After intense voting, Maria Sharapova is the latest Woman We Love. What more can we say about Sharapova than she’s hot, she’s good, and did we mention she’s hot?
Here are this month’s nominees. Vote early. Vote often.
Categories
That’s some quality Photoshop work
Yesterday, we told you about the 12-year-old Boston fan who called Terry Francona a dumbass. Well, in England, they raise the bar with their soccer hooligans. A 16-year-old girl was banned from attending any soccer matches and must report to the local police station once a week.
The ban stemmed from an incident in January where 18 other people were arrested when violence broke out after the hooligans began the obligatory soccer racist chanting.
Links:
[Life Style Extra]: 16-year old female footy fan in court
[Mirror UK]: CUP BAN FOR GIRL, 16, ON THUG CHARGE
Categories
The Full Count: Waiting on the Rocket
1. Still waiting: After reports that Roger Clemens was once again going to become an Astro, the deal is not officially done yet. Clemens’ agent, Randy Hendricks, denied even speaking with the Astros but said Clemens is “very close with a final decision.” Of course, this means that he probably has spoken with them and they’re likely very close to a deal. But nothing is official yet. The Astros do need the powerhouse pitcher as soon as they can get him–they’re 27-26. St. Louis, who they beat last year in the NLCS, leads the NL Central by 6.5 over them. Clemens won the Cy Young in 2004 and came very close in 2005.
2. Power surge: The Red Sox’s Josh Beckett had been excellent so far this season, but he was no match for the Blue Jays offense on Tuesday. Both of Toronto’s big power hitters, Troy Glaus and Vernon Wells, had huge games. Wells highlighted the effort with 3 homeruns, two of them coming off Beckett. Glaus added two of his own, increasing his total to a team-high 17. Wells (15) became the third player this year to have a three-homer game, joining Albert Pujols and Alfonso Soriano. Beckett gave his worst effort of the year, allowing 7 runs and 4 homers in less than five innings. Toronto starter Gustavo Chacin allowed no runs in five innings, upping his record to 6-1. Closer BJ Ryan picked up his 12th save, and his ERA stands at an incredible .69.
3. An 11-inning blowout: It’s not often a game goes into extras and still results in a one-sided victory. But that happened in the Yankees-Tigers game yesterday, with the game tied at 6 going into extras but the Yankees emerging 11-6 victors. New York scored five runs in the 11th, including Jason Giambi’s first homer since May 10. Giambi started the scoring with a solo shot, his 13th of the year, and three singles scored the other runs. Mariano Rivera pitched a season-high three innings, allowing no runs in the process. For the Tigers, Ivan Rodriguez drove in three runs and fell a homer short of the cycle. The Yankees win combined with the Red Sox loss results in a tie for the AL East lead.
4. Reversal of fortune: The Rockies shut out the Padres 5-0 on Monday, but on Tuesday it went the other way. Padres starter Chris Young, in his best effort of the season, allowed no runs in 8 innings and took a no-hitter into the eighth. Young’s effort for the first no-no in Padres history was ended when Brad Hawpe hit a leadoff double, but the Padres still won 2-0. Trevor Hoffman came on for the save, his 10th in 10 tries. Both teams now have identical 27-25 records.
5. At last: After a 5-0 April, Greg Maddux had been waiting all of May for another win. Though he wasn’t perfect last night, allowing three runs in 5.1, he was able to get the W as the Cubs topped the Reds 8-3. Jacque Jones hit his eighth homerun of the year and drove in 4 Cubs runners. Maddux (6-4, 1-4 in May) is now tied with Nolan Ryan and Don Sutton on the career wins list with 324. Cincinnati is still in second in the NL Central division.
Welcome to another episode of the Sportscolumn podcast. We’ve renamed it Poor Man’s PTI because…well… it is. A very poor man. 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 35 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:
- Ripping the media
- Dynasties
- Gilbert Arenas and Santonio Holmes get arrested
- The AL playoff race
- Pistons and Flip Saunders
- Chad Ford sucks / NBA Draft / Adam Morrison
- Women we love nominations
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.
photo from ebay
[Update: Of course, the seller has a myspace account. Also, the auction was shut down but not removed.]
The house of Dave Spadaro, the Philadelphia Eagles’ media guy/in-house journalist/PR flunkie, was burglarized a month ago and part of the stolen loot was his NFC Championship ring from the 2004 season. (We’re not certain why Dave even gets a ring but that’s another issue.) Well, like most stolen items these days, it promptly showed up on ebay.
