Okay, that wasn’t too bad. The Who are a good fit for this sort of thing — loud and big and everyone can sing along. That was Ringo’s kid, Zak Starkey, on drums (not a day goes by I don’t think about Keith Moon). Then the Saints opened the second half with a totally mental onside kick and scored, and then the Colts answered right back. Good game so far.

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Area fans watching the Super Bowl are apt to cheer for the Saints, if only to root against Indianapolis and that sissy hand-flapper Peyton Manning (whose own mom calls him Peytie-Pie, by the way). Plus everyone wants something nice to happen for New Orleans to make up for the FEMA trailers. However, we have a local boy in this one, and he plays for the Colts — defensive back, special teamer, and former East Providence Townie, Jamie Silva. Here’s his bio from the Colts website.

…attended East Providence High School…was four-year, two-way starter as RB and DB…ended career with more than 4,500 rushing yards and 49 TDs on offense and 300 tackles and 16 interceptions on defense…had 2,100 yards and 29 TDs as senior…was Rhode Island Player-of-the-Year by Providence Gridiron Club as senior…was all-state choice as junior and senior… team won state title as freshman and senior…team captain was named Super Bowl MVP in senior season…also lettered in basketball, baseball and track…

So he’s a chronic under-achiever. Lately he’s been giving interviews all over the place and he always seems quite charming and grateful to be getting to the Super Bowl in his second season. Plus he has long hair. Jim Donaldson had a nice profile in the ProJo. (So how ’bout that — you’re reading about sports on the Dose!)

In conclusion — Go Jamie!

Winter blues got you snowed under?  Just think — this is only the beginning. We have a cure for those winter blues.  Announcing, the RI VeloSprints Winter Series! RI VeloSprints is Rhode Island’s winter series for cyclists, spinners, commuters and hipsters frustrated by Mother Nature’s cold shoulder!

RI VeloSprints is 500 meters of full out sprinting on rollers. We fix the forks to help keep you vertical as you challenge friends, enemies, other co-workers or folks you may have just met! There are multiple categories to address the needs of all of your mid-winter personas and the bravest are forming teams to share the series’ therapeutic benefits. Speaking of prizes, there will be nightly winners and series champions crowned in March.

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I’m fresh off of a nostalgia-laden stint in DC, where folks are absorbing the sad news of the death of George Michael (no, not the other George Michael).  He was the regular sportscaster on WRC-TV* in DC, the NBC affiliate, though Dose readers might remember him best as host of The Sports Machine, which for better or worse, helped lay the groundwork for modern sports coverage:

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So you’re telling me this guy is straight?

There’s an interesting thing going on in the college basketball world — which is to say, some of the Ivy League doesn’t suck so much this year.  (Unfortunately, Brown’s not taking part in the trend.  And, fortunately, traditional “powerhouses” Penn and Princeton aren’t running away with it.)

Cornell and Harvard are leading the pack, having already beaten several major conference teams:  Cornell’s topped Alabama, UMass, Toledo, and St. Joe’s, while playing Seton Hall and Syracuse close.  Harvard’s beaten Rice and Big East sellout Boston College, and played UConn down to the the wire the other night.  Georgetown’s up next for them.  There’s a story on Harvard star Jeremy Lin up on ESPN’s front page today.

As Jeremy Lin dissected and bisected Connecticut to the tune of 30 points Sunday afternoon, his father sat in front of a computer screen on the other side of the country, watching his videotape library of NBA greats come to life in the form of his son.

All those years Gie-Ming Lin spent rewinding his tapes so he could teach himself how to play a game he never even saw until he was an adult? All those hours spent in the local Y with his boys, schooling them in fundamentals over and over, building muscle memory without even knowing what the term meant? That silly dream, the one in which his children would fall in love with basketball as much as he had?

