2:42 PMBucco Bruce is back in Tampa, along with those classic creamsicle uniforms. And the throwbacks seems to be helping - Bucs only down 21-17 to Green Bay at haltfime. Meanwhile, Raymond James Stadium has been playing all '70s music throughout the game.
2:33 PM The Monsters of The Midway are going through a horror show of their own right now - Chicago is down to Arizona 31-7 at the half. But will the Bears be who we thought they were by the end?
2:00 PM The new AP poll is out, and Ohio State is ranked ahead of USC, who is ranked ahead of Oregon. Um, who beat who again?
It’s only a handful of hours until the big Redskins-Giants opener, and the war of words IS ON. There’s, um, no Giants involved in this one, though. It’s between a Redskin and a former Redskin. Odd.
The feud between Clinton Portis and John Riggins continues, and all we can do is sit back and enjoy the show. Personally I think that this would be better if Portis dressed up in one of his signature wacky costumes, and Riggins went back to his mohawk. But this’ll do. Juicy quotes all around. Read more…
The Brewers had hit Manny Ramirez earlier in the game, presumably for being Manny and admiring a slump-busting home run he hit as part of the Dodgers’ biggest home scoring outburst since 1979. So, with Ramon Troncoso warming in the bullpen with a 13-run lead and two outs in the ninth, Mota beaned Prince Fielder. Mota was tossed immediately and a befuddled Fielder had words for him as he left the field. Troncoso came in for the last out, but the situation was far from over.
After the game, Prince decided he wanted to go have a friendly chat with Mota and the rest of the Dodgers, so he tried to storm their clubhouse. Like, actually go in there and try and throw down, I guess. Fortunately, a combination of security guards and Brewer teammates were able to keep him out. Prince was soon safely in his regular spot in front of the postgame spread. Mota, once again displaying mighty courage, was nowhere to be found afterward and left Russell Martin to speak for him.
This is the sort of thing that happens all the time in baseball, but two aspects were troublesome: One, obviously, is Fielder’s attempt to actually go in the opposing clubhouse and get in a confrontation. Baseball has always had their “codes” and all that, but it’s supposed to stay on the field. Fielder’s choice to escalate the situation showed pretty poor judgment. But I don’t think Joe Torre is off the hook here. Hittting Fielder wasn’t the problem. But the Dodgers should’ve at least preserved the conceit that the whole thing wasn’t pre-planned. It’s hard to say “it just got away from him” when you have a pitcher warming up in the bullpen with one out remaining in a complete blowout. Clearly this was not only permitted by Torre, but presumably was encouraged, which may earn him a suspension.
(I don’t think Mota wants to run into Piazza at a Dodger reunion any time soon)
Meanwhile, things may have finally hit rock bottom for the Mets this year. Francisco Rodriguez blew a two-run lead in the ninth, then Albert Pujols hit a granny in the 10th to lead the Cards to a 12-7 win at CitiField. It was Pujols’ fifth grand slam this season, and he has hit six homers in his last 11 at-bats with the bases loaded. Even more frustrating for Mets fans, pitcher Sean Green hit the previous batter, Mark DeRosa, with the bases loaded to allow Pujols to come to the plate. This with two out in a tie game. To add injury to injury, as the Mets have been doing all season, Luis Castillosprained his ankle on the dugout steps.
(”Hey Albert, up here. Up top, bro. Do you see me here? No, dude, not the guy in the white shirt.”)
Horrifying news coming out of the Pittsburgh area last night, as a man opened fire at an LA Fitness gym in the southwest suburb of Collier, killing at least three people and wounding at least 10 others. At this time, it’s assumed that the gunman then killed himself. The PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW has the scary details:
Allegheny County police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said the gunman may have fired 50 shots at the 20-22 women inside the room at the time before turning one of his guns on himself and taking his own life. There were perhaps another 50 people in various other parts of the facility at the time.
Moffatt said the gunman left a note inside his gym bag that indicated he expected to die in the carnage.
From all accounts, this seems like the sort of attack that is nearly impossible to stop. The 49-year-old gunman, who has not been identified as I write this, was a member of the club who was able to gain access simply by swiping in. It could, however, not be as entirely random as it looks now, as he specifically went into a room where an aerobics class called “Latin Impact” was taking place. He only shot women who were in that room, then apparently killed himself.
Despite the chaotic scene, a number of people lent whatever help they could:
Richard Walker went to the gym to play basketball with a group of friends. Two of them left carrying shooting victims, both women, over their shoulders, Walker said.
They got 50 yards from the gym’s side entrance, and took cover between cars as soon as they reached the edge of the parking lot, he said two hours after the shooting, his Oklahoma All-State T-shirt covered in dried blood down its right side.
“They were like losing blood and almost freaking out,” said Walker, 23, of Carnegie, who recently moved from Tulsa. “I just knew you put pressure on the wound.”
Thoughts go out to all the victims. Let’s hope all of the wounded are just that, and don’t take any turn for the worse.
“I don’t think there’s a woman in the United States of America that would say I’m gay. So, you know, I don’t hang around men.”
• Based on this video posted by NESW SPORTS, I don’t think LeBron James would even be a top 5 pick in my Monday night pickup game. At least he doesn’t have to worry about getting dunked on again:
• Drew Carey is excited about tonight’s FC Barcelona-Seattle Sounders match at Qwest Field. But the real gem is at the end of the story: Seattle midfielder Freddie Ljungberg says he missed a penalty kick in the MLS All-Star Game because of a migraine triggered by eating food with red wine in it. Oh, soccer players.
