12:30 PM After being suspended indefinitely on Wednesday, Tennessee Volunteers TE Cameron Clear has been dismissed from the team after he was charged with stealing a laptop from a UT baseball player.
12:15 PM A man who was arrested for streaking across Busch Stadium during a St. Louis Cardinals game Thursday night said he did it because he lost a bet.
One of the big knocks on Penguins fans is that they’re bandwagon jumpers. That they couldn’t fill their arena until they tanked to get two top-2 picks in a row. Basically, that at one point, Kansas City was considered a better hockey market than Pittsburgh. Well, one fan took it upon himself to show the world just how much passion Pens backers have.
(Pic semi-related…just looking for an excuse to post it again.)
A 17-year-old from Pennsylvania is under investigation for posting a death threat to Alexander Ovechkin on a message board. The threat read: “I’m killing Ovechkin. I’ll go to jail. I don’t care anymore.” Actually, it had less punctuation and capitalization than that, but we all accept the Internet is as much a cesspool as central PA.
It’s Gary Bettman’s wet dream, we’re just living in it.
While NBA Commissioner David Stern sits back and prays for a Cavaliers-Lakers final, a matchup that would deliver LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant, his NHL counterpart (and former assistant) is soaking in exactly what can happen when a sports two transcendent stars face off in the playoffs … and both deliver on all the potential.
After Washington goalie Simeon Varlamov stole the show with a spectacular save in Game 1, Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby both delivered miraculous games, offering up dueling hat tricks in Washington’s 4-3 win at a raucous Verizon Center. How raucous was it? Well, after you factor in all the Russians on both rosters and an entire arena filled with red uniforms, you definitely could have confused the setting for Moscow circa 1972 (with much cooler scoreboards and free burritos falling from the ceiling, of course).
As if things couldn’t get better for Bettman and Co., the two stars are even lining up as unlikely heroes/villains. Ovechkin, who plays with more physicality and isn’t afraid to take an occasional penalty, is emerging as a sideline cheerleader, particularly in exhorting on rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov, a recent Russian import who speaks next to no English. The role — and his growing household profile throughout America outside of sports — has made Ovie an easy hero character, a role he elaborates with agreesive fan interaction, leaping into the boards after goals and tossing pucks, equipment, anything he can get his hands on at fans after games.
That’s a stark contrast to Crosby, who is trying to play a steely leader to the point of taking some of the traditional lighthearted fun out of the games themselves. When fans started throwing hats on the ice after his hat trick, Crosby got the game officials to ask fans to stop it. It might be the only time in hockey history when a player asked fans to support him less enthusiastically.
Add it all together, and hockey finally has a must-see series in the playoffs between a hockey market that loves its team (Pittsburgh) and a city which suddenly has elevated its franchise to near-Redskins levels. It’s the dream matchup Bettman wanted, which means he’ll be playing with house money for the rest of the postseason. How often can you say that about hockey?
On the other coast, the road team actually managed to steal a game, although the playoff was in another sport. The Lakers entered their series against the Rockets highly favored to pull out the series in either five or six games. That’s looking a lot harder after a Game 1 loss … at home.
Sure, Yao Ming looked a litle gimpy toward the end of the game, but his team held on. More importantly, his team’s defense was even better than expected, with Ron Artest and Shane Battier frustrating Kobe Bryant, and the rest of the defense forcing the Lakers into a 2 of 18 performance from behind the 3-point arc.
Will Houston be able to keep off the L.A. pressure? Who knows, but one thing is certain: the road for the Lakers just got a lot bumpier.
Meanwhile, in a city that could very well host either the Capitals or Penguins next, the Celtics finally showed the wear and tear of the longest seven-game series in NBA history. After finally outlasting the Bulls without extra periods, the team that played more overtime periods in a single series than any other team had in an entire playoffs was run roughshod by a talented and quick Orlando team. The Magic attacked the basket with Dwight Howard, it hit threes and it controlled the tempo of the game.
So how did Orlando only win by five points? Well, that came via a combination of Boston threes, suddenly awakened fierce defense and a sudden lack of shot making in the clutch by the Magic. Make no mistake, this was a full Orlando meltdown, with the Magic’s 28-point third quarter lead whittled down to three in the closing minute.
In the end, Orlando still had enough to win, thanks to some fine inbounding work that got the ball to J.J. Redick. But if there was ever a win that felt like a loss, it was this one, with the T.D. Banknorth crowd energized by a fierce comeback.
