The McCourt family (makers of fine decisions like hiring Ned Coletti and treating Manny Ramirez like dirt but still feeling violated when Manny earned a suspension) have recently discovered that women are an untapped market that should be nurtured, just like Spanish-speaking peoples and others with disposable cash.
(At least one woman figured out Dodger fandom without pressing the ’sports-to-woman’ translation button on her remote)
Therefore, in a kind-hearted and sensitive fashion, Jamie McCourt has fired up a special women-centric broadcast for Wednesday home games for the rest of the season. Jeanne Zelasko and Mark Sweeney will break down baseball because “as a mother, (Jeanne) will be able to bring a unique perspective.” What does that mean? Do wombs break down the infield shift better?
Therefore, Frank’s more than a little peeved at Manny Ramirez making him look asinine for signing him as Manny sits at home. Frank McCourt demands action. Now that he’s spoken to Manny himself, he wants Manny to speak to his Dodgers teammates. Apparently, walks of shame are now inspirational.
And they are being thoughtful, too. Instead of forcing players to make a decision on which of their own personal favorite charities to “donate” a percentage of their salary to, they are making it easy by only giving them one option. As it turns it, this just happens to be the Dodgers Dreams Foundation, which just happens to be the official charity arm of the team. Looks like the buffet at the annual bowling night just got upgraded from nachos to chicken wings!
OK, we finally get the Manny thing out of the way, which may have somehow engendered reluctant goodwill in the McCourts’ direction - and then we get this from Tom Hoffarth of the L.A. DAILY NEWS today:
(Cancer survivor Zelasko or Charley Steiner? Nice going Frank and Jamie!)
Former Fox MLB studio host Jeanne Zelasko was inexcusably left out of the group of six broadcasters who the Dodgers invited to a play-by-play tryout during March, their attempt to find someone for a package of 40 TV road games. A forward- thinking organization couldn’t figure out that by including her in the mix, they’d elicit some positive reaction?
Listening to a couple of games this week showcase 28-year-old Ben Wagner, a poor man’s Matt Vasgersian currently with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, any recognizable voice in the So Cal market who missed this cut must really reassess his or her future. What are the Dodgers trying to achieve here, if not a search to replace Vin Scully someday?
As some of you may know, I was in the baseball announcing game for 10 years, doing minor and major league baseball, and I must say that I laughed out loud when I read this news. Read more…
When longtime Patriots assistant Eric Mangini left to coach the Jets, New England coach Bill Belichick openly seethed about his right-hand man’s defection. Belichick refused to wish Mangini good luck, instead holding a grudge against him that extended all the way to chilling non-handshake meet-and-greets at midfield after games between the Jets and Patriots. Well, now another Belichick chosen assistant has departed and, like Mangini, Josh McDaniels may be getting slighted by his former tutor.
According to numerous sources, McDaniels’s Broncos were close to a deal for his former quarterback, Matt Cassel, on Friday night. At the last minute, New England backtracked from the deal and included Cassel, a player they were willing to franchise tag at a cost of millions of dollars, in a trade made earlier for linebacker Mike Vrabel with the Chiefs. The Cassel addition may go down as one of the great throw-ins of contractual history, right behind free jalapeno poppers when you buy a large Coke.
The decision to send Cassel to the Chiefs not only smacked of favoritism for Belichick’s former front office compatriot, longtime Patriots-turned-Chiefs GM Scott Pioli, it also tomahawked McDaniel’s new offensive lineup before he even gets a chance to work with it. When the Broncos angled for Cassel, it became clear the team was willing — anxious even — to deal Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler. That concept didn’t play well with Cutler or his teammates, as you read right here yesterday.
Suddenly, after the Patriots received only a second round draft pick for the package of Cassel and a Pro Bowl linebacker, it became clear that something was amiss. By keeping Cassel from the Broncos, Belichick not only hurt a team that has long been a thorn in New England’s side, he also stuck the move to his former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Belichick is smart enough to know that the Chiefs are still one, probably two years away from legitimate contention. That’s not necessarily the case for the Broncos, and being able to hold back an assistant he didn’t want to leave may have only made shorting Denver an easier decision for Billy B.
The lopsided deal — which, as we pointed out Saturday, could become a lot more plausible if the Patriots land Julius Peppers — was so out of character that some writers have called for an investigation into why the Patriots made it. FANHOUSE columnist Jay Mariotti is the biggest name among that group, and (somewhat shockingly) he makes some decent points as to why something is clearly fishy with the deal.
Mariotti probably won’t get his probe, but the Patriots may get a lot more scrutiny over future moves, and that’s something that would have seemed crazy even a week ago.
We hate to stick with sports teams that play in a single east coast city, but there’s another Boston move that bears further inspection: the Celtics’ signing of team-killer Stephon Marbury. Starbury made a predictably impressive debut off the team’s bench on Friday, but he was 0-for-3 against the Pistons on Sunday, racking up four fouls in 13 minutes, not to mention one embarrassing steal he practically handed to Detroit’s Rip Hamilton. In short, he looked awful, and his brooding gaze under a towel on the sideline didn’t seem to help things during Boston’s upset loss at home, either.
Naturally, that raises the question of whether, if Marbury continues to struggle in a bench role, he’ll be content sitting on said bench. Clearly the Celtics thought he would, because there’s no way he’s stealing any time or any of the role from emerging point guard Rajon Rondo, but there’s no precedent for Starbury “fitting in”. In fact, he’s never fit in, so why should the Celtics assume he will now? Clearly they may have been using specious logic in believing that Doc Rivers, as compelling a coach as he has been, could instantly get Marbury on board with Boston’s team dynamic. That just means that Marbury could be more trouble than he’s worth, which is precisely what the Celtics don’t need if they have any hope of repeating without James Posey.
