The Zen Master Commeth?

Good news for Knicks fans. It looks like Lenny Wilkins is out and it's probably only a matter of time (the offseason) before Phil Jackson takes his rightful and historical place on the Knicks bench as head coach.

Jackson's storied greatness as an NBA coach has always been somewhat diminished or tainted by having the luxury of coaching the greatest players of their times. The Knicks have no such franchise-type player. So, if he succeeds as a Knick coach, all the misgivings about his actual talent could be put to rest once and for all, if, howver, he fails miserably, well, there will always be a shrug of the shoulders when it comes to Zen Master Phil and the obligatory caveat that yeah, he won alot of championships but how many would he have won without Scottie and Michael? How many without Kobe and Shaq?

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Meanwhile, the Jets have a new offensive coordinator now that Scapegoat Hackett has left the flock.

And of course that new offensive coordinator will want new toys and what better than to get ahold of Randy Moss who is allegedly available.

But not so fast, others would rather you imagine the new Randy Moss decked out in burgandy and gold.

Randy Moss a Jet? I dunno about that one. Entertaining? Yeah. Great receiver? Sure. But the baggage you get with Randy Moss is weighty, as we've all heard. Now his own team doesn't even want him. Why should anyone else unless it might be someone very desperate, like his old coach, Dennis Green, down in Arizona?

And let's not forget what the cost of Randy Moss would be. The Jets are humming along with a good young defence, a reasonably talented QB suddenly freed from a stagnating system, a pair of good running backs, one getting old the other champing at the bit to get in. There's no reason to add Randy Moss, disrupt the team and the salary cap. They've got the foundation and now only need to build upon, not take a wrecking ball like Randy Moss to it.

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Looks like it's going to be mighty cold for all four teams in Pennsylvania tomorrow for the AFC and NFC Championships. Certainly the weather will play little part in the Pittsburgh-New England match but despite all the brave talk coming out of Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons about being a running team, I'm prepared to believe that the Falcons are going to be somewhat disadvantaged by this weather, whether it's just plain cold or if it's cold and snowing.

Nevertheless, don't hang your heart on an All-Pennsylvania Super Bowl.

Sports Amnesia will have its predictions as you await breathless for tomorrow.

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Lastly, have you heard the one about the 42 year old pitcher getting $18 million to pitch for the Astros for next season?

The best part about this new deal for Clemens is that the sports world has already started nattering on about whether he will end up with the Yankees or the Red Sox come September.

The theory of course, is based upon the valid assumption that even with Clemens, the Astros are not going to make the playoffs next season, not with the Cards and the Cubs coming back to haunt them. So, if the Astros are out of the pennant race, both they and Roger, the theory goes, will be looking for a new home for him as mercenary for the next postseason.

And I guess in a way, I can understand the speculation. The Unit and Roger in the postseason? Schilling and Roger in the postseason? Hey, what about Pedro and Roger in the postseason? If you thought the Clemens-Piazza Allstar battery was funny last season, just allow yourself to wallow in the phony jock speak they'd be mumbling if they were actually teammates come September! I dunno. It all seems like harmless fun this speculation, but it is well indicative of the meaninglessness of contracts in this day and age that before the ink is even dry on one, the world is wondering which team the guy will end up with come the postseason. You mean NOT the team he signed the contract with? Hmmm.