The storms have effected my Internet connection but here is what I managed to write before the electricity/Internet went out.
Jay Mariotti cries foul and Kevin Williams warns Ozzie
We haven’t covered this in the Note yet but I assume everyone has heard of the ongoing fight between White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti. For those unfamiliar with the story, here’s a short recap: Mariotti ripped the White Sox in a column, Guillien pointed out that Mariotti doesn’t come into the clubhouse and called Mariotti a slur that begins with ‘F’ and rhymes with ‘bag’, Mariotti responded by saying he has been physically threatened when he comes in the clubhouse and thats why he doesn’t go in, Bud Selig ordered Guillen to take sensitivity classes and thats pretty much the whole background. Well there are two new developments in the story. First Kevin Williams, the White Sox GM, said in an interview with ESPN that Ozzie needs to get his act together because Williams will fire him if he has to. I think Williams is just letting Ozzie know that he’s not "all that" and that he can’t do whatever he wants. The second development is Mariotti wrote a column basically whining about Ozzie not getting punished harshly enough:
Now I understand Jay is upset and really no one should be called what Ozzie called him but seriously man, give it a break. He didn’t punch you. What happened to sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me? Jay then goes on to list a variety of reasons/incidents why he won’t go in to the White Sox clubhouse any more. We dislike Jay as much as any one else out there but Ozzie really does need to learn to watch what he says. Having said that, Jay’s a tool. Ozzie, apologize, meant it, take your classes and can we please move on?
Is Shawn Marion on the way out of Phoenix?
This seems bizarre to me but there are a lot of rumors out there involving the Suns dealing Shawn Marion. Why they would want to do so is beyond me but its out there. First there was talk of a Marion for Tyson Chandler and a pick, which makes no sense for the Suns in my view. Now Draftexpress.com is reporting talks between the Suns and the Sonics that would involve Marion for Rashard Lewis and the teams swapping first round picks. Some other players would have to be involved to make the salaries work but it would be, if it actually is true and happens, one of the biggest trades in the NBA in a while. A Suns front line of Kurt Thomas, Amare Stoudimire and Rashard Lewis would have a lot of size and would be pretty athletic but Marion, despite being smaller and older, is clearly a better player then Lewis. It will be interesting to see if anything actually develops from these rumors.
Possible expansion of the NCAA Tourney
The National Association of Basketball Coaches is proposing that the NCAA expand the men’s basketball tournament field to 128 teams from its current size of 64 (plus one team that loses the play-in game). NCAA officials are said to oppose the idea so this might not be going anywhere but its an intriguing idea. Think of the gambling possibilities, not to mention a team that got through 127 other teams would really be a champion. It is a little absurd that basketball can think about a tournament involving 128 teams and yet football still can’t come together on a national championship tournament of their own. Anyway, one huge drawback to this idea in my mind is the effect it would have on filling out brackets. With the current size the brackets fit perfectly on a standard piece of paper, making printing them very easy. If you doubled the field you might have to use two sheets of paper or something, which would throw everything off. For this reason alone I urge caution. It would be nice to have a solid month of crazy tourney games though.
Yesteday’s Baseball
We are revamping the way we cover the previous day’s baseball games. No longer will we blurb every game because, lets be honest, some games (Atlanta/Tampa anyone) just are too hard to summerize. So instead we’ll blurb the important little things that happen. Enjoy
Ken Griffey, Jr hit his 13th of the season and the 549th of his career. Griffey passed Mike Schmidt for 11th place on the all-time HR list. Reds win 4-2.
Richie Sexson had himself a day, going 5-5 with 2 HR in the Mariners victory over the Padres.
Odds and Ends
Here’s a mock NBA draft to peruse. RealGM.com has Andrea Bargnani going first to the Raptors. They also have Rudy Gay going 4th to the Trail Blazers; how bad of an idea would that be? Gay, Darius Miles and Zach Randolph all on the same team? Talk about lack of effort.
People love to accuse Lance Armstrong of things. Now the guy’s being accused by Greg LeMond of threatening LeMond’s life. The world of cycling is crazy.
Big trade in the NHL on Saturday: the Canucks traded Todd Bertuzzi to the Panthers for goalie Roberto Luongo (some lesser names were also involved). Even I recognize those names so I guess this is a big deal. ESPN.com’s hockey expert Scott Burnside says its a big deal so I guess I’m right.
More hockey news! You know you want it. Chris Pronger, one of the top 2 defenseman in the NHL, has requested a trade from the Oilers. Odd that a guy wants to be traded from a team that was just in the Finals but his wife doesn’t want to stay in Edmonton so that explains that. Guess we know who wears the pants in that couple.
July 5th, 2006 at 2:21 am
I think Andrea Bargnani will be a good player and the Toronto Raptors made the right decision choosing him with the #1 pick. He is very fast for his size and he is accurate when taking 3’s. It will be interesting to watch him play against Dirk since they are comparing him to Dirk.
There are a few videos showing some of his plays on this site, check it out if you like:
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http://www.121s.com/viewtopic.php?t=9615