2/24 (Very Sunday) Quickie

*Unless you already favor a particular driver, how can you not be rooting for Danica today?

*What a terrible day at the track yesterday. NASCAR as an organization -- command and control -- is not good in moments like that.

*Yesterday was about as good as it gets for DC sports fans: Georgetown wins at Syracuse (including Otto Porter with a national-player-of-the-year performance), the Wizards beat the Rockets (including Bradley Beal showcasing why he is a future All-Star) and the Caps obliterate the Devils (including an Ovechkin hat-trick). Take that for what you will that that is "as good as it gets."

*Kentucky was in a must-win yesterday and got it. UK's resume is lackluster, but I think that the Selection Committee will almost assuredly give the defending champs the benefit of a doubt that other bubble teams won't get. (Granted, if UK craps out its remaining regular-season schedule, there isn't much anyone can do for them.)

*Miami was overrated? You don't say!

*I wanted to see something decisive out of Colorado State -- instead, they lost at home to New Mexico. The Mountain West is going to mess up some brackets next month, that's for sure.

*Is Florida good enough to be a 1-seed? Absolutely. But losing solid freshman SG Michael Frazier to an apparent concussion -- on top of a previous injury to Will Yeguete that has him out for at least a few more weeks -- really tests Florida's depth. They were only going to go 7 deep in the Tournament anyway, but now they're down to 6 for the stretch run, which is enough to wear out any team.

*LeBron: Ho-hum, just a triple-double. This is basketball being played at a level unseen since Michael Jordan's BEST days.

*Good start for women fighters in UFC.

*I think yesterday was the day Manti Te'o and the whole ludicrous story became a non-issue with the NFL Draft. Te'o has a bigger issue: He's just OK and certainly not spectacular.

-- D.S.

2/23 (Weekend) Quickie

Ahh, there's nothing like a Friday night spent watching the Wizards. (Wait, yes there is... but good times in our house!)

Speaking of "there's nothing like...," just in time for the 1st-grade basketball league season finale today, things could be a lot worse than Gabe wanting to model his game off Russell Westbrook.

Great day of college hoops: It'll be Syracuse-Georgetown on in our house at 4 -- it's among the most nostalgic match-ups in college hoops.

But I'll be flipping back and forth with Colorado State-New Mexico at the same time. I'm intrigued by Colorado State and its emphasis on offensive rebounding. That team is going to vex me when the bracket comes out. FWIW, at No. 15, CSU is KenPom's highest-ranked mid-major besides Gonzaga. New Mexico is a solid No. 34, but ranked No. 7 in adjusted defensive efficiency, a fascinating match-up with CSU's Top 10 offense.

(Meanwhile, a couple of great "Bracketbuster" match-ups today, led by Detroit-Wichita State, another good one at 4 pm, and Creighton-St. Mary's at 6.)

My evening is set: Florida hosting Arkansas at 7, ready to get a little payback for the ass-kicking the Gators took in Fayetteville a couple weeks ago.)

Hilarious -- and typical -- that the Lakers would get huffy about Mark Cuban's suggestion that the Lakers should amnesty Kobe during the offseason. (Typical Cuban: It's a savvy idea.)

So the Blackhawks have sort of blown out expectations-setting for the season, haven't they? It's already Stanley Cup title or bust.

Was there ever any doubt that RGIII would be back on schedule?

Enjoy your weekend. Great day of hoops ahead.

-- D.S.

2/22 (Danica) Quickie

It is hard to write about gender in sports without being patronizing. The story of the weekend is Danica starting in pole position at the Daytona 500, with as good of a chance of winning as anyone -- it is hard to overstate that it would be one of the most exciting results in sports history.

As nothing more than a casual NASCAR observer -- I usually catch one race a year, and it's Daytona (there is something about a sport starting its season with its biggest event that I like) -- I am absolutely rooting for Danica to win... rooting for history. I'd like to think that's not patronizing, but it's hard to say.

Meanwhile, the second biggest sports story of the weekend is Ronda Rousey breaking the gender barrier in UFC -- this is a long time coming, and a huge potential market for the sport and for women athletes. She has the charisma to carry this side of the sport -- Dana White's backing doesn't hurt -- and I hope that her debut on Saturday night is a smashing success.

In the end, Danica and Ronda draw attention as something between a novelty in sports dominated by men (for better or worse, that is where UFC is right now) and very real pivot points in sports history -- for Danica, especially.

Patrick established her bonafides years ago -- this weekend represents her best shot at winning on something close to the most level playing field out there.

