DiNardo, currently toiling for the A’s PCL affiliate Sacramento River Cats, pitched a scoreless first inning last night against Fresno, before allowing a combined 15 earned runs over the next two frames. “Clearly, manager Todd Steverson and pitching coach Rick Rodriguez believe the 28-year-old DiNardo is mentally strong enough to take this whipping and keep on ticking” writes the Sacramento Bee’s Martin McNeal, ignoring the possiblity that perhaps Steverson actually enjoyed leaving Lenny out there to die (link taken from Baseball Think Factory).
DiNardo mercifully was removed after 81 pitches and received a smattering of applause from fans that recognized he’d hung in as long as he could.
Steverson explained how DiNardo wasn’t hit hard early in one of the innings when he “gave up seven or eight runs.” He was serious, too.
The bottom line, though, was DiNardo helped save a bullpen preparing to defend a Triple-A crown this week in the playoffs. David Shafer relieved him and delivered four innings of two-hit, one-walk, scoreless pitching while Bret Prinz and Brad Kilby followed without giving up a hit or a run.
“The bottom line is everyone can’t pitch every day,” Steverson said. “Now, that sign isn’t posted out in front of the stadium.”
Nor is there a sign that indicates the mental strength of a pitcher who can shake off a performance like this one and be depended upon to come back strong in his next outing.
“At this level in the minor leagues,” Steverson said, “you’re not at full capacity every night.”
Edward Walter Spulnik aka Killer Kowalski, a pro wrestling veteran for 40 years, and the bridge between the eras of his tutor Lou Thesz, and protege Triple-H, passed away yesterday at the age of 81. For persons of a certain age growing up in the Northeastern US, Kowalski was the prototypical monster heel, one whose malevolent charisma compared quite favorably to the stars of today. The Baltimore Sun’s Kevin Eck recalls the first time he witnessed The Killer in action :
I was either 6 or 7, and my parents and I were seated about five rows from the ring. Kowalski’s opponent that night was Tony Garea. With his chiseled features and wavy hair, Garea was the epitome of a white meat babyface. He also was my mother’s favorite wrestler.
In contrast, Kowalski looked as if he had just stepped out of a nightmare. At 6 feet 7 and 275 pounds, he was Frankenstein’s monster in wrestling tights. Unlike the fictional character, however, Kowalski was anything but stiff and plodding. Typically, he would hunch over menacingly, curl his hands into claws out in front of his chest and then pounce on his helpless prey.
Before Garea knew what was happening, Kowalski was all over him. I was close enough to the action to hear Kowalski growling as he viciously stomped his helpless opponent. At one point, Garea screamed out in pain as Kowalski applied his infamous stomach claw hold. I believed it was all real, and I was terrified that Kowalski was going to come into the crowd and make me his next victim.
In other words, Kowalski did his job extremely well.
In a move almost as questionable as Fox News tapping Karl Rove to analyze the Democratic primaries, the New York Daily News has permitted the venerable Bill Gallo to cast his aging eyes towards last week’s Democratic National Convention.
We report to you by way of our TV, where on this beautiful night, 80,000 fans crammed into Denver’s Invesco Field, waiting for the challenger, “Kid” Obama, to enter the ring. The crowd roars as “Kid” comes waving happily and looking as confident as Muhammad Ali in his prime. The Kid’s got hold of the mike now and starts off slowly with some good jabs at his opponent. … His punches now are thrown in bunches, and judging by the cheering crowd, they are landing.
Kid Obama was great on his feet and boxed beautifully. Certainly, it would not be an exaggeration to call this his “Willie Pep Night.”
With all that, there is no telling how Kid will do when his opponent, “Ol’ Salt” McCain, starts throwing leather. This savvy ol’ gent with the silver hair and big right hand is no pushover. You hit him and he hits you back, without mercy.
So now fight fans, we wait for the main event – the nice young boxer against the hard-hitting geezer. The big question will be whether Kid Obama can take a punch or not.
In the wake of Mariotti’s departure from the Sun-Times, something tells me we need not worry about Bill Gallo taking his considerable skill-set to the Huffingotn Post.
Former heavyweight hopeful / offensive driving specialist Mitch “Blood” Green was quizzed by The Sweet Science’s Shawn Murphy earlier this week. Aside from still harboring a serious grudge against the fighter he calls “Michelle Cicely Tyson” and promoter Don King, Green claims to be preparing to make his MMA debut. What, you thought he’d be speaking at the Republican National Convention?
(SM) What’s in your future plans Mitch? (MG) Ultimate fighting, wrestling, whatever. Remember that show “Best Damn
Sports Show”, I got on there and called Tyson a homosexual! I love to talk, I’m original, I’m always talking! Don Queen, Don Queen! Hold on Shawn I
want you to talk to someone else. (another phone line rings)
(SM) Hi, who is this? (three way call) (DK) I’m Dr. King, Mitch’s longtime friend and dentist.
(SM) What are your plans for Mitch? (DK) I want to get him into ultimate fighting. I’m making some calls to New
York to see about licensing. His opponent will try and kick him, Mitch will block it and then Mitch will knock him out with one punch.
(MG) This is the guy that can get me some fights! (DK) Mitch could do a show in Vegas and it would be a million dollar gate. (MG) This is the white Don King, this is the angel, and the other DK is the devil! (DK) What is fascinating is that several years ago when he wanted to fight
Tyson, Don King wouldn’t give him a shot because he knew Mitch would knock him out. This is one of the underdogs. If you ever write a book it would be called “From Rags To Rags”. But I’m telling you he is the next big thing in ultimate fighting. It’s a huge draw in Vegas. Right now I have two people who are looking to take him to Bahrain, Dubai and Egypt. Mitch has a huge following. I took him out for lunch after an appointment one time and every kid on the street stopped him to say hello. He’s a big hero around here, but he never got the chance to because he’s tough to control. Mitch has a heart of gold.
(SM) Mitch, you still there? (MG) Yeah I’m still here! Dr. King is a good friend of mine. He’s not in the business but he knows a lot of people. I’ll fight a lion or a bear!
(he’s not sieg-heiling folks — the gent on the left is merely waving to the Pepsi Party Patrol and their t-shirt cannon).
Spurs collide with top-of-the-table Chelsea later today, and the hosts have issued an official warning to their home supporters that anti semitic abuse aimed at Tottenham fans will not be tolerated. As opposed to say, the firing of Avram Grant, which was considered socially acceptable.
Chelsea Football Club is committed to stamping out all forms of anti-semitism and for Sunday’s game against Tottenham there will be increased police surveillance inside Stamford Bridge.
This surveillance will include more uniformed police officers in the ground. In particular the Matthew Harding Lower will see an increased police presence.
Anti-semitism is racist and anyone caught making anti-semitic chants will be banned from Stamford Bridge for life and if there is sufficient evidence will be subject to a criminal prosecution.
It is not an excuse to chant anti-semitic abuse because opposition supporters use particular words as a form of identity.
If anyone hears racist chants of any sort during the match it should be reported to a police officer or steward or after the game you can ring Chelsea on 020 7915 1919, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or Kick It Out on 0800 1699 414. During the game you can text an incident to 07894 937 793.
Please try and note the stand, row and seat number of the culprit as well as their physical appearance, height and build.
What Texas managed to avoid last year, Mike Sherman’s Aggies couldn’t: Arkansas State 18, Texas A&M 14. Even sadder than the loss, I think, is that this final didn’t even rate an update on the night’s primary Big 12 broadcast (in which Missouri leads the Illini 31-13 at halftime).
Another interesting Big 12 game: they’re not likely to lose, but trendy South division contender Texas Tech’s allegedly improved defense has given up too many points to Eastern Washington after a 20-0 early lead. It’s 42-24 Red Raiders in the final quarter there; Graham Harrell has passed for 508 yards.
Some people say his stats are swollen by Mike Leach’s system, but they’re also swollen by the Raiders’ inability to bottle up the other team–in a game that’s 52-10 (the current score in Austin) or 50-2 (the current score in Norman), Harrell isn’t playing anymore.
Penn State 66, Coastal Carolina 10. I’m more delighted than I should be by this. If you are going to play one of these moneymakers, it damn well better be a blow-out, and a showcase for your three-deep roster (amidst the Clark and Devlin QB controversy, Joe Pa’s been insisting all along that he would get Paul Ciancalo reps).
A lot of times the Nittany Lions go into a game like this as 35-point favorites, then can’t cover once the passing stops. With 334 yards and 7 touchdowns rushing (two of them by players I have never heard of) that was not an issue in this contest, which also had no line (those Vegas guys are generally right). 13 Penn State players also caught a pass, so I think they’ll be ok without Chris Bell.
Not that I saw a minute of it. Last year, I spent two Saturdays housesitting for a friend who had DirecTV. My local Comcast franchise added the Big 10 Network a few days ago, albeit not in HD, nor with any overflow for extra games. Living as I do in Oregon, I don’t really expect them to devote four channels of space to today’s pallid conference schedule. The most appealing early game (go Wildcats!) was on ESPN2 and Ohio State-Youngstown State was certainly the best choice as the BTN’s main tilt.
