7:32 PM I'm sure Michigan football fans will be more than happy to spend an additional $83,000 to maintain their seat location at Michigan Stadium. With RichRod piloting the ship and the state of the economy, all is well.
In my opinion it seems like a good name for a band, but others are up in arms over Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and his remark on Tuesday about members of his team being distracted by their “fat little girlfriends.” Will Leach have to apologize to girlfriends everywhere over his remark — especially the fat, little ones?
Not if Mark Mangino can help it. The Kansas coach came to the rescue of his colleague late Tuesday and demanded that the PC police, and fat people everywhere, lay off his friend. But then, a startling revelation …
Mike Leach and Mark Mangino had slumber parties together? And watched Howard Stern? Yes, it’s apparently true. The shocking details following the jump. Read more…
As we mentioned this morning (and as you probably saw this weekend), Houston took down Texas Tech - their second Big XII victim in as many games - and sent the Red Raiders into a Tweet-filled tailspin. On the other sideline, though, the mood was decidedly different; this is usually the case whenever one team wins and another loses, according to our resident expert Dr. Obvious.
(Bigger fan FAIL: the thefts, or that fake-tattoo-armband of the Cougar logo?)
But Houston fans - or at least a couple of them - have a strange way of showing their support for the program. Ordinarily, after all, one doesn’t make the mental connection between “I am going to run onto the field because I am so proud of this team for whom I’ve spent a substantial sum of money on tickets” and “I am now going to steal very important things from this team while I am on their field.” But as you might imagine, these are not ordinary times in Houston, and now coach Kevin Sumlin is asking all 645 of his Twitter followers for a little help.
It’s pretty easy to have a certain amount of sympathy for Texas Tech after last weekend. After all, despite being an unranked team on the road against ranked Houston, the Red Raiders were still only one-point underdogs to the Cougars. It was a game for the taking, and Tech nearly did so.
Nearly doesn’t cut it, though, and Tech lost, partly due to Mike Leach’s questionable (yet ever-Leach-like) playcalling. 4th and goal at the 1 with a chance to put his team up by two scores in the fourth quarter? Best believe Leach is taking it. Unfortunately, the play failed, Houston took over only down five points instead of eight, and the final score was 29-28, Cougars. Whoops.
So the Red Raiders lost, and angry football player smash whenever that happens. The players’ decision to involve Twitter, however, likely spells the end of that privilege.
The scene: Lou Holtz’s office. Michael Crabtree knocks, and opens the door. LOU: “Ah, the pizza is here. Finally.” MICHAEL: “No, it’s me, Mr. Holtz. Michael Crabtree.” LOU: “You were wise to come to me, son. Please, sit down.” (There are no chairs in the office; only a tackling sled and a bowl of walnuts). LOU (still wearing bib from lunch): “Now what seems to be the problem, Matthew?”
The problem of course, is that the 49ers are 1-0, and Crabtree is still as far from being a 49er this season as Jerry Rice. In fact, as the ex-Texas Tech receiver’s holdout enters Week 71 (actual facts may vary), there’s talk of him sitting out two seasons before reentering the draft (which he’d have to do before being eligible for free agency).
Our favorite neighborhood coaching TV pundit thinks that’s crazy talk, of course. See the video below, in which Holtz addresses the whole mess in response to a question by Crabtree himself. Read more…
It’s no secret that Bob Knight’s departure from Indiana was less than amicable. Myles Brand, the current NCAA president but then the president of Indiana University, canned Knight in 2000 over his repeated episodes of outbursts and other “unacceptable behavior.” Knight eventually ended up at Texas Tech and hasn’t been back to Indiana since.
(These were the good old days, when a man could call an underperforming player a “****ing ****-****ed ****sucker **************” without having to look over his shoulder the entire time.)
Shame, really, seeing as how he delivered three titles to the Hoosier State and ran a pretty damned good program overall. Never so much as a sniff of scandal, graduated nearly every player who came into the program, and littered the NBA with dozens of drafted players. It’s a hell of a legacy, even if it ended badly.