You don't have to be committed to gender equality in society or the parent of a daughter or anything else to appreciate the history we have the chance to watch this weekend.

More:

*NBA Trade Deadline: I have spent enough of this past season griping about Jordan Crawford that I was happy to see him shipped off to Boston, even if the Wizards gave him away -- that's how much I didn't like his game and his fit within the team. In fact, my griping about Crawford was something I came to resent even more because I would be openly disdainful of his play in front of my kids, who would ask why I was so annoyed -- it was a teaching lesson for them about not being a no-defense shot-jacker, but I didn't enjoy expressing that kind of frustration about a player in a way my kids might notice. So good riddance, Steez.

*Hawks don't trade Josh Smith: So he leaves this summer for nothing, although then the Hawks will have more than enough cap space to make a run at Dwight Howard or CP3.

*Kobe guarantees playoffs: What else did you expect him to say? Of course he guarantees playoffs.

*Spurs rout Clippers: Wasn't it cute the way everyone thought LA was an actual contender? There are two in the West: OKC and San Antonio. Everyone else is playing to make things interesting.

*Heat win 9th straight: The East is even more of a snoozer. Can we just fast-forward to June?

*NFL Combine: It has gotten bigger, yet seemingly even more antiseptic. We are reduced to reading coded messages from coaches who pop by for impromptu press conferences. The only thing that happened yesterday that I found intriguing was that I remain obsessed with Chip Kelly as an NFL coach, even if I couldn't care less about the Eagles.

-- D.S.

2/21 (NBA Trade Dudline?) Quickie

I used to love the NBA Trade Deadline, but then it fizzled and became a shell of its former self.

I just can't get worked up over where Josh Smith ends up, although more power to Houston if it can go from bupkis a year ago to Harden-Lin-Asik-Smith -- I am in the tank for Daryl Morey and support him 100% however he wants to go. (Was last night's Rockets win over the Thunder as good as it gets for Houston fans? Possibly/probably.)

More:

*It was nice to be on the front end of the Victor Oladipo bandwagon yesterday.

*NFL Combine: It's basically Manti Te'o and then everything else, right?

*Lakers-Celtics last night felt sad -- maybe the franchises make themselves championship relevant again soon (I'd never put it past the Lakers), but it sure seems like puttering to the end.

*I'm not going to have a problem not picking Kansas to the Final Four.

*Revis vs. Sherman on Twitter is like the February sports swoon at its least interesting.

*Tebow Watch: Cancels speech at the controversial Dallas church -- could have told you this was coming.

*Last night's best thing in sports: Penguins-Flyers. All I caught were the highlights and it was still more thrilling than everything else wrapped together.

- D.S.

2/20 (Is It March Yet?) Quickie

I'm a college basketball realist -- games in mid-February, even seemingly huge ones like last night's Indiana win at Michigan State, are ultimately inconsequential in the larger scheme of the sport's ultimate playoff in late March.

But that's not to say that there aren't thrilling moments worth savoring -- exactly like last night, when a Hoosiers team I had been thinking is slightly on the wrong side of title-ready put on display the make-up of the kind of team that wins six straight in late March.

Mostly, that was a function of IU's marvelous junior guard, Victor Oladipo, all angles -- and all-American-ness -- showcasing the most fascinating skill set I have seen in a college hoops player since... well, I'm having trouble finding a comp.

A few weeks ago, I said that there were probably a half-dozen teams with a legit shot at winning six straight in late March -- Indiana is on the short list.

****

*Florida is on the short list, too, even though the Gators lost at Mizzou last night. There's no shame in losing at Columbia -- Mizzou hasn't lost there this season, and Florida still held the high-flying Tigers to 63 points. In late March, when you suddenly lose the ability to make shots, you have got to be able to get stops, and no team has proven better at that through this entire season than Florida.

*So, about that VCU bandwagon...

*Miami being charged with a lack of institutional control - accurate or not -- seems absurd coming from the NCAA right now...

*Gio Gonzalez not tied to PEDs: Unfortunately for him, there is still a taint, but it's rare to get the "No, no, really: He's been cleared" message. As a Nats fan, I was already Team Gio anyway.

*A day late, but RIP to Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Was he the best owner in sports? I'm inclined to agree with that argument. Hard to argue with the combination of sizzle and steak.

Been under the weather for a little while, but hoping to get back into the routine here...

-- D.S.

On Turning 40

I turn 40 tomorrow today, so I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on the past decade.

