“Forget about the notion of fighting as part of hockey’s in trinsic nature. Forget about fighting acting as a safety valve for the athletes,” protests the New York Post’s Larry Brooks. As long we don’t have to forget about Hockey Fights.com, I’m willing to consider Brooks’ charge that “watching heavyweight fights such as the one in Tampa on Wednesday between the Rangers’ Colton Orr and Lightning’s David Koci has become the equivalent to viewing the aftermath of automobile accidents on the Interstate.”
Orr and Koci packed heavyweight-sized wallops in their punches on Wednesday. The crowd went berserk, probably much like the Romans who gloried in gladiators fighting to the death in the arena. As the players went to the penalty box, the fight was replayed on the scoreboard video screen. The spectators seemed to enjoy it even more the second time. It all had a demeaning quality to it.
Oh, and by the way, now comes the news that Koci suffered a broken hand in the fight, which is as benign an injury as either player might have suffered in the lengthy exchange of blows to the head.
Think about this for a second. As the NHL community debates outlawing hits to the head, it doesn’t give a second thought to allowing fights in which athletes punch one another in the head. Here’s a memo to NHL officials: Fighters are susceptible to concussions, too.
Penalizing all checks to the head is a complex issue. Outlawing all punches to the head should not be. It’s time for the NHL to outlaw fighting; time for the NHL to act before injuries far more serious than the broken hand suffered by Koci become commonplace.
Some folks aren’t taking today’s news all that well. Presumably, phoning in a bomb scare to Arrowhead Stadium is illegal and/or doesn’t afford Missouri a competitive advantage.
Hey TEXAS LONGHORN fans, of which I am OBVIOUSLY one – what’s done is done. Here is a pro-active activity to do in mass:
JAM the Oklahoma Sports Ticket Office now selling Big 12 Championship tickets from 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM tonight. Just call the number and hang up or tell the ticket agents that OU Sucks or whatever. If enough Texas fans jam their phone lines it just might have an effect on Sooner turnout in KC next week.
Here is the information:
The OU ticket office will have limited phone sales from 5–7 p.m. this evening. Phone sales will resume at 8 a.m., Monday, Dec. 1, by calling (800) 456-GoOU or (405) 325-2424.
Y’think the person advocating the above plan is familiar with caller I.D.?
….or much like the rest of the country, they thought “Rock Rivals” sucked. While a 2nd round FA Cup exit to Histon of the Blue Square Premier League is a bitter pill for Leeds to swallow (just 7 years removed from a Champions League semi-final), what’s a mere domestic tournament loss compared to the sheer joy of audible chants of “ITV is fucking shit” embarrassing the nation’s most boring commercial broadcast channel?
….and Paul’s the one who came up with it. Kiss’ founding vocalist/guitarist shares his thoughts on the matter of intellectual property with AskMen.com (link swiped from Blabbermouth.net).
Q: Back in the ’80s, a decision was made in order to respect the fans that Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr would have to wear new face makeup; why was the decision made to allow Eric Carr and Tommy Thayer to wear the makeup of original members?
Stanley: It wasn’t to respect the fans; it was a misstep, if anything. The idea that we should dilute the four icons, which are world-known (not by name, but by character) and come up with like “Frog Man” or “Turtle Boy” was a big misstep. Those iconic figures are known worldwide; you show anybody in the world a photo of KISS and they’ll tell you it’s KISS. So, it just sold everybody short to think that when somebody left the band that they should take those characters with them. In a sense, we all created each others’ characters because it was the four of us together and the synergy between the four of us that made those characters. Could we have done it on our own? I don’t think so. It was all of us together that came up with it.
Q: : Is there any truth to the rumors about a “Kiss II” reality show?
Stanley: It’s kind of gotten distorted into something that it really isn’t. The idea that some guys are going to take our place and we’re going to go home is never going to happen. Really, what it was and remains is the idea that Gene and I have created and nurtured something for 35 years… [and] as successful and consistent as we’ve been kind of makes people wonder what it would be like if we put together another band and gave [them] that experience. It’s much closer to that.
Considering the curious case of recently canned Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin — just named Phil Fulmer’s replacement at Tennessee — the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ray Ratto muses, “he got a job in the NFL his experience didn’t merit, and now he has one in the SEC that his NFL experience didn’t merit, either.” Kiffin, writes Ratto, “will either build an SEC powerhouse in the teeth of more experienced men like Saban and Meyer and Richt and yes, even Nutt, or he will be run out of Knoxville with a vengeance that makes Al Davis’ overhead projector seem like a French tickler.”
Iritating Al could be a noble pursuit in and of itself, but its amusements last only so long. Kiffin’s war with Davis lasted only 20 games, but by the end even the truest believers on either side had seen the catastrophic flaws in both men, and by the end we were treated to notions like a 76-yard field goal attempt that wasn’t about three points but a finger in the eye. The players did not weep when Kiffin left, except with envy. He had the leverage of pushing Davis’ hypersensitive buttons, and an ability to sell himself without a resume.
But in taking the Tennessee job rather than, say, Washington or Syracuse or even Clemson, he decided, as young’uns often will, to fly too close to the sun. The SEC is not for the faint of heart, or the superficially clever, or even the young and energetic. The SEC is where you go after you’ve cut your teeth on something tougher than Davis’ disapproval, and unless Kiffin has a lot more game than he ever showed in Oakland, he’s picked an awfully big elephant to ride.
He is following an unpopular coach in Fulmer, but also one who lasted 17 years and won a national championship; in Oakland, he followed Norv Turner. His stadium will have 107,000 fans in it each week, while the Raiders fight hard to get to 60,000. There are no shades of gray in Tennessee football, where every win is the minimum standard and every loss an affront to an entire state. In Oakland, the fans have been beaten down well enough to feel good about beating Kansas City.
“Sparks flew, records fell and the box score nearly burst into flames,” writes the New York Times’ Howard Beck after observing the 7-man New York Knicks zip past Golden State last night, 138-125. If you’d predicted Saturday that Chris Duhon would tally a franchise record 22 assists, or that of all the forwards in the Association, David Lee would score 37 points and collect 21 rebounds, I would very much to put you in charge of my dog’s college fund. Amongst those unimpressed, however, is the Daily News’ Filip Bondy, who accuses the Warriors of having “behaved as if they’d never before witnessed a pick and roll. Their entire defense went missing for 48 minutes, allowing the Knicks to set all kinds of records that meant very little when placed within the context of this ludicrous victory.”
It wasn’t one of those heated rivalry games,” Al Harrington noticed.Yes, Oakland must be the place to go when rebuilding is the plan, and when basketball games don’t resemble the sport as we once recognized it around here.
“I know it would be easier,” Warriors coach Don Nelson was saying Saturday, about a hypothetical version of the Knicks reinventing themselves out West. “It’s not easy rebuilding anywhere, but it’s kind of exciting with my team watching the (players) grow.”
Never before had a team retreated with such commitment. The Warriors were unforgivably horrible. No worries. Nelson deals with a patient owner, a minimal fan base, two newspaper beat writers and a lot of nice weather out there in the Bay Area. He served his time in New York, and it didn’t go well. Now Nelson can afford to win, or lose, at his own pace.
“I sure hope it’s possible,” Walsh said, about rebuilding a club in New York. He can only hope there are enough lousy teams out there, like Golden State, to keep his club afloat and enough tickets sold during tough times.
There were plenty of empty seats Saturday night, and then the Knicks went out and played the sort of no-look defense that would lose to about 20 teams in the league. Not to the Warriors, though.
(ORU’s Ogunoye : entertaining hundreds of people in about 90 minutes from now)
Either the the D-League’s Tulsa 66′ers are trying to save on housing costs or they’re concerned about the local draw. Either way, it’s kind of amazing to see Austin’s Saturday night opponents have 3 former Oral Roberts players (Moses Ehambe, Yemi Ogunoye and Adam Liberty) on their current roster. I’ve lost my password to the Elias Koteas Sports Bureau’s website, so perhaps someone else can tell me the last time any sort of professional basketball team had 3 Golden Eagles in uniform.
Mr. Ehambe’s top MySpace friend is Jesus. You were expect Dan from the Bunnybrains?
Full credit to Philly.com’s Sheil Kapadia, who hung in to watch the NFL Network’s postgame show after the Iggles’ 48-20 whitewash of the Arizona Brendas rather than enjoy the Thanksgiving company of family or friends. Kapadia writes that Deion Sanders reacted poorly to Philly faithful applauding Donovan McNabb during the QB’s postgame interview.
“Can I tell them something for you?” Sanders said. “First of all, I would like to tell all these idiotic fans to shut-up. Don’t get on his bandwagon now. You’re the same guys who booed him on his first incompletion.”
Host Rich Eisen then asked Sanders what he thought of the Philly fans.