Apparently, even Indiana’s coming around to that fact, as Knight’s going to be inducted into their Hall of Fame.
Meet the Naukams — Anna M. and Eugene III, who will get my vote for the Embezzlers Hall of Fame when they become eligible in five years. Not only did Anna Naukam allegedly steal $461,586 from the state of Oklahoma in her capacity as director of a child welfare advocate agency, but she then made in rain, Oklahoma middle-aged woman style.
Among stuff allegedly purchased by Anna with the ill-gotten gains: Cosmetic breast surgery and Texas Tech football tickets. Guns Up! Plus, her son’s tuition at the University of Oklahoma. Keep in mind that this was taxpayer and donated funds intended to help children. Read more…
As PRO FOOTBALL TALK mentioned today, the situation with Michael Crabtree’s holdout is steadily declining into “disaster” territory. Now, according to his agent Eugene Parker, Crabtree is planning to sit the entire season out, then join the 2010 NFL Draft (in prime time!) in search of a new team.
(This is Michael Crabtree catching a football during a football game. Just keeping it fresh in your mind, since you’re not going to be seeing it for a good, long while.)
Crabtree, the phenomenally productive and talented receiver out of Texas Tech (best known for driving a wooden stake through Texas’ season), was the 10th pick of the draft. Obviously, he thinks he should have gone higher - or should be paid as such, anyway. Never mind that the “big” money comes from the second contract, not the rookie contract.
But if there’s some chuckling you hear, it’s probably coming from Cleveland. Read more…
April is the best month to be a sports fan, and last night was a classic example of why. It was a virtual buffet of scrumptious viewing options. And a really good buffet, too, like the ones you find in downtown Vegas where all the locals eat, not one of those lousy chain buffets where everything from the decor to the food is a monochrome tan color palette and seems to be from the 1970s. (I’m looking at you, Hometown Buffet.)
Case in point: Game 5 between the Celtics and the Bulls, which took an already great series into uncharted territory. With their backs to the wall and missing two of their Big Three (Kevin Garnett to injury and Ray Allen after fouling out with 5:27 left in the fourth quarter), Boston found a way to get past Chicago 106-104 in overtime. And that way was Paul Pierce, who made three straight jumpers in the final 77 seconds of OT to carry the Celtics to a 3-2 series lead.
Just how historic is this series? The two teams have set a record with three overtime games in one series - and there’s still as many as two games left to go. (And let’s be honest: anyone who isn’t a Boston fan has to want this to go to seven games.) Bob Ryan of the BOSTON GLOBE believes it’s the best No. 2 vs. No. 7 match-up in league history, and it’s pretty hard to argue the point.
Of course, there were other heroes who made the win possible for the Celtics: Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and Brad Miller. Yeah, that Brad Miller, the big, vaguely stiffish center who plays for the Bulls. Miller had a chance to send the game into a second OT when Rondo was called for a foul on Miller’s missed layup with two seconds left. But Miller clanked the first one and then failed to hit the rim while trying to miss the second one.
Meanwhile, Dwight Howard is just destroying things. Mainly the 76ers, as evidenced by his 24 point, 24 rebound performance in the Magic’s 91-78 victory to get their own 3-2 series lead. And more specifically, he destroyed the 76ers Samuel Dalembert with an elbow to the head which earned him a technical foul. Philadelphia coach Tony DiLeo has said the team has already informed the league about Howard’s foul (in hopes of getting him suspended for Game 6), but since David Stern was actually at the game, the phone call was probably unnecessary.
But like any weapon of mass destruction, Howard can be as dangerous to his allies as his enemies (think of him as the basketball version of Doctor Manhattan, except with less giant blue wang), as proven when he KO’ed Orlando starting point guard Courtney Lee, sending him out of the game and to the hospital with a likely concussion. Which means that Orlando could be very short-handed when heading back to Philadelphia for Game 6. This series is far from over.
