Author: Vin

Vin is a Philly boy who shouldn't be invited into your house because he'll judge you on your book and music collection. He owns Dawkins, Utley, Iverson, and Lindros jerseys, which is all you really need to know about him. He can be reached at [email protected].

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All Other Sports

So much for Floyd Landis — Latest American Hero



Hold the champagne

Floyd Landis tested positive for excessive testosterone after stage 17 of the Tour de France. The organizers will test another sample and if that one comes up positive, If he will be stripped of his victory. Landis and team have a chance to do a counter analysis to determine if there was a mistake. But considering that Landis has disappeared and pulled out of two races in the past two days, he probably knows the jig is up.

The only positive to come out of this is that we absolutely know that cycling’s governing body isn’t a corrupt agency. It’s bad enough to suspend a couple of favorites before the race but it’s absolutely catastrophic to have to strip away a victory. This scandal will cost cycling the 16 fans they have left.

Landis career is over as well. For all the accolades and newspaper and magazine fluff pieces that came out in the past week, there will be more roastings as writers get revenge for being embarassed writing articles like this and this.

Links:
[Reuters]: Tour de France winner Landis tests positive
[Guardian UK]: Landis positive test final blow for Tour de France

Categories
Olympics

July 27 in Sports History: Atlanta Olympics bombing

In 1933: Joe DiMaggio was just getting warmed up for his magical 56-game hitting streak in 1941, as his 61-game streak came to an end. As an 18-year old in his first year of pro baseball with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, Dimaggio got a hit on May 28 and didn’t stop for 61 straight; at one point needing six batters in front of him to reach base in the last inning before hitting a double to keep the streak alive.

In 1996: A pipe bomb exploded in the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta during a late-night concert at the Summer Olympics. One person was killed and over a hundred people were injured when the bomb exploded shortly after 1 A.M. Despite heavy security at all of the venues and a bomb threat that was called in shortly before the explosion, police were unable to completely evacuate the area in time. The games continued without interruption, and a man named Eric Rudolph later plead guilty and received three consecutive life prison terms (for this and two other bombings). Rudolph was only sentenced in 2005, nine years after a security guard named Richard Jewell was originally accused and later cleared.

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All Other Sports

50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days

Have you ever heard of Dean Karnazes? He runs ultramarathons, which are 50 or 100 mile runs. He’s not just an ultramarathon man, he’s the ultramarathon man. He’s run continuously for 350 miles, ran across Death Valley and ran a marthon in the South Pole at -40 degrees. In a word, he’s insane.

This fall, he’s doing the North Face Endurance 50, which is 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states starting. Some aren’t actual events, he’s just running marathon courses in those states. (If you’ve ever tried to plan a cross-country ballpark tour, you know how hard this is to coordinate…) In total, he’ll run over 1,300 miles in 50 days, which is more than most people run in their lifetimes. We get tired just thinking about it.

Links:
[Endurance50]: The official North Face Endurance 50 site
[Ultramarathon Man]: About Dean Karnazes

Categories
MLB General

Harold Reynolds Update

It turns out that the scuttlebutt about Reynolds being fired for sexual harassment was true. According to Reynolds, he “gave a woman a hug and I felt like it was misinterpreted.”

The Big Lead says it wasn’t as simple as a one time hug.


Over the weekend, Reynolds allegedly took a PA for a meal at Outback Steakhouse. Afterward, he hugged her in a way that may have been deemed inappropriate. Apparently, the PA felt weirded out, and decided to file a complaint.
When the complaint was lodged, it became evident to ESPN brass that Reynolds had a massive file full of complaints of this nature. Supposedly, he was terminated sometime Monday morning.

First, Outback Steakhouse? We’ve taken hookers to nicer restaurants… Second, from one of our sources comes this tidbit:


Never underestimate the power of some of the PAs in Bristol; some of the girls who worked in the underpaid positions nonetheless come from wealthy and/or influential families… if [one of them] made an accusation of sexual harassment, someone in Bristol would have had to do something about it instead of sweeping it under the rug

Links:
[NY Post]: REYNOLDS WANTS ESPN JOB BACK

Categories
MLB General

July 26 in Sports History

In 1922: Hoyt Wilhelm was born in Huntersville, North Carolina. Hoyt was the first great relief pitcher in baseball history, reaching 200 saves before anyone else. He is also the owner of the most wins by a relief pitcher with 124. Hoyt was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1985.

