It's kind of sobering to be back after such a holly, jolly and downright amazing holiday break. But nothing can pull me down from the high that I am on right now, not even the frigid weather or the professors who decide to teach on the first day of classes.
That's probably the worst feeling in the world, sitting down for a class expecting to get out in 10 minutes and then getting dragged into an hour-long debacle. Now I know how Stone Cold Steve Austin felt at Wrestlemania 13 when Bret Hart slapped on the Sharpshooter and wouldn't let go.
You sit there in class just wondering when the pain will end, and then everything goes white and you wake up with spiral notebook marks running down your cheek.
And what's with UB? I'd bet a large sum of cash that the NFL would call a game on account of snow before our school ever did. C'mon, just give me one more snow day before my school career is over. That's all I'm asking for here.
But I'm getting sidetracked here. This is supposed to be a sports column. So let's get down to the sports.
This was perhaps the best Christmas break I've ever experienced. Scott Layden and Gregg Williams were fired, Antonio McDyess, Charlie Ward and Howard Eisley were jettisoned and Stephon Marbury is a Knick.
God Bless America.
The Gregg Williams head coaching stint in Buffalo was an era that was second only to Mazda's (insert Jamaican accent) "Zoom, zoom, zoom" era in those needing to quickly come to an end. The only thing that peeved me about his unceremonious dumping was General Manager Tom Donahoe's trashing of the fan's lack of support of Williams on the day he fired him.
What are you thinking Donahoe? Williams sucked. The Bills sucked. And if anyone thinks otherwise, you need to look no further than week 17 against the Patriots where the Bills lost 31-0. Yeah, in case you didn't know, that is the identical score by which the Bills beat the Pat's in week one.
Coincidence? I think not. The Bills were SO BAD that New England put up the score they wanted on the board. New England wanted the 31-0 win, and they got it. That is absolutely pathetic They embarrassed the Bills. If Williams wasn't fired, I think the city of Buffalo would have imploded leaving nothing but a stain of hot sauce and blue cheese on New York.
And then there are the holiday happenings at Madison Square Garden. It seemed that every day over the break something amazing happened to the Knicks. Between Sprewell spewing venom, Isiah shaking things up, and Starbury coming home, I had the most satisfying month as a Knicks fan since - well, I can't even remember. It's been that long.
So naturally, being a Knicks fan, my buddies and I tried to go down to the city and grab some cheap seats for the New York-Chicago game. Much to our dismay, when we arrived the only tickets remaining were the $250 seats. Keep in mind this is still when folks like Eisley and McDyess were gracing the hallowed halls of Madison Square Garden.
I still can't believe the gall that the Knicks brass had to charge people $250 to watch chumps like Eisley and Othella Harrington. The only way I'd drop $250 on a ticket is if I got to see Dikembe Mutombo soar 250 feet in the air and dunk the ball while holding it with his teeth. Now that's worth $250. Heck, maybe even $300.
One of the other joys of being home for the holidays is the ability to stay up to all hours of the night and the subsequent sleeping in all day. I for one love hanging out with the old crew and then coming home at 4 a.m. to get a healthy dose of infomercials and Sportscenter.
When else do you get to study that guy (Ron Popiel) on the Rotisserie Chicken infomercials? After spending countless late nights watching him sell his craft, I began to wonder if that guy himself sleeps in the Rotisserie thing at night. It's either that or he frequently sticks his head in the microwave. What a creepy looking dude. He's creepier than Jeremy Schaap and Jim Gray combined.
I always end up at Sportscenter at the end of the night though. It's just the way a day should start and end. However, you have to turn the television off before you fall asleep or you risk waking up to Steve Levy's ugly mug in the morning.
In parting, I'd like to leave UB with a few words of wisdom from the man, the legend, the myth, Joe Namath.
"I want to kiss you."
