Abbreviated news and notes while we scramble to keep up with NHL deadline day…
NBAPA uneasy about All-Star Game in New Orleans next year (ESPN News Services) It looks like there was some mischief in Vegas afterall.
Dickie V trashes UF’s Joakim Noah (The Big Lead/Loser with Socks) Billy Donovan is none too happy.
Your Pacman Jones update (The Big Lead) The hits keep on rolling for making it rain.
News and notes to get you going in the morning…
No. 3 Kansas holds off pesky Oklahoma (AP/Yahoo! Sports) Kansas blew a 17-point lead to hold on in this one. 
A Lastings impression (Yahoo! Sports) See what the copyeditor did there?
Minor league workhorses: 1976-1980 (The Hardball Times) A continuation of a HT series, this covers pitching workhorses during a four-year period.
Bills continue to mull offers for McGahee (AP/SI.com) The Bills certainly aren’t shy about getting the word out, are they?
Mavericks extend win streak to 12, down Atlanta 110-87 (AP/USA Today) They look like they can steamroll all the way to the conference finals as the set a record for 12-game win streaks in a season at three.
The best young shortstops of 2007 (Hardball Times) The Hardball Times digs into the best shortstops for the 2007 season.
Red Wings land forward Calder in three-way deal (Sportsnet.ca) The dominoes are falling for later today, but might make a Guerin acquisition a bit more interesting.
Former big leaguers to pioneer baseball in Israel (Reuters) Dan Duquette runs the business operations. Look out!
Tommy Lasorda’s name appears in Hollywood madam’s little black book (LA Times) Must…grab….vomit….bag.
Honus Wagner card fetches for $2.3 million (MLB.com) Tobacco cards were all the rage back in the day. One can just think of the advertising brain-storm sessions, such as “Honus Wagner smokes a pack before hitting the field for energy!”
Sabres fans want to pay $10K Ruff fine (AP/SI.com)
Buffalo Sabres fans have something unique in mind — to help pay the fine for head coach Lindy Ruff. Ruff was fined $10,000 for his team’s brawl with the Ottawa Senators late last week.
“Put down the pen, put away the checkbook. This one’s on us,” said Chris Phillips, co-owner of a Buffalo-area pizza parlor, who plans to donate 10 percent of every sale toward what he called, The Lindy Ruff Fine Fund.
Packers’ Favre has ankle surgery (AP/USA Today)
Quarterback Brett Favre had surgery to remove spurs from his left ankle Monday morning and probably will remain in Green Bay.
Panthers have trade in place to send Roberts to Pittsburgh (TSN.ca)
TSN-Canada’s Bob McKenzie is reporting that the Florida Panthers have a deal in place that would send forward Gary Roberts to the Pittsburgh Penguins, dependent on Roberts waiving his no-trade clause.
Canucks add depth at centre (Sportsnet.ca)
According to sources related to Sportsnet.ca, the Vancouver Canucks have added center Bryan Smolinski for a second round draft choice in the 2007 Entry Draft.
More later…
Potential for globalization unlimited (ESPN.com)
ESPN über wordsmith Jayson Stark sits down with Allan H. “Bud” Selig and picks his brain on the future of Major League Baseball.
The 20 most influential: online sports (SportsBusinessJournal.com)
The Sports Business Journal lists the top 20 most influential people in online sports. Some names you’ll be awfully familiar with (Bill Simmons, Peter King and Will Leitch); others you’ll probably wouldn’t know from a police line-up (Steve Snyder, Brian Rolapp and Dick Glover).
One thing is for sure: we didn’t make the top 1,000, but we promise to work really hard at it for next time.
For the record: Bob Bowman of MLB Interactive Media is numero uno.
Prior held back — just in case (Sun-Times)
Oft-injured Chicago Cubs starter Mark Prior is being held out of the club’s first five or six games as a precaution. Of course, the Cubs are saying it’s different this time.
Yeah, it always is.
News and notes while rushing out to get pedicures to improve your hoops game… 
Some UNC men’s hoops players fancy pedicures (News Observer/The Big Lead) They’ve got all the answers.
Letter writers pick apart Sports Guy’s Johnson tribute (FireJoeMorgan) A sports fact check!
Messier returns home to Edmonton (Sportsnet.ca) The future NHL HOFer returns home for tribute where he’ll likely cry.
Manny comes to camp early! (MLB.com) Well that’s a huge relief — ahead of schedule, too.
Ullrich retires from cycling (AP/ESPN.com) Amid investigations, he decides to shut it down.
Lawyer: Bonds won’t cooperate in Mitchell inquiry (AP/ESPN) It’s just Barry being…(insert what you want here).
