Categories
MLB General

Baseball gets juiced


If America’s pastime just isn’t cutting it for you anymore, you should take a look at the latest craze destined to flop all across the nation. And if you thought that the XFL was whack, just wait til you get a load of the NXBL or National Extreme Baseball League.

From what we can tell, it’s basically like having both sides playing at the same time. There are two diamonds, two batters boxes, two pitching mounds and both teams have their traditional fielding positions out on the grass. Pitchers alternate pitches and the fielders only field when their pitcher has thrown to the opposing batter.

This “revolutionary” sport was created in 2006 but the league’s official inaugural season will be in 2008 and we’re sure that the American public is eagerly anticipating the first pitch. And in case you were wondering about the legitimacy of the league, here’s the NXBL’s mission statement.

To serve the public with passion as a quality example of excellence on the field, in the office, and within the community by consistently exceeding our customers’ expectations by demonstrating the highest character, appreciation and respect for our game, customers, teammates and partners as an economical and visionary organization providing a totally unique entertainment experience.

Hey, at least they are pretending that this is an actual sport.

Links:

[N-XBL.com]: National Extreme Baseball League

Categories
College Basketball

NIT: Nothing says second rate tourney like Virgina


Poor West Virginia, they are never gonna live this down. Just like sports fans referring to the Chiefs as the “Chefs”, a little gaffe by the company that the NIT folks contracted with to make the championship T-Shirts will make the Mountaineers from now on be referred to as the West Virginas. Who knew a proofreading mistake could provide so much juvenile amusement.

The company said that the correct spelling of West Virginia will be shipped to fans. The West Virgina t-shirts will be collectibles. Just think, only a handful of people associated with the team have that t-shirt. Now, we’re not saying the shirts will have Inverted Jenny status but it should fetch a pretty good buck on ebay.

Links:
[AOL Fanhouse]: Congratulations, West Virgina, NIT Champions

Categories
General Sports

My big fat Greek riot



This should be the only time we hear about
women’s volleyball!

We here in the good ol’ US of A don’t really care about women’s volleyball. Sure, the guys will come out in droves to see Gabrielle Reece or Misty May sport a swimsuit during a traveling beach volleyball competition but that’s about all the fanfare there is. Not like in Greece where they take their women’s volleyball very seriously.

A riot broke out near Athens on Thursday between fans of Panathinaikos Athens and Olympiakos Piraeus as the rivals decided to take the match to the streets. One man was killed in the melee and seven others were taken to the hospital with injuries. If that’s not bad enough, the Greek government has suspended all professional sporting teams from competition until April 13. That ban includes basketball, volleyball, soccer and several other sports.

Violence in sport is something that affects our entire society … and cannot be tolerated,” government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said Friday. He went on to say, “These crimes are not anonymous. Specific people are responsible.

And those specific people have rioting down to a science. Two cars and three stores were destroyed as several dozen fans arrived to the riot on motorcycles and hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the surrounding mob. After the commotion finally subdued, the po-pos raided 15 different clubs that were considered to be supporters of the two volleyball squads and the evidence they found isn’t going to be very helpful to the teams’ fans. Police recovered tons o’ weapons that included pick axes, iron bars and baseball bats.

Suddenly, the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry seems like just some old friends getting together for an afternoon of camaraderie and friendly competition.

Links:

[Local10.com]: Greece suspends pro team sports for two weeks
[Reuters]: 3-sport-Greece suspends team matches after fan death

Categories
MLB General

Selig slithers, sarcastic Stern supports


Bud Selig just doesn’t get it. Or he gets it but thinks we’re so stupid that we’ll just accept whatever he says. At a panel discussion sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Selig defended the DirecTV deal.


I agonized over” the decision to go with DirecTV, Selig said. “Obviously our objective is to get our product in front of as many people as possible. … But the number of people who can’t get DirecTV is very, very small.

Yes, only about 5,000 current subscribers will not have access to DirecTV, but of the 230,000 cable customers, how many will want to toss out their entire setup which might include cable specific DVR equipment and install a dish on their roofs just to follow their favorite team?

Now we firmly believe in capitalism and free enterprise but let’s call a spade a spade. This is a move driven solely by dollars and cents. The fact that Bud Selig is trying to sell it like he “agonized” over whether to take the money and run is a slap in the face to all smart consumers. We would respect Bud more if he just said, “DirecTV offered us a deal we couldn’t refuse. We hope the great fans will switch to DirecTV but for those who cannot do so, we still have MLBTV on the internet.”

