Weekend Wake Up: LeBron Averts Coup, Urban Bright, Cable Renewed, Tiger’s Plight

Durantula Swatted. Kevin Durant had 34 points and the Thunder had a one-point lead. But LeBron James found Daniel Gibson for a trailer triple at one end, executed the eye-popping block above at the other end, then hit two free throws to seal the 100-99 victory. No shame in losing that game, KD.

Baloney Has a Third Name. Urban Meyer spoke at halftime of a Florida Gators basketball game on Saturday and told reporters he plans to coach spring practice. (I’ll get to the game itself later.) “I keep hearing about this time out,” Meyer said. “People I’m closest to are going to demand I take some time off, but I tried that already. I tried a day and a half, and it didn’t work.” So that big to-do about him retiring, or taking a “leave of absence,” was really much ado about nothing. Congrats, Urban: Your plan to keep the sports journalism world afloat for a couple of days by letting columnists dash off breathless tributes and concerned speculation and then keep it running for years to come by enabling those same columnists to dunk you in snake oil worked!

Cable Unleashed? Is Al Davis really on the verge of making a good football decision? Reports indicate that Davis will bring back Tom Cable, though the Raiders deny a decision has been made. I’m not sure why the Raiders would choose now to fire a coach who hit his professional stride toward the end of the season, instead of letting him go when he was in the middle of a criminal investigation and his team was floundering. But then, I’m not sure why the Raiders do anything they do.

Glimpses of Insanity. Speaking of things that make no sense: The hullabaloo over Tiger Woods’ rumored rehab picture is both bizarre and sad. What does a picture of Woods being at rehab prove or change? And why, exactly, would a look-alike be a plausible scenario? And why are we writing, thinking, or talking about Tiger Woods’ rehab instead of his golf? What Tiger’s team has done since his Thanksgiving car accident has been mismanagement of the highest order, creating an all-consuming spectacle for the world to enjoy that is somehow bigger than Tiger ever was as a golfer and/or endorser, and letting even a breath about rehab slip to anyone was a mistake. To return to semi-normalcy, he needs to play a round of golf in public, and shrink to the stature of the game he plays, if only for a few hours. I wonder if that will happen. Ever.

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