(Every week there are a number of stories slip through the cracks here at ShakedownSports. These are just a few of them.)
–The Maloof brothers have donated $50,000 to the University of Hawaii football team’s booster club. The donation is just a small part of their ill-conceived plan to try and move the Hawaii football team to Las Vegas.
–Police had to be called to a hockey game in Canada when a brawl broke out between the 8-year-old players. The fracas reportedly started when the coach of the team who had just lost 8-1 spat in the face of the opposing coach. Also, one of the players called somebody on the other team a “poopy-head.”
–Tulsa filed a formal complaint with Conference USA over the Rice marching band’s halftime performance last Saturday. The band put on a show called the “Todd Graham’s Inferno” which depicted the current Tulsa and former Rice coach going through different circles of hell. Strangely, the band left out the harshest circle of hell—playing a football game at Rice.
–Earlier this week Blackhawks winger Tuomo Ruutu was going for a jog in the park when he was accidentally detained by police becaue he fit he description of a burgler. The misunderstanding was eventually cleared up and Ruutu says that before he left one of the police officers asked for his autograph. Apparently the officer didn’t have the heart to tell Ruutu he was just signing a release form.
–A former North Dakota State College of Science basketball player has been charged with theft for illegally charging over $46,000 in phone calls to the school. The good news is that the phone calls earned him a job offer from Kelvin Sampson.
Chris Moneymaker, Gregg Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, and…..Boris Becker?
Yeah that’s right.
With his tennis days behind him the three-time Wimbledon champion has become the newest member of team PokerStars. Becker will begin playing in major European tournaments and he will appear in PokerStars commercials. Overall, he sounds really doggone excited about the whole thing.
“When I was still playing professional tennis, I started learning to play poker casually in-between games because it helped me to improve my concentration,” said Becker: “Now I want to develop my poker skills and challenge myself to become really competitive at the highest levels in poker.”
Becker and poker may sound like a strange match, but let’s face it, at this point the only thing keeping tennis going is heavy gambling on matches fixed by the mob. Well, that and Rafael Nadal’s nubile deltoids. The point is, gambling and tennis go together like Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze. Besides, it’s possible that Becker needs some cash, and being paid to sit for long stretches of time is a fine way to earn some. Just ask Jerome James.
Michael Jordan, Roger Clemens, Mario Lemieux…now Mini Me. At first I was hesitant to position myself alongside such an elite class of sports figures who retired then made glamorous comebacks within their respective sports, but after reading Easy’s not at all embellished post about my superhuman abilities as a writer I think I’m worthy of being mentioned with those athletes. Regardless, I’m back and this time with a somewhat renewed appreciation for American sports, particularly because I have spent the past four months dwelling in London (unfortunately no John Amaechi sighting yet). And Easy, don’t worry I won’t allow you to relinquish any of your soccer talk responsibilities to me because frankly I have profoundly rejected the sport. I did enjoy the Rugby World Cup though, but that’s for another post for another time.
Easy has done a great job with the site and I’m glad to be a member of the Shake Down Sports team.
P.S. I must confess that while sports blogging is a passion of mine and I’m happy to be here, this wasn’t my first choice. Unfortunately though, the University of Michigan felt I wasn’t qualified for their head coaching position…yes you can apply online! How desperate have things gotten in Ann Arbor?
Throughout its long and storied history, the Olympics have had one constant—Every year the mascots get creepier and creepier. Yesterday the organizers of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver unveiled a trio of mascots, and at first glance they’re quite a group.
Quatchi is a young sasquatch with a long brown beard and blue earmuffs, while Miga is a snowboarding sea-bear – part killer whale and part kermode bear. And Sumi is a spirit animal that flies with the wings of a native thunderbird.
Look at those things. I don’t know what a spirit animal is, but I want it to stay as far away from me as possible. It looks like Yoggi Bear on crack. And since when can sea-bears snowboard? If you’re going to have a sea-bear at least give him a realistic profession—like data analyst. As for the sasquatch, he just looks like the illegitimate lovechild of Chewbacca and Harry from “Harry and the Hendersons.”
The moral of the story? I’m excited for the 2010 Olympics.
