1:00 PM St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Lance Berkman is expected to miss 8-10 weeks after undergoing surgery on his right knee Friday.
12:45 PM When he entered the team's locker room Thursday, New York Jets QB Tim Tebow was reportedly teased by teammates with chants of "Lolo! Lolo!" - referring to Olympic hurdler & fellow admitted virgin Lolo Jones.
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.
Let’s be clear right now - nobody would watch the NFL draft if every team drafted wisely. Just like car racing is only good for the crashes, which is unimpeachable fact, people really watch the draft for the lousy picks, the ones that leave the fans at Radio City agape in disbelief.
(Yes, howl in anger. Howl for my amusement.)
In that sense, then, our hats are off to Oakland, who just selected Darrius Heyward-Bey, a Maryland speedster who nobody figured was a top 10 talent. While he was still projected as a first-round pick, he was in no way the top WR on the board - that’d have been Michael Crabtree, who’ll be able to thumb his nose from San Francisco across the bay at the Raiders for years to come. Heyward-Bey, while supremely athletic, possesses all the qualities that add up to “epic WR bust,” mainly a lack of production in college, an inability to run a crisp route, and hands of stone. So he can’t run a decent square in, nor would he be able to catch it anyway. Sign that man!
Evidently, former NFL quarterback Jeff Komlo was a pretty seedy character. After rounding out his professional career by playing for the Lions and Buccaneers in the early ’80s, Komlo went on to a highly successful career in arson and drug dealing. He was convicted of cocaine possession and assault, and accused of trying to burn down a pair of his houses in West Palm Beach, FL, and Chester Springs, PA. In fact, he was so disreputable that, when he passed away in a tragic car accident while fleeing prosecution in Greece, the Chester County, PA, district attorney refused to simply accept that he was dead.
At least that’s the story coming from THE SPORTING BLOG, via THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, which got in touch with Chester County D.A. Joseph Carroll, who was happy to give them his own unique take on the death of one Jeff Komlo.
The Tribune reports that Hayes’s girlfriend is under arrest for allegedly stabbing him in the head with a pair of scissors and then in the neck with a knife on Saturday. And then after that, she tried to get to him with a very sharp barbecue skewer, ran at him with a samurai sword, tried to give him a severe paper cut, and later tried to stick his head in a guillotine.
You’d think after the Vikings’ sex-cruise scandal, NFL players would be pretty wary of getting on sea craft, but evidently that’s not the case. The results from the latest NFL fishing foray are disturbing, with two players — and possibly an unknown third — either lost at sea or drowned after their boat never returned from a Saturday morning fishing trip.
(Corey Smith: Missing off the Florida coast.)
According to FOX NEWS (complete with horrific grammatical and possessive errors), a boat which left Clearwater Pass, Fla. on Saturday never returned after four men set out on a fishing expedition. Among those on board were Raiders linebacker Victor “Marquis” Cooper and Lions defensive end Corey Smith, and the unidentified fourth boater is also rumored to be an NFL player by a handful of blogs.
No matter what happens, this is a sad story. If a frantic Coast Guard search for the players finds them lost and stranded on the Florida coast, they’ll likely be traumatized from the incident … and lucky if they’re not seriously hurt. If they aren’t found, well, then the NFL will have lost two more players to the sea.
I’m making a list of people who still like former Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden. John Daly is one, since he needs all the friends he can get these days. And I’m sure his mother is still very proud of him. After that…it gets pretty dicey. Almost immediately after he was fired by Tampa Bay, his former players lined up to take shots at him. Michael Claytonlabeled Gruden “a turncoat“ while Jeff Garcia said the team “needed a change” from Gruden.
Now you can add Simeon Rice to the list of players lining up to rip Gruden, and the former Bucs Pro Bowler isn’t pulling any punches. In an interview with Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan on Sirius NFL Radio, Rice went off on Gruden, running down a laundry list of players who hate him, and shredding his character like a rat going through an old stack of magazines in your garage:
“How I feel personally? I could tell you that, too. I think he’s a scumbag,” Rice said. “I think he’s a scumbag personally. That’s when he’s telling you one thing and… You know what he told me? ‘Simeon you’ll be here in the next five years.’ I got injured [and] this man’s never said one word to me. I won a Super Bowl for you. I got 13 sacks, 12, 15 every year for you. I balled. I got injured [and] you let me go like it was nothing.”
Now, to be fair, Rice had a grand total of one sack in 2007 after being cut by the Buccaneers and didn’t play last year, so it’s not like Rice showed Gruden what a horrible mistake he made by letting him go. But judging by the stories that keep coming out, releasing an injured player who helped you win a Super Bowl without saying a word to him seems to be right up his alley.