“I can’t stand them. I really can’t. It’s not because I was a former Cowboy because I didn’t give a darn about any fans. They all hated me because I performed well,” Sanders said. “But they way they treated this man from Day One, it’s not justifiable. They will not treat any other quarterback in the NFL, like we said, Peyton Manning don’t get treated like that. Tom Brady. And I know you [McNabb] can’t say it, but I would really like on your behalf, you can take this…God bless you guys. … “
Funny, I was under the impression it was Andy Reid who benched McNabb last Sunday in favor of an unprepared Kevin Kolb, but it turns out he was only following orders from the public. ‘Tis a curious measure Sanders applies to McNabb’s treatment, as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have two rings between them, yet does anyone really believe that if Brady plays as poorly next fall as McNabb has occasionally this season, Patriots fans will cut him a break?
The New York Daily News’ Ralph Vacchiano and Larry McShane have a source (Mark Bavaro? Ray Handley?) who insists the NY Giants’ “talented but troubled” (not Deep Throat’s words, presumably) suffered an accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wound Friday evening.
The Daily News helpfully provides hyperlinks to “report offensive post” when readers cross an imaginary line with their comments, and either no one is reading these messages or I’m the only person who thinks the paper oughta be embarrassed by this one :
I guess perceived talent makes you overlook all the “little things” you hope money will make go away. It hasn’t worked with michael vick, barry bonds, stephon marbury, to name a few.
Wow, I wonder what all those guys had in common? Interesting point, though ; Bonds’ lack of cuddliness was clearly an obstacle to his success on the diamond. Imagine if he’d gone to charm school, the Sultan Of Sulry would’ve hit 1500 home runs in his career.
In all seriousness, while Burress is a pretty easy target for tabloid readers and chat radio screamers, his arrival at the Swamp has coincided with three consecutive playoff appearances and a Super Bowl ring. How’s that for overlooking the little things?
And by the above headline, I mean a 4 year love affair between CSTB and Austin’s entry in the NBA Development League. Tonight’s poorly attended home opener would’ve otherwise been notable for the regular season pro debut of Bill Walker (above, 23 points, 8 rebounds), who led Utah to a 93-91 defeat of Quin Snyder’s Toros. Rather than Walker’s performance or an OT buzzer beater from fellow Celtics hopeful JR Giddens, I’m unfortunately gonna focus on the participation of local radio sponsor Hot 93.3, who presumably employed some moron to slap a sticker advertising their station on the back of my jacket.
Spray painting “please punch me in the face” across my shoulder blades would’ve been more subtle, but if this wasn’t bad enough, the incessant ramblings of compere-for-the-night D-Train (above, left) were the real ambience killer. The pinhead in question actually refers to himself as “the P. Diddy of Austin”, and considering Sean Combs’ history of basketball related fatalities, perhaps this should’ve given the Spurs front office pause before inviting him to the Convention Center. Toros games remain a great value — a cheap seat is only a couple of bucks more than going to see “Transporter 3″, but I would gladly shell out another 4 or 5 dollars for a guarantee I’d never have to hear D-Bag D-Train ever again.
I’m gonna have to plead ignorance about Dennis or Under The Gun’s music, but when it comes to flyer art, this guy is nothing short of a visionary. Flatstock awaits!
“I used to enjoy playing and scoring,” Memphis’ Darko Milicic tells the Commercial-Appeal’s Ronald Tillery, bemoaning his current state, pigeonholed as a defensive specialist. “This isn’t the way I want to finish my career.”
Milicic, who will be a 2010 free agent, could return to Europe.
“I lot of days I think that,” Milicic said, “because the only way to be me is in Europe. I don’t want to be a defensive player the rest of my career. It’s not really what I want to do.”
Milicic lost the starting job this season to rookie Spaniard Marc Gasol, partly based on his offensive inconsistency.
“In Europe, I can be a different player with the ball going through me,” Milicic said. “Here, you take a shot and you just don’t want to miss. You think too much.
“I want to get my confidence back on the offensive end. I want the ball to go through me so I can have a chance to miss without worrying about it. And I want a chance to make plays. (Europe) has good basketball, and it would be closer to home.”
Finishing at the rim isn’t always Milicic’s strong suit because he tends to play with finesse around the rim instead of dunking with authority. His shooting touch from beyond the foul line comes and goes, too.
“And he’s got to make his free throws,” Iavaroni said. “People are going to foul him. Finishing and making free throws is a big part of being a center. We’ll get back to (having the ball go through Milicic) when I see the focus and efficiency on offense.”
Milicic’s status as the no.2 overall pick in ‘03 ahead of Carmelo Anthony, D-Wade and Chris Bosh means anything less than NBA stardom will have him forever characterized as a bust, perhaps unfairly. And while we’ll never know exactly how much Larry Brown is to blame for stunting Darko’s development, the underachieving center probably would’ve been better off playing professionally for a few years in Europe prior to landing stateside.
Among the first in the Best Buy store in Florence was not a typical customer. Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco, aka Chad Johnson, arrived early to get some bargains. Ocho Cinco acknowledged his benching last week for being late to a team meeting.
“I was bad last week. Sleepy,” he said. He said he was in the store to buy coach Marvin Lewis a gift.
Seen later with a Rock Band kit, portable stereo and a Cuisinart four-slice toaster, Ocho Cinco said, “I’ve been trying to call coach, but he doesn’t answer.”
It was 5:25 a.m.
Given what we learned about his naps last week, the question is did Chad stay up all night, or wake up early? And does Marvin really need a toaster?
The University of Tennessee has agreed in principle with Lane Kiffin to become the Vols’ next head football coach, a well-placed source within the program has told the News Sentinel.
Kiffin will replace Phillip Fulmer who was forced to step down Nov. 3. Fulmer’s last game as head coach will be Saturday against Kentucky at Neyland Stadium. As recently as Wednesday, UT athletics director Mike Hamilton denied reports that he had offered Kiffin the job.
Kiffin, 33, was fired by the Oakland Raiders on Oct. 1 after compiling a 5-15 record in one-and-a-half seasons. His 2007 salary was $2 million.
He was an assistant at Fresno State from 1997-98 and Southern Cal from 2001-04; offensiver coordinator at Southern Call from 2005-06.
On multiple occasions I’ve mocked Adbuster’s annual “Buy Nothing Day” as a somewhat naive endeavor with little lasting impact beyond one’s own identity politics.
However, in light of tragic events on Long Island this morning, I’m going to reverse my stance somewhat, and pledge that I too, will not purchase anything today.
Though this is mostly because I have misplaced my wallet, it is also out of concern for public safety.
“The Atlanta Braves should sign free agent starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia because he’s a great pitcher,” proposes Dugout Central’s Kenny Doyle, “and because he’s black.” There goes what little was left of Kris Benson’s bargaining power, ladies and gentlemen (link culled from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory).
Sabathia would give Atlanta the first long-term, larger than life African American baseball talent in over a decade. The economic and marketing impact of that should not be underestimated. Atlanta is a city that is 56% black within the city limits and 31% black within the metro area. The Michael Vick experience with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons showed the importance of having a black superstar in Atlanta. The Georgia Dome was sold out for five years when Vick was a starter after years of television blackouts due to a lack of home attendance.
It’s no coincidence that the Braves were never more popular and financially competitive than between 1991 and 1997, when they had strong African American talent and personalities like Fred McGriff, David Justice, Marquis Grissom, Ron Gant, Terry Pendleton, Deion Sanders, Otis Nixon, Jermaine Dye and Kenny Lofton. For some reason or reasons, which we can only speculate upon here, these players were never replaced with other African American stars.
Gary Sheffield was briefly a Brave earlier this decade. Sheffield, however, was always seen as nothing more than a hired gun who would leave as soon as he could for the highest bidder. Folks therefore didn’t buy into Sheffield as much as they otherwise may have. And since Sheffield left five years ago, they haven’t had any African American players of note. Folks aren’t knocking down the gates to witness the likes of Willie Harris, Brandon Jones, Charles Thomas, DeWayne Wise, a washed up Brian Jordan or Daryle Ward.
The sad end of the Vick experience laid bare for all to see how delicately Atlanta teams must treat the departure of popular black stars for fear of alienating the African American community and causing revenue, attendance and fan base erosion. Many believe the Braves haven’t fully recovered financially since the trade of the beloved David Justice during 1996. At the time of that trade, the Braves had the highest payroll in the entire major leagues. It seems negligent for a team in a largely African American town not to have an African American star or two, doesn’t it?
Let’s not forget the Braves’ salad days also coincided with a whiter-than-Skrewdriver starting rotation of Avery, Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine. There’s all sorts of reasons for fan base erosion, and while there might be a racial component, higher ticket prices at a new ballpark could well be a factor, along with, y’know, failing to contend of late. If Sabathia can do for the Braves what he did for the Brewers last season, Atlanta stands to sell tickets to persons of all colors. If CC comes back to earth in a non-contract year, however, it’s hard to imagine African Americans or any other segment of the local population being more enthused about the Braves than they are already.
