But Wait! He's STILL F*CKIN UP!!!!!

Nothing like a little "Tiger Woods Is Still A Disaster" distraction to take my mind and itchiness off of LeBron for a moment! First came news that Tiger's Wandering Pinnazio is going to cost him at least $750 million in his divorce, with the agreement stipulating that Tiger cannot bring any of his whooooares around their kids unless he's married to one of them. In exchange, Elin must never speak publicly about her relationship, marriage and subsequent divorce, or reveal any details about his private life : namely Tiger's affairs outside of their marriage.

While certainly the amount of money is staggering enough to comprehend, it may be more than just a big number. When you get right down to it, he's essentially paying Elin "hush money", which is surprising because supposedly everything is out in the open now, right? We all know how often he cheated, and who he cheated with. We know how she found out, when she found out, and we also know she beat the living crap out of him with a 9 iron on Thanksgiving as a result. So why do Tiger and his attorney's believe she has to keep quiet? Is it because it will help him recover his image faster? Maybe...but I think there's another reason...

The other reason may have to do with the second piece of news that broke today, which is that Tiger spoke with the Feds regarding his treatment from the currently indicted Doctor Anthony Galea. Tiger's agent Marc Steinberg pointlessly tried to spin it by saying Tiger's not a suspect, Tiger didn't take any steroids or HGH, and he cooperated fully, blah, blah, blah. Suuuure he did. Galea is only accused of giving steroids and HGH to baseball players, NFL and CFL players, and treated Dara Torres...but I'm sure he wouldn't DARE give any juice to TIGER riiiiiiight?! (Hang on my B.S. Detector just exploded).

The fact of the matter is, Galea's assistant was caught with vials of HGH, has since plead guilty and will be a key witness against her boss. If convicted, Galea is looking at up to 20 years in prison. Do you think Galea will be willing to do the time? I personally wouldn't bet on it, which means it's only a matter of time before he starts singing like a canary, Victor Conte-style. Take a wild guess which name he might drop? His name rhymes with Tiger Woods...

So not only has Tiger paid too much hush money to his soon-to-be ex-wife, it probably won't matter anyway because he won't be able to buy Galea out of the mess he's in. Looks like you misread that putt too Tiger. God this is so much for me...

LeBron Update Part VIII

I'm getting itchy about the LeBron situation...This report in the New York Times didn't help my itchiness subside any either as it basically says that Maverick Carter confirmed that any team which listened to World Wide Wes in their plans to woo LeBron was foolish to do so as Wes will not even be PRESENT when LeBron meats with potential suitors! That's really bad news for the Bulls if they were in fact going with World Wide Wes' information and insights into what LeBron wants. Not to mention Dirk Nowitzki opting out of his contract muddies things up even further in terms of possibilities and these supposed summit's that ended up NOT taking place after all really don't help.

All of it leads to a feeling of uneasiness as the Free Agency Storm starts to really pick up steam. Rather than give into panic, I'm going to keep the LeBron Clock at 60%, but I doubt very highly it will raise between now and Thursday...

"NAILS" Indeed

Lenny Dykstra has always fascinated me. He's long been a study in "Never Should, But Amazingly Did" throughout his Major League Baseball career, all the while doing so with a certain assholish charm and a giant ball of tobacco in his cheek. From his walk-off home run in Game 3 of the 1986 NLCS, his flirtation with hitting .400 in 1990, his drunk driving accident that nearly killed him, to his unbelievable 1993 season on one of my favorite baseball teams I've ever watched in my lifetime - the 1993 Phillies. After his retirement from baseball he went on to an even more unlikely success story as a financial wizard (you can see how big-time he got if you click on this link for a fake movie trailer describing it). His rise was so meteoric, it was captured by Real Sports in February of 2008, as well as received Jim Cramer's endorsement for his show Mad Money and his website thestreet.com. He also managed to buy Wayne Gretzky's old house in L.A. worth $17 million at the time as well as fly around in a private jet, and perpetuate the seemingly authentic American Success Story. All of it was indeed too good to be true however. Since that 2008 piece, I'm not sure whether it's more accurate to say that his empire "crumbled" or was nothing but smoke and mirrors in the first place? If you want further details you can read this article from our friends at The Daily Beast and make up your own mind. The article which is an excerpt from a forthcoming book, outlines not only how far Dykstra has fallen, but also details how big of a scumbag he really was to people he owed money to.

The piece that really got my attention though was the other excerpt from the same book detailing Dykstra's Admitted Steroid Use. Lenny has long denied multiple claims - including a mention in the Mitchell Report - that he used steroids in his career. In the excerpt however, he not only fesses up, but described him as a pioneer as one of the first players to use steroids in the game along with Canseco. In terms of the Eye-Test, you can look at the pictures above and see for yourself. Statistically though, the one season that really jumps out is his famous 1993 campaign (Lead the league with 773 Plate Appearances, 143 Runs Scored, 194 Hits, 129 Walks, and hit a career high 19 dingers) where he finished SECOND to Barry Bonds in the MVP vote at the age of 30 (ironic that a then clean Barry Bonds beat a juiced up Lenny Dykstra). Almost immediately after that Dykstra's body broke down, and he was out of the game by 1997.

While Dykstra himself remains a fascinating individual for a multitude of different negative reasons, the main thing I'll walk away with after reading this story, is that Dykstra is yet another example that baseball players that played during the Steroid Era should NOT be given the benefit of the doubt when faced with accusations. Those accusations almost always end up being proven true, and it's only a matter of time before Lenny confirms this publicly.

It's like sex with Kobe Bryant...you can kick and scream all you want Lenny, but it's GONNA happen... 

LeBron Watch Part VII

I was going to listen to Rossi's suggestion of raising the LeBron clock and then I came across these two articles. The first one is a rather disheartening article regarding the ulterior motives of World Wide Wes in his efforts to get LeBron to leave Cleveland - none of which have anything to do with LeBron's personal interests. The second one has to be B.S. because Wade already questioned the "loyalty" of the Bulls organization, and it would really be hard to believe that he would have a change of heart that fast.

