By updating RealClearSports I read hundreds of articles every week but sometimes there are particular passages that need highlighting. And to make these passages more palatable I'm doing them in award form! The awards are completely random and will change weekly.

I try to stay out of the off the field/court drama of sports. I couldn't care less who the Kardashian's are dating. I don't want to know the details of Ndamukong Suh's car accident. I'm a Lakers fan and I don't want to hear about Kobe's wife filing for divorce. It's all just so boring and has nothing to do with sports. But, I think for the first time ever an off the field event grabbed my full attention. I can't get enough of it and want to consume every single morsel of information as it comes out. The drama that has got me so captivated is the world of Sam Hurd.

You've probably heard about him now but unless you were a Bears fan or fairly big NFL fan you had no clue who he was a week ago. On December 14, Hurd was arrested after a sting operation caught him making a deal to purchase 5-10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 lbs of marijuana a week. Hurd was prepared to pay $700K a week on these drugs. That's $36.4 million a year. This from a guy who was making far less than that per year with the Bears (although he did get a $1.35 million signing bonus).

That's only the beginning of the insanity of this mess. This stuff is like straight out of Breaking Bad. Hurd won the Ed Block Courage Award while with the Cowboys after coming back from injury and being a leader on special teams. By all accounts he was an intelligent, well-mannered guy who worked hard and exemplified professionalism in the locker room. But just two days before signing with the Bears, a man driving Hurd's car was pulled over and $88,000 and marijuana were discovered. It was through that man that the feds were finally able to bust Hurd in the act trying to broker a deal for the obscene amount of drugs at a Morton's Steakhouse.

Not enough for you? An anonymous source has said they discovered a client list that contains NFL players listed in the "double-digits." Do you think some players are getting a little nervous about now? I don't know when the rest of the facts are going to come out or if the players on that list will ever be revealed but you better believe I'll be following it every step of the way. On to the awards!

He Should Know Better
Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times wrote about the Lakers lack of direction and how the team is much different than last year without Odom: I spotted this strange guy with a slight build running around the court, thought he was some sort of intruder, and was informed he will be the Lakers' opening night starting center, somebody named Josh McRoberts? 

Thing is, McRoberts isn't going to be the starting center. Pau Gasol will slide over to the center spot and McRoberts will play the forward spot. Sure, it's somewhat of a small error but it's something that someone who has covered the Lakers for years should know.

Already Rewriting History
Howard Bryant of ESPN writes on how the recent scandals at Syracuse and Penn State have destroyed the myth that college coaches are leaders and mentors:

Two weeks after the Sandusky story broke, two former ball boys at Syracuse appeared on ESPN to accuse longtime Boeheim assistant Bernie Fine of sexually assaulting them. (A third accuser later came forward.) Boeheim showed no compassion or concern for the young people he ostensibly molds, instead revealing himself a bully. His first reaction was to accuse the alleged victims of lying and extortion, and then he seemingly framed the scandal as a potential "distraction," as if it were something to be tuned out in order to concentrate on the important business of, say, preparing to play Georgetown for the Big East championship. ... Like the rest of the NCAA foundations that have proven to be fraudulent, there's no believing in the coach-as-guide ideal anymore. The lie of it has been exposed, the rot setting in, as the game's biggest, richest names run from perhaps the most damaging crisis in the history of college athletics, counting their money, staying quiet, nervously checking the headlines in the hopes that their program isn't next.

First off, the differences between the Syracuse case and the Penn State case are enourmous. Secondly, the difference between Paterno and Boeheim is pretty significant as well. But let's even put all of that aside. I was unaware that all coaches are horrible. Didn't realize their sole mission was to ruin kids' lives and that they have never helped a single one of them. Coaches are still leaders. They still do a ton in the community and they still truly care about their players. His argument is like saying all of government is corrupt because a few politicians have taken bribes.

Quote of the Week
Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant brings us a colorful quote from the always lively Geno Auiremma: Asked about Jeff Van Gundy serving as an ESPN analyst for the game, "There may be an opportunity for him to come out and tackle Brittney Griner and wrap himself around her leg. I'm hoping he saved that move."

Unfortunately for Auriemma, his Huskies fell to Griner and the Baylor Bears on Sunday night.

NFL Arrogance Leads to Murder and Drugs!

Mike Freeman of CBS Sports believes NFL players feel superior and thus commit crimes because they think they'll get away with them. The two main cases he cites are Nate Newton and Sam Hurd for selling drugs but he also works in Ray Lewis, who was accused of murder, and Rae Carruth, who conspired to kill his pregnant wife: The common theme in those two cases -- as well as others like Carruth -- is that the sense of confidence and power the NFL gives, in extreme cases, works against players. An NFL player is bigger, stronger and faster than most other human beings. That superiority, sometimes combined with football's insular nature, can cause (again in extreme cases) some players to believe they're entitled to do whatever the hell they want.

