Other than those who are employed by or related to the man, it’s difficult (though not impossible) to find anyone willing to say something nice about Stephen A. Smith.
The 2006 season is all done and dusted for the AL Champs, but the Nation’s Dave Zirin can’t help but compare and contrast the Tigers’ current fan base, ballpark and hometown with the climate that surrounded the ‘68 squad that lost to the Cardinals.
The 1968 Tigers team–led by Al Kaline, thirty-game winner Denny McLain and prominent African-American players like Willie Horton and Gates Brown (above)–was seen as a force of calm in the Motor City. An entire HBO documentary called “A City on Fire” was made based on this thesis. Many at the time believed that the success and joy brought by this integrated team would stop the exodus known as “white flight” and revitalize the city. But professional sports doesn’t always herald revival. Often it mocks it.Detroit today is not a story of low-level insurrection but immiseration. Unemployment in 2006 was 13.8 percent (three times the national average), and more than one-third of the city’s residents live below the poverty line. As the Associated Press recently reported, “Much of the rest of Detroit…is a landscape dotted with burned-out buildings, where liquor stores abound but supermarkets are hard to come by, and where drugs, violence and unemployment are everyday realities.”
For the Tigers, the main difference between 1968 and today is where they play. In 1968, it was the historic Tiger Stadium. Today it is an amusement center known as Comerica Park. By all accounts, it is a very nice amusement park, complete with Ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds and beer halls. It also is a place decidedly not for the folks left in Detroit. Anita Caref, a teacher in the inner city, was at game one of the World Series, and this was what she wrote me:
“I realize that baseball has a preponderance of white fans, and I know that I didn’t get a look at all of the 42,000 plus in attendance tonight, but clearly there were hardly any people of color there. What a stark contrast to the city itself, which is 83% African-American and 12% Latino. Frankly, it was hard to believe we were in Detroit. I sat there wondering how many of the folks there actually live in the city, and thinking that Detroit would be a very different place if the majority of them lived in Detroit and contributed their taxes to the well-being of the city.
“Secondly, I thought the choice of music played was odd. Of all the songs played during and between innings, only one was a Motown song. Most of the songs were by white rock-and-rollers. I have nothing against rock music, but I thought that given where we were, it would have been fitting to hear the Supremes, Temptations, Aretha Franklin, etc. Finally, during one of the breaks, they showed a video of some of the great Tigers of the past. The most prominent player in the video was Ty Cobb, who was praised by any number of sports journalists and celebrities. Not a word was said about the fact that he was perhaps baseball’s most prominent racist. And of course there was the usual militaristic patriotism, including fighter jets flying overhead after Bob Seger sang ‘America the Beautiful.’”
Not so beautiful, if you live and die in the city of Detroit.
A defense attorney for former basketball star Jayson Williams argued Monday before the New Jersey Supreme Court that admitting evidence of Williams’ post-shooting conduct during his reckless manslaughter retrial would be “potentially inflammatory in nature.”
But a Hunterdon County assistant prosecutor insisted that Williams’ botched coverup attempt “proves his state of mind and consciousness of guilt” following the Feb. 14, 2002 fatal shooting of limousine driver Costas “Gus” Christofi at Williams’ estate.
“To allow [the current court ruling] to stand is to withhold from the jury what truly happened that night,” prosecutor Charles Ouslander said.
Joseph Hayden, Williams’ attorney argued that if presented with the post-shooting evidence, “a jury could conclude that the defendant is unsympathetic and callous” and thus improperly be swayed toward a reckless manslaughter conviction.
(what are you gonna do? arrest another blogger for sucking?)
Though the filmography of Sharon Stone is littered with errors in judgement, crap performances and improbable hairstyles, the lady-actress-human is not without her redeeming moments. For example ;
1) Were it not for “Basic Instinct 2″, Stan Collymore’s thespian debut would’ve been straight-to-internet instead of straight-to-video.
2) She was a-ok in “Broken Flowers”
3) Stone took her former husband to the zoo for his birthday. Though things turned out badly, it was a very nice thought.
If you ask us, this is a tremendous falloff from Fox’s ex-wife, Vanessa Williams. While Stone’s face may look presentable here, she’s got to be the clubhouse leader in Hollywood when it comes to botox and surgery. We shudder to think what her pussy looks like these days.
I’m sorry, full credit to The Big Lead on being a worthy alternative to reading Deadspin’s guest editor for a day (funny, the Cards win the World Series, but for one Wednesday in October, the rest of us are rewarded), but until the author is ready to put his cock on the block for public inspection, speculation about the condition of Sharon’s snatch is a little unfair.
(left to right, Rise, Bickle. You should see what the other guys looked like)
Frank Lampard scored a ridiculous endline-walking goal in Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Barca that you’re gonna have to see to believe. Totally worth taping “SportsCenter”, just on the off chance it might be shown.
In the Championship, QPR erased a pair of deficits against promotion hopefuls West Brom, Marc Nygaard’s 83rd minute strike earning the R’s a 3-3 draw at the Hawthorns.
Chelsea have supposedly put a £5 cap on their Secret Santa action. Keep in mind you could purchase a Kunt & The Gang single for a bit less.
An announcer for ESPNU has been taken off the air due to a comment he made during Saturday’s telecast of the Iowa-Northern Illinois football game.
Brian Kinchen, a color commentator, will not work a game this weekend, according to Josh Krulewitz, ESPN’s vice-president of public relations.
Krulewitz told The Des Moines Register Monday night that the network made its decision after an internal review.
On Saturday, Kinchen was explaining to a television audience that receivers need to make catches with their hands because they are “tender” and can “caress” the ball. He then paused and said, “that’s kind of gay, but hey…”
“The comments were inappropriate and we apologize,” Krulewitz said
Monday. “He will not appear on our air this weekend and his future appearance schedule is under review.”
Kinchen, a former tight end who played in the NFL from 1988-00, issued a statement through ESPN: “I sincerely apologize for my extremely poor choice of words.”
Steve Lyons, Chris Moyles, unavailable for comment.
Stephen Belichick, 19, of Weston, was arrested after an officer reported he had two subjects in custody on Winter Street at 9:25 p.m. Jonathan Pizarro, 18, of Roxbury, was also arrested and charged with possession of marijuana.
Belichick graduated from the private Rivers School in Weston in June and planned to attend Northfield Mount Hermon School this fall. He is committed to attend Rutgers University in New Jersey in the fall of 2007 on a partial athletic scholarship to play lacrosse for the Scarlet Knights’ nationally ranked program.
He was captain of both the football and lacrosse teams at Rivers School as a senior.
Belichick received an award last year for outstanding service to the football program at Rivers. The award is presented to a player for his strength and determination, personal sacrifices and selfless generosity.
Though I think marijuana possession is a victimless crime, one might also presume poor role models might have something to do with Hoody Jr.’s transgressions. When the patriarch is a Bon Jovi-digging adulterer, what kind of behavior do we expect from the children?
The Washington Times’ John N. Mitchell takes a break from selling flowers by the side of the highway to update us on the turmoil engulfing the Wizards on the eve of their opening night against Cleveland.
Etan Thomas will be the Washington Wizards’ starting center, coach Eddie Jordan announced yesterday, a decision that does not sit well with backup Brendan Haywood (above) or his agent.
While Haywood was unavailable for comment shortly after Jordan went public with his decision, agent Andy Miller said his client felt the decision was made along personal lines — not based on performance — and indicated Haywood may want out of Washington.
“He’s got a contract that he’s going to live up to, but this doesn’t bode well for his future in Washington beyond the contract,” Miller said of Haywood. “I’d like to seem him treated with the optimum level of respect, and that’s not going to happen in Washington. I don’t know how this situation is going to unfold.”
Jordan explained his reasons for naming Thomas the starter shortly after Haywood outperformed Thomas in practice.
“I’m ashamed to say it, but Brendan kicked his [rear] up and down the court, but that’s a good thing,” Jordan said. “What we saw as the preseason wound down with all of our evaluations and what we heard from our core players was that Etan showed a bit more force and a little more aggressiveness in terms of what we’re looking for to protect the rim and the paint.”
The tension between Haywood and Jordan also is well documented. Haywood felt slighted last season when he was benched and heard from reporters that Jordan had told Antawn Jamison — also temporarily benched at midseason — via phone conversation that he would be benched.
Both Haywood and Jordan have mentioned a meeting between the two this summer, but yesterday Miller said the outreach was totally on Haywood’s part, not Jordan’s
“We were the ones who tried to mend the relationship,” Miller said. “Eddie didn’t reach out to Brendan; Brendan reached out to him. I don’t know. Maybe he has a problem with my clients.”
Chucky Atkins, another Miller client, was the odd man out at point guard last season. The Wizards bought out his contract, and Atkins eventually signed with Memphis. Jared Jeffries, who signed with the Knicks, also employs Miller. The year before, veteran guard Anthony Peeler, also a Miller client, saw limited playing time with the Wizards.
“I can tell you that none of those guys knew what their roles were,” Miller said. “It seems like every year this is an ongoing situation where every year there is a veteran player that seems to be the focal point of Eddie’s frustrations, and now it appears to be Brendan’s turn.”
The New York Post’s Peter Vescey reviews the list of familiar faces who find themselves without a team as the 2006-07 campaign begins.
