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Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Colts Punter Arrested For Public Intox After Swim
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee was arrested for public intoxication Wednesday after he reportedly took a pre-dawn swim in a canal in a nightlife district.
Police arrested McAfee about 5 a.m. in the Broad Ripple neighborhood and took him to an arrest processing center.
Officers say the 23-year-old, second-year player from West Virginia had a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent nearly twice the legal limit if driving in Indiana.
Colts President Bill Polian said in a statement that the team is aware that McAfee was arrested.
"We are in the process of gathering the relevant facts," Polian said. "When that task is complete, we will deal immediately with the issue of club discipline. Until we complete that process, we will have no further comment."
Officers asked McAfee if he had been swimming in the canal and he said "I am not sure," according to a police report. They asked him how he got wet and he said it had been raining, then told officers that his shirt was "in the water."
Police asked McAfee how much he had to drink.
"A lot cause I am drunk," McAfee said, according to the report.
McAfee told police that he was waiting for a friend to get him and added he planned to take a taxi home, the report said. He asked if he could walk home, but officers arrested him. They say he smelled of alcohol, his eyes were watery and bloodshot and his speech slurred. Officers said they had to help McAfee stand up after giving him a breath alcohol test.
Police were first called after a driver stopped at a red light reported that a man with no shirt approached her car. The woman told police she feared the man was going to try to get in the car, so she ran the red light and called 911 to report the suspicious person.
McAfee is the third Colts' player to be on alcohol-related charges this year.
Receiver Taj Smith was stopped by police on suspicion of drunken driving in January. Smith spent last season on the Colts' practice squad but was cut Sept. 4.
In August, backup defensive lineman John Gill was arrested for public intoxication after Indianapolis police found Gill passed out in a ditch. The charge was later dropped, but team president Bill Polian said then that Gill would be placed in a roster category that would keep him inactive all season.
Coach Jim Caldwell is expected to speak to the media later Wednesday.
By Associated Press Writer | (AP)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Favre ready to end starts streak?
Things haven't been as easy this season for quarterback Brett Favre(notes) as he probably imagined they'd be. He's got his Minnesota Vikings in third place in the NFC North with a 1-3 record and he's got a nagging inflammation on his throwing elbow (not to mention an NFL investigation into his off-field activities).
That nagging elbow kept Favre out of practice yesterday, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as the team prepares to take on the disappointing Dallas Cowboys this Sunday.
Favre told reporters before practice that he might have to end his NFL-record consecutive-starts streak of 289 games if he was a hindrance to the team rather than an asset.
The elbow simply needs rest but Favre also has to get used to a whole new set of receivers.
Tarvaris Jackson(notes) may finally get his chance.
Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Packers TE Finley out 8-12 weeks
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers(notes) loves throwing the ball to 23-year-old tight end Jermichael Finley(notes), but he's going to have to find somewhere else to throw for the next eight to 12 weeks.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Finley will be out for that long, recovering from knee surgery. The original prognosis had him only out for three to six weeks. Despite the length of recovery, the team still hasn't decided whether it will put him on injured reserve or not, the paper reports, and bank on him recovering quicker than that.
"I don't think we need to decide this week," coach Mike McCarthy said, according to the paper. "We're gathering information. Once we get to next week, I think we'll probably get a little more urgency on what we are going to do with the 53-man roster."
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Vick: "Don't count me out"
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick(notes) is recovering quickly from his major rib injury that kept him out of last weekend's victory over the San Francisco 49ers. So much so that even though he didn't practice yesterday, Vick isn't thinking he'll be out of commission come Sunday when the Birds take on the Atlanta Falcons.
"Don't count me out," Vick said, according to the Camden Courier-Post. "That's all I could really tell you right now."
Coach Andy Reid says Vick is day-to-day. Meanwhile, Kevin Kolb(notes) is taking the first-team offense snaps in practice and preparing "as if he's getting the nod again this weekend," the paper reports.
Source: Camden Courer-Post
Moss-Patriots breakup long time coming
Now that wide receiver Randy Moss(notes) has moved on to the Minnesota Vikings, it is becoming clearer that team executives of his former team, the New England Patriots, were not enjoying his company for a pretty long time before finally trading him.
By February of this year, coach Bill Belichick had told Moss that he "wasn't part of their future plans," according to the Boston Globe.
Then Moss showed up to camp in great shape, a source told the Globe, and Belichick approached the 33-year-old receiver "about starting talks on a new deal." The source said Moss believed he would get traded even before the season got started and told Belichick that they could negotiate such things after the season.
It didn't help Moss win any fans in the team's front office, either, when he refused to sit with fans who had paid thousands of dollars to do so at a major team fundraiser.
