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Tennessee Titans

If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball!


Considering that Vince Young is the next Madden cover boy and all (check out the commercial, rooks), you’d think that the Titans would want to boost his game sells by giving him some big-time weapons to throw to. Well, let’s see; Tennessee hasn’t made any offseason moves for a wide receiver, they didn’t select a WR with their first pick in the draft and now we find out that the coaches are throwing bricks at the receivers they do have.

Fred Graves is the new wide receivers coach for the Titans and his sure fire technique for getting his players to keep their eye on the ball and follow it all the way into their body is to occasionally throw bricks at the guys. Now, if an ACME brick to the chest doesn’t get your attention then nothing will.

If I toss you a football and you drop it, no big deal unless I am yelling at you as a coach,” Graves said. “But if I toss you a brick, without you sidestepping it, you’re going to look at it with your hands and eyes. You won’t just throw your hands out there because of the consequences. Everybody knows, ‘Hey, this thing will hurt.’

This sounds like a drill that the Cowboys should start using. After all, Terrell Owens had so many balls pass through his hands last season that he looked like Paris Hilton in pads. And anyways, if he doesn’t reel `em in then he takes a brick to the head; what’s the big deal? Hopefully he’s not wearing a helmet at the time. That just might be the only way to knock some sense into that guy.

Links:

[WBIR.com]: Titans coach throws bricks to make point

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All Other Sports

"The boys took a beatin on that one"

First off, we apologize to everyone who lost their lunch watching this video last week. But that’s not going to stop us from posting another terrible injury. Don’t be afraid to watch it though, it’s more funny pain than horrific pain. And you must have the sound on full volume to fully appreciate the clip.

It’s not often you get to hear the moment when future generations are all destroyed. It was like a million tiny voices crying out in unison and then suddenly silenced. Ohhh messieure!

(Hat tip: Sports By Brooks)

Categories
NHL General

Monday Morning NHL Roundup


Ducks 4, Red Wings 3
Here’s a few interesting things about this tilt, which is now 1-1 after Scott Niedermayer scored in OT to put the Ducks over the hump. We like listing things numerically, so that’s what we’re about to do:

1. Scott Niedermayer is a really good name for a wallflower in high school. You know Biff, from Back to the Future? Can’t you just envision him screaming “NEE-DER-MY-ER!” in the same voice as he screamed “MC-FLY?” I can.

2. The fact that the Niedermayer brothers might have surpassed the Sedin twins in terms of “Western Conference relevance” is utterly surprising, although I guess the Ducks were a higher seed.

3. There are several moralistic questions involved with this series right now. For example, if you root for Anaheim to win – and they now have home ice, for whatever that’s worth – are you secretly supporting marital discord? See, there’s this long-standing rumor that Chris Pronger left Edmonton because he was cheating on his wife and needed to get out of dodge. If you support Detroit, are you a bandwagon guy? I mean, Detroit is en fuego recently: Pistons have lost a scant 1 game in these playoffs, the Tigers are the defending AL Champions, and even Kid Rock seems kinda relevant these days. Do you root for Teemu or Dominik to get their career-validating championship? Do you root for Holmstrom or MacDonald to get on the national radar first? So many questions. I might have to take a nap or something.

[Ted Bauer will be covering the NHL playoffs for us this year. You can find more of Ted’s work at A Price Above Bip Roberts.]

Categories
MLB General

MLB Cost Index for May 14 2007


The MLB Cost Index is one measure of how well your GM did over the course of the offseason and during the season. The Index takes a look at the payrolls for each team and calculates a Cost per Win number. Pretty simple stuff right? But in the wide open world of baseball with no salary cap, it’s the best way we can think of to judge teams on a level (monetary) playing field.

We haven’t even added in the cost of Roger Clemens’ contract to the Yankees payroll number and they are already twice as inefficient as the next team above them. With a cost of $2.55M a win, they are double the ineptitude of the Kansas City Royals who pay $1.32M per win. Being compared to (and losing to Kansas City) in anything is not good.

There wasn’t much change in the rankings this week with the exception of the Cubs. Last week, we said they were making a move towards respectability but losing four out of six last week has dropped them back down to the 24 spot.

