The NFL commissioner received 8 more video tapes from Patriot’s former employee, Mat Walsh. These tapes (allegedly) show that the Pats were taping signals from other teams. So? What good are they?

At games, and pre-game practices, there are signals being flashed all over the place. As you look across the field at the opposing team giving signals to their team on the field, how do you know who is flashing the fake signals and who’s sending the signals that are real. Most importantly, even if you know which signal is real, how fast can you signal your own team that same signal? No way there is enough time to figure out the signal being sent, then get that info to your own team, then have them ruin the opposing team’s play or defense. Are you kidding?

Teams have been doing this for years and years. No big deal. Usually they spied to see if the team you were playing showed any new offensive formations - something you hadn’t seen before - so you could prepare your defense for them.

Now, about this jerk Matt Walsh, what the heck was his motivation to spill the beans in the first place. And, once the commissioner fined the Patriot’s, why couldn’t this bozo just let it alone? This is all a big to-do about nothing.

I remember when I was playing, we used to be given information on opposing teams, then we’d practice their new defensive formations, right down to some of our players wearing the opposing players jersey numbers, especially the numbers of the running backs or receivers. We never asked how they got the information, we just used it. We’ve been there, done that. We weren’t the first - and the Patriots won’t be the last. So forget it!

I watched what was supposed to be “the big fight of the year”. Didn’t happen. Instead, Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe gave us a slow dance of hugging and holding.

Hopkins showed good defensive skills, but no offense. Calzaghe won with aggressiveness, certainly not with hard punches. Calzaghe threw twice as many punches as Hopkins - and according to CompuBox, he scored more punches than anyone ever has against Hopkins.

Still, the “fight that wasn’t” was a bore. Can’t believe that Judge Adelaide Byrd actually had Hopkins ahead on her card. What was she watching? Not only that, during his post-fight interview with Max Kellerman, Hopkins made it clear he thought he had won the fight.

See ya later, Bernard. You had a good run.

Especially if you are talking bad about LeBron James when you are playing against him. He might hear you. Washington’s DeShawn Stevenson said that LeBron was just an “overrated” average player. What? No, he didn’t!

We are in the first week of NBA Playoffs, the best of seven. This is the third season that the Cavs and the Wizards have met in the post-season. This is Act III, and game one is now history with LeBron doing his thing. And the Washington players are telling DeShawn to shut up.

During game one, LeBron made the play of the week with a high flying dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. Stevenson may have been trying to motivate himself or his teammates, but he also motivated LeBron.

My advice, DeShawn… keep your mouth shut, or speak very quietly. LeBron may hear you.

The Cavs in seven.

(Last minute check by Wardrobe Department (Nancy Robinson)

Okay, in case you have forgotten, I’m still a movie star! Presently I’m working on a film shooting in Kansas City, my ol’ stomping grounds with the Chiefs.

The movie is entitled “Last Ounce of Courage”. This film is different than the many movies I’ve made because this time I get to use my acting chops and don’t have a chance to kick any butt. It’s a little slow for me but I welcome the chance to show my other wares.

The film is basically about the separation of church and state, which is sometimes a tough political problem. In this case, the mayor of a small town decides to hang Christmas decorations on the front of City Hall, a violation of the constitution. You can’t promote your own religion on government property without putting all faiths on display. I play the ACLU lawyer that rides into town to inform the mayor he’s in violation, and it all goes to court. We have a political courtroom battle. This time my fight is only verbal, but per my contract as always, I win the fight and the mayor is obligated to remove the Christmas decor. Unfortunately, he’s hell bent to leave them up, causing the people in the city to take sides leading to an even larger problem. Okay, that’s enough free information - I’ll let you know when it’s finished.

The film is directed by Darrell Campbell and produced by Steve Marks.

Okay, I like basketball as much as the next guy, but enough already.   They played 100 games to get down to the last four teams.   True, some major stars have come from this competition - Michael Jordan, Dean Smith, wilt Chamberlain, James Worthy, Roy Williams and Larry Brown to mention a few.   Still, March Madness now goes on past March and it can make you “mad” (as in crazy).

An aside about Coach Roy Williams, can you believe the KU fans have turned against him?   He left five years ago and the KU fans are still on his back, they call him a traitor. There were some comments that he had to lose to KU for the fans to forgive him. That’s harsh.All the press was about North Carolina and Kansas, but there were two other teams that showed up, UCLA and Memphis.  

Okay, here is an idiot college move.   KU lost a guard because he was a dumb kid trying to show off. Rodrick Stewart fractured his knee cap trying to make a showcase slam dunk while at practice Friday.  This is after the coach had already told the players he didn’t want any seniors trying to dunk during practice. Freshman, okay, but no seniors.   His career may be over before it ever got started.   It’s a wait and see proposition.

