Barack Obama, among other things.