But back in the old days an out-of-market fan like me would pick up PSU-Coastal Carolina, Indiana-Western Kentucky and Wisconsin-Akron on ESPN Game Plan. And while they say the Big 10 has evolved to where the fullback dive is no longer a cutting edge offensive play, apparently they haven’t heard that you can stream games on the Internet. I mean, seriously: take my money! I didn’t care enough to hit a bar at 9am (and probably wouldn’t have at noon) but would have gladly paid ten bucks to watch this scrimmage on the same remarkable device that I already use for nearly every Phillies game.
With the win, Joe Paterno is once again tied with Bobby Bowden as the all-time D-I coaching leader (never mind that I’m one of those biased PSU fans who still doesn’t understand why Bobby’s games at Sanford get included). At one point Bowden had an eight game lead, and it’s not like Penn State has been great the past five years. Just better than FSU I guess. Right now the difference is the ‘06 Orange Bowl; it would certainly be fitting if they played again to end the current season (and then, of course, retired). That can only happen if both teams get in the BCS, or drop down to the Champ Sports Bowl.
Meanwhile, in a game that wasn’t close for a good chunk of the second half–not sure I’d say it was an upset–Utah knocked off Michigan at home, 25-23. And while GC enjoys the night at Royal-Memorial, it looks like Portland State is gonna get a win just two blocks from my house. One of these days I might even go watch them (though I’m currently more interested in a Montana-Montana State ticket).
The bullpen has a flair for the dramatic, too, sadly. Metsmonkeys points to the likelihood of Al Reyes being the next hurler to accept the poisoned chalice of Mets closer. Though I’m not optmistic, perhaps the Elias Koteas Sports Bureau knows of the last time a club had three guys names Reyes on their big league roster. With a September 1 callup of utility man Ron Reyes, they could make it a quartet.
“It was ironic that Virginia Tech, a team that is known for its special teams that had made several key special teams plays during the game, would lose on a blocked kick” writes ESPN’s Graham Watson of East Carolina’s 27-20 stunner over VT earlier today. And while T.J. Lee’s spectacular block of a Brent Bowden punt in the 4th quarter was undoubtedly the highlight of the early afternoon games, the Sporting Blog’s Tom Ziller correctly points out the Pirates wouldn’t have been in a position to win were it not for the poor play of Hoakies QB Sean Glennon (14 for 23, 2 interceptions).
At this point, Frank Beamer would seem to have no choice but to renege Tyrod Taylor’s red-shirt status. It’s the worst of both worlds: you lose the benefits of that extra year of eligibility, you lose what should have been a fairly sure W, and you lose any confidence your second-best QB (Glennon) had.
Beamer is all about high-risk, high-reward football. It was surely a risky gambit to sit Taylor. It took only one week to blow up spectacularly.
Between this evening’s Florida Atlantic/Texas tilt and Day 2 of the Wild Weekend Power Pop Fest, I might be out of blogtastic commission until tomorrow morning. Of the former, FAU coach Howard Schellenbger has described the Longhorns as a bunch of softies, and while some might consider this to be bulletin board material, I can’t get too worked up over the senile ramblings of a Howard Keel tribute act.
Todd Zolecki declines to speculate, probably ’cause he’s too busy watching the 1-1 tie at Wrigley Field, but it seems pretty clear cut to me. Kris Benson (above, right) could have left the Phillies any time he wanted, since his original minor league deal said that they had to call him up by May. Injuries and poor performance slowed that clock considerably, though he’d begun to have his moments since the All-Star break.
This gives him a chance, however slim, of joining another team before the playoff roster freeze, or, barring that, a September major league audition with a non-contending team. He could have joined the Phillies for the stretch run, but only in relief. And hey, they gotta save some of those valuable garbage innings for Adam Eaton.
When he’s not overcome with emotion recalling the late Dick Young (above) —- “it’s hard to imagine Young would be particularly pleased with the condition of sports, from HGH to PSLs” — yeah, to say nothing of blogging and the passage of the Civil Rights Act —- the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick raises a valid point or two regarding MLB’s introduction of video review on questionable home run calls. “What happens when a team’s network is found to have withheld a replay that would have benefited the opponent?” asks Phil, and while I have no idea about the correct answer, if it results in the suspension of Chris Cotter, can’t we all agree that’s a good thing?
The subjugation of evidence on behalf of a network’s team will happen, thus it becomes a matter of whether we find out. The flipside will show teams’ network personnel extra eager to find and display third-angle evidence that supports the team/network for which they work.
And what about the team’s TV crew that honestly was just too late finding evidence that would have benefited the opposing team? Should it be shown for public enlightenment, as it would have before “instant replay”? Or hidden from view rather than risk such high suspicion?
Will SNY and YES tape operators be forced to take oaths of allegiance to MLB? MLB can’t discipline non-employees for refusing to accept MLB’s unilateral appointment as umpires. Why put anyone other than an MLB umpire in a position to cost a team/network owner millions in postseason revenues, not to mention one’s own job?
The cure that MLB seeks will be worse than the disease. If left in the hands of MLB umpires, right or wrong, no nefarious outside activity, real or imagined, can enter the process of determining games. Let the umpires, and only the umpires, be the umpires.
The New York Daily News’ Thomas Zambito reports that we’ve been denied the Trial Of The Century. Not to sound all cavalier about inappropriate behavior in the workplace, but we should say a silent prayer of thanks that the WWL’s epidemic of zipper problems never resulted in any revelations about Beano Cook.
Judge John Koeltl tossed out a lawsuit Friday filed by makeup artist Rita Ragone, who accused host Jay Crawford and sportswriter Woody Paige of groping and propositioning her.
Koeltl ruled Ragone had agreed to take any sexual harassment claims to an arbitrator when she was hired by the show in 2005.
Ragone maintained she never signed anything and that the signature on the agreement was forged. An ESPN handwriting expert disagreed.
Ragone, who calls herself the “Stylist to the Stars,” claimed she was canned in 2006 after complaining to ESPN execs about locker room talk on the set.
“I don’t care if you can do makeup or not,” she said Crawford told her after backing her into a corner. “The only reason you got the job here is because you’re hot.”
Penned prior to West Ham’s 4-1 demolition of Blackburn earlier today, Russell Brand’s latest Guardian column includes the muse, “they say societies get the government they deserve and perhaps we get the sport we deserve too; and as a West Ham fan that is a troubling idea.”
The club seems to be in some turmoil and it appears there is division between manager Alan Curbishley and the board. Not least one suspects as a result of the growing trend in top-flight football for superscouts, at West Ham there is a fella called Gianluca Nani who is tasked with finding and recruiting new players for the team. Now whether he works in conjunction with the incrementally castrated Curbishley or not it’s easy to envisage how such a relationship could cause tension.
The other week Nani, whose official title is “technical director” (need any techniques directed? Ooh, yes please, they’re all over the shop) brought in the Chilean striker Sebastián Pinto on loan from the Brazilian side Santos and Curbishley refused to play him in a friendly against QPR that took place “behind closed doors”. There’s a few things in this story worthy of note; firstly the whole “on loan” concept is bizarre, in a transient world such as ours everything is impermanent, the planet itself will one day implode so the notion of an eternal transfer is berserk.
Also borrowing people is perhaps more quirky than buying them – “oy, mister can I borrow your wife?” sounds macabre, as does “give us a go on your girlfriend Russ” which is what the video man used to shout when he’d pull up his van outside ours. I never let him of course, in spite of his pledge to give me the Star Wars trilogy free for one week as recompense. I’d already seen it and those videos were moody, plus Tracy was a schoolgirl.
And what kind of pervy Aleister Crowley football matches have to be played behind closed doors? What do they get up to in these clandestine contests? Play in the nude? Worship the devil? It’s difficult to imagine them doing anything more embarrassing than the performance they turned out so publicly and brazenly at Manchester City last Saturday. If that game had been conducted in private I wouldn’t now be harbouring the spectacle of Luis Boa Morte guiltily scampering like a fare evader on an InterCity train.
I mean, it was all about the “hockey mom” thing right? This has gotta be a clever way to lock up Michigan, where Sarah’s eldest son Track Palin played a year of Midget AAA (though damned if I can find any of his statistics, save for an appearance in this box score). Not to mention the hundreds of other hockey fans in such swing states as Virginia and Montana.
Plus Palin will be there to correct him should McCain refer to Alexander Ovechkin as one of our “best American athletes.”
Clearly Obama needs to counter by pursuing Scott Gomez’s endorsement.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Kathy Jefcoats reports a private high school has bannished kicker Kacy Stuart from their football team, ignoring every young American girl’s right to grow up to be the next Benny Ricardo.
The 14-year-old high school freshman from Spalding County learned Thursday night — while team pictures were being shot — that she was being booted off the field. But her mother said she isn’t going down without a fight.
We’ll file for an injunction if we have to,” Angie Stuart said Friday. “We’ll do whatever it takes to keep her on the team.”
