Signal to Noise

They're Not Saying "Booooo"; They're Saying "Mooo-vers."

2007-05-13T02:20:00.000-07:00

I've debated moving over to WordPress for a while ever since Blogger's occasional fits and starts, but now I'm doing it. Back up the trucks; we're hauling this place over to a new home! Please adjust all your bookmarks, blogrolls, and feed readers accordingly to the link below:

http://s2nblog.wordpress.com

I hand-imported the blogroll over, so those of you with links on it should be there. If not, email me. The archives have been imported over there, but I will also leave this blog as a functioning archive as well, so your old links are all functional.

Spread the word if you can, and hope to see you at the new digs!

Stealing Signals: I Got A Broken Face.

2007-05-13T01:36:00.000-07:00

Tigers 8, Twins 2 - How unlucky are the Twins right now? Joe Mauer's already on the DL, and they're getting beat up with the latest loss to the Tigers being the fourth in a row. Justin Morneau got absolutely popped up above there, complete with broken nose. Fortunately, it won't be affecting anyone's fantasy rosters -- he says he'll play today.

Brewers 12, Mets 3 - After the Mets whooped up on the Brew Crew on Friday, Milwaukee responded by taking the sticks out for abused Met pitcher Mike Pelfrey, who is now 0-5 after giving up a 4-0 lead. J.J. Hardy then made it worse later on by knocking a grand slam off reliever Joe Smith.

Red Sox 13, Orioles 4 - Bosox bats continue to burn, as the offense overcomes an underwhelming 5.1 inning start by Curt Schilling (karma, Curt, karma.) Boh he and O's starter Steve Trachsel left a tie game to the bullpens, and it was no contest from there, as the O's bullpen lit the entire matchbook and threw it on the gasoline.

Cardinals 5, Padres 0 - Braden Looper is getting used to this starting stuff, looks like. He threw 7, and the bullpen closed it up, allowing four hits total. So Taguchi gets the big hit with a bases loaded double.

Phillies 11, Cubs 7 - Ryan Howard on the DL? No problem, at least for the Phils so far (for his fantasy owners, like me, that's another matter.) Replacement Greg Dobbs goes 4-4 with an RBI triple, Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz homer. The offense bails out starter Freddy Garcia and a weak bullpen yet again.

Yankees 7, Mariners 2 - Jeter, Matsui, and Posada each get three hits to support starter Matt DeSalvo, while knocking around Mariners starter Miguel Batista.

Dodgers 7, Reds 3 - Brad Penny is on point. He gave up only one run in 6.1 innings, retiring 17 consecutive in one stretch, and lowers his ERA to 1.39. Kyle Lohse got knocked around in the 4th inning, even walking Penny with the bases loaded.

(Photo: AP/Tom Olmscheid)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Your Reliable Veterans.

2007-05-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

Spurs 108, Suns 101 - Guess that Kurt Thomas defending Tim Duncan could only work for so long. Timmy went off for 33 points in the game, and Manu Ginobili had 24 (10 of those in less than 2 minutes). The Suns offense would get into it at times, but Steve Nash didn't play like his usual self, going scoreless in the first half and committing turnovers he normally wouldn't.

Nets 96, Cavaliers 85 - The Cavaliers are alwats vulnerable, even though they hadn't lost a game this postseason (that made for a 10-game winning streak) until this one. Never, ever count out Jason Kidd in a playoff series; with today's game, he now owns second place in playoff triple-doubles by his own self after sharing it with Larry Bird for a while. LeBron James had only 18 points. Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson all had 23 points a piece. Despite being down 2-1 still, the Nets have a damn good chance to steal this series if they can keep that level of play up.

(Photo: AP/Eric Gay)

Cheap Shots #20.

2007-05-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

1) It's not a presidential campaign without a candidate fucking up a sports analogy. [Deadspin]
2) Reenacting Jose Canseco's bar fight. [You Been Blinded]
3) An interview with Spencer Haywood, the NBA's Curt Flood. [The Starting Five]
4) Making a case for instant replay in MLB. [The Sports Flow]
5) Charles Barkley, speaking on things not basketball. He reads like Jason Whitlock, except it seems he doesn't hate black people. [The New Republic - free registration required]
6) Speaking of Whitlock, Wizards center Etan Thomas writes him an open letter. [TrueHoop]
7) Capitals fans, and most fans in general, should heed the word of the Nats owner when it comes to picking up big free agents. [Off Wing Opinion]
8) Catching up with Mo Vaughn. [The Feed]
9) Josh Beckett, fulfilling his Tremendous Upside Potential? [And Here Come The Pretzels!]
10) Shameless Commerce Division: Phoenix Suns sell a T-shirt with a #13 band aid design. [SportsByBrooks]

The Black Baron's Air Assault on AK-47.

2007-05-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

When you get Mike Tirico unleashing his inner Gus Johnson, you know you've seen a great dunk. Call it what it is, and give the man his respect:

Boom goes the dynamite, indeed.

Yet another dominating performance from Baron Davis (32 points, 9 assists) and 25 points from Jason Richardson led to a severe can of whoop-ass. I don't think the Warriors are capable of losing in Oakland, not with the decibel level that high (ESPN put up a meter to record the noise level), and especially not when they're raining threes like that (11 in the game).

Golden State 125, Utah 105 [Yahoo Sports]

Really? This Guy? MVP?

2007-05-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Reports dictate Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki will get the MVP award everyone has said he'll get on Tuesday. 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, not bad lines, but is this an MVP line to you? Of course, this is a regular season award, but let's look at the competition for the award, averages are points, boards and assists, in that order:

Steve Nash: 18.6, 3.5, 11.6
Kobe Bryant: 31.6, 5.7, 5.4
LeBron James: 27.3, 6.7, 6.0
Chauncey Billups: 17.0, 3.4, 7.2

I threw in Chauncey because I don't think the Pistons function without him; he ought to be in the discussion. They need to re-sign him, big time. The only reason his numbers aren't better is because his team consists of such solid players.

Nash has been doing this for the past two years during his MVP seasons; it's largely the same template, and while it's fun to watch, he hasn't advanced his game enough to take three straight MVP awards. LeBron had to lead a team, but he was so maddeningly inconsistent at times during the 82, even though the Cavs landed a #2 seed (Cleveland fans may be OK with this; he's getting that team going, because they haven't lost a playoff game yet.)

Kobe Bryant will never win an MVP award, not so long as the media votes on it, because so much Kobe coverage relies on taking his off-court troubles and letting it affect the on-court stuff. The one thing I can nab Kobe on is that quite often, when he's trying to be unselfish, he doesn't do off-the-ball movement to get open again for the pass back out. However, that mediocre Laker team doesn't make the playoffs with him. The Suns become a 4 or 5 seed if Nash is gone. The Mavs are probably a 3 without Dirk; Jason Terry, Devin Harris, Josh Howard -- all good guys that can get a team into the playoffs. The Cavs aren't in without LeBron, but his regular season issues at times make him third to me. While Dirk should be up there in the MVP discussion, this shouldn't have been his year to win.

(Photo: AP/Jeff Chiu)

Mike Marshall, MLB's Rick Barry?

2007-05-11T01:11:00.000-07:00

Possibly. We're all familiar with NBA great Rick Barry's repeated offers to teach his under-handed free-throw shooting technique to atrocious brickers like Shaquille O'Neal, and they've all been shot down, partially because Barry doesn't exactly have the most personable of reputations (yet the man shot 90% at the line with that odd technique for his career). Now, Jeff Passan has stumbled upon his baseball equivalent.

Mike Marshall is a former Cy Young winner as a Dodger reliever, having done so with an unusual delivery, developed from his own study of exercise physiology. This is what the motion looks like:

With a wrist weight ranging from 15 to 30 pounds tethered to their pitching arm, they swing their pitching arm straight down like a pendulum, lift it over their ear and follow through with a hard pronation, turning the wrist outward with the thumb pointing down.

Marshall is convinced these actions can help save baseball from one of its great scourges. The rest of the motion is simple. No leg kick. No rotating the hips back toward second base. Facing the hitter, the pitcher steps with his glove-side foot and rotates his other leg with such fury his back almost ends up parallel to home plate.

One of Marshall's students, for lack of a better description, said "we kind of throw like a girl."

Sounds familiar. That's the same critique given to Barry's under-handed technique, and the video provided with the article gives me the sense that half of that motion is like a softball pitcher's, only with overhand motion. But the stubbornness that people saw in Barry's ways are also there in Marshall, despite his profession of results, most of his students are indie league players, some who were cut from major league organizations:

Any suggestion that Marshall adapt his program – mix his motion with the traditional motion to make the transition easier, or cut out the terminology to focus on the end rather than the means, or perhaps collaborate with others in the growing field of biomechanics – is met with a stern no.
"I called him a few years ago and said, 'Tell me about your stuff,' " said Dr. Glenn Fleisig, the biomedical engineer who works alongside top baseball surgeon Dr. James Andrews at the Alabama Sports Medicine Institute. "He said no. I said, 'Can I tell you?' And he said he didn't want to hear what any other researcher is doing, that he never read or listened to anything because he didn't want to be accused of stealing. The concept of a researcher who's speaking up but won't listen is a big turn-off."

Noble, but futile, in a sense. However, one of his success stories is Dodgers reliever Rudy Seanez, and if he's still pitching at his advanced age, then why isn't a GM at least giving Marshall an ear?

Major league sports are by nature conservative, slow to adapt changes in gameplay -- look at the reluctance of most NFL coaches to even apporach the idea of using the option or any other method of offense common in the college ranks. This despite the theory that if you have an option being run to compensate for less athletically talented players, serious pro talent would make the option look revolutionary.

Barry's below the waist method, which looks like you're throwing a giant skee-ball, was so successful that he never shot less than 86% in his seasons in the NBA and the ABA. It wasn't graceful looking, and doesn't claim to tackle anything in basketball as serious as arm injuries in baseball, but it was outside the norm enough and looked so, well, unmanly, that no one, not even his own ball-playing sons, would go for it.

Major league pitching mechanics are just as sacrosanct, but with yet another pitcher in Toronto's B.J. Ryan headed under the knife for Tommy John surgery, front office folk might want to look into any method they can to protect multi-million dollar investments.

Outside Pitch [Yahoo Sports]
Dr. Mike Marshall's Pitching Coach Services [DrMikeMarshall.com]
Rick Barry Bio [NBA.com]
Rick Barry Statistics [Basketball-Reference.com]

(Photo: Getty Images)

Stealing Signals: A Lowe Down Dirty Shame.

2007-05-11T00:50:00.000-07:00

Marlins 3, Dodgers 0 - I wouldn't want to be Derek Lowe. You pitch an amazing game only to cough up a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth and wreck an otherwise great start. Of course, it would have helped if your teammates could have hit the ball.

Angels 8, Indians 0 - Kelvim Escobar, on fire again, throwing a seven-hitter. The Halos' offense blew up in the third inning, batting around for five runs.

Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 0 - Rarely are teams able to totally wreck Roy Halladay. The Red Sox are one of those teams that can. Not what the Blue Jays needed on top of closer B.J. Ryan being done for the season in order to have Tommy John surgery.

Pirates 6, Cubs 4 - The Cubs just can't get the motors running. Carlos Zambrano is still having issues, inconsistent from start to start, and Pittsburgh was able to get to him yesterday.

Athletics 17, Royals 3 - Are we sure we're not at a Raiders-Chiefs game? Oh, right, KC would have won that one if that were the case. Dan Johnson and Jack Cust both go deep twice for the A's. The Athletics had six homers and 18 hits total.

Rockies 5, Giants 3 - Two errors in the third, including an uncharacteristic one from SS Omar Vizquel, are what screwed the Giants over in this one, particularly the bonehead move by Ryan Klesko for going to first on a bunt instead of home to get the runner out at the plate.

(Limp-Dicked Steroid Investigation Update: Yep, like everyone figured, the players' union won't hand over the medical records George Mitchell wants. Everyone go back to sleep on this for two months.)

(Photo: AP/Lynne Sladky)

Can We Start The Eastern Conference Finals Already?

2007-05-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

Pistons 81, Bulls 74 - I could have sworn Chicago was ahead for a portion of this game and even looked relatively into it, ready to compete, had a double-digit lead in the game. But, they let the Pistons right back in, and now the Bulls are in a hole they won't be able to dig themselves out of. The only question now is whether Chicago can save face by not getting swept. Wonder if a team has swept its first round series and then got swept in the next round.

(Photo: AP/M. Spencer Green)

You Do Not Talk Ish In The Playoffs.

2007-05-11T00:13:00.000-07:00

Things you do not do in the NBA playoffs as a player in a crucial series:

1) Bitch about the refs. The coach does that for you. Stay out of it.
2) Say anything less than complementary about an opposing player.

Amare Stoudemire has now given the Spurs some bulletin board material, accusing the whole team of being dirty and in particular, Bruce Bowen, whom he believes tried to injure him in Game 2 by kicking him as he went up for a dunk. Nevertheless, you don't call this out in the middle of the series as a player. It's one thing as a coach to do it; it's an entirely different thing to do it as a player.

Stoudemire said he didn't react at the time because he didn't want a suspension or a technical foul that would hurt his team.
"I know it's the playoffs. I understand a hard foul," Stoudemire said. "But that wasn't a hard foul at all. That was just a purpose kick trying to injure someone."
No foul was called on the play.

His coach, Mike D'Antoni, had the right reaction -- it's so minor to him that it doesn't matter. Most of you know where I stand on the Spurs: they play on the edge of fouling at all times. The reason it works is because they dictate what gets called by playing physical. The only way you fight that in an officiating climate that favors the team dictating tempo and pace is to make them play your game and attack in response. However, Bowen has been fined for something like this before on the Sonics' Ray Allen.

Amare's made a bit of an error -- he just displayed a crack in the Suns' armor, and this will either get the refs' attention or backfire spectacularly. Fortunately, the FanHouse has found some video, so judge for yourself:

Looks pretty gnarly to me. If the NBA gives Kobe a game for throwin' bows, this should probably get a suspension or a heavy fine.

Stoudemire Calls Bowen, Ginobili Dirty Players [AP via ESPN]
Amare Stoudemire Says Bowen and the Spurs are Dirty [AOL FanHouse]

(Photo: AP/Paul Connors)

Bark At The Moon.

2007-05-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

America's favorite dog lover is getting even more heat lately -- SI's Don Banks pens a piece with the usual un-ID'd sources to state that Falcons QB Michael Vick definitely knew about the dog fighting and breeding going on at his Virginia property, which is really no big shock to any of us if actually true and verified. How do you not know what goes on at a home you own. That's really kind of tough to do, especially when your cousin is the one living in the house.

Again, let's be fair to Vick -- the sources Banks notes have known Vick, and say he likes the dog fighting subculture. There's no proof; the investigation has to take its course.

Vick is now THE subplot of the NFL season, if he manages to elude suspension under The Iron Fist of Rog, and he was even before all this dog breeding stuff came up. The Falcons are banking the entire franchise this season on Vick's arm, and Bobby Petrino has repeatedly stated that he wants Vick to take more responsibility for the plays on the field, to get him more involved. They traded Matt Schaub, the so-called insurance policy.

A make-or-break year in Atlanta is now more of a make-or-break year for Vick's career. The problem is that the Falcons' division (the NFC South) may shape up to be one of the most competitive. A revived Saints team is the class of the division; Carolina should be back on the ups after a disappointing season. Tampa Bay will be mired at the bottom, but the Falcons will be fighting to get a playoff spot from the get-go. Will Vick be able to put the problem behind him by leading his team, or will he even have the opportunity to lead that team if the investigation finds other unsavory aspects?

(Semi-unrelated update: Pacman Jones' lawyers have compiled a helpful PDF of every NFL arrest. Thanks, Deadspin!)

A Double Standard on Privacy?

2007-05-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

I've got more thoughts on yesterday's NYT piece about George Mitchell asking for the medical records of players like Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, which he won't get.

Ever since baseball's steroid problem came to the forefront, there have been a number of sportswriters and such advocating that MLB players, if they are innocent, voluntarily turn over their medical records, etc. to prove it to the general public. Skip Bayless was the latest to advocate this on yesterday's edition of First Take (weird typing that instead of Cold Pizza, isn't it?), and that line of thought deserves an answer. Say what you will about the MLBPA and its obtuseness to the steroid problem; they stand up for the best interests of their members, and the best interest involves keeping certain things private, even when the demands of public opinion dictate otherwise.

No matter your political leanings, the trend over the past few decades has resulted in a lessening of privacy: cell phone companies can sell your phone records; the federal government can monitor those same records for its own ends. Whether you actually are subject to random drug tests at your job or not, the odds are likely that you sign a piece of paper when you're hired that you will subject yourself to them. There are very few ensconced things in law that are truly private. Attorney-client privilege and doctor-patient are a couple of them, and even some aspects of your medical records don't necessarily fall under HIPAA, which is the law intended to keep your medical records private unless released with your consent. Insurance companies already assess your medical information to determine what you pay in coverage, or if you are covered.

Are we comfortable asking athletes to cough up their medical records in order to prove a case against them? We shouldn't be, if only for purely selfish reasons -- if a precedent is established of superstars, the creme de la creme of athletics, being forced by public opinion to open their medical histories to investigators to convict them after they have been convicted in the court of public opinion, then we should take the advice: "Physician, heal thyself." What we ask of the most public in society will eventually be asked of us by our own employers.

Stealing Signals: The Day-Off Homer.

2007-05-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

Phillies 9, Diamondbacks 3 - Ryan Howard was supposed to have the day off with lefty Randy Johnson throwing, but as soon as Johnson was out of the game, Howard was brought in to pinch-hit with the bases loaded, and he took it out to put the Phillies on top for good. Jamie Moyer topped Johnson in this contest of grumpy old men on the mound.

Cubs 1, Pirates 0 - Alfonso Soriano led off the bottom of the 1st for the Cubs with a home run, and that's all the offense that would be necessary, as Jason Marquis just went nuts, throwing a complete-game shutout to wrap up a fifth straight win.

Mets 5, Giants 3 - Armando Benitez is looking like the mediocre closer he is, as he coughs up the game-tying double to Carlos Delgado and then gives up the go-ahead runs on another double to David Wright. It would have helped if Ray Durham and Todd Linden could have figured out who was supposed to catch Jose Reyes' ball earlier.

Angels 3, Indians 2 - The Indians started with a lead off Jered Weaver, but Kendry Morales helped lead the rally back for the win for the Halos with a two run HR, and Sarge Jr. added a solo shot for the total offense.

Braves 3, Padres 2 - More grumpy old men hurling nasty stuff, as Greg Maddux took on John Smoltz, and Smoltz got the best of his former teammate. Smoltz only gave up two solo homers, but the Padres' bullpen coughed up Maddux's lead in the seventh inning.

