Categories
Soccer

Playstation and Sex ruined Ronaldinho


Millions of heartbroken Brazilians can blame the French and EA Sports for costing them the World Cup which the Brazilian national team was heavily favored to win. The UK tabloid The Sun reported that Ronaldinho would break curfew and sneak into his girlfriend Alexandra Parressant’s hotel room to have sex all night during the World Cup and then stay up playing 2006 FIFA World Cup on the PS2.

According to Alexandra, he would go to her hotel room almost every night and tear it up.


He is as much a performer in the bedroom as he is on the football pitch. One night he made me scream with such pleasure, the people on the hotel terrace below heard us because my window was open.

However, Paressant won’t take the blame. “Instead, his habit of playing PlayStation after their romps may have knocked his form.” Now, we love the FIFA Germany ’06 game as much as anyone but we also don’t have a model screaming in hotel rooms. Oh, did we mention that she is French? And who knocked Brazil out of the World Cup? We smell a conspiracy here.

Links:
[Hindustan Times]: Ronaldinho’s romps spoiled WC Samba!
[Gamespot]: Sex, PS2 blamed for Brazil star’s WC failure

Categories
MLB General

July 25 in Sports History: Roseanne Barr wrecks the National Anthem


In 1990: Before the start of the Reds-Padres game in San Diego, somebody for some reason let Roseanne Barr “sing” the National Anthem. While not quite up to Whitney Houston’s version at the Super Bowl that year, it wasn’t even Carl Lewis-sad-funny or that little-girl-who-forgot-the-words cute. After screeching through an off-key rendition, Roseanne showed her patriotism by grabbing her crotch and spitting. The crowd booed, and many people were upset, including President Bush, who called it “disgusting,” and a “disgrace.” She later apologized.

In 1999: Nearly dead from cancer just three years earlier, cyclist Lance Armstrong comes all the way back to win the Tour de France for the first time. Armstrong was only the second American to win the Tour (Greg Lemond did it three times in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s). Given just a 40 percent chance to live after testicular cancer had spread to his lungs and brain, Armstrong’s feat was considered one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Although this 1999 victory would’ve have been enough, he went out and won the event seven straight times, including this day in 2004.

Categories
All Other Sports

Jockey apologizes for head-butting horse


The AP headline for this story is so hilarious that there really isn’t a reason to change it. In London, jockey Paul O’Neill is being investigated for headbutting his horse. It’s gotta be the funniest thing we’ve ever seen. A 120 pound jockey going up against a 1200 pound horse. The horse just takes it and goes about his business. You can see the jockey getting upset with the horse like a parent does with a child. O’Neill was angry with the horse because it was being unruly before the race and threw him.


I would just like to say to the public that I’m very sorry they had to see such a thing. I’ve never done it before and it will never happen again. When I got to the start he headed straight for a car with me, stopped five feet from the car, whipped round and dropped me. I landed on my feet, but a bit awkwardly for my knee and I was a little bit angry then, but I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m glad to say the horse is OK after it.

You knew that there would be a followup headbutt to the Zidane incident. Perhaps like celebrity deaths, it would happen in threes, but no one expected it to be a jockey and a horse.

Here’s the video for you (Windows Media Player).

Links:

[Fox Sports]: Jockey apologizes for head-butting horse

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Angels back on top

1. Back in Business: Despite being 11th in runs scored, OPS, and batting average in the AL, the LA Angels have managed to come back and tie for the AL West lead. The Angels, who in May were in last place, have used some excellent starting pitching to tie the A’s. Jered Weaver, Ervin Santana, and Kelvim Escobar have all been impressive, but none more so than John Lackey. Lackey, who earned the victory last night over Tampa, is 9-6 with a 2.89 ERA that ranks third in the AL. Their entire staff’s ERA, now at 4.05, is second in the major leagues. While they it would be unlikely for them to repeat last year’s ALCS performance, this team should make the playoffs.

2. Follow the Leaders: The Boston Red Sox are leading plenty of things right now. Most importantly, they have a 2.5 game division lead and earned their 60th win last night, becoming the first team besides the Tigers to do that. They beat the Oakland A’s 7-3, with Josh Beckett earning the victory to become the major league wins leader. Beckett has 13 wins despite a 4.77 ERA, meaning both the AL and NL wins leaders have below average ERAs. Interesting…Meanwhile, David Ortiz extended his lead in homeruns with his 34th of the year. He also leads in RBIs with a commanding 95. Both him and Manny Ramirez homered, the 41st time in the last four years they have homered in the same game. That, not surprisingly, is first among all teammates since ’03. So it’s good times in Boston right now. But none of this will matter if the Red Sox can’t capture their second World Series title in three years.

