Categories
Soccer

The Dutch need a lesson on trash talking

It’s not that the Dutch aren’t good at trash talking, they don’t want to do anything that resembles boasting. They’re like the Amish of World Cup teams. (Dutch… Pennsylvania Dutch… a-ha!)

A coach from the Dutch team is not happy with the slogan that’s painted on the side of the Dutch bus, “Orange on the way to gold”.


We don’t like it because we try to keep everything calm and this might be seen as a provocation. It is a screaming line and we contacted FIFA in an attempt to change it but without any result. We have to settle with this line.

They could use some of the hubris of the Brazilian team, whose slogan is “Three-peat in 2010!” Or something like that… we can’t read Portugese. Meanwhile, the sad lonely U.S.A. bus has no slogan or flag because of security precautions. But if it did, it would probably say “We own you bitches in everything else (except hockey and baseball).

Links:
[World Cup Blog]: Lame Bus Slogan Has Dutch Coach Seeing Orange
[Reuters]: Van Basten annoyed about Dutch bus slogan

Categories
Soccer

Welcome to Germany!

The World Cup is coming! The World Cup is coming! If Sportscolumn isn’t exactly World Cup Central, consider it World Cup Penn Station. Or perhaps World Cup Hoboken is more apt. In any case, we’ll be covering a lot of the “other” football in the next month.

A column on ESPN Soccernet today detailed the security precautions (metal detectors at the hotel, security details, team bus without a flag on the side) and the hatred facing the U.S. team throughout the tournament. Players are subjected to chants of “Osama bin Laden!” and get rocks, bottles, and batteries thrown at them. The threat of violence is one thing but getting disgusting bodily fluids thrown at you is another. Buried in the last few paragraphs is this little gem:


Over the last decade, at matches in Latin American countries such as Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica, U.S. players have been pelted with everything from batteries and coins to screws and saliva. In one match, former coach Steve Sampson said his players were bombed with bags of urine and animal blood.

Holy crap! That’s taking things a little too far. No matter what they say about football fans in Philly, Oakland or Cleveland, at least they’ve never thrown bags of urine at anyone. (Unless of course, someone used a beer bottle in Cleveland instead of walking to the john.)

We are humbled by soccer fans’ ingenuity for hate mongering.

Links:
[ESPN]: U.S. national team prepared for the hate

Categories
MLB General

The Grimsley fallout

You knew it was only a matter of time before someone in baseball was caught with steroids and started squealing. While everyone is trying to figure out what names were blacked out on the affidavit, Jeff Nelson spoke out. Clearly, Grimsley is persona non grata in any clubhouse in the country.

You just take care of your own back yard and go about your ways,” said Nelson, who predicted Grimsley’s fate would be similar to that of Rafael Palmeiro, who hasn’t returned to baseball since testing positive for steroids last summer.

“I don’t worry about guys in the past. I just worry about what I have to do on the field. If everyone else would do that, none of this stuff would have happened, and Jason Grimsley naming guys wouldn’t have happened either.

Why he did it, I don’t know. Maybe he was facing a bunch of criminal chargers and tried to protect his own [rear]. That’s all I can see.

Jason Grimsley was also the guy who climbed through a duct to retrieve Albert Belle’s corked bat from the umpires’ room. Hmmmm… would that make Albert Belle a “close acquaintance”?

Links:
[ChicagoSports.com]: Guillen, Nelson enraged by Grimsley’s revelations

Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Going Going Gone

1. A Grim Goodbye: Jason Grimsley, who has pitched 17 major league seasons, now finds his career over after the huge drug bust yesterday. Grimsley was released by the Diamondbacks a day after authorities searched his home and found evidence of drug use. Grimsley’s admitted drug use includes human growth hormone, amphetamines, and steroids. While the MLB bans all three, they don’t test for HGH, which according to Grimsley is widely used across the MLB. You need a blood test to find evidence of HGH, while the MLB only uses a urine test. We think it’s time to do both.

2. Tied up: Anyone who expected the Reds and the Cardinals to be tied 59 games into the season would have been thought crazy before the year started. But now, that is just where the teams stand after a dominant Reds sweep. They won the series by a combined score of 22-11, including a 7-4 win last night. Ryan Freel had two hits and two runs, Felipe Lopez stole his first base in almost a month, and Rich Aurilia went 4-5 with 5 RBIs. St. Louis starter Sidney Ponson had his worst start of the year with 5 runs allowed in five innings pitched. The Cardinals lost despite 2 RBIs and 2 hits each by Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen. Rolen’s average on the year now stands at an impressive .343. Both teams face weak divisional opponents in their upcoming series; the Cardinals play the Brewers while the Reds try to take first place outright against the Cubs.