A couple of weeks ago, I went through an exercise where I tried to list out the most life-defining things that happened -- for better and worse. I’m not saying that is the best way to think about it -- it puts too much weight on the singular happenings and not enough on mundane day-to-day enjoyment of life. Still, it makes the past 10 years more tangible.

Obviously, there are big “life” things like getting married, having kids, my siblings having kids, buying/selling a house, major surgeries, etc.

Then there are the professional things: I was already a month into the Quickie when I turned 30, so I didn’t count that. But I did count the run itself and all the fun things that I got access to because of it -- going on TV, spinning off this blog, getting to write elsewhere (remember when I spent that season as Deadspin’s college football columnist?) Joining a high-flying start-up. Starting my own company, obviously, then seeing it through its acquisition.

(Did meeting Tim Tebow make the list? What do you think?)

The one thing I found hardest to qualify was the dramatic shift in who I was friends with from 30 til 40. 2003 was pre-blog (let alone pre-social media) and almost all of my friends came from a pool of college, business school and work colleagues. Ten years later, I interact way more often with a far broader set of people, almost entirely virtually -- that’s not for everyone, but I have found it richly rewarding, especially given that a family puts strains on your time.

The other piece of this list was an exercise related to “What I Wish I Had Gotten Accomplished But Didn’t.” I will guarantee you that things like “Write a book” or “Run NYC marathon” were on my list heading into my 30s and, despite that, remain there today. (Although it was interesting to see what kind of proxies I came up with over my 30s -- for example, I actually wrote three separate formal book proposals over the decade and I jumped into the Chicago Marathon to run alongside my sister for 10 miles.)

The two  affirming things about the “Didn’t get done” list are that (1) it's a pretty short list, which I think is a good sign, and (2) it’s not like it ruined my past decade to not get it done. Meanwhile, virtually everything on the list (from the practical to the largely fantastical) is still doable. And if everything in life demands some trade-offs, I’ll take where I am right now over any other options I could have had.

I still remember entering my 30s and how excited I was for it, because it meant that instead of being past my prime for my 20s, I was a fresh thirtysomething, with a whole decade ahead of me to accomplish things that might matter to me. (Clearly, on the day before my 30th birthday, I had zero conception of the joy of having one kid, let alone three.)

Now that I am about to enter my 40s -- and what I honestly think will be my best decade yet -- it is with a way different frame of reference than 10 years ago: Wildly different priorities (family/kids first, obviously) and a greater appreciation for the process over the outcome, but with no less of a zest to be in the middle of things that are interesting to me than any 30-something or 20-something version of me.

The last decade has been wonderful and I have been extraordinarily lucky, on almost every front. It’s not the worst thing in the world to hope the next 10 years bring just as much happiness with my life as the last 10 years just did.

-- D.S.

2/14 (Pistorius WTF?!) Quickie

If the Manti Te'o story -- fake girlfriend, fake death, Te'o as victim -- hasn't reached its end-point yet (and I'd argue it did at least two weeks ago), it's over now.

Because this Oscar Pistorius story -- real girlfriend, real death, Pistorius himself the shooter -- should have everyone snapped back to attention.

That Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend doesn't seem to be in any dispute. The only question is whether it was an accident or murder (as South African police seem to want to argue).

There is no good outcome here -- it's not like proving it was an accident makes it any less of a tragedy. Even then, there will always be people who think he did it intentionally.

And so Valentine's Day -- typically a day we celebrate around here with tributes to our current favorite athletes we "love" -- becomes, this year at least, a sad, utterly shocking day in sports.

More, with the typical awkward segue from "serious" story to the less-so:

*Nerlens Noel tears ACL: As discussed earlier this week, he instantly becomes the poster player for why the NBA's age-limit is atrocious.

*Duke beats UNC: Duke is as good a choice as any to be No. 1, although it's not like beating UNC is a big deal this season (blah blah "rivalry" blah blah.) The trend to watch here is Duke going small, which is all well and good, but you wonder how that works against longer teams like Florida or Michigan or Miami.

*Every time Butler loses, I cringe, because I'm inclined to take them to go pretty far on my bracket, but losses like that erode my confidence (I should have more faith in Brad Stevens to turn losses into highly valuable "teachable moments.")

*Happy Valentine's Day, to those of you who "celebrate" it. For the rest of us? Eh.

-- D.S.

