Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Heeee’s Baaaack

1. Waiting on Wade no more
Dwyane Wade is back on the Miami Heat’s active roster and the playoff bound Eastern Conference teams have got to be sweating bullets. Flash took the court yesterday for the first time in a month and a half and scored 12 points in 27 minutes, but the Heat were unable to welcome their superstar back in proper fashion as they fell to the Bobcats by eight points, 111-103. Wade struggled from the field (3-9 FG) but still managed to dish out eight assists in the loss. But the Heat are still in good shape as they prepare for the post season. They are currently sitting in the fourth spot in the East and appear to have the Southeast Division wrapped up after Washington’s injury problems have basically taken them out of contention. However, the loss pretty much took away any chance Miami had to gain home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

2. Suns burn LA

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points and handed out seven assists but it wasn’t enough to knock of the Suns. In what could be a first round playoff preview, Phoenix beat the Lakers 115-107 in the star studded Staples Center in Los Angeles. Steve Nash continued his trek for a third consecutive MVP award as he led the Suns in scoring (25) and assists (11). Phoenix has now beaten LA in nine of the last 11 regular season contests between the two clubs and what’s worse for the Lakers is that the loss moves them into the seventh seed in the West, just three games ahead of the teams who are on the outside of the playoff picture. The Lakers must now win all of their five remaining games if they are going to prevent Phil Jackson from setting a new personal low for wins in a season.

3. Double triple-doubles
On Saturday, Vince Carter racked up big, fat triple-double with 46 points, 16 rebounds and ten assists. But he wasn’t the only Net to scoop up a triple dip. Mr. Triple-Double, Jason Kidd, amassed the 86 triple-double of his career and his 11th of the season as he went off for 10 points, 16 rebounds and 18 assists. The Nets superstars became the first teammates to accomplish the lofty feat since another well known duo pulled it off in 1989. That was when Michael Jordan (41 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) and Scottie Pippen (15 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists) blasted the Clippers for a pair of TD’s. Now Kidd and Carter just need to win six championships and they’ll really be like Mike and Pip.

Sunday’s Player of the Day: Tracy McGrady @ Sacramento 40 min, 40 pts (FG: 14-28, 3FG: 3-6, FT: 9-12), 8 reb, 10 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

Monday’s Game to Watch: Utah (48-28) @ Golden State (37-40) The Warriors are coming off a tough loss to the Spurs on Saturday but they have still won four of their last five games as they continue to keep their playoff hopes alive. But if Golden State wants to close the one game gap between them and the Clippers, Baron Davis is going to have to lead his team past a playoff quality team in the Jazz. Utah has already wrapped up their division crown but they are still in a must win situation because they are currently in a battle with Houston for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Even though the Jazz have locked up the fourth seed in the West, the Rockets can steal the right to hold the majority of the series in Clutch City if they finish the season with a better record.

Buzzer Beater: Normally a rally from 17 points down to grab a five point victory would be considered a pretty sweet comeback. But Philly fans have got to be cringing as they watched their Sixers fight all the way back to beat the Hawks by five, 109-104, in overtime. The win gets them one step closer to nowhere and one step away from the possibility of grabbing Kevin Durant or Greg Oden in the draft this summer. Thanks to a late hot streak in which the 76ers have won 13 of 20, Philadelphia now joins four other teams in a tie for the fifth fewest wins in the league. Can you say Joakim Noah?

Categories
LA Clippers

Top 10 Most Gruesome sports injuries: #6 Shaun Livingston

[Sportscolumn is running down the ten most gruesome sports injuries. Here’s #6]

Our No. 7 injury showed you just how painful a dislocated elbow can be. Now just imagine the same thing happening to your knee. Actually you don’t have to imagine, because Shaun Livingston took all the guess work out of the equation and provided photographic evidence of the pain. But if you want to experience the full effect of the injury, you’ll have to throw in some torn ligaments for good measure.

That’s exactly what happened to the Clippers’ Livingston when he picked up a loose ball and took it the length of the court for a routine lay-up. However, the landing was anything but routine as his leg twisted up like a pretzel beneath him, ending the point guard’s season. Livingston’s knee was ripped to shreds as he tore the anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and lateral meniscus. Wow, now that’s an injury!

Back to #7 | Forward to #5

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Slump Busters


1. One Man Show: When a stud like David Ortiz struggles the first week, you know he’s going to break out eventually. He did so yesterday as the Red Sox topped the Rangers 3-2 on Sunday Night Baseball. Ortiz hit his first two homeruns of the season, which drove in all three runs by the Sox. He got no help from his teammates in the win, as more than half their lineup went o-fer. At least Curt Schilling was able to return to his usual self after a poor first start. Schilling had one earned run in seven innings.

2. Return of the King: David Ortiz wasn’t the only star to break out of a slump yesterday. Albert Pujols had no RBIs, homeruns, or runs through five games and just one hit. But yesterday, he went 2-5 against the Astros with a homer and two RBIs. The rest of the Cardinals’ team performed too in a 10-1 rout. Scott Rolen drove in four runs, Yadier Molina had three hits and three RBIs, and starter Kip Wells allowed one hit in seven innings. The Astros are now 1-5, while the Cards aren’t much better at 2-4.