That just moves the burden of the series’ balance squarely into Game 2. If Orlando finds a way to win it, the series is all but over. If Boston jumps out to an early lead and controls Game 2 like it did the fourth quarter of Game 1, well, then Orlando may find itself scrambling to stay in a series it’s already overachieved in out of the gate.
Meanwhile, that other team from the Celtics’ city spent its first game in the new Yankee Stadium a lot like it spent two weekends ago in Boston: beating the Yankees. It wasn’t consistently pretty, but Boston got enough from Jon Lester and its bats off a shaky Phil Hughesto take home a 6-4 victory, it’s fourth straight over the Yankees this year.
That’s all fine and good for the Red Sox. After all, they’ll take wins over the Yankees anyway they can get them. Still, just as Boston will be settling in at the new Stadium, they’ll have to hit the road again, the result of a brief two-game stint in New York.
The length of the series just doesn’t feel right. How can Boston open its tenure against the Yankees with only a two-game set? Not only that, the Red Sox then bounce home to host Cleveland, for two games, before facing the Rays again next weekend. Seriously, which scheduling genius at MLB set up the first Boston cameo at Yankee Stadium for a Monday-Tuesday two game set in the middle of the NBA and NHL playoffs? Not only is the length of the series ludicrous, the timing is horrendous, too.
Some games are just more important than others. MLB always contends that’s not the case, but it clearly is. The NBA gets it. The NHL seems like it gets it. The NFL definitely gets it. So why doesn’t MLB get it?
Will Boston take the win? Sure. Will it take the incredibly inconvenient timing of Joba Chamberlain’s start a day after his mother was arrested for dealing meth? Absolutely. Will that make a two-game set at Yankee Stadium retrospectively more defensible for the schedule makers. Sorry Bud Selig, it just doesn’t.
Speaking of the Red Sox and Yankees, Ben Affleck swears he’ll burn any Yankees gear given to his daughters as gifts. And he’s serious.
We always thought Anquan Boldin was cool, but we didn’t know he’s a trendsetter. With Darnell Dockett asking out of the desert, it’s pretty clear “Arizona trade demands” are the new Coogi sweaters of the NFL.
Even after his amazing series against the Celtics, the Bulls have a tough decision with Ben Gordon this summer. So, will they re-sign him? Readers of the Tribune say yes … but only by a 60-40 margin.
This photo from EVERY DAY SHOULD BE SATURDAY proves it irrefutably: Terrelle Pryor is never going to transfer. It’s certain.
Missouri is likely to start a highly touted freshman quarterback next year. If it’s this one, he’ll already have a wrap sheet.
Look, we know as well as anyone else that one game does not make a series. That doesn’t mean that one game can’t set a tone for a series. After all, just look at Bulls-Celtics. If memory serves, that Game 1 was pretty stinking good. Well, assuming the rest of the Capitals-Penguins series plays at least a little like the first offering between the teams, a 3-2 Capitals win, this could be a truly captivating series.
(Advantage: Ovechkin)
Game 1 had a little of everything. It got started with a Sidney Crosby goal. That was countered with a goal from his rival, Alex Ovechkin. And then, when it looked like things were starting to swing toward the Pengiuns, who were putting on better pressure than the Rangers did in their entire series against the Caps, young goalie Simeon Varlamov came through with the save of the playoffs, which we’ve got on video after the break.
Leave it to Major League Baseball’s old and tired leadership to open half of the league’s games in cold climates, many of which will force postponements during the very first week of the season. While the proud and downtrodden denizens of Philadelphia should be have been celebrating the first professional sports crown in the city of brotherly love for decades, they instead found some of their press stolen because of a cancellation of the season opener between the White Sox and Royalsa day before the game was scheduled to be played!
That’s right folks, it’s baseball season, and it’s snowing in Chicago.
It’s ludicrous that a professional sports league that employs as many marketing consultants as locker room attendees could sign off on a plan designed to wreak havoc on the schedule year after year.
There’s a simple solution to avoid the annual cancellations, travel headaches and furious dispossesed fan bases: Play the entire first two weeks of the season in markets that are either: A) on the West coast, B) below the Mason-Dixon line or C) have domed stadiums. Stop kowtowing to the need for a New York opener and season-starting series in places like Cleveland and Chicago, and the season might actually work the way it’s supposed to on paper.
