In the past week, all the stories leading up to the Big Game were about Manning vs. Brady, Manning vs. Belichick, how the undefeated Colts would finally get their reality check against the dynastic Patriots. Despite all his deadly offensive success, the Patriots were the one team that could still give Manning fits (despite four Colts wins in the last five meetings) as they had ruined many a magical season during his career. And all the focus would still be on Manning today, if it weren't The Call.

"Wrong."
"Folly."
"Dumb."
"Quizzical."
"Gaffe" and "Hubris."
"Bobble."
"The worst decision ... ever."
"Lack of Faith."
"Disrespect"
"A Bummer."
"Arrogantly Boneheaded."

[Screengrab via]

Pretty much everyone is in agreement that Belichick's decision to go for it on 4th-and-2 from his own 28 is the most arrogantly boneheaded (see?) coaching decision since Julius Caesar woke up on March 15 and said, "I think I'll go into work today." When your only two intellectual defenders are Merrill Hoge and Deion Sanders—noted fan of "swagger"—that's got to lead to some soul searching. (But hey, they covered! That's what's really important.)

As for Manning, his fourth quarter interception appeared to doom him to yet another big defeat against New England, but two more touchdowns in the final four minutes completed a 17-point comeback and his season remains perfect. So what if he needed Football's Einstein to momentarily turn into Andy Reid for one drive? Everyone keeps expecting Manning and his Colts to fold—no Bob Sanders, weaker home field, do they even have a coach?—and they just keep winning. (For now.)

Just as long as he stays away from the Lucas Oil hotdogs.

Belichick gaffe unrivaled [Shaughnessy]
Colts make Pats pay for Bill's unusually dumb decision [CBS]
Bill Belichick And The Art Of Second Guessing [Sussman]

* * * * *

Manny Pacquiao: Greatest fighter ever? I'll just take your word for it, because I'm still not paying $40 to watch a boxing match on TV. [Telegraph, GMANews]

Jimmie Johnson: Johnson all but locked up an unprecedented fourth straight Winston NASCAR Sprint Solo Cup Chase championship victory. And the man has never once used his turn signal. [LA Times]

The Bengals: They are officially "for real." So when do the knee injuries start again? [AP]

Jim Harbaugh: Two wins in three tries against not-so-mighty USC, both at the Coliseum (complete with a nice FU to Pete Carroll) and a big fat contract extension coming his way. Also, you wouldn't believe the luck this guy has getting good parking spots in Palo Alto. [Ray Ratto]

Brandon Jennings: I think we could all benefit from a summer in Europe. [Yahoo! Sports]

And the Weekend Loser?: Umm ... duh.

Alas, as The New York Times' Pete Thamel reports, after just three months in Haifa, Israel, Tyler is being turned into your standard American basketball bogeyman: listless, undisciplined, money-obsessed and supremely self-entitled.

His coach calls him lazy and out of shape. The team captain says he is soft. His teammates say he needs to learn to shut up and show up on time. He has no friends on the team. In extensive interviews with Tyler, his teammates, coaches, his father and advisers, the consensus is that he is so naïve and immature that he has no idea how naïve and immature he is. So enamored with his vast potential, Tyler has not developed the work ethic necessary to tap it.

The 6-foot-10 Tyler scored a single point in his first two games, and his season thus far has been notable mostly for his talent to turn everyone around him into Mr. Wilson. He was fined $1,000 for missing a workout and turning up late for an interview. His neighbors have called the police with noise complaints. His girlfriend is Erin Wright, daughter of Eazy-E, whom Tyler's father calls a distraction and a "gold digger."

"It is too early to declare Tyler a bust," Thamel writes, "but it is safe to say that he has transformed from a can't-miss prospect into a project."

Maybe so, but we've been here before. In January, the Times did some concern trolling about another age-rule martyr, Brandon Jennings. Like Tyler, Jennings bundled himself off to a foreign land in part to help bring down an unfair and misbegotten rule. Like Tyler, Jennings' struggles were swiftly put to use as a cautionary tale about the ingrained selfishness of American basketball and the perils of bucking the system. Jennings couldn't find his way off Lottomatica Roma's bench and before last June's draft was said to be an "enigma" with a "bad attitude." Today, he's so well-regarded that Knicks president Donnie Walsh is more or less openly apologetic about not drafting him. Tyler is even younger than Jennings was when he shipped off; if he were back in California, he'd be starting his senior season of high school ball right about now. He'll be fine. He just has to survive another year-and-a-half of other people's handwringing.

Photo via The New York Times

Young, Talented and Unhappy Playing Basketball Overseas [New York Times]

Jennings, who opted to play professionally in Italy last year rather than serve an unpaid internship in Arizona's backcourt, was last seen on Draft day making one of the more memorable sporting entrances not involving a paraglider. A few weeks ago, he lamely tried to play the dozens on Ricky Rubio's head. Many questions remain about him. Foremost among them now is whether he'll get John Hammond or Scott Skiles fired first.

Consider Jennings' exchange with a friend of his, rapper Joe Budden, about whom I know nothing but whom BlackSportsOnline helpfully describes as most famous for "putting his girl's ass on camera." BSO has the video for now. The Baseline's Chris Littmann has the heavily starred transcript:

On next season in Milwaukee ...

Budden: You better worry about Ramon Sessions, diggin' in your a**, pause.
Jennings: He's not going to be here. [inaudible] That money is going to Charlie.
Budden: N****, Ramon Sessions is gonna be there.
Jennings: I doubt it.
Budden: They ain't go no other guards.
Jennings: Ridnour.
Budden: N****, get that bum-a** n**** outta here.
Jennings: He's going to be a backup.
Budden: To who?
Jennings: To who? Who else n****?