For two months, Kacy practiced with the school team, the Crusaders, at New Creation Center, a private Christian academy in McDonough. She participated in drills and even played a scrimmage game Aug. 23.
But a couple of weeks ago, Angie Stuart said, Hank St. Denis, executive board chairman of the Georgia Football League, realized a girl had been accepted onto one of its football teams. St. Denis overruled New Creation’s decision to let her join the team.
“He said she can’t play simply because she’s a girl,” Stuart said.
When she heard the decision, Kacy cried.
“She has college potential,” her mother said. “And she’s willing to give up her life here to move to her dad’s [home] in south Georgia, enroll in public school there and play football. That’s how much she loves this game.”
Phillies fans have long been known for being hard on the opposing team, opposing fans, J.D. Drew and most of all, the home team players. But lately, with things like college night and dollar dogs and an apparently rowdy pre-game tailgate scene, they’ve mostly fought among themselves.
Well, next time you find yourself among the drunks outside of Citizen’s Bank Park, know this: one of them just might be fighting for your freedom. From the Philadelphia Daily News:
At his sentencing hearing yesterday, Michael Redrow learned that he’s headed somewhere far more dangerous than prison.
The 22-year-old resident of Mantua, Gloucester County, will be going to the Middle East for at least a year – and it’s exactly what he and his attorney wanted.
Redrow, a member of New Jersey’s National Guard, was convicted last month, along with another Mantua man, of simple assault and criminal conspiracy stemming from a brawl at a Phillies game last year.
Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Lillian Ransom granted Redrow’s request yesterday to be sentenced to at least a year of nonreporting probation, which will allow him to be deployed in just a few weeks.
“That is more punishment than any probation or any period of incarceration,” attorney Vincent Campo said in court yesterday. “He’ll be told what to do, when to do it and why, by the U.S. Army.”
Before a Phillies game on Aug. 10, 2007, Redrow approached Rich Riskie Jr., also of Mantua, and a girlfriend in a parking lot near Citizens Bank Park.
Redrow asked Riskie for a beer. When he wouldn’t give one up, words were exchanged and things got physical, Campo said.
Riskie was left with a fractured skull and spent several days in a coma, but Campo said his client was guilty only of giving Riskie a split lip.
However, thanks to the folks at The Lenin Closet (link courtesy Jon Solomon), you might be excused from thinking the nation’s second and third most popular A.A.’s had joined forces. I’m not crazy about the design of the above shirt, but it’s far more attractive than any of the crap Gary Cohen’s wife is flogging.
While the likes of Brock Berlin and Josh McCown will begin the 2008 NFL season as active members of somebody’s roster, former Vikes/Fins/Raiders QB Daunte Culpepper is SOOL. PFT’s Mike Florio considered the plight of the self-represented Culpepper and offered the 8 year veteran a chance to address the league directly. Culpepper’s “letter to the NFL community” could well start a trend amongst the jobless — does anyone have Jeff George’s email address?
I set out this free agency period with three categories that I wanted to explore.
1. Teams that were looking for a starter
2. Teams that were open for QB competition
3. Teams that needed a veteran back-up
With the help of the NFLPA, I researched what the market value was for each category. I contacted 14 teams that fell into these categories. Unfortunately, I did not receive any real interest from the teams I contacted. When the Packers finally offered for me to come to Green Bay to back-up Aaron Rodgers there were no real negotiations. They offered me a deal that was, according to my research, below market value. They said that they would get back to me after the draft.
When the beginning of training camp came and there was still no interest, I reached out to Commissioner Goodell to see if he had any suggestions. He asked Ray Anderson to check around the league and get back to me. Ray told me three things based on his discussions with teams. First of all he said that I should get an agent because teams were not comfortable dealing with me without one. The second thing he told me was that I should be ready to accept the vet minimum and start my career over. The third thing he said was that I would only have an opportunity if someone got hurt. This is why I went to Pittsburgh to work out for the team after Charlie got hurt, so I could see if what Ray Anderson said was true. After a great workout, I was offered the vet minimum with no negotiations. This is when I realized that there is something wrong.
For the sake of clarity, I never told anyone in Pittsburgh that I wanted to compete with Ben Rothlisberger for his job. This is an example of misrepresentation or misinformation.
Recently the Commissioner called to let me know that I was on the top of the list for a job if a key veteran got hurt. I really appreciate the Commissioner’s help, but I hate that I have to wait for a fellow QB to experience the misfortune of an injury in order for me to have an opportunity to continue my career. Why was I not given the chance to compete for a job? This is my question to the NFL. The answer seems to point to something that I choose not to embrace at this time. So instead, I will continue to believe for the best and prepare for the worst.
You can file this one under “UCLA was asking for it”. Though I’m surprised nothing fun was done with a) Neuheisel’s visor or b) any reference to a college hoops pool, sometime subtlety is the best policy.
The former Paul E. Dangerously writes, “it’s sad to see Ric Flair advertised for some low rent wrestling shows at this stage of his life.” As opposed, to say, the not-quite-in-his-prime Terry Funk headlining ECW’s first PPV card (and bleeding on your humble editor as the credits rolled).
Heyman tells the The Sun’s readers “if you check with the producers and vendors and promotions, you’ll see I’ve turned down numerous conventions, autograph signings, guest appearances, booker deals, shoot tapes, you name it.” Admirable stuff, and I’m sure Paul has left at least three figures on the table as a result. “Is this how you want to see Flair nowadays? Isn’t just a little uncomfortable?” asks Heyman, and while the clip undoubtedly lacks what Don Cornelius might call production value, if the Nature Boy did manage to retire gracefully, he’d be one of the few guys to have done so.
Why? He says all he did was try to go to the bathroom while “God Bless America” was played during the 7th inning stretch.
“As soon as the latter came out of my mouth, my right arm was twisted violently behind my back and I was informed that I was being escorted out of the stadium. A second officer then joined in and twisted my left arm, also in an excessively forceful manner, behind my back. I informed them they were violating my First Amendment rights and that I had done nothing wrong, with no response from them.
“I was sitting in the Tier Level, and of course this is the highest level of the stadium and I was escorted in this painful manner down the entire length of the stadium. About halfway down, I informed them that they were hurting me, repeated that I had done nothing wrong, and that I was not resisting nor talking back to them. One of them said something to the effect that if I continued to speak, he would find a way to hurt me more.
“When we reached the exit of the stadium, they confiscated my ticket and the first officer shoved me through the turnstiles, saying ‘Get the hell out of my country if you don’t like it.’
Shameful stuff, though it should mollify any fear Mets fans might have about the Yankees making a run at free-agent-to-be Carlos Delgado during the offseason.
(above, an example of the strong interior defense Weis can bring to the Houston Rockets)
Even if Patrick Ewing Jr. never plays a minute for the New York Knicks, the following item from Newsday’s Alan Hahn is the funniest Knickerbocker-related story since JD & The Straight Shot headlined the Cablevision Stage at Bonnaroo.
On Friday, the Knicks took a step in that direction by acquiring Ewing Jr., from the Houston Rockets for the rights to 1999 first-round bust Frederic Weis.
Ewing Jr., who graduated from his father’s alma mater, Georgetown, this spring, was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the second round of the NBA Draft in June. He was then traded to the Rockets as part of the Ron Artest deal earlier this month.
wing Jr. does not have a guarantee with the Knicks, however, who now have 16 players on the roster. In order to make the team, Ewing Jr. will have to beat out a veteran or the Knicks will have to swing another trade. But in the meantime — and possibly in a few preseason games — there will be another No. 33 in a Knicks uniform. The blessing has already been given.
“He can wear anything he wants,” Ewing Sr., told Newsday in May. “He is me. He wore it at Georgetown and they can take it down from the rafters and put it on his back.”
(we can safely say the gentleman on the right had some colleagues over the years who were cooler than others)
As someone who was working here for 24 years before you arrived, I think you owed us more than that. You owed us decency. The fact that you saved your attack for TV only completes our portrait of you as a rat.
Newspapers are not dead, Jay, and this paper will not die because you have left. Times are hard in the newspaper business, and for the economy as a whole. Did you only sign on for the luxury cruise?
You have left us, Jay, at a time when the newspaper is once again in the hands of people who love newspapers and love producing them. You managed to stay here through the dark days of the thieves Conrad Black and David Radler. The paper lost millions. Incredibly, we are still paying Black’s legal fees.
I started here when Marshall Field and Jim Hoge were running the paper. I stayed through the Rupert Murdoch regime. I was asked, “How can you work for a Murdoch paper?” My reply was: “It’s not his paper. It’s my paper. He only owns it.” That’s the way I’ve always felt about the Sun-Times, and I still do. On your way out, don’t let the door bang you on the ass. – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, August 28, 2008
Not that $25 is an unfair sum to charge for say, Paul Collins’ Beat, who were awfully good last night at Beerland. But I can promise you there won’t be a DJ at the Mohawk this evening with a mint copy of the Sickness’ “Regurgitation”.
(I’m not actually going to play “Regurgitation” this evening, but if you pay $3 admission, I’ll certainly let you stare at the record for a few minutes).