What exactly, does it mean for the New York Knicks to suspend Stephon Marbury for one game, given that he’s not played one minute of the ‘08′-’09 season? ESPN’s Chris Sheridan writes the move will save the club a whopping $189,460 from Marbury’s nearly $21 million annual salary, but the truculent PG insists he’s being set up, saying of head coach Mike D’Antoni, “I wouldn’t trust him to walk my dog across the street.” From the New York Post’s Marc Berman :
“If you say I gotta play, I’m going to play,” Marbury said. “If he said I have to play, guess what, I’m going to get on the court and play, period. If I refuse to play, I’m getting suspended. I never told him I’m not going to play. Those words never came out of my mouth. That’s insubordination.”
“I didn’t create this,” Marbury said. “I’m sitting inside the car. I’m not behind the wheel in the driver’s seat. I have no control of the wheel of the car, if we’re turning or going straight. I’m sitting in the backseat. He’s not going to play me because my heart isn’t in it, because the way he treated me. That’s on him, not me.”
Marbury also did not believe D’Antoni’s expressed intention of starting him the rest of the season was sincere.
“They want to take my money,” Marbury said. “I’m not going to let them.”
Marbury is further bitter that, two days before the season opener, D’Antoni told Quentin Richardson, the team captain, that Marbury was not going to play versus Miami – but the coach didn’t tell Marbury.
According to Marbury, Richardson told his teammates the news. Marbury, who has not played this season, found out his status from a teammate, not from D’Antoni.
“Mike created this from the beginning,” Marbury said. “Why did he create this environment? I came here ready to play, focused, taking on the role I was ready to take on. They said, ‘We don”t want you.’ I’m not in the plans. I said, ‘OK, no problem.’ “
Nick got the part about the Titans scoring at will against Detroit right, though that wasn’t the toughest projection to make. How lopsided was Tennessee’s dispatch of the winless Lions? Vince Young made his first appearance since Week One, deep into garbage time. I’ve got to hand it to Jeff Fisher — there’s no time like a national holiday to humiliate Chris Simms.
I’ll willingly acknowledge that James’ leaving is a distinct possibility. But those words written by Mr. Powell just rip with arrogance. You see, it will only be special if he wins a championship in New York and shake up the NBA in the process. To that statement I have but one question: What’s been special about playing hoops in New York for the past decade. I know the rep of street ball, yadda, yadda and yadda.
But when I think of the NBA’s legacy of the past 30 years I tend to think of Bird, Magic, Kareem, Dr. J and, of course, one Michael Jordan. Removing Dr. J for a moment, the majority of the banners fly in the rafters of arenas in Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago. As a long-suffering Browns’ fan, I understand a city that views itself as the capital of basketball longing for a championship. But in some respects, it sounds as if New Yorkers believe it is a right.
Thomas has a point, though it wasn’t Powell who suggested James might someday wanna be the World’s richest human. LeBron’s already achieved global icon status while toiling in Ohio (as did David Thomas!), but this might ultimately be less about NYC marketing advantages and more to do with whatever supporting cast Danny Ferry can surround his megastar with. Much of the rampant James-to-the-Knicks speculation includes endless drooling over who’d play the part of Scottie Pippen to James’ Michael Jordan. I didn’t care for the tone of Powell’s column either, but there’s nothing arrogant about looking over the numbers and concluding the Knicks might have a better shot at recruiting D-Wade, Amare Stoudemire or Chris Bosh in 2010 than the Cavaliers.
The above photograph by the Boston Herald’s Matthew West was captioned, “Coach Bill Belichick gets a big laugh out of running back Kevin Faulk as he holds up one of Randy Moss’ new shoes (adorned with the star’s face) in the locker room yesterday.” I have a sneaking suspicion that even on a holiday, one of you could come up with something else.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Jim Walsh reports the two gentleman responsible for the creation and sale of The Original Whizzinator — at one time, the dildo du jour of the Vikings Onterrio Smith and thespian titan Tom Sizemore — have entered guilty pleas on conspiracy charges.
Robert Catalano and George Wills, who owned online-based Puck Technology, entered their pleas Monday for conspiring to defraud the federal agency that administers federal workplace drug testing programs. The California men are scheduled to be sentenced in February and face up to eight years in prison, a $500,000 fine or both.
The device, which was available in five flesh colors and sold for $150, included a prosthetic penis attached to an undergarment resembling a jock strap. It connected to a pouch containing dehydrated urine. Water was added to the pouch and a heat pack could be attached to keep the urine close to body temperature.
I missed the Knicks’ 110-96 loss at Detroit last while in transit (and watching a playoff caliber last-second Magic win over Philly on Dave Checkett’s tiny airplane TV), a defeat New York suffered with only 9 available players — that is, if you consider Jerome James fit and ready to play. Nate Robinson’s groin injury has rendered the diminutive guard unavailable, while questions surrounding the heart condition of newly aquired Cuttino Mobley remain unresolved, at least to the Knicks’ satisfaction. Predictably, for the second time in 6 days, all eyes are on Stephon Marbury, with Newsday’s Alan Hahn reporting Marbury was so late in arriving for last night’s game in Auburn Hills, MI, his teammates presumed he’d already been suspended or sent home. It’s not only Mike D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh who are frustrated with Marbury, as Quentin Richardson tells the Daily News’ Frank Isola, “I don’t look at him as a teammate.”
“He hasn’t played with us all year,” Richardson added. “Regardless of what you have going on with the organization or what you have going on with your coach or whatever. You’re not going to allow your teammates to be left out there the way we were basically being left out there.
“This is directed at us regardless if you’re trying to stick it to whoever you’re trying to stick it to. At the end of the day we’re shorthanded, people are hurt. Once again, I don’t pay attention to (Stephon) because I don’t look at him as a teammate anyway.”
“Right now, he’s the furthest thing from my mind,” said Richardson. “We got a pretty good thing going. I’m trying to hold on to that. He’s not trying to be part of this team. He’s voiced that. That’s what it is. So why would I waste my time thinking about him.”
Cecilio’s Scribe points out the Knicks have committed a staggering $36,584,460.00 in ‘08-09 salary to three guys who’ve not played one minute this season, Marbury, Jerome James and Eddy Curry, and while WFAN’s Steve Somers observes, “your Cablevision bill is going to go up, anyway”, I’d bet Walsh is more inclined to attempt voiding Marbury’s contract than concede on a buyout. Not counting cameos at Lincoln High practices, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to fathom exactly where Marbury plans to play basketball after his Knicks status is finally settled.
Impressive enough that Atletico Madrid have advanced to the knockout stage of the Champions League, but Wednesday’s 2-1 home win over PSV Eindhoven occurred in an empty stadium, with jumbotron footage of their displaced fans being piped in. I can imagine the Florida Marlins attempting a simliar stunt next season, however a mere webcam and a pair of laptops should do the trick.
“I’m rooting against Josh David Booty ever playing,” admitted Jim Souhan in this morning’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “because Chris Berman would be so gleeful about the pun possibilities attached to Booty’s name that Berman might have a heart attack.” Souhan followed with, “on second thought, I now have a reason to root for John David Booty.”
Thus kicked off a lengthy thread at the venerable Sports Journalists.com message board, in which the wisdom, if not the wit in wishing a heart attack upon Mr. Berman was discussed. It’s not the most fascinating debate to take place at SJ, but contributor FaceDownPirates came up with what should be the last word on the subject :
Ball State alumnus Jason Whitlock swears “I’m not high” and “I’m cold and rational” when singing the praises of his 12-0 Cardinals to Fox Sports readers after a 45-22 thumping of Western Michigan Tuesday night. “Not one of the Big 12’s quarterbacks is in the same physical ballpark as Ball State’s Nate Davis,” gushes Whitlock. “It’s not close. They can’t match his arm, instincts, touch, accuracy, presence, ability to move in the pocket, out of the pocket or make plays when things break down.” All the more galling then, when Whitlock’s former employers (allegedly) conspire to diminish Ball State’s achievements.
If you’re going to televise multiple Big 12 games in primetime on ABC and ESPN, you have every reason to promote the myth that the majority of Heisman Trophy candidates play in the Big 12. Let me tell you what passes for courage and independent thinking at ESPN. Chris Fowler dropped Ball State out of his AP top-25 ballot last week after the Cardinals beat a then-9-2 Central Michigan team on the road.
What Fowler has done is ridiculous and reeks of the kind of simple-minded arrogance that permeates ESPN. Fowler has had his ass kissed for too many years. He travels around the country during football season and everywhere he goes, there’s an Army of BCS sports information directors waiting to kiss his ass and tell him how great “GameDay” is.
He has never been a professional journalist a day in his life. He’s a TV personality. He knows what someone else has told him. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I’d suspect he hasn’t worn a jock since junior high school.