Red Sox 9, Blue Jays 3 - I think Daisuke Matsuzaka may be okay now, giving up only one run and five hits in seven innings. More home run derby for the Sox, as Ortiz, Manny, Julio Lugo, and Mike Lowell take the ball out of the Rogers Centre.

(Photo: AP/Ross D. Franklin)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Rallying Around A Teammate.

2007-05-10T01:08:00.000-07:00

Jazz 127, Warriors 117 (OT) - The things Derek Fisher and his family are going through with his 10-month old daughter (she has a rare form of eye cancer) are so tough, that no one could have blamed him if he hadn't made it back to the SLC to play tonight. He only hit one three-pointer, but the presence was something the Jazz needed, especially after Dee Brown went out with a neck injury when Mehmet Okur fell on him in the first quarter. Despite the declarations from both coach Jerry Sloan and starting point guard Deron Williams, the Jazz are still playing the Warriors' game -- they're just doing it better. Williams didn't outscore Baron Davis (he had 17 points to Davis' 36), but he's matching up with him in ways that Jason Terry and Josh Howard couldn't. The Warriors had this game late, holding the Jazz FG-less for over four minutes, but allowed them back in to tie and win based on bad free throw shooting, and now they face an 0-2 hole going back to Golden State.

Oh, and the Jazz needed that three from Fisher -- it just happened to be a big shot in OT.

(Photo: Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images)

Seeing Yourself On The Diamond.

2007-05-10T00:41:00.000-07:00

So I'm staring at the cover of this week's SI yesterday morning, and I get to thumb through it before going to work. Grady Sizemore's the cover subject this week, and I'm not really familiar with him -- I know he's a damn good ballplayer and centerfielder for the Indians, and that's about it. The AL Central is not necessarily my area of expertise; I'm an NL guy, really. But I'm looking at the cover and I sense something in his face, not quite sure what it is. It looks familiar.

I read from the front to the back, and I get to the cover article, reading about how he's a class player, five-tool guy, etc., when I hit this paragraph (typed verbatim; the article's not available online, I think):

As someone who turned down the chance to play quarterback at the University of Washington, as well as someone who said he hopes he can inspire other black athletes to play baseball...

Hold up -- wait a minute:

...(Sizemore's father, Grady, is African-American, and his mother, Donna, is white), Sizemore is a timely role model for baseball. Just don't expect him to sell himself beyond letting his game deliver the message.

So THAT's what I noticed, a face similar to my own, with the same background (reverse the parents' race). In decades past, Grady could have been the black man that everyone thought was "passing." I think he was one of the Indians, along with C.C. Sabathia, that wore #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson -- I can't believe I didn't make the connection then.

Why does this matter to me so much? It's not the "grand scheme of sports" or anything. I just remember being an awkward pre-teen, trying to deal with the minor conundrum of whether I was really more white or black (or whatever that meant) who played baseball until the vision wouldn't let me any longer. As is human nature, I always wanted to see someone on the field whom I could sense had a similar experience; it's one of the ways we connect as fans to our favorite teams and players. (Derek Jeter, I knew about, but it was easy to tell -- he could never fake anyone out on his mixed-race blood.) The more biracial folks I saw in the arena of celebrity and athletics, the less weird I felt.

I know it's basic, simple identification, but I think I've got yet another player that I'll be rooting for. His life story is completely different from mine, but what impressed me is the self-consciousness about wanting to inspire more black athletes to play baseball -- he's comfortable with who he is and his background in ways I haven't quite gotten to or accepted yet.

Cheap Shots #19.

2007-05-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

All the crap I didn't get to or couldn't think of anything funny or insightful to write about, other people did ten times better. Read them below.

1) A gargantuan task, indeed, as the Channel 4 News Team's Fearless Leader is looking for your entries to assemble the Douchebaggery Scale. [Awful Announcing]
2) Ladies, Joe Mauer is available, and you could win a date with him. [Babes Love Baseball]
3) In NBC's never ending desperation for programming (House was produced originally by their studio, yet the Peacock heads passed on it and let Fox have another hit), they're going to feature tennis player Mark Phillippousis in a reality dating show. [AOL FanHouse]
4) The suck-ass quality of CBS Sportsline. [Why Don't We Get Drunk And Blog?]
5) Larry hadn't seen the ESPN awfulness that is Madden Nation before now, and it's made him fairly ill. [Larry Brown Sports]
6) Evander Holyfield clearly had his brain beaten out of him, because he wants to fight again. [Rumors and Rants]
7) Hey, Shakira's hips take precedence over soccer for me too, and I LIKE the sport. [The Beautiful Game]
8) Five good questions with a Brewer beat writer. (Really, keep checking Stiles for these interview series. They get better and better.) [Stiles Points]
9) The booze bans in some MLB clubhouses are knee-jerk BS. [The Hater Nation]
10) Planning on heading to China for the Olympics next year? Prepare to shell out some serious yuan for the bottled water. [Lion in Oil]
11) One college hoops junkie is calling this year's NBA playoffs more exciting. [Just Call Me Juice]
12) A fly on the wall catches Peyton Manning's brush with royalty. [Shot to Nothing]
13) There's a Sports Blog Formula? Possibly. [The Starting Five]

As usual, if you have interesting bits that you'd like to send in, the email is s2nblog@gmail.com.

Blah Blah Steroid Investigation.

2007-05-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

(Apologies to Babes Love Baseball for borrowing their usual title for steroid-related stuff.)

Former Senator George Mitchell's steroid investigation keeps chugging along at the slowest of speeds. Investigators have asked the Baltimore Orioles to send records to players such as Jason Grimsley, David Segui, Fernando Tatis, and oh yeah, these two guys on the left, and ask for them to authorize the release of those records to the investigators, which we all know they won't do.

The investigation is basically a limp-dicked attempt by MLB to try to get to what it believes is still the heart of the problem: rooting out the individual players. However, the whole manner runs up against privacy matters, and never mind the MLBPA's rabid defense of its membership (despite the subject matter, the NFLPA could learn a bit of a lesson in how a union is supposed to represent its members.) With all that in mind, Mitchell's investigation, for now, remains fairly useless, because he has no subpoena power at all. Expect Congress to get involved yet again for another Gross Spectacle when Mitchell hits the wall we all see coming.

Sosa and Palmeiro Cited in Steroid Investigation [New York Times]

(Photo: Baltimore Sun/Lloyd Fox)

Ditching The Swimsuit.

2007-05-09T01:05:00.000-07:00

You may recognize the woman on your right as Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard (winner of seven Olympic medals total). According to the last page in the current issue of Playboy (another year, another bleach-blonde Playmate of the Year, guh), she'll have a pictorial in the next month's issue, and is probably the most likely cover subject. You never can tell, though -- somewhere along the line, the mag decided not to put the Playmate of the Year on the cover, and the trend continues, with some blonde Trump fired off the Apprentice on a season I haven't watched on it instead on the issue I got in the mail yesterday. Of course, there are the usual objectors to Beard's posing nude, based on whether posing nude is objectification or not:

What upsets some people like Dr. Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, as she told the New York Daily News, is that “It used to be that female athletes were portrayed as wholesome, All-American girls. Now you get female athletes in GQ, Playboy and the Swimsuit issue. The result of it is coverage that is very damaging—that trivializes and marginalizes women athletes because it does not give them the respect they deserve as competent athletes.”

I'm not sure when and if female athletes were ever really portrayed as wholesome and all-American by the culture at large -- I think the old stereotype we could apply there is either "tomboy" or "butch" as far as female athletes in a lot of sports went, so I'm not quite hanging with Dr. Kane's point there. Weren't athletics, and certain sports in particular, seen as not particularly feminine? This is kind of a perverse validation of the all-American value of women in sports -- realizing that they are feminine enough in appearance to be "the girl next door" that Playboy aims for, despite the inevitable airbrushing (plus, let's not forget that Beard is a model; this isn't exactly a stretch for her, and she's not exactly outside the beauty norms.)

The question over whether Beard ought to pose nude is irrelevant: her body, let her do what she wants with it. It's not like she'll lack for control over how it's presented (I do believe celeb subjects get a good amount of say on the photos). The amount of caring I could do is negligible -- attractive as Amanda Beard is, somewhere along the line, Playboy has kind of been the dropping off point; notable women come to pose nude on the tail end of careers. It'll be nice to look at once and forget about. I never thought I'd say it with any sort of conviction, but I think I subscribe to the magazine more for the articles now.

Amanda Beard to Appear In Playboy [Timed Finals]
Amanda Beard Is Gettin' Naked [With Leather]

Stealing Signals: That's A Beer With Head.

2007-05-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

Brewers 6, Nationals 4 - I usually wouldn't feature a pic from a game that you expect the better team to win like this, but I have to note: is any team more on fire than the Brewers right now? I mean, the "this year's Tigers" talk is a little premature, but when you have Prince Fielder jacking a three-run HR and J.J. Hardy adding another in the eighth as the Brew Crew goes 8-1 in nine games on this current homestand, this could stand up, especially in a weak division.

Mets 4, Giants 1 - The "1" on your scoreboard is #745 from the bat of Barry Bonds. Otherwise, Tom Glavine was on lockdown, now six victories away from 300.

Pirates 4, Cubs 3 - Amazing. Jack Wilson has an 0-6 day at the plate, yet drives in the two runs for sac flies in the 9th and the 15th to win the game for the Bucs. First blown save of the year for the Cubs' Ryan Dempster.

Twins 7, White Sox 4 - Justin Morneau comes up big again with Joe Mauer on the DL. He hits two homers in the game, plus the game-winning 3-run homer in the bottom of the 10th.

Tigers 9, Mariners 7 - Don't look now, but the Tigers have won eight straight, matching the Giants' earlier streak for the longest in the majors this season. Right now, the only concern is Jeremy Bonderman's first inning issues -- he gave up another jack in the first to Richie Sexson, and five earned overall. It's not hampering his wins -- he hasn't lost in his last 11 starts.

Red Sox 9, Blue Jays 2 - Josh Beckett is now 7-0, while the BoSox offense pounds out four home runs (Lowell, Youkilis, Pedroia, and Varitek). The Blue Jays have lost seven straight.

(Photo: AP/Morry Gash)

NBA Playoff Impressions: That's A Response.

2007-05-09T00:27:00.000-07:00

Suns 101, Spurs 81 - Boy, guess chewing out your team works; Nash and D'Antoni ought to do it more often. D'Antoni makes a necessary adjustment by placing Kurt Thomas on Tim Duncan for the game, and the Suns took over in the second period and didn't really look back after that. So, we leave Phoenix with a split, and the question is whether the Suns can take one near the Alamo come Saturday. Amare Stoudamire had 21 of his 27 in the second half.

Cavaliers 102, Nets 92 - Yes, LeBron popped in a big-time 36 points tonight (25 in the second half) and 12 assists, and Sasha Pavlovic scored 17 while playing some lock-down D. But here's the stat that probably makes the difference right now, and why an experienced Nets team is down 2-0 when they should be able to get a split on the road: they were outrebounded 49 to 32, with only 3 offensive rebounds the whole game. That won't just get you beat; that's likely to get you swept if it keeps up.

(Photo: Garrett Elwood/NBAE/Getty)

Baseball Players Say The Darndest Things.

2007-05-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

David Wells is talking ish about Roger Clemens and his non-travel clauses in his contracts that he's had ever since he went to Houston:

"I don't think I would ever do it because of the fact I personally think it would disrespect the team and your teammates," Wells said, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "You look at the other players. How are they going to respect you? What are they going to think if you're not there pulling for the team?"

Boomer has a tendency to spout off a lot, but that doesn't make him wrong -- and teammate Greg Maddux is backing him up.

"I can't imagine doing that," Maddux said, according to the Sun-Sentinel. "I like the game. I like the atmosphere. I appreciate what it has to offer. I want to play the whole year."

The problem with the Rocket's precedent is that it reeks of the baseball equivalent of Shaq taking about half of the regular season off last year for the Heat, and look how well that turned out. What's worse is the implication, in this Buster Olney piece on how Clemens returned to the Bronx, that making the Clemens exception would have caused trouble if they'd kept Randy Johnson around:

And when the Yankees traded Randy Johnson to the Diamondbacks, they felt as if they were setting themselves up in two ways to lure Clemens: First, by clearing Johnson's $16 million salary from their books, they would have the cash to bid aggressively on Clemens, and secondly, they would no longer have second thoughts about giving Clemens special treatment, like leaving the team on days between his starts. They would not have wanted to create that precedent if Johnson was still on the team.

There will be another 40+ year old pitcher who is dominant enough to use this as a precedent down the line, and it's not a good one to follow.

Now, we get to a much more controversial name -- two Red Sox players have now chipped in on the whole Barry Bonds/steroids/breaking the HR record bit. David Ortiz isn't really convinced that Bonds took steroids, mostly on the grounds of not knowing whether that actually affects the hand-eye coordination necessary to hit like Bonds does, and to an extent, Ortiz does. However, Ortiz isn't crazy about commissioner Bud Selig possibly skipping out on #756:

"He's just making things worse," Ortiz told the Herald. "He's the commissioner, there's nothing you can do about it. You can't be saying that. What are people going to think about the game? They'll be like, 'This game is a joke.' He should come, even if he doesn't want to."

Bosox pitcher Curt Schilling also weighed in to WEEI radio:

"Hank Aaron not being there. [Selig] trying to figure out where to be. It's sad," Schilling said, according to the [Boston Globe]. "And I don't care that [Bonds is] black, or green, or purple, or yellow, or whatever. It's unfortunate ... there's good people and bad people. It's unfortunate that it's happening the way it's happening."

Didn't end there, though, as #38 ripped Bonds for being an admitted tax cheat, adulterer, and steroid user -- even though Bonds has never admitted to that in public, I believe.

Selig has to live with the mess he's made. Any concrete proof we have on Barry is limited to leaked grand jury testimony, which he hasn't been charged or convicted on yet. Baseball can't and shouldn't be allowed to think that ignoring Bonds will make him the easy scapegoat, letting it off the hook.

The Chase For The Victoria Cup?

2007-05-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

The basic question in response to the idea of an NHL team taking on a Euro league champion in hockey for something called the Victoria Cup is: Would you watch?

IIHL head Rene Fasso says an unidentified NHL team will participate in the inaugural tournament, along with the European cup champion and one other European team, and eventually, the IIHL would like the Stanley Cup champ to take on the Euro champ every year. A few things they will likely have to reconcile:

1) the rink rules they'll be playing under -- I know little about the Euro leagues, I presume they play under international rink dimensions and rules, so this would probably look more like Olympic/international hockey matches than the NHL. Based on your viewing experience, this is either a plus or a minus (I like bigger rinks). Also, less checking.

2) The NHL's long season -- by the time you would have a Stanley Cup champion, they'd have gone through a grueling schedule that's longer than the European leagues, and it's safe to think that you wouldn't exactly be getting a high level of play from that NHL team.

3) Injury concerns -- much like the ones that marred last year's baseball tournament, and the ones that always come up for NBA players participating in the Olympics.

The whole concept could work or fall on its ass spectacularly. It would probably work better if you do it every other year, and split that up on those two years when the Winter Olympics aren't being held.

Stealing Signals: Penny Lane.

2007-05-08T00:24:00.000-07:00

Dodgers 6, Marlins 1 - Brad Penny goes atomic on the Fish, striking out 14 and allowing five baserunners in seven innings of work. He even helped himself with a two-RBI single. The Marlins' sole run came off a Dan Uggla homer against the Dodger pen.

Giants 9, Mets 4 - Sigh. I get either Good Oliver or Bad Oliver, and tonight, I got only bad from Oliver Perez, who coughed up nine in the fifth inning, including two homers to Giant catcher Bengie Molina. Jesus, Oliver. At least give up two homers in an inning to Barry or something. Errors from Shawn Green and Damion Easley (filling in for Jose Valentin) didn't help.

Rockies 3, Cardinals 2 - More proof your team is having a hard-luck season: the walk-off play against you is not a home run, not even a hit. Tyler Johnson gave up a bases loaded walk to Brad Hawpe to end the game.

Mariners 3, Yankees 2 - The Yankees got screwed on a stolen base call when the M's Willie Bloomquist had been out by a country mile, but it's not like that forced Mariano Rivera to give up a game-winning HR to Adrian Beltre.

Padres 4, Braves 2 - Chris Young strikes out eight Braves in six innings, breaking a bad streak against Atlanta with two runs and two hits given up.

Indians 10, Orioles 1 - The Tribe went batty in the seventh with a four-run inning, and Travis Hafner then put it way out of reach with a grand slam in the eighth inning. Fausto Carmona gave up only one run in a semi-duel with Steve Trachsel, but Carmona wound up getting the win, as the O's bullpen collapsed after Trachsel left the game.

(Photo: AP/Wilfredo Lee)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Sweet and Lowdown.

2007-05-08T00:06:00.000-07:00

Jazz 116, Warriors 112 - This may shape up to be just as good a series as Spurs-Suns. I thought both of them would go seven, but I didn't think both teams would be cracking triple digits in game one of this series easy. Be happy if you bet the over. As I feared, the Warriors may not have the presence to deal with Carlos Boozer pounding the boards inside; while he only had 17 points tonight, his 20 rebounds were much more important. Deron Williams threw in 31 points, besting Boom Dizzle (I'm stealing this nickname for Baron Davis from Golden State of Mind; hope they don't mind) in their first matchup. The Warriors need to get their split in the next game.

Pistons 108, Bulls 87 - I thought this series was supposed to be competitive. Did the Bulls just blow their wad on beating an old Miami team or are the Pistons that good? Clearly, the Pistons are the class of the Eastern Conference, but I didn't think they were "beat every opponent by double digits damn near every night" good.

(Photo: AP/Jeff Chiu)

This Televising Drafts Stuff Has Gone A Bit Too Far.

2007-05-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

Methinks ESPN has gone a bit off the deep end and figured one draft is as good as another when it comes to deciding whether to televise them or not. Basking in the afterglow of the usual bonanza in NFL Draft ratings, where you had me and every other NFL obsessive watching a six-hour first round a week ago, now the WWL has decided that the Major League Baseball entry draft will make good television for the Deuce.

