Honoring the decade's best players and teams is a relatively easy task, because these are the folks who won the titles, grabbed the headlines and carved their names in the record books. Likewise, dishonoring the worst is not heavy lifting. After all, just ask yourself, "Who embarrassed themselves in the past 10 years? Who made us laugh? Who signed a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays and then started playing like a late model Kevin Mitchell?"

Best and worst, we know where to find you -- and you always get your due. But what about the mediocre? We're thinking of those folks who spent the past decade residing in the vast middle ground between sublimity and futility. The well-known players who never made an All-Star team, yet rarely made fans throw their remotes. The teams that never sniffed a title, yet rarely sniffed the basement, either. Why should they exit the decade without a little recognition? They shouldn't.

Consequently, we present the Page 2 Awards for Mediocrity (2000-2009).

Mark J. Rebilas/US PresswireAt least the Cubs are cursed. What's L.A.'s excuse?

Most mediocre National League team: Los Angeles Dodgers.

• Big-budget team, no World Series appearances. Sure, you can say the same about the Cubs, but they're cursed.

Most mediocre American League team: Toronto Blue Jays.

• Finished third in AL East six times, but last just once. They know their place.

Most mediocre boxing division: Heavyweight.

• When's the last time you bought a pay-per-view fight involving heavyweights? Did it involve "Hurricane" Peter McNeeley? Yeah, that was 1995.

Most mediocre sports month: February, unless the Winter Olympics are on.

• The stretch between the Super Bowl and March Madness isn't called "The Dead Zone" for nothing.

Most mediocre college football team: Notre Dame.

• A school whose games are broadcast on a national television station each week should loser fewer than nine straight bowls.

Most mediocre Yankees player: Melky Cabrera.

• Not too often a Yankee gets demoted to the minors and then comes back to start on a World Series winner. Jason Giambi could have done it -- but he didn't accept his demotion to the minors and he never won a World Series.

Most mediocre sports column: This one, obviously.

Most mediocre NBA team: Houston Rockets.

• If the goal is winning 22 games in a row, the Rockets are your team. If the goal is making it past the first round of the playoffs, then they're probably not.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images'Things were so much simpler in 1996. Like winning.'

Most mediocre college football conference: ACC.

• Last national championship, Florida State in 1999. Back when Bobby Bowden dreamed of dying on the job.

Most mediocre NFL team: Dallas Cowboys.

• "America's Team" hasn't won a playoff game since college freshmen were in kindergarten (1996).

Most mediocre, repeatable sports story: Will the Colts go undefeated this year?

• Something tells me this story won't have the same legs in the coming years.

Most mediocre Super Bowl: None.

• You might be tempted to say Super Bowl XL when the Steelers faced the Seahawks, but who doesn't remember the sublime officiating?

Most mediocre World Series: Red Sox over Rockies in 2007.

• The curse had been broken three years earlier, and the Rockies were flat after clinching the NL early and spending the interim making snowmen.

Most mediocre holiday: New Year's Eve, also known as Amateur Night.

Todd WawrychukESPN columnist Arash Markazi dines with the Ohio State football team at this year's 'Beef Bowl'.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel seems like a nice guy but I'm glad he's not my coach. If he were, there's no way I would be here, walking into Lawry's The Prime Rib with the Ohio State football team wearing jeans for the annual Beef Bowl before the Rose Bowl.

Since I'm not officially part of the team, I must have missed the memo that stated that players and coaches were forbidden from wearing anything but slacks to the upscale restaurant. Terrelle Pryor must have missed (or ignored) that memo, too, because he's not with the team after trying to get on the team bus wearing jeans similar to mine.

This is not only unfortunate for Pryor, who will be missing out on putting a dent into the 700 pounds of prime rib that has been prepared for the team, but also for me, as I was supposed to be sitting next to Pryor tonight.

I've never had to replace a star quarterback for anything, and luckily for Ohio State fans I won't be anywhere close to the field if something happens to Pryor on New Year's Day, but when it comes to eating prime rib and sitting next to the Rose Queen, I think I can hold my own.

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AP PhotoA cheesy explosion sounds fun and delicious.