It’s like I said earlier, the high profile teams (i.e. NC and UCLA) never show up to the big dance.   For some reason they just can’t close the deal.   UCLA had all the fancy dribblers, but no scorers.   Their rebounding was horrible, didn’t exist on the offensive side.   They never had a second shot at the basket.   Memphis had the rebounds and was pressing down the floor.   Memphis controlled the boards on both sides.   UCLA was out-gunned, out-manned, out-classed and out-coached.  

Also, as I said, the Jay Hawks are going all the way.   They looked really strong in the first half, but got sloppy in the second.   Instead of continuing to push the ball down the floor, they decided to be fancy and try miracle passes, and take fancy shots.   It almost cost them, but the coach pulled them aside, did his “Knute Rockne” thing, and they shaped up.   By the way, I saw the T-shirts after the game - the big sellers said “Ruck Roy”.   Wonder why.

Finally, the “final four” was down to two and we had Memphis and Kansas to finish it off.   I said it would be Kansas - so I’m a sports guru, what did you expect?   Memphis looked good in the first quarter, then it was the Jay Hawks all the way.   Still, they kept it close and any championship game that goes into OT is exciting.   The Jay Hawks pulled it off - not totally as I expected, but a win is a win.   Memphis could have pulled off the upset, but when their last free throws missed their mark it cost them the game.  

This sports season we have seen two game-winning “Hail Mary’s”.   The first in the Super Bowl when Manning thru that long pass to the receiver who caught it on his helmet and literally changed the course of the entire game, and last night when the Jay Hawks threw up a successful 3-point Hail Mary with two seconds left.   Now, what’s next?   Oh yeah, the pros!

Okay, the NFL just finished one of their big meetings. Yup, the year is moving fast and they’re already talking football. That’s just fine with me. There were some interesting proposals, here are a few.

The team that wins the coin toss can defer their decision until the second half. This means if you are losing at the half you could choose to have the ball and with it a chance to score. You could literally catch up and win the game all because of the opening coin toss. Okay, that’s kool - I can live with that.

The 5-yard face mask rule is out. No penalty. But the 15 yard penalty is still in place for grabbing, twisting or pulling the face mask. I’m good with this. Did you pull the mask a little or a lot? Rather than trying to decipher the difference they are saying, “you touch the mask, it’s 15 yards”. I’ll buy that!

The force-out rule is eliminated and this can be controversial. If the receiver jumps up to catch the ball close to the side line, would he have come down in bounds if he hadn’t been pushed while in the air? Instant playback will get worked overtime for this ruling. The receiver must get both feet down in bounds, no matter what - push or no push.

Did you know that a field goal could not be reviewed by instant replay? Well, now it can. It will be interesting to see how many times this new rule is put into play.

Now, here comes the big one… Hair, to be or not to be? Still deep into heavy talks is the issue of long hair. The powers-that-be wanted the hair to be tucked under the player’s helmet. Can you picture some of the players trying to stick all that long hair under a helmet? Not happening. And, this turned out to be the most difficult situation to solve. The vote was postponed for later consideration giving the NFL reps time to discuss the matter with the Players Association.

And, that would be the long and the short of it!

Baseball:    San Francisco just built a huge memorabilia facility which is great for players and fans alike.   What makes it so interesting is that there is no sign that Barry Bonds ever played baseball for the Giants.    With all the memorabilia on display, there are no Bonds jerseys, shoes, hats, bats…nothing.   Up till now the question was whether or not to have an asterisk after Bonds’ name - it appears that San Francisco’s answer is to just delete his name.   What’s up with that?

 Basketball:The Phoenix Suns are on a roll, but my Shack has disappeared.   He seems to have run out of steam, but I hope he’ll be getting fired up again soon because the Suns will surely need him if they have any hope of holding off the Lakers for the western championship.  

Now we’re down to the Final Four - this is real college basketball.   My take, the Jay Hawks.   The high profile teams in most sports don’t usually show up for the big game (i.e. New York, Chicago, L.A.).   New York just broke the jinx in football, but that’s the exception not the rule.   I figure Villa will fold and Kansas will win it all.

Okay, so what’s the big deal? Tiger came in 5th place in a tournament. I’m sure the sports writers and the public are more concerned about it than Tiger. If I remember correctly, Tiger was on a jet going to the next tournament after Doral.

My take? The starting and stopping due to the rain was Tiger’s biggest opponent. He has intense concentration when he plays and I’m sure it would be very difficult to turn that on, off, then back on again in order to sync with the weather. It doesn’t fit his character.

