no sports note today. big relaunch tomorrow.
Monthly Archive for July, 2006
There are few better ways to screw up a great sports story then a positive drug test. Floyd Landis, pride of all Americans with his come from behind Tour de France win, tested positive in a drug test taken after his unbelievable stage 17 ride. Super. Just what cycling needs, a drug controversy. Having the Tour winner test positive, well, I can’t imagine how much damage will be done to the sport. Not that anyone pays that much attention to it anyway, but still.
At the moment only Landis’ "A" sample has tested positive for a high testosterone, his "B" sample will be tested shortly. Landis has been suspended but he’s saying he has no idea how he could have tested positive. Swear to God, he’s even wondering if some Jack Daniels he drank the night before Stage 17 might be the cause. Its hard to know what to think at the moment. I want to believe Landis but who knows with these things? After all the rumors surrounding Lance Armstrong (who not once has tested positive) it would suck if a guy who’s overcome so much as well in Landis turned out to be a cheat.
Barkley in 2010
Charles Barkley has announced that he’s most likely going to be running for governor of Alabama in 2010. Barkley, for a long time a Republican, says he’ll be running as a Democrat because "Republicans have lost their minds". Now Charles is a pretty outspoken guy, so it would be entertaining to see him run against your typical politician but one wonders about this idea. First, why would Chuck want to leave TNT? He’s got a really sweet gig there, he’s paid alot, he can say anything he wants and he’s got no responsibilities, not to mention everyone loves him. Running for governor, or being governor, is going to be a little different. One wonders if his, uh, colorful past would catch up to him on a campaign. Chuck says though that his main focus would be issues effecting the poor, so hats off to him for that. We hope he does end up running because at the very least he’ll add some spice to the political world.
Poll Question of the Day
Alright boys and girls, time for a new poll question. First the results of the old one: by a 1 vote margin (3-2) you people have decided that you would not, in fact, go back to school if you won $1.4 mil playing poker. Amen to that.
So the new question is: Will there actually be some big trades before the trading deadline or is this all smoke and no fire? We can’t wait for the results!
Not a good start
Thomas Jones had a rough off-season. He was upset that the Bears were planning on having him split carries with Cedric Benson and he let his feelings be known. He wanted some more money, or maybe a trade, or at least an assurance that his career year last year wouldn’t be forgotten. So basically Jones was hoping to start off training camp with a bang so that he could assert himself as the big man on campus. Didn’t really work out that way. Jones hurt himself…while taking his pre-camp physical. The guy hurt his hamstring while running for his physical. How’s that for starting off the new year?
Odds and Ends
Chase Utley’s hit streak is now at 27 games in a row. Impressive.
Some teams have no luck. The Browns big free agent from this off season C LeCharles Bentley hurt his knee and is likely out for the year.
The Titans have signed LenDale White and Vince Young.
Jonah Freedman’s got his World Club rankings up and Note favorite Arsenal is 4th overall. Nice to see DC United get an honorable mention.
Ken Rosenthal reports Carlos Lee turned down an extension offer from the Brewers, increasing the chances they’ll deal the LF before the trading deadline.
P.S.
There’s might be something different about the Note when you check in on Monday. Something really different. Have a good weekend people.
[tags]Tour de France, Floyd Landis, NFL, Charles Barkley[/tags]
Hey, what happens on Thursday’s? Oh that’s right, we put out new MLB Power Rankings. How exciting! These rankings could look very different next week after the trading deadline as teams (Yankees, White Sox, Angels, etc.) make moves and declare themselves buyers or sellers. Alright, here they are:
This week’s biggest rise: Angels and Mariners, 4 spots to 7 and 17 respectively.
This week’s biggest drop: Phillies, 7 spots to 25
| Ranking | Last Rank | Team | Record | Comment |
| 1 | 1 (NC) | Tigers | 68-33 | Might want to rest their young starting pitchers but might not be able to with the way the Twins are playing |
| 2 | 2 (NC) | Red Sox | 61-39 | Mentioned in rumors for a SS and an OF, will Theo make a deadline splash? |
| 3 | 6 (+3) | Twins | 59-41 | Now tied for the Wild Card lead, the team no one in the AL wants to see in the playoffs given Santana and Liriano. |
| 4 | 4 (NC) | Mets | 60-41 | John Maine is pitching like he deserves a spot in the rotation |
| 5 | 3 (-3) | Yankees | 58-40 | Anyone who thought ARod trade rumors were true is an idiot |
| 6 | 5 (-1) | Cardinals | 58-42 | Quietly having another pretty good year. Cards fans want to see a big trade though before the deadline. |
| 7 | 11 (+4) | Angels | 52-49 | Still need another bat but will GM Stoneman ever part with prospects? |
| 8 | 7 (-1) | White Sox | 59-41 | 2-8 in their last 10 and they are now tied for the Wild Card lead. As of yet that rumored Soriano deal had fallen through, he could be the kick in the ass they need. |
| 9 | 8 (-1) | Blue Jays | 56-44 | The Devil Ray’s Julio Lugo makes a lot of sense here |
| 10 | 12 (+2) | Padres | 54-47 | Slowly taking control of the NL West and Peavy pitching better can only help |
| 11 | 13 (+2) | Reds | 53-48 | Still holding on to the Wild Card lead |
| 12 | 10 (-2) | Braves | 48-52 | Wickman solves a problem but it might be too little too late |
| 13 | 9 (-4) | A’s | 52-49 | Still chugging along but about to be passed by the Angels in the standings |
| 14 | 17 (+3) | Diamondbacks | 51-49 | Gonzo wants out but no one wants his big contract. Awkward |
| 15 | 14 (-1) | Rangers | 51-50 | Need another starting pitcher but the offense hasn’t been as powerful this year either. |
| 16 | 14 (-2) | Giants | 51-50 | The Giants last week started an all forty and over outfield with Alu, Bonds and Finley. The future is now I guess |
| 17 | 21 (+4) | Mariners | 48-52 | Still haven’t decided if they are buyers or sellers |
