The Rundown: January 14th, 2009

NCAAB: Meeks-mania!

I confess when I woke up this morning I didn't know a damn thing about Kentucky star Jodie Meeks. Considering he had already had a 46-point game, I should have. I am failing my duties as a sports fan these days.

But I sure know who he is now after he broke Dan "Go Drink Another Beer" Issel's single-game Kentucky scoring mark with FIFTY-FOUR at Tennessee to move the Wildcats to 2-0 in SEC play, 90-72. It was the highest SEC scoring game since Chris "Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf" Jackson dropped a double nickel for LSU 20 years ago.

The most remarkable thing about this performance - which got Meeks mobbed on a road court by his teammates, which was an odd sight to see on live TV - was that it was insanely efficient. Meeks attempted only 22 shots, which is fewer than your average leading scorer in a game. Meeks was aided by a red-hot 10/15 showing from the 3-point line and he netted all 14 free throws. He's top five in the country in scoring. Maybe it's time to throw this guy in with Curry, Harangody, Hansbrough and Griffin in the National P.O.Y. discussion.

Oh yeah, and Ohio State clobbered IU. Like you didn't know that would happen.

Tons of Top 25 action for Wednesday night. Three games are nationally broadcast and unfortunately, the two really worth watching will both happen at the same time. If you have to pick between #2 Duke at Ga Tech (7 pm, ESPN) and #8 Syracuse at #12 Georgetown (7:30 pm, ESPN2), watch the Big East game. Obviously. But check the Duke game at breaks. Top-ranked Pitt hosts USF too, but that should be an easy one.

Hot Stove: Braves sign Lowe for 4 years and $60 million. Wow. That's a lot of money, especially for the Braves. Not sure about that move at all for the long term, but Lowe should be pretty good - he's a ground ball pitcher in a pitcher's park (Turner Field). For now, he'll be fine. Also, Guillermo Mota signs with L.A. (the real ones, not the ones who changed their name to L.A. for no reason) and Jay "Monkey-Face" Gibbons will sign a minor league deal with Florida.

NFL Draft Declarations: Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree, Ball State QB Nate Davis (Sniff, Sniff). Percy Harvin and Mark Sanchez are also expected to go (via ESPN), Colt McCoy, as you already know, is supposedly staying, but Sam Bradford is still undecided. Interesting.

And in other NFL news, Scott Pioli jumps to K.C. Of course, he was supposedly headed to Cleveland early this off-season. ESPN.com thinks this means the end for Herm Edwards (he should've been out anyway), with Giants' defensive wizard Steve Spagnuolo probably the favorite to replace him (he'd be a great hire).

The Last Word:

To delve away from sports, does anyone watch How I Met Your Mother? It's probably my favorite show - it's the sitcom that's not a sitcom. It's a half-hour comedy with a laugh track, but it's above most typical sitcomminess, and its callbacks to prior episodes are the best way possible to reward longtime viewers.

Last night they had an interesting episode, where Ted and Robin, exes who now live together, decide to solve their roommate arguments by having sex casually. This is a typical sitcommy plot, and I was worried that HIMYM (him-yim) would revert to typical sitcomminess with it. However, they spun it beautifully into more of a story about Barney's newfound affection for Robin than anything else, and as the narrator - older Ted - said, "Someone did get hurt. It just wasn't one of us."

I love that show. And I just bored 80 percent of anyone who reads this, but you need to watch it. Give it a look, soon.