It’s that time again fans, OTB’s looks around the blogosphere of the stuff that you need to know and the stuff you probably don’t. Don’t be like Alison Lohman and “Get Dragged to Hell” without checking out these links.
Current Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach had a rather interesting Big 12 media day interview regarding the current use of technology.
Specifically he rambles about Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and I guess that new-fangled cell phone that can show you video. He does not like them one bit and does stress that he is not on any of them.
I guess the head coach with a pirate in his office has to set some boundaries.
Big Papi back in an older television interview stated that any steroid users should be "banned for one year." Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black. However, I'm going to turn a blind eye since many players were juicing in 2003 but the real question that it does bring up is the 2004 World Series Title tainted due to this new knowledge?
It is really tough to not have an opinion at this point and it feels that the 2004 title has a cloud over it now much similar to the cloud Barry Bonds had when he broke Aaron's record.
Did either of them juice in 2004 though? Well, that is something I guess we will never know since we cannot assume that either decided to stop using performance-enhancing substances during the 2004 season. We could assume the best-case scenario that they did but it is tough to trust any Major League Baseball player from that era now.
Major League Baseball from 1998-2007 has become a black eye in the game of baseball and really should be noted as "the steroid era" for the historical records. It will be interesting to see how Boston reacts to one of their favored sons tested positive. He was the guy who helped beat the hated Yankees in the ALCS for Christ sake.
Does the World Series in 2004 become tainted though? I guess on some level it does, sure there were many athletes on that team that were clean but when you have two bad apples, it spoils the rest of them.
The sad part is that the 2004 Red Sox win in the World Series changed the lives of the people in Boston who never saw a World Series title and now the cloud of the "steroid era" is now permanently affixed to "reversing the curse."
The major story in the NFL has been NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conditionally reinstating Michael Vick. Essentially, Vick will be able to sign with a team and play in the final two preseason games along with attending team functions and practices. Goodell can then reinstate Vick by Week 6 of the NFL season if he believes that he is ready to come back.
The real question that people are starting to ask now is which team wants to deal with the baggage of Michael Vick? Peter King of SI.com has mentioned that the New England Patriots might be the best for Vick due to the structure of the team and protection behind Tom Brady.
Outside the Patriots and possibly the Raiders, would any team want to deal with an ex-con along with the backlash from fans from a player who fought dogs? Sure, teams will have some interest in Vick but they have to deal with the media circus surrounding him. Even if Vick comes back as “Mike Quick”, is it really worth it to put him in your locker room? Currently, four NFL teams have already said no to Vick, The Washington Redskins, the Dallas Cowboys, the St Louis Rams and the Miami Dolphins.
Would I want Mike Vick on my team? Of course, if I am a general manager, I want to win football games and Vick is a talent that could help me win games. The real issue you have to deal with is support for your team if you sign him. However, if your team makes it to the Super Bowl with Mike Vick, people will forgive and forget.
The world is a frugal place where people will thumb their noses at an individual but if their team wins the Super Bowl championship, he will be championed as a hero. It really is sad on some level.
The question will be answered in the next couple of weeks regarding the Vick saga but is he worth the risk? (There is now a report now that Vick is close to signing with a team but it is not specified who it is.) If I am a NFL general manager who is on the short leash, I would take Vick. Fans can say whatever they want but they will pay money to come see the games and in the end, that’s what NFL teams want.
This is not the court of public opinion or the court of “he said, she said.” This is sports; people will talk regardless of the story. It is nice to see that Vick is a free man but he is still not free from people’s perception of him.
When we think of the Philadelphia Eagles of the 2000’s, the automatic names that come to mind are Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid. However, one of the true legends of coaching Jim Johnson was merely a blip on the radar.
He was the Eagles defensive coordinator starting in 1999 and help orchestrate one of the blitzing defenses that we had a privilege to watch. The Eagles during their run to multiple NFC Championship games led in most defensive categories under Johnson including sacks, third-down efficiency and red zone defense.
Johnson coached for more than 22 years in the NFL and had stops in Seattle, Arizona and Indianapolis. He was the epitome of a “defensive guru” and has affectively put his stamp in NFL history as one of the best defensive coordinators.
Johnson passed away from skin cancer, he was 68 years old.
Well, the great national nightmare is over....for now. Brett Favre has decided to stay retired and will not be a member of the Minnesota Vikings.
I guess that means we can finally take off "Favre Watch" but we have already seen where Favre has flip-flopped previously. How can we trust that Favre in six weeks into the NFL season not decide, "Hey, I want to come back one more time."
The story has enveloped the entire sports blogging community and it will continue to do so until Favre stays away from the game entirely. The only time that I will be inclined to believe Favre is when we get to the Super Bowl Sunday and Brett Favre is not on the field or being rumored to being courted by another NFL team.
For now, he will continue to be that crazy girlfriend who says she will break up with you forever but then will be back pleading to be your girlfriend again. This story gets new legs every other week and thankfully this decision might finally end them.
I know y'all have been waiting with bated breath, so I figured it was time for another NBA player website review (I might branch out to other athletes as the offseason stretches on, but it's best to start with what we know, ne?). I figured I'd do someone who's been in the news lately, so I looked for the Stephon Marbury official website. If you missed it, he was on ustream live for 24 hours on Saturday. Turns out, though, that the ego head doesn't even have his own website. Well, at least not one dedicated to anything but shoes. In a way, it's admirable. It kind of goes to show he doesn't need it, his rep is so (in)famous. Starbury.com would get a B for its general swagginess, including Starbury fragrances and custom Starbury cursor. The only negative is the stiff posturing of Steph on the site.
