|
|
|
The Daily Digest for Monday, April 21, 2008 |
|
April 21, 2008 |
≡ The Daily Digest ≡
 Barkley: ready to rumble! |
= 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.
We’re delighted to welcome Al Brooks Tickets as our initial sponsor; their support and that of others will help keep this site alive. Thanks again for your continued support; please ask your friends to sign up for the Tip Sheet and the free newsletter.
= Tonight’s Menu =
>> Cincinnati, Oh.: The struggling 7-11 Dodgers are in Cincinnati today to face the slumping 8-11 Reds at the Great American Ballpark. Brad Penny (2-2, 2.96 ERA) will go for the Dodgers against Matt Belisle (0-0, 0.00 ERA), making his first appearance of 2008 after being activated from the disabled list. The Blue Crew has won 10 of its last 12 against the Reds, but both teams are in desperate shape: the last-place Dodgers have lost nine of 12 and the Reds, seven of nine. Oddsmakers favor Penny and the Dodgers: it takes $110 to try to win $100 on the visitors, but $100 on the home team could return $120.
= L.A. Stories =
What’s Bruin:
>> Eugene, Or.: Third-ranked UCLA was crushed, 94-69, in its first dual meet with Oregon in 23 years on Saturday, in Eugene. With temperatures dipping into the 30s, not to mention hail at Hayward Field, UCLA’s top runner, hurdler Kevin Craddock was held out entirely and the Bruins were upset in other events to end up on the short end of the score. UCLA swept the discus and triple jump and Dustin DeLeo vaulted 17-3 to win, but there weren’t too many other highlights. It’s UCLA’s second straight dual-meet loss after last season’s loss at USC.
The Bruins have an outside chance to claim the Lexus Gauntlet – after trailing 50-12 1/2 early in the season – but have to beat USC in both the men’s and women’s Pac-10 Golf Championships over the next 10 days and then win both ends of the track & field dual meet at Drake Stadium in May 3. USC still leads, 47 1/2-37 1/2 and is favored in the women’s rowing competition on May 3, worth five points. It takes 57 1/2 points to win. The only thing working in UCLA’s favor right now is that the weather in Los Angeles will be better than it was in Eugene.
Thinking Blue:
>> Los Angeles, Ca.: While the Dodgers were losing three straight to the Braves, some high-profile ex-Dodgers weren’t doing so well, either.
Hideo Nomo, a sensation when he started with the Dodgers in 1995, was designated for assignment by the Kansas City Royals for assignment after pitching only 4 1/3 innings this season (with an 18.69 ERA) and did not pitch last year. At age 39, his time in the majors might be over. Of course, there’s always the Japanese league . . .
Eric Gagne had more trouble trying to close games out in Milwaukee, serving up back-to-back home runs to the Reds that allowed Cincinnati to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the bottom of the 10th inning and beat the Brewers, 4-3. Gagne blew only seven saves from 1999-2006 while saving 161, but in the past two seasons (2007-08), he’s saved 22-29, blowing seven saves in just two years.
= Panorama =
The National Pastime:
>> New York, N.Y. Hank Steinbrenner isn’t his father, but he’s doing a pretty good imitation.
With the Yankees off to a 10-10 start, Steinbrenner spoke his mind to the New York Times about 22-year-old fireballer Joba Chamberlain. “I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now.
“There is no question about it, you don’t have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don’t do that. You have to be an idiot to do that.”
Later, Steinbrenner eased off a little and added, “It has to be done on a schedule so we don’t rush him.” It’s not clear whether the Yankees more need Chamberlain or less Steinbrenner.
>> Oakland, Ca.: Given their lack of power – seven home runs in 20 games – it’s no surprise that the Oakland A’s will certainly consider Frank Thomas for their designated hitter spot since Toronto released him yesterday. But the best line on the A’s came from San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler: “In spite of Billy Beane’s careful plans and grand design, the A’s find themselves still in the playoff picture 20 games into the season.”
Oakland is 12-8 and is tied with the Angels for the top spot in the American League West.
NBA Hoopla:
>> Chicago, Il.: From Michael Hiestand at USA Today:
TNT’s Charles Barkley, on Dan Patrick’s radio show, offered a little criticism of Tom Farrey, reporter for ESPN’s E:60 show, for surprising Houston Astro Miguel Tejada with a document suggesting the shortstop is two years older than he has claimed – prompting Tejada to end the interview. Said Barkley, suggesting he would have handled the situation differently: “That’s one of the most bush-league things I’ve seen. I would have slapped the hell out of that guy.”
