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
General Sports

Nov 2 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 32 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:

  • NBA preview
  • Rutgers football
  • Local sportswriters on the national scene

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
New York Giants

Say it isn’t so Tiki!


Last week we said, “we kinda like Tiki Barber” — he walks away at the top of his game, calls Michael Irvin an idiot… And of course, what happens? A story comes out in the NY Post that he’s completely pussy whipped. Nice Tiki, real nice.


Tiki Barber’s wife was the catalyst behind the Giants star’s decision to hang up his helmet. A longtime friend of Barber says she made him afraid he’d suffer a catastrophic injury that would turn him into a lousy dad. The 205-pound running back is heading for the broadcasting booth at age 31 because Ginny Barber has been “nagging him for a long time – and with others present – that he’d better retire before he has a crippling injury,” Barber’s friend says. If that happened, Ginny told him, “he couldn’t participate in raising his children.

This story makes us sad. Like when rock stars have kids and start making shitty music.

Categories
NHL General

Crashing the Zamboni: A Star Is Born


1. Malkin: A Part of History
We said it a couple of days ago — but after another amazing game, it bears repeating again: This kid is good. Last night against the Los Angeles Kings, Evgeni Malkin became the first player in 89 years to score a goal in his first six games, beating Dan Cloutier with a pinpoint wrist shot. Three other NHL players accomplished this feat, but they did it all the way back in the inaugural 1917-’18 NHL season. Malkin is still less than halfway to the all-time record of first 14 games with a goal, but talk about finding your groove… Malkin is just tearing up the ice.

He was not content with just one goal, however. In overtime, he hit the twine for the seventh time to give the Penguins the 4-3 victory. It will be interesting to see if Evgeni can keep it up – if he can, the NHL will have something very, very good on its hands.

2. Bringing Him Back
Less than two weeks after giving him the boot as head coach, interim GM Paul Holmgren is welcoming Ken Hitchcock back to the Philadelphia Flyers. His role with the organization, however, will be quite different – he was hired this time to work as a pro scout instead of working behind the bench. Our thoughts? Hitchcock better be pretty darn good at scouting, because the Flyers need the best that they can get at this point. People within that franchise must firmly believe in Ken to bring him back aboard this mess so easily, which prompts the question – why would they have fired him in the first place? Keep him within the organization, and protect yourselves from all the drama of his firing. With all of the shenanigans, the only thing we truly know is this: the Flyers are not that good, and they need quite a miracle to help right the ship.

3. On Todd Bertuzzi
Florida’s veteran winger made some headlines this week, announcing that he’s considering surgery on his lower back. This isn’t the first time folks in Colorado have heard about Todd, because here, everyone believes that his back isn’t the only thing that needs fixing.

It seems nobody who is a fan of the Avalanche has decided to forgive Bertuzzi – in 2003, he put a blatant hit on Colorado’s Steve Moore, cracking his vertebrae and giving him a severe concussion. The check from behind was shown over and over here in the Rocky Mountain area, and was extremely hard to watch. Moore’s head hit the ice hard, and fell in an awkward position. What ensued was a long period of silence, as Moore lay motionless on the ice, simply unable to move. Bertuzzi was suspended for an extended period of time, but then reinstated at the beginning of the 2005 season. The common consensus here is that Bertuzzi should not be allowed to play for as long as Moore is out, which probably means that Todd’s career would be over. Moore has not been able to get back out on the ice, and is now a schoolteacher.

It is also interesting to note Todd Bertuzzi’s Wikipedia entry. For a guy who happens to be a really good hockey player, it is sad to see that this incident covers the entire page.

Check It Out
NBC Sports’ “The Bellowing Moose” investigates the recent effect of fights in the NHL.

Game of the Night: Vancouver at Minnesota
Wild: 7-0-0 at home this season.

The Last Shot
Nashville defeated Edmonton 5-3 Wednesday night, giving the Oilers their first home loss while notching their sixth straight road win.

Categories
NFL General

Nov 2 in Sports History: Useless NFL record trivia


In 1969: If you had to answer the trivia question, “Name the two quarterbacks who combined for an NFL record 12 touchdown passes in one day,” an easy guess would be something like Dan Marino and Jim Kelly in the old Miami-Buffalo shootouts, or John Elway vs. Dan Fouts, or even a Joe Namath-Johnny Unitas clash. Of course, you’d be way off. In a game at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, two unlikely gunslingers named Billy Kilmer of the Saints and Charley Johnson of the Cardinals put on an aerial display that would’ve made Broadway Joe himself blush with inadequacy and embarrassment (not that wearing pantyhose ever did). Each tossed six TD passes and threw for well over 300 yards in the Saints 51-42 victory. Of course, neither team could keep up the pace the rest of the season (or the century, for that matter), as the Cardinals finished 4-9-1 while the Saints didn’t have a winner until 1987.

