By: Matt Spears

With nothing being deemed completely-column-worthy, let’s take a look at a number of nice side items to get us through this sports meal.

NBA

Linsanity continued

And so it continues after his 28-point, 14-assist performance Sunday versus the defending-Champion Dallas Mavericks (as did his proclivity for turnovers with seven more). There’s honestly not much I have to add that was not in my previous column except for one thing.

This guy’s got some major cojones!

A last-second game-winner against Toronto? A pair of big three-pointers to help put away Dallas? Every time you think Lin may have hit a plateau, he just takes his game and performance to another level.

 J.R. Smith about to enter a Linsane world

As if New York and Madison Square Garden weren’t crazy enough as it, they’ve now added former Nugget J.R. Smith into the fold. Prior to Lin’s emergence, I would have bet Smith’s me-first attitude would not have been successful in the Big Apple. But Lin’s presence has seemed to dramatically improve the team’s chemistry as they are all pulling for each other. Because of this, I think Smith will more easily work his way into the fold. Aside from the chemistry questions, Smith can flat out ball. He’s a great scorer who can create his own shot, and on the heightened New York stage, Smith should thrive once he gets acclimated. Now if someone could only explain the logic behind his new haircut to me. I don’t have any problem with it—just want to know the reasoning for it.

LeBron’s return to Cleveland

How many times does LeBron James need to say or do something that draws a rise out of people before he realizes what kind of an impact his words have? LeBron’s return to Cleveland really wouldn’t have been news this time around if not for him saying he could one day envision returning to play for the Cavs. Dude, you just got to Miami a minute-and-a-half ago and you’re already suggesting you could see yourself leaving the Heat one day? I get the sentiment and what he actually meant. You always keep your options open, and you never rule out anything as a possibility. That’s called being smart. All he is saying is that he loved playing for the fans in Cleveland, and because you can never rule anything out, there’s always a chance he could return. It makes sense. But you don’t say it to the media. Although in his defense, he never claimed to be the King of Public Relations.

Rising Stars teams selected

On the Valentine’s Day edition of The Morning Drive (twitter handle: @SportsWithTMD), DeJuan and I picked our Rising Stars teams from the list of available players.

DeJuan’s team: Landry Fields, Blake Griffin, Gordon Hayward, Kyrie Irving, Brandon Knight, Kawhi Leonard, Greg Monroe, Markieff Morris, Evan Turner

My team: Marshon Brooks, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, Ricky Rubio, Tiago Splitter, Tristan Thompson, Kemba Walker, John Wall, Derrick Williams

When the actual teams were picked on TNT, Charles Barkley took six of the same players I did. Barkley’s no knucklehead. I’ve got to go with his team during the game, but there was a wrinkle thrown in when David Stern relented and allowed Jeremy Lin (and the Heat’s Norris Cole) to participate in the game, which I’m all for. But it brings me to another point.

One of the things I hate most is when people say or do one thing, and then after a little bit of time and pressure from surrounding voices, they relent and backtrack. That’s what David Stern did last week when he initially said there could not and would not be any exceptions made for Lin in getting him to All-Star weekend.

Until he flip-flopped.

If you’re going to declare something publicly then stick with it. If you say you want to be traded or want to stay somewhere, don’t waffle on it. If you call somebody out because that’s how you feel, don’t take it back. The point is: don’t backtrack. It’s unbelievably annoying.

NFL

Randy’s Return

So Randy Moss wants to come out of retirement after one season and make a comeback. Good for him. The interesting thing here is why does he want to return?

Clearly he wasn’t too interested in staying after fizzling out with Minnesota and Tennessee. I still think Moss, if interested, could be a great addition to a veteran team in need of an occasional deep threat. But that’s the question. Is he interested? His former teammate Chris Carter questioned how effective he will be because of the Moss “quit-factor.” Carter, simply doing his job, accurately questioned Moss’s desire to compete, which Moss took exception to. Moss responded to Carter in a tweet, saying:

“@CrisCarter80 its sad how u stroked ur own ego when u were suppose to b my mentor! then u wonder why karma bites u in the ass! #goodlukwithhof”

I love the shot from Moss, even though he’s dead wrong for being upset. Moss could work out for teams like the Patriots, Packers, Saints or Lions who will be looking to utilize his deep-threat ability if he’s willing to accept spot duty. I doubt he is, though. Either way, some day he’ll be joining Chris Carter when they both make their way to Canton, so he’d be better off letting it go and realizing Carter is just doing his job. Something Moss should probably be doing if he wants to make this comeback a success.

MLB

Spring Training

There’s not much to say here right now other than I’m pumped for the arrival of Spring Training and baseball season. Expect a full-blown preview extravaganza before the season starts.

NASCAR

Daytona 500

Yeah, that’s right. We’re not above NASCAR here at the Spiel. It won’t quite make up for last season’s tiebreaking loss to Tony Stewart in their sport’s championship, but this weekend was a good way to start the year for Carl Edwards who grabbed the pole position for Sunday’s Daytona 500. In other racing news, Kyle Busch beat last year’s Champion in the Budweiser Shootout with a thrilling pass down the final stretch. Busch won the race by .013 seconds. This year’s field is wide open and made more interesting by the fact that they are reducing the two-car tandem racing that prevented large packs of cars from driving together. I’m not enough of a NASCAR nut to know exactly how that should affect the drivers and their abilities to compete and win, but purely from an entertainment standpoint, this move excites me as more pack racing means closer and more intense action. Finally, I’m interested to see how Danica Patrick transitions from IndyCar. I’m not expecting anything significant from her—perhaps a few top-10 finishes—but the more she involves herself in the action, the better off the sport will be.

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