02/13 (Where Were We?) Quickie

The injury to Kentucky freshman center Nerlens Noel -- at worst, a Top 3 pick in next year's NBA draft (at least before last night) -- affirms a tenet around here:

It was cruelly unnecessary and didn't have to happen. Noel would have been a Top 5 pick in last year's draft, but the NBA age limit forced him to college for a year.

The NBA's age limit is, among other things: Arbitrary, anti-competitive, irrational, not in the best interests of the game and certainly not in the best interests of the kid.

As it looks like the NBA has no interest in changing the rule, if I was a one-and-done college player with huge NBA potential, I would skip college anyway and spend the year before the draft working out with the NBA trainers that these kids end up hiring the day after the college season ends anyway.

The real opportunity here is to create a non-profit company, bundle the Top 10 NBA prospects from each high school graduating class, and give them each $500K and a year-long training program featuring the best NBA development coaching staff in the world. I guarantee you that these kids would be more NBA-prepped than any college player -- the college hoops system still revolves around coaches with an overriding incentive to win games, not maximize the professional preparation of each player on their roster.

The only obligation to my non-profit is that over the five-year life of their first NBA deal, they have to "pay forward" $250K -- $50K a year, which is very little, relatively -- into the program to help the next class moving up, plus 1% of the value of their first NBA free-agent deal, also going directly into the program for funding. Between that and corporate sponsorship, the program is self-sustaining.

Now, we see the worst example yet of how awful this rule is: The presumptive No. 1 pick of the draft -- and a clear-cut Top 5 pick a year ago, had he been "eligible" -- hurt in every possible way by a system that forces him to play college basketball for a year before he can enter the NBA.

If I was a one-and-done college player -- or a high school player looking ahead -- I would be very very troubled by what happened to Noel last night. Here is to his full recovery and a long, productive NBA career.

-- D.S.

02/07 (Signing Day Hangover) Quickie

College football's "National Signing Day" always reminds me of the last day of Rush Week during my freshman year of college, when I was torn between joining two fraternities.

The rush process was awesome; the decision was gut-wrenching for a while. In the end, I felt totally secure about going one way over the other, although telling the "other" guys was hard.

But, with yesterday's NSD in mind, at least my mom didn't swoop in and hijack my commitment at the last second. (Although that would have been funny if she did.)

The recruitment battle for Alex Collins -- him versus his mother, over his interest in Arkansas versus hers in Miami -- was, by far, the wildest story of NSD.

The biggest, of course, was the way that Ole Miss put together a recruiting class unprecedented in the school's history. I had been hoping a reporter was behind the scenes for a tick-tock, and Andy Staples has it for SI.com.

Count me among those who thinks that the conversion of college football recruiting into its own sport is a fine development.

It is easy to get caught up in the rankings and the commitments. Ultimately, you judge a recruiting class on its wins, and that especially goes for Ole Miss.

But National Signing Day itself is about hope. Hope your team got better. Hope the kid made a good choice for himself. There is something entirely energizing about a day based on sheer potential.

-- D.S.

2/05 (Very) Quickie

I turn 40 in a few weeks, so I'm sort of obsessed with Grant Hill, who turned 40 in October but is still chugging along in the NBA. He had a DC homecoming last night when the Clippers were in town to play the Wizards, and I lament not heading down to the arena to watch him in person.

For my money (and clearly for wildly personal reasons), the rarity of watching a 40-year-old pro athlete is way more interesting than watching the young phenom -- or even the superstar in his prime. There is no level at which I can relate to LeBron -- that is part of his appeal: That he feels superhuman to me.

But Grant Hill? Hell, we might as well have been in the same high school class. However, while he is still contributing meaningfully at an NBA level, I'm struggling to keep pace with a slowing metabolism -- the best I can do is hope to make a few shots in my weekly "Old Man Hoops" run.

Grant, you're welcome anytime, but I am more than happy to keep watching you, Kurt Thomas (ironically, born just one day before Hill), Jason Kidd (40 in March) or Steve Nash (turning 39 on Thursday) in the NBA. It keeps me feeling younger, because there is an underrated "life stage" point -- "when there are no longer any NBA/MLB/NFL/NHL players as old as you."

More:

*Did people know in advance that the Superdome might suffer a blackout? You sorta knew that kind of day-after-day-after leak was coming.

*Do you buy the Knicks as contenders? Because I don't. Oh, sure, they're good. But good enough to beat the Heat? Come on.

*Indiana is college hoops' latest new No. 1, and as a Florida fan, I would love to get a shot at them in the Final Four, because IU doesn't seem so dominant.