(When you need a guy to miss a penalty kick, accept no substitute)
Say, have you heard about this swine flu thing? You know the one - horrible mutant virus that’s going to kill us all, so on and so forth. It’s the thing that’s got everyone talking (and so far, somewhere between 12 and 169 people dying).
In fact, “swine flu” is the new “economy” in that the cable news networks can’t stop talking about it, it’s got everyone panicked, and it’s a convenient excuse for whatever problems one may be facing at the moment. For an example on how this last part works, REDSKINS INSIDER checked in with Washington Redskins running back/raconteur Clinton Portis, who is worried about swine flu affecting his play. Read more…
We mentioned a few weeks ago that the Pro Bowl was going to be moving from Hawaii to the mainland starting next year, with the 2010 game being played in Miami. At the time, we speculated that the players would be thrilled with moving the game to Miami as part of the expected rotation of sites for a variety of reasons, including the South Beach nightlife, easier travel and better facilities.
(This guy is the voice of reason. Seriously.)
But the factor we didn’t consider was that having the game in Hawaii protects the players from their own worst enemy: themselves. At least that’s the opinion of Redskins Pro Bowler Clinton Portis, who told the ASSOCIATED PRESS that moving the game to Miami is apparently a recipe for disaster:
Dan Steinberg of DC SPORTS BOG keeps us current on night club advice by quizzing local pro athletesabout how to make the scene. Or more specifically, how to avoid ending up on your friendly neighborhood slumming sports blog the next morning.
(Chris Cooley doesn’t dance for wife Christy, but he does walk their Westie)
Redskins Tight End Chris Cooley tells Steinberg that eschewing alcohol you can’t see through is a good start:
“Everyone wants to drink a shot,” Cooley explained. “Don’t drink whiskey. I used to drink Jack Daniels. Bad decision. You get too filled up.”
“Everyone wants to do a shot with me,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s my image or what it is, but I can’t drink shots any more, because it wound up being 20 shots. Everywhere I go, ‘Do a shot with us!!!’ No more. That’s my tip as a pro athlete, don’t do a shot. And don’t dance if you’re [bad] at it, because everyone watches.”
“Everyone watches” is now code for “Everyone has a cellphone camera and a Youtube account.”
Meanwhile, Washington Wiz forward Caron Butler imparts evening-out wisdom that could also be taken to heart by your local garden variety mafia hit man and/or Pacman Jones and/or Plax: Read more…
LaVar Arrington hates Joe Gibbs. Clinton Portis hates Jim Zorn. Everybody hates Dan Snyder. Yes, it’s a great time to be involved with the Washington Redskins, as a once-promising season goes down the drain and even local governments don’t want anything to do with the team.
Nearby Loudon County, Va., home of the Skins’ training camp and corporate offices, voted to have nothing further to do with the sinking ship. The Board of Supervisors voted against a sweeping partnership with the team that could have led to a Redskins Hall of Fame. For what seems like it might’ve been a pretty good tourist draw, Loudoun demurred over the matter of $100,000.
Well, Jim Zorn has officially passed the fun, “everyone loves him” stage of coaching that included “Horny for Zorny” t-shirts, and is now in the full-fledged dregs of losing streaks and chemistry problems. All it took was benching star running back Clinton Portis.
(The many faces of Portis, via JUSTCALLMEJUICE. Zorn likes none of them.)
With Portis playing in only one series in the second half of Sunday night’s Washington loss to the Ravens, the running back who only a couple weeks ago was the league’s leading rusher was all too happy to unload on Zorn and the rest of the Redskins staff during his weekly appearance on the John Thompson show this afternoon. Luckily, DC SPORTS BOG was transcribing as quickly as Dan Steinberg’s little fingers would move. What do we mean by “unload on”? Well, take a gander yourself:
“We got a genius for a head coach, I don’t know, I’m sure he on top of things. He’s got everything figured out. Hey, that’s up to him. All I can do is when he calls a play is go out and try to execute to the best of my ability.”
How about this gem?:
“What I need to be around for is Sundays and that’s what I try to be around for. So I mean, if you’ve got a problem with me not practicing and can’t do it that way, maybe you feel like you need to sever ties, split ties with me? Split ties with me. But don’t sit here and throw me out like I don’t pay attention, like I don’t know what’s going on, like I’m making mistakes, I’m the problem. You know, so, it is what it is, bro.”
Oh, don’t worry. There’s even more after the jump.
Typing that headline above was difficult, because I don’t think even the first half has ever been said by anybody ever. Peyton Manning is not average. He is not human. He’s still the guy who had the record for most passing TDs for a few years before last season’s ridiculousness that was Tom Brady and the Patriots*. And yet there he was at Lambeau today, throwing for 229 yards and two touchdowns. The teensy eensy problem with that line is that those touchdowns were for Green Bay, who slapped the Colts around and led by as many as 27 points up until garbage time. 34-14 is your final.
Yes, the Green Bay offense only outscored Indianapolis‘ offense by a count of 20-14, but the rest of the stats confirm the domination. Green Bay racked up 23 first downs, punted all of twice today (both boomed for touchbacks), and kept the ball for over 33 minutes, tiring a Colts defense that obviously misses reigning Defensive POY Bob Sanders.
What the hell does DUMP CASEY BLAKE (dot blogspot dot com) do when Mark Shapiro actually dumps him on Steady Neddy Colletti? Dump David Dellucci, of course. Although I recommend just sticking with the same name myself. Also: Ned loves Blake. He’s a gamer. Just a tough gamer. Clearly.
YOU BEEN BLINDED dials up video of Carlos Zambranogetting K-balled in a fast pitch softball league from back in June.
MISTER IRRELEVANT eulogizes the loss of Red Lasso, every blogger’s best friend. I, for one, welcome Brian Powell as our new video overlord.