With regard to the World Wide Wes article, I must start off that I've been wary of him from the start. I still can't for the life of me why anyone like Jordan, LeBron, or Allen Iverson would ever hang out with a guy like this, let alone allow him influence any decision making. From what I can tell, Wesley has no discernible skills other than talking a good game. It's also disturbing to read this knowing that the Bulls listened to Wesley too and hired Thibodeau within 48 hours of Wesley whispering his name as a possible coach LeBron would like to play for. Bottom Line : this article really muddy's up who World Wide Wes is, not to mention if this article is accurate it's a bad sign for the Bulls that they will have to cater to this guys every wish should they land LeBron.

As for Wade, I'm still not interested as a Bulls fan. I personally don't think Wade's best days are ahead of him as a player, not to mention he's an OLD 28 wouldn't you agree? The loyalty thing really put me over the edge too, and I have to believe Wade meant it when he said it. So I'm not counting on him really being interested in the Bulls despite the report. 

I'm going to keep the clock at 60% for now, as I don't think the Bulls chances have necessarily been affected, even though things are a little murkier perception-wise. Can't wait to see what the B.S. Rumor Mill brings in tomorrow... 

LeBron Update Part VI

Saw this report on the Chicago Tribune website via the N.Y. Times. I'm now raising the LeBron clock to 60% as we get ever closer to July 1 Bulls fans. Again it might not just be LeBron the Bulls walk away with too. I have no idea if it will mean Bosh as well, but I was also encouraged by this report by the Boo-Yah's that the Knicks are willing to offer the full boat to Joe Johnson, meaning the Bulls wouldn't waste money on the aforementioned Johnson.

Starting to get really interesting now...

Weekend Cuppage Roundup

• Tough loss for the US Soccer team as they once again found themselves being eliminated by Ghana for the second World Cup in a row despite the presence of Team Mascot Bill Clinton hanging out with Mick Jagger during the game. Ghana scored early in the contest which set the tone for the rest of the game. Watching the match, it was very apparent that Ghana was faster and way more athletic than the US, but what the US lacked in athleticism, they made up for in determination. The US had two BIG chances to score which would have given them the victory. Unfortunately the dreaded label of "woulda, coulda, shoulda," will be attached to their efforts in the 2010 World Cup. We will see if Bob Bradley will come back to coach the US for the next World Cup in 2014. Personally speaking I think Diego Maradona is proving that it really doesn't matter who the coach is in soccer, as long as you have great players like Argentina does.
• Baseball was very good this weekend to The Beard as the surging White Sox took another series against the Cubs and won that stupid and pointless BP Crosstown Cup that I'm really hopeful mysteriously goes missing before 2011. It seemed only fitting that the third longest winning streak ended against the Cubs, since the last time the Sox lost was against the Cubs two weeks ago. The Sox are driving in runs in clutch situations while the rotation has finally started pitching like it was supposed to (Thank you Jake Peavy for finally getting checked out and figuring out what the problem was). Who knows how far this will go, but I give the White Sox a ton of credit for doing what they had to do to climb back in the division race, and I'm now actually back to a state of looking forward to watching the next White Sox game.
• As for the Cubs, the story of the weekend was obviously Carlos Zambrano being Carlos Zambrano once again. Now Big Z finds himself suspended indefinitely awaiting the MLB Players Union to weigh in on it. On top of which, Zambrano is also in hot water with his team for dining with Ozzie Guillen after Friday's game/meltdown, and even when he does come back he'll be in the bullpen again. Paul Sullivan did a nice job here of putting together a list of incidents and apologies Zambrano has made over his mercurial career. I'd like to ask my Cub fans out there, isn't this story kind of dull? Obviously this is hardly the first time something like this has happened, and obviously the same thing will happen again down the line because Zambrano simply can't help himself. I honestly don't think he's like Milton Bradley though. Bradley thinks the world is out to get him. Zambrano doesn't give off a vibe of paranoia, but rather has very little self control and little regard for formality, politeness, or rational behavior when he's on the mound. In terms of trading him? I can never say never. I never would have thought someone would trade for Milton Bradley but that shockingly happened. What I know for sure is that Zambrano has a full no-trade clause, and four (including this one) more seasons at roughly $18 million per. I don't really know who would be interested in that - especially for an 8th inning specialist, nor do I know what teams would be willing to give up for that? It seems to me like the Cubs are in bed with Big Z for the duration of their short sighted yet way too lengthy contract they gave him in 2008. Maybe it's time the Cubs ask Zambrano, "What can Paxil, do for YOU"?

Weekend Forecast : Soccer-y With A Chance Of Meatball

Busy weekend coming up. My suddenly baseball proficient Chicago White Sox take on the Cubs at the Cell this weekend (good luck to my family and friends attending Saturdays game). It will be interesting to see if they can keep up their dominance over the National League in addition to adding to their 9 game winning streak. Also USA Soccer, fresh off of their exhilarating victory over Algeria, take on Ghana on Saturday. Let's hope that the US Team only has to play the Ghana team rather than the Ghana team AND the refs.  USA! USA! USA!

On the NBA Draft front, I'm ecstatic at what the Bulls did. They freed up more money and dealt a player in Kirk Hinrich that while solid, was never going to be better than what he is. I mean honestly, can you name a moment in Hinrich's Bulls career that made you say "Oh My God!"? I'm having trouble finding one at the moment. Also I had a funny exchange with someone who tried to tell me that Corey  Maggette is a good to great player, until I pointed out that Maggette has never made an all-star team, an all-NBA team, or lead the league in any statistical category EVER. Maggette will always be a guy that could have done anything he wanted to with his ability but immediately stopped caring when he got paid, and essentially is still the same player he was his rookie year.

Apparently a player with that skill set is worth 5 years at $50 million. Bad...

"...LOOK AT YOU NOW!"

By request I was asked what I thought of this fun piece of fiction that Phil Rogers wrote today about the suddenly red hot White Sox. In it, he speculates (and for some reason points out he's been speculating this for a while) that with the Florida Marlins firing of manager Fredi Gonzalez today, it will open the door for Guillen to become the manager of the Marlins next season. It should immediately be pointed out that Ozzie quickly denied wanting the Marlins job when he was asked about it, so let's get that out of the way before I really pick this one apart.

