Hit and Run: Waiting for Those Other Shoes

 

NOT these shoes. Or these socks, for that matter.

The wait for the BCS Championship game (seriously, January 10? and a playoff would take too much time?) may be over, but the waiting for a lot of other sports news is just getting started.  I delayed this post as long as possible hoping a couple of these things might actually go ahead and happen, but apparently the sports world does not exist to satisfy my needs as a blogger. Still, here’s a brief run down of pending news just in case you don’t want to refresh ESPN every five minutes.

The Football Shoe

Cam Newton may have announced today that he’s leaving Auburn (and really, does he need to stick around the NCAA at this point?) and Big XII star receivers Justin Blackmon and Ryan Broyles are sticking around their respective schools, but several anxious alumni and students are still waiting for their star players, among them Auburn’s Nick Fairley, who has announced he’ll make an announcement on Friday.  The interesting subplot here is the number of underclassmen who seem to be staying put despite being seen as potential high draft picks — is the NFL’s uncertain labor situation coming in to play here?  Or does everyone just really, really not want to play for Carolina?

The Baseball Shoe

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, the Cardinals front office are doing everything they can to keep their fan base from throwing themselves into the Mississippi River by trying to sign Albert Pujols to a contract extension before this season.  Albert, shown here wondering if it’s actually possible to swim in a pool full of hundred dollar bills, has reportedly said he will not do any further negotiations once Spring Training begins, so I’m hoping they’ll announce a signed extension soon, so I can stop having nightmares about being tormented with his exploits as a Yankee every time I walk past a newsstand.

 

The Basketball Shoe

As the week began, I thought I was going to get another chance to show off my Nets uniform photoshopping skills, as a big Nets-Nuggets-Pistons trade seemed all but set.  By yesterday, however, there were rumors that maybe the Knicks (Carmelo’s favored destination) weren’t completely out of the running, and tonight a possible Nuggets-Knicks-Grizzlies trade involving O.J. Mayo is also hovering, not to mention the possibility of a team desperate for healthy star power (Houston) offering a quick swap because they don’t care if he becomes a free agent at the end of the season.  And yes, I did pick the above photo because it reflects how reading about this mess makes me feel.

Of course there’s also a certain playoff game between a certain NFL team I may have painted my toenails bright green for and their archrivals that I’m waiting around for, but given my terrible track record when mentioning teams I’m rooting for on this blog, that’s all I’m going to say.

Are you just waiting for the NFL playoff games?  The holiday weekend? Or does some other pending sporting news have you all antsy?