Hmm, let’s see: a “offensive genius” head coach whose teams always have lousy defenses; who is about as likable as genital warts and has the personal skills of Jeff Conaway; and who inspires hatred and disloyalty from former and current players. I’m starting to think that Notre Dame could have stuffed Gruden into a sumo suit and swapped him for Charlie Weis, and no one would have known the difference.
But Jon, if it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t just the fact that your players hate you that got you fired. Apparently the fans all hate you as well. So that’s nice.
Oops, they did it again: the Lakers managed to overlook the Charlotte Bobcats and fall 117-110 in double OT. All this with the Bobcats’ best player - Gerald Wallace - missing the overtimes with an injury. The LOS ANGELES TIMES has the gory details of the Lakers’ fifth loss to the Bobcats in their last six meetings. (Really, and these are the title favorites?)
FOOD COURT LUNCH examines “The Hansbrough Effect,” where college basketball analysts laud the hard work and gritty determination of big, white stiffs who will be sure to flop in the NBA. Which gives me another chance to type Kevin Pittsnogle.
Who loves chicken? New Orleans Hornets fans love chicken, especially when they get it for free if the Hornets score 100 points. NOLA.COM has the exciting blow-by-blow as the team sits on 99 with just seconds to go.
TRAVELIN’ LIGHT says that a resort in Aruba is offering vacation packages for fantasy baseball and football drafts. Sure, the resort might have beautiful beaches, world-class food and exciting casinos, but does it have a Bubble Hockey machine and old NES system with RBI Baseball like my garage? I didn’t think so.
If you think you’ve had a rough life, think about Arizona Cardinals lineman Darnell Dockett, who found his mother murdered, execution style, when he was 13. And then his father died of cancer four months later. The GANNETT NEWS SERVICE has a moving piece on his relationship with his uncle, who helped him get his life back on track.
The Braves need a power hitter to provide protection for Chipper Jones and Brian McCann. Enter Jeff Francoeur and .239 batting average. MLB.COM says that Jones, for one, is thrilled to have “Frenchy” back. Hey, if your other option is Andruw Jones, anything looks good.
Ever nearly kill yourself trying to get that stuck bag of chips dislodged from a vending machine? Me too! Now there’s a video game for you: Adult Swim’s Ultimate Vending Machine Challenge.
In yesterday’s Speed Read, we mentioned how it was obvious that the Australian Open was a little hotter this year, based purely on the gallons of sweat dripping off many of the top seeds. Well, yesterday the year’s first tennis major officially jumped the shark and morphed into an episode of Survivor, with Andy Roddick outlasting Novak Djokovic in sweltering 130-degree heat.
Yes, you read that correctly: 130 degress. Fahrenheit (if it was Celcius everyone would have burned up in the stands). It was so hot that Djokovic could barely force himself back onto the court midway through the second set after a six-minute break, but even the pride that motivated that didn’t last long; he retired after being trounced in each game after that.
Roddick deserves praise for weathering the conditions (all horrendous puns intended), but something more serious needs to be done in the future. As global warming makes both summers and winters more severe across the globe, the Aussie Open is going to keep getting hotter and hotter. Serena Williams has already called for air conditioning earlier in the week, and as crazy as it may sound to play tennis in an air conditioned dome at a global major, it may not be that far away.
There’s sure to be plenty of knee jerk criticism of such a drastic and unorthodox move, but there’s a lot about it that we should all love. First on the list? A chance to see more of the beautiful Brooklyn Decker, who just so happens to be engaged to Monsieur Roddick. What, you thought she was going to brave 130-degree heat to support her beau? Not a professional lady of leisure.
(Someone go get air conditioning in Melbourne! Pronto!)
So, was the heat that Roddick and Djokovic faced in the wee hours of Tuesday worse than the metaphorical heat Jon Gruden was up against during his ouster? Yeah, it probably was. Still, Gruden faced plenty of criticism in the days leading up to his shocking dismissal, and now it’s becoming clear that a disturbing amount of it came from Tampa Bay fans themselves. According to THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES’ Bucs Beat blog, the Malcolm and Bryan Glazer — the team’s owners — “took the pulse of the fans” before dropping the axe on Chucky’s NFL head coaching career.
According to the blog’s author, beat writer Stephen Holder, fans were absolutely irate that the team collapsed down the stretch, costing them a playoff berth in a wide-open NFC in a season where the city was hosting the Super Bowl.
(E tu’, Bucs fans?)
And don’t underestimate just how much the fan feelings may have played into getting rid of Gruden. Just look at the Glazer’s once irascible relationship with Manchester United fans — the family also owns that storied soccer franchise — and it becomes clear that they’ll cow-tow whenever they feel enough pressure to do so.
