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The Daily Digest for Thursday, January 3, 2008 |
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January 03, 2008 |
≡ The Daily Digest ≡
 Thinking about going to Beijing? |
= To Our Readers =
We signed an agreement last August to place a daily audio show on a new Internet site to be called TheGoodSportsNetwork.tv. It was supposed to launch September 4, then September 24, but the site is still not live. Maybe some day it will launch, but we’re not optimistic.
We are delighted to say that our readership has never been stronger and our Web statistics program shows that TheSportsExaminer.com had more than 1,000,000 page views in December. Since you seem to like what we’re doing, we’ll continue for now, posting a weekday note and sending out the Tip Sheet to keep you informed. Thanks so much for your support.
= Tonight’s Menu =
>> One of the most anticipated BCS games of the season will take place tonight at the FedEx Orange Bowl, where 11-1 Kansas and the Miracles will take on ACC champion Virginia Tech, a rough and tumble outfit that feels it should be in the national title game. The Jayhawks average 44.3 points a game, but VT gives up only 15.5 and while the Hokies haven’t been an offensive juggernaut this season, they’ve won five straight, averaging 34.8 points against 15.0. The oddsmakers have the Hokies as a four-point favorite with an over-under of 52, so the final is supposed to be a thrilling 28-24.
>> USC begins Pac-10 play tonight in Berkeley against the 9-2 California Golden Bears. The 9-3 Trojans have been solid but not spectacular and are a two-point underdog to Cal. O.J. Mayo is second in the conference is scoring so far at 19.5 points a game, but Cal has two of the Pac-10's top scorers in soph Ryan Anderson (22.2 ppg) and wing Patrick Christopher (17.0).
>> Columbus travels up the 5 Freeway to Staples Center tonight to play the 15-24-2 Kings. The Blue Jackets have an 18-16-6 record and have won three of their last four against Los Angeles. For their part, the Kings are on a surprising three-game winning streak and beat Columbus on the road on December 29, 3-1. The sharpies think it will happen again and have the Kings as the favorite: it takes $140 to try to win $100 on the home team, but $100 on the Blues could return $105.
= L.A. Stories =
>> What’s Bruin: See our daily blog on UCLA sports at LATimes.com!
= Panorama =
>> The National Pastime: “I’m not signing Clemens,” said Yankees Senior Vice President Hank Steinbrenner in this morning’s New York Daily News. Then again, didn’t the Yankees say they wouldn’t re-sign Alex Rodriguez if he opted out of his contract?
>> College Coaching Carousel: SMU started the carousel by being the first school this season to ax its coach – Phil Bennett – on October 28. They’re still looking as every other opening has been filled with the hiring of Bill Stewart at West Virginia this morning.
Dallas newspapers have reported that SMU has targeted Hawaii coach June Jones as well as just-fired Detroit offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Jones would rather stay in Hawaii, but he hasn’t yet received a contract offer from Warriors’ Athletic Director (and 1976 Olympic track & field gold medalist) Herman Frazier.
>> College Bowling: One of the better calls of the bowl season came last night during the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, when Fox play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian called West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt “a runaway beer truck” on his 57-yard, second quarter touchdown rush down the right sideline. Schmitt, a senior, stands 6-2 and is listed at 260 pounds.
West Virginia’s surprise rout of Oklahoma swept interim coach Bill Stewart into the head coaching job, with a raise from $139,000 to $800,000 a year plus incentives. Not bad for a man with only three years of head coaching experience way back in 1994-96 with VMI, where he was 8-25.
>> NFL Coaching Carousel: As of now, there are only coaching vacancies in Atlanta, Baltimore and Miami with Kansas City, St. Louis and possibly Cincinnati on the way. That would make six teams that want to talk to Bill Cowher, Marty Schottenheimer or Jason Garrett. That leaves three more openings; isn’t there anyone else who would make a good head coach?
