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."
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is used to having his mouth get him in trouble since he entered the NBA. He’s repeatedly been fined by David Stern for complaints about the officials, other teams, and life in the NBA in general. On Saturday night he may have taken things just a bit too far when he apparently told Lydia Moore, the mother of Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin, that her son was a thug and a punk.
(”They’ll never recognize me in this brilliant disguise!”)
Not surprisingly, Martin was a bit upset about this. You don’t treat somebody’s mother that way, let alone the night before Mother’s Day. Mark responded by telling the media he was “going to take care of it“, and that he was more of a “face-to-face dude.” Well it seems that Cuban wasn’t really all that excited about a face-to-face conversation with Kenyon because he posted an apology on his blog yesterday.
Mark Titus is a guard for Ohio State with 30 minutes of playing time under his belt. (That’s 30 minutes total, not per game.) He lead the nation last year in 3 point percentage and points per shot (one shot taken, a successful three pointer). But he’s also got one of the best athlete blogs out there. So when he tongue-in-cheek announced his intention to enter the NBA draft, it promised to be a funny and instructive look at the draft process through a prospect’s eyes.
But this is the NBA we’re talking about, so you knew they’d find a way to ruin everybody’s good time. They called Titus and told him to remove his name from the draft “or else.” Because god forbid they allow a kid to have a little fun.
You’re probably familiar with Mark Titus, the Ohio State basketball walk-on whose CLUB TRILLION blog has made him something of a cult celebrity, mainly because it’s an honest and frequently painfully funny look at life on the end of the bench for a major college program. You might remember back in January when there was a big flap about NCAA violations regarding T-shirts he was selling on his blog, which turned out to be a non-issue.
But now Titus has managed raise the ire of a group with even less of a sense of humor than the NCAA: THE DAGGER says after being asked by the NBA to stop blogging about the draft because they feared he “was making a mockery of the process,” the league has now informed him (through Ohio State’s Director of Basketball Operations) that he needs to remove his name from the NBA Draft entirely…”or else”. He’s not sure what the that means, but speculates he might be forced to star in an NBA Catalog video like Larry Bird in 1987:
April is the best month to be a sports fan, and last night was a classic example of why. It was a virtual buffet of scrumptious viewing options. And a really good buffet, too, like the ones you find in downtown Vegas where all the locals eat, not one of those lousy chain buffets where everything from the decor to the food is a monochrome tan color palette and seems to be from the 1970s. (I’m looking at you, Hometown Buffet.)
Case in point: Game 5 between the Celtics and the Bulls, which took an already great series into uncharted territory. With their backs to the wall and missing two of their Big Three (Kevin Garnett to injury and Ray Allen after fouling out with 5:27 left in the fourth quarter), Boston found a way to get past Chicago 106-104 in overtime. And that way was Paul Pierce, who made three straight jumpers in the final 77 seconds of OT to carry the Celtics to a 3-2 series lead.
Just how historic is this series? The two teams have set a record with three overtime games in one series - and there’s still as many as two games left to go. (And let’s be honest: anyone who isn’t a Boston fan has to want this to go to seven games.) Bob Ryan of the BOSTON GLOBE believes it’s the best No. 2 vs. No. 7 match-up in league history, and it’s pretty hard to argue the point.
Of course, there were other heroes who made the win possible for the Celtics: Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and Brad Miller. Yeah, that Brad Miller, the big, vaguely stiffish center who plays for the Bulls. Miller had a chance to send the game into a second OT when Rondo was called for a foul on Miller’s missed layup with two seconds left. But Miller clanked the first one and then failed to hit the rim while trying to miss the second one.
Meanwhile, Dwight Howard is just destroying things. Mainly the 76ers, as evidenced by his 24 point, 24 rebound performance in the Magic’s 91-78 victory to get their own 3-2 series lead. And more specifically, he destroyed the 76ers Samuel Dalembert with an elbow to the head which earned him a technical foul. Philadelphia coach Tony DiLeo has said the team has already informed the league about Howard’s foul (in hopes of getting him suspended for Game 6), but since David Stern was actually at the game, the phone call was probably unnecessary.
