8:00 PM CSN Baltimore has video of Marcus Smith, a U.S. soldier who dressed as a minor league umpire to surprise his children at a Bowie Baysox game with a home visit from Afghanistan.
7:45 PM A Japanese Harley-Davidson motorcycle that was swept out to sea during last year's tsunami washed up on a shore in British Columbia last month. The bike's owner asked that the motorcycle be displayed at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee as a memorial to the tsunami victims.
7:30 PM Buffalo Bills receiver David Clowneytweeted the results of his HIV test which came back negative. And to the critics of his decision to share his results, Clowney added: "Some people are Ridiculously stupid ... And can't see the bigger picture about things that are important in this world."
UPDATE: 9:36p ET - Kyle Ringo of the BOULDER DAILY CAMERA reports after the Tuesday closed door meeting attended by the Colorado Board of Regents and Colorado University Athletic Director Mike Bohn:
CU does not have an invitation from any other conference. Meeting is over. Smoke but no fire here. No pending announcements. Basically administrators got advice from their lawyers about different scenarios.
Could one of those scenarios be a lawsuit of some sort if CU is left out of a possible exodus to the Pac-10 by six Big 12 schools?
The University of Colorado’s Board of Regents will meet behind closed doors tonight to receive legal advice about the Boulder campus’ possible switch from the Big 12 conference to the Pac-10, sources told the Camera.
The university doesn’t anticipate any formal action to result from the discussion about a possible league switch for the Boulder campus’ NCAA teams.
There will be no public participation and the meeting will take place behind closed doors.
Regents are holding the “special” meeting tonight at 5 p.m. in executive session to “discuss a specific legal matter.” The board is meeting at 1800 Grant St. in Denver.
The CU Board of Regents just went into executive session to discuss the school’s options with expansion. CU athletic director Mike Bohn just joined the regents to answer their questions.
All hell has broken loose since I noted a report last week from a Texas-centric athletics website that claimed the Pac-10 was set to invite six Big 12 schools to join the conference.
(Delany’s All-Powerful Sceptre Controls Fate of Nebraska, Pac-10 Expansion?)
The site originating that report, Yahoo’s Orangebloods.com, has since added that Nebraska has been given an ultimatum by the Big 12 to state its intentions in the next two weeks. If the Cornhuskers remain on the fence or pledge allegiance to the Big Ten, six Big 12 schools will reportedly move to the Pac-10.
Missouri has also been given a similar deadline, but MU moving to the Big Ten is now reportedly a foregone conclusion. Nebraska though appears to be the trigger that could set the demise of the Big 12 in motion if it also defects to the Big Ten.
In the wake of that originating report, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany acknowledged today that the timetable of his league’s expansion is likely to be affected by the Big 12’s new deadline for Nebraska and Missouri.
Jim Delany: “The timeline could be affected.” In other words, it will be affected.
The ASSOCIATED PRESS also reports from this afternoon’s Pac-10 meetings:
The Pac-10 concluded its meetings Sunday by giving commissioner Larry Scott the authority to pursue any possible expansion, while not committing the conference to adding any more schools.
In the preceding months, Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne has alternately professed his openness to joining the Big Ten while also playing coy about the prospect. Most recently, he’s been mum on the subject but today it was revealed that after Osborne met with Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel in late April, he sent an email to Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman that read, “I think it would be a good time if we met sometime soon regarding the expansion landscape.”
So why is Nebraska so important to the future of the Big 12? Read more…
UPDATE: CBS 4’s Vic Lombardi Tweets Wednesday night: “We know the decision…do you really think Bohn is gonna fire Hawk on Thanksgiving? C’mon. He’s coming back.”
Two sources inside the CU football progam told CBS4’s Vic Lombardi that Hawkins recently met with Unversity Chancellor Phil DiStefano and came away from the meeting with the understanding that he’s safe for another year no matter what happens on Friday against Nebraska.
Lombardi also reports “Colorado Athletic Director Mike Bohn said he could not confirm anything until he returns to Boulder on Thursday.”
UPDATE: Florida’s Riley Cooper also made a jaw-jacking grab in the UF-UGA tilt. I matched up videos of both catches today for you to decide (vote on) which was better. I still say Jackson’s (below) was the superior haul.
Missouri’s Jerrell Jackson is your leader in the clubhouse for college football’s catch of the year.
