A pretty quiet holiday Monday until: Tim Brewster is your new U of M football coach. Just like any move, this one will have to be judged over time, but our immediate reaction is that it really underscores how much the U wanted Glen Mason out. Webster might be a great coach, but we don’t know. They knew what they were getting in Mason, and they’ve essentially said they’d prefer to roll the dice. It’s fairly bold. Now we’ll see if it works. Oh, and there were no contract terms announced, but we feel fairly safe linking to this.

KG now making $375K per game? Seriously, he’s making $21 million this year, which is roughly $250K per game. But with all this time-and-a-half he’s racking up for all this overtime, his salary will really take off. Not to mention that Monday should have been holiday pay, too. OK, we stretched that as far as it could go, and some would say further than it needed to be taken considering its flimsy nature. Wolves win, in overtime, 94-90, over the Pistons, and are now just three games behind Utah for first in their division. That was fast.

Oh, and that little thing we wrote about “I” yesterday. Forget it. We’ve changed our minds, thus giving Nick Saban ample opportunity to rip us on his blog. Let the greater RandBall community never speak of it again.

Brady happened. Belichick happened. Schottenheimer happened. If ever a game followed a pre-written script, it was New England’s 24-21 victory over San Diego. The Chargers have more talent, and in fact outplayed the Patriots for most of the game. But Martyball (not at all affiliated with RandBall) made some strange decisions (i.e. going for it on 4th-11 from New England’s 30 in a scoreless game instead of trying a 48-yard field goal), and the team with the guts got the big break (the interception-turned-fumble that led to the tying TD). Given that one crack, Belichick made a huge call on the 2-pt conversion (direct snap to Kevin Faulk? Are you kidding? The coach, to borrow a term from corporate America, has some low-hanging fruit of his own, if you know what we’re saying). Then Brady makes the money throw on third down during the final drive. Win enough games like this, and it’s not a coincidence. It’s a dynasty. As for Marty and the Chargers: Lose enough games like this, and it’s no longer a coincidence. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. See Mason, Glen. So now we have Patriots v. Colts, which is the best thing ever and allows the use of one of our favorite pictures of all-time. Tells a thousand words, doesn’t it?

Oh, and we somehow went 4-0 in picking games (though just 2-2 vs. the spread, not bad enough to have our thumbs broken had we been bold enough in real life, but still, we didn’t think either NFC road team would cover. Nice effort by the Seahawks, who really had the look of winning that game at the end and probably should have. Hasselbeck couldn’t make the one play to push them over the top. There’s the line between good and great. Matt can see the line from where he stands. He can also see Tom Brady on the other side of it.

They can do no wrong: Wild and Wolves. Suddenly, the Skating W’s have won three consecutive on the road. Suddenly, of course, is synonymous with “thanks to the return of Marian Gaborik.” The Wolves, meanwhile, are beating the teams they should beat. Good chance to make a mini-statement today in Detroit, too.

You stop that right now: The Wild finally won on the road again. Marian Gaborik led the way with two goals in a 5-2 victory at Vancouver. It was Minnesota’s first road victory since July 14, 1912 this past Nov. 16.

What’s in your wallet? One day after the Beckham megadeal with the L.A. Galaxy, two more hot rumors are making Major League Soccer strangely relevant. Edgar Davids could be making the move to FC Dallas, while others are speculating stars such as Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane, the last of whom you might remember from this here incident, could be next to cross the pond. And yes, we were tipped off to these things by soccer lover La Velle E. Neal III, whose e-mail, we assure you, was full of question marks and exclamation points. Help us all if he ever learns to use emoticons.

Take me out to the fat game: The Dodgers have announced they are turning their right field pavilion seats into an all-you-can-eat section. A $35 advance ticket will buy you all the hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, peanuts, etc., that your heart could want — or, possibly, that your heart could handle. But you still have to buy your own beer. Whoever eats the least has to charge all the defibrillators at the end of the night.

Well, we need spend this first post of the day on the big Barry Bonds news. The New York Daily News had a huge coup, reporting that Bonds violated baseball’s amphetamine policy last season (and the tabloid had the courtesy to run one of its classic, classy headlines — “Caught Speeding” — splashed across its cover). Amphetamine violations are covered differently than steroids violations, which bring about a 50-game suspension. The first violation in this case was basically a warning. A second would have been 25 games. By itself, the news wouldn’t be that huge, but Bonds is also subject of speculation that he lied under oath about steroid use — an ugly spectacle that will play itself out in the coming months. And, in typical Bonds fashion, according to the Daily News story, the slugger blamed the speed violation on a substance taken from the locker of teammate Mark Sweeney. As George Costanza might say, the jerk store called and they’re all out of Barry Bonds. He’s just not a good human being, and it’s going to be a shame when he breaks Hank Aaron’s home run record this year.

Mark it zero: The Wild was blanked 3-0 in Calgary and fell to 0-10-1 in its past 11 road games. In fact, Minnesota’s last regulation road victory was Oct. 21 in San Jose. This road thing is past the point of ridiculous.

It’s a league game, Smokey: The Mavs beat the Jazz 108-105 in what seemed to be somewhat of a Western Conference statement game. Dirk Nowitzki had a season-high 38 and Jerry Stackhouse was tossed after his second flagrant foul.  

Also, my rug was stolen: The write-in campaign for Rory Fitzpatrick yielded about 550,000 votes for the journeyman Canucks defender — about 23,000 short of what he needed to make the All-Star game. It was a good time while it lasted.

Donny, these men are nihilists: Tom Coughlin, who oversaw the train wreck of a Giants football season that somehow yielded a playoff spot, might get one more chance to lead this club, sources say. Oh, that sound you just heard? Eli Manning punching a wall.