Still, the Globe points out that his former teammates mostly have good things to say about Moss: "Among those he suited up with every week, he was almost universally beloved. With those outside the locker room, it was a different story."
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Source: Boston Globe
Monday, October 11, 2010
CINCINNATI -- The Reds reached their first postseason since 1995 and, in retrospect, were dead on arrival.The Phillies, seeking their third consecutive National League pennant, rode pitcher Cole Hamels to a 2-0 victory Sunday that completed a sweep of the National League Division Series.
Once the Phillies scored in the first inning of Game 1 -- Wednesday night in Philadelphia -- the Reds were not long for the series.
Roy Halladay went on to throw the second no-hitter of postseason history.
In Game 2, the Reds fell apart and lost 7-4 after taking a four-run lead.
The series moved to Flyover Land for Game 3. A sellout crowd showed up for Cincinnati's first home playoff game since the 1995 National League Championship Series against the Braves. But Hamels, a cool California kid who led the Phillies to the World Series title in 2008, dealt the Reds their fourth shutout in the last five games against the Phillies.
Hamels allowed only five hits and struck out nine. After Brandon Phillips hit a leadoff single in the ninth inning, Hamels induced a double play from Joey Votto and struck out Scott Rolen to send Philadelphia to its third consecutive NLCS.
• Turning Point: When Hamels threw his pregame warmup pitches and his left arm didn't complain, the Reds should've gone speed-boating on the nearby Ohio River to take advantage of the warm weather. Hamels, a Californian who blends power with precision, doesn't lose elimination games in October (now 4-0). Nor does he lose to the Reds (now 7-0).
• Stud: Hamels. The left-hander lacked his best changeup and accuracy, but he had enough heat on his fastball to make it all work. He averaged 92-94 mph and reached 96 mph. He had no walks.
• Dud: Orlando Cabrera's mouth. Cabrera, the Reds' shortstop who had a .303 on-base percentage this year, whined about the plate umpire after the Reds were no-hit in Game 1 by Roy Halladay. Before Game 3 Sunday, Cabrera talked himself into the lineup despite his side injury that had led Reds manager Dusty Baker to inform Paul Janish that Cabrera wouldn't be starting. Looking like a guy with a sore side, Cabrera threw a screwball for a two-out error that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first. Baker should've gone with Janish.
• Key Stat: Lording over the NL serfs, the Phillies have won their last five playoff series with ease by amassing a 17-4 record against against four NL franchises (9-2 vs. Brewers, Rockies and Reds in the last three Division Series; 8-2 vs. the Dodgers in the last two NLCS).
• The Big Picture: The Phillies are in their third consecutive NLCS, where they will almost certainly defeat either the Giants or Braves.
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Scary Thing Is, Roger Clemens Believes Roger Clemens
Here is Roger Clemens, the greatest pitcher of his generation, fresh from getting fingerprinted and taking a mug shot on Monday at his arraignment at a federal courthouse in Washington D.C., and there isn't a doubt that he is a Hall of Famer ...
When it comes to lying.
Clearly and dramatically, the guy told a slew of whoppers two years ago when he swore before a bunch of U.S. congressmen on Capitol Hill that he never used performance-enhancing drugs. He did so with the grace of one of those old Soviet Union thugs. This was before, during and after he spent time hurling folks under Washington's Metro subway cars, and those folks ranged from his former trainer to his former best friend to his former best friend's wife to his former nanny.
Well, here's the scary thing: There isn't a doubt that Clemens believes what he keeps saying. He believes he never used steroids, and he believes anybody who states otherwise is the true liar.
So, inside that courtroom just a few blocks from where Clemens irritated congressmen with his defiance, it was more of the same when witnesses said he stood before the judge at the appointed time and proclaimed boldly, "Not guilty, your honor."
In other words, Clemens is clowning the feds.
Not good. Not that Clemens cares, because in his mind, he isn't guilty of three counts of making false statements, two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of Congress. He also doesn't care that the conviction rate of the feds is nearly 100 percent.
To hear Clemens tell it through Twitter after his indictment earlier this month, he'll be just fine after he does what Al Capone, Michael Vick and others couldn't do -- beat the feds. Wrote Clemens on Twitter, "I look forward to challenging the Governments (sic) accusations, and hope people will keep an open mind until trial. I appreciate all the support I have been getting. I am happy to finally have my day in court."
That court date is slated for April, which means Clemens will have several months to convince himself even more that up is down, water isn't wet and he's never seen a syringe.