News and notes while coming to grips with fantasy baseball draft day decisions… 
Artest a no-show as Kings down Pacers (AP/Yahoo! Sports) Perhaps he decided to feed his dogs instead.
Olympian Rulon Gardner survives plane crash (AP/USA Today) First this guy survives severe frostbite a few years back and now he survives a small plane crash. He’s living a charmed life.
The $103,000,000 mechanics of Daisuke Matsuzaka (Hardball Times) The animated gif breakdown of the delivery of one “Dice-K”.
Lennox Lewis denies comeback talk (USA Today) The HBO boxing commentator denies rumors of a comeback to face Vitali Klitschko.
Scorsese finally wins his Oscar (CNN) The great director wins the Oscar for “The Departed”. The movie was also named best picture.
Duke lax off to 2-0 start (USA Today) An emphatic return for a mistakenly maligned program.
Federer breaks Connors’s world number one streak (Reuters) The machine rolls on
An overly excited Kurt Sperwa of Central Florida loves to celebrate with his team. (YouTube/Deadspin)
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Garcia likely out of Eagles’ plans after deal with Feeley (ESPN.com)
Len Pasquarelli of ESPN.com reports that the Philadelphia Eagles have extended the contract of back-up quarterback A.J. Feeley for three years. The move strongly suggests that the Eagles are planning to let Jeff Garcia go via the free agent market.
News and notes while celebrating the departure of Keith Tkachuk…
Overzealous analysis can cause QB draft value to fluctuate (Arizona Republic/USA Today) We wonder if this guy works for Quinn’s agent.
Alpine skier Matt wins Garmisch Cup event (Reuters) We can’t wait till February is over.
Chiefs’ Allen requests trade (ESPN News Services) Organization tells him no. This should get interesting.
Catching up with Cuddyer (ESPN INsider) A Q&A with the Minnesota Twins most flexible position player. Olney’s notebook also discusses:
Tkachuk taking a mid-afternoon train to Georgia (TSN.ca)
The St. Louis Blues and the Atlanta Thrashers have completed a deal with the Blues sending All-Star forward Keith Tkachuk for forward Glen Metropolit, a first-round pick and a third-round pick in the 2007 Entry Draft and a second-round pick in 2008.
(Commentary: The deal is a good start for the Blues at the deadline. It potentially raises the price-tag on forward Bill Guerin on the trade market and should help them in their re-building mode. Not only that, it goes a long way to undoing the original Tkachuk deal in 2001 with Phoenix.)
***UPDATED at 1:37 PM CT***
Eric Duhatschek, the respected writer for the Toronto Globe & Mail, has a write-up on the deal and weighs in with some commentary.
***UPDATED 12:50 PM CT***
Bernie Miklasz of STL Today and 1380 ESPN reports the following from a John Davidson conference call. Davidson is the president of the St. Louis Blues. The information can be found here.
Nothing imminent on Guerin… “Trying to find out what makes the most sense for the Blues. We don’t have a thought right now that’s stronger than any other thought.”
Wants to accumulate as many draft picks as possible — to give the team options. He likes being able to use these picks as bait for moving up in the draft.
On Metropolit, he talked about how he’ll provide some offense that they’re losing with KT leaving …. also: “He has a year left on his contract. He’s playing for a new contract. Last year of a new deal, you’re going to give it your best shot.” He also said Metropolit has a good attitude about coming here.
News and notes while sleeping in on a lazy Sunday…
The complexities of the NHL trade deadline (Globe & Mail) A little primer as Tuesday fast approaches. 
Gators ‘exposed’ or waiting to flip the switch? (SI.com) Luke Winn delves into what makes the Florida Gators tick after a loss to LSU on Saturday.
Duke lacrosse team victorious in return (AP/SI.com) A triumphant return for a program that was unnecessarily reeling from a witch hunt.
Quinn confused by dropping draft stock (ESPN.com) There’s a reason for it, Brady. You can do it!
Russell a big hit at NFL Combine (ESPN.com) He tipped the toledos at a ’svelte’ 265 pounds. You want fries with your weigh-in?
‘Dice- K’ sharp in first batting practice session (AP/USA Today) No gyroball, but plenty of ‘oooohs’ and ‘ahhhhhs’.
No love for Lovie Smith (Yahoo! Sports) Charles Robinson chronicles the mistakes of the Chicago Bears in dealing with head coach Lovie Smith.
Ottawa 5, Buffalo 4 (AP/Yahoo!) It didn’t live up to the billing of being a “goon fest”, but it did live up to the billing of excitement: Buffalo stormed back from a 4-1 deficit, only to come up short in the end.
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