Offbeat Stuff
Posted January 29, 2006, 11:09 AM ET

Was it me, or did the weekend seem to last forever without a football game to watch?

To get your football fix, there was the Senior Bowl, and congrats should go out to Clemson's Charlie Whitehurst. He was named the offensive MVP of the North team. I think Whitehurst can be a steal in the NFL Draft. I like his size (6'5") and he is a classic drop-back passer that can really throw the football. But here's my question...how does a QB from Clemson play for the North? Legendary Clemson coach Frank Howard just rolled over in his grave.

The Charlotte Bobcats continue to lose. They lost their franchise-record 11th straight game on Saturday night. Everybody likes to talk about how the UNC basketball program lost their top 7 players from a year ago....well, the Bobcats have lost 73% of their scoring punch due to injuries, and right now they are providing an NBDL product on the floor.

I have to think that Presbyterian Hospital's support of Bobcats basketball has been well received. The hospital is an offical sponsor of the team, and it seems that every game a player is headed for treatment. If they don't renew their sponsorship for 2006-07, they're fools.

Speaking of sponsorships, I wonder if the shoe company that supports Virgina Tech sports is happy with all the publicity that they've received in the past month or so? First it was Marcus Vick stomping an opponent at the Gator Bowl and now the Hokie basketeball team has Deron Washington sticking his hightops in the face of Duke's Lee Melchionni. It has not been the best of times in the PR Department for Hokie Nation.

On the opposite side of spectrum, the Carolina Hurricanes are winning. They won their ninth straight home game on Saturday and have the best record in the NHL. I asked a question on my radio show this past week: What will be the larger number: Bobcat wins or Hurricanes losses? As of this blog, they are both stuck at 11.

College basketball is having a strange year. Even though UConn and Duke are ranked #1 and #2 in the polls, it is a bizarre year for the roundball bluebloods. I can't remember a year in recent memory when so many big-time programs are struggling. Think about it...Kentucky, UCLA, UNC, Kansas, Arizona and Louisville are fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives.

Coach K had a weak impersonation of his mentor Bobby Knight on Saturday. Krzyzewski had a temper tantrum with a chair during some sloppy Blue Devil play in the first half. He didn't heave it onto the floor a la Knight, but it was a funny episode.

Most Duke-haters can't stand Coach K; some think he's the "devil". Ironically, Duke's win against Virginia this past weekend was Krzyzewski's 666th win.

ACC basketball is really down...not only were the Duke and NC State losses to G'town and Seton Hall embarrassing, another ACC upper-echelon team, Maryland, lost to Temple. The Owls are a middle-of-the-road Atlantic 10 team. I bet Gary Williams is a dream to hang out with this week in practice.

Speaking of the ACC, the 2006 football schedules were released, and I was shocked at how weak the non-conference matchups are for the league. It is apparent that everybody loaded up on cupcakes to pad their win total before jumping into conference play. The addition of the "12th-game" was another way for schools to play another home game against the "Sisters of the Poor". Remember all you have to do is win 6-games to make it to a meaningless bowl game. Most teams have three or four guaranteed wins before they ever start the season...and that's not even counting the Duke game.

Tiger Woods bought a piece of property for $38 million bucks in Florida and then went back to work on the PGA Tour. I saw that Phil Mickelson was playing, too. Many people have wondered what "Lefty" has been up to during the off-season?....by the looks of things it included "eating whole".

Oprah is still bitching. Somebody hand her a case of Little Debbie Cakes.

Skip Prosser is still losing. Somebody better remind him that if he really wants to leave the Deacs and go to Cincinnati, he needs to win some more games this year in Winston-Salem.

You gotta take one...the total amount of points scored in Super Bowl XL, or the total number of points scored by Kobe Bryant against the Bobcats on Friday night?

When doing some homework about our Super Bowl host city, Detroit, I came across an interesting fact...the Motor City is actually located north of Canada. I guess I'll leave the swimtrunks and suntan lotion at home. By the looks of my body, I should do that even if the game is played in Miami.

I also read a column this weekend that described Detroit as "America's own Baghdad". That's cold.

Happy Groundhog Day.