Larry Bird finally commented on the Ron Artest situation, saying the following to the Indianapolis Star:

“I don’t know if this is the right wording, but I felt betrayed. We’re disappointed. Things happen, maybe it’s a good thing. He’s a very talented player. I always liked working with him and how he went about things on the basketball court. He’s a top-12 player in the league, but we’re in a situation where we have to move on. I think enough is enough. … I think Ronnie will do fine but not here.”

The Pacers have said that ten teams are still in the running as destinations for Artest, but the two teams being mentioned consistenly are the Denver Nuggets (for Earl Watson and Nene) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (for Wally Szczerbiak and Michael Olowokandi). The Denver deal would be better for the Pacers, as they would be getting more in return for Artest. Bird is right, Artest is a Top-12 player on the court, but off the court, he’s a headache, a la Terrell Owens. The Pacers will not get equal value for Artest basketball-wise, but they should come close to getting total value for him, given all the drama that seems to constantly surround the superstar.

Every week, I submit six names our fantasy football owners – three marginal players to start and three to bench. Let’s see how I did last week:

START

David Garrard, JAX – 216 passing yards, 27 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD (HIT)

Ryan Moats, PHI – 78 rushing yards, 1 TD (HIT)

Jimmy Smith, JAX – 6 receptions, 70 yards (PUSH)

BENCH

Mike Vick, ATL – 122 passing yards, 2 INT, 35 rushing yards (HIT)

Willis McGahee, BUF – 50 total yards, 1 TD (MISS)

Mushin Muhammad, CHI– 3 catches, 40 yards (HIT)

On to this week’s picks:

START

QB – Steve McNair, TEN
McNair’s matchup against a suspect MIA secondary is a good one.

RB – Carnell Williams, TB
Cadillac has a pretty good matchup against a Falcons rush defense that is not playing too well.

WR – Samie Parker, KC
Parker may still be available on your waiver wire if you need help. He’s been playing well lately and the KC/SD game should be a high scoring affair.

BENCH

QB – Brett Favre, CHI
Favre faces a very tough Bears defense on the frozen tundra in Green Bay.

RB – Edgerrin James, IND
HC Tony Dungy has said he’ll be treating this game as a preseason affair, so don’t expect to see any major Colts out there for more than a half.

WR – Deion Branch, NE
Beware of Pats this week, as the team has nothing to play for. Plus, Branch faces a good Jets pass defense.

Just saw a bit on Rotoworld about the Cubs and Orioles discussing a swap of Miguel Tejada for Mark Prior. Now, I love Mark Prior (one of my former coworkers was so fascinated with the boy’s calves that it bordered on creepy), and I think he’s a fabulous pitcher with just the right amount of mean to be an all-time great. But I think I speak for all Cubs fans when I say: Make that trade!

Pierre, Jones, Lee, Miggy, Aramis, Murton, Barrett. Sweet mercy. That is a potent lineup, right there. The sticking blocks seem to be in the additional players, as the Cubs want lefty Erik Bedard and the O’s want raw five-tool prospect Felix Pie. So Mr. Hendry and Mr. Angelos (I know he’s not the GM, but he’s still running everything), let me broker this deal for you both. Jim, send Prior, shortstop Ronny Cedeno, Corey Patterson and pitcher Angel Guzman to Baltimore. Peter, simply send us Tejada and Bedard. Cedeno is ready to play in the bigs, and the O’s get two good to great pitchers, not to mention a player who could blossom into a star with a change of scenery. Everybody wins.

There is big time pressure on the Cubs to at least make an attempt to win it all next year. If they pull this trade off, it will be a hell of a start. Do it, Jim. Cubs Nation is counting on you.

Kobe Bryant scored a career high 62 points in the Lakers’ 112-90 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. He did most of his damage in the third quarter, scoring 30 points in the period before sitting the entire fourth quarter. He shot 18-31 from the field, including 4-10 from long range. He also shot 25 free throws, connecting on 22 of them.