Mac and cheese too bland?

Just add dynamite.

Kraft Foods is reportedly the front-runner to sponsor next year's demolition of Texas Stadium.

No, we're not making this up.

In fact, Page 2 loves the notion of corporate-sponsored Ka-Bloom! so much that we'd like to attach our name to the inevitable "Hurt Locker" denouement of sports items which have outlived their usefulness. Behold, our list:

• Notre Dame's "Play Like A Champion Today" sign
• Vinny Del Negro's office
• A giant pile of Michael Jordan Washington Bullets throwback jerseys, a la Disco Demolition Night
• The remains of the SpyGate tapes previously destroyed by the NFL, just to make double-sure no one can ever get a competitive advantage from them, since that's the only conceivable reason anyone would hastily destroy said tapes in the first place
• The pretense of a good relationship between Mike Leach and Texas Tech University
• Mascot CO2 cannons that fail to reach the upper bowl, even though that's where fans who could most benefit from a free T-shirt are sitting
• Whatever MLB bylaws prevent the Pittsburgh Pirates from being relegated to Triple-A
• The Dallas Cowboys' new stadium, since it won't be needed for more than one playoff game, anyway.

It's time for the Wednesday edition of the Page 2 Podcast so here is a little rundown to help you get started:

ESPN.com illustration 

Quien Es Mas Macho?
Big time college hoops teams for scheduling cupcakes vs. Those cupcakes for showing up

Page 2 Game Ball
To the world's worst salesman: Rick Adelman

Stay Classy
Alleged David Letterman extortionist Robert Halderman.

Final Countdown
Three: ACC schools that are helping fans think basketball.

Two: Pro Bowlers who were rewarded for, well, doing their job even though it rarely ended well.

One: Agent that needs to learn that patience can kill you.

All the stories worth talking about today are right here so … Click here to listen up!

Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesWhat's going on with the New Orleans Saints and quarterback Drew Brees? I have some theories.

Here are 38 observations from the last few days in New Orleans.

New Orleans Observation No. 1: I've said this many times before -- and probably will again -- but there is no better walk to a game than the 10 blocks down Poydras to the Superdome in New Orleans. Pittsburgh's riverfront pregame is good. Green Bay is classic, I guess. Kansas City is amazing, too. But nothing touches Nawlins. Nothing. Coolers. Flags. Wigs. Makeshift bars. Jazz music. More flags. Inflatable helmets. T-shirts. A guy in a full Knights of the Round Table suit. Beads. Hats. Chanting. More music. More rum. The smell of jambalaya. Face painting. It's football festivus. And I wonder, have they ever thought of making this into an actual, official parade? How about this: For the playoffs, which now go through New Orleans, start in the French Quarter, gather up, get your Goose on and march to the dome, drinking, singing, tossing beads and celebrating.

NOON2: I'm told, however, that the best Saints parade is the one the fans throw after the Saints return from each road game. It's an only-in-the-Big Easy ritual that started when the team lost the 2006 NFC Championship Game after serving as a season-long symbol of hope and rebirth after Katrina. Thousands of fans still show up, sometimes in the middle of the night, and line the road that connects the team's private plane terminal to the highway to cheer, wave and flash their -- ah-hem -- support to the players.

NOON3: You know you're in New Orleans when the guy behind you in the security search line at the dome says, "A thorough pat-down? Do I have to pay extra for that?"

NOON4: Is there a better pre-kickoff song than U2 and Green Day's "The Saints Are Coming"? And is there a better, more relevant and accomplished purely American rock band than Green Day?

NOON5: I've done a lot of stories here over the years -- Michael Lewis, Aaron Brooks, La'Roi Glover, Darren Howard, Scott Fujita, Joe Horn, Katrina, the trip to San Antonio, lunch with Jeremy Shockey, to name a few -- but you never get used to the decibel level in the dome. It's organic and metallic and almost bone-crunching. Have you ever accidentally turned your alarm clock radio volume all the way up and then been hit by that explosion of noise at dawn? (Not me, I've never been up that early.) But that's kinda what the dome sounds like.

