If Stan hadn't already written it, this was going to be my column today. Seventeen years ago, we didn't have a football team and now the entire city complains about the head coach and quarterback that are taking us to our second AFC Championship Game during the last four years. Just for the record, football teams representing the city of Baltimore had been to the AFC Championship Game exactly three times during the previous 37 years before Joe Flacco and John Harbaugh arrived. His two trips give Flacco the exact same number of AFC Championship Game appearances as John Unitas had during his entire career. For all the idiots out there complaining about Flacco, I'm sure Stoney Case is available. Call him and whine. Otherwise, shut up and let me enjoy yet another playoff run.

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During Sunday's "PressBox Live" radio show on ESPN Radio 1300, PressBox reporter Simon Habtemariam called in to discuss a little Towson Tigers basketball, and he boldly predicted the Tigers' record-breaking streak of futility would come to an end Feb. 1 against Hofstra. Realistically, that could be the Tigers' last shot at a win for the rest of their schedule. If Towson does lose out, it would be looking at starting next season on a 51-GAME losing streak. The football team's renaissance will give Tigers fans some hope, but still ... 51? Ouch.

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If any team should be earning the Baltimore sports fans' ire right now for inconsistent play, it shouldn't be the Ravens, but the Baltimore Blast. The Blast started the season 7-0 on the road while going 0-3 at home. Then they looked as if they had gotten things going at home with three wins in a row. So what did the Blast do last Thursday on the road against the last-place Norfolk SharX? How about lose, 17-12, to a SharX team that had only won once during their previous 12 games. The Blast get a chance for redemption against Norfolk this Friday at the 1st Mariner Arena.

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Floyd Mayweather got his jail sentence pushed back so he could fight Manny Pacquiao on Cinco de Mayo. Floyd dropped all his ridiculous requirements about steroid testing and offered a 50/50 split of what will unequivocally be the biggest payday in the history of boxing. Manny's camp responded by saying it wanted the fight too, but the date didn't work. Ignoring the fact that the Pacquiao camp was pushing as recently as one month ago for Mayweather to drop that date so that Pac Man could schedule his own fight on the lucrative Mexican holiday, it made the absurd claim that he wanted the fight pushed back two weeks later so that a cut from his previous fight could heal. That's right, a cut that takes six months to heal. The tease for this fight has been going on for so long that my initial plan for a bachelor party was to attend the fight in Vegas, and if they finally do fight in May, they will be doing so just short of my daughter's first birthday. I get the feeling that by the time they do actually fight, Emily will be planning her bachelorette party.

Posted Jan. 18, 2012