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Next up on the Peyton Manning tour:  The Miami Dolphins.  After meeting with Denver and Arizona, Peyton is seeing if he should make the sunny city his home.  After all, LeBron James said in a post-game interview that he would love if Peyton Manning came to town (reminiscent of when other teams courted LeBron using their city’s other stars).  While Miami could sorely use Peyton’s talents, they most likely don’t have enough talent around him.  They’re primarily a running team with Reggie Bush and Daniel Thomas, but their receivers, aside from Brandon Marshall, are pretty lackluster.  Most likely, Peyton won’t choose Miami, although they would fulfill his requirement of remaining in the AFC.

Elsewhere in the NFL, another free agent has miraculously found a home.  Everyone thought Randy Moss was completely done.  He excelled in New England, floundered in Minnesota, and then found himself out of the league.  Not even New England wanted to give him another chance, even though they really could have used him last year.  So Randy Moss went looking for any team that wanted his services, and one quality team came calling:  The San Francisco 49ers.  The 49ers were one overtime win away from the Super Bowl last year, and they did that without having ANY quality wide receivers.  Michael Crabtree was their only deep threat, as quarterback Alex Smith mostly relied on his tight-end Vernon Davis.  By adding Randy Moss, the 49ers will now have the occasional down field threat that will stifle the defense.  They don’t even have to throw to him, just him being in the game will keep defensive coordinators guessing.  This was the right move by the Niners organization.

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Finally, in women’s college basketball, the NCAA Tournament field was released, and, no surprise, the Baylor Bears got a #1 seed.  Baylor is undefeated this year, having their best season ever.  This is largely due to their 6’8 center Britney Griner.  This girl is simply amazing, and could be one of the best pro players of all time as well.  Baylor’s goal this season is simple:  Win the National Championship.  It doesn’t matter if you’re undefeated if you don’t win it all.  But you can bet that UConn, Stanford, and Notre Dame, the other #1 seeds, are ready to stand in Baylor’s way.

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In the NFL, since Peyton Manning has visited and expressed interest in the Denver Broncos, John Elway, one of the team’s top executives, said that if they go with Manning (and if Manning chooses them) then they would possibly trade Tim Tebow.  Tebow was key in giving the Broncos record-setting attendance and huge TV ratings, but he was still criticized as a quarterback and really failed against the New England Patriots.  If the Broncos DO have a chance to get Manning, they are not afraid to let go of ‘Tebowmania’.  After all, Tebowmania was largely due to Tebow’s lucky streak of remarkable 4th quarter comebacks.   They are ready to let another team take his thunder, and allow Manning to try and lead them deep into the playoffs.

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And, in the last day of the conference championships in college basketball, a major shocker was when #1 Kentucky took on Vanderbilt in the SEC championship.  Everyone thought Kentucky would run away with this one, but the unranked Commodores came to play! This was their shot to get into the tournament, and they were going to take it.  Jeffrey Taylor scored 18 points for Vanderbilt, and John Jenkins added another 17 as Vandy did what they needed to do to win.  Kentucky will still nab a #1 seed in the tourney (and will be heavily favored), but Vandy will be there too.  Vandy 71, Kentucky 64.

Finally, speaking of the NCAA Tournament, get your pencils ready because the tournament brackets were just released.  The #1 seeds: Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina, and Michigan State.  That’s the type of classic field of powerhouse number 1 seeds that we’re used to seeing.  Each one of them has a shot to win it all.  At the #2 seeds:  Duke, Missouri, Ohio State, and Kansas.  Again, the big names are back to the top of the seeding.  HOWEVER, this year more than many in year’s past has a lot of mid-major teams that can flat out play and definitely could beat THE BIG GUYS on any given day.  The most stunning evidence of the improved quality of mid-major teams is Butler making the NCAA Championship 2 years in a row.  Unfortunately, Butler didn’t make the tournament this year and won’t have a chance to go for the 3-peat (or even finally win).  It will be a tough tournament to predict, but that’s what makes it so fun.  March Madness starts Tuesday with the play-in games.

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In the NFL, sources say that Peyton Manning will make his decision on his new team within a week.  This makes sense, as the quarterback position requires a lot of time, preparation, and practice to learn an offense.  Manning doesn’t have time to sit around and think about it.  He needs to get to work.  Apparently, about 12 teams have reached out to Manning including the Chiefs, Seahawks, Dolphins, Jets, Redskins, and even the Denver Broncos (where he would replace the wildly popular Tim Tebow).  Then again, having Manning would excite Denver just the same time.  The Jets are the most playoff ready team, but they might not want to bench Mark Sanchez.  It’s also been rumored that Manning said he wants to stay in the AFC — this is primarily because he has become, over the years,  accustomed to many of the defenses the teams run.  This is going to be fun!