3. Losing to the Worst: The Yankees weren’t dealt the toughest opening schedule with the Devil Rays and Orioles. However, they have struggled with both teams in a 2-3 start. Yesterday, New York lost 6-4 to Baltimore despite A-Rod’s continued dominance. Rodriguez hit his fourth homerun of the season, but the O’s got round-trippers from Paul Bako and Kevin Millar. For Bako, it was his first homer since 2004. Erik Bedard rebounded from a poor first start to get the win for Baltimore.

Player of the Day: Johan Santana, Twins: 7 innings, 1 hit, no runs, 9 strikeouts in a win over the White Sox.

Stat of the Day: No Yankees starter has made it past the fifth inning this season.

Walk Off: Though the Mets were virtually handed the division in pre-season predictions, the Braves will prove once again to be a strong contender in the NL East. They just beat the Mets 2-1 in a series despite being outscored 16-7. That means the Braves’ pitching is back where it needs to be for them to be successful. Their relievers have been even better than expected, and Bob Wickman has three saves and a 0.00 ERA in the closer role.

Categories
NBA General

Barkley is offically a bonehead

We can’t get enough of the Round Mound here at SportsColumn, but our view isn’t shared by everybody. For instance, 620 KTAR out of Phoenix doesn’t seem to appreciate the Chuckster’s criticism of their home team, so they made this spoof for their station. Apparently they think Barkley needs to have “a nice, hot cup of shut the f*** up.” We don’t necessarily agree, but it’s funny as hell anyway.

Categories
Chicago Bears

Devin Hester will get a perfect 100 rating in Madden 08


From our friends over at WBRS sports comes this little tidbit for all you Madden heads. Devin Hester will get a perfect 100 rating in the speed category in Madden 08. No one has ever gotten this before. Not DeAngelo Hall, not Michael Bennett, not Champ Bailey, not even Deion.

That’s just about the best thing you could have told me,” Hester said with a huge smile, when informed of his new Speed rating. “It’s an honor — I don’t know what to say, really.

Considering all the time that NFL players spend playing Madden, we’re sure he’s completely sincere. (It certainly beats being Ethan Albright.) Hester is probably hoping though that he doesn’t make the cover of Madden 08 so he can avoid the curse. Our money says that Peyton Manning will be on the new cover of ’08.

By the way, we found this great website of custom Madden covers that you can download and print. What a great way to jinx your most hated team.

Links:
[WBRS Sports]: As Fast As Tecmo Bo?

Categories
Soccer

Riots and soccer go together like PB&J

Well, another day and another soccer riot. Man those Europeans love to fight. Last night’s brouhaha began around the 30th minute of a UEFA Cup quarterfinal game at Seville. Seven fans from the rival Tottenham team were hospitalized, mostly with cuts the head, and a police officer was also injured in the uproar.

The creative fans decided to use more than just their fists as they ripped up the stadium’s plastic seats and began hurling them at the coppers, who returned fire by swinging their night sticks at the rowdy bunch. As usual, these blood thirsty morons didn’t wait to get inside the stadium to start brawling because there are reports that about 50 Tottenham fans got their fight on with police outside the stadium before the match even got underway. Now that’s passion.

What’s worse than the actions of the fans is the reported response from one asshole cop who was seen striking a disabled fan, striking the man so hard with his baton that he was knocked from his wheelchair. Here’s a clip from the melee.

And yes, we agree; “that’s why you’re wankers!”

Of course, Italy is trying to take all the fun out soccer by passing an Anti-Soccer Violence Law.

Links:

[ITV.com]: Spurs: Police hit disabled fan
[Scotsman.com]: Spurs fans to face Seville court

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Why isn’t there more coverage of Dice-K?


1. Dice-K’s Debut: In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past day, you would have likely heard how Daisuke Matsuzaka dominated in his debut. On a slow day for baseball, his dominant performance of the hopeless Royals was easily the most important occurrence. Dice-K struck out seven different Royals for a total of 10 K’s, just giving up a solo homerun to David DeJesus in the Red Sox’s 4-1 win. Jonathan Papelbon appeared in his first game of the year and was perfect for the save. The Royals wasted a good pitching performance of their own by Zack Greinke, who had one earned run and will be a breakout performer this season.

2. Piazza comes through: Oakland lost Frank Thomas in the offseason but was able to fill their DH role with Mike Piazza. It seemed like a good idea for the team and the former catcher, and it paid off last night. With the Angels-A’s game tied 3-3 in the ninth, Piazza hit a solo, game-winning shot off All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez. The homer was Piazza’s first of the season and gave the Angels their first loss of the year. His 3-5 performance lifted his broke him out of a 1-12 slump to start the season.

