We're smack-dab in the middle of the holiday season.

Which for most Americans, of course, is just a less confrontational way of saying Christmastime.

And believe me, the last thing I want to inspire is confrontation - at least as it relates to national holidays and the sanctioned distribution of candy canes.

That's simply not my style.

Whatever you're celebrating this season - or not celebrating - you can no doubt respect the time-honored tradition of the holiday wish list. Everyone has things they hope will happen, or gifts they'd love to receive, and the holidays are a better time than most to admit to these selfish desires. It's the one time of year when you don't have to feel like a boob for revealing you covet several new dress shirts and a copy of Tim Tebow's autobiography, Through My Eyes.

Presumably, anyway.

In honor of the holiday spirit, and the holiday wish list, here's a look at a few presents I hope the world of sports receives in 2012.

The Tim Tebow Network: Niche cable networks are the future. Most major sports leagues now have a TV network to call their very own, and several college athletic conferences do, too. Hell, the University of Texas even has a network - a whole network for just one school! Everybody is doing it. And as anyone whose either enjoyed or been forced to suffer through the tireless (and I do mean tireless) Tim Tebow coverage can attest to, the left-handed quarterback with the wonky throwing motion is bigger than any it. Dude is literally everywhere. We'd all be better off if those who want 24/7 Tebow coverage could go somewhere specific to find it, and those who don't could simply get on with their lives in peace.

An NBA team in Seattle: As miserable, jarbled, garbled, misguided and lost as the NBA has looked recently - throughout the lockout and in its aftermath - I'd still take an NBA team in Seattle in a heartbeat. Especially considering the way the University of Washington men's basketball team has played so far this season. ...

An end to those gawdawful Lexus commercials: This wish isn't specifically sports related, but anyone who has watched football this year (which is approximately 99-percent of Americans, by rough estimate) has been forced to endure this year's line of yuppie-ass Lexus commercials. While I've grown accustomed to Lexus' holiday ads featuring shiny new cars with bows on top being given as Christmas presents - however farfetched that may seem to me - this year's line of commercials comes off particularly gross and insensitive. With people far and wide hurting economically, and cuts being made to just about every social service imaginable because of rampant budget deficits, the last thing I want to see on my TV is grossly coddled, shiny white folks giving each other Lexi for Christmas. It's just kind of tasteless.

A respite from sports stories involving child molestation: This one speaks for itself.

Clarity to the NFL's player safety-related rules: Look, I think we can all agree player safety in the NFL is a paramount concern that's right to be taken seriously. We can also agree that, in the past, the league hasn't done nearly enough to protect players from head injuries, and the newfound focus on preventing concussions is a step in the right direction. But I think we can also all agree that the new rules, and new player expectations, need further clarification and definition. As it stands the system isn't preventing concussions as much as it's mucking up games with inexplicably vague 15-yard penalties. Hopefully someday soon we'll find middle ground.

No more Craig James at ESPN: Wait! We already got that when James finally announced his already heavily speculated Senate run this week! Yippee!

A college football playoff system: The time has come, people. You know it. I know it. Deep down, the NCAA probably even knows it. We've all been good little boys and girls and desperately deserve something other than the money-driven BCS sham we're being shoveled. The current charade we're asked to believe in is the yearly equivalent of coal in the stocking, delivered via a system no one can defend. Stop the insanity.

BOX SCORES

In a plea deal first reported by The Las Vegas Review-Journal, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. plead guilty this week to several reduced misdemeanor charges - specifically one count of battery domestic violence and two harassment charges - in an agreement resolving felony allegations that he battered his ex-girlfriend, Josie Harris, in September 2010. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, 100 hours of community service and a $2,500 fine. In a related deal, it was also reported that Mayweather will plead no contest next week to misdemeanor battery charges and fork over a $1,000 fine for poking a homeowner association security guard in the face back in November 2010, during an apparent argument about parking tickets on vehicles outside Mayweather's home. Also of note, this is probably the last time boxing will be featured in the Cup Check column until early 2013 - because boxing is OVER. ... The Tim Tebow express finally hit a roadblock last week as the Denver Broncos lost to the New England Patriots by 18 points on Sunday. However, and to the chagrin of many, the defeat was hardly Tebow's fault, as the polarizing QB is making strides many thought impossible and seems poised to claim the Broncos' starting quarterback job for - at the very least - 2012. The Broncos' chief of football operations, John Elway, provided his strongest endorsement of Tebow yet this week, assuring the Associated Press that "Tim Tebow's not going anywhere," and that "he's going to be a Bronco and we're going to do everything we can and hopefully he's that guy." This is good news to fans of Tebow, devout evangelical Christians, the Hanes brand, and - yes - the Cup Check column, as by merely mentioning the polarizing QB this week we've likely quadrupled our web traffic for the month. God bless Tim Tebow. ... The NCAA announced this week that Ohio State University's football program will be placed on a one-year bowl ban and will face additional penalties - including the loss of scholarships - as a result of violations that occurred under the Jim Tressel regime and were largely based on star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and top rusher Dan Herron trading Buckeyes memorabilia for cash and tattoos. The NCAA also tacked on an additional year of probation to the two years Ohio State had already self-imposed as a result of the scandal. Best of all (unless, of course, you're a current player or an 18 year-old who just committed to Ohio State to play football), Tressel and Pryor are both currently employed in the NFL, so this ruling actually impacts them very little.

LINK: The truth about Craig James and those hookers