3. We’re here: The White Sox have been trying to catch up to the division-leading Tigers for almost a month, and now they have finally arrived. The Sox won last night 4-3, an identical score to the night before. Jim Thome and the red-hot Jermaine Dye each homered for the Sox, while Game 1 hero Alex Cintron stole 2 bases and drove in a run. Starter Jose Contreras, after his worst start of the season, pitched well and earned the victory. Tigers starter Justin Verlander pitched his second straight bad start, allowing all four Sox runs in a loss. The Tigers only lead by a half-game over Chicago now, with a slight 37-22 to 36-22 advantage. But with a win tonight the White Sox can take the outright division lead for the first time in a long time.

4. Coming back: While the LA Angels still stand at last place in the AL West, they have been playing better recently and have won 6 out of 9 games. Last night they defeated the Devil Rays 6-2, and will look for a series sweep tonight. Though MVP candidate Vladimir Guerrero went 0-5, the Angels offense still put up 2 homers and 6 runs. Stud 23-year-old Jered Weaver continued his dominance and earned his third straight victory, allowing 2 runs in six innings. Carl Crawford homered for the Devil Rays, but it simply wasn’t enough for the victory in front of the 9,517 fans at Tropicana Field. The Angels stand at 27-32, improved considering they were once 21-29, but they are still 5.5 out in the West.

5. What happened to him?: Remember when Pirates starter Olivier Perez was dominant? In 2004 Perez had a 2.98 ERA and allowed a .207 average against. This year he has a 7.18 ERA and .308 average against, both among the worst totals in the majors. Last night he was torn apart in a loss to the Rockies, allowing 9 runs in only two innings. Colorado starter Josh Fogg did not do much better in a crazy game, as he allowed 8 runs of his own. But the Rockies still won 16-9, in one of the majors’ highest scoring games of the year. The Rockies had 4 players with multi-RBI games, and 5 who had multi-hit games. They scored in six of the eight innings that they hit in as well. However, both teams are still in last place in their respective divisions.

Categories
MLB General

Odds and Ends (6.7.06): Not quite Randy Johnson

In a AAA game between the Buffalo Bisons and the Durham Bulls, a seagul flew right into the path of a pitch by #23 of the Bulls. There’s no #23 on the Bulls official roster so we’re going to say it was Michael Jordon in disguise. The bird fell to the ground and fluttered around a bit before it was carried off the field by the Bisons’ backup catcher. It later flew away.

While interesting, this bird beaning doesn’t even come close to the poor bird that got in the way of a young Randy Johnson. (Video)

In other news…

[AZ Central.com]: From the completely not related to sports file: Woman finds live frog in her salad

[SI]: Sports Illustrated apparently has experts — and they’re picking the World Cup

[USA Today]: OLN averaged 611,000 households for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals

[BFLOBLOG]: Making the case for Andre Reed in the HOF

[The Purple Curtain]: Hope springs eternal in Ravens land as McNair heads to Baltimore

Categories
MLB General

Jason Grimsley spills the beans

Jason Grimsley is going to be the most hated man in baseball. The 15-year veteran not only admitted to using steroids but also started naming names of current players he suspects are on steroids or HGH, including some “close acquaintances”.

Among his disclosures were:


* Until last year, major league clubhouses had coffee pots labeled “leaded” and “unleaded” for the players, indicating coffee with amphetamines and without.

* Latin players are a major source for the amphetamines within baseball.

* Amphetamines also come from players on California teams that could easily go into Mexico and get them.

Amphetamines in baseball is nothing new. There have been countless books indicating that “greenies” have been part of baseball for the past 40 years and, of course, owners and managers have looked the other way. However, this is the first time we’ve heard of the “leaded” coffee.

Links:
[Arizona Republic]: D-Back admits steroid use

Categories
High School Sports

New Jersey high school steroids testing plan approved

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association today became the first high school governing body to approve a plan for random steroid testing. The NJSIAA plans on randomly testing 500 of the 100,00 athletes that participate in state tournaments every year. The cost for the test is about $150 per person with the state funding half of it.

One study shows that 2% of high school athletes will try steroids while the CDC estiamtes that 6% of U.S. high school students took steroids in 2003. And they say that pro athletes don’t influence kids.

In completely unrelated news, the Original Whizzinator has set up a satellite office in New Jersey.

