Categories
NHL General

The NHL and Amazon Unbox get it


It’s not often that we give the NHL’s promotion and marketing department props around here. After all, they are a league stuck on a network we can’t seem to find. But Eric over at Offwingopinion mentioned he downloaded four classic NHL games via Amazon Unbox today. Brilliantly, you can download it directly to your tivo.

This has me very excited. Not because I want to download a game where the Red Wings complete a sweep of the Flyers to win the Stanley Cup. (I think that’s the game, Amazon does a poor job of episode descriptions — it just says Air Date: 6/8/1997. I assume that the clincher is the classic game. Or maybe not.) In any case, I am excited because eventually the NFL will get their heads out of their asses and let us download classic NFL games too.

Imagine instead of getting grainy 3rd generation VHS copy of your favorite games, you could actually download a fairly decent version for $3. I’d do it in a heartbeat. I can guarantee that the moment they offer it up, I will buy three Eagles games from the past: 1980 NFC Game vs the Cowboys, the 2004 NFCCG vs the Falcons, and the 1995 Eagles vs Lions playoff game.

The NFL hates the idea that people might figure out a way copy and distribute the videos freely. But if you make it cheap enough, say, $2.99, there’s no need for most fans to spend hours finding the stuff online. I’d rather pay $3 for a game than have to worry about whether I’m going to get a virus from some shady site. Plus, most potential customers of classic games have jobs (except perhaps Raiders fans) and won’t think twice about spending $3. Maybe now that Roger Goodell has everyone scared to death of the new personal conduct policy, he can find some time to assign someone to figure this out.

Links:

[Amazon Unbox]: Classic NHL games

Categories
MLB General

Luke Scott doesn’t like your wiener near his face


Here’s another one for the “This is why Philly fans get a bad rap” file. During last night’s game, the fans were harassing Luke Scott all night but play finally had to be stopped in the eighth inning when someone threw a hot dog that almost hit him.


The umpire’s like, ‘What’s happening?’ I said, ‘They’re throwing coins and hot dogs in my direction. If they want to throw stuff whatever. But if it’s a couple inches from my head, that’s not right. They did say that they were taking someone (out of the stadium).

Now why would someone waste a perfectly good hot dog at the ballpark. (It certainly looked good on TV, even though it was lying broken on the ground.) Oh right, it was dollar dog night. Good thing it wasn’t dollar car battery night. By the way, when this incident is spoken of years later, it’ll turn into a story about how a gang of Phillies fans sodomized Luke Scott with a polish kielbasa.

[Houston Chronicle]: Philly fans get unruly with Astros OF Scott

Categories
Dallas Cowboys

Tony Romo is doing just fine, thankyouverymuch


Allow us to get all US Weekly up in here for a few minutes. We’re not really sure how this is important but nevertheless, here’s a photo of Tony Romo and Carrie Underwood at his birthday party. And she is looking very very good while hanging all over him. We don’t understand how such a hottie can be seen with such a doofus, known mostly for fumbling and bumbling away a playoff victory. It must be that awww shucks, I do a great impression of Brett Favre charm.

The other purpose of of this post is to point you to a very entertaining blog called Girls Gone Sports. We aren’t really sure what it is about the site that’s so appealing… oh right, it’s the random shots (covered unfortunately) of their breasesesses in posts. Example 1. Example 2. Now, we hope we aren’t completely swindled and the blog is actually written by a couple of gay dudes (lots of talk about shopping and hot dudes)… but whatever… breasts!

By the way, as everyone else has pointed out, the watermarking by the radio show who took the photos is super lame. Why bother posting photos if you’re gonna ruin em like that? (Hat tip: Sports By Brooks)

Categories
NFL General

Now you can own something that Bill Cowher considered to be junk

Sorry guys, but this is coming
with me.

Bill Cowher had been in Pittsburgh for a long time, and when in you stay in one place for that many years there’s a good chance that you’ll accumulate a butt load of crap. So, when The Chin left the Steelers organization for the hills of North Cackalacky, he decided to leave a few of his personal belongings behind and clear out some clutter. And as the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure; so here’s the perfect opportunity for Pittsburgh fans to go high class dumpster hopping in hopes of grabbing a spittle covered memoir.

Dargate Auction Galleries will now be in charge of auctioning off over 130 individual pieces from the Cowher home on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Some of the pieces up for grabs include a foosball table, pinball game, patio furniture, a desk and chair, some china, a pool table and several pieces of designer furniture.

And if you’re feeling a bit frisky you could even bid on the coach’s bed or a shag rug that would make Austin Powers cringe. But if it’s strictly Steelers stuff you desire, then you’ll be forced to take a long look at an ice bucket with the logo imprinted on it or a Pittsburgh Steelers desk clock.

Most people with bank accounts as big as Cowher’s would have simply paid the movers to pack up the left over junk and haul it to the vacation home in Maine or at least rent (or buy) a storage unit (or complex). But hey, it’s classier than taking out an ad in the local paper and throwing your ex’s stuff on the lawn for a garage sale millionaire style.