Let's quickly go over why this won't work AT ALL:

1) 50 rounds. 'Nuff said. It's not like ESPN2 will show all of them, but still...
2) Sometimes, there are #1 picks that wind up flopping in ways we don't get to track. Such is the nature of baseball. Players that look great in high school and college get trapped in the minors. Part of the innate appeal of the NBA and NFL drafts is that you will see the players in the League or Association right away (in the NFL's case, the majority of the first day players fall under this rubric.) So, if someone's a bust in those leagues, we get to see it on a bigger scale. That kind of dynamic is part of the appeal of the draft.
3) Also, a player can be drafted, and opt to go to college, I believe, delaying the gratification further.
4) Drafts for sports with established farm systems aren't as thrilling or interesting to watch. The stakes are lower by nature. Teams aren't filling immediate holes -- the fun of the NBA and NFL drafts lies in the fact that teams have holes they need to fill NOW. Baseball and hockey drafts are about developing talent to fill holes down the line, developing a team strategy.
5) You really want to watch a first round full of Bud Selig?

None of that really makes for the analyst overkill, instant response, and psycho fan attendance that defines the NFL and NBA drafts. Of course, putting MLB's draft on ESPN2 is kind of a tacit admission in itself.

Cheap Shots #18.

2007-05-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

No inspiration, plus I woke up late. Mondays are never good for the A-game.

1) Summing up some extra vitriol for Mr. Clemens. [Babes Love Baseball]
2) T-Mac's taking that playoff loss hard. [Leave the Man Alone]
3) The Royals often put up a lot of bagels on the scoreboard, but Panera Bread didn't think they'd put up 13 or more hits, and are now paying for it. [Our Book of Scrap]
4) More piling on Brady Quinn. [WBRS Sports Blog]
5) A Clippers sideline reporter and her double entendre, captured on YouTube. [With Leather]
6) So soccer doesn't bring the faith leaders together like it used to, huh? [Seal Clubbers]
7) Georgetown, pay JT3 his money. [FanHouse]
8) I thought they sent all the busted memorabilia to Africa. Guess not. [EDSBS]
9) Running down Saturday's fight (which I saw most of, the party I went to had coughed up for it.) [Rumors and Rants]
10) We start with Clemens and end with him, as the Ladies have found his ego-pumping appearance yesterday at Yankee Stadium on video. [Ladies...]

NBA Playoff Impressions: Blood On The Dance Floor.

2007-05-06T23:35:00.000-07:00

Spurs 111, Suns 106 - A nip-and-tuck game determined ultimately by a collision on the court, as Steve Nash's nose burst and the Suns staff couldn't stop the bleeding in order to get him back in the game, and without Nash, the Suns on the court looked confused, running around with their head cut off. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker went big for the Spurs, each clocking over 30 points. Nash was on fire with 31, but those 45 seconds he had to sit out meant the game. Hopefully every game in the series is as close as this one was.

Cavs 81, Nets 77 - Hm. It seems Cleveland can play defense. The Nets shot only 37 percent for the game, and Vince Carter had the game he has at least once every playoff series, where he can't hit a thing. However, those games are usually followed up by ones where he explodes. LeBron had 21 points, but a crucial block near the end of the game helped out.

(Photo: Garrett Elwood/NBAE/Getty Images)

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over.

2007-05-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

Roger Clemens has decided to grace the suffering Yankees with his presence for several months of the season after a few warm-up starts in the minors (which will be overcovered to the point of nausea by ESPN and the ilk) The Boss will pay him a pro-rated $26 million for the rest of the season, which equates to about $4.5 million per month.

Will this solve the Yankees' pitching problems, and catapult them to the top of the AL East? Don't bet on it. It's hard to bet against Clemens, but it's worth noting that he's been pitching in the National League for the past few years, and the lineups in the AL are superior (and this isn't only on the DH alone.) Let's also add that adding Clemens does nothing to solve the Yankees' overused bullpen; in fact, he may exacerbate the problem, as he does not regularly throw 7 innings any longer. The Red Sox pen is not only more reliable, but gets a hand from starters like Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Tim Wakefield (who is a real big innings eater at times because the knuckler doesn't take as much off his arm.)

This solves only half of the Yankees' problem.

Two Different Stories, The Poll And The Narratives.

2007-05-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

By now, you have either heard of the ESPN/ABC poll on Barry Bonds on Baseball Tonight prior to the start of the Phillies-Giants game (which, oddly enough, Bonds will not be starting in), or have read it online, and Jayson Stark's companion column. For a quick summary: more blacks than whites polled want to see Bonds break Hank Aaron's record, and more blacks than whites think Bonds is getting a raw deal from the press and baseball.

Conflict, though -- Bonds is breaking a record held by a black man. Why should that perception of race feed into this? It would be easier to explain if Hank Aaron were white. However, let me throw a few things out there that might give some insight into the difference, and maybe why that is quite so stark. I can't say these are authoritative in any sense; these are, at best, educated guesses, and I would like to see what you all think in comments, if you're so inclined.

1) The legend of Henry Aaron is unimpeachable. Hardscrabble success story, one of the last links to segregation in baseball, and the trials he had to go through in order to reach the peak, never mind the death threats for breaking Babe Ruth's record back then. Barry Bonds' story is colored (pardon the accidental pun) by several issues, that do not fall in line with the preferred stories in athletes:

a. He is the son of a major league ballplayer. He watched his father Bobby get savaged by the press, and he is likely to know first-hand what this game is like as a profession. Thus, he may treat it as we treat our 9-to-5s, despite the fact that most athletes, in public, espouse the view of the fan -- they are lucky to be doing this for a living. Barry rarely looks as if he enjoys his work.
b. Bonds has always lacked tact with the press, for the above reasons with his father, and refused the humility a lot of fans and media like to see in pro athletes. This whole animosity did not start when the increase in muscle mass began -- that perception only fueled the contentious relationship.
c. Aaron's story is the American Dream writ large; to have his record go to what seems like a bratty, rich black man is off-putting.

2. Barry Bonds has never tested positive for steroids or any other performance enhancer. Yet, he is for all intents and purposes (at least to most sports media) a cheat, mostly based on the silence of his trainer Greg Anderson in the BALCO investigation, Book of Shadows, and an increase in muscle mass the likes that had not been viewed at an age where many athletes break down. (let's not forget "the cream and the clear" as well.) He has already been convicted in many media outlets; most are waiting the eventual federal investigation to turn up what they know to be true already. He hasn't been tried or found with a dirty sample. Would you blame anyone for thinking he might be getting ripped for very little?

3. The scapegoating factor: Baseball took a shot in the ribs after the evasion by Mark McGwire testifying before Congress (as well as the hypocrisy of Rafael Palmiero), and in its eagerness to try and forget its own blinders in the late Eighties and Nineties, would prefer to ignore Bonds' mark and play up his negatives, in order to make this less of an issue for the owners and commissioner Bud Selig to acknowledge. When Barry hits 756, that won't change, and even if Alex Rodriguez does own both the single-season and career HR records by the end of his time, that doesn't make it any better. A perception that may fuel the numbers is that the media is trying to pass off the game's indiscretions on the shoulders of one man, to avoid accountability for the steroid mess on both Selig and MLBPA head Don Fehr.

4. Sportswriters have been lousy at separating their perceptions of Bonds as a person, with his background, from analysis of his on-field performance. The steroid questions serve to fill a narrative -- a player whom all decent fans ought to hold in contempt has another chip against him, but let us remember that none of the alleged enhancers were illegal in baseball until after the fact. Narratives are easy to fill in the blanks on, especially when they are adopted more often than not. We can say he's a prick and an asshole, but if you had been made to wear the "villain" label your whole pro career (even in his days with the Pirates), wouldn't you just say, "Fuck you people" and go do your job?

(Cross-sport note: a similar narrative and animosity have worked for Kobe Bryant -- there was something precocious and ambitious about him that wasn't likable prior to the sexual assault trial, and the trial and civil settlement drives the on-court perception to this day.)

5. Bonds cannot be alone in the whole doping enterprise, if he has participated. So, why does he garner all the attention, especially when rumors have swirled around Roger Clemens for years now (more on his return to the Yanks later), for example, and he only faces the scrutiny of what team he will wind up with, as he plays with the media on his fake retirement? Revelations like the Mets' clubhouse manager having to talk as part of a plea deal will tell us more of the scope of this problem. It doesn't start and end with Bonds -- but with the framing of it, it's almost as if it did.

Again, these are impressions, educated guesses at best and completely off the mark at worst, so let me have it.

Stealing Signals: Wang Drops The Hammer.

2007-05-06T01:37:00.000-07:00

Yankees 8, Mariners 1 - Chien-Ming Wang threw seven innings of perfect ball, and the Yanks just tore up Jeff Weaver for a five-run inning. Weaver is now 0-5, and Mike Hargrove is going to have to consider whether to pull him from the rotation. The elder Weaver should have known better than to go back to the American League. In the NL, he's serviceable, and can eke out at least .500, but in the AL, he's a waste.

Dodgers 6, Braves 3 - Derek Lowe becomes one of the few pitchers this year to outdo Tim Hudson, who was on a roll until tonight. The underwhelming Wilson Betemit nailed the go-ahead home run off Hudson while hitting for Lowe in the eighth.

Twins 2, Red Sox 1 - The BoSox sluggers battered Johan Santana, but couldn't cash it in at all, leaving 12 runners on base even though they chased Santana from the game in the fifth inning.

Astros 13, Cardinals 0 - After finding out ace Chris Carpenter would be on the DL for three months, the Cards got a football score laid on them. Kip Wells had another miserable start, while Houston rookie Mike Albers threw eight scoreless for the win.

Mets 6, Diamondbacks 2 - The Mets keep finding good pitching in odd places -- Jorge Sosa, who washed out with the Braves last year, was called up from Triple A to start, and gave up only two runs over 6.1 innings. Shawn Green started the run-scoring with a 2-run homer, and the Mets added four more off reigning Cy Young winner Brandon Webb in the sixth.

Giants 9, Phillies 4 - Bonds jacks #744. Eliezer Alfonzo and Pedro Feliz added homers of their own to add to SF's total, and I suppose the only comfort the Phillies have is that Bruce Bochy has said Bonds will not start in tonight's game.

Devil Rays 3, Athletics 2 (12 innings) - A's closer Houston Street coughs up a homer to Ty Wigginton to blow the save and send it to extras, and Brendan Harris drives Ben Zobrist in to win it in the 12th inning.

(Photo: Reuters)

NBA Playoff Impressions: The Hurdle Is Still There.

2007-05-06T01:17:00.000-07:00

Jazz 103, Rockets 99 - It's like we're watching that sort of old magic that Stockton and Malone would work, sure, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams need to do this on a more consistent basis, but this is Jerry Sloan's tried and true system, much as some of us hate it in terms of boring old halfcourt offense. Tracy McGrady still has that first round playoff hurdle to get over, and while Shane Battier should be kept to assist McGrady and Yao Ming, the rest of the parts (maybe save Rafer Alston) could be scrapped in order to add for another role player to spread the floor out. It's certainly not as if McGrady didn't give it his all; it just wasn't enough, yet again.

Pistons 95, Bulls 69 - This whole series got off on the wrong foot for the Bulls to begin with, getting whistled for five cheap fouls in the first few minutes (with two of those on Ben Gordon in about three minutes, and they need him to score early and often to have a chance at the upset), and Detroit just owned this game from the beginning. Of all the teams that play in the old slow-down, half-court offense, Detroit is possibly the most exciting because the front court of Rasheed Wallace, Chris Webber, and Tayshaun Prince is similar in size and passing skills to what would be optimal for say, the Suns, if a more solid defensive version, as Max noted in his series preview at the Starting Five.

Western Semis Picks: I think both of these matchups will go seven, so let's get that out of the way.

Spurs vs. Suns - The obvious problem for the Suns, as viewed in prior years, is that the Spurs can play run-and-gun with the Suns, but this team of control freaks will be looking to slow down Phoenix after an initial attempts to beat them at their tempo. What San Antonio does is beat you at your tempo, then shift to the pace they want to play at. The wrinkle in the whole series this time will be the play of Amare Stoudamire. This Suns team is vastly improved with him in the line-up, and he's gained more skill in his absence. Tim Duncan will need to push the post, get Amare in foul trouble early, and let's see if Nash can put up a defensive fight against Tony Parker. I think this Suns team squeaks through this time.

Warriors vs. Jazz - Carlos Boozer will do to the Warriors inside what Dirk Nowitzki either could not or would not -- pound the post. We need to see how Don Nelson will line up his squad to prepare for that. Hopefully he doesn't do what Avery Johnson did, and change up the lineup that got him to the second round. The Warriors have a decided advantage when the games are at Oracle Arena, but they will need to take one in Salt Lake City. Can they do that? I think they will be able to steal a road game, so Warriors in the full number of games, as long as Baron Davis' hamstring holds up.

(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Pleading Poverty.

2007-05-05T10:27:00.001-07:00

This man at your left is already well off, and will be even more so when he arrives in Los Angeles in July to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy (and supposedly to revolutionize and improve MLS' image; I'm not quite buying it.)

But this isn't really about David Beckham or his salary; it's got more to do with the rest of the league's players, many of them whom apparently pull in less money in a year than I do, according to the report released by the MLS' players union:

[Beckham's] $6.5 million in average guaranteed annual salary is well ahead of Chicago Fire forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco's $2.6 million, New York Red Bulls forward Juan Pablo Angel's $1.59 million, Red Bulls midfielder Claudio Reyna's $1.25 million, Galaxy forward Landon Donovan's $900,000 and Kansas City Wizards forward Eddie Johnson's $875,000.

They are the six highest-paid players in the league. What troubles the union, though, is that there are 57 players earning the league minimum of $12,900 and another 36 earning [Galaxy rookie Ty] Harden's $17,700 salary.

"From our perspective, it's the level of the low end that's the big issue," [union executive director Bob] Foose said. "It's a big, big problem. A third of the league has to ask their parents for money to pay the rent."

The senior member minimum is 30K, and the development contract is that league minimum of just under 13K annually. The figures were released by the union in a hope to shame MLS into improving the situation. Most of the time, we're pretty jaded about these sorts of things with pro athletes looking for more money, but when some of your players are probably calling Mom and Dad every month to help with the utility bills in big cities with high costs of living, it may be worth revisiting the pay scale a bit.

A Pay Scale Of Disparity [L.A. Times]

Stealing Signals: State and Maine.

2007-05-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

Mets 5, Diamondbacks 3 - Bolstered by home runs from grumpy old man Julio Franco and catcher Paul Lo Duca, John Maine has quietly become the Mets' most consistent starter, off to a 4-0 start, and showing promise Mets nuts hoped for when he first came throwing. Franco, 48, hit the homer off Randy Johnson, 43, for the oldest combination of both sides of an at-bat.

Red Sox 2, Twins 0 - Speaking of old men, it's pretty clear that knuckleballs keep you young. Tim Wakefield is still a steady starter in this league in his 40s by throwing a ball that seems to barely require any exertion on his end, and did it while being sick. Papelbon comes in to grab yet another save, and David Ortiz belts one out for the only necessary run (J.D. Drew scored in the ninth after hitting a triple.)

Marlins 5, Padres 4 - Banging back-to-back homers in the eighth is a good way to bail out your star starter when he doesn't have his best night, and that's what Josh Willingham and Joe Burchard did for Dontrelle Willis.

Mariners 15, Yankees 11 - Yay, football scores! The M's had 20 hits total, and everyone in their line-up had a base hit, knocking around Kei Igawa and the Yankee bullpen pretty badly. The Yanks did the same to Cha Seung Baek, getting the Mariners down by five early on.

Braves 4, Dodgers 0 - John Smoltz mows down the Dodger lineup, by pitching seven shut-out innings. Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur provide the run support.

Cardinals 3, Astros 2 - If you're a last place team recovering from an awful tragedy and haven't won since it happened, then the next-to-last team is always good for what ails you. Adam Wainwright gave up two runs on six innings to grab the win, and Woody Williams is at 0-5 for the Astros.

Giants 6, Phillies 2 - The Giants make Jamie Moyer and the Phils pay for walking Barry Bonds. Eliezer Alfonzo gets a pinch-hit bases clearing double to wreck an otherwise good start by yet another cranky old man on the mound.

Angels 5, White Sox 1 - Darin Erstad bizarrely loses a ball in the lights of Comiskey, and catcher Mike Napoli gets an RBI double as a result. Kelvim Escobar throws seven innings of one-run ball for the win, while Jose Contreras continues to get hit up.

(Photo: Reuters/Rick Scuteri)

NBA Playoff Impressions: The East Semis Are Set.

2007-05-05T00:17:00.000-07:00

Nets 98, Raptors 97 - New Jersey pulls off the upset in six games that damn near everyone was expecting: no one really looked to this Toronto team to advance past veterans like Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson, despite their utter lack of a post presence. Despite that, this was the one Eastern series that provoked any sort of excitement or close play, and Game Six was the same way: won a Richard Jefferson shot with eight seconds left in the game. Enjoy it while you still can, Jersey fans.

Now, let's have a look at the Eastern semifinals and make some blissfully uninformed picks:

Bulls vs. Pistons -- competitive series, to be sure. The way Ben Gordon and Luol Deng have come on so far is nothing short of incredible to watch. However, that was a decrepit Miami team on the court (despite my thought that the Heat would win in six), and it showed. This is the first real test, and while they'll give the Pistons a really good workout, this series will be over in six games, in Detroit's favor -- due to experience, and the way they spread the points around to all five starters, plus Antonio McDyess.

Nets vs. Cavaliers -- If there is anything I have harped on more and more with these recaps, it has been the Cavaliers' miserable attempts at defense. Despite sweeping a Wizards team that is a shadow of itself without Caron Butler or Gilbert Arenas, none of those four Cavs wins were what anyone would call dominating. Antawn Jamison was repeatedly allowed to score 30+ points in those four games. The Nets lack a post game, but unless Zydrunas Ilgauskas somehow makes them pay for not having an inside defender and LeBron James has another performance like last year against Detroit in the semis, I'm giving this series to playoff experience. Nets in five, but I would love to be wrong.

(Photo: NBAE/Getty Images/Jesse D. Garrabranth)

Chris Matthews Would Like To Play With Some Hard Balls.

2007-05-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

NBC, please keep this man from moderating any more debates.

I watch the debates compulsively as a political junkie of sorts, and rarely am I impressed with any of the moderators the networks dig up among their stable of talking heads. Both MSNBC debates, from last week's Democratic debate in South Carolina to last night's GOP square-off in Simi Valley, have been lame excuses for the horse race. I get that the herd kind of needs to be thinned, but it would help if the moderators would try to stick to political questions. During the Dem debate, Brian Williams rattled off some crap about the Democratic Party being extinct if they lose the presidency in 2008 (despite 2006's Congressional takeover), and then, we get questions like these:

Moderator: Governor Gilmore, you know Karl Rove and you've worked with Karl Rove. Is Karl Rove your friend?

And later:

Moderator: But let me ask you about something else that might be a negative in the upcoming campaign. Seriously.
Would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House? (Laughter)
Romney: You have got to be kidding.
Moderator: No, I'm not.

