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
LA Lakers

Odds and Ends: Isiah Thomas to offer next 10 first round picks for Kobe


Now that Kobe Bryant has officially asked to be traded from the Lakers, the multi-million dollar question is: where to? It’s fairly amusing the fan reaction to the Kobe demand. On on hand, you have Bright Side of the Sun which basically says no way. On the other, you have Kickerblogger.net which is trying to figure out how many players they’d need to ship to LA to even out Kobe’s value/salary. And then you have The 700 Level which is asking whether Philly fans want the prodigal son to return.

Nowitzki for Kobe seems to be the most logical trade. You get superstar for superstar and you could move some minor pieces to make the contracts work out. The only problem is that Mark Cuban is hopelessly in love with Dirk. Kobe just made the pre-draft period 100x more interesting.

In other news…

[Enquirer]: Odds on when Barry will hit 756*…

[Sac Bee]: But when he does, Barry Bonds might not give any memorabilia to the hall of fame. No wonder why everyone hates him.

[Sports By Brooks]: Getting knocked out and practically ruining UFC didn’t stop Chuck Liddell from partying

[AdFreak]: Is ballpark advertising still effective if an outfielder is lying unconscious in front of it?

[Our Book of Scrap]: You can party in Cozumel with the Broncos cheerleaders

Categories
NFL General

Get ready for the USFL XFL UFL!


Bill Hambrecth, a Wall Street tycoon, has decided to start a rival football league and he’s planning on doing it by as early as August of 2008. So far, Hambrecth and his partner, Tim Armstrong from Google, have pledged $2M each. They’ve also signed up Mark Cuban is the first owner in the league.

This isn’t the first time that Hambrecht has jumped into the ring against the NFL. In the 80s, he was a minority owner in the Oakland Invaders, part of the USFL debacle, but he has learned his lesson from that failure.

The UFL plans to target the cities that have huge markets but no NFL presence such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Mexico City. Each franchise will require a $30M investment from the owner for 1/2 stake. The League will own the other half. Eventually, the fans will be able to buy shares and own 1/3 of the team. The end result will be an equal share of ownership between owner, league, and fan base.

The league has pretty good plans on how it will approach a television contract, but most importantly, they have a plan on how to make the level of play somewhat respectable:


Bill Walsh used to tell me that the last 20 players cut from every team were almost interchangeable with the last 20 players to make the team,” Hambrecht says. The new league will hire the best of those last 20 players — along with the best of the Arena players, the Canadian Football League players and so on. Though the U.F.L. will have a salary cap, it will be able to pay those players more than they are making now.

Who knows whether the UFL will play a single snap but it sounds like they have their thinking together and this isn’t just some gimmicky WWF meets NBC desperation for Football league. Getting Mark Cuban on board is key. He is the ultimate self promoter and his involvement makes this venture much more likely to succeed. While we love the NFL and think they can do no wrong, a competitor would only do the fans good.

Links:
[NY times]: First and Long — Very Long

Categories
NHL General

Closing the books on the Rick Tocchet gambling ring


A year ago, the Rick Tocchet as head of a gambling ring based in NJ story was huge news, mainly because the Olympics were coming up and hockey is one of the premiere sports in the Winter Olympics. But since then, the molasses that is our legal system (despite what you see on Law and Order) has basically swept the whole story under the carpter.

Not suprisingly, when the news came out over the long memorial day weekend that Tocchet came to a plea bargain in the case, not much was made of it. But, in the interest of wrapping up the case we’ve been following for a year, here’s the final chapter in the Rich Tocchet case.

Tocchet pleaded guilty to promoting gambling and conspiracy to promote gambling. It’s a minor offense that may result in him not having to serve any jail time at all. However, there is no word on whether he will be reinstated into the NHL until the league completes its own investigation. Tocchet helped his cause by emphasizing in his court appearance that he had never bet on hockey.

