Thought there’s still plenty of conference play to go, for a Texas team starting 4 freshman to be tied for the Big 12 lead is no small accomplishment. Then again, D.J. Augustine and Kevin Durant are no ordinary freshman, and the latter was nothing short of brilliant Wednesday night, scoring 37 points and collecting an eye-popping 23 rebounds. ESPN2’s broadcast crew were effusive in their praise of Durant, calling his performance “the finest in the short history of the Big 12″. Not very big fans of “Knight School”, I suppose.
While No. 3 North Carolina routed Miami and No.1 Florida disposed of Buster Olney University, No. 2 Wisconsin suffered their 2nd loss of the season, a 71-66 defeat at Indiana. Hoosiers G A.J. Ratliff scored 20 points off the bench, and D.J. White (above) had 16, only to be torn limb from limb by an overzealous mob at the buzzer.
Michael David Smith cites the Buckeyes’ Mike Conley Jr. as the best freshman in the country. Well, other than Kevin Durant and Ohio State teammate Gred Oden. Ohio State took their time putting away Purdue tonight, but eventually prevailed, 78-60, with Conley scoring 17 and dishing out 5 assists.
Not only has Bryon Crawford weighed in today on Brandy’s recent traffic fatality (”I figured she might get away with a few hundred thousand in an out of court settlement, since Matthew Broderick once killed way more than two people and only had to pay to have the glass put back in a phone booth,”) but he’s got a (vaguely) sportsy entry that puts imposters to shame.
You’ll recall that Jay-Z is the black cosigner of the group that owns the New Jersey Nets, led by billionaire financier Bruce Ratner. They’re planning on moving the team from wherever it is in New Jersey to a new stadium in Jay-Z’s hometown of Brooklyn.
The other day, it was announced that a British bank named Barclays would pay $400 million dollars for the naming rights to the stadium.As it turns out, this Barclays has somehow managed to be involved in damn near every great crime that’s happened in the past few hundred years (other than the necessary eradication of the Native American Indians). This story in some shit called The Brooklyn Paper links them to everything from the slave trade, to the Holocaust, to Apartheid in South Africa, which is especially ironic when you consider that the two main figures in this deal are a black guy and a Jew. Damn.
Bol Says: Why not just name the place for Josef Mengele and be done with it?
“We have a lot of theme parties where you dress up and have fun. We decided we’d have a “gangsta” party for fun. You know, the gangsta’s like the hip hop culture. So we dressed up. We did not know it would offend so many people…and we did. We feel so bad about it. We realize we can’t begin to apologize to all the people we offended.” – From WYFF.com, link swiped from Sports On My Mind.
Given that the persons responsible for said party might face considerable ridicule, if not difficulty finding employment in the future, I’d like to offer just a bit of consolation : there’s always pseudonymous sports blogging.
Thank you, Max Burke, for passing along a link to the following item from Network World’s Paul McNamara that was posted earlier today.
Did I stumble into a baseball card show? Or a pharmaceutical industry convention?
Don’t know how else to explain what I am seeing as I type here at DEMO 07: Barry Bonds — the Barry Bonds, baseball’s most controversial/reviled figure — is up on stage (in front of an utterly empty show hall) taking some publicity pictures. Bonds will be back on stage late this afternoon with his Web designer (just another member the entourage, I suppose) and a company called Bling Software. Bling is unveiling an AJAX-based Web client for mobile handsets.
Yikes! Who would imagine that one of the poster children for steroid abuse in baseball would be up there making a pitch instead of hitting one.
The suspicious devices which forced bomb units to scramble across Boston today were actually magnetic lights that are part of a marketing campaign for a television cartoon.
The reports forced the temporary shutdowns of Interstate 93 out of the city, a key inbound roadway, a bridge between Boston and Cambridge, and a portion of the Charles River but were quickly determined not to be explosive.
“It’s a hoax — and it’s not funny,” Gov. Deval Patrick said.
All of the devices are magnetic lights which resemble a character on the show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, on Turner Broadcasting’s Cartoon Network.
WBZ has obtained a statement from Turner Broadcasting:
“The “packages” in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim’s animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they mistakenly thought to pose any danger.”
A total of nine devices were found in Boston and Somerville.
The first device was found at an MBTA subway and bus station located under Interstate 93 on Wednesday morning. The device was detonated and determined to be harmless, but as a precaution the station and the interstate shut down temporarily.
Then, around 1 p.m., four calls came into Boston Police reporting suspicious devices at the Boston University Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge, which both span the Charles River, and the corner of Stuart and Columbus Streets and at the Tufts-New England Medical Center.
Another device was found in Somerville under the McGrath Highway Bridge.
The FBI is assisting Boston police in the investigation. F-B-I spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz says the investigation remains “fluid.” She stresses the devices are NOT related to terrorism.
The trailer for the forthcoming “Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie For Theatres” can be found here. The casting of Neil Peart does bring to mind the question, “what about the voice of Geddy Lee?” but I’ll try to suspend cynicism, just this once.
I’ll let you decide for yourself whether or not ‘Bama’s new head coach utters the phrase “coonass.” (mp3 audio from Pro Football Talk) But Sean Salisbury would like you to remember this talking-into-a-microphone stuff is much harder than it looks.
9.38am: According to one of the papers, Javier Mascherano (above) may not be the only player to leave West Ham today. The Daily Mail reveals that Teddy Sheringham, 153, could be on the way back to his old stomping ground White Hart Lane, assuming Spurs can offload Mido on loan to Celta Vigo. Then again, the same paper also reveals that most seahorses are promiscuous bisexuals (no, really), apart from the British spiny seahorse which remains faithful to its partner. Do you believe them?
9.44am: “What possible reason can there be for ignoring rules which presumably have some reason and thought behind them so Mascherano can move to Liverpool?” enquires Jamie Perry in Melbourne. “There are no mitigating circumstances other than he’s miserable, are there?” Well there’s that, the famous Scouse wit, 50 years of Anfield tradition and the fact that Fifa rules seem to be more flexible than a Russian gymnast, Jamie. Apparently the official Fifa party line is something to do with the fact that the English and Brazilian leagues do not run parallel.
9.50am: It’s not difficult to see why Liverpool want to sign Javier Mascherano. He’s made seven appearances for the Hammers, against Palermo (twice), Newcastle, Man City, Portsmouth, Tottenham and Everton. West Ham were beaten in every match.
They’re deadlocked at 0-0 (2-2 agg.) after 20 minutes in the North London Worthless Cup Semi-Final. If I’m not the only person on earth watching the match while listening to Dan Patrick argue with Marshall Faulk on the radio, well, I oughta be.
The Offside links to a story in which Paul Gascoigne extolls the virtues of bargain hunting in Ladbroke Grove’s thrift stores. At least one of those establishments took possession of various moth-eaten bits of my old wardrobe a couple of years ago….so if anyone spots Gazza staggering around Notting Hill Gate wearing a Mets 1999 NL Wild Card t-shirt, well, now you know the deal.
Brendan Flynn writes with a story concerning a near-miss in America’s creepiest public oedipal drama not involving the White House:
A potentially compelling story line of boxing’s biggest fight of the year has been squashed. Golden Boy promotions announced Freddie Roach will likely train Oscar De La Hoya for his upcoming (on May 5) bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (above) Yes, that same Freddie Roach who’s been guiding James Toney on his bloated heavyweight travails. Oscar has been trained by Floyd Jr.’s father for his past 9 fights. Mayweather Sr. promised he was the only guy who could provide a strategy to dismantle his son and was asking $2 million to train De La Hoya for the fight. To quote Don King, “Only In America.” But alas boxing, a sport basically on life support, blew it again when it came to creating intrigue. It likely won’t matter too much as Floyd Jr.(37-0), unquestionably boxing’s best pound for pound, and De La Hoya, boxing’s best ppv attraction, will still be the must see fight of the decade–a depressing thought in and of itself.
More detail from the worldwide leader here. Apparently this fight set a record for gate revenue by bringing in $19 million after selling out in three hours. Which is impressive, sure, but the Arcade Fire sold out their five New York City shows in 8 minutes a few weeks ago. My point being that the people at Merge, rather than De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, probably should’ve been promoting this one.
Earlier this year, the team had a breakfast meeting at the hotel on the road. Chris Wilcox showed up in a robe, so Bob Hill fined him — just for being ridiculous. At a team meeting yesterday, Sene shows up in baggy shorts, a button-up shirt buttoned all the way to the neck, a gold chain and flip flops. Wilcox turns to Hill and says, “If I got fined for the robe, he should get fined for that outfit.” Hill made Sene stand up in front of the team but did not fine him. Embarrassment may have been punishment enough.
I asked Bob if the D-League is a guard-oriented league. He said he asked Sene if they had any plays for him. Sene told him they had one play for him, ran it the first game he played and did not run it again the rest of the time he played there. I guess that means it’s a guard-oriented league.