Of course, there’s never any weather-related problems in basketball, but there are plenty of crowd issues when the basketball is being played by women. If you tuned into the NCAA Women’s Final Four last night, ESPN would like to hear from you (they don’t believe the Nielsen ratings could possibly be that low) and Courtney Paris would like to apologize for crying so much the tears started flowing out of your screen.
Put those two stories together — the blown, $64,000 guarantee by a Joe Namath-sounding women’s basketball player and an utter lack of attendance (at least heading into the Final Four; no overnight attendance numbers were available last night) — and add in undefeated UConn’s seemingly inevitable drive to a perfect season, and there are plenty of fascinating story lines in St. Louis. Yet the bottom line, as it so often is with women’s basketball, no one cares.
That’s a shame. After all, when’s the next time an NFL great will have twin daughters playing in a Final Four, one of whom has an impulsively gregarious moment that costs him $64,000? When’s the next time we’re going to get to see that face? Priceless folks, priceless.
Somehow, despite the odds and ethical questions, a 19-year-old jockey is on the verge of competing in his horse racing’s signature event. If that doesn’t seem stunning enough, this is: Joe Talamo has already earned some $4 million en route to spitting range of his ultimate goal: the Kentucky Derby.
What’s even more amazing about Talomo, as first exposed by LAIST, are hisTwitter updates. For instance, check out these recent inputs from the rider of derby contender “I Want Revenge”.
“30 til derby: Am at Santa Anita. Worked out 3 horses this morning…Right Round by Flo Rida is my song of the day. Big month ahead,”
“30 til derby: just got home from dinner at the ivy and tim’s show. great night! going to bed. gotta wake up early”
“29 til derby: Working a couple more horses after the break. Then filming a scene at Clocker’s Corner for Jockeys. LA Times interview at 10.”
Hmmm, tough life you got there kid. Now, about that L.A. TIMES interview. Would you prefer a Bill Plaschke kiss up, or a clueless T.J. Simers job? Your choice.
WOOOO! YEAH! AMERICA ROCKS! OUR FOREIGN POLICY HAS JUST BEEN VINDICATED BECAUSE WE KICKED SOME ASS ON THE DIAMOND! YEAH!The score was USA 15, Venezuela 6 in first-round World Baseball Classic action last night, and with a 2-0 record in pool play, the Americans are assured of advancing to the next round. Your heroes are Chris Ianetta (3-run double in 6th inning) and Mark DeRosa (4 RBI). Wait, those guys are actually on America’s roster? Seriously?
(DeRosa, proving that refs totally listen to you when you say you’re safe.)
As to whether we can glean too much joy from beating the tar out of a team from a country with a GDP that’s roughly the same as the state of Iowa? (By the way, you’ve got to click that link; I don’t know if Alabama’s or Texas’ corollary is funnier or more offensive to their residents.) Sure. For as meh a country as Venezuela is on the global stage, their lineup was filled with starting-caliber talent. The meat of the Venezuela order, consisting of Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Guillen, is downright All-Star quality. If only their pitching wasn’t garbage.
In college basketball, we now know five teams that’ll be losing in the first round of the tournament, plus North Carolina smacked Duke down for the ACC regular season title, 79-71. The men of the match were Tyler Hansborough, giving the Dean Dome 17 points in his last home game, and Ty Lawson, who was doubtful to play (oh, please) with a sprained toe but poured in 13, 9, and 8 in the win.
(Scheyer Face alert! Code red! This is not a drill!)
UNC’s now 6 for their last 7 against the Blue Devils, who were beaten for the second seed in the ACC tourney by Wake Forest. Suddenly, even a 2 seed in the NCAAs doesn’t seem so assured for Coach K’s charges. FIRE THE BUM!
As for hockey (or as they call it in Europe, “football”), we do need to commend Washington Capitals fans with a spirited, to say the least, attack on Sidney Crosby’s worth as a hockey player and as a man. The singular fatal flaw in their plan, however, was the fact that Crosby’s still one of the five best players in the NHL. As it turns out, Crosby made Washington pay dearly: one goal, one assist, and the clinching goal in the shootout to give Pittsburgh the 4-3 victory. But hey… nice work on the signs, fans.
(And you can’t spell “Penguin” without “P-U-N!” Wakka wakka wakka!)