By now you’re likely painfully aware that Alvarez, who apparently had agreed to a contract with a $6 million signing bonus at or near the last possible minute Aug. 15, has gotten word to the Pirates through uber agent Scott Boras that such an agreement was not completed on time and that perhaps only some additional funding can rectify the situation.
On one level, it’s astounding that Boras, a lawyer, and Pirates president Frank Coonelly, another lawyer, could bring a $6 million negotiation to a head without one or both of them knowing what time it is.
“We are good at deadlines,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said in the first few minutes of Aug. 16.
Hold your tickets on that.
It apparently just wasn’t enough for “El Toro” that the Pirates agreed to pay him not only $6 million on speculation, but the balance of the young man’s college tuition.
Yeah, a lot of people with $6 million in their pockets are wondering where those last 34 credit hours are supposed to come from. Tuition and fees plus room and board at Vandy is running about $46,724, so when he gets around to it I’d encourage the fledgling economics student to register for Econ 220, which discusses labor law and history, and in which he might have discovered that median household income for 2007 in this country was $56,545. You’d presume that a 21-year-old whose dad’s been driving a cab to help support the family in New York could put somebody’s interests ahead of his agent’s.
I’m a little curious why the P-G scribe is so cavalier over the notion a deadline might not have been met. If for instance, the Pirates could complete the signing at their leisure, that takes considerable leverage out of Boras’ hands.
I’m not sure when was the last time Mr. Collier was the one holding the hammer in a negotiation for his personal services, but when and if it happens, I’m sure he’ll be thinking purely in terms of what’s best for his prospective employers.
There’s a great scene in an old episode of Sky’s wretched footie soap “Dream Team” in which one of Harchester United’s soon-to-be WAG-humping pretty boys dogs it during training because Saturday’s match “is only against Charlton”.
“YOU WILL SHOW ALAN CURBISHLEY PROPER RESPECT!” bellowed a deeply offended Ian Dowie-type, whom would probably have gone totally apeshit had he witnessed scenes at Upton Park Wednesday night, in which Curbs’ West Ham had a tough time with Macclesfield in a Worthless Cup early-rounder. Observing home supporters tear into their manager, the Guardian’s Rob Smyth surmises, “he is everything West Ham fans aren’t – undemonstrative, equable, impassive – and, as with Sam Allardyce at Newcastle, they never warmed to him from the start.”
As well as being obviously counter-productive, booing your own team shows an utter lack of class and cool. But this mob rule is increasingly prevalent in football and, while the Proper Fan tries to blame it on the admittedly lamentable post-Italia 90 brigade of supporter, it is clearly not as simple as that. Let he who has never tasted a prawn sandwich cast the first stone.
That Curbishley is under such pressure is a reflection of a game that has lost all perspective. Curbishley, after all, is a man who has won two of his three games this season (and whose side were drawing 0-0 when they were reduced to 10 men), having finished in the top half last season. In short, he has done OK: 6/10 maybe. Factor in an injury list that verges on the macabre and a significant reduction in the funding promised when he took over and it’s nearer 7/10.
In the past you had to be on the useless side of mediocre to get the sack. English people laughed at how those crazy Italians turned over managers like a lothario does partners. You can get sacked – sorry, you can agree to leave by mutual consent – for anything these days. On occasion it can be justified, if there is an upgrade as obvious as Juande Ramos for Martin Jol or a manager as palpably out of his element as Sammy Lee, but for the most part it is the product of English football’s increasingly ruinous obsession with the grass on the other side.
Congratulations to the former Pacman Jones on his full reinstatement to the NFL earlier today, Commissioner Roger Goodell having previously sat the former Titans CB/kick returner down for the whole of the 2007 season. For those keeping score, Jones’ league suspensions now outnumber his criminal convictions, 1-0.
Kudos are also due Cowboys owner Joan Rivers Jerry Jones, who has proven to be the greatest motivator/rehabilitator of troubled young men since Father Bruce Ritter.
You never realize what a great big country we all live in until you drop an East Coast sports writer into the Midwest. Case in point, the Kansas City Star’s Joe Posnanski, who manages in the space of one day’s work to reveal his astonishment that a) ranyone could hate the Cubs (at least for the new “Cubs Hate America” campaign), b) that a post-steroid Yankees = the 1919-2005 White Sox (sic), or c) his further astonishment that a good but not “scary good” team like the Angels (also not from New York) can take a division where they only face three teams, none of which play .500 ball. Of course, Posnanski is still under the impression that Lou Piniella is a “ferocious” manager. And while there is some reason to “hate” the Tribune Co., one thing you can say in their defense, they never gave Jay Mariotti a home for 17 years. Now that Joe Pos resides professionally at the KC Star, he can tell you:
Seriously, how could you not love the Chicago Cubs?
Well, as it turns out, there are a lot of ways. You could grow up on the Southside of Chicago, where Cubs fans are viewed as a whole tribe of spoiled Ferris Buellers. You could be a St. Louis Cardinals fan raised to believe the Cubs are only cute and cuddly to the people who see them from afar. You could be from the greater Milwaukee area, only two hours north of Chicago, where maybe you have had the whole lovable Cubs thing rammed down your throat all your life to the point of bursting.
The shocking thing isn’t that these people don’t love the Cubs — it is that their hatred can border on pathological. I have in completely random ways met three people — THREE — who still feel frightening hostility toward Ryne Sandberg. I mean, seriously, Ryne Sandberg. The guy retired more than 10 years ago and, from afar, he never seemed like an especially disagreeable or threatening player. But one friend from St. Louis told me she doesn’t believe in the devil, “except, of course, Ryne Sandberg.”
This is all relevant right now because something unusual is happening in baseball. There’s a chance that for the first time since Bill Clinton told military personnel not to ask and not to tell, we might have a postseason without the usual villains. Yes, times are tough these days in Boston and New York. The Yankees and Red Sox are playing their final series ever at beloved Yankee Stadium*, and all that is at stake is a place closer to the exhaust of the Tampa Bay Rays and a little better standing in the wild-card battle with the Minnesota Twins. The Bronx bursts with excitement.
*Officially declared “beloved” when New Yorkers realized how much tickets would cost at the new place next year.
With apologies to SSD for the above title, Blazers F Channing Frye writes, “So, after living for a year in my house, I’m tired of my bare, white walls and am ready to get some great local artwork. Does anyone have any recommendations? Feel free to post pictures of what some local artists do or send links/information so I can go check out their stuff myself and can complete the feng shui…”
Of course, these are the Schizo Mets we’re talking about. And with all due respect to the Phillies’ penchant for taking a punch in the teeth Tuesday and coming back strong — with 10 innings of shutout relief work, no less, before Scott Schoeneweis nearly walked Brett Fucking Myers to end the game — the Mets proved Wednesday evening that they too, have some Chuck Wepner tendencies deep-down-inside (aside from serving as punching bags and bleeding profusely).
Skipper Jerry Manuel, also given to lame boxing analogies, described the 6-3 comeback victory as akin to “throwing a roundhouse left”, and the southpaws in this case would be Carlos Delgado (HR’s no. 29 and 30, 3 RBI’s) and Daniel (Ballgame) Murphy, whose 2-run double off Brad Lidge in the 8th broke a 3-3 deadlock. But no small tribute oughta be aimed at the embattled (sufficient code for “godawful”) Mets relief corps, the unlikely quartet of Stokes, Feliciano, Smith and Ayala combining to throw three scoreless innings of relief after it looked as Johan Santana (106 pitches, 6 IP, 3 runs, 5 hits, 6 K’s, HR’s allowed to Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth) would once again be penalized for anything less than perfection.
Will the real Mets please stand up? Chances are, after 104 games, we have a pretty good idea of their deep flaws, but we’re also left to marvel at Delgado’s career revival.. or David Wright’s knack for throwing out a runner at first while falling backwards towards the left-field line box seats. It’s not as though this crop of Metropolitans has denied us acts of heroism, but all too often, said performances have occured slightly before or after a meltdown achingly similar to Tuesday’s capitulation.
When CSTB first sent me this clip, I thought it was Ozzie Guillien spinning his rap career into a post-season WWE tour. Nope, it’s an episode of “Santino’s casa,” in which the WWE’s Santino Marella trash-talks the Cubs to Bob Howry and Ryan Dempster. Casa, a comedy heel, currently holds the Inter-Continental Championship Belt courtesy of lady wrestler Beth Phoenix, aka The Glamazon, who wins matches for him. The ironic career parallels of Marella and Howry never seems to dawn on Home-Run Bob, even whle standing next to Dempster. Anyway, I congratulate Howry on topping Marsella at his own game, and in his future career as the new Bobby Heenan. Speaking of new careers …
In a week when the Cardinals publicly forfeit the season, the Cubs sweep the Pirates on the road, when Mark DeRosa reveals he’s a fantasy football nerd who plays four different on-line leagues (you’re living the fantasy dude! You have groupies and free beer anywhere in Chicago! Get off the fucking computer!), and the Trib Co narrows Cub bidders down to five possible captains of industry – the real news is this just may be my last Cubs Mailbag here at CSTB. And I don’t think I’m announcing this prematurely at all – but I’ve e-mailed the Sun-Times as to my availability for Jay Mariotti’s job. If Mariotti wants on the internet so bad – and he’s apparently the one writer in the world who can’t figure out how to get on the Internet – then the mailbag awaits you, sir. Since he has no job and God knows how much income-producing hours I’ve wasted here … well, Rog, he’s all yours.
