Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Hey, don’t forget about baseball


1. The Amazing A-Rod: Alex Rodriguez is having the best month of his incredible season so far in September. He has 8 homers and 15 RBIs in just eight games this month, including a home run in five straight games. Rodriguez now has 52 long balls this year, setting a new MLB record for a third baseman. He is the first Yankee to hit fifty homers in a season since 1961, and is only the fourth MLB player ever to record at least three fifty-homer seasons (Ruth, Sosa, and McGwire). If he remains hot he could record a 60-160 season, which only Ruth and Sosa have ever accomplished. Rodriguez helped the Yanks to a 6-3 win over the Royals, with Chien-Ming Wang picking up his 18th win. Wang remains tied with Josh Beckett for the major league wins lead. The Yankees swept the Royals for the second straight series, and they took 9 out of 10 games against KC this season. Barring a complete collapse they should win the wild card, as they have a four game lead over the inconsistent Tigers.

2. The Crazy Central: The NL Central lead changed hands once again, as the hot Brewers passed the slumping Cubs. Milwaukee has won 4 out of its last 5 games to retake their lead, which they have held the majority of the season. They beat the Reds 10-5 on Sunday thanks to six homers. Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks each went deep twice, with Braun recording his 30th homer in only 94 games. Ben Sheets improved to 12-4 despite allowing five runs, but he fared much better than Reds starter Phil Dumatrait. Dumatrait failed to record an out, giving up homers to Weeks, JJ Hardy, and Braun to lead off the game. He is 0-4 with a 15.00 ERA in six starts this year, making him perhaps the worst pitcher in baseball. Dumatrait has more runs allowed than innings pitched in all but one of his starts this season. The Brewers should be able to hold on to the division lead for a while, as they will face the three worst teams in their division (Pirates, Reds, Astros) in consecutive series.

3. D-Back Domination: Arizona is beginning to pull away in the NL West division, with five straight wins. They swept the Cardinals over the weekend, extending their lead to three games over the Padres. All three games were close, and the Diamondbacks relied on stellar bullpen play to win. On Sunday they won 6-5 thanks to a four-run rally in the seventh. Bob Wickman, who was acquired off waivers, pitched a scoreless inning in his debut for Arizona. The Diamondbacks continue to win despite a pitiful .248 team batting average and a mediocre bottom of the rotation. This is due mainly to their bullpen, which features four relievers who have below a 3.00 ERA. Arizona, who is tied for the NL wins lead at 81, is certainly the surprise story of the majors this season.

Player of the Day: Johan Santana, Twins: 7 innings, five hits, one run, 10 strikeouts in a 5-2 win over the White Sox. Santana ended a personal slump as well as a six-game losing streak for Minnesota.

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All Other Sports

The U.S. Open just became Last Comic Standing

If you’re anything like us then you just loves you some tennis. And if you just loves you some tennis then you probably already know all about the comedic genius of one Mr. Novak Djokovic. He’s basically the Rich Little of the ATP. Well, he was at it again following his easy win at the U.S. Open on Thursday.

Even if a movie about tennis starring Will Ferrell came out, we don’t know if it could be funnier than ol’ Novak doing his best Maria Sharapova.

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All Other Sports

This is why drug testing shouldn’t stop at the pro and collegiate levels

Take the movie Dodgeball, mix it up with Peyton Manning’s public service announcement and throw in a pair of losers who almost take themselves as seriously as finger jousters and what do you get? Unfortunately, you get this:

Well? Are you ready for some kickball!!!!!

Categories
College Football

Louisville and Middle Tennessee put on a show in a shootout


We were totally shocked to see that Louisville was only able to defeat Middle Tennessee by a measly seven points, 28-21. C’mon, this is No. 8 Louisville taking on lil’ ol’ Middle Tennessee! The Cards should be dropping 50 on these guys without even breaking a sweat.

Wait, what? Say that again? 28-21 wasn’t the final score, it was the first quarter score?!?!

Well, in that case; holy crap, did you see the first quarter of last night’s Louisville/Middle Tennessee game! It was amazing! Brian Brohm threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns on eight completions in the opening frame en route to a career-high 401 yards and five TDs to outlast MTSU in a shootout that ended up with a final of 58-42. The whole game was great, but the first quarter was indeed a sight to behold.

The two schools combined for 504 total yards (MTSU: 212, UL: 292) and a whopping 49 points in case you’re too hung-over from last night’s NFL opening night party to do the addition. It also helps that neither team decided to play a lick of defense until after the third touchdown of 70 or more yards was scored in the first 2:23. Even then, it still took a while to `slow’ things down as a total of five touchdowns were scored in the first five minutes of the game.

The final statistics of the game are equally incredible: 1,284 total yards from scrimmage and an eyeball popping 13 touchdowns.

I think these guys kept their heads up and on offense we said, ‘Keep scoring.’ That’s going to be our motto all year,” said Brian Brohm.

It’s a good thing too, because with Hawaii playing in the middle of the freakin’ night most weeks we’re thrilled to have our very own mainland Colt Brennan.