Having recently signed a monster pact with the Phillies, Chase Utley might want to think about throwing a bone or two in the direction of a certain ex-Iggle. From the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jim Salisbury.
Chase Utley was in town yesterday, and he brought the best catch he ever made with him – his new bride,
Jennifer.
They met as undergrads at UCLA. Freddie Mitchell (above) introduced them.
Yes, that Freddie Mitchell.
“It was Valentine’s Day 2000,” Jennifer explained on the day her man passed his physical and officially signed a seven-year, $85 million contract with the Phillies.
Mitchell, Utley and Jennifer Cooper were all in the same social policy class. In addition to catching passes for the Bruins’ football team, Mitchell, who later became a receiver and cartoon character with the Eagles, played a little baseball with Utley at UCLA.
After class that day, Utley pointed to Cooper and said he’d like to meet her.
“Oh, I know her,” Mitchell said with his typical I-just-want-to-thank-my-hands-for-being-so-great modesty.
Mitchell made the introduction – then hit up Jennifer for a ride home. Before long, Utley had a date with Ms. Cooper, and he even managed to get a second one after calling her Jessica on their first night out.
Utley and Jess… um… Jennifer became Mr. and Mrs. two weekends ago near her native San Francisco. hat was the same weekend his new deal with the Phillies was ironed out.
In other matrimonial news, congratulations to Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, who somehow managed to meet a girl without Freddie Mitchell’s assistance, and marry her without any press hoopla. ‘Tis a shame the blessed event couldn’t have coincided with National Gorilla Suit Day.
Barry Bonds gave the San Francisco Giants the right to terminate his $15.8 million, one-year contract if he is indicted.
The unusual provision could set off a legal test between the rights in an individual player’s contract and rights under the union’s collective bargaining agreement. The language, included in the deal that was completed Monday night, is designed by the team to protect itself in case Bonds is charged in the federal government’s steroids investigation.
Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, is in a California federal prison because he has refused to testify whether Bonds committed perjury when he told a 2003 grand jury he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.
Complicating matters, the version of Bonds’ contract that was sent to the commissioner’s office by the Giants was not approved, Bonds’ agent, Jeff Borris, said late Tuesday. Borris said the team was redrafting the agreement to address the provisions in question and sending him a revised version by express mail for Bonds to review and sign. Borris wouldn’t specify what was at issue.
As part of the agreement, if Bonds is indicted the Giants have the right to terminate it under two sections of the Uniform Player Contract, a baseball executive said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t announce that detail.
Under 7(b)(1), a team may terminate a contract if the player shall “fail, refuse or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship or to keep himself in first-class physical condition or to obey the club’s training rules.”
Section 7(b)(3) gives the team the right to end the deal if a player shall “fail, refuse or neglect to render his services hereunder or in any manner materially breach this contract.”
In addition, the Giants have the less drastic option of converting Bonds’ deal to nonguaranteed, the baseball executive said. Players with nonguaranteed contracts can be released before opening day for 30 or 45 days’ termination pay, depending on the timing.
With HR no. 756 firmly in his sights, I can’t imagine what would compell the Sultan Of Surly to fail, refuse or neglect to render his services.
On the other hand, it’s hard to hit while wearing handcuffs.
Though an 8 point lead with 2 minutes left turned into a mere 2 point advantage in the closing seconds, the Knicks’ Eddy Curry and Channing Frye hit some key free throws to ice tonight’s 99-94 win, the third straight loss for the Kobe-less Lakers. The Zen Master moaned about Bryant’s suspension before the game, and took special care to compare the accidental smack of Manu with “Raja Bell kicking a guy when he’s down.”
Though Eddy Curry’s 27 points led all scorers are the Garden Wednesday, the much maligned Jared Jeffries (above) had a breakout performance (14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks) at both ends of the floor. Jeffries fed Curry with a no-look, behind the back pass in the third quarter that the Knicks center might’ve been the last guy in the building to see. In the game’s final moments, Jeffries blocked a Brian Cook jumper that would’ve narrowed the gap to 2 points, and he lost a contact lens in the process.
The ever polite David Lee was the only uniformed member of the club to get down on the floor and look for it. This extra-effort-off-the-bench stuff is a little too much sometimes.
If Andrew Bynum’s showing against Curry tonight is any indication, Mark Aguirre might be a more proficient tutor of big men than Kareem.
Steve Somers has described his pronounciation problems with Smush Parker’s first name as “the worst mistake in my entire career.” This from a guy who once went on MTV and took credit for breaking Huey Lewis.
After negotiating a buyout with the Grizzlies, Eddie Jones is expected to sign with Miami later this week. There’s no followup story about an Antoine Walker buyout, but if you’re a Miami fan, you can always dream.
….because even if Tank Johnson were a tree, I wouldn’t care which kind. Tuesday’s day late and a dollar short edition of the Salisbury Stake Thru My Heart includes the following items :
1) Gannett Newspapers’ Craig Carton wrote yesterday, “We have to endure another week of the posturing and “Look at me yell and scream with authority about how much I know about the NFL.” It’s gotten so bad I can’t even watch ESPN anymore if Sean Salisbury is even mentioned. I played golf with Sean in Denver and he yelled at me for taking a one-inch gimme putt, quoting the integrity of the game or some other rule infraction nonsense. I didn’t like him then, and I like him less now.”
This isn’t quite news, but I’m always thrilled when someone other than a sportsblogger interrupts normal programing to take a gratuitious shot at someone more successful for personal reasons.
2) Dumptruck’s Seth Tiven alerts Bedazzled to a nasty bit of anti-semitism in the world of board games. Which is good, because I hear Sean Salisbury’s getting weary playing tennis on the Wii.
3) The spendiferous Sean Salisbury Online features an “NFL Women’s Page” (”Women enjoy playing all types of sports and enjoy being fans of many sports that they may never have played; such as football. Research shows that women would enjoy football games even more if they knew more about the rules and nuances of the game.”) Oh, you lucky, lucky ladies.
Other than the odd box score or hunting for video highlights, I don’t spend a ton of time purusing NBA.com. And perhaps that’s my loss, because had I not stumbled across the Association’s inhouse site earlier today, I would probably have forgotten to TiVo tonight’s episode of “Tuesday Night With Amhad”. Not only is the legendary Michael Jordan ass-licker Vikings receiver hosting the shy and retiring Damon Jones tonight, but he’ll also be joined by Darvin Ham. Who may or may not be ready to dish the dirt on the arson charges his mother’s facing.
Elsewhere on NBA.com, haiku specialist Flea blames himself for the Lakers’ recent losses to Charlotte and San Antonio (it seems the bassist recently shared a moment or two with Sean May and Emeka Okafor, insisting “meeting those guys was such a great experience,”) but takes exception to the notion there are any gimmes in the NBA.
“Denial and arrogance are not the stones of which a mighty castle is built,” proclaims Flea. You know, when Danny Fortson eventually beats Peter Vescey to death, the Post might have a lead on a new “Hoops Du Jour” author.
High school wrestling has been suspended for eight days because of a skin-infection outbreak, the Minnesota State High School league said Tuesday.
At least 24 cases of Herpes Gladiatorum have been confirmed. Officials first became aware of the outbreak after a tournament in Rochester in December. Ten teams have reported wrestlers with skin lesions involving the face, head or neck since then.
“I think it’s reasonable to suspend and stop skin to skin transmission,” said Leslie Baken, an infectious disease doctor at Park Nicollet Medical Center. “This will give those with active lesions time to heal, breaking the cycle of transmission.”
Baken said the skin infection — not to be confused with the more dangerous genital herpes — could be spread by skin contact. Oral secretions can penetrate the mucus membrane and get beneath the skin through cuts, scrapes and the seemingly benign sticking hands in one’s mouth.
Though it’s a common infection, stopping its spread is important because “once you have it, you have it for life,” she said.
The Guillotine, a wrestling newspaper, has a website with a chat site. At 10:30 a.m. the first post appeared with a rumor that a wrestling shutout was coming.
A half-hour later the MSHSL made an official announcement on its website and The Guillotine’s chat site went crazy: 180 posts, nearly 11,363 views by 2 p.m.
“There is a lot of interest in how this is gong to play out,” said Jeff Beshey, owner of The Guillotine. “A lot of people are wondering people if their events going to be rescheduled.”
(Sosa, far left, assures Rangers executives he’s steroid free)
In accepting a $500K one-year deal (should he make the team), Sammy Sosa addressed the steroid issue head-on with reporters and Texas Rangers executives yesterday by, a) not showing up personally for his own press conference to answer questions, b) demanding questioners prove it, and c) not acknowledging that Ranger fans have legit questions. All of which means, imo, that a former Chicago Cub remains the only steroid-free single season home run king in baseball.
When Sosa last played in 2005, the seven-time All-Star hit .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs in 102 games for Baltimore. During spring training that year, Sosa was one of several players who testified before a congressional committee looking into steroid use in professional baseball.
”There’s a lot of speculation, but no evidence,” Sosa said.
