Categories
General Sports

Hulk Hogan kinda takes a step up from reality TV, but not really

Listen up, brothers! American Gladiators is back and badder than ever because Hulk Hogan is going to be hosting the new version of the old classic. Look for all the Eliminators, Human Cannonballs and Atlaspheres you can handle to hit the tube around midseason on NBC.

Hulk Hogan is an American icon,” Craig Plestis, an NBC vice president, said in a news release. “For over 20 years he has been a symbol of strength and toughness in all facets of entertainment. His electrifying personality will no doubt inspire Herculean efforts from our everyday challengers. There is no one more qualified to host this program.

We don’t know about how qualified the Hulkster is; after all, you do remember his appearance on the Teen Choice Awards don’t ya:

Be careful Zap, Thunder, Siren, Jazz, Bang, Boom or whoever else joins the AG crew, that could be you if you’re not careful. And then “Whatcha gonna do?!”

Links:

[BaltimoreSun.com]: NBC picks Hogan to pump up new version of `American Gladiators’

Categories
Denver Broncos

We can already tell that Ricky Williams is going to love Denver


We knew that fans in Denver wanted Ricky Williams and his list of kind bud connections to relocate to the Mile High City should he be reinstated. What we didn’t know was that the stoners activists were willing to get a billboard for the sole purpose of persuading the ex-Longhorn.

It’s simple, it’s catchy, it’s self promoting and, frankly, we think Ricky would be dumb enough to buy in.

It will read: “Ricky, come to Denver … Where the people support your SAFER choice.”

SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation), already erected the giant sign (by the way, unless he started taking massive amounts of Rogaine, then Ricky doesn’t have his dreads back yet) and their executive director, Mason Tvert, is all about getting the NFL and the world high on life.

The National Football League’s marijuana policy is just as irrational as our federal government’s marijuana policy,” Tvert said in a statement.

“Why on Earth would the NFL steer some of the biggest, strongest and toughest men in America away from marijuana and toward a drug that contributes to violent and aggressive behavior?

We don’t necessarily agree that these guys should be dangling a loaded bong in front of an addict as he goes swirling around the drain, but, nevertheless, it’ll probably work.

Links:

[DailyCamera.com]: Pro-pot group turns NFL scouts

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Dbacks and Yankees hold serve

1. The Best Ace: John Lackey took on Josh Beckett in a battle of Cy Young candidates, and it was the 2003 World Series MVP Beckett that emerged with a decisive victory. Beckett pitched a shutout for his second consecutive postseason start, a streak that dates back to that 2003 World Series when he was with the Marlins. Lackey, meanwhile, was mediocre with four runs allowed in six innings. David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis both homered off Lackey in the Red Sox’s 4-0 victory. This game was really all about Beckett, who was the only pitcher in the regular season to win 20 games. Beckett walked none, struck out 8, and only surrendered 4 hits against a pesky Angels lineup. Beckett has gone from a near-disaster last season to the Red Sox’s most reliable pitcher by far. He owns a 1.74 playoff career ERA, and will give the Red Sox as many starts as he can in the playoffs. A game one win in the division series usually leads to a series victory for the winning team; however, the fate of this series is not sealed. The Angels still have an excellent chance, with Kelvim Escobar and Jered Weaver taking the mound the next two games. Boston will counter that with Dice-K, who has oddly received almost no attention the last few months, and Curt Schilling. It seems to me at least that these are the best two teams in baseball, so the whoever wins this series has a great shot at winning the World Series.

2. The Momentum Continues: The Rockies have gone from fourth in the division to a possible World Series contender in less than a month. No one thought they would even make the playoffs a few weeks ago; now they proved they are for real with a playoff-opening victory in Philadelphia. The Rockies’ pitching staff is thought to be a joke; however, the Phillies certainly weren’t laughing after Jeff Francis shut them down. Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard, three of the National League’s best hitters, went a combined 0-11. Francis allowed two runs (both off solo homers) in six innings while racking up eight strikeouts. His counterpart, Cole Hamels, was good as well, but the Rockies managed to emerge with the win. Matt Holiday, who should win the MVP hands-down over Rollins, had a key homer in the eighth inning. One element of the Rockies that few people are considering is their closer Manny Corpas, who has racked up 19 saves with a 2.08 ERA. Incredibly, the Rockies have won the last 17 games he has appeared in. Corpas and two-time All Star Brian Fuentes, who both pitched shutout innings in the win, give the Rockies a formidable duo in the bullpen. Their chance of winning this series is higher than many (including me) predicted.

