MLB:Time to Say Farewell to Wahoo: It's pretty clear that it's time to reconsider the way our white society subjugates Native Americans in our silly sports mascots. And Chief Wahoo, that grinning, red-faced cartoon on the Indians' hats, ought to be the first to go. Don't just take my word for it; Joe Posnanski -- perhaps our country's finest baseball columnist, and an Indians fan -- writes the definitive take on Wahoo on his blog.
Is That a Naked Lady on Chief Wahoo's Nose? Peep the above video for some evidence. Now, designers have been known for implementing these sort of subtleties into corporate logos and the like for some time, so this is certainly plausible. But as far as Wahoo is concerned?
Manny Ramirez: 'I'm Just Trying to Have Fun': We at the FanHouse roasted Manny Ramirez pretty good (here and here) for what we thought was over-celebrating what turned out to be a meaningless home run in Boston's loss to Cleveland on Tuesday. But I think he actually makes a good point: he doesn't think he's bigger than the game, he just loves the game enough to have fun no matter what the score.
You Need an Internet Connection to Go to the World Series: At least, you do if you live in Denver. The Rockies have decided to forgo selling tickets at actual brick-and-mortar box offices, instead making their entire inventory exclusively available online.
NFL:Shawne Merriman and Kendra Wilkinson? Both sites have pictures of Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman with Playboy playmate Kendra Wilkinson. That could mean absolutely nothing, seeing as the two of them are doing nothing more than standing next to each other in the pictures. Or it could mean that the guy who was banned for four games last year for testing positive for steroids will also be banned from the Playboy Mansion.
NFL Admits Mistakes on Terrell Owens, Bubba Franks Force-Out Catches: President of NFL Officiating Mike Pereira acknowledged that both calls were mistaken. In fact, Pereira said almost exactly what FanHouse commenter grapevinesooner predicted he would say in a comment posted Monday:
MMA:
Will Mark Cuban Promote Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko? From a business standpoint, it wouldn't make much sense for Cuban to spend a lot of money on signing Emelianenko unless he also felt confident he could put together a fight with a big-name opponent -- watching Emelianenko beat up on a tomato can would get old soon.
UFC Paid Randy Couture $3.5M a Fight: Considering that Couture signed that contract at a time when he wasn't expected to win the heavyweight title, that actually doesn't sound like such a bad deal at all. Maybe if UFC president Dana White would act like a reasonable person in his public comments, and not brag about how he "bitch-slapped" a "scumbag," more people would see the case.
WWE:
Georgia May Regulate Wrestling as a Sport In Response to Chris Benoit Murder-Suicide: "I'm going to fight like a dog to make sure that exemption is pulled from the law," [a lawyer for Benoit's father] said Tuesday. "I want to make sure we have a way to protect folks in Georgia from the shenanigans of the WWE." Should state lawmakers opt to rescind the exemption, WWE wrestlers could be subject to drug testing and other regulations just like performers from other sports that compete in Georgia.
NBA:
Longform Shoals: Your Eastern Conference Survival Guide: Granted, the Celtics have some early roster issues outside of this mightiest of Big Threes. But even when the team appears to be a work in progress, there will be patches of brilliance. KG's consummate intensity will dare fans to be indifferent. Every up, every down, every slight fluctuation in Rajon Rondo's competence will be grist for narrative.
LeBron James Has a Chinese Museum: What could it possibly feature? A bronze medal from the 2004 Olympics and a Eastern Conference trophy, I suppose. People like to talk about how LeBron has "changed the game," but aesthetics aside, what has he accomplished?
NCAA Football:Wannstedt Will Ride the Rascal: The injury puts Wannstedt up in the coaches box for this weekend's homecoming game against Cincinnati for the, ugh, "River City Rivalry" trophy (a picture can be found here). Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh will be on the sidelines in his stead.
SEC Fans Pissed About Possible Ohio State Cakewalk to Title Game: "So help me, if that happens, I am done with college football until they fix this unacceptably broken system. In a perverse way, I almost hope it does, because the outrage from the SEC, Big East and probably a couple of other conferences
The Debriefing: How to Build a Championship-Caliber Team in 11 Short Years: So how does a team get from there to here? How does one get from the water's edge of inspiration to the far shore of accomplishment (thanks, Q)? Well, the key ingredient appears to be an insane head coach. In this case, the insanity comes in the form of Jim Leavitt, who, according to this profile by Tania Ganguli at the Orlando Sentinel, runs alongside his players at practice, wakes players up at their homes in the summer by jumping into bed with them, and does belly-slides before practice.
BlogPoll Week Seven: The Buckeyes Are Back : CHAOS! Down goes #1, down goes #2 and a week after the BlogPoll's first unanimous #1 vote of the week, dissent reigns again. OSU comes out on top, just like everywhere else, but in the BlogPoll things are much narrower. First place votes by team:
