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
Cleveland Cavaliers

It’s not easy being the King


It must be tough being LeBron James — Donyell Marshall misses a wide open shot to win the game and you’re the one who catches all the heat. But this post isn’t about basketball, it’s about some petition he refused to sign condemning genocide in Darfur.

Cavalier Ira Newble drafted an open letter to the Chinese government condemning the genocide in Darfur which was signed by all the Cavaliers except for LBJ and Damon Jones. LeBron James said he didn’t have enough information to take a stand. (Nobody cares what Damon Jones thinks.) Imagine that, a basketball player who never went to college admitting he doesn’t have enough information and therefore declining to sign something. Seems the logical thing to do doesn’t it? If you can’t even pick out Darfur on a map, how can you sign something condemning genocide in the country? state? province? island?

What’s interesting is that the author of this column is calling James out because he has a shoe contract with Nike and Nike has a huge interest in China. What’s not mentioned is that Damon Jones actually has a shoe contract with Li-Ning, a Chinese company. But again, no one cares about Damon Jones. We’re so sick of athletes and celebrities adopting a cause-o-the-day that it’s actually refreshing that LBJ declined to jump on board. Sure, his reasons might be monetary, but that doesn’t mean he has any obligation to attach his name to something he doesn’t feel strong or know enough about.

Categories
St. Louis Cardinals

Josh Hancock’s father might try to sue God next


Dean Hancock, the father of Josh Hancock, the St. Louis pitcher who was killed in a traffic accident last month, really needs to blame somebody for the death of his son. He is suing the restaurant that served his son alcohol which certainly has legal precedence.

But here’s the kick in the crotch — he is also suing the man whose Geo Prism stalled and the tow truck driver who stopped to help the Prism. Damn that Prism owner for not being rich enough to afford a reliable car… say like a top of the line SUV. And damn that tow truck driver for actually trying to help someone.

Now, we don’t want to desecrate the memory of the dead but Josh Hancock was drunk, speeding, wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and was talking on his cell phone at the time of his fatal accident. Is this really anyone’s fault but Josh’s? Or Perhaps Dean Hancock did such a shitty job of raising his son that he needs to blame people for his own failures?

Everyone felt bad about Josh Hancock’s death. And even when the facts of his accident came out, most people just swept it under the rug and paid their respects. But now Dean Hancock is using up whatever ounce of goodwill was left in community by being a complete asshat. Way to honor the memory of your son, pops.

Links:
[SI]: Hancock’s father files suit

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Smoltz gets his 200th win


1. Bicentennial Man: Future Hall of Famer John Smoltz, pitching against former teammate Tom Glavine, passed an important milestone on Thursday. He pitched nearly flawlessly to lock up win number 200 on his career. Smoltz also became the first player in major league history to record 200 wins and 150 saves. His 7-inning, no-walk performance improved his record to 7-2 on the year with a 2.58 ERA. He’s first in the National League in wins. Glavine pitched well too, with two runs in six innings, but it wasn’t enough as the Braves won 2-1. Glavine is five wins shy of a much bigger milestone: 300. With the way he’s pitching this year (3.39 ERA), he’ll reach that easily. But the focus was on Smoltz, who hasn’t allowed a run in either of his last two starts. With the win the Braves won their third straight series against the Mets this year, and they’re 1.5 games back now of New York.

2. First-place rout: The Tigers and Angels is a matchup of two first place teams, but only one of them looked playoff-caliber on Thursday. The Tigers won in a 12-0 rout, with great offensive and pitching performances. Jeremy Bonderman came off the DL and threw 8 scoreless innings. Carlos Guillen hit two homers and five RBIs. Magglio Ordonez went 4-4 with three RBIs to bring his league-leading total to 45. Gary Sheffield also got in on the action with his 9th homer and three runs. Ervin Santana was the main victim for the Angels, as he allowed 8 runs and his ERA ballooned to 6.00. The Tigers still only lead the Indians by a half-game, while the Angels have a comfortable four game lead over Oakland.