| 18 | 20 (+2) | Brewers | 48-54 | Very close to considering themselves sellers which means Carlos Lee could be had |
| 19 | 19 (NC) | Astros | 48-53 | Clemens didn’t come back for this did he? |
| 20 | 23 (+3) | Orioles | 45-56 | Tejada isn’t going anywhere but LaTroy Hawkins and Jeff Conine could be gone |
| 21 | 22 (+2) | Rockies | 47-53 | |
| 22 | 16 (-6) | Dodgers | 47-55 | Going 1-12 since the All-Star break has dropped them out of the NL West race |
| 23 | 24 (+1) | Marlins | 46-53 | |
| 24 | 26 (+2) | Nationals | 45-56 | Will he stay or will he go? Soriano is the only thing that matters right now. |
| 25 | 18 (-7) | Phillies | 45-53 | If Abreu and Burrell aren’t traded, that will make things kinda awkward won’t it? |
| 26 | 25 (-1) | Indians | 44-56 | Already shipped Broussard and Wickman out, who’s next to go? |
| 27 | 27 (NC) | Cubs | 39-61 | Carlos Zambrano has hit 4 HRs this year, tops amongst pitchers. |
| 28 | 28 (NC) | Pirates | 37-66 | Some vaguely attractive pieces to trade but another lost year for Pirates fans. |
| 29 | 30 (+1) | Royals | 35-64 | New GM Moore isn’t standing around on the job, he’s making deals left and right. |
| 30 | 29 (-1) | Devil Rays | 42-60 | Rocco Baldelli is quietly back playing and playing pretty well. |
Harold, Harold, Harold
ESPN still isn’t talking but Harold Reynolds finally is. Turns out he was fired for sexual harassment, though Harold of course says it’s just a misunderstanding. His version of events is that he gave a female co-worker a hug. Apparently she didn’t see it that way because she cited him for harassment and Harold got the boot. Reynolds, besides saying this is a misunderstanding, is laying low in the hopes that ESPN will reverse its decision and give him his job back. As this New York Post article details, ESPN on-air talent have been getting in trouble for a while now but rarely have they lost their jobs. Makes one wonder if this is a repeat offense for Reynolds.
Yesterday’s Baseball
Mark Prior got pulled in the 6th inning despite having not given up a hit to the Mets. I know he had reached his pitch count limit but I mean come on now. Of course the Cubs ended up losing. Thats karma for you.
Chase Utley now has a 26 game hitting streak, longest in the majors this season. And he keeps hitting home runs to extend it, which is nice.
Yankees now have a half game lead over the White Sox and the Twins for the Wild Card.
Odds and Ends
Phil Helmuth won his 10th WSOP bracelet, tying him with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan for the most all-time. Take that Jeff Madison!
Jerry Porter is requesting a trade from the Raiders. He now joins Ashley Lelie as some what above average WR’s looking to change teams. Why not do a straight up swap? Solve everyone’s problems.
The USOC has got it down to three US cities for our 2016 Summer Olympics bid: San Fran, LA and Chicago. My mone’y’s on San Fran.
SI’s Peter King is doing a training camp blog. It’s not really a blog, just little daily updates. Only slightly interesting.
[tags]Sports, Baseball, Football, Harold Reynolds, NFL, MLB[/tags]
Sweet, sweet drama, oh how we love you so. There’s nothing like a little behind the scenes drama to liven up a slow summer sports day. Thanks to ESPN and Harold Reynolds, we have some: Reynolds, Baseball Tonight regular, in addition to other baseball related duties, has been fired by ESPN effective immediately. No one know’s why Reynolds got the boot, they just know it happened. The guy’s at Deadspin had a bunch of ESPN insiders email them alleging that Reynolds was shown the door due to sexual harassment complaints but then they updated with a different email saying that Reynolds blew up at producers at a Baseball Tonight production meeting. According to the updater, Reynolds was upset that they were going to be pushing the ARod sucks, Yankees might trade him, New York fans hate him, etc, etc. story.
Now if the first rumors are true, and Harold got canned because he was sexually harassing people, then we’ve got no problem with ESPN giving him a pink slip; he’d deserve it. But if the other story is true, and Harold was fired because he was mad at the hyping of this ARod story, then shame on ESPN. This ARod thing is completely made up by the media (see: ESPN) and its about time someone called them on it. We watched the Yankees-Rangers telecast the other night (either Monday or Sunday night) and the guy doing the play by play kept pushing the story and so did that idiot Steve Phillips. Eric Karros kept saying this was a non-story but they kept bringing it up. Dan Patrick on the radio yesterday basically devoted his whole show to this fake "issue". Its been sad. So if Harold got fired for calling bullshit on this ARod thing then good for him. If he was harassing women though, well then he sucks.
This is kind of a big blow to ESPN’s overall baseball operation. Reynolds did color commentary for the Little League World Series, the College World Series and of course his regular Baseball Tonight gig. He and John Kruk were a pretty good pair on Baseball Tonight and it will be interesting to see who ESPN turns to to replace Harold. Last night they just had Kruk and Karl Ravech. And of course they didn’t mention the elephant in the room; no one mentioned Harold’s departure.
At this point no one’s talking. ESPN won’t comment other then to say Reynolds won’t be on the air any more and as far as I know Harold hasn’t said anything either. At some point the truth is going to leak and you’ve got to think Reynolds will show up on one of those dumb Rita Cosby interviews or something to explain his side of the story. Stay tuned for more details, this one could get ugly (or even more ugly then it already is).
Only Isiah Thomas could have handled this worse
Billy King, general manager of the 76ers, is not very good at his job. He likes to hand out big contracts to not very good players and sometimes he likes to trade for players with big contracts who are past their prime (see:Webber, Chris). Despite having a player in Allen Iverson who is one of the NBA’s 10 best players, King has failed again and again to build a winning team. He’s changed coaches, he’s changed players; nothing’s worked. King, instead of looking in the mirror and saying "hey, maybe I’m the problem" decided that trading his superstar, Allen Iverson, was the answer (haha, get it? Answer? The Answer? Nevermind).