He doesn’t think it’s his job to prove he accumulated his statistics without performance-enhancing substances.
”I am not going to go to every fan’s home and knock on the door and say to them: ’Believe in me,”’ he said. ”This is not my style.”
Regardless of your political leanings, realists amongst know all too well that the race for the White House often rests on something as flimsy as the suitability of a candidate’s spouse. Byron Crawford has the situation so well in hand, I might just let him do my voting for me next time around.
One of the main things the Bush Administration has been successful at is keeping Laura “Pickles” Bush out of the spotlight. Every once in a while you might see her getting off of Air Force One or walking across the White House lawn, but that’s about it.
Hence you’d never know that she used to deal weed when she was in college, that she once killed somebody, or that she smokes squares in the White House – all of which, I’ll have you know, are true.
Of course it’s much more difficult when your wife’s flaws are right out there in the open, which is the case with John Edwards. During the last election, I remember people would wonder: how could a man become a multi-millionaire trial lawyer, get elected to the Senate, finally be selected to run for Vice President, and still not be able to keep his wife in decent shape?
The situation is obviously different with Hillary Clinton, since she’s the one running for president. Some have suggested that the fact that she was able to stand by Bill when he was getting his knob shined left and right is a sign of personal strength, but you have to wonder: how come she wasn’t down on her knees that entire time? If Hillary Clinton can’t take care of her own family, why should we trust her to take care of the entire country?
To date, we don’t know too much about Barack Obama’s wife Michelle. Obviously it was a stroke of genius on his part, at least politically, that he went and got him an actual black woman, since his own racial identity is pretty damn questionable. But of course that can also be a liability. We already know she likes to refer to him as “my baby’s daddy.” How long until Karl Rove or somebody figures out that there’s an actual song called “My Baby’s Daddy?” We could be hearing that shit all next year.
Congrats to the Daily Texan’s Cody Hale, a previously unheralded collegiate satirist who almost tricked me into thinking he seriously believes there’s any chance whatsoever the Longhorns’ Kevin Durant isn’t leaving school in June.
If Durant had to make up his mind right now about whether or not he wanted to leave college for the NBA, the answer might not be as simple as most expect.
Even Texas’ coach Rick Barnes feels that way. Barnes believes that if the season were to end today, Durant would have a hard time hanging up his Texas jersey. He might want to stay around for another season.
Now, I already know what you’re thinking. We hear stuff like this all the time at this point in the season, because most players haven’t seriously considered their options just yet.
One of the special things about Durant is that he only cares about getting better on both ends of the court. He knows the money is there waiting for him, whenever he decides to leave college. He also knows that Barnes and his staff can help him become an even better basketball player as he spends more time at Texas.
So, while it’s really too early to tell whether or not Durant will stay in college, don’t be too surprised if at the end of this season he comes back for his sophomore year.
The Knicks will dodge the bullet that is Kobe Bryant this evening, as the Lakers’ no. 8 no. 24 was suspended for one game for striking Manu Ginobili in the face this past Sunday evening. I don’t know if Stu Jackson cited Kobe because he only hit Ginobili once, but you can safely assume Lamar Odom will do most of the heavy lifting at MSG tonight.
The New York Post’s Peter Vescey — along with summarizing the competition to acquire Memphis’ Pau Gasol — drops the following gems in his Tuesday column.
Emma Faust Tillman, the world’s oldest known living person, died Sunday in Connecticut at 114. To give you an idea how long she lived, Ms. Tillman was alive when Benjamin Harrison was in the White House and the Knicks were under the salary cap.
That reminds me – Dikembe Mutombo, the NBA’s oldest (reputedly June 25, ‘66) active player, is fed up with our obsession about his age. I’ll never reference it again – after today. How old is Mutombo, you ask? Older than the hospital he was born in.
(our Katie tells a penniless Gallagher lookalike where to get off)
Never let it be said the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman is afraid to tackle the biggest names in the world of infotainment, even if it means he runs the risk of morphing into Phil Mushnick before our very eyes.
The Super Bowl is a cross between a promotional weapon and a flea market, albeit an electronic one. The inescapable fact is that reality really has no place in Miami for the rest of the week.
Especially when it comes to television.
Take CBS’ pregame show. According to the network, “Evening News” anchor Katie Couric will be doing a pregame feature. I have no idea what this feature will be about. Still, I can pretty much guarantee what it won’t be about: Any topic, no matter how reality-based, casting aspersions on the National Football League and its Happy Fizzies Party.
CBS already has proven it is more than willing to go in the tank for the league. Who can forget that Twinkie Munch CBS’ “The NFL Today” crew did with the NFL’s marquee steroid abuser Shawne Merriman? Neither James Brown, Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe nor Boomer Esiason asked Merriman about his four-game steroid suspension.
It’s doubtful the subject of Couric’s highly anticipated feature will be Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson. In order to travel to Miami, Johnson had to get permission from Cook County Judge John Moran. In case you forgot, Johnson is awaiting trial on gun possession charges.
Perhaps Couric also will steer clear of doing her feature on Bears cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. Last April 23, according to a police report, Manning and a couple of his former UCLA teamates went into a Denny’s restaurant in L.A. and exchanged words with a student, Soroush Sabzi.
Manning allegedly called Sabzi “an ugly — Jew” and used a homosexual slur. Sabzi asked Manning and his pals to leave him alone. Instead, they pummeled him, basically leaving Sabzi unconscious.
Here are some other things that Couric, and CBS, won’t touch.
* – A look at former players now facing severe playing-related disabilities who cannot get help from either the league or the NFL Players Association, because of severe problems with the league’s pension and disability program. An interview with a former Super Bowl participant strung out on Vicodin ain’t a sight TV wants to serve up with your beer, pizza and box pools.
* – A look at Super Bowl gambling. Couric could find some poor schnook whose life was ruined because of an addiction to football gambling. Gee, you think someone like that actually exists?
See, for CBS and Couric, who has dealt with many serious topics during her career, Sunday is more about giving the star anchor a huge viewer platform that might entice a few more eyeballs to watch her daily newscast, which trails both NBC and ABC in the ratings race.
What better place than the Super Bowl for Couric to give her sales pitch?
Though I think Raissman is mostly correct about the fluffy nature of the networks’ pregame shows, there’s something a tad hysterical about attacking CBS for an SB XLI preview none of us have actually seen.
Bob Drinan, a U.S. Congressman from 1971-1981 passed away on Sunday at the age of 86. The career of the Massachusetts Democrat wasn’t merely notable for his having been the first Roman Catholic priest to serve in Congress, but rather for his bold stance on many of the era’s most contentious issues, often in stark contrast to his church’s position.
Drinan was one of the Vietnam War’s harshest critics, and the former Boston College law school dean was a prominent thorn in the side of Richard Nixon throughout the Trickster’s 2nd term. Both before and after his tenure in the House, Drinan was a staunch abortion rights advocate, which might’ve had something to do with Pope John Paul II’s 1980 decree that priests must abstain from electoral politics.
In a measure of how much the intersection of politics and religion has changed, Drinan had noted that Nancy Pelosi is the first “mom” to become Speaker of the House. The fact that she is also Catholic was a footnote. And nobody was checking with the Vatican to see if it was OK, least of all Drinan. If Rome thought this progressive priest would be silenced once he left Congress, they were mistaken. If anything, he expanded his repertoire of causes, writing extensively and lecturing about everything from his moderate views on abortion and birth control to protecting the rights of political prisoners, even serving for a time as president of the Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal interest group.
Drinan was the first member of Congress to call for President Nixon’s impeachment. It was not the crimes associated with Watergate that drove Drinan to advocate what initially seemed like drastic action, it was Nixon’s widening of the war into Cambodia without congressional authorization. “Can we be silent about this flagrant violation of the Constitution?” he asked. “Can we impeach a president for concealing a burglary but not for concealing a massive bombing?”
After an NHL All-Star Game that garnered more publicity over most Americans not knowing who or what the Versus channel is (am I the only person who’d hoped for a 24-7 mix of Baluyut family programming?), Chris at Goonblog doesn’t mince words in accusing Gary Bettman (above) of “systematically ruining the Greatest Game On Earth.” Damning stuff, as I was under the impression he was fucking with hockey, too.
Goals are down almost two goals from last season. Listen, I don’t want to see a 6-5 shootout every night. I like a hard fought game. The boys have figured out how to play in the new rules, and coaches have learned to coach in the new rules. It wouldn’t be a bad thing if there were more up and down hard hitting 2-1 games out there. You know, Old Time Hockey. YGTBSMT says there is a correlation between the drop in attendance, and the 1.6 less goals per game than last year. I don’t see it that way. Look, the honeymoon is over. People came back in droves last year because they missed the game. I think they are staying away in droves this year because the new NHL as it turns out isn’t all that interesting. People would rather have the ability to switch channels during a 7-6 parade to the penalty box new NHL game as opposed to paying a hundo for a decent seat, $25.00 to park, and whatever else to eat and drink.