Typically, renouncements, retirements and joblessness have created a swell of departures. Some of the more notable: Jalen Rose (Pistons, Lakers and Heat will come a courtin’ once he clears waivers, say sources), Penny Hardaway, Keith Van Horn, Antonio Davis, Howard Eisley, Shandon Anderson, Walter McCarty, Nick Van Exel, Jon Barry, Derek Anderson, Jimmy Jackson, Brian Grant, Toni Kukoc, Greg Ostertag, Doug Christie, Lamond Murray, Tony Delk, Voshon Lenard, Alvin Williams, and Luke Schenscher, America’s retribution, no doubt, for the Aussies’ recent firing of Mark Price after only five games (all losses) as coach.
Think of how many different starting lineups Larry Brown could conceive if given his dream job to coach the above players.
The Baltimore Orioles, according to a team source, began preliminary discussions with Washington Nationals left fielder Alfonso Soriano , and were floored by the free agent’s initial contract outline.
According to the source, Soriano is seeking a deal similar to the seven-year, $119 million deal given to center fielder Carlos Beltran by the New York Mets before the 2005 season. It’s unlikely the Orioles will be in the running for Soriano if he doesn’t back off those demands. Teams can start bidding on free agents on Nov. 12.
Before the O’s start crying poorhouse, they oughta be a little more creative. Perhaps they could tell the converted left-fielder they’ve got a guy inhouse who gets great deals on B-12 shots?
Drew Brees (above) wants no part of his mother’s political aspirations.
The NFL quarterback and Westlake High School graduate has told Mina Brees, an Austin attorney, to stop using his picture in TV commercials as she runs for a spot on Texas’ 3rd Court of Appeals, saying their relationship is now “nonexistent” after souring six years ago.
“I think the major point here is that my mother is using me in a campaign, and I’ve made it known many times I don’t want to be involved,” he said Monday.
The commercial in question has been airing on local stations. It includes a picture of Drew Brees in a San Diego Chargers uniform (his former team) and notes Mina Brees’ football ties: She is also the daughter of a successful high school coach and the sister of former University of Texas quarterback Marty Akins.
Mina Brees, a Democrat, is running for a spot on the court that reviews civil and criminal cases from 24 counties in Central and West Texas. Her opponent is incumbent Republican Justice David Puryear.
Drew Brees said that when he heard about the spots, he called his mother and asked her to stop them. She did not return his calls or stop using his image, he said, and his agent sent her a letter Oct. 20 threatening legal action.
Mina Brees, 56, said a version of the spot that omits mentions of her son Drew was taped last week and sent to TV stations Friday.
During his senior year at Purdue, the QB said, their relationship crumbled after he refused to hire her as his agent. He said she later undercut his dealings with other agents and tried to sell a book about him to Sports Illustrated without his knowledge.
“There is definitely history,” he said. “It’s got nothing to do with my career path. I’ve just gotten older, and my eyes have opened to the lies and manipulation.”
He added that her commercials were sending a message of, ” ‘If you don’t know much about the election, vote for me because I know Drew’ . . . and that is a shame because the political process should be decided on your credentials.”
No word on how this might impact Marv Marinovich’s independent presidential bid in 2008, though he might wanna consider using pictures of Vince Young in his local commercials.
There were few glimpses of him during the Knicks’ preseason games, so I’ve got to ask ; just how out of shape was Jalen Rose if Isiah Thomas would sooner pay him $15 million + to play for someone else than have him poisoning the atmosphere? Is Rose that toxic a character or do the Knicks have way more depth than their 23 wins last year would indicate?
On the matter of being paid a tremendous sum of money to stay away from MSG, the Knicks and Larry Brown have resolved their longstanding dispute, and now we can return to the important task of monitoring the Isiah Thomas Death Watch.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir surveys ESPN and TNT’s all-star yack arsenals, with the NBA season set to commence this evening.
Mike Breen’s new partner at ABC will be Mark Jackson, the former Knicks point guard, who is the YES Network analyst for Nets games and also co-analyst on ABC’s pregame N.B.A. program. Jackson last year demonstrated a knack for describing the flow of a game that is not often heard so early in a career. Brown will stay at ABC as its No. 2 analyst (with Mike Tirico) and is ESPN’s top analyst (with Breen, MSG Network’s voice of the Knicks).
“I don’t see it as Mark replacing Hubie,” Williamson said by telephone. “Breen and Jackson have a relationship from Mike covering the Knicks.”
During an appearance at the N.B.A. store in Midtown Manhattan yesterday to herald the start of the 2006-7 season, Breen said, “I worked with Mark a few years ago; we were surprised at how things clicked right away.” In a coincidence of TV timing, Breen will work nationally with Jackson, while on a local basis, Marv Albert, whom Breen replaced at MSG, calls Nets games with Jackson on SNY.
Reflecting on the difference between TNT’s stability and the changes at ESPN and ABC, TNT’s Charles Barkley said: “I’m not sure what they’re doing. It can’t be good to have different people all the time.”
Kenny Smith made a foray beyond TNT last season as Walt Frazier’s substitute analyst for Knicks games on MSG. He will reprise that role 18 times this season. He said he enjoyed being around for the Knicks’ 23-59 debacle under Larry Brown.
“I must like misery,” Smith said. He said he had told Isiah Thomas, the general manager who earlier this year replaced Brown as coach, that he should have been coaching the team from the start.
“I understood what he was trying to do,” Smith said. “He really believes Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury can play a Phoenix-type game.”
Barkley said, “Are you kidding me?”
Smith added: “He’s good at evaluating talent. But putting a team together is different.”
Later, at the N.B.A. store, Smith said of the Knicks: “Twenty-three wins was more than they deserved. I think they should have won 16 or 17.”
Barkley said, “Then they should have made Larry Brown coach of the year.”
The Yankees’ auction of Gary Sheffield has progressed to the point that general manager Brian Cashman has a potential deal in place if he wishes to pull the trigger, an official from another American League team told Newsday yesterday.
But Cashman is not quite ready to make a trade. A person familiar with the team’s plans said “there is no urgency” to the process. The Yankees seem inclined to wait at least a little longer with the hope that the market for Sheffield improves.
The Cubs and Phillies are believed to be among the most aggressive teams in pursuit of Sheffield, who is an attractive, more affordable alternative to free-agent sluggers Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee. Those players will land long-term, multimillion-dollar deals, but all Sheffield costs is $13 million for one season, with at least $4.5 million deferred.
Although the Rangers and Indians are among the AL teams believed to be interested, the Yankees could decide to trade him to a National League team to avoid facing him next year. In addition to the Phillies and Cubs, the Padres, Giants, Braves and Astros are among potential NL landing spots for Sheffield, who wishes to play rightfield.
A Sheffield trade seems likely to happen before Sunday’s option deadline for a handful of reasons, including the desire of team officials to move on to other business on their offseason agenda.
Deposed ESPN analyst Harold Reynolds announced yesterday his plans to sue ESPN over his dismissal last summer. Though I suspect Jeremy Schapp will be assigned to another sitdown with Bobby Fischer before Reynolds’ former employer touches this story, perhaps there’s still a chance of resolution, especially if BBTN has chairs to fill. . Kruk might not survive the banquet circuit this winter, and it’s really just a matter of time before Steve Phillips is accosted in a hotel elevator by an admirer wishing to touch his throat.
New Orleans’ Reggie Bush claims he’ll be ready for next Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay, but not for a lack of trying on the part of Baltimore’s D. From the Sun’s Mike Preston.
Rookie running back Reggie Bush epitomized the Saints’ effort yesterday. The Ravens came into the Superdome and shoved the Saints around, and Bush quit in the second quarter.
With 7:36 left in the half, Bush took a handoff off the right side, ran about 5 yards and hit the brakes hard before diving to the ground. Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis was about to remove Bush’s head from his body, but Bush went down like he was taking a dive.
“He’s just a guy, simple as that,” Ravens outside linebacker Bart Scott said of Bush. “What did he get this week? He played like a kid who got chased from school.”
Scott said Bush tried to cheap-shot him on an interception return in the first half, and you could tell there was something personal between the two.
Every time Scott tackled Bush, he would purposely throw Bush around. Bush had to leave the game with an ankle injury after Scott tackled him with 6:50 left in the fourth quarter. Scott tackled Bush around the ankles, and gave them a little twist before he let go.
“The media darling, aka the golden boy of the NFL, tried to take a cheap shot at me, so I told him I was going to put some extra on it,” Scott said. “He must be used to playing against these guys in practice. He can do all those shakes he wants, but I wasn’t going anywhere. I put a little hot sauce on that ankle.”
After consulting with Dr. Pedro Martinez of the NY Mets on arm care, Kerry Wood has filed for free agency. As the Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan points out below, it wasn’t long ago that Kerry Wood asked Cub fans for a second chance in 2007. Wood felt “obligated” to earn some of the tens of millions the Cubs have given him for his years long stint on the DL. Wood proved his heartfelt obligation by waiting an entire day of eligibility before filing for free agency, according to Ron Blum of the AP, and one can only hope grateful Cub fans are holding the clubhouse door open for the man who can’t even lift his own $13.75 million paycheck .
After receiving $32 million over three injury-plagued seasons, Wood said in September he felt an “obligation” to return.
