Sports...

What's up Valley?!?! It goes without saying that most of our lives revolve around sports, in one way or another. There will be a lot of "holleration" about different topics in sports on here and This is certainly one of those blog entries. We will cover a number of topics today, I will give my opinion, I will ask for thoughts from the readers, and we'll see if I can get my first email at kvalleyreport@gmail.com.

1. Vikings starting QB in 2009; should be Jeff Garcia. Last year, while playing for the Bucs, Garcia had a 90.2 passer rating, as opposed to Big Ben's 80.1. Garcia had a completion percentage of 64.9%, compared to 66.8% for Peyton Manning. Mr. Garcia also had 1 more rushing yard that Donovan McNabb and averaged .4 more yards per carry at 4.2. Now, I just picked a few solid starting QB's, each have been to or won a Super Bowl, and compared Garcia's stats. And to give you an idea of his supporting cast in comparison, well there isn't a comparison. Garcia's best offensive threat was making toothpick sculptures for the last couple years before blowing up for the Bucs (Antonio Bryant). This guy has gone around the league and done nothing but win. He is aging, but of all the aging QB's (Gus F is in that group) he keeps himself in impeccable shape, and has shown few signs of breaking down. I think he is just a 2 year type of QB for the Vikes, but this is a team that is ready to win now, and Garcia "wins now" everywhere he goes. Not to mention, we can basically tell him he'll start, we have a solid back-up in Jackson, who will get better, but the Vikes cannot rely on Jackson to take them deep in the playoffs and to the Super Bowl. How did that turn out last year? In case you forgot he was benched after week 2. Of course there is the familiarity between Garcia and Chilly. While I'll be the first to say I think Childress has been a GREAT disappointment, maybe having a QB that can make a few more plays will help the play calling. I don't buy that argument at all, but who knows. Today Garcia was told he's not part of the plans for the Bucs, come Feb 27th, He should be the plan for the Vikes.

2. The 2009 Dunk Contest; was a disgrace. I'm not saying the dunks were no good, because there were some great dunks, except I'm not thinking of any dunk that the winner of the contest made. First, Rudy Fernandez was JACKED by what I can only assume is an American bias. I find this funny, however since he was voted into the contest by the fans. Shame on the judges for not giving him better marks on his dunks. I can't remember for sure but I think Nate Robinson scored better for jumping off someone's back that Rudy did for both his dunks, and both were FAR more difficult. People, you want to know how I can dunk? I jump off something higher than the ground. Sweet dunk Nate, sweet job judges. And to further that, Dwight Howard let Nate Robinson use him as a prop for a dunk. I realize it's all fun, but his competition offered to help him out and Nate went to jump over him. Now that's where the coolness stops. Nate can jump so he got up as high as he could and then totally shoved off of Dwight Howard's shoulder and used that to clear the 6'10" Howard. Meanwhile Howard brought out a 12 foot hoop (pretty creative), and threw a ball off the side of the backboard and jammed it from WAY behind his head (much higher degree of difficulty that Nate's garbage). I blame the judges for rewarding that nonsense, and part of that is leading me to my next point. Why in the name of the Knoppfather would you have judges judge the entire contest and then leave the final decision up to an online vote from America?? I would think the right way to go is the way it's done EVERY YEAR! or let America vote for every dunk and forget the judges. I just think it was a really terrible ending to an event that is very awesome. Can't wait for Lebron next year. What do you bet Nate Robinson doesn't try to defend his title???

3. 2 Sundays ago, Lebron faced off against Kobe on ABC; And in Minneapolis, on Comcast Cable, we had a FREAKING HOCKEY GAME ON. Now if people want to chime in and defend hockey, I'll put 5 fingers to your face at a later time. But let me be clear: This Comcast Cable, is hate mail. You have got to be kidding the be-jesus out of me. The Minnesota Wild were on ABC here, and i'm not sure how. Don't they have VS TV to be on, or can't Fox Sports North cover that noise?? I seriously can't believe this happened, and I'm not even going to spend much time on it because it is just too horrible. I don't even care about NBA regular season, I rarely watch it until the playoffs. But Kobe vs. Lebron??? I'll watch that. Shame on you Minnesota, Comcast, Al Franken, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Brock Lesnar for allowing this to happen.

4. A-rod took steroids; And so did all the rest of you yahoos, only none of you are good enough or big enough for MLB to leak the news that you or your buddy tested positive as well. Now, it's a bummer that this is true, I think he was an idiot for doing it, and I'm pretty sure he's going to suffer repercussions. But I'm kind of sick of all this chirping from people about he's tainted, his numbers shouldn't count, he's not getting into the hall of fame...etc. Look, the whole game is tainted. Two of the best hitters of all time juiced, and arguably the best pitcher ever got burned lying. Or, he is about to get burned. But yet more people want to go to games, and the game is healthier now than ever before. As far as I'm concerned, A-rod was a hall-of-famer before and after he admitted to taking steroids, same for Bonds. They have done crazy things with a baseball bat and A-rod isn't close to done yet. I'm here to proclaim that I don't care who took steroids because a boatload of people did it. It was a part of the game, and the game itself fostered this. Yes, people have free will and many chose to take the high road...but what is the high road? If you're a middle of the road reliever and using allowed you to stay healthy and employed for 10 years instead of 5, thereby allowing you to retire in much better shape financially than otherwise, all the while taking better care of your family?? Are you going to tell that guy he made a bad decision? What would you do? Anyway, I hope they clear the drugs up, but the chances are not good. Drugs are getting better, and the money is only getting bigger. Basically, get used to understanding that performance enhancing drugs are here to stay. And in case I'm mistaken, they don't make a bad player good, so just enjoy the game if you're a fan and come to grips with the rest of it.

5. Saturday college hoops; was just wham blamtastic. Yes, I just made that up, and I meant it. Arizona knocking of UCLA in a great and crazy fun game to watch. Jodie Meeks losing is mind, AGAIN. Blake Griffin and Hasheem Thabeet with 23 and 25 boards respectively, and Griffin going for 40 points as well. Big loss in Jerome Dyson for UCONN, hopefully he can get back for the tourney. And, I know this wasn't Saturday but Luke Harangody had 32 and 17 in a big upset of Louisville. Monster games all over. Syracuse/GT was another awesome game to watch, thank heavens some dip-stick didn't decide we would get a Flyers/Penguins game instead!!! Unfortunately our Gophers lost a tough one on the road. It doesn't help when you can't take care of the ball or shoot. But Devoe Joseph did fine a bit of flame and shot the ball great in the second half. That was a nice sign for the youngster, but getting his pocket picked after dribbling around for 10 minutes with less than a minute left sort of drained all the goodwill. I just love it when every game I turn on I get to see awesome basketball, and it makes me very excited for about a month from now when I'm calling in sick for the first Friday of the tourney!!!!!

6. This just in; Brett Favre retired again, let's do what we can to keep it that way Brett. Cripes.

Until next time, I'll leave you with what you know is coming. And, this is dedicated to A-rod and all the other athletes out there getting "juicy":

"Now I'm in the limelight, cuz I rhyme tight. Time to get paid, blow up like the World Trade..." AND, because it's so classic, enjoy the video...

Out like Fred Taylor after 11 great years with the Jags...

MJ