Its been the worst kept secret in basketball that Iverson was on the trading block, with the Celtics, the Nuggets and sometimes the Hawks mentioned as possible suiters. All sorts of trade rumors have been floating around, many of them silly. Now though Mr. King has said that Iverson will not be traded and he will in fact be coming back to Philly this season. Super job Billy. You shop your superstar, a legend in Philly and one of the most popular players in the league, all summer long hoping someone will take the guy off your hands for pennies on the dollar and then you decide, "nevermind, I’ll keep him". Hmmm, what are the odds Iverson’s not going to be very happy about that? If your going to try and trade Allen Iverson, you have to go all the way, you can’t half-ass it. You tried to shove the guy out the door Billy when it was you who should have been on the way out. King screwed this up completely and if he had any decency he’d just resign.
Odds and Ends
Marty Burns takes a look at the 15 remaining players on the US basketball roster and ponders who should be in the starting five.
[tags]Harold Reynolds, Allen Iverson, NBA, ESPN, , Sports, TV[/tags]
The sports world seems to be almost entirely centered around the baseball trading deadline this week. A big trade almost went down yesterday according to ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian. The White Sox were very close to getting Alfonso Soriano in exchange for a package starting with White Sox pitcher Brandon McCarthy. At this point Soriano seems to be the biggest name, and the most likely to move, on the trading block. He’s going to have an impact with whatever team he lands on (if he moves) but with the White Sox his arrival could very likely vault the team back into the World Series.
If the White Sox got Soriano they’d more then likely keep him in the left field, shifting Scott Podsednik over to centerfield. Centerfield for the White Sox this year, with Brian Anderson, has been an offensive blackhole. A lineup that goes Konerko, Thome, Soriano, Dye and Crede is, to put it mildly, almost a modern day Murderer’s Row. The White Sox already lead the league in home runs, adding Soriano, who’s hit 31 so far, will only increase that advantage. Its true that the White Sox weakness this year has been, at times, been its pitching. The Sox made a small move to shore up their middle relief, getting Kansas City "closer" Mike MacDougal for some prospects. Sox GM Kenny Williams has been rumored to still be searching for another starting pitcher but even if he fails to aquire a decent one, his rotation is still better then most and likely will improve on its own.
For the Nationals this deal would be about getting something for Soriano before they lose him through free agency. McCarthy has done well in a relief role with the Sox and is projected to be a top of the rotation starter. The rumor going around is that Nationals GM Jim Bowden has basically been starting all trade conversations about Soriano by demanding any interested organization’s top two prospects and working from there. Despite Soriano’s stated position that he likes DC and wants to stay, it seems almost certain that Soriano would sign some where else (the Yankees probably) this off-season. The catch-22 of that though is that while the Nats want to trade him so they aren’t left empty-handed, teams are weary of trading for a guy who’s probably just going to be a three month rental.
If I’m a White Sox fan I’ve got to love Kenny Williams. The guy never stops working the phones. He won the World Series and then went out and got Jim Thome, a guy who’s more then likely to hit at least 40 HR’s this year. Now Williams is trying, at least, to get the best bat on the market. Considering the relutance of GM’s like the Angel’s Bill Stoneman to part with prospects to improve their teams, its refreshing to see a GM make shrewd, big moves where so many others are too scared to act.
Salmons bounces back
Turns out John Salmons did have some options left, despite what we said yesterday. He’s signed up with the Kings for the mid-level exception. I guess Salmons is a nice pick up for the Kings, though I’m not sure how much playing time he’ll actually get. This does all but asure that Bonzi Wells will be joining someone else. Wells, a known head case, is the best available FA out there and if he plays like he did in the playoffs, while managing to not lose his cool, he’s going to be a real asset to some team. Rumors had him going to the Pistons at one point but that seems unlikely now. The Wizards have been mentioned as well but that would take a rather large sign and trade.
Congrats, you made the cut
ESPN’s Andy Katz thinks he’s got the low down on who’s "making" the US roster that will be going to Japan. Here’s who he thinks is going to make it:
That means the 15 players likely to travel to Asia are: Carmelo Anthony, Gilbert Arenas, Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Antawn Jamison, Joe Johnson, Brad Miller, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade and Kirk Hinrich.
Shawn Marion has withdrawn from consideration with an injury, coupled with the injuries to guys like Kobe and the wedding of Chauncey Billups, the only two guys kinda getting "cut" are Adam Morrison and Luke Ridnour. Ridnour should have never made the tryouts in the first place and anyone in the world would take James, Anthony, or at this point Battier and Bowen, over Morrison. I like the mix of players but we kinda have a hole at center. Brad Miller’s a nice player but he’s not Shaq. Soudemire and Howard aren’t really bangers, despite being among the most athletic big men in the world. Elton Brand’s going to have to do a lot of the dirty work down low.
Odds and Ends
Dayn Perry gives five deals that should happen before the trading deadline. Here’s betting none of them will.
One outfielder the Nats won’t be getting rid of is Jose Gullien. Gullien’s bad year just got worse, he’s having season-ending surgery on his elbow.
Another attempt to keep sports fans interested in soccer now that the World Cup’s over.
Oddly enough we’re going with a lot of NBA stuff today. Kelly Dwyer gives us five teams that he thinks have taken a step back this offseason. I won’t spoil it for you.
It was a good weekend to be an American athlete in Europe. Tiger Woods won his 11th career major, winning the British Open by two strokes, and American cyclist Floyd Landis followed in the footsteps of Lance Armstrong and won the Tour de France. Its nice when Americans can go over to Europe and show those silly Europeans that America still has the best of the best of the sporting world. Except for soccer; we suck at soccer.
It was an emotional victory for Tiger; this being the first major he’s won since the passing of his father. After not making the cut at the U.S. Open mere days after Earl Woods’ death, Tiger was back in top form and there was little doubt from the start who was going to win this thing. Sergio Garcia made a run at it on Saturday but come on, he’s Sergio Garcia, so of course he fell apart on Sunday. Tiger is now tied for second on the all-time major victories list with 11, 7 behind Jack Nicklaus. Anyone want to bet that Tiger doesn’t catch Jack?