*CFB: This is an absurd lament, but I wish they had Signing Day for high school seniors who are specialists in engineering or journalism or pre-med.  (Oh, yes, my Northwestern journalism "recruiting class" would have been top-ranked, for sure.) Still surprised an enterprising marketing department at a university wouldn't try to create an admissions campaign around that.

*ICYMI: The entire "scorecard" of how every Super Bowl ad rated on USA TODAY's Ad Meter.

-- D.S.

02/04 (And We're Back) Quickie

As I've been immersed in the Super Bowl ad game for the past two months, let's start there:

Anheuser-Busch's "Brotherhood" spot -- friendship between man and horse -- won USA TODAY's Ad Meter (which had more than 7,000 panelists participate). From the minute it was pre-released, it was a clear favorite to win. A few notes:

*In an intriguing twist, a 4th-quarter ad -- Tide and the "Miracle Stain" -- surged to a runner-up finish. In the history of Ad Meter, 4th-quarter ads rarely finish that high.

*In the past three years, Doritos' "fan-generated" ads have done remarkably well. This year, both Doritos entrants finished in the Top 10, but the higher-ranked one ("Fashionista Dad") finished out of the Top 3.

*Massive success for Chrysler, whose RAM ad (featuring the stirring oration by the legendary Paul Harvey, combined with fabulously evocative photos) finished 3rd and whose JEEP ad finished 5th.

*Coming in at the very bottom? Go Daddy's spot from early in the 1st quarter, in which supermodel Bar Rafaeli makes out with the nerdy looking guy. Here's the thing: It was the ad everyone was talking about during the game and this morning. In that respect, Go Daddy is a huge winner.

Now, on to the game:

*Joe Flacco: He wants to be considered "elite?" OK: He can be considered "elite."

*Ray Lewis retires a champion: Doesn't happen often, and it is so cool to experience as a fan, even if you don't like Lewis or don't like the Ravens.

*Jacoby Jones: Breakthrough superstar.

*Was it a hold at the end during the 49ers' final shot in the end zone that should have been called? Yes, but I can understand why the refs were nervous and erred on the side of the no-call -- it would have decided the championship and bookended with the Seahawks-Packers replacement-ref debacle from the start of the season as the defining moment of an otherwise kind-of-awesome NFL season.

*Will Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers be back? Yes -- I'll say as soon as next season.

*The Super Bowl's biggest winners: Jack and Jim Harbaugh's parents -- they are adorable.

*In the most randomly fun thing from my weekend, Vernon Davis followed me on Twitter on Saturday. Now, nevermind that it's the day before the Super Bowl and Davis was just sitting around looking for folks to follow on Twitter. Clearly, he earned my rooting interest (I was already picking and partial to the 49ers, despite a loyalty to my home state of Maryland and a fondness for fans in/around Baltimore), but I feel bad that he didn't understand the power of the Quickie jinx. However, I will remain a huge Vernon Davis fan.

OK:
It's the NFL offseason...
College football signing day is this week...
The NBA is snoozing into midseason...
Time to lock in on college hoops...
My children can't get enough of the NHL...
It was a hell of a Super Bowl.

Back to it.

-- D.S.

02/03 (Very Super Bowl) Quickie

Prediction for game: 49ers win. (MVP: Vernon Davis.)

Prediction for Ad Meter-winning ad: Doritos. (Surprise of Top 5: Audi.)

Back to it here on Monday morning, after too many days of neglect.

-- D.S.

1/30 (Very) Quickie

My gram passed away last spring, and today is her birthday. She actually has two birthdays, today and tomorrow, because there was an ongoing question about which one it really was, and she never really seemed too concerned with figuring it out, which is kind of awesome. So I'm thinking about her today.

Thinking about her reminds me that 17 years ago -- cripes, 17? -- I was living with her and my grandfather in Midwood, Brooklyn and working for the NFL. The week before the Super Bowl, I was out in San Diego to work on Superbowl.com for the league. It was a pretty good deal -- they gave me two tickets to the game (which I gave to my dad and brother), along with access to all the parties. We had a good time. They had a good time, I should say. I was in the press box for the game working on NFL.com's live in-game "chat" on AOL, featuring Jim Fassel, our celebrity analyst. I remember being blown away at the observations he was making that didn't necessarily make it into the chat. I also remember passing on the chance to go down to the Broncos' locker room after the game, instead letting a colleague of mine go in my place. She said it was pretty awesome to stand next to John Elway in his greatest moment of triumph. I'm sure.