“As a player, you feel—you don’t want to say guilty—but you feel like you haven’t done your job and earned your money and gone out and done what you’re supposed to do,” Wood said.
There’s no guarantee Wood can stay healthy as he lets his rotator-cuff injury heal on its own this off-season. When Wood considered surgery last summer, he conferred with Mets starter Pedro Martinez, who opted against surgery after 2001 then went 20-4 with a 2.26 ERA and 239 strikeouts in ‘02.
But several weeks after he talked to Wood, Martinez’s season ended with more rotator-cuff problems. He underwent surgery three weeks ago to repair a tendon, which will keep him out for the first half of 2007.
Wood has acknowledged he’ll return as a reliever, but he isn’t discounting a starting role by 2008. If a team gambles by overpaying Wood in ‘07 with the idea of moving him into its rotation in ‘08, he’ll probably bolt.
Sports bloggery is a bit of a minefield these days. For every quality site with a discernable point of view, those who settle for aping the Screech aping Sports Frog are too numerous to mention. Suffice to say, I won’t link to ‘em and it’s pretty transparent who is engaging in comment spam for the sole purposes of driving traffic to their own snoozy offerings.
Luckily, we’re still the beneficiaries of inspired work by those who are truly devoted to the craft. Dave Zukauskas aka Brushback of Sidearm Delivery is one such individual. In the past week, Zukauskas has shed light on the following :
There’s more than one Russian zillionaire wielding considerable influence in British football. Sadly for the SPL’s Hearts, theirs isn’t named Roman Abramovich. From the Independent’s Nick Harris.
Senior advisers to the Heart of Midlothian owner, Vladimir Romanov (above), will advise “mediation not madness” as the solution to the crisis which led to a players’ revolt on Friday. But Romanov insisted yesterday that he has faith in his unusual methods, and senior players fear the Lithuanian millionaire intends to sell key members of his team, as he threatened he would if Hearts failed to beat Dunfermline on Saturday. They drew 1-1 at Tynecastle.
“I think it’s very serious if you’re going to make those statements,” said the midfielder Paul Hartley yesterday. “He’s got his point across and I think he’ll stick by [his threat].”
Hartley was present when Romanov made the threat on Friday morning, and later joined his captain, Steven Pressley, and the goalkeeper Craig Gordon as Pressley read a players’ statement saying that the club lacked “backing, direction and coherence”.
Hearts finished as SPL runners-up in May and won the Scottish Cup. “What happens next is not our decision,” Hartley said. “I’d like to stay but it’s not up to me.” He added that the players had “no plans” for further criticism. “I think we got our point across. We felt we had to say what we said.”
Romanov has had four permanent managers in 17 months and has alienated all of them by his interference in team affairs. Valdas Ivanauskas, the current manager, is in a spa clinic, taking two weeks’ holiday because of stress, leaving Eduard Malofeev, a Russian, in charge. He speaks no English. “I want to honestly tell you that Vladimir was never interfering in any football matters,” he yelled on Saturday, via an interpreter. “I don’t know where this idea comes from.”
(giant, STD-carrying, criminal bird celebrates a big win by crushing puny citizens to death)
It has been brought to my attention that the conclusion of Friday’s World Series, CSTB has become a repository of sorts for poorly disguised anti-St. Louis invective.
For that, I’d like to sincerely apologize and offer the following alternative viewpoint and unrelated factoid, respectively.
Yes, the Cards were lucky to make the playoffs in the first place, but so were the Yankees in 2000 and plenty of other champions. What matters is how you do once you’re there, not how you got there.
The Cardinals team we saw over the last few weeks is the same one we’ve seen pretty much every year this decade, when they’ve been on one of the less-remarked upon runs of greatness I can think of. With the exception of this year and 2003, the Cardinals have won between 93 and 105 games every year this decade. In every year save 2003, they’ve either won the National League pennant or been beaten by the team that did. Short of the Yankees and Braves, no team has had a more successful run in the wild card era.
This wasn’t a one-off fluke, but the crowning and validating achievement of a truly great team that’s been truly great since before George W. Bush was in office and will probably continue to be great after he’s left office. During nearly all of this time they have had a transcendently great player in Pujols, likely future Hall of Famers in Rolen and Edmonds, several short-term aces like Carpenter and Matt Morris, and a legendary manager in Tony LaRussa, like his style or not (I don’t). That isn’t the makeup of a team that’s going to baffle baseball historians in future decades while they’re going through World Series winners trying to pick out the weak ones.
2) St. Louis might no longer be America’s Gonorrhea Capital, but the crown of “Most Dangerous City” sits atop the metropolis’ collective head just as surely as the World Series Tiara (thanks to Maura Johnston for the link). Camden’s been knocked all the way back to 5th place, which either heralds a renewal in South N.J. or more likely, St. Louis, Detroit and Flint picking up the slack.
In proof that you don’t have to go to journalism school (or even be able to read very well) to have journalistic instincts, I have been cultivating a source deep within the MLB.com hierarchy for some time. Mostly because he knows a lot about University of Kentucky sports. I’ve never believed him when he says so, but he insists that working there is not always a dream job. For one thing, Joel Hunt isn’t there anymore, which dampens things. And there’s the constant threat of A.J. Pierzynski’s “noogie patrol” and other unnanounced and frankly unwelcome visits from Big League figures. But the perks are considerable. For instance, he was the first to receive this press release from the Milwaukee Brewers regarding their “Very Meat Trick-Or-Treat” event:
(The) Famous Klement’s Racing Sausages are taking to area neighborhoods this Tuesday night with a not-so-scary surprise. Two undisclosed neighborhoods will be visited by the celebrity runners, who will ring doorbells and present residents who answer with free tickets to a 2007 game.
The Sausages seasoned their skills with a test run yesterday, visiting houses randomly in a neighborhood near Miller Park. The locations for Tuesday will remain undisclosed – not only to surprise the locals, but also out of The Sausages’ natural fear of attracting ghosts and goblins!
And so begins a long winter withut baseball. Milwaukee-area readers have been warned. New Yorkers should be advised that Carlos Beltran will be going door-to-door in Flushing, Queens and then staring helplessly at doorbells.
“My dude calls me and was like, ‘I don’t know if I was dreaming or I was sleeping, but I think I just saw Strahan do your ballin’ move in a game,’” Jim Jones told the Daily News in the Giants’ locker room yesterday. “I said, ‘No, get out of here.’ Then sure enough I got to see the news clip and saw Big Baby doing it.”
What “Big Baby” was doing was a move straight out of the video for Jones’ hit song, “We Fly High,” which includes the refrain “We fly high. No lie. You know this. Ballin.’” And in the video, when Jones says “Ballin,’” he makes the now-famous jump shot move.
Their Ballin’ move, though, also drew the attention of the NFL, which warned the Giants that multiple players were not to perform the move simultaneously. A solo act was fine, though, which is why they were still performing it with Jones in attendance when they beat the Bucs, 17-3, yesterday.
“I appreciate the fellas for going ballin’ with me,” Jones said. “To get that feeling out of a song, there’s no better gratification. When athletes get involved they take it to a whole new level. Plus, it’s New York. I’m a New Yorker. I grew up in Harlem. So this feeling is like at the top of my day right now.”
Jones, who said he’s been a Giants fan “since (Joe) Morris was the running back,” was so inspired by the Giants’ new sack dance that he did a remix of “We Fly High” that he said is “strictly for the Giants.” It includes lines such as “Guard your quarterback because Strahan is sacking. Defensive line, Osi is tackling. Tiki is the captain. Eli do the passing.”
And the refrain was changed to “New York Giants fly high, you know it. Super Bowl, no lie, we focused.”
I can only imagine that during all the years Archie Manning tutored young Eli, he forever dreamed of the day his younger QB offspring would be immortalized in song.
Discussing Chevy’s oft-played and mega-exploitive spots featuring John Mellencamp, The New York Times’ David Carr seems to hate freedom almost as much as the competent drumming of Kenny Aranof.
As the commercial begins, an industrial history rolls out, touching the usual icons of the Statue of Liberty, busy factory workers and Americans at their leisure. But then a more conflicted narrative emerges, quickly flashing on bus boycotts, Vietnam, Nixon resigning, Hurricane Katrina, fires, floods, then the attacks of Sept. 11, replete with firefighters.
All that’s missing is a plague of locusts, until the commercial intones “This is our country, this is our truck” as a large Silverado emerges from amber waves of grain.
The message seems to be that, even though America has been in the ditch several times during its history, it has always managed to pull itself out. And what is true for the country must be true for General Motors. It could be pointed out that Detroit and General Motors are in a ditch mostly because they drove there, ignoring global competition and consumer needs in pursuit of quarterly profits. But the back story of the disaster is obscured by the universal need to rebound.
As a piece of television craft and song craft — I’m humming that sucker in spite of myself — “This is our country” is a gorgeous, A.D.D. version of Ken Burns’s best work. But it is landing with a thud in the advertising community, and not just because it achieved the impossible: making viewers nostalgic for Chevy’s last anthem, Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock.”
“The message seems to be, ‘If you don’t buy our truck, we will go bankrupt,’ ” said Al Ries of Ries & Ries, a brand consultancy. “The kind of people who buy trucks are not going to buy them because a company is in trouble. People like to buy from winners.”
