If it’s January here – cold, snowy, generally unpleasant; it must be time for the opening of the tennis season at the year’s first major – the Australian Open. For the men, we expect a continuation of the Rafael Nadal – Roger Federer grudge match, except it never came to be. Nadal lost to David Ferrer, number 7 in the world, but the biggest splash may be Novak Djokovic’s straight set win over Federer. Djokovic is the number 3 player in the world, but he could never knock off one of the top 2, until now. Now, he is one win away from his first major championship and the men’s game is better if the stranglehold on the major finals is opened to other than Nadal and Federer. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against either of these marvelous players, they are among the best to ever play the game and their finals have been titanic. But it’s always better to have other players capable of reaching the finals. As the big 2 get older, new blood needs to be pumped into the game. (Unfortunately, a Ferrer-Djokovic men’s final might not do much for the television ratings like another Federer-Nadal match would have done.)
On the women’s side, I have to admit ignorance about number 1 on the computer, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki. I know very little about her except she’s number one and to my knowledge has not won a major tournament yet. The closest she has come is losing to Kim Clijsters in the 2009 U.S. Open Finals. But she won’t get another shot at Clijsters – she lost to number 9 singles player Na Li. Ms. Li will get the chance to face Ms. Clijsters in the final.

It was reported this week that college football conferences will get approximately $170 million from this year’s Bowl Championship Series games, which is a record. Some $24.7 million has been paid to the five conferences that don’t get automatic bids to the BCS bowls., also a record.
BCS officials say the huge dollars were fueled by the new television contract with ESPN. In addition, the five conferences that don’t get automatic bids were helped by the automatic berth earned by Texas Christian University. Those conferences got slightly more than last year’s $24 million.
Under the BCS system, six conferences get automatic bids to participate in top-tier bowl games. Those six conferences, which sent nine of the 10 teams to the BCS bowl games this year, will take in about $145 million. The Big Ten, Southeastern and Pac-10, which each had two teams in BCS bowls, will receive about $27.2 million each, while the ACC, Big East and Big 12 will each receive roughly $21.2 million.
Bill Hancock, the BCS executive director, noted that the conferences that don’t get automatic bids will receive a record take for the second year in a row. He said the numbers demonstrate the “strength and fairness of the current system. The fact is that all of Division I football is better off because of the BCS, financially and otherwise.”
The critics, including many congressmen, are criticizing the report because it’s unfair to the smaller conferences, but what about THE PLAYERS? The young men who sweat, run, hit, catch and throw; what do they get? An education? Sure, but since many of them are there to “learn” to play professional football, what education are they getting?
So, the Conferences carved up almost $200 million, and many of the young men playing the game get nothing (or at least, nothing legal). These young men can’t have jobs because of NCAA rules, so they can’t go and get a pizza; they can’t take a girl out on a date; they can’t even buy a download on iTunes. On top of that, jerseys, programs, magazines are sold with their names, pictures, likenesses on them – millions of dollars in revenues, and they don’t get a dime.
So, I’ll tell you what education college football players are getting: PhDs in hypocrisy; and Masters Degrees in getting taken to the cleaners.

After the Bulls and many other teams were stiffed when LeBron James and the other two amigos took the mega-millions from the Miami Heat, the Chicago Bulls needed to make a splash on the free agent market, and they did, signing Carlos Boozer. So far, Boozer’s time with the Bulls has been limited by numerous injuries, but there was other stuff going on…
Michelle Money, a 30-year-old hair stylist from Salt Lake City, Utah, a contestant on the reality show “The Bachelor,” and aspiring actress revealed to Life & Style that she once had an affair with Boozer before he split from his wife.
Boozer has had no comment, but then again, what’s there to say?

After the Bulls and many other teams were stiffed when LeBron James and the other two amigos took the mega-millions from the Miami Heat, the Chicago Bulls needed to make a splash on the free agent market, and they did, signing Carlos Boozer. So far, Boozer’s time with the Bulls has been limited by numerous injuries, but there was other stuff going on…
Michelle Money, a 30-year-old hair stylist from Salt Lake City, Utah, a contestant on the reality show “The Bachelor,” and aspiring actress revealed to Life & Style that she once had an affair with Boozer before he split from his wife.
Boozer has had no comment, but then again, what’s there to say?

After the Bulls and many other teams were stiffed when LeBron James and the other two amigos took the mega-millions from the Miami Heat, the Chicago Bulls needed to make a splash on the free agent market, and they did, signing Carlos Boozer. So far, Boozer’s time with the Bulls has been limited by numerous injuries, but there was other stuff going on…
Michelle Money, a 30-year-old hair stylist from Salt Lake City, Utah, a contestant on the reality show “The Bachelor,” and aspiring actress revealed to Life & Style that she once had an affair with Boozer before he split from his wife.
Boozer has had no comment, but then again, what’s there to say?

I’m a bad guy. When I heard that singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett fell off a concert stage during a show in Sydney, Australia and was admitted to a hospital, I could only think that he walked off the stage in a coma induced by his music.

Other than playing football, Herschel Walker has never really known what to do with himself. He played in the USFL, the NFL, has been an Olympic bobsledder, and he is currently engaged in mixed martial arts. My friends at Northwestern used to laugh uproariously when Walker announced that when his playing days were over, he wanted to be a CIA officer. We would joke about this big black man, who has never been the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you get me, trying to be some kind of 007. Besides, he was one of the most famous athletes of the time and a man who has been photographed thousands of times – it would limit your ability to be an undercover spy.
But, instead if just publicizing on upcoming match this weekend, he stated his intention to play football again. “If I continue to stay in the shape I’m in now, I know I can play when I’m 50. Right now, if you asked if I can play today, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind I can play football today, that I can help out a team today.
Sure Herschel, you say that in February of last year, you ran a 40-yard dash in 4.38 or 4.39 and you say you’re in great shape. But you would be playing against guys half your age, and if you haven’t noticed, the players today are bigger, stronger and faster than the ones you played against in your hey-day.
I know that George Foreman’s exploits in his early 40s have given all athletes a wish for the fountain of youth, but Foreman could just punish younger guys in boxing. It’s not like playing NFL level football. Of course, the poster boy for hanging on too long remains Willie Mays who was an embarrassment in his tenure with the Mets in the 1970s. Walker isn’t an icon like Mays, but why risk hurting yourself trying to make a point. Most people eventually come to grips with aging. It’s sad when people don’t.