Should players always be condemned for getting coaches fired?

Let's say Alex Ovechkin skates off the ice against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night to the appreciative roar of the assembled masses; having posted a hat-trick or a game-winning goal in Washington Capitals Coach Dale Hunter's debut, looking very much like the vintage No. 8 than the sullen, diminished Version 2011.

On one hand, he'll have gained a small measure of satisfaction that it was, perhaps, his attitude towards coach Bruce Boudreau that caused his offensive swoon. On the other, it would validate that Ovechkin's game was always there, but the motivation wasn't; hence, his lack of effort helped cost one of the most successful (regular season) coaches of the last several years his gig.

Because of this paradox, Ovechkin has been categorized as "slumping and angry, the team was slumping and divided." He's been called "an underachieving superstar who was given the run of the place but is now in a second consecutive season of lacklustre play that spread to the rest of the team" by the Globe & Mail. Like we said yesterday, he's got blood on his hands here.

But what if it's for the best?

What if when some players dog it, quit, roll over while their coach is sacrificed, they end up doing what's best for the team? Does their revolt remain unprofessional and deplorable, or do the ends justify the means?

Three coaches have been fired this far this season. One, Davis Payne, appeared to lose his job because of a general manager's desire to keep his, in light of an ownership change; installing old chum Ken Hitchcock to spectacular results.

The others were Boudreau and Carolina Hurricanes Coach Paul Maurice, who was fired and replaced by former Montreal Canadiens assistant Kirk Muller on Monday.

Both deposed coaches had recent nadirs: For Maurice it was a absolutely terrible showing for his team in a 4-0 loss at Montreal two weeks ago; for Boudreau, it was consecutive defeats to the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres in which the team basically stopped playing for him, as GM George McPhee noted.

Which is to say that the players got Boudreau fired. The same can't necessarily be said about the Hurricanes, but as Chip Alexander of the News & Observer told us on Marek vs. Wyshynski, their confidence was shot. Did a player like Eric Staal, in the worst season of his career, dog it to get Maurice canned? Alexander said:

"I don't believe so. I really think Eric Staal had gotten along well with Paul Maurice and I know he respect Paul Maurice. ? Maurice always had the reputation as being a players' coach. I don't think he's lost all the confidence in the room, but certainly some of it."

So the inmates might not have been running the asylum in Raleigh, but enough of them were banging on the window bars to force a change. Which brings us to two essential questions:

1. Is it ever excusable when the players tune out a coach with the intent of getting him fired?

The Tampa Bay Lightning "quit on" Barry Melrose after 16 games into 2008; Rick Tocchet took over the circus and posted a lower winning percentage than Melrose. Still, was this an admirable mutiny and a triumph over managerial cronyism?

In 2008, the Chicago Blackhawks had a "flat camp" and a 1-2-1 start which cost Denis Savard his job in favor of Joel Quenneville. Not a soul would argue with that exchange.

In 2009, the Pittsburgh Penguins decided that Michel Therrien's stern ways weren't to their liking any longer, having quietly simmered about them in the summer following their Stanley Cup Final appearance and then going through the motions to hasten a coaching change to Dan Bylsma. Again, this change resulted in a Stanley Cup and a coach that appears to be a lifer in Pittsburgh.

In 2010, the New Jersey Devils decided rather early that assistant-turned-head coach John MacLean didn't have the goods, and then had a 4-game stretch in December in which they were outscored 20-4. In came Jacques Lemaire, who nearly rallied them to a playoff spot. Again, a players' revolt and a change for the better.

The other question ?.

2. Can you recall a player who turned his season around after getting the coach he desired and the coach he didn't want fired?

Well there was this one Russian guy who everyone called a "coach killer" that had 10 points in his first two months of the season and then 14 in February under a different coach ? Ilya something or other ?

Will the same hold for Ovechkin in Washington? Sam Gagner, who played for Hunter in London, told the Edmonton Journal:

"He'll be great with Ovechkin," said Edmonton Oilers centre Sam Gagner, who played for Hunter in London on a line with Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane. "He knows how to treat his so-called best players. You look at Corey Perry and others."

"The transition from junior to the NHL is not always seamless, but he played for such a long time and understands what the pro lifestyle's like. When you played for the London Knights, you were groomed to be a professional. He mentored us to be pros. The transition should be easier for the way he coaches. He played hard and he coaches the way he thinks he'll be successful."

Ovechkin never lacks for motivation. The notion that he was the catalyst for a coach's demise may not rank highly on his personal list, but the challenge has been presented by the hockey world: Show us that you're better off without Bruce Boudreau, or become just another petulant coach killer.

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NBA to play only two preseason games per team, fans rejoice

In a normal NBA season, the preseason is a necessary evil, a time when teams can charge their fans way too much for inconsequential games between players hoping to work out the kinks and not get injured. There are still exciting plays, but they're not close to the real thing. It'd be easier if no one had to pay much attention to them.

Luckily, the lockout has ensured that preseason games will be even less notable than usual. According to John Schuhmann at NBA.com, each team will play just two exhibitions before the start of the regular season (via PBT):

Before the season begins, you can expect teams to play just two preseason games during that 16-day training camp. Expect, as well, for those games to be played between the teams closest to each other on the map.

There you have it: The Warriors will probably play the Kings twice, the Knicks will face the Nets, and the Trail Blazers will go up to Seattle because everyone forgot the teams closest to them are in California and Utah. Hey, give them a break: It's been a long lockout.

It's tempting to say that the preseason will mean much more now that there are only two games, especially considering free agents will have little time to adjust to their new teams and all players will have to reacclimate themselves to the experience of playing in NBA arenas. On the other hand, players still don't want to injure themselves going all out in meaningless games, and two contests are way too few for everyone to work everything out before the regular season. There's no getting around it: Teams are not going to be prepared for the regular season as they would usually expect. It's no use pretending otherwise -- better to accept the reality and make due as best they can.

Even in a shortened form, the preseason is probably going to be just as silly and inconsequential as ever. Playing just two games only emphasizes how silly the whole operation is in a normal season. If we're lucky, the league will realize how little people care and shorten the exhibition slate forever.

