That TMac played well in his first game as a Knick (in a loss, by the way) should not have been a surprise to anyone. After he was shut down by the Rockets I figured he wasn't getting worse in his recovery effort.

This was about the team and he functioning well together. They couldn't. The relationship was broken and either they could not fix it or had no desire to. I always felt they should have played him but I also understand that a lot of things go on behind closed doors in all sorts of business and personal relationships and unless you know those things it's difficult to properly evaluate them.

At the Rocket game Saturday night the thought that jumped out off the court to me more than anything else was: where's the defense? Say what you want about Yao but remember when he's out there the Rockets are one of the best if not THE best defensive teams in the NBA.

About Tiger. I was fine with the apology. Would I have liked a give and take press conference and a non-read statement? Yes, but he had a lot to say and wanted to say it right. He did and now it's time to look forward to him coming back.

Some people acted as if they won't be happy until they see him bathe in the flames of hell. Come on! He's serving whatever sentence the public has any 'right' to see him serve. He's good to go. Making up the wife and family and sponsors is now business between those concerned parties, not us.

The TMac trade with Washington didn't go through but the Knicks deal still has life according to some and Washington might still get involved. As with all trade talk, the thing that usually happens is something we never really considered. That is, unless the Rockets just end up doing nothing which would be fine with me.

I would not mind cutting him and playing things out to see how Daryl Morey handles extra cap room this summer.

Are you watching the Olympics? I enjoy watching these sports once every four years but cringe at sports where judges decide outcomes. Yes, I know Boxing falls in that category. And some of you will argue that refs decide all team sports but I'm talking about judging style. It does add to the drama with athletes from mogul skiers to figure skaters trying to avoid mistakes. But sometimes I feel that these sports become more about avoiding the big mistake than making the big play.

Texas to the Big 10? Say it ain't so!

It would earn the 'Horns about 8 million more per year to be in with the likes of Michigan and Ohio State but it doesn't feel right for either party. I thought Penn State was kind of a stretch and there are some purists in the Big Ten that still don't look at the Nitany Lions as an equal member. Imagine Texas trying to fit in.

If Texas can go to the Big Ten why not blow up the SEC while we're at it and go for two or three uber conferences. Why not USC to the Big Ten or Virginia Tech to the SEC? If the Longhorns go it's official that nothing is sacred and you can see these leagues going after just about any dream-school addition you can conjure up that makes financial sense.

Never mind the Super Bowl, we had Steven A. Smith and Miss Florida read lines from "The Notebook" on Masterpiece Playhouse Friday morning. We had David Anderson accussing us of being little school boys around Miss Florida (Megan Clementi).


What a week it was. Perhaps the most eye-opening thing was the critical comments made about the Texans by Peter King, Brian Baldinger and Sammy Knight.


King, while acknowledging that the Texans did good things down the stretch with four straight wins, said Houston should have never been 5-7 in the first place. He said they sit around at NBC Sunday afternoon and wonder how the Texans "will screw it up today." Harsh words from a major football writer


So it's not just some of the callers who have questioned what the franchise has or has not been able to achieve.


My take is that while there is major disappointment about not making the playoffs there is at least progress. And there is no way you can convince me that a regime change was in order with the team just missing out on the postseason by a whisker.


Until the Texans make the playoffs and advance they will have to deal with the criticism.

Mark Sanchez made the rounds at Radio Row this week knowing that if his team played better against the Colts in the AFC Championship Game he would be in the Super Bowl. Instead he was promoting a worthy cause (see NFL.com) with DeMarcus Ware. Sanchez roomed with Brian Cushing at USC and said Cushing was texting him jokingly urging the QB to lay down against the Bengals in the regular season finale to let the Texans into the playoffs.

Deacon Jones was hilarious demonstrating a head slap with Josh Innes (Sportsradio610.com). Jones loves the way Mario Williams is playing pointing out that high sack totals aren't the only measure of a valuable DE. Mike Haynes was with him on our show promoting prostate cancer awareness.