Chris Matthews is still obsessed with Bill Clinton's dick after six years. That's the conclusion I've ultimately come to. It's not like Brian Williams acquitted himself any better last week, either.

Actual debate insights: Tom Tancredo (I used to live in his district), Duncan Hunter, and Sam Brownback scare me. Giuliani gets actual points for knowing the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite (but he's still creepy and authoritarian, and the whole cross-dressing and the bad splits with ex-wives will catch up with him.) Romney invoked Ronald Reagan's name the most; no coincidence there. Everyone was basking in the glow of the Reagan library, and couldn't move fast away from moderator questions about Bush quickly enough.

The Things We Do For Ratings.

2007-05-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Via Idolator, I get another reason to despise sweeps periods: apparently even Los Angeles TV affiliates are trying to scare people about emo, about three years too late.

I guarantee this is how the idea meeting went for this: "My kid's acting really out of sorts lately. He's listening to some awful music, and spending all his time on the computer listening to bands I don't understand. Hey, let's make a three minute long story out of it."

I'm all about trying to get people to stop listening to My Chemical Romance, but this really isn't the way to go about it.

Not Everyone In Vegas Wants The Association In Town.

2007-05-04T01:18:00.000-07:00

This season's All-Star Game, and any others held out in the Nevada desert are likely to be the only NBA games held out in Lost Wages for a while, because commish David Stern wants the casinos to knock off the NBA betting if a team is to relocate there or given to the city.

And via the AP (on SI's web site), we learn that's just find with the chief executive of several big Vegas casinos. Terry Lanni, who's in charge of the MGM Mirage, thinks the game can stay out of Vegas, as far as he's concerned, because the crowd it attracts aren't good for business:

"The gang-bangers and others who came for purposes other than attending the game, they weren't very good for Las Vegas," Lanni told The Associated Press.

Lanni said there was little action on the gambling tables the day of the game.

"In talking to our casino hosts, a number of people stayed in their villas and suites. They felt uncomfortable," he said.

MGM Mirage's first-quarter earnings fell below expectations, and they're blaming the "gangbangers and thugs" associated with All-Star weekend (supposedly). The AP says Lanni backed off, saying his statement only applied to the All-Star game. For his trouble, Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is trying to assuage Lanni, but it's probably safe to say that his concern (misplaced as it is, given various accounts of the violence that occurred, and the amounts thereof) doesn't only go for the All-Star game.

(Photo: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Ron-Ron Will Use This As Fodder For His Advice Column.

2007-05-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

Well, at least the animal abuse charges got dropped. Erstwhile Kings forward Ron Artest pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence charges, and has received a sentence of community service and a 10-day work project. His wife Kimsha seems willing to take him back, and the judge has dropped most of the restrictions from seeing her and their children, so I assume he's moving back into his Loomis mansion relatively soon.

The problem is that we really don't know whether Artest's time in Sacramento has run out or not. All recent signs with the Kings would say yes, despite the declaration of "no immediate plans" to trade him in the AP copy. Eric Musselman got axed, Mike Bibby is already being talked about again as trade bait, and the Maloof brothers may be thinking that Ron-Ron's off the court trouble aren't worth his usually steady on-court play.

But who would take Artest at this point? He's a good defender and can put in a double-double on a regular basis, but there are quite a few players in the league who can do that, maybe not with as much intensity and drive, but with a lot fewer concerns over PR and off-court distractions. That's two teams in a row that he's floundered on or sunk. Terrell Owens got a third chance, but T.O. isn't near the notoriety of Artest, for the brawl at the Palace at Auburn Hills. I'm not so sure anyone will actually pick him up if the Kings say it's been real, it's been fun, but it ain't been real fun.

It's instructive to look at Artest and Stephen Jackson side-by-side after their respective trades to California: Jackson's crazy is still around -- and surfaces sometimes -- but it hasn't cut into his work; he was a big part of the Warriors' upset of the Mavs, coming through big in Game Six. Artest's crazy envelops him, defines who he is -- it's almost completely consumed his status as a ballplayer.

(P.S. Honestly, I think if someone had hit me in the face with a beer cup and I was an NBA player, I'm not so sure I wouldn't have gone looking for them in the stands either. So, I can't throw a ton of stones at Artest there, but it was still an ugly thing to watch.)

Stealing Signals: Manny Being Manny.

2007-05-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

Red Sox 8, Mariners 7 - Having Manny Ramirez get locked on is a scary proposition for a team already atop its division and its usual rival struggling badly. Last thing anyone else in the AL East needs is Manny hitting. Seattle got the brunt of it, with Ramirez hitting two homers and bailing out another mediocre start from Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Pirates 4, Brewers 2 - A good streak has to have bumps every once in a while, and the Brewers hit one, giving up a four-run seventh inning to the Pirates that eventually won the game for the crew from Pittsburgh.

Mets 9, Arizona 4 - The Mets like Chase Field in Phoenix, having won 11 straight games there, and when you have David Wright (expected, kind of, despite a slump) and Damion Easley (not expected; he's still in the league?) hitting three-run homers, it makes it easy for a pitcher, like, say, Tom Glavine to get bailed out by wailing on the Arizona bullpen.

Yankees 4, Rangers 3; Yanks 5, Rangers 2 - Doubleheader sweep for the Yanks in this battle of last place teams, and getting Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte back to give them starts like they did can only help, although the holes in the rest of the rotation still run rampant. Mariano Rivera grabs both saves for the fifth time in his major league career. More importantly, the Yanks climb out of the cellar, swapping spots with the Orioles.

Phillies 9, Giants 7 - Matt Cain has an off day for the Giants, and the Phillies made him pay for it. Adam Eaton got hit up too, but not quite as badly, and had the run support (especially from Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley) to cover up his mistakes.

(Photo: AP/Winslow Townson)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Yay Area.

2007-05-04T00:16:00.000-07:00

Warriors 111, Mavericks 86 - Sheer, utter, and complete domination of an opponent, pummeling into submission, even through injury to the driving force of the team. Stephen Jackson emptied everything in his arsenal, with 21 of his 33 points total coming from outside the arc, and Mr. Playoff Beard himself, though hurt, still chipped in 20 and made the Mavs play him seriously. Double figures from Andris Biedrins, Jason Richardson, and Matt Barnes just kept piling on. After games three and four, you had an idea that Golden State had this series, but you never imagined the clampdown looking like that, with an utterly dejected and somewhat lifeless Dallas team looking at 20+ point leads in the third quarter. Are the Warriors a championship team? Don't know. Doubt it. Can they make some serious noise in the rest of this playoff season? Fuck yes, and I'll be happy to cheer them on while they do it.

(As for Dirk, enjoy your MVP as you're awarded it somewhere besides in the middle of a playoff game. Eight points and eight points only, in a game you needed to show up for again.)

Jazz 94, Rockets 82 - Victories by the home team only remain the rule in this series. Something has to break -- either T-Mac will shake off his playoff exit streak come Saturday, or the dull, old pick-and-roll style will survive for another round, and the fear of a Jazz-Spurs series at any point down the line is absolutely devastating to even consider. Houston, please win, if only for the sake of those of us who have no particular rooting interest, yet would still like to see a Western Conference finals worth watching.

(Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Cheap Shots #17.

2007-05-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

Special "I Cracked 50K Visits!" edition:

1) "Mr. Van Pelt, this is the Federal Communications Commission." [Larry Brown Sports]
2) Academic Progress Rate? Annual Pipsqueak Reaming describes the NCAA's "academic" report better. [EDSBS and Journo Rock]
3) Who knew there was an NFL in the UK? [Extrapolater]
4) Greg Olson, worse than Imus? Downfall of the Bears? Windy City sports columnists need to breathe a little. [Foul Balls]
5) Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid discuss the Eagles' draft strategy. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
6) I still can't care about boxing, but this isn't a bad way to get me to try to give a crap about De La Hoya/Mayweather on Saturday. [Rumors and Rants]
7) If technology has improved the way we watch sports, why aren't the leagues using it to ensure the right calls in the actual game? [The Starting Five]
8) All the Kentucky Derby preps you need are over at Stiles' place, and here's one entry for a sample, you degenerate gamblers, you. [Stiles Points]
9) Wait, so you take the ball used for an unassisted triple play and throw it into the stands? Troy Tulowitzki has my permission to beat Todd Helton six ways to Sunday. [Our Book of Scrap].
10. Amazing. Adam makes observing Seahawk cheerleader tryouts boring, as if that were possible. Still a good read. [The Big Picture]
11. "Stu, seriously. Just put this ballgag in your mouth when you're not hosting SportsCenter. It's for your own good. If the gag's too much, we'll use duct tape, OK?" [Awful Announcing]

(Tangent: I swear Skip Bayless is in love with his own cliches. I think he slams KG and AI just so he can say "Kevin Gar-NOTT" and "Allen Me Myself and Iverson" repeatedly. He's like the bad cop version of Berman.)

That's The Sound Of Another "Fire Millen" Sign Being Scrawled.

2007-05-03T01:22:00.000-07:00

The FanHouse exists at AOL for a reason: to find the little things that some of the rest of us would completely gloss over in the muck of Peter King's usually mediocre column, and it only matters to me because it concerns my rooting interests. This is how much Mike Shanahan and the Broncos offered Millen for Calvin Johnson, about a month before the draft:

A month earlier Denver had offered two first-round picks, a second-rounder and two third-rounders, plus veteran linebacker Al Wilson, but when the Broncos wouldn't substitute another second-round pick for the injured Wilson, Millen turned them down. With that, the bar was set high.

Wow, that's a lot of stupid -- on both ends. Not only was the Rat Fink willing to mortgage the entire goddamn franchise on Calvin Johnson (never a guarantee, given the way WRs are dropping in value as far as the marquee player list goes), but he was willing to ape what the Saints did to draft Ricky Williams, and inherit the NFL's dunce cap from Millen as far as miserable personnel decisions go.

Yet Millen still said no. Is William Clay Ford, Jr. just a puppet, a marionette controlled by Millen? Detroit fans might just have reasons to consider that possibility.

The Archaic Concept Of TV Blackouts.

2007-05-03T01:08:00.000-07:00

According to a Jeff Passan column at Yahoo Sports, MLB is going to at least attempt to address the outdated notion of blackout markets for certain MLB teams -- in the age of MLB Extra Innings and the Internet, restricting where a team can be shown seems like just another way to unnecessarily piss off a fanbase. Problem is, baseball's been real good at that lately -- see the whole complaint and pissing match that MLB had with the cable reps that basically sent Extra Innings to satellite-dish only status.

Most sports leagues tend to roll behind the curve on these things, but none more so than baseball, as it goes with everything else. These territorial rights were given to owners in order to develop fan bases by force, in a pre-cable, pre-satellite, and pre-internet world. There was no national audience to share in, so teams had to have these blackout areas to devleop. Now, that's not the case, as Passan writes:

Most teams distribute their games on television through regional sports networks, like the Kansas City Royals with Royals Sports Television Network. The Royals' situation is a good example of how asinine the blackout rules can be. They have the fifth-largest blackout area, covering all of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and most of Missouri. Fans in those states whose cable or satellite providers do not carry RSTN will be blacked out from every Royals game.

Feel free to insert your own joke about anyone in those particular states even wanting to watch a Royals game. (I kid, KC fans, I kid.) The obvious problem is that MLB will have to convince all 30 owners, and when's the last time you got 30 businessmen looking out for their own bottom line on the same page? It doesn't give them any economic benefit to get rid of the blackouts.

However, it would be nice if they'd actually consider their own fanbase that's coughing up on a cable bill to watch -- I live in an area of California split between fans of the Bay Area teams and SoCal teams (Giants and Dodgers fans seem to have the edge here), and I'm sure Charter would pick up the Bay Area Fox Sports affiliates if they could for the area -- but we're limited to Angels and Dodgers, as far as telecasts go.

Hopefully The Old Problems Aren't Back Again.

2007-05-03T00:57:00.000-07:00

I take no particular joy or fun in noting the personal problems of players from the old days. who, save a run-in with the law over drug laws that I think are stupid, would probably be in the Hall of Fame (baseball writers tend to hold off-the-field stuff unrelated to gambling harder than most other sportswriters, I've gathered.)

(Goddamn, I gotta stop writing these entries early in the AM before bed. I'm misreading shit like he wasn't a Hall of Famer.)

SF Giants great Orlando Cepeda did five years in prison in the late Seventies on pot smuggling charges. He's in trouble over drugs again, as a CHP officer pulled him over, found marijuana and a substance that looked like either cocaine or methamphetamine. The irony: he's a community liaison for the team, speaking to kids about the dangers of drugs.

"He does not use, and was not under the influence of, any illegal substance," [attorney Ted] Cassman said late Wednesday in a telephone interview. "This is an unfortunate misunderstanding, and we intend to meet promptly with the authorities to explain that Orlando was not responsible for any illegal substance in the car."
Cassman said the marijuana was medical marijuana used by a family member who has diabetes. Asked about the white powder, Cassman said he had no specific comment.
"It follows within the statement that he wasn't responsible for any illegal substance in the car," he added.

I hope that's the case.

(Photo: AP/Kathy Willens)

Stealing Signals: A Baker's Dozen Left.

2007-05-03T00:31:00.000-07:00

Giants 5, Rockies 3 - 12 more blasts until every sportswriter in the country gets really uncomfortable, starts rambling about the sanctity of the game, and gets caught up in hyperbole yet again to describe just how awful the whole mess is. 12 more until Bud Selig and Hank Aaron say they're not going to attend for the 13th after this one. 12 more opportunities for baseball to sweep its own complicity under the rug. Bonds also chipped in a two-run single in the eighth with the bases loaded to win it, by the way.

Red Sox 6, Athletics 4 - Josh Beckett catches Roger Clemens in one category: he's the first BoSox pitcher since Clemens to start 6-0, and Babe Ruth's 8-0 (shared with two others) is next. Bad loss in the game for both teams -- Mike Lowell and Mike Piazza crashed into each other at third, and both had to leave the game.

Brewers 4, Cardinals 0 - My picks on the NL Central are looking really shitty right now. St. Louis has lost five in a row and is in the cellar, and the Brew Crew are in first place. Tough going for Anthony Reyes, who went eight innings but gave up four runs, and had no help from his offense.

Dodgers 2, Diamondbacks 1 - Mark Hendrickson wants a starting spot back kinda bad, don't you think? He pitched six innings of shutout ball, and RBI singles by Juan Pierre and Andre Ethier gave him enough to win.

Mets 6, Marlins 3 - Which Oliver Perez do I get for my fantasy team (and my favorite team) this year? It looks like the one that can win games, at least so far. RBIs for the Mets came from Beltran, Wright, Reyes, and two from Endy Chavez.

Indians 7, Blue Jays 6 - Y'know, sometimes the shift just doesn't work. Ask the Jays, who pulled it on Travis Hafner in the 11th inning, and watched him hit the slowest of dribblers to left field, which was far enough, with the left fielder running in, to allow David Dellucci to score.

(Photo credit: AP/Jeff Chiu)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Two Years Later, Same Damn Result.

2007-05-03T00:06:00.000-07:00

Spurs 93, Nuggets 78 - Goddamnit. I thought the whole point of dealing for Allen fucking Iverson was to avoid shit like getting slapped down by the Spurs in the same way we did in 2005, and losing in 2006 to a Clippers team because we didn't have that other star player. Well, George Karl can't help this team play defense, and waved the white flag after deciding to bench J.R. Smith (yeah, he fucks up a lot, but if he's 18 of the 33 [!] bench points your team scored in the first four games, you probably don't bench him.) The Spurs bench remains lethal, as Michael Finely just went off with eight three-pointers and 26 points total.

"It turned out that way with the series being over 4-1, but as for the level of play, I can't really say they're a better team than us," Denver's Marcus Camby said. "Each game was close and could have been flip-flopped to our advantage. I still feel confident in our team and what we can build here."

Don't kid yourself, Marcus: the Spurs are a better team than you are. The reason it didn't flip-flop to your advantage was because the Nuggets coughed up leads they shouldn't have.

Suns 119, Lakers 110 - The Lakers never led in this game, despite good play from Lamar Odom and Kobe grabbing his usual 30+, which now appears to be insufficient for this Laker team to ever win with. He'll now have to score 40 or more on a regular basis, and even then, it won't get them close next year with their roster as it stands. Kobe wants to see what GM Mitch Kupchak and owner Jerry Buss do to improve the team:

"Do it and do it now," he said. "Personally for me, it's beyond frustration -- three years and still being at ground zero. This summer's a big summer. We have to see what direction we want to take as an organization and make those steps and make them now."

The Lakers are not exactly in good shape as far as the salary cap goes. Unless they pull off some blockbuster trade (and they will have to ship out Andrew Bynum to pull it off), expect a first-round departure next year, too.

(Photo: D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty Images)

Is Dwayne Jarrett Paying For Mike Williams Or For Receivers In General?

2007-05-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

GMs may tell you that elite receivers are a dime a dozen, and they likely are. But how does that explain the slide down the board of Dwayne Jarrett to the second round, when he was clearly tagged as first-round talent? The L.A. Times is claiming a bad performance against Razorback corner Chris Houston (picked four slots before him) and the spectre of Mike Williams haunted his status.

Jarrett had a lot of people saying he should have stayed at Southern Cal, including Keyshawn Johnson, serving as an ESPN analyst, and the man Jarrett wound up making expendable, and Pete Carroll is now using Jarrett and fellow receiver Steve Smith (the one now with the Giants), along with some other first rounders, as examples of staying until you're certain you're a first rounder.

Eric over at Seal Clubbers wonders if all the apparent de-valuing of wideouts has to do more with a slimming gap of talent between the elite tier and everyone else, or that certain teams know how to evaluate WR talent and others don't. A lot of teams are inherently conservative, and the regular style of throwing deep in the NFL, while it hasn't gone by the wayside, is kind of on the decline, in part to minimize mistakes by the quarterback that would lead to interceptions. WR success in the NFL is just as tough to measure as QB success; Calvin Johnson is the only WR in the past few years that everyone agreed was can't miss. And his thought is pretty spot-on; as I would apply it to Jarrett -- Dwayne fell because the talent levels are closer for WRs now, not that people really associated him with Mike Williams. Williams tried to come out after his sophomore season, following Maurice Clarett's challenge of the NFL's draft rules -- let's not forget Jarrett had one more year under his belt of college ball than Williams did.

Is the Randy Moss trade another sign of that? No. I don't think the Moss trade happened because the Patriots placed his value correctly to their team, necessarily. I think it also had to have something to do with Moss being willing to renegotiate his contract for the team -- tons of teams were in line for Randy, but he had to be willing to knock millions off his salary next year. The Patriots have enough chips in their corner when it comes to Super Bowls to entice elite players to take less money.

