Thought #1

As Ben Roelisthberger met today with Roger Goodell and had a "very productive" meeting concerning Ben's alleged bathroom stall follies, I got to thinking about his statement yesterday. I got to thinking less about his sweet case of hockey hair and more about his commending of the Milledgeville investigation and about his promise to put his full effort into being the Steelers' QB. I can to this conclusion:

Pre-written, rehearsed statements are a lot like mail order brides. They sound so good when you are putting them together. I mean you get to pick the parts you want, pick the parts you want to throw out, and even decide what language of choice you want to go with. Sounds great on paper, sometimes almost perfect.

But when you are standing there facing your family and friends with a 6 foot 9 inch Russian chick, with a mustache thicker than your dad's, Teen Wolf's arm hair, and a plan to make you spend the next 30 years of your life eating burnt potato cakes, its pretty obvious it is fake.

Sure Big Ben can talk about well the investigation was handled and how he is over this and ready to move on, but all know that's just the script. Ben just saw his top receiver get shipped out of town for basically a bag of balls because of conduct issues, got called into the principal's office for a stern tongue lashing, and on top of all that, knows good and well he is still one random security camera tape showing up of having the cuffs slapped on. No way this dude isn't on pins and needles waiting to find out if some random saliva sample is going to show up. No way his sole focus is on the Steelers right now.

But nowadays as an athlete in trouble that's what you do. Slick the hair back, read the script, and get out.

Thought #2

Chalk another win up for the world of mediocrity. The Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl inked a deal that will keep the No. 8 Big Ten team and the No. 1 or 2 team from the MAC bowling in Detroit until 2013. Sweet! So you're telling me I might get the catch to sit down to watch Northwestern and Ball State face off on a random Tuesday night before Christmas? Whew! Thank goodness and here I thought I was going to have to watch Everyone loves Raymond reruns that night.

Seriously, enough with the bowls. Now 8 out of 11 teams are going to be in bowls. Ridiculous, but at least the sponsorship fits the event. Looks like nice evening filled with football players you can't name, a rubbery $5 hot and ready, and some half-baked dough sticks. Through in a six pack of The Beast and the holy trinity of mediocrity is complete.

Thought #3

Rick Hendrick is absolutely the New York Yankees of the NASCAR world. Today the hottest potential free agent of the 2011 season, Kasey Kahne, signed up team Hendrick in a multiyear agreement. Team Hendrick's lineup now features, Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., Mark Martin, and now Kasey.

No, just like the Yankees, can you blame Hendrick for this? Can you blame them for going out and buying up the biggest and best drivers and media faces they can afford?

Nope, but you can sure blame NASCAR. In a day when all the "talk" from the top of the circuit is about making the fields tighter, closing the competition gap, and achieving closer racing, NASCAR has yet to take steps to really limit these mega teams from forming. Sure they want the cars to beat and bang together and yeah, they want the drivers to police themselves on the track, but would they dare limit the power of the man with the big purse. Not a chance.