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].

Categories
Miami Dolphins

Daunte Culpepper: from Madden cover to CFL?


Think about this for a second: Daunte Culpepper went from throwing for 39 touchdowns and 4,717 yards in 2004 and an MVP candidate to possibly being exiled to the Canadian Football League in three quick years.

With the trade for Trent Green, the Dolphins have no need for Culpepper anymore. Culpepper has asked the Dolphins for his release so he can pick his next stop but Miami is trying to trade him. Considering they got Trent Green for a 5th round pick, they might get a 7th round pick for Culpepper if anyone is desperate enough for damaged goods.

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (who never saw a PR opportunity they didn’t like) have put Culpepper on the “negotiation list” which means they have the rights to him should he decide to play in the CFL. While this is a no lose situation — it’s not like they had to buy his rights — most people don’t expect Daunte to end up in Canada. Still, everyone said the same thing about Ricky and the Argonauts.

If this comes to fruition, it will be absolutely the biggest drop in profile for a former Madden cover player. Well, until Michael Vick gets arrested and kicked out of the league for dog fighting.

Links:
[WBAL]: Culpepper To Dolphins: Release Me
[Canada.com]: Culpepper put on negotiation list

Categories
Orlando Magic

Billy Donovan can go stuff his sorrys in a sack, mister



Read your contract

Billy Donovan apologized to just about everybody yesterday and explained his decision to sign a five-year $27.5M contract with the Magic as a huge mistake. He’s expected to sign a 6-year $21M contract with Florida instead. The Orlando Magic must be the worst organization in sports if someone is willing to pass up $6.5M and work an extra year instead of coaching the Magic.


There was no words, there was no pressure by anyone to come back. It was what was in my heart. You realize you made a mistake and you go forward. I think sometimes people think, ‘Well what happened? What was the reason?’ There really wasn’t one. It had nothing to do with the Magic, my wife, the University of Florida, it was a process I went through myself that I’m sorry for.”

Translation: The Magic don’t suck, I’m not whipped, Florida is ok, I’m just a weenie who can’t keep his word.

Despite bolting for the NBA and then backing out of his deal, Billy boy doesn’t think trust will be an issue when recruiting players. OK. Billy Donovan – a man you can trust! Someone should ask the Orlando Magic executives about that, who go so screwed they had to hire Stan Van Gundy.

Links:
[AP]: Donovan apologizes to Magic and Florida

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Curt Schilling knows what he’s doing



What could have been

1. No No-No: Curt Schilling was so close to a no-hitter against Oakland, but he just couldn’t make one final out. Schilling was near-perfect through 8.2 innings, with only one baserunner reaching on an error by Julio Lugo. But when it came time to get his name added to the history books, Schilling shook off his catcher like Nuke LaLoosh and allowed a single to Shannon Stewart. He still pitched a great game, with no runs or walks allowed and just the one hit. He also gave the Red Sox a much-needed win after four straight losses. David Ortiz homered in the first inning for the Red Sox’s only run of the game. They will face the Diamondbacks next in an unusual interleague matchup, while the A’s will take on cross-bay rival San Francisco.

2. Break out the Brooms: The Phillies may be a contender after completing an unlikely sweep of the New York Mets on the road. After winning the first two games of the series 4-2, the Phils won 6-3 in extra innings on Thursday. The Mets had three straight solo homers in the sixth inning by Carlos Delgado, David Wright and Paul Lo Duca, which turned out to be their only runs of the game. The Phillies tied it up in the ninth thanks to Pat Burrell’s homerun, then won it in the tenth with three runs. The pitching matchup between Cole Hamels and John Maine was excellent, as both pitchers threw seven strong innings. However, it was the Mets’ bullpen that failed them in this contest. The Phillies are just five games back of New York now, closer than they’ve been most of the season. The Marlins have also been streaky lately and are 6.5 back themselves.

3. The League’s Worst Starting Rotation: Many teams around the league have pitching problems, but none of them even approach the crappiness of the Rangers’ starters. Everybody in their rotation has an ERA above 6.00. Robinson Tejada has been the `best’ with a 6.28 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. The others have struggled even more. Brandon McCarthy (6.35 ERA), Vicente Padilla (6.45), Kameron Loe (7.40), and Kevin Millwood (7.57) have all wasted an above-average offense and bullpen. Yesterday it was Loe who got shelled, with nine runs allowed in less than three innings to the Tigers. Detroit’s major-league leading offense feasted on Texas during their series, with 25 runs in three games. The Rangers are one of those teams that just needs to rebuild from the ground up.

Player of the Day: Rich Hill, Cubs: 8 innings, three hits, one run, 11 strikeouts in a win over the Braves.