Here’s what Bryan Glazer told the blog:
“We talked to a lot of people, but we not only talked to the players, but (also) out in the community getting a feel for the team,” Glazer said. “We get opinions and we mix them all together. We just took our time making that decision.”
Asked further about the community feedback, Glazer said, “Our fans are our stockholders. They’re what we play for — the people in our stadium and the ones that watch on TV. That’s what it’s all about: winning and how they feel about the team. If they don’t feel good about the team, then there’s something wrong. . . I think you all know the sense that’s out there. It was time for a change.”
Hmmm. Sounds like a cheap way out when things start to go wrong with Raheem Morris next year, doesn’t it?
Here are Justice’s full comments. Pretty aggressive:
“He has never been in a car with me,” Justice said. “He didn’t take me to the airport. He’s going to call me a liar and that’s his information? That’s a bald-faced lie. … Who was in the car with me? Give me some specifics. What was the day like? Why didn’t [Radomski] put that in the Mitchell report? … You don’t remember taking me to the airport then? Now you wrote a book and remember? He has nothing.”
Well, he has something: A book deal. And the more this issue gets talked about, the better that book deal is going to look. Talk about free PR. Justice said he’s not going to take Radomski to court for that very hypocritical reason, though that in itself is sure to cast aspersion on his own assertions that he’s never sat in a car with the man. And what did Doc Gooden have to say about Radomski’s claim that he twice peed in a cup for him?
Here was Gooden’s text-message response: “LOL”
Uggggh. The steroid story spins on … and on and on and on.
Remember when the PLAYBOY party during Super Bowl week was the hottest ticket of the year? Well, now it’s not a ticket at all, thanks to that whole recession deal.
All the deification of Larry Fitzgerald Sr. — by Rick Reilly and Michael Wilbon, among others — has been a little over the top. How do we know? Because SLATE’s inimitable Josh Levinhas Fitzgerald Sr.’s past work to prove it.
Sure, the Super Bowl party scene may be taking hit, but will the slow down affect the strip clubs? It’s a legitimate question … or at least legitimate enough that the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES is asking it.
College baseball coaches aren’t the only ones who drink and drive. Players do, too. So, if Augie Garrido got a four-game suspension, how many are Stephen Locke going to miss?
If a Brazilian pro soccer player scores a goal that doesn’t go between the goalposts, is it still a goal? Judge for yourself at the 6:05 mark of the video below.
So Tampa Bay did have a successor in mind for the recently deposed Jon Gruden. Multiple sources — FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer and ESPN’s Pat Yasinskas primary among them — are reporting that the Buccaneers are set to hire newly-promoted defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as the team’s head coach, with a press conference coming as early as today.
(Meet the new Chucky.)
The head coaching move comes with the connected move of appointing Mark Dominik as General Manager and hiring Gary Gibbs, a former Saints defensive coordinator, as assistant head coach. Whether he’ll also fill the role of defensive coordinator has yet to be determined.
The moves clear up some major questions about why the Buccaneers fired Gruden and GM Bruce Allen when they did. Clearly, Tampa was afraid they were going to lose Morris to one of the existing coaching openings, and they felt he was the man to take the team forward. That being said, Morris isn’t exactly an experienced head coach. Until weeks ago Morris was only a positional coach, and his adjustment to running an entire team will be striking.
Jon Gruden will be grimacing on the Tampa Bay sideline no more, as the Buccaneers have fired their head coach of the past 7 seasons.
(“Memorieeeees…..”)
TAMPA BAY ONLINE also reports that GM Bruce Allen has also been made to walk the plank. Here’s the official word from the team’s official website, as presented in the usual official form letter format:
“We will be forever grateful to Jon for bringing us the Super Bowl title, and we thank Bruce for his contributions to our franchise,” said Buccaneers Co-Chairman Joel Glazer in the announcement. “However after careful consideration, we feel that this decision is in the best interest of our organization moving forward.”
They forgot to wish Jon & Bruce well in their future endeavors.
Oakland Raiders fans have a reputation around the NFL. It’s not the best one, either, as painting your face to look like a skeleton while putting two-foot spikes on your shoulders tends to make people think you’re evil or in desperate need of a girlfriend. Is it fair? Probably not. I mean, sure, Raiders fans are an odd bunch, but just because some of them dress like hooligans it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are.
(Now why would you handcuff and eject these fine, upstanding gentlemen?)
Still, it would seem that the folks at Raymond James Stadium weren’t taking any chances during Sunday’s game. With the Bucs having lost three straight to fall to 9-6 and putting themselves in danger of missing the playoffs entirely after a 9-3 start, it seems the folks at Raymond James wanted to make sure the home team got all the support it could. They didn’t want any of those Raiders fans around letting the Bucs know that they suck, which is probably why they handcuffed one of them and threw him out of the stadium.
