Pontificating on the NFL blackout rule, "MeBron" James and Syracuse hoops, among other things

I’ve written this before and I’ll write it again, I don’t like the NFL blackout rule. We New York State taxpayers shelled out more than $70 mil to renovate Ralph Wilson Stadium through the years – can you say corporate welfare – and just because the Bills only sold 60,000 tickets for this week’s home game against the Detroit Lions instead of 70,000, the game is not going to be shown on local television. It’s time for some ambitious politician to stick up for the taxpayers and make Congress take a hard look at this rule.
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Hey, did you hear the big news? Brett Favre announced that he is retiring after this season. What’s that? Oh, yeah, you’re right. He’s already done this about eight or nine times in the past three years.
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I love the new nickname for LeBron James. Critics are now calling him “MeBron.”
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Those folks in MeBron’s home state of Ohio got to be loving the Miami Heat’s 5-4 start. And, not surprisingly, MeBron has started questioning his coach’s strategy of playing him and Dwayne Wade too long. This keeps up and the Heat will become a bigger soap opera than the Minnesota Vikings.
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Syracuse University basketball opens tonight in the Dome against Northern Iowa, which, like the Orange, was a Sweet 16 participate last season. I think this team is going to be tremendously good and entertaining. I’m really looking forward to center Fab Melo swatting away shots in the back line of that 2-3 zone.

Thanks to WROC-TV sports director John Kucko for asking me to write a weekly column on SU hoops to go along with my one on the Bills. You can check both out at www.rochesterhomepage.net
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I was disappointed the Orange football team didn’t secure a bowl berth last week and if they don’t take care of business this week on the road at Rutgers, things could get dicey because their remaining two opponents – Connecticut and Boston College – have been playing better as of late.
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I think it’s great news that RIT is going to build a new 4,000-6,000-seat hockey arena on campus. That’s the perfect size to maintain the great atmosphere they’ve had at Ritter Arena, which can hold about 2,100.
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I read where Shawne Merriman has mentored Aaron Maybin in the past. Now, that Shawne hurt himself about 30 minutes into his first Bills practice, he’ll have the opportunity to spend even more time with the former first-round draft pick on Buffalo’s inactive list.
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I know I shouldn’t do this after being burned twice already, but I’m going to pick the Bills to end their winless streak against the Lions in what is being hyped as “the Futility Bowl.” Buffalo 23, Detroit 16.
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I’ve long maintained that baseball’s Gold Glove Awards are the most meaningless in sports, only slightly more politicized and irrelevant than making the NFL Pro Bowl. And that was underscored again this week when Derek Jeter – whom I respect tremendously – was awarded another Gold Glove for his play at shortstop. He’s certainly not the best fielding shortstop in the American League and he might not even be the best fielding shortstop on his own team.