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We all know the story of Tonya Harding and how hubby Jeff Gilooly hired a goon to go after figure skating foe Nancy Kerrigan with a nasty knock on her knee. However, hired goons & whacking clubs don’t come for free - such items need to be paid for somehow. So how were Harding & Gilooly able to finance such a fiendish plan?
Would you believe it was all thanks to a grant from George Steinbrenner?
Another week, another Yankees steroid story. But this one has a twist: this time, the connection is to the front office.
(This is the executive Felix Lopez, not the steroid dealing one.)
The son of a senior vice president pleaded guilty in 2003 to trafficking steroids, newly uncovered public records show. Felix M. Lopez III faced life in prison, but pleaded down to possession with intent to distribute, and received a cushy three years probation.
As everyone knows, the Yankees’ new Death Star is opening its doors in April. And just how evilly awesome will the place be? From the sounds of the tour given to NEW YORK POST gossip diva Cindy Adams, it’s pretty freakin’ incredible.
Adams speaks of huge offices and locker rooms, urinals made of blue granite, heated and air conditioned dugouts, special hooks in the lockers just for hanging socks, and a super-secret locker room where players can go hide from the media (otherwise known as A-Rod’s office).
Someday Joe Torre is going to be in the Hall of Fame as a manager. The only question is which cap he will be wearing on his bust: Dodgers, Cardinals, Mets or Braves? Because based on the contents of his new autobiography, it sure as hell won’t be the Yankees. The NEW YORK POST says that the book, entitled “The Yankee Years,” is filled with just the sort of juicy tidbits and accusations you would expect from anything involving the Yankees.
The book, co-written by SI baseball scribe Tom Verducci, is not on sale at Amazon.com until Feb. 3, but the newspaper was able to obtain an advance copy through lots of hard work and close sources. Meaning: they went to a bookstore in New York that was selling it early and bought a copy. In the book, Torre goes into great detail about his exit and his relationship with Yankee brass, but he also has some special words for Alex Rodriguez - and they aren’t good:
Did you enjoy your Sunday night? Good, because it was the final eve before your inevitable onslaught of storylines involving the unlikely Arizona Cardinals and the storied Pittsburgh Steelers. Ken Whisenhunt meets his old employer. Larry Fitzgerald gets to show off his skills against his alma mater’s city. Um .. the Steelers punter played for the Cardinals last … year … zzzzzzzz. So while you stock up on hardtack and duct tape as you hunker in your bunker, just pretend how fun it would be had Sunday’s losers have actually won.
It’s a battle of redemption versus repetition. Donovan McNabb, having been benched earlier in the year, is now 2-1 in NFC Championship games and getting to start his second Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Joe Flacco became the first-ever rookie quarterback to even be in a Super Bowl. And John Harbaugh, the first-year head coach, can follow in the footsteps of Baltimore coaching icon Don McCafferty in trying to win a Super Bowl as a rookie head coach. Home teams are now a stunning 3-7 in the NFL playoffs, and the Super Bowl will finally see two Wild Card teams face off. And, of course, what are the odds? The last time the Ravens were in the Super Bowl, the site of the game was … Tampa.
And what of beleaguered head coach Andy Reid and his sudden stubble? We’ve only known of the portly Philly coach as having a clean chin and a scraggly mustache. Now his playoff beard, a trend among hockey players and some basketballers, could now catch on when it comes to the head of NFL teams. Especially if the Eagles can win their first Super Bowl in franchise history, giving the City of Brudderly Love two championships in as many pro sports finals. Does this mean the 76ers have a chance this year? (Spoiler: No, it does not.)
But the most gripping storyline is probably Ray Lewis. Yes, he was a Super Bowl MVP the year after being charged with murder stemming from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but at the time he wasn’t wholly embraced as a household figure. All he’s done since being acquitted of murder is play tremendous football and be the face of an NFL team — as a linebacker. That’s no small feat, and maybe Brian Urlacher of the Bears can say the same thing, but quarterbacks are supposed to be synonymous with a franchise. Now he can play for the Super Bowl ring with the stigma of his checkered past mostly gone … and maybe this time, American can embrace him.
Er, anyways, back to reality.
In this offseason alone, the Yankees have spent $432.5 million on three free agents: pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett and first baseman Mark Teixeira. To get Sabathia and Burnett, New York bid above market prices. For Teixeira they shot appropriately high. yet all those moves pale in comparison to what the Yankees could have bought with the same money in the downtrodden stock market: Freddie Mac, a controlling ownership of Churchill Downs, half of the New York Times or one-third of Foot Locker.
That’s right, Steinbrenner, Steinbrenner and Steinbrenner, Inc., clearly could have spent their money a bit more wisely, according to CNBC Sports Business guru Darren Rovell. Two years ago Freddie Mac was booming, and there’s no reason the organization couldn’t return to their previous glory of share-price highs. Just think: The Yankees could own one of the largest mortgage brokerages in history. They could call it Yankee Homes and go buy up one-third of New England delinquincies, forcing Red Sox fans to sign on to “Yankee Home” deeds. The possibilities are endless.
Instead, New York has two pitchers and a slugging first baseman. For five years (assuming Sabathia doesn’t opt out). Seems like a misallocation of resources, if you ask us.
For the first time since the strike-shortened 1994 season, Yankee Stadium won’t see October baseball (although the Yanks are still mathematically alive for a wild-card tie). And since there won’t be any playoff games, we might as well just tear the whole place down and start over.
The Orioles did their job of laying down and letting the Yankees win the final game at the 85-year-old ballpark. I mean, they gave up a home run to Jose Molina for crap’s sake. Mariano Rivera got the final out for a non-save (the Yanks won by four), and Joe Girardi curiously removed Derek Jeter from the game with two outs in the ninth (are they imploding Jeter too?). And then afterward, “New York, New York” blared from the speakers…like four times in a row. Yup, just your average Yankee game.
Apparently, there are worse things than being part of the 2008 Yankees. Like, say, being a former Yankee, affectionately referred to by then-owner George Steinbrenner as a “fat, p***y toad”, who gets arrested for assaulting a bartender.
Hideki Irabu, who pitched in New York for six seasons, was arrested yesterday in Osaka, Japan, for fighting like a girl at a local watering hole.
This is awkward. Artist Mark Pulliam was featured in the August issue of ORLANDO MAGAZINE because of his successful career, celebrity connections, and previous life as member of the New York Yankees. One problem: he made it all up.
And the crack editorial staff forgot to fact check his account — any of it — before the magazine went to print. Which is why author Mike Boslet had to hastily post a from-the-editor mea culpa via the website.
After a reader alerted Boslet that Pulliam had not, in fact, played Major League baseball, he decided to do some digging. Several phone calls later, Boslet found out that: Read more…
Educators, politicians, and talking heads often wail when the latest study of math and science scores for schoolchildren. America’s 17th in math! 34th in science! 89th in cheating on math and science tests! Why does the United States spend so much on defense and so little on education? The video games and the hula hoops the kids are into - ruining America!
(This is not a gratuitous cheerleader shot)
Why can’t America address the underlying problems facing its youth? Namely, how the hell is Team Baby Entertainment still in business? Who is buying these shiny discs of evil? And can we get their mailing list to arrange a sterilization program? You know… reasonable measures. BUGS AND CRANKS investigates.
