TGIF

Nothing beats a Friday and what better way to wrap up the week than with a smorgasbord of thoughts from around the sports world. Yes, I just went smorgasbord on you…

• Last night was an incredible night of sports on TV. We had great college hoops on including Syracuse-Georgetown and Pitt-Marquette among other games. Olympic action was on two different channels including Canada’s shootout game against Switzerland in hockey. Four of the top six teams in the NBA were in action on TNT. I couldn’t flip channels fast enough. I wish every night was like that…then again I would probably be divorced if that were the case.

• Pitt played what I thought was their best all-around game of the season last night with the possible exception of the Syracuse game. Despite getting only two points from leading scorer Ashton Gibbs, the Panthers other four starters scored in double figures and they had solid contributions from Gilbert Brown, Travon Woodall and Dante Taylor off the bench. The Panthers got a host of dunks using dribble penetration (did somebody recommend this just last week!) and pounding the ball down low. If they can continue this, Gibbs should be freed up even more on the outside. The Panthers played great defense as usual and really took it to Marquette giving Jamie Dixon his first win in the Bradley Center.

• With that win Pitt is well-positioned to get a top 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Sunday’s game at the Pete against Villanova should tell us a whole lot about Pitt’s chances of making a sustained run in the Big Dance. I will be watching this game with a very close eye on how Pitt can defend great penetrating guards, something that can kill you come tournament time.

• Tiger Woods, as the entire world knows, breaks his silence today in another protected, boring press conference. Blah…let me know when he decides to golf again.

• In Olympic action, the American stars have come to shine as Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White and Shani Davis have all taken home Gold in their respective events. It makes the Games somewhat more enjoyable when you have actually heard of the competitors competing for and winning medals. The U.S. now has a comfortable lead in the medal count with 18 medals (9 Golds), seven more than second place Germany.

• Speaking of making the events more enjoyable; if you want to make it interesting throw a wager down on an underdog in an event and have a rooting interest (if gambling were legal of course). I watched the half-pipe event with my brother who threw a small bet down on Scottie Lago at 10-1 odds. Of course Shaun White was the heavy favorite and put on an unbelievable performance, but that didn’t make it any less fun after Lago had a fantastic run to take the early lead. I never watched a winter event with more enthusiasm. Lago finished with the bronze by the way.

• In hockey action, the U.S. looked solid again posting a 6-1 win over Norway getting a goal and an assist from local boy Ryan Malone. Canada won on a shootout goal from Sidney Crosby and Russia was not as fortunate losing in a shootout against Slovakia. Pool play is not integral to winning the tournament but the U.S. and Canada do square off in an interesting match on Sunday. The winner will receive a bye in the first round of tournament action. Canada and Russia being pushed to shootouts goes to show you that no matter how talented a team is a hot goaltender can be the great equalizer. When tournament play begins and it is one loss and done, the question will be whose goaltender comes up big.

• LeBron James is incredible. He finished last night with 43 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds for his 27th career triple-double. He also chipped in 4 blocks and 2 steals for good measure. (In case you thought these numbers were inflated by overtime LeBron had 37, 15, 13, 4 and 2 at the end of regulation). For anyone that thinks there is even a debate anymore about who the best player in the world is, get with reality. The only question left for me is whether James enters the debate with MJ himself someday as the greatest player ever.

• The Cavs lost the game 118-116 in overtime to the Denver Nuggets by the way. Carmelo Anthony had a fantastic night himself scoring 40 points including the game winning jumper over LeBron with 1.9 seconds left in overtime. Despite the loss, it was a great day for the Cavaliers who added Antawn Jamison in a trade on Wednesday. Cleveland is my pick to win it all this year and give LeBron his first of what will be many championships.

• Pitchers and catchers reported to Bradenton on Wednesday. Hard to believe baseball has begun when we are buried in three feet of snow up here. Spring brings eternal hope for baseball fans, except those that are fans of the Pirates. We will be talking a lot of baseball in the coming weeks, but for now look out for my initial thoughts on the Buccos in the next few days.

• I do not understand why NFL players get upset when they are franchised. I bring this up in light of Vince Wilfork of the Patriots “slap in the face” comment and Casey Hampton expressing similar feelings. The one year salary that franchised players receive is often equal or close to the amount of guaranteed money they would receive in a longer term contract with the added ability of becoming a free agent again the following year. I think this attitude stems from players not being Nobel Prize winners in economics and their agents feeding them propaganda looking for their own guaranteed paychecks.

• Despite many so-called “experts” feeling as though the Steelers biggest need is offensive line, I could not disagree more. The Steelers are built to win now. Any lineman drafted by the Steelers will not start this upcoming season. There are simply no starting jobs available on the line and despite popular opinion, the line performed quite well last year. I hope the Steelers trade up for a defensive back, the position that could make the most impact on the coming season. If the Steelers stay at number 18, I would be an advocate at taking the best player available as they need depth at linebacker, the secondary and both lines.

• Another teaser alert….I will be back in the next few days with more on the Steelers including what my full offseason plan would be were I to wake up the next day with Kevin Colbert’s job.