5:39 PM ESPN The Mag's Chris Broussard reports that Mark Stevens, agent for Golden State's Stephen Jackson, decides that the quickest way to get his client traded is to go on a verbal tirade against the Warriors' coach. Stevens tells Broussard, "No one trusts Don Nelson."
5:20 PMBill Shaikin of the LA Times reports that as the McCourts' divorce drags on, a new potential purchaser of the Dodgers has expressed interest in buying the club: Mark Cuban. The Mavs owner was already rebuffed in attempts to buy the Cubs.
5:00 PM Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday night that he could miss up to a month with an upper-body injury. Now Alex says that he was just joking, and could be back on the ice within a week.
4:45 PM After going through 8 months of rehab after knee surgery, Tracy McGrady says he's ready to return to the Rockets, and plans to make his season debut on November 18 - a week from this Wednesday.
Anaheim Ducks captain Chris Pronger appeared to have caught the NHL’s unofficial superstars’ exemption, when it was announced by the league earlier in the week that he would not be suspended for what was clearly a skate stomp on the leg of Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler during their game Wednesday.
Not so, said the league today, and Pronger was hit with an eight-game suspension without pay. Read more…
It’s a shame Anaheim Ducks defender Chris Pronger isn’t in the NFL, as he’d fit right in with the Giants’ “Stompin’ You Out” mentality, to say nothing of Albert Haynesworth. Apparently, the NHL had no problem with his stomping on Vancouver Canucks center Ryan Kesler on Wednesday, opting not to take any disciplinary against Pronger.
Those looking for consistency in their dispensation of penalties might be a little flummoxed by this development, what with the New York Islanders’ Chris Simon getting a 30-game suspension for a similar stomp on the Penguins’ Jarkko Ruutu. But he’s not an all-star! Nuts to him!
This week Anaheim Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger guested on Jim Rome’s radio show. Pronger recounted his playing days with the Edmonton Oilers, and makes his departure from the city sound like an escape from Saigon.
Excerpt: “Yeah, there’s obviously a few things that didn’t set well with me, for instance, taking the furniture that I had in my house and burning it, and having a ‘Burn Chris Pronger’s Furniture Day,’ that really did sit well with me very much. They burned my kid’s crib and things like that. When you hear stories like that it doesn’t sit well. But having said that, you know, I’ve turned the page. It would be nice to see them turn the page, but I doubt that’s gonna happen any time soon.”
Jim Rome’s response: “To go into my house and get my furniture out and to burn it and to burn my kids crib — that’s messed up. No matter how badly you think he wronged you, or the team, or whatever happened, to burn a guy’s child’s crib! I mean, that’s messed up.”
As you might expect, Pronger’s rather vague comments have Edmontonians a little roiled and many in Alberta want more specifics from the former Oiler defenseman.