Now we have Mr. Mellencamp (above), who’s done some rebranding of his own, having dropped the “Cougar” from his name back when his image needed a folksy turn. His political values seem equally elastic. He and his spouse once wrote a jeremiad against the Bush administration that said, in part: “It is time to take back our country. Take it back from political agendas, corporate greed and overall manipulation.”
That was in 2003. Now he’s sitting on the fender of a Chevy truck, strumming a guitar and singing, “Well, I can stand beside ideals I think are right, and I can stand beside the idea to stand and fight.” He can also stand beside a nice shiny truck, if the fee is right.
It oughta be stressed that while Mellencamp might not have nearly as many wives and kids to feed as Steve Earle, there’s something called a nest egg worth considering.
Dubbing the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, “the worst World Series winners in history,” the Boston Herald’s Tony Massarotti writes “the question is whether to bury them or to praise them.” Guess which he ultimately chose?
For all of the praise the Cardinals deserve, there is one thing we simply can’t get past: They shouldn’t have been here at all. The baseball season is designed to weed out the weak, the mediocre, the inept and the brittle. The Cardinals simply slipped through the cracks. This St. Louis team won 22 fewer games than the last Cardinals club to reach the World Series, the 2004 edition that was steamrolled during the historic run of the Red Sox.
But at least those Red Sox won 98 games. They were championship-caliber. They were every bit as good, if not better, than any major league team that took the field that season.
But really, can we say that about these Cardinals? For all of the good baseball has experienced during the wild card era, parity has come at a price.
The San Diego Padres won the NL West last year with 82 victories. This year, the Cardinals won the NL Central with 83.
Neither of those clubs would have qualified for the postseason during another era and neither would have had a complaint.
Over the years, for whatever reason, one of the more popular theories in competition is that America loves the underdog. That is nothing more than rubbish.
What Americans truly love is excellence, primarily from our professionals, particularly over an extended period of time, from Tiger Woods to the New York Yankees to our very own Patriots.
The Cardinals? Let’s not put them there with the 1985 Villanova Wildcats or the 1968 New York Jets or even the 2001 Patriots. Those were good clubs that unexpectedly ascended to the heights of greatness at a time few expected.
Yesterday’s 1-0 home defeat to Villarreal leaves Real Sociedad glued to the bottom of La Liga’s twenty club table and there’s no doubt in the mind of the Guardian’s Sid Lowe that ” la Real are struggling because they are just not that good.”
There’s no Patxaran or pinchos here, no tasty tucker nailed on to a piece of bread with a strategically-placed and potentially lethal cocktail stick, because El Bar Antiguo is closed until further notice. And, let’s face it, is likely to be closed for some time. The reason is simple: the sign on the door reads: “This establishment will remain shut until la Real [Sociedad] win two consecutive games,” and that’s a pretty big ask. In fact, forget two successive games, winning one is a pretty bloody big ask right now. Because right now Real Sociedad are rubbish.
La Real have not won two successive games for over a year; they have not even won two successive halves all season. Back in August, when blind optimism still hadn’t given way to bitter truth, coach and sporting director José María Bakero insisted that the aim was a European place and the Copa del Rey. Two months later, they have been stuffed 4-1 by Second Division Málaga in the Cup, gunned down by fighter-jet flying former Bolton striker Salva Ballesta, and have suffered the joint worst start in the club’s league history. Bottom of the table with just two points, they are the only side to have failed to pick up a single victory in eight matches. Small wonder Bakero is now the ex-coach and ex-sporting director – the first managerial casualty of the season; a man who, as one local columnist put it, “signed badly and coached worse”.
The last time la Real started a season this badly was under metaphor-mangling manager John Benjamin Toshack just six years ago, at the beginning of the 2000-01 season, and relegation battles are nothing new in San Sebastián. While la Real were runners up in 2002-03, they had finished 13th in each of the previous three seasons and ended up 15th, 14th and 16th in each of the three seasons since. The surprise was that la Real got so close in 2002-03, not that they have struggled since; that season was a freak in which everything clicked perfectly under a coach who would be gone within a year. In which la Real massively over-achieved, when Sander Westerveld had the safest hands in Spanish soccer with his penalty-saving antics, when Xabi Alonso was the country’s best young central midfielder, when Valeri Karpin and Javier De Pedro provided cross after cross from the wings and when Nihat Kahveci and Darko Kovacevic both scored over 20 league goals.
Since then, Alonso has gone, Westerveld has gone, De Pedro has gone (in so many ways), Karpin has retired, Nihat has suffered a string of injuries and been hawked around half of Europe before finally being moved on this summer, and Kovacevic has failed to get into double figures. La Real are over €30m in debt, have a stadium with a running track that creates little atmosphere, there are cliques within the squad and no stability at the club with president Miguel Fuentes getting through three coaches last season alone.
When Bill Walton says its important “to get your teammates involved” thats the genital stage. In fact Bill Walton is such a supporter of the genital Stage that he got that loving nickname “Dickface”
As luck would have it, this exhaustive entry was published on the very weekend I invited Wizznutzz to take part in CSTB’s 3rd Annual Fantasy Basketball Tournament. Luckily for the rest of the league, Darvin and Dana Ham have respectfully declined.
We are so flattered by your invite to FANTASY!!!
Last time we did roleplaying it involved Rod Strickland in a TGIFridays parking lot and Dana ended up with bruises all up her backside.
Also, Ledell Eackles was a first round draft choice!!!!
We can’t afford to pay for fantasy (except on K Street where hookers are cheap), but if you start a FREE lEAGue, please add us to your friends!! we love free fantasies!! In fact, intern Ken is acting one out right now where he plays the King of Prussia as a nude sado-masochist with a half-smoke fetish.
Along with describing Alex Rodriguez’ situation in the Bronx as crying out for a trade, despite the recent denials of Scott Boras and Brian Cashman, the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman has some pleasant news for those of us who’ve spent the week making harrassing phone calls to Steve Traschel’s house.
The word from associates close to Mets starter Pedro Martinez is that the three-time Cy Young Award winner is ahead of schedule in his rehab from rotator cuff surgery, and that he could return to action ahead of schedule, meaning before the All-Star break next season. Former Red Sox doctor Bill Morgan and Mets doctor Richard Altchek used an innovative technique during the surgery in which they reattached portions of Martinez’ shoulder in such a way that he would not lose flexibility, allowing him to retain full range of motion once his recovery is complete. His velocity should also improve upon the mid- to high-80s fastball he was throwing last summer. Although the surgical technique may not have been available five years ago, this procedure repaired the same tear in the rotator cuff that Martinez developed in the middle of the 2001 season with the Red Sox. Martinez, fearing that the operation would turn out as disastrous to his career as it proved for his brother Ramon, opted for rest and rehab instead.
The Knicks remember the sound when the lights came up — five minutes of silence, broken only by one man crying: the filmmaker himself.
Spike Lee recalls it differently. He had chosen the segment about a mother recounting the death of her 5-year-old daughter in the flood after Hurricane Katrina. To view it again, in a room with his beloved basketball team, induced tears and even sobs, but Spike Lee wants to set the record straight. “Everybody was crying,” he said.
Lee said he hoped the film would stay with the Knicks. “Let’s be honest about this, these are young brothers,” Lee said. “They’re millionaires. It’s moronic the way some of them are going around with guns,” he said, referring to players in general, not necessarily the Knicks.
“This is macho bull that you’ve got to be 100 percent gangster,” Lee continued. “These young brothers have got to learn to show their vulnerability. They think that if you cry you’re a punk.”
With all due respect, if Spike wants to see a room full of grown men bawling, a presentation of “Girl 6″ (with the door locked) would do the trick. And while the director’s point about macho b.s. is well taken, perhaps he could cut Jerome James a little more slack? “Fast Food Nation” opens in less than a month and no one should be expected to do that much sobbing in public.
While Bobby Valentine’s Japan Series win last year ushered in a commercial bonanza for the former Mets skipper, this year’s title might mean a high profile return home for another gaijin manager writes the Dallas Star-Telegram’s Kat O’Brien.
The Rangers plan to interview Trey Hillman for their managerial opening in person in Arlington Tuesday. Hillman is in the fourth year as manager of the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan.
There was some uncertainty as to whether the Rangers would be able to interview Hillman in person, as his team just won the Japan Series, and he must manage them in the Asian Championships which are in early November.
Hillman, who attended the University of Texas-Arlington and is a former Rangers farm director, has called the Rangers his dream job. However, it is not the only managerial opening in the major leagues which he is a candidate for. Hillman wrote in an email Sunday that he will interview with the Rangers Tuesday, with the Oakland A’s Wednesday and the San Diego Padres on Thursday.
He plans to fly back to Japan from California on Friday, where he has an array of commitments: coaching an All-Star Game on Nov. 5th, managing in the Asian Series which begins Nov. 12th, the national baseball convention Nov. 14th, the Fighter celebration parade Nov. 18th and a fan-fest at the Sapporo Dome Nov. 19th.
Hillman will be the fourth candidate to interview for the Rangers opening. General manager Jon Daniels has already interviewed Oakland A’s third base coach Ron Washington, Philadelphia Phillies Triple-A manager John Russell and New York Mets third base coach Manny Acta.
Newsday’s Ken Davidoff is already licking his chops at the prospect of Jeff Suppan coming to Flushing.
