Sports this 'n' that

Baseball is still a month away from spring training, but the biggest news came from the reigning National League East champion Washington Nationals on Monday, when they signed former Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer away from Detroit, reuniting Scherzer with former teammate Doug Fister. Figure that GM Mike Rizzo is another easy mark for the world's greediest agent, Scott Boras, who represents Scherzer. Scherzer gives Washington a formidible rotation that is now 7 men deep when you factor in returnees Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann, and Fister, plus Tanner Roark and Ross Detwiler. However, there are also reports that the Nats are open to trading Strasburg, another Boras client, away. That would rank right up there with some of the bonehead moves of all time, in this writer's opinion. Yes, Strasburg has had injury issues, but you'd be better served if you're Nats manager Matt Williams and/or Rizzo to have some insurance in case one of the others is injured. Just sayin'.

A month ago, Troy High's women's basketball team was off to a terrible start, winning just 2 of their first 7 games. However, they've reeled off 8 wins in a row headed into a rematch tonight vs. Albany, which won the last two Big 10 titles before that league folded. The Lady Falcons have won at least 5 in a row from Troy. and looking to make it 6 tonight. The boys of Albany, though, are so bad (How bad are they?), the women would beat them in a scrimmage with ease. Going into tonight's game vs. Troy, the Falcons have won just 1 game this season, while Troy has won 4 in a row.

Also, The Record gave Friday's Troy-LaSalle game just 3 short paragraphs, and didn't even mention the knee injury sustained by star guard Zach Radz in Sunday's editions. Well, I didn't see any TV cameras or photographers, and there was someone with a video camera, likely a parent, during the JV game.........

Should it surprise anyone that there's a controversy surrounding the New England Patriots in the wake of another blowout win over Indianapolis? Hmmm, well, of course not. The NFL is conducting an investigation into the possibility that someone on the Patriots bench, likely an unpaid underling who can be thrown under the bus, just like Spygate, deflated some balls during Sunday's game, as if New England really needed to go there.

Not that it's going to matter, anyway. Seattle will become the 1st team since the Pats to repeat come February 1. 'Nuff said.

However, the NFL cannot just fine the Pats and take away draft picks. That amounts to a slap on the wrist and a warning. Chump change. Instead, bar them from the draft for the next 2 years, and reduce their home schedule down to 3 divisional games, plus 1 selected patsy (Washington, anyone?), and send them on the road for 12 instead of 8. If you've got any other ideas, just let me know, okay?

And, then, there are rumors linking "Wisteria" Lane Kiffin to an offensive coordinator's job with, I believe, San Francisco, after 1 year at Alabama? Part of the reason Kiffin was sacked at USC in 2012 was because a student manager got caught deflating balls vs. Oregon, which hardly mattered at the end, as the Ducks won that game. Kiffin tried to deny having anything to do with it, but that, apparently, amounted to crying wolf.

Would someone please give syndicated columnist and ESPN announcer Norman "Dangling" Chad comedy lessons? His column, appearing Tuesdays in most places, is about as amusing as watching grass grow. In the Sahara.