Shanoff’s WUC: Sick of Super Story Lines Yet?

Today’s Calls: Super Bowl Story lines vs. Super Bowl Fatigue, Kansas vs. Kansas State, San Francisco vs. South Florida, Pro Bowl Now vs. Pro Bowl Later, Tim Tebow vs. Mardy Gilyard, Dwight Freeney vs. Chris Paul, Lakers vs. Celtics, Rex Ryan vs. Herschel Walker, Kobe’s Good Timing vs. Kobe’s Bad Timing and More.

Hey, did you hear?
The Saints USED TO BE TERRIBLE!

Hey, did you hear?
New Orleans went through Hurricane Katrina!

Hey, did you hear?
PEYTON Manning versus Drew BREES!

Hey, did you hear?
The Saints’ most famous player? THE DAD OF THE COLTS QB!

Hey, did you hear?
Peyton won his only Super Bowl IN MIAMI. AND IT RAINED.

Hey, did you hear?
Super Bowl ad! Abortion! Tim TEBOW!

Hey, did you hear?
Reggie Bush is dating Kim KARDASHIAN!

Hey, did you hear?
The Colts INSIST Dwight Freeney MIGHT play!

Hey, did you hear?
Both defenses have SOMETHING TO PROVE!

Hey, did you hear?
No one HAD HEARD OF Pierre Garcon or Austin Collie before this season!

Hey, did you hear?
Sean Payton is a BILL PARCELLS disciple! And Jim Caldwell was TONY DUNGY’s right-hand guy!

Hey, did you hear?
Saints fans use a CATCHY PHRASE to ID themselves!

So we’re done talking about these for the rest of the week. Right?

CBB Mania: Kansas deserves the No. 1 spot this week — and status as the team to beat in March, if only because of the way they went into the most intense environment I’ve seen in years — kudos, Kansas State fans — and pulled out a gutsy win. Sherron Collins: You’ve got my vote for 1st-team All-American.

The second-most impressive win of the weekend was Georgetown throttling Duke and in front of President Obama — check that: San Francisco knocking off Gonzaga. The Zags lose in the West Coast Conference once every Presidential election or so. And give props to another USF — South Florida, which surprised Pitt.

Senior Bowl: Tim Tebow had an underwhelming performance (ironically, out-shined by the guy he eclipsed in the Sugar Bowl, Mardy Gilyard). Of course, the point of the week was to get NFL coaching, not to impress the draftniks. That’s the good news, because for what it’s worth, he didn’t.

Pro Bowl: Well, if you’re not going to have a little fun and let Chad Ochocinco kick, then what’s the point? The big question was did the experiment work? We won’t find out the TV ratings until later today, but the attendance was the Pro Bowl’s biggest since the late 1950s and the scoring was certainly telegenic. (Prediction: The NFL keeps the big changes.)

(As for Rex Ryan’s flipped bird in Miami, what did you expect from him? That’s just Rex being Rex — and the same qualities about him that inspired him to flip off some fans are the ones that led the Jets to the AFC title game in his rookie year.) OK, OK: He apologized.

History: The NFL All-Decade team takes a cop-out by naming both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as QBs of the Decade. Everyone — including the Hall of Fame committee in charge of the team — should have to pick one or the other. (Me: Brady)

NBA Talking Points: The Lakers edging the Celtics in Boston gets all the headlines, but the more intriguing result was that the Nuggets beat the Spurs — without Carmelo. They are 3-1 without Anthony. Is Denver the best hope of someone stopping the Lakers in the playoffs?

NBA Stud of the Weekend: Andre Miller and his 52, obviously.

Injury Watch: Chris Paul. Out 1-2 months for surgery to repair a knee injury? Ouch.

CFB Recruiting: Gearing up for Wednesday’s National Signing Day, but Texas had a nice little pre-NSD haul for themselves, getting DE Jackson Jeffcoat and LB Jordan Hicks.

SN’s final Top 100 is out, and California’s DE/TE Ronald Powell is the No. 1 player on the list. Powell is a Florida commit and headlines for the Gators what should be the No. 1 recruiting class in the country come Wednesday afternoon.

Super Bowl Ad Watch: Focus on the Family? OK. Gay dating site. Rejected by CBS.

Tennis: Roger Federer would like to remind you he is the greatest tennis player of all time. Some of you may have forgotten.

Golf: The buzz-less Farmers Insurance Open is good foreshadowing of what golf is like this season as long as Tiger isn’t around: A bunch of no-names that no one cares about, with announcers conspicuously avoiding Tiger scandal talk.

MMA: Herschel Walker is the weekend’s biggest sports hero. The 47-year-old football hero won his MMA debut — it doesn’t matter that it was against a complete tomato can. Herschel competing (and winning) is good entertainment.

Griping: If Rick Pitino doesn’t like the one-and-done rule, he shouldn’t recruit one-and-done players. (But it’s not like Pitino has been particularly burned by one-and-dones. And he’s not against high school players going straight to the NBA. The folks who benefit most from forcing players to spend two years in college is ... well, lookatthat: College coaches.)

The Last Word: “I don’t leave anything in the chamber.”
— Kobe Bryant, in the most ill-timed choice of words in the history of basketball advertising. (Freeman says: Oh, lighten up.)

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. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/danshanoff.

↵