The Mets, in need of starting pitching, will take a look at impending free agent Suppan, one person familiar with the club’s thinking said. Another such person said that should Suppan express mutual interest, the righthander’s political views would be “a point of discussion.”
Precedent, after all, has been set. Carlos Delgado, who opposes the United States’ occupation of Iraq, obeyed the Mets’ edict to put aside his anti-war views and respect the occasional playing of “God Bless America” at Shea and other ballparks.
So though Cardinals manager Tony La Russa praised Suppan this past week for his community involvement, Suppan would be expected to tone down his beliefs in New York, where, you know, we tend to scrutinize things a bit more (see Benson, Anna).
If the Mets did sign Suppan and wanted to fully capitalize, they could use their off days to hold Delgado-Suppan debates at Shea. How much would you pay to see that? I’d pay $8
Another free-agent arm for Mets fans to keep in mind: lefthander Randy Wolf. The career-long Phillie went 4-0 with a 5.56 ERA in 12 starts in 2006 after returning from Tommy John surgery. The operation occurred in July 2005, so Wolf should be something close to full strength next season.
(Plaxico Fantastico, somehow managing to concentrate while wondering when Tiki’s taking over “The View”)
Giants 14, Bucaneers 3 (11:20, 3rd Quarter)
Full credit to Michael Irvin, Tom Jackson and Mike Lupica ; Tiki Barber’s retirement talk has proven a huge distraction…for all the Tampa Bay receivers who are dropping passes.
How much colder does it have to get in Jersey for Chucky to opt for a hat with a proper lid on top? Seriously, why not just wear shorts and flip flops if you’re really committed.
Packers 28, Arizona 7 (7:41, 3rd quarter)
Favre’s just tested positive for Prilosec. If this is, indeed, Denny Green’s last game in charge of the Cardinals, at least the weather’s nice.
Falcons 20, Bengals 17 (7:09 left, 3rd quarter)
Somebody was guarding Chad Johnson on no. 85’s 2nd quarter TD catch from Carson Palmer, but as he turned to vapor on the play, I won’t be identifying him. As part of the league’s much heralded flexible schedule, I’d prefer if they could pause all of the other games on the schedule to create fewer distractions for this one.
(ADDENDUM : Falcons 29, Bengals 27, 2:48 left. Hottest game of the game, and with full respect to Colt McCoy’s escape act last night in Lubbock, best game of the weekend. Amazing how fast Chris Henry can fly down the field with an ankle bracelet).
After yet another dose of Houston’s inferior pass proctection, Tennessee has knocked David Carr out of the game, with Sage Rosenfels trying on an ill-fitting Superman cape. The suit’s been a slightly better fit for the QB Houston could’ve had, Vince Young (1 rushing TD, a 20 yard TD pass to Rob Brown), but the Texans’ 4 turnovers have been the real killer.
Jerry Porter is expected to play for the Raiders against Pittsburgh later today. Presumably, actually having to watch the game in person is far bigger punishment than a month off without pay.
Though I never figured the New York Daily News’ Mike Lupica to side with Michael Irvin, the former sneers in one paragraph that retiring NY Giants RB Tiki Barber (above) “clearly sees himself as the successor to Tim Russert,” but also “really does fancy himself as this era’s Frank Gifford.” So which is it? Are sportswriters turned authors of unreadable fiction the only persons allowed delusions of grandeur?
You know who doesn’t care about this? Any Giants fan and all Giants fans who will be cheering Brandon Jacobs next season the way they cheer Tiki, as long as they think Jacobs gives the Giants an even better chance to win it all. It doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate everything Barber has done for them, the way he has left it out on the field once he stopped leaving the ball on the ground. But fans will move on just as fast as Barber will. A quick stutter step to the outside and gone.
Do I think all this retirement talk from Barber – is he really disingenuous enough to think that anybody thinks this was some kind of crazy accident, John Branch of the New York Times writing down what he heard? – is some kind of distraction to the Giants? I don’t. Playing the way the Giants did against the Seahawks, now that was a distraction. Do people who follow his sport a lot more closely than I do have a right to think it was a distraction without being called “idiots”? Yeah, they do.
It is their right the way Barber thought it was his right to lay out Tom Coughlin after the Giants got outplayed by the Carolina Panthers in the playoffs last season. It was the last time he made headlines like this and made the whole thing about him.
Again: He is a great player. If he goes off and tries to be as big in television as the great Frank Gifford was, the Giants will miss him. Gifford quit young, too. But not until he played as much football as he had in him, not until he showed everybody how tough HE was by coming back – after a season away from the NFL – after Chuck Bednarik laid him out.
What Gifford never did as a player was take himself as seriously as Barber did this week. On Friday he said he was done talking about this. Said his critics could “bloviate” all they wanted. Look who’s talking.
Q: I’m worried about my boyfriend. We have been going together for 11/2 years and are seniors in high school. He’s lives for baseball. He started on the varsity team as the youngest player.
Lately he is obsessed and says that “this year will decide his future.” He works out like crazy, goes to the batting cages with a special hitting coach, is on a protein diet, runs sprints at the track and talks only baseball. It’s driving me crazy. But here is the big problem: He is angry all the time and starts fights a lot, which he never used to do.
My friends think it is because he is tired all the time because he works out so hard, but I wonder if he is taking steroids. I found a syringe in his bedroom one day and when I asked him what it was he told me to stop snooping around and said he has nothing to hide.
Recently at a party a guy we both know was talking to me about his recent breakup. Chad went off. He punched the guy, kicked him and then punched the wall of the house before he left. He has never done this before.
What should I do? Am I overreacting thinking it is steroids? Do I break up with him even though we are in love? I’m so confused. — Worried
A Let’s look at the trail your BF is leaving. You found a syringe in his bedroom, which he got defensive about; he is angry all the time; he got in an impulsive fight and he is worried about his athletic performance. All roads lead to steroids and you are wise to see this as something that will cause bigger problems as time goes on.
Talk to your BF about your concerns. Get his parents, a coach or teacher, your parents or anyone with authority to join you when you talk to him so if he gets angry and uncontrollable, you are not harmed in any way.
Merely collecting the liner notes from Sony/Legacy’s forthcoming Clash singles box isn’t much of an article, but then again, former Attack On Bzag editor James Brown isn’t much of a talent. As noted earlier, former England international / current Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce (above) is amongst the contributors, as quoted in today’s Observer.
When I was 14, I was living with my mum and dad in Kingsbury, north west London. After school, I’d be straight up to the bedroom to get the records on. The walls had posters of all the bands I liked: the Clash, Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, Bowie. I had a Lurkers set list and a massive ‘Holidays in the Sun’ Pistols poster. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do back then – I still don’t now – I was just into music.
Back then, I didn’t want to hear any slow songs or ballads; I just wanted something fast and loud that I could sing along to and jump up and down on the bed with a baseball bat like an idiot. ‘Complete Control’ (above) was the rawest song I had; everything I wanted was on it. I can still remember my old girl coming in and telling me to turn it down.
I’d play ‘White Riot’ before I went out to play, mainly at Nottingham Forest; that was my musical peak, because I was captain. Brian Clough sort of turned a blind eye to it, really.
Claiming the former Fab 5 member has been “in less-than-peak condition this preseason,”, Newsday’s Anthony Rieber suggests Jalen Rose’s days as a member of the New York Knicks are numbered.
Rose was excused from yesterday’s hour-long practice at FDU-Teaneck for “personal reasons,” according to the team. So was Kelvin Cato, who likely was using the time to work out the logistics of moving to New York after signing with the Knicks on Wednesday.
Rose, however, might have been using the day off to work out the details of moving away from New York. The Knicks are working on a trade or buyout of the 31-year-old Rose, who is due $16.9 million this season and has no role with the team. “We’re in discussions,” agent Arn Tellem wrote yesterday in a text message. “Nothing finalized.”
Rose’s veteran presence and expiring contract might be appealing to a contending team that could maneuver with the salary-cap room he would provide next offseason. The Knicks are not a contending team and won’t have salary-cap room until Nate Robinson is ready to retire.
The Oregonian’s John Canzano, provoked in part by the recent reports of Utah Jazz talent accused of something-or-other with an exotic dancer, wonders “even as commissioner David Stern spent part of his week making guns his primary focus, the league has an even bigger problem: Why is it that so many women make 9-1-1 calls after encounters with NBA players?”
There are lots of decent, hardworking people who play basketball for a living. Men who understand that being rich, young and athletic doesn’t mean that you should also be irresponsible and abusive, and have a warped sense of entitlement with women.
Yet if you stroll across the arena loading dock after a game, or troll the lobby of a team hotel, you come to understand that there is too much down time and not enough mentoring. What we really have here is an extended, permissive childhood.
Sure, there are spousal abusers and sex offenders in every segment of society, but in the NBA we have a culture that fosters an air of entitlement, and as long as that continues to be so, drugs and guns will always be secondary issues.
Big ups to Danny Fortson, America’s Flagrant Forward, for his latest uncivilized transgression; his invasion of Ron Artest’s personal space (head and body) Wednesday night earned the sniveling Sonic Opening Night off without pay. For tuning Tru Warier into a sympathetic figure in the eyes of Stu Jackson, the league’s VP of Violence, I’m lobbying for Danny Pigtails to get Opening Month off without nail polish.
