Category: General Sports

We’ve done enough Favre bashing over here at SC so we’ll let The Hater Nation do it for us today.

The football world was stunned when Barry Sanders walked away from the all-time rushing record; one good season away from being the all-time leader. It’s also astonishing that Brett Favre would consider an early retirement while he is within a whisker of obtaining a record that would be the hallmark of his career–the all-time interception mark.

In other news…

[Random site]: Jenna Jameson plays whack a mole for Adidas. (video)

[ESPN]: Chuck Klosterman, one of the very very few columnists on ESPN that are readable, weighs in on Barry Bonds surpassing Babe Ruth.

[Fox Sports]: Batman is invited to throw out out the first pitch in Pittsburgh and takes the opportunity to rip management.

[Buzz Patrol]: $1000 Mint Juleps will be served at the Kentucky Derby to raise money for charity. Drink will be served with a hooker in a gold cup and silver straw.

[Houston Chronicle]: Yao Ming out for rest of season with broken foot. Other Houston players out for rest of season with no skills.

Julius Hodges was shot on the freeway after leaving a nightclub early Saturday morning. According to the police, Hodges and a friend were driving on I-76 when someone just pulled up and started shooting. After being hit, Hodges’ friend flagged down a car and they were taken to the hospital. Both claim that they did not get into an verbal or physical confrontations at the club.

In other news…

[The Sweet Science]: Sugar Ray Robinson gets a stamp

[Max Boxing]: I Went to a Fight and the Source Awards Broke Out

[YAY Sports]: Phil Jackson has a firm grasp on the obvious

[Metroblogging Philadelphia]: Dunphy to Replace Chaney as Temple Coach

[True Hoop]: Ben Wallace refuses to go back into a game

I will cut you, hussy!

There was a confrontation this weekend at Texas Speedway, but probably not the kind that Dateline was looking for. After Kurt Busch ran into Greg Biffle and knocked him out of the race, Biffle’s girlfriend Nicole Lunders climed up into Busch’s pit stall to yell at Busch’s fiance, Eva Bryan. Klassy.

Busch had this to say about Nicole:

That just shows her professionalism.

On a slightly related note, Busch also said about why he thought Eva Bryan was marriage material: “She shops well, is good with the credit card and looks good sitting on the pit box.” That’s a Hallmark card right there.

Links:
[Drink This]: Tammy Wynette would sing praises to this…
[Flickr]: Nicole Lunders photos
[Flickr]: Eva Bryan

We were wondering how Giants fans would react in Barry’s first home game. It seems that most of them either think he didn’t use steroids or don’t care. Bonds got a standing ovation as he stepped into the batters box for the first time at AT&T Park. One person even held up a sign that said “Keep Barry – Trade the media*”

In other news…

[NY Daily News]: Knicks bring up 6-5 shooting guard Ime Udoka from the NBDL. “He’s one Knick who hasn’t quit yet on Larry Brown.”

[Star-Telegram]: One more reason to skip Benchwarmers: Sean Salisbury is in it.

[MSNBC]: Honest Jagr turns down record-breaking 53rd goal. “I didn’t touch it and it wasn’t my goal.”

[6-4-2]: Gagne to have second elbow surgery. Fantasy owners are kicking themselves right now.

NASCAR fans in their natural environment

Yesterday, we discussed NBC Dateline’s attempt to stage the news by recruiting some muslims to attend a NASCAR event with hidden cameras and seeing what kind of reaction they get from the crowd. Of course, NBC is hoping for something newsworthy like a race riot so they can up their ratings.

It turns out that one “sting” has already happened and the NBC crew was on site in Martinsville Virginia. However, it must not have gone to their liking as they are scheduled to be filming at the Texas Motor Speedway on 4/9. Texas Motor Speedway is a much larger track that the Martinsville Speedway so Dateline is increasing their odds of a confrontation happening.

We assume that at least some NASCAR fans can read and that they have heard about this sting. If NASCAR fans know that NBC/Dateline is baiting them, will there be any incidents? NASCAR communications exec is headed to Texas this weekend and had this to say about NBC:

This is outrageous for a news organization with the reputation of NBC to stoop to the
level of attempting to create news instead of reporting it. Any legitimate journalist should be ashamed.