Links:

[KDKA.com]: Items from Bill Cowher’s Home on Auction Block

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Losing the Arms Race


1. All Bats, No Arms: The Yankees have a problem. Their lineup is great — probably the best in the majors — and Alex Rodriguez is already breaking records this season. But, due to injuries and bad trades, they have awful pitching. After allowing four homeruns in a row in a Sunday loss to the Red Sox, the Yanks were torched by the Devil Rays on Monday night. Kei Igawa allowed 7 earned runs and could make it out of the 5th inning. His ERA in four starts is 7.84. Rocco Baldelli, BJ Upton, and other youngsters took advantage as the D-Rays continued their offensive success with a 10-run performance.

Even in a winning effort, the Devil Rays could not stop Alex Rodriguez. He hit two homers, giving him 14 on the year. That ties Albert Pujols’ record for homers in the month of April (set last year), and A-Rod still has six games left in the month. He also now has 34 RBIs, one short of the record. But still, despite scoring 8 runs, the Yankees lost their fourth in a row and are now just a half game ahead of Tampa for last place in the division.

2. Fluke or no Fluke?: Could the Brewers actually be a good team? At 12-7, they lead the NL Central division easily and have won 4 out of their last 5 games. Milwaukee beat the Cubs on Monday in 12 innings. They were down 4-0 but rallied back to tie the game in the eighth. Then Prince Fielder had a solo homerun to win the game, his second of the day. Shortstop JJ Hardy homered, giving him 6 on the year which ranks second in the league. I’m still not sold on this team, but their upcoming series against the Astros and Cardinals will help show if they are for real.

3. AL Central Delivers: The division race that seemed exciting even before the season started — the AL Central — has not disappointed. The top four teams (the Tigers, Twins, Indians, and White Sox) are all within a half-game of the division lead. On Monday the White Sox and Tigers beat the Royals and Angels, while the Indians beat the Twins. Minnesota has led the division most of the season, but they just lost a series to the Royals. Maybe when Johan Santana pitches tonight they’ll do better. Upcoming interdivision series include Tigers-White Sox and Tigers-Twins.

Co-Players of the Day: Alex Rodriguez, Yankees: 4-5, 2 HR (14), 3 RBIs in 8-10 loss to the Devil Rays. Jimmie Rollins, Phillies: 4-5, HR (7), 4 runs, 2 RBIs in an 11-4 win over Houston.

Stat of the Day: The Yankees starting pitchers have averaged 4.8 innings per start, the worst mark in the majors.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Utah gets floored by the Rockets

1. Clutch City is back on track
Carlos Boozer tied a career-high with 41 points to go along with 12 rebounds and six assists but it was his critical turnover with 20 seconds left in the game that will be remembered. Boozer dribbled the ball off his foot and helped Houston secure a 98-90 victory, giving them a 2-0 lead in the series. The Jazz started the season by jumping out to a 12-1 record but ended the year by dropping seven of their last 11 games, and if you throw in their playoff woes, they have lost nine of their last 13 contests. If that’s not bad enough, the Jazz have never won a playoff series after falling behind 0-2. Houston is riding a momentum tidal wave of monumental proportions behind the efforts of their droopy-eyed superstar Tracy McGrady (31 points, 10 rebounds, five assists). If the Rockets can hold on to their lead over the Jazz they’ll be on their way to the second round for the first time since 1997, not to mention it would be T-Mac’s first trip past the opening round in his ten year career. Just keep your mouth shut Tracy; Houstonians don’t want a repeat of your big mouthed fiasco during the 2003 playoffs.

2. The 151st best player in the league

Some observers of the game have been saying that Phoenix has the best starting five in the league, but on Monday the Suns showed that they have a pretty good bench as well. In a landslide, Leandro Barbosa took home the Sixth Man Award (and a nice sized bonus check in the process) to join the likes of Mike Miller, Ben Gordon, Antawn Jamison and others. Barbosa finished with 578 points, including 101 first place votes, to blow away Manu Ginobili (269 points) and Jerry Stackhouse (210 points). This could be the first of many post season awards for Phoenix considering that Mike D’Antoni, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion are all candidates for various awards. The “Brazilian Blur” averaged 18.1 points off the bench to compliment the Suns’ starters; all that’s left for Barbosa to do now is work his way into the starting lineup. And come up with a more creative nickname.

3. The Magic’s disappearing act
The series score is 2-0, but it might as well be 4-0 after Detroit put another hurting on Orlando and held Dwight Howard to just eight points on three-of-nine shooting. Howard has as much potential as any young superstar in the league but his playoff immaturity is definitely shinning through as he has only scored 21 points in the first two games. As it is every night, the rebounding was there on Monday against the Pistons but the Magic won’t even sniff a post season victory until Howard can learn that he must carry the load offensively, as well as defensively. But Howard can’t be held completely accountable for the Magic’s current situation; after all, there aren’t a lot of teams that can compete with the Pistons’ efficiency. Detroit was led by Richard Hamilton’s 22 points but it was a complete effort from the starting five that earned the team a 98-90 victory. In fact, only 10 points came off the bench during the game.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Carlos Boozer @ Houston 42 min, 41 pts (FG: 17-30, FT: 7-9), 12 reb, 6 ast