Rogers' web of speculation has it that when Bobby Cox retires this season, Fredi will be named the Braves manager. Why is that a foregone conclusion? Fredi lives in Georgia, he was a coach on the Braves staff in 2003, and he benched Hanley Ramirez for not hustling this season. I guess those three pieces of information make it a lock that he would take the Braves job no matter what? I'd have to believe he would have other manager offers next season, and wouldn't immediately jump at the Braves job. Not to mention Fredi seems smart enough to know that you don't replace the Legend, you replace the REPLACEMENT for the Legend.

Rogers also speculates that Guillen would want the Marlins job should it be available...ignoring that Guillen is still under contract and that Reinsdorf has no intention of firing him. Phil pointed out that Guillen "...a personal favorite of Reinsdorf's even though he savagely criticized the team when his Chicago stint as shortstop was over..." Ummmmm WHAT?! PHIL...Ozzie ripped the organization when was cut in 1998. Do you know what's happened since that time? He's been the damn White Sox Manager since 2004 and in case you also don't remember this, he got Jerry his coveted World Series Trophy 5 years ago. I THINK REINSDORF HAS GOTTEN OVER GETTING RIPPED BY OZZIE IN 1998! My Goodness are you an idiot, but you don't stop there do you Phil?

Indeed he doesn't stop there because the third piece of this Fiction Trifecta involves the vastly overrated Tony LaRussa becoming a part of the White Sox organization in 2011. Rogers' sites an interview with the Chicago Tribune done in February where he said he would "love" to work for Jerry Reinsdorf again....but NOT as the manager. OK Phil....what would Tony be doing then?! Is he head of scouting? Is he Assistant GM because they will fire Rick Hahn? Is the the General Manager because they will fire Kenny and NOT hire Rick Hahn? Is he a bench coach because Joey Cora is going to be the manager or will he just cave in and be the White Sox manager when Ozzie is allowed to go to Miami? What's Tony going to do in the White Sox organization?! Show me where he's going to have a place?

This whole piece is absurd and fundamentally flawed from start to finish. Phil should be ashamed of himself for allowing this diarrhea of consciousness to be expressed via the printed word. Phil has been employed by the Chicago Tribune as their baseball "bigfoot" since 1997, but I still for the life of me cannot figure out why? Unless a real journalist like Joe Cowley of the Suntimes reports this, I'm going to assume this is absolute drivel.

Let's hope everyone else does the same...

Dollars And Sense (Quick Trigger)

So the Hawks decided to have a fun two week Stanley Cup honeymoon and immediately got back to work even before the damn NHL Awards in Vegas had completed by shipping Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and (yeah I never heard of him either) Akim Aliu to the Atlanta Thrashers for Marty Reasoner, Jeremy Morin and two draft picks (1st and 2nd).

While it might put a bit of a somber buzz kill because this trade involves one of the more popular players on the team in Byfuglien, looking at it from 35,000 it seemed like a necessary move. The NHL Salary Cap structure doesn't allow for dynasty's to be built by retaining everyone, and adding salary. Something has to give in most teams situations, and in the Blackhawks situation, something REALLY had to give as they need to cut payroll. With this deal, the Hawks save around $4 million. This deal also allows them a chance to sign Antii Niemi (or "Nemi Niemi" as Jon Miller called him during the Cubs-Sox game two weeks ago), Patrick Sharp and Niklas Hjalmarsson. If they can lock those guys up then the deal is worth it, if not it will look way worse than it probably was, much like the White Sox trade of Aaron Rowand for Jim Thome.

Personally speaking this is a perfect opportunity for Stan Bowman to show what a great General Manager he is supposed to be. I commend him for recognizing that and making such a bold move without hesitation. He is consistent with the overall Blackhawks way of doing things in the sense that they are not afraid to make tough decisions that might not be immediately well received by the fan base.

Just ask Denis Savard and Dale Tallon.

Why My Wife Makes Fun Of Me (and others too)...

It's around this time of the year where I'm reminded of how I really wasn't a ladies man in high school, or college, or adulthood. I'm also reminded of why I never really did well in school either. The reason why I'm reminded around this time of the year is because every June I start to get excited about the release of EA Sports NCAA Football game, in this case EA Sports NCAA Football 11. I know, go ahead and laugh at what a loser I am.

Regardless of my personal shame, there is actual sports information to be gathered from this game. For one thing, it's really the first preseason rankings to come out for the upcoming College Football season. Here is a copy of this year's Preseason Top 25, in which case the Alabama Crimson Tide are your number 1 ranked team heading in to the upcoming season. Granted there are some other goofy things in these rankings with USC cracking the top 15, but heads up Joseph your Iowa Hawkeyes are number 10!
Anyway here's the trailer that's available. I still think it looks pretty sssssthweet...

Never Say Never

I have a feeling I'm going to get a beatdown for sharing this. I've noticed a strange thing is happening to me lately. The fact that it's strange shouldn't be too surprising considering it's me, but this one is particularly odd considering I've had my whole life to be disinterested, yet now all of a sudden I'm curious about it. I'm actually watching and paying attention to the FIFA World Cup! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

Please understand that I've fought and resisted soccer my whole life - even when I played as a youth like every kid in America did. The World Cup wasn't even really brought to my attention until 1994 when it was played in the U.S. and the Opening Ceremony/Game was at Soldier Field in Chicago. I never got how the entire world can go nuts about this sport. I didn't see the excitement of watching teams like Portugal vs Mexico. Even when I as in Europe during the 1998 World Cup. I was surrounded by World Cup Superfans in a tavern in Florence, Italy. The entire bar was silent until Italy scored a goal and erupted in a chant of "ITALIA! ITALIA! ITALIA!" I still didn't get it...

As I've gotten older now I found myself dramatically softening my position on the World Cup and Soccer in general. It's very similar to my feelings on hockey in that I find that I can appreciate the skill level that's displayed on the field. I also find myself putting aside my prejudices and "who cares" feelings toward the sport and decided to just take it in for what it is. As a result, I find soccer to be much more digestible but I know that most people in America still don't.

