I think the NFL needs to tighten up their drug testing, because Chad OchoCinco is clearly high. He took the opportunity today to guarantee that the Bengals were going to make the playoffs. What? Which Bengals? Surely not the same ones we have seen the last couple of years. Marvin Lewis is still their coach, right? I can see how they might be better than they were last year, and I guess I could even see how they could make a go of it late in the season, but I certainly don’t see this as a guaranteed playoff team. There are holes all over the field, and the organization still seems like a sick one – they still have Lewis at the helm, after all. I’ll respectfully disagree with the artist formerly known as Johnson.

You soccer fans out there – did you notice that Italy managed to lose to Egypt at the Confederations Cup today? For those who don’t watch soccer, this is the equivalent of the Nationals sweeping the Yankees. Three years in a row. Italy is the defending World Cup champs, but they had better get their act together because they certainly aren’t going to defend their title if they keep playing like that. Even worse than Italy is Portugal – they were fifth at the World Cup last time, and Cristiano Ronaldo is the world player of the year, yet at this point they would need a bit of a miracle to even make the 32 team field. Ridiculous.

There is a very interesting article on ESPN.com right now by John Hollinger. As he has done for several years now, he has has done his draft rater. This is a look at how the prospects rate based on a formula involving stats and magic and whatever else. It has been pretty effective the last couple of years at picking out guys who are better than they are perceived to be – it had guys like Danny Granger, Josh Howard, and Carlos Boozer rated much higher than they were rated by scouts and than they were drafted. There were a couple of very interesting conclusions to come out of the study this year. First, Blake Griffin wasn’t the top rated player. Of all people, Ty Lawson was. Griffin was a close second, but this puts Lawson way higher than he is likely to be picked, and well ahead of several point guards who are likely to get picked ahead of him. There are a couple of disclaimers necessary here – the rater has been less accurate with point guards than other positions, and it can’t track European players, so Ricky Rubio isn’t included. Still, it’s quite a compliment for Lawson. One of the guys who is almost certain to be picked before him is Jrue Holiday, but Hollinger doesn’t suggest that that is a great idea – he was all the way down in 13th, behind four other point guards. The other interesting outcome was looking at the big disappointments according to the numbers. Most notably, DeMar DeRozan was all the way down as the 54th ranked North American prospect. He’s one of those guys who is supposed to have athleticism and raw skills that far exceed his college play. I’m always skeptical of those types, and in this case it seems to be warranted. Other guys who fall into the realm of the potential disappointment include Jordan Hill in 26th, ChaseBudinger at 31, and Patrick Mills at 68. Very interesting stuff.