Everyone thought Floyd Landis was done, that he’d blown his chance at winning the Tour. And then the guy rode like a lunatic on Thursday and put himself in position to recapture the yellow jersey. Landis at one point was down 8:08 minutes to the leader but he made up 7 1/2 minutes in that crazy Thursday run and then retook the lead during the time trial Saturday. Landis is no Armstrong, though he is a former teammate, but Landis’ victory deserves to stand on its own. He’s been riding with an injured hip that’s going to require surgery in the very near future. He came back even when left for dead and, even better, the guy’s a beer drinker. Whats not to like people?
The moral of the story? Americans win on European soil. Except for World Cup soccer. In the World Cup we suck.
I hate this kid
Remember last week when we wrote about the 21 year old kid, Jeff Madison, who won a World Series of Poker bracelet to become the youngest ever to do so? Well he just won another one, this time in the $5,000 Short-handed No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Not only does he get a second bracelet, he also collects $643,381. Nice work if you can get it. The two wins, plus a third place finish in another event, means Madison has won $1.4 million in two weeks. Yeah, thats $1.4 million and yeah, thats why I hate the guy. Madison is a film student at UC Santa Barbara and he claim’s he’s still going to go back and finish college:
"I’m going to finish school,” Madsen said shortly after ending a stunning week that few players of any age have accomplished on poker’s greatest stage. "I’ve got one more year. I could drop out, but I like my school. Santa Barbara is a nice place. There’s no reason not to go back. But I’ll be playing poker the whole time, as many big events as I can.”
If he does go back to school, you think anyone’s going to let him in their home games? Its not every college kid who has two WSOP bracelets to their credit after all. The big event, the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament starts Friday and despite the huge number of people who are going to be in it, no one’s hotter then Madison right? He’s got as good a shot as anyone.
Poll Question of the Day
Alright boys and girls time for a new poll. First the results of our last poll: Eating a ton of mayonnaise and eating salted butter tied with 3 votes each as thing people wouldn’t want to eat. Thank you to a kind reader for submitting "a douche" as something they wouldn’t want to eat; I agree, that would be gross.
So here’s the new poll: If you won $1.4 million in two weeks playing poker would you go back to school?
What’s up with the Bengals?
Anyone know why Bengals players can’t stay out of trouble with the law? WR Chris Henry got arrested four times this off season; rookie A.J. Nicholson got busted, DE Frostee Rucker has been charged with beating a woman and has past rape allegations against him. The Bengals are the University of Miami of the NFL. Now another guy’s gotten himself in trouble, DT Matthias Askew. Askew managed to get himself tasered over a parking violation. Now thats impressive. Apparently he was parked illegally and the cops asked him to move and he ignored them and one thing lead to another. Just move the car buddy. A nice spot, especially when its illegal, isn’t worth getting tasered for.
New homes for everyone
The Pacers and Mavericks seem to like switching players; earlier in the offseason they hooked up on a Marquis Daniels trade, now they are, essentially, swapping PG Anthony Johnson (to Dallas) for PG Darrell Armstrong. Armstrong will provide some good veteran leadership in the locker room for a young Pacers team and Johnson is a solid backup for Jason Terry in Dallas.
The Pacers, by the way, are apparently about to lose SG Fred Jones, former Dunk Contest Champion, to the Raptors. The Raptors thought they had a sign and trade in place for John Salmons but oddly enough Salmons got cold feet. Salmons might have screwed himself though. The Raptors and the Suns were the two teams showing the most interest but the Suns signed Marcus Banks after they thought Salmons was off the market and the Raptors have bounced back from being slighted to land Jones. Where that leaves Salmons I don’t even think he knows.
Ty Law finds a home
Pro Bowl cornerback Ty Law is following Herm Edwards to Kansas City, signing a five year deal Sunday for an undisclosed amount of money. Law and Patrick Surtain give the Chiefs a pretty solid, if not better, cornerback tandem. Defense is always the downfall for the Chiefs and Law should help on that end but there’s a culture of crappiness on that team with regards to defense that Herm Edwards is going to have to change. Signing Law is a start but it’ll take more then that.
Yesterday’s Baseball
The Cardinals swept the Dodgers and Jason Marquis is now the NL’s leader in wins with 12. The guy’s got 12 wins and an ERA well over 5. Thank you run support.
Francisco Liriano continues to roll. He struck out 10 in five innings in the Twins 3-1 victory over the Indians. Liriano’s now 12-2; let the Cy Young watch begin. Or I guess continue since we said last week he’s making a run at it.
There’s a ton of rookie pitchers doing well this year. Jered Weaver of the Angels is now 7-0 after yesterday’s win over the Royals. Maybe Jered can give Jeff some pitching advice or something.
Odds and Ends
Oops, Ricky Williams breaks his arm in the CFL. Maybe he can score some medicinal cheeba to help him with the pain.
[tags]Golf, MLB, Sports, NBA, Ricky Williams, Poker, World Series of Poker, Tiger Woods, Tour de France[/tags]
Almost more then watching sports, I enjoy reading about various trade rumors. There’s nothing more fun then imaging who’s going to get who, especially when your team is involved. I spend way, way, way too much time reading about rumors, 99% of which have not a shot in hell of happening. Its around the trade deadline that things start getting crazy. The NFL trade rumor market kinda sucks when it comes to trades because really big ones rarely happen and when they do usually draft picks are involved. The NBA pulls off some big trades now and then (and you can read about one later on in the Note) but its baseball that really captures the attention of sports fans. Baseball’s deadline to trade players without putting players through waivers is July 31st, just over a week away. With the deadline so close, rumors are flying all over the place, with a lot of big name players being mentioned. We basically are refresging MLBTradeRumors.com every five minutes to see whats new out there.