3. About to get passed: The Chicago White Sox, once thought to be the invincible giants of the AL, have suddenly found themselves struggling to stay afloat in the Central. The Twins, who have gone 11-2 since the All Star break, defeated the ChiSox 7-4. Joe Mauer, who along with Justin Morneau has almost single-handedly supported the Twins’ offense, hit a three-run homer and sac fly in the victory. Brad Radke, who has won his last 5 decisions, earned the victory. Radke, well-known because he never issues a walk, has lowered his ERA almost 2 points during that stretch. These teams will meet twice more in this series, including an intriguing Santana-Contreras matchup tomorrow.

4. Race for the Card: Of all the races down the stretch this season, probably the most interesting will be the NL Wild Card race. Eleven teams are within ten games of the lead, including seven within five. The Reds are the current leaders, while the entire freaking NL West follows them. The Braves, who about a month ago at this time looked awful, have catapulted themselves back into the race with an 8-2 record in their last 10. They are 4.5 games back, while teams ahead of them such as Milwaukee and Colorado are faltering. San Francisco and Arizona are right on the heels of the leaders, but with their inconsistency who knows what will happen. And yes, this paragraph just set a new record for “most mediocre teams mentioned in the same few sentences.”

5. Improve your strengths and ignore your weaknesses: That must be the strategy the White Sox are following at the trading deadline. While there hasn’t even been a rumor about the team acquiring a starting pitcher to improve their sinking rotation, the team apparently might go after the best hitter on the market. Yes, Alfonso Soriano might be headed to Chicago. While the likeliness of that happening is iffy, the entire move itself is questionable. Why would a team look to upgrade a major league best lineup when they have far greater concerns? They have been losing recently because of pitching, not their hitting. Outfielders Jermaine Dye and Scott Podsednik have made All Star teams in the past, so it’s not like there is a weakness there. This move shouldn’t happen and wouldn’t make any sense if it did.

Categories
Philadelphia Phillies

Odds and Ends: Heckling Brett Myers

From The 700 Level comes this photo of a sign at the Phillies game yesterday. It probably isn’t the cleverest sign but we think the woman was trying to make a statement about domestic violence and not just trying to be clever. Go figure.

In other news…

[ESPN]: Looks like Mark Cuban won’t be headed to the NHL after all

[Yahoo]: Landis well taught by Armstrong on art of winning

[RaptorBlog]: John Salmons rejects Raptors offer

[Toronto Star]: Ricky Williams fractures forearm — out 4 to 6 weeks

[Rival Room]: TOP FIVE MLBers YOU’D HATE to HAVE SLEEP WITH YOUR SISTER

[True Hoop]: Shawn Kemp denies marijuana use

Categories
All Other Sports

The Poker Playing Chimp and other tales

Man, poker isn’t even a sport that we should be covering at SC but when you combine a chimp and anything, it becomes a must-see event. (Well, except for that movie with Joey Tribiani.) Anyway, PokerShare.com is rumored to be entering a chimpanzee into the August World Series of Poker. SignOnSanDiego is correct in pointing out that it sounds like a viral marketing experiment but we’ll happily play along anyway.


Alex Van Klaveren of GameShare, the Gibraltar-based parent group for PokerShare, responded thus to an InfoPowa enquiry about the rumor:

“Thanks for your e-mail. Your sources are accurate. We have been training Mikey for the past four months, and he is now ready to play the WSOP main event. We will be issuing a press release by the end of the week.”

Van Klaveren did not comment on whether this ploy had the cooperation of the WSOP tournament director, saying in response to a direct question on this: “I agree, it should be interesting to see what people make of it. Mikey has a blog which is starting soon where you will be able to follow his progress.

Check out the video of him playing poker below. This is absolutely just a publicity stunt. Hell, even Vince Young could beat Mikey at poker.

In real poker news, 21-year-old film student named Jeff Madsen has won his 2nd WSOP bracelet in a week. His combined take home since turning 21 in June has been over $1.4M. He says he’s going to finish up school at UC Santa Barbara. A year in college surrounded by hot bikini clad girls in socal with over a million to your name? That was a hard choice.

Links:

[SignOnSanDiego]: Chimp might not be chump in poker
[ABC]: Poker-Playing Chimp Knows When to Hold ‘Em
[ESPN]: Madsen, 21, wins second WSOP bracelet in five days

Categories
MLB General

MLB Cost Index for Mon July 24 2006

[The MLB Cost Index is a calculation of the amount each team pays for a win and the efficiency of the payroll that the GM has put together.]