I've tried to pinpoint why that is and I've reached a couple of conclusions. One, while playing soccer is very demanding physically, the players certainly don't help themselves with all the flopping they do during a game, and acting like their leg has been severed (some actually tear up on command), but then suddenly pop up like nothing happened. The other conclusion I've reached is that any time I'm watching a soccer match with long time soccer fans, they will put forth some futile effort to try and convince me that these are the "best athlete's in the world" which of course is absolutely ridiculous to the point where I usually break out in laughter in front of these people. So without getting too deep in my observable analysis, it's a safe assumption that both the players and their fans are detrimental to their own cause of getting soccer to become accepted by U.S. audiences.

The irony is, I've picked an awful World Cup to pay attention to this time. We all know about the U.S. Team getting screwed out of a victory against Slovenia. There have been 9 Ties so far. The World Cup workers have been getting paid a quarter of what the South African government said they would be paid thus resulting in protests. Don't let me forget the awful wintry weather conditions that have surrounded most of the games. You have the French team completely melting down, and last but certainly not least the ANNOOOOOOOOOYING VUVUZELAS! Add all that up and overall things have not been as smooth as hoped for.

With all that said however, I think that watching and rooting for Team USA is a good thing, even if you don't like the sport. If you do like the sport, it's fun to root for your country to advance. If you don't like the sport, take solace in the fact that if the US were to ever (god forbid) get to the final or win the World Cup, it would be a giant Middle Finger to the rest of the world because we would win the ultimate title in the "world's sport" and our country's best athletes don't even play soccer.

There I said it...

A Lesson In "Stroke"

I meant to get to my thoughts on this article written a couple of days ago by the best White Sox Insider in the business Joe Cowley. It's been long reported that Kenny and Ozzie have had a pretty substantial fallout over the past couple years, but it's been especially ramping up in the past five months with everything from Kenny throwing Ozzie under the bus at Soxfest for not retaining Jim Thome, to the attempted Twitter Page shutdown, the firing of Oney Guillien, and most recently the reports of Ozzie and Kenny nearly coming to blows over the White Sox selecting Ozney Guillen in the 22nd round of this years draft. In case you were wondering why Ozzie would be upset about his kid being drafted, there are two things you should know. First, Ozzie had been assured that Ozney would be picked by the 10th round, not the 22nd. Second, Kenny drafted his son Kenneth Williams Jr in the 6th round in the 2008 Draft and gave his son a $150,000 bonus. Williams Jr went on to reward his father's belief in him by becoming an injury case while hitting .227 at Single A Winston-Salem at post time.

Add all of the above mentioned drama on top of a reality show that is filming this season called "The Club", and you have the makings of a classic case of Push coming to Shove. From what Cowley writes, that's exactly what nearly happened as Kenny approached The Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and brought up the idea of firing Ozzie. Reinsdorf told Kenny to "go get his shine box" and made it very clear to Kenny that he will not be able to fire Ozzie. The next thing we see, is Kenny on the team flight (for the first time this season) to Pittsburgh where he sat next to, and played nice with, Ozzie. Both Ozzie and Kenny confirmed that they are on better terms and tried to downplay the friction between the two after the flight. It also bears mentioning that independent of all this, the White Sox have managed to win some games against the underbelly of the National League.

Well I am simply amazed that Reinsdorf said what he said to Kenny, and I'm convinced that when this season is over, Rick Hahn will be the new White Sox General Manager no matter what. First of all as an owner, when you hire a General Manager you have to give him complete autonomy to do what he feels is in the best interest of the Organization. It completely defeats the purpose of having a GM if you tell him who he can and can't fire. That type of behavior is called "Steinbrenner-ism" because even if it has the best of intentions, it is nothing more than meddling and undermining. Reinsdorf knows this. So for him to tell Kenny he can't fire Ozzie indicates to me that he's had enough of Williams and he's either trying to force Williams to quit, or he really meant it when he said Ozzie will be the White Sox manager until he doesn't want to be anymore, no matter what.

Whatever Reinsdorf's intentions may be, the lesson here is crystal clear. Ozzie has more power than Kenny even though Kenny is his boss. Say what you want about Ozzie being "crazy", or a "loose cannon", but he has proven himself to be a very good manager who is obviously capable of winning a championship and most importantly he curry's favor with the Owner. On the other hand according to multiple sources, Kenny is not the same guy he was when he built the 2005 team. The word is that Kenny's ego has gotten out of control to the point where some within the organization have been referring to him as "Hollywood Kenny Williams" due to the constant presence of cameras in the White Sox clubhouse this season.

All of it has lead to a situation that is untenable, something has to give and if I had to guess who it will be it's Williams. Rick Hahn has been named by many publications as the number 1 candidate to become a General Manager next season (even though Danny Evans had similar accolades ten years earlier). He's a Harvard Law and Kellogg Business School of Management graduate as well, and obviously is very familiar with the White Sox organization. Williams contract is one that rolls over annually, and Reinsdorf would only be on the hook to pay him a years salary if he decides to fire Kenny.

It would make complete and total sense to make this move especially with the rise of MBA Cerebral Types being hired as General Managers more and more every season. Don't believe me? Just answer this question. Besides Kenny Williams, name the ONLY other current General Manager that was a former MLB player? Hint : He's received a whole lot of fanfare, but his team has won 1 playoff series during his lengthy administration...

You answer that, and other answers start to materialize.

Tap In's...

• Goodness gracious me...Jake Peavy apparently has shoulder problems, and has had them for "a while". In a related note, the sky has admitted to being blue, water has confirmed that it's still wet, and both have also been that way for "a while". All kidding aside, anyone who has watched Jake pitch this season knows that there have been whispers of him having arm problems since spring training. His fastball has been around 3-5 MPH short than normal, his curveballs and sliders have been of the rolling cement-mixer type of breaking balls that tend to get knocked around the ballpark every time. The good news is that the MRI revealed no structural damage, and from what I read online, fluid in the rotator cuff is treatable as long as the tendon doesn't tear - if that is in fact what's wrong with Jake. As a White Sox fan obviously I hope that is the case because the sooner Jake can get back to THIS GUY, the better off everyone will be.
• There's NFL Criminals like Ben Roethlisberger, and there's NFL Knucklehead D-Bags like Albert Haynesworth of the Washington Redskins. Last year Haynesworth complained that the Redskins don't have any leadership, even though he was being paid $100 million to be a leader. Now the intellectually and common sense challenged DT has decided to skip the mandatory minicamp and is demanding a trade...AFTER he took a $21 million dollar bonus in April. Mike Shanahan said that he gave Albert the option of being released so he could sign with another team, rather than pay him the $21 million dollar bonus. He took the money, and now the Redskins are supposedly trying to recoup the bonus. The source of Albert's frustration? He doesn't like that the Redskins are going to a 3-4 based scheme instead of the 4-3, even though Shutdown Corner detailed at length how Haynesworth can be really effective in a 3-4 scheme. One of the other fun parts of this is to watch the almost uniform response from Albert's teammates who have accurately called him "Selfish"! Usually when contract disputes happen, players usually give some store-bought answer of "Oh I just hope both sides come to an agreement and he can start playing real soon." That isn't happening here, which tells me that Haynesworth is not only a primadonna malcontent, but a bad teammate too. In a way I almost admire Haynesworth on a twisted and sarcastic level, because it takes a special kind of jerkwad to make me side with the Redskins in ANYTHING.

