Sports Notes, 1/28/07

-- Much was made, in the days just after the BEARS-Colts Super Bowl was set, of the fact the teams’ home states were also squaring off in basketball at the pro and college level. This would once and for all settle the athletic border war from now until the end of time!, they all said. Except for the fact that after the two-week lag no one will still give a crap.

-- With the signing of Cliff Floyd, the Cubs have filled a void that has plagued the team since the departure of Sammy Sosa: aging, problematic slugger in the “precipitous decline” stage of his career.

-- Even after the drubbing at Purdue, Illinois has a realistic shot at making the NCAA tournament after its nice upset of No. 23 Indiana on Tuesday. And if Bruce Weber takes this, um, shall we say, “lightly talented” team to the tourney, it will be his best coaching job in his four years at Illinois.

-- But more than anything, it’s just nice that the Illinois fans once again vigorously booing the Indiana coach for being the Indiana coach. It feels like my universe is back in balance.

-- Oh my golly! Lovie Smith is BLACK?!?!?

-- A.J. Pierzynski was on the Jerry Springer show this week. Yes, I know, it would be easy and quick to whip off a cheap crack about the water finally finding its level, but the thing is that he was on as a guest security guard, not a guest hillbilly. Which is understandable -- after the shot Michael Barret laid on him in June, you can’t blame him for not wanting to take another punch for a while.

-- Good-bye, Glendon Rusch. We’ll always remember … well, I seem to vaguely recall you pitched mostly OK for a team that didn’t quite make the playoffs in 2004, for whatever that’s worth.

-- World No. 2 player Maria Sharapova sure looked pretty while losing the Australian Open final 6-1, 6-2 to unseeded Serena Williams. Pretty silly, that is.

-- As further proof (as if I needed any) that Indianapolis simply cannot offer what Chicago can – on many levels – I submit the following: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sct9igr7wMA