This isn't one of those Marion Jones things. She willingly played the role of the persecuted so well that she was challenging for an Oscar and an Emmy in multiple years. That's because she admitted that she knew she was lying when she angrily insisted before two grand juries that she didn't use steroids to make her swift legs even faster along the way to five gold medals during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
In a strange way, Clemens is -- well, sincere. You can see it in his face, and you can hear it in his voice.
Clemens has convinced himself that he spent those 23 seasons winning 354 games and collecting 4,672 strikeouts by doing nothing more than eating all of his Wheaties. Clemens has convinced himself that Brian McNamee, his former trainer, is full of resin bags when McNamee says he actually saved syringes and other medical paraphernalia from many of the times he says he injected Clemens with steroids.
Not only that, Clemens has convinced himself that Andy Pettitte, his former best friend, "misheard" or "misremembered" when Pettitte informed congressional investigators that Clemens told him he was using HGH. And Clemens has convinced himself that, even though Pettitte's wife said she was informed of Clemens' use of performance-enhancing drugs by Pettitte, Clemens is convinced that Pettitte's wife was distracted by watching Oprah or something at the time.
Clemens also has convinced himself that his former nanny was hallucinating or maybe having eye problems when she sided with McNamee instead of Clemens by telling the feds that Clemens really was at an event hosted by steroid king Jose Canseco.
The guy could pass a lie detector test. So could Pete Rose during that stretch of years when he claimed he never bet on baseball. And you could include the likes of Richard Nixon, who went to his grave contending that he never knew about the Watergate break-in or coverup, even though all of the evidence and testimonies say otherwise.
The guy could pass a lie-detector test. So could Pete Rose during that stretch of years when he claimed he never bet on baseball.
Which brings us to a conversation I had last year with Dr. Patrick Devine, my favorite sports psychologist, who has spent the last three decades as an accomplished professor in the psychology department at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.
Said Devine, "Could some of these guys have gotten to the stage where they've blocked things out of their minds, and now they believe that they didn't do them? Well, Sigmund Freud would say, yes, you can repress those thoughts. The seasoned guys, such as a Roger Clemens and others, yeah, they've trained themselves to block out the negative and to emphasize the positive in all situations.
"You walk a guy, and then you have to look at the next batter as if this is going to be a strikeout. When you can push things out of your mind to this extent, it puts you more into the possibility of saying, 'Well, what I did was really OK.' In the case of performance-enhancing drug use, for instance, it starts to become like, 'Well, everybody else is doing it.'
"So, at the end of the day, it makes it easier to deny usage over time, especially if you get caught."
Exhibit A: The Rocket. Or shall I say The Designated Victim -- you know, in Clemens' mind?
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Mannywood is on the market
By Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports
ANAHEIM, Calif. – A pal of Manny Ramirez’s(notes) considered the coming week and what may follow, how far the Los Angeles Dodgers have fallen, and the club’s opportunity – now that Ramirez is on his feet again – to save the last few million of a lot of wasted dollars.
“Manny’s days in L.A.,” the friend said, “are over.”
One way or another.
As he once followed teammate Johnny Damon(notes) out of Boston, Ramirez will follow Damon to the waiver wire, two Idiots in limbo.
On Monday night, Damon hadn’t dismissed returning to the Red Sox for WWJDD II.
And Manny was Waived Man Walking, though Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti hadn’t yet pulled that trigger. It’s coming.
While life with Manny in L.A. was often complicated – the drug suspension, the injuries, the dramatic loss of power, the blind idolatry, the consecutive trips to the National League Championship Series, the wig sales – Colletti’s next decision will not be. Now he tries to turn the last few bricks of Mannywood into something useful.
At 38, Ramirez has nearly half as many trips to the disabled list (three) as he does home runs (eight). The trick will be to keep him on the field long enough to push him through the waivers process (48 hours) and, assuming he is claimed, through trade negotiations (as many as another 48 hours).
Ramirez has full no-trade rights, which adds another layer to a process that must conclude by midnight Aug. 31 if the receiving club has designs on employing him during the postseason.
Colletti, who did the right thing 17 months ago when he signed Ramirez, only to have the whole thing go terribly sideways, had several teams call about Ramirez at the trading deadline. The Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago White Sox and an undetermined NL club, at minimum, were interested enough to inquire.
Not only was Ramirez on the disabled list (calf strain) at the time, but the Dodgers considered themselves competitive in the NL West. That ship has disappeared over the horizon and sunk, as Russell Martin(notes), Matt Kemp(notes), Andre Ethier(notes) and James Loney(notes) all went under about the same time.
