Here are my picks for this week's Beat The Blogger contest so you all know what you're up against. As always, please make sure you get your picks posted by the start of the first game on Saturday to be eligible to win. And don't be the person who loses out on the prize because they forgot to designate your "Doubler" pick which can earn you a free point and could be the difference between winning and losing. Spread the word about the contest to your friends and co-workers and good luck.
Saturday Feb. 14                              YOU MAKE THE CALL
Men's Basketball
Florida St. at Wake Forest (Wake Forest)
Georgetown at Syracuse (Georgetown)
NBA All-Star Weekend
Who will finish higher in the Dunk Contest? Dwight Howard or Nate Robinson (Howard)
Who will win the first All-Star game of H-O-R-S-E? Kevin Durant, O.J. Mayo or Joe Johnson? (Mayo)
Sunday Feb. 15
Men's Basketball
USC at Arizona St. (Arizona St.)
Illinois at Indiana (Illinois)
NBA
Win the All-Star Game: East or West (East)
More points in the All-Star Game? Shaquille O'Neal or Kevin Garnett (Shaq)
NHL
Philadelphia at N.Y. Rangers (Rangers)
PGA Golf
Finish higher at Pebble Beach Pro-Am Tournament? Vijay Singh or Jim Furyk   (Singh)

With the NFL season officially over and the MLB season not quite here, you'll find a mixed bag of sports representing the various matchups in this week's Beat The Blogger contest. It will take a well-rounded sports aficionado to win this week's prize which will be an authentic signed 8-by-10 color photo featuring the likes of Marshall Faulk, Drew Brees, Marc Bulger, Gale Sayers, DeAngelo Williams, LaDainian Tomlinson or Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes.

Simply post your picks (don't forget to designate one of your picks as your "Doubler" to receive an extra point if correct) right here before the start of the first game on Saturday and if you can Beat The Blogger and post the highest number of correct predictions, you win. Post a perfect score and earn a spot on the Beat The Blogger Hall of Fame. Spread the word about the contest to your friends and co-workers about just how easy it is to play and win. Good luck.

Saturday Feb. 14                              YOU MAKE THE CALL
Men's Basketball
Florida St. at Wake Forest
Georgetown at Syracuse
NBA All-Star Weekend
Who will finish higher in the Dunk Contest? Dwight Howard or Nate Robinson
Who will win the first All-Star game of H-O-R-S-E? Kevin Durant, O.J. Mayo or Joe Johnson?
Sunday Feb. 15
Men's Basketball
USC at Arizona St.
Illinois at Indiana
NBA
Win the All-Star Game: East or West
More points in the All-Star Game? Shaquille O'Neal or Kevin Garnett
NHL
Philadelphia at N.Y. Rangers
PGA Golf
Finish higher at Pebble Beach Pro-Am Tournament? Vijay Singh or Jim Furyk

Just got done waxing my board (not a euphemism) after a morning session of surfing the Web and boy is there some rough water out there. First off, I can't believe the Dodgers would insult Manny Ramirez with a one-year deal worth  a measly $25 million. He and agent Scott Boras wanted no part of the offer and quickly told the Dodgers to rip up the offer and try again. Ramirez is seeking a multi-year deal, and at age 36 (37 in May), is hoping for a three or four-year deal to finish out his career and who can blame him.

OK Manny, we get it, you're good, damn good. Your body of work speaks volumes. You're one of the best offensive players and pure hitters the game has ever seen. You're an RBI machine and one of the few power hitters who can carry a team on his back as you proved last year down the stretch with the Dodgers. But with people disappearing from my neighboring cubicles seemingly every day, I have a hard time backing anybody turning down a job, not to mention one that would pay you $68,493 every day. And that figure is based on Manny working 365 days a year. And as he demonstrated during his last month in Boston, Manny tends to phone it in from time to time during the season so I can only imagine how many days will be spent slacking in the offseason. If you can't make ends meet on a $68,493 a DAY, I don't know what to tell you other than maybe retirement is your best option.