Look, we joke a lot about NASCAR fans being a bunch of rednecks but could you imagine the outrage if Dateline did this with any minority group? We can’t wait for this episode of Dateline to air. It’s going to be a great view into how you can stage the news if you have enough resources. You know, much like how ESPN molds sports news to their liking.

By the way, this story has us surfing way too many political blogs. We prefer to play only in the sports world and get our news from the Daily Show.

Links:
[Michelle Malkin]: ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO STAGE
[Michelle Malkin]: NASCAR SMACKS DOWN NBC

Our favorite fat man with the record for most illegitimate kids in the NBA is attempting a comeback. He’s working out for the Dallas Mavericks today who need a backup to Dirk Nowitzki. Kemp is reportedly down to 270 lbs from his high of 320lbs so he must be serious. It’s hard for a fat guy to give up Krispy Kreme — just ask Charles Barkley.

In other news…

[Detroit Bad Boys]: There’s a Ben Wallace blow up doll. Scary.

[Philly.com]: Donovan McNabb and Jeremiah trotter have to pay handicap-spot violation fines.

[Twincities.com]: Doc Gooden chooses prison over rehab.

[BillyStyle.com]: Stephen A. Smith is literally an idiot. (But you already knew that.)

Finally, we have this screen grab from Yay Sports which explains how the Pacers could lose so many games this season.

At least this is the conclusion I get from this story. We never ever cover NASCAR on Sportscolumn, mostly because we think it sucks and mostly because we don’t like sports where half the participants think a wife beater is “business casual” — but we get to stereotype redneck NASCAR fans because we’re just a small site and, well… they are rednecks. NBC on the other hand, might want to rethink this.

An email went out from a person associated somehow with an NBC Dateline producer that was soliciting Muslims to attend a NASCAR event.

They are looking for men who actually “look Muslim”. They want a guy with no foreign accent whatsoever, a good thick beard, an outgoing personality, and someone willing to wear a kufi/skullcap during the filming.

I’m urgently looking for someone who can be filmed this April 1st weekend at a Nascar event (and other smaller events) in Virginia. NBC is willing to fly in someone and cover their weekend expenses.

…
A few weeks later, NBC will fly all the filmed participants to New York City to interview them as a group about their experience and thoughts on discrimination they’ve faced in America.

NASCAR officials can’t be happy about this, especially in light of their efforts to make NASCAR minority friendly. This sting operation seems kind of wrong somehow. Like sending some girl scouts to R. Kelly’s house.

And no, this wasn’t an April Fools joke. Filming has actually been pushed back to this Saturday, 4/8. Maybe they couldn’t find enough people brave enough to go to a NASCAR event.

Thanks to Off Wing Opinion for the pointer.

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This week’s topics include:

• Disappointing Final Four
• Brett Favre
• Barry Bonds (the syringe, the billboard)
• Duke lacrosse scandal
• Celebrity birthdays
• Broke, Dead, or In Jail
• Women We Love nominees

If you’d like to be a guest on the podcast (which is recorded Tuesday nights) drop me a line at [email protected].

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We are saddened today because we had to remove a woman we love. This is the first time that it’s happened in the history of Sportscolumn. Our celebrity loves usually last but Katie Holmes has gone ahead and ruined it by being tied to Tom Cruise.

Never fear, we have plenty of women in the wings. This week’s nominees are:

Ali Larter aka whipped cream bikini girl from Varsity Blues

Amy Smart

Carmen Electra

Nikki Reed

Tori Wilson (Editor’s Note: This is Trevor’s nomination and I want nothing to do with it.)

Vote Now

How is it possible that Halle Berry isn’t already on the list? Not only is she smokin’ hot, she also is an academy award winner.

On top of that, she’s got a good sense of humor. Last year, she was given the Razzie for worst actress and worst movie for Catwoman. She actually showed up to accept the award.

She thanked everyone involved in “Catwoman,” a film she said took her from the top of her profession to the bottom.

“I want to thank Warner Brothers for casting me in this piece of shit,” she said as she dragged her agent on stage and warned him “next time read the script first.

We’ve loved Halle Berry since Boomerang. It’s a great injustice that it took this long to add her to the list.

[Hallewood]: The Official Web Site for Halle Berry