On Hype, Heart and Heath

Hype

Of all the New England Patriots' tremendous accomplishments this year, the biggest of 'em all might just be the way in which they've handled the heavy weight of their own success all season long. Being undefeated, the art of staying perfect through a full nineteen games in today's NFL, is no easy thing to achieve, let alone discuss. But the host of Patriots have nonetheless stepped to the microphone and delivered the appropriate, though abbreviated, remarks at every step of the turn.

And now we come to the final hurdle, the Super Bowl. It's the one solitary game that stands between New England's quest for football perfection and the biggest last act letdown since the Seinfeld finale.

Surely, most didn't expect Eli to be the only Manning left standing at this point. But here he is, nonetheless smack in front of everyone on the biggest stage of them all. Eli's New York Giants listed as twelve point underdogs, which sounds just about right.

So the waiting commences. A needless bye week for the hype machine to rev up all over again before Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Randy Moss lead their final charge in Arizona, the site of Super Bowl XLII.

For New England and its battle with history, just getting here in one piece, physically and mentally, is already impressive enough. But it won't mean anything if they can't seal the deal.

All anyone will remember is that they lost the last game.


Heart

Arkansas's men's basketball team just doesn't seem to have the heart this year it, does it? For all the experience, all the size, all the depth that this team has, a 2-2 mark in the SEC just ain't gonna cut it. Losses to South Carolina and Georgia (two not very good teams) in back-to-back games signified a troubling trend, with bad old habits---turnovers, soft defense, poor shot selection---springing up all over again.

Is it too late to turn this car around? Of course not. In each of the last two years, the Razorbacks have sputtered in the parking lot for the first two months, only to turn it around enough on the highways of late-February and early March to make the NCAA Tournament both times.

So the question of whether it can be done is already answered. But will it be? If I had that piece of information, I'd be worth a lot more money than I am. Certainly seniors Charles Thomas, Steven Hill and Gary Ervin need to lift their games higher. But Sonny Weems and Patrick Beverley need to bring more consistent efforts as well.

A win tomorrow night in Baton Rouge against LSU would be a start. But a homestand following against Mississipi State, Florida and Ole Miss will be far more telling.

Topsy-turvy, a roller-coaster all the way through.

Such is the state of recent winter hoops for Razorback fans.

Heath

10 Things I Hate About You is a really underrated movie. Brokeback Mountain is definitely overrated, but was still important for its social overtones.

The saddest thing of all is that you feel like Heath Ledger's best work was still in front of him.

Several days removed, and the Oscar-nominated actor's death continues to bother me. Maybe it's because of our proximity in age, I don't know. But whether or not the 28-year-old Aussie's drug overdose was intentional, the clear fact is that it revealed a prescription abuse problem that many struggle with in life, and miraculously, lots overcome.

I think what upsets me the most is that Ledger doesn't appear to have confided in anyone about his struggles. Police reports say six different prescription medications were found in the actor's New York city residence, for the treatment of everything from anxiety and stress to sleeplessness and pain. Supposedly, they were given to Ledger by different doctors in Europe, which makes it awful hard figuring he'd been honest with any of them about what he was actually taking.

Maybe someone could have intervened and helped the man figure some stuff out. A girlfriend, a family member, an agent?

Just a friendly voice who could have told Heath that all the money and fame he'd already earned could at least buy him some obviously-needed time off---at a rehab center, on a vacation trip, whatever. Perhaps he'd have been able to get his daily regimen in order. Perhaps not. But at least someone could feel that they tried.

Maybe somebody did. We'll probably never know.

As is when anyone so young passes, famous or not, it just feels like an absolute shame...

-JAB