As to this week’s mailbag, sadly, the Cubs’ status as the best team in baseball and #1 in the NL Central since John McCain first joined the Navy to shell Vera Cruz has not attracted a better class of fan. No, were Carre Muskat not the last staff writer still on the Tribune payroll (sorry you had to give up your health care, kid!) she would most likely answer these questions a bit more honestly than her job description allows. Thus, I am happy to help out, via the future of sports journalism, the Internet. Time to roll up my sleeves for the last time …
Steve W., Louisville, Ky.: How much longer is manager Lou Piniella willing to give Fukudome to get his offense going before he opts to replace him in right field? … I used to be optimistic when Fukudome came to the plate, now I’m not.
Steve, time to get optimistic again. Fukodome hit what Lou would call a “nice” pinch-hit home run last Sunday against the Nationals. In a closed door meeting with Lou last week, just the two of them, no interpreters or Japanese speaking lawyers allowed, Lou explained that Fukodome’s work visa specifically includes a contractual option to serve with the Illinois National Guard in Baghdad should his average fall below .275. Lou is known among players as a motivator.
Scott P., Trevor, Wis. I understand that the Cubs do not have a clear MVP candidate who stands out, stats-wise. I believe it’s Geovany Soto. He is a rookie catcher who has led a pitching staff to the second-best ERA in the National League, has hit consistently all season long and is a catcher who rarely takes a day off.
Scott, Scott, Scott – getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we? As post-season vets like Jim Edmonds and Lou Piniella point out, none of that is an issue until the Cubs gets some things done. Currently, the team is evaluating parade routes so as not to collide with Obama’s homecoming inaugural when he wins the White House. World Series rings have to be sized, Bob Howry’s World Series share to be disputed, and allotting team bats to world leaders now asking that the national museums of their homelands each get one … well, MVP awards will have to wait until the first week of September, is all I’m saying.
Javi T., San Juan, Puerto Rico: Looking at Minor League stats, I’ve seen Jason Dubois tearing it up in Triple-A. Is there any chance we might see him with the big league club this year, and if so, in what role?
Good question, Javi. The big team indeed wants Monsieur Dubois in Chicago, as mlb sees him as the great Gallic hope in bringing French players back into the game. Like the RBI program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), MLB’s RBIF program searches for today’s Lajoies, Durochers, and Lefebvres, as Eric Gagne has driven far too many of his young countrymen to misguided Savate attempts in the UFC. Jason Dubois carries the hopes of the free French world on his shoulders.
Conor M., Glenview, Ill.: Now that the Cubs are flirting with the best record in baseball, it makes me wonder about the significance. How have teams with the best record in previous seasons fared in the playoffs?
Let me put it to you this way, Conor – the very idea of the Cubs as “best team in baseball” in the post-season means history is hardly your best guide. You would fare better studying Casey Kasem’s all-time most requested song lists or Keith Olbermann’s primary guesses. You may as well ask, “Traditionally, how have African-American presidents fared in their second terms versus white Presidents?”
Ken B., Montgomery, Ill.: If a pinch-hitter bats twice in one inning, does he have to go into the game?
Ken, if your pinch hitter hits twice in the same inning, you’re hardly in a “pinch” anymore, right? Gotta think these things though, pal.
Todd D., Chicago: My brother and I are trying to research the Cubs uniforms. From 1997-present, the uniforms have pretty much stayed the same. There was an era between 1984-93 when the Cubs wore the pullover jersey. The uniform we are trying to find is the one with the cursive Cubs logo on the chest that was worn sometime between 1994-96. We have found baseball cards during that time frame, but we can’t confirm that it was worn. It almost seems like a conspiracy to hide those uniforms. I have also heard rumors that they got rid of the cursive Cubs logo because it looked too much like the word “Cuba” on their chest. Please confirm that the uniforms did in fact exist and the time frame in which they were worn. I have been trying to find one to purchase, but it is nearly impossible.
Yes, Todd, there’s a “conspiracy.” Mailbag is already working on the definitive Cub Uniform History, and we’re telling you now, back off. Mailbag bought up all 1994-96 uniforms and you will NEVER get a decent photo of one for your “research.” You are so wrong on the pullover theory it’s laughable. The fact that you are using baseball cards and consulting on-line mailbags to complete your work tells me you and your brother are imbeciles. I already have the whole “Cuba” scandal, the Ernie Banks/Billy Williams sock trade, and Shawn Dunston cup scandal completely locked down. The subject is owned completely by me, and that includes my concurrent history of Cub shoes, “Laces High.”
Ed K., Clinton, Iowa : Watching the Little League World Series, I couldn’t help by wonder if Mike Fontenot is related to Kennon Fontenot of the Lake Charles, La., team?
They’re twins.
Underage Chinese gymnasts might scandalize the Olympics, but under baseball’s “special agreement” with the Federal government – which guarantees a 19th century monopoly to MLB – baseball is also able to take advantage of 19th century child labor laws. Mike’s ready for the big leagues, but Kennon needs a little work. The Cubs set him a 15-hour a day schedule, two meals a day (except Sundays when he does yard work for extra cash and pays for his own meals).
Chris A., Gladstone, Mich.: I saw an article about Matt Cerda being the last guy struck out by Danny Almonte in the 2001 Little League World Series and that the Cubs drafted Cerda. I’m curious about how he’s doing with the Cubs.
The Cubs are always looking for guys who can strike out, Chris. Cerda, another underage “star of tomorrow,” plays for the Cubs’ in Mesa, Ariz. When Rich Hill visited Mesa this summer, he bought beer for Cerda who turned 14 in July … unless the Arizona stores Cerda hits are on the McCain family beer runs, in which case Trib influence in the GOP keeps Cerda’s locker well-stocked.
Charlie P., New Johnsonville, Tenn.: Who was the last switch-hitter for the Cubs to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same inning? I say it was Mark Bellhorn, but a buddy of mine says no Cubs switch-hitter has ever done that. A free dinner rides on the answer.
Mailbag never answers personal questions about player “preferences,” and your turning legit baseball slang into gay subculture innuendo (”Bellhorn?”) is inappropriate for the Cub mailbag’s underage readers – who should get back to work, anyway.
Ryan D., Springfield, Ill.: I have to correct you on Greg Maddux’s wins with the Cubs. He has won 133, not 178. I had to look it up because I knew he couldn’t have won a majority of his games with the Cubs.
Ryan “D”– as in Ryan Dempster? What a surprise. Correct Ryan, Greg Maddux wasn’t, as you like to say, “all that” as a Cub, and you are still the fans’ all-time favorite. Thanks for e-mailing – again. Your helpful “suggestions” on rounding down tenths of a point (instead of rounding up) when citing Carlos Zambrano’s innings pitched, Kerry Wood’s fastball averaging 93.5 and not 93.7 mph as I have stated, or mentioning in this space that Carlos Marmol was an “all-star” without mentioning that he was an “all-star substitute” for an injured Kerry Wood, have all been duly noted. I have also made this clear to your agent, at your request. And please stop going over my head to Sam Zell, who has a lot more on his mind right now than getting me to mention your stake in that Chevy dealership in Downers Grove.
It really was a wacky little game in Philadelphia on Tuesday, though it seems the lot of us at CSTB were too busy/drunk/depressed/euphoric to recap.
By far the most interesting moment IMO was when Phillies’ catcher Carlos Ruiz ended up at third in the ninth inning–that is to say, as the third baseman–putting 13th-inning hero Chris Coste behind the plate, and saving Eric Bruntlett for his bottom-of-the-ninth game-tying hit.
1) Kyle Kendrick threw about 40 pitches while warming up in the bullpen last night. Charlie Manuel was all set to bring him in had Chris Coste not won the game with a walk-off base hit in the bottom of the 13th. Rudy Seanez could not pitch more than an inning, Manuel said. It did not come to that, and both Kendrick and Manuel said the young righthander should not be impacted at all when he starts tonight against Johan Santana. I’d expect the Phillies to bring up another arm anyway. Maybe. . .
2) As Kendrick was warming in the bullpen last night, I was cruising MinorLeagueBaseball.com trying to figure out who the Phillies would end up starting tonight if Kendrick got into the game. J.A. Happ started last night, Carlos Carrasco started recently, as did minor league veteran Brian Mazone. The two options I came up with? Andrew Carpenter, who pitched well in his lone spring training appearance and has seemed revitalized since returning to Double A from a brief demotion.
By the way, while I would not exactly put that game on Pedro (if nothing else, he outpitched Moyer), it was certainly unsporting of him to go blame his lousy final inning on “this band box.” Right, it was the stadium that gave up a lead-off double to Clay Condrey (his first hit since 2003!).
