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The Daily Digest for Thursday, April 3, 2008 |
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April 03, 2008 |
≡ The Daily Digest ≡
 Osama: hiding out in Baton Rouge restaurant? |
= To Our Readers =
In addition to posting our regular daily column of news, observations and commentary, we now distribute The Sports Examiner DAILY, a .pdf-format newsletter – with bonus features – with the daily Tip Sheet that can be printed out to take with you or forwarded to your laptop to read later.
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= Tonight’s Menu =
>> Sacramento, Ca.: The suddenly-more-interesting 23-52 Clippers are 1-0 with Elton Brand in the line-up after he contributed 17 points in 25 minutes in yesterday’s win over Seattle. Tonight, they are in Sacramento trying for a season sweep of the series with the 34-40 Kings. It would be the first season sweep by the Clippers of the Kings since the 1985-86 season. Chris Kaman, Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas are all listed as “day to day” for the Clippers as is Spencer Hawes of the Kings. The oddsmakers think that favors Sacarmento, which is a 10 1/2-point favorite tonight, with an over-under of 206. That makes the projected final, Kings 108, Clippers 98.
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: The Pacific Division champion San Jose Sharks (49-21-10) visit Staples Center tonight to match up with the 31-42-7 Kings. The road team has won six of the last seven games in this series and San Jose is 7-3 against Los Angeles in their last 10 games. The Sharks have a phenomenal 27-8-4 road record compared to the Kings’ home mark of 16-20-3. That makes the Sharks a big favorite on the money line: you have to put up $110 to try to win $100 on the Sharks, but a $100 wager on the Kings could return $130.
= L.A. Stories =
>> What’s Bruin:
See our daily blog on UCLA sports at LATimes.com!
>> Money talk:
The Associated Press released a list of major league baseball team payrolls today, showing both the Dodgers and Angels in the top 10. The Angels were sixth in the majors, but only fifth in the American League at $119.2 million, while the Dodgers were eighth overall and third in the National League at $118.5 million.
Relative to their divisional competition, both Los Angeles clubs were tops in the West. The Angels, however, were only slightly ahead of Seattle ($118 million) but far ahead of the rest of the A.L. West. The Dodgers are far in front in the N.L. West salary derby, with San Francisco next at $76.9 million, followed by San Diego ($73.7 million), Colorado ($68.7 million) and defending division champion Arizona ($66.2 million). In fact, many observers think the two lowest-paid teams in the N.L. West will repeat as post-season participants, ahead of the Dodgers.
= Panorama =
The National Pastime:
>> Detroit, Mi.: The saying “to whom much is given, much is expected” now fully applies to the Tigers. Tom Gage of the Detroit News noted that the Tigers aren’t about to surprise anyone anymore, since their payroll now exceeds that of every team in baseball except the New York Yankees.
“In four years, their payroll has tripled. They’ve gone from $46 million and ranking 23rd in 2004 to more than $138 million and ranking second in 2008.”
The Yankees were first, of course, at $209.1 million, followed by Detroit, then the New York Mets at $138.3 million, Boston at $133.4 million, and the Chicago White Sox ($121.2) in the top five.
The most stunning statistic, of course, is that Alex Rodriguez’s 2008 salary of $28 million is more than the entire payroll of the Florida Marlins of $21.8 million!
>> Philadelphia, Pa.: The Phillies had to dodge more than Tim Redding’s pitches in a 1-0 to the Washington Nationals last night. Despite an excellent, albeit losing, performance from pitcher Cole Hamels, some of the 44,986 fans at Citizen Bank Park threw their Dollar Night hot dogs and at least one beer bottle on the field after the loss. Pitcher Ryan Madson said he heard one fly by his head.
Michael Radano of the Camden (N.J.) Courier-Post noted that “the excuse that as a fan you are allowed to overreact doesn’t make this behavior acceptable.”
NBA Hoopla:
>> Chicago, Il.: The Chicago Bulls aren’t disputing that Celtics Kevin Garnett and James Posey were hit by T-shirts fired from a T-shirt gun late in Tuesday’s night game at the United Center. But the team said it wasn’t Benny the Bull who did the firing.
According to the team, one of the IncrediBulls – the team’s cheer squad – “accidentially” shot the shirts and hit Garnett and Posey while tripping and falling to the floor. “Wow.” said Garnett to Marc J. Spears of the Boston Globe. “That’s a story. I just turned around and Dude [Benny the Bull] had the smoking gun in his hands. I didn’t see no lady. I didn’t see nobody trip over a gun. You know what I’m saying?”
