What a week!

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Sunday, Nov. 22: While visiting our close friends Elizabeth and James in Easton, Pa., Robbie and I watched our undefeated Panthers crush the Scalping Savages of Washington.

Monday, Nov. 23: We traveled to Brooklyn's Barclay Center to watch our Marquette Warrior Eagles pull off a thrilling 81-80 upset of freshman sensation Ben Simmons and the LSU Tigers in the semifinals of the Legends Classic.

Tuesday, Nov. 24: After visiting the 9/11 Memorial Museum in lower Manhattan -- an incredible, interesting and sobering place -- Robbie and I watched Marquette rally to win the Legends championship with an overtime win over Arizona State. MU's own sensational freshman, Henry Ellenson, was tournament MVP.

Thursday, Nov. 26: Visiting my brother Al, his wife Sandy and her family for Thanksgiving in Philly, we watched the Panthers improve to 11-0 by destroying the Cowgirls in Dallas. Amazingly, the often-disrespected Panthers were 1 1/2-point underdogs in this game.

And that's how we spent our perfect sports week!

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In my previous post, I promised my Turkey of the Year countdown. Well, as you can see, I've been a little busy! It will be delivered soon as Thanksgiving "dessert."

So the tens of you will have to wait!
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Today's High Five

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5. It's never been more obvious that the NFL MVP is Peyton Manning.

How would you like to be paying big money for Colts season tickets this season?

And please ... I don't want to hear anybody say the Colts should try to lose to secure the draft rights to Andrew Luck. The Colts don't have to try to lose. They are quite accomplished at it.

4. Were I voting for guys actually playing this season, my midseason MVP ballot would read: Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Rodgers.

Followed (in no particular order) by Frank Gore, Calvin Johnson, Matt Forte and Matthew Stafford.

And then, finally, Aaron Rodgers.

3. Fox ran a graphic chronicling Tom Brady's comebacks when the Patriots have trailed or been tied late in games.

Um ... if the game was tied, how is that a comeback?

2. If you're like me, you're on pins and needles with this whole NBA lockout thing.

1. LSU coach Les Miles is right: His team's win over Alabama doesn't "prove" anything other than the fact that the Tigers have the upper hand in the SEC West.

The victory certainly doesn't prove LSU is the nation's best team. With the current system, there is no way to determine that. And, given the extreme limits of the BCS, there won't be any way to measure it come January, either.

It's just an opinion.

No matter who plays in the season's final game, it will be for nothing more than the mythical national title -- just as in the days when sportswriters and coaches chose the "champion" in polls.

At least back then, smart people didn't pretend something actually had been decided on the field of play.

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Today's High Five

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5. Headline you don't expect to see at Notre Dame:

Crist Benched.

I mean ... Jesus! ... is nothing sacred?

4. Cubbie closer Carlos Marmol said a seventh-inning rain delay was partly to blame for his troubles two innings later, when he gave up a hit, walked two batters and then served up Derrek Lee's go-ahead grand slam.

"I don’t make excuses," Marmol said, pausing for a second before making his excuse. "But the mound was a little slippery."

I guess the Wrigley mound must have gotten completely unslippery in the bottom of the ninth, when Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan retired the Cubs 1-2-3.

Lee had just come off the DL, where he had been since Marmol broke his hand with a pitch on Aug. 10. That led to this quote from Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, which perfectly summarizes why many of us prefer sports to real life:

"Isn’t it amazing? Sometimes in sports, you can’t write the script. The game plays out and gives you stories you never would have written up."

3. LSU's QB has been suspended for his alleged involvement in a bar fight. One of his top receivers has been suspended due to a possible NCAA infraction. And yet the Tigers shook off the "distractions" to beat Oregon in a rare Week 1 college-football battle that actually mattered.

One of my pet peeves about the media always has been the whole Distractions Thing.

What some of my colleagues obviously don't understand is that once the game starts, offensive linemen aren't saying: "I'd make this block but I can't stop thinking about our receiver." A Cardinals batter trying to get a hit off Roy Halladay doesn't have Albert Pujols' contract situation on his mind. When Kobe Bryant drives to the hoop, he isn't thinking about some goofy Ron Artest quote from four days earlier.

The game starts ... and athletes just play. If they were easily distracted, they wouldn't be high-level athletes.