3. Win for Webb: Since the Padres aren’t in the playoffs, the best pitcher by far in the National League is Brandon Webb. Webb, who went 18-10 with a 3.01 ERA this season, helped Arizona to a 3-1 win in their series opener against the Cubs. Webb had nine strikeouts in seven innings, allowing only one run. Carlos Zambrano had similar success through six innings, but regular season stud Carlos Marmol blew the game with two runs allowed. On the other hand, the Diamondbacks’ ace bullpen was nearly perfect after Webb left the game. The Diamondbacks’ only shot in the playoffs lies with Webb making multiple great starts, the bullpen remaining solid, and the offense being timely if not a powerhouse. The Cubs have a far deeper rotation and more stars on offense, giving them the advantage whenever Webb isn’t pitching.

Categories
Fantasy Football

The worst fantasy football players in the world

If you thought this kid from Florida was PO’d after Auburn handed the Gators their first home loss under Urban Meyer, then just wait until you get a load of the these two guys as they reflect on their fantasy season to date.

Alex Smith and J.P. Losman as your quarterbacks?!? Dude, you were screwed way before Steven Jackson and Andre Johnson went down.

Categories
NFL General

America’s Team is back atop the list of favorite NFL squads


The Harris Interactive poll came out the other day and now we know a few things about the NFL that we didn’t know before. Like: “men (63%) are more likely to follow professional football than women (37%)” or “the more education one has, the more likely one follows professional football. While three in five (60%) of those with a post grad degree follow football, 45 percent of those with a high school degree or less follow it.”

Thanks Harris Interactive! Where would we be without surveys?

But, in reality, nobody cares about facts and figures on who watches football and who doesn’t. All anybody really wants to know is: “What are your two favorite National Football League teams?”

And the results are:

1. Dallas Cowboys
2. Indianapolis Colts
3. Pittsburgh Steelers
4. Green Bay Packers
5. Chicago Bears
6. New England Patriots
7. New York Giants
8. Philadelphia Eagles
9. San Francisco 49ers
10. San Diego Chargers
11. Oakland Raiders
12. Washington Redskins
13. Cleveland Browns
14. Miami Dolphins
14. Carolina Panthers
16. Denver Broncos
17. New York Jets
18. Cincinnati Bengals
19. Minnesota Vikings
19. Seattle Seahawks
21. New Orleans Saints
21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
23. St. Louis Rams
23. Kansas City Chiefs
25. Detroit Lions
26. Tennessee Titans
26. Baltimore Ravens
28. Atlanta Falcons
29. Arizona Cardinals
30. Buffalo Bills
31. Houston Texans
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

See, Houston, if you would have picked Vince Young you could be tied for 26th most popular team in the league instead of sitting at No. 31. Oh, and you wouldn’t have gotten torched on that 39-yard touchdown run in overtime last year.

Links:

[BusinessWire.com]: Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts are Two Favorite Teams…

Categories
All Other Sports

Apparently tennis humor consists of more than just Novak Djokovic

Tennis is a great game, but as much as we love to see matches that go back and forth for hours on end, we love this kinda stuff even more.

Streakers, Andy Roddick’s antics, Anna K, Andre’s hair; we’d better not hear anyone saying tennis is boring ever again.

Categories
General Sports

Never, ever let your kids go into a chat room named "Open-Minded Parents"


There are a lot of sick freaks out there, unfortunately for CBS Sports, they hired one of `em.

Florida cops arrested a CBS freelance sports technical manager, Daniel Barron, and charged him with the solicitation of committing sexual battery on a child under the age of 12. Barron, 56, was one of the guys in charge of broadcasting Sunday’s game between the Dolphins and the Raiders.

Apparently, the sleezy old man was in an AOL chat room called “Open-Minded Parents” and thought he was talking with an 11-year-old girl, but, of course, it was an undercover detective.

Baron allegedly sent an instant message that read: “So you and the kids all enjoy new adventures?”

Police said that in a phone conversation before Sunday’s game, Barron told the detective he wanted the parent to “videotape the sexual encounter.”

He told the parent, “I will be very gentle with her.”

He also offered the girl and her father free tickets to this weekend’s Dolphins game.

Barron was all set to go on his `date’ when he showed up in a Fort Lauderdale Office Depot parking lot, but instead of seeing the girl, he was greeted by the law. Once the jig was up, he confessed to the crime and he confessed to having child pornography on his CBS computer.

Sure hope he enjoys being treated like a little girl because if convicted he’s looking at 15 years in prison.

While we’re all for throwing him in the cell and tossing the key, we just wish that this perp got the send off he deserved: a demeaning 10 minute lecture from Chris Hansen.

Links:

[WISTV.com]: CBS Sports freelancer arrested in online sex sting
[News4Jax.com]: Man Offered 11-Year-Old Tickets For Sex

Categories
College Football

Florida continues adding to their championship caliber rap sheet


Okay, something strange is going on in the world of football.