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends: Amanda Beard on Letterman

The Amanda Beard publicity blitz is in full swing with her appearance on Letterman last night. I can’t tell whether it’s the quality of Youtube or she isn’t looking that great but… she isn’t looking that great. Flash Warner claims that it’s because “you can’t airbrush TV.” Ouch. Anyway, decide for yourself. She’s relatively funny and didn’t do anything to make us hate her or anything. Her publicist is probably angry at her for mentioning the boyfriend though. Men like their illusions.

In other news…

[India eNews]: Pretty soon the Tour de France won’t have any champions because of doping

[SA.com]: Spurs will give away free T-shirts to all fans at the game tonight. Wonder why no one has come up with this before.

[Sports By Brooks]: What’s the point of this Fast Cars and Superstars thing if they don’t race each other?

[Our Book of Scrap]: Danica Patrick And The “Real” Media Annoy Me

[The Vancouver Sun]: The Business of Don Cherry

Categories
NHL General

Wrapping up the Stanley Cup


I’m not even going to discuss this game, because it was never in doubt. Honestly, these Cup Finals were pretty much never in doubt – once Buffalo got eliminated, I thought it was pretty much over; the Sabres had the best chance of rolling with these Ducks.

Here’s two things of a broader societal sports trend nature I’d like to bring up:

1. Southern California is, indeed, hot right now: Consider some examples. USC football – sure, they lost to UCLA last year and doomed their national title shot, but hell, they’ve been the best team in college sports the past half-decade (with 1, maybe 2, national titles). The Angels won it all in 2002, and are arguably the best team in the AL right now. The Lakers won three straight titles, and are probably 1 legitimate point guard away from being able to get back to the Western Finals at least. The Dodgers might be a sleeper candidate for the World Series. And hell, even the Clippers have a bunch of talent. Oh – don’t forget about USC (O.J. Mayo!) and UCLA hoops, and UCLA football. And now, the Ducks. Pardon the pun, but that area’s Cup runneth over.

2. The NHL needs to intervene; You have to figure Buffalo is knocking on the door, i.e. they might finally win a Cup next year. Pittsburgh, with Crosby and Malkin, isn’t far off. Anaheim will stay good. Detroit always has dudes, and I have to guess Colorado will rebuild as well. What do all these teams have in common? They don’t play in Canada. The last north of the border team to raise Lord Stanley happened in 1992-1993, which was almost a decade and a half ago. Bettman needs to do something completely illegal, and move Crosby to the Canadiens on some “home draft” principle he creates out of thin air, just to keep this sport moving in the right direction. If the Canucks (the people, not the team) get turned off on hockey because they keep getting trounced on its grandest stage, well, the sport is utterly doomed. I mean, your last three champions are now from SoCal (beach), North Carolina (college hoops and tobacco), Tampa Bay (slutty co-eds mingling around huge pirate ships), and New Jersey (industrial waste). I see nothing about snow and French-speaking people in there, do I?

One positive from all this: Pronger, Selanne, and Giguere now will have their name etched on the trophy. They all deserve it. Pronger has probably been the best defenseman in hockey since Scott Stevens; Selanne has been around forever and done some amazing things with the puck at the end of his stick; and Giguere is probably the best goalie in hockey at this moment, all things considered. I’m happy for all them.

That concludes our Stanley Cup series over at Sportscolumn. Give me a visit or a shout anytime at A Price Above Bip Roberts. I’ll be back here from time to time, but be sure to visit. I get lonely, and that’s not a good thing.

Categories
New England Patriots

Someone is going directly to hell


Marquise Hill, the New England Patriots lineman who died in a jet ski accident last month was laid to rest on Saturday. On top of having to mourn her son, Hill’s mother Sherry came home from the funeral to find that $16,000 worth of stuff was stolen from her home. The burglars took a laptop and a television among other things.

Police haven’t made any arrests but they are working some leads. A New Orleans Police Department spokesman said that it might have been an opportunistic burglar who knew that everyone would be out of the house at the funeral. Once again, may we suggest a punishment of ferret legging when these criminals are caught.

By the way, check out this discussion thread on Snopes.com about the urban legend that there are burglars who read the obits and burglarize people while they’re at funerals.

Links:
[SI]: Hill’s mom robbed day of funeral

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Congratulations to Trevor Hoffman


1. The 500 Club: The 500 homerun club has twenty members (and counting), but the 500 save club just got its first member. Trevor Hoffman, one of the more underrated players in major league history, saved his 500th career game on Wednesday. Hoffman broke the career saves record last year, passing Lee Smith and his 478 saves. His mark compared with Smith’s is the statistical equivalent of 790 homeruns or 6000 strikeouts, but it of course is considered less prestigious and will receive very little attention after today. Hoffman closed out a 5-2 win over the Dodgers, which included a solid start by Greg Maddux as the Padres moved to 1.5 games ahead of Los Angeles. Next up for 500 saves is Mariano Rivera, who is 81 away but has played two fewer years than Hoffman.

