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The Daily Digest for Wednesday, January 23, 2008 |
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January 23, 2008 |
≡ The Daily Digest ≡
 King: knows barbarism when he sees it? |
= 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 =
>> The 27-12 Lakers are in San Antonio tonight for a test against the 26-13 Spurs, without Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza and probably without Vladimir Radmanovic. Los Angeles is averaging 107.8 points a game and the Spurs are allowing only 91.5. San Antonio is finally healthy but is only 5-5 in its last ten compared to 8-1 for the Lakers, but the Spurs are a 6 1/2-point choice with an over-under of 196. So the final is supposed to be San Antonio 101, Lakers 95.
>> Sacramento’s 18-22 Kings will be at Staples Center tonight to compete with the 12-25 Clippers, who started 4-0. Sacto is on a 6-2 streak and has won seven of its last 10 against the Clips. They’re also healthier, with Mike Bibby, Ron Artest and Kevin Martin back in the line-up. So, of course they’re favored, by 2 1/2 points, with an over-under of 200. That makes the projected final Sacramento 101, Clippers 99.
>> On the ice, 28-17-6 Anaheim will find out how good it really is this season in a battle with 36-10-4 Detroit, the NHL’s points leader. Anaheim is 5-2 in its last seven against the Wings and 12-3-2 overall since Scott Niedermayer returned, but Detroit has won seven of its last 10 overall. So the game is very close on the money line: it takes $125 to try to win $100 on the Ducks, but $120 to try for the same amount on the visitors.
= L.A. Stories =
>> What’s Bruin: See our daily blog on UCLA sports at LATimes.com!
>> Bad Polls: In case you missed it, a poll by Sports Illustrated of NBA players showed that the top two players who “got the least out of the most talent” were Kwame Brown of the Lakers and Tim Thomas of the Clippers. Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News noted that “a close friend of Thomas implored him to work harder on his game, telling him he could be one of the great ones. Tim, however, had other ideas. He always worked just hard enough in the months before the next contract to get another big contract. He has been in the league since 1997.
“‘I’ve made $100 million doing it my way,’ Thomas told his friend. ‘Why should I do it your way.’” In case you’re wondering when his effort might pick up, the 30-year-old Thomas’s current contract ends after the 2009-2010 season.
= Panorama =
>> Hail on the Victors: Dana Jacobson, co-host of ESPN2's “First Take” morning show, is reported to have been suspended by ESPN for an epithet-laced talk she made while drunk during a roast of ESPN radio stars Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic on January 11 in Atlantic City.
A report in the Chicago Tribune noted that Jacobsen, a graduate of the University of Michigan, apparently made some “vulgar references” to Notre Dame, where Golic was a star defensive lineman. She was booed at the event and issued a statement that read in part, “My remarks about Notre Dame were foolish and insensitive. I respect all religions and did not mean anything derogatory by my poorly chosen words. I also deeply regret the embarrassment I’ve caused ESPN and Mike and Mike.” Several other reports have said that she was quite inebriated at the time of her address.
ESPN would not confirm to Tribune reporter Ed Sherman that it had suspended Jacobsen for a week, but a spokesman said “Her actions and comments were inappropriate and we’ve dealt with it.”
Maybe so, but here’s wondering whether she’s gotten an invitation from the Friar’s Club in New York, inviting her to join . . .
>> NFL Cash Count: Members of the winning team in the 2008 Super Bowl will receive $78,000 and the losing team, $40,000. Now you know what’s at stake.
>> NBA Hoopla: Remember Chris Webber? Many thought he would be with the Pistons, but Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg says there’s a good reason why he is not: “The Pistons’ title hopes are brighter now, without Webber, than they were before the season.” Cold, but true.
>> NBA Court Report: The Tim Donaghy sentencing scheduled for January 25 is expected to be postponed again, but new details of how he was paid have surfaced in court proceedings against some of his associates. One report noted that two men paid Donaghy between $2,000 and $5,000 for each game which turned out as “arranged.” Over even a couple of seasons, there are a lot of games involved and a lot of money changing hands. Donaghy could receive a maximum of 25 years in prison.
>> Cold Wind in the Windy City: With the Chicago Bulls a shadow of their championship days and the White Sox a pale impression of the World Series championship team of 2005, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti went after the owner of both squads, Jerry Reinsdorf, in a column last week. He didn’t pull any punches.
Reinsdorf has played a significant role in why the Bulls are a dysfunctional bunch of squabbling underachievers who may employ three head coaches in a six-month period, and why the Sox have gone 109-135 and handed a five-year extension to a goofball manager since they were seemingly were poised to win back-to-back titles in July 2006.
. . .
Only weeks from his 72nd birthday. He’s not going to win another Series or NBA title. His way of doing buisiness won’t allow it. Reinsdorf’s well-established budgetary ceiling has caused the Sox, who needed to spend more money the last two winters to contend in a tough division, to stand around and fritter away their post-Series momentum and cachet. Under the rule of general manager Ken Williams, they have reached the playoffs only once and have allowed the farm system to become one of baseball’s weakest. As for the Bills, Reinsdorf continues to be haunted by his foolish remarks midway through the championship years, that he couldn’t wait to build his own dynasty after Jordan retired. Ten years after the final championship, his “dynasty” consists of exactly one playoff-series victory and a 271-472 regular-season record.
Mariotti predicts it will be hard to spot Reinsdorf at Bulls games for the rest of the season. But spring training is around the corner . . .
>> Kicker: ‘There is a big percentage of fans for whom the football club is truly their life.”
So Tom Hicks, known in the U.S. as the owner of the Texas Rangers and who gave Alex Rodriguez a contract for $250 million, has come to understand the fickle nature of fans of his Liverpool team that he and Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett purchased in February 2007 for $432.9 million.
But Liverpool is in fifth place in the Premier League and the coach, Rafael Benitez is crying that Hicks should buy him better players. Hicks says it would be helpful of Benitez to do a better job coaching the ones he has. Fans are in a frenzy.
Fellow Texan Gil LeBreton, writing in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. noted that when Hicks can finally announce the plans for the new stadium he and Gillett promised to build to replace Liverpool’s antiquated Anfield, all is likely to be forgiven. In the meantime, Liverpool fans continue to showcase why Britain used to have an empire.
>> Punchy: “It’s barbarism,” says Don King, speaking of Mixed Martial Arts and quoted by the Sun of London. And King didn’t stop there, of course:
Well, in the olden days they were feeding Christians to the lions. Then they had the gladiators.
Later, you had fighters who would go 50 rounds, there was no such thing as going to a decision, you were going for a knockout.
So then people became more civilized, more sophisticated, and that’s how you got the beauty that is boxing.
He was asked about the rising popularity of MMA compared with the dip in interest in boxing and King was ready with an answer. “Because our fighters became business boxers, rather than boxers of business. They all became the businessmen they wanted to be without fighting for glory and pride. . . . [W]hen a person competes for the pride, integrity and honor of his competition, it is incidental that he should be paid. You don’t have to trade in one for the other. You don’t have to show greed and avarice and mercenary qualities in order to be good. Be good and you’re gonna have the money.”
~ Rich Perelman
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