Categories
Tennessee Titans

Madden curse to work its black magic on Vince Young



fine fine photoshop work

As if Pacman Jones’ situation isn’t bad enough for the Tennessee Titans, now they gotta deal with the eventual season ending, career altering injury to their franchise QB. Yep, Vince Young is expected to grace the cover of Madden 2008 and undoubtedly become the next NFL superstar to fall victim to the curse of fat boy John Madden. But Vince ain’t afraid of no curse; he’s already been announced as one of Chunky Soup’s “Mama’s Boys” for this season which would have players trembling in the past.

Sure, it’s a honor to be named as a Madden cover worthy player, especially just one year into his career, but after Eddie George, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Shaun Alexander and Ray Lewis all suffered through some type of turmoil after the game was released, Tennessee fans have got to be praying that EA Sports will reconsider and screw someone else like Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning or league MVP LaDanian Tomlinson.

After all, Vince already has the odds stacked against him with Pacman getting the boot, an outta shape running back, no receivers to speak of and a front office that is tens of millions of dollars under the cap but has yet to spend a dime during the off-season. Still, if anyone can break this jinx, you have to think that VY’s the man to do it.

Links:

[NashvilleCityPaper.com]: Young to grace cover of Madden `08

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Go ahead and ask Barry (Zito)


1. 18 million dollar man: Barry Zito, who is making $18 million a year as part of his new contract with the Giants. In his first two starts he looked like a terrible investment, but on Monday he showed he could still be an ace. Zito shut down the Rockies lineup at Coors Field with a 6-inning, 3-hit, no-run performance. He got his first win of the season as the Giants dominated 8-0. San Francisco’s offense helped out too with two homeruns and a 4-5 performance from Omar Visquel. The Giants are still last in the NL West at 4-7.

2. Who wants the West?: The NL West division is up for grabs this week as its top two teams play: the LA Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. On Monday the Dodgers took a half-game lead in the division as they won 5-1. Brad Penny improved to 3-0 in seven solid innings. His ERA is 0.89 in three starts, and he’s pitching even better than last year, when he started the All Star game. Nomar Garciaparra led the offense with his first homerun of the year and two RBIs. Unfortunately this series is only a two-gamer, with the finale Tuesday that will decide who leads the division, at least for a day.

3. Beckett is Back: Josh Beckett was shaky last year, his first in the American League. But so far this season, he has regained his 2003 form, when he led the Marlins to a World Series. Beckett improved to 3-0 as his Red Sox topped the Angels 7-2 on Monday. He pitched 6 innings and allowed only one run, which kept his ERA at 1.50 in three starts. Also, the Red Sox’s David Ortiz has broken out of a start-of-the-season slump with three multi-hit games in a row, including two straight with a homerun. Manny Ramirez hasn’t hit a homer yet this season, though he did have two RBIs yesterday. The Sox lead their division by a half-game over the Blue Jays at 7-4.

Player of the Day: Pudge Rodriguez, Tigers: 2-5, grand slam, 6 RBIs in a 12-5 win over the Royals.

Walk Off: Two strong starts by a pitcher could be an anomaly. But three in a row to start the season could mean a breakout performance. There are four pitchers who struggled last year that will make the All Star game this year, at least based on what we’ve seen so far. Tim Hudson, Jake Peavy, Penny, and Beckett all seem to have shrugged off the difficulties that gave them 4.00+ ERAs last year. They are all great fantasy players who I would trade for if I needed pitching. Other pitchers who have surprised so far are Nate Robertson, Rich Hill, Ian Snell, and Chuck James. I think all of these pitchers will keep their ERA below 4.00, win at least 12-to-14 games, and be considered aces going into next year.

Categories
Boston Red Sox

Pizza hurling Sox fan had extra aggression on his pie

Everyone has gone to the ballpark with the hopes of catching a prized souvenir to proudly show off to your friends for the rest of your days. Brookline Sole had similar intentions when he took in Monday’s game between the Red Sox and Angels at Fenway, but what he didn’t expect was that his dreams would end with a slice of pie to his face.