2. The Cardinals are back: For the first time this season, the Cardinals are playing like a team that has won the division for three straight years. They’ve won six of their last seven games to move within five games of the once-dominant Brewers. On Wednesday the Cardinals topped the Brewers as Albert Pujols hit a key two-run homerun. Pujols has four homers and eight RBIs in his last eight games. Closer Jason Isringhausen, who sealed the deal for his 14th save of the year, is having a surprisingly good season. Isringhausen has a 1.50 ERA and 0.83 WHIP, unusually great numbers for the closer of a disappointing team. The Cardinals aren’t a playoff-caliber team, but they might make it to October if no one else in their division can.

3. Bat over mouth: Gary Sheffield’s racial comments have gone unpunished by the Tigers or the MLB. Maybe that’s because he’s one of the more dominant sluggers in the game, as he proved Wednesday with a great performance. Sheffield hit two homers to give him 15 on the year, and drove in five runs as the Tigers walloped the Rangers 10-0. It’s no wonder the team hasn’t done anything about his comments, which insulted both black and Latin players. Anyway, the Tigers’ win put them within 2.5 of Cleveland, who lost to Kansas City. Justin Verlander followed up a poor start last week with seven shutout innings and a win. Magglio Ordonez went 2-4 with an RBI and is now the AL leader in batting average in addition to RBIs. With .362 and 54 in those categories, Ordonez has been the best hitter in the majors by a mile.

Player of the Day: Chien-Ming Wang, Yankees: Complete game, five hits, one earned run in a 5-1 win over the White Sox. By the way, Roger Clemens will join Wang on the Yankees’ staff when he makes his debut this Saturday.

Categories
General Sports

June 6 2007 episode of Poor Man’s PTI

Welcome to another episode of Poor Man’s PTI.

You can download this week’s podcast directly (running time 70 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:

  • Cavaliers in the Finals
  • Billy Donovan and the Orlando Magic
  • Amanda Beard in Playboy
  • Tony Romo (Carrie Underwood vs Jessica Simpson)
  • Top 50 Paid Athletes in the US
  • Michelle Wie is useless
  • Gary Sheffield
  • NHL Ratings
  • OT: Women we love nominations

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
Olympics

Odds and Ends: London Olympics Logo NOT causing epileptic fits


OK folks, as much as we like ragging on the 2012 Olympics logo that looks like it was put together by a preschooler, we have to call bullshit on all the stories floating around that the logo itself is so ugly that it’s triggering epileptic fits. In actually, it was a bit of animation that went with the launch event. The animation was described as “a diver diving into a pool which had multi-colour ripple effects.”

The animation has since been taken down. Too bad it was probably as hideous as the Olympics logo and no one bothered to take a screen grab of it.

In other news…

[Denver Post]: Meet the “Long Beach Armada of Los Angeles of California of the United States of North America including Barrow, Alaska.”

[The Offside]: Come for the Blood Donation, Stay for the FREE BEER

[TrojanWire]: It’s official (sorta): The Oregon Ducks have the worst uniforms ever

[DeathRattleSports]: Billy Donovan is the new Doug Christie

[Washington Post]: Sheriff says Vick involved in dogfighting

Categories
NHL General

If the NHL Finals were a TV show…


No no, don’t worry, this isn’t one of those really tedious blog posts that attempt to make some connection between, say, the lineup of the Ducks to the cast of Growing Pains or anything. But if the NHL Finals were a TV show, it’d be the equivalent of “Emily’s Reasons Why Not”, that Heather Graham sitcom that was canceled after one episode. The bottom line is that the ratings for the NHL are horrendous.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals got a 1.1 rating, down 31 percent from last year’s final. It was NBC’s lowest ever rating for a prime-time program. (Although it was tied for last all-time with a rerun of West Wing…) There were probably more bored housewives and stoners watching a Ron Popeil informercial than there were sports fans tuned into a pivotal game 3 of a major sport’s championship.

Despite Jes Golbez over at NHL Fanhouse’s assertion that hockey fans don’t need the NHL to be like any other league, it doesn’t mean that the NHL can get away with terrible ratings like these. Call it a herd mentality if you want but watching hockey is a little more fun if more than just one of your friends is actually watching it.

I like hockey. I want to watch the NHL Finals. I even get hockey on HD. It just takes away from the enjoyment if there isn’t a “wow! did you see that game?” factor. And I actually like talking about sports with real people in real situations as opposed to just logging onto some message board. So if the lack of marquee value makes me a bad hockey fan, then so be it. But that also means there are a lot less “bad hockey fans” and the next thing you know, you “real hockey fans” will be forced to watch the NHL Finals on OLN, which nobody seems to be able to find.

Links:
[SI]: Turned off