3. Six times the payroll, still a loss: The New York Yankees’ $185 million payroll dwarfs the $24 million of the Devil Rays. Still, the D-Rays managed to expose the Yanks’ biggest weakness–the bullpen. The registered six hits and three runs off Yankees relievers including the game-winner in the eighth off a wild pitch. Veteran reliever Al Reyes provided the save for Tampa, who is looking for any productivity out of their closer position.

Player of the Day: Mike Piazza, A’s: 3-5 with the game-winning HR to beat the Angels 4-3.

Walk Off: Though Dice-K’s debut was impressive, don’t get too excited about him yet. His first major league start came against the Royals, who have one of the worst lineups in baseball. Also, none of them had ever played against him before, which obviously made it harder to adjust to Matsuzaka’s unique array of pitches. I think he’ll be a solid pitcher, just not a Cy Young-worthy one.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Wizard’s blizzard of injuries

Well, now he’s got more time
for bloggin’ and video poker.

1. Agent 0 goes undercover
Washington might be the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, but they might as well be sitting on the outside looking in because they are going to make some team the very happy owner of a four game sweep in the first round of the post season. Just days after Caron Butler broke his hand, Gilbert Arenas tore his lateral meniscus and will be sidelined for the remainder of the season. The Wiz are currently only just one game behind Miami for the division crown but nobody’s going to be cheering in Washington anytime soon as the “there’s always next year” mentality begins to take hold. But it was a great season for Arenas while it lasted as he scored 28.4 points per game to go along with 4.6 boards and 6.0 assists. He also made the All-Star team and threw a wicked b-day bash.

2. Losing ground quick

The Cavs looked dead in the water as their game against Miami was drawing to a close last night, but LeBron James rallied the troops for an 11-0 run to force overtime. However, the extra period would belong to the Heat as they clinched a post season berth while handing Cleveland a devastating loss. The Cavaliers fell all the way to the fifth seed in the East with the defeat after going into the game as the second best club in the conference. If the playoffs began today these two teams would be locking up in first round series with the Heat owning the home court advantage. The only difference between then and now is that the Cavs might have to contend with a well rested Dwyane Wade in the lineup. Cleveland is probably not too thrilled about that possibility, but a Wade/James showdown would be great for the fans.

3. Spurs rise, Suns set
Tony Parker scored a season-high 35 points as the Spurs held the Suns to just 85 points in a late season victory that showed why San Antonio will be a serious threat in the post season. Phoenix put together a late game run to make it interesting but the Spurs basically imposed their defensive will onto the Suns who average 111 points per game. Tim Duncan and Michael Finley both chipped in double-doubles and SA now holds the best record in the league since the All-Star break by winning 19 of 22 games. With the victory, the Spurs are now only two games behind Phoenix for the second best record in the league and second seed in the playoffs. The Suns are struggling to gain momentum before the season ends after going 6-4 in their last ten games, and should San Antonio catch Phoenix they also own the tiebreaker with a 2-1 record against the Suns in the regular season.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: LeBron James vs. Miami 49 min, 35 pts (FG: 11-21, 3FG: 2-5, FT: 11-13), 9 reb, 5 ast

Friday’s Game to Watch: Dallas (62-12) @ Denver (38-36) The Nuggets are riding a three game winning streak after knocking of the Sonics, Lakers and Kings since Sunday. Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson are really clicking as Melo has put up at least 30 points in his last four contests while AI has dished out 20 assists in two games. The Mavericks are rolling as usual and have won nine of their last ten games and won their last game against the Kings despite being without their superstar as Dirk Nowitzki who had food poisoning. This could be a preview of a first round match-up in the playoffs between these two since Denver is sitting just one game ahead of the Clippers for the seventh spot in the West.

Buzzer Beater: The Hornets have been surging of late as they have now won three consecutive games in an attempt to push their way into the playoff pack. Well, that task just got a lot harder after Chris Wilcox delivered a wicked, inadvertent elbow to the face of New Orleans’ most consistent player of the season, Desmond Mason. The elbow broke the nose and cheek bones of Mason and will probably keep him out for the remainder of the regular season. Mason was the only player to start every game for New Orleans this year and averaged 14 points and five boards per contest. Looks like it will be up to Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler to pick up the slack if the Hornets are going to extend their season long enough for Mason to attempt a return.

Categories
General Sports

Vote for April’s Woman We Love

Well folks, Grace Park has been added to the list of women we love, it’s time to pick the next one. Here are 7 nominees for this month.

– Adrianne Palicki from Friday Night Lights

– Colbie Smulders from How I Met Your Mother
– Katherine Heigl from Grey’s Anatomy
– Marisol Nichols from 24
– Minka Kelly from Friday Night Lights

– Rose McGowan

– Winona Ryder

Vote Now

Categories
General Sports

Grace Park is March’s Woman We Love


In the end, the vote wasn’t even close. Grace Park won by a landslide over all the March nominees. Partly because she is smoking hot in her Maxim photo shoot, partly because of all the Battlestar Galactica geeks who voted for her. In any case, we say, fine, fine choice.