Sports talk

First off - I'm going to miss the "Tough Enough" segments on Smackdown. Not because I liked them, but it was 15-20 minutes of a 2-hour show I could safely fast-forward through - combined with commercial skipping and recaps, I could watch the whole show in about an hour. And that even sometimes would include a slo-mo through a Torrie Wilson or Jackie Gayda ring entrance. Pretty good TV watching, if I do say so myself.

However, I did vote last night for the Tough Enough winner, even though I avoided it entirely. I voted for The Miz - in what little I saw of it, he showed a lot more personality than Dan Puder offered. Plus Dan was a little too intense nutcase-ish for my liking. As for other events from yesterday's PPV, the Charlie Haas heel turn seems like a dumb idea. And I'm sick of JBL - he's been OK as a heel - better than I expected - but he's held the strap for nearly six months now, and come out on top in feuds with Eddie Guererro, Booker T, and Taker. That makes no sense at all. Though it was inevitable, since he's just added the Bashams and Amy Weber to his stable. Expect him to keep the title until at least the Rumble next month, and if he gets through that, then to go right up to Mania. JBL headlining Wrestlemania. My goodness, what depths this business has sunk to...

As for other (real) sports, if Pedro can get a four-year deal from the Mets, more power to him. This'll be a typical Mets signing - big name, shaky health, huge money. Granted, the Dominican connection will put plenty of butts in the ugly Shea seats, but it's still a bad move for them. Heck, I wouldn't guarantee him three years even - I was kinda surprised the Sox were willing to. If Pedro goes to New York for the money, more power to him. Nobody here will be bitter - we got a World Series win out of him. Hey - at least we've got David Wells now!

(silence)

From what's been reported, the Wells signing is a good move. Really. Not a lot of guaranteed money, and when Wells is serious about his game, he's still pretty darned tough to hit, even at his age. Plus he's a lefty, which certainly helps. Wells will slide into Derek Lowe's spot in the rotation, most likely, if Pedro does wind up here again. I'm not sure how it'll play out without Pedro, but Bronson Arroyo appears almost ready to make The Leap, and he's cheap to have around.

In other sporting news, hooray for Charley Weis. I'm not sure he's going to like it at Notre Dame, but he's getting $2 mil per year to suck it up. But from what I've heard of the Willingham fallout, the alumni there have a recurring fantasy that an independent team with high academic standards can also be a BCS contender every year. Keep dreaming, folks.

Meanwhile, the Pats keep rolling along. I like their chances to wind up with the #1 seed, but the #2 isn't the worst fate. Come January, Pittsburgh and New England are probably the only two teams with a serious shot at winning the Super Bowl. Indy will not win two road games in January. Period. Nobody else is a serious contender. And Philly may be the best in the NFC, but they have no chance against either of the best two AFC teams. Unless there's a serious letdown (and I know Belichick wouldn't allow that to happen - probably not Cowher either), the NFC gets crushed this year.

Does anybody at all miss the NHL? Does anybody in the NHLPA realize that if they don't cave and accept a cap, the sport is gone forever? It's very possible to win the battle and lose the war, and what good is no cap if there's no league?

This IBM/Lenova deal may seem like a total capitulation to many, but if I were Dell, I'd be scared. Really scared. IBM just sold out to the one operation that may be able to out-cheap Dell, and now they can make all the deals they want with PowerPC processors and not have to worry about the impact on their PC unit. Which may also have the effect of helping drive Apple costs down a little, too. Intel is probably a little nervous, too.