Links:
[6abc]: Tocchet Pleads Guilty in Gambling Ring Case

Categories
New York Yankees

A-Rod might need a good divorce lawyer


We love that the Yankees have lost 5 in a row, are tied with the Devil Rays for last place and are 14.5 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East yet the biggest story for the NY Post is that A-Rod was caught tooling around Toronto with some busty blonde.

According to the Post, A-Rod was spotted dining with the blonde and two men at a steakhouse. The foursome then proceeded to the Brass Rail, a strip club. After their strip club venture, the couple ditched the two men and went back to the Four Seasons, where, we assume A-Rod upped his stats for the day to 1-for-4.

Now, there are two ways to look at this: either A-Rod is a goddamn idiot or this is a genius move by both A-Rod and the Yankees. If everyone in NY is talking about the tail that A-Rod picked up in Toronto, perhaps no one is talking about the absolute travesty that is the Yankees 2007 season. On top of that, he gets the side benefit of squashing those Gay-Rod rumors. You might have a wife and be gay but you don’t go out and appear to cheat on her with a hot blonde. We suspect that this might have been cooked up with Cashman and the Yankees PR staff — but then again, we are partial to conspiracy theories.

Links:
[NY Post]: HE’S A YANKEE DOODLE RANDY

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Josh Beckett cannot lose


1. Still Undefeated: It appears a trip to the DL didn’t affect Josh Beckett. The ace came back as good as ever in a 4-2 win over Cleveland. Beckett threw seven innings, allowing three hits and two runs. He improved to 8-0 on the year, and is one of only three remaining undefeated starters (Jeremy Bonderman and James Shields are the other two). As the Red Sox won their fifth straight game, the Yankees lost their fifth in a row. Boston’s 14.5 game division lead appears now to be insurmountable.

2. Home Sweet Home: Ervin Santana of the Angels has been one of the most puzzling pitchers in the majors this season. At home, he is the ace many expect him to be, with a 4-1 record and 2.12 ERA. But on the road, he has been horrendous: 0-5 with a 9.30 ERA. Thankfully for the Angels, Santana was pitching at home on Tuesday, and he dominated as expected. With seven innings and one run allowed, he allowed the Angels to win easily 4-1. The division-leading Angels might want to consider something unusual to address their problem with Santana: bench him on the road. They have enough starters to make this work.

3. Dominant Delgado: Carlos Delgado was awful in April, with a .188 average and just one homer. But recently, he’s showed signs that he will return to his power-hitting form. After two homers and five RBIs on Saturday, Delgado was even better on Monday. He almost single-handedly beat the Giants, with a two-run shot in the fourth inning and a walk-off solo homer in the 12th. In his last seven games, Delgado has raised his average forty points in addition to the power surge. This game was a pitcher’s duel for a while, with Tim Lincecum and Oliver Perez each throwing seven innings, striking out eight, and allowing three runs. Closer Armando Benitez allowed the winning runs, giving him a loss in two straight appearances. The Mets have won four in a row to extend their lead to a season-high five games over Atlanta.

Player of the Day: Gary Sheffield, Tigers: 3-6, 2 homers (12), 5 RBIs in a 14-2 win over the Devil Rays. The Tigers out-hit the D-Rays 22-4 as all eleven players with a plate appearance got a hit. Sheffield has 5 homers in his last 10 games.

Walk Off: Justin Morneau received much criticism and appeared on many worst-ever MVP lists after winning the award last year. This year, he’s proved he was worthy and is one of a few majors candidates for the MVP right now. Morneau has played in all the Twins’ games and has 16 homers and 43 RBIs. He’s on pace for numbers that would surpass his 2006 season in nearly every category. In games that Morneau has homered in, the Twins are 9-3, which shows how valuable he is to their lineup. As of now, my AL MVP leaders look like this:

1) Magglio Ordonez, Tigers
2) Vladimir Guerrero, Angels
3) Morneau, Twins
4) David Ortiz, Red Sox
5) Alex Rodriguez, Yankees

Categories
Washington Wizards

Odds and Ends: Hey, is that Caron Butler at your birthday party?