Here’s a little measure of a badly run team: top 15 payroll playing sub-.500 ball. Orioles, Phillies, Mariners, Braves, Astros, Cubs, and Dodgers. Perhaps not in all these cases but in most, heads will need to roll after this season, if not soon.

** all $ are in millions.

Rank (Pv) Team 2006 Payroll GP Wins YTD Payroll Cost/Win
1 (1) Marlins $15.0 97 45 $8.98 $0.20
2 (2) Devil Rays $35.4 99 41 $21.64 $0.53
3 (3) Rockies $41.1 97 46 $24.63 $0.54
4 (5) Twins $63.8 97 56 $38.21 $0.68
5 (6) Reds $59.5 99 52 $36.35 $0.70
6 (7) Pirates $40.2 100 35 $24.84 $0.71
7 (8) D’backs $59.2 98 50 $35.83 $0.72
8 (4) Brewers $56.8 99 47 $34.71 $0.74
9 (9) A’s $62.3 98 51 $37.70 $0.74
10 (10) Tigers $82.3 98 66 $49.79 $0.75
11 (11) Indians $56.8 97 43 $34.01 $0.79
12 (14) Blue Jays $71.9 98 55 $43.50 $0.79
13 (12) Padres $69.7 98 51 $42.18 $0.83
14 (15) Royals $47.3 98 34 $28.61 $0.84
15 (13) Rangers $65.5 109 51 $44.05 $0.86
16 (16) Nationals $63.3 99 43 $38.66 $0.90
17 (19) Cardinals $88.4 97 56 $52.96 $0.95
18 (18) Orioles $72.6 100 45 $44.81 $1.00
19 (20) Mets $100.9 98 59 $61.04 $1.03
20 (17) White Sox $102.9 97 59 $61.60 $1.04
21 (21) Giants $90.9 99 51 $55.53 $1.09
22 (22) Mariners $88.3 98 47 $53.43 $1.14
23 (25) Phillies $88.3 95 44 $51.77 $1.18
24 (24) Astros $92.6 99 47 $56.56 $1.20
25 (27) Braves $92.5 97 46 $55.36 $1.20
26 (26) Red Sox $120.1 97 59 $71.91 $1.22
27 (28) Angels $103.6 98 50 $62.69 $1.25
28 (23) Dodgers $99.2 99 47 $60.61 $1.29
29 (29) Cubs $94.8 97 37 $56.79 $1.53
30 (30) Yankees $198.7 96 56 $117.73 $2.10

Categories
Cincinnati Bengals

Another incident for Jailblazers East

You can add Matthias Askew to the growing list of Bengals players arrested this offseason. Askew was shopping for CDs in Cincinnati and decided to park his Escalade on the sidewalk. When the police asked him to move it, he ignored them until they threatened to give him a ticket, then he attempted to drive away but the police told him he couldn’t. Askew parked the vehicle and, according to the police, got out of the car and assumed a “fighting stance”. He was then arrested.

But that’s not all folks. When the police were putting the cuffs on him, Askew attempted to get away and that’s when he was tasered. Imagine a 300 pounder flopping around on the ground after getting tasered. Askew was taken into custody and released on a $248 bond. Now, it seems to us that although Askew was being a dick, the police should’ve just let him drive away, no harm no foul. Instead, we get another negative incident surrounding the Bengals. The over/under on Bengals wins this year is 9. Take the under.

Oh, and if you’ve ever wondered what being tasered looks like, check out this classic video of a woman spouting off and getting tasered.

Links:

[Enquirer.com]: Another Bengal in trouble

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Jered Weaver’s lucky number

1. 7 for 7: Jered Weaver has been as good as you can ask any pitcher to be in his first seven starts this year: perfect. Weaver, who was called up from the minors earlier this year, has now won each of his first seven starts. He’s doing so in a dominant fashion too, with a 1.15 ERA and .79 WHIP. Those numbers, as well as Weaver’s .159 opponent’s batting average, would be the best among every starter if he had enough innings to qualify. Yesterday he took care of the Kansas City Royals by allowing just 3 hits and 1 run. Despite his outstanding performance so far, Weaver is just a dark horse candidate for Rookie of the Year with Jonathan Papelbon, Liriano, and Justin Verlander also in the running. But he might be the most talented of all those hurlers.

2. A Tale of Two Games: Jason Marquis just experienced perhaps the most up and down week of any player this season. Last Tuesday, Marquis allowed 12 earned runs in 5 innings against the Braves, the second-highest total of any pitcher this season (Marquis had 13 one game in June). But on Sunday Marquis showed why he is now the National League wins leader with 12. He pitched eight shutout innings while only surrendering 4 hits to the sinking Dodgers. Marquis’ out-of-nowhere performance means that he is now 12-7 on the year despite a horrendous 5.68 ERA. The Cardinals will really need him to be more consistent down the stretch if they want to make the NLCS for the third straight year. The 6-1 win gave St. Louis a season sweep of the Dodgers, the first time in 115 years that they have accomplished that.