So anyway, taking my brother to the Super Bowl is a long walk back to the dominant theme of this year's Super Bowl -- the Harbaugh brothers playing against each other. But I feel less of a kinship with older brother John Harbaugh as much as Jack, their dad. As the dad of two brothers (age 6 and 4) who are best friends, I can relate to Jack's situation: How on earth do you watch your two kids battle for the greatest professional accomplishment of both their lives?

You can hope for a great game where both sons do well, but ultimately, there is only one winner. The family seems grounded enough that they will take it in stride, sort of like how my gram approached things. That's sort of all you can hope for as a parent, right? That your kids will be grounded and achieve great things and ultimately recognize that life should probably be a combination of trying your best and hopefully being part of a nice family.

Back to work...

-- D.S.

1/27 (Very) Quickie

Here's my thought for this morning:

When people -- NFL alums like Kurt Warner, Tom Brady's dad, President Obama -- say they're "unsure" they would let their kid play football, it means they wouldn't.

It's not that the end of tackle football is inevitable; it's that the acceleration toward that point is so dramatic.

*One week from the Super Bowl: Harbaugh Brothers. Ray Lewis. Colin Kaepernick. 49ers 5-0 in Super Bowl history. (There: Can we fast-forward through the pre-game lead-up now?)

*College hoops hangover:  It's going to be easy for me to advance Florida to the Final Four on my bracket this year... it's going to be hard for me NOT to advance Butler to the Final Four on my bracket this year... it just got a little easier for me not to want to advance VCU to the Final Four (in fact, if there's a new non-Butler mid-major that I'm starting to get irrationally supportive of, it's Wichita State)... it's going to be hard to resist the temptation to knock out both Kentucky and UNC before the tournament's first weekend is over... it's going to be really hard to figure out how far to advance NC State. (Reminder: The entire college hoops regular season is an exercise in figuring out how to fill out your bracket.)

*NBA: Three months ago, a Sunday double-header of Heat-Celtics and Thunder-Lakers seemed so terrific. Today? Meh. There are two teams total in the NBA -- Miami and OKC -- with a legitimate chance of winning the championship. (Maybe, as always, San Antonio.) Everyone else is playing to make things interesting. (Like my Wiz! How 'bout that! There is nothing more awkward than Wizards fan triumphalism.)

-- D.S.

1/26 (Catch-Up) Quickie

Unclear that I've ever gone this many days without writing here -- it's been one of those weeks -- but I guess the week before the week before the Super Bowl is a pretty light week anyway. So: What'd I miss?

*Best thing last night: A Heat fan hitting a half-court hook shot to win $75,000 -- and LeBron mobbing the guy with as much sincere joy as you would ever see from a superstar athlete.

*No charges for Crabtree: Suspect it might come up at Super Bowl Media Day, though.

*Azarenka wins Aussie Open: Back-to-back. Still wish it was Serena.

*So Te'o talks with Katie Couric and Tuiasosopo talks with... Dr. Phil?

*Hey, the Lakers didn't lose. That's a start.

*NBA All-Star Reserves: Excited for Joakim Noah, a first-time All-Star. The most notable snubs were Brook Lopez and Steph Curry. Kyrie Irving being picked for the first time feels like the start of a decade-long run as an All-Star (even if he won't ever win the fan vote over Derrick Rose).

*So this whole "Andy Murray is for real" is... for real?

*Nothing symbolizes some sports media's "mall cop" relationship to the NCAA like this Shabazz Muhammad "Gucci backpack" situation. His family gave it to him, says the school.

*Will A-Rod miss the entire MLB season? I don't think the Yankees will miss him -- at least in whatever limited capacity he would be in, even if he could play. Cutting that paycheck will sting a bit.

*Would you give Darrelle Revis a monster contract? I wouldn't.

*Tiger is in the lead. I'll always contend it is more interesting when he struggles, but it is clearly more popular when he is not.

*Most intriguing college hoops game of the day/weekend: Louisville at Georgetown (Noon, ESPN)

*Do you enjoy watching the ads during the Super Bowl? Of course you do. USA TODAY has opened up its famous "Ad Meter" panel to anyone who wants to join, so if you're interested, sign up here, then get ready to rate the ads on Super Bowl Sunday (including picking the winner).

-- D.S.

1/21 (Harbaugh Bowl) Quickie

The Harbaugh Bowl. "Super Bro I." The beat-you-over-the-head storyline for the Super Bowl is clear -- the match-up of brothers John and Jim Harbaugh.