The other issue in the NHL the YGTBSMT is the rise in head shots, and hard checks in open ice. So, let me get this straight. Guys aren’t allowed to hold anyone up coming out of the zone anymore, and there is virtually no hitting along the boards in the No Hitting League. So when guys get a head of steam coming out with their heads down, or looking back for a pass they get creamed by hard hitting defensemen there is an outcry against this sort of behavior? This is a violent game played by violent men correct? What did they think was going to happen when they took the physical slow up style out? Guys getting creamed never learned to play with their heads up. Ask Eric Lindros. He never had to learn to play with his head up because he was always so much bigger than everyone else. The kids playing now have played the North American style for a long time. To change to a more European style with the speed and less stick fouls is a big adjustment to a lot of these guys. I think the big hitters in the league like Dion Phaneuf should be allowed to play their game as much as the next guy. Hey, keep your head up.
In homage to Chris’ trenchant analysis, here’s some stock footage of P.J. Stock :
Popjocks’ Sean Leahy calls the above sign, “The Best Fan Request Ever”. Who knew Sidney Wicks had so many young fans in Pittsburgh?
When Andrei Kirilenko met with Jazz coaches 10 days ago to discuss his rapidly diminishing affect on games, it was made clear to him what a bad signal he was sending by reading paperbacks at his locker for more than an hour while his teammates are out on the court, warming up. The Russian agreed to stop, and he now spends several more minutes on the floor, shooting around. But like most veterans, he returns to the locker room at least an hour before gametime.
There isn’t much to do for the next 30 minutes, but Kirilenko is careful not to pull out one of his novels, which he devours at an astonishing rate. And while he seems genuinely willing to go along with the book ban, he also clearly believes it’s a little silly. “Books are bad, headphones are good,” is all he would say when I asked him about it, a reference to some of his teammates who listen to music while waiting for gametime.
I’ve been watching Kirilenko’s time-killing with some amusement for the past week, because he hasn’t settled into a new routine yet, he has the nervous energy of a five-year-old, and without those Russian-language novels, he’s obviously not sure what to do with himself.
Randy Whitman’s 2nd win as T-Wolves head coach could hardly have been bigger, a 121-112 decision that put an end to Phoenix’s 17 game winning streak, the longest in the Association this year. Kevin Garnett scored 44 points and collected 11 rebounds, while the enigmatic Ricky Davis chipped in with 17 points and 8 assists.
The games that stand out are Jan. 15 against the Charlotte Bobcats, Jan. 22 at Miami and Sunday’s loss here to the Bucks. Gotta have ‘em. Three killer losses that will come back to haunt you when the playoff standings are settled.
In each game the Knicks had far more talent on the floor, most especially in Miami, when Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal were out. But in each game the Knicks defense was shredded by high screens that freed up guards to make open shots or blow-by for layps. Matt Carroll. Jason Kapono. Mo Williams. Not exactly the Big Three.
I asked Isiah Thomas about his team’s defense performance, especially against the screens. The was I see it, the Knicks’ interior defenders do a poor job “showing” on the screens to make the guards pause long enough for the Knick guard to get through the screen and recover.
The times the opposing guard does penetrate, another thing I noticed was the Knick bigs rarely, if ever, use a hard foul. Jerome James was in the game early against the Bucks and he actually tried to avoid making contact with Williams as he drove to the basket. This was minutes after he flexed his massive biceps to me and said, “It’s been banned by the NBA. Can’t use ‘em anymore.”
Jerome, you have six, baby. Six fouls. And they’re not there to save up for another night.
Life in Utah isn’t just about being married to Jeanne Tripplehorn and Chloe Sevingy at the same time. If you’re a soccer fan, it means being fucked by the same guy that swapped Patrick Ewing’s expiring deal for Glen Rice, Luc Longley and Travis Knight. The Offside links to a report today claiming Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts is threatening to sell or move the club following RSL’s inability to obtain public financing for a new stadium.
Keep in mind that Real Salt Lake — cited today for their financial inviability by the Debt Review Committee of Sandy County, have been an SLC fixture for all of, uh, two years.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on legal matters, but if you’re gonna sue The Sun for calling you a prostitute, you’d probably have a stronger case if you weren’t in fact, a prostitute.
if you thought the fourth round was a disappointment, you ain’t seen nothing yet. For in today’s last 16 draw, the big three were all given home ties, while the potential giantkillers – the Blackpools and Bristol Citys of this world – were either handed the impossible (Chelsea away) or the mundane (West Brom at home). The fact that the tie of the fifth round is between Tottenham’s trip to Fulham, Arsenal or Bolton v Blackeye Rovers, or the MU Rowdies v Reading says it all. In fact the only entertainment of any kind generated by the draw was the sight of Derby County’s players making no attempt whatsoever to hide their disgust upon learning their reward for getting into the fifth round would be a trip to Plymouth.
The only manager to bother commenting on the draw was Preston boss Paul Simpson, whose club have been paired with Manchester City. “It’s a fantastic draw for us,” he chortled. “I have wonderful memories of my time at Man City and we hope we’ll get a full house at Deepdale for it.” Which would be a rare thing indeed, of course. Our solution? Give the final Big Cup place to the FA Cup winners. Change the incentives for winning it and, at a stroke, the competition would matter – really matter – again. And the BBC might finally start getting its money’s worth too.
(desperate to restructure, FitzSimons offers all Trib assets)
Crain’s Chicago Business reports today that the Chicago Cubs, just last May deemed by Tribco an American institution Not For Sale, is now on the block. For those out there who like to bash corporate America as soulless two-faced liars who’ll say anything o make money and put greed before the national good — well, yeah, but today’s soulless about face works for me. The Chicago Tribune said the company’s newspapers may go private, with its television stations and possibly the Cubs spun off. A proposal from Washington, D.C.-based private-equity firm Carlyle Group to purchase the television stations for more than $4 billion still stands.
Also, this week’s Cubs Mailbag includes Cub fan Adrian B of Green Bay already in line for World Series tickets, another fan demanding a loyalty oath from Jacque Jones, another who named her black cat “Wrigley,” but a surprising admission from MLB’s Carrie Muskat in that there’s only one reason Sosa isn’t on the Cubs today. Q: Other than the fact that Sammy Sosa and Cubs general manager Jim Hendry don’t get along, wouldn’t picking up Sammy have been better than Floyd? I mean, Sosa has said he feels like he’s in better shape than ever before, making me think he would be better to play right or left. What would you say?
– Jeremy C., Chicago
A: The Cubs wanted help in the form of a left-handed hitter. Sosa is a right-handed hitter.
The mother of four of former NBA star Latrell Sprewell’s children sued him for $200 million Monday, alleging Sprewell broke their long-term cohabitation deal and roughed her up last month in their Westchester County home.
Candace Cabbil brought the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, saying Sprewell recently ended the steady living arrangement that developed after they met in 1989 when both attended the University of Alabama.
The lawsuit says that on Sept. 8, Sprewell broke his promise to share his life, and his fortune, with Cabbil when he entered their Purchase, N.Y., home and announced they needed “to end this fake” relationship.
Sprewell started giving Cabbil less money than usual for household expenses and for their children, ages 3, 7, 8 and 11, and made himself scarce when she tried to find him, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit said Cabbil also was the guardian for a 16-year-old child Sprewell fathered with another woman.
It alleges that, in December, Sprewell entered their home, chased Cabbil around and smacked her hand to prevent her from trying to use a cell phone to call police. Then he allegedly grabbed her and dragged her down a flight of stairs by her feet, causing her physical and emotional injury.
Though there’s nothing funny about the domestic abuse accusations, surely Ms. Cabbill and her attorneys are well aware of just how seriously Mr. Sprewell takes the matter of providing for his children.
(Grandpa Al Davis, perhaps the ultimate roommate?) The San Siro of Northern California? The SF Chronicle’s Philip Matier and Andrew Ross report there’s been talks between the 49ers and Raiders about occupying a new stadium together.
The stadium could very well could be in Santa Clara, where the Niners are pursuing new digs next to Great America.
Wild as it may sound, the economics for a Forty-Raider stadium just could make sense for both teams.
For starters, the 49ers — after nearly 10 years of trying — still haven’t found a stadium plan that pencils out financially given that football is only played about 10 times a year.
Hooking up with the Raiders for a stadium would instantly double the usage and could make financial sense.
Plus, the teams could get a big boost from the National Football League, which this past season agreed to kick in $300 million to the New York Giants and Jets to build a joint stadium at New Jersey’s Meadowlands.
The thinking goes that if the Niners and Raiders could get a similar handout from the NFL — and that’s still a big if — it would go a long way to helping them get over the stadium money hump.
As for the Raiders, their current 16-year-lease at the remodeled Oakland Coliseum is set to expire in four years — or about the time the Niners hope to have a new stadium built.
The Raiders, despite upgraded football digs, are still unhappy about playing in Oakland — but currently have few real prospects for moving out of the area again.
