Weekend Wake Up: Carroll Fleeing USC, Halted Hockey, Finger Gun Fines, Playoff Picks

Could Pete Carroll really be leaving USC for the Seattle Seahawks? It looks likely. The ‘Hawks canned Jim Mora Jr. yesterday, making room for Carroll, who might see the Pacific Northwest as a safe haven with the prospect of a thorough NCAA investigation looming. If one needs tea leaves to read beyond Carroll himself, the departures of Joe McKnight and Damian Williams are strong indicators.Lightning, Interrupted. One of the brighter young stars in hockey scored, and then the lights went out. Shortly after Steven Stamkos’ second-period goal, a lighting problem surfaced at New Jersey’s Prudential Center. After almost two hours of attempts to fix it, officials postponed the Lightning-Devils tilt, making it the first NHL game in more than five years to be postponed. The attention this will get is probably not the spotlight the NHL wants.

Magical Misery. Four Wizards fined for their part in Gilbert Arenas’ finger gun dance? Card games banned by the team? Coaches and players speaking to law enforcement? This is all a day in the life of the Washington Wizards. At least they got to transfer a little of their misery to the Magic last night: The 104-97 loss was Orlando’s fourth in a row.

The Playoffs Begin. And, oh, yeah, there’s this little thing called the NFL postseason that happens to start today. Check out SN’s Super Bowl picks; I’ll drop mine later.

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