Next I thought of Monday Night Raw's host Shaquille O'Neal, who also tried to get into the White House today without an appointment (secret service says, "no."), but it seems the Big Twitter(er) sticks to his preferred media outlet. The closest thing he has to an official website is twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ, and if you try to go to ShaquilleONeal.com you actually get re-directed to NBA.com (although the address stays shaquilleoneal.com and for some reason you can't access player info but can get all the official team websites as in www.shaquilleoneal.com/cavaliers...the interweb, what a wacky place!). Anyway, those two players being sans official websites had me turning to another pg role player on great teams of this decade (you'll remember, obviously, that the inaugural Website Review was former Sacto King Mike Bibby): Derek Fisher, who recently lost to David Arquette in a from-the-roof shooting competition.
DerekFisher2.com is fairly new, and really I can't see enough about Fish the man. By all accounts (we reserve the right to disregard Luis Scola's opinions), he's a stand up guy. NBA players prez, etc. The website, though? That still stands to be evaluated!
Accessibility/layout: The site is pretty fresh, with well integrated video, links/features, and a "coming up" spot that is pretty cool in theory but at the moment only flashes today's date. There's also a link to "Derek's schedule," but it only takes you to the Lakers' game schedule. The focus right now is the Lakers having won the Larry O'Brien, and the pics of Fish celebrating that alternate on the home page look quite good. Every page has links to outside sites that are "related," though for the most part they are just to D-Fish's facebook or things like that. Still, the website looks pretty professional. No broken links and lots of info to connect to. Media available for viewing from every page. You could really spend days here, which IMHO is a great thing for a player's website. It's a little unfortunate that the video plays automatically, as you keep hearing the same first line as you cycle through the home page, but really that's really an inconsequential quibble. You can sign up for an RSS feed, for crying out loud! Apparently Fish used Athlete Interactive to help get the website flowing, and it worked beautifully. I'll have to look into this new AI. Grade: A+
Video: The videos on site are not any old things you could find on Youtube. Rather, they show interviews and occurences of personal importance to the D-Fish narrative. They show highlights like the 0.4 second shot, examples of Fish at his basketball camp, training, and even footage of Fish campaigning for President Obama. You would love a little more selection (there are just under a dozen) and there should certainly be more playing highlights--the 0.4 second shot is actually the only one. Also, with the exception of the miracle shot, none of the content is older than a year. You have to attribute that to Athlete Interactive, as they probably suggested the videos be only originals. You can make playlists with the videos, which is a fun idea but really why would you want to? I'd much prefer to be able to embed the videos, which you cannot do. Grade: B-
Photos: There are three wallpapers available to download and the scrolling pics on the homepage, but other than that nada. Grade: D
Up-to-date-ness: Love, love, love the way the News section is set up, but it kind of lacks any body behind the lovely face. Of course, there's not much to report right now, so...it's great the site has its own original writing and links larger site articles for certain features on Fish, but it strikes me as a bit insular not to link to more outside content. Love that there's an article on Fish trying to get Lamar Odom to stay in LA. Grade: B-
Marketing: None to speak of, though you can sign up for his summer camp (registration now closed) or the Fisher Fan Club, and there are links to the UALR scholarship Fisher Fellows Program and an article on retinoblastoma. Let's just give him the slight nod for using the site to promote honorable ventures. Grade: B
Original content: Let's put it this way: Community service! Fan club! Skills camp! Wallpaper! Articles! Videos! Podcast!?! The podcast is pending. I've sent in a question, we'll see if it gets answered. I never got an e-mail back from Mike Bibby regarding his return to the Hawks. Let's hope Fish comes through a little more reliably. All the original writing, including on the Bio (printable version available) is really great. I also love the 'Features' section, which shows recent material added to the site, including a piece on helping with education in Darfur. What can I say, Fish acts like royalty ought to. In the end, there's a lot of original content promised here, though some of it is yet to be delivered. Grade: B+
Trivia: The site's too glossy to dip here, I guess. There might be some trivia sprinkled throughout the bio, but as much as I love Fish I didn't read it. Maybe one winter day when I need something honorable and inspiring on which to warm myself. Grade: D
In the end, DerekFisher2.com is a promising site that still has a bit of room for improvement. Some of the gloss and potential hide the fact that there's not as much content as you'd think there'd be for an 11 year vet. Final Grade: A-
During Saturday’s game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the St Louis Cardinals, a Phillies fan was using a laser-pointer to distract St Louis hitters Julio Lugo and Albert Pujols.
My real question is how did someone smuggle a laser pointer into the game? The bigger question is who even owns a laser pointer anymore? I always thought it was only that expert at the planetarium owned one.
That is pretty despicable by whoever did it. I’m not going to throw all Phillies fans under the bus but seriously, laser pointers are not toys and can cause blindness.
By the way in a related story, “Are those sharks with laser beams attached to their heads?”
It all started last year, when the Royals got their butts kicked on July 21, 2008 by the Tigers, 19-4. Down by a ton and not wanting to waste the arm, the Royals did what all awesome teams do and put a position player on the mound. Only Tony Pena Jr. wasn't any normal position player/pitcher. After getting his feet set after a few pitchers, he put the side down in order, striking out future hall of famer Ivan Rodriguez in the process.
The support was there, but Tony struggled on, trying to remain a shortstop. But recently Tony was waived, and desperate times call for desperate measures. There is a glimmer of hope for Tony, however: Teammate Ron Mahay did a similar thing back in 1995, switching from outfield to pitching. And I'd say that, 14 years later, Mahay has been pretty successful. So maybe we'll see Pena before we know it, pitching in the 8th inning to get the game to Soria (or maybe Soria will get the game to Pena?).
Note: Noticed this article on Joe Posnanski's Twitter, so I'm giving credit where credit is due.
