The Sports Monitor

It's Media Day at the Super Bowl, so something needs to stand out. It didn't take very long for Randy Moss to create headlines. The 49ers' Moss said he's the greatest wide receiver ever to play the game. "Now that I'm older, I do think I'm the greatest receiver to ever do it," he said. Whoa. There's some guy named Jerry Rice that immediately comes to mind. Moss is talented, but he's also known for being moody and taking plays off.  Heck, I'll take Hines Ward before I'd want Randy Moss on my team.

Any minute now, Tiger Woods will wrap up the Farmers Insurance Open. Even before he sinks that final putt, we've heard that he's back. As much fun as it was to rip him when he was going though his public divorce, the media now wants to build him back up. Sorry, folks, I'm still skeptical that he's all the way back. This is just one tournament. It's on his favorite course. It's January. Heap all the praise you want on Woods. In my book, he's not back until he wins a major. That may or may not happen again. He's lost the air of invincibility. In sports, that's difficult to get back. The players will truly be the judge on Tiger's status. And, it won't be by what they say in the press. If the pros start to quiver in a major when Tiger's making his climb up the leaderboard, then I'll start to be convinced. Until then, I won't bestow the comeback label on him.

The most exciting game to watch this weekend -- for me, anyway -- was the Ravens' upset of the Broncos. I know, there was a fantastic finish in the Falcons-Seahawks game, but I give the edge to the Broncos' game. I guess it's because I'm biased. As much as I don't like rooting for the Ravens, I was happy to see Peyton Manning and the Broncos lose. It's probably because I'm so sick and tired of the Manning show. Since the midway point of the season, we've been told how great he is and it hasn't stopped. CBS' telecast was a Manning lovefest. Going into the game, I heard analysts rave about the Broncos' defense. They actually called it the best defense that Manning has had. That Super Bowl-winning team Manning had with the Colts was led by Defensive Player of the Year Bob Sanders. I thought that was a pretty darn good team. That's not the only thing that had me scratching my head. Everyone had pegged the Broncos for an AFC ti...

Best wishes for a great 2013. Happy New Year, everyone.

Adrian Peterson just capped one of the greatest seasons in NFL history. The Minnesota Vikings running back rushed for 2,097 yards, just a few feet short of Eric Dickerson's record of 2,105 set in 1984. Oh, he did it less than a year after a gruesome knee injury. Yet it's not a lock for him to win the league's MVP award. Some guy named Peyton Manning is getting a lot of the love. Manning finished the season with 4,659 yards and 37 touchdown passes with the Denver Broncos after missing the 2011 season with a career-threatening neck injury. Pretty impressive numbers, but A.P. is my pick, and it's not even close. Manning took over for a Broncos' team that made the playoffs in 2011. He has two high-end wide receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. They have a solid running game with Knowshon Moreno and, before him, Willis McGahee. Peterson? He was the Vikings' offense. The Vikes lost their top receiver, Percy Harvin, and had no one else. The...

It's been a long college football bowl season, with games starting Dec. 15, but things really get interesting with a trifecta today: the Independence Bowl, the Russell Athletic Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl. The Independence Bowl features Ohio against Louisiana-Monroe, with ULM favored by 6, according to Sportsbetting.ag . Don't let the names fool you, ULM beat then-No. 8 Arkansas and earned a bowl trip. Ohio has a 1,500-yard rusher in Beau Blankenship. Saturday, my favorite game out of the five scheduled is the Pinstripe Bowl, featuring high-powered West Virginia. We get an off day for NFL on Sunday, but the bowl games get better on Monday. New Year's Eve has four prime games, including LSU vs. Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. On New Year's Day, there are six games to watch, the perfect way to nurse a hangover from partying your way into 2013. I'm looking forward to the Orange Bowl to see if Northern Illinois can hang with Florida State. I also w...

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season.