Shanoff's Wake-Up Call: It's Not You, It's Me

By Dan Shanoff

Today's Call: Romo's lament, Celtics' misery, Pitt's restoration, Dungy's decision, McFadden's future, Laurinaitis' folly, Selig's testimony, WTA's scandal, KSK's mockery, CFB's fizzle and more.

The Opening Pitch: If "It's not you, it's me" is the Costanzan gold-standard, then "You distracted me into losing a winnable NFL playoff game" is the hot new reason to dump someone.

A few weeks ago, Tony Romo probably thought that dating Jessica Simpson was the greatest thing that could ever happen to his "star status."

Now, it's obvious: If Romo dumps HER -- using the game result as his reason -- he could become the biggest star in sports, an instant icon of relationships (if not playoff clutch).

It would enter the dating lexicon: "He gave her the Romo" or "She gave him the Romo" -- a romantic jilting because of an on-the-job jinx.

(Compare that to "He gave her the Brady," which means breaking up with your pregnant girlfriend just before reaching your professional pinnacle.)

On the flip side, Romo sticking by Simpson will only alienate him with Cowboys fans and make him the source of continued mockery for non-Cowboys fans.

And she'll dump HIM eventually. Count on that.

NBA Last Night: (1) Shockingly, the Wizards beat the Celtics IN Boston, sweeping a back-to-back home-and-home and giving the Celtics their first two-game losing streak of the season...

(Hey, is Gilbert Arenas really sure he wants to threaten in the Boston media to leave the Wizards "for a lot less to win a championship?" Either that was a genius motivational tactic or the worst timing ever.)

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(2) Kobe being Kobe: Bryant scored 48 in a Lakers win over Seattle. Who needs injured Andrew Bynum, out for at least 8 weeks? Well: The Sonics' Nick Collison went for 24 and 18 ...

(3) Bob Johnson might not like Barack Obama, but the Bobcats owner and avid Hillary Clinton supporter might be ready to endorse Gerald Wallace, after Wallace's 40 led Charlotte over the Nuggets.

(Yes, per yesterday's Comments, I recognize that I neglected to talk about Joakim Noah's suspension. I say: It's harder for the Bulls to pull rank on the rookie when they are busy delivering a rank season.)

College Hoops Last Night: Injury-riddled Pitt reaffirms itself as a Big East contender by knocking off Georgetown ... Kansas stays unbeaten with a 30-point shellacking of Oklahoma, re-energizing the debate: Between KU, UNC and Memphis, which team is REALLY No. 1?

NFL Playoffs: Phil Rivers questionable for AFC title game. Which should give him plenty of time, energy and opportunity to heckle Foxborough fans; Rivers seems to enjoy taunting opposing fans.

NFL Coaching Carousel: Will Tony Dungy be back? Unlike the usual "Want to spend more time with my family" pablum from coaches being shown the door, when Dungy says that his decision -- expected to come next week -- about whether to return to the Colts is based around his ability to simultaneously be a great dad, I actually believe him.

NFL Draft: Going. Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, the best 1-2 RB combo I can ever remember seeing (including Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown from a few years ago) will both turn pro. McFadden could be the No. 1 overall pick; Jones would be a steal in the second round.

Michigan WR Mario Manningham is gone, too: This was unsurprising, both because Manningham will be a high-round draft pick and because he has no featured place in Coach Rod's spread offense.

(As for other Michigan ex-pats, if you read the tea leaves, it looks like Ryan Mallett is eyeing a transfer to Arkansas to sling for Bobby Petrino ... if Petrino is still there in 2009, of course.)

Intriguingly, LT Michael Oher from Ole Miss is turning pro, too. You might remember Oher from his starring role in Michael Lewis' excellent book, "The Blind Side." I will be curious to see Lewis' take on this.

(Congrats to Sylvester Croom, who got my vote as 2007 College Football Coach of the Year, for getting a contract extension at Mississippi State through 2011.)

NFL Draft: Staying. James Laurinaitis returning to Ohio State for his senior season, despite being projected as a high first-round pick. Think he's worried about being Katzenmoyered? (That's Buckeye for "Amazing college career as a linebacker only to fizzle as a pro.")

Also staying: Virginia Tech CB Victor "Macho" Harris, who was projected as a third-round pick and may have the best nickname for a DB since "Pac-Man" Jones. (Yikes: Not sure if that's good or bad.)

MLB PED Scandal: Selig, Fehr talk to Congress today. Here's the preview: Both will give expert lip service to implementing the recommendations made in the Mitchell Report. (There: I've just saved the readers -- and the taxpayers -- a ton of money.)

Tennis Gambling Scandal Grows: Half-a-dozen women's players have been approached about throwing games, WTA honcho Larry Scott said, adding that there is no evidence of actual tanking (um, presumably beyond the usual get-me-out-of-this-minor-tournament-ASAP tanking).

But it is naive to think that it is limited to six players, just as it is naive to think that absence of evidence about corrupted game results equals evidence of absence.

Two words: Evgeni Malkin.

Hat-Tips: Kissing Suzy Kolber In the annals of trash-talk, Reggie Nelson (um, a Shanoff favorite) will go down in infamy, saying "He ain't all that" about Tom Brady ...

... after Brady had just finished throwing a virtual perfect game against the Nelson-led Jaguars D. KSK has a phenomenal post about it.

The Last Word: College Playoff D.O.A.?: UGA's Michael Adams made his pitch, but the NCAA D-I B.O.D. wasn't buying it, rejecting the idea of creating a committee to explore a playoff system.

I like Adams' enthusiasm, but he couldn't even rally support among the conferences that might be sympathetic to a playoff, let alone the intractable "Rose Cabal" of the Pac-10, Big Ten and Rose Bowl.

Adams mentioned the likelihood of a "tweaking" to the system. I'm worried that the half-measure of a half-baked idea like the "Plus-One" (proven by 2007's results NOT to work) is worse than what we've got.

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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