GOOD
Jimmie Johnson
A fifth consecutive Sprint Cup championship last weekend lifted the Californian into some distinguished company. "He means just as much to the sport as Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt did," said Petty's son Kyle of Johnson's recent dominance. Though Johnson still needs two more titles to pull level with the pair of NASCAR greats, he is the only driver to ever win five straight championships, and he did so in just 327 starts, compared to 390 for Earnhardt and 655 for Petty.
Mellisa Hollingsworth
While it will likely never make up for her Olympic disappointment, the Canadian slider exorcised some of her demons on the same Whistler skeleton track Thursday. After going to pieces in her last run in February, the native of Eckville, Alta., put together a solid final run this time around, holding on to claim silver in the World Cup season opener. "No tears this time," she said afterward, having famously pulled at the heartstrings of the nation with her fifth-place finish at the Winter Olympics.
BAD
Vince Young
Maturity has never been his strong suit, but the Tennessee Titans' quarterback hit a new low last Sunday, throwing his shoulder pads and jersey into the crowd after an overtime loss to Washington in which he was pulled with an injured thumb. Already requiring season-ending surgery on the digit, Young then made another faux pas, attempting to placate the situation with an apologetic text message to his coach, who remained less than impressed. "I'm not a really big text guy," Jeff Fisher said. "I'm not really into this new age stuff. I don't twit or tweet. But I think face-to-face is a man thing, okay?"
Luis Suarez
The Uruguayan striker is having quite the year. With his morals already in question after his deliberate handball prevented Ghana from advancing to the World Cup semi-finals, Suarez decided to take a bite out of sportsmanship once again. The "Cannibal of Ajax" earned himself a seven-match ban after sinking his teeth into the shoulder of PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal following a disagreement during their match last weekend, blaming the incident on fatigue due to midweek travel.
Bernie Ecclestone
Who knew the Formula One supremo was a "soft touch?" Ecclestone was attacked outside his London office Wednesday night, beaten to the ground and robbed of $270,000 worth of jewellery. The incident occurred just weeks after F1 driver Jenson Button was nearly attacked on his way to the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paolo. Ecclestone seemingly had little sympathy at the time, saying that assailants "look for anyone that looks like a soft touch and not too bright. The people that look a bit soft and simple, they will always have a go at." Time to toughen up there, Bernie.