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Elsewhere, in the NBA, all the talk over the last 5 weeks has been around Dwight Howard getting traded.  Where will he go?  What will the Magic get in return?  Yesterday, Derrick Rose came out and said publicly that he is sick and tired of hearing about Howard trade talks.  There has been many trade rumors saying that Howard might go to Chicago, and articles about how Howard would feel about playing second fiddle to Rose.  But Rose has said that he doesn’t wanna hear it — that Chicago is a GREAT city, and they’d welcome him if he came, but if he’s not gonna come, then just be done with it.  Plus, Rose said, they’re already  have a good team with a winning record, they don’t NEED to switch it all up.

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Finally, in baseball, long-time Red Sock Jonathan Papelbon recently switched to the National League — the Philadelphia Phillies. And yesterday, on a radio show, Papelbon said that he thought Philly fans were smarter than Red Sox fans.  Papelbon said he thought they knew the game better because fans in the National League have a better sense of the strategy of the game because of having to factor in the pitcher as a batter.  He said, in Boston, fans just wanted you to win at all costs.  If you did, they loved you, if you didn’t, they wanted you OUT.  Papelbon said that motivated him, but he’s enjoying that fans are more understanding of mistakes in Philly — they see the whole picture.

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In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t been impressive on the road.  They lost to Detroit 2 nights ago, and last night they were hoping to get back on track against a typically bad Washington Wizards squad.  But… the Wizards were ready, even though they were playing a home game under seemingly a Lakers fan base.  Kobe did what he did best, putting up 30 on the night.  But Pau Gasol was the man for LA with 19 points and 15 rebounds, and 3 blocks.  It looked like the Wizards were going to lose again, but they got a late surge from Nick Young, Kevin Seraphin and Roger Mason, and actually pulled off the upset win!   Wow!  All this when their star player, John Wall had a slow night with just 4 points.  Maybe these guys are starting to shape up.  Washington 106, LA Lakers 101.

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Elsewhere, in college football, the conference landscape remains in flux.  The next move, the Temple Owls joining the Big East.  The Big East seems to be one of those conferences that’s about to downgrade.  They used to have bigger football programs like Miami (FL), but Miami bolted to the ACC.  Their powerhouse teams were typically West Virginia and Pitt, and West Virginia is headed to the Big 12, with Pitt most likely joining the ACC.  So they’ve been inviting football programs on the rise.  Temple had a great season last year, especially because of their high-powered running attack.  And whenever a team does well, they attract better recruits.  Being in the Big East will help Temple with recruiting AND give them more money because the Big East plays on television more often.  Congrats to Temple.

Finally, in the NFL, the day has come.  It’s official, and try and prepare yourself for such a weird statement:  “The Indianapolis Colts have CUT Peyton Manning“.  Doesn’t that sound like a dirty joke?  But… its true.  If the Colts didn’t cut him, they would need to pay him $28 million.  That’s something they may have been prepared to do prior to his injury, as even though Manning is getting older, he’s still a Top 10 quarterback even in his older age.  But, it’s just a bad perfect storm for Manning, as the Colts are holding the #1 pick in a year when the experts are saying that Andrew Luck could be the NEXT Peyton Manning.  When you have a chance to get a guy like that, you take it, and build around him for at least the next 12 years.   If Luck wasn’t in the draft, Manning would probably be re-signed.  But as of now… he’s looking for a job.

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In college basketball, it’s conference championship time.  And Monday we got to see if one of last year’s Final Four teams would see the tournament again.  It was Shaka Smart’s VCU vs. Drexel in the Colonial conference’s automatic bid into the tournament.  VCU jumped out to a huge lead, thanks to a 16-point night from Darius Theus.  They were off and running, so they never expected that Drexel would make a late run.  Drexel even hit a late off-balance 3 to cut it to 1.  VCU came back and increased the lead to 3 again, but Drexel would have one last shot.  Unfortunately for Drex… no good.   And the VCU Rams are headed back to March Madness.  Can they do it again?  VCU 59, Drexel 56.

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EIn college basketball, it’s conference championship time.  And yesterday, we got to see if one of last year’s Final Four teams would see the tournament again.  It was Shaka Smart’s VCU vs. Drexel in the Colonial conference’s automatic bid into the tournament.  VCU jumped out to a huge lead, thanks to a 16-point night from Darius Theus.  They were off and running, so they never expected that Drexel would make a late run.  Drexel even hit a late off-balance 3 to cut it to 1.  VCU came back and increased the lead to 3 again, but Drexel would have one last shot.  Unfortunately for Drex… no good.   And the VCU Rams are headed back to March Madness.  Can they do it again?  VCU 59, Drexel 56.