1948: July 26 also marks the last day that Babe Ruth was seen in public. He went to a screening of The Babe Ruth Story in New York City. After the screening, Ruth went back to the hospital and died about a month later, succumbing to throat cancer.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Schilling and Halladay get win number 13

1. Lucky #13: Two pitchers joined Josh Beckett as 13-game winners yesterday, including a teammate of Beckett’s. 13-3 Curt Schilling and 13-2 Roy Halladay each won last night to join Beckett at the top of the leaderboard. Halladay now has the best winning percentage of any pitcher in the AL after defeating the Seattle Mariners and red-hot Gil Meche. Meche had come into the game with 5 straight wins but was blasted by Troy Glaus and Toronto’s offense. Meanwhile, Halladay allowed just 2 runs and now ranks in the AL top ten in almost every significant pitching category. Schilling didn’t pitch quite as well as Halladay, allowing 4 runs, but he got plenty of support from Boston’s offense as they routed Oakland 13-5. Each of the 13-win pitchers are now on pace for a 20-win season, which seems to be harder to achieve as the years go on. Only 12 pitchers have done it since 2003.

2. Aces High: Two of the American League’s other top pitchers met yesterday. The Twins’ Johan Santana and the White Sox’s Jose Contreras was the matchup, and Minnesota was able to take their second straight game of the series. Contreras pitched decently, but his luck has completely turned since his 17 game winning streak was snapped. Since the All Star break Contreras has lost all three of his starts despite a 4.29 ERA and the league’s best offense behind him. Meanwhile, Santana won his third straight start to improve to 12-5. Despite an awful start to his season, he leads the AL in innings pitched and strikeouts and is in the top 5 in ERA and WHIP. Expect Johan to do even better down the stretch: since 2003 he is 30-3 after the All Star break. The Twins have now won 9 of their last 10 while the White Sox are in a free-fall. Could the Twins pass up the defending World Series champs? They can do so tonight.

3. Why the Cardinals win: The reason the Cardinals are in first place as usual is simple: they have Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter on their team. That was especially showcased last night, when they used the exceptional play of both stars to edge the Rockies 1-0. Carpenter pitched seven solid innings, while Pujols hit a homerun in the 6th that turned out to be the game’s only score. Carpenter is now second in the National League in ERA with 2.68; he also has 10 wins and is second in WHIP. Pujols, of course, is leading the NL in homers with his 33rd. He is on pace for a monstrous 58 and 152, which would both be career highs for this slugger. For the Rockies, Jason Jennings got screwed over once again. Despite having a 3.70 ERA that is almost two runs better than Jason Marquis’, Jennings has half the win total of Marquis with a 6-9 record. He is 0-3 in July despite a 3.00 ERA.

4. Could there be another piece on pitchers?: Amazingly, there will be another section about pitchers. Let’s start with Kenny Rogers, the All Star game starter and Tigers ace. Rogers had probably the worst start of his career, recording only 2 outs and allowing 7 runs against the Indians. In July now Rogers has a 9.37 ERA, and he has now become Detroit’s worst starter. Meanwhile. Carlos Zambrano is doing well with both his arm and his bat. He hit his fourth homer of the season while winning his 8th straight decision as the Cubs defeated the Mets 8-7. Zambrano has walked the most batters in the league but has the most strikeouts. Go figure. And finally, Ervin Santana has lost a game. He had won seven consecutive starts before bowing down to the Devil Rays yesterday. Now back to the NL, where Roger Clemens continues his streak of terrible luck. He has a 2.44 ERA and a 2-4 record, two things that shouldn’t go together. He was defeated by Aaron Harang, who shut out the Stros for his 11th win.