In 1997: Chargers’ running back/kick returner tied his own NFL record when he ran back two punts for scores – including an 85-yarder – in a 38-31 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati. Metcalf also pulled the same trick in October of 1993 against the Pittsburgh Steelers while playing for the Cleveland Browns. Metcalf holds the NFL record with 10 career punt returns for touchdowns. Useless trivia to take into your weekend (we know it’s only Thursday, but hey, take a long one!): Metcalf was traded at the end of the season from San Diego to Arizona so the Chargers could move up one spot in the draft. Who did the Chargers end up jettisoning Metcalf for? Ryan Leaf. Ouch. (The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia).

Categories
NFL General

Hey… where’s Sean Salisbury?



I suck

We’re a little heavy on the ESPN news today but ProFootballTalk.com is reporting that Sean Salisbury was recently suspended for a week but is now back on the air. No one really noticed but the smug-terrible-ex-athlete quotient was down all last week owing to the absense of Salisbury.

Michael Irvin was suspended for a week last year for failing to tell ESPN about his arrest on chages of possession of drug paraphernalia but no one knows why Salisbury was suspended. Excessive smirking into the camera perhaps?

By the way, how is it possible that Salisbury didn’t make this list of Worst Sportscasters on TV?

Categories
Dallas Cowboys

Drew Bledsoe is really bitter


We actually thought the first clever(?) “Tony Homo” reference would be at a game at the Meadownlands or FedEx Field but it’s hit the internet first. Welcome to TonyHomo.com!


Sam Madison picks off my, otherwise flawless, pass, tip toes his way outta bounds. One foot in. Two feet in. Shit. Three feet in. Four. Okay stop showing off, dickface, I get it. Five Feet in. I wanna puke.

…So this is it. My first of many blog entries. I think it’ll keep me entertained and alive… I know I’ve got pretty much nothing else to live for. I hope you stick around.

Oh, and as for the name, TonyRomo.com was taken, so I just chose this one. Also, that faggot stole my starting job.

(Thanks to FlashWarner.com for the link.)

Categories
General Sports

Harold Reynolds wants at least $5M

The Smoking gun has a copy of the Connecticut lawsuit filed by Harold Reynolds against ESPN where he’s suing for breach of contract. According to Reynolds, he was never told why he was fired and in response to the allegations of sexual harassment, he claims that he gave a “brief hug” to the intern and she never expressed any discomfort and they even went to dinner at the classy Boston Market that evening.

Reynolds said that in March he signed a new six year contract with ESPN that paid him $1M per. “During negotiatons for any contract, ESPN raised no specific concerns about any past conduct or performance, and ESPN indicated no reservations whatsoever about Mr. Reynold’s continue employment with it.” Reynolds also claimed that ESPN did not adequately investigate the alleged misconduct and still has not given him a copy of his personnel file as required by CT law.

All this adds up to “at least $5 million, including interest and lost past and future earnings.” Ouch.

As one ESPN insider told us, interns can be related to pretty powerful people in the sports community, so we have to wonder who this intern was whose complaint will result in ESPN losing a decent baseball announcer and at least $5mil.

Links:
[The Smoking Gun]: Announcer Sues ESPN Over “Hug” Firing

Categories
NHL General

Crashing the Zamboni: Feeling at Home on the Road

[Editor’s Note: Welcome to “Crashing the Zamboni”, a daily blog by Eric Caterina. Eric will be covering the NHL this year for Sportscolumn.]


1. Road Ice Advantage?
After losing the first two road games of the season, the Nashville Predators are feeling comfortably at home while away from the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville. With their 3-2 win last night over the Vancouver Canucks, Nashville has now won five straight road games, and seven of their last eight overall. None of their road victories have been overly dominating performances; four out of those five wins came in one-goal nailbiters. So what is the key to the Predators’ road ice advantage? Tomas Vokoun. The goaltender from Czechoslovakia is in his eighth year with Nashville (his fourth as a full-time starter). Even though the offense on this road stretch wasn’t tremendous, Vokoun picked up four of the five victories, never letting the puck slip into the net any more than two times. He’s given them a chance to win, and they’ve done just enough to walk off the ice with a W. This stretch of games could help Nashville tremendously in the longrun — it looks to be a two horse race in the Central Division between the Preds and the Red Wings.