Links:
[Philly.com]: N.J. breaking ground on steroid testing

[1010 WINS]: NJ School Association Approves Steroid Policy

Categories
General Sports

June 6 2006 episode of Poor Man’s PTI

Welcome to another episode of Poor Man’s PTI. This week, Eric McErlain from Off Wing Opinion joins us to discuss the NHL Finals. If you’d like to be a guest on the podcast (which is recorded Tuesday nights) or you want to suggest a topic, drop us a line at [email protected].

You can download this week’s podcast directly (running time 40 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:

  • Spelling Bee
  • Scientology and NASCAR
  • checking the score at a wedding
  • The NBA Finals
  • The NHL Finals
  • World Cup

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
MLB General

The Full Count: Steroids don’t always work

1. The Grimsley Reaper: There was a huge steroid bust on Tuesday, from one of the least likely sources. Arizona reliever Jason Grimsley, after admitting the use of performance enhancing drugs, had his home searched by federal authorities. They did not say what they found, but they were looking for all evidence of contact with other people about the use of these drugs. The most important thing coming from this will be the list of players, according to Grimsley, that have used or distributed these drugs. The list has not been made public yet, but it will likely be extensive as Grimsley has played with 7 total teams dating back to 1989. He has used steroids, human growth horomone, and amphetamines, and is scheduled to be sentenced in August. Despite the use of these drugs, Grimsley is a marginal player at best, with a 4.77 career ERA.

2. The Battle Begins: The White Sox and the Tigers have played once before this season, but that was in early April before we knew that the Tigers were for real. Now they have started a three-game set, and in Game 1 the White Sox barely prevailed. After three solo Tigers homeruns, including one by the suddenly quiet Chris Shelton, the Tigers were up 3-1 entering the eighth inning. But then Alex Cintron, the former Diamondback, stepped up to the plate for the White Sox. With two runners on, Cintron hit a game-winning three-run shot to right, his first homer of the year. Chicago escaped with the victory, but they still trail the Tigers by two games in the AL Central division.

3. About Schmidt: San Francisco starter Jason Schmidt looks well on his way to another great season after a marginal 2005. Schmidt is 6-2 this year with a 2.53 ERA and a .204 opponent’s average. Last night he pitched his best game of the season, with 16 strikeouts and one run allowed in a complete game. The strikeouts tied the all-time Giants record and the major-league season high. Schmidt was named the NL pitcher of the month for May, and has now reeled off 6 straight wins. The Giants defeated the Marlins 2-1 and passed San Diego for 3rd in the NL West.

4. The league’s quietest good team: They are one game back from their division leader, have scored the 4th-most runs in the NL, have one of the highest win totals in the majors, yet they still get no respect. Who are they? The Cincinnati Reds, who beat the Cardinals again last night and have earned the title of the majors’ most disrespected team. Yesterday Eric Milton pitched strong and their offense knocked out Chris Carpenter after five innings. Adam Dunn hit his 18th homer and drove in 3, and the Reds lineup featured six players with multi-hit games. The 7-0 shutout proved once again how valuable Albert Pujols is to the Cardinals, who featured several no-names in their lineup. If the Reds can complete their sweep of the Cards today, than the once-invincible Cardinals will be tied with the Reds in the Central.

5. Rocket takeoff: Roger Clemens pitched his first in a series of minor-league rehab starts on Tuesday, and the results were just alright. Clemens gave up a homer in the first inning, but didn’t allow a run the rest of his three innings pitched. He struck out six, threw 62 pitches, and allowed three hits for the Lexington Legends. Next he’ll go to double-A until he arrives June 22 in what will be the most anticipated mid-season free agent debut in history.

Categories
All Other Sports

Odds and Ends (6/6/06): The naked news



Anna: Yes. McEnroe: No.

At an exhibition match against Jim Courier on the senior circuit, John McEnroe got upset about a call and dropped his pants and mooned everyone. Page Six also reported that tennis starlet Anna Kournikova was in the audience and witnessed the bare ass. Now, this is why Page Six shouldn’t report on sports news. Nobody has uttered the term tennis and Anna Kournikova together in a long long time.

Why is it that the people we don’t want to see naked always end up dropping their pants?

[MSNBC]: If America promises to watch the World Cup, will she pose nude?

[Yahoo]: Did Mike Vanderjagt really just put himself in the same sentence with Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods? Damn idiot kicker.

[News and Observer]: Duke lacrosse team reinstated with new rules and tighter (i.e. any) oversight.

[NY Daily News]: Milledge doesn’t regret high-fiving fans after his first HR

[Off Wing Opinion]: The Oilers are so screwed

[Philly.com]: Former umpire Gregg, 55, dies after stroke