No other Lakers scored in double figures.

Red Sox Nation is likely planning a public burning at Government Center this morning after news leaked that Johnny Damon switched teams, taking a deal from the Yankees for four years and $52 million. They’re going to turn on him just like they turned on Nomar. They’ll call him a lousy bum, a traitor.

Which is, of course, nonsense. ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd nailed it this morning on his radio show The Herd. Boston wears its players out. If they hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to win a game, a fan will still say, “Well, what about last week, when you popped out to end the game?” New York, on the other hand, treats its players like stars. Is it any wonder why so many players go from Boston to New York, but very few go from New York to Boston? It makes me laugh to think that there was once talk of Derek Jeter playing for the Red Sox. Never in a million years would Jeter play for Boston.

Now that this deal is done, expect the Manny talk to heat up some more. You know he’s looking at that depleted offense and thinking, “Aye, carumba!”

Most leagues are holding their championship games this week - if you need any advice with your roster or just want a second opinion, post your questions here.

QUARTERBACKS

Josh McCown, ARI – Kurt Warner is out for the year so that means McCown should start the rest of the way. Combined, the ARI QBs rank as the #4 QB, so McCown is a great option for those desperate for help at the position.

Rex Grossman, CHI – If you are really desperate and can’t get McCown, Grossman was named the Bears starter so you have that going for you.

RUNNING BACKS

Frank Gore, SF – Gore had a nice day filling in for Kevan Barlow and if he gets another start, he should put up decent numbers.

Michael Turner, SD – Keep an eye on LT2’s status this week. If he’s out, Turner immediately becomes a very valuable commodity for Week 16.

Jonathan Wells, HOU – Wells scored twice filling in for the injured Domanick Davis, and if he gets another start, he would be a solid play as he’s scored in every start this season.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Samie Parker, KC – Parker has been playing well lately and if Kennison continues to be hobbled, he should get most of the looks in KC.

Ron Artest is back in the news, saying that he’d like to repair the damaged relationship he has with the Pacers and return to the team:

Some of Artest’s teammates, most notably O’Neal, have been critical. Artest said he doesn’t blame them. “Under the circumstances, I’d be pretty mad at me, too,” he said. “I’m mad at myself anyway. Going about things like I did, it’s not easy to recover. But I’d love to play for the Pacers’ organization right now.”

“I know guys like Sarunas (Jasikevicius) said they’re a better team without me, but I still have guys like Stephen Jackson, who wants me to come back and play,” Artest said. “I don’t know who else. But I would love to come back and play, and any problems I have, prove I can put those problems aside.”

Even when he’s trying to be conciliatory, Artest is divisive, naming Sarunas Jasikevicius as a guy who doesn’t want him back and Stephen Jackson as a guy who does.

It doesn’t look like the Pacers are thrilled about Artest’s turnaround. When asked about Artest returning to the team, Jermaine O’Neal said that the “business relationship is over.”

It had to happen. Didn’t it?

The Chargers beat the Colts Sunday, ending Indy’s run at history while also proving that the Colts aren’t invincible. In hindsight, it’s easy to say “it had to happen,” but most of us became believers during this remarkable run. I can’t say I’m surprised they lost, but I am surprised they lost at home, though the Chargers have been playing very well on the road all season and, when you looked at their remaining schedule, this game and next week’s match-up against the Seahawks looked the most dangerous.

Some argue that this loss may actually help the Colts in their quest to win a Super Bowl, and I’d tend to agree with that. Now the pressure is off. No more questions about if they want the record (of course they wanted it), or if Tony Dungy is going to rest any of his starters. Now he can do what he has to do to get his team ready, and despite the loss they still look like heavy Super Bowl favorites. The Patriots are playing much better (and clinched another division title this weekend), so certainly they loom as a real threat in the AFC, but with the Colts playing at home throughout the playoffs, the advantage clearly belongs to Peyton Manning & Company.