Buzzer Beater: Since Orlando has been visiting Detroit over the past couple of games, it’s needless to say that Darko Milicic has been taking some crap from the fans of his old club. But he’s not letting it get him down; well, at least that’s what he says. “I don’t really care,” said Milicic. “Back home fans used to throw the baseball (bats) and stuff at me – everything. They tried to kill me back home. That’s why I don’t really give a (expletive) about it.” We can see why a little taunting wouldn’t phase you, considering your countrymen attempted to murder you. But we wanna know why the Pistons’ fans are harping on Darko so much in the first place? After all, it was Joe Dumars who blew the pick; all Milicic did was get drafted. Last time we checked it wasn’t Milicic who passed on Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

Categories
New York Giants

Odds and Ends: Jean Strahan has a garage sale

As if a $15M divorce settlement and $18k a month in child support wasn’t enough, Jean Strahan, ex-wife of Michael Strahan decided to sell off a few of the items from their her $3.6M mansion in Montclair, NJ. She sold cocktail dresses, handmade rugs, antiques, and a couple of TVs among other things. A diehard Giants fan said he got two televisions for $100.

She advertised the garage sale in a local paper and tons of people were lining up to take a look at the stuff. Since she doesn’t exactly need the money, this was just a way of her throwing it in Michael Strahan’s face. The police were called multiple times to chase away reporters.

By the way, there’s no truth to the rumor that among the items being sold was a cancelled check written to Brett Favre with “Sack record” in the memo.

In other news…

[ESPN]: Mets fans will do anything to give their team an advantage

[NY Post]: Paul Lo Duca wins his first horserace as an owner.

[Steroid Nation]: Victor Conte picks up right where he left off

[San Jose Mercury News]: Stanford swimming coach suspended two months for… removing records of some of his swimmers from the media guide.

[USA Today]: NFL Network gets a leg up on the Draft telecast wars by putting a camera on Joe Thomas’ fishing boat.

[Mondesi’s House]: Any question whether NHL players are the toughest athletes? Sidney Crosby has played the last 4 weeks with a broken foot

[basketbawful]: The Bulls have no chance against the Heat (and here’s why)

And finally, Our Book of Scrap takes a look at the welcome wagon that will be waiting for the International Olympic Committee as they evaluate Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Categories
MLB General

Big Papi has a message for you Yankees fans


Have you ever been sitting around the house just wondering about what would be the best way to inform your friends and family about the partnership between MLB and XM Satellite Radio? Yea, we didn’t think so, but we figured that you might want to know about the duo’s latest promotion.

XM Radio has now created a service that allows you to create unique and personalized messages from David Ortiz, Derek Jeter, or Cal Ripken Jr. that can be sent to your friends. Personalized phone calls from celebs seem to be all the rage in sports marketing but we think it’s more fun to use these tools to annoy your friends. What Red Sox fan wouldn’t love to have Big Papi tell some Yankee loser to listen to him on XM Radio?

So don’t delay, start piecing together your insulting messages today. XM and MLB thank you for your support.

Fun with Derek Jeter and A-Rod:

Links:

[XM MLB promotion]: Call Stars

Categories
Chicago Bears

The hat that launched a $100,000 fine now on ebay


Last week, there was a lot of press about Brian Urlacher getting fined $100,000 by the league for promoting a company at the Super Bowl media day that wasn’t an official sponsor of the NFL. Urlacher was sporting a Vitamin Water hat during his interviews and the NFL honchos (as they should) had to crack down and fine him.

In addition to the NFL’s standard policy of donating fines to the United Way, the disciplinary measure will have another positive effect. Urlacher gave the hat to B96, a radio station in Chicago, and they gave it to a pregnant woman whose husband is currently in Afghanistan. She was originally going to send it to him over there but they decided to put he hat up on ebay to pay off some debts.

The current bid is at $9,500. That’ll pay a few bills.

[AOL Fanhouse]: Brian Urlacher’s Vitamin Water Hat on eBay

[ebay]: Authentic Brian Urlacher Vitaminwater Hat He Wore!

Categories
All Other Sports

Cro Cop goes to sleep after getting blasted by Gonzaga

The UFC brought Mirko Cro Cop over from Pride for one reason, and that was to be a top contender for the heavyweight title. Well, the hopes of having the newcomer match-up with current champ Randy Couture took a serious step back on Saturday night when Gabriel Gonzaga delivered a wicked right kick to that head that shockingly sent the UFC’s latest investment to the mat for a nice long siesta. In addition to shocking the world, Gonzaga grabbed a title shot against Couture in the process. Now we’ll see if Gonzaga can pull two rabbits out of his hat or if he had just the one trick up his sleeve.

What’s even more impressive about Gonzaga’s KO was that he used Cro Cop’s favorite weapon against him. If you thought Gonzaga had a nice high-kick, check out Cro Cop’s fierce feet of fury. His hands aren’t too bad either. Another video of Cro Cop after the jump.

Continue reading “Cro Cop goes to sleep after getting blasted by Gonzaga”