Plus, I hear owners don't even need the extra money anymore. Congratulations, guys!

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No time for goalie controversy as Canucks keep winning

Any other time, a goaltending controversy in Vancouver might have been a hot topic that threatened to distract the Canucks from turning things around.

Right now, 166 days after they lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins, the Vancouver Canucks and Head Coach Alain Vigneault are playing the hot hand because they need to.

Schneider, much like Detroit Red Wings netminder Jimmy Howard, plied his trade in the AHL for several years waiting for an opportunity with the big club. He hasn't been given the job outright like Howard in Detroit, but Schneider has made the most of his time in the Canucks' net. In 47 games play (38 starts), Schneider is 24-13-3 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .922 save-percentage. The bulk of his workload in four seasons of games in the NHL came last year when he posted a 16-4-2 record with 22 starts.

The question around Schneider for a long time was usually what could GM Mike Gillis flip his value for in a deal. As Schneider's stock continues to grow while Luongo's slowly diminishes (not like someone would trade for Lui's contract, right? Right?), his value is too important to the Canucks to move him right now. Vancouver is in "Stanley Cup or Bust" mode and the window is slowly closing as it typically does for teams built like the Canucks.

Luongo's slow start -- 7-5-1, 2.97, .896 -- is nothing new, as he's tended to sputter at the starts of seasons, but instead of letting him work through his issues on the ice in games, Vigneault has started Schneider in Vancouver's last four games, including a three-game road trip. Schneider won all four starts, including back-to-back shutouts against Colorado and Phoenix. Given his past, you might expect pouting or bad body language from Luongo in response to not having started since Nov. 13 and dealing with an upper-body injury, but he's grinned and beared it, all while supporting the head coach's decision as the team has succeeded.

From Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun:

Now, they're suddenly a formidable team again, dominating opponents and playing with sharp intensity and confidence. Schneider is a paramount part of this. Even Luongo knows that. No matter what your opinion of the $64-million goalie ? and apparently there are some divergent views around town ? Luongo is genuinely supportive of Schneider and his right to play.

"He has been busting his butt for the last two years and he has always been behind me 100 per cent," Luongo said. "He's playing unreal right now and we needed that as a team. Three big wins on this road trip. I'm 100 per cent behind him. We're a team. It's not about Roberto Luongo or Cory Schneider; it's about the Vancouver Canucks."

Even as teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets, who might be interested once Curtis Sanford comes back to Earth, or the Dallas Stars, who might be interested is Kari Lehtonen isn't himself when he returns from his groin injury, possibly look outside their organizations for goaltending help, the return for Schneider might be too big of a price, mostly because he's too valuable to the Canucks.

And when Luongo gets his shot back in the net again, the presence -- and increasing importance -- of Schneider could be the factor that pushes him to turn his game around. We've seen it many times where teams have a 1A and 1B in net, and currently, that's what the Canucks have.

Contracts aren't dictating goalie play anymore for Vancouver. They can't afford to.

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Monday?s Three Stars: Quick blanks Sharks; Ryder gets two

Perhaps a touch arrogant after his fourth shutout of the year, Jonathan Quick knights himself.

No. 1 Star: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

Quick made 33 saves for his league-leading fourth shutout of the season, helping the Kings overcome their scoring woes by making damn sure it didn't matter. Ethan Moreau scored the game winner 8:32 into the first period and Mike Richards added an insurance marker in the second as the Kings beat the San Jose Sharks 2-0.

No. 2 Star: Michael Ryder, Dallas Stars

Ryder scored the game-winner and the empty-netter to ice the game as the Dallas Stars skated out of Colorado with a 3-1 win over the Avalanche. Andrew Raycroft was fantastic, stopping 35 of 36 shots, and Eric Nystrom added his 8th of the season. Hey, remember when Minnesota gave him away for free?

No. 3 Star: Nicklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild

Speaking of Minnesota, Backstrom made 32 stops as the Wild held on to top the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 and stop their losing skid at two straight. Mikko Koivu and Cal Clutterbuck added a goal and an assist apiece, collaborating on both a shorthanded and an empty net goal.

Honourable mention: Nick Spaling scored the game-winner midway through the third period as the Nashville Predators edged the Edmonton Oilers 2-1...

Did you know? After their game, the Oilers announced that Taylor Hall will miss 2-4 weeks with shoulder surgery.

Dishonourable mention: Vincent Lecavalier finished a minus-3 versus the Wild and won only 6 of 19 faceoffs... Also, Jordin Tootoo with the embellishment of the year:

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Marek vs. Wyshynski Radio: Bobby Ryan trade; Habs vs. Shanahan

It's a Tuesday edition of Marek vs. Wyshynski beginning at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, and we're talking about the following and more:

Special Guest Stars: Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette Sportsnet's Louis Jean on the Max Pacioretty suspension and the James Neal fine; Kevin Woodley from INGOAL magazine on the Vancovuer Canucks' goaltending.

? In which Marek and Wysh discuss Bobby Ryan trade talk.

? The first night for Dale Hunter and Kirk Muller as NHL coaches.

? The KHL's big rule changes.

? Puck Headlines and Talking Points

Question of the Day: Which player from your team's history would you like to see return as head coach?

Email your answers to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or tweet them with the hashtag #MvsW to either @jeffmarek or @wyshynski.

"Marek vs. Wyshynski" is a daily hockey radio program featuring Jeff Marek, on-air personality and columnist for Sportsnet, and Greg Wyshynski, your humble editor from Yahoo! Sports' Puck Daddy blog. We'll be speaking to the most interesting people in hockey, from Hall of Famers to beat writers to bloggers. We'll be debating the hottest topics in the NHL and beyond.

It's all about interaction, too: Email your thoughts to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or tweet them with the hashtag #MvsW to either @jeffmarek or @wyshynski.

Click here for the Sportsnet live stream or click the play button above!

Click here to download podcasts from the show each day Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or Feedburner.