5. From the not-gonna-happen file: Sammy Sosa is considering a return to baseball in 2007 and said he would play for the Cubs again. Considering Jacque Jones is already in right field, this doesn’t seem likely. Also, unless MLB decides to unban steroids, the chances of Sosa getting back into playing shape are slim to none. Maybe he and Raffy Palmeiro can go play in an independent league with Jose Canseco.

Categories
General Sports

July 25 2006 episode of Poor Man’s PTI

Welcome to another episode of Poor Man’s PTI. It’s been a slow sports week so this week’s podcast has a lot of pop culture discussion in it.

You can download this week’s podcast directly (running time 37 mins) or subscribe to the feed.  

If you use iTunes, just click here and then click subscribe and iTunes will take care of the rest.

This week’s topics include:

  • Bill Belichick is a homewrecker
  • World Series of Beirut
  • ESPN fires Harold Reynolds
  • Team USA basketball rosters

Hope you guys enjoy the podcast.  If you did enjoy it, please give us a good rating below so we can rise up in the rankings. If you didn’t, send us an email ([email protected]) and give us some suggestions. Thanks for listening.

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends: ESPN fires Harold Reynolds

After 11 years, ESPN has fired Harold Reynolds. Nobody knows why and our ESPN moles don’t have any dirt for us. What could Reynolds possibly have done to merit getting fired from ESPN? The network that continues to employ Stephen A Smith, hell, even giving him his own show fires Reynolds? It seems to us that Reynolds knows more about baseball than, say, Merrill Hoge knows about football, yet he’s still gainfully employed. Our theory here is that Reynolds didn’t make enough outlandish and retarded predictions for the ESPN brass.

In other news..

[Balls Deep Sports]: EA Sports and ESPN want you to pay $19.99 for a Pay Per View “event” of Madden 2007

[Fire Dusty Baker]: Donald Trump interested in buying Cubs

[The Golf Blog]: Chart of Tiger Woods vs Jack Nicklaus

[Inside Bay Area]: 5 more minor leaguers suspended for steroids

[Ask Men.com]: Top 10: Worst Referee Calls

Categories
Soccer

Playstation and Sex ruined Ronaldinho


Millions of heartbroken Brazilians can blame the French and EA Sports for costing them the World Cup which the Brazilian national team was heavily favored to win. The UK tabloid The Sun reported that Ronaldinho would break curfew and sneak into his girlfriend Alexandra Parressant’s hotel room to have sex all night during the World Cup and then stay up playing 2006 FIFA World Cup on the PS2.

According to Alexandra, he would go to her hotel room almost every night and tear it up.


He is as much a performer in the bedroom as he is on the football pitch. One night he made me scream with such pleasure, the people on the hotel terrace below heard us because my window was open.

However, Paressant won’t take the blame. “Instead, his habit of playing PlayStation after their romps may have knocked his form.” Now, we love the FIFA Germany ’06 game as much as anyone but we also don’t have a model screaming in hotel rooms. Oh, did we mention that she is French? And who knocked Brazil out of the World Cup? We smell a conspiracy here.

Links:
[Hindustan Times]: Ronaldinho’s romps spoiled WC Samba!
[Gamespot]: Sex, PS2 blamed for Brazil star’s WC failure

Categories
MLB General

July 25 in Sports History: Roseanne Barr wrecks the National Anthem


In 1990: Before the start of the Reds-Padres game in San Diego, somebody for some reason let Roseanne Barr “sing” the National Anthem. While not quite up to Whitney Houston’s version at the Super Bowl that year, it wasn’t even Carl Lewis-sad-funny or that little-girl-who-forgot-the-words cute. After screeching through an off-key rendition, Roseanne showed her patriotism by grabbing her crotch and spitting. The crowd booed, and many people were upset, including President Bush, who called it “disgusting,” and a “disgrace.” She later apologized.

In 1999: Nearly dead from cancer just three years earlier, cyclist Lance Armstrong comes all the way back to win the Tour de France for the first time. Armstrong was only the second American to win the Tour (Greg Lemond did it three times in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s). Given just a 40 percent chance to live after testicular cancer had spread to his lungs and brain, Armstrong’s feat was considered one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Although this 1999 victory would’ve have been enough, he went out and won the event seven straight times, including this day in 2004.