Everything's coming up Montreal!

Once the Montreal Alouettes' Grey Cup victory celebrations settled down, it looked like they might have one of the league's rougher offseasons. Head coach Marc Trestman had been linked with every job from the University of Minnesota to the University of Miami to NFL head coaching or offensive coordinator jobs everywhere from San Francisco to Carolina, and with president Larry Smith also on his way out (not before tripping over the doorsill) and offensive coordinator Scott Milanovich strongly considered for the Saskatchewan Roughriders' job, it appeared the Alouettes' organization could look substantially different in 2011. They also had a league-high 13 potential free agents, including such notable players as S.J. Green (pictured at right) Chip Cox and Avon Cobourne. Throw in that their quarterback's still recovering from cancer surgery, and it looked like the Alouettes might be brought back to the pack a little.

Despite all that, the Alouettes have had perhaps the best off-season of any CFL franchise so far, and they haven't even had to do much. Sure, they lost Andrew Hawkins to the NFL, but he didn't play all that much last year. Far more importantly, they managed to get star receiver Green (875 yards and a team-high 10 receiving touchdowns on 58 receptions last season) to agree to a three-year extension this week. Green worked out for the Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles, and was widely regarded as one of the CFL players most likely to get an NFL deal. He apparently received an offer including a signing bonus from Philadelphia, but still decided to turn that down to head back to the CFL, and he didn't even opt to test the free-agency waters. Instead, he signed a two-year plus an option deal with the Alouettes. He's already a star in this league, and at 25, he should have many more good years ahead. Montreal fans should be thrilled that he'll likely continue to make catches like this one in Alouettes' colours:

It's not just Green coming back that reinforces Montreal's strong position, either. Keeping both Trestman and Milanovich on board (if both in fact do stay) is a huge boost; the two have combined to orchestrate one of the best offences this league's ever seen over the past three years. The Alouettes also should benefit from the rash of departures and other movements around the league. Star Calgary cornerback Brandon Browner signed with the Seattle Seahawks, league-leading receiver Andy Fantuz may be set to leave Saskatchewan for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and there could be plenty of other CFL players heading south, but Green seemed likely to be the main Alouette targeted. They could still lose key components in free agency, but they've got lots of depth as well; that seems to be the motivation behind the release of Paul Lambert.

In fact, the Alouettes even pulled off something no other CFL team has; they got a shout-out on yesterday's episode of the hit NBC sitcom 30 Rock, with Canadian character Danny Baker (played by American actor Cheyenne Jackson) displaying an Alouettes poster on his dressing-room wall. That led to a pretty funny exchange between Jackson and Jane Krakowski (pictured at right in front of the poster), with Jackson asking "What happened to my poster of the Montreal Alouettes? It's signed by Marc Trestman!" and Krakowski responding, "Oh, it's tacky, Danny, just like your mother's chain e-mail."

Not everything is completely rosy for the Alouettes. They did lose defensive coordinator Tim Burke to Winnipeg, and he had done an excellent job of beefing up their defence over the past couple of seasons. There's also still no further update on Calvillo's recovery, and the best receivers and coaches aren't all that great if they don't have a good quarterback. Furthermore, last season showcased quite a bit of parity, and Montreal didn't finish as far ahead of the Eastern pack as they have in the past. Still, it's been a pretty good couple of weeks for them. You might not want to tear down your Marc Trestman-signed Alouettes posters just yet, as they should still be a team to watch out for in 2011.

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Djokovic dispatches Murray, wins second Australian Open

Has the "big two" become the "big three"?

With a sublime performance in the Australian Open final, Novak Djokovic joined Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as the only top-ranked male players with multiple majors. The 23-year-old Serb cruised past Andy Murray, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday night in Melbourne with a deft display of shot-making, a dominating defensive performance and a blend of patience and guts that took him to another straight-set victory over a top opponent. In doing so, Djokovic establishes himself as perhaps the premier hard-court player in the game.

For as good as Djokovic was in the final (he was much better against Federer three days earlier), his counterpart, Murray, was just as disappointing. With the hopes of Great Britain on his shoulders, the Scotsman crumbled under the pressure of a Grand Slam final yet again. It's one thing to lose, and to get worked by Roger Federer twice in a Slam final, but to lose in such a decisive fashion to his contemporary, Djokovic, on a favorable court in a major far, far away from London is a whole other.

That's not to take anything away from Djokovic. With the way he was playing, Murray would have had a tough time winning even if he brought his "A" game. He barely put up a fight, though. Once Nole broke to start the second set, all you had to do was look at Murray's body language to figure out that he wasn't much longer for the match.

Murray isn't going anywhere. He has far too much talent for that. But any lingering doubts he had about his ability to compete under pressure were exacerbated Sunday in Melbourne. He's a different player when the glare of the spotlight shines directly on him. Before, he could delude himself into thinking that it was his inexperience in Slams or his legendary opponent. Neither of those excuses work anymore.

All isn't lost, though. A few years back another player was routinely knocked for not showing up on the biggest stage. Four Grand Slams later, Kim Clijsters is doing pretty good for herself.

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Palermo owner says Delio Rossi 'ruined my Palermo,' sacks him

Udinese embarrassed Palermo with a 7-0 drubbing on Sunday (Fabrizio Miccoli's pants and body language said it all) and despite Palermo fans' recent petition begging owner Maurizio Zamparini to keep manager Delio Rossi, this marked the end for the gaffer. The sack-happy Zamparini has been itching to cut ties with Rossi like a junkie on a church retreat and immediately after the match, he made it clear whom he blamed. 

