6:13 PM Navy upsets Notre Dame 23-14. After losing 43 straight to the Irish, Navy has won two in a row at Notre Dame Stadium. Mayor McCheese with a whistle just commenced to melting.
4:29 PM A week after losing to Temple, Navy is dominating Notre Dame today in South Bend. The Middies lead 14-0 at hafltime. Almost 200 first half rushing yards for Navy, which shutout ND in the first half for the first time since 1974.
4:26 PMKevin Kaduk of Yahoo Sports' Big League Stew points out that not only has Sammy Sosa's skin color changed, but his eye color has too. Can't blame him, the Vlad The Impaler look is red-hot these days.
Fox 6 in Milwaukee Tweeted this tonight: “Internet whisper says Brewers have completed deal for Royals SP Zack Greinke. Brewers supposedly sending Royals JJ Hardy, Manny Parra, Mat Gamel & Angel Salome !!! … We called Brewers GM Doug Melvin to either confirm or deny, but he’s not answering or responding right now.”
As a long-suffering Royals fan, you can imagine how I felt when I saw those Tweets. So I immediately did a Google News search and this is the only result I found:
One result? From Bleacher Report? One guess when I clicked…
For the record, the Milwaukee Brewers don’t play the San Francisco Giants again until next season, probably sometime in May. That’s when we’ll find out if Matt Cain offers a gentle high-and-tight message to Prince Fielder for the little show we see in the photo below.
Also for the record, the San Diego Padres are feverishly working on their own choreographed home run celebration performance art. This is all hypothetical of course, because in order to do it, your team actually has to hit a home run. But the Padres have a couple of routines in the can just in case. You’re not going to believe what they are. Read more…
Not that I want to relive this pain, but Prince Fielder’s walkoff homer in the 12th on Sunday was notable for a couple of reasons. For one, it put a nice tasty winning icing on a game in which the Brewers turned their fourth triple play in franchise history — an around-the-horn gem in the sixth.
Then, Fielder won it with a line drive to right (his 37th), with he and his teammates celebrating the win with this Great Moment in Choreography when he reached home plate. You’d think a team this well rehearsed would be closer than 14 games out in the NL Central. But the more serious implication is this: Will this begin a new trend in creative home plate celebration in MLB? Read more…
The Brewers had hit Manny Ramirez earlier in the game, presumably for being Manny and admiring a slump-busting home run he hit as part of the Dodgers’ biggest home scoring outburst since 1979. So, with Ramon Troncoso warming in the bullpen with a 13-run lead and two outs in the ninth, Mota beaned Prince Fielder. Mota was tossed immediately and a befuddled Fielder had words for him as he left the field. Troncoso came in for the last out, but the situation was far from over.
After the game, Prince decided he wanted to go have a friendly chat with Mota and the rest of the Dodgers, so he tried to storm their clubhouse. Like, actually go in there and try and throw down, I guess. Fortunately, a combination of security guards and Brewer teammates were able to keep him out. Prince was soon safely in his regular spot in front of the postgame spread. Mota, once again displaying mighty courage, was nowhere to be found afterward and left Russell Martin to speak for him.
This is the sort of thing that happens all the time in baseball, but two aspects were troublesome: One, obviously, is Fielder’s attempt to actually go in the opposing clubhouse and get in a confrontation. Baseball has always had their “codes” and all that, but it’s supposed to stay on the field. Fielder’s choice to escalate the situation showed pretty poor judgment. But I don’t think Joe Torre is off the hook here. Hittting Fielder wasn’t the problem. But the Dodgers should’ve at least preserved the conceit that the whole thing wasn’t pre-planned. It’s hard to say “it just got away from him” when you have a pitcher warming up in the bullpen with one out remaining in a complete blowout. Clearly this was not only permitted by Torre, but presumably was encouraged, which may earn him a suspension.
(I don’t think Mota wants to run into Piazza at a Dodger reunion any time soon)
Meanwhile, things may have finally hit rock bottom for the Mets this year. Francisco Rodriguez blew a two-run lead in the ninth, then Albert Pujols hit a granny in the 10th to lead the Cards to a 12-7 win at CitiField. It was Pujols’ fifth grand slam this season, and he has hit six homers in his last 11 at-bats with the bases loaded. Even more frustrating for Mets fans, pitcher Sean Green hit the previous batter, Mark DeRosa, with the bases loaded to allow Pujols to come to the plate. This with two out in a tie game. To add injury to injury, as the Mets have been doing all season, Luis Castillosprained his ankle on the dugout steps.
