A-Rod ‘Clone’ Looks Like Uncle, But Can He Play?

So you’re 13 years old, you’re Alex Rodriguez’s nephew, you play for the same youth baseball team that A-Rod did, and you look pretty much exactly like him. Oh, and the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS just did a big story on you. Hey, no pressure kid. Meet Joe Dunand Jr., who seems to be in line for superstardom, or endless, expensive hours of therapy, in the near future (pick one).

Joe Dunand, Jr., Alex Rodriguez

As I mentioned in Speed Read on Thursday, I watched the son of former San Francisco Giant Terry Whitfield play in an early-round game of a district All-Star Little League tournament earlier this week. All that Eric Whitfield, 12, was able to accomplish in that game was four home runs in four at-bats — three of the drives completely clearing the creek that ran behind the outfield fence. But that’s a tricky age, where hormones and motor skills kick in at different paces; there’s no guarantee that, by age 16, Whitfield will be appreciably better than most of his teammates. And by all accounts, the biggest thing that Dunand, Jr. has going for him is that he looks like A-Rod. Read more…

Speed Read: Is Rubio Dissing Wolves For Europe?

The Clippers’ selection of Blake Griffin with the first pick in the NBA Draft last night was a forgone conclusion, so most of the draft drama was centered around Spanish point guard sensation Ricky Rubio. Over the past couple of weeks, Rubio became one of the most fascinating prospects in draft history — he doesn’t want to play in a small market or a cold city, his agent didn’t let him work out against other humans (which led to the strange one-on-none workout in Sacramento), he still has a huge buyout in his European contract, and nobody can really agree about how good he really is (he could be the next Steve Nash or the next Dan Dickau, and neither scenario would be surprising).

Ricky Rubio

His uncertain status was too much for OKC and Sacramento to put up with, to the point that the Kings decided they’d rather deal with the guy who was driving when his cousin shot someone. The Wolves were thrilled when he fell to them at #5, but because we all know that nothing good can happen to Minnesota, fans in the great white north might want to hold off on burning that Bassy Telfair jersey: Ricky’s dad is already telling people that he’s now thinking about staying in Europe for another year or two.

In other words, Ricky seems to be rejecting Minneapolis as his future home. Any threat to not come to the NBA isn’t really financial leverage, since his contract is slotted based on his position in the draft. But he could be pulling this stunt to try and force a trade to a city that’s more to his liking, such as New York. He might also be wondering (like a lot of other people) why the Wolves took another point guard (Johnny Flynn) with the #6 pick. Here’s what Mr. Rubio told MARCA (via FANHOUSE):

“We are going to speak with the [staff] of Minnesota and see what’s happening, because, in some hours, we may be in Minnesota or in another place.”

Ricky Rubio

He’s either expressing confusion over the Wolves’ intentions of keeping his son, or he’s basically telling them they better trade because there’s no way Ricky’s coming to play there.

After being drafted, ESPN’s Mark Jones asked Ricky to compare his game to that of a current NBA player. To which he simply replied: “I’m Ricky Rubio” (to the amusement of the MSG crowd). Scroll to the 3:20 mark of this video:

Surely I’m not the only person who thought of this when I saw the interview:

After Minnesota picked Flynn, it looked like Stephen Curry might fall to the Knicks, and it was no secret that he wanted to call MSG his home. But the Warriors didn’t get the memo and picked him, sending the Knicks fans on hand into depressed hysterics. It was only fitting that the boos rained down on Jordan Hill, who had no chance to win over the New York crowd in such a short period of time. At least he’s probably better than Renaldo Balkman.

The other strange development of the night was Brandon Jennings‘ last-minute decision to not attend the draft at the advice of his agent, who seemed uneasy about letting his client end up like Rashard Lewis, who famously slid way down the draft board while TV cameras watched his every emotion. Well, as it turns out, Jennings went 10th to the Bucks, then decided to show up a few picks later to get his photo op with David Stern. Now, if Jennings turns out anything like Lewis, he wouldn’t have cared when he was drafted.

