FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Bad or good, Sean Avery willingly shares his opinions.

AP

Like him or not, Sean Avery gets it. "It" is attention. "It" is media coverage. "It" is national exposure. Quite frankly the NHL hasn't gotten "It" in a long time and most likely won't judging from the way they handled Avery's latest headline grabbing comments.

The NHL suspended Avery indefinitely Tuesday for inflammatory comments he made following a morning skate in Calgary, Alberta. This is what he said: "I am really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada. I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about. Enjoy the game tonight."

For those of you who don't read US Weekly or People, Avery was referring to his past relationships with actress Elisha Cuthbert, who is now dating Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf and had been linked to Mike Komisarek of the Canadiens, and model Rachel Hunter, who is now with Los Angeles Kings center Jarrett Stoll.

This is why Avery is the best thing to happen to the NHL and why it's no surprise that the NHL, which seemingly does everything in its power to make the sport irrelevant, is trying to stop him.

Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant face the Pacers in Indiana.

Getty Images

All times Eastern.

• 7:00 p.m., NBA TV: The Lakers open a three-game road trip against the Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse. Sure, Indiana may be jockeying with Milwaukee for crash space in the Central Division cellar. But when you're gunning for 70 wins like Los Angeles, every game's a big one.

• 9:00 p.m., ESPN: Duke and Purdue clash in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The fourth-ranked Blue Devils have never lost a game in the made-for-TV event, but the ninth-ranked Boilermakers will have Mackey Arena on their side.

• 9:00 p.m., ESPNU: An alternative option for mid-major junkies and Duke haters: Western Kentucky plays its first game since Sunday's stunning upset of No. 3 Louisville. The Hilltoppers meet Georgia in a clash of conference champions from a year ago.

• 11:00 p.m., HBO Comedy: Classic Curb Your Enthusiasm: In "The 5 Wood," Larry faces termination from his country club if he doesn't clean out his locker and steals a golf club from a deceased's casket.

• 11:00 p.m., Versus: Rocky V is a bit of a whipping boy among fans of the series but it's not without its redeeming qualities. For one, it's hard not to love Richard Gant -- the "or the Creedence" cop from The Big Lebowski -- and his scene-chewing performance as slimy promoter George Washington Duke.

Despite a 4-8 record, the Chargers have made for good TV

Associated Press

Every Tuesday, we take a look back at the week that was in the NFL, and rank the games based on their watchability. The goal is to find the league's most watchable team, least watchable team and everyone in between.

Now that every team has played 12 games, we thought it was a good time to find out what we've learned so far. To do this, we added every team's pre- and post-rankings, then divided that number by 12 and multiplied it by two (for pre- and post-rankings).

The results were intriguing after Week 6, and with ¾ of the season in the books, who's watchable and who isn't have become clear. I've noted a few of the most interesting findings below, along with the entire table. We'll of course do this again at the end of the season. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Most Watchable Team

San Diego Chargers. Yes it's a surprise, and yes we double-checked the math (a lot). It's not much consolation to San Diego fans who've watched their team sputter to a 4-8 record after being picked by many as a favorite in the AFC, but the Chargers have actually been the NFL's most watchable team through 12 games. Their defense has struggled without Shawne Merriman, and their usually-reliable running attack has disappeared. Still, the Bolts have played an inordinate number of close and exciting games: a two-point loss in Week 1 and a one-point loss in Week 2 (each of which was the most watchable game of the week); and then, from Week 10-12, a one-point win, a one-point loss, and a last-second loss to Peyton Manning and the Colts.

Rod Marinelli has led the Lions to an 0-12 mark so far in '08.

Duane Burleson/AP

SI.com's Don Banks has compiled his monthly roll of NFL coaches on the hot seat -- the head men who will inevitably be canned in the near future. But let's be clear: NFL coaches aren't the ones who deserve a big, fat FAIL sticker pasted across their foreheads. Here's our list of the five coaches or executives, across all sports, who need to go...

1. Rod Marinelli: Banks said the Detroit Lions coach has a one percent chance of keeping his job. That's one percentage point too much. The 0-12 Lions -- already the worst team in the franchise's history -- are on pace to become the worst in NFL history (the 1976 Bucs went 0-14). Marinelli has ditched his last four Pro Bowlers, created the most useless defense in the league (actually, they're really good at giving up points) and managed to save his team's most embarrassing performance for Thanksgiving Day. But, hey, at least Marinelli keeps it interesting. He is working on an all-time record.

2. Charlie Weis: A no-brainer. Weis has single-handedly destroyed a sports powerhouse, a team that was often equated to the Yankees of college football: the team to beat. Though Weis is quick to blame his failings on the loss of star QB Brady Quinn and may admit some of his own wrongdoings, let's be clear: He could barely pull his weight (no pun intended) when he had Quinn. If anything, Weis hurt the Heisman contender. After just seven games, he was handed a reported $30 to $40 million contract extension that would keep him on until his 12-year-old son graduates from Notre Dame. Go figure. In the mean time, Weis has been so awful it hurts to even watch: Two straight Bowl losses followed by a 3-9 season -- including a win against Duke (that shouldn't even count) -- and a lucky .500 finish this season. Good work, Charlie. 

The pundits have worked overtime throughout the Plaxico Burress story. Gary Myers of the New York Daily News says the incident should cost the wideout $27 million while Mike Lupica says Burress shouldn't count on catching a break.

But one of the more amusing "news" reports comes from Jon Stewart of The Daily Show.

Plaxico Burress likely to lose out on $27M as Giants aim to fire him [New York Daily News]
Any chance of Plaxico Burress catching a break is real long shot [New York Daily News]