I remember how intense I used to get in the locker room waiting to go out and play. The preparation had mentally started on the bus ride to the stadium. No talking, no b.s., stay away - leave me alone! All my teammates knew my routine and gave me that respect. They knew the killer instinct was brewing inside me. We would get to the stadium, dress for battle, listen to the coach give his inspirational speech, then charge out of the locker room ready to do battle. Blood boiling, ready to destroy the enemy, and what happens? Everything stops while we sing the national anthem.

Okay, look, I’m just as patriotic as you, but timing is everything. Why don’t they sing the national anthem while we are warming up on the field, not when we’re ready to do battle. We finish singing and now we have to start revving up the emotions all over again. Sometimes you can reach the same height, sometimes you can’t - and that’s the difference between a good game and a great one.

I believe Tiger suffered this change of emotions from the rain delays. He never was able to get that adrenaline rushing and regain the intensity he had earlier. And for those of you who were getting bored with his winning ways, hope this one little loss will hold you for awhile, because I expect him to be back in full form for his next tournament.

What is it about retiring athletes that makes so many of them want to a comeback?Hey, they retired for a season, didn’t they? They lost some part of the game, or so they thought. Maybe we can’t see it, but deep inside they know it, which is why they retire in the first place.Somewhere along the way though, they start to miss the game - or the camaraderie - or the attention. And suddenly the reasons that they retired start to diminish in direct ratio to the increased feelings of all the things they are missing. So they decide they can make a comeback and ignore their deficiencies. They make the big comeback announcement, they fake it for awhile and then one day all the things they knew they were lacking suddenly show up for the world to see.

Comebacks can be dangerous, depending on the sport. In boxing we’ve seen former champs badly beaten. Just look at Holyfield’s last fight in Russia and you’ll see what I mean.

Now we have Pete Sampras, an incredibly respected former tennis champ who is thinking of making a return performance. True, he won’t endure a beating a la Holyfield. The chances of him enduring a serious injury are probably slim - but so are his chances of regaining his championship status again.

Pete played Federer Monday in an exhibition game at the Garden in New York. Lots of stars showed up to watch the match - Tiger Woods, Donald Trump, Regis Philbin to name a few. They watched as Federer beat Sampras 6-3, 6-7, 7-6. Pete had his moments, a few quick glimpses from the past, but he was no match for the younger Federer as he covered the whole court with his speed and youth.

“Pistol Pete” still has the big serves which look good, but you need more than that to win because those balls are coming back at you faster than the speed you’ve served them.On Monday it was the past against the present. We miss you, Pete, but let us keep the memories of you at your prime.

In this case, youth was served.

Big John Daly is at it again, making news in the wrong column - the bad one.   Is he or isn’t he? …is the question. Drinking again to the point of stupidness.

Big John is a likable guy, fun to be around, and can play some good golf.   Sometimes.   Actually, when you analyze it real close, his game sucks.   Okay, he can hit the ball a mile with any club, which is his only attraction. The fans aren’t waiting to see him win, which he hasn’t done in a long time - or even make the cut.   Nope, his following is waiting to see him hit a 7-iron 230 yards, and on that he usually doesn’t disappoint.

Sponsors like him because of the big fan following and the “good ol’ boy” image, which he completes with a beer belly and a cigarette hanging from his lips.   While the beer completes the image, it’s also the beer that gets in the way of his career.   Butch Harmon, the legendary golf coach just announced he was done working with John because John’s interest was more in beer and less in working on his game.

Big John’s latest problem was at Bay Hill when he was disqualified for missing his tee time in the ProAm.   This rule in itself could be a a whole topic of conversation.   Pros used to complain about having to play with the amateurs in a ProAm.   They didn’t like playing with weekend only golfers who talk too much and constantly ask for tips on their game.   Hey, stupid, these are the people who are paying your salaries.   Amateurs pay from $4,000 to $6,000 for the honor of playing with a pro who doesn’t want to be playing with them.   They just don’t get it, that’s where the big purses come from.

Okay, back to Big John, who insisted they gave him the wrong tee time leading to his being a no-show.   Not only did they disqualify him, but two other players were also disqualified when, as alternates, they couldn’t be found to take John’s   place at tee time.   It all sounds a bit dumb to me.   If I were an alternate and had a chance to play at Bay Hill, I would be sleeping next to the tour tent just in case I got a call to play.   John finished the day saying “Now I’ve got everybody mad at me…”   Go figure.

Big John called Arnold, the host of the event, and apologized to him and to the sponsors for letting all of them down.   Too bad he didn’t realize the one he really let down was himself.