February 22nd 2010: Daily Sports News – Gossip – Headlines

Monday’s Water Cooler – February 22, 2010

Here we go with today’s sports water cooler talk. Here, you won’t just find the straight news; you’ll find the stuff everyone is talking about – the ice breakers, the Twitter Sports Picks and topics…well, basically all the stuff you discuss at the water cooler.

Enjoy!

NBA All-Stars keep dropping like flies and major changes could be on the horizon for some struggling teams. We’ll kick off today’s sports news with the hardwood.

How dare I abandon y’all in the middle of the Olympics? My hiatus is over and there’s so much news to discuss. Time to get back on the horse.

Olympics news: U.S. upsets Canada in hockey: Bode Miller finally gets gold

The Americans had already established the 2010 Winter Olympics as a Games to remember over the last week. Now, Team USA is taking its success to an even higher level. It stunned Team Canada 5-3 in men’s hockey Sunday night, anchored by Brian Rafalski’s two goals and a virtuoso performance by Ryan Miller in goal. Miller stopped 42 shots on the eve of the Miracle on Ice’s 30^th anniversary; pretty fitting.

On the slopes, Bode Miller fought all the way back from 2006 disappointment (and almost retiring) to win his first career gold medal. He took the men’s super combined by 0.33 seconds over Croatian Ivica Kostelic.

The Olympics aren’t going quite as well for Belarus, which trials the U.S. 24-2 in the medal standings. One of their hockey players, NHLer Mikhail Grabovski, was arrested early Saturday morning during an “altercation” and released to his parents. To his parents. Let me say that one more time: TO HIS PARENTS.

NBA news: Jazz rally from 25-point deficit to shock Blazers

A lot of people say no lead is safe in the NBA and, more often than not, those people are right. The Utah Jazz, usually known more for their stellar home play than for their road efforts, rallied from down 25 points in the third quarter to beat Portland 93-89 in overtime on Sunday night at the Rose Garden. Carlos Boozer was a huge factor, chipping in 22 points and a career-high 23 boards as the Jazz outscored Portland 44-19 over the final 19 minutes of regulation.

After a busy week on the NBA trade front, could Zydrunas Ilgauskas be headed back to Cleveland soon? The Cavs could certainly use their long-time center, as they’ve lost three straight. Ilgauskas went to Washington along with a first-round draft pick in the deal that sent Antawn Jamison to Cleveland. Now, after the Wizards are reportedly a day or two away from buying Ilgauskas out, rumors are circling that he’ll return to the Cleveland after the necessary 30-day waiting period. But there’s a problem: the NBA has the power to block that deal if it believes it was prearranged for Ilgauskas to return to Cleveland. Stay tuned.

NFL news: Randy Moss candid about plans to leave New England

After several years of surprisingly good behaviour, I suppose Randy Moss had almost earned the right to do something dumb. He exercised that right during a charity softball game on Saturday. He openly stated that he believes 2010 will be his last season as a New England Patriot and that “after this season if there is not a lockout I’ll be looking for a new team.”

Hey – the honesty is nice. But it doesn’t seem like very good business. If, for example, the Pats struggle next year, how committed will they be to getting Randy the football (and upping his free agent value)? Will they not be motivated to draft and develop a receiver now?

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