By Ken Cohen
January 25 — What's on my mind?
Well, I was wrong about the Patriots and Giants replaying the Super Bowl. That's why I don't wager on football games because how would I know that Tom Brady, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, would play like Bobby Brady. I heard a few commentators suggest that this could be the beginning of Brady's slow descent into mediocrity. Perhaps. I still think he has one Super Bowl run in him – probably in the next year or two when the young Patriot defense gives him some help. What's going to impede him the most are is legs – he has little mobility in a league that demands it more and more of quarterbacks. Which is why I wonder if Peyton Manning can still go the distance.

Do you realize that Nike now has almost $50 million per year tied up in endorsement deals with Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. Sure they are the number one and two golfers in the world but Titleist is the number one ball and TaylorMade the number one driver on the PGA Tour. As far as retail sales, Nike doesn't rank in the top three in any of the main equipment categories.
Some would say that is precisely why they are swinging for the fences – to try and beef up those numbers. I say it's an exorbitant price to pay for market share that is influenced more by local club professionals than touring pros.
Speaking of Woods, the two-stroke penalty he incurred last week in Dubai was a blatant mental lapse – something he never did in his prime. To not know that an embedded ball is restricted to a closely-mown area through the green is inexcusable. He would not have made this mistake 10 years ago.

It’s also inexcusable that adult administrators and faculty members at Fallsburg could not come up with a state-mandated teacher evaluation plan by the January 2013 deadline. Now the district, one of only four in the entire state to miss the deadline, will potentially lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in state aid. I sure hope that doesn’t mean some kids won’t be playing sports in Fallsburg next year.

It's hard to believe that professional hockey was played for nearly 50 years before helmets became mandatory. It's even more amazing that goalies didn't wear masks until 1959. Talk about tough. I'm more impressed with a helmetless defensemen from the 60s trying to deflect a slapshot than one of today's heavily-padded goons slamming someone into the boards – from behind..

The toughest crew I've seen on ice in a long time are the 12 or so warriors who plunged into the frigid waters of Horseshoe Lake Saturday as part of the annual Russian Epiphany. How cool was that!

It's quite possible that both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics could miss the NBA playoffs this year. That's what happens when you try to squeeze a few more miles out of an empty tank. Both teams are old and slow. Their star players have lost a step as well as their legs. Watch either team play and count the amount of jump shots that come up short. The refueling should have started at the end of last year. The Celtics gave everything they had last spring and held a 3-2 lead over Miami heading home in the Conference Finals and still couldn't get it done.

Does the sun get any brighter than at the Australian Open Tennis Championships?

James I' O'Neill's boys’ basketball team won four conference games and clinched the division – in early January. They now have to play a full month of meaningless games. Will someone in Section IX wake up and see how absurd this whole playoff system is? Nobody benefits from divisions with three teams in it. There's nothing wrong with having teams of different classes playing in the same division – it's done all over New York.

Ken Cohen brings 30 years of publishing experience, many covering sports and working for sports companies, His column, “Further Review” will appear every Friday.