For many months I’ve been going at it alone here at Shakedownsports, but that’s all about to change. My dear friend Mini Me (you may remember him as the founder of the WBRS Sports Blog) has been bitten by the blogging bug once again and his poetic and insightful words will soon grace the pages of this site. In the past the two of us have worked together to entertain the countless Waltham residents who were within a 1.7 mile radius of our college radio station, and we formed one of the most legendary Division III basketball broadcasting teams of all time. I’m confident that this most recent collaboration be even better (and lead to a dramatic increase is Dallas Mavericks talk—hence the Dirk collage.)
Charity. What does it really mean it today’s society? How do you define it? For example, when the Seattle Marathon calls itself a benefit for the University of Washington Medical Center but donates exactly 0% of the $120 entrance fees, is it a charity event? It’s an interesting question.
The race does donate the money that runners agree to give in addition to their entry fee, but last year that accounted for only 1% of the total revenue from the race. There’s also one other small discrepancy.
The Web site also states prominently that the marathon “is organized and run by volunteers in the community.” While race organizers do rely on thousands of volunteers, the Seattle Marathon Association’s 2006 tax returns show that the association paid $330,000 in compensation to employees and organizers — triple the $110,000 it paid two years earlier.
The truth is, this really isn’t such a big deal. The Medical Center still gets some money, and besides, not everybody is running in the marathon just because it’s for charity. Some people run marathons to stay in shape or prove to the world that their crazy Scientologist lifestyle still allows them to do things normal people do. Nevertheless, next time the race organizers might want to make are a larger slice of the pie goes to their charity.
Steve Bruce had one wild weekend—even for a Premier League coach (those guys throw some crazy coke and stripper parties). Last Tuesday Bruce announced he was leaving Birmingham City in order to take over Wigan Atlantic. After a deal was reached between the two teams, Birmingham claimed Bruce still owed them about $500,000. As late as Thursday, both teams considered Bruce their coach.
Alas, Bruce’s quest to win two games with two different teams on the same day never came to fruition. A deal was reached and Bruce was Wigan’s official manager by kickoff on Saturday. Bruce’s new team fared well in his debut, hanging with league-leading Arsenal before falling 2-0. Meanwhile, his old team did not show they secretly hated him by playing an unbelievable game—they lost to Portsmouth 2-0.
A.J. Feeley….yes…yes…yes…noooo!!! And the Patriots are still undefeated—but at least I’m slightly less angry about it. Now let’s move onto the good stuff.
Deion vs. Tom Jackson—NFL Gameday vs. NFL Primetime
In the good old days of NFL Primetime, whenever a Hail Mary went up in the air Tom Jackson and Chris Berman would yell their refrain of “Knock it down!!.” On NFL Gameday last night Deion Sanders criticized the 49ers defenders who allowed Larry Fitzgerald to catch a Hail Mary by saying they should have caught the ball instead of trying to knock it down. Sorry Deion–I know you would have gone for the interception there (because int=$$$), but the right play is to knock it down.
Stephen Jackson Wants the Music Fixed
One reason for the Rams struggles? They’re not playing good music in the Edward Jones Dome. Stephen Jackson wants some hip hop. Uh, Stephen…you’re playing in front of a bunch of rich midwesterners. The closest you’ll get to hip hop is a black country singer.
Don’t Miss…
…The relationship between Roy Williams and Mike Martz getting a little bit icy
…How the Jets unusual alignment on their first play from scrimmage ruined a bunch of Cowboy’s streaks.
…Adrian Peterson will be back next week. The world is saved.
The Rams Will Begin Teaching a Clinic on How to Blow Games
The Rams had 1st and goal from the 4-yard line with a minute left. They had two timeouts. That’s enough time to pound Stephen Jackson four straight times. If his Nike commercials are any indication, Jackson would never let himself be denied those four yards. Instead, the Rams threw on first and second down, and they only ran Jackson on third down. He came up just short, and on 4th down Gus Frerotte did what Gus Frerrote does.