What’s more, owner Al Davis — who only recently was forced to spend a bundle to buy out the unhappy heirs of a silent partner — doesn’t have the cash to build a stadium on his own, sources say. And given his past battles with the NFL, he doesn’t appear to have many friends in the league looking to do him any big favors.
There’s a non-story in Mount Prospect, IL about a local Costo charging $25 for William “Refrigerator” Perry autographs, along with the stipluation the Fridge would only sign items purchased at Costco. For some reason, those who mourn the passing of poor, sweet Barbaro are considered worthy of mockery, but persons who leave the house in 2007 to meet William Perry deserve empathy?
It is truly a shame the Giants kissed and made up with their bitchy disciplinarian coach, because if ever there were a job opening with Doug Niedermyer Col. Coughlin’s name written all over it, this would be the one.
While Tawanna Iverson has accompanied her husband, Allen, to Denver, where the Sixers star was recently traded, sources tell us that Tawanna has recently met with at least one Philadelphia divorce attorney.
Attorney Albert Momjian said Thursday that he was “not in a position to discuss” whether he had met with or been retained by Tawanna. No divorce papers have been filed by Mrs. Iverson.
The high school sweethearts from Virginia, both 31, married in August 2001 and have four children.
In 2002, Iverson was alleged to have thrown Tawanna out of their Gladwyne home naked, and later was accused of threatening two men with a gun while looking for her. All charges against him were later dropped.
“I have been called ‘Faggot,’” writes Donnie Davies on the website of “Love God’s Way Ministries.” While there are other, more accurate names for the guy behind a program called “C.H.O.P.S.” — it stands for “Changing Homosexuals into Ordinary People (Letter S)” — what he means is that he’s what’s known as an “ex-gay.” Maybe.
Or maybe he’s as devastating a satirist as there is on the internet. His mustache leaves the question up in the air, his exhortation to those who want to get down with his program to come on along and “C.H.O.P.S. away the Gay” tilts things more towards the satire side of things. And his list of rock bands that “will make you gay” kind of seals it. He’s obviously joking. Except probably not, because he also recorded a song called “God Hates Fags,” which was pulled off MySpace. (YouTube clip : here) But then again, he probably is, because he sets off a blog entry by saying “I hope you will take my thoughts on the overweight and Jesus Love to heart.” So either he is or he isn’t. Anyway, here is a sampling of his voluminous list of artists that will cause you to become homosexual:
Scissor Sisters
Rufus Wainwright
Merzbau
Ravi Shankar
Wilco
Bjork
Tech N9ne
Ghostface Killah
Bobby Conn
Morton Subotnik
Cole Porter
The String Cheese Incident
Eagles of Death Metal
Polyphonic Spree
The Faint
Interpol
Kansas
Velvet Underground
Lou Reed
Lil’ Wayne
Hinder
Bob Mould
Clay Aiken
Arcade Fire
Bright Eyes
Audioslave
Hinder! There are, of course, many more, some of which come with parenthetical commentary afterwards — “Ted Nugent (loincloth),” for instance, or “Marilyn Manson (dark gay)” — and a few of which seem to feature male celebrities (30 Seconds to Mars, Dogstar). Also, Elton John is on the list twice, and Motorhead is on it once. Also worth mentioning is the lost Davies brother’s list of safe bands. Tucked in among the D.C. Talk’s and Jars of Clay are, of course, Danielson (nee Familie) and the Dresden Dolls.
Though Mickey Mantle’s Country Cookin’ chain flopped in the ’70’s, a slightly more lavish bar/restaurant to bear his name has flourished on Central Park South from 1988 onwards. The Columnists.com’s Maury Allen recalls a particularly ingenious stunt played by the eatery’s management in the autumn of 2004, as culled from Bill Linderman’s forthcoming “Mickey Mantle’s: Behind the Scenes in America’s Most Famous Sports Bar” (Lyons Press). (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
It all came down to 2004. The Yankees had snuck another away in 2003 with a miracle homer by a journeyman named Aaron Boone. Now they were ahead again three games to none. Forget it. Hey, wait a minute. The wrong team choked. This time it was the Yankees who blew the lead. The Red Sox won the AL pennant and went on to sweep the World Series. So now we know the Red Sox can win a Series every 86 years.
What would Mickey Mantle’s restaurant do to mark the occasion? Liederman decided to rename the place in honor of the Boston triumph.
“Ted Williams restaurant,” writes Liederman. “They say a rose by any other name would smell as sweet but this one smelled to New Yorkers like month old moo shoo pork.”
Liederman and his clever PR man, Marty Appel, former New York Yankees spokesman, had come up with the kidding scheme to newly name Mantle’s after the Red Sox hero, Ted Williams, in honor of Boston’s triumph and as a tribute to Red Sox Nation.
It would have worked well in “The Producers” with a little side number for “Springtime for Hitler.” but sports fans are more fanatic than history fans. The city exploded with venom at Liederman for this act of a traitor to Yankee tradition. Even the Mantle family, humorless in their pursuit of the Mantle dollar, was outraged. Of course, someone had called them with a trumped up tale of what had been done.
Actually, only a computer-printed paper sign with the name of Ted Williams had covered the outside Mantle name on the famed awning. Some people just don’t have a sense of humor when it comes to Yankee losses.
Forget 9/11, the war in Iraq or a burdensome tax. This was BIG. “The family of the late Mickey Mantle is shocked and outraged by Bill Liederman’s conduct covering the Mickey Mantle name in Mickey Mantle’s restaurant and replacing it with Ted Williams,” wrote a Mantle family lawyer.
Public outrage was incredible. Nasty phone calls filled the restaurant lines. Vicious emails exploded on their computer screen. People burst into the place screaming obscenities. A voice mail announced, “You’re dead, your kids are dead., your days on this earth are numbered, you money-grabbing Hebe.”
Liederman, who loves a joke almost as he loves a good hamburger, finally backed off. He had learned a lesson, especially a lesson about Yankee fans. “You never tread on the sacred ground of Yankee lore. It just isn’t done,” PR pal Marty Appel told Burger Bill.
I have to admit, I ripped off Linderman’s idea last autumn when I proposed that Rusty Staub’s joint be temporarily renamed “Spiezio’s”. There was the small issue of Le Grande Orange’s establishment having long since gone out of business, but you can’t blame me for trying.
Both Doug Kalemba and Jon Solomon beat each other to a pulp this morning to make sure I knew about the town hall meeting this evening at Carnegie Mellon University to finally settle the question of who will be their official mascot. Because apparently that affable low-rent fur-suited Scottie dog in a plaid vest that skitters about the field at CMU Tartans games? Is not, technically, their mascot.
The Post-Gazette reports: …As it turns out, a school that has programmed robots for space exploration and cracked some of the world’s trickiest computing riddles nevertheless falls short by one measure of problem solving skill: It has never in its 106-year history come up with an official mascot.
So the school has formed a task force to do something about it. The panel is asking students, alumni and others if the Scottie Dog now used informally ought to be Carnegie Mellon’s official image, or if something else — a robot, say, or maybe a bagpiper — better suits a university with Scottish roots that has produced both Nobel Prize winners and Hollywood stars…
…Whatever the choice is, Carnegie Mellon will have to consider just how the image should be crafted and then take steps to trademark its use, said Jennifer Church, dean of student affairs who co-chairs the Mascot Task Force. The school said the name Tartans will continue to be used, especially in connection with athletics.
Arguing that the ambiguously relevant Scottish terrier should be replaced with something depicted with more consistency and, theoretically, marketability, the school is entertaining input from many of the future Nobel Prize winners and Hollywood stars who comprise its student body:
“We have Tartan as our name, but it’s characterized as the Scottie Dogs because you can’t really have a Tartan out there dancing around. That’s kind of the problem,” said Megan Pentz, 21, a senior and art major from Hartford, Conn.
Tonight’s town hall meeting takes place at the University Center’s McConomy Auditorium (pouring rights: PepsiCo) at 5:30pm.
“Andy Phillips and the 800-pound Magilla Gorilla in the playroom?” writes Repoz, who passes along the following item from the Pensacola News Journal :
“I accepted Christ at 7 years old,” Phillips said. He said he was watching Walt Disney’s Scrooge McDuck on television and was inspired by the transformation Scrooge went through.
“That clicked for me,” he said.
He said that without God, he may have continued to play the way he did during his freshman year at the University of Alabama.
“I was absolutely the worst baseball player you had seen in your life,” he said. “I thought about hanging it up.”
He said that during the next summer, he prayed and read the Bible.
“I completely surrendered,” he said. “I said, ‘If you don’t want me to play, I will never play another game.’ “
From then on, his game was a success. But he insists he would give up his career for his religion.
“I would trade my uniform in tomorrow,” he said. “I would trade my rings — everything today if it meant changing my relationship with Christ.”
In light of a handful of this year’s BBWA members opting not to vote for Cal Ripken Jr. or Tony Gwynn’s enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in their first year of eligibility, the Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan (above) asks “why hasn’t anyone ever been a unanimous selection?”
