Sources say that Cousin Sal attended last night's crushing Cowboys loss in person and was extremely bummed out exiting the stadium. According to sources, Cousin Sal even thought about canceling our weekly Guess the NFL Lines podcast, but sources say Cousin Sal sucked it up and showed up at the last minute. Sources say you can feel his pain in the first few minutes of the podcast, at least until we started talking about Tim Tebow and that despair turned to anger. According to a well-placed source, Cousin Sal may have even won Guess the Lines this week, although sources believe Simmons let him win because Simmons felt bad. Either way, sources say none of this matters now because Simmons is furious that he had to scrap today's Day 7 NBA Christmas column because David Stern McMahon squashed the Clippers/Chris Paul trade at the last minute after Simmons made the mistake of writing 90 percent of his piece. Sources say Simmons might have to extend Day 7 to Tuesday, although a well-placed source says Simmons is scrambling to save Day 7 for Monday if he can pull off something coherent. If not, sources are saying Tuesday morning. Stay tuned.
My pick for Thursday night's Browns-Steelers game (Pittsburgh's favored by 14): Steelers 34, Browns 10 ... and everyone ignoring the game as the NBA implodes with a barrage of crazy signings and trades.
We took a break from my "12 Days of NBA Christmas" series to talk a little football and baseball on a two-part BS Report. Trust me, it was for the best — every time I closed my eyes, I was seeing a blurry vision of ESPN.com's Trade Machine. I needed to recharge my batteries and bang out a mega-pod.
In Part 1: The NFL Network's Michael Lombardi joined us to discuss the NFL playoff picture, Green Bay's 16-0 bid, the nutty wild-card picture (for both conferences), our mutual affection for the half-decency of T.J. Yates, why we're probably headed for a Super Bowl rematch, and … wait, there was one more thing … I can't remember … I think it was … well, wait … was it … oh, yeah … TEEEEEEEEEEEEBOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!! You can listen to Part 1 on ESPN.com's PodCenter or iTunes.
In Part 2: My buddy JackO made a long overdue appearance to discuss Anaheim's stunning signing of Albert Pujols, his Yankees and their curious apathy toward adding any free agents this winter, my Red Sox and all the bizarre shenanigans these past three months, the Bobby Valentine era, and, of course, how the Angels just locked up the next few World Series titles. (Congratulations, Angels fans — just start planning the 2012, 2013 and 2014 parades now. There's no way you guys can lose.) You can listen to Part 2 on ESPN.com's PodCenter or iTunes.
Today on the B.S. Report our old friend Steve Kerr returns to the pod to help Bill look back at the end of the NBA lockout and forward to the upcoming season. Kerr, currently an analyst for TNT, is a former NBA player, was a player rep during the 1999 NBA lockout, and was recently the GM of the Phoenix Suns. So he kind of knows what he's talking about! Steve tells tales about trading Kurt Thomas and draft picks for cap space, talks about the differences between the '99 and '11 lockouts, and answers the questions about whom the Heat should pursue and how much Arron Afflalo is worth.
Cousin Sal and I battled through some technical difficulties on Monday to belatedly bang out our "Guess the Lines" podcast for Week 12. We recorded a few hours before Chiefs-Pats — you'll hear Sal make a gambling pick for that game that's pretty funny in retrospect. Also discussed: How my "Bears to win the NFC" bet caused Jay Cutler's injury, why does Sal have such intense hatred for my Tim Tebowner, and why didn't we realize Michael Vick was a Ewing Theory guy? At around the 45-minute mark, the czar of reality TV (Dave Jacoby) comes on to drop a bombshell about a new reality show from the creator of Jersey Shore, which we proceed to dissect like it's a Supreme Court decision. From there, you can listen to two married heterosexuals discuss the greatest show on TV right now: that's right, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. No, we didn't get manis and pedis afterwards.
Back when the NBA was still alive, I owned season tickets for a team called the Los Angeles Clippers. Their best player was named Blake Griffin. He played forward for them and was known for his exciting dunks and alley-oop finishes. Right when Blake was becoming a superstar, the NBA decided to stop playing for reasons that remain unclear. Blake remained in the L.A. area and spends his time working out, playing pickup hoops as much as possible and either (a) waiting for another professional basketball league to form, or (b) waiting for someone involved in this current NBA dispute to display an IQ over 80 so he can start playing hoops again. Let's hope our podcast wasn't the last time you'll see or hear him for the next few months.