(”Hey Albert, up here. Up top, bro. Do you see me here? No, dude, not the guy in the white shirt.”)
Horrifying news coming out of the Pittsburgh area last night, as a man opened fire at an LA Fitness gym in the southwest suburb of Collier, killing at least three people and wounding at least 10 others. At this time, it’s assumed that the gunman then killed himself. The PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW has the scary details:
Allegheny County police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said the gunman may have fired 50 shots at the 20-22 women inside the room at the time before turning one of his guns on himself and taking his own life. There were perhaps another 50 people in various other parts of the facility at the time.
Moffatt said the gunman left a note inside his gym bag that indicated he expected to die in the carnage.
From all accounts, this seems like the sort of attack that is nearly impossible to stop. The 49-year-old gunman, who has not been identified as I write this, was a member of the club who was able to gain access simply by swiping in. It could, however, not be as entirely random as it looks now, as he specifically went into a room where an aerobics class called “Latin Impact” was taking place. He only shot women who were in that room, then apparently killed himself.
Despite the chaotic scene, a number of people lent whatever help they could:
Richard Walker went to the gym to play basketball with a group of friends. Two of them left carrying shooting victims, both women, over their shoulders, Walker said.
They got 50 yards from the gym’s side entrance, and took cover between cars as soon as they reached the edge of the parking lot, he said two hours after the shooting, his Oklahoma All-State T-shirt covered in dried blood down its right side.
“They were like losing blood and almost freaking out,” said Walker, 23, of Carnegie, who recently moved from Tulsa. “I just knew you put pressure on the wound.”
Thoughts go out to all the victims. Let’s hope all of the wounded are just that, and don’t take any turn for the worse.
“I don’t think there’s a woman in the United States of America that would say I’m gay. So, you know, I don’t hang around men.”
• Based on this video posted by NESW SPORTS, I don’t think LeBron James would even be a top 5 pick in my Monday night pickup game. At least he doesn’t have to worry about getting dunked on again:
• Drew Carey is excited about tonight’s FC Barcelona-Seattle Sounders match at Qwest Field. But the real gem is at the end of the story: Seattle midfielder Freddie Ljungberg says he missed a penalty kick in the MLS All-Star Game because of a migraine triggered by eating food with red wine in it. Oh, soccer players.
(When you need a guy to miss a penalty kick, accept no substitute)
The Milwaukee Brewers have seen a resurgence over the past three years after sitting mostly dormant for the 20 or so years following their lone World Series appearance. And while you might attribute that to such things as developing good talent or having Bud Selig less involved, the real answer is pretty clear — the hotel road teams use in Milwaukee is totally haunted!
The Pfister is the hotel in question, and it has hosted every U.S. president since McKinley. But a growing list of opposing players told the ASSOCIATED PRESS that they’d rather sleep in a tent on I-43 than spend another night in this place. The Brewers probably don’t mind the assistance from beyond, but don’t expect any of them to stay there either.
The Milwaukee Brewers are unveiling a great new promotion on Friday — drive-in movies in their parking lot. Hmm, looks like I have a choice to make. Do I head over to Miller Park for a double feature, or stay at home and hit myself repeatedly over the head with a wooden mallet? It’s a tough decision.
(A double feature of doom!)
In these tough economic times, Major League Baseball is not too proud to dip into the Minor League playbook and pull out a few tricks. Movies at the ballpark have been popular in the minors for years, and one day earlier this year the Brewers noticed that they have a huge parking lot, and a fan base with cars and not much to do on weekends when the Brewers aren’t in town. The rest came naturally. Read more…
Our older readers likely know The Rule, used to calculate whether a relationship with a large age difference is creepy. A sexual relationship is acceptable if the younger person’s age is at least 7 plus half the elder’s age. 30 can pull 22, for example, but any younger and you’re a total perv.
(”Also, I want Antonio Alfonseca’s extra fingers. He’s still around, right?”)
We bring this up because while there’s no single universally accepted age at which it stops becoming acceptable for fans to bring a glove to a baseball game, it too follows a pretty consistent formula: as long as your age is no higher than 12 plus half the amount of years you played Little League, you’re safe. This, of course, necessarily excludes adults from ever bringing a glove to a game, mainly because only adults could pull the underhanded behavior of Brewers fan Nick Yohanek, who gave himself the Orwellian nickname of “The Happy Youngster.”
As the DETROIT NEWS reports, the Marlins’ Chris Coghlan made the mistake of hitting his first home run to Yohanek, who demanded unholy amounts of loot in return for the ball. Read more…