This I know — Mrs. Tiger Woods was not trying to rescue her husband with that golf club. (ProJo)

Woonsocket/Tolman high school soccer cat-fight goes viral:

The ongoing investigation will find that the players had heard that there were scouts from the NCAAs in the audience:

This famous Rhode Island rivalry started in 1909 and let’s face it, it’s class warfare. Head over and watch the agricultural land grant college established by Abraham Lincoln hand a bunch of panty-sniffing bedwetters their sorry ivy league asses. There should be a break in the weather this afternoon, but it’s gonna be a mudder. URI Rams (1-2) Brown Bears (0-2).

[Update: Brown won 28-20 in the rain.]

12:30pm, Saturday, Brown Stadium, Elmgrove Avenue at Sessions Street

Providence Roller Derby presents — Smokin’ Hot Roller Derby in the Rink Of Fire featuring the Old Money Honeys vs. Sakonnet River Roller Rats

$10 Advanced @ www.brownpapertickets.com, kids 5 to 12, half-price
$12 at door, bout 8pm, Friday, BoA Skating Center, Kennedy Plaza

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The Providence Roller Derby presents a double-header tonight. First up at 6pm, The Killah Beez take on New Hampshire’s Skate Free or Die. At 7:30pm the Riveters face off against the Detroit All-Star team.

Half-time performance by Girl Haggard with dj’s Brezee and The Count conducting the soundtrack for the bout. Tickets are $10 in advance — there are also WHIP (Wicked Hot Important People) tickets available that afford all kinds of advantages such as goodie bags with derby merch, beer vouchers, and a photo-op with your favorite derby gal. Go to Brown Paper Tickets.

6pm, Sunday, Rhode Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin Street

Plan accordingly if you need to be downtown or on the East Side Sunday. The running portion of the Ironman race starts downtown at Francis Street, heads up Angell Street over to Blackstone Boulevard, and up to the north end of same. The runners then turn right around and go back downtown the same way they came. This may take a while, there are 1700 people participating. For details go here.

Providence, RI: Last month, after a fair fight and a fair-weather flood, 2008 champions, the Old Money Honeys, defeated the Mob Squad 98 to 75. On July 17^th, 2009 the Mob Squad will skate again to take on the Sakonnet River Roller Rats at the Bank of America Skating Arena in Kennedy Plaza in July’s biggest rage race, Candy Land Massacre.

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Now: PKL: Week 5.

2pm CBP vs Burnsiders (yay!)

3pm Holy Rollers vs Los Untouchaballes

4pm Stilletos vs Ze French Revenge

5pm Muscle Justice vs Ghost of Kevin Leavitt

PKL kicked off its 8th(!) season over the weekend, and I hear it was a smashing time, though I wouldn’t know, as they don’t seem to be posting the same detailed play-by-play that they offered last year. (And I was stuck moving more crap than I ever knew I had into my fourth Fox Point triple-decker. Woot!) Also, increasingly likely that PKL is what finally makes me cave in to Twitter.

Apologies to my teammates, and nothing against dudes who are known for being hairy — I live with one — but I really wish we were called the Dorrites, especially as PKL now plays on the very field on which Dorr led his charge against the state arsenal in 1842. But that’s another story.

Start arranging a looooong lunch break for yourself — Kevin Youkilis is the DH today at McCoy in a matchup with the Bisons.  He is rehabbing with the Paw Sox for a couple of days. (And if you want your kid to go into professional sports, come up with a name that rhymes with ‘boo’ — because then he (or she) will never get his feelings hurt.  Works for Bruce Springsteen too, but I guess no one would pay $200 to boo Bruce Springsteen, although someone should for selling out to Walmart and just because he’s such a fathead.) Don’t know if there are tickets left for today’s game, but the time of day is odd so you might get lucky. The Bisons won last night 9-2, with Youk going 0-for-2 with a walk.

Starts 12:05pm (Clay Buchholz for Pawtucket), Tuesday, McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket (wear a jacket, it’s wicked cold in there)