Kobe still doing work

Anyone who thinks Kobe Bryant is over the hill needs to re-think.

Especially after last night's 37-point, 14-rebound performance that garnered the 13-time All-Star his fourth All-Star game MVP.

"I feel like we have a sense of responsibility and we are voted in for what we do during the season, which is play hard," Bryant said in an AP article.

Most of the time, All-Star games are anything but playing hard, as the players show little defensive effort and seem to be only attempting to pad their points or throw down impressive dunks.

It certainly didn't hurt that Bryant played his best in front of his hometown crowd at the Staples Center, where he's played his entire NBA career.

He's the heart and soul of the Lakers' franchise, and in a season where they've found little to be pleased with, maybe Bryant's performance will revitalize them to make another championship run.

Photo Credit: @Jose3030

Rolled by Tide

There was a part of me that started to believe.

For some reason Saturday evening, I had a feeling Arkansas was going to break through and play well against a division opponent that happened to be the league leader, and possibly win.

If the game had been played for 30 minutes, that might have come true.

Unfortunately for these Hogs, basketball games last 40 minutes.

In their 10 losses this season, at least 7-8 of them have ended up that way because Arkansas simply refused to play at a high level for 40 minutes.

They play well in spurts and go on runs, but never sustain anything.

Even when they went to No. 19 Vanderbilt and played them off their feet and won by double digits, the Hogs subsequently returned to Fayetteville and dropped back-to-back games.

After a third straight loss (at Mississippi State), Arkansas came back to Fayetteville and easily dispatched LSU and Florida A&M before last night's showdown with the Crimson Tide.

That's how it's been all season, and really how it's been all four years with John Pelphrey.

All Razorback fans are asking for is a little consistency.

I'm not sure if they're ever going to get it as long as Pelphrey remains the head coach.

Photo by Robert Sutton, Tuscaloosa News

http://www.tidesports.com/article/20110219/NEWS/110219506/1011?Title=Tide-beats-Arkansas-clinches-share-of-SEC-West-

NASCAR

How many people know what NASCAR stands for? Don't be embarrassed if you don't.

Back on February 18, 2001, I didn't know either.

Unfortunately, sometimes tragedy teaches us things, and that day, when the sport lost its leader and its face, Dale Earnhardt, it taught me what NASCAR was and is about.

On that day, I decided to become a fan.

For the rest of that year and over the next few years, I became an avid fan. I watched the races, I kept up with my favorite drivers (Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin) and bonded more with my father, who also liked the sport.

Fast forward to the present, 2011.

I haven't watched a NASCAR race start to finish since I was in high school probably. I watch highlights on ESPN or nascar.com, but other than that, I've really lost interest.

Not that I'm the only one. Television ratings have been in serious decline over the past couple of years. Revenue is down as well.

Today, though, I saw footage of Earnhardt's wreck and the events that unfolded from that, and remembered to the birth of my fandom.

This year, I'm going to try and follow the sport again more closely, like I vowed I would back in Feb. 2001.

I owe it to Dale's memory.

P.S. NASCAR stands for National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing.

Photo from NYDailyNews.com

Albert Pujols

I don't think it's even an argument that the best hitter in baseball in the last decade was one Albert Pujols.

Since taking over as the Cardinals' franchise player in 2001 after Mark McGwire's retirement, Pujols has batted .331 with 408 home runs and 1230 RBI.

Those are staggering numbers, considering Pujols is one of the lone sluggers that hasn't tested positive for perfomance-enhancing drugs.

He also has two World Series appearances and one ring, in 2006. He's been named the National League MVP three times, and has made the All-Star all but once in his career.

So I have no earthly idea why the St. Louis Cardinals are going to let him get away. It would be like the Los Angeles Lakers letting Kobe Bryant into free agency, or the Indianapolis Colts losing Peyton Manning.

Pujols is synonmous with the Cardinals, and I don't know if the franchise will be able to survive without him.

Photo from Ben Bates' blog

John Pelphrey

40 Minutes of Pel. An Unforgettable. John FAILphrey.

All are phrases or monikers that John Pelphrey or his style of coaching has been called since becoming Arkansas' head coach in 2007.

After guiding a senior-laden team to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2008 before bowing out to No. 1 seed North Carolina, Pelphrey hasn't seen much success since that 23-12 season with the Hogs.

14-16 in 2009, followed by 14-18 last season. Now 15-9 in his fourth campaign, Pelphrey is starting to lose the fan base with inconsistent play and spouting rhetoric eerily similar to former football coach Houston Nutt at press conferences.

If Pelphrey doesn't finish strong this season, he's going to have a hard time convincing fans that his team has really turned the corner and is "overachieving", even if he utters it repeatedly in front of the media.

Even with a stellar recruiting class coming in, people still have no reason to believe that he will put a consistent, winning product on the floor.

As much as he believes in the Razorbacks and wants them to succeed, there's a major difference between wanting it to happen and making it happen.

For his sake (and his job security), hopefully the Hogs turn the corner.

Big Ben or Bust

Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman and Tom Brady.

You could carve a Mount Rushmore with those four faces in terms of quarterbacks.
Some people, though, may not know what they have in common, which is owning three Super Bowl rings or more.

Ben Roethlisberger?

Are we talking about the same Roethlisberger who was suspended for the first four games of this season stemming from sexual misconduct in a Georgia bar’s bathroom last year?

The same Roethlisberger who was pictured with a ‘Drink Like A Champion’ t-shirt on while obviously under the influence of alcohol and in the company of young co-eds?

Yes, we are talking about him.

And once again, Roethlisberger has his Pittsburgh Steelers in prime position to win the franchise’s seventh Super Bowl, which would distance it even further from counterparts Dallas and San Francisco, who both chime in with five, but haven’t won any since 1995.

More importantly, it would be Roethlisberger’s third Super Bowl ring in six seasons, and he’s only been in the league for seven.

No one saw this coming before the season, when many people questioned whether Pittsburgh would even be able to compete without him under center.

To add insult to injury, Pittsburgh’s other two quarterbacks backing him up were injured, so the Steelers were left with a fourth-string signal caller (Charlie Batch fans, stand up!) for much of those first four games.

However, Pittsburgh persevered, and went 3-1 in Roethlisberger’s absence, and when Big Ben returned, they went 9-3, tying the Ravens for best record in the AFC North and winning the division thanks to a better divisional record.

The reason it feels so weird to mention Roethlisberger in the same breath as the quarterbacks mentioned above is because he doesn’t have anything that blows you away.

With Bradshaw, it was his ability to respond to adversity and then shatter whatever doubts you may have had about him.

Montana was revered for being clutch, and leading game-winning after game-winning drive.

Aikman was renowned for his accuracy, along with never getting rattled.

Brady, well, is Brady.

Big Ben doesn’t jump off at you in the scouting report, and won’t captivate and leave you on the edge of your seat when you watch him on Sundays.

What he will do, though, is make the plays when it counts, and do what he’s asked to do in the offense, and get the ball into the hands of his playmakers.

I guess the word to describe him would be steady.

If he can play steady enough on Sunday, he will join that elite group of quarterbacks.

*Image courtesy of SportsPants Blog