LeBron Update Part V

For as much as I like to go toe-to-toe with my guy Rossi and his Notre Dame delusions of grandeur, he was the first to tell me that Izzo has rejected the Cavs offer today. Izzo rejected it mainly because he was unable to speak with James. You may recall that just yesterday I saw the potential talks between Izzo and James as a big obstacle in the likelihood of James becoming a Bull, lowered the LeBron Clock to 25%, and stated that if Izzo takes the Cavs job it's a certainty that James will stay in Cleveland.

Well now I'm happy to say I'll be raising the LeBron Clock up to a new high of 50%! I'm raising it not only because of Izzo's decision to stay at East Lansing, but also because of the report I heard on the Score today. The report mainly said that the press conference where Cavs owner Dan Gilbert went out of his way to say that LeBron will not be involved in the Cavs coaching hire whatsoever, really didn't sit well with James. LeBron allegedly has taken exception to that bit of grandstanding by Gilbert, and this maybe yet another reason for LeBron to feel he needs to move on from the Cavs. While that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to the Bulls, it certainly doesn't hurt the Bulls chances does it?

Oh what a difference a day makes...

Much Ado About Nothing

Turns out the Big 12 isn't going anywhere, and that Nebraska and Colorado are the only teams leaving. The irony being that this makes the Big Ten have 12 teams, and the Big Twelve has 10 teams now. In a weird way, I feel sort of let down. I think it's too bad because the possible massive conference realignment was generating a lot of positive buzz among college football fans. It certainly got my attention, and I know it sent shock waves coast to coast. It also managed to distract everyone from the real problem college football has of no playoff system.

Still, it's going to be pretty fun to watch Nebraska eventually play in the Big Ten. I am going to be curious how the Big 12 plans on having a Conference Championship Game when they don't have enough teams to legally do so? I'll also be curious if the Big Ten will have a championship game now since they have 12 teams?

Time will tell how these, and all the other possibilities will shake out.

Lou Piniella Might Have Alzheimer's

I've gotten into it with a couple of my friends lately regarding the non-story, story that is the Lou Piniella-Steve Stone spat that served as a backdrop for the White Sox-Cubs Meatball Series. Before you read any further, take a look at this footage which summarizes the whole spat, and tell me who handled it with more eloquently and rationally, Lou or Steve?

After viewing that, allow me to share my thoughts on the matter. Steve Stone is an analyst. He makes a very nice living not only serving as color commentator for Chicago White Sox broadcasts, but he also serves as a baseball analyst for Comcast Sports Net and various other media i.e. The Score. We all know Steve Stone's long history and bitter ending of his broadcasting services with the Chicago Cubs. Stone is not too shy about letting people know he has an ego, and at times it has rubbed people the wrong way. Dusty Baker and Kent Merker are living examples of guys who have taken exception to Stone for exactly those reasons. 

The crux of the argument that I've had about people who have defended Lou's outburst, seems to stem from them not liking Steve Stone and finding him annoying. Again though, I believe that liking or disliking Steve Stone is irrelevant and here's the reason why. The issue was Stone suggesting that Lou has not played Tyler Colvin enough this season. Now Lou's response wasn't "I disagree, I think I've played him enough", or maintain his "It wouldn't be fair to the other three veteran outfielders" theory. Lou decided to go "Street Cred" on Stone in a major way, even though Fred Mitchell asked Lou a question about Jake Peavy! Lou brought up the fact that Stone hasn't managed, been a coach, or a farm director, and therefore has no right to question Lou's lineup making. I won't get into the slippery slope of whether or not Lou thinks ANYBODY who hasn't done those things has no right to criticize him. All I will ask though is WAS STEVE STONE RIGHT? Lou didn't answer that question during his outburst did he?

Flash forward 72 hours later, and this report crosses the wires. Now Lou thinks Colvin should play more?! Are you kidding me?! After all of Lou's histrionics and strident yelling about who has done more as a manager in baseball. After all of his grandstanding, self-indulgent righteous indignation, and "1800 wins" B.S., Lou does the EXACT THING Stone said he should do?! You have got to be kidding me Lou. That is completely PATHETIC, and you should be ashamed of yourself. What's also disturbing if you are a Cub fan, is that this isn't the first time he's reversed himself after yelling at a member of the media for suggesting something to him either.

So the question now becomes, does Lou have Alzheimer's Disease, or did he realize that Stone might be right? If it's the former, then he needs professional help right away. If it's the latter and if he's concerned with showing any kind of class or accountability, he might want to think about apologizing to Stone, or at the very least admit that Stone might have had the right idea about giving Colvin more playing time.

LeBron Update Part IV

Tom Izzo isn't as dumb as I thought. He's pretty much made it clear that he won't take the Cavs job until he speaks with and is assured by LeBron James that he will return to the Cavs next season. According to many reports like this one, they have not spoken yet. Adding to the confusion is LeBron himself who said that he would "100%" endorse Izzo as coach of the Cavs - take your guess on what that's supposed to mean?