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Dwyane Wade sticks by Jordan Brand amidst lockout battle

If there's been a surprising villain in the NBA lockout, it's been Michael Jordan, Bobcats owner and, more notably, still the most famous basketball player on the planet. As an occasional leader of the owners' hardline faction, Jordan has stood out as someone who may not be willing to negotiate in good faith, if he's even willing to negotiate at all. Just as he did on the court, he wants to win in a rout.

On the other side, Dwyane Wade has been something of a surprisingly loud voice on the players side, with his in-meeting confrontation with David Stern having become one of the signature moments of negotiations. Still, that desire for respect from the owners hasn't stopped Wade from reiterating the strength of his business relationship with MJ and his Nike subsidiary Jordan Brand. From a Wade interview with Ira Winderman for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (via EOB):

Amid the recent height of lockout rancor, Jordan was singled out by several of Wade's union brethren for his uncompromising lockout stance against the players. Wade is among the leading endorsers of Jordan's apparel.

"I really didn't need to get involved in all that," Wade said. "Obviously I wear a different hat than certain other guys that got involved in it. And I stay away from it. I have an obligation and I have a job to do and I'm going to do my job."

Several players vowed to shun Jordan's merchandise, including�Paul George,�Klay Thompson�and, most notably,�Washington Wizards�guard�Nick Young, who posted on his�Twitter�account, "I'm not wearing Jordans no more. Can't believe what I just seen and heard from M.J. Elvis Done Left The Building."

"That's on Nick Young," Wade said. "That's his moment. Obviously, that's his own choice and decision and, you know, that's something he's going to have to deal with. I can't let that affect me. I have my own things to run, my own stuff to think about what I'm doing with my own shoes.[...]"

It's somewhat surprising that Wade would be so open to working with a man who wants to take as much from the players as he possibly can, but the two viewpoints expressed here are actually pretty consistent. In the lockout, Wade wants to hold on to as much of his ability to make profits and win championships as he can. In the endorsement game, he wants to be with the company that can help him sell the most shoes and do the most for his brand.

What's weird is that the same man who helps him reach those goals in one area is impeding him in another. Some people would question how Wade could do business with someone who wants to crush him, but this is an "all in the game" situation if there ever was one (NSFW language at that link).

It's important to remember that the players hold the small-c conservative position in the lockout -- they want to maintain the status quo.�The players have a legitimate cause in thinking that they shouldn't have to give up considerable amounts of their salaries and the ability to choose their employers freely just because some small-market owners claim to have lost money after buying franchises that were by no means fail-safe investments. But those same players still want to earn lots of money from salaries or endorsement opportunities.

For all he's said about not wearing Jordans, Nick Young hasn't decided to stop taking the close to $2 million he's made every season from his relationship with Nike, even though everyone behind the Swoosh likely wants to see the NBA back in action -- with a decent deal for the union or not -- as soon as possible so they can maximize their profits. When the goal is profit, everyone involved has to take on strange bedfellows.

Put simply, the lockout is a battle between two parties (and various interested corporate bystanders) over money, and the only moral arguments to be had are over which group deserves to take the bulk of the pot. Wade hasn't contradicted himself in decrying Jordan's negotiating position while simultaneously working with Jordan's company.

On the contrary, he's just made the fundamental position of the union more explicit. That doesn't make him a jerk, but it does help explain the extent to which every person involved in these negotiations depends on each other for the place he holds within the league and society at large.

Dwyane Wade isn't much without the Miami Heat and Jordan Brand; the Miami Heat and Jordan Brand look a lot less impressive without Wade. That's also why, when this lockout finally ends, it'll be fairly easy for Wade and his fellow players to return to the fold without much complaining.

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Video: Gregg Williams is really excited about recovering a fumble

New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was excited about his defense forcing and recovering a fumble during Monday night's blowout win over the New York Giants. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pre-tty, pret-tty excited.

By my count, Williams celebrates with one man-hug, one full-on hug, one bear hug, two forearm shoves, one awkward high five, one single jab, one attempted elbow drop and a partridge in a pear tree. All for a third-down stop and fumble recovery in a game his team led by 18 points.

If Ndamukong Suh does any of those things on the field when he returns to the Detroit Lions on Dec. 18, Roger Goodell may ban him for life.

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Video: Did J.R. Smith?s season in China end after one game?

Former Denver Nuggets scorer J.R. Smith was quick to jump to the Chinese Basketball Association during he NBA's offseason well before the NBA owners and players failed to come up with an agreement to end the league's lockout of its players. The CBA, though, is playing hardball with potential NBA evacuees; telling players that only NBA free agents can come over to the league, and that all contracts are binding and can't be left for dead when or if the NBA's season started up.

All of which added to a mini soap-opera of sorts in Smith's first game with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls. Smith appeared to strain his knee badly, which could mean at worst a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament and the end of his season. Smith's father, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, isn't as worried. Take a look at the clip:

The drama, as it usually is with Smith, doesn't end there.

According to SI.com's Zach Lowe, Smith's contract is fully guaranteed for the $3 million he signed for a few months ago. And he's already clashing with his new team on just how he wants his knee treated.

From Loretta Chao and Yang Jie at the Wall St. Journal:

It's unclear how severe Mr. Smith's injury is. Zhao Bing, the Golden Bulls' general manager, said the player repeatedly declined medical treatment from the team and arranged his own treatment in Beijing instead. "We warned him that he's not allowed to go to Beijing without a proper medical check," Mr. Zhao said, expressing his displeasure at Mr. Smith's disobedience. "He just wouldn't listen."

[...]

Mr. Zhao posted a warning to Mr. Smith on Sina Weibo on Monday afternoon, saying the player should return to team as soon as possible "or face the consequences."

Zhao also made a snide comment to the WSJ about the way Smith "should have been aware that CBA is not an easy game to play," as if the injury had anything to do with the level of competition in the CBA. It's one thing for Smith to already be pushing the boundaries in his first week with the Golden Bulls', but it's another for the team's GM to be this exasperated just as quickly.