The complete Major League Baseball Cost Index after the jump.

Continue reading “MLB Cost Index for May 14 2007”

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MLB General

The Full Count: Rally caps are working


1. Best team in the league?: Right now, the team with the best record in the majors is the Boston Red Sox, who are 25-11 after a huge comeback win over the Orioles on Sunday. The Sox were down 5-0 to Baltimore entering the ninth inning, but a combination of errors, walks, and timely hitting erased the deficit as Boston won 6-5. There were two crucial errors, the first on a dropped popup by catcher Ramon Hernandez, the second on a dropped throw at first by pitcher Chris Ray. The latter error allowed two runs to score and ended the game. The Orioles ruined a great start by Jeremy Guthrie, who went 8 and a third and did not give up an earned run. The Red Sox now have an 8-game division lead, the largest in the majors. They will face the Tigers, Braves and Yankees over the next week in a crucial series of games for them.

2. Another ninth-inning rally: The A’s found themselves down by 2 entering the ninth inning against the Indians. Like the Red Sox, they found the deficit to be no problem. They hit two homers in the ninth–the first a two-run shot by Milton Bradley that tied the game up. Then red-hot Jack Cust hit a three-run, game-ending homer. It was his 6th homer in only 7 games this season. Four of the five runs were charged to Joe Borowski, Cleveland’s struggling closer who now has a 9.00 ERA. However, prior to Sunday he hadn’t allowed a run since April 25, and Borowski’s 12 saves are among the best in the majors, so he likely won’t be relieved of his duties as of now. Both Cleveland and Oakland now are a game back in their respective divisions.

3. Mets shut down Milwaukee: The more experienced Mets took a series against the Brewers that matched two of the NL’s best teams. New York’s 2-1 series win was highlighted by a 9-1 win on Sunday. Oliver Perez pitched 8-plus innings with only one run and two hits allowed. The Mets stole four bases (including three by David Wright) and hit two homers in the rout. However, Atlanta still leads them by a half-game in the division, while the Brewers are up by 7 in the weak Central.

Co-Players of the Day: Torii Hunter, Twins: 3-5, 2 HR (8), 7 RBIs in a 16-4 rout of the Tigers.

Fred Lewis, Giants: 5-6, 4 RBIs, hit for the cycle in only his 16th career game.

Stat of the Day: Of the Twins’ 23 homers this season, 17 have come from either Torii Hunter or Justin Morneau. Only six different players on the team have gone deep all season.

Walk Off: The Brewers are easily the best team in the Central, and should run away with that division. However, I still don’t think they can beat some of the National League’s best teams. Right now they have only played 6 games against teams with a winning record, and they are 3-3 in those contests. Obviously that’s not enough evidence to judge a team on, but there will be after they play the Twins, Dodgers, Padres, and Braves in consecutive series in the coming weeks. If they emerge from those games with a winning record, then the Brewers will be legit contenders instead of a team that’s taking advantage of their weak division.

Categories
NBA General

Charles Barkley is really Spidey!?!?

We love what we do here at Sportscolumn but don’t be fooled; bloggin’ ain’t easy. So, needless to say, we don’t get out much. And even though we’re pimple-faced, comic book reading dorks at heart; we still haven’t made it out of apartment and into to the light to take in the latest Spider-Man flick. Luckily we have our good friends at Inside the NBA to tell us that we’re not missing much.

Wow, Charles, you weren’t kidding; that movie does look crappy. We didn’t know it was going to be set in an elementary school assembly hall. And since when did they start letting Tobey Maguire do his own stunts? But we were ecstatic to see that Peter Parker slipped the crew an interesting photo that solved the controversy surrounding the identity of everybody’s favorite web head once and for all. And now you know why Spider-Man and Sir Charles have never been seen together.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Now that was some smooth Jazz styling



Carlos Boozer is at the edge of his
first conference finals appearance.