As for Alex Ovechkin, the Caps’ superstar, he had a magnificent performance of his own. No, it won’t show up in the stat sheet… but it will show up on TV and YouTube, because it’s incredible. Courtesy of the DC SPORTS BOG:
Did you ever watch that “Real Housewives of Atlanta” show? No? Us neither. But apparently the one who’s the ex-wife former Atlanta Falcon Bob Whitfield’s being sued by Whitfield for about $87,000. Honest mistake on her part, we’re sure.
The Toronto Maple Leafs GM, on whether the NHL will ban fighting: “I will personally challenge anyone who wants to get to rid of fighting to a fight.” Um, that’s a joke, right?
Fat Ronaldo’s back from that horrific injury, and his first goal is a game-winner in injury time. Naturally, it comes replete with fans going completely ballistic and fences being torn down. Because hey, it’s soccer, and that’s just, y’know, what you do.
According to (scarcely SFW) BUSTED COVERAGE, this Ohio State cheerleader supposedly runs a 4.4 40 and might make the football team. Hey, you know what’s more fun than playing football at Ohio State? Grabbing cheerleaders’ asses in front of those same 100,000+ people while the football players are the ones getting hit all the time. If only there were a way for him to do that instead…
It’s not like you needed more evidence that Gary Bettman is the worst commissioner in professional sports, which is a title with stiff competition. But now we learn about the NHL’s latest senseless policy, which will cause two Red Wings stars to be suspended for a game because they’re not attending tomorrow’ All-Star game to rest their injuries.
Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstromwill miss the first game after the break, because they chose to spend this week-long respite getting healthy. The policy is in place because too many stars in recent years have skipped the All-Star game, and the NHL desperately needs exposure the few times it gets on network TV. But to force them to play a meaningless game in the middle of a grueling season, when the Stanley Cup often goes to the healthiest team? That’s just — well, that’s just what we’d expect from a league that just doesn’t get it.
Say what you will about Pittsburgh and the city’s fans, but the Western Pennsylvania chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation clearly has all the right people on speed dial. The latest proof? The Penguins were the latest Steel City team to take the Spike Lee route (Do The Right Thing, man!), signing an eight-year-old with cystic fibrosis to a $1.00 contract before having him skate with the team - if you can call being skated around the ice by Matt Cooke skating with the team.
(Jacob Anderson: Sid the Kid’s new winger of choice.)
It’s a touching story, made even more impressive by just how thorough the Penguins’ approach was. Pittsburgh didn’t just bring Jacob Anderson into practice, they actually signed him to an official contract. And after he signed, Anderson had to live up to typical NHL scrutiny, facing an impromptu news conference right outside GM Ray Shero’s office.
Anderson’s Penguins adventure is reportedly the 10,000th wish fulfilled by the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Western Penn. chapter, and it follows a number of similar fantasy days set up by the Steelers and Penguins. Still, the most notable heartwarming Pittsburgh tale has to be the case of high school baseball player John Challis, who got one last hit during his final two months of life, then met Mario Lemieux and Ben Roethlisberger shortly thereafter, with the dynamic duo of Pittsburgh sports heroes asking to meet him because they were so inspired by his story. That’s saying something.
Sidney Crosby is a punk? Don’t scoff, he’s really acting like it over the past couple of weeks. With the Penguins mired in a catastrophic losing skid, Crosby picked his second fight against an unsuspecting victim in two weeks, and his moves this time around were just as lowbrow as they were the first time. Poor Panthers center Brett McLean never saw Crosby coming.
(Beware of the Sid The Kid sneak attack!)
According to FANHOUSE, and readily verified by the video after the jump, Crosby attacked McLean after a draw, a move which followed a squared-off bout between Maxime Talbot and Gregory Campbell moments earlier. Yet unlike the Talbot-Campbell fight, McLean never got a chance to get ready for Crosby, let alone accept the fight.
NBC’s Football Night In America sure knows how to bring the hard interviews to Joe Fantasygm’s television. Former Giants running back Tiki Barber sat down with current Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, and little-known Detroit native Jerome Bettis was at the Steelers-Titans game and somehow scored an on-field interview with his former quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.
Honestly, all sports interviews should be conducted by former teammates-turned-journalists. It makes them so much more fun, and they can talk about the good old days when there were two or three years in their careers that intertwined. Keyshawn Johnson can talk to Terrell Owens while sharing a king sized bed, braiding each other’s hair and ask each other, “Seriously, isn’t it better to be like us than it is to be a fan of the game?” “Yeah, screw the fans!” [high five]
Barber was nowhere to be seen (rats!) as the Giants nuzzled up to home field advantage with a 34-28 overtime win over the surprising Panthers. Derrick Ward rumbled for 215 yards on merely 15 carries. A visibly crushed DeAngelo Williams was not consoled by Tim Biakabutuka.