Links:

[SportingNews.com]: Brohm throws for 5 TDs as No. 8 Louisville holds off Middle Tenn.

Categories
LA Lakers

Enjoy it while you can, Phil Jackson might be going fishing soon


Phil Jackson gave lots of advice to Michael Jordan over the years they spent together winning championships and breaking countless NBA All-Stars’ hearts in the process. Now it appears that the Zen Master might be stealing a page out MJ’s personal playbook.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Jackson is considering retirement, again, after the end of this season. Of course, he’s going to wait out the year and see how everything shakes out before he makes the leap. Basically it means that he’s going to have to see where the always indecisive Kobe Bryant ends up after the Lakers drop their first round series to the Suns, again.

We know that Phil is desperate to get that 10th ring as a coach and go out like basketball’s version of Liberace with diamonds on every finger of his hands, but sometimes you’ve just got to know when to fold `em. It’s his legacy and he can do whatever he wants with it, but there’s no way we’d put up with Kobe’s crying as the one man show in LA continues to hover amongst mediocrity. And sorry, but a broken down Jermaine O’Neal isn’t going to bring this franchise back to glory.

We fully expect for Jackson to call it quits after this season, but we’re sure he’ll come running as soon as the next head coaching opportunity for a preassembled, championship caliber team becomes available.

Links:

[CBS2.com]: Phil Jackson Heading To Retirement?

Categories
Atlanta Falcons

Michael Vick wants to know if the CliffsNotes for his plea are out yet



To Do: practice, work out, drown pit
bulls, watch film, smoke pot

Remember when Michael Vick publicly apologized in front of the nation for his part in that dogfighting ring that was being run out of his house. Well, it turns out that he walked off and left more behind than simply his freedom, livelihood and dignity. Apparently, he left behind the cheat sheet he needed to remind himself of what he was sorry for.

An employee from the Humane Society of the U.S. actually found Vick’s notes on the podium and they are now being auctioned off on eBay as a means of raising money to help put an end to animal cruelty. Take that Michael! The scrap of paper opened on the virtual market for a measly $20 bucks and has since skyrocketed up over $10,000! Here’s what 10 grand buys nowadays:

According to the eBay ad, Vick allegedly used the following notes to remember key points while making his public apology:

“Apologize for what I’ve done

Apologize comissioner (sic), AB [Falcons owner Arthur Blank], [Bobby] Petrino, ashamed, dissapointed (sic)

Young kids I acted immat.

Forgiveness + understanding

Take full responsibility for my actions

We all make mistakes

I’ve made mistakes in judgment”

Then, jotted into the lower right-hand corner of the paper it says, “Dogs have suffered.

Wait, Vick actually needed to jot down that “dogs have suffered”?!?! What’s worse is that he didn’t even make it a priority; he crammed it in at the last minute in the corner. Isn’t the fact that dogs have suffered the most fundamental reason why he’s in the situation he’s in? We think it’s pretty safe to say that if you have to write notes to yourself that remind you are “ashamed,” “disapointed” (be proud VT) and “take full responsibility for my actions” then you are probably neither ashamed, disappointed nor take full responsibility for your actions.

Links:

[Local10.com]: Vick Apology Notes Worth $10,000 On eBay

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Ray of hope


1. Coming out of Nowhere: Possibly the most underreported story of the year has been the random emergence of Devil Rays first baseman Carlos Pena. Despite playing on the league’s worst team, Pena has 37 homers (2nd in the league), 105 RBIs (4th), and a 1.014 OPS (3rd). All of those numbers rank higher than David Ortiz, Justin Morneau, and a host of other All Stars. Pena led the charge for the D-Rays on Wednesday with 2 homers and 7 RBIs in a 17-2 rout of the Orioles. Eight of Tampa’s nine starters had a multi-hit game, and they had 22 hits and 5 homers in all. The real story is Pena, who has 9 homers and 22 RBIs in his last 11 games. The D-Rays have won 8 of those 11 games, but are still the worst team in baseball. Pena’s play would warrant MVP consideration if he played on almost any other team in the majors.

2. The Terrific Tribe: After finishing in a disappointing fourth place last season, the Indians are rolling in first and have already passed their 2006 win total. They completed their second consecutive sweep of the Twins on Wednesday in a 6-2 win. Overall they finished 14-4 against the Twins this year, with four sweeps in six series. Fausto Carmona, who improved to 15-8 with the victory, has been a surprise standout for the Indians. Though his numbers rival CC Sabathia in most major categories (3.27 ERA vs. 3.24), he hasn’t generated nearly as much Cy Young talk. On offense, Travis Hafner has regained his swing with 13 RBIs his last 11 games. Victor Martinez knocked in his 100th RBI of the season and 400th for his career. Over all, the Indians are a whopping seven games ahead of the still-struggling Tigers, who led the division the majority of the season.