The primary reason, we are often told, is that some members of the voting body have a personal policy not to vote for someone the first year he is eligible. I cannot begin to comprehend the depths of such idiocy. I fear a few of these Neanderthals are still entrusted with a vote, and it’s their intellectual company I do not wish to keep. Please be advised that I am not one of them. In fact, I am certain no Globie is. We may have our faults, but clinging to a foolish policy such as that one is not one of them.
The other reason not to vote for an obvious candidate on the first ballot is judgment. If one is not demonstrating obstreperousness by simply refusing to vote for a man in his first year of eligibility, then he does not vote for someone because he honestly feels the man is not worthy of inclusion.
The foolishness began in the very first election back in 1936 when neither Ty Cobb nor Babe Ruth was voted in unanimously. Who can possibly imagine what was going on inside the heads of the four gentlemen who did not vote for Cobb, or, even more amazingly to me, the 11 who declined to vote for Ruth, who, one year into retirement, was the single most influential player in the history of the game and who remains so even today, 71 years after playing his last game and 58 years after his death?
So the standard of obstinacy and/or ignorance was set. Why did 20 people not vote for Ted Williams in 1966? Why did 23 people not vote for Willie Mays in 1979? Why did nine men not vote for Hank Aaron in 1982? Why did nine men not vote for George Brett in 1999? And yes, while Tom Seaver did get a rousing 98.84 percent of the vote in 1992, what legitimate reason was there for five voters to say “no”?
It’s almost enough to invoke a Groucho-like dictum: Do I really want to be a member of a club that harbors such nefarious people? It’s appalling to think these people may hold valid driver’s licenses and be allowed to vote for president if they cannot recognize as simple a proposition as Tom Seaver, Tony Gwynn, or Cal Ripken being a drop-dead, first-ballot Hall of Famer.
OK, Newsday’s Ken Davidoff hasn’t used those exact words. But only because he’s far too nice a human being.
Tristar Productions, a leading memorabilia producer, attempted to market several items with a “team signing” – baseballs, pictures and what-have-you featuring autographs from all 25 players. It didn’t happen, a person familiar with the situation told Newsday, because the Cardinals’ stars – in particular, Albert Pujols (above) and Scott Rolen – couldn’t agree on an asking price.
The person said Pujols wanted to make more than Rolen and Rolen wanted to make the same as Pujols. Spend five minutes in the clubhouse and you’ll realize that Pujols and Rolen aren’t very close. A second person in the loop nonetheless insisted that Pujols’ demands had nothing to do with Rolen.
In any case, that meant young players such as Game 1 winner Anthony Reyes and closer Adam Wainwright couldn’t pick up an extra payday.
Sometimes it can work out better. As the Astros were playing the White Sox in the 2005 World Series, Houston’s three most famous players – Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Roger Clemens – agreed to charge a higher rate for autographs, but then pooled those payments and divided them equally among the 25 players.
“They were giving a larger share of their money to the guys that needed it more,” Tristar’s Bobby Mintz said. “That’s how Roger and ‘Beedge’ and Bags are. They wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Too bad the Cards’ stars couldn’t see things similarly.
(Mateen Cleaves, right, preparing his defamation of character lawsuit against Disney)
The mostly pseudononymous gang at the Sports Journalists.com board are predictably, up in arms over Scoop Jackson’s latest column for ESPN.com’s Page 2. Scoop interviews the mythical “Mr. DJS”, the “alter ego” of NBA Commissioner David Stern, “one who is totally in touch with the players in his league; one who rocks Sean John suits, instead of Armani; one who would have Talib Kweli perform at All-Star halftimes instead of Cowboy Troy; one who seems more concerned with being Robin Hood instead of robbin’ the hood.” And while said work is mostly brutal reading (you feel me?) there’s at least one tiny portion that Jackson can be very proud of.
Q: Dress code.
DJS: Yo, that wasn’t me – that was them, the players. They brought that on themselves. I’m not taking the heat for that one. Did you see the way Mateen Cleaves was coming to games?!? C’mon, man, what would you do if you was me? I was begging every team he was on to take him off of the injured reserve list just so no one had to see him on the bench in what he called his street clothes. And I’m not even going to start with Damon Jones.
An even-handed approach to Isiah Thomas is not the sort of thing I’d ordinarily associate with the New York Post’s Peter Vescey, who under duress (”if anyone can pretend to know what goes on in James Dolan’s dustbin of a brain, if anyone can come close to imagining the standards he’s using to measure the progress of the Knicks/Thomas, my boss has come to the right yutz. Readers often tell me they’re convinced I write my column SOON after reading Dolan’s mind,”) gives Zeke a vote of confidence. A heavily qualified one, naturally.
What must David Lee do to get promoted? His substitution patterns. Why wait eight minutes into the first quarter to get your most consistent player into the game? And why wasn’t Malik Rose inserted for Eddy Curry in the final eight seconds against the Nets when the situation screamed for someone who knows how to box out? His noticeable dearth of play-calling at the end of up-for-grab games; if Jamal Crawford can’t create a basket, it ain’t originating in Thomas’ cranium. His failure to conserve timeouts to prepare for a legit last-gasp shot has cost the team twice.
Since beginning the season with one win in their first eight Garden games, we’ve witnessed a sizeable upgrade in that pride. Again, for the most part, they’re defending their home turf. Now they’re 11-13. Since the Nuggets fight, a loss, they’re 10-9, a giant step toward Thomas staying off the NBA unemployment line.
Certainly Curry’s assertiveness in the occupied area is a primary factor. But nobody has shown more personal and professional pride, nobody has come back further in the hearts, minds and throats of the fans than Marbury … balling better of late than in the last five years and digging in on defense better than ever.
Another clinical exhibition by the Matrix, Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash took place earlier today, as Phoenix’s 115-100 victory at Cleveland was the Suns’ 17th consecutive. Aside from wondering what might occur in a 7 game series with Dallas, the only remaining question mark I have regarding Phoenix is whether or not Jalen Rose gets a full playoff share.
While no one in their right mind would a) leave Wayne Rooney in charge of a missile defense system, b) allow him to pick out the music for a birthday party or c) leave Rooney alone with Grandma, he remains one of the planet’s most devestating, if dunderheaded scoring threats, as Portsmouth learned Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals’ have announced that their former GM Vaughn “Bing” Devine has died at 90, and that’s of significance to Cub fans because a) Bing’s teams walked all over us until Durocher came in, b) he masterminded the trade that took Lou Brock away from the Cubs in one of the worst trades, Cub-wise, in baseball history, and then c) beat Durocher in ‘69 anyway because he was with the Mets.
While the New York Daily News’ Hank Gola rhapsodizes this morning about the glory of the 1986 New York Giants, the New York Post’s Paul Schwartz chats with a mainstay of the ‘85 Bears juggernaut and coaxes the inevitable, unfavorable comparisons out of him.
“The fans this time didn’t know if the Bears were going to be for real or if they could win the game or not,” former Bears great Richard Dent this week recalled to The Post. “When I played, there wasn’t a second thought. The fans knew.”
“We took sledgehammers to kill flies,” was Dent’s description of the mayhem he and his teammates created. “We didn’t allow you to think you could play with us, we didn’t allow you second chances. We would finish you from the get-go.”
“When we played, when the offensive team came out of the huddle, they were trying to figure out how to stop us,” Dent said. “There’s no comparison there, it hasn’t been there since we won the Super Bowl, throughout the league.
“I don’t see anybody who looks like me on the team that is making that kind of thing happen. Do you see anybody who looks like Walter Payton on the team, running the ball that way?”
Dent actually played one season for the Colts back in 1996, but he’ll be in South Florida next weekend cheering on his Bears. He believes they can win, but also understands why they are the underdog. He says, “You kind of worry when you look at Peyton Manning,” admits he’s concerned about Rex Grossman – “It depends on how much rope they give him to play with” – and is not happy with the way the Bears utilize star linebacker Brian Urlacher.
“We’re not using Urlacher in a way where we can take advantage of his speed,” Dent said. “He’s in the middle of the field, it’s real easy to block him, it’s real easy to find him. I think he’s a weakside linebacker. Let him blitz, turn him loose.”
The NFL has quashed plans on the Bears’ part to show next Sunday’s Super Bowl on the jumbotron at Solider Field. Though I’m not entirely sure why anyone — including the homeless — would choose to watch the game outdoors on an early February evening in Chicago, I also cannot see the harm in allowing the public to do so (besides hypothermia, lewd behavior, destruction of public and private propertly, etc.)
Hall of Fame goaltender Lorne (Gump) Worsley, a Montreal native who played 21 years in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Minnesota North Stars, died Friday at the age of 77.
“He was a terrific goaltender,” former North Stars teammate Lou Nanne said. “If I could pick any goalie to win a big game, it would be Gump.
“He was one of the first real characters in the NHL. He had a lot of personality and really showed the human side of the game. He didn’t look like an athlete and smoked like a chimney between periods, but he was terrific when he put the pads on.”
