Random...

My apologies for the shortness of this. I've been sick for a week.

• On Tuesday, the Florida Panthers shut-out the Toronto Maple Leafs, 8-0. There are a few things wrong with this. First of all, Florida should not be shutting out Toronto in hockey. There's something oddly disconcerting about "Florida" and "Hockey" in the same sentence, anyway. Second, at what point does the Maple Leafs' coach start looking into the stands and wondering, "Hmm...I should see if that kid wants to play the next shift?" Third, did the Panthers do anything different in the third period? In football, when one team takes a dominating lead, the back-ups are put in (knowing that if things start gonig awry, the starters will come back in the game). Even back in December when Minnesota Wild Marian Gaborik scored his five goals in a single game, the Wild won by 3 goals. At times, the Wild teammates would forego a good shot to pass the puck to Gaby, to give him another goal. If you ever wanted a chance to try stuff out in a game situation, I think after the fourth goal would be the time. Finally, while I appreciate the patriotism of choosing the name "Maple Leaf" for a team, "leaves" is the plural of "leaf". I also understand not exactly wanting to call a sports team "Leaves". Maybe they should've stuck with "Maples".
  
• Don't look now, but while we weren't looking, the Timberwolves managed to win *five* whole games. I think they even had a two-game winning streak! In their last five games they've gone 5-5, which seems mediocre to most teams, but c'mon! The Wolves record improved to 10-37, which is a .213 win percentage. And that's not the lowest in the NBA. The Miami Heat are a lowely 9-38, for a .191 win percentage. I'll try to remember to keep you posted on this heavily contested battle of "Who's Worst" in the NBA.
  
• Wasn't it a Fairy Tale ending for the NFL season? Isn't it great that I could've written that line a week ago, and you'd never know? Frankly, I'm pleased with the Giants winning. The Red Sox won the World Series, for the second time in the 2000s, and Boston fans were becoming insufferable. Hopefully, this gives them a little humility. Plus, I really like that it was brothers leading their teams to the Super Bowl in consecutive years. I was sick last weekend, so I can't give you any commentary about the game, other than there was little scoring in the first half, and a lot more in the second half.
  
  
• Pitchers and Catchers report in a couple of weeks. That's very exciting. At some point, I'll have to discuss the potential starting rotation for the Twins. Of the nine guys I listed on November 15, six remain. That seems like enough to pick five starting pitchers from, however there are a few new names to add to the mix.

Well, that's all folks. Keep warm, safe, and healthy.