While the fine folks in Beverly Hills fish out their pearls and gold-plated pencils from the Brazilian Brew they were sipping , post-earthquake, the world of all-things-sporty moves on. With so much to report and so little time, things can be overlooked, missed and often not paid attention too. Hogwash! By the power of the notepad and comfort of every man’s thinking-chair, nothing get’s tossed before the party actually starts in the office of the Couch Journalist.

Besides, a little shake in the morning is nothing more than dancing while you snooze!

These are  notes from the can…

NCAA would have put a game on CNN if Anderson would allow it

– Now that Fox has snagged Erin Andrews, and a deal to show college football, mixed with ESPN, ABC, NBC and CBS, the chance of missing a game is difficult. Really difficult. At one point on Saturday there were 9 games playing on tube-time at the same time. Holy pigskin! Now, any fan will argue this is a plus, not a problem, however, the need to show any and every game in the stratosphere of NCAA for the sake of cash, cash and more cash is silly. Eventually, the level of games, competitively speaking, will make this idea work and fans will love the extra programming. Or not? The problem is this the NCAA, not the NFL; there are only a few match-ups worthy of viewing on any given week. For every major game covered – which will be by the networks that have deals with those conferences – there will be other networks left covering the not-so-great games of the day. That’s straight science. Consequently, while CBS is showing an S.E.C. game, Fox, and its’ 900 affiliates, will be stuck showing repeats of Rutgers v. Tulane…again. Put that in your Bethune Cookman! (It’s a school in Florida.. Google it.)

The Energizer Bunny known better as Andy Roddick.

-The experts covering the U.S. Open won’t say it, but I will – No one expected Andy Roddick to get this far in his farewell tournament. No one. Besides his camp, including Mrs. Decker-Roddick, the writing on the wall for Andy after his announcement was clear and time-stamped, and completely understood. Most of the tennis world watched his match-up with Bernard Tomic expecting the young Australian to flip, spin and slice his way around the court, thus exploiting Roddick’s inability to succeed in rally-tennis. Well, hold the stop watch because we were all wrong. Roddick swept Tomic off the court like an injured moth in the New York night, then followed up with a win over Fabio Fognini. His serve is massive, his groundstrokes are just good enough to keep winning. And, he is. He now has to face a tough opponent in Del Potro, but the wagon is beginning to fill, and fans, experts and the causual-perusers have faith in good ole’ Andy once more. He has never lost a fourth-round match at New York, and now many believe he may keep that achievement.

Quick Fix

You have to see it live. That is the general reasoning I have pitched to sports enthusiasts about the WNBA for several years. The time-out extravaganza’s are worth the ticket admission, alone. Twenty-second time-outs turn into twenty-second mini circuses; dancing, t-shirt-shooting cannons, sing-a-longs, the works! It is awesome. However, not many people have listened, so it is time for the WNBA to re-think their show. Perhaps if the players wore roller skates the game would be a little more interesting? I think so. Mix that in with the time-out shows and you have a wining strategy: Must-see-T.V.

Your wildest fantasy

It’s that time of the year, again, and the all-knowing, that know nothing usually, have drafted, re-thought and re-built what they think is the perfect team: The NFL Fantasy Team. Jerry’s Pigeons, The Steelers Express, The Cocaine Bengals, Tom Brady’s Jock Supporter; The great names of the Fantasy League are out and in full force’ness. Excitement, for sure, then a conundrum, for absolute certainty. The main wrap on fantasy teams is that it gives a true fan the worst case of guilty conscious, ever. Imagine the difficulty  when a Cowboys fan watches the game against the Giants this Wednesday, a true hated-rivalry in the same division. Never in any person’s wildest dream, that dawns the Star of Texas on their sleeve, would there be reason to root for the Giants. Enter fantasy. What if their fantasy quarterback happens to be one Eli Manning? Hmmmm! Difficult reasoning, to say the least. That’s what makes fantasy so difficult and, well, goofy. That scenario will be like eating potato chips next to a sleeping baby. You want to do it, but you have to keep quiet or the baby may notice you’re doing something annoying and wrong, then go bonkers. Chew softly, or root softly in this case, o’ fantasy owners, it’s a long season and there are plenty of chips out there.

Question Break.

Why are other athletes compared to other athletes and called, “The poor man’s version?” Rick Reed was the “poor man’s” Greg Maddux; Grigor Dimitrov is the “poor man’s” Roger Federer; For the sake of looks, Chipper Jones is called the “poor man’s” Tom Brady. It doesn’t make any sense – especially the last one. I checked my monetary facts, and none of these guys are poor. At all. A “poor man’s” version of Greg Maddux would be your drunk Uncle Bobby that can throw a good two-seam fastball at the family picnic without spilling his Jack n’ Coke, then ask your sister for twenty bucks.

Colleague of the week – Rachel Nichols

Stop before you start. I’m not talking about the one from, “Dumb and Dumberer.” The Rachel Nichols that deserves some street cred is the sassy reporting stud for ESPN. Long known as, “Brett Favre’s Shadow,” Nichols has kept up her reporting tactics and already landed a few reports on the new NFL season. Rest assured, the report may be about an indoor-team, but Nichols will be standing in some open practice-field in the boonies with a rusted field-goal post in the background. I’m Rachel Nichols, E.S…………..P.N. Keep up the good work.

And finally, the finally! Predictions of the week.

The Cowboys have too many lacerated spleens and Tony Romo’s to keep pace with the defending Super Bowl Champ’s. The Giants defense looked strong this pre-season, and experts have said the offense has been one of the more impressive. You will get wins this year, Jerry, but not on the opener. Dallas 17 , Giants 31.

Booby Valentine will be taking a separate flight from Seattle. Both, the owner and G.M. are flying to Seattle, currently, to meet with the Red Sox and their troubled Manager. While there has not been a “kiss of death” just yet, the cross-country flight by Sox ownership is not intended to only pick up some coffee. They are going with a purpose – To fire Bobby V.

That’s all I got. My beer is getting warm and the rib roast needs turning.

Until next time, be sure to follow the Couch Journalist on twitter @from_the_can.

FLUSH!

The Couch Journalist