The New York Post is reporting the Yankees are about to land the biggest fish in the free agent market- Brewers starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia. The pact is set to make Sabathia the highest paid pitcher in major league baseball history. Rumored numbers have the contract as high as 7-years, 170 million dollars.

Anyone calling C.C. a traitor or sell out- just stop. Direct your anger at Bud Selig and the Union. When your league is uncapped you can’t fault the player for taking an offer that is going to be miles ahead of his next suitor.  Great move for the Yankees that should have been made years ago. I still don’t think they win the AL East.

Hating on the BCS has become as trendy as Affliction t-shirts at a UFC pay-per-view. Now we have a legit reason to be “haters”.

 I’m not as big a BCS hater at most and actually find it pretty entertaining despite its inability to consistantly churn out the best two college football teams for the title game. I bought into the notion that “the college football regular season is one big playoff” for years. And I was fooled. That argument now goes out the window with Oklahoma winning a tie breaker over Texas to represent the Big XII South in the conference championship game. Note that Texas defeated Oklahoma by 10 points on a neutral field earlier in the season.

Maybe it isn’t such a bad thing because the latest developments definitely kick a leg from under the BCS’ “we’re already a playoff arguement”. Hopefully it isn’t too long until the entire system topples over like an Iraqi dictatorship. Hopefully.

Another uninspiring performance from the Bees and they’re now 1-5 in their last six games. This nice little stretch against four bottom feeders sure didn’t begin the way Byron Scott had planned. Peja is struggling, West can’t rebound, Tyson isn’t playing at the level he was last season and the bench is still a liability save for James Posey.

 I think I’ve seen this story somewhere before. Ah yes, the 2007 New Orleans Saints. The Who Dats came out of no where in 2006 and nearly made it to the big dance like the Hornets. However, they only tweaked their roster the following off season (adding kicker Olindo Mare and Jason David) and paid for it by missing the playoffs the next year.

 It’s way too early to tell where the Hornets will end up, but it is concerning. One thing is clear, G.M. Jeff Bower will need to start working the horn soon. The Hornets are missing the scoring spark off the bench that Jannero Pargo provided a year ago and still need a third big man. Just because you ignore the problem doesn’t mean it’ll go away.

Stay tuned…

With everyone harping on the negative I think it’d only be fair we point out some of the positives from the loss against Alabama.

 -Patrick Peterson is finally turning the corner. Peterson struggled early on in the season, but is starting to come on as of late. He was the only DB who looked worthy of matching up with receiver/freak Julio Jones. Peterson is will likely go down as the best corner in LSU history and will be a Top 10 pick when he declares for the draft in a few years.

 -Danny McCray looked like he belonged on the football field. I think the coaching staff is finally realizing that McCray is best used in the box and not in space or in man to man coverage.

-We got to watch the only “meaningful” quarter of football that will be played on a Saturday night in Death Valley this season. That is bittersweet.

-Hats off to the offensive line. LSU was able to force the ball down the Tide’s throat on the ground to the tune of 201 yards. Definitely worth noting as Bama has one of the toughest defenses in the country. This enabled the Tigers to hold the ball for 33:20 compared to only 26:40 by Alabama (How did we lose again?).

Reminder that the Hornets’ season begins this Wednesday night. It was good to see people starting to take notice (and rightfully so) at the end of last year. If you’re late on the bandwagon, don’t worry we’ve got room. The Hornets are one of the youngest and most exciting teams in basketball and Chris Paul  alone is worth the price of admission. Check them out Wednesday against Golden State on Cox Sports Television then the Thursday against the Phoenix Suns in prime time on TNT.

Here’s a few notes about the LSU-UGA series courtesy of LSU Sports Information Director Michael Bonnette:

-When LSU and Georgia tee it up on Saturday at 2:30, it will mark just the 27^th meeting between the squads. The 26 meetings between the Tigers and the Bulldogs ranks as the fewest games LSU has faced against any other SEC team with the exception of South Carolina, who joined the league in 1992.

-While LSU and Georgia are rarely found on each others football schedule, when they do meet there is usually a great deal on the line and this year is no exception. Saturday’s meeting marks the fifth consecutive time in which both teams come into the game ranked No. 13 or higher in the national polls.

-In terms of SEC dominance, the teams have combined to win five of the last seven league titles with LSU claiming the crown in 2001, 2003 and 2007 and Georgia winning the conference championship in 2002 and 2005.

-In addition, since the start of the 2003 season, LSU and Georgia rank Nos. 1-2 in the league in terms of overall wins with 61 and 57 respectively. Going back to the start of the 2000 season, LSU’s 87 wins and Georgia’s 86 victories are also the most of any team in the SEC.

  -Fast forward to the 21^st century and what has become the revival of LSU football in the year 2000 and one will see that the Tigers and the Bulldogs have met more times in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game (twice) than in the regular season.

Welcome to my first blog entry on my first online blog- The Ced Zone (see what I did there?) I think the insinuation management is trying to make with my Les Miles mugshot is that I’m a “damn strong” Sports Editor……maybe not. But in the spirit of Mid Terms let’s hand out some mid season football awards.

The David Blaine Award for Best Dissapearing Act goes to……

 The LSU defensive line - Constantly touted as the deepest and most talented line in football the LSU defensive line has been MIA. Tyson Jackson proved no one on the corner has swagger like us hootin’ and hollerin’ after making a tackle late in last weekend’s blowout loss to Florida.

The Ozzie Guillen Award for Best Soundbyte goes to……

 Charles Scott with these two gems:

 “We don’t need any buzz. We want to be under the radar and we don’t want people talking about us. That way when we come to collect we’ll hit them in the face.�

 ”Quinn Johnson, he doesn’t have a nickname, but we associate him with destruction.â€�

The Jeffrey Lisandro “knock your freakin’ head off ” Award goes to……

 Quinn Johnson - For detaching the poor North Texas player’s head from his shoulders at the goal line earlier this season. The only thing keeping it from being the greatest play in LSU history was the lack of a Kyle Turley helmet launch into the student section.

The Odd Couple Award goes to……

 Bradley Dale Peveto and Doug Mallory - A few more showings like the Florida game and we’re going to have to award them the Rick Venturi Award at the end of the season.  

The Jeffersons Award for movin on up goes to……

 Jai Eugene - You gotta give it up for Jai. He went from being head towel waver to starting corner in one off season. I can’t wait for Jai to make his first interception this season and celebrate with some vintage towel twirlin’.

 That about wraps up the much anticpated LSU Football Mid Season Awards-congratulations to all of our winners!

 Fans- feel free to submit your snubs by filling out the appropriate comment box below.