As J.D. Drew’s foul pop-up sailed into the stands, Sole saw his moment to shine but ended up in a minor collision with Angels’ outfielder Garret Anderson as the ball of his dreams bounced away. If that’s not bad enough, Sole had pissed off another fan, Matt Madore, a few rows back and he decided that this would be the perfect time to exact his revenge on Sole by hurling a large slice of cheese pizza at him. Madore’s buddy, Danny Kelly gave some insight into the hilarious incident that got his friend ejected from the game. Turns out Sole had been poking fun at the fellas for bringing a large pizza to the game.

They had been giving us (expletive) about it,” Madore said. “Next thing I know, there’s a fly ball to left field and it goes foul and my buddy says, `You want some pizza now?’ And he hits him right in the face. Hey, the guy wasn’t paying attention. When you’re in the stands you’ve got to be ready for anything – a foul ball, a flying slice of pizza, everything.

The announcers’ reactions during the recap of the fiasco are absolutely priceless, and luckily for us they keep it up for a good two minutes.

Links:

[BostonHerald.com]: Pepperoni with that? Flying pizza at Fens

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Houston, we have lift off

1. Rockets booster
There were lots of questions about Tracy McGrady’s health during the season and there were even more questions about Yao Ming’s health after he broke his leg, but now all the questions have been answered and the results are not good for the rest of the West. The Suns certainly took notice after Houston pulled out an impressive 120-117 victory behind 39 points from McGrady and 34 from Yao. As if 39 points isn’t enough, McGrady chipped in 11 rebounds and nine assists as well. With the win, Houston gained home-court advantage in their first round series against Utah despite being the fifth seed in the playoffs, and considering that Houston is currently the hottest team in the West, the slumping Jazz are suddenly looking like the underdogs in this much anticipated series.

2. Reappearing act

When Caron Butler first got diagnosed with a broken hand two weeks ago, the outlook was bleak. But now things are starting to look a little more promising for the All-Star forward who says that he is still hopeful he will make a full recovery before the playoffs are over. The only question that remains is if the Wizards will still be playing when he does. Butler was originally supposed to be out of action for six weeks but on Monday he took part in practice with the team. This is great news for the Wizards as they need all the help they can get since Gilbert Arenas had to cut his season short with an injury. Butler’s return probably won’t be enough to get Washington past Toronto or Chicago but it definitely gives them a better chance than having Jarvis Hayes in the starting five.

3. One spot left; who wants it?
With only one day left in the regular season, oddly enough there is still one playoff spot up for grabs and it is for the very undesirable final seed in the West which yields a first round match-up against the Mavericks. The only teams that are in left in contention for the post season are the Warriors and the Clippers. Neither team has an easy opponent but luckily for them their games involve teams that have nothing to play for. The Clips are in the worst position possible as they need to not only defeat the Suns, but they also need the Warriors to lose to Dallas. On the other hand, Golden State has their destiny in their own hands as they simply need to win and they’re in.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Tracy McGrady vs. Phoenix 41 min, 39 pts (FG: 14-31, 3FG: 3-7, FT: 8-11), 11 reb, 9 ast, 2 stl

Tuesday’s Game to Watch: Toronto (47-33) @ Detroit (51-29) The Raptors will get an excellent opportunity to get a feel for the post season waters as they travel to Detroit for an early battle against the Eastern Conference’s best team. Both teams will probably take it kind of easy during the game in order to avoid any unnecessary injuries before the playoffs but it could still prove to be a great game of chess between the two coaches. This could be a preview of a second round series between these two in a couple of weeks but Chris Bosh and TJ Ford will have to survive a series in the unfamiliar post season before they can start hoping of knocking off the former champs.

Buzzer Beater: One day after the Spurs’ Tim Duncan got teched up, thrown out and supposedly called out, Gregg Popovich decided that he wasn’t going to take any chances with his stars’ futures before the post season. So, last night as the Spurs took on the Grizzlies, Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili all enjoyed the entire game from the comfort of the bench. Well, enjoyed might not be the most accurate term considering that Memphis grabbed a 10 point victory, 101-91. But what can realistically be expected when 55 points per game plus a bunch of rebounds, assists, steals and blocks are riding the pine? Hopefully James “Flight” White enjoyed what will most likely be his only chance to ever lead the Spurs in scoring after he tied Michael Finley with 17 points on Monday.

