Here at the sports desk located somewhere beneath the decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState, we’ve been keeping tabs of the assorted and occasionally borderline sordid action on the playing field(s), be they of the grass, hardwood, or frozen water variety. Let’s dig in, shall we?

• The most bizarre moment of the day came courtesy of now-former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown. During his team’s game against the New York Jets, eventually won by Tampa Bay 24-20, Brown grew sufficiently irate over something to take his uniform off, throw parts of it into the crowd, run across part of the field, and eventually disappear into the player’s tunnel, never to be seen again. All jokes aside, it’s impossible not to believe Brown has serious mental health issues and needs professional help, which hopefully he will receive ASAP.

• Congratulations to the Cincinnati Bengals, who in two years have gone from the worst team in the league to division champions. And beat the Kansas City Chiefs, no less, today to claim the title.

• Is it wrong to get the impression that as of late, the Los Angeles Rams have been winning despite Matthew Stafford, not because of him? He had another multiple interception game today, one returned for a pick-six, but the Rams beat the Baltimore Ravens anyway.

• In NBA news, all teams playing the Chicago Bulls are well-advised not to let DeMar DeRozan take the last shot. Unless you’re the Golden State Warriors and have Klay Thompson as an option to take your last shot. Can’t wait to see the Splash Brothers reunited on the court sometime this month. Back to DeRozan:His story is the kind of perseverance that one wishes we’d hear more often of in sports.

• The first entry in the 2022 Breathless for No Good Reason Reporting Award goes to Mechelle Voepel of ESPN, whose story was posted on New Year’s Eve but is so over the top it spilled into this year: What Becky Hammon’s WNBA coaching hire means for the Las Vegas Aces, the league and her NBA future. Uh, it means she was hired to coach a WNBA team? Seems relatively simple here at the sports desk.

• The NHL Winter Classic was held at Target Field in Minneapolis this past Saturday. The visiting St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 6-4. The temperature at game time was a balmy -5.7°. The Blues prepared well for the elements.

This weather's a beach. #stlblues #WinterClassic pic.twitter.com/FDTJ56iesP

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 1, 2022

• Dear NASCAR: You’re trying too hard.

And finally … if you know, you know. If you don’t, sorry ’bout that.