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The Daily Digest for Thursday, May 31, 2007 |
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May 30, 2007 |
≡ Heading for Home ≡
 Donovan: how many of his Gators will he draft? |
= L.A. Stories =
>> Laker Lines: Here’s FoxSports.com’s NBA analyst Charley Rosen on Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Under the headline “Kobe’s trade demand entirely justified,” Rosen noted the path from the championship Lakers to now:
“In return for Shaq, the Lakers received Lamar Odom – a notoriously soft player – and a roster full of journeymen.
"Caron Butler, a semi-useful scorer, was then dealt to Washington for the perpetually disappointing Kwame Brown, who probably has the worst hands of any big man in the league.
"Phil Jackson was also given the boot, to be replaced by Rudy Tomjanovich, who was in ill-health as well as being basically incompetent.
"Instead of going after the likes of Baron Davis and Ron Artest – both of whom were available – the Lakers broke the bank in signing Vladimir Radmanovich (sic) and re-signing Brian Cook, a pair of duds.
"Instead of providing Jackson with a capable point guard, Smush Parker was signed and then retained.”
His solution? “Perhaps the only realistic way out of the Buss mess is to grant Kobe’s wishes and trade him for whatever proven All-Stars and on-track hooplings might be available.” It’s a nice analysis, but clearly wrong; Rosen has conveniently forgotten who is the employer and who is the employee.
= Panorama =
>> Hooping it Up: Billy Donovan’s desire to try his hand at the NBA was fulfilled with an offer from the Orlando Magic, apparently worth $36 million over six years.
That means the two-time national-champion Gators will have lost their top six players and their head coach in one off-season. But Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley isn’t crying yet.
Reports of Donovan’s move to the NBA were accompanied by suggestions that former Florida assistant Anthony Grant could return to Gainesville. He coached the Virginia Commonwealth team that defeated Duke in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in March.
The Magic finished 40-42 last season, but were only four games behind Southeast Division winner Miami. Orlando was eighth in the Eastern Conference and lost its first-round playoff series to Detroit, four games to none.
Donovan has very little NBA experience. He was drafted by the Utah Jazz out of Providence, but was waived after the pre-season. He played briefly in the Continental Basketball Association and for one year with Rick Pitino (Donovan’s college coach) for the New York Knicks before ending his playing career.
Comment: More than one athletic director around the nation is smiling about this development. Donovan was set to become the highest-paid college coach in the country at well over $3 million per season. That would have increased the pressure considerably on coaching salaries at other schools, and now even Foley can breathe a little easier since the big checks he was going to be writing to Donovan would be coming from football money.
>> College Gridiron: While Florida President Bernie Machen is busy presenting his plan for a college football playoff of some type to his fellow Southeastern Conference Presidents starting tomorrow, a survey of the conference coaches indicates one truth: a playoff would be fine if it leaves the bowl system intact.
Machen’s concept can essentially be reduced to this: big-time college football should be run like basketball and the proceeds of a playoff system should be distributed to all 119 or so schools that play in the Football Bowl Subdivision instead of just to (mostly) the big conferences and Notre Dame as the bowl system does now.
Machen assumes this will work because the amount of money from a playoff will be so much more than from the current bowl system (already more than $200 million) that there will be plenty for everyone. But that’s no surety. As Machen told Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline.com: “To be honest, the only entities to be stuck about it are the Big Ten and the Pac-10. They like their sweetheart deal with the Rose Bowl.”
Machen told the Tampa Tribune that the market would make the decision about whether to have a playoff (eight teams?) or a “plus-one” game that matched the two highest-ranked teams after the bowl schedule was played. Logic says the latter will win out, eventually.
>> More Colleges: Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said yesterday that the Irish quarterbacking situation is not determined and that three players are still vying to start: Demetrius Jones, Jimmy Clausen and Evan Sharply.
“Evan ran the operation the best, Jimmy threw the ball the best and Demetrius made the most plays," Weis noted in a statement. “For these reasons, they will compete for playing time.” For only the second year in more than 40, Notre Dame will play both UCLA (at the Rose Bowl) and USC (in South Bend) this season, two weeks apart in October.
>> NFL Ticker: Jerry Porter sulked during most of last season with the Oakland Raiders and ended up sitting on the bench. This season, with a new coach in Oakland, Porter wanted a new start and asked to change his jersey number from 84 to 81. He didn’t know there would be a price tag attached.
According to an Associated Press story, that tag reads $210,000 “in order to reimburse the team and Reebok for the cost of the unsold jerseys.” Porter was, not surprisingly, unwilling to pay the tab so he’ll stay with 84. The AP story noted that “NFL spokesman Steve Alic said Porter could wait until next year, when the supply of unsold shirts would be depleted and the cost would be less.”