Elsewhere, in the NFL, amid all the controversy going on in New Orleans with the coaching staff paying players to take out opposing quarterbacks and star players, the Saints are trying to put media headlines on other matters.  First, it was putting the franchise tag on Drew Brees, pretty much guaranteeing that he will retire a Saint.  And now… they will hold a work out for former superstar wide receiver Randy Moss.  Moss has been very outspoken about wanting to play in the NFL next season, thinking he still has one or two more years left.  The Saints could be a good spot for him, as they could bring him in as a decoy to throw off a defense.  And then, when the defense isn’t suspecting they would ever throw to Moss, that’s when Brees would actually throw to Moss.  This might work out.

And finally, in the latest Linsanity news, Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni said publicly that Jeremy Lin would remain in the starting line-up over veteran Baron Davis.  D’Antoni said he wants Lin to start and finish games for the Knicks, and would prefer to bring Davis in off the bench to rest Lin.   And given that D’Antoni likes to run a fast paced offense, he said he might even play Baron Davis and Jeremy Lin at the same time to give the Knicks a speed advantage.  This is great news for Lin supporters, especially internationally, where it’s been reported that, in China, some schools are showing Knicks game as a school-time recreational activity.  Lin is their recess.  Elsewhere, in the NFL, amid all the controversy going on in New Orleans with the coaching staff paying players to take out opposing quarterbacks and star players, the Saints are trying to put media headlines on other matters.  First, it was putting the franchise tag on Drew Brees, pretty much guaranteeing that he will retire a Saint.  And now… they will hold a work out for former superstar wide receiver Randy Moss.  Moss has been very outspoken about wanting to play in the NFL next season, thinking he still has one or two more years left.  The Saints could be a good spot for him, as they could bring him in as a decoy to throw off a defense.  And then, when the defense isn’t suspecting they would ever throw to Moss, that’s when Brees would actually throw to Moss.  This might work out.

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And finally, in the latest Linsanity news, Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni said publicly that Jeremy Lin would remain in the starting line-up over veteran Baron Davis.  D’Antoni said he wants Lin to start and finish games for the Knicks, and would prefer to bring Davis in off the bench to rest Lin.   And given that D’Antoni likes to run a fast paced offense, he said he might even play Baron Davis and Jeremy Lin at the same time to give the Knicks a speed advantage.  This is great news for Lin supporters, especially internationally, where it’s been reported that, in China, some schools are showing Knicks game as a school-time recreational activity.  Lin is their recess. 

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In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers were hosting LeBron/Wade and the Heat.  The Heat have been playing very well as of late, but dropped a nail biter against the Jazz in Utah.  Plus, the final of the member of the Big 3, Chris Bosh, has been out for the last 3 games because of a death in the family.  Could they do it without him?  Kobe is the guy who usually rises to the occasion in big games — ESPECIALLY on his home court.  Plus, this was Kobe’s first rematch against Dwayne Wade since Wade broke his nose in the all-star game, causing him to wear a face mask.  So it was no surprise that Bryant put up a whopping 33 point night.  The Lakers had this game pretty much the whole night, and ran away with it in the 4th quarter.  The Heat may actually have some holes in their armor.  LA Lakers 93, Miami 83.

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Elsewhere, in the NFL, a big story broke this weekend about the New Orleans Saints.  They put the franchise tag on Drew Brees, pretty much securing him for the rest of his career, but that wasn’t even their biggest story.  No, the Saints reportedly put bounties on vicious defensive hits under their defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.  What does this mean?  Essentially, Williams would pay players if they had a big hit that caused an injury to a key player.  So if a defensive back took out, say, Brett Favre, he would get a $1500 bonus after the game.  And that… is definitely against NFL rules.  On top of this, Williams admitted that it was true, and said it’s something he shouldn’t have done.  The NFL will meet with Williams this week to discuss consequences.  And now it’s reported that they will also look into the Washington Redskins, who MAY have instituted a similar program. 

Finally, also in the NFL, two guys will re-join their respective teams.  First up, the Seattle Seahawks have signed Marshawn Lynch to a 4-year deal.  Marshawn was a lackluster running-back in Buffalo, but when he joined the Seahawks he became an absolute beast.  He gave Seahawks fans an especially memorable long-run against the Saints in the playoffs 2 years ago (breaking about 6 tackles).  Now, he will remain a Seahawk for at least the next few seasons.  And, in Buffalo, wide-receiver Stevie Johnson has signed a 5-year deal to remain a Bill.  Johnson has been the most effective Bills receiver in years, and had a wonderful chemistry with quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Bills are a team on the rise, and having Johnson there for veteran leadership is only going to make them better. 

