So, when do the Cavs admit that they made a mistake and try to do something about it? And what can they do? Shaq has now missed six games in a row with injury, and he has been a mere shadow of himself when he has played – 11.3 points and 6.9 boards. TheCavs made a big splash getting him to fix their problems up the middle, and they messed up their salary cap this year in the process. If Shaq isn’t the answer then the team won’t likely be able to go all the way, and that means that LeBron is more likely to leave town. I could see management starting to panic soon if something doesn’t change, or if Shaq doesn’t showed both some health and some marked improvement. Panic is always fun to watch – unless the team panicking is one you are a fan of.

The Texas Longhorns looked fantastic in their win over Pitt last night, but they suffered a big loss before the game even started, Starting shooting guard Varez Ward went down with an injury in the warmup and will be out for the rest of the season. Ward isn’t a big numbers guy, but he’s steady and he’s a good leader type, so it’s a blow to this team. Thankfully for them, though, Ward is really the one guy on the team that they could probably have most easily afforded to lose. That being said, I still feel like this team is at least a little overrated. I buy that they are a top 15 or 20 team, but top three seems a bit ambitious.

Andruw Jones has signed with the White Sox for a base salary of $500,000 with a chance for more in incentives. It is impossible to believe that a guy as talented as he is can fall as hard and fast as he has. Sad, really.

I don’t understand what Bill Cowher is up to right now. Sure, he’s one of the most attractive candidates out there, and he can have any job he wants next yer. He’s already been offered Buffalo, tough he turned it down. In his position, though, the correct thing to do is to sit back and wait quietly. Instead, he has said more than once in interviews this week that he would be thrilled to coach in either Chicago or Houston next year. Last time I checked, both those teams had head coaches, and both were at least theoretically still in a hunt for a playoff spot. For a guy sitting on the sidelines to comment on filled jobs seems, at the very least, incredibly tacky. I would have expected more from a guy like that.

I was just looking at the Raiders’ stats for another project. JaMarcus Russell is riding the pine after throwing two TDs and nine interceptions. Darren McFadden has 57 carries for 182 yards – 3.2 per carry, and has scored just once while having lost two fumbles. Darrius Heyward-Bey has seven catches for 103 yards. We’ve seen some teams go through draft droughts in the past, but it’s quite possible that that is the worst three year span of expensive high picks in the history of the league. Wow. Just wow.