In comparing his benching last week in favor of Tony Romo to losing his Patriots gig in 2001 to Tom Brady, Cowboys QB Drew Bledsoe has again again attacked the credibility of the Hooded Casanova. The Boston Herald’s Michael Felger takes considerable umbrage.
Where’s former colleague Kevin Mannix when you need him? The Professor had a name for Bledsoe and his loyal supporters/excuse makers, and now that Bledsoe has decided to dive back into history, perhaps it’s time to set the record straight with the Boo Hoo Drew Crew.
Let’s say Bledsoe is right and Belichick “lied” to him, telling the former franchise quarterback that he would have all the time he needed to win his job back from Tom Brady in November of 2001 after nearly being killed by the hellacious hit from Jets linebacker Mo Lewis. If Belichick did, in fact, say that, then he certainly didn’t carry it out for long, because within a week of that alleged conversation, Belichick called both Bledsoe and Brady back into his office and told them Brady would be the starter the rest of the year.
Belichick had decided that it was unproductive to split practice reps. He realized you can’t have two starting quarterbacks. Above all — do we really need to go back over this? — he knew that Brady was clearly the better player.
According to David Halberstam’s book, “The Education of a Coach,” Bledsoe responded by running to Robert Kraft and telling the owner that his coach was a liar. Then, near the end of the season, Bledsoe went back to Belichick and lobbied for his job again. Wrote Halberstam: “(Bledsoe) told him that he thought the team needed an experienced quarterback for the playoffs, that they could not win in the playoffs with a rookie quarterback.”
Nice call.
Anyway, if Bledsoe craves honesty so much, we’ll provide a brief transcript of what Belichick — if he were being truly, truly honest — could have told Bledsoe during that initial meeting in the coach’s office at old Foxboro Stadium:
“I don’t think you’re that good, Drew. Never have. You are, in fact, one of the easiest quarterbacks to defend in the NFL. When I was with the Jets, Bill Parcells and I looked forward to playing you. You can’t move, don’t read coverages well and have never been able to handle teams that blitz you up the middle.”
The originating name-caller in this gloves(cuff links?)-down war is a Trib sports columnist, a man of no little writing skill and a person I consider a friend, who nevertheless wrote Tuesday in high disgust that were the Sun-Times a human being and not a churning ship of babble and attitude, it would be a pimp.
Specifically, the writer — OK, former Evans Scholar and high school hoopster Rick Morrissey — says the Bears helmet and palm tree on the cover logo at the top of each Sun-Times front page makes him ill.
This detail, Morrissey wrote, is disgusting because it shows ”the paper is rooting for the boys in blue and orange to get to the Super Bowl in Miami,” and ”[p]andering to the emotions of fans is not our job in journalism.”
Me, I call it newspaper design.
Morrissey also tossed in that the Sun-Times has become Barack Obama’s presidential cheerleader, and we should talk to embattled San Francisco Chronicle sportswriters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams to find out about the sacrifices real journalists make.
Well, I’d like to note that the blue helmet in question is less than an inch square, and the green palm tree is only slightly bigger, and you’d have to be a lexicographer or code-breaker or schizophrenic listening to signals in your tooth fillings to get from it ”We-want-the-Bears-to-win-because-Super-Bowl-XLI-is-in-Miami-and-the-Sun-Times-is-a-PR-front-for-the-Bears-and-can-I-sell- you-my-sister?”
Anyway, I have reservations at a nice hotel for Super Bowl week, whether the Bears go 6-10 or 16-0.
And didn’t I spot in Thursday’s Trib an editorial by Newton R. Minow titled, ”Why Obama Should Run for President”?
And at the San Francisco courthouse rally last month supporting Fainaru-Wada and Williams — the rally I and sportswriters from the New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun, Sporting News and ESPN The Magazine organized — the one where many of us wore ”Sportswriters for Freedom of the Press” T-shirts, shirts I’d had printed at a Chicago shop, the rally to which all sports media members had been invited — were there any Tribune reps there?
The Tribune?
You mean the official newspaper of the Chicago Cubs?
How can anybody there even pretend to be unbiased about baseball when his, or her, sportswriting checks come from the same hand that writes checks for Kerry Wood and John McDonough?
Red Auerbach, longtime coach and architect of the Boston Celtics, and a 9 time NBA champ in the former role, has passed away at the age of 89.
After previousy leading the Washington Capitols to division titles in 1947 and 1949, Auerbach was recruited by Boston owner Walter Brown, and was instrumental in the formation of the Celtics dynasty, winning 8 consecutive NBA titles between 1959 and 1966. His 938 career coaching victories stood as the league mark until being overtaken by Lenny Wilkens some 11 years ago.
Auerbach’s genius extended well beyond his coaching years, when he moved into the Celtics front office, starting in 1966. By then, he already had shown his ability to judge and acquire talent with the acquisitions of Hall of Famers such as Bill Russell, John Havlicek, and Sam Jones through trades or the NBA draft. Later, as the team’s general manager, he engineered deals for Hall of Famers such as Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Dave Cowens.
A testament to Auerbach’s impact on the game as both a coach and talent evaluator is seen by the number of his players who made it to the Hall of Fame and to the number of his players who followed his footsteps into professional coaching. There are 14 Hall of Famers who had extended Celtics careers thanks to either playing for, or being drafted by, Auerbach. More than 30 Auerbach players ended up in coaching positions, including eight of the 12 players on his 1962-63 championship team. Three of his players, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, and Don Nelson, later won Coach of the Year honors. Nelson won it three times.
He was also a social force in the NBA, drafting the league’s first African-American player in 1950 in Chuck Cooper, hiring pro sports’ first African-American head coach in 1966 in Russell, and starting five African-Americans on the Celtics, an NBA first.
Auerbach was fiercely competitive, sometimes to the point of boorishness. It was Auerbach who would break out a celebratory cigar during Celtics homes games — never on the road — when it was clear his team had won. He once had a writer’s seat moved from the floor to the upper box at the Boston Garden because of an unfavorable story. He ordered that a favorable mention of Cedric Maxwell be excised from one of his books after he felt Maxwell betrayed him.
In 1984, Auerbach was invited to coach an old-timer’s team in the 1984 All-Star Game and was ejected for arguing with the officials. In his early years as the commissioner of the NBA, David Stern would joke to friends that he felt his real first name was Stupid because of all the conversations he had with Auerbach.
Auerbach’s track record for identifying talent and then acquiring it was remarkable. He convinced two teams in 1956 not to draft Russell, getting one of them (St. Louis) to trade their pick to him for two players, and getting the other to bypass Russell entirely in return for some arena-filling Ice Capades dates. In 1978, five teams passed on the then junior-eligible Bird, either because Bird would cost too much or would not be available for another year. Auerbach didn’t hesitate, and then managed to sign Bird and keep him in Boston throughout his Hall of Fame career.
Trades brought him not only Russell, but also Parish and the chance to draft McHale, still considered today to be the most lopsided trade in NBA history. The Warriors, who made the deal, ended up with Joe Barry Carroll and Rickey Brown.
He could also be crude, abusive and hostile. He once sought out Danny Ainge after Ainge played a particularly bad game in Washington. “What, were you out drinking with your other wife?” Auerbach said to Ainge, a Mormon. One longtime acquaintance called Auerbach a terminal juvenile delinquent — and Auerbach did little to dispel the image. Yet it also, undeniably, was a shtick that he cultivated.
Says Repoz of the former Big Red Machine receiver, “after 17 years of squatting…Bench still has an unoccupied space between his ears.” Whilst shilling for a hip replacement firm, Bench weighs in on Gamblergate with the Baltimore Sun’s John Eisenberg.
“He claimed it was dirt, which isn’t a foreign substance. But come on,” Bench said. “He was just so blatant about it. Why didn’t he just set off a flare calling attention to it? It was that obvious. I mean, I know he is getting old, but it’s like he put it on and just forgot to wipe it off. I’m going to kid Kenny about that.”
Bench acknowledged that he would be more upset if Rogers’ offense ranked higher on his personal list of baseball subversions.
“It’s not cheating. Very few guys really cheat,” Bench said. “Cheating is putting Vaseline on the ball. That makes it go absolutely crazy. That’s unhittable. That’s not a level playing field. Cheating is putting cork in your bat. Cheating is stealing signs from second base. That’s not acceptable. And of course, using steroids is cheating.”
The latter is a sore subject for Bench, as it is for many former players who dislike seeing their records challenged by players suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs.
“I have an idea. Let’s have two leagues,” Bench said. “We can have the normal major leagues, and then there’ll also be what we’ll call the Futura League, for all the guys who test positive or just want to use steroids. We can build new stadiums that are 480 feet down the left-field line. They can use 12 players on the field, six outfielders. A league of steroids users. They can just battle it out on their own terms. Everyone else can play honest baseball in the majors. I think it would work great.”
The catch?
“If you’re in the Futura League, you can only make $50,000 a year,” Bench said.
(Coyle Fraqncies introduces himself to Dwayne Jarrett’s crotch)
With a late rally in Corvallis denied, Southern Cal’s 27 game Pac-10 winning streak is history, along with any hope of playing for the national title. Suddenly, the winner of Louisville/West Virginia looks like a match for the Ohio State/Michigan victor.
