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Archive for June, 2010

Earlier this week the Florida Marlins fired manager Fredi Gonzalez, which comes to no one’s surprise. The Marlins have enough talent to continue to chase for a wild card birth but have struggled this year. It was only a matter of time after Gonzalez had a run in with Marlins star shortstop Hanley Ramirez.

Gonzalez replaced a World Series winning manager in Joe Girardi 3.5 years ago & became the manager with the most wins in franchise history. But when the team isn’t winning & isn’t listening to it’s manager it seems time to move on.

The Marlins seem to have interest in ESPN MLB analyst Bobby Valentine who took a less talented NY Mets squad to a World Series in 2000, only to lose to the NY Yankees. Bobby Valentine has been known to get teams with mediocre talent farther than expected. If he takes over the Marlins as expected the Marlins should be in good shape, as Valentine has taken teams with half the talent to the playoffs.

The only issue is it may be too late this season. To everyone’s surprise the Mets are trying this year, the Braves are back to being the Braves & the Phillies have learned how to hit again. Not to mention the Nationals are heading towards being a legitimate team. While the Marlins may struggle the rest of the year Valentine should be able to get them back in the right direction soon enough.

In May we heard of the Big Ten’s interest in fleecing the Big 12 teams that are near them geographically. While the Big 12 teams have downplayed reports none of them have indicated they are willing to remain in the Big 12, which should leave the Big 12 commissioner sweating. Now comes news that the Pac 10 are looking to smuggle the other Big 12 teams that the Big Ten has yet to express interest in.

The Big Ten has expressed interest in Nebraska & Missouri. The Pac 10 has expressed interest in Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech & Baylor. All six of these teams would be idiots not to move. Think of the attraction that could be USC vs. Texas & Nebraska vs. Ohio St. year in & year out.

None of the teams have expressed they won’t move to a different league & want to stay in the Big 12 which doesn’t look good for the Big 12 at this time. The Big 12 has primarily been Nebraska, Texas & Oklahoma of late but there other teams may draw interest if the six mentioned decide to jump to the leagues that want them. Hopefully the creation of mega conferences will destroy the BCS & force a playoff. With bigger conferences they all could theoretically have a conference championship game.

As expected the Cavaliers are looking to make a big splash with their next coach in an attempt to get LeBron James to re-sign with the team. Many expected the Cavaliers to take a look at NBA coaches like Avery Johnson, Jeff Van Gundy & Phil Jackson. Instead they’ve made waves by attempting to lure Michigan legend Tom Izzo to Cleveland.

The Cavaliers have offered Izzo two times what he currently makes in an attempt to get Izzo’s attention. As expected Izzo immediately indicated he isn’t leaving Michigan St. yet sports journalists continue to claim he is a candidate for the Cavaliers job, in spite of him having absolutely no interest in leaving East Lansing at this time.

Everyone continues to report that Izzo is contemplating the deal (which isn’t true) but is waiting to see what LeBron James is going to do in free agency. Reality will be in a few weeks Izzo will more than likely receive a contract extension at Michigan St. & once again rebuke any interest in the NBA, at which point hopefully ESPN & other media outlets will stop reporting inaccuracies.

As expected MLB looked into the phantom injury of mediocre Mets starting pitcher Ollie Perez. The Mets put Perez on the disabled list for no apparent reason in order to activate Jonathan Niese. Perez has been terrible since the Mets incompetently gave him a 3 year $36 million contract simply because “he’s a lefty & has big upside.”

Since Perez refuses to go to the minors to learn how to pitch, heck Roy Halladay did it, but Ollie Perez is too good to do so the Mets had to make up an injury to put him on the disabled list. Since everyone knew the move was simply made since Ollie Perez is terrible MLB looked into the cheatings but as expected Bud Selig & company did nothing to punish the Mets for cheating.

Clearly Perez was put on the disabled list to get him off the active roster, which MLB is supposed to protect against, but they refused to in this instance. The Mets more than likely made up documents to show Perez is injured (probably using past knee injuries & changing dates) in order to get MLB off of their back.

While the Mets cheating is sad it is nothing new in baseball as teams constantly stash ineffective players on the disabled list with fabricated injuries in order to get them to “work on things” which usually results in the player returning within two weeks. Shame on Ollie Perez for forcing the Mets to cheat in order to get him off the roster.