But like any weapon of mass destruction, Howard can be as dangerous to his allies as his enemies (think of him as the basketball version of Doctor Manhattan, except with less giant blue wang), as proven when he KO’ed Orlando starting point guard Courtney Lee, sending him out of the game and to the hospital with a likely concussion. Which means that Orlando could be very short-handed when heading back to Philadelphia for Game 6. This series is far from over.
Meanwhile, let’s turn our attention to something slightly less violent: the NHL playoffs. Unless you consider death by choking to be too graphic for your tastes. Because that’s exactly what the New Jersey Devils did in their Game 7 against the Carolina Hurricanes, finding a way to lose in regulation despite having a 3-2 lead … with 80 seconds left.
No OT needed here, just a total and complete collapse started by Jussi Jokinen’s game-tying goal at 18:40 in the 3rd period and completed with Eric Staal’s game and series-winner with 37 seconds left. And keep in mind that this all happened in New Jersey: If you want to know just how quiet a sellout crowd can be, just watch this video of the Hurricanes’ furious rally:
Finally, I guess that Major League Soccer has finally reached the big time. Sure, their attendance is lagging and their TV ratings are at XFL levels, but now they can claim to be on par with a big time league like the NBA in one capacity: a referee game-fixing scandal. The COLUMBUS DISPATCH says that MLS referee Jair Marrufo is under investigation for allegedly accepting an autographed jersey from Chicago Fire star Cuauhtemoc Blanco in the referee’s room after their 2-2 draw against the Columbus Crew on Saturday. (And a hat tip to SOCCER BY IVES for finding the original story.)
Accepting a gift from a player is a pretty awful idea if you’re an official of any sport, much less a professional official at the highest level. But when you add to this the fact that Marrufo called a controversial red card on the Crew’s Gino Padula for a foul on Blanco in the second half, and that the Fire rallied for two late goals against the man-down Columbus side for a 2-2 draw, and things get downright shady.
As someone who has covered the MLS in recent years, I don’t think Marrufo purposefully threw the match; Given the lousy quality of MLS referees (including Marrufo), I don’t think the majority of them have the wherewithal to fix a bowl of cereal, much less a match. It’s more likely the whole incident was a mix of horrible on the field and post-game judgment by an MLS referee, a shockingly common occurrence.
Speaking of people I wish would go away but haven’t quite yet: Please get ready to head to your fallout shelters until the start of the regular season. PRO FOOTBALL TALK says that the Jets have given Brett Favre his release, meaning he’s now a free agent. And Favre’s response to the news (“at this time, I am retired and have no intention of returning to football”) has me feeling very nauseous and woozy.
Some good news, Phillies fans: your team won 7-1 and Cole Hamels only gave up four hits while lowering his ERA. The bad news: he only went 4-1/3 innings before shutting it down after spraining his ankle fielding a bunt. And that new “lower” ERA is still at 7.27.
In case you missed it on Monday night, James Jones of the Miami Heat scored eight points in 11 seconds against the Hawks, thanks to back-to-back four point plays. And Miami still lost by about a billion points - imagine how much worse it could have been (OK, eight points worse, but still). BALL DON’T LIE has the video proof of the Reggie Miller-esque scoring outburst:
The CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS says former Tennessee OL Cameron Mayo was arrested on charges of sexual assault. The former Volunteer was working at Dalton High in Tennessee as a substitute teacher at the time of his arrest.
In other Red Raiders news, Texas Tech’s baseball team recently had a “Turn Back The Clock” night, so UNI WATCH says their video department decided to make a retro style highlight package. Someone had a lot of fun making this, so please watch:
More fallout from the swine flu epidemic: the AP says that CONCACAF has canceled its regional beach soccer tournament scheduled to begin tomorrow in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The good news: if you’re going to be stranded somewhere because of a horrible flu outbreak, at least it’s the beach.
