• I don't care what this survey says. There's no way the NHL is more popular than college basketball. Not in this country. Come on.

• Sen. Arlen Specter is on a roll! After meddling in Spygate, Specter is championing another bill that would link church to the Super Bowl. Could someone please vote this guy out of office?

• All of that flirting with the NFL finally caught up to USC's Pete Carroll on signing day.

• Here's the latest story Chris Mortensen is wrong about. Much as I think Chad Johnson is a narcissistic knucklehead, there's no way he made this threat. No way. Mort, please.

• Two years after beating one life-threatening illness, former Bills quarterback Joe Ferguson -- a childhood favorite of mine -- is battling another one.

• The Pistons could have the NBA's next big thing. Problem is, this guy was so skinny it might be two more years before he's ready.

• The new coach of the Baltimore Ravens, a pseudo-Michigan man, did his connections a favor by giving this drunk ex-Michigan coach a bogus job.

• Master P's rapping son, Lil' Romeo, is a Southern California basketball recruit who will miss his senior season of high school with an injury. Tough break. This kid is a soap opera.

• What happens to the Padres now that the owner is getting divorced? And more interestingly, what did the guy do to make his wife of 44 years cite "irreconcilable differences"?

• I love me some updated MMA rankings. B.J. Penn's ridiculous spot at No. 7 makes this entire thing suspect, however.

• You want an NFL player to like? Even a player busted for using steroids? You'll love this guy. Platonically, I mean.

• Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden is on trial for being stupid at an airport, but really, it's a legal battle of cliches. The police say Bodden acted like an arrogant, above-the-law professional athlete. Bodden says the cops profiled him racially as a drug dealer because he's a black man with a nice car. Typical.

• Guarantee-making receiver Plaxico Burress sure did talk a lot of trash for someone who had just hurt himself in the shower.

• The headline calls Pro Bowl-bound Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie "humble." Yet in the story he says his goal for next year is an NFL-record 15 interceptions. That's a pretty cocky humble guy.

• Don Nelson is already scared to bench Chris Webber. Instant chemistry, that Chris Webber.

• Aaron McKie's unexpected windfall is an example of good things happening to good people. Hopefully I'm next.

• With the All-Star break coming, NBA players get distracted by the decision between Vegas and Cancun. NBA players are such idiots.

• Even impartial legal experts are telling Roger Clemens to plead the Fifth rather than deny using steroids.

• Ron Zook says this group of recruits at Illinois are better than any class he recruited at Florida. And his Florida recruits won a national title. Poor Zooker. He has no idea how not to put pressure on himself.

• Nick Saban is a bad guy, and it looks like the NCAA knows it.

• After a handful of weak cards, the UFC is about to get serious.

• Case in point: the untelevised bouts for UFC 82 include studs like Arlovski, Koscheck and Leben. Not to mention my boys from the gym in Ohio, Dustin Hazelett and Jorge Gurgel.

• Sounds to me like the New York Giants hate Jeremy Shockey.

• I've never seen an NFL player under contract lobby as subtly hard as Chad Johnson to get traded. And he wants to go to the Patriots! What a shock.

• James Lofton is the Raiders' new receivers coach, which comes as news to head coach Lane Kiffin.

• Up to 6 million Americans will report late to work, if at all, the Monday after the Super Bowl. Americans rule.

• Imagine the Nuggets adding Ron Artest to Iverson and Carmelo.

• And the Mavericks pairing Jason Kidd with Dirk Nowitzki.

• Mike Piazza and his playmate wife bought a $10 million home in Miami. Because the couple and their one child need eight bedrooms in addition to their other home in Miami. And their apartment in Manhattan. I think I hate Mike Piazza.

• West Virginia is playing hardball with Rich Rodriguez. The school wants its $4 million, and not a penny less. I think I love WVU.

• Check out the puppets the meddling Florida State president is considering as his next athletics director.

• Hulk Hogan supports Barack Obama. Better luck in 2012, Senator.

• UFC fighter Dan Henderson thinks there's a steroid problem in MMA. And he named a (big) name.