Apparently, a referee did see what was going on and approached Benny, but since the mascot does not speak, a game operations assistant explained what happened to the official. When the official passed this on, according to Spears, “the Celtics thought it was a bunch of bull.”
The incident isn’t likely to fester, since the teams do not have any more games against each other this season and only Boston will be in the playoffs.
College Gridiron:
>> Baton Route, La.: The LSU Tigers might be national champions, but that doesn’t it’s all smiles in Tigertown.
Junior quarterback Ryan Perrilloux is expected to be the LSU starter this fall, but after being suspended for part of spring practice because of violating team rules, he may – or may not – have been involved in an incident last Sunday at a restaurant called the Kona Grill in Baton Rouge.
Despite denials from the LSU athletic department, the LSU student newspaper, The Daily Reveille reported that it confirmed that Perrilloux and others had ordered drinks in the cocktail area of the restaurant and then began screaming obscenities and racial slurs, including calling a server “Osama.” The group was asked to leave by the manager, and left after being told that the police would be called if they didn’t.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reported yesterday that Perrilloux was at the restaurant but did not cause an incident and the management of the restaurant didn’t want to talk about it any more. What is going on here?
NFL Extra Points:
>> Cincinnati, Oh.: The Cincinnati Bengals are getting serious about team character, as opposed to have more characters on their team. After being arrested for assault and disorderly conduct on Monday, wide receiver Chris Henry was cut from the team today.
“Chris Henry has forfeited his opportunity to pursue a career with the Bengals,” said Bengals president Mike Brown. “His conduct can no longer be tolerated.”
Henry was a third-round draft choice of the Bengals in 2005 out of West Virginia and had played three seasons with Cincinnati, but missed half of last season because of a suspension arising out of his off-the-field conduct that saw him arrested four times in 14 months.
Henry pled not guilty to charges that he punched a man in the head and threw a beer bottle through the back window of his car on Monday evening. Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Bernie Bouchard ordered him held on a $51,000 bond and after reading his criminal history, noted that “You’ve kind of become a one-man crime wave.” The judge ordered Henry to be held under house arrest and wear an electronic ankle bracelet so that his location would be continuously monitored.
Cincinnati’s reaction should come as no surprise to Henry. When imposing the half-season suspension on Henry in May 2007, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s letter to Henry included this warning: “I must emphasize to you that this is your last opportunity to salvage your NFL career. I urge you to take full advantage of the resources available to support you in that effort.”
>> Phoenix, Az.: In light of the Chris Henry situation, what about this comment from Mike Florio on ProFootballTalk.com:
Lost by many in the brouhaha regarding the photos of Matt Leinart cavorting with a gaggle of young ladies is the question of whether the girls seen drinking alcohol were of legal age, and if so whether Leinart provided them with the alcohol they were drinking.
It’s only fair. Bengals receiver Chris Henry was suspended for eight games due in part to a conviction for doing just that. If Leinart did the same thing, justice and fairness require that he suffer a similar fate.
. . .
We’re not saying that any of the girls were/are under 21 or that Leinart gave alcohol to any of them. We’re only saying that the matter needs to be investigated, and if charges are arppropriate then charges should be pursued.
If the authorities merely brush this under the rug, a major flaw in the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy will be revealed. Discipline is meted out to players who have been charged with or convicted or crimes; thus, any player who can avoid being charged with a crime can apparently avoid the imposition of discipline by the NFL.
Kicker:
>> Hamburg, Germany: Hamburg midfielder David Jarolim, who is from the Czech Republic, was suspended for four games by the Bundesliga for “squeezing” the genitals of at least one player from Bielefeld during last Saturday’s 1-1 tie. He was red-carded during the game.
For his part, Jarolim said he might leave Germany despite being under contract with Hamburg through 2010 because he is the “victim of a hate campaign.” His foul against Bielefeld came after two opposing players yelled at him after they felt he took a dive to earn a free kick.
Motormania:
>> Paris, France: The President of the Federation Internationale de la Automobile (FIA), Max Mosley, is considering legal action against the British tabloid News of the World which carried a report last Sunday that Mosley was involved in a filmed session with prostitutes dressed as Nazis!
Mosley, 67, has resisted calls for his resignation and an extraordinary general assembly concerning the situation has been called, although no date has been set yet.
Toyota Motorsports released a statement which read in part: “Senior figures with any sport or business, including motorsport, must adhere to high standards of behavior.
“When all the facts are known, it will be for the FIA to decide whether Mr. Mosley has met the moral obligations which come with the position of FIA president.”
So we have to hear more about this?
~ Rich Perelman
>> Have an opinion? You can send it using the “Comment” button below!
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