Please Spare Us
Posted January 25, 2010, 8:18 PM ET

Thank you, Brett Favre.

I knew you had one more forced pass left in that golden arm.

Favre's ill-timed interception late in the game against the Saints laid the groundwork for a huge bash on Bourbon Street and a Super Bowl trip for the Saints.

Don't get me wrong; Brett Favre is a great player...a Hall-of-Famer. I used to love him...and I still enjoy his passion for the game. But his ability to hold franchises hostage with his indecision over retirement is a complete turnoff.

I'm not sure I could stomach two weeks of hype surrounding #4, had the Vikes pulled out a win in the Bayou. Instead, we get a game filled with great story lines as the "Favre Retirement Watch" becomes a sidebar.

It was also great to have a pair of exciting games for the conference championships, too. After a collection of blowouts, both games on Sunday were entertaining. The ratings for the NFL playoffs have been terrific, despite the lopsided scores....and given the Manning-Brees showdown in Miami, you have to figure that CBS is licking their chops.

I had Bobby Hebert, the former Saints QB and current radio host, on the show last week and he had the best line of the week. He figured N'awlins would take care of business and get to the big game.

But he said that most Saints fans will make a quick trip to Miami to soak in the pre-game festivities during Super Bowl week, and then head back home for the game. The reason.....with Mardi Gras and the Saints in the Super Bowl......who wants to go to Miami? The real party will be in New Orleans.

He's right.

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The college basketball polls this week show that the University of Kentucky Wildcats are back on top of the college basketball world as the #1 ranked team.

You know how I feel about polls....especially in college hoops, where we actually have a champion determined on the court, not by some computer geek. But UK back on top is a great story.

It didn't take John Calipari long to make an impact in Lexington.

This team isn't good enough to run the table and finish with an unblemished record, but they are certainly good enough to reach the Final Four and win it all.....and UK fans have been waiting for that moment for a long time.

It's been interesting to watch Calipari and Bama's Nick Saban transform two SEC super-powers in a short period of time. It took Saban just three years to get Alabama from average to the beast....and Calipari is in the process of doing the same thing in the Bluegrass state.

While "Big Blue" is loving life this hoops season, "Baby Blue" is in meltdown mode.

The Tar Heels fell out of the Top 25 for the first time in four years, and are searching for answers. The Heels are on a three-game slide for the first time under Roy Williams, and their fans are getting a bit uneasy.

The ACC is loaded with a bunch of decent teams, but maybe without a great team. Even though I still think Duke is the league's best team (and their 2nd half beat-down at Clemson was impressive)...there are some challengers for the Blue Devils.

But one of the expected challengers, UNC, is currently out of the mix as they try to get back to .500 this week with games against NC State and UVa.

In one week, you can go from a dog to a contender in the ACC...and vice-versa. At the end of the day, I still like Duke and Coach K to be the best the league has to offer.

But you can ask anybody that follows college hoops....this year, the ACC doesn't look like they have a serious contender for a national title. The good news is that it doesn't matter what a computer geek or any radio talk show host has to say....it will be determined on the court.

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The funniest story of the week has to be the new proposed basketball league...the All-American Basketball Alliance.

It's for white guys only.

You must be a natural born US citizen, and both parents have to be of Caucasian race.

I can't make this stuff up.

Organizers state that there's nothing having to do with hatred about the league, but it does want to "emphasize fundamental basketball instead of the street ball played by people of color".

Yeah....this is exactly what America has been clamoring for in the sports world.....a bunch of white guys playing hoops in front of a handful of their best friends. Actually, I think that league already exists...at the local YMCA.

There may be hope for every Duke NBA bust in the past 15 years to restore their basketball careers.

"Cherokee Parks, come on down.....and bring Shavlik Randolph with you....and that goes for you too, Jay Bilas."

On a side note, I saw where NASCAR's Denny Hamlin has torn up his knee, instead of his race car. He tore his ACL in his left knee while playing in a pick-up basketball game. I'm telling you, Denny....if this racing thing doesn't work out, you would be the perfect point guard in the All-American Basketball Alliance.