Already we’ve seen a pretty big deal go down with the eight player trade between the Reds and the Nationals. The Reds gave up a lot in their effort to win the Wild Card this year and only time will tell if they gave up way too much (I think they did). Another NL Wild Card contender, the Braves, made a pretty big move themselves yesterday. The Braves, desperate for a closer, traded a minor league prospect to the Indians in return for Bob Wickman. Now Wickman isn’t a B.J. Ryan or a Mariano Rivera, he’s more a Todd Jones type. But given what the Braves have been dealing with, he’s a significant upgrade. As we noted (we love puns) in yesterday’s power rankings, the Braves have been red hot of late, and while they probably aren’t going to catch the Mets (barring an epic collapse that’s not going to happen) they are well within striking distance of the Reds for the Wild Card. This is a typically smart move by the Braves; addressing a need with a solid trade where they don’t give up much rather then a big splashy move. Tip of the cap to the Braves.
Now on to some of the big rumors. Everyone’s heard about the Soriano rumors; going to the Angels, the Mariners, the Tigers or even the Yankees, so we won’t discuss them right now. Bobby Abreu’s name has been out there as well, going to the Tigers or the Yankees, but of note to us is a rumor we hadn’t heard before: Abreu (or teammate Pat Burrell) going to the Orioles in exchange for starting pitcher Rodrigo Lopez and a prospect. Now we try to be impartial here at the Note (emphasis on try) but we’re huge Orioles fans at heart. And speaking as an Oriole fan, I’d trade Lopez and almost any prospect the Orioles have for either Abreu or Burrell any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Having watched Lopez pitch this year numerous times we can honestly say he’s medicore at best and rarely is he at his best. The Phillies need starting pitching but the shedding of Burrell or Abreu’s big contracts would have to be a primary goal if all they’d get back is Lopez. Frankly the chances of this type of deal happening is slim to none but an O’s fan can dream.
The biggest rumor we’ve seen is one that just popped up on our radar screen: Dontrelle Willis to the Cards in exchange for prospect Colby Ramus, rookie Anthony Reyes and Chris Duncan, with probably another top prospect thrown in. At this point this rumor is far from being verified but it’s rumors like this that get our juices flowing. Cards GM Walt Jocketty is under a lot of pressure from the fans to make a big deal, either for a bat or an arm, and this would be a big move in anyone’s judgement. Having a Chris Carpenter and a Willis, last years 1 and 2 in the Cy Young voting respectively, starting Games 1 and 2 in a playoff series is about as good as it gets. While the Cards do need a bat in LF, C, and 2B, their rotation has been awful this year, so bad that they added Jeff Weaver (Jeff Weaver!) in hopes of improving things. One thing that confuses us is the argument that the Cards would be giving away their future in this type of deal. Willis is only 24 years old, he’s got another 10 years in him at least, not to mention he’s under contract for a couple more years. If we were running the Cards, and the Marlins agreed to this deal, we’d do it.
Pacers make a move
The Pacers have made a pretty big move, trading for Al Harrington. Harrington was the best free agent still available and the Pacers got him in a sign and trade with the Hawks. Harrington makes is an upgrade over Peja to be quite honest. Jermaine O’Neal, Harrington and Danny Granger is a very good frontline, one of the best in the East. If they could just get a solid point guard who doesn’t get injured they’d be in business. I’m not sure this exactly works out but basically the Pacers traded Ron Artest for Harrington and thats a pretty fair trade. Good recovery on the Pacers part.
Yesterday’s Baseball
Barry Bonds celebrated not getting indicted by hitting the 722 home run of his career agains the Padres. Bonds’ home run was the first of back to back to back home runs hit by the Giants, with Ray Durham following Bonds and Pedro Feliz following Durham. If you were a pitcher and you’d just given up two home runs in a row, wouldn’t you be a little more careful about where you threw the ball? Maybe thats just me.
I’m not sure if this happened yesterday but its stil interesting. Did you know that Tony Gwynn, Jr’s first Major League hit came 24 years to the day that Tony Gwynn, Sr. got his first Major League hit. Thats a bit eerie, isn’t it? (via Ben Maller)
Keep your wife away from this man
Patriots coach Bill Belichick will steal your woman. Watch out. Belichick is being accused of being the "other man" in a divorce case in New Jersey:
Bill Belichick has been named The Other Man in an ugly New Jersey divorce case and the jilted hubby has asked the court to let his lawyers quiz the New England Patriots head coach about his relationship with the missus, a blond fortysomething mother of two.
Vincent Shenocca, a 42-year-old New Jersey construction worker, filed for divorce from his wife, Sharon, a former receptionist with the New York Giants, on the grounds of “extreme mental cruelty.” Shenocca’s court papers say his wife of 10 years “has had a relationship with Bill Belichick for several years” and would not end it, despite her husband’s pleas.
“This relationship appears to have blossomed, including more frequent telephone calls, and (Mrs. Shenocca’s) receipt of large sums of money and expensive gifts from Mr. Belichick, which she has used to purchase expensive clothing, pocketbooks, watches, a treadmill and maid service, most of which she initially hid from (her husband),” the New Jersey court papers say.
Shenocca told his wife “that he did not feel comfortable with her receipt of expensive gifts and large sums of money from Mr. Belichick,” the papers continue, but she “refused to consider (his) feelings and has continued her relationship with Mr. Belichick.”
Who would have thunk it? The guy only wears cut off sweatshirts on the sideline and, from all reports, is obsessed with his job and football yet he still has the time to woo a woman away from her husband. He’s quite the ladies man I guess. And here I thought it was Tom Brady who got the chicks.
More on Shea Hillenbrand
Things are taking a turn towards crazy town. We wrote yesterday about Hillenbrand being designated for assignment by the Blue Jays and now some more details are coming out about the whole situation. Like the fact that Blue Jays manager John Gibbons apparently challenged Hillenbrand to a fight. This after Hillenbrand had written on a clubhouse chalk board "This ship is sinking". MLBTradeRumors.com (an invaluable resource if you haven’t noticed from our constant references to them) has an inside source that says the whole thing went down like this:
"It seems Hillenbrand and a few (word is two) of his teammates were being
mischievious during yesterday’s workout. Gibbons stormed in the clubhouse
like an old den-mother and demanded the pranksters reveal themselves.Just Hillenbrand stepped forward.
Gibbons blew a gasket. Everyone’s face hung open.
Gibb told Hill to take a shower and leave (on his first day back from adopting
a kid).As the team left for the field, Hill still suited-up and paced in the
clubhouse, not knowing what to do.Until an in-house courier hand delivered his walking papers.
