8:00 PMJeRome Wilkins, a former University of New Hampshire football player accused of sexually assaulting a woman outside a house, said in court Friday that he did have sex with the woman but that it was consensual.
7:30 PMRafael Nadal says he was given a surprise drug test Saturday a few days after a French TV show lampooned doping allegations against Spanish athletes.
Much of my 16-year main media career was spent in sports radio as a talk show host, play-by-play announcer and program director. When I created the internet’s first sports blog in May, 2001, it wasn’t called a “blog” back then and I was still working full-time in radio.
For the first few years I was writing SbB, I worked part- and full-time at Fox Sports Radio, ESPN Radio and Sporting News Radio. While there’s a lot of sports radio guys now blogging, one guy in particular has emerged as the leader in the field: Larry Brown of LarryBrownSports.com.
Larry’s no newbie, he’s been running his site for a few years now and his blog has become a legit player on the sports media landscape. If you work in sports and don’t have it bookmarked by now, you aren’t doing your job.
So I suppose it was none too ironic when Larry got a call on his nationally syndicated Sporting News Radio show last night from a caller named James from Detroit who voiced an unprompted appreciation for my mom’s favorite sports blog based in Venice Beach. Read more…
World Series MVP Cole Hamels is currently doing some radio promotion for the Phillies championship DVD. But what the heck was he doing on New York’s WFAN yesterday? There’s no city that’s more excited about buying a Phillies DVD. Anyway, during the interview, Hamels was asked whether or not the Mets are “choke artists” for their last two September collapses. Hamels, of course, said “no, they’re a very good team and things just didn’t work out for them in the end. They’ll be tough to beat next year.”
“Last year and this year I think we did believe that [they were choke artists],” he said. “Three years ago we didn’t because they smoked everybody, and I think we all thought they were going to win it all. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. But, yeah, that’s kind of what we believed and I think we’re always going to believe that until they prove us wrong.
Ouch. Hamels also relayed this anecdote:
He also said that the rumor that the Phillies hung a photo of Jose Reyes on Shane Victorino’s locker after he celebrated a little too much after a home run in the NLDS against CC Sabathia of the Brewers is true.
“Hey Shane, this doesn’t win the game, there’s still a lot of game to play. Why are you trying to be like Jose Reyes? Even though you hit a big home run you don’t need to pimp it,” he said.
This rivalry’s never been friendlier.
(Is this excessive for celebrating a 6-4-3 in an April game against the Nats?)
We don’t do a lot of hockey recaps here, but good lord Islanders, please stop somebody. The Isles were pounded 9-2 by Pittsburgh last night, even drawing the embarrassing “We want 10! We want 10!” chant from the Igloo crowd in the 3rd period. The Isles are now tied with Tampa Bay and Atlanta at the bottom of the league.
Speaking of the Lightning, let’s start there in the links:
• Larry Brown welcomes Boris Diaw and Raja Bell aboard by informing them that the Bobcats suck (via NESW SPORTS):
• NEWSDAY says Manny Ramirezis sad because nobody wants to sign him, and is threatening to retire. Not surprisingly Manny is spending his off season “working out, watching cartoons and playing video games.” Give that man $25 million a year!
• Syracuse has hired Saints offensive coordinator Doug Marrone to be their new head coach. Marrone has never been a head coach at any level. COLLEGE FOOTBALL TALK has the details.
• According to BUCS BEAT, Jeff Garcia’s calf injury isn’t getting any better and he might not play this Sunday. That leaves you with Luke McCown, Bucs fans.
• Chicago Bulls “Luvabull” Ashley Bond is this year’s Miss Illinois USA, taking over the title from fellow Luvabull Shannon Lersch. WITH LEATHER provides the story and the photo:
• Terrell Owens is back on the crazy train again. Now, it seems as if he’s jealous of the relationship between Tony Romo and Jason Witten. FANHOUSE breaks down the insanity.
It’s a pretty safe bet that if you make Mark Cuban look like the most refined and respected franchise owner in the room, you are probably not the shining beacon of NBA ownership. Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street (link is to video) in an interview intended to be about the league’s 9% labor reduction, Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson set a new record for feet in his mouth.
Johnson, who made his fortune primarily as the founder of Black Entertainment Television, opened the segment by making a joke about his team not being good, which is actually true, but certainly not confidence-inspiring coming from the owner. Later in the segment, when asked what he was doing about ticket prices in the NBA, a question Cuban answered directly, Johnson had this to say (after the jump): Read more…
A Super Bowl ring is the pinnacle of achievement for an NFL player. It signifies a whole season of sacrifice, toil, pain and work, resulting in being at the top of the pro football world. The average sports fan can’t even imagine how much that must be worth to a player.
Except that Deadspin has word that you can tell exactly how much it was worth to former Cowboys defensive back and Super Bowl MVP Larry Brown. He’s put his Super Bowl XXVII ring up for sale on eBay. The game was 52-17 drubbing of the Buffalo Bills (weren’t they all back then?), a.k.a. the Leon Lett Game. The highest bidder so far? Someone named “BillsQB12“.
Larry Brown is apparently heading back to the NBA courtside. A “person familiar to the story” tells the ASSOCIATED PRESS that the oft-traveled coach has agreed to become the Charlotte Bobcats’ next coach.
The Bobcats have scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon to make what they say is a “major basketball announcement.” The job opening came about when Sam Vincent was let go on Saturday. Brown’s agent wouldn’t confirm or deny if his client was coming to Charlotte.
If he does sign a contract with Michael Jordan’s co-owned team, it will be Larry’s ninth stop as NBA head coach. But it won’t be Brown’s first pro stint down Tobacco Road. Read more…
• The LADIES… will be our special guests this weekend with live wall-to-wall bloggage of this NFL Draft. In the meantime, they share the story of a college wrestler looking to chokeslam cancer.
• HOME RUN DERBY would like to know what did Joba Chamberlain say to anger Erin Andrews.
When Allen Iverson first hit the league, the Philadelphia 76ers were deeply concerned about the bad influence AI’s old friends from Hampton and Virginia Beach, VA. Incidents that worried the 76er brain trust included a riot in a Hampton bowling alley, a marijuana possession/concealed weapon charge while in the car with a friend from Hampton, and a lousy rap album. (In that order.)
(Gotta protect yourself at all times, AI)
In the end, Iverson pulled out an awfully impressive career. However, the 76ers proved yet again the sun can shine on any King every once in awhile when the “longtime friend” that was in the car for that eventful 1998 vehicle stop tried to extort Iverson earlier this year. And you thought Larry Brown was out to get you, Allen.
Jim Boylan is the current coach of the Bulls, who haven’t played much better since Scott Skiles was summoned out of the Stadium on Christmas Eve. The speculation is that Brown, who hasn’t coached since he led the Knicks to a painful 23-59 finish in the 2005-06 season, doesn’t want his career to end on such a low ebb. Read more…
