I’m not a huge fan of the NBA, although I would consider myself a big fan of NBA playoff basketball. The regular season, with so many games, just gets so long. And one player can routinely win a game for his team. But the playoffs are more like a chess match with each team given up to seven games to figure out how to beat the guys on the other side of the floor.

Sports Illustrated named Kirby Puckett and Bert Blyleven the best baseball players to wear their respective numbers.

Puckett, No. 34, was in a class with the likes of David Ortiz (who wears the number as a tribute to Puck), Rollie Fingers, Nolan Ryan, Fernando Valenzuela. 

Blyleven, No. 28, was in a class with Sparky Lyle, Steve Blass, Tom Herr, Al Leiter, and Randy Myers. 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0804/mlb.best....

Jordan resident Dick Ames' name appeared in Sid Hartman's column yesterday.

"The largest contributors to the construction of the new Gophers football stadium are being given the first opportunity to purchase the building's executive boxes," Hartman wrote. "The No. 1 buyer is Dick Ames, the construction company owner and certainly one of the top boosters of University of Minnesota athletics."

"Who doesn't love a messy breakup?"

Those words were actually uttered on ESPN a minute ago. I can't believe it, and I am so offended. 

Imaginary tournament brackets are a regular feature of ESPN, one of my favorite sports TV channels. Normally, the brackets feature debates about the greatest sports moment or something to that effect.

My hear seriously just sunk in my chest. The biggest sports name in Wisconsin and the best quarterback I’ll see in my lifetime – Brett Favre – is retiring after 17 seasons, according to ESPN.

I was hoping that after last week’s accidental retirement page on the team’s Web site that Brett would come back for another season, and most sports talking heads thought he would. But it turns out the Pack will be under the relatively untested and far more breakable hand of Aaron Rodgers next season.

Here's what the Belle Plaine boys basketball coach Randy Carlson says about the Jordan Hubmen team:

"Jordan is always a tough game for us. They are athletic and have a lot of size up front. They came out in the second half and took it to us, tying the game. We stepped it up a little on defense and started to get a rhythm offensively to find a way to win. I (thought) that our press worked well. I give our guys a lot of credit." 

That, according to the Belle Plaine Herald. The Tigers won that game 72-56 earlier this month.

Jordan Community Education and Recreation programs keep growing, said the head of the organization, Brenda Lieske, in her annual report to the city council.

In 2007, 688 children participated in sports-related programs through community ed. That number is up from 614 in 2006.

Last year, 1,280 students took part in the organization’s summer programs, up 70 since 2006.

Community ed brought in $53,715 in 2007 and had a total of $49,875 in expenditures.

According to the Belle Plaine Herald, here's what Belle Plaine Tigers basketball coach Randy Carlson says about the Jordan Hubmen, who beat his team 71-64 in overtime this month:

"We really had a tough time offensively. Shots did not fall, and we were never really in sync all night. We missed a lot of layups and made some poor decisions offensively. We had some people sick, and that did not help, either." 

The Herald called the game and "overtime collapse" and emphasized that it was Jordan's second conference win of the year.

You know the scene in "Return of the Jedi" when Han Solo is released from carbonite? Princess Leia Organa, disguised as the bounty hunter Bossk, is there holding him, as he suffers the effects of illness caused by his captivity. Han asks who is she.

"Somebody who loves you," she replies.

Her soft voice reassured him -- once she took off her mask.

With all the year-end attention focused on the “best of” 2007 (including the Jordan Independent’s own chronology of last year), I got to thinking about how many things I like best from the last year that never get mentioned. So here are a few of the best things about 2007 in my opinion: