FanHouse Michael Wilbon

Video forward by Kevin Blackistone.



The colloquium was titled "Intercollegiate Athletics: Pro/Con: the Joys and Challenges of College Sports." The subject, as stated by moderator Maury Povich, was academics, athletics, and money.

Povich directed his first question at Redskins offensive tackle Stephon Heyer. While at Maryland, did Heyer consider himself more student or athlete.

The Redskins offensive lineman chuckled.

Tiger Woods is 33, has been on tour since 1996, and has 14 major victories. Save those junior tournaments where he was the youngest player in the field, I don't think he's ever been called underrated.

That changed yesterday when PGA Tour player Paul Goydos told the Boston Globe exactly that:

Last week, Steelers linebacker and Super Bowl champion James Harrison told the media that he had no interest in being honored, along with his teammates, at the White House. Not because he's a McCain-Palin guy -- Harrison skipped out on the trip in 2006 when George W. Bush was in office -- but because ... well, I have no idea.

"If you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he [Obama] would've invited Arizona if they had won," he said.

So, yeah, I'm not following the logic, but I don't think Harrison was trying to make a larger philosophical point. Instead, he used a lot of words to say: "I don't want to go." And had he just stated as much, that would have been that.

Tony Kornheiser gets very mad when I sit in his chair, pick up his personalized bobblehead from the studio set and shake the doll. In fact, even when I don't have the privilege of sometimes subbing for him on ESPN's Pardon The Interruption, he seems to dislike me -- maybe because I have a full head of hair or, more likely, because I'm intellectually beneath him.

That's OK. I am grateful anyway.

I thank him because he did the sportswriting profession proud in his three years on Monday Night Football. Kornheiser technically isn't a sportswriter anymore, having escaped the dying newspaper business like many of us, but when he was hired for one of the most high-profile assignments in sports television, he was dismissed by many viewers and critics as a columnist painfully out of his league.

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On Jan. 15, USC quarterback Mark Sanchez announced that he would forgo his senior season to enter the NFL draft. This news made head coach Pete Carroll very unhappy. In fact, during the press conference announcing Sanchez's decision, Carroll was clear:

Unless you're Vinny Cerrato, who appears to have the best job in sports (radio host, teevee personality, part-time executive vice president for an NFL team!), working for Redskins owner Dan Snyder must be an agonizing experience. He's forever overspending for big-name talent, is incapable of letting scouts and coaches do their jobs, and, ultimately, micromanages the team right into the ground. Every year.

So it should come as no surprise that Snyder is very interested in Jay Cutler, even though he currently has Jason Campbell -- the guy the 'Skins traded into the first round to draft in 2005 -- still under contract. I'll admit: Cutler is an upgrade over Campbell, but when considering all the factors -- the cost (two first-rounders, it sounds like), learning a new offense, playing in a new conference, etc. -- it hardly seems worth it.

The great Michael Phelps bong brouhaha may end up telling us more about all of us who comment on it than it tells us about Phelps. Reactions in the media have ranged from those who ask, "Who cares?" to those who insist that Phelps is a disgrace to the Olympic Games, America and himself.

As Charles Barkley slinks into obscurity -- even if temporarily -- he continues to leave a trail of destruction in his wake. That's probably overstating it just a bit; after all, following his Dec. 31 DUI, Sir Charles has taken an indefinite leave of absence from TNT, and T-Mobile dropped him as a spokesperson. (Although driving drunk and looking for sex is almost a prerequisite for public office, so at least his gubernatorial aspirations are still intact.)

Hank Haney, Tiger Woods' golf coach, has also tried to straighten out Barkley's full-body dry heave that passes for a golf swing. In fact, the two hatched a plan to film it all and turn it into a a reality show. Well, you can go ahead and shelf that, too. For now, anyway:

A lot of members of the media have had a lot to say over the past couple of days about USC coach Pete Carroll's decidedly unenthusiastic response to quarterback Mark Sanchez leaving school early to enter the NFL draft. But no member of the media has gone quite as far as Michael Wilbon did today on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

Today on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon listed their "turkeys of the year." Regular viewers will not be surprised by the first person they named: Kimbo Slice.

Yes, Kimbo, who has been called a fraud and accused of fixing fights on Pardon the Interruption, took some more abuse on the show today.

"Kimbo Slice: Punching bag, loser," Kornheiser said.

Wilbon added, "I hear in Miami Mr. Slice is not pleased about my Halloween costume. Not happy." Kornheiser replied, "Great costume."

Some day, I'd love to hear intelligent MMA conversations on PTI. But for now, we're stuck with Wilbon and Kornheiser taking every opportunity they can to trash Kimbo. I wonder what they'll say about him at Christmas.