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Bizarre situation in Minnesota where sniper Marian Gaborik, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, skates at the rink every day but disappears as soon as his team mates arrive. Gaborik has not started in sixteen games, supposedly battling a mysterious ailment, but rumours abound that Gaborik either refuses to play or has been benched by management…Vancouver Canucks, unbeaten in nine, take on the Red Wings without Roberto Luongo tonight. There is still no word on the severity of Luongo’s injury…Matt Cassells has racked up back to back 400 yard passing performances for the New England Patriots. Tom Brady has one 400 yard game in his eight year career. Just sayin’…quarterback Donovan McNabb was benched at halftime as his Philadelphia Eagles were drubbed by the surging Baltimore Ravens. The Eagles have taken themselves out of playoff contention, a development that seemed unthinkable a mere three weeks ago…Brady Quinn was pulled yesterday as Cleveland lost to Houston. The verdict is still out on the high profile prospect…one prospect I’m still bullish on is JaMarcus Russell, ten of eleven for 152 yards yesterday as he led the Raiders to a stunning win over the Broncos…the Jacksonville Jaguars lurched to a 4-7 record after dropping a 30-12 game to Minnesota yesterday. No one has disappointed me as much as the Jaggies. A group that always played hard and was not intimidated by any team now appears listless and disinterested as their season goes up in smoke…the Tampa Bay Bucs rallied from a 24-3 deficit two weeks ago to beat Kansas and recovered from a 17-0 shortfall yesterday to beat the hapless Detroit Lions… recently released court documents indicate Michael Vick enjoyed putting family pets in with his fighting pit bulls. The pets suffered severe damage…the St Louis Rams are playing disgracefully. In the past three weeks they’ve played as poorly as any NFL team I have ever seen…the Sporting News reports that A J Burnett will sign with either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. The Jays appear out of the running…second baseman and ex Jay Jeff Kent is apparently getting set to retire…Steve Molitor took a dramatic step up in class Friday night at Rama and was found wanting. It was a dreadful showing from the Sarnia native as he looked hesitant and ineffectual against a world class foe. I attach a significant amount of blame to his brain trust and the manner in which his recent foes were selected. Molitor was allowed to develop inordinate self confidence while dusting a collection of stiffs. Celestino Caballero is enormously talented and represented a radical departure from Molitor’s recent opponents. Molitor looks light years away from being ready to handle the two bosses of the division, Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez…on the other hand, Manchester’s Ricky Hatton was electric in dominating Paulie Malignaggi on Saturday night. It may have been the best performance of his career as he smothered Paulie at every turn and looked likely to score a knockout if not for the intervention of Malignaggi’s corner men. It was Hatton’s first performance under the guidance of Floyd Mayweather Sr and tangible improvement was apparent. Next up for Hatton is the winner of the December 6^th De La Hoya - Pacquiao fight and he looks to have solid prospects against either boxer…I fell asleep on the couch during the Rocky marathon last night. When I dozed off Balboa was entering the ring to fight Clubber Lang, when I woke he was beating Ivan Drago…