Categories
Miami Dolphins

Oh, Ricky, Ricky, Ricky; will you ever learn?


Ricky Williams was on the verge of making his way back into the NFL but you can go ahead and put an end to that nonsense right now if the latest reports about Ricky are correct. Apparently the former Heismann winner tested positive for the herb back in April. And we’re not talking about excessive amounts of oregano in his system.

Williams was eligible to get reinstated this month but he basically took his shot at returning to league and threw it away for a hit from the bong. Again!

Falling off the wagon is part of rehab,” a source said. “Based on the medical evidence in Ricky’s case, the doctors say it’s too early to come back. He had the positive test last month. Remember, he’s been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder — that’s a real disease and a good percentage of those folks self-medicate with substances like marijuana, often at the moment they are about to have a high level of social interaction.

Listen, we understand that he has a social anxiety disorder and it’s probably tough to cope in the spotlight but this has just gotten to be borderline retardation at this point. No amount of kind bud is worth throwing your NFL career away over or, in Ricky’s current situation, his life away. This guy simply has no willpower to along with the maturity of a sixth grader. Williams needs to take some self help classes to learn to cope with his anxiety without resorting to drugs. That way when he’s feeling intimidated by a situation he can face his fears and resist his urges to lose himself in a purple haze. Either that or he can just start hiding from the world by wearing his helmet during interviews like he did in New Orleans.

Links:

[6ABC.com]: Source: Dolphins’ Williams tests positive for pot

Categories
Pittsburgh Steelers

Richard Seigler gets his pimp walk on


One day after being cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers, linebacker Richard Seigler was arrested in Pittsburgh on Thursday for allegedly running a prostitution ring in Las Vegas. Turns out that the coppers first found out that Seigler was big pimpin’ back in December and they have been keeping an eye on him ever since. Apparently, Seigler had at least two ladies of the night working for him and he was making anywhere from $200 to $1,000 per trick date. Now, instead of the big bucks, it looks like Seigler’s side job could end up getting him up to 10 years in the big house.

Talk about a bad week. You know that things are going to hell in a hand basket when getting fired from your job as a professional athlete in the most popular sport in the country isn’t the worst thing to happen to you in the last 48 hours.

Links:

[ThePittsburghChannel.com]: Ex-Steeler Arrested For Alleged Prostitution Ring
[PittsburghLive.com]: Ex-Steelers LB Seigler arrested on Vegas warrant

Categories
MLB General

Didn’t these guys learn anything from "A League of Their Own?"

Apparently the good people over at Maxim do more than just compile sexy spreads of some of the hottest babes under the sun. In fact, according to our sources, their magazines actually have words in them. Who knew? As a result, we did a little hunting of our own and found one of these mysterious “articles” we had been told of, and it turned out to be quite entertaining. So, without further ado, we give to you “Baseball’s Biggest Wuss Bags.”

#10-Mike Piazza, Oakland A’s

#9-Chuck Finley, California Angels

#8-Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants

#7-Vince Coleman, New York Mets

#6-Jose Canseco, The Surreal Life

#5-This guy

#4-John Kruk, Philadelphia Phillies/Baseball Tonight

#3-Mark Prior, Chicago Cubs

#2-Bobby Crosby, Oakland A’s

#1-Carl Pavano, New York Yankees

It’s a pretty accurate list considering that it came from a picture book. Ya know, Playboy might want to consider this concept of using stories in their mag as well.

Links:

[MaximOnline.com]: Baseball’s Biggest Wuss Bags

Categories
All Other Sports

Football player says he was cut for his religious beliefs


Troy Vermillion, a wide receiver, was cut from the Colorado Ice on April 2. According to the team, it was for performance; according to him, it was because he didn’t like naked chicks. Vermillion is a devout Christian and he recently objected to pornographic magazines on the team bus and the recent showing of Wedding Crashers (Unrated!) on a road trip.

Vermillion says he complained about the choice of movie (the other members of the team probably didn’t want to watch The Ten Commandments) and was told to put on headphones and watch another movie on his portable DVD player. When that movie ended, he asked to leave the team bus and ride with his wife (who was following the bus) instead. The head coach told him he had to stay on the bus because he was a member of the team.