At first glance, we had no choice but to stand up and applaud for the Colorado athletic department; their public stance that they would not give press credentials to media organizations that allow anonymous and pseudonymous comments appeared to be a bold but principled stand against one of the most noxious aspects of new media: the anonymous attack. Yes, we know these are available at SbB, but you don’t see us begging for press credentials, either.
But then when we actually looked at what Colorado’s policy was, we realized it was little more than just the same arbitrary, pro-dead-tree provincialism that’s infected sports media during this transitional period. That principled stand against Internet tough guys? Yeah, not so much if you’re already running a newspaper.
You may remember Ben Burney, the fifth-year senior cornerback for the Colorado Buffaloes with the big media aspirations. I have no idea if he ever finished his novel (“It’s basically sex on paper,” he explained at the time), or got to work on the feature-length movie he was planning. But I do know that his blogging career is now over.
Burney was supposed to write a season-long blog for the university’s athletic web site, CUBUFFS.COM, describing life on campus from a football player’s perspective. The problem was that he made it a little too real, kicking things off by detailing waking up next to a woman in bed, and describing his libido.
Despite what marketers and sportswriters want you to believe, professional athletes are not usually that different off the court than the general population. OK, sure, there’s the whole “millions of dollars” thing that lends itself to a different lifestyle than we live, but as people, athletes have the same different personalities and interests as anyone else.
That doesn’t stop sportswriters from treating every athlete with a unique set of skills or interests as if they were the greatest and most surprising person who ever lived. Steve Nash has political opinions! Alan Page is a judge! Amos Zereoue likes to cook! The latest example of athlete-as-human-curiosity is that of Keith Miller, a former Arena football player and current New York Met opera singer. My goodness, a retired minor league football that can sing opera? Break out the sports cliches!
I think I’ve found the world’s worst person: his name is Jaime Salcedo, and he’s the owner of Showbiz Productions in Jacksonville, FL. He first made a name for himself by selling the “Vick Chew Toy,” which is not related to the one the St. Paul Saints gave away. In fact, if you read the fine print at the toy’s Web site, it’s not even Michael Vick at all. Crazy how someone could get that idea, right? Check out the promotional video for yourself:
So while the toy and it’s cutting-edge “dog material” might be an overpriced, one-note joke aimed at making a quick buck, it’s not really horrible. Now, creating a doll based on a toddler who was gruesomely killed by her mother, that would be hideous. Folks, let me introduce you to the “Sunshine Caylee Doll,” also a creation from the monstrous kitchens of Showbiz Productions, meant to be a “tribute” to slain Florida two-year-old Caylee Anthony.
Of course, as Salcedo told Fox News, he wanted to be sensitive to Anthony’s memory, so he made sure the doll had little resemblance to her - even if it did play her favorite song “You Are My Sunshine” when you pressed its stomach. After all, making the doll look like Anthony would be “too morbid.”
But Salcedo wanted to make sure everyone knew he wasn’t a heartless slime trying to make money exploiting dead toddlers and mangled dogs. He was also a philanthropist, pledging to donate portions of the sales of the Vick Chew Toy to local animal shelters and $5,000 from the sales of the Sunshine Caylee Doll to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Well, Salcedo did make a donation to that last group: for a grand total of $10. And it seems evident that no donations were made to local animal shelters from sales of the Vick doll. So not only was Salcedo making money off of products in horrible taste, but he was pulling a big grift by using charity donations that never happened to support sales.
Finally, someone is doing something about it: the JACKSONVILLE TIMES-UNION says the Florida Attorney General’s office is suing Salcedo for $20,000 for making false advertising claims, and seeking an injunction against further sales of the dolls. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said that using a respected organization such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as a front makes things even more reprehensible:
“Any company that intentionally misleads innocent consumers to believe they are contributing to worthy charitable causes is absolutely reprehensible,” he said. “It is disgusting that a company would exploit a tragic situation for personal gain.”
Of course, when you consider that Salcedo himself estimates that he sold at least 200,000 Michael Vick dolls at $7.77 each (grossing more than $1,500,000), a $20,000 fine feels like a slap on the wrist. I know times are tough, but the people of Jacksonville can’t band together and find the time and money to get the supplies needed for a good old fashioned tar and feathering? I’ll even chip in and by the first barrel of tar.