HOOPSHYPE has a good recap of the draft up, and Kings fans are going to need to steer clear of hairdryers and bathtubs after reading that they’ve got the next Larry Hughes on their hands. The suit of the night, without a doubt, belonged to James Harden:

James Harden

(Mustard suit + bowtie = smooth)

There were some other things going on in the sports world last night, including the resolution to one of the stupidest athlete spats in recent memory. With the Yankees heading to Queens for a weekend series with the Mets, the tensions between Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Bruney once again became back page news. But the NY DAILY NEWS reports that it was all settled last week, when Bruney sent a clubhouse attendant over the Mets clubhouse to apologize to K-Rod on his behalf. I was accused of some anti-Yankee bias in my original post about this matter, but really, c’mon, sending an attendant to apologize for you? How lame is that? I would’ve loved to see that exchange at K-Rod’s locker.

Brian Bruney

A lot of major league pitchers struggle, and a lot are sent to the minors to work through their troubles. But few actually go to their team and ask to be sent down, like the Pirates’ Ian Snell has done. Snell is 2-8 this year with a 5.36 ERA and awful 1.624 WHIP. He had actually been throwing better as of late, but said he thought it was best for the team to be sent down because he was bringing too much negativity to the team. I can’t decide if this is an alarming lack of confidence and perseverance on Snell’s part or a refreshing selfless decision done in the interest of helping his team and his own career. Regardless, Snell has actually been slightly better this year than last, when he had a 5.42 ERA and even more god-awful 1.765 WHIP, and he threw a full slate of 31 starts. Here’s what Snell told the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE’s Dejan Kovacevic:

“I don’t want to point fingers and make excuses. I just made a better decision for myself, my career and my life.” I asked what he needs to do: “Nothing. You guys don’t understand it unless you played baseball. You don’t understand it, and the people at home don’t understand it. I’m just going down there, get my thoughts together and do well.”

I think he just needs a hug, not a stint in AAA.

Before we get to today’s links, I feel like taking a few minutes to watch the “Smooth Criminal” video again. There’s no doubt that Michael Jackson was a weird dude, and possibly a perv on such a level that he doesn’t deserve our grief. But is it so bad to spend a day remembering why we loved the guy? All that other stuff will come back around soon enough.

Now let’s get on with those links:

• Ever wonder who that lady is who gives the draft picks their hat before they walk over to meet David Stern? Wonder no more.

Darko Milicic has been freed by the Grizzlies…and is going to the Knicks in a swap for Quentin Richardson. It’s crazy to think that Darko’s still just 24 years old, and Mike D’Antoni thinks he can resurrect Darko’s career (well, his career was never really alive).

• First, the Dolphins sold their stadium naming rights to Jimmy Buffett, and now Gloria Estefan has bought a piece of the team. I’m told there are currently no plans to start calling the team the “Sound Machine.”

• The Portland Trail Blazers are going to host a preseason game at Seattle’s Key Arena in October. As if Seattle fans needed more reasons to hate the Blazers.

Vijay Singh attempted to bail accused swindler Allen Stanford out of jail, but was told he couldn’t because he isn’t an American, according to CNBC’s Darren Rovell. This is like the first time I’ve ever heard about Vijay being a really generous guy, and it’s to someone who probably stole a bunch of money from him.

• According to this AFP story, “Gay clocks wind-aided 9.75″ at the US Track and Field Championships. Miss California is unimpressed.

• Admitted PED user Alex Rodriguez tied current Yankee advisor Reggie Jackson on the all-time homer list last night, which Reggie isn’t exactly happy about. Awwwkwaaard.

Frank Thomas says he’s “close” to retiring, which will be news to the one person in the universe who doesn’t already think that Frank Thomas is retired. That person being Frank Thomas, of course.

• A man has now been arrested in connection with Karen Sypher’s plan to extort cash from Rick Pitino. Why was Lester Goetzinger so willing to help out in this scheme? Were sexual favors involved or something? Oh, actually, they were.