Meanwhile, let’s turn our attention to something slightly less violent: the NHL playoffs. Unless you consider death by choking to be too graphic for your tastes. Because that’s exactly what the New Jersey Devils did in their Game 7 against the Carolina Hurricanes, finding a way to lose in regulation despite having a 3-2 lead … with 80 seconds left.
No OT needed here, just a total and complete collapse started by Jussi Jokinen’s game-tying goal at 18:40 in the 3rd period and completed with Eric Staal’s game and series-winner with 37 seconds left. And keep in mind that this all happened in New Jersey: If you want to know just how quiet a sellout crowd can be, just watch this video of the Hurricanes’ furious rally:
Finally, I guess that Major League Soccer has finally reached the big time. Sure, their attendance is lagging and their TV ratings are at XFL levels, but now they can claim to be on par with a big time league like the NBA in one capacity: a referee game-fixing scandal. The COLUMBUS DISPATCH says that MLS referee Jair Marrufo is under investigation for allegedly accepting an autographed jersey from Chicago Fire star Cuauhtemoc Blanco in the referee’s room after their 2-2 draw against the Columbus Crew on Saturday. (And a hat tip to SOCCER BY IVES for finding the original story.)
Accepting a gift from a player is a pretty awful idea if you’re an official of any sport, much less a professional official at the highest level. But when you add to this the fact that Marrufo called a controversial red card on the Crew’s Gino Padula for a foul on Blanco in the second half, and that the Fire rallied for two late goals against the man-down Columbus side for a 2-2 draw, and things get downright shady.
As someone who has covered the MLS in recent years, I don’t think Marrufo purposefully threw the match; Given the lousy quality of MLS referees (including Marrufo), I don’t think the majority of them have the wherewithal to fix a bowl of cereal, much less a match. It’s more likely the whole incident was a mix of horrible on the field and post-game judgment by an MLS referee, a shockingly common occurrence.
Speaking of people I wish would go away but haven’t quite yet: Please get ready to head to your fallout shelters until the start of the regular season. PRO FOOTBALL TALK says that the Jets have given Brett Favre his release, meaning he’s now a free agent. And Favre’s response to the news (“at this time, I am retired and have no intention of returning to football”) has me feeling very nauseous and woozy.
Some good news, Phillies fans: your team won 7-1 and Cole Hamels only gave up four hits while lowering his ERA. The bad news: he only went 4-1/3 innings before shutting it down after spraining his ankle fielding a bunt. And that new “lower” ERA is still at 7.27.
In case you missed it on Monday night, James Jones of the Miami Heat scored eight points in 11 seconds against the Hawks, thanks to back-to-back four point plays. And Miami still lost by about a billion points - imagine how much worse it could have been (OK, eight points worse, but still). BALL DON’T LIE has the video proof of the Reggie Miller-esque scoring outburst:
The CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS says former Tennessee OL Cameron Mayo was arrested on charges of sexual assault. The former Volunteer was working at Dalton High in Tennessee as a substitute teacher at the time of his arrest.
In other Red Raiders news, Texas Tech’s baseball team recently had a “Turn Back The Clock” night, so UNI WATCH says their video department decided to make a retro style highlight package. Someone had a lot of fun making this, so please watch:
More fallout from the swine flu epidemic: the AP says that CONCACAF has canceled its regional beach soccer tournament scheduled to begin tomorrow in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The good news: if you’re going to be stranded somewhere because of a horrible flu outbreak, at least it’s the beach.
(”You want someone who acts like a baby? Here. Here’s an actual baby.”)
That all came as news to Mike Leach, who had coached Crabtree for the last three seasons at Texas Tech. Leach thinks the rumors came from tradition-haterEric Mangini at Cleveland - nay, he’s dead certain of it. And based on the fusillade of invective that the Dread Pirate Coach has launched at Mangini, it’s once again clear that the only thing more entertaining than a free-speaking coach is a free-speaking coach who feels like he’s been wronged: Read more…