Hedo Turkoglu had it all when he was playing for the Orlando Magic. He was playing on a team that could utilize his skills to the best of the team. He was able to sink jumper after jumper as teams double teamed Dwight Howard for some reason. Turkoglu then received a $53 million/5 year contract from the Toronto Raptors. As expected Turkoglu played like an overpaid, underachieving veteran.

Now Turkoglu has discussed wanting to be traded out of Toronto, largely since he hates it there, the team is terrible & they’ll be losing their best player in Chris Bosh to another team. Amazingly Turkoglu hasn’t asked to be traded back to the Magic. Instead he is asking to be traded back to where it all started for Turkoglu, the Sacramento Kings.

The deal makes sense for the Raptors as no one wants to play on the team so they have to overpay for average players. If they can get anything for Turkoglu it improves their chances of creating a better team. The Kings will also gain Turkoglu’s veteran presence & jump shooting. Turkoglu will also be on a team he actually wants to be on, so may actually try & put up numbers worthy of his contract.

Either way the Raptors may look to get out from the Turkoglu contract at some point during the offseason but have to find a team that matches what they’re looking for & not allow Turkoglu to dictate how things go.

Tom Brady & Peyton Manning have been two of the best quarterbacks in football over the last decade. They’ve put up gaudy numbers in the post season & regular season throughout much of the last decade. So it is no wonder as their contracts come to an end they are looking for as much money as they can.

Brady plays on a team where they constantly get rid of players who look to be paid legitimate contracts which results in massive overhaul from year to year. The team has indicated they will definitely give Brady a contract extension, which could set a dangerous precedent for the Patriots. They have other stars on the offense who may look for legitimate contracts in the future but probably won’t get paid. Free agents have taken note of this & no superstar free agent even considers signing with the Patriots knowing they look to lowball players contract wise & will dump them before their contracts run out.

Manning on the other hand has nothing to worry about. The Colts are a classy organization who will pay Manning whatever he wants. Since Manning is a class act & can make up lost wages in his numerous endorsements he may be willing to take less money in order for the team to improve. The team has a number of free agents they may look to resign in the coming years, as well as potentially bring in a big time player. Manning’s ability to make money outside of football may help the Colts as they attempt to sign him to an extension.

Manning & Brady have both made millions in their lives & their bank accounts will get even bigger soon enough.

To continue the trend of the 2010 MLB baseball season yet another umpire made an aggregious mistake without any repercussions from the powers that be in MLB. Earlier in the season we had Joe West & Bill Hohn making abysmal calls in an attempt to alter the outcome of a game, unfortunately they failed. Due to the incompetence of MLB head honcho Bud Selig nothing was done to punish these umpires for their aggregious failures.

To make matters worse another umpire, Jim Joyce, took it upon himself to alter baseball history. On Wednesday night Tigers starter Armando Galarrago threw a perfect game, the 21st in MLB history, but he will never be credited for it due to Jim Joyce blowing a call. With two outs in the ninth inning former Lakewood Blue Claws player Jason Donald hit a short hopper to first base, first baseman Miguel Cabrera threw the ball to Galarraga covering first & perfection was in hand. Unfortunately Jim Joyce decided to call Donald safe even though he was clearly out by two steps.

Joyce stood on the field for a few minutes after the game, after Galarraga had to get a 28th out, & took the verbal abuse from Tigers manager Jim Leyland, as well as the chorus of boos from the fans. Amazingly Joyce went to review his failures & indicated he had in fact screwed Galarraga out of a perfect game. Joyce immediately apologized to Galarraga & the Tigers family as a whole.

Joyce & Galarraga both make out like bandits, but MLB takes another black eye. Due to Joyce being the first umpire this year to admit failure when he ruined a ball game most of the fans have forgiven him, all of the Tigers players & coaches have forgiven him as well & his errors have forced the discussion of expanding replay in baseball. Galarraga received a brand new car & will always be remembered as the guy who smiled when Jim Joyce screwed him out of a perfect game.

