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
Orlando Magic

Now why would you call Mutombo a monkey?


The NBA season starts with two games tonight but Orlando Magic fans have already jumped out to an early lead in the “obnoxious/racist fan” standings. A Magic season-ticket holder named Hooman Hamzehloui has been banned from every NBA arena this season because he called Mutombo a monkey. By all accounts, Mutombo is a good guy who builds hospitals in his homeland and happily mangles sayings like “it’s no walk in the cake”, so why would you mess with him?

Hamzehloui sent Mutombo a letter of apology and promised $5,000 to the charity of Mutombo’s choice.


I am by no means a racist, and if you only knew me better you would never begin to have those thoughts. What I am guilty of is poor judgment in the use of words while doing what I do to many of the visiting team’s players, ‘heckle them.’

I thoroughly respect you as a player and as a human being and my only motivation when I have my fun at the games is to ‘get under the player’s skin’ no matter what color that skin happens to be.

Hamzehloui also said he would not attend any NBA games until Mutombo gave his blessing. Uhh… jackass, you’re not allowed to attend any NBA games this season anyway. Mutombo, for his part, said he has already forgiven the man. He also added, “C is for Cookie!”

Links:
[SI]: Magic fan banned for racial slur

Categories
NHL General

Crashing the Zamboni: Malkin is as good as promised


1. Malkin Rockin’
Lots of hype has surrounded rookie phenom Evgeni Malkin’s debut in the NHL, and — through five games, at least — he’s lived up to it quite nicely. The 20-year-old Russian was the second pick of the 2004 NHL Draft, behind only Alexander Ovechkin. The center has hit the twine in every game he’s played thus far, making him the first player in 14 years to score a goal in each of his first 5 games. His +7 rating ties him for tops on the Pens, with teammates Sidney Crosby and Colby Armstrong. It doesn’t take long to realize just how good this guy is when watching him on the tube. He is superb on the skates, twirling around the ice, always near the action. The kid can shoot as well, with quick, accurate bids that ring off the post if they don’t hit the net. Having played just over half of the Penguins’ games, he’s already the rookie leader in goals. Simply put, Evgeni a goalie’s nightmare. Malkin is an extremely well-rounded athlete that looks to be following in the footsteps of the kid he followed in draft. If early indications count for anything, Pittsburgh has a gem on their hands.

2. Atlanta Thrashed by Leafs
Last night at the Air Canada Centre, the Maple Leafs wiped the ice with the Thrashers yet again. After the 4-2 victory, which happens to be the eighth in a row for Toronto in this series, it has become safe to say that the Leafs have Atlanta’s number. You have to date back over three years– all the way to October 27th, 2003–to find the Thrashers’ last victory against Toronto. In that three year span, the boys from Canada have outscored Atlanta 37-9. It is tough to say why the Leafs have been so dominant in the series, seeing that Atlanta is a pretty tough team to beat nowadays. The only thing that is for certain about last night’s game: it was over by the end of the first. Within a stretch of 1:26 in the first period, Toronto had netted three goals. That was all she wrote for the Thrashers, who are left to continue scratching their heads over how to solve the puzzle that is Toronto.

3. Numbering the Greats
Check out this interesting article from Brian Cazeneuve of SI.com. He listed the best players all-time by their numbers, starting from double zero and going all the way to 99 (take a wild guess). It is truly an amazing list–full of recognizable names past and present–but it does leave room for argument…

Check It Out
Winging It: Off Wing Opinion’s Eric Mcerlain talks with the director of hockey operations for the Wild, and gives his thoughts on the Sabres’ hot start.

Game of the Night: Nashville at Vancouver
Preds looking for fifth straight road win.

The Last Shot
In Arizona: a job search website, Jobing.com, just acquired the naming rights to the Glendale Arena. We think somebody was trying to send a message to Wayne Gretzky…

Categories
New York Yankees

Oct 31 in Sports History: Byung-Hyun Kim Part I


In 2001: The Yankees gave a still-grieving New York something to cheer about in Game 4 of the World Series. Trailing in the series two games to one and 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, Tino Martinez forced extra innings with a two-run shot off Arizona Diamondbacks’ reliever Byung-Hyun Kim. The game went beyond midnight and beyond October, where Derek Jeter’s solo homerun in the bottom of the 11th inning tied the series for the Yanks and earned him the nickname “Mr. November.” If New York, Arizona and the rest of the country who bothered to stay up that late thought they saw an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime comeback, they had no idea what was in store the following night.
(…to be continued)

In 1988: The Hoosier Dome hosted the first-ever Monday Night game in Indianapolis between the Colts and the Broncos. In a strange, Halloween-charged atmosphere, the Colts raced out to a 45-10 halftime en route to a Monday Night record 55 points in the 55-23 victory. Eric Dickerson ran for 159 yards and tied another Monday Night record with four touchdowns while John Elway and the defending AFC champion Broncos turned the ball over six times.

