GOOD
Tom Brady
Looking for a betting edge ahead of Sunday's big game? Then know this – the Patriots quarterback is absolutely obsessed with super bowls. Just ask teammate Wes Welker. "You go over and use his toilet, and you press this button, and it sprays water on you and all this stuff, and I'm like, 'You gotta be kidding me,' " said the New England receiver Thursday. "It's heated, it's all this stuff, and I'm like, 'This is crazy.' "
Victoria Azarenka
Much of the focus was on the decibel level ahead of her Australian Open final clash with former champ Maria Sharapova, but in the end the Russian folded with barely a whimper in a 6-3, 6-0 rout, conceding both the trophy and the No. 1 ranking in women's tennis. After her breakthrough Grand Slam, the Belarusian was just thankful she'd been talked out of quitting the sport a year ago: "I made a pretty smart decision not walking out, right?"
BAD
Jeremie Janot
Looking to stay warm during a game of shinny this weekend? Well, you could always follow the advice of the St. Etienne goalkeeper, who has discovered an interesting way to ward off the current European cold snap. "The best is to wear a surfing suit," Janot told France's L'Equipe. "And with 15 minutes left, you pee in the suit and then you can go straight to the shower." Charming.
Taylor Hall
In normal weeks, the Oilers sophomore would be lauded as the player who did most to guide Edmonton to two straight wins coming out of the all-star break, after scoring the winner Tuesday against the Avalanche before grabbing a career-high four points in the 8-4 whupping of the Blackhawks Thursday night. But when a teammate grabs eight points in that same game, the notion of normal kind of goes out the window.
Brian Cashman
No stranger to giving away large sums of money (think Carl Pavano), the Yankees general manager has recently been the subject of an extortion attempt by a former fling. On the bright side, the $6,000 Cashman coughed up is a relative pittance when you consider it's less than one third of what he'll be paying Alex Rodriguez to play one inning in 2012.