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
Boxing

Trash talk that matters



Lost in translation:
Oscar, you have pretty eyes

How many times did Joey Porter tackle Jerramy Stevens in the Super Bowl? Yeah, I couldn’t find any either. All that trash talking was so ridiculous and manufactured that it would have been the biggest farce of the Super Bowl if the officials hadn’t stepped in and made sure they were the jokes. (Well, let’s not go down that road again before Seahawks fans get angry.)

The reason I bring it up is that boxing is about the only sport where you can actually back up your trash talking with meaningful hits. Ricardo Mayorga and Oscar De La Hoya got into it during a press conference.

Mayorga fired the first salvo:

This clown sitting here to my right has disrespected me. He keeps saying that he’s going to be fighting in September or October, like he’s fighting a nobody in May.

I’m the champion. You’ve got to recognize that. My strongest hand is my right hand. You see his eye? I’m going to detach his retina.

De La Hoya responded by calling him an old woman and telling Mayorga multiple times that he was going to knick him out.

I really wish this had happened during the Shani Davis – Chad Hedrick news conference. Or perhaps Johnny Weir and any other ice skater.

[AP]: De La Hoya, Mayorga trade verbal shots

Categories
NBA General

Team USA Basketball roster leaked

Here is the list of basketball players who were invited to join Team USA’s training camp over the summer.  The list isn’t supposed to be public until Sunday but ESPN already got the goods. This is probably the first good bit of investigative reporting that ESPN has done since 1996.

Carmelo Anthony, Denver Antawn Jamison, Washington
Gilbert Arenas, Washington Joe Johnson, Atlanta
Shane Battier, Memphis Rashard Lewis, Seattle
Chauncey Billups, Detroit Shawn Marion, Phoenix
Chris Bosh, Toronto Brad Miller, Sacramento
Bruce Bowen, San Antonio Chris Paul, NO/Okla. City
Elton Brand, L.A. Clippers Paul Pierce, Boston
Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers Michael Redd, Milwaukee
Dwight Howard, Orlando Luke Ridnour, Seattle
Josh Howard, Dallas Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix
LeBron James, Cleveland Dwyane Wade, Miami

Note the absence of Allen Iverson even though he stated he wanted to play for Team USA and that it would be an honor.  Considering that Iverson was the only pro who gave a damn at the last Olympics, this is a curious move by Jerry Colangelo.  I hope  someone has to back out and they ask Iverson to join so that he can tell them to shove it.

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends for Wed March 1 2006: environment of hostility

NBA refs think they have it tough and are complaining that they are being increasingly subjected to verbal abuse and even physical bumping. The executive director of the NBA Referees Association called it “an environment of hostility”. We might want to listen to him before NBA refs go nuts and start killing players and coaches.

[USA Today]: ‘Environment of hostility’ festering between NBA players, refs?

[WWE]: This is a joke right?

[Newsday]: NBC will make $60M to $70M in profit from Olympics

[Yay Sports]: Nike just doesn’t get this blogging stuff

Categories
San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds is an ugly woman



Maybe Corey Clark hit it

You won’t hear us say this often, but, kudos to Barry Bonds. After a cantankerous and alienating off-season, Barry decided to be one of the boys and participate in a rookie hazing event dressed as Paula Abdul.

That’s gotta be the ugliest woman I’ve ever seen. There are drag queens in San Francisco that couldn’t look this bad if they tried. And trust me, they try.

Now the cynical among you may say that Bonds is only doing it to promote his new reality show on ESPN. You might be right but “Giants Idol” might go a long way towards building chemistry. We’ll be on alert to whether there is indeed a “new Bonds”. Remember, TO convinced us he wasn’t a nutcase, and you know how that turned out.

[SFGate]:
“Idolic” Day at Giants camp: Bonds IS Paula Abdul

Categories
NFL General

Vince Young vs David Beckham: Who is dumber



I am smart. S-M-R-T. Smart!

