A daddy blog.

15 November 2007

FanHouse: Thu AM 'Isiah, Starbury Come to Blows' Edition

...And A-Rod overcoverage below, the Lambeau crotch attack, a nude NHL pictorial, and evidence that Syracuse's coach may be illiterate.

Media:
Old, Old, Old School: Michigan Opens Michigan Stadium, 1927: There is a man who posts video after video of Michigan games past on youtube; his name is WolverineHistorian and he is an internet hero to the Wolverine diaspora. He's found a piece of newsreel footage from way, way back in the day: the dedication game at Michigan Stadium, a 21-0 win over Ohio State in 1927, eighty years ago. Enjoy.

ESPN's Mike Golic on Steroids: 'I Used Them and It Was Wrong': "As I've said time and time again with steroids now, a lot of the time it's the fringe players, it's the guys who are trying to get to the next level, and a lot of times it's for recovery," Golic said. Golic has two sons who are high school football players (Mike Golic Jr. has committed to Notre Dame) and he said this morning, "I told them what I did and I told them it was wrong."

MLB:
Report: A-Rod About to Finalize 10-Year, $275 Million Deal With Yankees: There are still a lot of questions left to be answered here. As we touched on earlier today, under the collective-bargaining agreement, Rodriguez supposedly isn't allowed to negotiate with teams without the aid of an agent. (As some commenters have pointed out, this is up for debate at the moment depending on how you read the wording.) So, can this go through right away without Boras around?

The Debriefing: Boras Fails, Davidson Comes Up Short, and Phil Jackson Sees Penetration: If Scott Boras has emotions, he probably feels sad right now. I don't know how else he'd feel, given that these contract negotiations with Alex Rodriguez have left Scott Boras thoroughly emasculated. Anything that there was to do through the entire situation, he has butchered. He has Isiah Thomased the process. He has Charlie Weised it. He has Norv Turnered it. Let's count the bad decisions.

A-Rod Needs the Yankees and the Yankees Need A-Rod: Finally, this is good for the rest of us because someone is finally giving Scott Boras the finger. Seriously, how sweet would it be if A-Rod fired him and signed for way under market value with the Yankees?

Tom Glavine's Agent Meets With Braves: See how easy that is, people? An agent, well-versed in contractual negotiations, takes a reasonable stance with a front office and deals in the best interests of his client. What will they think of next? A tiny device to carry and play electronically-stored music files? Get out of town!

NFL:
Lambeau Leap Turns Dangerous When Fan Grabs Ruvell Martin's Crotch: You can watch Martin's Lambeau Leap on the NFL.com video highlights of the game (fast-forward to about 3:40). After watching the video, I have two conclusions: First, I think it's the guy in the white doing the grabbing. Second, I think he might be grabbing fabric and not anything underneath fabric. Not that I think Martin wants a guy grabbing the fabric of his pants like that, but I'm not sure that the fan actually grabbed Martin's crotch.

Head NFL Ref Calls Early Whistle Against Colts 'The Worst Mistake You Can Make': Session made an incredible diving catch and then ran the ball almost the length of the field before he was finally tackled at the Chargers' 7-yard line. But that return was called back because, it turned out, one of the officials had blown the play dead. It was a huge mistake by the official, and one that may very well have cost the Colts the game. Today on NFL Network's Total Access, the league's head of officials, Mike Pereira, called blowing the play dead, "the worst mistake you can make."

NHL:
Maple Leafs Rookie Nude Photo Scandal Breaks; Tlusty Apologizes for High-Sticking: Will Leitch over on Deadspin wrote about Tlusty's reaction to the pictures last week, in which he denied being gay or bi-sexual; Outsports.com was critical of Taylor's gossip site for "playing the gay card" for hits. Today, the story broke wide open in the MSM after Tlusty and the Leafs issued a formal statement last night. It was front page news in The Toronto Sun,

Red Wings Involved in Plane Accident: I'm sure some of you sick Blues and Avs fans have been praying for the Detroit Red Wings to be involved in a plane accident of some sort. Admit it, you've probably had a few dreams about Chris Chelios screaming like a little girl as his plane goes down. Well, now your dreams have come true! Yes, the Red Wings were involved in a plane accident last night after their game against the St. Louis Blues.

Stephon Marbury and Isiah ThomasNBA:
Report: Isiah and Marbury Came to Blows: It's interesting how Adamek described his sources; did any of Marbury's teammates say what happened? Or does "one NBA player familiar with the situation" simply mean a player on another team who's recanting the story second-hand? Only Adamek knows for sure; it could very well be a Knick who spilled the beans but requested another layer of anonymity.

P-Jax Reprimanded for 'Brokeback' Reference: League spokesman Brian McIntyre called the comment "in poor taste," and got the Lakers' word that it wouldn't happen again. And civilization was safe again. I've got to hand it to Phil, that was pretty funny. It may not have been the classiest thing to say, but it's hardly cause for outrage.

Dwyane Wade's Not-So-Triumphant Return: Because despite the poetic odes to Wade's return, the Heat still allowed the previously winless Sonics own this game, 104-95. The Sonics led by as many as 23 points, and while Miami deserves credit for making it close, a nine-point loss isn't really much to get excited about. Wade finished the game with 15 points in 24 minutes, shooting 5-9 from the field with one rebound, five assists, three steals and a block.

Longform Shoals: Whatever Happened to LeBron/Melo? James is on another level than Melo, and any reminder of the "Magic and Larry again" script just makes Anthony look bad. But I'm beginning to wonder if it doesn't cut both ways. Even if LeBron James' talent level dwarfs that of Anthony, in some ways Melo comes off better than King James.

Boxing:
Report: New Jersey Removes Larry Hazzard as Top Boxing/MMA Official: The Home News Tribune is reporting that the attorney general of New Jersey has removed Larry Hazzard from the office of Commissioner of the State Athletic Control Board, a position that he has held for 22 years and that has made him one of the most powerful figures in boxing and, more recently, mixed martial arts.

College Football:
Greg Robinson Can't Read: In his Tuesday press conference, Robinson proclaimed "I think my record can show that I'm a good coach." But Robinson's record in 2 plus years at Syracuse is 7-26.

VT's Weekend Was More Interesting Than First Reported: Reports indicate that after the altercation that involved teammate Steven Friday, shots were fired at Harris' on-campus apartment. Fortunately, it appears that Harris wasn't injured and he'll be ready to go as the Old Dominion looks to continue its campaign of doom against the Miami Hurricanes. As I mentioned before, the whole thing gets a "supposedly" flag, since the police are still investigating the situation and Frank Beamer is accused of violating protocol by raising the "possibility" that it was, in fact, Harris' apartment. If that's indeed true, what the police found is genuinely frightening, as there was evidence of 9mm shells and a shotgun blast.

Even The Miami Recruits Are Calling Out Present Players at the "U": Following an embarrassing and epic loss to Virginia to close out the Orange Bowl, you would expect the former Hurricane players to be upset. You would expect the usual talking points of how they need to get their swagger back. How the present players aren't representing well. Whatever. What you don't expect are the incoming Hurricane players -- high school kids -- ripping the present players.

NCAA Basketball:
Just Expand the NCAA Tournament: Now, however, that's not enough. Now a third tier March Tournament is planned. That will bring the number of teams competing in the postseason in three tiers of tournaments to 97. Why? So more teams get to hang a banner for competing while grumbling about being excluded from the Big Dance?