See Ya Later, 2010!

So this is a little bit late, but I figured I would throw out three pretty decent year-end pieces to put a fork in 2010.

The first, is Dave Barry's always humorous Year In Review. My favorite line, from many...

Speaking of entertainment: As the year finally draws to a close, all eyes are on Seaside Heights, NJ, where MTV plans to ring in the new year by dropping a ball containing Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, one of the leading bimbos of "Jersey Shore." Millions eagerly tune in, only to find that the ball has been attached to something that makes it drop slowly. A bitterly disappointing end to a bitterly disappointing year.

In sports, Michael Rosenberg of SI.com does a nice job re-capping some (but not all) of the notable sports moments of the year. Including the Patriots fleecing of the Vikings on the Randy Moss trade.

The Vikings traded a third-round pick for Randy Moss, and were then astonished to find out that he has a bad attitude. I don't know how they were supposed to see that coming, since he had played for them for only seven years.

Meanwhile, in case you are one of the last remaining souls who questions Bill Belichick's genius, consider that he traded a fourth-round pick in the 2007 draft for Moss, got 50 touchdown catches out of him in 51 games, then dealt him for a third-round pick. When Belichick plays poker, his opponents always end up with four cards. His Patriots have won at least 10 games in each of the last eight years.

And lastly, Boomer Esiason did a good job (along with no doubt, the production assistants and editors at CBS Sports) going through the NFL Blunders of the Year.

The World of Peter King Just Keeps Opening Full of Wonders

Remember when Peter King confessed to just having found out about Guinness Beer and the movie Saving Private Ryan?

Well, apparently he just found out about something called "a keg stand."

Yep, in 2011.

With two daughters who have recently gone through college.

Man, this guy never misses a thing, does he?

1. There is this strange custom called a "Keg Stand'' that all kids evidently do now. You stand next to the keg, put both hands on the side of the keg, have two others lift your legs so that you're upside down, and, at that point, a third person takes the beer nozzle from the keg and puts it in your mouth while you drink it. A fourth person pumps the keg. And everyone counts the seconds you can last. (Dumb me, I didn't even know what this thing was, and it's apparently the most common of drinking games.) I didn't do it, thankfully. But congrats to Brittany, the biggest Sidney Crosby fan there is (who must be all of 102 pounds), who was able to last 24 seconds. Drinking upside-down. What a country.

In this week's edition of Monday Morning Quarterback, King also produces the following bits of brilliance.

a. If he were the Eagles, he wouldn't trade Kevin Kolb for anything less than THREE #1 draft picks, something which, I don't ever recall happening. Ever.

b. Admits amongst his worst predictions, was the that Carolina Panthers would make the playoffs and John Fox would be named Coach of the Year. The Panthers are currently "on the clock" to start the 2011 NFL Draft, and Fox has been fired.

c. A pitiful confession that Favre no longer returns his calls. (/blubbers uncontrollably)

d. Wishes Jim Nantz luck in his re-marriage to his 31 year old former girlfriend. Hey, Pete knows other famous people! Aren't you impressed?

e. Produces a "Fine Fifteen" ranking, whereby the 6-10 Lions check in at 15. Sure.

As usual, Pete produces a column that is long on word count, short on actual insight. But the unintentional laugh riot reads like a rollercoaster of WTF?

Gregg Easterbrook Has Jumped the Shark

Once upon a time - oh, probably 5 years ago - I championed the writings of Gregg Easterbrook on ESPN.com's Page 2.

Gregg was, so I said at the time, the "thinking man's Peter King."

In other words, he was able to observe the entire NFL, and make some really good, really thoughtful points about the game, strategy by coaches, and do all of that, minus the pompous self-absorption of the Latte King.

Ah, never mind.

Drew Magary at Deadspin.com properly crushes Easterbrook this week for his column about the glory and joy of the NFL's "All Unwanted" team. As a general premise, I get it. But where Easterbook embarasses himself, is when he gets HUGE POINTS about certain players entirely wrong.

When you praise Arian Foster and LaGarrette Blount, don't wrap them in a flag of self-righteous over-achievement. It was these players' own character flaws -well known and documented to the entire league - that scared teams away from them.

And rightly so.

The NFL has learned time and time again how painful it is to get burned by shithead players, who say all the right things up until draft day, sign that first big bonus check, buy a bunch of luxury items, and then do nothing more to prepare to play as a professional other than to ask: "So, when's game time?"

In fact, one could argue that it was precisely this humiliation of not being drafted, that served as the much needed wake up call, to finally start saddling up their God-given talents with good ol' fashioned hard work, and ride the combination to success.

Easterbrook either was unaware of why certain players did not get drafted, or just ignored it for the sake of straining to make some point about the virtues of hard work. Either way, it comes across as laughably ill-informed.

Drew eviscerates Easterbrook with more bloodlust than I would, personally, but the points he makes are hard to refute.

It's a shame, because I thought Easterbrook was indeed, "smarter than that."

Apparently, he's not.

Aaaaannnndddd... Fonzie has landed safely on his water skis!