1. The City is becoming a ghost town
After the Warriors eliminated the Mavericks from the playoffs, the Golden State faithful celebrated to a point that even Joakim Noah thought was a bit over the top. Well, after the Warriors lost Game 4 to fall down 3-1 against the Jazz, the largest crowd to ever see a basketball game in the state of California (20,679 to be exact) reacted as if they had just seen their precious Warriors for the last time this season. And they were right. Golden State is a completely different team at home than they are on the road and in Game 5 the supportive sea of yellow that cheers insistently for the Warriors’ excessively ridiculous 3-point attempts will now become a baby blue lagoon of venom and hate for any and all outsiders. Especially Jason Richardson after he delivered a hard, flagrant foul to Mehmet Okur in the late moments of the game that got him sent to the showers a bit early. But it didn’t really matter at that point; Utah already had the game well in hand and J-Rich was having a horrendous shooting game (3-12 FG) anyways. And after mesmerizing the nation with a dunk of John Starks over Michael Jordan or Kevin Johnson over Hakeem Olajuwon proportions, Baron Davis also struggled (6-16 FG) when it came time to draw the series even. Guess the motivation of having Jessica Alba in the crowd has to wear off at some point.

2. No mo’ “fo’ fo’ fo'”

Remember the Luol Deng that exploded onto the postseason scene during Chicago’s first round sweep of the defending champion Heat? Well, after virtually disappearing in the first two games of the Pistons/Bulls series, it seems safe to say that Deng is back on track and Chicago can finally remember how it feels to win because of it. After putting up 21 points and 14 rebounds in Game 3, Deng had another outstanding performance with a game-high 25 points to go along with a baker’s dozen off the glass. That’s 13 for all you non-pastry chefs out there. But Detroit still has a 3-1 advantage in the series and it is doubtful that starters Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Chris Webber and Richard Hamilton have a repeat of their pitiful shooting performance (13-of-45 FG) when Game 5 takes this rivalry back to the hardwood at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

3. Spurs/Suns saddle-up for Game 4
After Game 1, Steve Nash had a gash on his nose and Tony Parker had a bump on his noggin. After Game 2, Amare Stoudemire called Bruce Bowen “dirty” because he says that Bowen tried to purposely injure him. That’s about as physical as it can get, right? Wrong, because in Game 3 Manu Ginobili got a nice sized mouse under his left eye thanks to an inadvertent Shawn Marion poke and Nash took a knee right to the jewels when he tried to guard Bowen a bit too tight. But in the end it was San Antonio who grabbed a 108-101 victory in the game and a 2-1 advantage in the series. Phoenix is now facing, for all intensive purposes, a must-win situation for Monday’s Game 4 in SA because the Suns do not want to be looking at a scenario in which they must win three straight against a team as good as the Spurs. Put your mouthpieces in because this series is turning out to be the championship caliber slugfest that we never got to see between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Carlos Boozer @ Golden State 44 min, 34 pts (FG: 13-19, FT: 8-11), 12 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk

Buzzer Beater: The Cleveland Cavaliers had been quietly and effortlessly making their way through the playoffs until New Jersey finally knocked them off their high horse and handed the Cavs their first loss of the postseason. In a statistical abnormality, the Nets were led in scoring by not one, not two, but three players who finished the game with 23 points apiece. Oddly enough, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and Jason Kidd weren’t the only players to finish with 23 points as Larry Hughes racked up the night’s magic number as well. LeBron James finished the contest with just 18 points even though he’s got the number 23 on his jersey. Oh, well, it’s not like it would have mattered; the Cavs would have still lost by six points even if James had reached the 23 point plateau.

Categories
Sacramento Kings

Odds and Ends: Ron Artest makes perfect sense


Here’s Ron Artest on the brawl in Detroit, courtesy of The Big Lead:


The Detroit owner, he’s a trip. He said if [Ron] wouldn’t have been laying on the table, the guy wouldn’t have thrown the beer. That don’t make sense cause I lay on tables a lot. I lay on benches in my neighborhood and nobody throws cups of beer or rocks at me. That just doesn’t make sense. One guy in the front row was calling me and Jermaine O’Neal mother hoes and bitches the whole game, and you didn’t see us attack him.

Yep, that’s Ron Artest, laying around master. Words cannot describe.

In other news…

[Our Book of Scrap]: Talk about a fruitless exercise: NASCAR promotes literacy

[Hockey Rants]: Disney Presents: The Haka on Ice!