At the same panel, NBA commish David Stern said that having Congress look into the deal between MLB and DirecTV was ridiculous.

As a taxpayer, I think the most important thing the Senate should be doing is holding hearings on Bud’s DirecTV package. I don’t care about health care or … the war in Iraq.

We have to agree with David Stern (aka The Biggest Badass Commish in History) here. It’s not as much of a time waster as renaming french fries to “freedom fries” but they really should have more things to do. How is it that Stern can step into a PR fiasco for Bud Selig and sound smart?

Links:
[AZ Central]: Selig defends DirecTV deal, gets support from NBA’s Stern

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Memphis wins again?!


1. The Grizz are rollin’!
For the first time all season, the Grizzlies have finally won two games in a row after they knocked off the Lakers on Tuesday and then the Trailblazers last night. Pau Gasol has been playing some excellent ball lately but it took an entire team effort to overcome Zach Randolph and his 43 point, 17 rebound performance. What’s even better fot Memphis is that they actually have a shot at extending this win streak. Tonight they will to Seattle to play a banged up Sonics squad before receiving a pretty tough test Golden State on Sunday. The Warriors sit just one game out of the playoff picture, so they should ready to put away the Gizz if they truly want to make a post season appearance.

2. Total eclipse of the Suns

It’s not very often that the Suns are the team getting run up and down the court by their opponents, but that was exactly what happened last night as the Warriors gave Phoenix a taste of their own medicine. Golden State opened the game by scoring 45 points in the first quarter before finishing the first half with a whopping 77 points and a 14 point advantage. The Suns struggled to fill the hoop with as much frequency as their opponents until the fourth quarter when they managed to outscore the Warriors 18 points but that was only good enough to get them within five points at the final buzzer. The Suns have been slipping in the standings lately, thanks to a 6-4 record over their last 10 games, and now they are just two games ahead of the Spurs for second place in the West. Next Thursday the two teams will get together for what should be a barn burner in San Antonio.

3. Chicago showdown
With a two point victory over the Pistons last night, Chicago was able to clinch a post season spot. Ben Wallace had a big game against his old team and helped to reverse a trend that has been plaguing the Bulls since Michael Jordan retired. Since 1998, the Pistons have owned the Bulls inside of the house that Jordan built, also known as the United Center, to the tune of winning 15 of their last 18 in the building. Now, Big Ben knows what it is like to be on both winning sides of the rivalry, but he almost didn’t get the chance to enjoy it. With under three minutes remaining in the game, Ben Gordon went to the line and missed three consecutive free throws which left the door open for the Pistons to take over. But Gordon lucked out and these two could just be warming up for a seven game series in the playoffs.

Thursday’s Player of the Day: Zach Randolph vs. Memphis 40 min, 43 pts (FG: 16-26, FT: 11-16), 17 reb, 5 ast, 2 blk

Friday’s Game to Watch: Utah (47-24) @ San Antonio (51-20) The Spurs almost dropped an easy game against the Hornets on Wednesday, but they had a late rally and won their fifth game in a row to pull within 2 ½ games of Phoenix for the number two spot in the Western Conference playoff picture. But they are going to have to play for a full 48 minutes against the Jazz if they expect to pick up a victory. Utah has already wrapped up their division title and they have won four of their last five games thanks to Carlos Boozer who has been putting up some of his best games of the season of late. There are so many great individual match-ups when these two teams get together, hopefully we can see these two hook it up at some point in the post season.

Buzzer Beater: In October, the Cavaliers and the Magic will be meeting up for a pair of preseason contests on a neutral court in China. Talk about a road trip! Good thing there are a lot of youngsters on these squads who can recover from jetlag in a jiffy. Dwight Howard and his boys will be playing an additional game against the Chinese national team in between the other contests. But this should be becoming routine for the NBA starved nation, after all, David Stern did send their native son Yao Ming along with the Rockets to play against the Kings back in 2004. And next year the United States will send an outfit of the NBA’s best and brightest talent to Beijing for the Olympics. They did qualify for the Olympics, didn’t they?

Categories
College Basketball

So this is why Billy Packer is trying to ruin college basketball!

Here’s some random YouTube goodness for this Friday. An interview with Billy Packer where he reveals his motivation for ruining March Madness for us.

