If, as widely suspected, Ricky Williams didn’t actually fail his drug test on purpose, then his best bet might be to join the Toronto Argonauts. (Around these parts, the Argos are most known for giving Rockey Ismail the biggest salary in the history of football to lure him away from the NFL in 1991.) The Argos have put Ricky on their “negotiation list” which basically means they call dibs on the running back.
The NFL substance abuse policy has a loophole that allows suspended players to play in another league so the road is wide open for Ricky to join the Argos. And since the CFL doesn’t have a policy at all, Ricky can enjoy all the fine BC Bud he wants with the $200,000 to $300,000 (Canadian!) he could make in the CFL.
If Ricky is sincere about going back to the Dolphins in 2007, he almost certainly has to accept the offer and play for the CFL. Ricky will be 30 years old when he’s eligible to play again and not many teams will be willing to take a chance on a player out of the league for 2 (non-consecutive) seasons and has questions about his desire to play the game. Canadian winters are a far cry from South Beach but he’d be a god in Toronto.
Links:
[Winnipeg Sun]: CFL might be Ricky Williams’ best option
1. Lucky number 8: When a team’s offense is as loaded as the Cleveland Indians’ is, every once in a while it will explode in an outburst of runs. That is what happened on Thursday night when Cleveland smashed Josh Beckett and the Red Sox in a 15-3 rout. Beckett had one of his worst career outings, allowing 8 runs in 3.2 innings pitched. On the other hand, Ben Broussard had a career-best game. He went 4-5 with 2 homeruns and a MLB season high 8 RBIs. Broussard’s grand slam in the first inning opened up the scoring for the Indians, and his solo homerun later in the game reached the upper deck. Victor Martinez also homered for Cleveland, his 5th of the year. The Indians have now regained their major league lead in most runs scored, with 142 on the year. Beckett’s loss was his first of the year, and his ERA shot up from 2.54 to 4.50.
2. Santana returns to form: Johan Santana has been way off his 2004 form so far this year. Before last night, he had yet to win a game or throw 10 strikeouts in a game. On Thursday, he accomplished both in a 7-3 Twins win over the pitiful Royals. He pitched a season-high 8 innings and allowed 3 runs. Many Royals said his pitching was particularly baffling. Manager Buddy Bell said, “We weren’t able to do anything mainly because he was pitching so well.” Unfortunately for Royals fans, that is true for almost every pitcher they face. They have the lowest runs and homeruns totals in the majors.
3. Prolific Ponson?: It seems like every pitcher in a Cardinals uniform pitches better than they would elsewhere. This is true for Sidney Ponson, who, after two awful seasons, is 3-0 with St. Louis. His win last night against the Nationals sent his ERA down to 3.13, about half of last season’s total. Ponson got some help from the Cardinals offense in the 6-2 win. Jim Edmonds, who has been silent so far this year, hit a 3-run homerun in the first. That was all the support Ponson needed, as the Cards rolled to a 15-7 record.
4. Not that this implies anything…: Barry Bonds is in a lot of trouble right now, thanks to the fact that about 99.9% of America believes “Game of Shadows” instead of him. However, he about to pass Babe Ruth on the all-time homerun list, something that will require a celebration from the MLB, right? Wrong. Selig said that the MLB “will not celebrate” Bonds breaking Ruth’s mark, saying that “we don’t celebrate anybody the second or third time in.” Or maybe this has to do with the fact that Bonds is detested by about everyone besides himself. Anyway, Barry will have to pass Aaron to get any kind of celebration from the MLB.
5. Maybe he and Ron Artest will get along: Everyone knows by now about Devil Rays minor leaguer Delmon Young throwing the bat at the umpire after striking out. We said yesterday that Young “deserves to be punished for his actions.” Well, we got our wish, as AAA suspended Young indefinitely. The length of the suspension was not revealed, but it will likely be in the territory of Ron Artest’s season-long suspension after the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl. Unfortunately for Young, he doesn’t have a rap album to promote while he is serving his suspension.
The dancer who accused the three Duke lacrosse players had previously accused 3 other men of rape 10 years ago but then backed off her story and the case was never pursued.
The woman’s father said Thursday his daughter was not raped in the 1996 incident.
The father said his daughter was held against her will by a group of men who had picked her up from school in Durham and drove her to Creedmoor. She was not sexually assaulted or injured in the encounter, he said, and she was returned home safely the same day.
This revelation, of course, has the Duke lax lawyers in full shark mode.
It certainly raises substantial questions about this woman’s credibility,” Cheshire said. “It’s awfully bothersome when both allegations of rape include three men. It gives one a lot of pause about her credibility. … This is a train off the track.
Like we said before, this is like a heavyweight title bout. This round goes to the lacrosse lawyers.
Links:
[News & Observer]: The woman who says she was raped by three Duke lacrose players had a previous case
[MSNBC]: Duke accuser alleged rape 13 years ago
Everyone agrees that the White Sox are the best team in baseball. That is, except TSN who have the Tigers in the #1 slot. Since this isn’t a joke, we have to wonder what they’re thinking. Although last week, they were the only people to have the Reds in the top 10. This week, the rest of the crew is catching up and the Reds have moved up in most power rankings after leading the league in offense.