A bunch of us decided to put our heads together on the year in sports and have some fun, in spite of all of the dark days, with what the world of sports has taught us, what we already knew, and what we have yet to learn. You can find the link here:

Enjoy, and let us know if we missed anything.

Every week, I submit six names our fantasy football owners – three marginal players to start and three to bench. Let’s see how I did last week:

START

Brad Johnson, MIN – 146 pass yards, 0 TD (MISS)

Samkon Gado, GB – 180 total yards, 1 TD (HIT)

Lee Evans, BUF – 4 catches, 83 yards (HIT)

BENCH

Ben Roethlisberger, PIT – 173 pass yards, 1 TD (HIT)

Jamal Lewis, BAL – 0 carries, 0 yards (HIT)

Roy Williams, DET – 4 catches, 53 yards, 1 TD (MISS)

On to this week’s picks:

START

QB – David Garrard, JAX
Garrard has been terrific filling in for Byron Leftwich and should have a good game against the 49ers.

RB – Ryan Moats, PHI
Moats had a big game last week and should see at least 15 touches against the Rams.

WR – Jimmy Smith, JAX
Smith has been great with Garrard at the helm and the duo should carve a poor San Francisco defense.

BENCH

QB – Mike Vick, ATL
Vick faces a very tough CHI defense on the road. Don’t expect his normal stats.

RB – Willis McGahee, BUF
The Bills just haven’t been able to run the ball recently and things will continue to be tough against a very good DEN defense.

WR – Mushin Muhammad, CHI
ATL is pretty good against the pass, so I expect the Bears to focus on the run and have success with it.

Earlier this week, Ron Artest said that he wants to be traded and specified the Knicks as a team he’d like to play for. His main problem is his lack of involvement on the offensive end.

“I’m so demanding of the ball. It’s not my fault,” he said. “Every time somebody is on me it’s a mismatch. It messes up the offense. I like Coach (Carlisle) as a person, but I don’t like playing for Coach. I like my team, though.”

I love the line, “I’m so demanding of the ball. It’s not my fault.” If it’s not his fault that he’s so demanding, then who exactly is to blame?

Artest is second on the team in shot attempts (14.8) and points (19.4 ppg).

If you’re reading this, you’re in the playoffs. That’s the good news. The bad news is, you don’t know who to start. Post your questions here and I’ll give you answers. They may not be the right ones, but they’ll be answers nonetheless.

I tried to watch the MNF game last night - I really did. But the third quarter was arduous. The teams were partly to blame. During the quarter, there were six penalties and eight punts. Eight punts?

Compounding the problem were all the commercial breaks. Over the first nine minutes of the quarter, there were five commercial breaks. Considering each commercial break is 2-3 minutes, that’s 10-15 minutes of commercials for nine minutes of actual game time. The quarter started at 11:06 ET and ended at 11:59, for a total of 53 minutes. The game is only supposed to last until midnight and at that point, there was still a quarter to play!

We, as a nation, are assaulted by advertising and marketing campaigns every day, and it’s only getting worse. A couple of years ago, the NFL made a rule change – the clock will continue to run for most of the game even when a player steps out of bounds. But the games are still lasting 3+ hours. So all this rule change provides is an opportunity to show more commercials. Isn’t the NFL making enough money?

Last night was an example of how the game is being ruined. It was already a poorly played game, but the fact that we had to take five commercial breaks in nine minutes made it that much more difficult to watch.

I wonder when we, as a nation, will get fed up with this deluge of marketing and advertising and how exactly we’ll revolt.

RUNNING BACKS

Cedric Houston, NYJ – Curtis Martin is out for the year so Houston will get lots of opportunities over the last three weeks.

Chester Taylor, BAL – Jamal Lewis didn’t get a carry on Sunday, but wasn’t on the team’s injury report, so it is possible that the Ravens are going to go with Taylor the rest of the way.