[The 700 Level]: Temple Sports Put on Single Public Probation (for what? sucking?)

[The Offside]: Ice Soccer? Really?

[Steroid Nation]: For chrissakes, she’s paralyzed! Let her smoke as much pot as she wants.

[Yahoo ]: Stupid old people and their stupid holes-in-one

And finally, the soccer world is buzzing with goal by Andres Vasquez, which some are saying is the greatest goal every scored. The video is below so you can decide for yourself.

Categories
MLB General

MLB Power Rankings Roundup for May 9 2007

Last week, there was unanimous agreement that the Red Sox were the #1 team in the land. Well, this week, TSN just blew that up by picking the Brewers as their #1 team. The Brewers certainly have been on a tear but it’s hard to argue that they are playing better ball than the Red Sox. Other notable movers include the Tigers and the Cubs. Meanwhile, the D’backs and Yankees are falling in most rankings.

Here are the major power rankings this week:

Rank Sportscolumn ESPN FoxSports Sportsline USA Today TSN.ca
1 Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Brewers
2 Mets Brewers Indians Indians Mets Red Sox
3 Braves Tigers Mets Brewers Braves Mets
4 Brewers Mets Brewers Tigers Brewers Dodgers
5 Indians Braves Tigers Braves Indians Tigers
6 Tigers Indians Braves Mets Dodgers Cubs
7 Dodgers Dodgers Dodgers Dodgers Tigers Giants
8 D’backs Cubs Angels Padres Padres Braves
9 Twins A’s Twins Angels Angels Indians
10 Angels Angels Padres Twins Yankees D’backs
11-30 more more more more more more

Categories
Dallas Mavericks

Dirk is the regular season MVP; key words "regular season"



An MVP has never felt so sad.

According to reports, Dirk Nowitzki will be named the NBA’s MVP sometime next week and despite his team going down in flames to the Warriors in the first round it was the right choice. After all, this is the regular season MVP, isn’t it?

Sure, Nowitzki choked like no MVP should ever gag in a must win Game 6 against eighth seeded Golden State by producing just eight points on 2-of-13 shooting, but that’s the postseason. And there is already an award designated for the best player in the playoffs, it’s called the Finals MVP. During the 82 games leading up to Dallas’ monumental collapse, Nowitzki was undoubtedly the top dog in the league. He averaged 24.6 points, 8.9 boards and 3.4 assists to go along with shooting percentages that were out of this world (FG-50%, 3FG-42%, FT-90%). And he did all this while leading his team to a league best 67-15 record.

Plenty of people out there will argue that Steve Nash should be considered for the award now that the Mavericks have been sent packing but it would be nothing less than a farce for Nash to get his third consecutive trophy based on Dallas’ loss. Anyways, Nash isn’t even the best player on his own team and the guy already has more MVPs (2) than some of the greatest players to ever step on the hardwood (Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, John Stockton and Patrick Ewing to name a few), which is a shame in itself.

But Nash isn’t to blame for his achievements, the media is. The voters almost always give this award to the best player on the best team that year, which is why we knew long ago that Kobe Bryant wouldn’t even sniff the MVP. This year, however, the formula happened to be correct with Nowitzki. There’s no real argument that he wasn’t the regular season MVP, but that’s not going to make the press conference any less awkward for Dirk, and the MVP isn’t going to clear his name as a postseason gag artist.

I understand the business by now. If you play well and you win, you’re the greatest,” said Nowitzki. “And if you lose, you’re the worst player in the league.

And now Nowitzki can join Moses Malone and Wes Unseld as the “worst players” to ever win the MVP and get bumped in the first round, but, hey, he can take comfort in the fact that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the award in 1976 and didn’t even make the playoffs. But at least none of those guys were humiliated at the hands a team that hadn’t made the playoffs for 13 years!

From being up 2-0 in the Finals, only to get swept in the next four; to having the best record in the league; to becoming the victims of the biggest upset in postseason history; to winning the MVP. Dirk Nowitzki is now the official poster boy of the term “bittersweet.”

Links:

[SlamOnline.com]: Dirk Nowitzki’s the MVP and You’re Not.
[ABC12.com]: Mavs’ Nowitzki will be named NBA MVP next week