The Most Boring Week of Them All

Welcome to the most boring sports week of them all.

No football for Sunday, unless you count the Pro Bowl (I’m not), and baseball confined to those last few weeks of wringing hands in anxiety and pocketbooks in desperation as agents haggle with GM’s to find that elusive hostess with the mostest, so to speak.

I’ve been making a whole-hearted attempt to boycott pro and college basketball this winter. It’s so incredibly boring. Maybe it’s just the Nets but I don’t think so. It’s the whole star system which will only be exacerbated by the 2010 free agency chase of skatey-eight teams for the same ten or so players, which makes an almost obscene sense in the NBA, as they get no fouls called on them while at the same time capturing all the ink.

That situation combined with the home team bias makes pro basketball totally unwatchable.

I’m boycotting college ball too, as it is just the fodder for the pros. Do any of those guys study? Do any of them belong in college? But, geez, what would happen to the tattoo and gun industries if it weren’t for organized basketball?

I’m actually beginning to think my boycott will be easily do-able. The Super Bowl and the attendant brouhaha should take me into the middle of February, at least, and then MLB spring training starts the first week in March.

I’ll be spending a week in Port Lucie and Jupiter watching the Mets, Marlins and Cards, which, for me, will really kick off the baseball season. There’s nothing quite like spring training…baseball at its finest…where you can watch the best players in the world just play the game in a relaxed atmosphere…no pressure to win and not even that much pressure to even play well.

So, anyway, I’ll just have to get through the last half of February. And that I can do by just taking a couple of day trips to the Poconos or upstate New York for some Alpine fun. And, yes, there will be all that prelude to March Madness and that ridiculously large 65 team NCAA tourney, in which no more than 50 have even a prayer of winning….and all in the name of killing the NIT.

Enough negativity for you? (I’ve got plenty).

Okay, there’s tennis and hockey and ice-skating with big TV contracts, which puts them ahead of, for example, soccer and even more obscure American sports such as weightlifting, for example. But I think I’ll pass on paying attention. While I do enjoy tennis, I don’t really see myself getting inspired, y’know?

So, for now, it’s New Orleans and Indianapolis, unless you’re into who’s hiring what coaches around the NFL, or who’s having what surgery. Worthy of mention, I suppose, is Sanchez’s recommended knee procedures and the Giants hiring of the old Buffalo coach as their defensive coordinator. But there’s really not that much to say.

It’s a guessing game as to whether the Colts Dwight Freeney is really hurt, an injury that would surely affect the outcome of the game. Shockey’s still hurt too, but it looks as if he’ll be even healthier for the Colts than he was for the Vikings game.

The Saints have come out saying they’re going to be going after Peyton Manning, much as they sent Favre to the sidelines gimping a few times. Now, while that’s not really news, going into Super Bowl week, it’ll be a huge deal. The Colts can use it as motivation, much as they allegedly felt insulted by the Jets thinking they could win.

I for one would love seeing Manning on his back a few times. More than that, though, I’d like to see some receivers knocked off their routes, thereby messing up the timing that’s so important to Manning and all his receivers. If the Saints can do those two things and nothing else, it’ll be quite a game.

I’ll be looking at the point-spread next week, but whatever it winds up being, it’ll be difficult to forecast. The Colts are the better team overall. They have a better offense and defense. They arguably could have gone unbeaten this season.

But, while you may think it’ll an aberration for the Saints to get a few more turnovers than the Colts, it really won’t be. If a team does the same thing over and over all year long, it really can’t be considered an aberration. As all it takes is one more turnover to win the game, you have to take the Saints chances very seriously.

And, if Freeney’s really hurt, that’ll be another justifiable bump to the spread. As big as Manning is to the offense, I’d say Freeney’s worth about half as much, which is saying more than you might think. With Manning, the Colts are 4 ½ point favorites. Without him they’d be dogs by at least twice as much. That would be a swing of about 13 or 14. So I’m saying that Freeney’s absence would be about a touchdown difference in the Saints favor. More on that next week.

I suppose the biggest hot-stove personality right now is Johnny Damon. He won’t be back with the Yanks, which is a real shame for Yankees fans. But what’s about 15 million dollars between friends? I think the Yanks blew the negotiation. If they think Randy Winn and Nick Johnson make up the difference, they’re sadly mistaken.

My Mets really haven’t done much lately, unless you count their losing out on available players. But, I have to say, the later they wait, the better deal they’ll get. And I can’t be too terribly upset they didn’t get Molina or some of those available pitchers for that kind of money.

I could actually live with the starting rotation as it looks right now. I really feel Ollie Perez will be better. I think John Maine and Pelfrey will only improve too. Johan Santana is looking good after his minor surgery as well.

But stay tuned, Mets fans.