This is the combination that is killing the sports media. No journalism background, no real athletic experience and no backbone. No clue. Fowler wouldn’t make a competent blogger.
“GameDay” and Fowler are unlikely to ever visit Muncie, Ind. ESPN2 televises midweek MAC games in November. Fowler must primarily worry about his reception at BCS institutions. You would not believe how many alleged “journalists” and “media personalities” spend much of their time fretting about whether an SID, a coach or a player likes them. It’s an embarrassing obsession among the media.
Fowler knows little about football and nothing about Ball State. His celebrity status justifies his AP vote.
“If you bring somebody in to play and pay them, pick a number, $30 million, does that seem a little weird to you?” asked Jamie McCourt (above) yesterday at the Evergreen Recreation Center in East Los Angeles. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. We’re really trying to see it through the eyes of our fans. We’re really trying to understand, would they rather have the 50 fields?”
Frank McCourt’s better half was referring to the Dodgers’ pledge to build 42 youth baseball fields throughout Southern California, a noble enough effort, but one that bears little relation to the price of admission to see Joe Torre’s charges ply their trade. Sneers the LA Times’ TJ Simers, “with $26.24 in my pocket I need only an additional $63.76 to buy a ticket, get a scented towel and watch a Dodgers exhibition game in Arizona and maybe catch the late-inning heroics of Pablo Ozuna.”
Ninety dollars a ticket sounds like a lot until you break it down. It’s really only nine Anthony Davis autographs, or $410 less than what the Dodgers charged 250 fans each the other night to take batting practice at Dodger Stadium and pose for pictures with Russell Martin and Andre Ethier.
“The chance to step into the cage for many of these fans is a dream come true,” says the Dentist, the Dodgers’ PR guy.
I tell him I can put him into a batting cage with a roll of quarters, but he says the $500 fee also includes “baseball cuisine.”
I take it the Dodger Dogs are not left over from the last playoff game. But maybe someone can let me know for sure after attending the next session on Dec. 13 with Matt Kemp — if not too embarrassed to admit they spent $500 to be there.
The McCourts deserve credit in these tough times figuring yet another way to get into the pockets of fans, but I wondered where the money might be going.
Plaschke quotes some joker named Ned Colletti, as if this guy Colletti is some kind of baseball expert.
“Our six or seven young players are still the key to this club,” Colletti says.
“Manny was tremendous, but this is not tennis, one player does not make a difference.”
One player made the whole difference for the Dodgers, but Colletti took no notice, so what does that say about the guy charged with the task of adding talent to the Dodgers’ roster?
Citing a Peter King price quote of an alleged $21 million buyout tag for an NFL team to hire away Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis, the New York Times’ Pete Thamel muses, “that was last year, so it’s likely gone down slightly. And no one is sure if the buyout is different for firing than hiring.” Quick to pile on, the Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein finds one high school coach who complains of “a level of conceit he never had seen.”
When Jeanette H.S. Coach Ray Reitz told Weis in 2007 that Terrelle Pryor might attend a USC quarterbacks camp, he remembers Weis replying: “Why send him there? If he’s with me for one day he’ll be good, two days he’ll be great and three days he’ll be incredible.”
Later, unprompted, Weis asked the Jeannette coaches if they wanted to take a picture of his Super Bowl ring. “I did it, just to be polite, and then gave [the picture] to one of the kids,” Reitz recalled.
If Weis were arrogant, foul-mouthed and winning, few Notre Dame alums would grumble.
But his record is 27-19. Gerry Faust went 25-20-1 through 46 games against tougher opponents.
“And at least he was a good guy,” one alum noted.
When Weis visited Pryor’s school in 2007, Reitz recalled, he said that if Pryor couldn’t cut it at quarterback, “we’ll use him on the outside.”
No other school introduced the idea that Pryor might play receiver.
“Here’s the best part,” Reitz recalled. “He says to Terrelle: ‘Call me tomorrow at 6. I’ll be watching where Brady Quinn gets drafted.’ “
Football tough guy Brian Urlacher (above) dresses his son in pink Cinderella diapers and paints the 3-year-old’s toenails blue, the child’s mother charged in Will County court Tuesday.
The mother, Tyna Robertson, threatened to block Urlacher from seeing the boy if the beefy linebacker kept up the alleged effeminate antics.
Urlacher’s motion was to stop Robertson from keeping Kennedy Urlacher away from him. Robertson said she would allow the visitation, so long as Urlacher put away the Bears-blue nail polish and diapered their son in gender appropriate pull-ups.
After the hearing, Robertson said her son has become confused by the toenail panting and wearing pull-up diapers designed for little girls.
“(Kennedy) pulls down his pants and says, ‘Mommy, look how pretty they are,’” she said of the diapers.
Robertson also recalled Kennedy informing her, “Big boys paint their nails,” and said he refused to take a bath for two days to keep the blue polish on his nails from coming off.
“He’d say, ‘Mommy, I don’t want to get my nails wet. I don’t want to mess them up,’” she said. “It took two hours to get him in the bath.”
“He says he can do whatever he wants,” Robertson said. “(Urlacher said), ‘It doesn’t make him feminine. It doesn’t make him gay.’
“You’re confusing him, if he’s a boy or a girl,” she said.
Not to make light of a serious family matter, but now might be a good time for other NFL icons to come forward and discuss how painting their toenails had no negative repercussions on their personal or professional lives. The question is, are Dick Butkus and Mike Ditka man enough to go public?
While the financial fate of the world teeters on every word President-elect Obama says, The Huffington Post reports that a disgruntled South Side fan took umbrage with the President-elect in Chicago. Apparently, the Obama team divides the press corps into two sections, “White Sox” and “Cubs.” Obama, a Sox/Phillies/Iowa Cubs/Rays fan, and his staff, possibly have other things on their minds this week. Still, Mr. Steve Thomma, of the McClatchey service, used his spot as the day’s pool reporter to detract from the nation’s business with the following:
Motorcade rolled from Hyde Park at 9:11 am CST, pulled into service entrance of the hotel at 9:19 am CST. It’s noteworthy that the press seats at the news conference have been divided into a White Sox section – to the South – and a Cubs section – to the North of the ballroom. But in a crime against nature, your pooler – a genuine White Sox fan, a man who attended his first twi-night double header at the Old Comiskey in 1963, who sat behind third base for the 50th anniversary All Star Game there in ‘83, who knew Bill Veeck and the wonders of Disco Demolition night, who saw the great Ozzie play before he managed – has been assigned a seat in the Cubs section.
Now watch here, as Obama explains the restraint needed in saving the South Side or anywhere else in Illinois, when the hurt feelings of a real working class hero South Sider need to be addressed while families strugle to pay bills.
“That the kind of change we need – [we] White Sox fans,” said Thomme in graciously accepting the apology from Obama. While no one who reads CSTB is surprised at a Sox fan’s whining to everyone about a perceived lack of respect and their step-child hurt feelings, you would think saving the nation from Depression comes first. Have Sox fans no sense of decency, at long last?
It made a certain type of news yesterday when President Bush, otherwise deep in the throes of late-stage metastatic irrelevance, issued 14 presidential pardons and a pair of sentence commutations yesterday. Anxious readers are hereby assured that former Giants WR Mark Ingram (above) remains safely locked away, and that Bush’s pardons follow his usual pardoning pattern of stingy randomness — a woman sentenced for unauthorized acquisition of food stamps; a couple of environmental criminals; a few embezzlers.
So, yeah: the usual, pretty much, although former Fugees weed-carrier and noted Nena-sampler John Forte did get his 14 year sentence — for allegedly attempting to smuggle $1.4 million of liquid cocaine through Newark Airport — commuted. The story of how that happened — which involves lobbying from Utah Senator Orrin “Ohh-La-La-La” Hatch, Carly Simon, and a rare instance of a hip-hop figure being helped by Exeter connections — is related here. It’s an object lesson in weirdness, but it will hopefully provide something of a framework for gimpy Giants K Lawrence Tynes, who is asking President Bush to reduce his brother Mark’s sentence. The New York Daily News‘ Brendan Brosh reports:
[Mark Tynes] was saddled with a prior felony drug charge before his 2004 conviction as kingpin of a syndicate that transported 3,600 pounds of marijuana between Texas and Florida. [He] refused to cooperate with prosecutors – and his sentence was extended from 151 months to 324 months over allegations of witness intimidation. Without presidential help, Tynes isn’t scheduled to leave prison until November 2026.
Ortiz, who plans to submit the paperwork for a commutation next week, said he doesn’t think Mark Tynes will benefit from the President’s well-documented sports mania. But he’s hopeful Lawrence Tynes’ notoriety can help.
“Because Lawrence is high-profile, this will get people to look at the story and take a look at what happened to Mark,” Ortiz said. Mark Tynes, inmate No. 05559-017 at the Forrest City Federal Correctional Complex in Arkansas, is doing more time than some convicted killers.
