NHL should market Sidney Crosby more

It's about time the NHL learn from its professional counterparts, and get the idea that a young, up-and-coming talent needs to grace its league's presences on programs and television ads.

Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins' wunderkind, deserves more attention than he gets, in spite of his comparisons to Wayne Gretzky by hockey enthusiasts.

Youth or not, Crosby has earned the "C" patch on his jersey denoting team captain, by leading his Penguins to the second seed in the 2008 Eastern Conference playoffs. Whether or not the youngster can send his team to the Conference finals, and ultimately a Stanley Cup appearance, will determine how his comparisons to the Great One stand up.

The earlier Crosby gets it done, the better.

It just has to happen soon to make the predictions come true, but whether or not he does, it's about time the league boost his visibility.

Bobcats add Brown; Can they add Wins?

When the Charlotte Bobcats signed well-traveled and successful coach Larry Brown to their already-rising list of head coaches, they got a guy who has a chance to turn this thoroughly disappointing franchise into a contender.

It's going to take a lot.

The first thing Brown should do as head man of an expansion team that's in worse shape now than when it started in 2004, is to start small and aim for a 40-win season next year.

How is that possible? Simply by putting the many talented players on the roster into a cohesive unit that can defeat the evil Boston Celtics, winners of seventeen (wait, not yet) sixteen NBA titles.

It's going to take a motivator to bring this team into playoff contention. But maybe it's time for Michael Jordan and Bob Johnson to realize it's going to take a real marketer to bring some personality to this team.

Otherwise, it may be time for them to go.

3 Teams that Jumpstart '08 season after Draft

After perusing the NFL Draft results for two days, and deciding which teams really helped themselves the most, it's become painfully obvious that three stand head and shoulders above the other 29 franchises.

The Kansas City Chiefs needed defensive line help worse than new season ticket buyers, and they ended up with LSU d-tackle Glenn Dorsey, a guy who should help sell tickets in between stuffing the run. KC's overall draft strategy pitted need-based picks with best-available-player choices, and that idea is going to pay off dividends if their selections meet expectations.

The Carolina Panthers, with wide receivers Steve Smith, D.J. Hackett, and Muhsin Muhammad, and two able quarterbacks in Jake Delhomme and Matt Moore, want to be a running team. So before Saturday, when their running personnel couldn't score on a traveling circus, they grabbed Oregon tailback Jonathan Stewart and then traded back into round one to get Pittsburgh tackle Jeffrey Otah, two selections that bolster the ground game immediately. After signing free-agent DT Darwin Walker, the defense is catching up with the offense. This team is starting to shape up to be playoff-caliber, and I jumped them from 9th to 6th in my NFC rankings.

With little talent, an unproven coach and a lackluster fan base, the Atlanta Falcons could've drafted new cupholders in seats and would've improved the team. But they got Boston College QB Matt Ryan and USC tackle Sam Baker in the first round, two pickups that have transformed this club into a top-15 NFC team. Possibly. There's still no light at the end of the tunnel but maybe Ryan's arm can give them a sparkle of promise. That's how everyone feels, and after draft day, when your team hasn't lost a game yet, anything can happen in 2008. Except for the Cardinals winning the Super Bowl.

Forget it fans, sorry but it's not going to happen.

NFL Draft a big, overblown, overrated piece of history

So the Miami Dolphins are off the clock, having chosen Jake Long of Michigan to be the top pick in the draft.

That's an extremely un-exciting pick, but one that should change the course of Dolphins football for the next several years.

Miami is essentially an expansion team again and I've always believed if you're an expansion team, go with a lineman before you go after a quarterback. If you don't, David Carr and Rick Mirer are reincarnated into your team.

But back to the draft itself.

Were it not for Mel Kiper Jr.'s exhaustive reports on prospective top picks, ESPN's dire need to have Boomer and Keyshawn on the air (two obnoxious peas in the same pod), and constant mock drafts hurriedly typed up by football enthusiasts who live in their parents' basement, maybe I'd be able to enjoy the NFL Draft's first round. Maybe.

IndyCar Series rivalries carrying the storyline

With a flurry of family-oriented rivalries, long-standing tiffs between veterans and the addition of Champ Car veterans, the IndyCar Series' 2008 season, two races old, is off to a hotter start than the previous ten years combined.

The under-21 group, comprised of first-time ICS racer, first-time winner Graham Rahal, whose father Bobby is a legend in the sport, and his rival, Marco Andretti, the son of team owner Michael and grandson of arguably the greatest racer ever, Mario Andretti, is at present the duo most talked about.

Neither have finished a race together so far, as when one excels, the other embarrasses himself.

Rahal crashed in testing and missed the season opener at Homestead-Miami, while Andretti led 86 laps and finished 2nd. Then at St. Petersburg, Rahal won, as Andretti broke a halfshaft on a pit stop, a self-described "rookie mistake," evening the count at 1 apiece.

Then there's the Danica factor. Danica Patrick, in her fourth ICS season, is under tremendous pressure to win a race this year. Teammate Tony Kanaan is a series champ, Andretti won at Infineon in 2006, and newcomer Hideki Mutoh takes over the defending title winner's car. She has to win this year to keep the media around her.

Whether it's Helio Castroneves vs. Kanaan, Dan Wheldon vs. Danica, or the media's darling matchup, Rahal/Andretti 2.0, the ICS has the promise to catch up with its most important and long-term rival...NASCAR.