To echo his words, Zhao should have been aware that dealing with J.R. Smith is not an easy game to play.

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Bobby Valentine hired as next Red Sox manager

Looks we can finally ? and thankfully ? tie a bow on this one, folks. After a search that seemed like it would never end, numerous outlets are reporting that the Boston Red Sox have settled on Bobby Valentine as the team's next manager. It's Valentine's third top gig in the major leagues, but first since he was fired by the New York Mets in 2002.

I'll be square with you here. I don't have much confidence that GM Ben Cherington's first major move will work out. The 61-year-old Valentine is a divisive personality ? you either love him or you hate him ? and I'm not sure how an already controversial clubhouse is going to come together with his cult of personality being thrown into the mix.

Then again, perhaps that's exactly what this Red Sox team will need next spring as Valentine's presence and personality can drag a decent amount of attention away from the fried chicken 'n video game collapse of 2011. He'll�be leading a team that will presumably be healthier than the one Terry Francona had last season and he's not taking over a huge rebuilding job as the team still won 90 games last season.

So will this end in triumph or tears? I honestly have no idea. But as both a baseball blogger and someone who didn't want to hear Valentine talk about himself on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball any longer, I'm glad the Red Sox are opting for a headline maker ?rather than a faceless steward.

What do you think? Do you, uh, heart this move?

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Video: How Glen ?Big Baby? Davis spent his lockout hours

Where were you when news hit that the NBA's lockout was over? I was skulking into my kitchen at a late hour, full of bags bearing soup-making ingredients, when BDL's own Eric Freeman texted me. From there, I had the pleasure of texting all of my in-town NBA freak buddies about the end of the stalemate. This meant that I texted one guy. You're welcome, Patrick. This is sort of an NCAA town.

Former Celtic Glen Davis? Clearly, he was in the middle of all manner of off-court activities, none of which included anything his extended family would be ashamed about. All productive, all PG-rated. Big Baby may not have been paying attention to his Twitter feed, but he sure did have his head in the right place as he whiled away the lockout hours.

Here's visual proof, courtesy of Lineage:

See you on the court in a month, Glen. Hopefully without the scarves.

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Joe Maddon and Kirk Gibson win honor we?ll soon forget

For the matter of public record, let it be known that Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays and Kirk Gibson of the Arizona Diamondbacks were named the 2011 AL and NL Manager of the Year on Wednesday. I mention the public record part because you will almost surely forget who won this year's awards when next year's recipients are announced and it will be nice to have a post for the index of your inevitable Internet inquiry. (To save you some time, last year's winners were Ron Gardenhire and Bud Black.)

That's not to discount either man or the job he pulled off this season. Maddon led a late-charging Rays team into the postseason without the benefit of a big payroll or several key contributors from the 2010 AL East title team while Gibson jump-started a revival of the D-Backs a year or two earlier than expected. They both deserve the trophy they'll get.

The quibbles, of course, come with the nature of the award. Without a reliable metric for managing, it's hard to measure one man against the other. That's the nature of the position, but it also leads to an award that allows for fleeting recognition. Which is to say no skipper will ever be remembered for a single campaign as much as a MVP might. It's all part of what is probably the most thankless job in sports.

What I find interesting about Wednesday's results is that you could take this post from last year, replace Bruce Bochy's name with Tony La Russa's and have another good piece wondering if someone got robbed because only the regular season is considered when voting. Not that Gibby wasn't deserving, but didn't La Russa do the same thing for the St. Louis Cardinals (albeit with Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman) that Maddon did for the Rays this season? The postseason is a small sample size, yes, but perhaps it can serve as a good tiebreaker when we're talking about an award that largely ? though not always ? requires a playoff spot for consideration.

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Capitals panic button rumor: Dale Hunter could replace Boudreau

It's no secret that (a) the Washington Capitals look as emotionally conflicted and ineffective now as they ever have under Coach Bruce Boudreau, losing five of seven games; and (b) the next week could be a critical one for both coach and players.

The Capitals play three games at home this week: Against the St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators. Chatter that Boudreau could be sacrificed for his team's systemic problems ? despite a 201-88-40 regular-season record as an NHL coach ? is at a fever pitch. As that chatter increases, so does the speculation on who could move in if he's moved out.

Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet unleashed a beauty of a rumor on Sunday night: That former Capitals captain and current London Knights head coach Dale Hunter could take over if Boudreau is fired.

Via Steve Whyno of the Washington Times, who notes Kypreos and Hunter played three years together in Washington:

"A lot of speculation something could happen in the next 24-48 hours," Kypreos said. "The name being thrown out there is ex-Washington Capital, a centerman of mine, Dale Hunter."

Kypreos went on to say "the question is would he leave his junior team in London" in the middle of the season.

Coincidentally, Hunter spoke with Ben Raby of WTOP.com about a return to the NHL recently, after becoming the 13th coach in OHL history to reach 450 wins:

"Yeah definitely I think I would look into it," Hunter said in a phone interview of a possible return to the NHL.

"It takes experience to coach and I've been coaching here for [ten] years with the London Knights. Definitely I watch a lot of NHL games - it's a great game, the NHL is the elite level and my one goal that I never reached as a player - I came close once with the Caps [in 1998] - is to win a Stanley Cup. It would be awesome whether coaching or playing."

(Did Hunter's discussion with local media have anything to do with his name being in the "pipeline" inside hockey gossip circles?)

Hunter didn't exactly dismiss the notion of leaving the Knights mid-season for an NHL gig in an interview with the London Free Press.

It's hard to conceive that a coach without NHL or AHL experience would take over this team if Boudreau is dismissed. Look at these names, these salaries ? they're buying what an OHL coach is selling? That's the prime reason I don't expect this to happen; the secondary one being that I have a creeping suspicion Boudreau weathers this.

Of course, it's not just an OHL coach: It's Dale Hunter, and that name carries weight for players and fans of a certain age.