I know LeBron has said a lot of things since his team was eliminated, each one more contradictory than the previous statement. Once again, LeBron has not tipped his hand in the slightest, and has given no clue as to where he is leaning. His people, most notably World Wide Wes have given various winks and nods obviously, but that in no way should be taken as LeBron Gospel even though it would appear that the Bulls have done exactly that with the hiring of Tom Thibodeau. One thing that does appear important to him is winning the championship. If it were all about money, LeBron would just stay in Cleveland where he stands to make the most, and none of this would be happening right now. So the fact that he hasn't re-signed with the Cavs is telling in and of itself.

That said, I'm reducing the LeBron Clock to 25%. I just don't like that Izzo will be able to talk to LeBron before taking the job, and/or that they can talk each other into signing with Cleveland. I'd like to think that tampering rules would prevent this from happening, but if you believe other reports out there, the league would have to suspend itself if it knew what was happening under the table, tampering wise.

Out of all the uncertainty though, this much is clear. If Izzo takes the job, it's a foregone conclusion that LeBron will be back with the Cavs and the Bulls will need to wait until 2013 to make a big splash free agent wise.

That's Trouble...

He might get away with it folks...Barry Bonds secured a legal victory as huge as his head with the court ruling that prosecutors cannot use positive urine tests, the doping calendars Greg Anderson kept, and the BALCO log sheets used to track Bonds program. The court reached this decision because "“There is little or no indication that Bonds actually exercised any control over Anderson in determining when the samples were obtained, to whom they were delivered, or what tests were performed on them.”

This is pretty much the legal equivalent (and Gwen Knapp agrees) a putting the Prosecutors into a Boxing match with one hand tied behind their back because the bulk of the prosecutors case was contingent upon Greg Anderson's cooperation, as well as the samples in order to prove that Bonds knowingly took steroids and lied under oath in December of 2003.

Now that they don't have the main weapons they need with Anderson continuing to do more jail time than Bonds would have done if he had just plead guilty. This pretty much means that the only chance the government has to still have a case to nail Bonds, is to appeal up to the Supreme Court. Does the government have the stones to try that? I can't rule it out, but it's still really amazing that the most obvious steroid cheat the game of baseball - let alone amateur and professional sports - has ever seen, is most likely going to get away with this...

Meatball Time

I'd be remiss to create a blog with Whitey Guccione on the front of it, and not mention the upcoming White Sox - Cubs series. I'm not going to waste a whole lot of time breaking down matchups, or reading into anything that simply isn't there because neither one of these teams are any good. There's something about this besides the Blackhawks Parade taking place tomorrow that makes this weekend series seem even more perfunctory. It's the sense of over-saturation really. I'm beginning to wonder if we've reached the point where there are too many games between the two, or better yet should they play each other every other year?

That said though, while I continue to poo-poo the series the night before it takes place, the same thing always happens the day of the first game. Those old reflexes and Inner Meatball come back the moment I see a Cub fan say the word "Cuuuuuubbieeeeeesss...." on TV, and I immediately become focused on the games at hand. All of a sudden there are no three more important baseball games being played than this weekend at Wrigley Field.

I know it will happen to me again tomorrow. I'm hoping to hell the Sox don't get swept, and Whitey Guccione doesn't get the crap kicked out of him at Wrigley, as he tends to take these games as serious as the World Series...

College Football JOLT

What the hell just happened? College sports, specifically College Football has been turned on it's ear today with some startling announcements. The first announcement of the NCAA hitting USC in the crotch shouldn't be too surprising to anyone who's read this blog with regularity. The second announcement of the Colorado ("ssssthweet stadium...I heard they sssthell booozthe there...) leaving the Big 12 for the Pac-10 today is particularly intriguing because they are now the first official domino to fall in what is believed to be widespread disintegration of the Big 12 conference.


Let's start with USC. The NCAA seems to have grown a pair as they handed down one of the stiffest punishments since 1995 against "The U" when they removed 31 scholarships from Miami. This reminded me of the old days when things like "The Death Penalty" were still able to be used by the NCAA to punish rogue programs like Kentucky and in the infamous SMU case. The damage for USC? They are banned from playing in a Bowl game for 2 years, on probation for 4 years, lose 30 scholarships over the next three years, vacated 14 victories from December 2004 - and the entire 2005 season (looks like Notre Dame DID win the "Bush Push Game" after all), and there's now discussion on whether or not the 2004 National Championship will be vacated as well.


That's a pretty spicy meatball Trojans! For people like me who have always found something rotten in Denmark or in this case University Park, Los Angeles, this is pretty impressive. After reading Tarnished Heisman, while I was no doubt entertained by the details in it, I still had doubts if the NCAA would really be firm with USC, or if they would continue their recent history of slaps on the wrist. We got our answer today, and that answer is the whip is cracking. The only real question left for me is will they take Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy back? Here's a good piece debating that possibility. I know there are certain legalities involved that don't leave this a cut and dried issue, but if I'm on the board of trustees at the Downtown Athletic Club I'd have to at least be uncomfortable with the now FACT a "professional" athlete won our award. Another favorite part for me is the reaction of Pete "Captain Happy"Carrol and Reggie Bush. They really want to have us believe they are "shocked" by these findings? That's up there with OJ searching for the "real killers". Go sell that somewhere else fellas...

Now let's get to the Big 12. Colorado has officially made the first move to the Pac-10 from the Big 12. Nebraska is expected to announce they have made the move to the Big Ten on Friday. There are also rumors out of Kansas City that Texas, and Texas A&M have petitioned to join the Big Ten, and Oklahoma wanting to join the SEC. While that rumor is strictly unfounded at this point, the more realistic scenario is Texas, TAMU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State joining the Pac-10 and making it a 16 team conference.

If that happens, doesn't Notre Dame HAVE to join the Big Ten? While obviously Notre Dame doesn't HAVE to do anything (don't believe me, just ask them and they'll tell you) personally I hope they do. I think it would be terrific for not only Notre Dame to finally stop playing The Military schools but it would also be fabulous for the conference to have 14 teams in it with Nebraska, ND, and Rutgers in the mix. Plus that silly National TV Contract ND has with NBC is not making NBC any money any more. In one felt swoop, Notre Dame can finally put away the argument of "They Don't Play Anybody", join a Big Ten that is suddenly going to be considered a Power Conference, have annual games with Ohio State, Illinois, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Penn State among others, they would also get a piece of the increased revenue the Big Ten is going to get with this new realignment.

