General: Christmas cards

Christmas is a time of giving and sharing. It is a time to be with the ones you love and give thanks for their presence in your life.

So, keeping true to form, I will do none of this. These are my Christmas cards and I call 'em the way I see 'em.

To my beloved Red Sox... People say you guys will stink in '03 because of your new GM Theo Epstein. This is totally off-base. You guys will stink because you have no talent left. Sure you came in a close third to the Angels, but would you have won the World Series? I think not. Nomar (Garciaparra) is no longer the prodigy we thought him to be, Pedro (Martinez) has lost his luster and could be dealt by season's end, Manny (Ramirez) hates Boston with a passion hotter than a Miami heat wave. Grady Little has the charisma of a tree stump with the baseball intelligence to match. But don't worry boys, the fans will always love you for the first half of the season until they realize that you are all Boston Red Sox, and Red Sox don't come through in the clutch.

To the New England Patriots... I still love you guys even though you aren't the best team in the league anymore. Come playoff time you will make the AFC championship game only to lose to the best team in football right now, the Miami Dolphins.

To Drew Bledsoe... I still love you. I love the way you got destroyed by Mo Lewis last season. I love the way you didn't fight the system when Tom Brady took your job. I love the way you lost at home in your reunion game with the Pats. I love the way you played a dismal game (four interceptions and two sacks last week) allowing the streaky Patriots to keep playoff hopes alive. But most of all, buddy, 'ol pal, I love the way you are still the best quarterback in the league, and I don't care what anyone says.

To Tampa Bay Buccaneers' lineman Warren Sapp... Nice hit. Need I say more?

To Pete Rose... You should be in the Hall of Fame. Yes, you screwed up, but you should have been in a long time ago. But, you were stubborn. You were pig headed. You were, well, a typical guy. So now that Bud Selig might finally find it in his heart to let you back into the game don't let it go to your head. You were bound to get in at some point. Just be thankful you aren't dead.

To the NFL... Since the strikes in basketball, hockey, and baseball you guys have done everything right. You have kept tickets to a decent price. You don't bicker about dumb problems (Randy Moss excluded). You don't have contract arguments. When arguably the best player in the AFC got traded for a first round draft pick he did not whine and cry. He spent over $50,000 in advertisements thanking the fans for their support. That's the way a league should be run and that's the way players should act.

To the NCAA... A few things need to be done before the next football season. Get rid of the BCS or at least revamp it. And if it is altered, do us all a favor and leave the New York Times out of it. They are not a sports publication and they never have been. What other newspaper had Notre Dame ranked No. 1 even after their loss to Boston College? That's just plain stupid. Sure the Irish are my team of choice, but after that performance they had about as much a right to the top spot as Pete Carroll has to an NFL coaching job. And another thing, don't give the Heisman to anyone other than Carson Palmer or Larry Johnson. Willis McGahee is a freakin sophomore! No one has accomplished enough to win the award at the age of 20. You could possibly give it to Brad Banks, but no one knows who he is, and maybe even Ken Dorsey deserves it since he was favored last year. But, why give it to him, the Hurricanes are going to runaway with another national title and I hear Dorsey's trophy room is pretty much full.

To sports fans everywhere... Thank you. Than you for sitting down and watching the sports you love for hours on end. Thank you for reading everything you possibly can about your favorite teams. Thanks for giving schmucks like me a job. A word of advice this holiday season... don't forget those that mean the most. No I'm not talking about the free agents on the market or the head-to-head matchups for next week's NFL games. Don't forget your families. Give the fantasy teams a rest for a few days, they will be there when you get back. Put the clicker down on Christmas morning and watch the kids open their presents. Make sure they know that in the long run they are more important than playoff runs, wild card races and BCS polls. I'll be with the ones I love on Christmas and the farthest thing from my mind will be the spread in the Pats' playoff game or the latest news from the baseball winter meetings.

So from me to you, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I'll see you all next year.