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Jeff Lewis-US PRESSWIRE © 2006 Jeff LewisWhat's the same, what's different and what's just plain cool about two Rose Bowls, 50 years apart?

The Rose Bowl holds a certain mystique no other college football game can touch.

It's traditionally classic despite playing host to the sports' cutting-edge. Tomorrow's brightest stars somehow evoke olden-day pageantry.

And this year is no different. In fact, it's the perfect opportunity to reflect.

What caught your grandfather's attention 50 years ago, and what catches yours today -- together in Pasadena. Consider the parallels:

AP PhotoAnd things weren't supposed to get any worse...

Automotive question of the moment

1960: "How do we get rid of these Edsels?" Dealers were abandoning the ill-starred Ford in droves; fewer than 3,000 of the vehicles were produced in 1960, the model's final year.

2010: "How fast can I sell my stock in General Motors?"

Life-changing accessory

1960: Transistor radio. Soon, it seemed, everybody had one.

2010: iPhone. Ditto.

And we're just getting started.

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According to the Indianapolis Star, a former city council president has drafted a civic resolution demanding that the Indianapolis Colts refund fans who purchased tickets to the team's 29-15 Sunday home loss to the New York Jets, a game that saw coach Jim Caldwell bench star quarterback Peyton Manning and other starters during the second half, the better to preserve their health for the NFL Playoffs.

Said Beurt SerVass, the former council president:

To have all these people come down on a snowy night and have to pay [hundreds] for a ticket, they want to see the Colts work. It really wasn't a football game. It was a spectacle and not a very nice spectacle.

Indeed. Here at Page 2, we couldn't agree more. In fact, we'd like to see SerVass' refund logic applied far and wide across the sports world. Behold:

AP Photo/Jack Dempsey'Replay? I'm just catching up on my soaps.'
• Prorated, per-second refunds for every moment starting players aren't in the game. Nobody is paying good money to see benchwarmers like Manu Ginobli and Lamar Odom.
• Challenge flag timeouts. Nobody trudges through the snow to watch referees stick their heads under a hooded monitor. Where's the entertainment value? (Oh, and the same can be said for injury timeouts, team trainers and stabilizing neck injuries).
• Mascots that have to change into aerodynamic secondary outfits to complete trampoline dunks. Seriously, you're already spotting yourself a trampoline.
• Fans shooting outright air balls in promotional free throw contests. You're telling me you can't even draw glass?
• Whenever the cup of coffee wins the digital scoreboard race. Totally rigged. Everyone knows a walking doughnut is faster than an ambulatory cup o' joe.
• The entire NFL preseason.
• Ninety-five percent of every baseball game. C'mon, don't just stand around!
• When NHL teams let things like skating, passing and shooting get in the way of fighting.
• When NBA players watch the cheerleaders and the digital scoreboard races instead of paying attention to the play drawn up in the huddle, even if they're benchwarmers like Ginobli and Odom.
• Former civic officials who make spectacles of themselves by demanding time and tax dollars be spent on silly, non-binding resolutions instead of fixing potholes and burned-out traffic lights.

The end of a year is a time to look forward with hope and a new energy for the New Year.

But it's also a time to look back and remember those that we lost.

Today, Page 2 remembers those that passed away in 2009:

• Bill Belichick's invincibility

• USC's football dominance

• Tiger Woods' image

• Tim Tebow's future as a quarterback

• Ed Hochuli's biceps

• T.O. as relevant football player (reincarnated as a reality TV star)

• The fame of every '08 Olympian not named Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps

• Indoor football (Note: the Arena Football League. The Detroit Lions shockingly did not fold.)

• Brad Lidge

• Yankees' jokes

We will miss them all, and we hope that in 2010 this list only contains the BCS.

Former college football great Herschel Walker will make his mixed martial arts debut Jan. 30 at the age of 47. Yes, 47. After a success college career at Georgia and a somewhat success career in the NFL, Walker has been branching out to other sports. Remember when he was an Olympic bobsledder? Now, it's MMA.

Walker, a fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, sat down with Sherdog.com in San Jose, Calif., to talk about his reasons for fighting.