Worsley was famous for not wearing a mask until the final season of his NHL career in 1973-74.
Worsley won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 1952-53 as a member of the Rangers and helped New York reach the playoffs in four of the 10 seasons he played there.
Worsley led the Canadiens to four Stanley Cups (1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969) in seven seasons with Montreal and won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie on two occasions (1966 and 1968).
New York Knicks center Kelvin Cato wants custody of his 6-year-old son, who was found living in a urine-soaked apartment with more than 30 cats last year.
Cato’s lawyers in Oregon said their client learned of the child’s plight only after they told him about news accounts of the criminal case against the boy’s mother, Jennifer Gaines.
The police officer who investigated the apartment on a tip last June wrote in his report that the smell of cat urine burned his eyes and throat.
“It was unsafe for the children to spend another minute inside of the residence,” the officer wrote. “The odor was so overwhelming that I almost vomited.”
I trust you all find this story as shocking as I do. Who knew Kelvin Cato was on the Knicks?
About as much fun as being stuck in an elevator with Jim McMahon. Video link courtesy Hot Shit College Student, who writes, “Billy Corgan won’t have to worry about cutting James Iha a slice of the reunion pie. Think these dudes wake up to Westing (By Musket & Sextant)?”
(Coach Calhoun and retired sportswriter Oscar Madison share a laugh while watching some vintage Quincy Punk)
I’ve not read The Sporting News in some time —- I think I bailed right around the time the publishers decided that NASCAR was deserving of more editorial space than the NBA and NHL combined — but if they’re still runnning “The Fly”, next week is sure to feature the pithy comment, “didn’t you used to be the University Of Connecticut?”
Since losing to Virginia Tech, North Carolina have beaten Clemson, Wake Forest and (today) Arizona by a combined 78 points. The most recent of these blowouts occured on hostile turf and sans the services of Brandon Wright and Marcus Ginyard. I suppose the rest of the ACC can try to trick themselves into thinking the Heels have peaked too early.
Memphis survived a late scare from Southern Miss before prevailing, 67-63, earlier today. Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 5 of his 15 points in the game’s final 2:30, sparing the Tigers what would’ve been their 4th loss of the year. I guess Dan Garcia ran out of pins for his John Calipari voodoo doll (which, in all seriousness, is a far more appropriate toy for young kids than this Bratz garbage I see in the department stores).
The Dallas Morning News’ Eddie Sefko has the dubious pleasure of providing the Mavs’ Owner With A Boner with yet another forum for his unique brand of informed opinion.
Mark Cuban believes Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash should be starters for the Western Conference at next month’s All-Star Game in Las Vegas.
The fan balloting had neither one earning a spot. The owner said it should be clear why certain players always win the fan vote.
“The majority of NBA Internet traffic is international, and the majority of that international traffic has been trained to vote along party lines,” Cuban said. “You have to adjust to that. It’s an international vote, and a whole lot of communists voted. They always vote the party line.”
If executives at TNT were hoping for healthy ratings for the upcoming All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas, the New York Times’ Howard Beck has some very, very bad news.
The worst moment of Nate Robinson’s NBA career will not prevent him from repeating his best moment. The league has invited Robinson to defend his slam-dunk title next month at All-Star weekend. Robinson had feared he might be denied that chance because he instigated the Dec. 16 brawl with Denver. Robinson served a 10-game suspension. “I’m ecstatic,” he said of defending his title. Regarding the fight and its effect on his image, Robinson said, “That’s behind me, what happened.”
The ice was littered in Saginaw, Mich., last night. The first projectiles were loose pages of the General Motors annual report. They was followed by a flurry of teddy bears. One account told of a plastic fish being tossed.
There was a hockey game last night between the Saginaw Spirit and Oshawa Generals. But the bizarre antics were the result of a bet, viewed by millions across North America.
The wager was between Stephen Colbert, the satirical host of The Colbert Report, and Oshawa mayor John Gray.
The terms were simple: If the Generals won, Colbert would wear a Generals jersey. If they lost, Oshawa would declare March 20, Gray’s birthday, `Stephen Colbert Day.’
“I’m always disappointed when the Gens lose,” said Gray last night from a fan bus heading home. The mayor said he hoped to talk with Colbert’s people on Monday to honour the bargain.
The Colbert Report’s obsession with the OHL team began in September, when the Saginaw named their mini-mascot Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle, after the show launched an aggressive internet campaign asking fans to vote for the name. Since then, the show has featured regular updates on the team’s progress.
When Oshawa held their Teddy Bear Toss last month against Mississauga, Colbert feigned offence since his show contends bears are the “number one threat to America.” In retaliation, Colbert posted a link to GM’s annual report on his website and asked fans to toss it at the Generals, who are named after the car manufacturer.
After the White Sox traded Freddy Garcia this winter, Mark Buehrle (above) can take a hint. For his part, GM Kenny Williams, would prefer his pitcher just clammed up. The Daily Herald’s Scot McGregor digs up the crazy quotes from the annual SoxFest.
The White Sox picked up Buehrle’s $9.5 million option for 2007, but the veteran left-hander is reluctantly preparing for free agency at the end of the season.
“From the quotes from Kenny, I want to come back, but I’ve seen direct quotes saying that Mark Buehrle won’t be in a White Sox uniform in 2008,’’ Buehrle said. “So I’m just kind of going off what he said.’’
Buehrle was standing in the same hotel ballroom with Williams on Friday afternoon, but he didn’t appear eager to discuss his future with the GM.
“I haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk to him, and I probably won’t either,’’ Buehrle said. “There’s nothing I can do about it. Just go out there and pitch this season. Either good or bad, he’s pretty much said I’m not going to be back.’’
When told of Buehrle’s comments, Williams became enraged.
“All we need to be focused on, whether it’s Mark Buehrle or any other player that has a contractual issue for 2008 … I say again, for 2008, is take care of 2007,’’ Williams said. “Let’s take care of 2007, and 2008 will take care of itself for him, the White Sox, either individually or together.’’
In other preseason meet & greet news, the Washington Times’ Thom Loverro takes time off from selling flowers by the side of the road to sneer at the Nationals’ lame effort.
If Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner thinks that free agent salaries are out of control, he should get a look at the prices for jerseys at the team store in White Flint Mall in Bethesda.
A Rick Short Washington Nationals batting practice-worn jersey sells for $199. He played just 11 games as a National. For a game-worn jersey by Hector Carrasco — a journeyman relief pitcher — the price is $299.
Now I know why the Nationals are bringing 70 players to spring training. That’s a lot of jerseys to sell, maybe enough to even pay the Nationals’ paltry 2007 team payroll.
The Nationals winter caravan, otherwise known as the Pep Boys tour (Manny, Nook and Mike), made a stop this past week at the Nationals team store in White Flint. Outside the mall, the electronic sign touted an upcoming “Camp Fair” at the mall. I swear for a second that in between advertisements for equestrian and computer camps, I saw one for a baseball camp starting Feb. 13 in Viera, Fla. (I would urge any Nationals fans coming to spring training to bring a catcher’s mitt. With 37 pitchers invited, they may be recruiting backstops from the crowd).
A day after his Denver Post colleague Mark Kizla bemoaned Colorado’s efforts to dump Todd Helton’s salary on someone else, colleague Troy E. Renck reports the Rox might’ve found a taker.
The Rockies are in discussions with the Boston Red Sox involving a trade of Todd Helton, according to multiple baseball sources.
Nothing is imminent, but negotiations are expected to resume Monday or Tuesday when Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd returns to work after tending to a family matter. Helton, 33, has a complete no-trade clause, but has said he would consider Boston.
A source said Helton is aware of the current Red Sox talks.
Helton has six years and $90.1 million remaining on his contract, and the Red Sox could face luxury-tax penalties if they acquire the first baseman, issues that would have to be resolved.
The Rockies, however, have shown a willingness to eat a portion of Helton’s remaining salary in any deal, which, depending on the amount, would have an impact on the type of players they would receive in return.
Colorado’s first priority has been to add young pitchers, which Boston possesses. The Rockies have asked about reliever Manny Delcarmen, 24, in previous talks regarding other players and considered selecting pitcher Craig Hansen in the first round of the 2005 draft.
ESPN.com’s Buster Olney opines that Boston “would covet Helton’s on-base percentage, his quality at-bats, his defense, especially if they were paying him only $8 million to $10 million a year,” and clearly considers the first baseman an excellent fit at Fenway.
For financial superpower Boston, Helton could be an extraordinary find, even at high cost. He is a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman, having won that award three times, and he would complement their offense perfectly, with his ability to hit doubles, draw walks and drive up pitch counts; he is considered to be among the best two-strike hitters in baseball. Last season, in what was regarded as a subpar offensive season for Helton, he drew 91 walks, struck out just 64 times, registered a .404 on-base percentage, and averaged 3.93 pitches per plate appearance.