He then left."
No one has come out of this thing looking very good and at this point it probably is best that they are going to be parting ways. John Gibbons is on the hot seat, given the amount of money the Blue Jays shelled out in the off season, and if the guy is now challenging players to fights, well clearly the pressure is getting to him a bit.
Odds and Ends
Myspace will be the end of all of us I’m afraid. I’m ashamed to say i myself have a Myspace page but don’t hold that against me. Anyway Kentucky has self-reported a possible NCAA violation because KY basketball fans were writing on a potential recruits Myspace page trying to get him to go to the school. Kids these days.
[tags]Baseball, Sports, Trade Rumors, Cardinals, Orioles, Phillies, Reds, Braves, Shea Hillenbrand, Kentucky[/tags]
It’s Thursday so you know what that means: New MLB Power Rankings! Yeah! I’m pumped. I should note (get it? Note? Sports Note?) that we take the last ten games a team has played very seriously. So when you wonder why a team has moved way up or way down despite their overal record, thats why. If you’ve got a problem with that, share it.
Biggest Climber: Atlanta Braves, 12 spots to number 10
Biggest Fall: Colorado Rockies, 7 spots to number 22
| Ranking | Last Rank | Team | Record | Comment |
| 1 | 4 (+3) | Tigers | 63-31 | Topping the Power Rankings for the first time due to their starting pitching and suprising hitting. |
| 2 | 3 (+1) | Red Sox | 57-36 | Rookie Jon Lester is doing his best to turn the Big Two of Schilling and Beckett into a Big Three |
| 3 | 8 (+5) | Yankees | 55-37 | When will they make the trade we all know is coming? |
| 4 | 2 (-2) | Mets | 56-37 | Must keep rookie phenom Pelfrey in rotation. Or trade for Zito. |
| 5 | 5 (NC) | Cardinals | 52-41 | Put together a nice winning streak before twice getting blown out of the water by the Braves. |
| 6 | 7 (+1) | Twins | 53-40 | With their record they would be in first in the AL West, NL Central and NL West. Instead they are third in the Al Central. Oh well. |
| 7 | 1 (-6) | White Sox | 58-35 | A slow start to the second-half could mean a Kenny Williams trade. |
| 8 | 9 (+1) | Blue Jays | 52-42 | I’m betting we’ll see a big fall from the Blue Jays soon as they realize they have no chance at the playoffs. |
| 9 | 12 (+3) | A’s | 50-45 | Is Rich Harden the new Kerry Wood? |
| 10 | 22 (+12) | Braves | 45-49 | The hottest team in baseball having won 9 out of 10. The Wild Card is still within reach, especially with Chipper Jones going into MVP-mode. |
| 11 | 14 (+3) | Angels | 48-46 | Angels are going to win the AL West, you heard it here first. |
| 12 | 6 (-6) | Padres | 50-44 | Jake Peavy has been off this year and now Trevor Hoffman is coughing up saves. Thats not good. |
| 13 | 13 (NC) | Reds | 49-45 | Doing well despite trading away two starting position players. |
| 14 | 11 (-3) | Rangers | 49-46 | Kevin Mench has fallen out of favor and if they are smart they’ll spin him into a decent starting pitcher. |
| 15 | 17 (+2) | Giants | 48-47 | Boy is this team old. This could very well be their last hurrah. |
| 16 | 14 (-2) | Dodgers | 47-47 | Looking to buy a bat and bullpen help. |
| 17 | 16 (-1) | Diamondbacks | 46-47 | In a no man’s land of are they buyers or are they sellers. I bet they start selling and build for a run next year. |
| 18 | 21 (+3) | Phillies | 43-50 | Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell both on the block. Thats a lot of offense to give up. |
| 19 | 19 (NC) | Astros | 46-49 | If they are going to make a second-half surge, they better get on it. |
| 20 | 18 (-2) | Brewers | 46-50 | Ben Sheets coming back in a week could be the shot in the arm they need. |
| 21 | 20 (-1) | Mariners | 45-50 | Rumors have them going after Soriano hard, which makes little sense to us. |
| 22 | 15 (-7) | Rockies | 45-49 | Not a good second-half start, losing 9 out of 10. |
| 23 | 23 (NC) | Orioles | 44-53 | Will be moving players before the deadling, will Tejada be one of them? |
| 24 | 25 (+1) | Marlins | 42-51 | Any success this year is just the cherry on top of the sundae. |
| 25 | 24 (-1) | Indians | 42-52 | Some decent bullpen arms to offer to contenders. |
| 26 | 28 (+2) | Nationals | 40-56 | Big trade with Reds has yet to produce results. |
| 27 | 26 (-1) | Cubs | 36-57 | A complete mess. People talk about Baker losing his job, what about the GM? |
| 28 | 30 (+2) | Pirates | 34-62 | And the rebuilding continues. Do they have any sort of plan? |
| 29 | 27 (-2) | Devil Rays | 39-56 | Someone should rescue Carl Crawford and Scott Kazmir from this hell hole. |
| 30 | 29 (-1) | Royals | 32-62 | Reggie Sanders is a goner, who will join him? |
Poll question of the day
Last time I looked the Poll was tied so we can’t have a new question unless the tie is broken, now can we? Vote for a winner and I’ll change.
Did you know?
You know how NBA players wear different numbers when they play for the US National Team? Obviously players that generally wear the same numbers in the NBA can’t both wear that number on the National team but did you know that the numbers available are pretty slim?
But FIBA rules allow jersey numbers to run only from 4 to 15, according to Team USA spokesman Craig Miller.
Only between 4 and 15, that seems a bit odd, doesn’t it? Whats wrong with 1, 2, 3? Or 16 for that matter? Here’s another odd one, the US assigns practice jersey numbers starting at number 20 and then going up from there alphabetically. Carmelo Anthony is number 20, Gilbert Arenas is number 21, etc. and so on. Why start at 20? Sports confuse me sometimes.