While I still can't get an answer as to why all this conference realignment is all happening other than the short & easy answer of "money", this are historic events taking place right now. If the Pac-10 gets 16 teams, and the Big Ten gets 14 teams, how far away are we from having 4 Major Conferences divided by geography each with 16 teams in it for a total of 64? That would make a playoff scenario a little easier to structure wouldn't it???

CUP!

They Did It!!! The Chicago Blackhawks have won the 2010 Stanley Cup! In what can only be described as arguably the biggest turnaround  in the history of professional sports, the Blackhawks have come full circle since the passing of their late owner Bill Wirtz in 2007. In a contest where the score is (relatively) misleading, Patrick Kane scored the winning goal in overtime to give the Hawks the 4-3 win! The goal which was scored not only  in electrifying fashion, but also by the thinnest of margins, to the point where for a few blissful seconds Kane was the only one in the arena that knew it went in. Overall though, the game summarized what the Blackhawks have been about all season : timely scoring chances mixed in with superb defense, efficient penalty killing, and fabulous goal tending. Just a perfect end to a truly remarkable and historic season.

Yes we all know that the Hawks have been an afterthought in Chicago for many decades. Yes we all know that Dollar Bill Wirtz took every chance he could over the last 14 years of his life to alienate any fans of his franchise that he had left. It wasn't that long ago, that the Chicago Wolves of the AHL were out-drawing Blackhawks games in attendance. None of that matters now, as the Blackhawks are now not only the toast of Chicago, but the rest of the NHL. The only worries both long time fans plus newborn Hawk fans have to concern themselves with now is how many players return for next year, and how many more Stanley Cups will the Hawks win this decade?

That's another matter for another time. As of right now, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the Hawks for allowing fans like myself to finally be able to laugh about the following names : Mike Smith, Theo Fleury, Darryl Sutter, Craig Harstburg, Alpo Suhonen, Bernie Nicholls, Bob Probert, Alex Zhamnov, Jocelyn Thibault, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, Kyle Calder, Mark Bell, Michael Nylander, Lyle Odeline, Steve Poapst, Eric Daze, and any of the other stiffs over the years that have the blueprint of mediocrity attached to them which has plagued this franchise for several years of my hockey existence.

So CHEERS to the Blackhawks for winning arguably the toughest championship to win in teams sports, for becoming the feel good story of Chicago, and for paving the way for a possible dynasty that will run roughshod throughout the rest of the NHL for years to come!

GO HAWKS!!!!!!

Well That's One Way To Start...

In case you didn't see the Major League Debut of Stephen Strasburg 7 inning, 94 pitch, 14 strikeout and equally impressive ZERO Walk performance, here's a highlight reel of it. I must admit that after having my doubts when he was drafted initially, he looked really impressive tonight. I had been told that his curve-ball was the best anyone had seen since Dwight Gooden. After watching it tonight against the Pirates, it might be better than Doctor K's. I won't even mention how lightning quick that fastball looked, how well he located it, and how silly the Pirates looked at the plate.

I couldn't help but be reminded of Kerry Wood's 5th career start in 1998 when he struck out 20 Houston Astros and came within an eyelash of a no-hitter. One major difference between that start and Strasburg was I feel much better about Strasburg's mechanics than I did Wood (then again I liked Mark Prior's mechanics too, so take it with a grain of salt). Another interesting correlation is that both Wood and Strasburg had the same manager in Jim Riggleman. You recall that earlier this season Riggleman apologized for leaving Wood in games too long and for letting Wood's pitch-count reach the 120's on several occasions. Well apparently Riggleman wasn't paying lip service to his apology because he didn't even let Strasburg throw 100 pitches tonight, even though he certainly had to be tempted to let him take the mound in the 8th inning.

Anyway, I know it was against the Pirates - who don't really know how to play against anybody not named the Chicago Cubs, but still this was a debut that belongs as one of the best of all time. There are only two other pitchers that struck out more hitters than Strasburg in their debut, and they are J.R. Richard in 1971 and Karl Spooner in 1954. It bears pointing out though, that BOTH Richard and Spooner needed 9 innings to get to 15 strikeouts. So considering they got 6 more outs, it really adds to how remarkable Strasburg was tonight.

Hopefully it's the start of good things to come for both him, and for the ever increasing attendance figures of National fans.

Money Talks (B.S. Runs The Marathon)

Big shout out to my guy and fellow UD Flyer Rossi for supplying this info to me last week. I've been meaning to get to it, but got a little sidetracked. In case you were ever wondering what profit vs overhead your favorite schools basketball program pulled in this year, the good folks at CNNMoney.com have the answer for you here. Some interesting numbers that stick out:

1. Last season's National Championship participants didn't make any money. Butler University broke even, while the Dookies took a $2,000,000 dollar loss.

2. The biggest margin loss belongs to Karl Malone's Alma Mater Louisiana Tech at 307%.

3. The biggest Profit Margin belongs to Ohio State at 71%, followed closely by the University of Illinois at 67%. Out of the top ten schools in Profit Margin, four schools are in the Big Ten Conference.

4. The most expensive program out there in terms of actual dollar also belongs to the Dookies, but what's really interesting is the 2nd most expensive program running...MARQUETTE! Can't say I would have guessed that, but here we are.

5. The program that brought in the most raw dollars belongs to Louisville and their Wandering Wang of a coach Rick Pitino. They managed to bring in $25.5 million this year.

In terms of my beloved UD Flyers, the numbers are pretty intriguing. There's only 7 other programs with a higher profit margin. Of those 7 schools, Dayton's not even a tenth of their size enrollment wise. They're knocking on the door of bringing in 8 figures in terms of revenue, which begs the question...Is Dayton spending enough money to be taken seriously, or does more need to be spent in terms of recruiting?

One thing I do know for sure, every school hates when numbers like these are published for three reasons. One, if they're hemorrhaging money like say Northern Illinois University, it's embarrassing to the alumni and students. Two, if they are showing that they're making a substantial profit but there's no Elite Eight or Final Four appearances, the alumni and students begin to wonder if they are being taken advantage of. The third reason schools hate when this information gets out, is because it gives people like me ammunition in the argument against keeping it illegal to pay these players. I've often said these players bring in a ton of money for their schools, and they should be paid accordingly. The concept of a "student-athlete" is one of the biggest myths out there in sports, and it's time we all stop kidding ourselves and just accept the fact that these players are merely employees of the school and nothing more. Last time I checked, employees should be paid for their work.