Vermillion said that his playing time was cut that game and for subsequent games until he was released:


It’s all because I stood up. If I would have taken that movie to an office and made everyone sit and watch it, I would be fired. So why is it OK for a football team to do it? I didn’t want to bend my faith.

He’s actually got a good point there. Vermillion claims he won’t the sue team but he’s got a pretty good hostile workplace environment case if he wants to pursue it.

Links:
[Denver Post]: WR disputes release by Ice

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Detroit looks like the team to beat in the East



Must resist saying how good it feels
to be in the East finals.

1. The Pistons are pumping
For a half during Game 3 of the Pistons/Bulls series it looked like Chicago might snatch a game and make this series interesting again. Unfortunately for Chi-Town, it was the first half. The Bulls Baby Bulls came out of the locker room after halftime completely flat and got outscored 53-30 in the final 24 minutes before the mercy ended with the Pistons grabbing a 81-74 victory and a 3-0 lead in the series. Chicago defiantly showed some life despite their horrible second half shooting as they hit the boards, and they hit the boards hard. Four starters finished with double digits in rebounds as Chicago outboarded the Pistons 60-43. But Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince were just too much for Chicago to handle and now it’s starting to look like the Bulls will be lucky to avoid getting swept out of the same postseason in which they just swept out the defending NBA champs. Damn, we didn’t know that karma performed turnarounds this quick.

2. The West is best

On Thursday the league released the names of the All-NBA teams and the Western Conference showed why they have a majority of the best teams in the league; they have all the best players. In fact, out of the 15 players to make one of the three teams, only six were from the East. The first team consisted of only players from out west as Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant got the nods as the best of the best. The East did, however, dominate the second team with LeBron James, Gilbert Arenas and Chris Bosh joining the Houston duo of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Rounding out the teams were third stringers Dwyane Wade, Chauncey Billups, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett and Carmelo Anthony. Hmmm, somebody’s missing from this list. Ah, yes, Shaq! Nope, it’s no typo; the Diesel didn’t make the cut for the first time since his rookie year in 1993.

3. Boston is getting all their ducks in a row
Life is good for Celtics coach Doc Rivers. On Thursday, Boston gave Rivers a contract extension but didn’t bother to disclose the length of the contract or the amount of Benjamins involved. How rude! It’s unbelievable that Rivers managed to avoid the guillotine’s chop for the entire season after enduring the worst losing streak in franchise history (18 consecutive losses!) en route to a pathetic 24-58 record. Guess Danny Ainge doesn’t consider finishing the season 16 games out of the playoffs and claiming the dishonor as the worst team in the Eastern Conference to be rock bottom. Ainge obviously has a lot of faith in his current squad and feels that with a healthy roster and a little luck in the draft, the Celtics could become a contender in the near future. But by the look of things, Ainge certainly appears to be getting everything ready to welcome a young, fresh face of the future. Does he know something we don’t know? Perhaps David Stern has another scheme up his sleeve to revive a dying franchise.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Tayshaun Prince @ Chicago 43 min, 23 pts (FG: 9-16, 3FG: 1-2, FT: 4-5), 11 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk

Buzzer Beater: As if the Spurs/Suns series wasn’t already a great battle, Amare Stoudemire decided to add a little bad blood to equation by calling San Antonio a “dirty team” and accusing Bruce Bowen of intentionally attempting to injure him. To say that Amare was upset would be an understatement because according to him he was “very, very, very upset” about the incident. The latest accusation in the long line of questionable tactics from Bowen happened during the third quarter of Game 2 when Stoudemire was going up for a dunk under the hoop. “When I saw the replay and reviewed it three or four times, there was no doubt about it,”” Stoudemire said. “It was a purpose kick to the Achilles’ and he definitely tried to injure me.” And when you look at the play, it’s hard to argue with the guy. Here’s the footage, you be the judge.