Categories
Soccer

Odds and Ends: Soccer stories

We have a couple of soccer stories for Odds and Ends today. The first is a story of a Bulgarian club that is ordering one of its players to get married so that it will curtail his wild living. Ivelin Popov parties too much and has too many girlfriends so the team has ordered him to get married. This has got reality TV show written all over it.

Second (via The Offside) comes this video of a fan who pants an assistant referee during a game. Ed Hochuli would’ve kicked his ass.

In other news…

[Live Science]: Key to hockey goalie success is… watching the puck

[SI]: Second dancer in Duke rape case says the accuser was “talking crazy”.

[Mirror UK]: BERBICK: A TRAGEDY WAITING TO HAPPEN

[Boston Herald]: Cardinals are the worst World Series champs in history

[10,000 Takes]: They really should be in the Castro for Halloween

Categories
NBA General

North Korea a problem? Just send in Michael Jordan



The NBA: It’s Dictator-tastic!

We don’t much get into politics here at Sportscolumn but this Union-Tribune story is too good to pass up. Apparently, Kim Jong Il is a tremendous basketball fan who loves the NBA and has a video library of almost every game MJ has ever played.


[In 1001] Jordan’s management team was approached about the athlete making a goodwill trip to Pyongyang to meet Kim. The North Korean government, according to documents obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune, sent a letter authorizing the request, and Samsung, a South Korean electronics company interested in promoting reunification of the Koreas, had offered to underwrite the venture.

Jordan respectfully declined.

Apparently, because of the closed contact with the outside world, basketball in North Korea is a horse of a different color: “three points for a dunk, four points for a three-pointer that does not touch the rim and eight points for a basket scored in the final three seconds. Miss a free throw, and it’s minus one.” Kim Jong Il must not be much of a Shaq fan.

Links:
[SignOnSanDiego]: The Oddest Fan

Categories
College Football

"That’s kinda… that’s kinda gay"

What would we do without YouTube?

Categories
NHL General

Crashing the Zamboni: Early Movers and Shakers

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



Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Lindy.

So we’re just about a month into the NHL season, and already things have begun to take shape. Some teams have stormed out of the gates, firing on all cylinders — while others are still wondering where to find their helmets.

1. Ice Melters

Buffalo Sabres (10-0-1; 1st in Eastern Conference)
Buffalo is an obvious choice here. Sure, they finally suffered a loss, but after breaking a team record and tying an NHL record for most consecutive wins to open a season, they deserve some kudos. Looks like Lindy Ruff’s Sabres are well on their way to avenging last year’s loss in the Conference Finals.
Atlanta Thrashers (8-1-3; 2nd in Eastern Conference)
Call them the Hotlanta Thrashers. Scoring 45 goals in just 12 games (second to aforementioned Buffalo in that stat), the Thrashers are on their way to a stranglehold of the Southeast Conference. They are the only team to beat the Sabres so far this year, downing Buffalo 5-4 on Saturday night.
Minnesota Wild (9-2-0; 2nd in Western Conference)
Living up to their name, this team is going wild in Minnesota. Netminder Manny Fernandez is having a stellar year, only allowing 19 goals in 11 games (he is 8-2 in that span). Maybe the loss of Roloson wasn’t as bad as many people thought after all.
Anaheim Ducks (8-0-3; 1st in Western Conference)
They dropped “Mighty” from the name, but have kept it in their game. All is well right now in Anaheim, and they aren’t showing many signs of slowing up. Still undefeated in regulation play, the Ducks will have to hold on to the top spot in a tough Pacific Division.