At one point on Sunday, the two sides were said to be less than $2 million apart on a two year deal, with only Ramirez holding an option on the second year. The chance to reach agreement on that faded away when McCourt showed his cheap side. Often dumb, but cheap, when he said the Dodgers and Ramirez will have to start from step one, reeling in Boras to a de-facto admission that the Dodgers are the only team with legitimate interest in Ramirez, then fleecing him by saying that a $45 million deal for the slugger is “off the table”.
The question now is only whether McCourt will suddenly get really, really stingy, trying to drive down Manny’s asking price by $5 million or more, or whether this is all an exercise in saving face and proving a point. The danger there, of course, is whether Boras convinces Manny he’s being disrespected, telling him to turn to some type of a strangely-structured deal with the Giants. That’s probably unlikely, but the way talks have been going, it sounds more and more like a deal between Manny and the Dodgers isn’t so likely at the moment, either.
Longtime Jazz owner Larry Millerwas laid to rest on Sunday, and all of his children drove to the funeral in sports cars, an homage to his start in an auto parts store. Naturally, Karl Malone and others were in attendance in a pretty classy ceremony.
Former NHL degenerate Steve Downie is back in the news, which can only mean one thing: He’s getting himself in big trouble. This time he didn’t take his frustrations out on an opponent, he used a ref … and slashed him with a skate.
Is anyone else sick of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant facing off? After missing each other for far too long, they suddenly have played three times in three weeks. Shaq won this round, but really, do we want to watch any more right now?
On Sunday, THE WASHINGTON POST reported that Maryland might have been on the verge of a recruiting violation because of contact between Under Armour, former Terp Byron Mouton and top prospect Lance Stephenson. Now the U of Md. is responding, and they’re not taking these allegations lightly. Naturally, Stephenson probably isn’t, either, which just means he’s almost certain to land somewhere else.
One of Bill Simmons’ favorite phrases that ESPN won’t let him say: Benedict Cockblock. Luckily, Adam Carrolla can say that whenever he wants. God bless.
You know those images that you don’t want to see, but can’t turn away from because they’re just too riveting? Meet female bodybuilder Christy Resendes squeezing an orange … with her biceps:
Frank and Jamie McCourt have done the impossible. They’ve made Scott Boras look like a sympathetic figure.
(HUGE BOOBS! And an attractive model)
The McCourts embarrassed themselves, their family, their friends, and even Tommy Lasorda’s Friday night rendezvous at Jumbo’s Clown Room with the memo circulated to the media last night that gleefully touted Boras turning down their fake $45M offer to Manny Ramirez.
The fallout of the New York Yankees signing up Mark Teixeira has been Chernobyl-esque for Manny Ramirez. Before the Yanks borrowed Hank Paulsen’s printing press to corral Tex, it appeared that Yankee Stadium was to be Ramirez’s most likely destination. Especially if Teixeira had signed with the Red Sox.
(Frank McCourt: Plenty of practice fumbling away opportunities of a lifetime)
With the Mets out of money (thanks, Bernie!) and no other team at present willing to offer Ramirez more than the Dodgers’ proposed 2-year, $45 million pact, it’s looking more and more like it’ll be a long and lonely winter for Mr. Elongated Pants.
(Ned Colletti looking like a stroked-out Peter Griffin)
I was listening to local sports radio guy here in Los Angeles last night and I heard him say that he was unequivocally certain that Ramirez would sign with the Dodgers in January. That Ramirez agent Scott Boras would break down and take the team’s (paltry) offer.
Now, does that sound like something Boras would do to you?
Another day, another crippling blow to Wall Street: Bernard Madoff, former NASDAQ chairman and founder of major investment advisory firm Madoff Securities, was arrested yesterday and charged with fraud, after losing up to $50 billion in a Ponzi scheme. (Not a Fonzie scheme: that involves betting someone you can jump a shark on your water skis.)
But this scandal could have a deep impact in the world of sports. CNBC is reporting that through their real estate investment firm Sterling Equities, Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz may have had as much as $300 million invested with Madoff. That’s about eight Frankie Rodriguez contracts. And it doesn’t look like they’ll be getting much, if any, of that money back.
I wonder if this means that Frank and Jamie McCourt actually have more money than another set of owners now?
The Dodgers have won exactly one playoff series in 20 years and are likely to head back into NL West obscurity if they don’t re-sign Manny Ramirez, but that’s not stopping the team from charging ridiculous prices for things like spring training and the opportunity to take a few hacks in the batting cage at Dodger Stadium.
(”We don’t need you, Manny. We can win it all with Blake DeWitt!”)
Last week, the Dodgers charged fans $500 a head to take batting practice and get pictures taken with baseball superstars Russell Martin and Andre Ethier. It was all part of a big fundraiser to help a worthy cause. That cause, of course, being Frank McCourt’s effort to extort as much money as possible from Southern Californians while they think the team still has a chance to retain Manny. They’re also charging as much as $90 for spring training tickets in 2009.
Meanwhile, Ned Colletti is already rationalizing not signing Manny…
(Only thing faker than Dodgers’ offer? Colletti’s piece)
Rosenthal surmises from that that the Dodgers “offered Ramirez a two-year contract worth just over $50 million.”
According to Colletti, who didn’t specifiy contract length, the Dodgers also offered an option year. Of course, the Dodger GM didn’t specify which party holds the option, so that could be irrelevant to process.
Last week the NEW YORK POST reported about the same, a 2-year deal worth $60M. The story was from an anonymous source. Gee, wonder who that was?
