Wow, thanks for the honesty

Now Tiger Woods has come clean - only after being caught, of course. Among the egregious details are his cheating on his wife while she was pregnant. And how about the voicemail message to one of his mistresses that Us Magazine got a hold of, where he tells her to take her name off her phone because his wife might try to call? Classy. Also, for the entertainment value alone this Taiwanese Youtube video is worth watching - it's a computer simulation of what may have happened the night of the shady car accident. It's terrific from about the 50 second mark forward, complete with wife's face-slap, wife chasing his car on foot (a la T-1000 in Terminator 2), and telephone pole collision.

Way to go, Urkel. No credit for admitting the truth after first trying to cover it up. Going forward, I can only hope he has the kind of remorse and humility it takes to repair a marriage and family.

And yes, it does matter how sports celebrities act. Now more than ever, we need positive role models in prominent positions. One of the byproducts of guys like Tim Duncan and Peyton Manning winning championships, even if they don't play for the teams we happen to root for, is that these kinds of athletes are in the spotlight more. For this reason alone, I hope the Duncans and Mannings of the world continue to win. (My favorite squeaky clean role model athlete of all, Mariano Rivera, certainly took care of his part this year.)

The Admiral

It was almost easy to overlook this past weekend, but David Robinson was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. A once in a generation player, someone who served his country, and a great person by all accounts I've seen or heard. Not many of his stardom level are so humble or generous, and he sets a perfect example of the kind of persona a sports superstar should display.

Mariano Rivera Appreciation Day

I would like to take a moment to mention just how awesome Mariano Rivera is. He is so awesome that in the very few times he was not perfect, he was almost a victim of his own awesomeness, due to the fact that we expect him to be perfect.

Rivera recorded his 500th career save (and 1st career RBI) on Sunday against the Mets. But nice, round number aside, we should marvel at him any time, not just when he hits a milestone.

His career statistics are staggering. As of this moment, he has thrown 1054 1/3 innings, with a 2.30 ERA. His dominance of this, a hitters' era, is shown in his career ERA+ of 197. For non stat lovers, this means that over the course of his entire career, his ERA has been about half of the American League average ERA. He has 973 career strikeouts to just 247 walks, and has allowed just 828 hits. (Career WHIP: 1.01.)

It's not out of the question to say that inning-for-inning, in Mariano Rivera we are watching the best pitcher who ever lived. But I'll get into those comparisons another time. The Yankees have won 4 championships during his career. His postseason ERA is 0.77, and if not for his mere three playoff blown saves - 1997 vs. Cleveland, 2001 vs. Arizona, and 2004 vs. Boston (the very fact that I can remember all of them without looking them up also means something) - the Yankees might have 7 rings instead of 4. So, thanks for your awesomeness, Mo.