A. Al Horford. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Horford is injured. You’ve undoubtedly heard it before and now you’re hearing it again. Atlanta’s undisputed best player suffered a completely torn pectoral muscle last weekend and will miss the remainder of the season. Horford is leading the team in points per game (18.6), blocks (1.5) and is second behind Paul Millsap in rebounds (8.4). Sportsbook has the Hawks at +5000 to win the Eastern Conference.

B. Chris Bosh. Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra dialed Bosh’s number with the team trailing at Portland by two last Saturday, and Bosh made him dial it from long distances. The veteran forward insisted on going for the win and he nailed a three with 0.5 seconds remaining to give the Heat a 108-107 victory. However, a brief two-game winning streak was halted in the form of a home loss to Golden State on Thursday. Miami is a +150 favorite at Carbon Sports to win another NBA Championship.

C. Cleveland Cavaliers. Two of the team’s biggest names are out for the time being; Andrew Bynum likely forever and Kyrie Irving on a day-to-day basis. Irving suffered a knee injury on New Year’s Eve, but an MRI revealed nothing more than a contusion. The point guard missed Cleveland’s Thursday overtime win over Orlando, which ended a six-game skid.

D. Done. That’s what Tony Gonzalez is after a Hall of Fame career in the NFL. The tight end played a final game in Week 17 when his Atlanta Falcons lost at home to NFC South champion Carolina. Gonzalez finished with 1,325 receptions for 15,127 yards and 111 touchdowns.

E. Engaged. Rory McIlroy and Caroline Wozniacki wasted little time putting to rest rumors of their demise. Breakup reports surfaced last fall, but one of sports’ power couples rang in 2014 by tying the knot.  

F. Jimbo Fisher. Florida State’s head football coach signed a five-year extension earlier this week. Fisher seems like he is smart enough to honor that contract through the end as opposed to bolting for the NFL. He may have acquired some of those smarts by noticing how terrible everyone not named Brian Kelly has been after making the jump from college to the pros. The Seminoles are -8.5 favorites to win the BCS National Championship over Auburn, per 5Dimes Sportsbook.

G. Green Bay Packers. “You will be successful this year if you think of three things and three things only: your family, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers.” That was once said in a speech by Vince Lombardi and then by Jim Valvano. A lot of people are thinking about the Green Bay Packers right now after they snuck into the playoffs after a Week 17 thriller at Soldier Field. They worked similar magic in 2010 and went on to win the Super Bowl. Green Bay is a +2.5 home playoff underdog on Sunday against San Francisco, according to Sportsbook.ag.

H. Heimlich maneuver. The biggest play of bowl season—at least until Auburn gets back on the field—was not made between the lines. During halftime of the Pinstripe Bowl, Jesse Palmer performed the Heimlich maneuver on Chris Fowler and saved his broadcast booth partner from “death by dry chicken sandwich,” according to Fowler’s Twitter account.

I. Ana Ivanovic. We all win when Ivanovic wins, which means 2014 is off to a nice start. The Serbian starlet captured a WTA title in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday in preparation for the upcoming Australian Open. Ivanovic beat Venus Williams in a three-set final…and looked damn good doing it, too. She is +6500 at BetOnline Sportsbook to win the Aussie Open, which begins in one week.

J. Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney did not have any kind of hit like the one he delivered in last year’s bowl game, but he still went out a winner as South Carolina downed Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl on Jan 1. The star defensive end promptly announced that he will be taking his talents to the next level for the 2014 season.
 
K. Kyle Orton. Orton really wasn’t all too bad in the winner-take-all NFC North showdown between Dallas and Philadelphia last Sunday night. Unfortunately, Tony Romo reminded Orton that it was late and the game was on the line when the Cowboys got the ball back down by just two points with 1:49 remaining. Clearly Orton has been taking notes from Romo, because he promptly threw a dreadful game-ending interception on the first play of the drive.

L. Louisville. Chane Behanan has been dismissed from the defending champions and Kevin Ware is redshirting due to physical problems. Sounds like there is trouble in college basketball paradise. The Cardinals are -17 road favorites over Rutgers on Saturday, per BookMaker.

M. Michael Schumacher. The seven-time Formula One World Champion suffered a traumatic head injury in a skiing crash last week. He remains in critical condition and in a medically-induced coma at a Grenoble hospital.

