* Just when so much was going so right for the Tampa Bay Lightning–despite injuries to Stephen Stamkos and numerous others–there is the Canadian Olympic team flap. Not only did Lightning star Marty St. Louis not make the team, he was snubbed by a process overseen by Bolts’ general manager Steve Yzerman, who’s also the executive director of Team Canada.
Nobody is more popular nor more respected–among his Lightning peers and coaches–than St. Louis, who is having another outstanding season at age 38. Yzerman may be a NHL Hall of Famer, but his very presence right now is a mood changer.
St. Louis is too proud and too professional to let the snub directly impact his play. That said, everybody in the organization, including Yzerman, knows he’s crushed by the slight. That can’t help morale.
Injuries, such as Stamkos’ broken leg, heal in a couple of months. Gut-level snubs of this magnitude–to one of your own–don’t.
* Speaking of Olympic disappointments, Bolts’ goalie Ben Bishop, who’s having an outstanding season for the all-too-often, goalie-challenged franchise, didn’t make the U.S. team. But look who made the Canadian team: former Lightning goalie Mike Smith.
* The final AP college football poll reflected post-bowl game reality with Florida State No. 1 for the 2013 season. Then there were Auburn, Michigan St. and the usual suspects. Until No. 10. UCF still looks strange in the top 10, but the Knights earned that national ranking with an unforgettable season topped by that big, prime-time win over Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl.
As for USF, it was a downer season for the Bulls–but they did take UCF to the limit–losing 23-20 in the last five minutes in Orlando. There’s always “next year.”
* Nothing wrong with FSU junior James Wilder, formerly of Plant High, leaving early for the NFL draft. It’s just that most–if not all–such early entrants at least start for their college team, no matter how deep the talent. Wilder was a back-up running back for the Seminoles.
* Sign of the times. Over the holidays Orlando hosted the Under Armour All-America Game festivities, a showcase event for highly-recruited, high school football players. One of the instructors was Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders. Among his mini-tutorials: teaching defensive backs how to do his Prime Time end zone celebration dance as well as how to properly high-step into the end zone. You read that right.
Arguably, these sorts of play-to-the-camera, “look at me” antics are what’s wrong with the game these days. Sobering to be reminded that it only gets worse as boorish behavior and swaggering attitudes are increasingly prevalent at the high school level.
* Nick Saban just hired Lane Kiffin as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Alabama. So much for running a class program.
* Can you say media circus maximus?
The suspension this year of Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees covers the regular season as well as the postseason. What it doesn’t cover: spring training. But because the suspension takes A-Roid off their official 40-man roster, the Yankees can force him to work out with minor leaguers. But he can train in Tampa this spring. And it won’t be a minor event.