2. Stuck in the Freezer
Philadelphia Flyers (2-7-1; Last in Eastern Conference)
Right now, the Philadelphia Flyers are in need of some brotherly love. Philly is off to an atrocious start, and it’s tough to say when things will start to look good again. GM Bob Clarke resigned, coach Ken Hitchcock was fired, and captain Peter Forsberg is fighting the injury bug.
Phoenix Coyotes (3-9-0; Last in Western Conference)
Their slogan this year is “A Decade in the Desert”, but the Phoenix Coyotes are anything but hot. Phoenix has been an ugly franchise seemingly ever since they made the switch to Arizona from Winnipeg. Head coach Wayne Gretzky’s job is in question, and like Forsberg on the Flyers, captain Shane Doan has been battling injuries.
Calgary Flames (3-5-1; 13th in Western Conference)
Even with the mighty Miikka Kiprusoff (try saying that five times fast) between the pipes, the Calgary Flames are struggling. In a bit of a surprise, Calgary is sitting last in the Northwest division, and need to do some work to climb back to the top. With guys like Alex Tanguay and Jerome Iginla, a comeback is not out of the question- but in a division that tough, it won’t be easy.
Boston Bruins (3-5-1; 14th in Eastern Conference)
Beantown is beaten up this year. With an abysmal offense (scoring only 19 goals thus far), Boston is reeling. Thanks to Buffalo, the Bruins have no shot at contending for the Northeast Division title. Looks like Boston just has to sit and wait until the next Bobby Orr comes around, which won’t happen for a long, long time.

Game of the Night: Atlanta @ Toronto

Thrashers look to snap seven game losing streak against Toronto.

The Last Shot
The reason for the Sabres’ early success? Of course, it has to be the new uniforms – ugliest in the league!

Categories
Boxing

Oct 30 in Sports History: The Rumble in the Jungle



Rope-a-dope

In 1974: Muhammed Ali defeated George Foreman to regain the heavyweight-boxing title in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali knocked out the previously unbeaten in the eighth round of the “Rumble in the Jungle.” Ali, knowing that Foreman would be tough to beat toe to toe, was able to outthink him. He threw very few punches throughout the fight, employing the “rope a dope” method where he let the big-swinging Foreman punch himself into exhaustion, until Ali caught him with a combination of punches to win back the belt. It was the first fight (for better or for worse) that was promoted by Don King, whose original slogan was (and we swear we didn’t make this up) “From the Slave Ship to the Championship.” Each fighter took home $5 million, which was unheard of at the time.

In 1997: Violet Palmer became the first woman to officiate an all-male sports league game when she was a referee for a game between the Dallas Mavericks and Vancouver Grizzlies in Vancouver, British Columbia. Palmer was joined that season by Dee Kantner as the first two female referees in the NBA.

In 2001: Michael Jordan came out of retirement for the second time, this time to suit up for the Washington Wizards in a 93-91 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Jordan played two more seasons for the Wizards and showed flashes of the old MJ, but the team was unable reach the playoffs.

Categories
New York Giants

Michael Irvin and Tom Jackson respond to Tiki


After being called an idiot for the 5,608,874th time, Michael Irvin has decided to address Tiki Barber’s rant. In the New York Post today, Irvin defended his criticism of Tiki’s retirement announcement.


It kills his ability to lead. He is the leader of that football team. If I am a young guy and we are in a battle and we are banging heads and we are fighting. I’m out there getting hit and being hit and we are in a tough spot in a football game.

If I am in the line of battle and Tiki comes to me and says, ‘Come on, give me what you have!’ I’m going to look at him and say, ‘Aww, shut up. What are you talking about? You are quitting on us.’ This stuff will come out on the sideline.

Tom Jackson, for his part, said, “I thought that the name-calling seemed a bit unnecessary.” You gotta love Tom Jackson. It’s a shame he has to be paired alongside the unbearable Chris Berman.

To a man, the Giants have all said that Tiki’s retirement announcement has not been a distraction. Antonio Pierce said, “There is no quit in that guy. He is still our leader on offense.” And Plaxico Burress said, ” don’t feel it has been a distraction at all. I’m sure everyone can see the way he is playing, the way he is running.” Having Plaxico Burress commenting on anyone quitting is ironic since he’s liable to quit at any point in the season. At least with Tiki, you know you’ll get his all for the rest of this season.

Links:
[NY Post]: TV ‘IDIOTS’ FIRE BACK AT BARBER

Categories
Dallas Cowboys

Cowboys WR coach is suing McDonald’s



Now with more rat!

Todd Haley, who is known mostly for disrespecting and being disrespected by Terrell Owens, is suing McDonald’s for $1.7M because his wife and nanny found a six inch dead rat in their McSalad.

According to the lawsuit, Christine Haley had eaten part of the salad when she found a juvenile roof rat in it with its paws up and mouth open. Both women because violently ill and “endured long-lasting physical injuries”. The suit was filed because the McDonald’s didn’t follow through on their promise “to make things right”. Ummm… how do you make finding a dead rat in your salad right? Free nuggets for your lifetime? Advance notice of when those yummy Shamrock Shakes are coming? Basically, the only thing to “make it right” is money. And well, we guess $1,700,000 is the “right” amount.

Links:
[SI]: Cowboys assistant suing McDonald’s