The auction states:
HERE IS YOUR CHANCE TO OWN A ONE OF A KIND RING OWNED BY DAVE SPADARO
MY GRANDFATHER BOUGHT THIS RING A MONTH OR SO AGO FROM A VERY EXPERIENCED JEWELER IN SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY. THE RING IS MADE OF WHITE GOLD AND HE TELLS HIM ITS WORTH AT LEAST 3 THOUSAND DOLLARS JUST IN SCRAP GOLD. NOT INLUDING THE DIAMONDS!!
WITH GRADUATIONS COMING UP WHAT WOULD BE A BETTER GIFT FOR THE EAGLES FAN IN YOUR HOME. YOU MIGHT NEVER COME ACROSS ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN.
Since the theft of Spadaro’s ring was widely publicized (well, at least in the Eagles community), either this guy has cojones the size of Sam Cassell, is the stupidest criminal on ebay, or there’s a jeweler in South Jersey who’s got some ‘splaining to do.
Dave Spadaro found out about the auction via a thread on the PhiadelphiaEagles.com forums and is contacting the police. We’ll keep you updated with this ridiculous story.
The World Cup is almost here and that means more soccer stories are coming across the wire. Today, Ronaldo, one of the most recognizable soccer players in the world, turned down MLS’ New York Red Bulls offer of $120M over 10 years. Ronaldo said he’d like to play in the MLS but later in his career.
The offer would have made him the highest paid MLS athlete by more than $11M a year. MLS is desperate to attract a high profile international soccer star to boost interest. Much like the Argonauts signing Rocket Ismail, which worked wonders for the CFL.
In other news…
[Bengals.com]: Does “cornhole” mean something entirely different in Cincinnati?
[NY Post]: Stephon Marbury wants to die a loser
[Seattle Times]: The top 20 stupidest things done by college athletes
[Inside Bay Area]: Who sabotaged Dave Flemming’s Barry Bonds 715 call?
[Yahoo]: Ukraine soccer team will get sex if they win, whether they like it or not
Categories
There’s crying in rugby
New Zealand All Blacks player Chris Masoe and his team captain Tama Umaga were in a bar in Christchurch at 7:00 in the morning when Masoe tripped over a man’s legs and then got up and punched him in the jaw.
Umaga then grabbed a woman’s handbag and hit Masoe twice across the head, at which Masoe allegedly burst into tears.
What?! So instead of restraining his teammate, Umaga decides the best way to calm him down would be to hit him with a handbag. Well, it worked.
We’re trying to reconcile the bursting into tears like a little girl (second part added) with this video of the All Blacks intimidating their opponents with a traditional Maori war chant, which is incredibly badass.
Links:
[BBC]: All Black fined for handbag brawl
Brad Penny loves his Ws. Though the Dodgers got the win, Penny had a meltdown on the mound because Grady Little pulled him in the fifth inning before he qualified for the win. Even though he had given up 6 straight runs, 4 of them in the 5th inning, Penny decided to show up his manager and the water cooler by hitting it with a bat. The cooler, not the manager.
Grady Little said that pulling Penny early was key to the Dodgers’ win but Penny disagreed.
I wanted a chance to get that inning out of the way. I’m out there pitching hurt. … I don’t appreciate not getting the chance with a three-run lead to finish the inning.
Little defended his decision by saying, “I didn’t want to pull a ‘Grady Little’.” Oh, if only that last sentence were true.
Links:
[Tennessean.com]: Little’s hook angers Penny
Quick! In the bushes!
In a scene straight out of Cops, Scott Sauerbeck was arrested this morning at 5:00 AM for wrongful entrustment for allowing the woman he was with to drive, and obstructing official business, which means he fled the car and attempted to make a run for it.
Police spotted a car being driven recklessly and attempted to pull it over. Two people then fled the car and the police found them hiding in a bush. The driver, Lily Miller, had a BAC of three times the legal limit, or at least .30.
No word on whether Sauerbeck was wearing a wife-beater and barefoot at the time.
Links:
[Cleveland.com]:
You know what’s great about Boston? They teach their kids at a young age how to be as much of a masshole as possible. According to Terry Francona, the kid who yelled something at Keith Foulke is the same 12 year old who has been yelling at him for 2 years.
That guy yelling at Foulke is the same one who’s been yelling at me for two years. He said something inappropriate.
…
Where’s Timlin, you dumb-ass?. He’s 12. If I had been his dad, I’d have smacked the $#^@ out of him.
Sure he’s 12 but he’s got the heckling skills of at least a 16 year old.
A note on the kid pictured here. He is the most photoshopped fan on the planet. He’s been giving the finger as a Steelers fan, a Browns fan, a Yankees fan, a Red Sox fan… the list goes on and on. Who is this Golden Child of Anger?
Links:
[Boston Herald]: Foulke holds back