On what happened on draft night ...

Budden: Who was hatin' on you?
Jennings: Jay Bilas.
Budden: What happened? You ran in the draft late or some dumb s*** like a loser?
Jennings: No, I was at the hotel. This is what happened right. My agent is like "Well, we ain't hear nothing .We ain't have no guarantee." So we makin' phone calls and s*** and n***** is saying like "The workouts is great and everything and he's the best point guard but we don't know yet, we just don't know."
Budden: They didn't say that about Rick Rubio, number one, and number two they didn't say you the best point guard. They said your jump shot is shaky, you got some potential, but your work ethic is bull****. You averaged 3 points.
Jennings: You're a liar. I know you're lying now.
Budden: I'm just telling you what they said.
Jennings: That ain't nothing but a college person.
Budden: Just tell me what happened. You end up running in the draft? I tunred it off after that.
Jennings: No, n****, I came out there and made my appearance n**** and I had the best appearance out of all them n******. And I was the best dressed, they said, by the way. I was the best dressed.

On whether he'll start next season ...

Budden: You think you gonna start for real though?
Jennings: I don't know, actually, I really don't know.
Budden: I heard that n**** Scott Skiles is an a**h***.
Jennings: That n**** tough, that n**** tough though. There must be a reason he liked me. There must be a reason.

On Ricky Rubio and the Knicks ...

Budden: Let me know when Minnesota get there. So I can watch Rubio light your f****** a** up. I never seen a n**** hate on Rubio so much.
Jennings: [inaudible]
Budden: You know what's funny? You're the only guard in the draft talking s*** about Rubio.
Jennings: The other n***** are scared.
Budden: What are you going to do when Rubio comes to the Knicks?
Jennings: Rubio is not coming, they are not giving up Rubio. You got Jordan Hill, you happy with that?
Budden: I don't really know enough about Jordan Hill to be happy ... I'm happy with Toney Douglas.
Jennings: I know they were booing this n****.
Budden: What does that mean? They boo everybody n****.
Jennings: If it was Stpehen Curry, them n***** would've went crazy in there.
Budden: Shut the f*** up, you don't even know nothing about New York basketball.
Jennings: F*** the Knicks, them n***** skipped out on me.
Budden: Oh man, you feel to the Knicks like I do about Jay-Z? [Laughs] Yo, the Knicks is your Jay-Z?
Jennings: F*** the Knicks, them n***** is always going to be weak.
Budden: This is where I f****** hang up on your f****** ass for talking stupid.
Jennings: Duhon ain't gonna get it done.

I know we're all supposed to be deeply appalled at the immodesty of our basketball youth, but you have to marvel at the sheer ballsiness of a 19-year-old who puts himself in his GM's shoes and non-tenders one player and demotes another, all on his own account. Jennings, I fear, is doomed to spend a long year in Coach Tough N****'s crowded doghouse.

Brandon Jennings & Joe Budden Prove Why They Both Are Potential Busts [BlackSportsOnline]
Social Media Biting Back at Brandon Jennings? [The Baseline]

To truly flourish Jennings will need to be surrounded by some more dynamic offensive weapons. But hey, he can always pass to Salim. Automatic.

That's it for the live posting. I'll be back to kick off the live blog and recap the last few picks at the top of the hour.

Jennings isn't sold on the Rubio hype, so he blabbed to SI.com that Rubio isn't all that. NBA executives love his trashtalking upside:

"Well, put it like this: If he was in a workout with me [and fellow point-guard prospects] Jonny Flynn, Jrue Holiday, Tywon Lawson, Stephen Curry, he wouldn't probably be at the top," Jennings said Friday.

When asked if he thought Rubio, who has received great attention but has not worked out for NBA teams, is all hype, he said without hesitation, "Yes. Because he played in the Olympics, he's been playing pro ball since he was like 14. So there it is right there. ... I can't wait to play him, though, in summer league. I'm just letting you know that now. I can't wait.

"Yeah, I think I'm a better player than he is. I just shoot the ball better than he can. The only thing I've seen him do sometimes is when he has a home-run pass or something like that. I think the dude is just all hype. I can't even front. I'm just going to be real with you guys."

So there you have it. Jennings goes to Europe and comes back for the NBA Draft when all along, the trick was to actually be from Europe and bigwig the most interested NBA teams. Oh, and Jennings might have a point: When the two squared off on 11 December (Euro!), Rubio went scoreless with three turnovers in eight-plus minutes.

UPDATE: All that stuff Jennings said about Rubio? He didn't mean any of it, he informed the world on Twitter. He would never disrespect Rubio.

Jennings calls Rubio overhyped [Sports Illustrated]

With a nice finger extended to David Stern's 19 year age limit as he crosses the Atlantic. At least according to his lawya, Jeff Valle.

Valle said Jennings will not even wait for his third standardized test result to see if he got a qualifying score after his second test was questioned by the NCAA. The results from the third test are due later this week.

"That's a moot point now," Valle said. "He's not going to the University of Arizona. Brandon plans on going to Europe."

Well, Lute Olsen is holding things down at Arizona nicely. Get rid of most of the coaching staff that was supposed to follow you whenever you retired? Check. Lose another top 40 recruit, Emmanuel Negadu, to Tennessee? Check. Contemplate re-retirement or several years in the NIT? Looking that way.

The Big Lead also has some good stuff about whether or not this represents a new era in NBA-collegiate relations or Jennings is the exception.

Lawyer Says Arizona signee Jennings headed for Europe [ESPN]

And the European Basketball Experiment Begins [The Big Lead]