Quick Hit Tuesday...January 15 - January 24

In an effort to shake things up from the normal post I do...taking an entire post to talk about one subject...Tuesday will usher in a new feature here. Quick Hit Tuesdays! In a nut shell, QHT (as they will now be referred to) will take all the headlines from the past week and put my two cents on them. This way I can get to the headlines that deserve some time, but just didn't make it into a post. So without further ado, the debut of Quick Hit Tuesday!

Week of Jan 15th through Jan 24th

• Andy Roddick and the Williams Sisters eliminated in the early rounds of the Australian Open
• The great hopes of the United States couldn't cut it with the rest of the world "Down Under." Maybe Maria Sharapova kept Andy up too late the night before. As for the Williams' well they've been streaky their entire careers, and in reality I think that both of the Sisters are overrated and are as big as they are, simply because American wanted Tennis Superstars...that goes for A-Rod as well.

• Antonio Davis Going into the stands in Chicago
• Where'd this story go? All the talking heads went crazy the day after Wednesday night's Knicks v. Bulls game. Saying that this was simply another example of the Player Fan relationship breaking down. But if this was such a huge problem...why did it get pushed out of view as soon as another story came along?

• The World Baseball Classic
• MLB has gone to great length to ensure that the WBC will be a success. The latest attempt was allowing Cuba to participate. This is a great thing, not only for Cuba, but for the U.S. and MLB. Not only does it give the event more Legitimacy, making it a true world baseball classic, but it will only add to the revenue that MLB will make from the even on a whole. Now the only question is...what's the Over/Under on the Number of Cuban players that will Defect during the WBC?

• That and Mr. Barry Bonds...You're a man that I've had little to no respect for...and this doesn't help your case with me at all. I know you were "Hurt" last year...but you took the year off to get healthy...and playing for the U.S. could act as another rehab for you if some guidelines were set before the Classic. I know you never said that you'd play and you never agreed to it...but you should if only to try and save part of your image...You don't deserve to break Hammerin' Hank's record...you don't deserve to be #2 on the all time HR list. You can pump yourself full of whatever you want and I won't have a problem...but to borrow a line from Mr. Costner..."you don't respect the game...and that's why I got a problem with you."
  

• Kobe's 81 point game
• short and sweet...Incredible individual performance...made even more special by the fact that the Lakers needed the points because they trailed at half. Is it better than Wilt's 100 point game...you could say that it is because of the different era's that they each played in, but on the other hand I look at the game and say... the Lakers needed one guy to score 81 of their points...the team has some holes.

• Nascar turning to the foreign market?
• It was announced that Toyota will join the Nascar circuit starting in 2007...So the "sport" that has trouble generating excitement in the Northern half of the U.S. is now alienating part of it's core southern audience by breaking the "made in America" tag of Nascar.

• Super Mario calls it quits...again
• Mario Lemieux retired from the NHL for the second time last night...a great player who had the heart and desire to play for 10 more years...simply didn't have the body to allow him to make the comeback he wanted to. Should he have stayed retired? Probably...Did he tarnish his legacy by coming back? I don't think so. Strongly considered the greatest hockey player ever, next to "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky, the NHL will miss Super Mario as it tries to get back on it's feet. Farewell Mario...and Merci.