So, given more than $3.5 million remaining on Ramirez’s contract, given the Dodgers are done, given they wouldn’t consider offering him arbitration (so there are no draft picks at stake) or re-signing him and given they might pull a reasonable prospect out of a trade, there is no downside.
Ramirez makes sense for the Rays, though they are not optimistic about him reaching them in the waiver process (they’d have the 29th claim, ahead of only the New York Yankees.) If their claim – and they’ve not yet decided on that action – were rewarded, the Rays couldn’t be sure Ramirez’s body would hold up for two months. They don’t typically throw $3 million at hope, which doesn’t mean they wouldn’t, or couldn’t soften the financial blow with a prospect or two.
By appearances, the Rays did put in a claim on Damon, but lost him to the Red Sox, which found Rays manager Joe Maddon rooting for Damon’s no-trade clause.
“What a great city Detroit is,” Maddon said Monday, beaming. “There’s a lot of good things going on in Detroit. I’m sure he doesn’t want to miss it.”
The Yankees are known to throw $3 million at less than hope, and they’ve been forced to rotate their DH all season. Marcus Thames(notes) has batted there lately. Lance Berkman(notes) hit .179 for them before going to the disabled list. Alex Rodriguez(notes) might need some DH reps when his calf heals, but that doesn’t leave much of a bat at third.
A haven for players seeking renewal, the White Sox certainly have room for another. Who knows, Ramirez might even rediscover his power stroke at The Cell.
The Texas Rangers, temporarily without Nelson Cruz(notes), have had scouts on Ramirez, leading to speculation they have some interest. Adding Ramirez would lead to the obvious issue, however: To get both his and Vladimir Guerrero’s(notes) bat into the lineup, one of them would have to play left field.
In the National League, whose clubs would get the first shot at Ramirez, the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves make some sense. The Reds just lost August pickup Jim Edmonds(notes) for an undetermined time because of an oblique strain and the Braves are getting little offense from left field. Of course, that would mean risking Ramirez in the outfield, which wouldn’t help their pitching staff or his calf.
Monday, August 23, 2010
As Of 8/23/10
#1 JON STARZ (NFLX 6-0 ~ 100%)
#2 PAUL LEINER (NFLX 6-1 ~ 86%)
#3 BIG AL (NFLX 6-1 ~ 86%)
#4 PROFITABLE SPORTS (NFLX 5-1 ~ 83%)
#5 CAROLINA SPORTS (NFLX 4-1 ~ 80%)
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#7 POINTSPREAD MAVEN (NFLX 6-3 ~ 67%)
#8 UNKNOWN SOURCE (NFLX 4-2 ~ 67%)
#9 SPORTS BANK (NFLX 4-2 ~ 67%)
#10 PANAMA CITY SYSTEMATIC (NFLX 6-4 ~ 60%)
#11 BEN BURNS (NFLX 6-4 ~ 60%)
#12 STEVE MERRIL (NFLX 3-2 ~ 60%)
TOP 10 MLB HANDICAPPERS
As Of 8/23/10
#1 TIPPS (MLB 215-120 ~ 64%){MLB 20*'s 19-4 ~ 83%}
#2 TEDDY COVERS (MLB 123-70 ~ 64%)
#3 SUPER SYSTEM (MLB 99-57 ~ 63%)
#4 FINAL SCORE (MLB 81-48 ~ 63%)
#5 BILL BAILEY (MLB 84-50 ~ 63%)
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#7 BIG MONEY (MLB 85-53 ~ 62%)
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2009/10 Season
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#2 INSIDE STEAM (CFB 27-13 ~ 68%)
#3 COWTOWN SPORTS (CFB 28-14 ~ 67%)
#4 JIM KRUGER (CFB 44-22 ~ 67%)
#5 SPORTS ADVISOR (CFB 9-5-2 ~ 64%)
#6 BILL BAILEY (CFB 22-13~ 63%)
#7 EXECUTIVE SPORTSLINE (CFB 60-37 ~ 62%)
#8 DOLPHIN SPORTS (CFB 35-21 ~ 62%)
#9 PLAYERS CHOICE (CFB 20-12~ 62%)
#10 TEXAS INSIDERS (CFB 10-6 ~ 62%)
2009/10 Season
#1 MILLIONAIRE CLUB (NFL 17-6-1~ 74%)
#2 MVP POWERLOCKS (NFL 11-5-1 ~ 69%)
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#4 SPORTS UNLIMITED (NFL 40-24 ~ 62%)
#5 BILL BAILEY (NFL 21-13 ~ 62%)
#6 PRIMETIME (NFL 20-13 ~ 61%)
#7 NATIONAL SPORTSLINE (NFL 11-7 ~ 61%)
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Monday, August 2, 2010
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