So I'm definitely in the summer doldrums slump, but sports goes on. I'm not invested enough in baseball or football to care enough right now, so I've fallen to watching pro wrestling like I was 14 again. Let me say that it was 1998 when I was 14, as in right in the thick of the nWo, Monday night wars, and invasion storylines that drove the Attitude Era. Suffice it to say, things are different now. I've heard the current era called "the PG era," and it's just one more thing going slack during the recession. Still, things have to happen. Life doesn't stop long enough to always be interesting (though we try to make it so).
Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and newly (almost) heel-turned CM Punk seem to be ushering in an age of heel dominance. The popular "faces" are not showing long term potential, as Jeffy Hardy is rumored not to be returning when his contract expires and Rey Mysterio, Jr. has pretty much peaked story-wise as the lovable little-guy/luchador. (A pairing with...Dolph Ziggler? Wait, who?) It's a sad state of a "sport" when the plus-40s are running it, as Shawn Michaels, Rick Flair, Brett Hart (all inactive at the moment), and the Undertaker are looked at to revive fan interest as we head towards Summer Slam. (Check out the FDH series on ideal events for a long view towards 'Mania 26) You could see it at Night of Champions, though I didn't (why pay per view when you can pick up the essentials on Youtube?). WWE doesn't have a hold on their fanbase's reactions.
Philly was dead on Sunday. Big Show was Jericho's big (pun...groan) surprise partner, and then the fans started cheering on Jericho despite huge heel promos lately. The fans also sent a bit of booing John Cena's way, which is not supposed to happen to one of the biggest faces in play right now. CM Punk? His heel turn and straight-edge posturing have been priceless and play off/up Jeff Hardy's popularity perfectly. But Punk lost Sunday night. Which begs the sad question: is this the farthest they're going to push the Punk story? Because, quite frankly, it's been the most intriguing thing in pro wrestling right now. Granted, the crowd at Smackdown Friday didn't really get the angle, but he turned in a nice promo Sunday.
Specifics aside, I thought about writing something a little thoughtful, a little Epochryphal, but it's been done already, and I'm not energetic enough to do the legwork necessary for a new spin on it all. If you didn't catch it, and you're interested in further reading, former McMahon foil Paul Heyman has a great piece up on The Heyman Hustle about how WWE screwed up five years ago and how the lack of talent influx is leading to the...well, lack of talent. And weak storylines. And there's no real competition making WWE push itself. Although, in my opinion, I think pro wrestling needs to take MMA, UFC stuff as a serious competitor if not a potential conqueror. See: Brock Lesnar's UFC 100 show, as well as Shaq's bid to compete with Lesnar. We'll get back to Shaq, but the last idea it's important to take away from Heyman's thoughts: Japanese wrestling. The Japan circuits have always been big. What I'd love to see is a bit of a recreation of what pro wrestling looks like. Bring in some of the talented Japanese wrestlers already performing stateside, especially in a kind of Invasion story line...though that might get a litte racist-undertones questionable. Never mind. Just a thought.
What there really is left to focus on in pro wrestling is Shaq's guest role as GM of this week's Monday Night Raw. It's one of the more interesting things to come out of the Donald Trump takeover gimmick, that Raw has new hosts every week. Seth Green was pretty good. ZZ Top was a little stiff. I'm hoping Shaq makes it exciting, and of course the 300 lb basketball player in the room...question is: will the Daddy get in the ring and make it physical? That's the one everyone will be watching for, of course.
Instead of getting serious, though five paragraphs in maybe it's too late not to be serious, I want to give a little heads up for any cross-over fans that may be attracted by Shaq's presence at Raw. In the spirit of the cross-over, what I want to do with the rest of this post is compare the 12 wrestlers from Night of Champions to 12 NBA Players. I didn't write about the ECW guys because, well, I don't care about ECW. And 'care' is a relative word here...
Randy Orton is Ron Artest: I wanted to start with Orton because I feel like he has to be a major player in the WWE's future. He's still young, but he's already one of the most important names, and he's got a great hook for potential story lines. He's evil, a viper. He's the Legend Killer. And he hears voices. With the snakey moniker and the sinuous fluidity of his game, you might think Kobe here, but the Mamba's too established. We got with Kob's new teammate Ron-Ron instead, because Orton and Artest both seem to assasinate the competition while marching to the beat of a different drummer. Artest is stepping in to the big time lights and the thought is Orton should be doing the same. Artest also has some questionable friends from his past. I really wish Orton's connection to Legacy would go away.
Triple H is Kobe Bryant: Speaking of Mr. 81, he's the perfect comparison for the Game. They've both been around for awhile and they're both consumate competitors. Furthermore, Triple H isn't the biggest guy around; he's not slouch, but he's more Kobe than Lebron if you get what I mean. He's the Cerebral Assasin, and what label is more perfectly suited for Kobe? Of course, with Triple H's marriage to the owner's daughter, he might have more in common with Phil Jackson, but that's another story.
John Cena is Lebron James: Might as well finish out the Night of Champions triumvirate with a comparison to the King. Both Lebron and Cena have been groomed to be headliners, but both have seemed to slip a bit recently. Everyone's probably familiar with James' gaffes, so I won't revisit them here (oh wait, how 'bout a link? The wonder of the interweb!). Cena just doesn't seem to work up a crowd anymore. So, though Lebron probably has more potential at this point, with his summer of slip ups, his personality's begging for this comparison.
Jeffy Hardy is Paul Pierce: He's an enigma, but really he's not that hard to understand. A fan favorite. A guy living out his dream as new champion. With the exuberance and high-flying game, I thought Dwight Howard right off the bat. Hardy's had a bit more of a path to the top, though, in which case Paul Pierce is the right comparison. Get out of here with the KG stuff, because Pierce has been steadier when it comes to career rises and falls and fan devotion. After winning that championship, KG became a bit of a questionable character, as he dogged lesser opponents. I can't see Hardy ever doing that. At least, here's hoping.