Haynes and Lester Hayes formed a devastating CB tandem that stopped the Washington Redskins in 1984 as Joe Theisman couldn't rally his team. It would have been fun to have Theisman on the air with Haynes but Joe came on earlier Wednesday morning with plenty to say about Matt Schaub.

Theisman thinks Schaub is 98% on his way to being an elite QB. And he means Brady-Brees elite. He feels Schaub is already one of the best in the business. He wants to see Matt cut down on the big mistake like his picks against Indy and Arizona.

Chad Ocho Cinco made a lot of stops promoting a Madden showdown but also expressed his love for Andre Johnson on the show. Chad also said he feels the CBs he faces understand his trash talk is all in the spirit of competition and fun. He asked us to ask Dunta Robinson about it and we will, next chance we get.

I don't care what anybody says. If they tell you they don't like Super Bowl Media Day they are lying. You can access every single player on the team and the media world is your oyster for socializing with sports biz giants while gawking at attractive 'info-babes.'



You see just about every football writer-broadcaster-webcaster-radiohead you can think of plus former coaches, players and you realize that this is the current epicenter of the football universe.



Some of the folks we've seen on Radio Row include Kurt Warner, Steve Mariucci, Mercury Morris, Jim Mora, Joey Porter, Channing Crowder, Nate Newton plus all the radio hosts and other guests we've had on. There are simply too many to mention.



Jim Rome fans would be interested to know that he just sits down with a laptop and a couple of guys around him and lets it rip for three hours. It's fun to watch the master work. It's strange to hear Josh Innes sign off and hear Rome come on at 11 from the table right next to ours.



Drew Brees and Reggie Bush got the most attention during Saints media day to no one's surprise. But I really enjoyed talking with Billy Miller who is sidelined and plans on coming back next year. It's been tough to watch his teammates get to the Super Bowl but he keeps things in perspective. He knows he's always been a long shot coming into the league as a 7th rounder, getting cut, eventually joining the Texans as a street free agent and scoring the first TD in club history.



Chase Daniel knows he won't play in this game but hey, you never know. I talked with Chase about his whirlwind year as he was unimpressive in last year's East-West Shrine game (live on Sports Radio 610), signed and cut by Washington and picked up by the Saints. He would much rather be starting but he'll take being here in Miami with the NFC Champs as a nice consolation prize.

There's such a convergence of media covering the Super Bowl that you feel like a super nova could occur and swallow up half the Western Hemisphere.

Radio Row is cooking with former players, coaches, broadcasters, writers, Hooters girls and just about anybody else you can imagine. It's very special to be involved in the biggest media event in the country and it all culminates with an actual game on Sunday...but no one is talking about that much yet.

Andre Johnson and many of his Hurricane alums have an event at a Miami Beach hotel with Jimmy Johnson. Andre has pretty much wrapped up the "best wide receiver in the NFL" title based on our unscientific poll of the media. He looked good Sunday night catching a TD pass from Matt Schaub who picked up the game's MVP award.

Rocky Bleir who won four Super Bowls with the Steelers joined us and talked about how Schaub has emerged into one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL.

Bleir took handoffs from Terry Bradshaw who, if you can believe it, was only plus two in the TD-INT ratio for his career. And if you're thinking that's just because of the lean early years you're only half right. He was plus one (26TD, 25INT) in his Super Bowl winning season in 1979.

Today such numbers would be unacceptable but clearly the eras have changed. If a QB can't complete 60% of his passes, alarm bells go off.

Bill Brenner of the Indy Super Bowl committee admitted to us that attendance at the tiny (by NFL standards) RCA dome was lacking before Peyton Manning got there. Will Lucas Oil Stadium be tough to fill if the Colts suffer a drop off in the post-Manning era? The Hoosier thinking is that Indy is a football town now and the folks have pro pigskin spliced into the DNA so they'll show up regardless. We'll see.