It’s over Sammy. It’s over
Another delusional probable steroid user thinks he can come back into the game. No Sammy Sosa, you won’t be playing baseball again. Enrique Rojas, writing for the fantastic ESPN Deportes (that means sports in spanish people) has an article up where Sosa says he’d return for the right offer. Why would anyone make you an offer Sosa? You sucked last year with the Orioles. You are old and washed up. It’s over buddy. Fade away now and leave us alone.
An ugly parting
Shea Hillenbrand has been sent packing by the Blue Jays after complaining about playing time and being dressed down by Toronto Manager John Gibbons. Hillenbrands has a pretty decent bat and he can play first and third, not to mention DH, so I’m betting some contender will make an offer for him. The whole cutting of Hillenbrand has a kinda childish element to it though. Toronto cut Hillenbrand after he refused to sit in the dugout with his teammates during last nights game. Hillenbrand says he refused to do so after Gibbons tore him a new one in a closed door team meeting. Hillenbrand had ripped the organization for not playing him and also, oddly enough, for not congratulating him on adopting a baby girl over the weekend. Regardless of the situation, some team is about to get an above-average player to fill in a hole some where.
Odds and Ends
Steve Nash cut his hair and now he has a buzzcut. And yet some how the Earth continues to spin. He doesn’t look very good, to be honest.
30 people got hurt in high winds at the new Busch Stadium, none too seriously though, which is good.
Simmons choses an English Premier League team to root for. I’m an Arsenal man myself.
[tags]Sports, Baseball, Bill Simmons, Steve Nash, Sammy Sosa, Food, Basketball[/tags]
We try not to delve into politics here at the Sports Note but here’s an interesting story out of Iraq:
One of the first things the unpretentious staff at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s public relations department told Emad Nassir Hussain to do when he arrived in America was to lose the suit.So, Hussain’s three, heavy wool suits went into the closet and never came out.
Of all the lessons the spokesman for the Iraq Olympic team learned during his three-month training stint with the USOC in Colorado Springs, it could have been the dressing down about dressing up that had the most lasting impact.
In a way, it also might have saved his life.
Hussain was among those at a meeting of the Iraq National Olympic Committee on Saturday in Baghdad when a swarm of gunmen raided the building and took at least 30 people, including the chairman of the committee, hostage.
Hussain, 40, was shot in the leg, but not taken hostage.
"You may have saved my life," he told Bob Condron of the USOC’s PR staff in a telephone conversation from the hospital in Baghdad. "You told me to never wear a suit. I was wearing a T-shirt, a red and white T-shirt I bought in California. The gunman just wanted the guys in suits. I guess they thought I cleaned the place."
Ah, the twists of life. Now you know why I prefer to dress down at all times (and yes I’m probably going to hell for joking about people getting kidnapped in Iraq. Sigh).
Seriously though, I read an article or something some where that argued that the US should spend a lot of money, or way more money then we are currently spending, on rebuilding the Iraqi national teams. I believe soccer was the focus of the piece (probably inspired by the World Cup) but the Olympic team would apply here as well. The thinking went that Iraqis, regardless of religious sect, would unite behind a common Iraqi team, perhaps stopping some of the violence. Not to downplay the difficulties in Iraq that are both religious and political in nature, but I actually think thats not a half bad idea. Sports has, on occasion, shown an ability to bring people together, people who might normally dislike or even hate one another.
That’s really gross
OK, everyone knows about competative eating, in particular the hot dog eating contest. Watching that Japanese guy stuff 53 2/3 hot dogs down his throat at Nathans on the fourth of July was disgusting. Why anyone would want to do that to themselves is beyond me.
Hot dogs get all the headlines but what about the other eating records out there? Clay Travis did a little top eleven countdown of the lesser known food records. Among them, 6 pounds of Spam in 12 minutes; 9.5 one pound bowls of green peas in 12 minutes and Travis’ number one:
1. Cow brains
57 (17.7 pounds)
Consumed in 15 minutes by Takeru Kobayashi
Cow brains? This is so much more impressive to me than the hot dog business. And Kobayashi ate 17 pounds of cow brains? This is the competitive eating equivalent of Don Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series. I withdraw this appreciation if cow brains are a sought after Japanese delicacy.
Yes, thats the same Kobayashi who wins the hot dog eating contest every year. To each his own I guess.
Poll Question of the Day
And the results are in: everyone will be watching the World Series of Darts on ESPN. 100% of the voters, all three of them, said they’d watch. Thanks to everyone, besides myself, who voted.
New day, new question: Relating to the above story on nasty eating, What sounds less appealing to eat? Four 32-ounce bowls of mayonnaise, 2.7 pounds of Kosher dills, 6 pounds of Spam from the can, or 7 quarter-pound sticks, salted butter.
The boss man wants Soriano
Everyone knows the Yankees need outfield help. There are rumors out there about the Phillies’ Bobby Abreu and Kansas City’s Reggie Sanders. Big George you know is going to be pushing for a move, so who does he want?
When George Steinbrenner spoke Saturday about "a guy I prefer," reporters followed up with a question about Bobby Abreu, and the Yankees’ principal owner spoke positively of the Phillies’ outfielder.But Abreu is not the player The Boss had in mind. According to two people who have spoken with Steinbrenner, his top choice to boost the Yankees’ offense is Washington’s Alfonso Soriano.
Georgie wants to bring back old familar face Soriano but thats probably not going to happen. If the Yankees won’t give up prized pitching prospect Phillip Hughes, and all indications are that they won’t, then they won’t be getting Soriano. They’ll probably have to settle for a Sanders-type, though if they agree to pick up Abreu’s huge option they could get him.
Yesterday’s Baseball
Andruw Jones had himself a day: 5-5, 2 HR, 3 runs and 6 RBI’s. Watch out for the Braves people.
Francisco Liriano is now 11-2 and he has a 1.94 ERA. He went 8 2/3 innings with 7 K’s, no walks and an unearned run in beating the Devil Rays. Forget Rookie of the Year, at what point do we start talking about Cy Young with this guy?
Carlos Beltran hit another grand slam and the Mets won 8-3. They’ve go to keep rookie Mike Pelfrey in the rotation don’t they?