From DC Sports Bog comes a story of how Caron Butler had nothing better to do so he showed up at some kid’s suprise birthday party.


[Caron] said everyone in the community has been “real courteous and very kind” to him, and that local fans have supported him since he’s been here, and that he just thought he should reciprocate.

“I thought it was a good thing to do, to make someone’s dream come true. It was just as rewarding for me as it was for him.

In other news…

[NBA.com]: Villanova star Howard Proter dies at 58

[Star Bulletin]: Listen, if your last name is Kim, please don’t name your daughter Kim. Kim Kim is a stupid name.

[Star Telegram]: Keyshawn says Tony Romo is the most overhyped player in the NFL

[Sportsline]: Utah fans show some real class by throwing stuff on the court

[Dallas News]: Dirk for Kobe?

[Sac Bee]: Can the Raiders and Niners share new stadium?

[10,000 Takes]: Contextual advertising isn’t all its cracked up to be

[Our Book of Scrap]: Who the hell would want to buy a used cigarette from Jack Lambert?

Categories
All Other Sports

Catching a wheel of cheese is tougher than it sounds

Of all the ridiculous things that happened over this Memorial Day weekend, the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake was perhaps the weirdest. The tradition of racing down a hill after a Double Gloucester cheese seems to date back as far as 200 years ago. While nobody ever catches up to the cheese, the person who crosses the finish line first… gets the cheese.

Of course, the whole purposes of the event is not to win the cheese but to watch a bunch of people falling down a hill. The event attracted about 3,000 people, mostly spectators, but dozens still ran/rolled down after the cheese.

Links:

[BBC]: Cheese-rolling race winners’ joy

Categories
NHL General

2007 Stanley Cup Finals Game 1 Review


Ducks 3, Senators 2
In many respects, the key to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals is probably going to be Anaheim’s checking line. See, if and when they match up with Ottawa’s first line – easily the best line in this entire series, with no disrespect to Anaheim intended – they need to hold their own against the Alfredsson, Heatley, Spezza dynamic, because those boys can go off at any time.

It was interesting, then, that Anaheim’s checking line did play a key role in Game 1, but not – ahem – for checking. Rather, Travis Moen of that line scored the game-winner to help the Ducks hold home-ice advantage after a hot Senators start (they scored maybe 1 minute into the game, immediately followed by a Versus interview of Cuba Gooding Jr in the stands, a guy who knows way more about hockey than you might assume).

Moen’s Wikipedia page makes a big deal for no apparent reason (read: the editor is from Calgary) over the fact that he was drafted by the Flames, but never played for them. The Flames can’t be happy. Maybe if they had Moen in ’04, they woulda been able to win one of those close games in the Finals against the Lightning, and the Red Mile would still be celebrating.

For now, though, “Quack Attack” or whatever the bars in Anaheim call themselves when people get sloppy and celebrate the Ducks, is rolling. Game 2 could be more of the same: if Giguere stays his sharp self, Pronger and Niedermayer get even more uncorked and just go around nailing people, and Ray Emery has a couple of mental mis-steps on the Canadian side, well… it could be 2-0 series wise pretty quickly. The last time a team from north of Michigan hoisted the Lord’s goblet was 1992 and the Montreal Canadiens. C’mon, Ottawa. Get after this. (Also, since the NBA playoffs have been yawn-inducing, we need this puppy to go 7, and then 3OT).

[Ted Bauer will be covering the NHL playoffs for us this year. You can find more of Ted’s work at A Price Above Bip Roberts.]