Texas freshman QB Colt McCoy has a pair of TD passes this evening ; problem is, one of ‘em was to Texas Tech’s Fletcher Session for an INT return in the first quarter. McCoy’s counterpart, the Red Raiders’ Graham Harrell has been unreal thus far, passing for over 250 yards in less than a half of football, as Tech leads 24-7 with 5:10 remaining in the 2nd quarter. Longhorns alumnus Roy Williams is watching from the sidelines, and insists we have no idea how close Texas have come to putting up 40.
Temple’s 20 game losing streak came to an end in Philly this afternoon, courtesy of a 28-14 defeat of Bowling Green. I’ve not watched the higlights yet, but I’m presuming that once Nehemiah Ingram was sent in to clean house, things really turned around for the Owls.
Kingston, Jamaica – Former heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick was found dead in a church courtyard Saturday with chop wounds to his head, police said.
Police are treating Berbick’s death as a homicide, Inspector Victor Henry said. Berbick’s body was discovered about 6:30 a.m. in his hometown parish of Portland, constable Beverly Howell said. No other details were immediately available.
Berbick, who was believed to be 52 and was beset by legal woes following his retirement from the ring, lost his heavyweight title to Mike Tyson and was the last boxer to fight Muhammad Ali.
After beating Ali in 1981 in a unanimous decision in the Bahamas, Berbick went on to win the WBC heavyweight title fours years later in a decision over Pinklon Thomas. His reign was short, however, as a 20-year-old Tyson knocked Berbick out in the second round of their bout on Nov. 22, 1986, to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
In spanning the Ali and Tyson eras, Berbick beat such fighters as Iran Barkley, Greg Page and John Tate. Among his losses were those to Buster Douglas, Renaldo Snipes and Larry Holmes.
Though Berbick was believed to be 52, according to boxing records, other reports said he was as old as 56 or as young as 49.
“Legally, I’m a spirit,” he once said. “I have no age.
Despite a long history of wearing out welcomes almost as quickly as he turns on a fastball, “Gary Sheffield’s harsh comments about a potential trade apparently haven’t dissuaded teams from inquiring about the Yankees slugger.” writes the New York Daily News’ Sam Borden.
The Astros and Indians, according to sources, recently have made it known they would be interested in landing Sheffield despite his assertions that he wouldn’t be pleased about getting dealt somewhere new for only one year.
The Astros are in the market for a power-hitting outfielder and are expected to bid on free agent Carlos Lee, though that could get very expensive; since Sheffield is under contract for only one more year, he is a more attractive financial commitment for a team that isn’t able to afford Lee or the other big free-agent slugger, Alfonso Soriano.
Other teams expected to be interested in Sheffield include the Orioles and Angels. It’s unlikely that the Yankees will be able to land a top-level player or prospect for Sheffield, but some executives believe they could land an established major leaguer (perhaps a reliever) or a mid-tier prospect.
Despite being Phil’s younger brother, Joe didn’t come up as a knuckleball pitcher, relying instead on a fastball/slider mix that kept him bouncing around the majors until the Astros purchased him from the Braves in early April of 1975. The Astros at first sent him to their AAA Iowa affiliate, but had recalled him by May 5, and he spent the rest of the year with Houston, pitching mostly in relief but making a few starts toward the end of the year.
During this time, Niekro was developing his knuckleball, and Rob Neyer and Bill James in their Guide to Pitchers tell us that he had perfected it by 1978, after which the numbers took a sharp turn for the better.
He led the NL in wins in 1979, going 21 – 11, and was named The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year after the season. The Cy Young voters voted him second to Bruce Sutter.
In 1980, Niekro became the first Astro to win 20 games in back-to-back years, and it would be 25 years before Roy Oswalt duplicated his feat.
Still, even during this period of heightened success, Niekro never threw 100% knuckleballs. He continued to feature his slider and his fastball with an occasional curve until the end of his career.
“What ever happened to loyalty?” wonders The Eddie Kranepool Society’s Steve Keane, whose personal code of baseball etiquette has been violated by Wevie Stonder II and a former Mets great alike.
Jared Weaver is employed by the Anaheim Angels and if I were Arte Moreno the owner or Mike Scioscia and Bill Stoneman and I saw him all Birded up last night I would be hitting him up on his cell phone to give him a piece of my mind. I know he’s there to root on his brother Jeff, who by the way was released by the Angels so Jarred could come to the big leagues, and I have no problem with him rooting for his brother but how do you think your fellow Angel teammates feel seeing you in a Cardinals jacket, cap, wool hat and headband? I know if I were a player or even a front office person for Anaheim the first item on my spring training things to do list would be to smack the shit out of Jared Weaver.
The second scene from last not only angered me but it hurt my heart. Seeing Mookie Wilson wearing a Cardinal hat and Cardinal sweatshirt was just fucking wrong. Yes Mookie, I know you love your stepson Preston, but if you’re that cold, t get an overcoat not a fucking Cardinals jacket. Mookie could stand and cheer and hug his wife when the Cards won but he has no right to disrespect the Mets organization and the fans by flaunting his Cardinals connection.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir, echoing past complaints by Sports TV’s Sole Conscience, Phil Mushnick, wonders why Fox was so obsessed with showing everything but the action on the field during the just concluded World Series.
There was not much value in watching St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa or Detroit Manager Jim Leyland stand around. They did that a lot. La Russa especially stood alone quite a bit.
His unheard chats with his pitching coach, Dave Duncan, weren’t riveting but they were as de rigueur in the Fox canon of shots as Ed Norton’s entrances into the Kramdens’ apartment were in the Tao of “The Honeymooners.”
And while I fathom that watching fans wave towels might be interesting now and then, its impact waned after the first dozen times. Less can be more.
During Thursday night’s Game 4, Fox cut to the crowd 222 times. It cut to the inside of the Detroit and St. Louis dugouts 153 times.
That’s 375 images away from the field. If each lasted two seconds, the amount of time taken from the field would be 12 minutes 30 seconds.
Many of those 153 dugout shots were of La Russa and Leyland. It felt as if every time Tim McCarver or Joe Buck mentioned the Cardinals’ manager, we saw him — as if their tongues had the power to guide cameras.
Each manager has a poker face — and La Russa’s sunglasses give him Texas Hold ’Em eyes — so the abundance of shots revealed little.
Fox’s enchantment with frequent shots of fans mystified me. They’re watching the field, so why does Fox think we must watch them watching?
To see 222 crowd shots in nine innings is absurd. Are all those sightings supposed to bond viewers and spectators in some kind of baseball Kumbaya embrace?
Newsday’s Ken Davidoff, previously a skeptic about the Flyover Series, pays tribute to the champion Cardinals. Sort of.
They are not entirely likable, as the arrogance of both La Russa and Cardinals ownership has fueled one another. And it’s hard to entirely embrace a community that would even now embrace Mark McGwire.
They played outstanding baseball for the first four games, and Friday night, when Chris Duncan turned rightfield into a game of soccer, they overcame it. Thanks, of course, to the Tigers fulfilling their ill-conceived goal of committing a pitcher’s fielding miscue in every single World Series game. Crazy stuff. Someone must have told them it was September, again.
From 8 a.m. Friday through Sunday night, it’s legally permissible to hoist a cocktail or any other cold beverage if you’re at least 21 years old and standing in the right parts of town.
The Jacksonville City Council made a specific exemption to allow game-day revelers to drink alcohol on city property when it redrafted the city’s public drinking law last year.
The issue came up after two homeless men arrested for publicly drinking beer in Treaty Oak Park on the Southbank challenged the city ordinance. They argued the police selectively enforced the law by singling them out but allowing tailgaters and other revelers at city events to imbibe without penalty. A judge agreed.
The city responded by creating a special zone encompassing the sports complex where people can legally drink during special events. Those include the Georgia-Florida game, the Gator Bowl and any Jaguars or Suns game.
Outside the zone, drinking also is allowed inside venues such as the Veterans Memorial Arena and the Prime Osborn Convention Center. Otherwise, drinking is not allowed on city property including streets, sidewalks and parks.
Statistics on how many people get tagged for public drinking during the Georgia-Florida game were unavailable. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ken Jefferson said that members of the Special Events Unit did not respond to the records request Friday because most of them were at the event.
Closer to home, I’m celebrating the World’s Smallest Indoor Cocktail Party by observing Ole Miss’ attempt to upset no. 7 Auburn, an effort that just took a turn for the worse with Brad Lester’s 6 yard TD run, giving the Tigers a 13-10 lead with 6:00 left in the 3rd quarter.
Despite the absence of starting QB Matt Ryan, No. 18 BC and understudy Chris Crane are having an easy time against Buffalo today, carrying a 24-0 advantage into the 2nd half. Who knew that JP Losman had maintained his college eligibility?
Oklahoma’s Allen Patrick isn’t gonna be confused with Adrian Peterson anytime soon, but he’s racked up more than 130 yards against Missouri today with a quarter left to be played and the Sooners leading, 24-10.
The AP’s Janie McCauley reports that Barry Bonds will file for free agency as soon as possible, which, under baseball’s new collective bargaining agreement, means today. No word on a Hank Aaron offer for the Braves yet.
The seven-time NL MVP’s $90 million, five-year contract is up with San Francisco. He had indicated he would like to return to the Giants, but that was before owner Peter Magowan said on Oct. 2 that if Bonds returns No. 25 will no longer be the centerpiece for this franchise.