It seems innocuous enough now, but just wait until next week, when it will be over-the-top.

That said: It is an INCREDIBLE storyline, arguably the greatest individual storyline in Super Bowl history. (What: You thought I'd say Jerome Bettis' Detroit homecoming?)

As someone who grew up with a younger brother and as a father to brothers who couldn't be more tight-knit, I welcome the crushing overexposure of the Harbaugh Bowl.

More:

*Patriots schadenfreude: The reality is that there isn't an individual team whose non-championship conclusion to the season brings out the schadenfreude like the Patriots. In part, that's a testament to them -- we just presume that they will win the Super Bowl, to avoid the disappointment if they do... and to maximize the glee when they don't. As someone without a die-hard NFL team allegiance, "when the Pats get knocked out of the playoffs" is annually my NFL season highlight.

*What next for the Falcons: Let's be clear -- it was "Super Bowl or bust" for Atlanta, so consider their season a bust, compounded by giving up a 17-0 lead at home (a week after giving up a 20-0 lead at home and only getting through because Pete Carroll got cutesy with the ice-the-kicker thing). Unsure what happens for them next, aside from another season of regular-season superiority, followed by the inevitable playoff knockout.

*Super Bowl pick: 49ers over Ravens, although at this point it's pick-against-Baltimore at your peril.

*Manti Te'o Watch: I would like there to be more sensational details, but in the end, it sure seems like the story comes down to Te'o getting hoaxed, then being so traumatized by it that he couldn't figure out how to surface the story publicly. With the Couric interview, you can already tell that the Te'o family is planning to make a very big deal out of becoming the poster family for online awareness of scams and hoaxes (and it's a very smart strategy, one that you hope is moderately sincere.)

*Sacramento Kings are headed to Seattle to become the Sonics: On the one hand, I am thrilled for my friends in Seattle who were hurt so badly when the Sonics left for OKC. On the other hand, they are doing to Sacramento exactly what was done to them, and simply acknowledging that irony probably isn't enough. Sacto IS the Kings -- Seattle has plenty of other sports teams. I just hope that the city can one day bring back an NBA franchise. Otherwise, today is a day for lamenting a devoted fan base losing their team, not celebrating the return of the NBA to Seattle (a city that deserves an NBA team, btw.)

*Enjoy your Inauguration Day/MLK Day. Both are always a special day in America.

-- D.S.

1/17 (Te'o, Cont'd) Quickie

Let's review: This is the strangest sports story I can remember -- it makes the first day of Tiger's scandal look buttoned-up.

Here's where I net out, at least for the moment:

*I do believe that Te'o GOT hoaxed, mostly because it is unfathomable to me that Notre Dame -- an institution that knows a thing or two about paving over scandals -- would get behind this in the way that they did if they thought they could get hung out to dry.

*I think that there was still some deception involved on Te'o's part, and we'll get more details about that as this unravels. After he found out he was hoaxed, I don't blame him for wanting to cover it up, rather than make an announcement about it, but he clearly was ready to let the world continue believing the myth-defining g/f story in the absence of the news coming out.

*There are some incredible peculiarities that might make a conspiracy theorist think that it wasn't quite the "he's 100% the victim here" situation -- namely, that he would have a multi-year (seemingly romantic) relationship with someone and not just never see them in person, but never even get on Skype? How about the origin story reported in the South Bend Tribune?

There is NO way that it is as neat-and-tidy as Notre Dame has presented it.

It is the understatement of the sports year to say "Tracking..."

-- D.S.

1/16 (Te'o) Quickie

OK, this Manti Te'o story broken by Deadspin is the craziest sports story I've read in years. If you haven't, read it now. If you have, you're probably like me: Gobsmacked.

(Chip Kelly to the Eagles? OK. Great move. I'm a huge Kelly fan and will bet on him adapting his Oregon system to the NFL -- as if Bill Belichick already hadn't?)

-- D.S.

01/15 (Lance) Quickie

I have pretty low expectations for what Lance told Oprah, except to the extent that he has outed himself as a liar, which bothers me a lot more than the cheating, which was endemic to the sport.

He built his entire brand on lies -- look, if anyone battling cancer took strength from Lance or the LiveStrong movement, I absolutely hope that happened. Thankfully, LiveStrong became way bigger than Lance Armstrong.

But Lance's lies hurt people -- how about the folks who tried to blow the whistle on him who he sought to destroy? How about the money he took from sponsors (and taxpayers)? How about the money he won in a libel case against a newspaper?