“They said thank you, you did a terrific job, you were a real professional, and that was it.” said Trupiano (above). “They wanted to put their guy in, and that’s the bottom line. If anybody tells you anything different, then it’s a lie.”
“I feel a little bitterness.” said Trupiano of his dismissal. “That’s because they put in the paper late in the season that I was going to the Cardinals (Trupiano is originally from St. Louis), and I swear I never talked to them about a job. If you’re going to kick me to the curb, kick me to the curb, but don’t hurt my chances of getting another job. I thought that was unfair.”
Trupiano, also was bitter that “they didn’t let me know until two weeks before Christmas officially, and by then it was too late for four jobs that were available in October. Then there were two more jobs that opened later, but apparently I was overqualified for one and they told me they went in a different direction in the other.”
This leaves Trupiano in a position he hasn’t been in 14 years, looking for work.
“I’m looking for work.” he said. “No prospects right now. I’m just now starting to put my football and basketball stuff together for next year. Baseball is dried up for 2007, which absolutely kills me, but everything happened too late.”
A sincere congratulations this bleary eyed Saturday moaning to former QPR gaffer Ian Holloway, whose Plymouth Argyle side have advanced to the final 16 of the F.A. Cup for the first time in nearly 20 years. Argyle’s 2-0 win at Barnet earlier today was punctuated by an 83rd minute strike by Chelsea loaner Scott Sinclair (above) that had the Radio Devon dudes screaming about the greatest goal they ever witnessed, Christ and the Easter Bunny in a reacharound, etc. Something to look forward to on FSC’s feed of the Sky highlights show later tonight, in any case.
Luton Town’s reward for beating QPR in a hotly contested replay this past Wednesday night was a brutal 4-0 beating at the hands of Blackburn Rovers. The visitors’ Matt “Don’t Call Me Delia” Derbyshire — a former Rovers community office employee — scored twice.
Given Alexi Lalas’ past efforts playing the Stephen Bishop part to Keith Olbermann’s John Belushi, and I have to say this video represents an even greater musical atrocity. On the other hand, I’m not sure there’s another So. Cal sports GM willing to tolerate Steve Jones talking about beating off to MySpace. Where’s the equal time for Ned Colletti?
It sort of figures that just a few days after being blown out in Miami, the Heat have the competitive advantage of starting Shaq against Jerome James (above right, getting his first start of the year in Eddy Curry’s absence)…and it’s the Knicks who are enjoying a rare laugher. Jamal Crawford is having a career night (46 points, 8 three’s), Stephon Marbury had 10 assists in the first half, David Lee has already collected yet another double-double off the bench…and Double J? He’s outrebounded the Diesel, weirdly enough.
After Wednesday’s unpleasantness (and the resulting publicity barrage) Austin’s Toros have put together a makeshift cell/cage for rogue mascot Da Bull in the lobby of the Austin Convention Center. Perhaps inspired by their colleague’s incarceration, the Toros have a commanding 47-30 halftime lead over Arkansas. Former B.C. standout Troy Bell has 8 points thus far for the hosts, continuing his strong play since being acquired after Jay Williams’ departure. Arkansas F Roger Powell, who had a cup of coffee with Utah earlier this season, has 10 points at the break.
“Free Da Bull” t-shirts are $10. I don’t think they’ve had any takers thus far. Perhaps they should’ve passed the hat for his defense fund.
Besides Dennis Johnson and his players, I doubt many persons are keeping track, but the likely win over the RimRockers would improve the Toros’ mark to 9-16. Considering they started the season 0-12, that’s an impressive, if unexpected achievement.
I don’t mean to interject myself into the story any more than usual, but I think it’s really unfair the dudes on press row are all playing World Of Warcraft while I’m up here in row 20 something trying to my best for you, the information starved public.
In Dave D’Alessandro, the Newark Star-Ledger has a literate, savvy and often very funny reporter who, in addition to all that good stuff, also looks kind of like “Booger” from Revenge of the Nerds. While they use him to cover the Nets, The Sporting News — in a four-part series on professional sports’ worst franchises — borrow his knife skills to do some fillet work on the Knicks. As his regular readers might expect, his is the best of the bunch — for instance, he doesn’t just list ignominious dates in team history, as Matt Crossman does in his overview of the Orioles. As might also be expected, he gives the Knicks a pretty good going over. Beware of (notional) Q and (scathing) A format, below:
Q: (It’s in context, so I’ll paraphrase: “If they have the money for it, why not overpay for talent? And anyway, they’re not that terrible this season.”) A: The point is, bad management always rips off the paying customer seated courtside or watching at home because that’s how companies compensate when profit erodes. Cablevision, whose chairman is viperlike plutocrat James Dolan, owns the team, and the company’s stock went from about $80 a share in the late 1990s to $10 a share a few years ago. Guess who paid the price? Subscribers, of course. Or consider the saps who’ve forked over as much as $2,500 per night over the past five years for a front-row seat. So, you ask why the Knicks are included in this salute to sports management folly? These guys have more than a half-decade of bad karma to burn off before we acknowledge that they’re “not all that bad.”
Q: (Again, in context: “Didn’t Scott Layden’s initial bad decisions, like the Allan Houston contract, precipitate a lot of this?”) A: He had help. Things started going downhill in September 2000, when Garden prez Dave Checketts and coach Jeff Van Gundy prodded Layden into trading an unhappy Patrick Ewing. In return, the Knicks got Glen Rice, Travis Knight and Luc Longley, whose contracts totaled almost $80 million. If they had just let Ewing play out his final season, his $14 million could have been lifted off the cap, and they’d have been able to rebuild the right way. Instead, the explosion began, and it always followed the same stupid pattern, like trading Rice’s $36 million deal and getting back Shandon Anderson ($42M) and Howard Eisley ($41M).
Q: Where was Dolan in all this? A: Writing checks. Sometimes he wrote them just for the hell of it, such as the time he gave Don Chaney an extension when the team had an 11-27 record.
Q: And then Dolan hired Isiah Thomas. A: Funny thing about that: The day he was hired, Thomas said, “I can’t think of an organization that has been saddled with this kind of debt structure.” He actually has made Layden look thrifty.
Q: But at least it’s never dull in NYC. A: Actually, it has become the place to leave. In February ‘04, with Cablevision tanking, Madison Square Garden laid off 80 employees. Since Zeke has taken over, he personally has run off three head coaches, Willis Reed, Marv Albert, a senior VP who sued Isiah for sexual harassment, a P.R. director, a dozen middle-management types and the dance team founder.
Q: That’s not good. A: Most of them refer to MSG as the Evil Empire.
Despite the aforementioned “viperlike plutocrat”’s brutal mismanagement and those amazing personnel moves (I had forgotten just how miserable that Ewing deal was: it’s stunning), TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott points out that the Knicks are still the NBA’s most valuable property.
With Colorado on the hook for a big sack of cash, the Denver Post’s Mark Kizla says of Rockies fixture Todd Helton, “this relationship between the 33-year-old first baseman and a ballclub operating on a parsimonious budget has become so awkward that it’s a messy divorce waiting to happen.”
With his offensive production in steady decline for three consecutive seasons, Helton (above) now hits softly and carries a big salary. He has not swatted 30 home runs in a season since 2004. He has not driven in 100 runs since 2003. In 2007, he’s a candidate for most overpaid player in the game.
Compared to the high-rent district the New York Yankees call home, the Rockies live in a double-wide trailer, and Helton is the Bentley with a flat tire parked out front.
His nine-year, $141.5 million contract extension now has the Rockies over a barrel. But wasn’t Monfort sitting on that same barrel when Helton signed it?
On the fine spring day in 2001 that Helton signed the mega-deal, he said the best thing about the deal was it would let him go out and play without worrying about statistics.
His bat and those words have not aged particularly well.
Manager Clint Hurdle has been notified this could be his last chance to get it right in the Colorado dugout, and general manager Dan O’Dowd has used up more lives than two cats.
If baseball is played without a clock, why does the ticking now seem so loud in the presence of Hurdle, O’Dowd and Helton?
The Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell surveys the state of the Washington Nationals and predicts the 2007 edition will be “shockingly unprofessional, unworthy of the town they represent and the $611 million price of the team’s new park.”
Right now, the Nats’ rotation is John Patterson plus Nobody Else. That is, unless you consider Shawn Hill, Jason Bergmann, Beltran Perez, Billy Traber and Mike O’Connor a staff. They won 10 games combined last year. If the often-injured Patterson can’t stay healthy — and he’s never won more than nine games — there’s almost no limit to how bad this team could be. How many fans could that alienate? And why, for the sake of saving such a small amount of money, would you take such a risk?
There’s a couple of Schmuck Radio mouthpieces in Boston who are touting Curt Schilling for a 2008 Senate run to unseat John Kerry. Thankfully for future generations, the shy, retiring Schilling tells the Boston Herald’s Jesse “Bring The” Noyes that he has “too many problems with the political scene,” and has a video game business to run.
….because 