Anyway, I hope you find actual tangible dollars basketball programs bring in as interesting as I do.

LeBron Update Part III

So after firing Vinny Del Negro and telling everyone that they wanted to hire a Head Coach with previous head coaching experience, they hire Tom Thibodeau...who has NEVER been the head coach at either the Division One college level, or the NBA. Ummmmm....OK? That kind of doesn't seem consistent, but whatever. I can't help but wonder if Tom took a page out of the Vinny Del Negro interview book, and did nothing but talk about how important defense is in the NBA, to sell himself to Gar-Pax? At least with Thibodeau, there is a much bigger body of work to show that he actually means it when he says it.

The only thing that really matters though, is how this will affect LeBron James decision to join the Bulls. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports is reporting that this coaching hire will really help the Bulls land James. The connection being that, not only William Wesley telling people that LeBron really wants to play for the Bulls, but also that Tom Thibodeau also signed with William Wesley's Creative Artists Agency (CAA). OK. On the surface it seems like a stretch that a middle man having the same agency as a coach would be enough to get the biggest superstar in the NBA to sign with your team. I will not discount however, the power and influence that CAA has, as well as Wesley.

We'll obviously see where this goes, but for the time being I'll raise the LeBron Clock to 40%, and hope like hell it becomes 100% less than a month from now...

Why I Never Get Excited For the MLB Draft

There seems to be a collective effort on the part of Major League Baseball to put some weight behind their marathon that is the MLB First Year Player Draft...all 50 rounds of it. This year's draft is particularly intriguing because of Bryce Harper. Harper has been called "Baseball's LeBron James" as recently as a year ago. He hits 500 foot home runs and receives all kinds of glowing praise about his play. Harper also has the reputation of being a Ryan Leaf-type of entitled jerk as well. So it looks like the Washington Nationals are going to have back to back Scott Boras represented number 1 picks that will be the cornerstones of their franchise for this decade, and will get more than their share of attention as well.

That's all well and good, but there's a reason I won't be particularly intrigued by this draft. The reason being that Kenny Williams is still making the White Sox draft picks. In case you don't remember how Williams has gone 0-for the 2000's (unless Gordon Beckham rebounds) with his first round selections, here's a trip down memory lane that I found on Chicago Now.

Gaunlet

Just a quick run-through of opinions from last night:

• We've all seen the clip of Armando Galarraga getting completely screwed out of his perfect game. In case you didn't, here it is. I believe one of two things should happen. Jim Joyce should just quit, or baseball should finally adjust to modern times and fully embrace instant replay to get the calls right. This is an obvious case where having replays in a non balls-and-strikes situation would have benefited the game, as history would have been made. To his credit, Joyce has handled it with a pretty substantial amount of regret and remorse. Still, that doesn't excuse one of the worst calls from an umpire in baseball history since Don Denkinger.
• Not worried about the Hawks loss tonight. It was too much to ask the Hawks to win 8 straight playoff games, let alone to sweep the Flyers. The Flyers played very well, and more importantly seemed to be playing with seven players out there, particularly in the passing lanes. Good for them. The Blackhawks will now have to adjust to what the Flyers did, and I'm confident that they will do precisely that on Friday night. And I hate to bring this up Philly fans...but Kate Smith is still dead.
• File this one under Weird. Ken Griffey (Call Me, Call Me) Jr has decided to retire....today? This just seems a little fishy to me, simply because he deserved better than this. Junior (when healthy) was one of the greatest baseball players to ever play, and that's not being hyperbolic. He was everything that the term "5 Tools" was invented to describe the first 11 years of his career. It seemed perfunctory that when he retired he was going to hold all of the records. Obviously that ended up not being the case, but he certainly did achieve some historic numbers with 630 career home runs. Of course he was never the same player after signing with the Reds in 2000. Absolutely injuries robbed him of his elite player status, and sure there was the report earlier this season that he was asleep in the clubhouse when the Mariners were expecting him to pinch hit. Who knows if it's true or not? Personally I believe it was since players sleeping in the clubhouse is way more common than people realize (looking at you Lee Smith, and Kyle Farnsworth). Regardless, I guess it sort of makes sense he retires this season considering another great player retired in the same year in Frank Thomas. Still, this really could have been handled a little better, especially for a player that's about close to a lock for the Hall Of Fame as a lock gets these days.

LeBron Update Part II

There's been a little more news regarding the possibility of LeBron joining the Bulls. The first piece of news to hit this morning was Michael Jordan's former agent David Faulk going out of his way to say that Chicago is the last place LeBron James should go because "he will always compete with Michael Jordan...He should not play in L.A.; he will always compete with Kobe Bryant. LeBron needs his own identity." Thankfully John Jackson did most of my homework in terms of summarizing my reaction. I'm beginning to wonder if David Faulk has ever watched a sporting event, because that opinion is the most ridiculously illogical thought one could possibly offer about LeBron. Should Larry Bird not have gone to the Celtics because of the 5 MVP's and 11 championships Bill Russell won as a Boston Celtic? Or better yet, should Kevin Garnett not have gone to the Celtics because of the 3 championships, and 3 MVP's Larry Bird won? I won't even get into how many great players the Lakers have had over the last 50 years...

The second piece of news involves James himself being interviewed by Larry King. When asked if the Cleveland Cavaliers have the inside track he said, "Absolutely...Because, you know, this city, these fans, I mean, have given me a lot in these seven years. And, you know, for me, it's comfortable. So I've got a lot of memories here. And so it does have an edge." It's anybody's guess if he really means that, or if he's just trying to give himself an "out" by putting the ownership of the Cavs retaining him directly on the Cavs Front Office.

Either way though, James has tipped his hand one way or another. I still personally believe that the Bulls have a good chance to get him, but since he said what he said, I'm going to lower the LeBron Clock to 35%. Again though, as Doctor Manhattan pointed out in the film Watchmen "I would only agree that a symbolic clock is as nourishing to the intellect as photograph of oxygen to a drowning man."