I buy into the theory that, more than anything, Lance is sorry he got caught. He is sorry his empire crashed around him. He is sorry that he lost his standing.

I will have to watch the Oprah interview -- again: low expectations -- but I doubt he is sorry that he engaged in a decade of lying about everything.

It is as close to a Quickie truism as we have: It is always the cover-up and rarely the crime.

More:

*USA TODAY Sports is doing a 30th anniversary of the All-USA high school football team, and what stands out more than anything is that the first-team QBs through the years... have been uniformly mediocre. When wrapping together HS, college and pro careers, the all-time All-USA QB was... Jeff George.

Seriously: I went over to our archives of the All-USA teams and looked for myself -- and it really was the best pick. (Frankly, Joe Mauer probably should have gotten it, given his "pro" success... albeit not in football.)

It is a testament to just how iffy high school recruiting is -- how dependent the player is on where they end up, who their coaches are, even what kind of system they played in high school. For what it's worth, the All-USA hoops picks were largely excellent, relative to how the players turned out in college and/or the NBA.

*With the exception of Colin Kaepernick, there is no more must-see athlete whose team is active in sports today than Kevin Durant.

*As discussed yesterday, I couldn't care less who is ranked No. 1 in college basketball -- all that matters is how you do in the NCAA Tournament. To that point, the newest No. 1, Louisville, sure looks like one of a handful of teams with a legit shot at winning it all. (My short list: L'ville, Duke, Florida, Kansas, Indiana and, possibly, VCU. Common factor? All are Top 10 in KenPom's Adjusted Defensive Efficiency rating.)

*Chargers hire Broncos O.C. Mike McCoy: Yeah, he did some interesting things with Tim Tebow last year, but the success of the Broncos' offense this year was Manning, not McCoy. But anything is better than Norv Turner at this point.

*How 'bout my Wizards?!

-- D.S.

01/14 (Last Four) Quickie

Remember back in the day when "instant history" was sort of mocked? Now, we get claims like you're seeing all over today: That was the best NFL Divisional Playoffs round ever.

(And it was.)

Five thoughts, coming off the weekend:

*The weekend's biggest winner was Tim Tebow.

*Pete Carroll's bone-headed ice-the-kicker move was the single-dumbest coaching decision of the season.

*Yes, seeing Ray Lewis and Tony Gonzalez extend their first-ballot Hall of Fame careers one more game is kind of awesome.

*It's impossible not to love watching Colin Kaepernick.

*"Oh, well: We'll be back!" is idiotic rationalization. (Looking at you, Seattle pundits.)

Looking ahead: The 49ers are going to thump the just-happy-to-be-here Falcons, and the Patriots are going to thump the Ravens, because that's Baltimore's m.o.: An improbable early-round win followed by a loss in the conference title game. 49ers-Pats will be one of the most-watched Super Bowls ever.

More:

*Who is No. 1 in college basketball? Who cares? No poll means less than college basketball's. What Duke's loss signified is that, as usual, the Blue Devils can fold when facing a team that wants it more.

(UPDATE: A rebuttal from reader T.M., who appropriately calls me out for lazy punditry due to my anti-Duke bias: "Duke was without Ryan Kelly, a critical piece to their success this year...he's got the same foot injury that kept him out of the ACC and NCAA tournaments last year and resulted in Duke's first round loss to Lehigh. Without Kelly, the game was still up for grabs until the final minute. And it was at NC State, who if you recall was the preseason pick to win the ACC. I don't think the game was any kind of referendum on 'who wanted it more', and to say it was is basically saying that Duke didn't care enough, and moreover ("as usual"), doesn't care enough on a regular basis. You know better than that Dan...I know you respect Coach K, and to imply that the reason Duke didn't win Saturday was because his team didn't want to win that game as much as NCSU is pretty offensive." Fair point, T.M.!)

*The Lakers are off the schneid: Not as good as they should be, not as bad as everyone thinks they are.

*Lance talks to Oprah today: If you think he'll be offering a full confessional, you don't know Lance. I'm fully expecting McGwire-style "I'm not here to talk about the past" evasion of actual details or taking full responsiblity, mostly because Lance is on the hook, both with lawsuits and with the Feds. You can only hope that Oprah digs in a little bit.

*Super Bowl ads: Have you registered to be a USA TODAY Ad Meter panelist yet? Do it now. (Just click here, then look for the "Be a Panelist" link.

-- D.S.