As Lawrence Tynes noted in an interview with Daily News columnist Mike Lupica in January: “Is my brother guilty?” Yes? But 27 years? … My brother being in prison isn’t the injustice. The sentence was the injustice.” Four co-conspirators, who turned against Mark Tynes and cooperated with authorities, are out of jail.
“Sports maniac” that he is, Bush may actually be sympathetic to entreaties on behalf of a supposed drug kingpin who’s related to an injured kicker. But Forte’s all-star lobbying team should be an example to Tynes as he continues to pursue this case. Leo Sayer and Rep. Don Nickles? Roberta Flack and Sen. John Thune? Surely there’s some combination of ’70s pop star and conservative politician who can advance Tynes’ case.
The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments from the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office and Jayson Williams’ lawyers over whether information about a racial slur an officer used to describe the ex-New Jersey Net should become part of his upcoming retrial for reckless manslaughter.
Since last December, the prosecution has been fighting to keep the information sealed. The incident occurred in 2002, when the investigator used the epithet to describe Williams during a meeting within the prosecutor’s office.
The prosecution insists the man, who no longer works for the office, was not an integral part of the investigation. He did not testify in the first trial in 2004 and won’t be called as a witness at the next. Prosecutor J. Patrick Barnes brought the incident to Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman’s attention last year, as the state was preparing to retry Williams for reckless manslaughter. Coleman issued an order in December, requiring the state to disclose the identity of individuals who were present during the meeting and all notes and documents relating to the issues discussed during the 2002 meeting.
Bayern Munich are through to the Champions League’s final 16 as a result of tonight’s 3-0 dismantling of Steaua Bucharest, with Goal.com hailing Franck Riberry’s performance as “a tremendous display from the frenchman…a constant threat (who) provided his strikers with an ample amount of ammunition.” Since I was freezing what’s left of my brains to death at QPR’s 2-1 home defeat of Charlton Athletic — Paulo Sousa’s first win since taking the R’s managerial job last week — I cannot tell you whether or not Riberry was wearing pink. On his feet.
We went with JB sir to breakfast at a great American breakfast eatery called Dennys. Rinku ordered a breakfast called the Lumberjack. We now know that a Lumberjack is a person who works as a tree cutter in the forrest so they must eat a lot of food. this breakfast was quite huge. It had eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, potatos, breads, and pancakes. I had French Toast and both meals were very fulfilling.
We then went to a movie that was very bad called Rock and Rolla. it was supposed to be big action, but it was no action at all. At least the seats were very comfortable and the theater was very clean.
Nov. 1 :
We first got our hair cut today. I am not very happy with this result.
Next we went to the USC Footbal Game. We walked along campus and everyone was set up outsdoors with booths for food and selling USC items. many people who have graduated from USC apparently now come back to eat outside along this route, but we do not understand why.
The American Football players are so big and have such huge muscles you would not even believe it. Each time they hit each other we are told it is like being in a car accident. These men hit each other many times per match. praise Allah that we have won a baseball contest and a not a football one. i don’t think we could even take a hitting once.
“He must be cheered during player introductions, cheered if he scores 50 points, cheered if he dunks on Nate Robinson, cheered if he embarrasses the Knicks, cheered if he beats them at the buzzer,” insists Newsday’s Shaun Powell, and he’s not talking about Delonte West. The Cablevision-employed columnist says of the Cavaliers’ visit to MSG this evening, “This game must become a surreal scene, unlike any seen before in the NBA. If Knicks fans know better, and we bet they do, they must violate every law in the fan handbook. They should openly and aggressively root for the best player on the other team every time he touches the ball, every time he does anything with it.” How long before Powell receives a death threat candygram from Amar Panchmatia?
The romancing of LeBron must begin tonight, and it must be a long and torrid courtship. New York basketball fans, the smartest in the world, know the deal. They know what’s at stake after the 2009-10 season, when he can opt out of his contract. They know getting LeBron to leave Cleveland, the only place he’s ever known, won’t be easy. They know it’ll take more than money. They know New York must step out of character and show that it ain’t too proud to beg.
What Walsh did Friday by making two trades and freeing up roughly $27 million in cap space for 2010 was genius. No matter what the Knicks do between now and April, the season already is a success because the goal was met. Walsh traded Zach Randolph just in time, before Randolph fell into a slump or, even worse, got into off-court trouble. By sending Jamal Crawford packing, Walsh made it possible to sign not one but two free agents two summers from now.
Really, who does LeBron want for a GM, Walsh or the one he has in Cleveland, Danny Ferry?
The budget will allow LeBron to hand-pick his very own Scottie Pippen. He can recruit Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire to New York. Maybe even Dwyane Wade. You think he can recruit any of those guys to Cleveland?
James will need convincing. Plenty of it. That must begin tonight, when the fans can show a superstar what it’s like to play in New York even if you still belong to someone else.
And then again, perhaps you get what you pay for. Were it not for Damon Jones’ existing sneaker deal (and well, his being out of the game at the moment), Nike could’ve found the proper spokesperson for these shoes.
Admittedly, this isn’t the hottest story in the sports world and usually not the sort of thing I’d interrupt a busy early evening in a foreign land to comment on. It does, however provide yet another cheap opportunity to post one of the great managerial rants of all time. Lee Elia needs to buy a ticket if he wants to visit Cooperstown, but surely he deserves induction into a Hall Of Fame of some sort or another.
(R. Kelly pissing on a 61 year old, illustration by Derek Erdman. Jim DeRogatis, unavailable for comment)
Damn. Derek Erdman and I are each celebrating birthdays next month and his want list is exactly the same as mine, except I wear size 10 1/2 shoes (hint, hint).
What do I get for Derek for his birthday? Well, I sure could use a staple gun (Arrow), AA batteries, Home Depot gift cards, Dick Blick gift cards, Adderall, a Kangol bucket hat (LL Cool J Style, large size), a thin long scarf (used), Size 9 black & white checkered slip-on Vans (new), drawings, homemade cards, Google Android G1 Phone, Uniball Vision Fine Tip Pens (Black Ink), Aristocrat By Leigh Potters dinnerware (red & white stripes), haiku, cookies, candy, Red Bull, old yearbooks, old photos, blank DVDs. SEND TO: 2068 N. Leavitt Chicago, IL 60647.
Derek’s birthday is 19 days before mine, so he’s got seniority. If you can only find one Kangol bucket hat in the LL Cool J style, I think it’s his.
…he brought a c.v. slightly more glittering than that of Larry Hughes. That’s about as wild a final 65 seconds you’re gonna see, regular season or otherwise, and Hughes’ heroics aside, it’s hard to decide which is stranger ; that Derrick Rose had such an uncontested shot with 7 seconds remaining or that he failed to convert. When does the college-to-pro learning curve kick in for Rose, exactly, sometime in his 3rd season?
With a couple of exceptions, I’ve long figured the MVN sports blog family to be the sort of low editorial standards clusterfuck that would allow any pretty much any schmoe with a laptop to flex their analytical chops…at least until the association became too embarrassing for MVN to tolerate. Just the other day, I was curious if Gate D apologist Alex Benesowitz was still toiling on MVN’s Father Knickerbocker and was somewhat surprised to see the blog is instead running the Cavs-centric commentary of one Amar Panchmatia.
Panchmatia recently considered one ESPN commentator’s promise that LeBron James and Chris Bosh were headed for New York in 2010, and replied with the headline, “Jalen Rose : Stop Snorting Coke”. Not being a regular reader of Panchmatia’s Cavalier Attitude, I wasn’t aware this was mild stuff by prior standards.
Earlier today, Deadspin’s A.J. Daluerio reported that Panchmatia received a home telephone call from Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, offering the blogger a free plane ticket for a face to face meeting. Sadly, the purpose of such a confab wasn’t a frank discussion about the state of the NBA, nor was Wojnarowski planning on tutoring Panchmatia on the inner workings of sports journalism.
Y’see, earlier this year, Panchmatia blogged that he hoped to meet Wojnarowski. “I would bust him in the jaw, throw him to the ground, force him to put his mouth on a curb, and smash the back of his head with my foot. Yes, American History X style.”
Imagine that, ladies and gentlemen. An individual — exercising his First Amendment rights — express his fervent desire to murder Adrian Wojnarowski. Woj, clearly unable to take take a good ribbbing (who amongst us doesn’t giggle uncontrollably when someone we’ve never met threatens to stomp us to death?), took the bait and gave Panchmatia an opportunity to put up or shut up. But of course, it’s Wojnarowski who oughta get some perspective and not let this hoops-internet shit bug him so much.
Why is it that when someone, in this case Mr. Cavalier Attitude When It Comes To Making Violent Threats, writes something purely designed to provoke an extreme response, the author seems confused at having actually pissed off the very person he threatened? In the real world — of which presumably, Mr. Panchmatia is still a resident — when you publicly announce that kicking a man’s brains in gives you a boner, one of three things generally happens ; you get a visit from the P.D., you lose your job or the object of your affections comes-a-knocking. In the blogosphere, however, you can just erase the posts.
