“Speaking to Randy Johnson. Mr. Randy Johnson, please pick up the white courtesy phone. Your out-of-town limousine is waiting for you.”

That’s right, another perfect Pinstripe marriage seems to be about to come to an end. If you believe SI.com’s Jon Heyman, there’s a “50-50” chance the New York Yankees are about to trade another “can’t miss” free agent sign (or an overrated trade). from a couple of years ago, so they can, you know, sign another “can’t miss” free agent.

How is this strategy working for you so far, Steinbrenner? Let’s follow the Yankees’ progress since their last title, in 2000. Here are the additions:

2001: Mike Mussina (six years, $88.5 million)

2002: Jason Giambi (seven years, $120 million), Raul Mondesi ($13 million), Robin Ventura ($8.5 million; traded to David Justice), Rondell White ($4.5 million), Sterling Hitchcock (three years, $15, 5 million)

2003: José Contreras (four years, $32 million), Hideki Matsui (three years, $21 million), Jeff Weaver ($4.1 million; traded to Ted Lilly)

2004: Alex Rodriguez (last seven years of 10-year, $252 million program, though Rangers paid some; traded Alfonso Soriano), Gary Sheffield (three years, $36.8 million), Kevin Brown (last two years of seven-year program, $105 million; traded Jeff Weaver), Javier Vázquez (four years, $45 million; traded Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera), Tom Gordon (two years, $7.3 million)

2005: Randy Johnson (three years, $57 million; traded Javier Vázquez), Carl Pavano (four years, $40 million), Jaret Wright (three years, $21 million)

2006: Johnny Damon (four years, $52 million), Bobby Abreu (last two years of five years, $64 million; traded prospects)

And here are the subsequent dumps:

2003: Mondesi, Ventura, White, Hitchcock

2004: Contreras, Weaver

2005: Vazquez

2006: Brown, Sheffield, Wright, Gordon

And here are the world championships: Zero.

Nice. Does anyone think this mercenary mission is working? According to Heyman’s article, the plan is to play a little buyer’s remorse on Johnson, pay a large chunk of his salary to send him somewhere like Arizona, and use the “savings” (yeah, right) to give Barry Zito $ 16 million per year for six or seven years. And this is not to mention Pavano, who the Yankees would gladly trade you for a bag of balls, and A-Rod, who has been the biggest flop on Broadway since No No Nanette. But this time? Oh yes, it will totally work.

Seattle, Indianapolis, and New England are locked in the local wild-card games, and all Philadelphia has to do is win this week, and they’ll be there, too. History tells us that at least one of these four teams is going to lose. Which (or more) do you think it will be, and if you had to guess, which Road Wild Card team do you think will do it to him?

BoDog Bookmakers, BoDog.ws: Right now, I’d say either Seattle or Indianapolis will lose in the first round. Indianapolis has to learn how to win at the end of the season. If they don’t turn it around, it could result in the termination of Tony Dungy as Colts head coach. Seattle will only host one playoff game because it plays in the worst division of the NFL’s weakest conference. As for who could pull off an upset, there are two teams to watch out for in this situation right now. First up: Denver, which has a pretty good chance of making the playoffs. Second is the Tennessee Titans, who will need a little help if they are to pull it off. Both teams are led by rookie quarterbacks who aren’t exactly playing like rookies. Vince Young is showing why he was the first QB drafted, and Jay Cutler is doing things with Denver’s offense that Jake Plummer could only dream of.

I know you like San Diego in the AFC. But if something weird happens next week, and Baltimore gets home field advantage, do you still think the Chargers could go to Baltimore and calm down the raucous Ravens crowd?

BDB, BoDog.ws: I’d love to see that matchup. Philip Rivers has to perform better if San Diego wants to beat a dominant Ravens team. If he’s not playing well, it won’t matter if the game is in Baltimore or San Diego; the Ravens will win, regardless. LaDainian Tomlinson has been amazing this season, but he can’t do it alone against Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and the rest of the Ravens defense.

The Pittsburgh Steelers surely went from the attic to the latrine, becoming the fourth Super Bowl champion in eight years not to make the playoffs the following year. (It only happened once in the previous 10 years.) Why does that keep happening and do you expect Bill Cowher to return next year?

BDB, BoDog.ws: That’s what makes the NFL great: from year to year, it’s always anybody’s game. The parity between the teams has given fans a chance to believe that their team gets a chance every year. Pittsburgh was very lucky in 2005; it almost seemed like every break or bounce went in his favor. Starting with the offseason Big Ben motorcycle accident, all those pauses and rebounds seemed to go the other way for Pittsburgh this time around. If Bill Cowher doesn’t return, he will be your choice. I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes a sabbatical and reappears with the Carolina Panthers in 2008.

For sheer viewing pleasure, do you have a favorite New Year’s Day bowling game? And do you have a New Year’s Day game bet that you like the most?

BDB, BoDog.ws: The Rose Bowl is the biggest game of the day. It features two teams that could have been number 1 and two great schools with rabid supporters. It will be a very entertaining game. As far as betting goes, I’ve got a small thing going on in Auburn. I like Kenny Irons, and he’ll use this game to show that scouts should believe his junior stats (1,293 yards, 13 TDs), rather than his disappointing senior stats (821 yards, 4 TDs), when evaluating his skills to the next level.