Archive for June 8th, 2006
Continue Reading June 8th, 2006
Everyone’s guessing about who the blacked-out names in the Jason Grimsley report are, and it has been a fun parlor game so far. But we all knew eventually the names would get out. And we’ve been digging around … and some sources have given us some names.
How reliable are these names? We feel pretty confident in them, but we can’t go 100 percent, since the information is secondhand. We’ll say this: If Bud Selig issuing a press release naming the names is a 10, and picking a player at random out of the Baseball Encyclopedia is a 1, we’re at an 8.
So. Let’s do it then. Remember: Betting lines are for entertainment purposes only.
First: The person who told Grimsley about the positive test in 2003. That’s former Royals general manager Allard Baird.
As many people have guessed, one of the “former players” who were sold out by Grimsley: Sammy Sosa. Our source(s) couldn’t confirm if the other was Rafael Palmeiro.
Nothing new or exciting about that name. Then it starts to get interesting. We’ve heard amphetamine rumors of Miguel Tejada, but we can’t confirm that. What we can confirm? The doozy.
Grimsley says that a former employee of [redacted] and personal fitness trainer to several Major League Baseball players once referred him to an amphetamine source.. Later, this source provided him with “amphetamines, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.” This trainer? His name is Chris Mihlfeld, a Kansas City-based “strength and conditioning guru.” (And former Strength And Conditioning Coordinator for the Royals.)
Does Mihlfeld’s name sound familiar? If it doesn’t, he — and we assure you, this gives us no pleasure to write this — has been Albert Pujols’ personal trainer since before Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 draft. We have no confirmation that Pujols’ name is in the affidavit … but Mihlfeld’s is.
Yeah. Sigh. We just report what we’re told, folks. Ever hope your source is wrong? This is one of those times.
Continue Reading June 8th, 2006
The voting’s closed at NBA.com, and MJ’s shot vs the Jazz to win it all in 1998 was voted as the #1 playoff moment of all time.
That’s tough to argue against unless you’re really old. It capped off a legendary career and won the whole freakin’ thing on the opponent’s floor. As great as the shot itself was, the entire sequence was pure Jordan - remember, seconds before, he ripped the ball from Karl Malone on the defensive end.
Here’s the rest - it’s all supposed to be laid out in some special on NBATV this afternoon, although we don’t see it on our TV menu.
Magic fills in at center, Jordan jolts Jazz in Game 6, Reed inspires Knicks to victory, Bird picks Pistons’ pockets, “Havlicek Stole the Ball!”, Greatest game ever?, Mr. Clutch sinks 60-footer, Magic’s junior, junior sky hook, Pettit’s revenge, & “God disguised as Michael Jordan”
We have to admit, we’re too young to have any true appreciation of most of those. Our personal top ten actually all took place in the Cavaliers’ series against the Wiz and the Pis this year, except for when they beat Boston in Bird’s last game back in the early 90s.
This is all our illogical way of saying we’ve decided who we want to win the Finals. So…here’s the rationale:
1) We like Dallas as a team, we like their players, we love Mark Cuban.
2) Logic says that as an Official LeBron Booster, we should be rooting against Dwyane Wade.
3) Watching Dallas defend their title next season will be far, far, far more interesting than watching Miami. While a Mavs victory is the beginning of something great, a Heat win is kind of a “well, we did it.”
4) A Dirk Nowitzki Finals MVP means a lot for the league and again, for next season. It makes for one more true hardcore alpha male, and the more of those the better. Granted, he’s up there without it at this point, in all likelyhood.
Add all of that together, and the answer becomes pretty obvious. See the official endorsement plaque after the jump!
Continue Reading June 8th, 2006
We all used to complain that the NBA playoffs took too long to finish, that there were too many games, that it was just all too much. Now, the complaints are about having to wait too long for the Finals to start. Yeah, we’d call that progress.
It’s going to be an outstanding series, and here are some predictions from around the Web.
• Bill Simmons: Mavericks in six.
• Daily Quickie: Heat in five.
• YAYSports!: Heat in six.
• The Association: Mavericks in five.
• J.E. Skeets: Mavericks in six.
• Chris Sheridan: Mavericks in seven.
• True Hoop: Heat in six.
• Deadspin: Mavericks in seven. The Mavericks just kind of seem like a national evolution to us. And by that, we mean “GONG SHOW.”
Your predictions are encouraged after the jump.
Continue Reading June 8th, 2006
Yesterday, after much debate and “controversy,” the Baltimore Ravens finally traded for Steve McNair. Until McNair’s legs fall off — we have Week 8 in the pool — he will take over the starting job for Brian Billick and his Nevermores.