If the Capitals were to fire Boudreau, hiring Hunter would unquestionably soothe some fans who feel like the coach was wrongfully sacrificed. This is Wendel Clark or Doug Gilmour coaching the Leafs; or Joe Sakic coaching the Avs. It's the level of respect and nostalgia at play in D.C. for Dale Hunter ? just look in the rafters at Verizon Center for a reminder of that.

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Yale QB?s fairy-tale ending falls short in big-game flop vs. Harvard

Patrick Witt's decision to forgo his Rhodes Scholarship interview to play his final game against Harvard didn't have a poetic ending. In fact, it was quite the opposite: Harvard trounced Yale, 45-7, and Witt was picked off three times.

Witt had been in the headlines the past couple weeks due to a unique conundrum: choosing between playing in his final collegiate game against rival Harvard or interviewing for a possible Rhodes Scholarship. The interviews were held in Atlanta at 8 a.m. Saturday morning, just four hours before kickoff, so there was no way he could do both.

Witt decided earlier in the week that keeping his commitment to his teammates was the right move and never looked back despite some critics questioning his decision.

While it's hard to question the emotional value of finishing the season with his fellow seniors, the outcome of the loss to Harvard was actually the worst loss the Bulldogs have suffered at the hands of their rival since 1982.

Initially, it looked like Witt's choice of athletics over academics was the right move. Midway through the first quarter, Witt found Jackson Liguori for a 24-yard pass and Yale took an early 7-0 lead. After that, it got ugly.

In the second half, Yale moved the ball to Harvard's side of the field just once, not counting the final series of the game, which was basically used to run out the clock. When the Bulldogs did get the ball to the Harvard 30, Witt threw an interception that Harvard eventually turned into a score. He also threw a pick-six in the fourth quarter.

It's too bad this didn't have a fairytale ending. Witt, 22, does have until he's 24 to reapply for the Rhodes Scholarship, but there's no guarantee he'll get another interview.

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.

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Cuttino Mobley files a needless lawsuit against the New York Knicks

In 2008, the New York Knicks rid themselves of an uninspired Zach Randolph, sending him to the Los Angeles Clippers in a trade package that brought back shooting guard Cuttino Mobley. Soon after, Mobley was encouraged to retire by Knicks general manager Donnie Walsh after a heart specialist was left unnerved following Mobley's physical exam -- the doctor was worried about Mobley's hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The retirement did little to affect New York's cap space or eventual lottery standing, and even in the midst of a rebuilding process it seemed as if the Knicks were hurt more by Mobley's absence than Mobley (who was paid in full following his retirement) was hurt by missing a year playing on a terrible Knicks team.

Three years later, Mobley is suing the Knicks and their owner James Dolan, arguing that the team forced Cuttino to retire in order to save nearly $19 million in combined insurance and luxury tax savings. Also, this makes absolutely no sense, and it's more than a little sad.

James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks, is a terrible basketball team owner. His squad makes quite a bit of money; but even though the Knicks did earn a playoff berth last spring for the first time in seven years Dolan still ranks as one of the worst professional team owners in all of American sport. The laundry list of reasons why is too long to go over, especially in polite company, so you'll just have to fall back on Dolan's giant payrolls and massive crush on Isiah Thomas to work as trenchant evidence.

So for Mobley to claim that Dolan was only out to save $19 million in combined luxury tax and insurance-aided payroll relief by asking Cuttino to retire, well, you'll have to possibly side with Dolan on this matter if you have any working knowledge of the NBA. After all, this is the man that signed off on handing Jerome James and Eddy Curry a combined $89 million in a three month span back in 2005.

Marc Berman of the New York Post takes it from here:

"[?] the suit's other claim that Mobley's retirement helped Walsh in his 2010 quest to get under the salary cap to sign "marquee'' free agents does not hold up. Mobley's contract expired after the 2009 season, which means he did not affect the Knicks' 2010 cap space whether he played or retired.

Sources said Walsh was "devastated'' by the loss of Mobley and coach Mike D'Antoni blamed part of that season's collapse on the vacuum created by Mobley's retirement. However, Walsh once said he'd do the trade again.

The lawsuit calls into question whether the Garden sacrificed wins during a rebuilding season to save money, since Dolan had been burdened for years with one of the league's highest payrolls and luxury-tax payments.

In a statement, the Knicks strongly denied allegations they purposely orchestrated Mobley's retirement to save money.

The Knicks did save quite a bit of money by encouraging Mobley to retire, but as Berman discussed you might recall that coach Mike D'Antoni spent most of 2008-09 kvetching about his terrible team, and its inability to compete in spite of what was obviously a rebuilding season. D'Antoni wanted Mobley, and Mobley could have played, in spite of his diagnosis. Walsh probably wanted Mobley around too, considering that the 2009 draft lottery only brought New York Jordan Hill as a reward for their shoddy season.

Then there's this quote, as recalled by the New York Times' Howard Beck, from Mobley in 2008:

The Knicks, in a statement, acknowledged Mobley's "frustration with the effects of his illness," and that's the best way of putting things at this unfortunate stage. Cat Mobley was paid in full for the duration of his guaranteed contract, and though it saved the Knicks quite a bit of cash, it's not as if his retirement aided the team's rebuilding process in any meaningful way. Could on record news of his diagnosis have prevented him from unretiring and hitting the free agent market in 2009? Sure; but expecting the Knicks to pay for that (literally and figuratively) is a bit much, Cuttino.

It's an unfortunate situation, all around. Mobley was a fun player to watch, and one of the more thoughtful and entertaining players the NBA had to offer. As a postscript, this lawsuit does no favors for all involved.

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The case against an all-SEC championship game: Wait, is there a case against an all-SEC championship game?

Before Friday night, the zero in Oklahoma State's loss column looked like the last bulwark against wholesale anarchy in the BCS standings, and its inexplicable loss at Iowa State on Friday night looked like the final breach in a dam. In fact, though, it was a prelude to a new, equally predictable status quo in the wake of the bloodiest weekend in years: Barring a minor miracle on behalf of the rest of the country ? or perhaps several miracles ?�the BCS Championship Game is going to be an all-SEC West affair, and there's nothing anyone outside the conference can do about it. Is there?