(Photo: AP/Rick Havner)

Checking In With Soccer.

2007-05-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

I love watching during the World Cup, and I've tried to make a conscientious effort to watch the EPL during the season, getting up early on Saturdays to catch games when they play live on Fox Soccer Channel (at an awful 8 AM on Saturday, ouch!) So, I'm especially happy when ESPN2 picks up the Champions' League and such, because it means I get to watch at a reasonable hour.

While I haven't really selected a team (personal favorites to watch are Liverpool and Arsenal, although damn near most of the bloggers I read that acknowledge soccer are big Gunners) and thus, have no real rooting interest, yesterday's Liverpool-Chelsea match was a great watch for me -- plus, I'd forgotten the whole "aggregate" bit of the semi-finals, where it seems you play two matches, add up the scores, and then take the total. It means Liv and Chelski came down to penalty kicks yesterday, and while everyone (including uneducated yours truly) thought Chelsea had it when it went to kicks, the rest of us were pleasantly surprised, as Liverpool knocked them off.

Now, Man U. wants to make the Champions' League final an all-Brit affair, and they're taking on AC Milan in about a half hour (on ESPN2). Player-haters won't get the ultimate satisfaction this time of watching Man U. and Chelski and wanting the stadium bombed, but Man U. and Liverpool could still be a fun match (although Barcelona and Arsenal in last year's champs was great to watch.)

(Unrelated tangent: God, I hate CNN -- a headline they just put up on TV: "Glenn Beck thinks global warming is fake. We'll speak with him on why everyone's giving in to fear, in the CNN Newsroom!" Fuck Glenn Beck, what cred does he have to be pimped as a global warming skeptic -- oh wait, he's on your sister station!)

UPDATE: Nice way not to play defense, Red Devils -- that game was over before frickin' halftime!

Driving (In The Lane) While Black?

2007-05-02T02:04:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has an article on an interesting study that is awaiting peer review before publishing in an economic journal, and the conclusion is this: white officials call more fouls on black players than they do on white players (at a rate of about 4%). Most of us would be saying, "well, duh, there are more black players in the NBA," and you're right -- that's a part of it, according to the authors (you can read the study for your own purposes here, it's a PDF file.) I've worked my way through most of it, and it seems like a mostly solid analysis of aspects that are hard to mark as say, outright prejudice, and more along the lines of the make-up of the NBA. The authors of the study would likely disagree with me, but I tend to side with the players: the NYT reporter quoted the Raptors' Mike James, saying he hadn't noticed an obvious, overt bias in that manner.

With their database of almost 600,000 foul calls, Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price used a common statistical technique called multivariable regression analysis, which can identify correlations between different variables. The economists accounted for a wide range of factors: that centers, who tend to draw more fouls, were disproportionately white; that veteran players and All-Stars tended to draw foul calls at different rates than rookies and non-stars; whether the players were at home or on the road, as officials can be influenced by crowd noise; particular coaches on the sidelines; the players’ assertiveness on the court, as defined by their established rates of assists, steals, turnovers and other statistics; and more subtle factors like how some substitute players enter games specifically to commit fouls.

(Emphasis in bold mine.)

The authors claim it's enough to affect game outcome, as if teams would gain several wins by adding a white player to the starting line-up. I'm not so sure, considering the majority of the league's players being African-American, but then again, these guys did the research. While we have to face the possibility at all times that there are subconscious racial factors in every line of work and how we live (hey, we're human), I think there's a bigger problem with the refs in the NBA, and it's one we can see at all times -- a preference to give the calls to the more established veterans or obvious superstars.

This is the officiating conflict that holds more weight with fans and casual observers -- it doesn't make a hell of a lot of logical sense when you hear a play-by-play or color man say, "Player X will learn a few years down the line, and he'll figure out what he has to do to get that call. He'll get those calls with more experience." It either provides favoritism for veterans or, even worse, learning how to manipulate the contact for attention from the refs, and both are part of the arsenal of most experienced veterans, be they superstars or veterans. Get the referees to call the game in the same way for vets, rookies, and those in between, and we can talk.

Either way, if you have a few spare minutes and a decent head for tables and statistical analysis, the study's interesting on its own, and so is the piece.

Stealing Signals: Hurler Hex.

2007-05-02T01:34:00.000-07:00

Yankees 10, Rangers 1 - What kind of dumb hard luck do the Yankees have right now? Phil Hughes throws 6.1 of no hit ball, and then gets struck with the hamstring pull. He's out 4-6 weeks, as the bullpen combines on the three-hitter after Hughes leaves the game. A-Rod and Jorge Posada had three hits, Robinson Cano tries to break the slump with a 4-hit game. That makes an entire starting rotation the Yanks have had or currently have on the DL.

Athletics 5, Red Sox 4 (10 innings) - When Jonathan Papelbon blows his first save after a month of play, that's notable. He caught a case of the Lidge against Travis Buck, coughing up a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the ninth. Dan Johnson doubled home the winning run in the top of the 10th, and Huston Street closed it out.

Mariners 5, White Sox 2 - Jarrod Washburn is on a tear. It feels weird to write that sentence, but Washburn gave up two singles and two solo jacks while Richie Sexson hit a two-run homer off Javier Vazquez to give the M's the lead for good. Sexson either hits all or nothing -- 4 of his 10 hits this season (ugh!) are homers. Yet somehow, the M's are in second place in the AL West. To his credit, Pale Hose skipper Ozzie Guillen is not impressed: ""With all due respect, all the pitchers that pitch against the White Sox right now look like Cy Young." (+1 to Ozzie.)

Dodgers 2, Diamondbacks 1 - Olmedo Saenz bails out Andre Ethier big-time. Ethier dived on a ball that was pretty much out of reach, allowing the tying run to score, and Saenz slaps a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to take the game.

Brewers 12, Cardinals 2 - Milwaukee brought the big guns, roughing up Braden Looper and the pen for 11 runs in the 5th and 6th innings, and you know it's gonna be a tough night when Tony Graffanino is hitting a three-run homer on you. J.J. Hardy kicked in a 4-hit game for the Brewers.

Phillies 6, Braves 4 - Cole Hamels coughs up 3 runs and 5 hits in the fifth inning, and then starts working for the clampdown. Chipper Jones was the Braves' bright spot, homering twice. Braves hurler Mark Redman now has the unsightly mark of an ERA at 10.02 and an 0-4 record.

(Photo: Matt Slocum/AP)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Never Say Die.

2007-05-02T01:25:00.000-07:00

Mavericks 118, Warriors 112 - Avery's little outburst must have worked, as the Warriors had this game in the fourth quarter and up by nine, but the Mavericks decided that this game belonged to them, and acted appropriately, much like any team should when it's up against the wall. Do we call this a momentum shift? Possibly. Let's see how the Mavs come out when facing another Oakland crowd in Game Six, but for right now, you can't accuse them of not having the will to play like any 68-win team ought to. Dirk finally cracked the 30-point barrier, scoring 12 points during a 15-0 run in the last three minutes. You know, that's what MVP candidates have to do. Now let's see him do it again, and then in Game 7 after that, and we can talk MVP.

Raptors 98, Nets 96 - This series totally could have gone seven before tonight. That's how these teams are. The Nets are utterly dependent upon the play of Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson, and the Raptors need Bosh and Jose Calderon, along with T.J. Ford. Problem is, tonight's game cost the Raptors both Ford and Calderon; Ford left in the first and Calderon pumped in 25 points in his absence. Hopefully they're ready for the next game in Jersey, because if not, this series ends in East Rutherford.

(Photo: AP)

Guess The Panthers Won't Be Throwing Him The Damn Ball.

2007-05-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Charlotte Observer, at this time, just has a breaking news headline on their front page regarding the release of WR Keyshawn Johnson today, with no real details yet.

Keyshawn was one of the highlights of ESPN's draft coverage last weekend, and probably ought to seek a broadcast role soon should he decide to hang it up, but that's not the reason I bring up the draft coverage. If you watched last weekend, I'm sure some of you saw Johnson interview Dwayne Jarrett after the Panthers picked him in the second round, and it looked uncomfortable. Jarrett was mumbling about how happy he was to be there, and Keyshawn ably filled the holes by talking about how he was going to mentor his fellow USC alum, teach him how to play in the League, while everyone else on ESPN's coverage had a look on their faces that screamed, "AWK-WARD."

Guess he won't get that chance. Wonder if the Panthers brass filled Jarrett in on that actually happening, like, "Are you ready to start alongside Steve Smith?" Doubt it, but that Johnson-Jarrett convo now joins the Awkward Hall of Fame.

MVPs Don't Talk Like That.

2007-05-01T00:58:00.000-07:00

Down 3-1 against the Warriors, and with their backs against the wall heading into tonight's contest, Avery Johnson will not be hearing any sort of crap from his star player or anyone else about being frustrated:

"I'm tired of hearing about how they've taken him out of his game and any lack of confidence. You're just not supposed to have that, all right," said Johnson, perhaps the team's most intense player even though he's no longer playing.

"I wasn't the best of players and didn't have the best of skills, but you were not going to shake my confidence. We need all of our players to be confident, to be resilient, to be persistent and that's what I want to see tomorrow. If I don't see it at shootaround, I'm going to be highly upset ... because I need to have it going into that game tomorrow night. We've got to be confident and really sure about what we're doing."

I gotta say this for Avery: he sounds like he never took that uniform off his back when he retired. As for Dirk, reading the quotes in that piece, it reads as if Dwyane Wade was completely, 100% correct when he called him out earlier this season as not having the drive and focus to dominate the game at his leisure.

"They really go smaller and really sit down on my legs, don't let me put the ball down on the floor the way I want to and get to my spots," Nowitzki said.

Well then, don't you MAKE them play your game? Charles Barkley has absolutely assaulted Dirk for not going in the post and making the small Warriors lineup take him there, and I get it. If you are seven feet in height, no matter what your skill with a jumper, you'd better have a solid post game and the will to dominate. Nowitzki sounds resigned to not having it, and that's fatal to a team. MVPs don't talk like that. Champions don't talk like that.

How Low Can You Go Before You Can't Turn Around?

2007-05-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

The sadness of Josh Hancock's death can't get any easier, and it looks like it may be even more problematic, if the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's latest article is any indication.

According to the article, he had been in another traffic accident just a few days before. He was uninjured, but was late for the game that day. The Cardinals said he had overslept, but the newspaper claims a contradictory report:

But sources say he was late because he was hung over.

Two nights later, after pitching in a Saturday afternoon game, Hancock spent the evening at Mike Shannon's Steaks and Seafood drinking to a point of impairment, according to a couple at the restaurant.

The couple said they overheard Hancock telling ESPN broadcaster Dave Campbell that manager Tony La Russa had been infuriated with Hancock Thursday because he was "too hung over to play." A club source also said Hancock was hung over when he arrived at the ballpark.

I hope these sources are wrong; it's bad enough for the Cardinals to lose a teammate and a friend under any normal circumstances. Let's see what actually comes up when the toxicology reports are done.

(Let me also address La Russa's little tiff of a boycott here. He's well within his right to request that of his players, but to accuse of the media of trying to turn this into "anything that isn't sweet," is nasty. No one's death is ever sweet. It's likely the newspaper writers are just doing their job.)

Stealing Signals: Walk It Off.

2007-05-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

Braves 5, Phillies 2- Tim Hudson and Jon Lieber went for the old fashioned pitchers' duel, both allowing two runs in eight and seven innings respectively, and then the Braves' Andruw Jones accounts for the rest with one swing in the bottom of the ninth. Hudson still has not lost this year, despite missing on the chance to go 4-0.

Marlins 9, Mets 6 - Nothing worse than hearing these words as a Met fan, after the constant concern about starting pitching: "Chan Ho Park will be starting tonight." With El Duque on the DL, Park got dinked, dunked, and bombed all the way during his start, allowing seven runs in four innings.

Angels 3, Royals 1 - John Lackey accepts the lack of run support and gives up only one run to the Royals in 6.1 innings. Vlad the Impaler doubles in two runs, and Chone Figgins brings in the other, fresh off the DL.

Blue Jays 6, Rangers 1 - Does any pitcher work faster than Roy Halladay? If he's on, you can probably expect to be home in under three hours after the first pitch. His second complete game of the season took only 2 hours and 2 minutes. Sammy Sosa drove in Kenny Lofton for the Rangers' sole run.

Tigers 8, Orioles 4 - Gary Sheffield and Daniel Cabrera had to be separated after Cabrera started jawing at Tigers manager Jim Leyland. Sheffield then separated Cabrera's pitch from the stadium moments later in the fifth. Jeremy Bonderman wins in his first decision of the season.

Brewers 7, Cardinals 1 - A day after the death of Josh Hancock, the Cardinals probably weren't terribly ready to return to the field. Kip Wells coughed up seven runs and got caught balking, and Jeff Suppan shut his old team down. Tony La Russa is still on his media boycott, advising the players to be weary of media with "their own agendas."

(Photo: AP/John Bazemore)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Home Is Where The Wins Are.

2007-05-01T00:11:00.000-07:00

Rockets 96, Jazz 92 - T-Mac scores 26 and adds 16 assists; Yao has 21 and 15; the Rockets are back on point in a 3-2 series where the home team has won every game so far. This means either both teams are matched up fairly well (given that this is a 4-5 matchup, that's likely), or neither team is very good on the road for the playoffs and shouldn't be trusted come the next round against the eventual winner of Mavericks-Warriors. Carlos Boozer had the Jazz team high with 26, but only had eight rebounds.

Spurs 96, Nuggets 89 - Especially frustrating as a Nuggets fan, because they had a lead in the third quarter and then kept coughing it up. You do not get up by 10 points on San Antonio in the second half and then proceed to let them right back into the game. Here comes the repeat of 2005: win the opener, lose the next four.

Cavaliers 97, Wizards 90 - The Cavs pull off the shakiest sweep of the three that took place in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Again unable to hold Antawn Jamison to under 30 points, the Cavaliers' defense must be called into question at every opportunity when they get the eventual winner of the Nets and the Raptors soon. This team doesn't put opponents away.

(Photo: AP)

Cheap Shots #16.

2007-04-30T00:40:00.000-07:00

Let's start the week off right:

1) Meet the non-Jarvis Moss picks of the Denver Broncos. [Big Money, No Whammies]
2) Tony LaRussa isn't happy with his city's local paper, and there's audio, too. [Larry Brown Sports, audio here]
3) If you missed it on Friday, the charges of assault against PSU players are in. [Run Up The Score!]
4) What would happen if college football coaches allowed famous alums to make videos like Will Ferrell does for USC? [Rumors and Rants]
5) An opinion on the Ted Ginn pick that isn't a pan. [Shot to Nothing]
6) The third part of an extensive Jemele Hill interview. [The Starting Five]
7) Best names in the draft. [Awful Announcing]
8) Measuring Joe Mauer's intangibles. [Extrapolater]
9) A warning for Pats fans considering purchasing a Randy Moss jersey. [Just Call Me Juice]
10) There's something funny about Steve Spurrier in that Under Armour ad. [Gheorghe: The Blog]

Paying My Respects To Hockey.

2007-04-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

Rangers 2, Sabres 1 (2OT) - I love hockey OT in the playoffs. Love it. Rarely anything better, and this double OT battle didn't disappoint, with solid play all around, and Michal Rozsival scores the game-winner late in the second overtime period. Frankly, the Rangers should have had two goals earlier in the game, as what was called a kick really wasn't. However, I believe Buffalo or one of the Canadian teams needs to win the Cup badly.

Ducks 3, Canucks 2 - dependent upon some seriously good goal play by J.S. Giguere in the end, as the Canucks threw everything they had into that 6-on-5 at the end. Corey Perry slapped in the winning goal for the Ducks with less than 10 minutes in the period.

Both series are 2-1, Ducks and Sabres ahead.

NBA Playoff Impressions: The Badass Power Of Baron's Beard.

2007-04-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

Warriors 103, Mavericks 99 - Golden State is one win away from a massive playoff upset, and got a 3-1 lead in fantastic style. It looked bad early, as Dallas got up and Baron Davis got two quick fouls, but the Black Baron and his Magnificent Beard would not be denied, and when he hit that 40-foot 3-point shot to end the first half, you knew it was ON. The Warriors kept mounting comebacks, and when it came time in the fourth quarter, took the game over by hitting threes and making Dallas miss 10 of 11 shots late in the game. There were over 20,000 fans packing the Oracle Arena, and the best part of that telecast was when those 20K yelled "BULLSHIT!" repeatedly after Jason Richardson got whistled for a blocking foul in the third quarter. Baron finished with 33 points, Richardson threw in 22. I want to see more playoff beards in basketball.

Oh, and SUCK IT, SIR CHARLES. (Dumbass had the balls to say the only place worth living in CA was Los Angeles during the halftime report.)

Nets 102, Raptors 81 - Man, you think this team has no shot, and then Jason Kidd and Vince Carter just open two 40s of pure whoop-ass as soon as the starting whistle blows, including some damn near telepathic alley-oops and a stretch in the first half where Carter was incapable of missing a shot. Carter had 27, Richard Jefferson had 23, and Kidd was two rebounds away from another triple-double. If you are LeBron James and the Cavs, this team should scare you, despite its lack of any inside game.

(Photo: AP)

Two Seahawks Leave The Nest.

2007-04-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

This post was mostly an excuse to use a great mugshot yet again, but it seems Jon Gruden will take any castoff you can think of to assemble his bunch of privateers in Tampa Bay this season, and that now includes former Seahawk tight end and bad example Jerramy Stevens, someone who is enough of a mark-ass mark to be hated on by his own team's fans even before he got busted for DUI a couple of months back. Why Gruden wants or needs him -- especially with the other Alex Smith already as the starting TE -- is the bigger question. Now, the Bucs have a logjam at both TE and QB.

Seahawks GM Tim Russkell may be suffering from some form of brain lock, though, or may be hitting the bottle too -- why trade the best of your stockload of wide receivers in Darrell Jackson to a division rival for a defensive end, instead of dropping the dead weight of Nate Burleson, for example? Because apparently Jackson was less than thrilled with the organization for not paying up and re-negotiating his contract. No one will miss Stevens, but the latter move may hurt the Hawks enough to where the Rams and the Niners could knock them off their perch as the champs of the NFC West.

Stealing Signals: 17 Innings Of Vin Scully Is Fine By Me.

2007-04-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

Dodgers 5, Padres 4 (17 innings) - Knock-down, drag-out wars of bullpen and bench attrition are fun, until you realize that it could fuck up starters for the next few days. Brady Clark doubled home the winning run in the top of the 17th, scoring Wilson Valdez, who reached on an error by backup catcher/emergency 1B Pete Laforest. The problem for the Dodgers in this win: they left something like 15 men on base during the game.