2. Cubbie bum-in-the-making Tyler Colvin, batting .145, wants to be Adam Dunn when he grows up.

As for Dunn's team ... could there have been a better way for the White Sox to officially bow out of AL Central contention than by blowing a seven-run lead and losing to the first-place Tigers?

Thanks for pretending all season long, kids.

1. LSU's impressive win over Oregon took place at spacious, luxurious Cowboys Stadium, but I doubt LSU players spent any time daydreaming about their possible NFL careers.

You know, nobody likes to contemplate a pay cut.
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Jimmer's not even a nose hair on basketball's Mount Rushmore

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Of all the silly things uttered by coach-turned-yakkers during the NCAA tournament's opening weekend, the silliest had to be St. Joseph's Phil Martelli saying Jimmer Fredette might be having the greatest season ever by a college basketball player.

Talk about a man-crush.

Greatest season ever? Helllloooo! Pick any of Oscar Robertson's seasons. Or Pete Maravich's.

How about Lew Alcindor? David Thompson? Bill Russell?

You want more recent? Is anything The Jimmer doing better than what Kevin Durant did as a Texas freshman in 2006-7? Or what Adam Morrison did at Gonzaga a year earlier?

OK, maybe Martelli meant that, given the relative lack of talent at BYU, Fredette might be the most important player to his team.

If that's what Martelli meant ... he's still delusional.

I mean, Larry Bird carried -- and I mean CARRIED -- Indiana State within an eyelash of the 1979 national title. Bill Bradley was a one-man show for Princeton's 1965 Final Four team. Jerry West and Magic Johnson had some pretty fair seasons for some OK teams, too.

Oh, and all Wilt Chamberlain did in his two years at Kansas was average about 30 points and 20 rebounds ... but I guess he was no Jimmer.

And those are just off the top of my chrome dome. If I felt like doing research, I'd probably come up with a dozen or two more.

Isn't it enough to say that The Jimmer probably is this year's top player, not to mention a guy who is darn fun to watch?

Isn't The Jimmer hyped enough without Phil Martelli suggesting he belongs on some kind of college hoops Mount Rushmore?

I'd like to give Martelli a pass and call him a smart guy who simply got swept up in Jimmer Fever.

Or I could take a page from Martelli's book and say that might have been the stupidest comment in television history.
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Planting seed of Illinois upset

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Four (but a nowhere near final four) observations regarding the NCAA tourney bracket:

1. Of the 5/12 matchups notorious for producing upsets, Illinois will be a popular choice to make an early exit. And it would be hard to blame those who feel that way. The Illini's first-round opponent, Western Kentucky, defeated Louisville on a neutral court and led Florida State midway through the second half before fading. Even if Chester Frazier were healthy - and he isn't - Illinois would have to be considered a shaky No. 5 seed. It says here that all four No. 6 seeds (UCLA, Arizona State, Marquette and West Virginia) are better than the Illini, who defend well but are prone to almost comical offensive swoons.

2. The Penn Staters are upset, but the Nittany Lions have only their own schedule-maker to blame. At least the schools from mid-major and small conferences have an excuse - the big teams won't play them, especially on the road. But what's Penn State's excuse for having one of the softest non-conference schedules in the entire country? It's nice to see the selection committee reward teams that play more than cupcakes. Take heart, Nittany Lions: You'll always have those two wins over Illinois - including that unforgettable 38-33 thriller.

3. Of course UConn deserved to join Big East brethren Louisville and Pitt as a No. 1 seed. No, it isn't Memphis' fault that it's "stuck" in Conference USA while UConn is in the nation's toughest league. It is, however, a fact. While the Tigers' main competition was coming from the likes of Tulsa, UAB, Houston and UTEP, UConn was going to war twice a week. Penalizing the Huskies for a six-OT loss to an excellent Syracuse team also would have been ridiculous. Simply stated, Memphis is a No. 2. Everybody likes to rag on the committee this time of year, but the gentlemen did a superb job this year.

4. I need to do a lot more homework before I fill out my bracket and embarrass myself publicly, but here are some of the lower seeds that intrigue me at first glance: West Virginia (No. 6 Midwest), USC (No. 10 Midwest), Tennessee (No. 9 East), LSU (No. 8 South), Maryland (No. 10 West) and, of course, Marquette (No. 6 West). Hey, I'm a fan, too!