Archive for February, 2008
Continue Reading February 29th, 2008
So word is that Calvin Klein is driving hard to the basket, trying to lure Tom Brady as their underwear model/spokesman. For seven figures. Wow. Do I want to live in a world where Tom Brady makes more for underwear modeling than Heidi Klum?
Gisele Bundchen won’t be the only person seeing Tom Brady in his skivvies if Calvin Klein has his way. We hear the designer has offered the Patriots quarterback seven figures to blast David Beckham and his Armani underwear campaign right off the billboards.
I knew that one day The Underwear Wars would come, and that they would be terrible. Brother would fight brother; many would die. But I never knew that it would be so soon. When you get ready for bed tonight, and you slip into your Traditional Fit Yarn Dyed Woven Boxers, be sure to say a prayer. Say a prayer for all of us …
And remember that it could have been much worse. Could have been Kornheiser.
Side Dish: Tom Brady In His Underwear? [New York Daily News]
Tom Brady Underwear Rumors Bunch Up Again [Towel Road]
Continue Reading February 29th, 2008
So the NFL Free Agent Season officially kicked off today, and there was much rejoicing. But the really big news (for me, anyway) is still far way, apparently: Brett Favre is still in limbo, and Randy Moss isn’t talking (although speculation is he’s heading to the Panthers). Until there’s news on either of those fronts — or the 49ers sign Tom Brady — please do not disturb me. I’ll be in my Indiana bucket.
While even a humiliating loss in Super Bowl XLII might not prevent Patriots fans from remaining “chest-proud,” let’s not get delusional in the thought that Moss can’t be tempted to go elsewhere. Any perceived allegiance to a team quickly goes away with the phrase, guaranteed money. How badly, for instance, would the Carolina Panthers break the bank for a Steve Smith-Moss combo? One NFL insider tells the Charlotte Observer: “Carolina has freed up a lot of cap space with all the guys they’ve cut recently. Suppose they offer Randy a 6-year, $60 million deal with $25 million guaranteed? Now, if the difference is one or two million, Moss probably gives the Patriots a discount and goes back. But $5 million extra guaranteed? These guys have egos. And he knows that Carolina has been working aggressively to get better. Who’s to say he doesn’t make the move?”
Other stuff of interest:
• Jonathan Vilma to the Saints. New Orleans traded an undisclosed draft pick for the Jets’ middle linebacker, who had 118 tackles last season and was named AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2004. Ah, that many tackles will be easy to make up. Meanwhile, Carolina dealt DT Kris Jenkins to the Jets for third- and fifth-round draft picks this year. Deal was for $35 million with $20 million guaranteed.
• Asante Samuel about to sign with Eagles. It’ll probably happen just as you’re reading this. Sorry, Patriots fans. At least Tedy Bruschi is back!
• Redskins love them some Todd Collins. Washington agreed to terms today with the quarterback, who is expected to be a backup to Jason Campbell.
• It’s hard to believe that the Rams still had a player from their Los Angeles days, but they did: Until today. For the second time in three years, the team cut wide receiver Isaac Bruce. I smell a move to the 49ers, where new offensive coordinator Mike Martz will be waiting for him with a warm smile and a muffin basket.
Overall, it’s a seller’s market out there, kids. Not a lot to choose from I’m afraid. Unless you’re looking for pitching.
Jets Trade Vilma, Acquire All-Pro DT Jenkins [MSNBC]
NFL Roundup: Free Agent Season Kicks Off [USA Today]
Is There A Catch With Moss? [Boston Globe]
Continue Reading February 29th, 2008
If you’re planning on attending that March 29 exhibition game between the Dodgers and the Red Sox at the Los Angeles Coliseum, better get your butt in gear; they’ve already sold 90,000 tickets. An expected 25,000 standing room tickets are soon to go on sale, meaning that the game will most surely break the major league attendance record.
The Dodgers played in the Coliseum through 1961 after moving to LA. The previous record for a baseball game is believed to be 93,103 for a Dodgers vs Yakees exhibition game, which was a fundraiser for Roy Campanella. 92,706 fans attended a World Series game in 1959 as the largest official MLB game attendance.
You should also know that the left field fence at the Coliseum is only 200 feet from home plate. But don’t get too excited; they’re going to add a 62-foot-high screen to make a Green Monster Jr. That should be cool, come to think of it. And watch out for those foul liners down the right-field line; those stands look pretty close.