Rooting on power conferences? Check. Rooting for favorites? Check. Impossibly smug attitude? Check. Wrong about tons of details? Check. Loves Duke? Check. Billy Packer not being a sports fan really explains everything doesn’t it?

Categories
New York Giants

Tom Coughlin is second only to Hitler


You know, no matter what the context is, you should probably never mention having characteristics in common with Hitler. Ever. Here’s Coughlin responding to a question about being bashed by the media:


I hear some of it and I see it. You know (VP of communications Pat) Hanlon tells me about it, what’s going on. Hitler and then me, in that order. Unfortunate, but it is.

So Colonel Tom is trying to make a point that he’s almost as hated as Adolf Hitler. Probably not the best of ideas. Unless you’re Mel Gibson’s dad, you know that Hitler killed millions of innocent people. Coughlin, on the other hand, is a football coach. Please. Listen Tom, it’s true, you’re a tool and people hate you but nowhere near second antichrist. You probably rank somewhere between that Sanjaya kid from American Idol and Curt Schilling on the hate scale.

Links:
[MSNBC]: ‘Hitler and then me,’ Giants’ Coughlin says

[Sports Pickle]: Tom Coughlin Seizes Power in Germany (from 2004!)

Categories
MLB General

MLB Power Rankings Roundup – Opening Day 2007 editing

Well folks, it is finally here. Baseball season is only a couple of days away and what better way to get things rolling than to check out the Power Rankings from around the league. ESPN must be too busy trying to find a new editor-in-chief and firing Joe Theisman to write their Power Rankings but everyone else is on board with their preseason ranks.

We’ll be updating this list every Friday for you. By the way, east coast bias? What east coast bias?

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

Categories
Dallas Mavericks

Pop Quiz: Who is older? Kevin Willis or Julio Franco



Don’t call it a comeback

Talk about a guy who can’t give up the game. Kevin Willis spent 45 minutes with the Dallas Mavericks this morning working out in hopes of grabbing a roster spot as the playoffs approach. Willis was the oldest player in the NBA when he last played in 2004-05 and he hasn’t gotten any younger since. But that is definitely one guy who is not going to be eating chips and watching poker on TV during his off time. Willis still looks like he could be Dwight Howard’s little brother!

I can definitely play,” Willis said. “I’m going to work out again tomorrow and go from there.

Well, don’t worry; with Dirk Nowitzki tweaking his ankle last night, you just might get a chance. Of course, Avery Johnson will have something to say about that. Johnson didn’t comment after the workout but here’s what he said about adding a new player to the team when asked on Wednesday night.

Right now, it’s kind of the best available person if we’re going to add anybody,” Johnson said. “I’m real leery about adding anybody right now. If it’s something that makes sense, we’ll do it. But it’s got to really make sense.

And for those of you who were paying attention, you may check your grade below.

Kevin Willis – born: 9/6/1962
Julio Franco – born: 8/23/1958

Links:

[Star-Telegram.com]: Kevin Willis works out for Mavericks

Categories
Fantasy Baseball

Odds and Ends: Geddy Lee kicks fantasy baseball ass



Nice kimono, Neil

Last week, we wondered why Geddy Lee made a random appearance in the ESPN Fantasy Baseball commercial. Well, this pretty much explains everything. Not only is Geddy a huge baseball fan, he has been doing fantasy baseball since the 80s, which was before they invented the telephone and myspace. And if you think your league is hard, he plays in a total points keeper league with 40-man rosters.


I like the league because the rules are complex, yet they replicate much of a player’s real-life skills. If you draft a middle infielder, you not only want him to be a great hitter, you want points for double plays turned. It’s like building a real team. If you have a good combination of a strong catcher, center fielder and middle infielders, you will have a good team.

On top of that, they draft minor leaguers too. Jesus, we care barely decide whether a good pitcher on a bad team is worth a high draft pick. The most underrated lead singer of all time is a fantasy baseball junkie. Who knew? Hey Geddy, wanna join a 45-man roster Fantasy Football league?

In other news…

[Sporting News]: Lynn University student get credit for Final Four field trip

[Sports Law Blog]: Rethinking Contact Between NBA Executives and Parents of College Players

[NBC30]: Maradona enters rehab for drinking and eating too much. We are shocked.

[The Big Lead]: Curtis Granderson talks to the Big Lead

[The Wizard of Odds]: Something about Tim Tebow or something… but picture goodness

And finally, a video about the effects of drugs on spiders. No seriously.