Some holiday gifts and wishes for sports figures:
? For Nick Saban, a Capital One Bowl victory hat, with a Michigan State logo on it, placed upon his head by Mark Dantonio.
? For Rich Rodriguez and Jim Harbaugh, safe journeys.
? For Ralph Friedgen, the best coach in Maryland history, who was fired after being named Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year, the greatest gift of all ? the ability to forgive.
? For the NCAA, a more understandable explanation about the Cam Newton affair, since even Newton?s supporters didn?t get the first one.
? For Calvin Johnson, a healthy Matthew Stafford.
? For Brett Favre, a rocking chair, good pair of slippers, daily newspaper subscription and no cell phones.
? For Michael Vick, that puppy he wants, with a short leash for the owner.
? For the NFL, the good sense to realize a work stoppage would undermine years of good will with fans, which would be hard to recover when fantasy football players realize how much time they used to spend on it.
? For the NHL, which now faces the prospect of union boss Donald Fehr (who once helped shut down baseball, as head of its players? union) clashing with commissioner Gary Bettman (who hard-nosed his way to the cancellation of an entire season), the good sense to realize another work stoppage could devastate a game built on a financial house of cards.
? For FIFA, soccer?s governing body, the continued courage to defy nationalistic bias and keep placing the World Cup and other major competitions in places such as South Africa (2010), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022), to hammer home the idea that the world isn?t the big, scary place filled with bogeymen that doomsayers warn it is.
? For Derrick Nix, a calorie guide, and for his Michigan State teammates, an April rematch with Duke.
? For John Beilein, just a little more time to complete the Michigan basketball turnaround, now that he?s proving his system is more important than individuals such as Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, no offfense to them.
? For women?s college basketball, an end to the Connecticut?s record win streak, preferably in a very high-profile contest, to emphasize the game?s parity rather than one program?s dominance.
? For Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, at least one Grand Slam final between them in 2011, since no one realized how much tennis would miss seeing their rivalry in a major final until it happened this year.
? For Floyd Mayweather, an entire year without being accused of hitting anyone except Manny Pacquiao, since no one even knows what their rivalry would look like.
? For Pacquiao, who in May will fight shopworn Shane Mosley, the courage to declare the fight what it is: a sham against an over-the-hill opponent who needs the money and is coming off a lopsided loss to Mayweather and a draw with Sergio Mora.
AP Photo Golf needs Tiger Woods to regain his winning form. ? For Tiger Woods, a major win and some consistency in 2011, because golf?s foundation crumbled right along with his own this year.
? For Robin Pemberton, NASCAR?s vice president of competition, another powerful catch phrase to jump-start our engines after his preseason statement last year ? ?Boys, have at it? ? portended a 2010 season in which drivers fist-fought, crashed each other, and generally reverted closer to their sport?s bootlegging roots. Oh, and some better asphalt at Daytona, to avoid those pesky mid-race potholes.
? For Richard Hamilton, that trade he wants, because the Pistons? decision to hang on to old guys with big contracts isn?t working too well, anyway.
? For Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder, who look to be the NBA?s next breakthrough franchise, another crack at the Lakers next May.
? For Paul Pierce, a Game 7 Eastern Conference finals 3-pointer to beat the Heat by one point, in Miami, just to prove the Summer of LeBron doesn?t necessarily translate into the Season of LeBron, and because money shouldn?t buy you love in professional sports.
? For the late George Steinbrenner, who proved money can buy you love in professional sports, eternal peace.
? For Bobby Cox, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre, all of whom retired as managers after this season, after 6,665 wins between them, a date together at Cooperstown in five years.
? For Major League Baseball, more participants with the grace of Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce.
? For everyone, a blessed holiday season and happy 2011.
E-mail David Mayo: [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo Related topics: David Mayo column
