Watch CBS News

Sports Agenda for Wednesday (2/8/12)

Big Story:
The Heat beat Cleveland again, yawn. Plus, the Panthers imitation of the 2011 Florida Marlins is almost complete; remembering Ricky; and everything else that's fit to write about sports.
My name is humpty, pronounced with an umpty.
Here we go!

Heat: (@ Orlando Magic, 7:00 p.m., Sun Sports)
Well, the Heat had another snoozer last night as they routed the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I do like Kyrie Irving, but he's on a team of stiffs.
When Antawn Jamison is your top scorer, yeah, you might have a little problem.
But their owner writes his memos in Comic Sans, so they've got that going for them.
As for the Heat, they begin a road trip from you know where today.
They start in Orlando, with a battle against the Magic.
After playing the team twice in the preseason, this is the first regular season matchup.
I'm still concerned about Shane Battier, and think he should be the second wing man off the bench after Mike Miller.
Gotta love Udonis and Miller last night. They combined for 22 points and 17 rebounds.
LeBron and D-Wade led the way with 24 and 26 respectively, but the Heat had a total of 5 players in double-figures.
Now they come to face an Orlando team that is on the verge of quitting.
Orlando has been a mess and will be a mess as long as the Dwight Howard saga continues to hang over them.
The Magic are 3-5 over their last 8 games and some of those games saw them score a total of 67 and 69 points.
Ouch.
Now they play one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.
Yikes.
I think the Heat should have no problems disposing of the Magic tonight, even if it's on the road.
It's just not a quality team until they finally remove the Dwight Howard question from the equation.
They should just trade him and get something for him, get it over with, it might work out better for you…ask the Nuggets!
For the Heat, I still am concerned something isn't right with Battier, but he's a grizzled veteran who should snap out of it….I hope.
If he ever gets his head on straight, look out.
I also want to see more of the Big Five on the floor in crunch time.
There's no one in the league that can matchup with LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Miller, and Haslem on the court at the same time.
Zero. No one.
The more they get used to it now, the better it will be come playoff time.

Panthers: (off Wednesday, next game Thursday vs. Kings)
Guh.
Ouch.
FAIL.
All of those fit the Florida Panthers' effort last night to stay in first place.
The Cats got skunked by the Washington Capitals and fell not only out of first place in the Southeast Division, but also out of the playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference.
Sadly, with sports, it's all about peaking at the right time.
The Panthers peaked before the calendar turned over…that's not good.
Much like the Marlins last year, they had an awful month in January and haven't recovered yet in February.
They need to win 2 of 3 this weekend to keep pace with the Capitals.
And you know Tomas Vokoun had to laugh last night….he beat his old team with a shutout and knocked them out of the playoff race…while the guy who was supposed to replace him, Jose Theodore, sat on the bench injured.
Vokoun 1, Dale Hatcher, 0.
The Panthers had better right this ship in a hurry, or they will be on the outside looking in again with the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But, at least they've stayed in it this long, which is more than I can honestly say I was expecting.

Kobe Bryant:
Monday, Kobe passed Shaquille O'Neal on the all-time scoring list and some people are arguing that he's the greatest Los Angles Laker ever.
Really? REALLY?
Are you nuts?
Look, he's good, but anyone who wouldn't take Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Magic Johnson over him is just plain crazy.
Kareem's longevity and Magic's versatility are all far superior to Kobe's scoring prowess.
Kobe is a scorer pure and simple, but unlike Kareem and Magic, he can't power a team to the Finals almost by himself.
They said Kobe won without Shaq….not without Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum he didn't.
Why?
Because Kobe's a scorer and a ball-stopper. He's not a true basketball player that can do all the little things well.
He doesn't make his teammates better and he's a one-trick pony when it comes to offense.
Seriously, take away Pau Gasol and how many championships does Kobe win on his own? ZERO!
So don't come at me with he's the greatest Laker ever.
And memo to Tim Legler of ESPN….Kareem is your fourth best Laker ever? Your arguments on anything are now rendered invalid due to stupidity.

Ricky Williams:
Ah, poor Ricky.
He was always misunderstood.
I think he's one of the most fascinating players and people in football and many, if I were a cornerback and I saw him rumbling around the corner in his prime, I'd be pulling a Deion Sanders and saying ole on the tackle!
He was a beast of a runner, who I think was a person playing football, not necessarily a football player, if you can follow.
He played football as a job, but it wasn't his whole life.
I think that's what made people mad. But, in life, when you realize that a job is not the end all be all and instead a means to an end, you'll be a lot happier.
I think Ricky was a lot happier…course the pot probably helped too.

Yoenis Cespedes:
Well, the Marlins are supposed to meet with the Cuban defector Wednesday.
He is reportedly close to being able to sign with a team.
A center fielder in Cuba, I don't think he makes a major league roster and instead will start in the minors.
Plus, I'm not sure he's worth it.
Against decent competition in the Dominican Republic winter league, he hit .135…yikes.
I've been wrong before, but not often! HA.
Still, he'd be a marketing dream for the Fish….former Cuban star playing in Miami for the Marlins after defecting….ka-ching!
And trust me, that's the only thing the Marlins are thinking right now.

Finally, happy trails to Chauncey Billups…the L.A. Clippers point guard tore his Achilles tendon (ouch) and is out for the season.
Too bad for him and it's even worse for the Clippers who have zero depth past their impressive starting lineup.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.