= Program note =
To more closely align our posting schedule with the reading habits of our viewers – and we check those web statistics logs closely – we will no longer have a “Morning Post” up by 1 a.m. Pacific time. Our new schedule will offer two posts per day, Monday through Friday, usually up by 11 a.m. and by 5 p.m.
≡ At the Half ≡
 O'Neal: L.A. bound? |
= Tonight’s Menu =
>> The 31-21 Dodgers are in Washington, D.C. tonight for their third game against the 21-32 Nationals, who have yet to score a run off of Dodger pitching in this series! Mark Hendrickson (2-2, 3.62 ERA) will start for Los Angeles and after a good beginning, has given up 10 runs in his last 12 innings. Micah Bowie (1-2, 3.91) will be on the hill for the Nationals; he has one win as a starter since 1999. So the Dodgers are favored, with $100 bringing just $105 for a win while a $100 wager on the home team could return $130.
>> At Angel Stadium, the 33-21 Halos will send Kelvim Escobar (2-2, 3.27) to the hill against the 26-27 Baltimore Orioles and Brian Burres (2-2, 3.27). Oriole pitchers have walked 215 batters in 53 games, so the Angels had better be patient at the plate. Baltimore comes to Anaheim on a five-game win streak, while the Angels have won five of six. The visitors are even money but the Angels are a heavy favorite: it takes $220 on the Halos to try to win $100.
>> The Cleveland-Detroit series for the right to face San Antonio for the NBA title is tied 2-2 with game five in Detroit tonight. The Pistons are favored by six with an over-under of 172, so the final score is projected as Detroit 89, Cavaliers 83.
>> In game three of the Stanley Cup finals – on NBC! – Ottawa is favored to win its first game of the series after losing the first two in Anaheim to the Ducks. On the money line, a $165 wager is required on the Senators to try to win $100 while $115 will earn the same rights on the Ducks.
= L.A. Stories =
>> Laker Lines: The Kobe swirl continues, with Peter Vecsey of the New York Post reporting whispers that the Indiana Pacers and the Lakers were about to begin serious discussions about a Jermaine O’Neal for Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum:
No specifics were delivered. No negotiating has been done. Still, Lamar Odom would have to be the principal of the package in order to adhere to NBA trade specifications. He’s currently on the Laker salary cap for $12,348,596 and has two seasons remaining at 900G-per raises.
O’Neal earns Kobe-like numbers: $18,084M this season, and has three remaining at $19,728M, $21.372 and $23,016M. Kobe has an out after two more seasons. Should be exercise it to become a free agent, he’d leave $47.8M on the table.
Surely Andrew Bynum must be included as well. I can’t see the Pacers parting with a 7-footer without getting one back.
Obviously, this very real swap talk is why Kobe’s blithering abruptly ceased late yesterday afternoon.
That’s not the only scenario, of course. Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune loaded his gun and fired a broad pattern today as well. Highlights:
“On a personal level, I have to thank Bryant because this allows me to pay less attention to the miserable Eastern Conference finals going on in Detroit and Cleveland. That’s the reason, I think, Bryant had a basketball breakdown this week.”
“To recap, Bryant’s breakdown began last week when a Los Angeles Times reporter called to ask how things were going and Bryant reiterated his position that he’s unhappy with the team and wants the Lakers to make some big moves this summer.
“Given that Los Angeles doesn’t have an NFL team and it still doesn’t know what to make of baseball and Jack Nicholson doesn’t go to those games anyway, the Times basically devoted a special section to the story.”
On an Pacers-Lakers deal: “There have been some informal talks, with the sticking point the inclusion of young Lakers center Andrew Bynum. The Pacers want him as well as Lamar Odom and want to get rid of Jamaal Tinsley.
“But the Knicks really want O’Neal to pair with Eddie Curry and have some pieces to offer in Channing Frye and David Lee. It’s not enough, but they’ll keep at it.”
It’s all another reason that sports is so much better than any other form of drama.
= Panorama =
>> The National Pastime: Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez is certainly the center of attention these days. After yelling what Toronto infielder Howie Clark heard as “Mine!” while trying to catch an infield pop-up last night that dropped to the ground, the New York Daily News reported that his 34-year-old wife Cynthia left their apartment in New York with two suitcases and no comment for the news media.
That all followed multiple reports of Rodriguez’s attention to a blonde woman in Toronto on Sunday evening and additional reports of Rodriguez’s fondness for strip clubs. Maybe baseball players do have too much time on their hands. Whatever happened to doubleheaders?
>> NFL Ticker: ESPN.com reported that the district attorney in Surry County, Virginia has enough evidence to bring an indictment against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, but that obtaining a conviction would be difficult, so more investigation is necessary.
The story quoted a source who put the situation is perfect context: “what you think you know and what you know you know, and what you can prove to other people you know . . . well, they aren’t always the same.”
