Media Watch:
Someone At ESPN Is Making With the Funny Stuff:
In ESPN's latest Heisman experts' poll he received a single third place vote ... but someone at ESPN is making with the funny stuff. Each guy has his name linked to his player profile page at ESPN. Here is Hart's link:
ESPN has an OSU intern working on their Heisman page, methinks.
NFL:Report: Rodney Harrison Got HGH in '04: A story that appeared in the Monday edition of the Albany Times Union (a story that, oddly, got almost no national attention) reports that Patriots safety Rodney Harrison first ordered human growth hormone in January of 2004, a month before he earned the first of his two Super Bowl rings with the Patriots.
Need Guns Dallas Residents? Cowboys Sign Tank Johnson: Mr. Tank is currently serving an eight-game suspension for making Crime Dog Goodell angry, but he'll be available for action much sooner than IR-ed starting defensive lineman Jason Ferguson. As FanHouse's Michael David Smith mentioned this morning, the Cowboys feature a 3-4 defense, and Johnson has experience in the 4-3. Still, he provides depth, something Dallas could use.
Byron Leftwich Won't Wear Mike Vick's No. 7: It's not clear if Leftwich wanted to wear 7 and the team told him he couldn't, or if the team wanted to move on by giving Leftwich 7 and he said it made him uncomfortable, but the Falcons' official web site lists Leftwich as No. 4.
Donovan McNabb's Race Comments Way Out Of Bounds: Donovan, the fact is that the team you are leading has lost 6 of 7 games with you as the starter. Meanwhile, the guy that took your spot while you were hurt went 5-1. He's now in Tampa. He also dealt with Terrell Owens calling him gay ... while you couldn't handle the fact that T.O. said you weren't Brett Favre.
McNabb Race Comment Controversy: Says More About Us Than Him: Personally, I think the only out of bounds thing that McNabb did was being a public figure daring to try to discuss race and perception of job performance in a television interview. I don't particularly want to write about it in a blog post either, because I am not sure that our society can have a thoughtful discussion of this topic. Especially in the form of a short blog entry and mostly anonymous reader comments.
Gene Upshaw Hasn't Visited Kevin Everett: It would be nice if Upshaw -- whose salary of more than $6 million means the average NFL player personally pays him about $2,500 a year -- would visit Everett. But it would be better if the union would educate itself about spinal cord injuries and take an active role in advocating for policies that would lessen the risks of players being paralyzed on the field.
The Debriefing: It's This Mat ... That Has Different Conclusions ... You Can Jump To: Look around the NFC, and tell me who can claim to be clearly better than the Pack. Dallas? Fine. After that ... I'm not saying there aren't better teams, but no one's in a position to claim it at the moment. Their wins so far are over the Eagles and the Giants ... not a murderer's row, but pretty representative of the rest of the NFC. If the Packers can handle those two, who can't they handle?
NBA:
Arenas's Life Story in Sneakers: Mostly because he wanted to, Gilbert Arenas has twenty separate versions of his new GilIIZero shoe on the way. Each corresponds to a different aspect of his life or personality, and each will be strategically unveiled at a 2007-08 NBA game.
Isiah's Warped Code of Conduct: I, for one, would love to see that code of conduct. What does it say about bi-racial men -- can they call both white and black women bitches, or neither? Isiah's social philosophy
MLB:Jim Bouton on Greenies and Asterisks: "But you have to distinguish greenies -- the peptos as they were called -- from steroids. Greenies only allowed you to play up to your ability. If you didn't get a good night's sleep, or you had a hangover, it would allow you to play up to your ability, or at least some players thought that. It did not create a different human being."
Ben Sheets Is Hurt Yet Again: If you listen ever so closely, you can actually hear the last of the Brewers' playoff hopes swirl down the drain
The Dugout: Byung-Hyun Kim Is A Pimp: I've seen Byung-Hyun Kim's career from start to finish (about 3 years) and I can't figure out why he keeps showing up on the field. Granted, he shows flashes of mediocrity, but let's notch that under the broken clock column.
Mark Cuban in Wrigley Field Bleachers: A First-Hand Account: There was a guy from itsgonnahappen.com sitting about five rows in front of him with a big "its gonna happen" sign. At one point, he got up to go to the bathroom and Cuban asked to hold his sign while he was gone, he held it up and everyone went nuts.
NASCAR:
Raw Video: Spectacular Drag Racing Crash: Australian drag racer Phil Lamattina was doing more than 300 mph at Willowbank Racway near Ipswich when his in his Top Fuel dragster busted into pieces, burst into flames and went tumbling down the strip. Lamattina walked away from the crash and was admitted to the hospital for observation. He was released the next morning with nothing more than a cut finger.