• Wimbledon’s in full swing, and a rising star you might want to keep an eye on (or both your eyes on, really) is Caroline Wozniacki out of Denmark. She’s the #9 seed and has advanced to the third round. Here she is enjoying some time off the court:

Caroline Wozniacki

And looking good on the court:

Caroline Wozniacki

Who’s going to be the bigger NBA star?

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U.S. Open Finally Finished - Glover Gets The Win

• Your 2009 U.S. Open winner is someone not named Tiger Woods.

Lucas Glover

Mark Cuban would like ESPN to put together a blacklist of sports blogs.

• Did longtime NBA star-turned-Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson get a U.S. inspector general fired?

• Coming soon to delightfully dance on a collegiate sideline near you - the William & Mary Asparagus?

• Fed up with the whole Favre farce, Vikings coach Brad Childress escapes to Alaska with Andy Reid.

Read more…

A-Rod Rehab Plan Apparently Includes Lap Dances

Say what you will about Madonna; at least she had Alex Rodriguez home by bedtime. I wasn’t going to write anything about this brewing A-Rod late night carousing story, because staying out until 2:30 a.m. for a pro baseball player isn’t that big of a deal, even if you have been benched due to fatigue. One man’s 2:30 a.m. is another man’s 9 p.m., depending on when you started your day; it really doesn’t matter as long as you get your eight or nine hours of Sealy Posturpedic Beauty Sleep.

Kate Hudson, Alex Rodriguez

But this is too good to pass up. Our protagonist, apparently still not fully recovered from injecting illegal dr a hip injury, was struggling through an 0-for-15 electrical outage when he was benched for the Yankees’ two weekend games with the Marlins, due to “fatigue.” He was then seen out on the town Saturday night with girlfriend Kate Hudson. And not in the “let’s see a PG-rated movie and have a quick bite of dinner” kind of way, as it turns out. Lap dances, anyone? Read more…

Fmr Yankees Reliever Admits Alcoholism Problem

Mariano Rivera has given his life to Christ, even marking his glove with Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who is strengthening me.”  In that spirit, he approached fellow (then-)Yankee reliever Scott Proctor and urged him to clean up his act.  It took a few years, but Proctor (now out for the year for the Marlins) finally took Rivera’s advice and joined Alcoholics Anonymous for his drinking problem.

Scott Proctor and family

In a conversation with THE NEW YORK TIMES’ Tyler Kepner, Proctor admitted that he partied too hard and drank far too much to be his best at all times.  He also told the TIMES that he doesn’t remember many family events washed away by booze.  He’s now recovering from elbow surgery and alcoholism, rehabbing from both with the same intensity.

Read more…

A-Rod Is Sent to Bench for Fatigue (or the Vapors)

Alex Rodriguez, in the midst of a spectacularly bad 2009, has been pulled from the starting lineup for at least two games due to fatigue by Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner (and not Joe Girardi).  Rodriguez finally agreed to the forced sabbatical after a phone call-née-intervention involving Cashman, Steinbrenner, Rodriguez’s doctors, his Aunt Ginny, and Tyra Banks (but not Joe Girardi).

Alex Rodriguez and Kate Hudson

(Now why would Alex Rodriguez, a healthy and extraordinarily fit young man, grow tired easily in Miami? It’s a mystery.)

After each person tearfully told Alex how much he was hurting the Yankees family by playing through the fatigue and how much they loved him, A-Rod finally admitted that he’s “bone tired” and will take a few days off, despite playing this weekend in Miami near family. Sez Alex: “I’ll call my mom and tell her to save the gas money.” Too bad she doesn’t know anyone who can kick in a few bucks. (Like Joe Girardi?)

Read more…

Speed Read: Sox Spank Yanks Again At Fenway

Yeah, yeah, I know it’s only June, but the folks in New York can’t be pleased that the Yankees dropped to 0-7 against the Red Sox this year with a 6-5 loss at Fenway last night. To put it in perspective, the last time this happened the Yankees weren’t even the Yankees. It was 1912, and the New York Highlanders (and here I thought there could only be one Highlander) were the ones who couldn’t buy a win against the Sox.