Florida and Texas seem to be having some competition over who can get the most players arrested in a calendar year. At the moment, the Gators are ahead by a nose thanks to safety Tony Joiner’s recent trip to the clink. Joiner became the eighth Florida player in the last nine months to get in trouble after he was arrested and charged with felony burglary on Tuesday.

Police say he was arrested around 5 a.m. outside the fenced impound lot of a towing company.

He was accused of pushing a heavy electric gate open to enter the lot in an attempt to retrieve his girlfriend’s car, which police say was being held in place of a $76 towing bill.

Joiner was taken to the Alachua County Jail and later released on his own recognizance.

And what makes matters worse is that Joiner is a senior captain who has already racked up 20 tackles this year. Not exactly the leadership Urban Meyer was looking for heading into a huge SEC showdown with LSU.

Then you’ve got Texas Tech linebacker Kellen Tillman, apparently trying to take some of the limelight away from the state rival Longhorns, who got popped with some pot. Perhaps he was trying to take a bit of the edge off after getting suspended for unspecified reasons in the Red Raiders 75-7 blowout of Northwestern State.

Tillman, a 23-year-old senior who played at Plano West, posted $750 bond on a Class B misdemeanor charge of possession of under 2 ounces of pot and was released shortly after his arrest late Monday, the same day his suspension from the team was lifted.

Tillman, a starter, had 21 tackles and a sack in Texas Tech’s first four games.

According to police, an officer walked up to one of two cars stopped in the center turn lane of a street and saw what he believed to be marijuana. Tillman, the only person in the car, was arrested at the scene, Lubbock police Lt. Scott Hudgens said.

It appeared the two cars had been involved in a minor traffic accident, Hudgens said.

If convicted, Tillman faces up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

All right, now for the real kicker: while these guys were getting hauled off by the cops, Pacman Jones was actually doing some good in the community for a change.

Jones bought 1,500 tickets to the next TNA Wrestling pay-per-view and he’s donating them to students as incentive for good grades and good behavior. Go figure.

Links:

[NewsChannel5.com]: Florida team captain Joiner arrested, charged with burglary
[DallasNews.com]: Texas Tech LB arrested on marijuana charge
[SI.com]: Pacman buys TNA tix for students

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: First round picks


The Tie is Broken: The Rockies and Padres played a rather excellent tiebreaker game that decided who is moving into the playoffs and who is staying home. The game lasted 13 innings, with the Rockies winning 9-8 in dramatic fashion. The Padres scored 2 runs in the 13th off Scott Hariston’s homer, but the Rockies came back in the bottom half of the inning against Trevor Hoffman. They scored three runs to win the game, with Matt Holliday getting the winning run on a close play at the plate. Holliday secured the NL batting title, and also passed Ryan Howard for the NL RBI title with his performance on Monday. The MVP candidate went 2-6 with 2 RBIs, and teammate Troy Tulowitzki was even better with a 4-7, three run effort. The Padres’ Adrian Gonzalez hit a grand slam early in the game to give himself 30 homers and 100 RBIs on the year. Both starters in this contest were lit up early on. Jake Peavy raised his ERA from 2.36 to 2.54 by allowing six runs in six innings. The Rockies’ Josh Fogg gave up five runs in four innings, but was bailed out by an excellent performance from the bullpen. The Rockies, who won 14 of 15 games to win the wild card, are completely deserving of their playoff spot.

Match Me Up: The first round matchups have been finalized, and there are multiple intriguing games across the board. The Red Sox-Angels series will feature two of the league’s best pitching staffs. On Wednesday Beckett vs. Lackey will kick off this showdown. The other AL matchup, Yankees-Indians, is no less interesting. The Yankees are the hottest team in baseball and have by far its best lineup, but the Indians are very balanced and tied the Red Sox for the best regular season record. The NL matchups, though the teams aren’t nearly as good as those in the AL, should also provide for some good baseball. The Phillies-Rockies has great potential, as these were the two highest-scoring teams in the NL this season. Also, both teams are red-hot, having to earn their way into the playoffs by making late-season comebacks. The Diamondbacks-Cubs will be a matchup of two great pitching staffs. Here are my picks for the first round series:

Angels over Red Sox in 5.
Yankees over Indians in 5.
Phillies over Rockies in 4.
Cubs over D-backs in 5.

Categories
College Football

Mike Gundy and Coors, a match made in heaven

Mike Gundy’s self detonation made him a household name. Even your grandmother suddenly knows who the coach of Oklahoma State is. Well, with fame comes opportunity and it didn’t take long before Gundy was cashing in on his on-air meltdown/spasm.