Kreativecke » f the three bears of pitching but with him

Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they discuss Chad Johnson signing in Montreal, RA Dickeys excuses, Marc Bergevins dance moves, and the NCAAs decision to provide meals to athletes. Dave Naylor, TSN 1050 My thumb is up to the Montreal Alouettes who this week signed former NFL star Chad Johnson - aka Ochocino - despite the fact he is 36 and hasnt played in the NFL since 2011. Why is my thumb up when so few ex-NFL stars ever succeed in Canada? Well, because theres really no down side to it. If Chad Johnson is truly as motivated and well-conditioned as he claims ... then hell be a welcomed addition to the Als and the CFL. And if hes not, well, hell be gone. Montreal has proven no one makes its team based on whats on the back of the jersey - just ask Ahman Green, Dominic Rhodes and others the Als signed - and then cut, when they couldnt cut it against CFL competition. Will Chad Johnson be the exception to the rule? At least it should be fun finding out. Huit-cinq anyone? Steve Simmons, SUN Media My thumb is down to RA Dickey, the erstwhile Blue Jays ace, the former Cy Young award winner who seems to lead the Major Leagues in just one category - excuses. With RA, theres always something. Something wrong. Its either too cold or its too hot. The roof at Rogers Centre is either open or closed. The wind is blowing in or its blowing out. Its day or its night. Everything, it seems, affects the knuckleball. He would be one of the three bears of pitching but with him, its not often just right. Dickey has made four starts for the Jays in this young season, and he already owns a 6.26 earned run average. Im sure he has a plausible explanation for that: I just dont want to hear one. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated My thumb is up to Marc Bergevin, Canadiens general manager and dancin fool. After Montreals Game 1 overtime win in Tampa, cameras caught Bergevin doing a shimmy and a shake, touching off a dance craze now known as the Marcarena. Somehow I cant imagine Bergevins predecessors, Pierre "go go" Gauthier and disco Bob Gainey, men who were neither hip nor hop, busting moves in a luxury box. But thats Bergevin, who has been blessed with a sense of fun. When he played, he would often check into hotels as Denis Lemieux, the goalie from Slap Shot. Maybe Bergevin should switch aliases - to Mikhail Baryshnikov. Dave Hodge, TSN My thumb is down to NCAA President Mark Emmert, who congratulated himself and his organization for changing a dumb rule that used to prevent schools from providing meals to athletes, but allowed snacks. As Emmert pointed out, a bagel was considered a snack unless it had cream cheese on it, and then it was considered a meal. Well, maybe my thumb should be up to Emmert and the NCAA for giving their heads a shake, but no, its down for looking at what they can and cant provide to the athletes and thinking that the term "meal-ticket" actually and only refers to food. Never mind cream cheese, they should spread some money around, too. Anthony Averett Jersey .com) - Devan Dubnyk stopped all 30 shots fired his way and made several big saves down the stretch for his third shutout of the season as the Minnesota Wild beat the Calgary Flames 1-0 on Tuesday. C.J. Mosley Jersey . As TSN reported Thursday, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is under intense pressure from the federal government to focus drug testing on athletes who compete in international events representing Canada. Since funding for the tests has been frozen and the cost of testing can eclipse $1,000 per test, university athletes in a number of sports are being tested less often. http://www.officialbaltimoreravensfootba...y-jersey-womens. The Packers, Lions and Bears were a combined 35-15 and as long as Jay Cutler can say healthy, all three could make the playoffs in 2012. James Hurst Jersey . In mens doubles, Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Croatian Mate Pavic and Andre Sa of Brazil. Baltimore Ravens Jerseys . The Rangers centre left early in Game 1 with an upper body injury after being checked by Canadiens defenceman Mike Weaver and has not played since. Brassard told reporters after practice that he was good to go. That brought a smile to the face of Rangers coach Alain Vigneault.Manhattan, KS (SportsNetwork.com) - Tarik Phillips scored 12 points off a productive West Virginia bench and the 17th-ranked Mountaineers pulled out a 65-59 victory over the surging Kansas State Wildcats on Tuesday. It was not pretty for most of the night, but the Mountaineers (17-3, 5-2 Big 12) did just enough to overcome 20 turnovers and a 36 percent shooting effort. Their bench was the difference, as Jevon Carter complemented Phillips with nine points to help outscore Kansas States reserves by a 35-13 margin. Juwan Staten led West Virginias starters with 11 points. The Wildcats (12-9, 5-3) had won five of six coming in and were looking for a signature victory to add to their resume, but they committed 25 turnovers, made just 37 percent of their shots and missed 15 free throws. We said we were going to turn it over, but we did not need 25 of them, K- State head coach Bruce Weber said. They make you fight for it. Marcus Foster scored 15 points on 4-of-12 shooting, while Wesley Iwundu added 12 points in a losing cause. Points were tough to come by in a first half that saw a both teams shoot under 30 percent from the field and combine for 27 turnovers. Nigel Johnsons layyup off a steal pulled Kansas State within 26-24 heading into halftime, and the Wildcats scored the first six points of the second half to jump in front.dddddddddddd Devin Williams muscled his way inside for two to end a nearly seven-minute scoreless stretch for West Virginia, and it went back-and-forth for the next few possessions before the Mountaineers went ahead for good with a 9-1 run. Phillips three-point play capped the spurt to put the visitors in front, 49-41, with 9 1/2 minutes to go, and it was essentially a free throw contest over the final two minutes. Though they went just 10-for-15 from the line, it was enough for the Mountaineers to escape with a win. This was a well-deserved win, said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. I told our guys I was really proud of their effort. We really did play hard. Game Notes Nino Williams, Kansas States second leading scorer, suffered a leg injury early in the first half and did not return ... Kansas State had won six straight home games against ranked opponents ... West Virginia is 10-1 away from Morgantown ... There were nine lead changes and seven ties. 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