Red Sox spank Yankees

(This is about the only Red Sox spanking Yankee fans wouldn’t mind)

Even more worrisome for New York is the continued debacle that is Chien-Ming Wang. After giving up four runs in 2 2/3 innings, Wang now has a 21.61 ERA in five starts this year — the highest ERA through five starts for a pitcher in the freaking history of baseball. Joe Girardi seems exasperated as to what to do with Wang. They’ve already done the DL thing, and NEW YORK TIMES notes that he was hitting 95 on the gun last night, so it would be hard to argue that he’s hurt again.

Chien-Ming Wang

Mark Teixeira clearly isn’t the problem for the Yankees, as he went 4-for-5 with his league-leading 19th home run. But that doesn’t matter, since A-Rod is signaling to Tex where the catcher is setting up when he’s in the on-deck circle. What, you think that’s crazy talk that only some loose-cannon “analyst” who also thinks that George Clooney is “over there solving that thing” could come up with? Well, OK, you’d be right. AWFUL ANNOUNCING says Rick Sutcliffe has gotten into some hot water with the Yankee duo after accusing them of the pitch tipping on an ESPN broadcast with absolutely no evidence to back it up.

In any case, Boston has reclaimed a one-game lead in the AL East, which is remarkable considering they’ve gotten nothing out of David Ortiz, Daisuke Matsuzaka has been mostly a mess in his few starts, Josh Beckett just recently got his act together, they still don’t really have a shortstop, and this guy is milling around Fenway:

Red Sox Fans

Tim Floyd was pushed off a cliff by USC resigned from his position as head coach of USC yesterday in the wake of the O.J. Mayo scandal, and ESPN’s Andy Katz put together a column that lists all of the questions that are now left to be answered in the wake of this move. Katz theorizes, among other things, that Floyd might be USC’s sacrificial lamb in the NCAA’s investigation against the school’s football and basketball programs.

Tim Floyd and OJ Mayo

Floyd’s resignation comes in the wake of most of his team declaring that they wouldn’t be coming back anyway, for various reasons. Marcus Johnson jumped through all of the hoops to earn a waiver for a sixth year of eligibility, then suddenly decided to stay in the NBA draft, where he’s not expected to be picked. Daniel Hackett is even blowing off his senior season to also not get picked by an NBA team. Think they know something we don’t (yet) about where this program is heading, even with Floyd’s departure?

So now what for the Trojans? Would Jamie Dixon, who grew up in So Cal, be up for rebuilding the program? What about Randy Bennett of Saint Mary’s? Rick Pitino? OK, now we’re just getting silly. Which means that Bobby Knight makes all sorts of sense.

Now, here are some things to read while Tom Brady waits to get rescued after flipping his kayak over:

HALOS HEAVEN has a huge break in the Nick Adenhart case, as toxicology reports show that Courtney Stewart, the 20-year-old driver of the car Adenhart was riding in, had a BAC of .016 at the time of her death. That’s twice the legal limit for an adult, and infinity times the limit for a 20-year-old (actually, California generously allows an underager to blow up to a .01 without consequence). ORANGE COUNTY WEEKLY’s Nick Schou is the one who obtained the toxicology reports, against the wishes of the DA’s office.

Courtney Stewart tox report

While it still doesn’t come close to excusing Andrew Gallo’s choice to drive drunk, and it doesn’t change the fact that Gallo is the one who ran a red light to cause the crash, it certainly is now reasonable for Gallo’s lawyer to argue that Stewart’s impairment could’ve played just as large a role in the accident as his client did. TMZ also reports that Stewart tested positive for an “illegal substance.” Still a horrible tragedy all around, but this definitely calls Adenhart’s judgment into question, as it looks like he chose to get into a car with an underage drunk (and possibly high) driver. What if Stewart had been sober? Would she have been able to see Gallo running the light and stop in time? We’ll never know.

• D.C. SPORTS BOG exposes what is either an unholy union between the Redskins and that LOL cats site, or somebody hacked the ‘Skins website and put a kitty’s picture in place of Jason Campbell (and really, you have the ability to hack into an NFL team’s site and that’s what you do?):

Redskins website cat

• Elsewhere in D.C., we found out last night exactly how many Nats fans would wait through a rain delay to see if their team could come back from a 2-0 deficit in the bottom of the 9th inning — less than 100. That’s how many folks were on hand after a two hour delay to see their team rally to tie the game, only to lose it in the 12th. This despite converting the popular 4-3-6-4-6 double play in that inning.