So, they can draw 115,000 to a baseball game, yet an NFL football franchise is out of reach? I just don’t understand Los Angeles.
LA Coliseum 115,000+ Planned For Dodgers Vs. Red Sox [Rizzo Sports Blog]
Continue Reading February 29th, 2008
For the third consecutive season, we are proud to introduce the Deadspin Baseball Season Previews. Yes, baseball is awfully close now; it’s spring training, after all.
Every weekday until the start of the season, a different writer will preview his/her team. We asked a gaggle of writers, from the Web, from print, from books, to tell us, in as many or as little words as they need, Where Their Team Stands. This is not meant to be factual, or dispassionate, or even logical: We just asked them to riff on why they love their team so much, or what their team means to them, or whatever.
Today: The Colorado Rockies. Your author is Mark T.R. Donohue.
Mark T.R. Donohue is a freelance writer, serial blogger, and member in good standing of the Baseball Toaster cartel. He lives in Boulder, Col. His words are after the jump.
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How do you top 2007, if you’re the Colorado Rockies? It can’t be done! At the end of the season last year, Colorado ran off an utterly ludicrous fourteen wins in fifteen games, including a thirteen-inning 9-8 win over the Padres in a one-game wild card tiebreaker, to make the playoffs for the first time since the strike-shortened 1995 season and only the second time ever. The otherworldly hot streak continued through the National League playoffs, in which Colorado dropped nary a game to Philadelphia nor Arizona, and stopped only when the Rockies met reality — and a much, much better team — on a grand stage in the franchise’s first World Series appearance. That didn’t go as well.
The good news for 2008 is that the Rockies weren’t a .500 team that got lucky last year. Up until mid-September they had gotten some bad breaks; we few true believers chose to view their white-hot finish as an overdue correction. Even supposing that the
Rockies’ opponents down the stretch were laying over for them and the stats don’t mean what they think we do, the Rockies’ pitching rotation turned over 60% of its players in quick succession shortly after the All-Star break. Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales, the two call-ups that made up the bulk of those innings lost due to injuries to Rodrigo Lopez, Jason Hirsh and Aaron Cook, still have less than a year of major-league experience between them. They should be better this year.
Everyone but second baseman Kazuo Matsui returns to a lineup that’s long on pre-peak players; second-year shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is poised to bring his hitting numbers up to the level of his already unparalleled defense. The one nasty storm cloud on the Rockies’ horizon, the impending free agency of outfielder and offensive linchpin Matt Holliday, has been at the very least pushed further away by the two-year deal Holliday signed this winter.
Besides Holliday, there are hardly any key Rockies players that won’t be around for at least three more seasons, including Tulowitzki, ace Jeff Francis, closer Manny Corpas and outfielder Brad Hawpe. One of the few positions that GM Dan O’Dowd hasn’t found a solution for in the draft is catcher; the Rockies caught a break when the Mets backed away from a deal they’d worked out with incumbent Colorado catcher Yorvit Torrealba. O’Dowd managed to get Torrealba back at the right price; that was the highlight of a very quiet offseason that also brought in some bullpen help (Luis Vizcaino, Jose Capellan), a few guys to compete for the second base job (Matt Kata and Marcus Giles, though rookie Jayson Nix will get some looks too), and a bunch of veteran starters to provide insurance for the boatload of injuries the oxygen-deprived Rockies rotation seems to suffer every year (including but not limited to Josh Towers, Kip Wells and Victor Zambrano).
Colorado is probably going to be a stronger team than they were last season, and yet they will likely win fewer games. Los Angeles and Arizona have improved, and the Rockies more than likely won’t have the same luck they had in interleague play ‘07 (10-8, the only team in the NL with double-digit wins and the only one more than a game over .500). The hope here is that even if a whole season hanging around in contention ends in disappointment, the Rockies and the city of Denver get the one thing they didn’t get last year — being taken seriously. The magical September ‘07 run did a lot to shake Denver out of the indifferent attitude it’s had towards baseball and the Rockies since the late 90’s, but it takes more than one postseason to build a baseball fan. Baseball is about the long haul and until fans in the mountains are checking box scores with the same vigilance in May as they were last September, the Colorado Rockies remain just another ill-justified expansion team with ugly uniform colors.
Continue Reading February 29th, 2008
I’m picturing the scene from Meet The Parents where a dejected Ben Stiller stands in an empty terminal and must wait his turn to board the airplane, thanks to the by-the-book airline employee who has yet to call his row. “Please step aside, sir.”