Elsewhere in overtime news, the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl went to an extra frame with Southern Miss winning 30-27 over Troy, with USM’s Britt Barefoot doinking a field goal off the inside of the goalposts for the game-winning three points. Not only is Barefoot an amazing name for a kicker, as is his coach’s, Larry Fedora. Anyone whose surname is also a hat immediately wins trust in my book.
Four teams not named the Boston Celtics have 18 wins or more this season. One team actually named the Celtics has 18 wins or more in a current streak of basketball games. A 124-105 dismantling of the New York Knicks on Sunday evening kept the streak alive. This ties a franchise record, and it’s only the longest win streak since … earlier this year, when the idiosyncratic Houston Rockets won 22 before losing to … Boston. If The C’s can make it 26 in a row, the Rockets will get a chance to return the favor on January 7. The NBA: where looking extremely far down the road happens.
SbB: Where ten other stories I didn’t have much else to say about happens.
NESW SPORTS finds an oblique mention of Ahmad Rashadmaking a jump shot for the Philadelphia 76ers, but no mention of it anywhere else on the Internet. Much like the fossils in the ground, God probably put this video on the tubes to test our faith.
One more thing about that Celtics game. The BOSTON HERALD reports that Glen Davis missed the game after getting in a car crash on his way to the game, and his head broke the windshield. The accident was classified by the Celtics as “minor,” probably because their spokespeople are manly men who jog home from vasectomies.
Now that the Lions are 0-15, we can now call Bizarro Mercury Morris because they are on his block. The DETROIT NEWS is asking Lions fans — the ones that haven’t strangled themselves yet — put out an online survey asking what emotion best describes the reaction to this season. The results so far?
Put that on a t-shirt. “The Detroit Lions: The Otherest Team In History.”
We almost went a whole day without any Mark Teixeira rumors. Sheesh! Well, the Angels are pulling away their 8-year, $54 gazillion offer, leaving Tex with the Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals or Orioles as potential new homes. Two of these is not like the others. The MERCURY NEWS is rather sick of this bidding war, concluding he will sign “maybe with Baltimore or Washington, whereupon he will say the perennial loser that lands him was attractive because it offers the best chance to win.”
The Phoenix Suns need a new point guard and are having open tryouts for the position. As noted by BRIGHT SIDE OF THE SUN, ““The six guys that will be here Monday are a mix of vets and youngsters ranging from the 26 year old Walker Russell to the 83 year old Darrell Armstrong.“
THE HARDBALL TIMES reminds Cubs fans that, no matter how bad it gets for the team, its fans can always fall back on their pure hatred of Steve Garvey.
THE 700 LEVEL has video of the Eagles-Redskins final play, perhaps the most climactic finish of the day in the NFL, where Reggie Brown gets stopped cold at the goalline, denying Philly the game-tying touchdown on the final play.
Oh, Mike Singletary, never change. After the 49ers escaped out of St. Louis with a 17-16 win (after being down 16-3 in the fourth), the interim coach said of his quarterback Shaun Hill after throwing his third interception: “I was going to choke him.” Good lord. If Singletary doesn’t get hired back next year, he’s a shoe-in to become a New York Mets consultant.
The Cowboys might have ate it hard in their home finale but Jerry Jones seems content in keeping Wade Phillips around for another year, despite the game being a seemingly passing of the torch to Jason Garrett. The STAR TELEGRAM does not seem pleased with this. “Talk about your buzz kills. Not only did Coach Wade help ruin a huge party for fans and legends assembled to bid farewell to Texas Stadium on Saturday, he now apparently has another 16 games to bring his special brand of “ish” football to JerryWorld.”
The Capitals’ Alexander Semin, despite having a funny name, has a wicked slapshot. He’s tied for the league lead in points, but that’s not why we’re featuring him. We’re featuring him because he’s got some choice words for the NHL’s Golden Boy. (And also because it gives us a chance to post some of the best Sidney Crosby photoshops floating around out there.
Semin chatted with Greg Wyshynski of YAHOO!, and naturally the subject of Crosby, the Great North American Hope, was raised. Let’s just say the term “dead wood” was used.
