Monday: a night of milestones...and disappointments

Last night we witnessed, in some form, a number of milestones. We also witnessed some major disappointments.

A couple of major milestones were achieved.

1. New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur breaks shutout record.

It was a long standing record that Terry Sawchuck held. Forty years, in fact. Now, the record for most career shutouts belongs to future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur. Brodeur stopped 35 Pittsburgh Pengins shots on his way to recording his 104th shutout. Of Brodeur's 104 career shutouts, it's only the fourth time he'd shutout the Pens.

On breaking Sawchuck's mark, Broduer offered his usual humility.

"This record was held for so long, when you do break records and see how long they lasted, it's cool," Brodeur said. "Tying it was amazing and surpassing him, was a great honor for me to be in that position."

Brodeur already holds the record for games by a goalie and wins.

As I look at the list of the top 5 for most shutouts in NHL history, one name is amazingly absent, Patrick Roy. Hmm.

2. University of Kentucky becomes first Mens basketball program to amass 2,000 wins.

I know it was against Drexel. I know the first recorded win was against Lexington YMCA. But no one can ever dispute the legacy of UK basketball. Just ask my oldest son, a huge UK fan.

Head coach John Calipari, who earlier in the week been somewhat admonished by Bobby Knight, made the following comment to the Rupp Arena faithful:

"We weren't a part of many of those 2,000 wins [but] we had a job to do and that was drag us across the line before that other blue team got there."

That was obviously a stab at North Carolina who had been gaining on the Wildcats due to a few down years. Eddie Sutton and Billy Gillespie were the main culprits in that.

The disappointments came from the Washington Redskins and the Chicago Bulls.
1. The Redskins lose 45-12 to the New York Giants.

With new GM Bruce Allen as well as many fans who had dug their way out of over a foot of snow in attendance, the Redskins produced their worst performance of the season. A few thought the Redskins would have a chance to knock off their divisional foe and damage the Giants playoff aspirations, but it was not a game worth watching.

As I watched a once proud franchise turn the light off, I couldn't help but think that these guys were auditioning for their future with the team. One player that particularly jumps to mind is QB Jason Campbell. He's a restricted free agent after this season and he couldn't have made a worse impression on the new man in charge. What a poor effort.

2. The Chicago Bulls blow a 35 point, second half lead to the Sacramento Kings.

If this doesn't put Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro on the hot seat, I don't think anything else will. He said that the loss "stings". You think?

At 8:50 of the third quarter, the Sacramento Kings trailed the Bulls by a 79-44 score. Then, the run happened. The Kings finished the third quarter with an astounding 19-5 run. The Kings outscored the Bulls 33-10 in the fourth. Over the last 20:50, the Bulls could only mange 15 points? That's also a very poor effort.

Of course, you have to hand it to the Kings. They played the whole 48 minutes.

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