Tatum Bell, DEN – He’s probably not available on your waiver wire, but if he’s there, he’d be worth a pickup. He received twice as many carries as Mike Anderson on Sunday and if that trend continues, he would make a good #2 RB down the stretch.

So first, I read the GOAT was involved in a paternity suit for a child he fathered out of wedlock three years ago.

Tonight, I saw that Jerry Rice will be on “Dancing With the Stars” in January. Good God.

My opinion of someone has never fallen so far, so fast.

I’m not buying any of this Brett Favre retirement talk. No way.

After all these years, have we forgotten who Brett Favre is and what made him so great? He wants to win, more than anything else. And after winning so often, there’s no way he goes out like this. The Packers are 2-10 (heading into tonight’s game against the Lions) and Favre has more interceptions than touchdowns. Aaron Rodgers can wait another year. This is still Favre’s team and he’ll refuse to let it end like this.

It makes sense. Javon Walker should be back, nearly a full year after suffering a knee injury, and the Packers would likely address some offensive-line concerns in the offseason. But they’re also in the running for the Reggie Bush sweepstakes (the 49ers and Jets are also 2-10, the Texans are 1-11), who would be the dream replacement for Ahman Green. Of course, even if they miss out on Bush, the Packers will have a high draft choice, which could be used on an elite O-lineman or a top RB. With that kind of potential talent upgrade, Favre could lead the Pack to nine or 10 wins next year. Don’t think so?

Favre is a playmaker, and when playmakers don’t have other playmakers around them, they suffer. Running backs wait for holes that aren’t there and rarely find the end zone. Receivers gripe about not getting the ball. And quarterbacks throw interceptions. Granted, Favre has always thrown interceptions, but he’s always won doing it. Now he’s losing because his mistakes are more crippling than they were during the Super Bowl years. But that would change in 2006, and Favre recognizes that.

I could be wrong. But I doubt it. Favre won’t want this bitter taste in his mouth after having such a sweet career. Number 4’s got one more left in him. At least.

This isn’t a big surprise, though Vince Young also deserved to win. Bush was the most exciting player, and we know that the Heisman Trophy is more about hype than anything else.

As usual,the national media is going a little overboard in singing Bush’s praise. Yes, he’s very talented and he’s a playmaker, but I don’t think you can put him in the same category as other college great like Barry Sanders, Herchel Walker and Bo Jackson. Those guys literally carried their teams. Bush, on the other hand, is part of the USC highlight team, running through gaping holes in the Pac-10 conference where sometimes it seems like they outlawed physical defense. I’d like to see what he can do in a tougher conference like the Big Ten or the SEC.

Well, we’ll get the chance to see him against a very tough Texas defense in the Rose Bowl, and we’ll see next year how he fares in the NFL. At 6-0, 200 pounds, we’ll see if he can take a pounding.

This will be a big test for the Colts. The Byron Leftwich injury hurts the Jags’ chances of ending Indy’s perfect season, but Leftwich wasn’t the main reason Jacksonville had a shot in the first place. The Jaguars always play the Colts tough defensively, and considering the game is in Jacksonville, this one should be very interesting.

Still, if the Jags are going to have a chance, they need to keep the score close so they can keep running the ball with Greg Jones and Fred Taylor. Leftwich’s replacement, David Garrard, won’t be able to keep up with the Colts if they start pouring on the points early, but as long as Jacksonville’s D keeps the score tight, the Jaguars should be able to grind out some clock when they have the ball and really give the Colts a run for their money.

It’s games like this that make you wonder why you haven’t taken the plunge yet and ordered NFL Sunday Ticket. Can’t we just move this one to 8:30 and take that dreadful Packers/Lions game off ESPN’s Sunday Night match-up?

The two best teams in the nation (right now) square off tomorrow on a neutral court. Gametime is 1:30 ET / 10:30 PT on CBS and, according to the HD sports guide, the game will be broadcast in HD. Joy!