CM Punk is Dwight Howard: Punk doesn't ooze athleticism like Howard, but when you look at Punk's straight-edge angle the baby-faced Howard necessarily comes to mind. When he came out, Howard looked like the second coming of stars of old we didn't know we were missing. He also had that whole God thing going for awhile, until that illegitimate child un-did that. Punk becomes the comparison here as his straight-edge angle is souring quickly. Similar to Lebron, Dwight made a few missteps on his way to the NBA finals, most notably calling out his coach and getting suspended for rough play. To top it all off, of course, his team won without him. I don't think the WWE would be better off with Punk, but we'll see. Of course, the WWE and NBA are different animals, as heels are actually valued in pro wrestling as I've contended they should be in pro basketball.
Rey Mysterio, Jr. is Chris Paul: Do I even need to explain this one? They both have incredible control over their games and both can scare up a rabid following out of thin air (or howling, levee breaking air as it were). Mr. 619 is always pitted against the giants, and Chris Paul has shown considerable propensity for tackling the NBA's pillars, like taking the Spurs to the brink in the second round of 2008's playoffs. And, really, does it have to be more complicated than knowing both could easily play the role of unassuming overachiever at a family barbecue? I can just see it now.
Dolph Ziggler is Deron Williams: Just kidding.
John Morrison is Kevin Durant: I know Morrison wasn't on Sunday's Night of Champions ticket, but he looks to be the next face promoted, so I'm including him here. He's got the title match against Jeff Hardy on this Friday's Smackdown. I couldn't resist the comparison with Durantula, as they're both the veritable new kids to the adults' table, both have a nice set of good moves, and both have had some nice victories in their still young careers. With Hardy possibly taking a break from WWE, Morrison might be Punk's next rival, which could play quite well. Both Morrison and Durant haven't really shown audiences their true personalities, but they've both shown enough ability that we're intrigued.
Legacy are Coby Karl and Mike Dunleavy, Jr.: Seriously, maybe Ted DiBiase, Jr. and Cody Rhodes are decent wrestlers, but I'm just tired of them. I mean, is DiBiase a wrestler or the idiot boyfriend from Wedding Crashers? And why did I enjoy his father's one night turn on Raw more than anything he's ever done? Jeez Legacy, get off the jockstraps of your fathers. I threw in Coby Karl for the whole father thing, but really Legacy are more like the Indiana Pacers. They're nice pieces (and, really, Granger is great, but he doesn't make me care), but they're still waiting for their Orton to show up.
Chris Jericho is Kevin Garnett: Forget that Jericho has faced down some of the biggest names of his era and come away with a whole handful of championships, whereas KG only has the one. Jericho's going through a stage where he's trying to make the tag team genre matter, an initiative you can also see WWE pushing in Cena and Triple H teaming up against Orton and Legacy. KG didn't get that ring 'til he teamed up with the Truth. Furthermore, Jericho spent a good deal of his career being very well liked, but is not completing a full scale heel turn. We saw signs of the same from KG last season.
The Big Show is Shaquille O'Neal: At this point in his career, Shaq really only bears comparison to the laughably large guys in WWE. Shaq is probably past his Kane days (Kane's been looking good, but he needs a real match-up for crying out loud), and he does dip into the whole Great Khali-esque fiasco, but Big Show really is an apt comparison. Paul Heyman says Big Show is actually great at breaking new faces, and Shaq has done that throughout his career, from Penny Hardaway to Kobe, to Dwayne Wade, and now on to Lebron James. With the Big Show, it's hard to tell if he's a heel or a ham. Shaq suffers from the same dichotomy. Lastly, of course, if Shaq were to call himself the Big Show, it'd be one in what seems like a thousand names he's called himself including the word 'Big.'
Now the Big Question (can we get Allen Iverson on growth hormones to be the Big Answer?) is will Shaq get in the ring with Big Show Monday night? Or maybe he'll bring Brock Lesnar in with him! Anyway, two-ish months before NBA training camps get going. Lol.
Until now. According to Adam Schefter and Sharapova's Thigh on Twitter, Bennett is done after re aggravating an old knee injury. Schefter quotes him as saying, "I've been blessed to have the opp to play in NFL for as long as I have but it's time for me to move on to next chapter in my life."
Sucks to be Bennett. He always seemed like a good guy, and this seemed like an awesome opportunity for him.
Sucks even more for the Ravens though. First you're set with Mason, now Bennett, now nothing. And you thought your weekend was bad. Time for some awkward call backs to all those guys they sent home without a job three days ago. Can you say D.J. Hackett?D
Ballot Four of the GSNHOF ended yesterday at midnight. Fair Hooker is in, Yinka Dare is embarrassed, and a bunch of other guys fell somewhere in between. If you're interested, check out the results here. The first name for Ballot Five will be introduced tomorrow, so be sure to check it out!
We're introducing a new feature in The FDH Lounge, and it comes at a great time since we're at the deadest point on the sports calendar: Dream Sporting Events. Quite simply, each feature will discuss an idea whose time has come -- a big-time sporting event that could happen if only the Powers That Be in sports, television and marketing could appreciate the fact that big money could be rolling in with proper execution.
This installment concerns a way to do what many think is truly impossible: make soccer really relevant in America.
The premise is that FIFA would decide to make real penetration of the American soccer market its “Manhattan Project” as a means to expand its reach in a true global sense by tapping into the world’s most dominant consumer market. FIFA does have it within its reach to apply the pressure needed on the world’s soccer circuits and tournaments to be able to make this league happen.
In order to have any chance of making soccer important in America, the best players in the world will have to participate, because Americans just won't embrace a game missing all but a small handful of the world's best stars -- and that's where the FIFA leverage comes in. They would need to arrange for clubs the world over to make their stars available for play in this league; after all, the money could take care of all concerned parties -- the leagues and their stars.