Can someone please set up a celebrity Jeopardy match with Vince Young, David Beckham, and Miss Howard Stern? I’d absolutely pay to see this. The winner would have a score of -5000.

Everyone is beginning to agree that VY’s wonderlic test was, in fact, not scored incorrectly but the story was just a coverup by the NFL because of how piss poor Young’s score of 6 was. Think about it this way, if you just went down the list and checked off the same answer for all 50 questions, you would probably get at least 10 right. It wouldn’t surprise me if Vince Young was illiterate.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, David Beckham admits he can’t even do his 6 year old’s homework and that he has to let Posh spice do it.

I think it was maths, actually. It’s done totally differently to what I was teached when I was at school, and you know, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t do this’.

Because you know, in the last 25 years, they’ve changed the rules of mathematics according to Radiohead principles: 2+2 always = 5.

[Yahoo]: Beckham: I can’t do six-year-old son’s homework

Categories
Minnesota Timberwolves

Garnett fined .02% of his salary

I find it highly amusing that Garnett was even fined at all for tossing the ball into the stands. Five grand to KG is a rounding error in his checkbook.

Why aren’t they making more of an issue about the fact that the fans at the Target Center booed the fan that was hit in the head. Have you seen the replay of the toss? KG barely flicked it. Why did the guy need a gurney to go get medical attention? What the hell was that all about?

[Twincities.com]: Wolves star isn’t suspended for tossing ball into stands

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends for Tuesday Feb 28 2006: Knicks suck

The Knicks have clinched a 5th straight non-winning season. There’s something to be said for consistency. How does Isiah Thomas still have a job?

[Newsday]: Steve Francis can’t get to game on time

[Scotsman.com]: Golf course closed after mortar shell found in bunker

[Philly.com]: Iverson left of U.S. National team

[Philly.com]: Mike Schmidt would vote McGwire into HOF but would have to think harder about Palmeiro. Meanwhile, Stephen A Smith is preparing to play race card.

Categories
Soccer

Romanian Soccer player sold for meat

You thought trading Al Michaels for a cartoon character was weird. A team in Romania sold a player for 15 kilograms of meat. For those of you who are metrically impaired, that’s about 33 pounds of meat, not even enough to feed Gilbert Brown for one day.

The best part about the story is that one of the players on the team that sold the meat decided to leave the team to find work in Spain.


We are upset because we lost twice — firstly because we lost a good player and secondly because we lost our team’s food for a whole week.

I don’t even know what to say about this. The only way this story could get better is if the team plane crashed and they had to eat the player that was traded for the meat.

[ESPN]: Romanian player sold for a chunk of meat

Categories
NBA General

Manute Bol’s non-celebrity boxing match


Everyone’s favorite 7-foot-7 NBA player from Sudan was arrested along with his wife for disorderly conduct when they arrived at a police station to file complaints against each other. Bol and his wife had an argument that turned physical but no one was injured.

I’m not sure why you’d pick a fight with Manute Bol. He beat up the Fridge and he’s got arms like a praying mantis. I imagine that he’d devour you afterward.

[SI]: Bol arrested with wife after dispute

Categories
NFL General

Vince Young is a genius


OK, so Vince Young isn’t as dumb as it was initially reported. But really, is there a big difference between scoring a 6 and a 16 on the wonderlic? Here’s a sample Wonderlic test with a timer. Based on your sample score, you can project out what your 50 question test score would be.

I think something is fishy about Vince Young retaking the test and getting a 16 because the first one was incorrectly scored. I think even if the proctor used the wrong scoring sheet, he would’ve gotten high than a 6 just on pure random chance.

Next time a ballplayer makes a boneheaded play, just remember that most of them score “equivalent to unskilled worker” or “moron”. Here’s a breakdown of wonderlic scores by QBs in the past decade or so. Nice to know that Ryan Fitzpatrick scored a perfect 50.