The Lakers are for real, fa real! After S. watched them easily dispatch the Suns, the Stankoniforous One is starting to take notice. Now it could be that the Suns have finally fallen off, which is entirely possible. S-dot’s gut tells him that the Lakers have finally come together. The most important move the Lakers made was to jettison Smush Parker and let Jordan Farmar do what he does.

Imagine how much better they will be when all their guys come back? Imagine how much better they would be if they had not dealt Caron Butler for….wait for it…….Kwame “MJ told me to man up” Brown.

Right now the Black Mamba is saying all the right things, but keep in mind that his contract is due to expire in the near term. Maybe his agent or his mama or his wifey told him to just play through this season and then run like Lola to a new destination. The distraction caused by his earlier trade demands already put Scott Skiles on the unemployment line, while the Knickerbockers are the crazy uncle you hide when company comes over. You can’t rightfully blame the latter on Kobe though. Knicks been playin like diddly poo as Jim Mora would say.

So Goodell and the boys decided to back down today and allow the overhyped BS game between the Giants and New England to be simulcast on both NBC and CBS this Saturday. I love seeing them have to give in to outside pressures and supply the fans with what they want. I’m not on the side of the cable operators, but I do consider the NFL to be bullies and any instances where they have to back down is fine with me (shout out to Travis Henry).

So for an organization that’s slowly building a reputation for carrying a big ass-whipping stick to take an L is good news.

On a small semi related note, the NFL Network is actually a pretty damned good channel, for those of you who don’t have it. Their programming lacked a little diversity at first (remember the six hour blocks of NFL Total Access?, but it’s slowly getting better as time goes on. Chris Collinsworth and Bryant Gumbel may be pretty bad at calling the games, but the pre and post game crew of Rich Eisen, Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk, and Mooch are very entertaining.

The networks America’s Game series covering the past Super Bowl Champions was great television also. Overall the channel is definitely worth having, lets just hope the league ends up having to give it away for less than they anticipated.

The chances of me posting something later on today depends entirely upon how much gumbo I manage not to eat, so in case I never return, Merry Christmas!

Is there anything greater than watching A Christmas Story marathons this time of year?

Or maybe Bad Santa if you want something edgier..

That’s right, the good folks at the NFL Network want to ensure they go down in the Guiness Book Of World Records for having their lips firmly planted of the pale pasty ass of Bill Belichick during the week of Christmas. This photo perfectly captures my mood in relation to this “great moment for football”. Woopty F’n doo.

The channel is set to air 62 hours of New England Patriots coverage leading up to their week 17 game against the New York Giants, including a six hour pregame show. It appears they want to hype up this game as much as possible as a historic event, even though the Giants will be resting their starters. Instead of a competitive late season thriller, we’re about to witness lambs being led to slaughter.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not happy to witness Randy Moss break Jerry Rice’s single season touchdown record against second string players. Even though I don’t care for Peyton Manning, I’m not happy to see Tom Brady take his record against scrubs either. The fact that this completely meaningless game will receive the biggest hype in football history sort of makes me sick.

The second installment of Sportaphile Look-A-Likes is here, as usual some are your run of the mill look-a-likes, some are a little crazier.

If you missed out on Volume 1, check it out here.

1. Charles Barkley and Bald Bull from Mike Tyson’s Punch Out

2. ESPN football analyst John Clayton & Saturday Night Live’s Rachel Dratch

3. Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna and Bobby Hill

4. Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton and Tom Green

5. WWE wrestler Carlito, Anderson Verejao of the Cleveland Cavs, and Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons

6. ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski & Quagmire from The Family Guy

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The following have appeared on this site elsewhere, but never in an official look-a-likes post
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Isiah Thomas’ sexual harassment victim Anuncha Brown Sanders, and the hurricane katrina looter.

Gary-Coleman and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Byron Leftwich