The best time on the schedule for such a new league, if it were to avoid conflicts with other existing leagues, would be June/July. However, the obvious problem with this would be an overlap with the game's biggest event, the World Cup, every four years starting with 2010 -- and an overlap with the European championships and tournaments involving other leagues every four years starting with 2012.
So we start from an admittedly controversial jumping-off point: a league that could only play its games every two years, starting in 2011. Hopefully, this condition would help to build anticipation -- because it would, after all, involve the best of the best in the world.
A draft would be held with all top soccer stars in FIFA-certified leagues being eligible, certainly to great anticipation at the outset. For these purposes, we selected the six cities most likely to be able to support big-time soccer in the form of sold-out football stadiums. They are: Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Houston, Washington D.C. and New York.
Each team would play everyone else one time, with an additional game being played in order to create a six-game regular season. From there, the playoffs would consist of semifinals based on regular-season records and a league championship.
Given that even the MLS has been able to achieve national television in the form of ESPN2, it can be regarded as almost certain that this new league would achieve even higher visibility -- likely through a combination of ABC/ESPN outlets.
Here is a sample of what the first season could resemble in 2011:
Tuesday June 7 DC at NY Seattle at LA
Wednesday June 8 Houston at Chicago
Sunday June 12 LA at DC NY at Houston Seattle at Chicago
Thursday June 16 Seattle at NY LA at Chicago
Friday June 17 DC at Houston
Tuesday June 21 Chicago at DC Houston at Seattle
Wednesday June 22 New York at LA
Sunday June 26 Chicago at NY Houston at LA DC at Seattle
Wednesday June 29 NY at DC Chicago at Houston LA at Seattle
Monday July 4 Semifinals
Sunday July 10 Championship
With such a small sample of games involving the world's best players, the league would be very likely to see each and every one of its games regarded as a big event. The amount of money generated from the gate and from television would likely be enough to help FIFA achieve what so many have thought impossible: making soccer important in the United States.
Anyone who thought the Browns were down and out, especially with Josh Cribbs holding out, worry no more. The Browns have signed Alex Mack. If you didn't read the combine results on the incredible Mack, here's what I found on wikipedia:
"Alex" Mack (Larisa Oleynik) – The main character. Having developed superpowers in a freak chemical spill (GC-161) accident (telekinesis, electrokinesis, and the ability to morph into a liquid puddle), Alex is hardly what one would call an "average" girl. Generally caring and friendly, although somewhat naïve at times, Alex struggles to get through life in the only way she can.
Impressive, no? Any time the Steelers defense is about to sack Brady Quinn, Mack can just use telekinesis to move one of his buddies over there for the block. And the Browns could use someone caring and friendly in the locker room, especially with Cribbs unhappy and the previous incidents like Joe Jurevicius and his staph infection. Maybe Alex is naive, but that'll happen with just about any rookie when he first enters the league, and it's nothing the Browns veterans can't handle. I wonder how Alex would utilize that puddle morphing ability though, and I can't think of any way that isn't kind of gross. Guess we'll find out the hard way.
NOTE: Our undervalued and overvalued lists are created based on a comparison of our draft board to an "experts' draft board" compilation of our top peers in the industry, including magazines and websites. These features and others, including the draft board, are to be released in FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009, a free guide being uploaded on August 1.
The Most Undervalued Players of 2009 QB: Eli Manning RB: Marion Barber, Donald Brown, Earnest Graham, Jamal Lewis, Le'Ron McClain WR: Isaac Bruce, Nate Burleson, Michael Crabtree, Braylon Edwards, Devery Henderson, Michael Jenkins, Muhsin Muhammad, Chad Ochocinco, Kevin Walter TE: Todd Heap, Tony Scheffler
The Most Overvalued Players of 2009 QB: Jay Cutler, Shaun Hill RB: Reggie Bush, Tim Hightower, Larry Johnson, Marshawn Lynch, Willis McGahee, LenDale White WR: Donnie Avery, Deion Branch, Antonio Bryant, Mark Clayton, Laveranues Coles, Jerricho Cotchery, Percy Harvin, Devin Hester, Santonio Holmes, Brandon Marshall, Lance Moore, Santana Moss, Eddie Royal, Nate Washington, Hines Ward, Wes Welker, Roy Williams TE: Zach Miller, Visanthe Shiancoe
So I watched Back to the Future last night, and it made me remember how the future is always so much cooler when it's imagined by people from the past. Which brought to mind, of course, the July 18th, 1998 game between the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals. With sweet future uniforms.
Ken Griffey Jr. loved it, spray painting his teammates shoes silver-metallic and running around the field with his hat on backwards. But that was about all I knew about the game until I came across ESPN's Paul Lukas and his look back at the game, which led to some amazing factoids that I hadn't heard about the game. Like the fact that a robot delivered the first pitch to the mound. Or that the first pitch was then thrown by Scotty of Star Trek fame after he entered the field in a Delorean. Man I wish I had been in Seattle that day.
Curious to see more of the future? Here's some other takes on the future from all sorts of different mediums: 1. The Future of Clothing (a 1930's video predicting 2000's fashions) 2. Shopping From Home (a 1967 view of computers) and finally 3. Conan's Predictions (In the year Two Thousanndddddd)
SEC Media Day was in full-force this week as college football is just around the corner. One of the stories that came up from yesterday was regarding Tim Tebow not being an unanimous All-SEC QB.
Two of the votes cast were for Ole Miss Jevean Snead. It was figured out that since Florida Urban Meyer could not vote for his own player, he was one of them. Then everyone asked, which coach did not for Tebow?
Well, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier has come forward and said that he was at fault for not voting for Tebow. The reason why, he did not fill out his own card. Confused?
Well, Spurrier said that he never fills out these pre-season voting ballots and usually lets someone else to fill it out for him. Spurrier said that he gave it to director of football operation and filled it out for Snead. Spurrier then signed it and went about his day.