“We haven’t engaged. I don’t know what their disposition is,” general manager Brian Sabean said after the team introduced Bruce Bochy as the club’s new manager Friday.
Bonds has spent 14 of his 21 big league seasons with San Francisco and helped the Giants draw 3 million fans in all seven seasons of their waterfront ballpark’s existence.
Bonds has 734 home runs, 22 from breaking Hank Aaron’s career record of 755. After missing all but 14 games in 2005 following three operations on his right knee, Bonds batted .270 with 26 homers and 77 RBIs in 367 at-bats in 2006.
“Obviously he has an affection for San Francisco and I think he would be back,” Giants first baseman Mark Sweeney said.
Bonds likely will be interested in gauging the interest of the Los Angeles Angels and Dodgers. He lives in Southern California in Beverly Hills.
(Angle can’t get enough of that wonderful Damien Duff)
Newcastle and Charlton Athletic are in the midst of a scoreless draw. Prior to the 2nd half kickoff, the shivering throng assembled at St. James Park were serenaded with….Kurt Angle’s ring entry music.
Martin Rowland’s 68th minute penalty spared QPR a defeat to Leicester City, today’s 1-1 draw, as the R’s cling to 19th place in the Championship, just 2 points above the drop zone.
The first round draw for the F.A. Cup has been announced and as tempting as the Torquay United v. Leatherhead tie might be, I’m planning on attending Brentford’s November 11 meeting with Doncaster. 5000 miles might seem an awfully long way to go to spend a cold afternoon at Griffin Park, but after the 2006 World Series, you’d be surprised what passes for entertainment.
Tennessee Titans cornerback Pacman Jones is under investigation for suspicion of misdemeanor assault after a Tennessee State student accused him of spitting in her face at a nightclub early Thursday, according to Metro Police.
Jones (above) is accused of spitting in the face of Krystal Webb, 21, after a verbal exchange at Club Mystic on Second Avenue North. The incident occurred at 1 a.m. Thursday during a private party.
Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron said Webb told police Jones tried to dance with one of her friends, and Webb pulled her away. Jones then cursed and yelled at Webb, walked away, then returned and yelled again, at which time he spit in Webb’s face.
Efforts to reach Webb on Friday were unsuccessful. Jones declined comment, directing questions to his attorneys. Worrick Robinson, one of Jones’ attorneys, said his client wasn’t involved.
“I think there may be a case of mistaken identity here,” Robinson said. “It is my understanding that there were some girls involved at a private party at Club Mystic. I think Pacman was there for maybe an hour, but it was early. The girls had been involved in a verbal altercation with someone, but I don’t think it was Pacman Jones. There was an allegation that someone had spit on one of the girls, and Pacman, he did not spit on anybody.”
Robinson said Jones left the club around midnight because “he needed to get home.”
“Pacman has been trying to avoid any instances or confrontation with anybody,” Robinson said. “Unfortunately he seems to be an easy target for people to approach and make allegations against.”
Sheffield United have dismissed reports suggesting Claude Davis (above) threatened his team-mate Ade Akinbiyi with a cut-throat razor, insisting that the dispute between the two players was a minor one and “the sort which occurs in dressing rooms throughout the land”.
It is understood that Davis, who joined United from Preston for £2.5m in the summer, had just finished shaving when an argument broke out, although the razor had been put away and was not used as a weapon, as had been suggested. Neil Warnock called the players together after learning of the disagreement but will not impose any fines.
“I’ve spoken to the two players involved and, while there were a few words exchanged, it is nothing that needed any sanction,” said the Bramall Lane manager. “They have shaken hands and the matter is over and done with.”
It is believed that the feud started after Akinbiyi ridiculed Davis’s performance at Goodison Park last Saturday when the central defender was sent off in the first half of a match which United lost 2-0. Davis is purported to have responded by making a remark about one of Akinbiyi’s parents, causing the row to escalate. United last night issued a statement in response to the allegations that a “flare-up” had occurred.
A statement from the club confirmed the investigation had been concluded and said: “The two players did have a difference of opinion, the sort which occurs in dressing rooms throughout the land. Contrary to reports, no razors or knives were involved, the pair have shaken hands and the disagreement has been resolved.”
Dave Scheid texted me just prior to the start, claiming “Muschnick’s gonna be pissed.” And indeed, he oughta be. Which reprobate decided to let Mike Doskocil throw out the first pitch and sing the National Anthem?
For the 2nd night in a row, Fox saw fit to give us a shot of Mookie Wilson in the stands. See, they do allow black people to attend consecutive games in St. Louis.
Other than Wevie Stonder I pitching the game of his life (again), St. Louis got key contributions (again) from the World’s Scrappiest Human and Yadier Molina. And they watched the Tigers throw the ball all over the park (again).
Nice series, Pudge. Ahead of Adam Wainright in the count, 2-0, and representing the tying run with one out in the 9th, Rodriguez was jammed on the next pitch for a harmless comebacker to the mound.
Subsequently, Wainright was ahead of Polanco, 1-2, and the latter worked out a walk, somehow managing to lay off a low 3-2 pitch. It was right about then I thought Dave Roberts was coming in to pinch run.
On the unlikely resurrection scale, Scott Rolen’s hitting over the past week, while not nearly as big a surprise as Jeff Weaver morphing into a postseason ace, was still an eyebrow lifter given the wrecked left shoulder and Tony La Russa’s determination to bench the St. Louis 3B if need be. I’d like to lower my eyebrows right now, but much like Eddie Money, I think my face is stuck.
The Used Car Salesman made certain to cite The World’s Scrappiest MVP for “playing the game the right way.” Indeed, there was no storyline during this World Series nearly as compelling as Eckstein — despite what Billy Ripken eloquently described as “a lack of talent” — hitting fly balls that might’ve otherwise been caught in normal conditions.
While I respect that David Eckstein is the sentimental MVP choice for everyone who believes in playing the game with limited skills the right way, surely John Mellancamp deserved some consideration.
Anyone know the Vegas odds on who is most likely to choke to death on their own vomit between now and Saturday, Wevie Stonder I or Scott Spiezio?
Bad enough that Fox has dyed-in-Red mouthpieces Buck and McCarver working the microphone, but was it really necessary for the network to have one of the Clydesdales serve as Mistress of Ceremonies after the game?
Congrats to the Cards, their greatest-fans-on-earth and their Genius Manager — the only skipper to win a World Series out of both leagues, other than Sparky Anderson. I just hope St. Louis shows a little more graciousness to the two men most responsible for this victory than they did towards the scout that signed Prince Albert.
In other words, when do Billy Wagner and Jeff Kellogg get measured for their World Series rings?
(Addendum : adding insult to injury, Rebuilding Year points out that Juan Encarnacion is now a two-time (Evening) Whirled Champ. Even worse, so is Braden Looper.)
So you want to know what life is like in the Utha Jazz locker room? Jarron Collins has a suggestion for you: Rent the movie “Babel,” the Brad Pitt/Cate Blanchett thriller.
I was talking to Andrei Kirilenko before Tuesday’s game — actually, it was a little disconcerting because he was lying on the floor doing situps at the time — and he was having trouble expressing what he meant. He was comparing the role of a team captain in Europe with his role as a team captain on the Jazz, but he couldn’t find the words to express himself.
But Collins, sitting nearby, could. He explained what Kirilenko was trying to say, while Kirilenko listened and said, yes, yes, that’s it. So I told Collins I was impressed with his ability to interpret, sort of, for his teammates.
That’s when Collins explained that the Jazz’s locker room reminded him of “Babel.” Without the gunfire, he means.
With a Croat (Gordan Giricek), Turk (Mehmet Okur) and a Russian (Kirilenko) on the roster, not to mention former teammates like Raul Lopez, Sasha Pavlovic and Carlos Arroyo, “there’s a lot of miscommunication sometimes, a lot of things that aren’t quite understood. Because even though everyone speaks English well, there are a lot of subtleties that get missed.”
“If Gary Sheffield is upset about the Yankees exercising their $12 million option on his contract in 2007,” writes the Rocky Mountain News’ Tracy Ringolsby, “the target of his anger should be the agent who negotiated the deal, not the Yankees.”
Sheff is a heck of a hitter and his anger is what drives him. But he has one option: Sit out the season, forfeit $13 million and try and make a comeback at age 39 after what would essentially be two years out of baseball. Good luck with that.
A 4-1, Game 5 victory over the Chunichi Dragons brought the Nippon Ham Fighters their first Japan Series title in 44 years. More crucially, it marked the end of Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s playing career. Shinjo denies he’s considering a move towards acting or politics, though presumably, the modeling career is still a going concern.
The Mets’ John Maine has been added to the squad of MLB All-Stars heading for an exhibition tour of Japan next month. While Maine is probably not a household name just yet, his Q rating outside of the US might improve if he can learn to mimmick Shinjo’s subtle aesthetic.
“I just wish he [Borat] had chosen a fictional country because he has it very wrong. He is particularly wrong when it comes to the way they treat their women. As far as I can see, women have equal status in Kazakhstan and there are many women in senior positions.”
Public figures, major and minor league, are supposedly fair game for this kind of thing, but I can’t help but wonder how credible the likes of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley would’ve been had we known way-too-much about their sex lives.
