MISC: This And That

Once again, caught in the work trap. Here goes come miscellania.

I like Mark Cuban. The Dallas Maverick-owner/HDNet TV mogul is accessible and writes a thought-provoking blog. Today, he rags on Leonard Shapiro for a column dissing Mixed Martial Arts, a staple of HDNet. Mark takes offense to Leonard's belittlement of the 'legitimized' assault and battery that is MMA. Mark's wrong, Leonard's right. The sport used to be called Christians vs. Lions in the old Roman days. Taking delight in having one human batter another into unconsciousness is demeaning.

I've heard the young lad who plays the gender-confused youngest on The Riches has had a growth spurt. If that stops the cross-dressing, it stops the weakest story angle on the show. The good will be get better. Yippee!

The Houston Rockets lost to Boston last night, ending a 22-game winning streak. As nature's balance attempts to be restored, betcha the Rockets go out and lose at least the next four, and it wouldn't be surprising if a double-digit losing streak is on the books.

Toronto Raptors, as presently constituted, are a Chris Bosh away from fighting Orlando or Cleveland for a berth in the Eastern semi-finals. Without Bosh, one of Atlanta, New Jersey or Toronto will miss the playoffs. And it ain't the first two. Consider Bosh the anti-Ford. Bosh's fellow Texan committed the ultimate selfish act in Monday night's loss to Utah and is done as a Raptor at season's end. He can't wrap his GIGANTIC ego around the fact he ain't as good as Jose Calderon, doesn't deserve to be a starter and isn't good enough as a backup to play ahead of 102-year old Darrick Martin. Once again, I state the obvious, he's Stephon Marbury in a smaller suit.

Big season ahead for the Toronto Blue Jays' Dustin McGowan. Shaun Marcum? Not so much. In fact, Jesse Litsch will have better stats. The other Blue Jay no-no will be Frank Thomas. The smart thing would be platoon him with Matt Stairs until about mid-June. That's when the Big Hurt warms up. It's been that way three years running (at least the last three FULL years). And Thomas' Spring Training performance suggests nothing will change this season.

Mike Wilner's man-crush on Blue Jay GM J.P. Ricciardi has always been off-putting. Added to his hate on for Gord Ash ... well it's nauseating. Did some research on the drafting record of the two GMs in their first six seasons and I will eventually find time to write it all up. Hint: The new guy is NOT as good as the guy he replaced. It'll have to wait until I can get the trading record to guild the lily.

I wear two different sets of glasses, depending on the task. It'll be three after the next visit to my schoolmate, Rick Thompson. Yep, separate sets for reading, working on the computer and just plain living. They sure see me coming!