While the tri-state waits breathlessly to learn the identity of Mike Francesca’s new don’t-call-him-a-sidekick on WFAN’s “Mike’d Up”, the afternoon guzzler of Diet Coke dropped a somewhat confusing hint to Newsday’s Neil Best ;
“I think if Dog and I did one thing badly, we really ignored the technology. We were so successful we totally ignored the technology and were not good at it. Now I think you have to be good at it. It’s to a point where you can’t ignore it. It’s there. You have to use a computer now. You can’t ignore it. The technology has attacked us in a way where you can’t ignore it. That’s why I like keeping the young guys around.
“Sal [Licata] and Eddie [Erickson] are young. Sal’s not even 30, Eddie’s in his mid-30s. Maybe one of the reasons I didn’t bring Joe [Benigno] in was I thought it might not be good to have someone in there who’s even older than me. Maybe that’s my trepidation, because Joe did really well. More it was a case of me wondering if that was the right feel for the show, if maybe I do need someone younger?
“I’m still hunting and pecking and looking and yes, yes, keep speculating, because I’m still looking. I promise. Ask Cherny. We’re still looking. We discussed a very interesting candidate yesterday, a fascinating candidate yesterday. Cherny had a gleam in his eye, I’ll tell you that.’’
OK, let’s consider the criteria —- Mike wants a partner that’s younger than Joe Benigno-Gazingo (check). And he’d like someone who is technologically savvy (check fuckin’ mate!). Is it really this obvious?
Saturday’s defeat in New York —headlined by Wizznutzz as “(WIZARDS) FALL TO KNICKS LINEUP OF ROSE, ROBERSON, JARED JEFFRIES’ ROOMATE, KENNY KRAMER, TWO 7 FT HASIDIC STOCKBOYS FROM B&H CAMERA!” left Washington with an Oklahoma City-esque 1-10 record, as well as marking head coach Eddie Jordan’s last game in charge. The Washington Post’s Ivan Carter and Michael Lee report Jordan got the axe, “shortly after he and his wife, Charrisse, handed out Thanksgiving turkeys to the needy at a team-sponsored charitable event.” Which is just as well — had Jordan been terminated earlier, he might’ve been tempted to keep a bird or two for himself.
Ed Tapscott, who had carried the title of Director of Player Development but traveled with the team and essentially served as an extra assistant coach, takes over on an interim basis.
How much of the poor start can be attributed to Jordan is highly debatable. Injuries to Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood left him without his best player and best center. Veteran guard Antonio Daniels has been limited to six games due to a right knee injury and the rest of the team’s veterans — players like Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas and Andray Blatche — have performed at a subpar level.
Without wishing Jordan any ill will, the prospect of Avery Johnson or Jeff Van Gundy taking over in DC is awfully enticing, if for no other reasons than either potential hiring supplying tons of easy blog copy.
Things went from bad to far worse yesterday when Iggles head coach Andy Reid benched QB Donovan McNabb in favor of Kevin Kolb during a 34-7 loss to the Ravens, a circumstances former Philly RB/kick returner Vai Sikahema likens to “divorce via text message”. From NBCPhiladelphia.com :
I predict on Monday, Reid is going to be surprised that there’s a backlash on this issue.
That’s how out of touch Reid has become.
Obviously, getting benched at halftime isn’t the same as dissolving a marriage, but in football terms, it’s often the first step to a final separation.
By it’s very nature, the quarterback position deserves more attention than the other 52 men on the squad. He’s the leader, the unofficial team spokesman and often, the face of the franchise. That’s why it’s monumental when one is benched, released, traded or retire. Often, those announcements are made in the company of the owner, city officials, an entire organization and the player’s family tree.
That’s why there was a shock wave through the media corps when someone asked Reid after the game how McNabb was notified of the benching and he nonchalantly mentioned that he hadn’t yet even spoken to Donovan. It was McNabb who confirmed after Reid’s press conference that Pat Shurmur informed him of the benching.
Even those who aren’t McNabb fans will be surprised by this. And the Eagles will go into damage control Monday because they will have misjudged how this will resonate with their fan base.
Because most people consider being notified of a demotion by the boss a common courtesy that should have been given to a loyal soldier, a franchise player and a good employee – even one whose best years may be behind him.
PhillyBurbs’ Jeff Offord, though less concerned with doing right by McNabb compared to winning the game, insists, “Sunday was the low point of Reid’s tenure.”
Was it the right move? Dumb, stupid. A panic move. Call it what you will, but McNabb should have come back for the second half. No matter how poorly he was playing — he had just finished the first half 1-for-9 — McNabb should have been left in the game. There will be a place and time to relieve McNabb of his duties for good and let Kolb take over. But lifting McNabb Sunday just didn’t make sense. Especially trailing by just three points, with the Birds needing a win badly and with Brian Westbrook — the team’s best player — nowhere near 100 percent. McNabb gave the Eagles their best chance to win against a Ravens defense that might just be the best in the NFL.
Ok, but what about Kolb? What about him? He didn’t look good, but what else would you expect from the poor kid? Reid threw Kolb into the fire hoping for a spark. What he got was a Bobby Hoying-like meltdown. Kolb completed 10 of 23 attempts for 73 yards and two interceptions, including one that was brought back an NFL record 108-yard touchdown. Reid probably would have been better off letting third-stringer A.J. Feeley finish the game. But then Reid would have risked shattering Kolb’s confidence. Not that staying in the game really did anything to build his confidence.
Not to be outdone, Mike Ditka was asked for his assessment of the Eagles’ chances against Arizona on ESPN Radio this morning and suggested Philly “needs to score more points”. With this sort of trenchant analysis, ’tis no wonder Da Coach’s opinions are so sought after on Monday mornings.
While the New York Mets have been linked to relievers including but not limited to K-Rod, Brian Fuentes (above), Trevor Hoffman, J.J. Putz and Rod Beck Kerry Wood over the past few days The New York Times’ Ben Shpigel reminds us, “they have yet to aggressively address the other bullpen problems that led to them missing the playoffs.”
Some team officials have linked the bullpen’s troubles to Billy Wagner’s injury and suggested their other relievers will rebound once they return to more familiar, less prominent roles next season. But a statistical breakdown suggests otherwise, showing that losing Wagner merely magnified the bullpen’s weaknesses and that more of the same can be expected if last year’s corps remains intact.
“You might fix the ninth inning, but that’s just one inning,” said Keith Law, a baseball writer for ESPN.com who was formerly a special assistant to the Blue Jays’ general manager, J. P. Ricciardi. “Any plan that assumes if you put Aaron Heilman back into his eighth-inning role and everything else will be O.K. is unreasonable.
“If not having Wagner was the entire problem, then they could have gone to every reliever on Aug. 3 and said, ‘Here are your new roles,’ and they would have had eight weeks to get used to the new roles.”
Whether the Mets will rid themselves of the primary culprits of their bullpen meltdown remains unclear. For now, they are focusing on identifying their ninth-inning solution, with plans to tinker afterward. The Mets are interested in the free-agent closers Brian Fuentes and Francisco Rodríguez — whose medical records they are reviewing — and J. J. Putz of Seattle, should he become available via trade.
The Mets are in the market for versatile relievers who can pitch multiple innings and retire left-handed and right-handed hitters. Such relievers are uncommon, not to mention costly, and the Mets have shown no evidence so far that they will pursue any of the reasonably attractive second-tier free-agent relievers who could slide into those roles.
The prior approach has entailed trading for raw or undervalued relievers, adding depth by signing pitchers to minor league contracts and relying heavily on a scouting staff for recommendations on potential bargains among unsigned pitchers. Over the years, that template has been successful. It is how the Mets acquired Duaner Sánchez, Pedro Feliciano, Brian Stokes, Darren Oliver and Chad Bradford. But there is an inherent risk that bargain-basement pitchers will not pitch well. And there is little reason to believe Mets fans will tolerate bullpen blowups at Citi Field, especially when they recall how Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, Sánchez and friends lost leads.
On Friday night, the very not-good Minnesota Timberwolves played terribly at home in a loss to the Celtics; today, they played brilliantly and blew out the Pistons in Detroit. There’s nothing terribly notable or even worth reading, beyond basic factuality and baseline journalistic competence, in the recaps on the other side of those links. The first is bylined to AP sportswriter Jon Krawczynski, and begins with the, um, paragraph, “Kevin Garnett has moved on.” The second, which bears no byline at present, begins with another Krawcyznskian one-sentence paragraph: “Randy Foye got the message.”