Mets 1, Nats 0 - Pitching duel between John Maine and Jason Bergmann, and Carlos Beltran gives Maine a 4-0 record with a solo home run.

Phillies 6, Marlins 1 - Grumpy old man Jamie Moyer throws six innings of no-hit ball, and threw seven and a third of one-hit ball in total for his third win of the season. A Miggy Cabrera double snaps the no-no. Most of the Phillies' runs came on a late double in the eighth.

Rockies 9, Braves 7 (11 innings) - Matt Holliday hits a two-run walk-off homer for the Rox to avoid being swept, but the play everyone's talking about is SS Troy Tulawitzki's unassisted triple play: runners on first and second, catches a line drive, taps second base with his foot, tags the other runner.

Tigers 4, Twins 3 - If Brandon Inge wants to get out of a season-starting slump that's got him hitting .122, hitting a walk-off homer is one heck of a way to get started. Johan Santana and Mike Maroth had similar lines, giving up three runs apiece in about the same number of innings worked. Magglio Ordonez got a two-run jack off Santana.

Rays 5, A's 3 - There's a lot of power in that Tampa lineup: all the runs were provided via long-ball today. B.J. Upton brought in two others when he hit his, and Rocco Baldelli and Elijah Dukes went back-to-back off Dallas Braden, who's subbing for Rich Harden. Pluses for the Athletics: Mark Ellis and Eric Chavez went back to back as well.

Angels 5, White Sox 2 - More back-to-back jack action, this time courtesy of Maicer Izturis (what?) and Vlad the Impaler for the Halos. Kelvim Escobar only gave up a two-run homer to former Angel Darin Erstad in a strong start.

Red Sox 7 , Yankees 4 - Sox take two out of three from the Yanks, and hold them to 11 runs total over those three games (not a lot for that high-powered lineup). Red Sox got homers from Manram, Big Papi, and Alex Cora. Jonathan Papelbon hasn't blown a save yet. If the majority of your offense comes from Doug Mientkiewicz, you've got problems.

NBA Playoff Impressions: Bulls In A China Shop.

2007-04-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

Bulls 92, Heat 79 - So I guess you really can't just turn it on for the playoffs, despite the pre-conceived notions surrounding the Miami Heat. What should have been the most competitive first-round matchup on paper turned ugly quick and was over today, with Luol Deng and Ben Gordon picking up their 20+ apiece to get the Bulls past the first round of the playoffs since Jordan retired again in '98. Funny enough, coach Scott Skiles has been here before -- he coached the Suns when they knocked off a defending champion Spurs team in 2000. Chicago plays the Pistons in the next round.

Suns 113, Lakers 100 - Now, this was the close, fast exciting game to watch -- well, at least for the first half. Come 3rd quarter, Phoenix said, "Enough of this shit," and started just smoking a Lakers team that doesn't have the talent, outside Kobe, to compete with the top tier of the Western Conference. Nash shot poorly, but his 17 points weren't the number to focus on -- those 23 assists would do it. Amare Stoudamire grabbed 27 points and a Rodman-esque 21 off the boards, Shawn Marion had 22 and 11 boards, and Leandro Barbosa popped in 16. This Laker team is maddeningly frustrating -- flashes of brilliance, in the triangle and out, offset by more prolonged periods of poor ball-care and turnovers.

More to come after the night games. If you aren't watching Mavs-Warriors, you're probably going to be missing out.

(Photo: Getty Images.)

Cardinals Pitcher Dies In Car Accident.

2007-04-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Reliever Josh Hancock died in an automobile accident early today. He was part of last year's championship team, and died at the age of 29. The Cardinals have already called off tonight's game with the Cubs.

Hancock apparently hit the back of a tow truck that was helping another vehicle on the road, and was killed instantly. This is the second Cardinals pitcher to die prematurely in the past five years, as Darryl Kile passed away of heart blockage at the age of 33 just under four years ago.

Note: what kind of hole does this leave for ESPN, as this was the Sunday night game? I'm not sure of their usual procedure. When the game of your signature sporting franchise gets postponed for very good reasons, is there a back-up they can shuttle Miller and Morgan to, or do they just fill with something else for the evening?

(Photo credit: Reuters)

On Its Surface, This Trade Seems Weird.

2007-04-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Apparently Randy Moss has received his ticket out of Oakland, and he's headed to....New England?!?

Yes, that's right. Apparently the Hobo Genius has decided to take on the outspoken/troubled/what-have-you receiver for a fourth round pick, but not without some obvious changes, both financial and otherwise. Moss will renegotiate his contract to fit with the Patriots' priorities, but there is this paragraph:

Far more important to coach Bill Belichick than any financial concessions by Moss, though, are the promises by the nine-year veteran receiver that he will fit into the Patriots' culture, an atmosphere in which players are expected to subjugate personal performance for team goals. Moss has long been one of Belichick's favorite players, in part because of his competitive nature and desire to step to the forefront at critical junctures of games, but the Pats' coach would not have made the deal without being comfortable that it is a good fit for everyone.

Apparently the rest of the front office (GM Scott Pioli) and locker room (Tom Brady, probably Tedy Bruschi and Richard Seymour) leaders have signed off on this, and that there will be enough leadership in the locker room to mitigate any sort of "threat" Moss poses to team chemistry, if his word isn't good.

My judgment is that most of Moss' on-the-field shortcomings have come because he's played for organizations that aren't as stringent, structured, and disciplined as the Patriots (also mediocre organizations) -- where there aren't really any organizational (rather than PR) consequences for admitting that you slack off, etc. However, he can't fuck around on the Hobo. It's a good trade for a fourth-round pick. Moss is not T.O., not by a long shot, and the Hobo has had players before that had reps as malcontents (see Dillon, Corey.)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Control Freaks.

2007-04-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

Spurs 96, Nuggets 91 - The reason San Antonio has won multiple championships with Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich in recent years is because they are control freaks. They want to control how the other team plays to an almost obscene degree, and the way you do that is by making it impossible for a team like the Nuggets to actually establish any form of offensive consistency from the second quarter on. Then, you capitalize on the turnovers and frustration plays that occur as a result, as evidenced by the third-quarter inbound that Robert Horry stole and took for a 3, sparking a 13-3 run that essentially said, "This game is out of reach for you, no matter what the final score will be."

(Edit: As D-Wil notes, you also work the refs a lot -- Manu is hated in Denver for being a flopper, and the Spurs flop like the Azzuri in the World Cup.)

Jazz 98, Rockets 85 - Jerry Sloan is as much of a control freak as Popovich, running the same old pick-and-roll based offense since the Stockton-Malone heyday. Again, it puts a premium on defense so Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mehmet Okur can operate. Utah took the two games on their home court by absolutely shutting down Tracy McGrady early, and holding him to 18 points for the game before Jeff Van Gundy ceded defeat by yanking the starting lineup.

Cavs 98, Wizards 92 - The sad part of this stretch for the Wizards is that Antawn Jamison is playing absolutely out of his head; he had 38 points today, and it doesn't bode well that the Cleveland defense can't limit that. However, if there's no supporting cast to help with Butler and Arenas out, Jamison's 38 doesn't mean much. LeBron tossed in 30, nine assists, and six boards.

Pistons 97, Magic 93 - Orlando actually had a lead to cough up this time, and that's the only remarkable thing you can say about this series. Dwight, Hedo, Grant, Darko -- thanks for playing.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Stealing Signals: More Ish Comes Back To Haunt Me.

2007-04-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

Yanks 3, BoSox 1 - After Rich Karstens gets absolutely blasted in the leg by a line drive, forcing Joe Torre to bring in the recently demoted Kei Igawa, I start cackling mercilessly at my television as Joe Buck reads over a montage of bad Yank pitching from this season so far. Igawa then throws six innings plus of shutout ball, bolstered by a homer from Jorge Posada off Tim Wakefield. Shows you what I know, but the rumors about Torre's job security and replacement by bench coach Don Mattingly are already swirling.

Angels 3, ChiSox 0 - In short, Sarge Jr.'s leadoff homer was all the Halos needed, as Jered Weaver gets off the snide for his first win. The White Sox offense is not helping their pitchers out at all, with seriously anemic offensive output.

Padres 3, Dodgers 2 - After giving up runs early, Greg Maddux and the Padre bullpen threw six innings of shutout ball to end it. The Padres got to Brett Tomko for a three run 4th inning, although Tomko did make an amazing line drive grab in the fifth inning that made Vin Scully sound as if he'd just jumped out of his seat watching that play when he called it.

D-Backs 5, Giants 4 - SF loses two straight after eight games of victory, but Barry knocks #742 out of the yard. Giant starter Matt Cain is betrayed by the pen yet again, as relievers cough up a 4-1 lead he'd left them with.

Cubs 8, Cards 1 - Seven innings and one run for Carlos Zambrano, and the Chicago lineup goes absolutely batshit on Adam Wainwright in the fifth, topped off by a bases-loaded triple by Cub whipping boy Jacque Jones. I was cursing myself for forgetting to put Wainwright and Tim Wakefield in my fantasy lineup today since they were starting. I think I'm better off now.

Orioles 7, Indians 4 - Bizarre little ump error: a sac fly by the O's in the third isn't called one (runner scored before the runner at first was doubled off), and crew chief Ed Montague adds it on in the sixth inning, when the call probably should have been made earlier. Indians played the game under protest after that, but they probably should have taken their anger out on the bullpen, as they got a lead off a Jhonny Peralta homer and then had the bullpen cough it up.

Mets 6, Nats 2 (12 innings) - Carlos Beltran and David Wright get two-RBI hits in the top of the 12th to get the win, as the Mets were running out of players at that point and manager Willie Randolph had already been tossed.

(Photo: Associated Press)

First Round Cheers and Jeers.

2007-04-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

CHEERS:

Cleveland Browns - Nabbing the best offensive line player available in Joe Thomas and then having the balls to go for Brady Quinn after his Aaron Rodgers-like slide. Good first round on paper. Hope it pays off. Not sure if trading up for Quinn was worth your first-rounder next year, though.

Jacksonville Jaguars - Trading down to Denver's #21, getting two extra picks in the third and sixth rounds, and still getting Reggie Nelson at #21. Well played, sirs.

University of Miami - even in an off year, they get three 'Canes in the first round.

San Francisco - getting both Patrick Willis and Joe Staley in the first round is good trading to shore up your LB corps and your O-line.

JEERS:

Miami Dolphins - You have miserable failures at quarterback and want to trade for an aging, injury-prone one. Brady Quinn isn't exactly as good as hyped, but he's still probably a better shot down the road than what you have and what you're planning (John Beck from BYU in the 2nd, really?) Then, you take Ted Ginn, Jr., who's kind of frail and not exactly in a class with Dwaynes Bowe and Jarrett as far as WRs go. Even Matt Millen thinks that's bad draft strategy.

(Update: After I published, ESPN showed Fins coach Cam Cameron explaining the pick at a presser -- he apparently has known the Ginn family for years, promises Ted Ginn, Jr. will be a sensation. Uh huh. DS commenter Upshaw's Leash nailed it -- this is out of the White House school of press conference spinning.)

Philadelphia Eagles - trade your first round pick to Dallas when you could have nabbed Paul Posluszny there. Did Andy Reid find his kid's drug stash?

Brady Quinn - just 'cause I drink that Golden Domer Haterade (they bottle and sell it at areas around USC.) Karma's a bitch, baby. That uniform really should say #2, since the Browns decided to take Thomas before you, but if they gave you a #2 brown jersey, the nameplate might as well read "Steamer."

Every team needing a WR passing on Dwayne Jarrett - stop looking at combine 40 times and watch some goddamn game tape, people.

Welcome To Denver, Mr. Moss.

2007-04-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

Say hi to our first-round pick, DE/OLB Jarvis Moss out of the national champion University of Florida Gators. Shanny probably didn't need to trade one of our two third round picks plus a sixth-round pick to the Jags in order to make sure to get him, but I'm happy to have him, nonetheless. We needed a pass rusher, we got one with the possibility of being Jevon Kearse-like, and hopefully with less injury trouble down the road.

251's a little skinny for a 6'6" DE, but if that doesn't pan out there, he would probably make a decent LB, and that's a place where you can always use some back-up there too. I like the pick, as you can clearly tell.

Draft Day.

2007-04-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

Late to the party -- yay, hangover. If you're watching, Deadspin and Rumors and Rants are doing live draft coverage of each pick. Here are some cobbled thoughts right now. More to come after the first round is done, including the look at the Broncos picks.

JaMarcus Russell is already gone (good move, Raiders); Matt Millen drafts another WR, but Calvin Johnson's better than any of the guys before him. Cleveland passes up on the Domer QB for the tackle who'd rather go fishing from Wisconsin. Tampa takes Gaines Adams as consolation (and are probably on the phone with Millen.) The Skins take a good safety, and Adrian Peterson goes to the Vikings...Quinn's probably going to the Dolphins.

Broncos, listen to me: WE WANT SOME GATOR CHOMP. PICK JARVIS MOSS OR REGGIE NELSON IF AVAILABLE.

AMAZING FEATS OF STUPIDITY UPDATE: The Miami Dolphins have now just gone completely stupid, as in "Man, fuck yo' team" stupid. I've ragged on Brady Quinn a lot, but man, passing on him was, in Jimmy Johnson parlance, DUH-UMB. Taking Ted Ginn at #9 is fifteen picks too high. Miami, you just made Matt Millen look like he knows how to draft.

BRONCOS UPDATE: Shanny trades up to #17 with the Jags and drafts Jarvis Moss!

A 17-Game Regular Season?

2007-04-27T01:19:00.000-07:00

That possibility might come sooner than you think. Roger Goodell is just as committed to promoting the NFL in overseas markets as Paul Tagliabue was, and in order to increase the commitment to games played in those markets, there's some early exploration of possibly increasing the regular season to 17 games, the most likely option being getting rid of a pre-season game (not like any one of us out there will really miss them.)

"One negative [to playing overseas games] is you're taking a game away from fans here," Goodell said before an annual meeting of sports editors at league headquarters in New York. "We've discussed whether to cut one preseason game and add a 17th week. It would create more inventory, and that has some appeal. We're chewing on that. The issue is: How do you create more inventory?"

Aside from the corporate jargon perversion of the word "inventory," it's a fairly basic idea that will likely go nowhere -- these things always bog down in various NFL committees. I suspect most people out there would think that any extra NFL game that means something is a good thing, as opposed to another meaningless pre-season matchup, but I'm not sure extending the season another game for international games would really help grow the game overseas. We've seen the clear evidence of how the NBA makes inroads in foreign markets with players from Europe and Asia -- I have a hard time believing American football, much as I love it, can translate to those same audiences. We're not exactly hearing about NFL Europe blowing up the world.

NFL Considers 17th Regular Season Game [Washington Post]

(Photo credit: AP, via WashPost)

Stealing Signals: The Mummy Returns.

2007-04-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

Twins 1, Royals o (11 innings) - Zach Greinke started the whole mess by plunking Torii Hunter right in the face (required stitches, giving Hunter the mummy look at left) and knocking Jason Bartlett later. Mike Redmond got the winning hit in the bottom of the 11th.

Red Sox 5, Orioles 2 - Wily Mo Pena, coming in hitting .120, jacks a grand slam to help Josh Beckett get his fifth win after eight innings of two-run ball. If anyone, after the way Beckett got kind of "meh" treatment last year, thought he'd have 5 wins right out of the gate, they're probably lying. Beckett joins some fairly rare company in BoSox history with his 5-0 start: Babe Ruth, Lefty Grove, Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez.

Giants 5, Dodgers 4 - L.A.'s lost four straight, and just got swept by the Giants, who have now won eight in a row. Ray Durham doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

Blue Jays 6, Yankees 0 - As far as rookie debuts, you can probably get away with four runs over 4.1 innings like Phil Hughes did and be OK. But if you happen to be Phil Hughes and pitch for the Yankees, and your offensive line-up withers at the stuff of A.J. Burnett, you're fucked.

Angels 11, Rays 3 - Bartolo Colon strikes out 11 over seven innings of work, and the Angels get him enough run support (really?) to make everyone's favorite doughboy a winner. Vlad the Impaler homers, Sarge Jr. and Shea Hillenbrand chip in three hits each.

Indians 9, Texas 4 - Sosa's home run count hits 594 with two more tonight, but it doesn't mean a heck of a lot when the Indians' hitters go absolutely nuts off of Ranger starter Kameron Loe.

(Photo: Getty Images.)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Kobe Takes Over.

2007-04-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

Lakers 95, Suns 89 - A very nice comeback over the second half, as Kobe puts in 15 of 45 in the last quarter to give the Lakers at least some semblance of respectability as a team in this series. Whether it will carry over to Game 4 is anyone's guess. The Suns should have locked down on that double-digit lead. No reason not to bring down the hammer there. What I can tell you: Kwame Brown is not getting 19 again like that. Someone else on the Lakers is going to have to step up to help Kobe out.

Jazz 81, Rockets 67 - Utah shot badly at the Delta Center, Houston just shot worse. Outside of McGrady and Yao, there were 17 points scored by the rest of the Rockets roster. Good defensive work by the Jazz.

Pistons 93, Magic 77 - Wait a minute, this series isn't over already? Too much talent in Detroit against too much youth and inexperience in Orlando.

(Photo: Getty Images)

The Artists Were Clearly Influenced By Robert Mapplethorpe's Later Work.

2007-04-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

This seems to be recycling day on my end, so let's get some frivolity in it. Thanks to the Wiz and EDSBS for tipping us to what happens when your college football stadium is left open to the public, like Cincy's Nippert Stadium is.

(If the title joke makes no sense to you, here's some Wikipedia to help.)

The Gary Thornebot 3000 Opens Its Mouth Again.

2007-04-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

I thought the GT3K only had two settings: OFF or HIGH. These usually work for hockey coverage, and are doubtful for use in other sports (Mom's Robot Factory used it as a prototype for the Gus Johnson model GJ-1 and added multi-sport flexibility.) Now, I find out that our GT3K also has another useful setting: PUT FOOT IN MOUTH.

Thorne is the play-by-play-bot for the Orioles, and during last night's telecast of the Red Sox-O's game, Curt Schilling's bloody sock from the 2004 World Series came up:

"The great story we were talking about the other night was that famous red stocking that he wore when they finally won, the blood on his stocking," Thorne said to broadcast partner Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame pitcher, in a conversation that had begun with a discussion of Schilling's blog.

"Nah," Thorne said. "It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR. Two-ball, two-strike count."

