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NBA star LeBron James has revealed he smoked marijuana while in high school. After this painful revelation, LeBron will have to work hard to earn back the trust of his Cleveland Cavalier team-mates. If there is one thing the average NBA player cannot tolerate, it is a weed smoker. Dedicated b-ballers are known for both for their passion for clean living and late nights listening to Bob Marley. The palpable sense of betrayal the whole league must feel is reminiscent of the convulsions that rocked the NHL in 2001 when Brendan Shanahan confessed he drank beer…the Sporting News does a fantastic job with their NFL team previews. Today’s article on the San Francisco 49ers is thought provoking. Head coach Mike Singeltary has brought a new offensive co-ordinator, Jimmy Raye, to the team. The newcomer has a 67-125 record in the bigs, and his teams have averaged an impoverished 20 points a game. Singletary was a success as a mid-season hire in 2008, leading the shambolic team to a 5-4 record under his tutelage. But this is a peculiar hiring and I suspect the San Fran offense, with Shaun Hill and Alex Smith the potential QB’s, verges on flat lining…San Francisco remains the perfect landing spot for Michael Vick…ESPN is reporting that prominent Minnesota Vikings, including Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen, have reached out to Brett Favre and asked him to join their squad. Not quite the vote of confidence Tarvaris Jackson and recent acquisition Sage Rosenfal had hoped for. Favre’s decision should be made any day now. The team is just too talented to resist; the truly startling prospect of Boozin’ Brett back in another Superbowl is frighteningly real…2009-10 will be the year NHL fans are really introduced to the next great defenseman, Erik Johnson of the St Louis Blues. Johnson is reportedly healthy after missing the entire 2008-09 season…the first athlete to ever appear on the cover of Time magazine was Bernie Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers, right after the Broad Street Bullies accounted for the first of their two Stanley Cups in the mid seventies. Flyers fans used to adorn the Spectrum with posters reading, “Only the Lord Saves More Than Bernie”…I may be the last one in the building, but I’m still hoping for a Tomas Kaberle - Phil Kessel swap. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in desperate need of some scoring punch and the Bruins are, well, cheap. Kaberle fits their parsimonious ways. Alternatively, I wonder if Brian Burke has pondered the acquisition of Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks are disgracing themselves while leaving intact the line-up that has flopped repeatedly in the playoff pressure cooker. For the sake of the franchise at least some attempt should be made at altering team chemistry…sitting around the Rails and Ales arguing boxing can separate the men from the boys. You need to know your stuff (and it seriously helps if you have an opinion on Rocky Marciano). On that note I’ll advise fight fans to dig out a copy of Gerald Susters, “Heavyweight Champions”. It is the most intelligently crafted overview of the big men I’ve ever encountered. Suster is extremely opinionated and does not hesitate in naming the pugilist he views as the greatest heavyweight of them all; Muhammad Ali. I concur…my top five, and who doesn’t love compiling these lists, would read Ali, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Joe Frazier and Rocky Marciano. On the cusp would be George Foreman and James J Jeffries. Most overrated? Larry Holmes and Jack Johnson. Biggest waste of talent? Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe. Best current heavyweight? Vitali Klitschko, a genuinely valiant and determined fighter but one, nonetheless, who would have struggled to enter the top five rankings at any point during the seventies…Todd Kabel is riding like a demon these days at Woodbine. The former leading rider battled a series of undisclosed personal issues while taking off the bulk of the 2008 season. After a stuttering start, the last couple of weeks have seen a succession of longshots booted home by the powerful rider. A rejuvenated Kabel is only good news for punters challenged by the shortage of adept jocks at the Rexdale zoo…