* Tanks for the memories. No, the Bucs did not intentionally lose last Sunday’s finale to New Orleans, thus assuring themselves of the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft. But by wholesale substitutions and ultra-conservative play-calling in the second half, they intentionally put themselves in a position to play less competitively. It was a de facto tank job and an ironically fitting way to end a thoroughly frustrating and disappointing 2014 season.
* Not that we needed reminding of the differences between the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association, but here’s a noteworthy one: The NHL takes the Christmas holiday off. No games, no practices on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or the following day. It’s family time.
By contrast, there were five NBA games nationally televised on December 25. FIVE. Nothing says “Merry Christmas” quite like a prime-time Los Angeles Lakers-Chicago Bulls game.
* Not that we don’t wish him well–because he’s a nice guy–but it was a tad bittersweet to see that wire photo of a celebrating Skip Holtz after his Louisiana Tech team defeated Illinois to win the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
* It’s not exactly a major priority for Vladimir Putin, but among those getting hammered by a free-falling ruble is the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League. An extension of national pride, the KHL had been marketing itself as the oil-rich alternative to the NHL. But the KHL stipulates ruble-only contracts, which is not going over well with all those Americans, Canadians and Europeans that the KHL notably wooed.