2. Sharks Edge Panthers
Christian Ehrhoff’s last-minute goal gave the Sharks a 2-1 victory over the Panthers last night in Florida. The Power Play tally kept San Jose from slipping to third in the Pacific Division — where it’s possible that the Sharks and Stars could be playing catch up to keep pace with Anaheim for the year. Ron Wilson’s club has arguably the best special teams in the league, with an NHL best 28% on the Power Play this season. San Jose’s win put them at 7-0-1 in their last eight against the Florida Panthers (who eventually could get into the thick of things in a packed Southeast Division). This kind of dominance is similar to what we’ve seen in the Toronto-Atlanta series, as posted yesterday on Crashing the Zamboni.

3. Grinding It Out
Pure passion is hard to find nowadays in professional sports, where money is tossed around like a rag doll and the only basis for your expectations is your contract. That’s why it was refreshing to find this story on Florida’s veteran journeyman, Gary Roberts. In reading, it’s clear that this man is actually enjoying his time in professional sports, taking on an attitude unlike so many other big-time athletes. While the T.O.’s of the world are relishing in front of cameras and signing new shoe deals, sports’ real heroes continue to work hard just to spend that extra day in a big league jersey. Kudos to Gary Roberts for grinding it out, staying under the radar, and still going out and performing every night–he could teach some of today’s athletes a thing or two, if only they were patient enough to watch and listen.

Check It Out
It was hard not to laugh at this ridiculous report that Alex Auld got hurt “horsing around”. Not sure what’s funnier: the story itself, of Ed Belfour’s lame excuses as to why it happened.

Game of the Night: Nashville at Edmonton
Oilers look to stay undefeated at Rexall Place; Nashville has won five straight on the road.

The Last Shot
Montreal’s Chris Higgins scored his third shorthanded goal of the season last night, taking the NHL lead in that category.

Categories
Arizona Diamondbacks

Nov 1 in Sports History: Groundhog Day for Byung-Hyun Kim



Bad case of deja-vu

In 2001: How would you feel if you gave up an improbable, game-tying, eventual series-tying, heart-wrenching, expletive-inducing homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning of a World Series game with millions watching? How would you feel if it happened again almost 24 hours to the minute? Ask Byung-Hyun Kim, who fell victim to the Yankees again in the bottom of the ninth of Game 5 in New York in almost exactly the same fashion as the night before. This time, third baseman Scott Brosius did the honors with the Yankees trailing 2-0 in their last at-bat. Kim’s blank stare was replayed just as much as Brosius’ amazed, arms-in-the-air celebration. Once again, the game went into extra innings and well past midnight (don’t they all nowadays?); and once again the Yankees won it, taking a 3-2 Series lead back to the desert.

In 1959: Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens became the first full-blown sissy-girl in the NHL. Ah, we kid, we kid here. Plante was actually the first smart goaltender in the NHL to regularly don a facemask for protection. After he was nearly decapitated by a shot from New York Rangers’ hall of famer Andy Bathgate, Plante returned to the Madison Square Garden ice with the plastic headgear amid taunts, jeers and the objections of his coach Toe Blake, who felt the mask impaired his vision. The Canadiens won that game 3-1 and 10 of their next 11, so the mask stayed. The Canadiens also later captured their fifth consecutive Stanley cup behind the girly goalie (we kid again…sort of). (espn.com/classic)

Categories
New York Knicks

We should be so lucky as to work for the Knicks



Genius

Do you want to make money for doing nothing? Would you like to sit at home all day and watch the cash rolling in? Then apply now to be part of the Knicks organization! It’s simple. Just convince Isiah Thomas and James Dolan that you have what it takes to be a Knickerbocker and then do a horrible job. They won’t simply fire you, they’ll pay you money to go away! Brilliant.

Today, the Knicks bought out Jalen Rose’s contract for $15M. Jalen Rose is such a waste of space that the Knicks would rather pay him $15M than have him in uniform this year for his $16.7M salary. We’re not sure what that says about the Knicks or Jalen Rose.

Meanwhile, David Stern also negotiated the settlement of Larry Brown’s contract. Remember Larry Brown? He was fired for doing a tremendously shitty job with $40M left on his contract. Instead of taking his firing as a defeat, Larry decided to ask for $52M. To paraphrase Nick Hornby, that’s like getting rejected by a girl attempting to reach second and trying for third base instead.

Part of the settlement required that neither side discuss the dollar amount but legal experts think LB will get over $30M. So there you have it folks, the Knicks probably paid at least $45M today to tell two people to stop working for them. Hey New York fans, how’s your cable bill these days?

Links:
[NY Daily News]: Larry, Knicks bury hatchet

[NY Daily News]: Rose: $15M to walk away
[Miami Herald]: Heat eyes Jalen Rose