Categories
Atlanta Falcons

Michael Vick dog fighting update


Things are not looking up after the memorial day weekend for Michael Vick. ESPN’s Outside the Lines found an informant that basically put Vick as the big whale of dog fighting. Now, we must remind you that informants often lie for their own reasons and that ESPN sucks, but nevertheless, here’s what the source had to say about Michael Vick’s involvement in the dog fighting community:


He’s a pit bull fighter. He’s one of the ones that they call ‘the big boys’: that’s who bets a large dollar. And they have the money to bet large money. As I’m talking about large money — $30,000 to $40,000 — even higher. He’s one of the heavyweights.

The source went on to tell the story of how one of his dogs faced off with one of Vick’s dogs while Vick was in attendance and betting a ton of money on his own dog. Now, as we said earlier, we always question these ‘sit behind a screen with a disguised voice’ types but this guy is completely twisted and might want to out Vick because he thinks it’ll actually help make dog fighting more mainstream.


They shouldn’t be really upset, OK? Because it’s only just an animal. It’s just a dog that is raised up. He’s put out there, you know, and he’s chained up, OK. And the time he gets a certain age, this dog is going to want to fight. It is bred in him, OK? He knows what he is and he’s going to fight. Just take him off the leash, let him go.

Is there anyone with a sense of justice that doesn’t think this guy should be set loose in a cage full of angry dogs? Or perhaps get ferret legged? We’ll keep you updated on this story but it looks more and more like Michael Vick will disgrace himself and the league. The question is, is Vick enough of a star so that the league covers up this scandal?

Oh by the way, ESPN wants to relay their absolute horror regarding dog fighting by posting a video of dog fighting. Of course.

Links:

[ESPN]: Source: Vick ‘one of the heavyweights’ in dog fighting

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Brewers exposed!


1. From Hot to Cold: The Brewers got off to a 24-10 start by beating teams within their terrible division, the NL Central. Since they started playing teams with winning records, the Brewers have slipped to a 4-13 mark. On Monday the Braves beat them in Milwaukee 2-1. Andruw Jones homered for his second straight game, while Chuck James pitched well for the win. James struck out 8 and gave up one run in six innings. The only run he allowed was a Prince Fielder solo homerun. Fielder now ranks first in the NL in homeruns with 16 on the year. But that was the only positive for the Brewers offense, which wasted a great start by Chris Capuano in the loss. After the series with Atlanta is finished, the Brewers will face Florida and Chicago at home before starting three straight Interleague road series.

2. No Chance for a Comeback: It doesn’t matter when Roger Clemens is coming back. The New York Yankees are officially out of the AL East divisional race. New York has dropped four games in a row, and they’re currently tied with the Devil Rays for last place. They lost on Monday to the Blue Jays, even though Toronto’s pitcher came into the game with an 0-2 record and a 7.17 ERA. Dustin McGowan pitched a 7-plus inning gem, surrendering just two runs and five hits while striking out seven. Meanwhile, Yankees rookie Matt DeSalvo was ousted in the fifth inning, and the bullpen broke down as well in the 7-2 loss. The Yankees are 13.5 games back of the league’s best team, the 35-15 Boston Red Sox. The Sox have cruised to four victories in a row and have allowed the fewest runs in the American League.

3. No Chance for a Repeat: Even though they play in a terrible division, the St. Louis Cardinals’ season is likely over. The 2006 World Series Champions have scored the fewest runs in the majors, and their starting pitchers have a combined 12-25 record. After losing again on Monday, Kip Wells (2-9) now has the most losses of any pitcher in the majors. Wells, who has a 6.20 ERA and is on pace for 29 losses, gave up six runs and 11 hits to the Rockies. Colorado’s Jeff Francis held the Cardinals scoreless through seven innings in the 6-2 win. The Cardinals swept the Pirates last week, but they lost a series to the Nationals over the weekend and are in fifth place at 20-28. The Rockies are still in last, but they have won 6 in a row.

Player of the Day: Kyle Lohse, Reds: Complete game shutout, no walks in a 4-0 win over Pittsburgh.