3. Baseball game with a football score: 13-12 sounds more like the score of a Bucs-Seahawks game than a Devil Rays-Mariners contest. But Tampa and Seattle combined for the most runs in the majors this season in a crazy game. Devil Rays pitcher Jae Seo got the win despite allowing 7 runs and 13 hits. The Mariners piled on 18 total hits, with four players collecting more than three hits. But it wasn’t enough as Tampa has 7 players with an RBI and 8 score a run. Seattle reliever Sean White gave up an incredible 7 runs in 0.2 innings.

Player of the Day: Carlos Guillen, Tigers: 2-3, 2 homers, 5 RBIs in a 12-0 rout of the Angels. Guillen continues to be one of the more underrated players in baseball with a .327 average and 35 RBIs on the year.

Categories
NFL General

Odds and Ends: Will Keyshawn be any good?



Am I an asshole?

By now, you’ve heard that Keyshawn has decided to retire and join ESPN. Now, my first reaction to this is that it’s another example of ESPN just going completely down the toilet. However, if you look at Michael Irvin’s work, he wasn’t all that bad. And Keyshawn is basically just another version of Michael Irvin.

I feel like Michael Irvin really did have some decent insight into the game of football (certainly more than that Chris Berman asshole) but he simply wasn’t articulate enough to express his opinions and he also had the habit of trying to be funny by saying the stupidest. So while ESPN’s NFL coverage is all but unwatchable, having Keyshawn on the show isn’t going to make it any worse. Thank God we have the NFL on FOX.

In other news…

[buzzfeed]: Six fans who gave shout outs to their team on death row

[UPI]: Blind golfer seen reading scorecard

[DC Pro Sports Report]: 2007 Mock NBA Draft

[Bloody Long Odds]: Odds for 2010 World Cup already released

[MSNBC]: Rosenhaus supports Clinton Portis

[SI]: Ex Montana St player leader of drug ring

[Houston Chronicle]: 2011 Super Bowl could set ticket sales record at $93 million

[Seattle PI]: Jones soda pulls off Seahawks upset

[IHT]: Japanese red socks have become symbol for Red Sox

And finally, stay away from the salad at the Wheaton North High School

Categories
Detroit Red Wings

In his hallucination, the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup

We’re not sure how we’ve missed this until now but it seems everyone else has seen it. In case you haven’t here’s a 911 call from a cop who claims his wife stole marijuana from his police car and tricked him into eating pot brownies. Highlights of the call include: “I think we’re dead,” “time is going by really really really really slow,” and at the 4:50 mark, “what’s the score in the Red Wings game?”

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!

Links:
[Detroit Free Press]: Dearborn lets cop quit without a drug charge in marijuana brownie ca

Categories
All Other Sports

Ferret legging: the worst idea for a sport since the WNBA



Exactly what you want near your boys

We first stumbled upon this story on wikipedia and thought it was some sort of hoax entry. But it turns out “ferret legging” is a real but obscure sport from England. In his book “The King of Ferret Leggers and Other True Stories”, Donald Katz chronicles the sport and profiles the 72-year-old champion of ferrett legging.


Basically, the contest involves the tying of a competitor’s trousers at the ankles and the subsequent insertion into those trousers of a couple of peculiarly vicious fur-coated, footlong carnivores called ferrets. The brave contestant’s belt is then pulled tight, and he proceeds to stand there in front of the judges as long as he can, while animals with claws like hypodermic needles and teeth like number 16 carpet tacks try their damnedest to get out.

Yes, this is as horrible as it sounds. And the contestants don’t wear any protective cups, which means it’s just completely insane.

Links:
[Random House]: The King of the Ferret Leggers and Other True Stories

Categories
All Other Sports

Another sport for the Redneck Games: bowfishing

These guys are definitely not the catch and release type but they actually have invented a sport that’s rather clever. You have jumping carp, and bow and arrows — why not shoot them? We’re ashamed to admit it but it looks like a lot of fun. We’re rather surprised though that these guys were smart enough to attach fishing line to the arrows instead of just wasting each one. The twilight effect with the glowing arrows is especially cool.