So, who is this person who voted for Snead over Tebow? Well, his name is Jamie Speronis and he has been the South Carolina director of football operations since 2004.
The great irony? He graduated from Florida back in 1985 and worked for the Gators as their director of football operations from 1996-2002. Sometimes you cannot make these stories up.
We finally can bring closure to this story and Tim Tebow can take his preseason All-SEC to the bank.
The biggest news of the day so far in Major League Baseball is the St Louis Cardinals acquiring Matt Holliday from the Oakland Athletics for three minor league prospects.
Holliday who had a rough start out in Oakland (he is currently only hitting .286 with 54 RBI's) has been moved to a more-hitter friendly ball-park and gets the protection that most hitters cherish in getting to hit before or after Albert Pujols.
The Athletics pretty much learn their lesson about acquiring big-name free agents and get three servicable minor league talents. I guess we are back to MoneyBall again out in Oakland.
The real question is how is Holliday going to bloster the Cardinals line-up? Well, he does provide a solid bat and can play the outfield. It will be tough through in the NL central where you have three teams competing for the top spot. It is defintely an upgrade in offense-talent to say the least.
I guess the Cardinals will get Albert Pujols, a "Holliday" after all.
(Some information used in this article is from ESPN.com)
We may all write blogs here at Outside The Boxscore, but we read blogs just like you all do too. A lot of those blogs post substantive, thought provoking pieces, or are simply hilarious. And these are all good, and we love reading them.
However, you take the good with the bad, and that means that a lot of blogs out there are pretty crappy. Their analysis makes you scratch your head, their jokes miss the mark, and their presence kind of make you want to stab yourself in the eye with a spork. I'm talking the kind of blogs that make you feel smart - the guys that say the Pittsburgh Pirates are a Roy Halladay trade from the playoffs, or who think the T'Wolves drafting 20 point guards this year was a good thing. You can try to talk sense into these bloggers through posting comments, but that can only take you so far. You just want a chance to prove yourself smarter than these guys, but how do you do that over the internets?
Well, if you've ever wanted to prove yourself to Outside The Boxscore, now's your chance. We play fantasy football on Yahoo, and our league could use a few more members, and we'd love to have readers fill those spots. As long as you stay active and aren't a massive douchebag, you're welcome to join. You'll be playing three OTB writers (Me, Ben and Aseem), as well as some old friends of mine. It's a competitive league (though also a free league), and if you're interested, you should check it out. It'll be fun if you hate us, it'll be fun if you love us, but I'm going to win the championship regardless. So bring it on!
Stuff you need to join: League ID is 264027, password is football, league name is "The Year the Cardinals Win It"
So as some of you may or may not know, I've recently moved to Bloomington, Indiana (I live like right next to the massive football stadium, or just off to the left of this picture).
Anyways, it's awesome so far. Delicious locally owned food everywhere. Hoosierdom as far as the eye can see. And most importantly, as I've found out, a hot bed of cycling.
Who knew? Certainly not me. But it's been awesome, particularly this past weekend when the town had bike races. Young adults to elderly biked all over downtown, which was completely shut down to create a mile long race rack for the bikers. The scene was amazing, especially when you consider that my girlfriend and I got to watch it while drinking $3 pitchers at Kilroy's on Kirkwood. I have to say, the only better thing than a bike race through town is a bike race through town while tipsy. And hey, after it all ended, we even found Dio on a building downtown!
So that was all well and good. But it got even better the next night, when the town screened "Breaking Away." I had never seen the movie, which stars Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern (of Home Alone fame) and is also ranked #14 on ESPN's list of all time best sports movies (Hoosiers is #4). While the trailer to Breaking Away posted at the top of this page looks really cheesy, it's actually an amazing, hilarious, inspirational film, and I highly suggest any readers watch it if you haven't had a chance to yet.
By the way, much of the film is all about Indiana University's Little 500, an intense student bike race that involves teams of four completeing 500 grueling laps around a stadium. The event sounds amazing, but being a Bloomington transplantee of 22 days, I have yet to see it. That'll change April 23rd and 24th of 2010, and I'll be sure to post the awesome event for all of you to see when it happens. I know I can hardly wait!
It was only a few short weeks ago when San Francisco Giants pitcher Johnathan Sanchez threw a no-hitter (which was nearly a perfect game) against the San Diego Padres. Well, Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle decided to one up him in throwing a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Buehrle only needed 116 pitchers to blank Tampa's potent line-up of hitters. He also is one of the few pitchers in Major League history to throw a perfect game and a no-hittter. The last perfect game was thrown in 2004 by then-Arizona Diamondback Randy Johnson.
Buehrle will probably be giving outfielder Dewayne Wise some credit for robbing Gabe Kapler. It is absolutely amazing catch by Wise. Even more credit goes to manager Ozzie Guillen who put Wise in as a defensive replacement. That catch is seen in the video below.
Well, you knew that it was only a matter of time until everyone’s favorite dirty-talking newscaster would always has an opinion would talk about the Erin Andrews situation.
Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor recently commented on the Erin Andrews “peephole” situation and had his take on it. He even showed some of the tape on the air. He also had a panel discussion with two female Fox News anchors.
Albeit, O’Reilly does have a legitimate point about how creepy and disturbing it is but we have to remember that he was also the guy who caught for dirty talkin’ to a fellow co-worker. It’s nice to see Erin Andrews still in peppering our news but for all the wrong reasons.
Most of you have probably noted the lack of a post regarding the “peep hole video” showing Erin Andrews and her “goodies.” Mainly because I figured that I would get all of the information before making any pre-judgments, etc.
For those of you who do not know, a video surfaced on the interweb that lasted about 43 seconds which appeared to show a blonde woman who looked like Erin Andrews naked in a hotel room. Then lawyers for Erin Andrews came forward saying that the video was indeed her but the video was taken without her consent and was an invasion of her privacy.
