My Top 7 Sonnies/Sunnies

7.  Sonny Jurgenson, a good quarterback

6. Sunny von Bulow, a good wife (to a bad husband)

5.  Sonny Bono, a good father

4.  Sonny Liston, a good fighter

3.  Sunny Skylar, a good songwriter

2.  Sonny Corleone, a good brother

1. Sonny, a good character from Paul Simon's "The Obvious Child" (from Rhythm of the Saints)

   

MY Super Bowl Half-time Show!

With the Super Bowl just a few days away, I was thinking about a half-time show that I'd want to see (i.e., NOT the Black Eyed Peas, or the Rolling Stones, or Janet Jackson, or the Who...)

No, I'd want one that, since the big games in Dallas, is a Texas-/cowboy-themed half-time show!  And, sure, some of these folks are dead, but that shouldn't stop Jerry Jones!

John Wayne (True Grit clip)

Dean Martin ("Houston")

George Strait ("All My Exes Live in Texas")

Emily Dickinson ("Yellow Rose of Texas")

Tanya Tucker ("When I Die")

John Denver ("I'd Rather Be a Cowboy")

Julie Andrews/Carol Burnett ("Big D")

And, as far as a prediction of the game goes, as much as I'd like the Packers to win (ya gotta love Bart Starr and Vince Lombardi, after all!), I just don't see how anyone can bet against the Steelers. 

Pittsburgh 24, Green Bay 17

Why the Cincinnati Bengals and three other teams were correct to vote against the new NFL Playoff overtime rule

1. The new rule is only for the playoffs not the regular season. What sport in its right mind changes the rules depending on when in the season the game is played? (Oh, that's right, Major League Baseball uses that stupid DH rule differently in the post-season...well, QED!)

2. No, it's not unfair that both sides do not automatically get a shot at being on offense in overtime. Each team has already had 60 minutes to win the game and couldn't. And now one of them is unlucky enough to lose a coin toss too? Tough.

3. Why is any way to score considered "cheap"? A field goal is no cheaper than a touchdown or a safety or even a point-after-touchdown? They are all legitimate ways of scoring in football, so each should be good enough to win.

Well, as long as the future recruits' parents ignore the murder-outside-a-campus-dance part

From today's Hartford Courant's "On the Fly" column by John Altavilla:

"[University of Connecticut football coach] Randy Edsall's pregame interview with NBC's Alex Flanagan was the most important recruiting pitch he'll ever give, but no less significant than the halftime feature on Jazz Howard's death, which bathed campus, coach, and program in a most favorable light for future recruits."

Random Thoughts on the NFL

1. While my Cincinnati Bengals are 4-1 (and would be 5-0 if not for a fluke last minute deflection in Game 1) and atop the AFC North, it's way too early to get too excited. Is this a good place to be? Definitely. Can we stay there? Sure. Will it be easy (with both the Super Bowl Champ Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens in the same division)? No. Be happy, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

(PS: Many many thanks, Raven Ray Lewis, for those anti-officiating comments after last week's games, those plus your overly eager defensive play in the last two minutes this week definitely helped the "Cardiac Cats" win again!)

2. NFL (and, I guess, more specifically, AFC), please decide what uniforms your teams should wear because I'm just gettin' confused. I LOVED what the Broncos were wearing yesterday, but the constant use of these throwback unis are beginning to be too much.

Which leads me to this question...

3) Are more women having mammograms now that every football player seems to be wearing some pink accent on his uniform? Raising awareness is a good thing, but if it's ubiquitous it ceases to be effective. (And I'm not against the color pink: my favorite blazer of all time was a pink Palm Beach blazer circa 1986...SNAZZY)