3. Bounce Back Day: The top three teams in the AL Central–the Twins, White Sox, and Tigers, all suffered losses on Saturday. Interestingly, they each came back on Sunday with wins. Detroit finished their series with Oakland by defeating the A’s 8-4. Carlos Guillen fell a homer short of the cycle and drove in two runs, while Magglio Ordonez added to his team leading total with 68 RBIs. At 66-32, the Tigers are the only team in the majors with double the amount of wins to losses. Meanwhile, the White Sox beat the Rangers 5-0 to snap a four-game skid. Jon Garland pitched 8 shutout innings to record his 10th win, but manager Ozzie Guillen wasn’t completely happy with his performance. That’s because Garland failed to hit Ian Kinsler after White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski was plunked earlier in the game. The Twins also were victorious with a 3-1 win over the Tribe. Francisco Liriano K’d 10 in only five innings to earn his 12th victory. Minnesota will battle Chicago next in a series that could see a new second place team in the Central if the Twins sweep it.

4. What’s going on out West?: The two worst divisions in baseball both happen to be west of the Mississippi. The AL West and NL West might be close, but neither features a dominant or threatening team to the other divisions. In the AL West, the first-place A’s are the favorites to win, even though they are last in the league in batting average and would be in fourth in either of the other two divisions. In second place are the Rangers, always the perennial teasers of that division. The underachieving Angels and hopeless Mariners round out those standings. The NL West doesn’t have a half-decent team either. While the Padres made the playoffs last year and will likely do so again this year, they really don’t scare anybody. And while the divisions’ other four teams are all in the top 7 in the Wild Card standings, each of those teams is way too inconsistent to make the playoffs. So each of the Western divisions will do nothing more this year than steal a playoff berth from a more deserving team.

5. Slammin’ Sammy coming back?: It seems like Sammy Sosa hasn’t been a major league player for years. His poor play and huge contract last year, in addition to the steroid allegations, flushed him out of Baltimore without an official retirement, almost like Rafael Palmeiro. But Sammy might not be done yet. The former MVP and slugger, who has 588 career homeruns and three seasons with 60 or more, href=http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2527930> might be headed back to the majors. Though even his agent said that it’s unlikely that Sosa will return, Sammy himself said that he wants to. “I’m not retired. I’m young and happy…[and] I’m getting ready to come back for the right offer.” Any team willing to sign him doesn’t have their heads on straight. Not only has he not played a game in almost a year, but he is also not good enough to produce right now. Last season he finished with a .221 average, and for the price he will command he will be hard-pressed to produce any better.

Categories
Kansas City Royals

July 24 in Sports History: The Pine Tar Incident

In 1983: George Brett of the Kansas City Royals hit a two-run homerun off Goose Gossage of the New York Yankees in the top of the ninth at Yankee Stadium to take a 5-4 lead. Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles alerted manager Billy Martin that the pine tar on Brett’s bat was a little too high, and Martin argued. Umpire Tim McClelland recalled the obscure rule 1.10(b), which stated that “a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the handle.” Brett’s bat apparently was covered up to 20 inches. He walked to the dugout and signaled that Brett was out. Brett erupted out of the dugout in one of the most famous tirades in history and had to be restrained by teammates; and the Yankees were awarded a 4-3 victory. The Royals protested, and A.L. President Lee MacPhail ordered the home run to stand. The protested game was finished on August 18, with the Royals holding on to win, 5-4 — 25 days after the game had started. Brett, who up to that point had been best known for almost missing the 1980 World Series because of hemorrhoids, would now be famous for the time he went all Jack Nicholson in The Shining on an umpire.

In 2004: The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry reached a fever pitch (sorry, folks) with a bench-clearing brawl at Fenway Park. In the top of the third inning, Boston’s Bronson Arroyo hit Alex Rodriguez with a pitch. As A-Rod stared Arroyo down, Sox catcher Jason Varitek stepped in and told the $250 million dollar slugger, “We don’t throw at .260 hitters. Get your ass down to first base.” After a few more pleasantries, Varitek shoved Rodriguez and the benches cleared. Varitek and A-Rod were ejected, along with Boston’s Gabe Kapler and New York’s Kenny Lofton and Tanyon Sturtze. A handful of players were also fined and suspended. The ending was also memorable, as the Red Sox rallied off Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning to win on a Bill Mueller homerun, 11-10. Many felt that this game helped turn the Red Sox season around, and they eventually won the World Series.