Frankly, no, there almost certainly isn't. As badly as voters may want to strike down a rematch between any two of the triumvirate of SEC teams occupying the top three slots in the latest standings ? and as badly as I'd like to strike down the notion with a bit of biting, airtight rhetorical scorn ?�the fact is, the alternatives would be a much easier sell if any of the one-loss candidates sitting immediately behind LSU, Alabama and Arkansas had any momentum to speak of. The fact is, we wouldn't even be having this conversation if any of those candidates had any momentum, because it would have already lifted them into the driver's seat.

Everyone saw Arkansas lose to Alabama on Sept. 24, and Alabama lose to LSU a little over a month later. No one outside of crimson-clad 'Bama and Razorback fans is eager to retry their cases. No one really wants this.

But what choice do they have? With Oklahoma, Oregon and Clemson expelled from the race, this is the full scope of their options:

For simplicity's sake, that chart assumes an Arkansas win over LSU on Friday; if LSU wins, obviously, the Razorbacks will be off the list and the question ?�presented here as six team vying for two open slots in the title game ? will be reframed as four teams vying for one slot opposite LSU. If you'd like to indulge the fantasy that Boise State and/or Houston is relevant in this discussion, you may do so here.

So: Who ya got?

Is it going to be Virginia Tech, a 20-point loser at home to Clemson in October, sporting a marquee non-conference win over Arkansas State? The attrition in front of them has the Hokies all the way up to fourth in this week's BCS standings, ostensibly first in line for a crack at the title if two-thirds of the SEC triumvirate falls over the next two weeks. Which may be the case ? one of the benefits of playing a schedule that includes only one team ranked in the top 20 of any major poll at Thanksgiving.

But does Tech actually have an argument to pass any of the top three if they're not knocked out of the race themselves? It closes out the season against surprising Virginia, a rubber match for the ACC's Coastal Division crown, followed by (assuming a win in Charlottesville) a rematch with Clemson in the ACC Championship Game ? the same Clemson that was just ejected from the conversation itself in a lame-duck effort at N.C. State, and cold take another knock to its poll cred this weekend against South Carolina. There's a better-then-even chance the Hokies can win their way to 12-1 without a single win ? or even a single game on the schedule ?�against a team ranked in the final top 25. At the moment, they're a bit overrated as it is.

How about Stanford, then? The Cardinal have the appeal of the nation's most hyped quarterback, a win at surging USC and a chance to add another solid scalp to their collection Saturday night against Notre Dame, in primetime. Barring an extreme upset by Oregon State, though, they've already ceded the Pac-12 North to Oregon in lopsided fashion, and won't play in their own conference championship game, either.

If somehow Stanford does get its shot at the Pac-12 crown, it will be against one of three teams ? Arizona State, UCLA and Utah ?�hoping to claim the South Division this weekend with an overall record of 7-5. Again, the Cardinal's final resum� will include no more than one victim ranked in the final polls, and that only by the slimmest of margins.

Which brings us back to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys have no problem with respectable wins: They've already taken down Kansas State, Baylor, Texas and Texas A&M, along with a pair of potential conference champions from the mid-major ranks, Louisiana-Lafayette and Tulsa, who have kept OSU's strength-of-schedule numbers among the best in the country. Their wins match up just fine, and they're going to look even better if the Cowboys close out the season by bagging their biggest trophy, Oklahoma. But ? and this is one of those all-consuming, all-negating buts ?they just lost to a 26.5-point underdog in their next to last game of the season, on national television. So did Oklahoma, a victim of its own absentee defense for the second time this year at Baylor. At this point, just how much can beating the Sooners erase from voters' memories?

If you're dead set against a rematch on Jan. 9, you'd better hope the answer is "a lot," because Oklahoma State appears to be the only option on the table with enough sizzle left to move back in the top two: The computers already love the schedule, and Oklahoma represents a primetime showcase for the Cowboys to present their final argument to voters on Dec. 3. If LSU wins out (thereby eliminating Arkansas) and it comes down to a question between Oklahoma State and Alabama, fresh on the heels of an impressive OSU win over its biggest rival to lock up the Big 12, maybe the impulse against a rematch will be strong enough to break the final round of voting in the Cowboys' direction.

If not, there's only one hope for fending off the inevitable: Are you ready to spend your weekend yelling "War Eagle," America?

- - -
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Top 25: LSU strikes a note for stability

Now in its seventh year, the College Football BlogPoll is a weekly effort of dozens of college football-centric Web sites representing a wide array of schools under the oversight of SB Nation. As always, this is an ever-evolving snapshot meant to judge teams exclusively on their existing resum�s. It pays as little regard as possible to my guess as to what's going to happen over the course of the season, or what would happen in a make-believe game "on a neutral field" or anywhere else. It's subjective, but ideally, it's not a guess: It's a judgment on the evidence that actually exists. It is not a power poll.

The particularly virulent strain of anarchy that took hold of the BCS standings over the weekend has tended to blot out everything else in the name of speculation and uncertainty, and hey, it is that time of year. But there is still one certainty at the top: LSU, whose dominance was established so early, and has been reinforced so decisively, that it's almost easy to take the Tigers for granted. While every other would-be frontrunner has been busy dodging bullets from every direction, LSU has put so much distance between itself and the rest of the poll that it can almost afford a mulligan over the final two weeks ? after road wins at Alabama and West Virginia and neutral-site throttling of Oregon in the season-opener, a win over Arkansas on Friday virtually guarantees the most impressive resum� in the nation regardless of what happens in the SEC Championship Game the following week.

The fact that No. 2 Alabama could actually secure a slot in the BCS Championship Game before the Tigers ?�if they follow an LSU win on Friday with a win over Auburn on Saturday, the Crimson Tide will pass straight to the national title match without the nuisance of actually playing for their own conference title ?�is a whole new level of byzantine injustice, even for the BCS. (Seriously: If the status quo holds, the system will be essentially rewarding Alabama for losing to LSU on Oct. 5.) Based on what we've seen so far, though, any skepticism about the Tigers' final destination is purely academic.