The Deadspin’s, Busted Coverage’s, Big Picture’s and Don Chavez’s of the world have jumped upon the story calling the individual who allegedly taped her a “pervert” and taking a blogger crush into creepy territory. In my opinion, this was bound to happen in the world of the TMZ and the “voyeuristic” nature of our current society.
My real question is; does this change our view of Erin? For some it might not and it has been shown that bloggers are coming to her defense which is nice to see that we are not all blubbing idiots that have no social values. However, I do guarantee that a legion of Erin fanatics have probably viewed the video many times over but I’m not going to jump down their backs since they are just the viewers and not the video-taper. I have a feeling that some of you are googling “Erin Andrews Peephole” as you read.
In a way, everyone is somewhat at fault for what has gone down. We the blogsphere help create “Erin Andrews: Sideline Princess” on some level and whatever happens to her, we are somewhat responsible for. The internet can help build people up but also tear them down. Whoever this videographer is decided to cross the line and invade Erin’s privacy and that is against the law. They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
In the public eye, Erin has nothing to be ashamed about since it was just her disrobed and nothing else. Most of us spend at least 10% of our days in some form of nakedness and the only difference here is that a period of her time was displayed on the internet.
For the overall general opinion of her, people will come to her defense and rightfully so. She is a talented reporter and one of the few marketable faces of ESPN. This will probably not negatively impact her at all, worst case scenario: it just makes an even bigger star.
Will sports fans/bloggers continuously fall all over themselves over her? Sure, however the possible “Erin” mystique might be gone since a percentage of the world since they have already seen what they needed to see. However, I doubt that some readers will continue to look at any post entitled, “Erin Andrews.”
In the end, the general opinion of Erin Andrews probably has not changed. She has become a victim of a terrible crime and that I am truly sorry that it had to happen to her.
Well, the video-tape that we have all been waiting for has been released by TMZ.com of Xavier's Jordan Crawford dunking on Lebron James.
Here is the link to my NBA blog, That NBA Lottery Pick which was one of the first blogs to break the story has the updated video of a high quality version of the dunk and my reaction to the dunk.
Many famous musicians have become minority owners of professional sports franchises, Usher with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Jay-Z with the New Jersey Nets.
Well, the latest musician to join the group is Marc Anthony who has bought a share with the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins already had famous musician backers in Gloria and Emilio Estefan, now they add Marc Anthony. That is already a great Salsa concert to attend.
Anthony will help push the Dolphins “Hispanic initiative" to bring more fans to the gate and it will be interesting to see if Anthony can do anything to bring in any fans. Hell, if he can pull Jennifer Lopez, I think he can do it.
The 2010 FIBA Basketball World Championships goes down in Turkey. The official site actually has a pretty excellent run down of world basketball affairs. In English. Peep it. A question en vogue last summer in the afterglow of the Bejing Olympics was whether or not the USA's fielded team will feature big free agents of the 2010 summer like Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. Regardless, Turkey will be the epicenter of international basketball and a stepping stone for the London games in 2012 (when the world ends, duh). USA Basketball, which starts its mini-camp on Thursday, just released a statement to the effect of announcing at least four new members at London, which means guys who were non-factors in Beijing like Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer, Michael Redd will be out and names like Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, and possibly Blake Griffin will be in.
Gracing the top of the Turkey Championship page are a few international stars: Kobe Bryant; an impassioned Pau Gasol (who led the best team in my opinion at Beijing); Yao Ming; and, of course the Turkish MJ, Hedo Turkoglu. Above, you can get a nice primer on what life in Turkey looks like. Okay, maybe not. But at least you can see what a Turkish cell phone commercial looks like. Turkcell services 37 million people, making it the third largest provider in Europe...wait, is Turkey in Europe now? Anyway, the tip comes from Skeets at Yahoo!. Personally, I can't wait for Hedo's hip-hop/jazz fusion album. I can just see him playing sax like Bill.
Sports gambling is one of the things that many of us sports fans have gone through at one point or the other during the course of our fandom. Everything from our first ever bet with our dad over a game or that first smell of a college basketball bracket.
It has become a natural pasttime for us fans on some level. The growth of online betting and fantasy football has increased the ease of staying in touch with old friends or chasing that cool buck.
The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL have tried to distance themselves from online sportsbooks and casinos for a period of time but we and the sporting leagues have to realize that it has become a part of our everyday life and while it should be regulated, we should not treat it like a red-headed step-child.
Online sports gambling and other fantasy websites will continue to flourish as long as there is that guy who thinks the Marlins will be the Padres by three runs or Adrian Peterson should be his first overall pick for his repeat championship. We and the professional sports league just have to learn to accept it.
During a match last Saturday in the J-League between Kawasaki Frontale and Vissel Kobe, this beautiful goal comes to us from Vissel Kobe's Tsuneyasu Miyamoto.
Miyamoto scores this goal on a beautiful bicycle kick to equalize the score at 2-2.
That is a pretty impressive goal and to say the least, he got to ride his bicycle.
One of the things that I do love about minor league baseball are the lame mascots that they put out there for the kids to enjoy.
Well, the Binghampton Mets have Bingo the Bee and recently during a game on July 17th, Bingo the Bee had a little accident.
Whenever a Binghampton Met hits a homerun, Bingo goes out and does a little dance. Binghampton Met Lucas Duda hit a grand slam and Bingo did his normal song and dance routine. The only issue is that he did not account for the fence as he tried to jump over it.
While I was tuning in to watch the ESPY’s over the weekend, I saw this commercial starring Chicago Bears wide receiver Devin Hester for Under Armour. When I saw it I thought, “That was pretty impressive.”
Then, someone sent me the link to the YouTube video of the commercial and I was more impressed with the camera shots and the way that it used a first person perspective to show what a day in the life of Devin Hester is like.