N. ‘Nova. Arizona may be No. 1 in the land, but don’t sleep on these other Wildcats. Villanova is 12-1 and 1-0 in the Big East after outlasting Butler 76-73 in overtime on Tuesday. Jay Wright’s squad also boasts wins over Kansas and Iowa and its only loss has come against second-ranked Syracuse (a 78-62 road setback on Dec. 28). ‘Nova is +4000 at Bovada Sportsbook to win the National Championship.

O. Bill O’Brien. Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner said after the head coach bolted for the same post with the Houston Texans earlier this week that he had truly believed O’Brien was in it for the long haul. That confirms Joyner as either a liar or an idiot. There was no way O’Brien was ever not going to the NFL sooner rather than later.

P. Phil Robertson. The patriarch of “Duck Dynasty” is back. Quack, quack.

Q. Quvenzhane Wallis. Nominated for best actress last year for her performance in “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Wallis is now preparing for the remake of “Annie.” According to reports, her base salary is $750,000, she gets double that if the movie does well, she gets five percent of the profit from each of her projects, five percent of merchandising, and 10 percent of soundtrack royalties. Oh, by the way she is 10 years old.

R. Ryan Succop. The Steelers missed the playoffs because they were entirely mediocre this season (8-8), which featured starts of 0-4 and 2-6. But don’t tell their fans. They want to believe they missed the playoffs because of Kansas City’s kicker, who was a 41-yard field goal away from booting the Chiefs past San Diego last Sunday. The Chargers, who needed a win to get in and bounce Pittsburgh, eventually prevailed in overtime after Succop missed.

S. Anderson Silva. Silva’s UFC middleweight title bout against Chris Weidman ended prematurely and gruesomely last Saturday night. Silva suffered a broken left leg after kicking Weidman a minute into the second round. If you were watching, you know it was gross. If you weren’t, here’s how gross it was: Kevin Ware was trending worldwide on Twitter moments after it happened.

T. Tim Tebow. It’s almost Tebow time! ESPN has hired the free-agent NFL quarterback as a college football analyst for its upcoming SEC Network. Tebow will also contribute to a variety of ESPN platforms, including SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, and the network's Heisman Trophy coverage. His ESPN debut will come on Monday in advance of the BCS National Championship. That means we may hear more about Tebow than Auburn-FSU on the postgame SportsCenter. We’ll undoubtedly hear more about Tebow than Auburn-FSU on First Take the next morning.

U. Unsuccessful. That’s what Michigan State’s Gatorade-dump attempt on head coach Mike Dantonio was—and that’s an understatement. It was more like an epic fail. The Spartans sure know how to win big games, but you would not know it from their whiff on Dantonio in the closing seconds of their Rose Bowl triumph over Stanford.

V. Brian VanGorder. VanGorder often finds himself on the move, and 2013 ended in familiar fashion for the longtime football coach. Previously coaching up linebackers with the New York Jets, he was hired as defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. Thus ends a one-year stint in New York, where VanGorder arrived after working as defensive coordinator for a historically bad Auburn squad in 2012. VanGorder has some history with Irish head coach Brian Kelly (worked together at Grand Valley State, 1989-91).

W. Russell Westbrook. Westbrook missed last year’s playoffs with a knee injury and he is out again for a similar problem. Oklahoma City’s point guard underwent a third surgery on his right knee earlier this week and will be sidelined until after the all-star break. The Thunder are +225 favorites at WagerWeb to win the Western Conference.

X. XLVIII. The quest for the Super Bowl’s 48th installment continues this Sunday in Cincinnati and Green Bay. BookMaker has the Denver Broncos as +254 favorites to win it all.

Y. Yasiel Puig. Puig isn’t just fast on the basepaths; he’s also quite speedy behind the wheel. The Dodgers’ rookie sensation from 2013 was arrested last week after doing 110 MPH on Alligator Alley in Naples, FL.

Z. Zillow. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West “won” Zillow’s poll for people whom you would least want to have as your neighbors. Justin Bieber, Alex Rodriguez, Honey Boo Boo, and Miley Cyrus also found themselves on the list.

Read more articles by Ricky Dimon