Categories
NHL General

Friday Morning NHL Roundup


Senators 5, Sabres 2
I’d like to think this series right here might “save hockey,” in the sense of giving it a broader cultural relevance again. If Game 1 is any indication, I’m sorely mistaken. Here’s the problem: Buffalo had a lead, then squandered it (I’m not sure what else the city of Buffalo does, athletically), and the Senators ultimately won by three goals. This game, mind you, was in Buffalo, thus shifting home-ice advantage. The Sabres dropped a game at home to the Islanders in Round 1, but that’s The Islanders, and this is The Senators, and there’s a big difference aside from quality of generic nickname.

Since I didn’t write up my Eastern Conference Preview yesterday (sue me; I was at Spider Man 3), I’ll offer it up now, by way of a story from the way back. When the Red Wings and Avalanche were predominant, year-in-and-year-out rivals, they were playing in (I believe) the Western Conference Finals in the late 1990s or early 2000s. In one game, Claude Lemieux laid an absolutely disgusting hit into the boards on Kris Draper. Gary Thorne, calling the game, said (with limited emotion, which is odd for him calling hockey): “Far boards. Draper. (Pause) Draper’s hurt. (Pause) Oh, Draper’s hurt. He was leveled by Claude Lemieux.” It’s funny if you hear it, and also if you see it, because the ref just grabs Lemieux and shoves him towards the penalty box.

The relevance of that story is simple: every time I think about this series, I can hear Thorne in my head saying: “It wasn’t blood. It was paint.” No, no, that’s not it. I can hear him saying: “Far boards. Drury. Drury’s hurt.” Chris Drury, the lifeblood of the Sabres in many respects (notably being a guy consistently associated with winning, which they aren’t), is going to get absolutely leveled by someone in this series, and that’s gonna cause another brawl the size of the one they had in February. As Lindy Ruff screamed at Bryan Murray during a recent meeting between those teams, “Do that (expletive) to some hack. Don’t go after our (expletive) captain.”

Point is, this series will get personal. Once it does, I think the Sabres can show enough fire to get themselves back to a Cup – hell, they need this more than any sporting city needs anything right now, I’d argue – and contend with whoever I think is winning the West, which you’ll learn tomorrow. I’d say it takes ’em 7, and hopefully Game 7 is epic, and blood is all over the ice. Then we know hockey’s back.

[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

The Full Count: How to waste $8.3M a year


1. The Offseason’s Worst Signing: It always fasinates me that teams choose to sign a pitcher they know is bad instead of bringing one up from the minors and saving $10 million. For example, the Mariners paid Jeff Weaver $8.3 million a year this offseason even though they knew he couldn’t pitch in the AL. Didn’t they know how bad he was, considering he had a 6.29 ERA and 3-10 record last year when he player for division foe Los Angeles? Well, this year, Weaver has been the single worst pitcher in baseball easily. After another shelling Thursday against the Tigers, his ERA stands at 14.32, his WHIP is 2.59, and opponents are batting .459 against him. Add that to an 0-6 record, and you have the single worst signing this offseason by any team. In games that Weaver does not pitch, the Mariners are 15-9, a winning percentage that would be good enough for the division lead. Weaver gave up 6 runs in 5 innings against the Tigers, which actually lowered his ERA. Justin Verlander got the win for Detroit, who is 9-1 their last 10 and took over the division lead.

2. One year makes a difference: In 2006, Toronto finished ahead of Boston for second in the AL East. This year, they aren’t even in the same league as the Red Sox; Boston swept them in a three game series and leads them by more than 10 games. The Blue Jays have now lost 9 in a row, and have a worse record than the Devil Rays. Even their ace is struggling. Roy Halladay came off a 12-hit, 9-run start last week and allowed 7 runs to the Red Sox. Meanwhile, Tim Wakefield continues to be one of the more underrated players in baseball, as he improved to 4-3 with a 1.79 ERA. In his last two starts, Wakefield has allowed zero runs in 14 innings. Boston now has a seven-game lead over the Yankees, while the Blue Jays’ playoff hopes are pretty much already over.