? Ain't got a place to fall. Yes, Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State on Friday night, and yes, I still have the Cowboys ranked ahead of Arkansas, which appears at No. 3 in all of the mainstream polls. That's a (predictably) knee-jerk reaction by the pollsters: As bad as the collapse in Ames looks, Oklahoma State still has six wins over winning teams to Arkansas' three, not including the 60-point blowout OSU laid on Texas Tech in Lubbock. Arkansas has also had its own road issues against mediocre teams, struggling to put away Ole Miss and Vanderbilt�in consecutive weeks in October. And frankly, an overtime loss to a winning team on the road isn't that much worse than getting shellacked by Alabama.

At any rate, that's only a temporary tale of the tape: Any and all remaining questions about the Razorbacks will be answered definitively Friday in Baton Rouge, where they will either stake their claim on the SEC and BCS championships or go tumbling into the abyss of two-loss teams below, never to be heard from again until the Cotton Bowl.

? The Big Sleep. Regarding the abyss of teams below Arkansas: There is very, very little margin this week between No. 5 (Boise State) and No. 20 (Baylor). Clearly the Broncos and Bears belong at the top and the bottom of that grouping, respectively, but the rest are organized more or less categorically: After Boise, there are the other one-loss teams with relatively uninspiring schedules (Stanford and Virginia Tech), followed by the cream of the dog-eat-dog Big 12 (Oklahoma and Kansas State), followed by the best of the Pac-12 (USC and Oregon), followed by the Big Ten bloc (Michigan State, Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin), followed by the Southern flank (Clemson, South Carolina and Georgia), which frankly is a lot longer on reputation at the moment than on impressive wins.

This is where the Big Ten and Big 12, especially, can effectively counter the SEC's top-heavy chest-beating with their impressive parity throughout the league. Where the most notable part of both South Carolina and Georgia's schedules is the absence of Alabama and LSU from either one ? Georgia conveniently missed Arkansas en route to the division title, too ?�there have been far fewer omissions in the top halves of the Big Ten and Big 12, and those teams have the battle scars to prove it.

? No, I see you. Houston finally beat a team with a winning record by more than four points, and for that the Cougars move up a spot, from No. 20 to No. 19. They still need two more wins to convince me to stop calling them out as the most overrated team in the nation: This Friday against 8-3 Tulsa, which has taken seven straight on the heels of a brutal non-conference schedule, and then in the Conference USA Championship Game against (most likely) Southern Miss. As it stands, Houston has still yet to beat a team that's guaranteed itself of a winning record.

? Proof. This week's resum� grid for public consumption:

L: Losses
PPG: Average margin of victory (points per game)
YPP: Average margin per play (yards per play)
Sked: Strength of schedule (as calculated by Jeff Sagarin)

As always, everything will be completely different next week.
- - -
Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Video: Kellen Moore is so good, his receivers don?t even have to be upright anymore

Kellen Moore is doing his best to make sure he remains in the Heisman conversation, by adding a few more highlights to his already ridiculous reel.

This week's gem came with 1 second remaining in the first half of Boise State's 36-14 win against Wyoming. With the score tied 7-7, Moore scrambled to his left and heaved a 46-yard Hail Mary pass toward the end zone. Wyoming cornerback Tashaun Gipson attempted to pick the ball off, but it went through his hands and into the waiting hands of receiver Matt Miller, who was lying on his back on the goal line.

[Related: College football's Week 13 winners and losers]

Actually, the pass sort of landed on Miller as he did one of those jubilant, "Look what I found!" one-arm thrusts into the air with the ball.

The score put Boise State up 13-7 (the PAT was blocked) and the Broncos never looked back en route to their 10th win.

While this was an awesome Hail Mary, it pales in comparison to the one that nearly cemented Moore's legend a year ago when he found Titus Young on a 53-yard pass with 1 second remaining against Nevada. Unfortunately, the play, which took the Broncos to the 9-yard line was all for naught as kicker Kyle Brotzman missed the game-winning field goal.

Moore is not a finalist for the Davey O'Brienaward, given to the nation's best quarterback, but he is a finalist for the Maxwell Trophy, which is awarded to the nation's best player. Moore also has a chance to earn his second consecutive trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony, and a little Hail Mary luck has never hurt on that front.

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
? Why U.S. fans should consider watching CFL's Grey Cup
? Hope Solo was told she had 'too much muscle' for DWTS
? Pat Forde: Alabama closes case on BCS title dilemma

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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.

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D12: Rangers roll the dice with Joe Nathan signing

'Duk's Dozen is a heaping morning serving of baseball items, links and takes ? designed to keep you warm all offseason long.

1. Well, it didn't take long for a team to gamble that Joe Nathan will return to a better version of his 2004-2009 self. The Texas Rangers are placing a pretty sizable wager with the signing, too: Two years for $14.5 million with an additional $9 million club option for 2014 if he returns to the form that saw him average 41 saves a season during his six-year run as Minnesota's closer.

That seems like a lot of money to commit to a 37-year-old pitcher who hasn't closed since having Tommy John surgery in the spring of 2010. But it's well within what this crazy market is dictating and it allows the Rangers to move Neftali Feliz into the rotation, where he has the ability to provide a lot of cheap but stellar innings ? a huge value if the Rangers don't want to pay C.J. Wilson. There is a fair amount of risk involved in this deal, but Texas is positioned as well as anyone to handle it.�MLB.com

2. Joe Nathan was a fan favorite in the Twin Cities and so it'll be hard for Twins fans to say goodbye. But given Nathan's preference to compete for a ring and Minnesota's desire to cut payroll, his departure was a foregone conclusion that Twins fans will begrudgingly accept.�Aaron Gleeman

3. Dutch police say�that a disagreement over loud music could be the reason that Mariners outfielder Greg Halman was stabbed to death on Monday morning.�AP

4. Geoff Baker and the entire Seattle Times staff have done a wonderful job of reporting on a tragic story. Though the initial reports on Halman's death only provided a name, a career path and some stat lines, their work has really painted the full picture of a promising life cut short.�Seattle Times