Categories
NFL General

Odds and Ends: You know who Chunky Soup should sign? Jesus


Chunky Soup has announced their latest lineup of “Mama’s Boys” and fans are hoping that their players aren’t affected by the Chunky Soup Curse. The eight man roster of LaDainian Tomlinson, Matt Hasselbeck, Vince Young, Larry Johnson, Jonathan Vilma, DeMarcus Ware, Devin Hester and Todd Heap is the largest that Chunky has ever had.

In a completely unrelated bit of info, we’ve previously stated that Jesus shouldn’t have any part in sports, especially in the Masters, but apparently some people don’t agree. And apparently he plays for the Dallas Cowboys.

In other news…

[Our Book of Scrap]: Speaking of curses, some Chargers fans are so concerned about the Madden Curse that they’ve started a petition against having LaDanian on the cover.

[10,000 Takes]: Cedric Griffin kicked out of a nightclub for not pulling up his pants. Hey, at least it wasn’t for pulling down his pants.

[Yahoo]: Oh sure, Agassi, go to the ‘I accidentally hit my wife with a racket during a fundraiser’ excuse. Jason Kidd sure does wish he’d thought of that one.

And finally, we’ve seen elephants playing soccer and puppies getting flagged for pooping in the Puppy Bowl but this might take the cake. Check out this video of a bunch of crazy Japanese drivers in some sort of weird demolition derby/soccer game.

Categories
Buffalo Sabres

Top 10 Most Gruesome sports injuries: #1 Clint Malarchuk

[Sportscolumn is running down the ten most gruesome sports injuries. Here’s #1]

There’s no doubt that hockey is a brutal sport where anything can happen and blood on the ice is often more common than goals in the net. But there was nothing common about a March 22, 1989 game between the Blues and the Sabres. Buffalo goalie Clint Malarchuk was involved in the most nightmarish accident in the history of hockey as the Blues’ Steve Tuttle collided with Malarchuk at the goal and his skate accidentally severed the interior carotid artery of the goalie. Instantly, there was a massive pool of blood collecting on the ice beneath him and with every pump of his heart more blood would spurt from his gash.

I thought I was dying then, I really did. I thought I didn’t have long to live.” Malarchuk said. “All I wanted to do was get off the ice. My mother was watching the game on TV, and I didn’t want her to see me die.

And she very easily could have seen just that, but the doctors at Buffalo General Hospital didn’t let that happen as they repaired his severed jugular vein and he was amazingly released the next afternoon.

I didn’t go into any real shock. I think maybe if I had any shock, it was this morning,” Malarchuk told the press after being released. “I’m not going off on a stretcher, I never will. The day I go off on a stretcher, they’re going to have to make funeral arrangements. I’m proud of that fact that I got off the ice on my own power.

Now, that’s one tough S.O.B. Dwyane Wade could learn a lot from Mr. Malarchuk.

And here’s the actual play call as it happened live with color commentator Mike Robitaille and longtime voice of the Sabres Ted Darling behind the mics.

Back to #2

Categories
Miami Dolphins

Daunte Culpepper’s Madden cover curse will not take no for an answer


Most Madden cover lasts a year or so. Daunte Culpepper’s strain (2002 cover) is the first to make a reappearance after a few years off. For someone that arguably was the league MVP in 2004 if not for Peyton Manning, Culpepper’s career has just absolutely deteriorated in the past couple of years.

It wasn’t bad enough that he lost his starting job to Joey Harrington last year, this year he just might lose his job entirely — to Trent Green of all people. Rumors are swirling that the Dolphins will try to trade Culpepper but in all likelihood will release him to save $5.5M in base salary and cap money.

The Dolphins surely regret taking a chance on his surgically repaired knee last year (over Drew Brees and costing a 2nd round draft pick) and won’t take the chance that he’s not healthy going into training camp.

Don’t feel too bad for Daunte though, there’s always someone willing to take a chance on a veteran QB and we suspect that someone might be Al Davis.