3. If you think the Blue Jays are bad…: The Kansas City Royals might never be a good team again. They have failed to make the playoffs since their World Series title in 1985. KC has finished in last for three straight years, and it’s a guarantee that this year will be their fourth in a row. They were walloped 17-3 by the Oakland A’s, a usually light-hitting team. The A’s hit six homers, including two each by Dan Johnson and Jack Crust. The Royals had three different pitchers allow more than four runs as they fell to 11-24. The A’s are just one game back from the Angels for first place.

Player of the Day: Dan Johnson, A’s: 4-4, 4 runs, 4 RBIs, 2 HRs in a 17-3 win over Kansas City.

Stat of the Day: 47…That’s the number of homeruns the Reds have this season, the most in the majors. Would anyone have guessed that at this point in the season, the five most powerful teams would be Cincy, Milwaukee, Florida, Texas, and Tampa? The Reds are led by Adam Dunn with 11 homers, Josh Hamilton at 8, Alex Gonzalez at 7, and notably Ken Griffey Jr. with 6. Griffey has 569 career jacks and is tied for ninth on the all-time list.

Categories
Washington Wizards

Gilbert Arenas is all giddy over game cover

The All-NBA teams were announced today and after having an outstanding year, the Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas was named to the second team. That’s not too shabby for a guy who was selected 31st overall in the 2001 draft. We figured that nothing could be a bigger thrill for the Hibachi than to make the team, but then we came across this clip of Arenas after he was named to be the cover boy for NBA Live 08.

Talk about being as happy as a little girl! Was that Gilbert Arenas or one of those whacked out contestants on Deal or No Deal?

Categories
MLB General

Rickey Henderson is still humble after all these years


So, now that Roger Clemens has made his return to the big leagues, Rickey Henderson has been all over the place trying to get a gig of his own in the pros. But while he waits for some sucker to sign him, he’s enjoying his free days by getting reacquainted with America’s pastime and on Monday he took in a game between the Mets and Giants at AT&T Park.

Turned out Rickey was in the right place at the right time because he ended up snagging a foul ball while sitting in the stands. No big deal, right? After all, it’s not the first time that Henderson has made a nice catch. But apparently Henderson wanted to add the ball to his personal collection of memorabilia and he refused to give it up to some lil’ tike that was sitting by him. What a swell guy!

Everybody was asking me for the ball,” Henderson said Tuesday, according to the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. “I said, ‘You’re not getting this ball. I always wanted to get a foul ball. This one’s going on a shelf at home.’

But to prove that he wasn’t a complete jerk, Henderson did sign a ball that the kid already had. Seems to us that he could have just flipped the ball to the kid; c’mon, is he really going to move his AL MVP, Golden Glove or ALCS MVP awards down the shelf so that he can prominently display the foul ball he caught? Everyone knows just how selfish and conceded this guy is. Who else but Rickey says stuff like “Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing. But today, I’m the greatest of all time,” after breaking a record? Oh well, as Rickey would say, “That’s just Rickey being Rickey.”

Links:

[SignOnSanDiego.com]: Want a foul ball? Then catch it, kid

Categories
General Sports

Do you think about sports more than sex?



Two birds. One stone.

You know the urban myth than men think about sex every seven seconds? Well it’s not true. According to the Kinsey Institute, “54% of men think about sex every day or several times a day, 43% a few times per month or a few times per week, and 4% less than once a month.” Those figures seem ridiculous to us since we spend all day wondering which super hot female athlete will be posing in playboy or FHM next but those are the stats so who are we to argue. Anyway, if true, then sex has nothing on soccer.

According to a poll by a financial services company, English Premiereship fans think about soccer every 12 during a normal waking day. (God knows how often they dream about it at night.) Sheffield United fans are the most rabid as they think about The Blades every 9 minutes. Every 9 minutes? How do you get any work done during the day?

We love sports around here (we are sports bloggers after all) but thinking about anything every 9 minutes seems to be obsessive… although lately we have been wondering too often how the hell a pole vaulter could be so hot.

Links:
[The Offside]: Forget Sex. Fans Daydream about Football
[Bloomberg]: English Soccer Fans Ponder Sport Every 12 Minutes, Survey Says
[Snopes]: Daydream Deceiver