From Football Italia:

“Rossi has a one per cent chance of staying on the bench, you can bet on that,” blasted Zamparini on Sky Sport Italia.

“The team has been completely destroyed. He ruined my Palermo. Rossi has destroyed this squad."

"I'll think it over tonight and at most tomorrow morning, but I am seriously considering handing the side to the youth team Coach. I should've kicked Rossi out at Christmas."

That one per cent might have given Rossi a sliver of hope, but on Monday, Zamparini snuffed it out by handing the job to former Livorno manager Serse Cosmi. And the brief countdown to the day Cosmi is sacked and blamed for destroying the club begins... 

Photo: Getty Images

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European Invasion swamps the World Golf Rankings

This past weekend's Accenture Match Play set off one of the most tumultous weeks at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings in recent memory. (Yes, some people moved up and some moved down. This is what qualifies as "tumultuous" in golf.)

As we noted Sunday, Martin Kaymer is your new world No. 1, and unlike Lee Westwood, the guy he displaced, Kaymer has done so by winning, winning and winning some more. And Luke Donald (above), who absolutely cruised in this week's match play, never trailing, jumped up to No. 3. That means there are now Europeans in the top four spots: Kaymer, Westwood, Donald and Graeme McDowell.

Golf Digest's Ron Sirak notes that the last time four Europeans led the rankings was nearly 20 years ago, on March 15, 1992. Back then, Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros were atop the rankings. This is also the lowest Woods has been ranked since before the 1997 Masters.  

Of greater interest: note here how the future rankings are going to shake out. The rankings work on a rolling two-year schedule, and players who had success in 2009 -- Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and others -- are going to find it harder and harder to hold onto their rankings. Note that in 2011, Westwood and Woods have both managed only single-digit points totals, while Kaymer has outplayed them by a factor of double figures. So, yes, American golf fans: it's not good now, and without some better play by the hometown boys, it's not getting any better.

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The week that was @ The Marbles

Did you miss a story or two from the first week of the season here at The Marbles? No sweat, we've got you covered. Here's what graced our (web)pages this week:

• Wait, a 20-year-old kid won Daytona? And he got to pose with a Pam Anderson impersonator? What a lucky lad!

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running fairly well, but alas, his Daytona day ended five laps too soon.

• The Daytona 500 was not a good day for some of racing's most famous names.

• Come this summer, NASCAR is going to save the world in Transformers 3.

• Michael Waltrip got things going early in Daytona with a wreck that took out a third of the field. Awesome.

• Oh, and Mkey got dinged for that mysterious missing spoiler in the truck race, too. Whoops.

• Carl Edwards went and threw himself off a building. Lunatic.

• Anybody who shows up in Vegas and wins the IndyCar finale gets a cool $5 million. I'm in.

• Politics intrudes on racing, as Bahrain protests cancel the F1 season opener there.

Keep up with The Marbles via Facebook right here and via Twitter at @jaybusbee. Get to it!

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Carlo Ancelotti reminds you about the time he lost in Istanbul

Chelsea played well, finally, in the first leg of their Champions League tie against Copenhagen and got two away goals out of Nicolas Anelka. Still, Carlo Ancelotti feels compelled to remind you that a certain match against a certain English club in a certain town formerly known as Constantinople keeps him from feeling overly confident about the situation. 

From the Telegraph:

Asked whether he now felt the tie against Copenhagen was over, Ancelotti issued a reminder of that Champions League final when he was coach of AC Milan and lost to Liverpool in 2005. “Don’t forget I lost a Champions League final when I was leading 3-0."

While that night in Istanbul is the subject of stage plays in Liverpool, it is no doubt still the fuel to endless night terrors for Carlo. In his memoir, he described it as "six minutes of blackout," "a pneumatic void," and "a perfect machine in total breakdown.'' So his continued willingness to mention it in public shows this is clearly an event in his life that he has failed to repress along with any and all experiences at Silvio Berlusconi's bunga bunga parties. 

Anyway, here are several other recent photographs of Carletto that made me smile...

"What'chu talkin' 'bout, JT?"

"You got it, dude."

And finally...

The Untamable Arch spits in the face of past indignities.

Photos: Reuters, Getty 

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You make the call: Should Radwanska have been granted a let?

In one of the more complicated on-court rulings of the young tennis season, Agnieszka Radwanska lost a challenge earlier this week on a ball hit by Lucie Safrova that was initially ruled out.

If that doesn't sound confusing yet, wait until you see the video:

Two thoughts before we get into it:

1. That made my head hurt.

2. I don't know if chair umpire Kader Nouni is married, but if he is, I don't envy his wife when they have disagreements. His calming demeanor, deep voice and tendency to speak in a haze of circular logic has a dizzying effect.  

What happened was that the initial call was out, but was immediately corrected. Radwanska hit the return and then challenged the call. She thought she was challenging the "out" ruling but was, in fact, challenging the correct "in" call. When it was determined that the ball was in (upholding the call), Radwanska lost the point because she lost the challenge.    

The situation was confusing and wasn't made any easier by Nouni's explanation. Even with the proper reasoning, it's a tough one to swallow for Radwanska. Had she not challenged, they would have replayed the point. Because she challenged, she needed the ball to actually be out to get a let.

Nouni's ruling was correct but the spirit of the rule isn't. In rare circumstances like this, the challenge should be waved off and the point replayed. The distraction of the changed call is likely what messed up Radwanska. She shouldn't be penalized for that. 

Racquet clap to Forty Deuce

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