Random Rumblings: I now live in a basement

• I now live in a basement. That’s why I haven’t written in a week. I was moving into a basement studio on the other side of Providence and it took me a little while to come to terms with the fact that I now exemplify the stereotype all bloggers, online poker players, WOW players and consequently single men in their 30’s despise. I now live in a basement. Thankfully, it’s not my parents’ basement, I’m not in my 30’s (I’m just 23) and I’m not into avatars, which I’m pretty sure is a prerequisite of all gamers and internet gamblers.
  
  So there you have it. That’s why I’ve been MIA. I now live in a basement. Luckily, calling a place with no windows home has yet to make me claustrophobic and hasn’t stopped me from reading The Lost Symbol (better than Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons) and following the world of sports (pretty boring week).
  
  Moving on...
  
  
• The week’s most-used statistic is that since 1988, at least one team that started out 2-0 has made it to the Super Bowl. But here’s a stat that might be more interesting given the teams facing this circumstance heading into week 3: In that same timeframe, only four teams have made the Super Bowl after starting 1-2.
  
  That means that some of the sexiest Super Bowl picks (New England, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Green Bay, and Philly) are essentially playing must-win games this weekend. It should be noted that all five are favorites in Vegas this weekend, but if I was going to pick anyone to lose again this week, it would be the Patriots, who have a difficult matchup with Atlanta.
  
  The truth is, if it were any other team in the league, New England would be an underdog this Sunday. Playing with a still-rusty quarterback, no running back, their leading pass catcher injured and a shaky defense, the Pats are up against one of the best teams no one is talking about in the league. The Falcons have an emerging star at quarterback, a top five running back and made the best move of the off season in acquiring Tony Gonzalez. This is a team that has every right to be thinking about the Super Bowl. Yet because no one is willing to make a Bill Belichick coached team an underdog at home this early in the season, the Patriots are somehow 4 point favorites.
  
  
• Gilbert Arenas is the classic example of why NBA franchises shouldn’t just hand out $100 million dollar contracts to their most marketable players. Arenas became a national star more for his goofy personality than his ability on the court, and now the Washington Wizards are paying for it.
  
  That’s not to say that Arenas isn’t a great scorer. But why would any team want an injury plagued, shoot first, second and third point guard leading the way?
  
  
• Let’s call these little scuffles between the Kansas men’s basketball and football teams exactly what they are: Kids being kids. It wasn’t about gangs or hip hop’s negative influence on young people. It wasn’t a bunch of thugs pretending to be college students. It was a few fist fights, the type of altercations that take place every day, in every neighborhood, all over the world.
  
  In other words, the situation was no big deal.
  
  
• Give Joba Chamberlain credit for this: While the Yankees have been using him as a guinea pig for the past two years, he has stayed quiet and accepted his role no matter what. There probably aren’t many guys with that much ability that would be willing to be this flexible.
  
  
• I consider Gilbert Arenas to be one of the most delusional men in sports, but if there is one guy topping him, it’s Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather may very well be the greatest fighter of the decade, but it took his opponent admitting that he drinks his own urine to get people to buy their fight on pay per view last week.
  
  
• The biggest concern for college football right now is that one side of the National Championship Game is pretty much locked up by Penn State, who is going to be on cruise control following a victory over Iowa tonight.
  
  Why is that bad? Because the Nittany Lions are going to be a two touchdown underdog against any team they play in January.