This makes sense for the Titans, of course, who no longer have to deal with their franchise player hanging around providing good advice and wisdom to their No. 1 draft pick. We wouldn’t want that. But the saddest part of this is that it means we must say goodbye to the non-stop quarterback party that was Kyle Boller, starting Ravens quarterback. Boller’s devotion to the team was famously documented in this photo, one of the earliest and most workmanlike of all drunk quarterback photos.
Here’s a tip of the cap to Boller, whose corporate responsibility was so ingrained that he made sure, when photographed while leaving a watering hole piss drunk, to be wearing his team’s officially licensed merchandise. That’s leadership, folks.
Welcome To The Suck, McNair [Saved By The Blog]
Kyle Boller, Will It Ever Be The Same? [This Probably Isn’t Worth Your Time]
Continue Reading June 8th, 2006
Yesterday, after much debate and “controversy,” the Baltimore Ravens finally traded for Steve McNair. Until McNair’s legs fall off — we have Week 8 in the pool — he will take over the starting job for Brian Billick and his Nevermores.
This makes since for the Titans, of course, who no longer have to deal with their franchise player hanging around providing good advice and wisdom to their No. 1 draft pick. We wouldn’t want that. But the saddest part of this is that it means we must say goodbye to the non-stop quarterback party that was Kyle Boller, starting Ravens quarterback. Boller’s devotion to the team was famously documented in this photo, one of the earliest and most workmanlike of all drunk quarterback photos.
Here’s a tip of the cap to Boller, whose corporate responsibility was so ingrained that he made sure, when photographed while leaving a watering hole piss drunk, to be wearing his team’s officially licensed merchandise. That’s leadership, folks.
Welcome To The Suck, McNair [Saved By The Blog]
Kyle Boller, Will It Ever Be The Same? [This Probably Isn’t Worth Your Time]
Continue Reading June 8th, 2006
Some guy with a comic book blog went digging through some of his old files — or “nerd containers,” as some might call them — and unearthed a bit of a gem: The “NFL SuperPro” character, from a Marvel Comics series in 1991.
What’s this guy’s special powers? Uh … well, we’re not quite sure, except that SuperPro is a former NFL player who jumps around fighting crime while wearing the NFL logo. (He even runs into Spider-Man while he’s at it.) Here’s our favorite quote:
Bad Guy: Okay, okay, I give!
SuperPro: No … you received. A pounding, that is.
Totally! We’re not sure who the NFL marketing wizards who masterminded this idea were, but we have a feeling they don’t work for the league anymore.
NFL Super Pro, Marvel Comics, 1991 [Dave’s Long Box]
Continue Reading June 8th, 2006
some preview clips here, and be careful - the man looks loose and very human. Is an all-new Kobe on the horizon?
As you can imagine, an hour allows for a lot of ground to get trampled on, and FOX has generously typed up a little transcript preview.
Kobe Bryant (on being criticized by Phil Jackson and then having Jackson come back to coach the Lakers): “It bothered me. It angered me. But when we talked about him coming back as a coach, I didn’t need an explanation … He believed we could win a championship together; that’s all I needed to know.”
Bryant (on his 81-point game): “The career high I had was when I was six years old. I used to play against a bunch of 13 and 14-year olds. I scored 63 in a game. That was my career high until I got 81.”
He scored 63 when he was 6? Against 13-year olds? We couldn’t do that now by ourselves, to be honest. Maybe if there were 13-year old girls there - we’d be all into impressing them. There’s nothing more inspiring than the prospects of damaging the psyche of a nice young underage girl.
In fact, ever since our viewing of the Dateline segment on this, we’ve been scouring the net for young chicks. Of course, we’ve been very careful to be wary of being set up. Here’s our latest prospect.
sweetinnocentvirgin15: lol yeh i like to kiss i guess; u r silly!
lebroncooldude23: do you like to kiss me? lol
sweetinnocentvirgin15: wel okay lets find out 
lebroncooldude23: when…i will kiss you like crazy oh yeah baby
sweetinnocentvirgin15: at 2am my parents are gone i am here alone and am naked
lebroncooldude23: i want to k iss you oh yeah
sweetinnocentvirgin15: can you bring me wine coolers i want to be drunk lol
lebroncooldude23: tel me about kissing 
sweetinnocentvirgin15: when u get here just come in the back doorr i will be upstairs. it will be wide open already
lebroncooldude23: awesome i will be kissing you soon baby
sweetinnocentvirgin15: dont worry about the trucks across the street…they are making a movie over ther
lebroncooldude23: maybe we could make a movie about me kissing you heh heh
sweetinnocentvirgin15: sometiems the cameramen from the movei hang out in my yard and they might film you but that is an accident dont worry
lebroncooldude23: okay cool
This is gonna be awesome! The Finals start, Kobe on FOX, MTV, and we might even be in a movie later! Plus, we get the satisfaction of, uh, playing mentor to a new friend we met online!
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