Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: Johan to the Rescue

Today’s Calls: Johan Santana vs. Tom Brady, Kellie Pickler vs. Mrs.
Tom Brady, Plaxico Burress vs. Joe Namath, Andy Pettitte vs. Roger Clemens, Josh McDaniels vs. Bill Belichick, Kevin Durant vs. Tony Parker, Jason Kidd vs. the Nets, Barbaro vs. Elvis and More.
The Opening Pitch: Johan Santana Saves the Day.
After a day of mind-numbing coverage of Super Bowl XLII Media Day (see next item), the news that the Mets had reached a deal for Johan Santana came as a welcome diversion.
Here is the best pitcher in baseball, moving into the biggest media spotlight, for a team coming off an epic choke and seemingly with one golden opportunity to seize a National League pennant and, perhaps, a World Series title.
That’s the power of landing the No. 1 No. 1 starter in baseball, the desperately needed anchor to the Mets’ rotation. (Speaking of power, watch the power of outrage from Twins fans believing they got fleeced.)
But even more, this was the desperately needed storyline that fans everywhere could grab hold of to transport us away from the ridiculous excess that is Super Bowl Media Day.
Super Bowl Media Daze: Who doesn’t love a little Kellie Pickler, the “American Idol” hillbilly ditz assigned to the Media Day scene by Jay Leno?
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Michael Strahan gets the ad-lib line of the day, after being goaded by Pickler into picking Pickler’s new single “Red High Heels” as a potential pre-game psyche-up song. Strahan replied:
“OK, I’ll just imagine Tom Brady in the game wearing red high heels.”
(Wait: Who hasn’t?)
Meanwhile, the “reporter” who wore a short, tight wedding dress to pop the marriage question at Tom Brady blew it: She should have come pretending she was pregnant with his baby. (Maybe that was a job for the “Deal or No Deal” model at Media Day. Brady likes the models.)
“I have a few Mrs. Bradys in my life”: Brady’s response to the marriage proposal was clever and quippy, with a bit of an intriguing edge: Somewhere in California, I’m sure Brady-baby-mommy Bridget Moynahan cringed.
Obligatory Tom Brady Coverage: Beyond the faux-marriage proposal, Brady had the collective media horde swooning with his easy charm, bantering with jock reporters, flirting with female entertainment reporters and otherwise owning the place, typified by rapport like this:
“Anyone have a dumb question? I need a dumb question.” (Just when we thought we had put him behind us, he reels us back in ...)
About Plaxico Burress’ prediction of a 23-17 Giants win, stop the madness of positioning it as a Namath-style “guarantee.” What would you rather have him do -- predict the Giants will LOSE? And if the Pats need Burress’ Media Day yammering to find their motivation for perfection, they hardly qualify as a “Greatest Team Ever.”
Andy Pettitte vs. Roger Clemens: Pettitte may not testify before Congress today, as scheduled (postponed until Monday), but the bombshell has been dropped:
Pettitte will support Brian McNamee’s claims and tell Congress, according to McNamee’s lawyer, that Pettitte and Clemens talked about HGH between 2001-02, which led Pettitte to get McNamee to give Pettitte HGH. If only by implication, this would damn Clemens’ denials.
(I wonder if the postponement of Clemens’ testimony had to do with this new information, first broken by the NY Times.)
Pats 31-y.o. assistant Josh McDaniels to coach Redskins? How can Dan Snyder not love the combo of the novelty of McDaniels’ youth and his stamp of approval from Bill Belichick? Would be a steal, because in 2-3 years, McDaniel will be the hottest commodity in NFL coaching.
T.O. owes the Eagles $800K in bonus: Presume he won’t get some kind of sympathetic “loan forgiveness” program.
NBA Last Night: That the Sonics ended their losing streak (14 games) was bound to happen. That they snapped it against the defending NBA champion Spurs was the shocker.
This displaces T’wolves-over-Suns (twice!) as the most unlikely result of the NBA season. Kevin Durant had 26, including the game-winning basket. (Worth noting the Spurs played without injured Tony Parker.)
How bad are the Heat? The Celtics didn’t have KG or Ray Allen and still beat the Heat in Miami by 30. 30!
NBA Stud: Yao, who had 36 and 19 in a Rockets win over the Warriors. Speaking of which ...
Webber is back with Golden State: He’s still one of the best-passing big men of the era, but good luck with the run-n-gun offense.
NBA: Who wants Jason Kidd? The Mavs, Lakers, Nuggets and Cavs are all rumored to be interested, but do any have the talent to get a deal done? The Nets should ask Denver for Linus Kleiza. (Kidd had 9 points and 11 assists in a Nets win over the Bucks last night.)
CBB Tonight: Kansas plays at Kansas State in an intrastate brawl (including a K-State player “guarantee”) ... Memphis at Houtson, in the Tigers’ toughest remaining road game of the year. (“Toughest” being relative; this ain’t exactly Duke having to play in Chapel Hill.)
Rich Rod vs. West Virginia, Cont’d: Rodriguez is willing to pay $1.5M; WVU wants $4M. Something’s gotta give, and a judge will give it.
(Meanwhile, leave it to minor-league hockey to come up with “Shred Rodriguez” Night.)
More CFB: Will Cincy QB Ben Mauk get another year of eligibility? Unlikely that’s what Notre Dame transfer QB Demetrius Jones signed up for.
The Last Word: Barbaro. The horse’s ashes will be interred at Churchill Downs, which will undoubtedly become the gaudy, commerce-driven Graceland of equine fans everywhere.
Dan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.
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