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The Daily Digest for Friday, February 22, 2008 |
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February 22, 2008 |
≡ The Daily Digest ≡
 Attn. Roger Clemens: do you know this man? |
= 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 35-19 Utah Jazz will be at Staples Center tonight to take on the 18-33 Clippers, who will have the Lakers and Boston to follow tonight’s game. The Jazz is 6-2 in its last eight vs. the Clippers and have won six of their last seven on the road. So of course they’re favored tonight – by 5 1/2 points – with an over-under of 200, so the final is supposed to be 103-97 for the visitors.
>> At the Honda Center, the 34-23-7 Anaheim Ducks of Anaheim are ready for the 28-23-9 Blues, who have taken three of their last four from the Quack Attack. Then again, the Blues lost to the Kings, 5-1, on Thursday night. So the Ducks are a big favorite on the money line: it takes $220 to try to win $100 on the home team, but $110 on the Blues could return the same $100.
= L.A. Stories =
>> What’s Bruin: See our daily blog on UCLA sports at LATimes.com!
>> Halo Talk: The Angels won their arbitration case with closer Francisco Rodriguez, but as a consolation prize, he’s getting a raise from $7.1 million last season to the Angels’ figure of $10 million for this season. Rodriguez had asked for $12.5 million.
It’s unknown if the defeat will sour K-Rod on staying with the Angels and he is eligible for free agency after this season. However, he also tied the record for the highest salary awarded in an arbitration hearing. Owners have “won” six of eight arbitration cases so far this year.
= Panorama =
>> The National Pastime: The report that a photograph of Roger Clemens at a 1998 party at Jose Canseco’s home that Clemens said he did not attend could be damaging inasmuch as it calls his truthfulness into question.
But just as damaging – and perhaps more so – is the emergence of the 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness gym in Houston as a distributor of performance-enhancing substances. The facility, owned by a distant cousin of Andy Pettitte named Kelly Blair, was not named in the Mitchell Report but was identified last weekend in the New York Daily News.
The find is significant in that it identifies yet another source of drugs that flowed into baseball. If (and it’s a big if) Blair was the hub of a distribution ring, another network of players using controlled substances could be discovered.
As politicians – notably including Richard Nixon – have found out over and over again, it’s not the crime, but the cover-up that ultimately creates the biggest problems.
>> You are what you eat: Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder took notice of a book he received from his wife that described the brutal process that is meat processing. He told Anthony Witrado of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that because of the book, he’s become a vegetarian.
Fielder said he has a lot more energy now and his body feels “cleansed,” but there is a catch. Having hit 50 home runs last season, he noted that “My wife said that if I lose some power, she’s cooking me a big steak.”
>> English class: Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is known for being fiery and free with four-letter words in speaking with his players. But there’s a reason for it, as he noted to reporters after an expletive-filled meeting with his players.
“I cursed maybe 1,000 times,” he told Scot Gregor of the Chicago Daily Herald, but that’s [the media’s) fault. That’s the English I know, and I learned it from (the media). I never went to school here.”
Never too late to start, Ozzie.
>> College Hoopla: There is much consternation in Bloomington, where University of Indiana president Michael McRobbie and athletic director Rick Greenspan are readying an announcement about the fate of coach Kelvin Sampson.
All the chatter is that Sampson will be suspended (most likely) or terminated (not unless the university’s lawyers think he has no chance at winning a wrongful termination suit, as Jim O’Brien did at Ohio State) and former Hoosier player Dan Dakich, now an assistant coach, will take over. The most interesting aspect of this situation is a report by Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn that the Indiana players might quit!
Winn quoted a “source close to the team” as saying today that “If Sampson isn’t our coach, we’ll quit,” based on meetings between the team and the athletic department administration on Thursday. Some players were reported to be willing to stay on if assistant Ray McCallum – who helped recruit many of the current team members – is made the interim coach.
This from a 22-4 team that’s ranked no. 15 in the country and in the mix for the Big Ten regular-season title.
>> NBA Hoopla: The massive Chicago-Cleveland-Seattle deal that moved the once-feared Ben Wallace out of Chicago isn’t the end-all for the Bulls, but probably the beginning. Wrote reporter K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, “this won’t be Paxson’s last deal.”
Bulls general manager John Paxson told Johnson that the deals “cleared an opportunity for Joakim [Noah] and Tyrus [Thomas] to get experience. That is so important for us moving forward in making the right decisions.”
The Bulls also have a logjam in their backcourt with Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Thabo Sefolosha and now Larry Hughes. So there’s plenty of opportunity to keep dealing and Mike McGraw of the Chicago Daily Herald speculated that “this could mean the Bulls are resigned to not being able to re-sign Gordon this summer when he becomes a restricted free agent.”
>> College Bowl: The University of Washington’s proposal for state support for the reconstruction of Husky Stadium is floundering. According to a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, although the bill moved quickly through the Senate Ways and Means Committee, it’s stuck in the Senate Rules Committee.
“It’s not technically dead because revenue bills generally can be considered alive through the rest of the session,” said the university’s director of state relations Randy Hodgins. “But we haven’t gotten any signals yet that the governor’s office really wants to see this pushed, and we haven’t gotten a lot of push in the House of Representatives, although we continue to work on it.”
There is some feeling in the legislature that the Huskies should simply play at Qwest Field – where the Seahawks play – since that facility is new and has already received state support. But interim athletic director Scott Woodward said “I’m from Louisiana and I saw what it did to Tulane when they razed their stadium and moved to the Superdome. It just eviscerated their program. Maybe with the exception of UCLA – and you can debate whether that’s a successful program or not – not many people have done well off campus.” He makes a good point and will get bonus points from the locals for ripping the Bruins.
>> Keeping track: For American fans, Michael Phelps is likely to be the male face of the Beijing Olympics as he chases a possible eight gold medals. Among the women, the memorable performer could be sprinter Allyson Felix, now graduated from USC and concentrating fully on her sport.
Articulate, well-spoken and stylish, as well as a triple gold medalist at the 2007 World Track & Field Championships, Felix told reporters at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Visa Olympic Media Summit that she hopes Beijing will be a “turning point” for the sport. “I think a lot of athletes, especially from my generation are really looking forward to this opportunity,” she said. “I think people before us kind of put us in a hole and we’re stuck digging ourselves out.”
Felix has a goal of being an elementary school teacher, but not before she finishes her track & field career. With some luck, she could end up being a rather famous female face that leaves China with three gold medals in the 200 meters and both relays.
~ Rich Perelman
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