Charles, there are lawyers lined up and waiting for you to do so.
>> Seattle, Wa.: The Supersonics are surely on their way out of Seattle, sooner or later, but Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Art Thiel thinks having an NBA team in town is hardly a lost cause. First he wants a written guarantee – essentially a contract – from commissioner David Stern that the NBA will put another franchise in Seattle.
Failing that, “If Stern doesn’t agree in writing, the city needs to stick to its lawsuit [over the unexpired portion of the Key Arena lease] and resist another settlement offer. The probable victory in court gives the business community two years to work a deal and start a privately funded convention center/arena that will prove irresistible to tenants in the NBA as well as NHL.
“The market, not the rhetoric, will dictate action. Whatever is said or threatened in 2008 by Stern and the NBA will be forgotten by 2010 in the rush by the leagues and the entrepreneurs to make money.” Thiel is right about the latter.
College Gridiron:
>> Tuscaloosa, Al.: The names of the football team captains at the University of Alabama are marked in cement on a campus walkway. Famous players like Kenny Stabler and Johnny Musso are listed. So is offensive lineman Atnoine Caldwell from this season’s team. Sound funny?
It should, since his name is Antoine Caldwell, but it was misspelled by the workers installing the name on the walkway! Even worse, the error was discovered by Caldwell himself during a ceremony in which the three captains are supposed to put their hands and cleats into the wet cement, as at the Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The error is being fixed, but the jokes about spelling and Alabama will go on for a long time.
NFL Extra Points:
>> Chicago, Il.: First Lance Briggs, now Brian Urlacher.
The Bears had to put up with Briggs demanding a trade and saying he would never play for Chicago and then having him both play last season and sign a six-year agreement in March. Now Urlacher, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, “feels he has outplayed his contract and is demanding more money. He’s boycotting the team’s voluntary offseason workout program and threatening to hold out of minicamp, organized team activities and even training camp if he doesn’t get a new deal.”
There are whispers that Urlacher’s agent has suggested a trade and another that he might retire because of head and neck injuries. But his contract leaves him with little room to maneuver. “Urlacher has no leverage,” said a source in the story. “He wants to be paid, right? If he takes a medical [retirement], then he’s got to prove he’s hurt. If he does that, he’ll never get paid. They’re not going to trade him. All he can do is be disruptive.”
At 30 years old and with four years left on his nine-year deal signed back in 2003, Urlacher isn’t going anywhere and the Bears’ front office says it is working with his agents to “educate them on the value of the deal.”
Keeping Track:
>> Walnut, Ca.: Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Union-Tribune captured the scene at yesterday’s Mt. SAC Relays perfectly.
The 50th running of the Mt. San Antonio College Relays was yesterday, and it included some of track’s biggest names sprinkled liberally amid hundreds of high school and collegiate athletes on a sun-splashed afternoon at a quaint stadium that regularly has cows grazing on the adjacent hillsides.
But this is a track meet in the 21st century, which means:
The crowd is ridiculously small, given the assemblage of talent, the marquee event never materializes and there’s a drug scandal lurking around every corner of the 400-meter oval.
Translation: the crowd was 2-3,000; world 100 m record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica was hurt and didn’t run against world 100 m champ Tyson Gay of the U.S. on the anchor leg of the 4 x 100 m relay and there was more noise about Maurice Greene and doping.
Ziegler wrote, “The latest salvo may or may not have come from Ato Boldon, a sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago who trained alongside Greene, under coach John Smith at HSI. A lengthy and graphic letter to Smith was posted on an Internet bulletin board that is purported to come from Boldon, and its details, nicknames, anecdotes and verbiage left few track insiders doubting its authenticity.” The letter writer accuses HSI coach Smith of “doping the competition” and Boldon told a Greek Web site for which he writes regularly: “One thing is clear, that the evidence and the facts will show someone to be a fraud and someone will be vindicated.”
The story’s headline was “Drug spat, injuries, speed: track’s back.” The question is, did anyone notice?
Eatertainment:
>> New Orleans, La.: The annual Acme World Oyster Eating Championship took place on April 12 and it’s not clear if any of the contestants have recovered yet. The winner was Patrick “Deep Dish” Bertoletti with a ridiculous 35 dozen oysters in eight minutes (that’s 420 oysters!), followed by Juliet Lee with 31 dozen and Crazy Legs Conti and the Mad Greek with 24 dozen each. Just writing about this is painful.
~ Rich Perelman
>> Have an opinion? You can send it using the “Comment” button below!
|
|