This might be true but it's not like this is an epidemic and it's also not unique to just NFL players. These things are done by non-athletes as well. In fact, NFL players get arrested at a much lesser rate than the general population. So he could've just as easily written an article saying that the NFL instills pride and community leadership in players and that actually leads to less crime. But who wants to read that??

Most Unique Column (Sarcastically Speaking)
Reid Forgrave of Fox Sports takes the bold stance that there are way too many bowl games: Wake me when it's January 9. Preferably right around 8:30 p.m. ET. Because that's the next time I'm going to give a rip about college football. Agreed? Good. Because by the time LSU and Alabama square off in the BCS National Championship Game -- or should we call it the "national championship" game, since one-loss Oklahoma State ought to have as much of a shot at LSU as one-loss Alabama? -- we will have slept through no less than 34 other bowl games. We will have missed the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, pitting Sun Belt powerhouse Florida International (8-4) against Conference USA juggernaut Marshall (6-6). We will have missed the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, a game the participants -- 6-7 UCLA and 6-6 Illinois -- consider so vitally important that they each fired their coaches before the bowl.

I get it. Columnists constantly have to produce and once in awhile they have to mail in a column. Consider this one junk mail! (whips sunglasses on)

Dwight Howard Is Awful (If you ignore the facts)
Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports set his sights on taking down Dwight Howard. He calls him a fraud that can be selfish and petulant. Let's dive and dissect his argument: Orlando hasn't neglected Howard the way the Cavaliers neglected LeBron James (which is still no excuse for the cruel way he left Cleveland). In most playoff series when LeBron was there, the Cavaliers had the better player at only one position: LeBron's. The Magic haven't put Howard at such a disadvantage.

Wow. I forgot how the Cavs failed to support LeBron. Oh wait. Let me see. During his rookie year they had the 24th highest payroll. In 4 of his last 5 with the Cavs they were in the top 5 and had the highest in his last season. Remember when they signed All-Stars Antawn Jamison and Shaq? Or how about defensive specialist Larry Hughes? What about adding Mo Williams who became an All-Star? You can argue whether those were sound choices but you can't argue that the Cavs didn't try to support LeBron. Now back to Howard:
They surrounded Howard for the 2009 NBA Finals with Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson. They surrounded him for the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals with Lewis, Nelson and Vince Carter. And they even shook up the team at midseason last year to give him some help, getting rid of Carter and some throw-in pieces for Jason Richardson and the return of Turkoglu. They even acquired Gilbert Arenas -- an acquisition that Howard approved, by the way -- in the hope that the goofball could find his once brilliant game.

Woah woah. THE Hedo Turkoglu? AND Rashard Lewis? How did this team not break the Bulls' win record? Are you serious? Those examples plus aging Jason Richardson, Vince Carter and an even older Turkoglu? Those are your examples of supporting Howard and surrounding him with talent to win a title?

And still he has averaged more than 20 points only once, last season, when he averaged 22.9 to rank 11th in the league. Why doesn't he score like other superstars score? Because he has never put in the time to become a competent foul shooter. Howard is stronger and more explosive than anyone at his position, but he goes from Superman to Superbad because he can't make a free throw.

Do you want to know why he has only averaged over 20 points once in his career? It's because he's not a ball hog. None of the 10 players above him play the center position so they get a lot more touches. The highest field goal percentage among those top 10 scorers was Dirk Nowitzki who shot 51.7-percent - good for 18th in the league. Dwight Howard shot 59.3-percent, ranking him just behind Nene Hilario for tops in the NBA.

I could go on and on about how he is undervaluing Howard's offensive presence but there's an even bigger flaw to his argument. A huge gaping hole of a flaw. A ridiculous purposeful oversight (if it wasn't purposeful than he knows next to nothing about basketball). Doyel mentions nothing about Howard's defense. he is the single most disruptive player in the league and can back that up with his 3 consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards. He was 1st last year with 7.7 defensive win shares. 2nd was Garnett at 5.6. That's a HUGE gap.

And NBA players wonder why their fun sport isn't more popular? That's why. You're why, guys like Dwight Howard, a liar who jerks the fans around because he can.
What is Howard supposed to say? If he says he wants out it hurts the Magic organization and every Orlando fan hates him. If he says he wants to stay and he leaves he is a traitor. It's a lose-lose situation and he's going to be hammered by critics no matter his choice. It's become pretty obvious that it's next to impossible to win a championship with the majority of teams. Is it really so wrong that he wants to go to a team that has a culture of winning and has shown it will take the steps necessary to bring in the best talent possible?