Links:
[Miami Herald]: Another QB scramble for Dolphins

Categories
College Football

Pete Carroll is ripped but USC Song Girls in bikinis steal the show


We’ve never heard of BeatSC.com before but they’ve just put themselves on the map with some fine fine investigative photojournalism. The guy from BeatSC (UCLA fan) went over to the charity swim off between Pete Carroll and Will Ferrell to raise money for USC’s Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund.

Firt off, for an old guy, Pete Carroll is pretty damn ripped but that’s not why you clicked on this story.

From BeatSC (who needs to run a spellcheck):


It was amost like they had a bunch of supermodels that they used as ringers. The girls in the bikinis were head and shoulders above the SAME girls in sc song girl outfits, and we’re not talking about shampoo. Maybe it was the stylish designs of Pom Pom’s niece, but whatever it was, it was hard to hate trojans… at least until AFTER the Charity and Modeling Event was over.

Our favorite pics and video of the race between Will Ferrell and Pete Caroll after the jump. Go to BeatSC.com for more photos. They’ll be posting them all week.

Continue reading “Pete Carroll is ripped but USC Song Girls in bikinis steal the show”

Categories
New York Rangers

Joakim Noah finally has some competition on the dance floor

Remember when Joakim Noah started having a seizure on the court after Florida won the SEC championship game? Well, apparently he’s not the only athlete who has absolutely zero rhythm and zero shame when it comes to their celebrations, or in this case preparations. Just check out Ryan Hollweg before the first game between the Rangers and Thrashers.

What’s most compelling about his routine is that he managed to seamlessly transition between a cartwheel, the robot and the sprinkler. We would like to see Clyde Drexler or Heather Mills pull that off.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Dodgers doing it right


1. Honoring Jackie: 60 years to the day after Jackie Robinson first took the field for the Dodgers, the entire team wore his number 42 and many Hall of Famers were present at Dodger Stadium to honor him. After a pregame ceremony celebrating Robinson and his achievements, the Dodgers honored him on-field with an impressive win over the Padres. Three Dodgers had three hits as San Diego starter Chris Young lasted only two innings. Randy Wolf was the winning pitcher with a quality start that improved his record to 2-1. The Dodgers’ 9-3 victory broke a tie with the Padres for second in the NL West. Arizona still leads the division.

It’s a good thing the Dodgers moved to the west coast as more than 1/3 of the games were canceled due to heavy rains on the eastern seaboard.

2. Only one hit was needed: The White Sox must have been puzzled after allowing only one hit against the Indians but still losing 2-1. Sox starter Jose Contreras allowed two unearned runs in 5 one-hit innings to take a loss. The Indians took advantage of two errors in the win, and got some incredible pitching of their own. CC Sabathia, who was one of numerous non-Dodgers wearing #42, pitched 8 innings, allowed one run, and struck out ten. He’s 3-0 on the year with a 2.14 ERA. The Indians are now first in the division at 6-3.

3. Breaking out the Bats: Albert Pujols may be struggling this year, but at least he’s good on Sundays. The 2005 MVP hit his first homerun of the season on Sunday, April 8, which was his only homer until Sunday, April 15. Pujols led the Cardinals with 2 homers, 5 RBIs, and 2 runs as they crushed the Brewers 10-2. Chris Duncan and Preston Wilson helped out with four hits and three runs, respectively. Braden Looper pitched well to earn his second win of the year for the Cardinals, who are now tied with the Brewers for second in the division. Pujols is still hitting just .183 on the year, though.

Player of the Day: Kyle Lohse, Reds: 8 innings, no runs, 12 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over the Cubs.

Stat of the Day: Chris Young’s loss to the Dodgers ended his streak of 25 road starts without a loss. Young had been 9-0 with 16 no-decisions during the streak.

Walk Off: The Yankee aren’t in good position right now. Three of their best starters (Ming-Wang, Mussina, Pavano) are injured right now, leaving Andy Pettitte as their only starter with experience. However, Mariano Rivera blew a save to waste Pettitte’s excellent start on Sunday. Pettitte has a 1.50 ERA in four appearances but only one win. Without the pitching to carry their dynamic offense, I think this is the year the Red Sox will takeover the division from the Yanks.