One word: Iditarod.

Yes, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is set to begin its 36th running in about three weeks, with the ceremonial start in Anchorage scheduled for March 1 and the restart the following day in Willow, Alaska.

This is man and beast battling to survive 1,100 miles of unforgiving Alaskan wilderness. We’re talking about wind chills of -60 degrees and colder. Blizzard conditions. Ice and snow. Dog poop, lots and lots of dog poop.

We here at oddsnark will be bringing you wall-to-wall coverage of this amazing event over the coming days, including profiles of the hearty mushers who will brave the elements for Iditarod glory and their amazing dog teams. Once the race gets going you can follow along the action right here with our race updates all week long (or however long it takes for them to reach Nome).

In the pantheon of Super Bowl advertising, 2008 will go down as the year of phoning it in. GoDaddy had an ad for an ad that you have to watch on their Web site. Pepsi offered a tribute to a Chris Kattan movie from a decade ago. Coca Cola gave us some weird mushy shit involving Bill Frist and James Carville. This is the best you can do for $3 million a pop?

About the only ads that looked like Super Bowl ads were the FedEx carrier pigeon spot and and the talking stain ad for Tide. Budweiser, though, which normally pulls out all the stops for the football championship, really came up flat this year. Fire breathing? Flying? A Clydesdale in a Rocky tribute? (Not that even the best commercial would ever get me drink your Bud and Bud Light swill.)

The low-light of the evening, though, had to be Sales Genie (whatever the hell that is). Apparently they are trying to get their message across to knuckle draggers who find poorly done ethnic accents to be hilarious. You really can’t go wrong with animated panda bears speaking in broken “Engrish” now can you?

According to reports, all-Canadian beauty Ms. Cuthbert has turned to gal pal Paris Hilton for “comfort” in her time of need. The two were spotted at a party this past week “all over each other and making out.” Afterwards they left the party together and went to the Hilton suite, if you get my drift.

All I can say is when that sex tape hit the Interweb, the whole grid is coming down.

Considering her love of baseball led to a fling with Brad Penny a while back, it’s not so far fetched she might be interested in being a hockey WAG for a little while. The question is, though, would she be attracted to such a sensitive metrosexual as Avery?

Unfortunately for Caldwell, though, Dungy decided today not to retire.

“I love this franchise. I love my family. My decision after my 10th year was, ‘Can I give my family and the franchise the energy and passion that they both deserve,’ Dungy said. “I look at this job as a job but I also look at it as a ministry.

“I’m happy to be back,” said Dungy, calling today’s announcement a “mutual decision” between him and his wife. “My whole family’s happy and hopefully our team and everyone here is happy.”

Reading between the lines: Peyton has another playoff run in him and sooner or later those Patriots are gonna lose.

Gentlemen, let’s begin with the AFC where the San Diego Chargers travel to face the unbeaten New England Patriots. Who will win?

Potted Plant: While it might make for some dramatic television to see the upset of the century, I’m afraid the Bolts are too overmatched in this game. Look for the score to remain close in the first half, but then Tom Brady will take over the game and the Pats will roll to a 30-17 victory.

Sean Salisbury: ME SEAN SALISBURY AND ME TALK LOUD! ME TALK LOUDER THAN PLANT! PLANT IS DUMB! PLANT NO PLAY IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE! ME PLAY QUARTERBACK! ME BEST KNOW FOOTBALL, NOT PLANT! PLANT IS STUPID!

Um, alright then, how about we move on to the NFC where we have the New York Giants playing on the road against the Green Bay Packers. Which team do you see advancing to the Super Bowl?

Potted Plant: The Giants are playing some of their best football of the season, giving their fans a lot of hope for a conference title, but the Packers have too much firepower on offense and a pretty good defense to boot. Should be a great game up at Lambeau Field, but Green Bay gets the win by 10 points.

Sean Salisbury: DUMB PLANT! YOU NO HAVE BRAIN! ME SEAN SALISBURY, NFL QUARTERBACK, ME KNOW FOOTBALL! PLANT IS GREEN AND STUPID! HAHAHA! ME HATE PLANT!

Well that about wraps it up. Thank you both for your insight and enlightenment.

Well, maybe someone should have been checking in on Terrell Owens, rehabbing from an injury, who was eyeing up some Mexican real estate of his own:

The reporter there (according to The Big Lead, where this clip was stolen) is Inez Sainz, who works for TV Azteca. Now who is it that was distracted?