Speaking of greedy athletes who are getting soured by the free agent process, did you hear Ben Sheets' latest dilemma? After opting to go the free agent route instead of resigning with the Brewers, Sheets will now be without a team in 2009. Sheets was close to signing a two-year deal with Texas earlier this week for more than $12 million but the elbow injury he suffered last September hasn't healed and he will apparently need season-ending surgery, prompting the Rangers to pull the plug on the deal.

What's ironic about the whole situation is that Sheets often cited the media and fans always questioning his ability to stay healthy as one of the main reasons he wanted to test the free agent waters and leave Milwaukee in the first place. Now, he's tested those waters, found little interest because of his history of injuries and has no job. If Sheets wasn't so quick to bolt and score the big pay day, the Brewers would've likely urged him to get the elbow taken care of last year when it first occurred, and he would've been finishing up his rehab in preparation of being the team's Opening Day starter once again. Instead, he tried to keep the injury a secret, rehab it on his own so teams wouldn't be scared off and shop his services around the league and sign with the highest bidder. Well, I don't wish season-ending injuries on any athlete but sometimes charma seems to step in and give a player exactly what he deserves. That's exactly what happened with Sheets, so in this instance, justice was served.

On a brighter note, I saw Hank Aaron turned 75 on Thursday. Happy birthday Hammer, wish there were more players like you in today's game. We'd all be better off and so would the game itself.

The following are my Beat The Blogger picks so all of this week's participants know what they're up against. To win the authentic signed 8-by-10 photo, you need to Beat The Blogger's total and post the highest number of correct picks among all of the entries.

As always, make sure you get your picks posted 1/2 hour before the start of the first game on Saturday and don't forget to designate your "doubler" so you can earn an extra point if your pick is correct. The winner will be announced on Monday but in the meantime, spread the word about the contest and good luck.

Saturday                            
Feb. 7
NCAA Basketball
Syracuse at Villanova (Villanova)
Memphis at Gonzaga (Memphis)
Minnesota at Ohio St. (Ohio St.)
NBA
Miami at Philadelphia (Philadelphia)
Chicago at Dallas (Dallas)
Sunday
Feb. 8
NCAA Basketball
Purdue at Illinois (Purdue)
NBA
Los Angeles Lakers at Cleveland (Cleveland)
More points: Kobe Bryant or LeBron James (LeBron)
NHL
Detroit at Pittsburgh (Detroit) (Doubler)
PGA Tour Golf
Who will finish higher at this week's Buick Invitational?
Phil Mickelson or Padraig Harrington (Mickelson)

With last week's shake-up in the basketball market still generating quite a buzz, the folks at Panini are reportedly at it again. Rumors have been circulating within the hobby for months that Donruss would be sold and the latest industry talk has Panini setting its sights on a possible partnership or perhaps even purchasing Donruss. While the folks at Donruss are declining to comment on the possibility of a future sale, they did issue the following statement on Feb. 4.

"Donruss has worked extremely hard to build a well respected and prestigious pre-press department and we periodically inquire with other companies (including trading card companies) about doing their pre-press work."

If the sale or partnership ultimately comes to fruition, it seems like it would be a win-win situation for both parties. It would give Panini instant credibility in the sports card market, aid in U.S. distribution of its new line of basketball products and would allow the financially challenged Donruss company to break into the basketball card market and continue to exist in the sports card market, albeit under the Panini umbrella.

Last week's announcement that Panini would be the sole licensee in the basketball card market was not received well by the collecting community with many collectors vowing to leave the market altogether so anything the Panini group can do to put a hault to the possible mass exiodus will be wise.

To let us know what you think of the possible partnership between the two companies, click here.

Look for more on this story as details become available at www.tuffstuff.com and Tuff Stuff's Sports Collectors Monthly.