• Everyone’s been talking about Zack Greinke all year, but Justin Verlander might be the best pitcher in the AL Central. He cruised to a complete-game victory over the White Sox last night to move to 7-0 in his last nine starts.

• Boy, who could’ve ever predicted that Jameer Nelson might not play that well in the Finals after not having played a game since before the All-Star break?

• If things keep going the way they are, according the WASHINGTON POST, the entire LPGA Tour will soon be available for you to hire for your bachelor party.

Play Golf Designs

We know that Joe Montana’s kid has committed to play football at Washington, but current Huskies QB Jake Locker had some big news of his own today — he was drafted by the Angels in the 10th round of the MLB draft. If Locker signs a baseball contract, he’ll still be eligible to play football for UW but will lose his scholarship.

Marcin Gortat has a sweet ride to go with that Jordan tattoo.

Marcin Gortat car

Brett Favre is apparently in trouble for not showing up to organized team activities for a team he doesn’t even play for. Favre’s non-coach, Brad Childress, says he set no deadline for Favre to accept the team’s non-offer to play for them. For now, the Vikings are now going to feign disinterest in having Favre around but will eventually pass him a note asking him if he’d want to go to training camp with them.

• Funny how everyone is so bent out of shape about Stephen Strasburg asking for $25 million or more to pitch for the Nationals, but nobody bats an eye when fifth-overall pick Mark Sanchez gets $28 million in guaranteed money from the Jets. But think of all the nice stuff Mark can buy for girlfriend Hilary Rhoda:

Hilary Rhoda

Knowing now that the underage driver of Nick Adenhart’s car had been drinking, does that change your view of the accident?

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Cuervo Girls Spiked From AVP Tour Appearances

• AVP fans will no longer be able to drink in the sights of the Cuervo Girls.

Cuervo Girls

(”Wait - we’re out of a job?!?!”)

• Brewers fans will finally get to see some great baseball at Miller Park - they’ll be showing “The Sandlot” in the stadium parking lot.

Michael Irvin sued for stealing reality show idea. Aren’t all reality shows stolen from something else anyway?

Cristiano Ronaldo shows off his macho fashion sense by sporting a pink cap on his head, a flower in his hair & pearls around his neck.

• Let the Lakers & Magic have their NBA Finals. Tony Parker will be just fine with a bikini-clad Eva Longoria in the French Riviera.

Read more…

So, Is Alex Rodriguez Taking a Dip In The Hudson?

I have sad news: Your oversized Madonna photos are officially obsolete (”Why?!” *sobbing*). But cheer up, Yankee haters, and get to work on those Kate Hudson masks, pronto. America’s favorite steroid abuser has been seen canoodling with the engine that drove “You, Me and Dupree” for the past couple of weeks, but now it’s more or less official. They’re a couple.

Alex Rodriguez and Kate Hudson

Say want you want about Rodriguez, but it takes a brave man to invite both the taunts of Yankee opponents and the terrible wrath of Madonna. One can only assume that he saw “Bride Wars” and determined Kate was the more imminent threat. Read more…

Maria Verchenova On Par As One Gorgeous Golfer

• Meet Maria Verchenova, on course to be the Maria Sharapova of golf.

Maria Verchenova

Glen “Big Baby” Davis had Orlando Magic fans in tears last night after sinking the game-winning shot - and running over a kid on the sidelines. But now the youngster’s peeved papa demands satisfaction.

• Not taking too kindly to the taunting of her son, a Little League mother attacks one of the name-calling kids and calls him “white trash” in return.

• Speaking of matriarchs in sports, Mark Cuban gets into it with Kenyon Martin’s mom, telling her her son is a “thug“.

Dennis Rodman reportedly dines & dashes from a Miami restaurant, but not before one of his men mauls the manager.

Read more…