You know it’s just a matter of time before a local newspaper reports on a fisherman with an arrow through his ass though.

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Ice cold brews here!


1. The Slumping Central: Every NL Central team has a losing record in their last ten games, including ice-cold Milwaukee. The Brewers, who have lost 9 of their last 13 games, fell 5-1 to the Dodgers on Wednesday. Brad Penny shut them out in seven innings to improve to 6-1, while Chris Capuano struggled again for the Brewers. Also, the Astros got swept by the Giants in a series that could have been a great chance to catch up to the Brewers. The Cubs, who were nearly above .500 last week, have dropped three straight and remain in third place. As for the other teams…they’ve been in a slump all year, and nothing has changed.

2. Perez beats the Braves–again: If Oliver Perez pitched against the Braves every start, he’d be unstoppable. In three starts against the Braves this season, Perez is 3-0 with only three runs allowed. Amazingly, he has accounted for all of the Mets’ victories against the Braves this season. Perez pitched seven shutout innings on Wednesday as the Mets won 3-0. David Wright homered for the fourth time in four games. The Braves won their third straight series against the Mets this year, but New York retained their division lead.

3. The Yankees Strike Back: Boston crushed the Yankees in their first two series this season, but New York just took two of three from them at Yankee Stadium. They won 8-3 to finish the series, as Andy Pettitte pitched a gem and Curt Schilling was chased after six innings. Schilling allowed 12 hits and 6 runs in what was easily his worst start of the season. Pettitte, meanwhile, went 7 innings for the fourth start in a row and gave up just one run. Surprisingly, he is now fifth in the AL in ERA with 2.66. In a starting rotation that has seen injuries, numerous rookies, and inconsistency, Pettitte is definitely the strongest link. Roger Clemens will join the rotation sometime next week, though his second minor league start was far from ideal.

Player of the Day: Magglio Ordonez, Tigers: 2 HR, 2 RBIs in an 8-7 win over the Angels for the AL MVP candidate. Ordonez has 12 homers, 42 RBIs, and leads the league in slugging and OPS.

Categories
General Sports

May 23 2007 episode of Poor Man’s PTI

Welcome to another episode of Poor Man’s PTI. We’re back to our live format this week with lots to talk about.

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:

  • lots of NBA Draft lottery talk
  • Clinton Portis defends Michael Vick
  • NHL vs the Preakness
  • Jason Giambi
  • Beyond the Glory: Sex and Sports

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
Chicago White Sox

Odds and Ends: White Sox World Series Ring goes for $28k


It’s kind of sad when someone has to sell their World Series ring but hey, thanks to ebay, you can get $28,100 for a ring appraised at $7,950. The ring was put on sale by Tommy Thompson, the catchers coach from the 2005 team. It’s interesting that a Red Sox 2004 World Series ring went for $35,000 last week while a Florida Marlins 1997 World Series ring is unsold at $9,999 with two hours left in the auction. Talk about an indication of the loyalty and passion of the respective fan bases.

In other news…

[USA Today]: Hank Aaron sticks to his “screw Bonds” plans

[Sportsline]: Redskins have to apologize for Portis’ dog fighting is ok comments.

[Yahoo]: Golfer drives his car off a cliff and dies. Seriously.

[SI]: backup LSU QB suspended for trying to sneak into a casino with fake ID.

[Lion in Oil]: Ooops, I accidentally pulled down my shirt to expose more cleavage while pouring a beer on myself.

[Deseret News]: Football, wrestling top sports-injury list

[Parlayer]: VIDEO: Why Sports Reporters Should Carry Breathalizers At All Times

[Our Book of Scrap]: Rays rookie threatens to kill wife

[The Hater Nation]: Raiders Dedicate Season to the Executed