Hopefully, everyone knows the running joke that encompasses this video of replacing the subtitles from this movie about the life of Adolf Hitler with running jokes of current events. This might honestly be one of the funnier ones that I have seen using this technique.
Hitler finds out that the surprise party that he was going to go to being thrown by Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo has been cancelled because they broke up.
Who does Hitler blame? TMZ. I would too, honestly.
This year’s British Open turned into Tom Watson’s “turn back the clock moment” as he came nearly one shot away from winning the British Open at Turnberry. Watson’s resume was already filled as a golf legend but he created an indelible image of 59-year old man playing one of the greatest rounds of tournament golf that we have seen in awhile.
Watson who pretty much carved his name into golf lore in the 70’s and 80’s gave himself a chance to win a major in the 2000’s which most of us given the sight of that sentence would have laughed it off as a creative plot from a skilled writer.
Watson conjured up moments that fans and students of the game will remember for a life-time. It’s nice to see that golf is not just a sport dominated by one man for at least one weekend. During the week, Watson effortlessly hit shots onto the fair-way and played arguably one of the best rounds of golf of his career on Saturday going into Sunday.
Then the wheels started to wobble but not fall off, Watson had a chance to re-write history as the oldest player to win a major championship by a full ten years over the previous-record holder. He was one shot away and then reality started to set in as he could not hit a putt from eight-feet out.
He would go into a playoff with Stewart Cink, only to watch his dream slip away as Cink rallied to claim the claret jug as his first major as Watson looked on. In a way, I feel bad for Cink since his first major will be overshadowed by the aura of 59-year old man nearly winning his 9th.
Watson will turn 60 in September, maybe “60 is the new 30.” He played arguably was at the top of his game at 59 years old, outside of Michael Jordan dropping 50 as a 40-year old, this might be the best example of an older player defying the odds to compete with the younger players. It also proves that legends still have something left in the tank after all.
Watson’s wild ride came up short with turning back the clock but for four days in July, he almost did.
We're introducing a new feature in The FDH Lounge, and it comes at a great time since we're at the deadest point on the sports calendar: Dream Sporting Events. Quite simply, each feature will discuss an idea whose time has come -- a big-time sporting event that could happen if only the Powers That Be in sports, television and marketing could appreciate the fact that big money could be rolling in with proper execution.
We lead off this series with a true world motorsports championship: call it New & Improved IROC.
In theory, the IROC series was a dream come true, with top open-wheel and stock car drivers squaring off in the same vehicles, leaving only a battle of skills to determine the winners. The reality fell far short of the promise, however, as the heads of different motorsports federations didn't want to do anything to diminish the importance of their own big races. Instead of promoting the events with the equivalent of a warm hug, a limp-fish handshake was substituted. Also, with the races being held in the summertime, the great Formula 1 drivers were on the outside looking in because there was no way logistically for them to participate.
Currently, there is an event held after all of the major racing circuits are done for the year. It is called the Race of Champions. However, drivers are competing for their respective countries rather than purely head-to-head and the event does not register at all in America. If a tree falls in the forest, DOT DOT DOT.
We propose a return for IROC, but in grand fashion: a two-race series after the seasons are completed for the main circuits. A treaty would have be finalized between NASCAR, Formula 1 and the IRL for participation among drivers and teams, as well as the division of spoils with the economic pie at stake. Additionally, the Race of Champions would have to be bumped back a bit, but there would still be time to run it during the "offseason."
Think about this: with the NFL Network moving the traditional Saturday December NFL games to prime time, Saturday afternoons in that month are now wide open. An event such as this one, properly marketed, could pull huge numbers for ESPN or any of the over-the-air networks.
The series would rotate between eight oval tracks and four road courses, with an eight-year cycle seeing one oval race on each track and two road races on each course. Here is what the first eight years would resemble under the proposal:
2010 December 11: Daytona oval race December 18: Mexico City road race
2011 December 10: Las Vegas oval race December 17: Las Vegas road race [NOTE: A course could be assembled at any location in town that makes sense. Formula 1 used to race on a course specially constructed for those purposes at Caesars Palace.]
2012 December 8: Charlotte oval race December 15: Phoenix road race
2013 December 14: Fontana, CA oval race December 21: Long Beach, CA road race
2014 December 13: Atlanta oval race December 20: Mexico City road race
2015 December 12: Talladega oval race December 19: Las Vegas road race
2016 December 10: Texas/Ft. Worth oval race December 17: Phoenix road race
2017 December 9: Miami/Homestead oval race December 16: Long Beach, CA road race
These races would have extreme importance to the host cities and in many cases would receive even more local acclaim than the regular-season races being hosted. Regrettably, under this calendar, it would be impossible to race at Indianapolis, but being able to bring over the F1 racers after their season must take precedence.
The driver pool would participate of the following: the top 20 drivers from the season's NASCAR standings, the top 15 drivers from the IRL standings and the top 10 drivers from the F1 standings. Additionally, Internet voting would determine the last six spots, with two per circuit being allocated.
Driver points would be allocated according to the NASCAR points system, with an additional 15 points awarded to the pole-sitter of the two races. In the extremely unlikely event that two drivers would tie for first place at the end of the two races, the winner would be the one with the best cumulative finishes between the races.
FDH Lounge Dignitary Nate Noy raised an excellent question about driver participation. The respective circuits could make it mandatory, but would be able to throw in plenty of sweeteners (sponsor caysh, families being put up at posh resorts, glamorous parties).
Ultimately, there is a tremendous amount of money waiting to be realized with a concept such as this one. The different associations involved would have to put aside their own petty, sectarian interests and realize that in the end, giving true motorsports fans what they want would be quite lucrative -- and thus, it would not have to be its own reward. Everybody wins!