At least it was perfect weather for a run, and also for shooting a low score: it was the second-lowest scoring first round in tournament history. The Day One leader is Chad Campbell, who set a tournament record with birdies on his first five holes and flirted with history before back-to-back closing bogies left him at 65, one stroke ahead of Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk.
How crazy was the scoring on Thursday? If Phil Mickelson had shot 73 in last year’s first round, he would have been tied for 29th, five shots off the lead. Instead, he starts today tied for 51st, looking at an eight shot deficit. Even the over-50 crowd was getting into the scoring act: Larry Mize sits in a tie for fourth after a 67, while the group at 70 includes Greg Norman and Bernhard Langer.
Also firing a two-under: Tiger Woods, who probably could have been near the top of the leaderboard if one of five or six putts go in instead of burning the lip of the cup. The other main contender we previewed yesterday, Padraig Harrington, also had a quietbut efficient round, going one lower than Woods. Even Gary Player, in his final Masters, shot a respectable 78. In fact, every player broke 80 except for New Zealander Michael Campbell, who must feel great that even Craig Stadler’s portly butt beat him by three shots.
Finally, Andrew Bynum’s comeback from a knee injury might not be on par (get it?) with Tiger Woods’, but it couldn’t come at a better time for the Los Angeles Lakers. The LOS ANGELES TIMES reports that Bynum looked comfortable and healthy in his return after missing 32 games from a torn MCL, racking up 16 points and seven rebounds in just 21 minutes as the Lakers blew past the Nuggets, 116-102. Which begs the question: Could his injury actually have been a break for the Lakers, as their center is now rested and not worn down by the rigors of a long regular season?
A few weeks ago, we told you about the Fifth-Third, a 4,800 calorie, four-pound burger that is the new entry at the concession stands at West Michigan Whitecaps games. CNBC says that the gut-buster made its debut last night, with 107 of them being sold. Of the 32 people who tried to eat the whole thing, 17 were successful. Lord, I don’t want to know what the toilets looked like around the seventh inning stretch.
(CNBC’s Darren Rovell ponders the glory of the Fifth Third Burger)
LOCKDOWN CORNER says that former Green Bay Packers lineman Syd Kitson is trying to create the world’s most environmentally-friendly city somewhere in Florida. In true Green Bay style, everything is either powered by sharp cheddar cheese, or the light shining off of the still-brilliant aura of Brett Favre.
Speaking of drafts, about the only thing the WNBA does right is take advantage of the one-week period right after the NCAA title game when people still remember that women’s basketball exists to hold their draft. The No. 1 pick? Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry, to the Atlanta Dream.
Remember the kerfuffle caused when Teresa Earnhardt refused to let her stepson Dale Earnhardt Jr. take his No. 8 with him when he left DEI to go to Hendrick Motorsports? I guess karma really is a … you know. FOX SPORTS says the No. 8 car will be permanently parked, as DEI has had to shut down operations on Aric Almirola’s team because of a lack of sponsors.
The person I would least expect to be in a Twitter controversy is Joe Paterno, who probably thinks that’s what happens when your pacemaker gets to close to a microwave. But ESPN.COM says his son Jay might have inadvertantly spilled the beans that the Big Ten is banning night games in November, meaning the Penn St./Ohio St. tilt will be played in the afternoon.
Yesterday’s least-surprising arrest had to be that of volatile former NBA guard Vernon Maxwell. The GAINESVILLE SUN says he was arrested in Florida Wednesday morning and charged with a probation violation stemming from failure to pay child support.
BALL DON’T LIE has the gripping story not coming to Broadway next fall: “Nellieball: The Musical.” Much like Don Nelson’s teams, it starts off promising but runs out of steam by the final act and falls apart.
Last time we heard about Nebraska tight end Hunter Teafatiller, he was having a party thrown in his “honor” as he was preparing to go to jail on a DUI charge. I guess it’s time to make another keg run in Lincoln, because the AP says he’s been arrested again, this time for driving on a suspended license.
Colorado Buffaloes CB Ben Burney gets college. No, no… obviously, the fifth-year senior gets college. He’s been faithfully attending classes and receiving lodging and all the other accouterments of higher education.
(He works with kids, too! Mothers, line up your daughters for this one)
Don’t miss the film or the book, either: he’s promised the book will be “basically sex on paper”. That’s probably much more sanitary than other methods. See what he’s learned in school? (Oh, and good luck finding the book: he’s basically self-publishing under a pseudonym. We’re guessing “B. Flo Soldyer”.)
