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Villanova:
The Northeast hoops bandwagon has left Boston and
headed down to Philly. Nova toppled the No. 3 Eagles
-- VU's 4th win over a top 25 team (2nd vs. top 3). QUICKIE LIVE! 9-10 a.m.
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The Lead Item
Two Words For You:
TRADE. MANIA.
Question: What do the Moss and Webber
trades have in common?
Proving conventional wisdom: When trading a
superstar, a team almost never gets equal (or
appropriate) value back.
Fans in Philly and Oakland might be celebrating right
now, but fans in Sacramento and Minnesota are left
scratching their heads:
"We got WHAT for THAT?"
Expect the GMs to take the heat.
No offense to Kenny Thomas or Corliss Williamson, but
they play the same iffy position: Undersized
power forward.
No offense to Napoleon Harris and the No. 7 draft pick
(say, WR Mike Williams), but didn't the Vikings
already have a middle LB?
The quickest way to silence the critics is to win, but
the Kings and Vikings apparently have re-building on
the brain. Where's that season-ticket order
form!
Trading Day: Two teams enter, only one leaves
truly happy.
Webber to Sixers
Finally! Juicy NBA action!
Webber-AI instantly becomes the best big-small
combo in the putrid Atlantic. In fact, I'd even call
Webber the Sixers' version of T.O. Or this year's
equivalent of the Rasheed trade to Detroit last year.
As good as Shaq-n-Wade? No.
Or LeBron-n-Z? No.
But good enough to nudge just the Sixers just north of
.500, which should be enough to win their division and
earn the East's No. 3 seed.
And maybe enough to push the Celtics (tied with Philly
for first in Atlantic) to make a dramatic move?
Hmm ...
Read on ... it's NBA Trade Day!
More NBA Trades?
The rumors are flying!
Ray Allen for Paul Pierce?
Scenery change good for both.
Michael Redd to Blazers?
Welcome to the dysfunction!
Baron Davis to Warriors?
What about PGs Fi$her, $peedy
Deadline: 2 p.m. ET
Moss to Raiders
Moss-see TV: With one bold move, the
Raiders just went from unwatchable (and
irrelevant) to must-see.
Raiders: Count the winners. Moss, Al Davis,
Norv Turner, Kerry Collins, Moss jersey sales.
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CHECK OUT THE QUICKIE EVERY WEEKDAY MORNING! |
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| WHO'S GOT THE MOMENTUM ... |
Kerry Collins: Moss-stantly, he's a decent FFL draft pick!
Mo Clarett: Not NFL combine's top talent, but top sideshow
John Chaney: Temple coach suspends himself for one game |
| ... AND WHO'S GOT NO MO' |
Kings GM Geoff Petrie: Webber deal gets scratched heads
Erick Dampier: Mavs C goes IR; who DIDN'T see this coming?
Rockets: What W-streak? Lost 2 in row after Spurs thumping
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Vikings: Disarray rules. I thought the new
ownership liked Moss. Fleecing ranks up there
with "Herschel for three Cowboys SB Rings."
Silver lining: No. 7 pick should net Vikings WR Mike
Williams, the classy anti-Moss who got treated
shabbily last year, like he was Mini-Moss.)
NFL Combine
It' a Wonderlic Life! I've always found
the combine's old men lustfully ogling the young studs
to be skeevy (but no lifestyle judgments here!)
40 times, bench-press reps: If anything, hasn't
the Patriots' dynasty debunked and demystified the
value of these cattle-call auditions?
Anyway, look for a lot of "rising," "falling,"
"upside," "swivel in his hips" and more.
Shaq Watch
Will get MRI today on his knee.
Meanwhile, without him, the Heat lost (again), this
time to the Pacers in OT.
More "Absence=MVP" evidence: If you gave Nash
"MVP points" for the Suns' stinking while he
was out, you have to credit Shaq, too.
H2H, Nash still rules: Because without Shaq,
Miami is a 7- or 8-seed team (as proven last season);
without Nash, PHX is in the lottery.
Sosa Arrives
It's Happy Sammy, not Bitter Sammy:
"I'm in a new house with a young team that I can help.
I'm very happy to be here, no question. And I can see
in their faces that they're really happy for me to be
here."
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Oh, come on, Sammy: Give us just a glimpse of Bitter
Sammy. Hey, someone ask him about how he left it with
the Cubs!
"That page is closed, and I don't want to touch that
page no more. We're here to move on and go
forward."
Ah! That's the stuff!
Golf Madness
Brackets rule! They are the best format
for determining a sports champ and they are the most
ideal format to drive fan "interest."
"Interest" meaning "pools": That's why I
whole-heartedly endorse golf's Accenture Match Play
Tournament, which uses a 64-player bracket and should
be the only format golf uses.
So: Who's got Villanova?
Red Sox Rings
Here's the question: If they were
opening against the Royals -- with the Yankees two
weeks later -- would they still want their rings on
Opening Day?
You can't convince me the timing isn't slightly
to rub NY's nose in it. Literally. (Since ESPN is
covering the game, I want a split-screen: Half on the
ceremony, half on the Yankees' dugout.)
Will Schill start on O.D.? Curt's rehab is
going weel. ("Running is ... the last hurdle.") My
guess? He's ready just in time for O.D.
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Bay Area media:
Watch out for exploding heads as the most media-hated
athlete in baseball (Bonds) and football (Moss) work
in the same area. Loathing overload!
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Today on ESPN.com
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| Quickie Live! |
| Webber analysis |
| Moss analysis |
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| Ranking East Big-Small Combos |  Shaq/Wade
| Look at Flash without him!
|  Z/LeBron
| Does LBJ count as "Small?"
|  Webber/AI
| Neither has had better partner
|  Big Ben/Rip
| (Or even Wallace-Billups)
|  K-Mart/Kidd
| | Oh, wait a second ... |
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Time to stop dissing Duke for not having any quality
ACC road wins: Georgia Tech may not be ranked, but the
reigning national runner-up is tough.
Don't cry for Jay Fiedler. The Dolphins cut him, but
he could land with the Jets, Pats or Eagles as a
backup. Last laugh with Jay.
Nuggets go retro, signing old coach Doug Moe as an
assistant; think the Suns' offense is novel? Nah: Moe
led thrilling Denver run-n-gun in 1980s.
Wizards activate Larry "Li'l LeBron" Hughes and Kwame
"Big Dud" Brown; "Wizards Playoff Watch": I never
thought I'd say the words.
Full Quickie "MLB ST Book Club" coming in March, but I
got a copy of "Baseball Prospectus 2005" yesterday and
was immersed all day.
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