>> NFL Ticker: With the dominoes in Miami falling faster at the Dolphins’ headquarters than outside the cigar shops on the Calle Ocho, the newest insanity is that 35-year-old ESPN commentator Keyshawn Johnson’s agent says the ex-receiver is in great shape and could make a comeback with the Dolphins next season to help the younger receivers. Johnson played for Bill Parcells in New York with the Jets from 1997-99 and in Dallas from 2004-05. Johnson has told reporters that six different teams contacted him about playing for them during this season.
>> More Carousel: Great story in the Miami Herald today about how the personal friendship between Dolphins’ owner Wayne Huizenga and Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones has impacted their coaching staffs. Reporter Armando Salguero noted that almost as soon as former Dallas coach Parcells sat down in Miami, he hired Jeff Ireland from Dallas to be his general manager. No shrieking from the Cowboys; after all, the Dolphins didn’t complain last year when Dallas hired away Jason Garrett (the Miami quarterbacks coach) to be Dallas’s new offensive coordinator.
“As a Dallas source said, ‘This was the favor-to-be-named-later for the Jason Garrett hiring. Wayne and Jerry are friends. So there will be no compensation.’”
Salguero speculates that someone who is well known to both Parcells and Ireland will be named head coach (Maurice Carthon or Tony Sparano or Todd Haley) and that fired Dolphins’ coach Cam Cameron . . . could well end up back on the sidelines wherever Schottenheimer is hired. Cameron was Schottenheimer’s offensive coordinator in San Diego last season for the then-14-2 Chargers. It isn’t called the Carousel for nothing.
>> NBA Hoopla: Like the Eternal Flame, the evergreen story of Isiah Thomas and the New York Knicks continues to be the cause of entire forests being cleared to make newsprint. Today’s shots included:
Mike Vaccaro in the New York Post writing that Thomas is in a make-believe world of his own. “This is Isiah’s World: a world in which the morning newspapers may insist that the Knicks are now 8-22 after getting clobbered 107-97 by fellow NBA dregs Sacramento (missing its three best players, of course) at the Garden last night, but in reality they are moments away from mounting a championship run.”
The New York Daily News reported that a 22-year-old college student was arrested for selling “Fire Isiah” T-shirts outside of Madison Square Garden last night. Ivan Cash didn’t have a street vendor’s permit with him – he says he was waiting for a friend who does – and was arrested before last night’s game with the Kings after having sold more than 100 shirts at the three prior games. Cash is a graphic design student at SUNY-Geneseo and made the orange-color shirts himself, which he sold for $20 apiece. He was handcuffed, taken to the Midtown South Precinct station, fingerprinted and held for three hours (about the length of the game) before being released with a ticket.
>> Keeping Track: Prosecutors in the Marion Jones fraud case recommended that a prison sentence of a maximum of six months and would accept probation. Jones’s attorneys filed a plea with the federal courts in New York, asking for no jail time and probation when she is sentenced by judge Kenneth Karas on January 11.
Jones is the mother of two children and is currently married to Barbados sprinter Obadele Thompson and they live in Austin, Texas. Although Jones has retired from competition, Thompson will try to compete in the 2008 Games in Beijing.
>> Rings & Things: Way back in 1979, when reporters and fans were making preparations for attending the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, unnerving advice such as only drinking bottled water and packing crackers and peanut butter . . . just in case . . . seemed amazing. But now word comes from Beijing that the government has set up an Olympic Food Safety Command Center to deal with “food-related emergencies” according to an Associated Press report.
Citing a Xinhua news service report, the AP quoted Zhang Zhikuan, head of the Beijing Industry and Commerce Bureau, as saying “Precautions must be taken to avert any trace of terrorist attacks on our food supply chain.” That’s an interesting advance spin on any food-related problems during the Games inasmuch as some seafood exported last year was found to be contaminated with “dangerous chemicals” according to the AP.
Do you prefer Peter Pan or Jif?
~ Rich Perelman
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