Palmer: "Yeah, that was the 2004 World Series [sic]." Thorne: "Yeah."

During a break two innings later, Thorne confirmed that's what he said, and that Mirabelli had told him so in a conversation "a couple of years ago."

"Go ask him [Mirabelli]," Thorne said.

Mirabelli was shocked, then angry, when relayed Thorne's comments.

"What? Are you kidding me? He's [expletive] lying. A straight lie," Mirabelli said. "I never said that. I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood."

Via Deadspin, I come to Baseball Musings, who reveals another instance of the GT3K's on-air bouts with stupid. Eventually, either ESPN or the MASN is going to have to do something about this sort of thing -- you can't have your announcers be consistently wrong about things like stats or even stuff like this. Harmless as the idea of Schilling painting the sock is in the scope of things, as far as sports go, to accuse someone of faking playing hurt for an ego boost is pretty damn ugly.

The New Adventures Of New Christine.

2007-04-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

Unusual little story in the L.A. Times sports section today, and the big boys are already all over it, but it's still remarkable enough to expound upon: sportswriter Mike Penner is no more -- Christine Daniels will be taking his place. Usually, this would be considered part of a severance package, with the recent cuts the Tribune Co. has made to the paper (another 150 jobs axed this week), but not this time. Penner is a transsexual, and will become Christine fairly soon.

I can't really cut text from it this time, and won't, because the whole thing is worth reading, but of course, it raises the usual questions about sports, the macho context behind them, and whether Christine will be able to do the job that Mike did based on those assumptions. I surmise the rules are different for sportswriters -- it will be considered odd rather than an affront to those she will cover because Daniels is a journalist. The odds are that people and teams Penner has covered are already kind of used to it, because pre-op transsexuals are told to go around as the gender they will switch to for a year before the surgery.

Honestly, I wish Mike the best of luck in becoming Christine -- that is a painful process to have to deal with over decades and then to get ready for a new life.

Cheap Shots #15.

2007-04-26T00:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's hit total has to be a freakin' record for this site, but what do I expect when I send out a link about cheerleaders and threatening letters? Anyway, hopefully some of you who came via various links will stick around (eventually, I will develop a feature or two).

Now, it's time to give that love back. Since these link fests seem to be a twice-weekly thing now (or whenever I get lazy), if you've got something interesting, send it to s2nblog of the Google mail variety (or just click on the "Contact the Management" link on the right.)

1) I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that Larry Brown is going to interview for the Grizzlies job. [Just Call Me Juice]
2) Pedro Martinez or Sandy Koufax. Who ya got? [Complete Sports]
3) Given the obvious double-entendre of going five-hole, a quiz about hockey and sex is only natural. [Hockey Rants]
4) Nick Saban hasn't signed a contract in Tuscaloosa? What could possibly go wrong? [The Feed]
5) Why I hate being a Bronco fan on draft weekend: Shanny's crap track record. [Orange Bucksnorts]
6) Rule #1 for publicists: keep the lies straight. Michael Vick's publicist fails at this. [WBRS Sports Blog]
7) An interview with Carl Pavano's hottie ex, and I'm pretty sure it actually happened. [Why Don't We Get Drunk and Blog?]
8) Sanchez is still trying to get you all to see the beauty in rugby. [Shot to Nothing]
9) The Fourth Stage of Las Cronicas de Boss Hawg -- lawyers get involved, accusing the school of not investigating emails with scurrilous charges against Houston Nutt. [EDSBS]
10) Inspired by Julio Franco's apparent discovery of the Fountain of Youth, a look at other diamond oldies. [One More Dying Quail]
11) Some of the better (read: nastier) head shots in sports caught on video. [Seal Clubbers]
12) A round table of sorts on the structure of the NCAA hoops tourney (yes, I was invited, so it's semi-self promoting.) [Sports Shows On Mute]
13) Sandy Belle shows us in song how she'd support the troops. [Run Up The Score!]

Stealing Signals: Rocking The Scoreboard

2007-04-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

Rox 11, Mets 6 - Offensive shellacking by a team that hasn't had a lot of offensive this year. Todd Helton got four hits and three RBIs, and the slumping Willy Taveras had five hits. In all the Rockies got 20 hits in the game. Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey was knocked out after three innings.

Mariners 2, A's 0 - Someone has to step up every once in a while with King Felix on the DL, and Jarrod Washburn did so, blanking the A's on a three-hitter and outdoing Joe Blanton in a good old-fashioned pitchers' duel. Blanton gave up solo homers to Jose Guillen and Kenji Johjima.

Angels 9, Rays 1 - Error-filled game by the Tampa Bay infield turns into six unearned runs for the Halos.

Red Sox 6, O's 1 - That $42 million spent on the Orioles' bullpen doesn't look like it's paying off. Daniel Cabrera left the game in the seventh with the score tied and two on, and then the bullpen let a trickle hit by David Ortiz through, opening the flood gates.

Giants 6, Dodgers 4 - Barry smacks #741 off of Randy Wolf, but the Giants cough up the lead in the middle innings. Pedro Feliz hits another homer to seal the deal. Quoth Dodger skipper Grady Little on Bonds' homer: "That ball got small real quick."

Pirates 4, Astros 3 (16 innings) - Adam LaRoche gets the game winning single in the 16th, saving himself from having to take the mound as an emergency pitcher. Houston's offensive woes continue; they stranded 18 runners in this game, and eight alone in extra innings.

Marlins 4, Braves 3 - Tim Hudson goes eight strong innings of shut-out ball, but he and closer Bob Wickman cough it up in the bottom of the 9th, with the game ending on a passed ball and Miguel Olivo running in to score.

NBA Playoff Impressions: Be Cool.

2007-04-26T00:03:00.000-07:00

Mavs 112, Warriors 99 - One of the big rules of the playoffs: DO NOT LOSE YOUR COOL. Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson both violated this (and their arguing was not necessarily unjustified, but you still gotta keep it in) as Dallas played a better game in Game 2 to tie it up. Davis got tossed before the end of the third quarter and Jackson got his walking papers with under 5 minutes left. Nowitzki still hasn't quite put it together, shooting 7 for 15. Jason Terry led the way for the Mavs, with a 15-2 run in the third quarter being the crucial difference.

Cavs 109, Wizards 102 - Cleveland is still letting this series be way too close for comfort with a depleted Wizards team. Antawn Jamison had 33 for D.C., and if the Cavs are just going to let him go off every night, they're going to lose a game when they shouldn't.

Spurs 97, Nuggets 88 - If you can get a split in San Antonio, it's still a good thing, and the Nuggets should be okay with how they played as long as they don't cough up homecourt in the next couple games. Manu Ginobili poured on 15 of his 17 points in the second half, and Tim Duncan had his usual 20+ night. Now, Denver knows the real part of the team it has to deal with. I'm still hoping they can pull it off.

Pure Advertising Goodness.

2007-04-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

Mr. T., flopping soccer players, and a tank. It's really all you need.

Thanks, With Leather!

The Hard-Luck Coach.

2007-04-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

Rick Carlisle's dismissal as the head coach of the Pacers only continues a string of years of coaching in the Association that can only be described as immensely frustrating, just from the arc of it. I can't imagine the difficulty of it personally.

Carlisle's firing as head coach of the Pistons must have been tough enough -- it wasn't that the team wasn't on the rise under his leadership, but Larry Brown was available, and he took the team to the promised land of a title, and he had to deal with that. You can say that without Joe Dumars dealing for Rasheed Wallace in that championship year, the Pistons don't win. I agree with that, but that's still a team that Carlisle had kind of brought back, but didn't get to finish the job with.

He heads to the Pacers, gets the top record in the Eastern Conference, but loses in the conference finals to those champion Pistons, rubbing salt in the wound -- and next season, you get Artest's explosion in the Palace at Auburn Hills, which effectively derailed the team and started a series of trades which robbed the Pacers of any talent that could be coached into a good team outside of Jermaine O'Neal. Since Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh can't fire the players, Carlisle has to go.

Other coaching moves: the Sonics can coach Bob Hill and re-assign GM Rick Sund for the last year of his contract. Not unusual, given that new ownership often likes to bring in their own guys after a bad year, but who will take a job for a team that's likely in its current location for one more season? Lenny Wilkens is running b-ball operations over there, and while it's unlikely that he would go back full-time to coaching, I wouldn't be surprised if it shakes out that way.

You Know, You Could Just Call The Complaint Line.

2007-04-25T01:40:00.000-07:00

The FBI is investigating a series of threatening letters to national networks and their affiliates, some with insecticide in them, and is offering $5K as a reward for anyone with information.

Now, these letters have not been sent in response to your standard news coverage; the letters, which started being sent in 2004, are apparently complaining about the number of cheerleader shots shown in college sport telecasts. Problem is, it reads like the two letters the FBI released are from two separate people, because these objections seem at complete odds with one another.

In a letter sent in September 2004, the author objects to the timing and angles of the shots captured by camera crews during sports events.

"We have asked nicely for them to respect us and all women, yet they refuse. They exploit innocent people, so we will too. When they start respecting us, we stop mailing these out," the letter reads.

The author of a letter sent in December 2006 complains that networks unfairly favor more modestly dressed cheerleading squads.

"For the last 6 years, Ohio State cheerleaders have received more TV time than any other Division 1A cheer squad on ESPN, because they wear long sleeved red/white outfits. If they wore sleeveless outfits, they would not get ANY TV time. So, we are fed up with this constant exploitation," the author wrote.

Really, TV can't win. Either it's exploitation to show them at all or exploitation to show the more modestly dressed ones. However, I sense a general approval with the second letter -- more TV time for the sleeveless outfits, although I'm not sure that makes too much of a noticeable difference.

(SI's headline editor had fun with this one: "Gimme an 'F'! Gimme a 'B'! Gimme an 'I'!" Well played.)

Paint A Vulgar Picture.

2007-04-25T00:42:00.000-07:00

I've previously touched on the outrageous behavior that the Pentagon apparently engaged in when embellishing (to put it kindly) the story of how Pat Tillman died in Afghanistan, and they repeated such chicanery with Jessica Lynch's rescue in Iraq a few months later. Both Lynch and Tillman's brother Kevin testified in front of Congress today, and so did another one of Tillman's Army Ranger comrades. Ryan O'Neal stated that he was told not to tell the family that Tillman had died in a friendly fire incident.

Kevin Tillman was in a convoy behind his older brother, a former NFL star, on April 22, 2004, when Pat Tillman was mistakenly shot by other Army Rangers who had just emerged from a canyon where they'd been fired upon. Kevin Tillman didn't see what happened. O'Neal said he was ordered not to tell him by then-Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey, the battalion commander who oversaw Tillman's platoon.

"He basically just said, sir, that uh, 'Do not let Kevin know, he's probably in a bad place knowing that his brother's dead,"' O'Neal testified. "He made it known that I would get in trouble, sir, if I spoke with Kevin."

Both Kevin Tillman and Jessica Lynch testified to deliberate fabrications in both cases. ESPN's investigative reporter Mike Fish has put together a nice four-part series on Tillman for ESPN Mag, and I suppose this stuck out at me more than anything in the first part:

[Lt. Col Ralph] Kauzlarich, now a battalion commanding officer at Fort Riley in Kansas, further suggested the Tillman family's unhappiness with the findings of past investigations might be because of the absence of a Christian faith in their lives.

In an interview with ESPN.com, Kauzlarich said: "When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don't believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt. So for their son to die for nothing, and now he is no more — that is pretty hard to get your head around that. So I don't know how an atheist thinks. I can only imagine that that would be pretty tough."

Asked by ESPN.com whether the Tillmans' religious beliefs are a factor in the ongoing investigation, Kauzlarich said, "I think so. There is not a whole lot of trust in the system or faith in the system [by the Tillmans]. So that is my personal opinion, knowing what I know."

If you don't know how an atheist would think, it's probably better not to say anything, really.

Zen Bonds?

2007-04-25T00:26:00.000-07:00

The amazing thing about Barry Bonds' trek to breaking Hank Aaron's home run record (aside from the stone throwing, Aaron's comments regarding the matter, and every manner of blowhard on the subject) is that Bonds himself is rather sanguine about the whole thing, and given how his chase has been portrayed, I'm not finding it too surprising.

The latest media line in the whole Bonds matter is that even if he breaks the record, the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez will run both the single-season home-run record and the all-time record down and take them from Bonds. Yahoo columnist Tim Brown gives us Barry's response to that possibility: good for A-Rod.

"A-Rod, I'm so happy for him," Bonds said. "It's great. It's phenomenal to watch. I hope he hits a hundred. I really do. … Go on A-Rod, do your thing. Keep that look in your eye."

There's got to be some sort of admiration society between players despised in certain circles for completely different reasons: if you have that media circus upon you at all times, it's a nice chip on the shoulder, and between the two, it's probably a shared experience.

Asked about Aaron, Bud Selig, and the countdown to the record, Bonds' response was this:

"I don't have any thoughts about it," he said. "I have a lot of respect for them and that's how I'll leave it...I don't even want to talk about that anymore," he said. "You guys can count it down on your own."

I find something admirable in that response. It's classier than a lot of people would give him credit for.

Stealing Signals: Mr. Steinbrenner Will Probably Have Something To Say Very Soon.

2007-04-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

Rays 6, Yanks 4 - A-Rod's 23 game hitting streak is no more, and the Bronx Bombers are now in last place in the AL East, as the pitching woes continue and necessitate the calling up of pitching prospect Phil Hughes. Chien-Ming Wang gives up 4 runes and nine hits in just over six innings. If anything, it's nice to see that the non Yanks and Sawx teams are not exactly pushovers (well, maybe except for the Orioles.)

Pirates 3, Astros 0 - Paul Maholm throws his first shutout for Pitt, giving up only three singles. Quoth Astros manager Phil Garner: "It was a very bad game, we looked like we had no clue what we were doing."

Angels 9, Tigers 8 (10 innings) - Sloppy, sloppy game -- Carlos Guillen was responsible for two errors in one half-inning as the Angels jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first on Jeremy Bonderman, and the Angels managed to cough a seven-run lead up late, just managing to send it into extras and win on an infield hit in the 10th.

Indians 5, Twins 3 - Fausto Carmona breaks a long streak without a win while Johan Santana loses his second straight start at the Metrodome.

Braves 11, Marlins 6 - Atlanta tees off repeatedly, and mostly because they have to: Mark Redman keeps coughing up leads -- blowing ones of 4-0 and 6-4 in this game, while the bullpen bails him out by holding on to one after the Braves get a third one.

NBA Playoff Impressions: If You Are A Laker Fan, This Is Not What You Wanted To See.

2007-04-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

Suns 126, Lakers 98 - Ugly, ugly game from the get-go, and it was over by the end of the first half (it really looked worse on the telecast, if you only caught the highlights). Here are some gaudy numbers: Nash had 16 points and 14 dimes, Barbosa chipped in another 26, Stoudamire had 20, and Marion added 18 with 10 boards. Kobe Bryant rolled his ankle with a 15 point night, and to even be competitive, he's going to have to dominate instead of dish. This team leans on him too much for him to be altruistic.

Bulls 107, Heat 89 - Ben Gordon and Luol Deng threw in 20+ a piece (Gordon had some nasty numbers from behind the 3-point line), and both Shaq and D-Wade played like crap, with 17 and 21 points, respectively (the crap line is more for the seven turnovers each of them had.) Miami has come back from 0-2 deficits before (like last year's Finals), but they're on the line here and need to figure out how to keep tabs on Gordon and Deng and get the other Heat starters going.

Raptors 89, Nets 83 - This may be the quietly competitive series of the first round, as the Raptors salvage a split on their home court before the series goes to Jersey. Chris Bosh tossed in 25 and Anthony Parker got 26 the day coach Sam Mitchell got his Coach of the Year award. Vince Carter suffered from another poor shooting night.

Not Like Releasing Him Solves Anything.

2007-04-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

Via TrueHoop, a report from Boston Globe sportswriter Greg Lee says point guard Sebastian Telfair is all but out in Beantown.

"I wanted to let you know that we have removed Sebastian’s nameplate from his locker in Waltham. The facts and circumstances of his case have not been determined but he does not have a Celtics locker and we do not anticipate that he will," [team managing partner Wyc] Grousbeck wrote in the e-mail.

The case Grousbeck refers to is Telfair's recent gun-related arrest.

The Celtics' problems go deeper than Telfair, so this doesn't really mean jack. Until Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge are both gone, Boston will be dealing with basketball mediocrity. There's still a glut of young players that are basically 2's and 3's on that team, and that 3 ought to belong to Paul Pierce until he says he's had enough. Hope of landing the #1 pick in the lottery and being chummy with Kevin Durant's family isn't going to help incompetent management, and Ainge has joined Kevin McHale of the Wolves, the Sixers' Billy King, and the Knicks' Isiah Thomas in the high class of NBA Front Office Fuck-Ups.

Telfair will likely find a team with a system that fits him. The League has too many teams for him not to fall in somewhere, but it's interesting to watch someone who was such a lauded prospect in high school (enough to warrant an ESPN movie). The only problem with watching Telfair's career arc is almost reality-show like: you have to fight the impulses to want to see him fail; it's a natural response to early overexposure.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Halberstam.

2007-04-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Journalist and author David Halberstam was killed in a car crash near the Menlo Park area of California yesterday, and it kind of speaks to his ethic that he was on the job while doing so: a Cal student was giving him a lift to an interview with Y.A. Tittle when the car they were in was broadsided. He wrote over 20 books in his career, many dealing with sport, but I've never read any of his sports books.

The only book I've read of Halberstam's happens to be the one he'll probably be remembered most for, and rightfully so -- I took a Vietnam War 300-level history course during my senior year of college, and Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest was one of the required texts for the class, an incisive look at how the men running foreign policy had assumptions and beliefs that dragged America into a questionable war that the country still has not gotten over (please see the debates over Iraq if you don't buy that last sentence.)

The irony of the Newsweek appreciation I've linked to, in my politically left-leaning eyes, is this:

Halberstam, who died yesterday in a car crash in California in between lecturing journalism students and reporting for a new book, had a way of cutting to the truth—and letting you know about it...He would not have hesitated to tell the new ambassador that the Diem regime was corrupt and the American effort in Vietnam was weak and had stalled. He routinely accused generals of lying. He was such a thorn in the side of the Kennedy administration that President Kennedy tried to get the newspaper to transfer Halberstam from Saigon. (The Times refused, and Halberstam won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage in 1964.)

And yet another of the journalists who would do his or her job leaves the mortal coil...

Other appreciations: Deadspin, With Leather, One More Dying Quail.

Must Be Something In The Northern Colorado Water.

