The sports world never sleeps and the news stories are aplenty on any given day. As college basketball regular season begins to wrap up and baseball is just around the corner, here’s another 6 pack of topics that I found most intriguing.

Streaking continues, and not of the running down the street naked variety.  The Miami Heat have won 16 straight games, many of which in convincing fashion. They take on the struggling Philadelphia 76ers tonight with a chance to match the 12^th longest streak in NBA history. We all know that the Heat are good and this streak just adds to the belief that they will win back-to-back championships. When do I think it will end? This Sunday against the Indiana Pacers. The Chicago Blackhawks still haven’t lost in regulation in the shortened NHL season (all 24 games with a point) and have won 11 straight games. They seem to have the perfect mix of talent and luck so far with a good young squad and opponents making big mistakes and key times that they capitalize on. That’s what good teams do – make their foes pay for their mistakes, and the Blackhawks have been doing that all season. After coming back to beat the Colorado Avalanche at home on Wednesday night, they meet again tonight in Denver. Tonight could be the game that ends it all, otherwise the Avs could have the next crack at it on the 18^th. Regardless, there is no doubt that this is a very good team, my question just remains if they can keep it up through June or when the let down happens. Finally, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the top team in the country that I recently blogged about, went 16-0 in conference play and are 12-0 since they last lost on January 19^th. The WCC tourney is underway and I expect them to win this easily. When will they lose again? I’ll have to see once the bracket comes out – maybe they won’t this season?!?

As NFL Free Agency unofficially gets underway tonight and officially starts on Tuesday, teams and GM’s are scrambling to lock up guys and free up cap space to make moves before the draft. One player who avoided the franchise tag and got a big payday was Joe Flacco. The Baltimore Ravens were reportedly only 1 million dollars away from getting a deal done with Joe before last season. In the meantime, he went out to lead the team to winning the Super Bowl and was named MVP. The result? A new 6-year contract worth $120.6 million, the most lucrative in NFL history. Both sides gambled when they didn’t get a deal done in 2012 and Flacco came out the winner now. He “feels respected” and the Ravens have their man. With the retiring of Ray Lewis and the significant dollars being spent on their QB, it will be interesting to see if this changes the Ravens into a more offensive-minded team. Either way, it looks like they’ve found the guy that wants to step up as the leaders now that Lewis is gone – he’s already been a leader on the field and now it’s time for him to take over in the locker room too.

The New York Yankees can’t seem to find good news anywhere they look. Injuries are piling up so much that even their GM, Brian Cashman, is laid up (he broke his leg and dislocated his ankle while sky diving to raise awareness of the Wounded Warriors project). Then, it’s reported that closer Mariano Rivera will announce on Saturday that he’s retiring at the end of this season. This is not a surprising move based on his age and that he’s coming back from a torn ACL, but another blow to the crumbling “Evil Empire.” Yes, most people hate the Yankees, either because they have historically been so good and been able to spend on anyone they want (resulting in 27 World Series) or because of the large fan base/bandwagon that follows them around. They are the LA Lakers of baseball without a salary cap. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had a hard time feeling bad for the “Damn Yankees” as each injury is announced, but I’m not heartless and do feel bad for the players. When Mo tore his ACL last year, I literally felt sick as I watched coverage of it. There are some good guys who just happen to play for a team I don’t like. So, just how depleted are the Bronx Bombers? The greatest closer of all time is 43 and coming back from knee surgery, Derek Jeter at 39 will be back from an ankle injury in October, Curtis Granderson is out until at least mid-May with a broken forearm, Mark Teixeira will also be out until at least mid-May after straining his right wrist in the World Baseball Classic, and Alex Rodriguez (yes, he’s aging but tends to be a weapon in the regular season) won’t be back until after the All-Star Game in July as he recovers from another hip surgery. What does this all mean other than that they look more like a MASH unit than a contender? With all the other teams in the AL East getting stronger this past season, they will have to do their best to stay above .500 while doubters will be loud and the reign could be coming to an end.

Questions were aplenty at the Honda Classic last weekend as Rory McIlroy quit and walked off in the middle of the second round. While several of the top golfers were struggling at the PGA event in Florida, Rory avoided missing the cut by quitting first. While the top playing in the world was golfing poorly, he admitted that his head was not in the right place due to a bothersome wisdom tooth. Seriously?!? I get that teeth can hurt but that’s what pain meds are for, and the way he handled it showed his lack of maturity and his uneasiness with being in such a spotlight. Yes, he has apologized several times, which is necessary. Rory has also promised that “it will never happen again.” Obviously time will only tell if that’s true, but he still has to work on image damage control in the meantime. Having seen him play at Medinah and interacting with fans, I hope for his sake that this was a learning experience. He’s a talented kid with a lot of potential, but has to learn how to deal with the pressure of being a top golfer and be careful for distractions. The good news? McIlroy is assured of four rounds at Doral this weekend – the tournament does not have a 36-hole cut. Even though he’s struggling so far, it can be a new start to build from.

College basketball’s regular season will end on Sunday, which several conference Championships yet to be decided. Going into Tuesday nights matchup against Ohio State, Indiana knew that they had at least a share of the Big Ten Title wrapped up. It was senior night in Bloomington, and tradition dictates that IU honors their seniors after the game and lets them talk to the crowd. It’s a nice way to celebrate it, but has to be tough if that comes after a loss. Well, the game was part of an ESPN double-header and didn’t even get over until after 11pm local time and didn’t go Indiana’s way. They lost to OSU 67-58. Yet, senior night must go on. But, that’s where I would draw the line. However, likely Tom Crean making a statement that they are back after some dark years, IU celebrated a title after the loss to the amazement of many who follow the sports. Nets were cut down, a trophy was presented and champion gear handed out. They know they have a game Sunday still, right? A win Sunday and they win the title outright. Are they already looking past that now that they’ve been crowned as champs? I understand wanting to celebrate with your fans, but I also think there is an appropriate time to do that – and it’s not after midnight, after a loss, with a big game still to play.

Sticking with college basketball, and bizarre happenings for that matter, there’s Tim Floyd. He’s the former USC head coach who’s now at UTEP – for the moment at least. Floyd resigned as USC’s coach in June 2009 while the football and basketball programs were being investigated by the NCAA. It was found that he personally didn’t commit any violations, but USC got penalized. He became the head coach at UTEP after a year away from coaching. Then, news came out this week that he met with the AD from USC about their head coach opening and could return to Southern California. While it would be odd to go back to a place you once walked away from (granted there is a new AD now and sanctions are gone), the issue I have here is talking to them while the season is still going on. Yes, coaches will leave smaller schools for attractive openings, but at least have the respect to wait until your season is over to talk about a new job.

Extra point – It was big news last Sunday when Lauren Silberman tried out for the NFL at a regional combine in New York. She only tried two horrible kicks before getting injured and apparently was pretty clueless based on how much she was asking others for help. She was also talking about her business in interviews, making many wonder if this was just a publicity stunt. Regardless, it didn’t look good for female athletes and I found this article about it very interesting: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/d-i-kicker-hnida-rips-silberman-poor-kicking-article-1.1279343

Have a great weekend!!