The Sonics got sold
Hmm, some intrigue in the NBA. The Seattle SuperSonics just got sold to an ownership from Oklahoma City. And now the rumors about the Sonics moving will pick up even more. The Sonics are already having problems getting a new arena built and with the odds of that happening getting lower by the day, there’s a real chance the Sonics could move. Oklahoma City showed last season that the people will come out to support an NBA team and the NBA has already said that the Hornets will go back to New Orleans after next season, so things are lined up for a move by the Sonics. Not having a NBA team in Seattle though, where Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, would be a little weird.
Odds and Ends
Bruce Arena has landed on his feet after getting dumped from the US National Team job: He’s been hired as the head coach for the New York Red Bulls. Arena had a lot of success with the DC United, winning two MLS championships, so its probably a safe bet that he can turn around the struggling Red Bulls.
Neil Smith has been fired as the GM of the Islanders after only a month on the job. Stranger then that, Smith is being replaced by Garth Snow, who last year was the Islanders’ backup goalie. Thats a pretty quick move from the ice to the front office.
In a long summer buzz column Marc Stein mentions that Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are being courted to play for the British National Team. Makes sense to me; neither guy likely has a shot at the US squad, certainly not any time in the near future, so if they want to compete in an Olympics, this is probably their best route.
[tags]Sonics, Bruce Arena, Iraq, Islanders, NBA, NHL, MLB, Braves, Mets, Food, Sonics, Red Bulls, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Yankees[/tags]
Um, yeah so remember yesterday when we said the NFL was still a ways a way? We were kinda wrong about that. The Eagles have their rookies reporting to camp on Thursday, with the vets coming next week. Have fun in the heat boys. The NFL is right around the corner it turns out and man are we pumped. Hail to the Skins and all that.
Today though lets look at the college game, more specifically the Heisman Trophy race. For the first time in two years the we can safely safe the Trophy won’t be going to someone from USC. With Vince Young and Reggie Bush taking off early, the race is wide open. Or at least kinda wide open. Richard Cirminiello, as part of Foxsports.com’s college preview, pumps out a list of the top 100 Heisman contenders. He’s got Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn topping the list. Now as a big Michigan fan we feel some what duty bound to say that Michael Hart or Chad Henne is going to win it but we aren’t prepared to make that leap just yet.
While Quinn has the All-American good looks and talent and all that, for our money we are going with Ohio State QB Troy Smith as the front runner going into the season. And yes it kills me to pick a hated Buckeye but Troy Smith could be this year’s Vince Young. Maybe a poor man’s Vince Young but close enough to make the Buckeyes title contenders. The guy can make things happen with his feet, something Quinn can’t really do and Smith will be throwing to all-world talent Ted Ginn, who himself might merit some Heisman talk.
The sports world is a better place when football is being player. I for one can’t wait. I imagine we’ll do some sort of preview for both college and pro football, if anyone has any ideas or wants to help out with team previews, drop us a line. Hail to the Skins and the Victors.
Catching a ride with Mom
Freddy Adu got named to the MLS All-Star blah blah blah. More interestingly, in a story I missed from the other day, Adu got into a bit of a car accident after his game Saturday night. He’s alright and it seems like the accident wasn’t his fault, so its not really a big deal but this paragraph from the WaPo article kills me:
Yesterday, Adu was well enough to attend a team function at Dave & Buster’s restaurant and entertainment center at White Flint Mall in Bethesda, where he signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans for several hours. However, his mom had to drop him off and pick him up.
Come on Freddy. You make something like $500 grand a year. You’ve only got one car? You are young and rich, you should have around 12 cars. You shouldn’t have to have your mom drive you places. Get a buddy or teammate to pick you up or something.
What will those kids do next?
21 years, 1 month, 9 days old. Thats the new record youngest age for someone winning a bracelet at the World Series of Poker. Jeff Madsen, a film student, outlasted 1,578 other players to win $660, 948 in the $2,000 No Limit event. Thats nice work, if you can get it. It is slightly weird that the World Series of Poker is going on right now (until August 10th) yet ESPN won’t be giving us their over the top coverage till sometime in October I think. Also, if you’ve seen the ads, apparently ESPN is going to try forcing the World Series of Darts down our throats. Good luck with that.
Poll Question of the Day
By an overwelming margin of 66% to 33% voters believe Soriano will be staying with the Nationals rather then joining the Angels. It took hours to count all the votes. Thank you to the two other people who voted, besides myself.
New question, only two options so maybe more people will vote. Or not. Regardless, relating to the paragraph above, will you watch the World Series of Darts? Pretty simple answer choices: yes or no. We’ll report back tomorrow with the results.
Good news
Great news actually: Peter Gammons is feeling well enough to leave the hospital:
Longtime ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons was released from a Boston hospital Monday — nearly three weeks after suffering a brain aneurysm.Gammons was moved to an undisclosed rehabilitation center, his wife, Gloria, said in a statement. Gammons was stricken at his Cape Cod home June 27 and airlifted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Gloria Gammons said her husband and his doctors are pleased with the progress he’s been making.
Here’s the full statement from Mrs. Gammons:
Peter, his family and his doctors are very pleased with the progress that Peter has made following surgical repair of a brain aneurysm. Peter will be leaving Brigham and Women’s Hospital today and transitioning to a rehabilitation center to continue his recovery. We all want to thank you for the positive thoughts and good wishes that have been sent Peter’s way. We also appreciate your understanding and respect for our privacy at this time.
Again we wish Mr. Gammons a speedy and complete recovery.
FOTSN makes it big
FOTSN Broadway has struck the big time with a piece published by the Boston Freaking Globe. If you like odd humor and odd sports, this is the piece for you.
When it comes to uncommon sports, I’m an experienced novice. Last weekend I tried my latest adventure for the first time: dragon boat racing. The ancient Chinese invented the sport, and the modern version resembles a cross between crew and canoeing.
Odds and Ends
A-Rod had three errors yesterday but the Yankees still won. Thats a pretty bad day for a Gold Glover.
Can’t get enough of Zidane. Check out this collection of videos people have made about the headbutting. Some of them are really funny. (via Clicked)