I have absolutely no beef with Krawczynski, who (provided he’s covering the Wolves) is walking a shitty beat for a struggling but invaluable company. But reading those sorts of workaday recaps kind of brings home just how very good the Wolves game recaps by Benjamin Polk (who, in disclosure, I should mention is a good friend of mine) in the Minneapolis City Pages are. Of course, the AP is about facts, and Ben is more about earning his nominal pay five or six times over by treating each of his home-game recaps as if it’s some sort of David Foster Wallace-ian socio-literary mission from God. Or maybe that intensity is just extra-evident when he’s writing about Kevin Garnett plays his first game at the Target Center since being traded last year. At any rate:
Every athlete or artist brings aspects of herself to the stage/pitch/court, I think it’s on us to try and separate the private person from the performer. I don’t know Kevin Garnett at all (though I am, admittedly, totally willing to be charmed by his sincerity) but there did seem, in those sad last Wolves years, to be a whiff of intentional martyrdom in his stubborn loyalty. But I can tell you that, as a player, the guy just radiates authenticity. By that I mean that, as with Bird and Magic, his abilities cohere almost perfectly with his efforts; when he plays, he gives himself fully, humbly to the game.
That said, KG is an unconventional superstar. He is rarely able (or willing) to take over games with his offense. He does not possess Jordan’s perimeter scoring ability, nor Tim Duncan’s flawless low-post technique, nor Magic’s ballhandling and preternatural court vision…
Let us be clear, though: Kevin Garnett is a beautiful, extraordinary basketball player. He is one of the greatest rebounders and most versatile, disruptive defenders in the game’s history (the fact that last year was his first defensive player of the year award is both ludicrous and a testament to how difficult it is to actually measure an individual player’s defense). Even in a profession full of bewilderingly tall, athletic men, KG’s physical gifts are astounding; it’s really just ridiculous that a guy so incredibly long could be so graceful and fluid. His avian, towering baseline fadeaway jumper is still one of the more astonishing things I’ve ever seen a human do. Like Bird and Jordan, he is psychotically competitive. But unlike those two KG gives off, though his ferocious play and his embracing passion, a palpable sense of joy, a desire to reach out to his audience. He is an athletic version of that great Springsteenian maxim: the greatest performances are the ones in which the audience wishes they were on the stage and the performers wish they were in the audience. Anything is possible.
I’d obviously recommend clicking the link and reading the five or so paragraphs I didn’t just excerpt, if only for a last image that’s actually kind of moving. Or certainly, at least, as moving as any sentence involving people bellowing at each other can be. I’d also like to add one last thing. The headline might give away that it’s a bit more on the pseudo-smarty-pants tip.
At the risk of blowing up my homeboy’s spot, I know Ben’s not getting paid very much for these previews, and (thus?) could pretty much send in whatever he wanted. I have a similar situation going on with the football previews I do for Athlon — links to pretty much all of them, and assorted other NFL BS, is here — so I can relate somewhat. And of course I don’t get paid here, although GC asks so little of (both in terms of frequency of- and restraint-evident-in the posting-by) the supporting cast here that I’ve never once felt bad about that.
Anyway, my point is that making a living by writing is difficult: you can write what you want for what people are willing to pay, or write what people want to publish for something more like what you want to get paid. Either way, obviously, there are trade-offs; at some point, I imagine I’ll have to trade it in entirely and get a real job. But seeing how hard Ben is willing to work and think for his money is a nice reminder of what’s to be gained from hanging out on the margins, at least in terms of the opportunity and independence to go deep. What I tell myself, personally, is that while big readership would be awesome, certain things are true at any price point (or whatever other gross term you prefer). That is: the work is finally, fundamentally only as serious as you take it, and worth only as much as the reader gets out of it. Done right, then, it all pays for itself. This is what I tell myself while biting my lip shopping for engagement rings (or, like, going out to dinner). Sometimes it seems more clearly true than others, but I still do my best to believe it.
Laraque, itching to shed his gloves and teach the 20-year-old a lesson, was tapped to trail Lucic (above) and goad him into a fight. On their first shift together, Laraque tapped Lucic on the leg with his stick, then got in his face, asking the Bruin to drop his gloves. Lucic didn’t bite. For the rest of the period, Laraque was talking to Lucic, no doubt questioning his courage in the most explicit of ways.
Lucic continued to decline, prompting the Montreal fans to boo the forward and chant his name. But Lucic had someone more important to answer to than Laraque. Namely, his boss.
“There was no way it was going to happen,” said coach Claude Julien, who had, before the game, forbidden Lucic from fighting Laraque. “[Shawn] Thornton was there, ready for Georges. Nothing happened. My tough guy was ready for their tough guy. Simple as that. I told him not to fight. It was me.”
Julien’s theory was that Lucic is a first-line player who has clicked with fellow gunners Marc Savard and Phil Kessel. Laraque, on the other hand, is scoreless and averaged only 7:50 of time on ice per match before last night.
First-line wing to square off against a fourth-liner who’s considered one of the toughest guys in the NHL? Julien wasn’t having it.
“A guy has to do a job,” said Julien. “[Laraque] shadowed Lucic tonight. That was his job. Simple as that. For us, I think Lucic is a good player. And if they want Georges to shadow him, more ice time for him. Good for him.”
This could have been a marriage of opportunity. The team lost two guards Friday, so there are plenty of minutes to go around even with the arrival of Mobley. Last night Marbury could have asserted himself as the starting SG for the rest of the season. But on Friday night when the team clearly needed him, Stephon chose himself. He left his teammates to suffer a 17 point loss to a Redd-less Milwaukee. If Marbury had any friends in that clubhouse, he surely lost them after the Bucks game.
Stephon Marbury is defined by his opposing extremes. Marbury’s incredible strengths as a player (scoring in the paint, running the pick & roll) made him desired by teams. But his inability to work on the things to make himself a complete player (defense, operate outside the pick & roll) left him unwanted by the teams he was on. Unlike many athletes who use sneaker contracts to make themselves rich, Marbury created an inexpensive line of sneakers to benefit those that can’t afford to overpay for footwear. But his philanthropy has been undermined by his other actions. There are many to name, but the two that come to mind are his testimony of sleeping with an intern, and his threat to blackmail his coach.
Stephon Marbury has decided he won’t play for the Knicks anymore. But by refusing to play for his team this weekend, he’s hurt his chance to play elsewhere. I can’t imagine another team out there saying “hey Stephon refused to play for his team when they needed him – that’s the kind of attitude we want in our locker room!” Marbury has said he’d like to play in Italy, but which NBA coach do you think an Italian team is going to call to inquire if they should sign Stephon? Right the same one Marbury is currently driving crazy.
“Lebron James can’t be a human being. Either that or he is some highly evolved version of a human being that is way ahead of his time” exults The Hoop Doctor’s Dr. Browntorious upon viewing the above footage of The Chosen One’s Saturday evening abuse of Atlanta. There’s also the possibility no one on the Hawks wants to be called for a foul and get knocked into the 5th row.
With free agent P Derek Lowe reportedly looking for a 5 year pack worth more than $60 million, the New York Daily News’ John Harper predicts the Mets “don’t expect to outbid either the Yankees or Red Sox” and “may have to lower their sights for a starter”.
The Mets think Boras will price Oliver Perez too high as well, so they are looking at other options. They have interest in Jon Garland, the free-agent righthander who went 14-8 for the Angels despite a 4.90 ERA, and they would consider trading for Javier Vazquez, who went 12-16 with a 4.67ERA for the White Sox.
One potentially intriguing trade possibility is the Rays’ Edwin Jackson, the 25-year-old righthander with the big fastball and plenty of potential. Lack of command kept him from living up to early raves, but he showed signs of blossoming in 2008, going 14-11 with a 4.42 ERA. With David Price on the horizon, the Rays have a surplus of starting pitching.
One Rays person said Tampa has interest in Aaron Heilman – “as a reliever, not a starter” – but said the Rays value Jackson’s potential as worth more than that.
“It would have to be more,” the person said. “I know that some of our guys think Jackson started to turn the corner this year, and they think he could still be something special.”
It’s not pitching the Rays need anyway. They’re looking for a right fielder, so if the Mets really want Jackson, and perhaps a prospect too, they could probably do it by offering Ryan Church, whose lefthanded bat they could replace with free agent Raul Ibañez.
While we’re on the subject of lowering their sights, a report in the Poughkeepsie Journal, sans byline, tips the Mets to pursue Trevor Hoffman rather than Francisco Rodriguez or Bobby Jenks.
The Mets’ discussions seem to be leading them away from the top candidates and instead toward the possibility of signing San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman and acquiring a set-up man such as Colorado’s just-acquired Huston Street in a trade.
According to one baseball official, the Mets have been actively discussing possible trades and are leaning toward the likes of Hoffman, who is leaving the Padres at 41 years of age and clearly on the decline.
But he still managed 30 saves last season after four consecutive seasons of 40-plus saves. As the all-time saves leader, there is little doubt that he can handle the pressure of playing in New York.