MLB takes another black eye due to the stupidity of those who are in charge of “what’s best for baseball.” Any semi intelligent person would reneg Trevor Crowe’s at bat & award Galarraga with the perfect game he threw. Unfortunately Bud Selig doesn’t have a brain. Selig in a continued effort to destroy baseball indicated no changes would be made to award Galarraga a perfect game but that expanded replay would be discussed. In three years when something like this has happened four more times Selig will finally do something, as it is typical Selig fashion to ignore a blatant problem for years & then pretend he’s doing something special when he fixed something three years late.

The game has been marred by terrible calls for two decades & it is about time Major League Baseball catch up to the other sports. If the NFL & NHL can have wonderful replay systems where the outcomes of games aren’t altered by blown calls why can’t baseball follow in their footsteps? The answer is Bud Selig. Selig has claimed for years he is willing to do what’s best for baseball but then does the opposite & in this instance it appears his past history will repeat itself. We can only hope that when Selig’s contract ends in 2012 he will disappear from baseball like he disappearred throughout his tenure when an intelligent decision was required.

The greatest coach of all time passed away Friday evening. Wooden last coached a basketball game 35 years ago, winning yet another National Championship, but his impact on the game is still felt today. Wooden won 10 National Championships in a 12 year span in the 60′s & 70′s.

While Wooden is known for being the best coach ever, those around him also described him as a great teacher & human being as well. Wooden also had many famous quotes that most people regurgitate to this day. Wooden was just as interested in making his players better people, as he was in making them champion basketball players. Wooden’s legacy will live on for years to come.

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Wooden left at the top of his profession in 1975 after winning his 10th National Championship in 12 years, including 7 straight National Championships. Wooden most certainly touched everyone he ever met, taught or coached due to wanting to make everyone better. Wooden established a foundation of success from teaching players how to behave, how to practice & how to succeed in both basketball & in life.

Wooden will now be reunited with his wife & other sports legends who have passed away. Now more than ever we should remember the greatness that was John Wooden. Over the coming days everyone in basketball will surely have stories to tell about Wooden, so let’s take them in to remember the Wizard of Westwood.

When the Blackhawks took a commanding 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup many in Chicago were ecstatic. Unfortunately they forgot just how resilient the Philadelphia Flyers have been during the NHL playoffs. The series went to Philadelphia & like games 1 & 2 the games were thrilling, scrappy close affairs. Unlike games 1 & 2 though the Flyers took back home ice by winning both games 3 & 4.

It was the usual suspects for the Flyers as Mike Richards, Claude Giroux & Jeff Carter all played pivotal roles in the outcome of game 4. Amazingly thus far in the series we have yet to see a strong performance from either goalie, as we had seen in previous series. But Flyers goalie Michael Leighton was just good enough to get the job game in both games in Philadelphia.

Now the Flyers will have two of the next three games (if necessary) in Chicago if they want to win the Stanley Cup. The Flyers have made winning on the road look easy in these playoffs & it is one of the reasons they’ve made it this far. The Chicago crowd will surely be a factor in the rest of the series but it will undoubtedly come down to which goalie plays the best the rest of the series. At this point it is now a best of three series. Who will take the advantage in game 5?

Tiger Woods has made more headlines for what he has done off the course in the last seven months than he has made on it. First there was the crash. Then there was the cheatings. Then there was the apology. Then there was the terrible interview. Then there was a legitimate interview. Then he played decent golf. Then he missed the cut. Then he quit due to a phantom neck injury. But this weekend Tiger will return to action, hoping he can regain something to grasp onto.

While Tiger was failing to be a decent human & failing on the golf course he managed to find time to fire his swing coach, though they both claim it was a “mutual separation.” Now comes news that Tiger has no interest in hiring a new swing coach. Reality is his former swing coach, who is now working with Phil Mickelson, is probably the only individual who’d even consider working with Tiger & he probably expressed no interest at this time.

It would be the ultimate coo, as I don’t recall a time where one swing coach had the two best golfers in the world under his tutelage. While Woods has every right not to hire another swing coach, it does seem odd that in a time where he seems to need one more than ever, he doesn’t have one. Maybe he’s decided to work solely with a golf swing trainer? Who knows, in any event, sooner or later Tiger will get back to form & can focus on golf again.