Maybe Derek Anderson was advised not to sign anything until he became a free agent; ergo, he rejected the Cleveland Browns’ contract, and it became a story. Once midnight finally struck, Anderson looked at the offer and became overcome with emotion. “Oh, wow, a multi-year deal!” And that was the next story.
See folks, ESPN’s on top of this story, from beginning to end. And you thought they were just conflicting headlines on their front page, which were seen in unison this morning perhaps as early as 10:45 a.m. when twoeightnine pointed it out to me, and as late as 11:25 a.m. Sheesh, give them a little credit, people.
Report: Anderson Gets Multiyear Deal From Browns [ESPN]
Aside: After I typed this up, I soon realized I was wearing a fleece emblazoned with the ESPN logo. While I’m not too worried, I am beginning to feel some tingling in my chest area. Probably just temporary.
Continue Reading February 29th, 2008
Shhh, listen … baseball season is here! We know because we hear the anguished cries of collegiate players being pummeled by the pros. In sports’ version of a large man chasing a dachshund with a shovel, baseball continued its storied and venerable tradition of major league teams opening spring training competition against college opponents, with often hilarious results. And the Associated Press is always sure to chip in with hilarious opening paragraphs.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Josh Beckett and the Boston Red Sox were in October form during their exhibition opener.
Well yeah, if the World Series is being played between the American League and ACC champions this year. The Red Sox slipped by Boston College 24-0 in their spring debut on Thursday, trotting out 20-game winner Josh Beckett to face a team that had not yet had a practice outdoors. The good news is that the Eagles covered. But my favorite linescore of the spring is still this one. Please note that the Pirates were limited to one run over the final eight innings by the Manatee Community College Lancers.
In other news, the Mets lost to the Cardinals 7-0 on Thursday. But don’t worry New York fans, because the Mets are bringing out their $137.5 million stopper today, as Johan Santana makes his Grapefruit League debut in a game televised by MLB and SNY. And it also must be noted that Atlanta’s Colter Bean allowed the tying run to score when he hit a batter with the bases loaded in the Dodgers’ 5-4 win over the Braves in Joe Torre’s debut with Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Cubs’ outfielder Kasuke Fukudome was welcomed to the majors by being plunked with a pitch in his first at-bat by San Francisco’s Noah Lowry. 福留 孝介!!
And its also a brand new baseball season for Touch ‘Em All With Alyssa Milano, as she opens the season on her blog with photos of her new dog, and of herself at the NBA All-Star Game. Baseball Fever! Catch it!
BoSox Hammer Boston College 24-0 [SI.com]
Fukudome Plunked, Gets RBI In Debut [MLB.com]
Touch ‘Em All With Alyssa Milano
Dodgers 5, Braves 4 [Inside The Dodgers]
Continue Reading February 28th, 2008
I guess the lesson is that you don’t come into Henry Waxman’s house talking smack. Just hours after Congress recommended that Roger Clemens’ testimony be examined by the Justice Department, the FBI announced that it has begun investigating whether the pitcher lied to Congress when he denied taking steroids.
FBI agents in Washington opened the case a little more than two weeks after both Clemens and McNamee appeared at the same House hearing on Feb. 13, each accusing the other of lying. “The request to open an investigation on the congressional testimony of Roger Clemens has been turned over to the FBI and will receive appropriate investigative action by the Washington Field Office,” said FBI spokeswoman Debra Weierman.
Meanwhile, the Astros are distancing themselves. This is going to get a lot uglier before it gets better.
FBI Opens Investigation Into Clemens’ Testimony [USA Today]
Congress Decides That It’s Time … For The Comfy Chair! [Deadspin]
Astros Owner Might Reconsider Clemens Deal [MSNBC]
Continue Reading February 28th, 2008
I have no idea how reliable this is, but the blog Media Takeout says it has information that Michael Vick is paying for protection in prison. A “family member” of someone who writes for the blog claims to have been in the general population with Vick at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, where Vick is serving a 23-month prison term for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy.
According to our source, Mike Vick is having a difficult time fitting in. The insider explained, “Michael Vick is not in [administrative segregation] — he’s right there with the rest of the inmates. A few [inmates] stepped to him when he first got there but everything is cool now … My [family member] says that he’s paying a Mexican gang to keep him safe.”
That’s what happens when you refuse to assemble a prison football team to take on the guards.
Exclusive: Mike Vick Pays For Protection In Prison [Media Takeout]
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