Besides, the thoughtful folks at PhilliesPhans.com note that according to ESPN’s “park factor” ratings, the oft-maligned Citizen’s Bank Park has been middle-of-the-road for offense this year (and less of a factor than its reputation every year except its first).
He’s come back nicely from a brutal year of a few years ago to reestablish himself as a pretty good offensive player. He’s had a lot of big hits this year. Of course, many of them have come in Citizen’s Bank Jokeyard.
Burrell’s stats as of yesterday (also pointed out initially at PhilliesPhans, and, since he was an uncharacteristic 0 for 7 in the game, still relevant today):
SI.com college football writer Stewart Mandel doesn’t figure that the Oklahoma State head coach (and play-caller) has actually matured.
…there are two reasons I’m not giving much consideration to the Cowboys. For one, their defense last year was every bit as awful as their offense was spectacular, ranking 112th nationally against the pass and 101st overall. But mostly, there’s the inescapable reality is [sic] that their head coach, Mike Gundy, is a complete clown.
I know what you’re going to say. I’m only ripping Gundy because of his infamous “I’m a Man!” tirade last year. … Well, yeah. Whether or not you agreed with the content, I can’t imagine anyone who watched that charade — which I presume is all of you — came away from it thinking: “That’s a guy I’d want leading my team.” (Unless, of course, your team at the time was coached by Bill Callahan or Karl Dorrell.) Gundy is certifiably nuts. He’s like the Ed Orgeron of the Big 12. And he’s got a 18-19 record to his name. What possible evidence is there to suggest that one of his teams should ever be taken seriously?
While it’s fun to imagine Gundy printing out an SI web page for some future tirade, he’s in agreement with Mandel about the first part.
“With the exception of a couple of years, we haven’t played really good defense here in 20 years.”
The Cowboys take on Washington State at Seattle’s Qwest Field Saturday.
(above – composers of the new “SportsCenter” theme music)
Persons who might have a problem with the LPGA’s new policy requiring it’s golfers to learn English or face suspension are in the words of ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd, “ascot-wearing, dot-EDU, America-haters.” To which I can only reply, Le Anne, bust out the whoopin’ stick. I realize Cowherd works within a very deliberate d-bag radio format and saying provocative shit is a big part of his job description. But that a major broadcaster — one owned by Disney, no less — would encourage this tired, sub-Ed Anger routine is a fucking embarrassment to everyone affiliated with the company. That Cowherd finds something sinister about multiculturalism is hardly out of character, but the popped-collar Archie Bunker spiel coupled with what can only be described as a phobia of those even slightly more intelligent than the morning mouthpiece, succeeds in tainting the entire ESPN operation. At least Wally George was funny.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported this morning that longtime columnist Jay Maritotti was leaving the paper “to pursue other opportunities.” Though there wouldn’t seem to be an unlimited number of opportunities to make Rex Grossman cry or to goad Ozzie Guillen into calling Jay a fag (professionally, anyway), wherever it happens next will probably be online Mariotti tells the Chicago Tribune’s Jim Kirk (links courtesy Jason Cohen).
Just back from Beijing where he wrote about the Summer Olympics, Mariotti said in a phone interview Tuesday night that he decided to quit after it became clear while in China that sports journalism had become “entirely a Web site business. There were not many newspapers there.” He added that most of the journalists covering the Games were “there writing for Web sites.”
He said that he “is talking with a lot of Web sites” and added that the future of his business “sadly is not in newspapers.” Mariotti said that he sent a resignation letter to Cyrus Freidheim, Sun-Times Media Group Chief Executive and Sun-Times Publisher. When asked via email by the Tribune whether Mariotti had resigned, Sun-Times Editor Michael Cooke responded, “You’re kidding?”
“I’m a competitor and I get the sense this marketplace doesn’t compete,” Mariotti said. “Everyone is hanging on for dear life at both papers. I think probably the days of high stakes competition in Chicago are over.
“To see what’s happened in this business…I don’t want to go down with it.”
The deadline for submissions to Canada’s Hockey Anthem Challenge is this Sunday, and since I’m fairly certain this one isn’t gonna win, and have yet to locate any entries from the likes of Joey Shithead, Julie Doiron or Randy Bachman, I’d like to get the readers of this blog behind my good friends in The Two Koreas (above). Now if only we didn’t have to sign up and log in to vote.
(Washington skipper Manny Acta shows great patience with broadcaster Charlie Slowes’ suggestion that playing Lasting Milledge’s mixtape diss of Billy Wagner might boost ratings)
Tony Kornheiser’s least favorite Washington Post colleague Paul Farhi reports the Nationals radio broadcasts are being heard by fewer persons than those paying to attend Nats games. That there’s more than a handful of either group given the club being nearly 30 games out of first place, is remarkable enough, but the failure of anyone at WWWT to blame this on MLB Advanced Media seems like a missed opportunity (link courtesy Baseball Think Factory).
The team’s broadcasts on the station formerly known as WWWT (107.7 FM and 1500 AM) attracted a cumulative weekly audience of about 26,500 from May through July, the most recent period measured by Arbitron.
The Nationals’ following on radio isn’t even in the same league as teams with similar records, even those in metropolitan areas with far fewer people than Washington.
The Seattle Mariners, for example, had won just two more games than the 46-85 Nationals as of Sunday. But the Mariners attracted 133,000 listeners per week, or about 26,000 per weekday game, through July.
The Nationals have a generally admired pair of announcers — Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler — and have two of the most powerful radio frequencies in the Washington area. One of the stations, 1500 AM, has a signal that can be heard as far away as Florida at night. The static-free FM station blankets much of the metropolitan area.
The stations themselves, however, have been beset by low ratings for some time, which has limited their ability to reach a wide audience and promote the games.
Jim Farley, vice president of news and programming for Bonville International, the company that owns the stations that carry the Nats games says the team’s poor record alone doesn’t explain the results. “There’s no storyline for this season,” he says. “Who’s the hero? Who’s the big star? Even the [famously terrible] ‘62 Mets had Marv Throneberry. The Nats don’t have a character like that. Night after night, the most interesting thing to talk about is that Teddy Roosevelt didn’t win [the mascot race] again.”
Wow. Harsh enough that Jim Bowden is the subject of a criminal investigation. Now he has to apologize to a radio station for dumping Paulie Go Nuts.
Who’d have ever imagined Bobby Bonilla would have a 2nd tour of duty with the New York Mets? If that particular pig could fly, why not bring back the just-waived Kenny Rogers to take John Maine’s spot in the starting rotation?
Consider all the positives : he’s experienced postgame pressure (ball four!), knows how to handle the media (see above) and given his prior experience at Shea Stadium, already knows the quickest way to escape the clubhouse after a loss. He’s exactly the sort of strong veteran presence someone like Jon Niese can learn from. That is, if Niese isn’t traded to obtain Kenny Rogers.
The Daily News’ Ralph Vacchiano leads the tributes to Jets owner Woody Johnson, who apparently deserves some sort of award for gouging only the wealthiest of Gang Green’s fans.
The Jets rolled out their PSL plan today and while the top seats are a little more expensive ($25,000), the upper deck seats are PSL-free. The Jets said all 27,000 seats in the upper bowl of the new stadium will not include a Personal Seat License charge.
The lower bowl seats will have PSLs ranging from $4,000 to $20,000 and club seats will have PSLs ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.
I’m floored by that, actually. I really thought the Jets were going to hit the fans even harder than the Giants did. But Jets owner Woody Johnson said “We listened to our fans in designing this plan.”
‘Tis not my place to tell others how to spend their discretionary income, but I’d think for $4,000.00 you could pay Mark Gastineau to beat up and/or stalk a co-worker.
According to The News Guard, Duckworth visited Lincoln City to host a free basketball clinic for kids. He also was there to visit fans as part of the Trail Blazers “Make It Better” tour of the state.
“Kevin will be remembered by fans as one of the most popular and recognizable players to ever wear the Blazers uniform, but to people who knew him, he’ll be remembered as one of the warmest and biggest- hearted,” said Blazers President Larry Miller.
The 7-foot player was known as “Duck.” He also played for San Antonio, Washington, Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Clippers during his 11-year NBA career. A second- round draft pick of the San Antonio Spurs out of Eastern Illinois University in 1986, Duckworth was only 14 games into his NBA career when he was acquired by the Trail Blazers from San Antonio in exchange for Walter Berry.
I’m not gonna speculate as to the cause of death except to say that even at his (increased) post-playing career weight, I didn’t think Duckworth was a candidate to shuffle off this mortal coil before Walter Berry. Duckworth was a more than capable center his first few seasons for the Blazers, who were damn lucky to have him given the fragility of Sam Bowie.
Who he’d root for in a Cubs-Sox World Series: “Oh, that’s easy. White Sox. . . . You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there. People aren’t watching the game. It’s not serious.White Sox, that’s baseball. South Side.”
No word yet on whether Senator John McCain has been informed of the existence of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Lest anyone from Australia actually be troubled by this nonsense (and ignoring future hauls in cricket and rugby silverware might be required), there’s additional solace to be found in other fields.