David Stern appeared on Dan Patrick’s radio show this morning, and shared his thoughts on a wide range of crises and challenges the National Basketball Association faces for the future.
It’s a an accepted part of the NBA that star players are officiated differently than everyone else. Guys like LeBron, Wade, and Kobe just lower their shoulder and head to the bucket and 95% of the time a whistle’s going to bail them out whether they get fouled or not. But one thing that most don’t consider is that stars also get the benefit of the doubt on defense too.
(guess who the foul’s on?)
BULLS.COM’s Sam Smith has some startling numbers on how many fouls LeBron has been whistled for this year. James is a candidate for the NBA’s all-defensive team, which Smith says is largely because James is only being called for 1.72 fouls per game this year — shockingly low for a guy who is so active defensively. In fact, LeBron went through a five game stretch in March in which he was called for zero fouls. Not a single one in more than 180 minutes on the floor.
As you might expect, some think this is a tad bit shady. Although, should we really be that surprised considering the general quality of NBA officiating?
As we reported earlier on SbB, Delaware is set to legalize sports betting by the start of football season. Well, consider the floodgates officially open. A New Jersey lawmaker is suing the federal government to overturn it’s ban on sports wagering.
After a study that predicted a $10-billion-a-year business that could add $100 million annually to New Jersey’s coffers, it was a no-brainer for the financially strapped state. But the ban wouldn’t just affect the Garden State; it would allow every state to decide whether to legalize it. So this might be one Supreme Court case you’ll be able to eagerly follow on ESPN’s Bottom Line.
What are the odds of Jersey having a case? It’s not a bad bet, actually.
Baseball players are vilified for using performance-enhancing drugs. Football players are at least lightly admonished. But the NBA has thus far escaped all scrutiny associated with PEDs. But why? Aren’t NBA players ballooning in size the way baseball and football players have over the last two decades?
(Portrait of a dominant power forward, taken 25 years apart)
Could you imagine teams from the ’70s and even the ’80s trying to compete athletically and physically with the players of today? Are we supposed to believe that this is just a natural progression of athletic ability and the result of nothing but hard work? We were fooled into thinking that was the case in baseball, when we chalked up the achievements of guys like McGwire and Sosa to dedication and time in the weight room. Some aren’t ready to give the NBA a free pass in all of this.
As NBA insiders go, few are as well-versed in the league’s goings-on at every level from the top down than David Falk, hero to bald men nationwide and an agent in the league for more than 35 years. At his agency’s height in the mid-’90s, he was representing Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Dikembe Mutombo, among many others. So suffice it to say that if he’s got an opinion on the business side of the NBA, you should be paying very close attention.
(Why yes, he IS selling a book right now! What about the alarmist statements gave that away, aside from EVERYTHING?)
What Falk does have to say is not very good. At all. According to the NEW YORK TIMES, there’s a storm brewing when the collective bargaining agreement expires in 2011: the players already don’t like the deal, and the owners are going to want to trim way back as their franchises hemorrage money. The result: EXTREME KAYAKING STANDOFF! Read more…
If the economy is affecting you at your job, I’m willing to bet it’s coming down on the working man. More hours, less pay, less perks. But I doubt your superior is really hurting that much; do you really think your company’s CEO is about to lose vacation days or health care coverage? So how bad must things be for the NFL when the big boss is taking a pay cut?
Roger Goodell is cutting his compensation for 2008 by 20%-25%, the league announced this week. Additionally, he’ll be freezing his pay for 2009. With attendance and merchandise sales struggling across the league, it’s nice to see the NFL not pretending that everything’s OK. Because when I buy a ticket, I’m mostly cool with knowing I pay the players’ salaries, but I bet people are less cool knowing they’re also taking care of the execs.
