It’s the first Odds & Ends of the new year!

For decades, the best NBA team in Los Angeles has been the Lakers while the Clippers have long been the league’s laughingstock franchise. Oh,how things have changed.

While the Lakers aren’t necessarily a laughingstock like the Clippers once were, the Clippers have become what the Lakers have been for so much of their existence. Blake Griffin, Chris Paul,and company have turned a franchise around into what is arguably the most exciting team to watch in Los Angeles (as well as the league). If there is one team I have enjoyed watching the most this year,it’s the other team that plays in the Staples Center. You know,the one with a winning record.

They have what the Lakers don’t: a solid bench, a young and fresh starting five,and most of all they have a wealth of chemistry.
I never thought I’d say the Clippers would be a title contender in my lifetime,but I am now. This team looks ready to win a championship this season. Sure I am saying that right now while the season is yet to be at its midway point,but it is looking that way at the moment.

I think we found out the reason Jets head coach Rex Ryan is/has been favorable to Mark Sanchez as the starting quarterback.

While vacationing in the Bahamas, Ryan was spotted and photographed with a tattoo of a woman who appears to be his wife wearing a green Jets jersey with a number 6 on it,the number of Sanchez. Ryan was reported to be cursing at the photographer and storming away.

According to sources close to Ryan,he has had the tattoo for years and has done a good job of hiding it from many.

This has to be the most hilarious story about the Jets this season because Ryan has stuck by Sanchez despite his mediocrity and the team’s failure to live up to high expectations. Is it the reason why he has? I don’t know, but if it is, that’s a funny reason to do it,but a poor one.

One epidemic I hope ends in sports comes from north of the border. Why does every Canadian team there have a maple leaf in their logo? Do they think that we Americans don’t know that they’re in Canada?

The Toronto Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors,and the Winnipeg Jets all have incorporated the maple leaf into their logo for the sake of having it there. The Maple Leafs have an excuse for doing it, that’s their freakin’ name!

The Blue Jays have taken it a step further by having their batting practice caps for 2013 to just have the maple leaf. You would think they were hats for the Canadian team in the World Baseball Classic by looking at them.

We know you’re from Canada and I am all for pride for your country,but you don’t need to remind us by putting a maple leaf on everything.

We will once again have hockey action,yo!

The NHL and its players union have agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement putting an end to its lockout, the third work stoppage under commissioner Gary Bettman.

The league will have a 48-game schedule with a scheduled start time of Jan. 19 and while many fans are excited, I have to wonder if the lockout has turned fans away. Last season saw big ratings for the NHL in the Stanley Cup playoffs and finals and a long work stoppage might take some time to bring them back. Hockey isn’t as popular as basketball and football are here, they didn’t have too much trouble getting fans to come back. Hockey might.

As for me, I’m ready. I doubt that my Edmonton Oilers are going to be any good, but they are a young team with a lot of promise in the years ahead, so anything is possible. Not only that but the last time the league came back from a work stoppage, the Oilers went to the Stanley Cup Finals so you never know what could happen in a short year.