No one at the wheel

If Al Davis and Jerry Jones are at Cowboys Stadium, who's running hell?

Johnson deserves the sports world's respect

Jimmie Johnson will officially pick up his fourth straight NASCAR Cup title when the Sprint Cup series comes to a close at Homestead Sunday.

Winning consecutive championships is hard enough, but winning four in a row is an amazing feat.

So why isn’t anyone making a fuss over Johnson’s reign?

NASCAR, despite breaking into the mainstream in the past 15 years, is still considered a secondary sport when compared to football, baseball and basketball – especially with sports bettors. But we haven’t seen anything close to Johnson’s consistent excellence in any of those sports.

The only other active athletes that compare to the No. 48 in terms of winning in their respective sports are names like Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Michael Phelps – household names that will go down in history among the greatest athletes ever.

A lot of people discount Johnson – and all motor sports - because they think the car does all the work. Those doubters have never been to a NASCAR race or held onto the steering wheel of a vehicle going upwards of 200 miles per hour. And if they have, they've never been just inches from other cars in front, to the sides and in the rear.

As the New Year gets closer and we wave goodbye to the aughts, there will be plenty of Top 10 lists for the decade being compiled. And if Johnson's name isn’t among the Top 5 Best Athletes of the Last 10 Years, it’s a crime.

Following LeBron may cost you the shirt off your back

There are a lot of pissed off Cleveland Cavaliers fans out there. And all that animosity is directed toward reigning NBA MVP LeBron James.

No, it’s not the LeBron-to-Los Angeles rumors or the red carpet awaiting him in New York. It’s the fact that Cavs fans might have to shell out another $50-plus for a James jersey next year – depending on if the All-Star sticks around.

The Chosen One told TNT Thursday that he is switching his jersey number from 23 to 6 at the end of this year in honor of Michael Jordan and all the Hall of Famer has done for the game of basketball.

"He can't get the logo [Hall of Famer Jerry West's silhouette adorns the NBA's logo], and if he can't, something has to be done. I feel like no NBA player should wear 23. I'm starting a petition, and I've got to get everyone in the NBA to sign it. Now, if I'm not going to wear No. 23, then nobody else should be able to wear it."

According to ESPN, there are currently 12 other players sporting 23 on their backs this season. Some notables included Marcus Camby, Jason Richardson and Kevin Martin.

We’ve seen players make the jersey jump in recent years including Kobe Bryant, who went from No. 8 to No. 24, which was his high school jersey number.

Even MJ did the switch when he came out of retirement the first time, wearing No. 45 instead so that his father, who was murdered the following offseason would have seen his son’s last game in the No. 23 Bulls jersey. Jordan eventual... [More]

Cowboys are contenders

There's always a lot of chatter surrounding the Dallas Cowboys. You can add Super Bowl talk to that roaring chorus.

The Cowboys just walked into the Philadelphia and took control of the NFC East with a hard-fought 20-16 win over the Eagles. Dallas has now won four straight games and has done so with what many considered to be its biggest weaknesses.

The questionable secondary has been anything but in recent weeks. The Cowboys pass rush is helping keep things breezy for the defensive backfield, which picked off Donovan McNabb twice in Sunday night's victory.

The other so-called weakness was the Dallas' pass attack, which hung over 300 yards on the Eagles ninth-ranked pass defense. Tony Romo is playing the best football of his short career and should be considered among MVP candidates this season.

Not only does the win over Philadelphia put them on top of the division, it is also a building block. The Cowboys do have ho-hum wins over teams like Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Seattle. But taking a win from the Eagles – in Lincoln Financial is no easy task for even the elite NFL clubs.

The big, prime-time victory on the road is something that has eluded Dallas squads of the past. The Cowboys are always considered among the best teams “on paper” just about every season. Now, with this W in their win column, they are among the best teams on the field.

Dallas has another tough test on the road next week, heading to Lambeau Field. Then has ... [More]

Figuring Fedor's future

Where do we go from here?

Fedor Emelianenko, like Vegas odds predicted, scored a victory over Brett Rogers at Strikeforce's prime-time event on CBS Saturday night.

Early in the second round, he landed a thunderous right hand that floored the bigger Rogers and finished him off with strikes on the ground, forcing referee John McCarthy to stop the fight. But up until that split-second shot, a lot of MMA experts would have scored the first round to Rogers.

The American began the fight with a snap jab which broke Emelianenko's nose and then took the fight to the ground, landing punches on the bloodied Russian. Rogers also showed some solid defense, using his brute strength to slip out of would-be arm bars and kimuras.

The rematch talk was thrown around during the post-fight interviews, but is that what mixed martial arts fans really want to see?

Emelianenko still has two fights left on his contract with Strikeforce and, pending a rematch with Rogers, will be fed a couple more tomato cans.

He's 33 years old and appears to be on the decline. He looked soft and fatter Saturday than I have ever seen. He's never been the model physic but it looks like he was hitting the buffet more than the gym.

And how motivated can you be to train for guys who were changing tires at Sam's Club a year before stepping into the cage with you?

Eventually, one of two things will happen:

Fedor's slumming eventually catches up with him. W... [More]