Why pay $3.99 for TO’s rap song when you can get an entire album of Major Leaguers singing for $17.99? Good Sports Recordings has unleashed “Oh Say Can You Sing” on the American public.
Their web site says that it “is a COOL project with no cheesy or campy elements allowed!” We’re going to go ahead and ignore that marketing copy. When you have Coco Crisp rapping an “original track”, there’s something very wrong. Still, on 11 tracks, there must be some good stuff here right? Besides Matt Ginter of the Tigers playing banjo on a song we’ve never heard of, that is. Actually, what we really want to hear is Matt Ginter rapping.
It’s for a good cause so we won’t make fun of it too much. However, they missed a golden opportunity on a can’t miss song that would make this a bestseller. How do they not have a duet of Enter Sandman with Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner? That’s gold, jerry, gold!
Maxim has named the 5 most whipped athletes in professional sports. These are the guys whose wives make more headlines than they do for controlling their careers or basically just saying too much in the press. To no one’s surprise, Doug Christie made the top of the list, followed by Kris Benson, Nick Harper, Antonio Davis, and Kurt Warner. The Nick Harper listing is a little harsh. The guy can’t help it if his wife is pyscho, stabbed him in the leg, and cost the Colts a playoff game.
It’s only a matter of time before Las Vegas gets a major sports franchise. If not the Sonics, then why not the San Diego Chargers, whose lease runs out after this year. The mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman (you know, the guy who told a bunch of fourth graders that drinking gin was a hobbie.) contacted Chargers management to make a pitch for them to relocate to Sin City. However, the Chargers are not allowed to talk to cities outside of San Diego county until after Jan 1 but there’s an amendment being passed that will change that after the mayor of San Diego said he supported the Chargers desire to explore relocating.
We realize the whole Rick Tocchet scandal might keep this from happening but why hasn’t the NHL pursued moving a team to Vegas? As we know, people will bet on anything, even if Rick Tocchet will get convicted, so why not stir up interest in the NHL by putting it in the sports gambling mecca of the world? Hell, put a team store right inside Caesars. Gambling is legal in Vegas. Embrace it, Bettman!
When Steve Nash won the MVP last year, a lot of people cried foul and said Shaq should have won it. Hell, some even said he was the worst MVP of all time. Well, people got even more apoplectic this year when it was announced he would win his second straight MVP, beating out Kobe, LeBron and Chauncey Billups.
From around the web comes these reactions:
[Dime Magazine]: “Kobe perfectly fits the two criteria that voters traditionally use when deciding on an MVP: he’s the best player in the League and he’s invaluable to his team. Kobe Bryant is the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. It’s not even close.”
[The Gambler]: “Every night, against the superior competition of the West, Kobe carries the Lakers. If he doesn’t have a great game, they don’t win. He is easily leading the league in scoring (35.3 points per game) in the context of winning basketball games…
People say that Kobe doesn’t make his teammates better. But that’s bull. He averages 4.5 assists per game and he frequently passes up shots at the beginning of games in order to let his teammates find their groove. He turns it on when he needs to. And all the attention he draws creates tons of open shots for them.”
[Sweet Emotion Iverson]: “I can’t remember a worse MVP in all of professional sports winning once, much less twice. While the sportswriters may be trying to make a point of where they want the NBA to go, they are emphatically neglecting the best player in the league, which can be an argument about Kobe and Lebron.”
[Pety Cash]: “Is steve Nash the best player in the NBA? no. Did Steve Nash have a better season then every other player in the NBA? no. Then why does he have 2 straight mvp trophies putting him in elite company with magic johnson? He has solid numbers and also has a solid supporting cast. This year Nash averaged 18 pts. and 10.5 assists per game. These numbers do beat out Chauncey Billups, despite being on the NBA’s best team (18.5 pts 8.6 assists p/g).”
We surveyed about every single mock draft out there and it’s a virtual lock that Reggie Bush will be taken #1 overall. However, we did find 3 sites that have the Texans taking someone else with the #1 pick. We’re scratching out heads wondering if they are genius or fools.
[FF Live Wire]: 1. Houston Texans – Mario Williams DE North Carolina State: The Texans will surprise many of the casual NFL specatators on April 29th when they pass up on Reggie Bush. RB Domanick Davis is fifth in total yardage among all running backs in the last three years who have played a minimum of eleven games each season. The Texans have also recently given Domanick Davis a $21.1 million contract extension. Reggie Bush’s talent can not be denied but will it cross over to the NFL in a successful manner? Many believe so but the Texans will make the right decision and draft the next Julius Peppers.
[NFL Smackdown]: 1. Houston – Mario Williams
DE NC State – It’s still looking like Williams will be their guy, since affordability is a question surrounding Bush. Plus, Davis is good enough for the Texans and Coach Kubiak.
[NFL Fans]: 1. Houston – D’Brickshaw Ferguson OT Virginia – For its entire existence Houston has been handicapped with a subpar offensive line lacking an anchor on the left side. With D’Brick, that problem is solved in one smooth stroke – which should allow David Carr, one of the most sacked QB’s in the league due to poor line play, the chance to finally flourish in the NFL.