5. Halman is just the third active MLB player to be murdered. Lyman Bostock and Miguel Fuentes are the others.�Rob Neyer

6. Pregnant women who go into intense labor can rest easy if they attend a Philadelphia Phillies game next season. Ty Wigginton has experience with handling a quick delivery.�Crashburn Alley

7. Jim Ingraham was the only voter to leave Justin Verlander off his ballot and his reasoning was exactly what I suspected: The Ohio writer doesn't believe that pitchers should be eligible to win the award (even though they are).�News Herald

8. Jim may be getting a lot of crap for his ballot, but he has a big friend in Frank Thomas, who won two MVPs and would have won a third in a world without Jason Giambi and steroids.�Hall of Very Good

9. Tuesday marks Jim Crane's first official day as owner of the AL-bound Houston Astros. I gotta say that's a solid start date, what with the four-day Thanksgiving weekend coming up.�Crawfish Boxes

10. Any truth to the rumor that Clint Barmes only signed with the Pirates so he could get a sweet set of seats to the return of Sidney Crosby?�Rum Bunter

11. The Los Angeles Dodgers holding 10 ? count 'em, 10! ? bobblehead nights in 2012 has to be some sort of record. Anyone want to commit to snagging me a Sandy Koufax on Aug. 7? Sons of Steve Garvey

12. Today's "I'm old" moment: Pat Listach's Rookie of the Year award celebrates its 19th birthday Tuesday. Brew Crew Ball

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Top 25: LSU strikes a note for stability

Now in its seventh year, the College Football BlogPoll is a weekly effort of dozens of college football-centric Web sites representing a wide array of schools under the oversight of SB Nation. As always, this is an ever-evolving snapshot meant to judge teams exclusively on their existing resum�s. It pays as little regard as possible to my guess as to what's going to happen over the course of the season, or what would happen in a make-believe game "on a neutral field" or anywhere else. It's subjective, but ideally, it's not a guess: It's a judgment on the evidence that actually exists. It is not a power poll.

The particularly virulent strain of anarchy that took hold of the BCS standings over the weekend has tended to blot out everything else in the name of speculation and uncertainty, and hey, it is that time of year. But there is still one certainty at the top: LSU, whose dominance was established so early, and has been reinforced so decisively, that it's almost easy to take the Tigers for granted. While every other would-be frontrunner has been busy dodging bullets from every direction, LSU has put so much distance between itself and the rest of the poll that it can almost afford a mulligan over the final two weeks ? after road wins at Alabama and West Virginia and neutral-site throttling of Oregon in the season-opener, a win over Arkansas on Friday virtually guarantees the most impressive resum� in the nation regardless of what happens in the SEC Championship Game the following week.

The fact that No. 2 Alabama could actually secure a slot in the BCS Championship Game before the Tigers ?�if they follow an LSU win on Friday with a win over Auburn on Saturday, the Crimson Tide will pass straight to the national title match without the nuisance of actually playing for their own conference title ?�is a whole new level of byzantine injustice, even for the BCS. (Seriously: If the status quo holds, the system will be essentially rewarding Alabama for losing to LSU on Oct. 5.) Based on what we've seen so far, though, any skepticism about the Tigers' final destination is purely academic.

? Ain't got a place to fall. Yes, Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State on Friday night, and yes, I still have the Cowboys ranked ahead of Arkansas, which appears at No. 3 in all of the mainstream polls. That's a (predictably) knee-jerk reaction by the pollsters: As bad as the collapse in Ames looks, Oklahoma State still has six wins over winning teams to Arkansas' three, not including the 60-point blowout OSU laid on Texas Tech in Lubbock. Arkansas has also had its own road issues against mediocre teams, struggling to put away Ole Miss and Vanderbilt�in consecutive weeks in October. And frankly, an overtime loss to a winning team on the road isn't that much worse than getting shellacked by Alabama.

At any rate, that's only a temporary tale of the tape: Any and all remaining questions about the Razorbacks will be answered definitively Friday in Baton Rouge, where they will either stake their claim on the SEC and BCS championships or go tumbling into the abyss of two-loss teams below, never to be heard from again until the Cotton Bowl.

? The Big Sleep. Regarding the abyss of teams below Arkansas: There is very, very little margin this week between No. 5 (Boise State) and No. 20 (Baylor). Clearly the Broncos and Bears belong at the top and the bottom of that grouping, respectively, but the rest are organized more or less categorically: After Boise, there are the other one-loss teams with relatively uninspiring schedules (Stanford and Virginia Tech), followed by the cream of the dog-eat-dog Big 12 (Oklahoma and Kansas State), followed by the best of the Pac-12 (USC and Oregon), followed by the Big Ten bloc (Michigan State, Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin), followed by the Southern flank (Clemson, South Carolina and Georgia), which frankly is a lot longer on reputation at the moment than on impressive wins.

This is where the Big Ten and Big 12, especially, can effectively counter the SEC's top-heavy chest-beating with their impressive parity throughout the league. Where the most notable part of both South Carolina and Georgia's schedules is the absence of Alabama and LSU from either one ? Georgia conveniently missed Arkansas en route to the division title, too ?�there have been far fewer omissions in the top halves of the Big Ten and Big 12, and those teams have the battle scars to prove it.

? No, I see you. Houston finally beat a team with a winning record by more than four points, and for that the Cougars move up a spot, from No. 20 to No. 19. They still need two more wins to convince me to stop calling them out as the most overrated team in the nation: This Friday against 8-3 Tulsa, which has taken seven straight on the heels of a brutal non-conference schedule, and then in the Conference USA Championship Game against (most likely) Southern Miss. As it stands, Houston has still yet to beat a team that's guaranteed itself of a winning record.

? Proof. This week's resum� grid for public consumption:

L: Losses
PPG: Average margin of victory (points per game)
YPP: Average margin per play (yards per play)
Sked: Strength of schedule (as calculated by Jeff Sagarin)

As always, everything will be completely different next week.
- - -
Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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