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It was the end of an era for Red Sox fans.  For baseball fans, one of the biggest relationships is a fan base with a catcher.  Catchers usually become the backbone of a team, because they are really the ones calling the game.  They know what the best strategy is in different situations, and know the habits of many batters.  They’re the ones who get to know the pitchers on a deeper level, and understand what the pitcher should throw in any given situation.  So when a team finds a good one, they usually remain behind the plate for at least a decade.  In Boston, that guy was Jason Varitek, and yesterday… he officially retired from the organization.  It was a tearful speech, and Varitek said he would miss his teammates and the fans.  A great player, no matter what team you like.

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Elsewhere, the surging Miami Heat were looking for their 9th straight win.  These guys have been killing teams this season.  Why?  A few reasons.  1) This team has 2 of the best 5 players in the NBA (LeBron and Wade), 2) They also have an amazing Chris Bosh.  3) The compressed schedule can make teams tired, so a team with a fast pace style like the Heat can run you off the court if you can’t keep up.  So, could they take out a pesky Blazers team?  LeBron James had a monster night with 38 points and 11 rebounds, and the Heat easily rolled to their 9th straight victory.  It’s hard to imagine anybody getting in this team’s way down the stretch.  But… you never know.  Miami 107, Portland 93.

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Finally, in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers have said they will NOT place the franchise tag on star wide-receiver Mike Wallace.  Wallace looked to be a Steeler for a while, but with the emergence of Antonio Brown, the Steelers may be thinking they don’t need Wallace.  Or, they think they can make a couple strategic draft picks at wide receiver.  This doesn’t mean that Wallace won’t be a Steeler, it just means that other teams can make him an offer.  If the Steelers “tender” Wallace, that means that they would reserve the right to match another team’s offer and keep Wallace.  In response, Mike Wallace said publicly that in the event that he isn’t a Steeler next season, the Steeler faithful would still be in his heart… but he has to do what he has to do.

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In the NBA, the Jeremy Lin show was back, as the Knicks hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers.  The Cavs are a team on the rise behind star rookie Kyrie Irving, but still have a bunch of kinks to work out.  As for the Knicks, they are gelling more and more every night, especially getting solid play from their point guards Jeremy Lin, Iman Shumpert, and Baron Davis.  However, in this game, the Cavs jumped out to an early lead behind a 22-point night from Kyrie Irving.  But the Knicks came storming back from a 17 point deficit, getting a solid performance from their bench, namely sharp-shooter Steve Novak.  The Knicks win, and it’s only going to get better.  NY Knicks 120, Cleveland 103.

Elsewhere in the NBA, it was Kobe Bryant back in action, albeit in a clear plastic mask that protected his broken nose.  He looked like a low-rate superhero.  Then again, he is still KOBE under that mask, so you can always expect a solid performance.  The Lakers had to take on a Timberwolves team that crushed the Clippers Wednesday night.  These guys are going to be dangerous in the playoffs, but, like many young teams, they still need to learn how to play perfectly as a “team”.  They were without Kevin Love last night, so they would need strong play from their back-up big man Nikola Pekovic, another emerging role player.  Pekovic had 10 points on the night, but the Lakers were just too much for them to handle, cruising out to a big lead in the beginning and never looking back.  Kobe finished with 31 points, and the Lakers continue to claw their way up the playoff ladder.

Finally in the NBA, some disappointing news.  For the past 10 years, a man named Darrell Bailey has held season tickets to the Clippers.  He became their most ardent fan during a stretch when they were absolutely horrible.  Every game, he wore a clown-like outfit with Clipper colors and would cheer loudly, getting the sparse crowd into the game.  He earned the nickname “Clipper Darrell” by the media, and that name stuck.  He used this name to start outreach programs in the community and inspire other kids to care about something besides the perils of life.  Now, the Clipper organization has asked “Clipper Darrell” to remove that name from his website and his own moniker.  He wrote on his website that he was extremely saddened by this, because he had stuck with the team for so many years.  And he used this energy to get over some of life’s toughest problems.  It’s unclear why the Clipper organization did this, but some of the Clipper players (like Blake Griffin and Chris Paul) are using Twitter to show support for Clipper Darrell.  And the Clippers might want to keep those all-stars happy so we’ll see what happens.