Nothing like a little bit of local news fluff to distract from the sheer horror of John Maine going on the disabled list. The New York Post reports Brian Stokes will likely assume Maine’s spot in the rotation, while Jon Niese could potentially be called upon to make his major league debut after September 1.
Could there be any greater testament to the plummeting fortunes of Melky Cabrera than the McFarlane Toy Co. scrapping plans to manufacture a Melky Doll? If it’s any consolation, I believe the Jeff Francoeur action figures have also been shelved for the time being. Though if McFarlane wish to flog a hotly coveted collectable, they could do worse than license the rights to the Geege plushy from Merle Allin.
Considering James Dolan managed to find fault with Marv Albert, can anyone be surprised the Knicks have yet to retain the services of currently-out-of-contract radio voice Gus Johnson? The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman claims MSG’s Mike Bair and Lydia Murphy-Stephens are “playing hardball” with the melodramatic mouthpiece.
Would these two be bubbleheaded enough not to ink Johnson? The Excitable One has spent 10 seasons as part of MSG’s Knicks radio team – the past five as the Knicks’ No. 1 radiocaster, working with veteran analyst John (Legend) Andariese.
The fact that it’s almost September and MSG has not come to terms with Johnson is a tad strange. Especially considering what’s taking place on the court.
With Mike D’Antoni in place as coach, and Donnie Walsh now the brains of the organization, the fog on 33rd St. has a chance of lifting. The Garden will be selling optimism. It better if it wants anyone to purchase overpriced tickets.
Did Johnson cut Isiah Thomas major slack and spread MSGulag party propaganda? Yep. He, along with all the other MSG Knicks voices who joined him, have been ripped to shreds in this space. A new day may be dawning.
Johnson took the heat. He has thick skin and a unique style. His calls are full of over-the-top passion. The man has a following.
Perhaps this has actually dawned on Bair and Murphy-Stephans. But who knows what these two are thinking? After all, their regime has not made anyone forget about those grand days when MSG was the Rolls-Royce of regional cable sports networks.
(sure, he’s come up with some horrifying imagery, but even Dean Koontz is taken aback by David Weathers in a towel)
Along with losing the services of Johnny Cueto yesterday (hands up, everyone who thought a young Reds pitcher would hit the DL without Dusty being responsible), the Reds lost to the Rockies, 4-3 in a twelve inning affair that had the Dayton Daily News’ Hal McCoy in serious overdrive. Though said loss was dubbed “an almost indescribable game”, McCoy tried awfully hard just the same, calling the defeat, “the Reds falling out of an ugly tree and hitting every branch on the way to the ground” while proclaiming “the videotape is going to Cooperstown as one of the five worst professional baseball games ever played.”
The Reds made as many errors (five) as they had hits (five), they struck out 14 times. They walked nine Rockies, threw two wild pitches, committed a balk, perpetrated a passed ball and Corey Patterson made his daily baserunning blunder by getting picked off base.
Colorado stranded 18 and was 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position. Sound familiar? One difference. The Rockies won.
The game details are right out of a Dean Koontz novel. Scary.
Hey, he could’ve said “predictable”, too. Then again, when I consider the sort of abuse inflicted on Mets fans by the team’s chronically ineffective bullpen, the writings of Andrew Vachss routinely come to mind.
In all seriousness, this is probably a terrific promotion (and not the first time EA has used Ray Lewis as their company spokesmodel). And besides, who wants a phone call from Trent Dilfer?
Down by one run in the ninth inning, looking squarely at the ugly specter of being swept at home by Tampa Bay, the White Sox faced a stark choice between right and wrong.
Wrong did pretty good.
A Ken Griffey Jr. one-out double in the ninth set up the morality play. Ozzie pinch-ran Brian Anderson for Junior and Paul Konerko came up to bat. With Anderson’s speed against Tampa’s characteristically shallow-set outfield, it would take a long fly in left to justify sending the tying run home from third.
So when after a 3-2 battle, pinch-hitting Paulie sent a clutch two-hopper single off of Wheeler to Ben Zobrist in short left, all eyes moved to 3B coach Jeff Cox to be the voice of reason and hold Anderson in the face of the well-handled grounder.
But Cox had other ideas.
When an older family member exhibits degenerate gambling tendencies, tragedy usually follows. Concerned about familial assets ending up in a riverboat’s coffers, sons and daughters often stage awkward interventions to stave off disaster. The sellout US Cellular crowd was no exception, blurting a desperate chord of panic at Cox’s posture as Zobrist set up. With all the terrifying certainty of a tipsy uncle doubling down on twelve, the windmilling Cox sent Anderson home in a dazzling display of pure, unadulterated Wrong.
That Crawford’s throw beat Anderson home by twenty feet was certain. It was also certain that Tampa Catcher Shawn Riggans needed at least ten more to herd in the rolling cowhide. Riggans lost the ball so badly and whiffed so completely he made no tag attempt, allowing Anderson to tie the game at 5. Thus did Wrong become Right, and not for the last time that hour.
In the tenth, after reaching first and capitalizing on an undermotivated BJ Upton’s center-field gaffe, AJ Pierzynski stood on second. Upton had made an overhead catch of a Carlos Quentin deep fly ball, but dogged it for four steps before his throw, giving AJ the space to advance.
Possibly distracted by his good fortune, AJ then made a rare basepath mistake, jumping off of second on a Jermaine Dye grounder to short to find himself in a rundown.
Incredibly, on his third double-back, Pierzynski managed to: touch Ayala with an outstreched forearm, tumble to the ground, appeal for an interference call, and get it. That umpire Doug Eddings, he of the famous dropped-third strike non-call in the ‘05 Angels ALCS was on duty at second — and had again sided with AJ was the backbreaker for the Rays. Tampa skipper Joe Maddon’s vigorous protest held no sway and Pierzynski was awarded third base along with a daytime Emmy in a brief ceremony.
After that it was mere procedural anticlimax when Alexei Ramirez sent a fly ball to empty right over a five-man infield to score AJ, rob the Rays of an away sweep and get the Pale Hose back into first place.
All of which means: if the Twins can play that far over their head, then surely these local offenses against the universe can be tolerated.
Actually, ’tis not the Association’s patriotism that’s in question, but rather their sense of history. The Indiana Pacers are playing an exhibition against the Hornets on October 8 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds’ Pepsi Coliseum, a venue that hosted 3 ABA titles for the Pacers. Indy Cornrows reports the NBA has quashed the Pacers’ plans to play the October 8 game using the ABA’s beloved red, white and blue ball.
On Friday, I heard Mark Boyle scoff at the denial as an NFL-like decision, similar to the uniform or celebration rules the No Fun League imposes to pasteurize their players. Couldn’t agree more. The ball can be an NBA regulation ball with all the appropriate logos. I’m sure the Simons would be happy to pay to have them made. Heck, they could probably end up selling them after the fact and make a nice profit.
There is, however, a chance the NBA’s decision has more to do with copyright considerations than anything else. Hopefully we can find out for certain when and if the ABA’s website is running again.
When Bobby Bonilla famously offered to show Bob Klapsich (above, middle) the Bronx, it wasn’t because the latter had any difficulty seeing it for himself. But since last July’s terrifying eye injury suffered in an Over 40 league contest, amateur pitcher/professional baseball scribe Klapisch has been left to ponder how “control of the ball – and with it, the at-bat, the game, sometimes even your life – ends the moment it leaves a pitcher’s fingertips.” From Sunday’s Bergen Record (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory) :
I learned this hard lesson July 10 at Smith Field in Parsippany, when the curveball I threw not only froze in the middle of the strike zone, it turned into a missile searing toward my skull. Thanks to a combination of topspin off the hitter’s bat, and a rock near the mound, a last-second bad hop left me defenseless as the ball struck me in the eye.
The explosion in my head might as well have come from a 12-gauge shotgun; that’s how loud it was. The ball sliced open my cornea, completely detached my retina, ruptured several areas of the eye socket and broke nearly every bone on the right side of my face.
I remember drifting, floating – was I dying, I wondered? – then landing on the ground with a sick thud. I could feel the blood pouring out of my nose, my mouth and from the cut on my cheekbone, which had been split in half.
“I can’t see, I can’t see,” is what I kept screaming before my words dissolved into a sound that can only be described as a rung lower than primal. One of my teammates, a Roxbury police officer, turned away in horror.
Though there’s some slight comic relief in the Bergen Record piece (a recollection of the day Al Leiter pulled a David Schultz and attempted to show the writer just how hard a big league pitcher can throw — good thing Tim Wakefield wasn’t eavesdropping), the good news is Klapisch might regain as much as 80 percent vision in his right eye, pending the outcome of further surgeries. Answering his own question of whether or not amateur ball was worth this kind of risk, Klapisch writes, “I pitched for the Mariners and Hackensack Troasts because it allowed me to respect major-leaguers in a way few other writers can.” While that’s noble enough, I’ll also bet that aside from being maimed, it was probably fun most of the time, too. If you’re wondering why a 51 year old man would willingly put himself in the line of fire, “because he can” isn’t a bad answer.