2007-04-24T00:59:00.000-07:00

After ten years of living in Denver, I can only tell you that the state of Colorado is fucking nuts most of the time. You've got every evangelical congregating in Colorado Springs (and don't forget the stage parents at the Olympic compound there too), the kinda-wacky frontier folk on the Western Slope, Boulder's ever-growing species of eternal hippie, and the cow-dung scented air that hangs over Greeley and Fort Collins.

You likely remember last year's incident at the U. of Northern Colorado in Greeley, where the backup punter stabbed the starter in order to get his spot on the first team. Now, the fine student-athletes at Colorado State in Ft. Collins are getting kinda crazy, as basketball player Xavier Kilby is accused of firing a weapon at a teammate's head:

Police received a report about 2:54 a.m. Sunday of a weapon being discharged at Kilby's apartment, [police spokeswoman Rita] Davis said.

Davis said Kilby pulled out a small revolver after he and Aguilar argued in the living room, pointed the gun at Aguilar's head and then pointed the gun at a couch and discharged the weapon. Davis said teammate Stephan Gilling was in the living room, and two other people were in the apartment at the time, Davis said.

The coach has said Kilby won't be "participating in team activities."

The stench of ag has clearly infiltrated the area's drinking water, and is solely affecting the local athletes. The state of Colorado's college athletics is such that the only notice it gets is when stuff like this actually happens -- it's not like CU, CSU, or anyone else gets notice for actually winning games (well, Air Force does, kind of, sometimes -- but since Jeff Bzdelik went to CU, they can feel free to become irrelevant again as far as the NCAA goes.)

NBA Playoff Impressions: Holding Serve.

2007-04-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

Rockets 98, Jazz 90 - Tracy McGrady wants to make damn sure he gets to the second round of the playoffs this year, I think. 31 points in game 2 will give you that thought. Carlos Boozer had an absolutely monstrous game in a losing effort with 41 points, which I was not aware that he was even capable of getting near in a game. Houston shot like crap from the floor, but the interesting tidbit is that their free throw shooting saved them -- Gargamel apparently does not let a player leave practice until they hit ten free throws in a row. I like this practice, and believe it should spread around both the pros and college. The Jazz are now up against the wall, though -- they can get a game back in Salt Lake City, but if they can't win when the Rockets shoot badly, it won't help them.

Pistons 98, Magic 90 - The Pistons are methodical, efficient and nasty. When you have all five starters in double figures, and Antonio McDyess throwing in his usual few off the bench, it means your stars have to perform at their top to beat them, and Dwight Howard was not on top of his. Hedo Turkoglu and Grant Hill were the only Magic players in double figures until Darko Milicic joined them with 10 in the fourth quarter. It looks like they're giving up already, or forgot to show up.

Also worth noting: The Suns' Leandro Barbosa got his Sixth Man award after ripping the Lakers hard yesterday.

Bonus photo below, just because it was funny and/or kinda sexy. If you feel like it, caption contest away.

Stealing Signals: Swisher Sweets.

2007-04-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

A's 6, O's 5 - Nick Swisher had one on in the fourth inning against Erik Bedard, and he had one off, adding a solo shot later to his two-run homer, and that solo shot turned out to be absolutely necessary. Closer Huston Street still has the occasional Lidge every once in a while, and he almost coughed up that lead in the 9th.

Rays 10, Yanks 8 - A-Rod tried his damnedest, really he did, but you can only do so much in the face of shitty starting pitching. Jacks #13 and #14 came tonight, tying the record set by Mt. Pujols last year for HRs in April. But it wasn't nearly enough, as Kei Igawa had another craptacular start, and B.J. Upton knocked in four runs (one a solo homer) to push TB for the win.

Phillies 11, Astros 4 - Philadelphia's bats are picking up. Jimmy Rollins was a double short of the cycle, Chase Utley hit a Ryan Howard-style homer, and Shane Victorino, Wes Helms, and Pat Burrell (!) each had three hits. All players on both teams wore #42, as the prior attempt at a Jack Robinson tribute had been delayed.

Mets 6, Rockies 1 - Really, really not fair to a bottom-dweller in the NL West to go to Shea for its first road trip outside the division. Carlos Delgado hits a jack, Moises Alou goes 3 for 3, and Jose Valentin chips in a three-run homer and 4 RBIs overall. John Maine continues to shine brightly, throwing 7 and 2/3 and giving up seven hits. Matt Holliday's three hit game was the only Rox positive.

Marlins 8, Braves 7 - Special delivery for Mr. Willis, Mr. Dontrelle Willis! With his pregnant wife in the hospital, Dontrelle becomes the first NL pitcher to win four games (while giving up 5 runs). He did help his own cause with a couple of hits while throwing 6 2/3. Miguel Olivo and Dan Uggla go deep to give the D-Train run support.

Brewers 5, Cubs 4 (12 innings) - Prince Fielder goes out twice, including one in the 12th to top the extra-inning comeback against Chicago. The Cubs are 3-8 at home right now.

Stealing Signals: Four Of A Kind.

2007-04-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

(Meta note: I took most of the weekend off to get out and enjoy the mini-vacation. Regular posting will be back to normal come Tuesday, or so.)

Red Sox 7, Yankees 6 - Four jacks, that is, in the bottom of the third at Fenway, hit by Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell (who hit another jack later) and Jason Varitek. A shaky start by Daisuke Matsuzaka was saved by Lowell's second homer, and Jonathan Papelbon shuts it down to close it out.

Tigers 6, White Sox 5 - Marcus Thames saves the Tigers by tying it up with a two-run homer late, then Placido Polanco wins it with a single to left in the 12th inning.

Cardinals 12, Cubs 9 - The Cubs cannot catch a break, and the problem is that they ran up against Mt. Pujols, who continues to show signs of life as the season goes forward, bashing a three-run homer for the Cards in the 10th inning that STILL hasn't landed yet. The homer bailed out closer Jason Isringhausen, who couldn't hold a two run lead in the bottom of the 9th.

Phillies 9, Reds 3 - Notable only because Ryan Howard appears to be breaking out of the slump he's been in (of course, on a day I leave him on the bench!!!), but the Phillies took the time to beat up on Reds pitching while holding the Reds to six runs for the whole series (although the Reds did take the first game 2-1).

Giants 2, D-Backs 1 - Bonds hits #740, and at this rate, the quandary for Selig and Hank Aaron will be arriving in early June. Lost in the Bonds shuffle would be Matt Cain, who mowed down Arizona hitters for a complete game three-hitter.

Angels 6, Mariners 1 - Ervin Santana had an "on" day this time, giving up one run over seven innings as the Halos sweep the M's. Jeff Weaver is now 0-3, and actually lowered his ERA from the 15 range down to high 13 with this outing. Wonder how much he misses the National League right now...

Braves 9, Mets 6 - The Mets starting pitching may not be as much of a problem as we think. Reliever Aaron Heilman is the one who coughed up the second home run to Kelly Johnson in the eighth inning, and the three-run jobs are the ones that kill. Ask Scott Schoenweiss, who also gave up a three-run jack to Edgar Renteria an inning earlier to allow the Braves back in. At this rate, the Mets are living OK without Pedro. It's getting to Billy Wagner that they should be concerned about.

NBA Playoff Impressions.

2007-04-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

Warriors over Mavericks - Golden State is still perfect against the Mavs this season, and while Dallas was in no way coasting during the game, there's still something lacking from the "A" game on their end. Mark Cuban getting hysterical near the end of the game was priceless.

Cavs up 1-0 on the Wizards - Cleveland should have had that locked up by halftime. No excuse for that.

Nuggets take one down by the Alamo - We've been here before, and I'm witholding judgment not only due to 2005, where the Nugs took one game and then lost four straight, but especially because the possibility of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili all having off games again is not likely.

Suns steal one from the Lakers - 10 points in the 4th quarter by L.A. is an absolute joke. Even more of one was what the Lakers' defense looked like after Leandro Barbosa was through with it.

The Image Speaks For Itself.

2007-04-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

(Thanks, Dan Shanoff. AA, the Fanhouse, and the Ladies have done some nice redesigns for the day. Any newer content for Friday will be below this.)

One And Done.

2007-04-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

No, not Greg Oden, but we'll get to him later. The hatchet came down for one coach that missed the NBA playoffs, and it was faster than the guillotine slicing through Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Eric Musselman is no longer employed by the Sacramento Kings, only one season in after the Maloofs chased Rick Adelman (the long-suffering Adelman, I'll note; despite the fact I don't like the Kings much, Adelman is a good coach) out of town, and after Musselman was arrested for DUI, the team went down the tubes, leaning mostly on Mike Bibby, and even more so after Ron-Ron was distracted by matters pertaining to his erm...home life.

There are bright spots like Kevin Martin on that team, but they'll have to ditch probbly both Bibby and Artest in order to start from the beginning. Whether the Maloofs have the capability not to ignore their basketball guy Geoff Petrie is something to look into, though.

What To Make Of Todd Sauerbrun?

2007-04-20T00:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah. Punter signs with old team after current team botches matching rights paperwork, blah, blah, boring. Bear with me for a minute, though. It's really not so much about Todd Sauerbrun so much as the way he flies under the radar in terms of scrutiny over his prior suspension for use of ephedra, banned by the NFL after Korey Stringer's death.

As far as the errata in the contract, it's kind of surprising to see the Patriots botch one by something so simple as not putting the match offer clause on a separate page. However, the extent to which it was actually necessary to shell out to keep him wouldn't be that much. Punters and kickers don't grow on trees, but they have long shelf lives -- finding a replacement isn't as hard as you'd think as far as punting goes. Field goal kicking -- well, that's another matter. Bill Parcells' career is littered with examples of bad FG kicking -- both in favor of and against the team he's coaching.

If you'll remember, Sauerbrun was part of the investigation of several Carolina Panther players accused of juicing -- while he never was caught or charged on that one, he was suspended for four games last season over that ephedra incident, and it wound up costing him his job in Denver, as he was cut and replaced by Paul Ernster for kickoffs and punts.

Sauerbrun was able to fly under the radar on the fallout, what little actually turned out to be there, because of his position and the perceived nature of it (kickers unathletic, can show up pudgy, etc. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan is even guilty of this, claiming the punter is the one player on the team who can show up fat and he won't care.) Now, the attitude towards roids in football isn't as fucked up as the one baseball has with itself and the recent era, and that's because football these days is not a sport that rides its history very hard, and when you are top dog in the U.S. sporting landscape, you don't have to lean on your past.

If Sauerbrun had been a skill player on the offense or defense, someone would have two shits about his ephedra use. Ask around now and everyone will likely say "Todd who?" We believe most of the offensive and defensive lines are loading up -- they don't make men that big in nature, or so we think; skill positions are the main ones that concern us, the exception being Shawne Merriman, whose sheer dominance made him a star. Kicking deeper downfield and higher in the air for field position isn't high on the concern of abilities that can be improved, neither are attempts ot emergency weight loss.

Sauerbrun's pressures are no different, though, expressing concern about his weight all the time, and saying he had been fined by the Panthers for eating. No matter how good you are at your job, that may lead you to take some measures you would usually be more careful about. He's lucky no one really gives a crap about the punter unless it's fourth down and they're trying to back the opponents into the corner.

Ricky And The Rams?

2007-04-20T00:17:00.000-07:00

It sounds like Rams coach Scott Linehan is highly interested in Ricky Williams if the running back is reinstated by the NFL after his suspension for violating the NFL's drug policy (although he probably shouldn't have said so publicly.)

But by all rights, he ought to be. Williams is a capable backup, and that's what St. Louis needs in a league largely going to two-back systems to cut down on wear and tear. While having ~~Stephen~~ Steven Jackson as your starter cuts off any need for alternating series, carries, etc., it's always good to have an insurance policy. We don't really know where and or if Ricky fits in with Cam Cameron's new regime down in South Florida. Linehan knows Williams, having served as the Dolphins' O-coordinator under Nick Saban prior to leaving for St. Louis.

It completely depends on what Miami management would want in exchange for him, however, because he's still under contract with the Dolphins. To more practical matters, let's note that Ricky is 30 -- not completely gone, but this is the age where running backs usually lose a bit more in the tank. Still, perfect capability for a backup RB, and the Rams could probably land him for a late first-day draft choice. Anything higher than third round pick wouldn't be worth the trouble, though.

Also, expect a nice letter from Big Rog about the whole spiel, Coach Linehan -- that would be called "tampering."

Stealing Signals: Dayum, Dude.

2007-04-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

Yankees 8, Indians 6 - You just can't shrug it off with a yawn any more and let it be, not when Alex Rodriguez keeps hitting every ball he sees out of the damn park. But we'll see if this keeps up, because the whole world will buzz (or at least the East Coast) with the first Yanks-Red Sox series of the season getting underway Friday night.

Dodgers 8, Rockies 1 - Mark Hendrickson fills in ably for the disabled Jason Schmidt, handling the Rockies' lineup in 5+ before turning it over to the pen.

Cubs 3, Braves 0 - Every North Side baseball fan is in love with Rich Hill right now after he shuts down the Braves to go 3-0 with an 0.41 ERA.

Mets 11, Marlins 3 - El Duque strikes out 10, Carlos Beltran goes 4-6 with a homer, David Wright extends that hit streak to 26 games, and even Ramon Castro gets in on the action while filling in for Paul Lo Duca with a homer and three RBIs.

Cheap Shots #14.

2007-04-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Because today was a travel day, and 3.5 hours in a car make me too tired to think. On a mini-vacation in L.A. prior to next week, when sweeps period begins, and no one gets to take a day off during sweeps. There will be posting, but because I'm kind of disoriented using a Mac, it'll take some getting used to again.

1) Taking on the anti-intellectualism behind the critique of Keith Olbermann's hiring for Sunday Night Football. [Pacifist Viking]
2) Lionel Messi is a bad ass, and now, we have online video evidence. [With Leather]
3) I would have gone with Steely Dan for a lyrical come-on to a 19-year old myself, but romancing Sidney Crosby with Winger works. [Girls Gone Sports]
4) Reminding us of the NFL draft's hit and miss nature, defensive edition. [Stiles Points]
5) As much of a dick as Joey Crawford was a few days ago, Doug Eddings takes the cake. [The Hater Nation]
6) Speaking of Crawford, here's some more context to place his Duncan ejection in. [The Starting Five]
7) Teams that call Madison Square Garden home have trouble staying away from sexual harassment claims, apparently. [WBRS Sports Blog]
8) The Bulls just screwed themselves by losing last night, because their first round opponent gets every foul call known to man. [Foul Balls]
9) Wait a minute. How the hell are you coach and owner of an NHL franchise and someone makes a trade you say no to? Shenanigans on you, Great One! [Chip Shots]
10) (Clicking "yes" to accept friend requests from "SirCharles", "KennyTheJet" and "MillerTime31.") [Sports Media Watch]
11) Someone in semi-professional media finally takes a whack at Whitlock. [AOL Sports]
12) You stay classy, Bob Costas. Seriously. [Awful Announcing]
13) Kevin Garnett, a man among (Timber)wolves. [And Here Come The Pretzels!]

The NFL Will Tell You What To Wear And When To Wear It.

2007-04-19T01:31:00.000-07:00

We all know the NFL's a stickler about sponsorships, what logos you can see on your person in uniform, how your uniform ought to be worn, etc. Bengals WR Chad Johnson gets the most attention and the most fines for rocking the orange chin strap, the odd shoe colors, and the custom nameplates, etc. Coaches Jack Del Rio and Mike Nolan had to accept Reebok as their tailor and designer before the NFL would permit them to go all Tom Landry on the sidelines.

Now, Bears LB Brian Urlacher has hit the fine board for a cool $100 Gs, and it's apparently all over a goddamned drink and a cap:

Urlacher was fined for drinking vitaminwater and wearing a vitaminwater hat during the media session in Miami leading to the title game. Gatorade is the NFL's official drink.

That's pretty damn harsh, and it's a first-of-its-kind fine in terms of it happening in the Super Bowl. Former Bear QB Jim McMahon got slapped with something similar back in the day. Reggie Bush got nailed for $10,000 when the league was able to see that he was rockin' his Adidas (Reebok logos only, people!)

The cap I kind of understand. But Urlacher couldn't even drink whatever he wanted to drink, he had to clear it with the league first? (Plus, the fact that it cost 100K because it was during Super Bowl week is mind-boggling.) Next thing you know someone will get fined for eating a Quarter Pounder at a press conference. (The last result I came up with for official fast food sponsor revealed that Burger King was the official fast food restaurant.)

Problem is, guys get fined a lot less than $100K for more problematic stuff. T.O. spitting on DeAngelo Hall got him $35K, and Tyler Brayton and Jerramy Stevens got $25K and $15K a piece for in-game scuffling (Brayton's extra 10 gr. was for a knee in the crotch; most people will tell you Stevens deserved it, especially Seahawks fans.)

Clearly, Roger Goodell is just as interested as protecting the millions in sponsorship rights that funnel in as he is the league's image, if not more.

(Update: Flubby at KSK has obtained a copy of Goodell's letter regarding the fine to Urlacher, with some examples of acceptable headgear.)

Stealing Signals: Serves Me Right For Talking Ish.

2007-04-19T00:18:00.000-07:00

White Sox 6, Rangers 0 - Figures. I slag on Mark Buehrle in yesterday's edition and he goes out and throws a no-no, giving up only a walk to Sammy Sosa in the fifth, and then picked him off.

Mets 9, Marlins 2 - John Maine was trying to join Buerhle, but Miguel Cabrera broke up that no hit bid in the seventh, and Joe Burchard hit a two-run homer. Mets fans are still waiting for the franchise's first no-no, but with the pitching issues going into the season, we'll take seven innings of two-run and two-hit ball from Maine.

A's 3, Angels 0 - No Vlad + no Kendrick = no bats for the Angels. Seven scoreless for Dan Haren.

Giants 6, Cardinals 5 (12 innings) - Barry adds #738 to the total, and Rich Aurilia knocks in the game-winning hit after three innings of quality relief from Giants rookie Jonathan Sanchez, which means there is at least one highlight for the SF bullpen.

Yankees 9, Indians 2 - A-Rod homers again. Yawn. 12 games out of 13 with an extra base hit, nine home runs leading the majors, .365 batting average. None of it came against the Red Sox, though. So there.

Nationals 5, Phillies 4 - After Charlie Manuel challenged a sportswriter to a fight last night, it's clear the Phillies couldn't buy a break if they were sold down at the corner store for a buck. Losing to the hapless Nats on a sacrifice fly in the 13th inning marks the beginning of the Manuel Hot Seat watch. I'm betting on "fired by July."

Twins 5, Mariners 3 - Notable solely for the held breath of every Mariner fan as ace Felix Hernandez leaves early, hurt after only retiring one batter and giving up two runs.