The belief is that a Hoffman or Kerry Wood can be had for a less-pricy, shorter-term deal than the price tags expected for Rodriguez or Brian Fuentes.
I sort of wish Joe Benigno-Gazingo was on WFAN this morning, if only because I’d have another story ready to roll tomorrow about speaker damage throughout the tri-state once he reached the part about the Mets showing interest in Kerry Wood.
Mets rep Jay Horwitz yesterday insisted, “There is no change in regard to Citi’s commitment to the new ballpark.” But David Howard, the team’s vice president of business affairs and main spokesman on the deal, for the first time deflected all questions back to Citigroup.
And the future doesn’t look good for the financial giant.
Citigroup’s stock woes are making it ripe for a takeover, and Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, HSBC and State Street Bank are already being talked about as potential buyers or merger partners.
The onetime banking titan closed at $3.77 yesterday, down 89 percent in the past year.
If Citigroup is bought out, at least the stadium name would presumably change. Still, mega-bucks would in all likelihood be shelled out by the new company for the naming rights because of the prestige and recognition that such a high-profile stadium will bring, experts said. Think “Goldman Sachs Diamond,” “Morgan Stanley Stadium” or “HSBC Field.”
Bleacher Report’s Tab Bamford is less concerned about the ballpark’s name compared to the fiscal insanity of a struggling firm dropping $20 million on a marketing exercise, pleading with the Wilpons to “perform their own bailout package.”
Citicorp recently announced that, because of sagging profits, they will be relieving approximately 53,000 of their jobs. And yet their name will stay on a stadium that only seats 45,000. Does anyone else see the irony in that statement? A brand new major league baseball stadium seats fewer people than the sponsor plans to fire because the company can’t afford their salaries any more?
Citi is contracted to pay $20 million annually for the next 20 years to have their pretty logo on the marquee of the stadium.
My question: Could that $20 million save some, if not all, of those 53,000 jobs?
My response: I am calling on the New York Mets to provide ethics by force to Citicorp. Do not take their $20 million. Hand them their check back and implore them to do the right thing by keeping as many of those 53,000 people on board as they can. I am sure that there are dozens of companies that are financially sound enough to afford that size a contract to have their logo on the only corporately sponsored major stadium in New York.
It was suggested in this space yesterday the Knicks’ LeBron-motivated salary dump of Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph left the current New York squad at a competitive disadvantage. That short term forecast wasn’t even taking into account Tim Thomas, Cutino Mobley and Al Harrington all being unavailable for last night’s 104-87 loss at Milwaukee. If you thought the spectre of dressing a mere 7 players would be enough to coax coach Mike D’Antoni into finally giving Stephon Marbury serious playing time, you were right. Trouble is, the NBA’s former no. 1 point guard (self-proclaimed) was reportedly in no mood to change his current (no-show) job description. From the New York Daily News’ Frank Isola :
“I’m going to tell you the truth, and this is it,” said a visibly upset D’Antoni. “This is the last time I’m answering this question. Obviously at the start of the season I told him the direction we were going and I didn’t have minutes for him. I didn’t want to embarrass him with spot minutes. It was both of our decision that he goes on the inactive (list). Instead of sitting at the end of the bench playing spot minutes he wanted to go on the inactive. I agreed with him. I did not want to embarrass him.” D’Antoni added that once Crawford was traded, he told Marbury, “There are 30, 35 minutes out there and they are yours if you want them. He said the team is going in a different direction. He wasn’t comfortable with the situation and he did not want to play. I said, ‘Okay, that’s your decision and that’s fine.’ That’s the story. Write it any way you want to.”
Marbury, however, denied D’Antoni’s version of Friday’s events. Following the Knicks’ third straight loss, Marbury said: “The only thing I’m at liberty to say is that I was told they are moving forward and I wasn’t in the plans. I’m not the person who chooses who plays and doesn’t.”
It was an odd sight as the Knicks’ bench included four coaches and three players. Even the traveling beat writers outnumbered the Knicks reserves, five to three. In the fourth quarter, the crowd began chanting, “Mar-berry, Mar-berry.”
“It could have been a chance for Marbury to showcase himself for other teams and, perhaps, prove Mike D’Antoni wrong for benching him all this time” wrote Newsday’s Alan Hahn, a reasonable enough observation. Regardless of how humiliating Steph must consider his treatment at the hands of D’Antoni and Walsh, the above tale has to give other teams pause…yet it might give the Knicks an outside chance of getting out from under Marbury’s monster paycheck. Until now, we’ve been reminded more than once that Marbury’s “done everything that’s been asked of him”. Refusing to play when the roster’s this depleted, however, isn’t merely selfish, it might be grounds for voiding a contract.
OK, I plead guilty to using the above headline at least one time too many. But “Carlesimo Loses Stranglehold On Thunder Gig” would’ve been far, far worse. As alluded to above, Oklahoma City fired P.J. Carlesimo (above, right) after last night’s blowout loss to the Hornets left the Thunder with an Association-worst 1-12 mark. Scotty Brooks has been named interim coach, a development Thunderguru’s Joe (or if you prefer, Joe The Blogger) is quick to applaud :
It doesn’t surprise me at all that Scotty is the new “interim” coach. I love the interim coach thing by the way. You get the opportunity to see what he can do, without locking him into a long contract. Jeff Van Gundy was an interim coach, Lawrence Frank was an interim coach, Michael Cooper was an interim coach…The first two were successful, the third is coaching in the WNBA.
Maybe you’ve noticed, but the backup, journeyman, non-star type of players usually seem to make the best coaches, out of the group of former players that get into coaching. Just off the top of my head I think of Rick Carlisle, Phil Jackson, George Karl, Avery Johnson, Nate McMillan etc. They had to work much harder for everything they got. These guys weren’t the guys that got the max contracts, or in some cases even a guaranteed contract at all. Avery Johnson was a third string backup on the Sonics, plucked from the CBA and then later cut, before finding a home in San Antonio. Certainly there have been exceptions to the rule. Larry Bird had some success as a coach, so did Isaiah Thomas, but in general, I like the scrapper for a coach.
What’s great about this, is that the Thunder brain trust had the Cajones to pull the trigger and do this before the season was hopelessly lost, so they can get a look at Brooks, and see if he can breathe life into the lifeless. Not that we are going to turn this thing around and make the playoffs, but just seeing progress should be the goal. If Scotty doesn’t work out, there are plenty of acceptable alternatives, both experienced and not (Avery Johnson is out there. Flip Saunders is out there. Paul Silas is out there, Jeff Van Gundy, etc.)
(AOF’s Vic Bondi, resisting the urge to have lawyers contact a prominent comedian/soccer enthusiast)
Still dominaning many of the UK headlines weeks after using the public airwaves to boast of fucking Manuel from “Fawlty Towers”’s granddaughter, the Guardian’s Russell Brand — author of the newly released ‘Articles Of Faith’ (”unless you are a football obsessive, it’s scarcely comprehensible” sniffed Private Eye’s uncredited reviewer) reflects on England’s 2-1 exhibition victory in Berlin earlier this week. “The cliche of baiting the Germans persists – with me it bloody well does – but there exists now a degree of easy complicity as if our collective intelligence has processed the relationship and its troubles and sensibly contextualised them as mockable,” which is easy enough to claim after winning a match that doesn’t count.
The banner at the match which read “Thank you for the beautiful game” has received as much attention as the selection of Gabriel Agbonlahor and is a jarringly delicious symbol of the distinction between English and German football fans. It’s so polite and also correctly employs a very specific piece of nomenclature; it is a deliberate and charming attempt to communicate with us as a people. I can imagine no circumstances where English fans would manufacture an un-ironic banner to thank Germany – “Cheers for Fritz Lang, his films are wunderbar” – and if they did the German fans would have to hastily daub a bed sheet with the riposte: “Well actually Lang was Austrian but did belong to the cinematic expressionism movement that originated from Germany so thanks at least for acknowledging that. Besides, even if your praise was inaccurate it was clearly well-intentioned and for that we are truly grateful.” There surely can’t be duvets of that size lying about in Berlin unless Helmut Kohl remains as tubby as I recall him.
There was a banner present at Hampden Park too for the visit of Maradona’s Argentina. It read, “Thanks for 86″ – you could argue that this was a general thank you for the way Diego lit up the World Cup that year but given that the banner was written by a Scot it is far more likely gratitude for Diego’s destruction of England in the quarter-final. This is a far more typical banner, amusing, vaguely acerbic and disparaging of a rival nation.
Perhaps we can use this old forum for self-expression for increasingly novel ends, banners could demand “world peace” or “more flirting” or revolution or personal objectives could be fulfilled – “I want a cuddle” or “I like my dog” – either way the reporting of the direct views of the people is a heartening development from the media, it’s certainly more constructive than whipping up a confectionary of disdain and dissatisfaction to sell papers – it might even make print journalism relevant for a few more years.
