Friday Morning Five-Pack

It's freaking cold here in Seattle this morning. Here is a Friday morning five-pack of sports goodness to get ya going.

• There is a very interesting situation in the Patriot League this weekend. Bucknell, who recently clinched the regular season title with a 12-1 record, will host last place Army this weekend and then turn around and host them again in the first round of the PL tournament the following week. It would appear on paper to be a big mismatch, except for one thing...when the Bison went up to West Point they got it handed to them in a 90-70 loss, their only conference blemish to date. So what do the Bison do? Do they rest their starters and go vanilla on Army? Or do they come out and destroy the Cadets for the earlier loss knowing that Army will have a 'practice' game against them before the tourney starts? To me, it's simple. Don't stop your momentum - kick the crap out of them on Saturday and then turn around and do it again. They are vastly superior to the Cadets and they need to show it.
• One of my favorite sports topics is race. It's not something I blog about much because frankly, it's a subject that no one knows how/wants to talk about. The fact is that while no one wants to admit it, race still plays an integral role in all sports, as it does society. My favorite writer on the subject, Jason Whitlock had Buzz Bissinger on his podcast to discuss Bissinger's recent comments about whites not watching the NBA. Take a listen if you have some time.
• A lot of trades before yesterday's NBA trade deadline. I won't discuss all of them, but three stick out. First, Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson traded to OKC for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. Most experts are floored by this trade since Boston essentially weakened their only area of strength over Miami, but I really have to wonder if Perkins is fully recovered from his injury. It will be interesting to see what he is moving forward, because if he is completely back, OKC may be the best in the West. As far as Nate goes, you have to believe that deep down he is miserable that he has to play for Clay Bennett, the man who stole his NBA team. Second, Baron Davis shipped to Cleveland for Mo Williams. Simply put, the Clippers actually did something smart. While Baron has shown signs of life lately, he remains a cancer; it was only time before he brought the lockerroom down. Finally, in a non-trade, Memphis' trade of OJ Mayo to Indiana did not beat the deadline. There have been definite character questions surrounding Mayo in the past, so you have to wonder how he will take the news, knowing that he is basically a lame duck in Memphis. How do the Grizz move on with this over their heads? Very interesting.
• The Sounders continue to train in Florida with nothing more than blog posts and the daily video to keep fans up to date. Obviously it's hard to form any opinions on who looks good and who doesn't, but I get the general sense that Sigi is not happy with Blaise and that he loves both rookie goalies. They currently have between 32-34 players in camp which means Sigi will need to cut some people before the March 1 deadline. I see Noonan and either Scott/Graham being cut along with one of the keepers, Johnathon Prieto and unfortunately Lamar Neagle. Again, these are based on nothing more than speculation on my part.
• Finally, I am quietly becoming very excited for the Mets season. New manager Terry Collins has brought a lot of energy to camp (hopefully he can keep it up in the dog-days of July) and the constant upbeat reporting of Matt Cerone of metsblog.com has me starting to dream of a special season. Right now I think the most interesting parts of camp is who will win the 2nd base job between Daniel Murphy, Brad Emaus and Luis Castillo; whether Izzy can make the team and the bullpen; who will be the 5th starter and whether Beltran and Bay can bounce back and have big years.

That's all I got for now. Enjoy the weekend.