≡ Morning Post ≡
 Wilkommen, Dirk! |
= L.A. Stories =
>> Laker lines: If Kobe Bryant really wants to be traded, Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News says the Mavericks should trade Dirk Nowitzki straight up and be done with it.
“No one said it would be an easy decision. Or a popular decision. Or that [owner Mark] Cuban even has the courage to trade his favorite player.
“But it must be considered.” Taylor points out correctly that the salaries are closely-enough matched that a one-for-one swap is possible under the NBA’s salary-cap rules. But could it happen?
= Panorama =
>> The National Pastime: While Brian Cashman is – as owner George Steinbrenner has loudly mentioned – “on the hook” for the Yankees’ season as General Manager, the Mets’ Omar Minaya is basking in the glow of the best record in the National League.
What’s more, Minaya has made a science of finding well-priced players to go along with big-dollar free agents such as Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran, plus Carlos Delgado, who was acquired in a trade. All that adds up to a hefty payroll of about $118 million, but he’s doing better than Cashman at $195 million before signing Roger Clemens.
And the Mets should have more money to spend in the future as their new Citi Field ballpark is being constructed just behind Shea Stadium. Maybe he’ll have a job for Cashman!
>> Kick ‘em when they’re down: John Donovan of Sports Illustrated ripped Cashman for a series of bad moves that have out the Yankees in a bad spot, but he had one error right on the money: going low on the auction for Daisuke Matsuzaka and then compounding the loss by spending $46 million over five years for Kei Igawa, who’s so bad that he’s currently trying to get himself right in the minors.
>> More Football? The Associated Press reported that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is the first potential owner in a proposed eight-team professional football league that would play in the fall opposite the NFL, but on Friday nights.
Cuban told the AP in an e-mail message that “It’s a pretty simple concept. We think there is more demand for pro football than supply.”
The proposed league would focus on players drafted by the NFL in the third round or lower, free agents and players cut by NFL teams. It’s the second proposed professional league on the drawing boards. The All-American Football League is proposed to include eight teams playing in the spring, primarily in cities which already host major collegiate teams. Former NCAA President Cedric Dempsey heads the effort; it’s board includes former UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young and former Bruin Athletic Director Pete Dalis. Supposed to start in 2008, it’s now slated to begin play in 2009.
>> Honor among thieves? Rob Hughes, writing in the International Herald Tribune is not a big fan of FIFA and its President, Sepp Blatter:
Shame on the world. Shame on the “football family.” Shame on the men who set inside FIFA’s $200 million glass house in Zurich not daring to challenge the leadership, which is stained from court actions in New York and Liechtenstein, and still allows a senior FIFA vice president in the Caribbean to carry on regardless of his family profiting to the tune of $1 million from one of the crudest ticket-scalping schemes in the sport’s history.
But Hughes also notes that one person who might have been in a position to look out for corruption or problems is himself in hot water: Scotland’s John McBeth. He’s been suspended before he could be seated as a vice president for remarks like these:
“As soon as you hit Africa, it’s a slightly different kettle of fish. They’re poor nations and want to grab what they can. I know two or three whom I’d want to count my fingers after shaking hands with them.”
“I assume the Caribbean is much the same - they just come at it a different way.”
“The British have an attitude of fair play but sometimes the Empire didn’t play fair and that’s coming back on us. For the ones that were under the empire it’s payback time. The rest of the world hates their guts, it’s the old British Empire stuff.”
McBeth will be judged by a new FIFA ethics committee headed by the track & field great Sebastian Coe. It will be interesting to see how FIFA deals with McBeth, who may be indiscreet, but is he factually wrong? And how will Coe – who has high aspirations for membership in the International Olympic Committee and perhaps the presidency of the international track & field federation – handle the matter in a way which will be fair to his countryman and polishes his own shield at the same time?
>> Rings & Things: The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control, the small office which administers, among other things, the U.S. trade embargo of Cuba, has denied a travel license to Don Porter, the President of the International Softball Federation to visit Cuba for a Hall of Fame induction of Cuban coach Armando Aguilar.
Who cares? The United States Olympic Committee and the Chicago folks bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games.
NBC Sports.com columnist Alan Abrahamson noted that OFAC took four months to respond to Porter’s request for a travel license before denying it. And it makes the U.S. government look quite inhospitable at a time when the U.S.O.C. is trying to build international goodwill in advance of the vote on the 2016 Games.
Abrahamson notes, however, that the acid test is coming soon. In October, the World Boxing Championships will be staged in Chicago in a critical showcase of that city’s ability to be the 2016 Host City. The stars of that show will be, of course, the Cuban boxers . . . if they can get into the country! If they can’t, they won’t be the only ones losing their opportunity for gold. So will Chicago.
~ Rich Perelman
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