(cheer up Black America, Mike and Jerry are looking out for your collective self-esteem)
“In conversations with black friends and other black sports figures, it’s become evident that a lot of African-Americans are taking a pretty personal interest in seeing the United States men’s basketball team succeed” claimed ESPN’s Jemele Hill yesterday. “The Redeem Team — what an appropriate nickname — is not only dispelling notions about American basketball,” continued Hill “but showing that black NBA superstars are just as patriotic, coachable, team-oriented, fundamentally sound, mannerable, hard-working, and disciplined as their foreign basketball brethren.” Her unique take on contemporary hoops and wider culture has Sports On My Mind’s D.K. Wilson wondering, “vidication for what, exactly? Vindication for malfeasant acts by the press and shock jocks, including those of ESPN Radio, who used the losses of the 2004 US Men’s National Team in Athens as their personal race-bait pulpit?”
Four years ago players like Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant begged off the Olympic team fearing their personal safety; 9-11 was why Colangelo and Brown could not procure the commitment of the NBA’s best American players, not some pap about trumped-up, jingoistic ideals. in 2006 the dynamic white duo of Colangelo and Krzyzewski took the US team to a veteran’s hospital to visit troops who had been maimed in the Iraq War. That visit and K’s many national pride speeches did nothing for the team’s morale – they still lost.
The problem was the makeup of the 2004 team. The problem wasn’t tattoos or cornrows, but a team of position misfits with too many young players at or near the top of the food chain.
So, if I’m getting all this straight, we are to believe that the black community was devastated by the US Men’s basketball losses of 2004 and haven’t recovered since.
Maybe we can be blamed for the downturn of the US economy. After all, we’ve been so busy grieving over our lost sense of collective pride since 2004 that we have not been able to show face and shop till we drop like good little consumers. After all, when 13 % of your population is doing nothing but working and hitting the Mickey Dees drive-thru for the family dinner and immersed in a Diaspora-wide self-imposed exile from the local strip mall, what happens to the rest of the country?
Thank god for white people taking up the slack for us and going into ever-deepening debt for us and by doing so, showing us the American ideal, huh?
I find it curious that all these black people Hill spoke with find their sense of self worth tied to a basketball team. Neither I nor any black person I know or speak with on any regular basis derives any feeling of special pride in the US Men’s National team winning the gold medal. And the team’s losing would cause us no particular personal angst.
Hey, attributing sentiments to persons you either can’t or won’t name is all the rage. It’s hard to calculate which is lamer, Jemele Hill’s compulsion to act as a conduit between her “black friends” and a national audience, or another pseudo-journalist who presents himself as the everyfan’s shoulder to cry on.
A night after Matt Leinart tossed 3 intereceptions in Arizona’s exhibition victory over Oakland, Sir Mort reports the Cardinals have named Kurt Warner their starting quarterback. I’m hardly a religious sort but after considering the respective career trajectories of Warner and the former Heisman winner he’s displaced, I might have to seriously look into mass adoption and/or marrying Cloris Leachman.
After losing DE Osi Umenyiora to a torn lateral meniscus last night, Big Blue’s Col. Coughlin admits to the Daily News’ Ralph Vacchiano that lobbying for Michael Strahan’s return has crossed his mind. Much as I’d love to see any number of local ad campaigns featuring Strahan alongside a diving Brett Favre, there’s other retired players with excellent credentials that might fit within Jerry Reese’s budget. Andy Robustelli, for instance.
Like many of you, I was up late Saturday night / early Sunday AM watching the USA claim Olympic gold against a surprisingly physical, tenacious Spain. While marveling at the pseudo-Maravich-isms of Ricky Rubio and a revelatory exhibition from Portland’s Rudy Fernandez, I must admit, it never occurred to me that Jason Kidd would soon be reduced to gestures reminiscent of Elvis Presley’s final years ; ie. an aging superster giving away flashy trinkets in order to distract from a subpar performance. From The Las Vegas Review-Journal :
Jason Kidd promised Elaine Wynn, wife of casino mogul Steve Wynn, that he would give her his newest Olympic medal if the Americans fulfill the redeem dream.
“It’s not a (gambling) marker or anything like that,” Kidd told The Arizona Republic. “She’s just a great friend and a really great person.”
They met last year when Kidd and the USA team stayed at the Wynn while training in Las Vegas.
“Last summer, we stayed at the Wynn for (what seemed like) a lifetime, close to three weeks,” Kidd said. “We met at a banquet, we got to talking, and she really understands the game.
“I told her I’d make a deal with her, that if we won the gold medal, I’d give it to her. She thought I was kidding. But I told her I had one already, and the way they treated us at the Wynn, it was the least I could do.”
Wouldn’t it be great if Bleecker Bob’s reopened as a clubhouse for Steve Bartkowski’s legion of fans in the Tri-State area? No? Alternatively, on the occasion of Brett Favre’s solid-if-not-spectacular showing against the Giants last night, the New York Times’ Jeff Bercovici reports the former Packers QB’s sizeable NYC cult has a chosen a unique home to follow his new exploits. It’s a slippery slope, from Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs to Music For Dozens to His Favreness, but who am I to begrudge these Brett boosters a fun night out?
After moving to New York in 1980, Patrick Mr. Daley took a job tending bar at Kettle of Fish, which, in its original Macdougal Street location, had been a hangout for Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan and other Village habitués.In 1998, he bought the bar, which had settled into a low-ceilinged wood-and-brick space on Christopher Street, previously occupied by the Lion’s Head, and he set about remaking it as a shrine to all things green and gold. The wall behind the bar is heavy with plaques and signed photos, with pride of place going to a Packers stock certificate.
Over the years, a few retired players have stopped by, Mr. Daley said, adding, “Hopefully, Brett will come in now that he’s in New York.” One of Mr. Daley’s employees pointed out that Favre, a recovering alcoholic and painkiller addict, no longer drinks. Mr. Daley’s response: “Well, we’ll find out if he comes in.”
(* – OK, I do realize we’re not even talking about the same building and if I bothered to do any research, I’d already know the original Folk City is now a Duane Reade, a Washington Mutual or a combination Duane Reade/Pinkberry.
While the New York Mets have played .600 ball since the All-Star break, an 8-4 throttling at the hands of the Houston Astros gave Newsday’s Wallace Matthews a chance to sneer, “I succeeded in finding people who wanted to be at Shea Stadium even less than I did Saturday night. Unfortunately, they were wearing Mets uniforms.”
John Maine took them out of this one early, as has been his habit since late May, but five runs should certainly not be too much to overcome for a team with a $140-million payroll and two players, Jose Reyes and David Wright, whom the Mets and their fans consider legitimate MVP candidates.
Yet there was no fight in this team, something we have seen time and again the past three seasons, regardless of whether the manager’s name was Willie or Jerry, the venue was home or away, the opponent a contender like the Phillies or Cubs, or doormats like the Astros.
They came out flat and went down meekly in their first 14 at-bats against Brandon Backe, who had won just once in a month and allowed 11 runs in his last outing Aug. 16. They finally showed some life in the eighth, courtesy of Ryan Church, fresh off the DL, who singled, and Brian Schneider, who continued his recent hot streak with a two-run homer to right. But that cut the Astros’ lead to a mere five runs, 8-3, and although Jose Reyes also doubled in the inning, he was stranded by Carlos Delgado, who tapped out.
Suddenly, the pregame words of Luis Castillo — “The team is playing good and I need a rest, so I’ll take a couple more days” — came back to you as further evidence that not everyone in a real Mets uniform may want this as badly as those wearing the replica jerseys in the stands.
Ryan Church making it through an entire game and Schneider’s home run aside, Matthews can hardly be blamed for finding little to praise about this stinker. But poor opponents or not, going 14-5 over their last nineteen contests is hardly a sign of a club phoning in it (keep in mind the Mets won 4 one run games over that span), nor is there much sense in citing the inflated payroll in this instance. Certainly any team that features the likes of Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Delgado ought to fancy itself a contender. But when you consider how much of that $140 million is applied to players missing in action (Castillo, Alou, Hernandez) or simply absent for long stretches (Martinez, Church, Wagner), Jeff Wilpon has every bit as much right to whine about injuries as Hank Steinbrenner. To his credit, he’s not done so, and the Mets’ resilience— not a characteristic we often association with the 2007 squad — deserves citation. If not from Matthews, then from persons who aren’t working a schtick that’s long past it’s sell-by date. Maine’s condition is obviously a matter of concern, but that’s a separate issue compared to whether these guys care about winning.
Brandon Backe is not gonna be confused with Bob Gibson anytime soon, but he’s hardly without credentials. Combining with Roy Oswalt to retire 35 consecutive Mets between Friday and Saturday’s games, Backe was similarly untouchable in Game 5 of the 2004 NLCS (and more than competent in Game 4 of the ‘05 World Series). Matthews makes it sound as though the Mets were baffled by R.A. Dickey. Which they were, two months ago. But it’s the height of hysteria to claim being shut down by Backe is in and of itself a harbinger of the Mets going into the tank.