3. The Brewers are Back: The Brewers, who were awful in August and fell to third place, now have a chance to capture the division lead. They are only a half game back after winning 4 out of 5, and their upcoming schedule is as easy as it gets. They have multiple series against the worst teams in their division, playing Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Houston over the next two weeks. The Cubs’ schedule is just as easy, as they will not play a winning team the rest of the season. The Brewers just finished up a series with the Astros, which they won 2-1. On Wednesday, they hit five homers in a 14-2 victory. Prince Fielder went deep for the 41st time, which is second in the majors. Rookie of the Year lock Ryan Braun hit his 28th homer. Braun has 78 RBIs and a .334 average in 91 games this year. For Milwaukee, the victory was the 45th at home this year, the most in the NL and third-most in the majors. On the other hand, their road record is awful at 26-42.

Player of the Day: Alex Rodriguez, Yankees: 2-3, 2 HR (48), 3 RBIs (134) in a 10-2 win over Seattle. A-Rod continues to pad his numbers and remains the clear MVP favorite. The Yankees now lead the Mariners by three games in the wild card race.

Categories
College Football

Arkansas St. coach says Big 12 admits they’re Indian givers


Michigan became the laughing stock of the college football world when they fell to Appalachian State in the Big House over the opening weekend, but it turns out that they might not have been the only gridiron powerhouse to get upset if it hadn’t been for those pesky refs bumbling up the calls.

Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts claims that the Big 12’s coordinator of officials admitted that the zebras goofed when the overturned an onside kick that was recovered by the Indians with 56 seconds left in what eventually went down as an extremely unimpressive 21-13 Longhorns victory.

We got a confirmation … (Tuesday) that they missed the call,” Roberts said.

The Indians were flagged with 56 seconds left in Saturday’s game for an improper formation. Texas recovered the second onside kick and ran out the clock.

Roberts said the game film showed the Indians had enough players on both sides of the ball before the kick.

“There’s nothing you can do about it now,” Roberts said. “I don’t have a reaction because a reaction’s worthless.

A Big 12 spokesman refused to confirm or deny that a conversation occurred concerning the call. Texas was ranked fourth in the nation going into the season opener. While it’s obvious that the Horns were clearly overrated coming into the season, this really is a moot point because nobody is going to be lining up the final 56 minutes of the game to see if Texas could stop Arkansas State’s last ditch effort. At this point, the only thing were concerned about is if the ref in question is of any relation to Tim Donaghy.

Links:

[ABC13.com]: Arkansas St. coach says Big 12 acknowledged bad call in Texas win

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All Other Sports

Who knew that acting like a wild monkey was considered sport?

For those of you who don’t know what parkour is, it’s basically hauling ass around your local environment and running, jumping, spinning, rolling, flipping, sliding, climbing and bouncing on anything and everything you can get your hands or feet to stick to. When it’s done correctly it can be some of the most jaw dropping, mind boggling acrobatics you’ve ever seen in your life. But when it is performed by a bunch of pimple faced finger jousters then this is what you get:

Eh, one less finger jouster isn’t such a bad thing.

Categories
Dallas Cowboys

Terrell Owens does his best Stephon Marbury imitation


Sure, Terrell Owens is fun to watch play; after all, you never know if he’s going to blow up for 150 yards and a trio of TDs or just plain blow up on an assistant coach. But we really love listening to TO yap about football. Yup, we just loves us some TO.

Owens even delved into the taboo topic of dogfighting, saying he attended one “when I was younger.”

“Being from the South, that’s something that’s very prevalent in that area,” he said.

Later, he compared dogfighting to hunting deer: “They cut their heads off and they go to mount them on the wall. And they are animals as well. I don’t see a big difference in the situation.

Wait, did say that we loves us some TO? That was when he was saying things like “Get your popcorn ready with a little extra butter” and “Like my boy tells me; if it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly, it is a rat.” Hold up, so you mean to tell us that Owens is actually a lunatic?! Oh, snap!

When I say it’s a cultural situation, I’m not trying to bring a racial barrier into it. If anyone wants to dig that up, I will dispel that. I don’t condone Michael Vick’s actions with the dogfighting. I’ve been exposed to it and it’s something that’s very unfortunate for Mike. I think he’ll learn from this situation and move on from it.

Hmm, sounds like someone else has just joined the Clinton Portis School of Public Speaking.

And in other news from planet Owens, it sounds like TO and Donovan McNabb have finally moved on which means that we can all happily move on from a relationship that officially ended years ago.

“I did what I had to do when I saw Donovan. I apologized,” Owens said before Dallas practiced Wednesday. “Donovan is a good guy. I missed him. I missed the times that we had. Donovan is a good guy. He is a good friend. There were some things that happened. I do regret some of the things that happened. If I could go back and change some of the things then I would.”

McNabb said the two could’ve had “something special” if they played together longer than 1½ years.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t go in that direction,” McNabb said. “We’ve talked it out and communicated when we had the opportunity to, and kind of put it behind us. That’s the past, and we’re just focusing on what we have to do with our given teams right now.

Thank goodness for that. Now if we could just get Britney and Justin to kiss and make up we’d be set.

Links:

[MSNBC]: T.O. compares dogfighting to hunting deer
[MSNBC]: McNabb says he, T.O. have `talked it out’