Shrewd Moves of the Week
Mike Shanahan
Conventional wisdom says the option doesn’t work in the NFL. The defensive ends and linebackers are just too fast. That’s true, but there is one condition—the defense has to be prepared to face the option. On Sunday Mike Shanahan ran some options with Jay Cutler and they took the Bears defense by surprise, particularly on Andre Hall’s 16 yard touchdown run. It’s nice to see that Shanahan has finally realized John Elway isn’t his quarterback.
Lovie Smith
Smith got creative as Devin Hester awaited a potentially game tying punt return late in the 4th quarter. Because it was 4th and 17 and the Bears didn’t have to worry about any kind of fakes, Smith sent a four man wall back to block for Hester. The Broncos responded by calling timeout and the whole thing fizzled, but it was some nice outside the box thinking from Lovie.
Mike McCarthy
Most teams play too conservative when they cling to a lead late in the 4th quarter. Joe Gibbs is the reigning expert on this subject. On Thursday McCarthy abandoned conservatism to stick with what had been working all day. After taking over with 6 minutes left, the Packers threw the ball on four of their first five plays. That aggressiveness paved the way for their game clinching field goal.
(Also, I don’t want to forget to mention that Joe Gibbs finally made a good decision to go for it on 4th and 1 in the redzone. The Skins didn’t get the first down, but at least Gibbs made the right move. Same for Herm Edwards with his decision to go for it on 4th an 1 late in the Chiefs loss.)
Bonehead Moves of the Week
Rod Marinelli
You know what I’m thankful for, getting a chance to watch Rod Marinelli continually botch his two point conversion decisions. On two different occasions in the 4th quarter Marinelli had an offside penalty enforced on the kickoff instead of attempting a two point conversion from half the regular distance. Because the Lions had trailed by 22, there was about a 98.3% chance they would eventually need a two point conversion.
To briefly go mathematical, teams convert a two pointer less than 50% of the time, and so the expected value of going for two is significantly less than 1.00 points. That’s why teams always kick. But when a team gets to try from the one-yard line the percentage jumps to over 50% and the expected value jumps to over 1 point. When that happens, teams should be going for two all the time, and they should especially be going for two if they know at some point they’ll need a two pointer to tie the game.
Andy Reid
Andy Reid coached one the best games of the year, but he made a mistake in the final minute. When the Patriots lined up to kick the ball back to the Eagles, Reid elected to set up a return instead of going after the kick. At that point blocking the kick was their only chance because it was obvious the Patriots would kick the ball out of bounds, or kick a high, short, unreturnable kick. Brian Westbrook could get nothing on the return and like a coke fiend crashing after a long night, the Eagles magical ride was over.
Mike Nolan
Before Vernon Davis’ first quarter touchdown catch, the 49ers had gone 11 quarters without reaching the endzone. You would think that when they had 3rd and goal from the 1-yard line early in the 2nd quarter they would be thinking about getting seven (translation: two runs up the middle). Instead Trent Dilfer threw incomplete on 3rd down and Nolan sent out the field goal unit on 4th down. Who knows? If Nolan didn’t make these kinds of decisions the 49ers could be as good as 4-7.
Ravens and Chargers Demonstrate Pooch Punt Ineptitude
Every week I explain why taking delay of game penalties to help a pooch punt is stupid. Well, on Sunday the Ravens were dumb enough to take one of these penalties, and the Chargers were dumb enough to decline it. I beg you Norv Turner—please stop doing these things.
Catch O’ the Week
Striped bass, and Bernard Berrian’s momentum defying game tying catch. The way in which Berrian was able to stop and turn his body to adjust to the ball was remarkable. If he had reacted a second later, turned his body at a slightly different angle, had his fingers in slightly different positions, or not made sure to get his knee down, it would have been no catch. Grossman make a poor throw and the adjustment Berrian made was amazing.
Stat O’ the Week
11. The number of quarters the Panthers have played at home without scoring a touchdown.
European Football Goal O’ the Week
Martin Petrov gives Manchester City the lead against Reading
(Every week there are a number of stories slip through the cracks here at ShakedownSports. These are just a few of them.)
–The Patriots will enter Sunday night’s game against the Eagles as the most heavily favored team in more than 30 years. Even a drunk Joe Namath wouldn’t give the Eagles a chance of winning.
–Scott Skiles apologized to Tyrus Thomas for the harsh criticism he levied on the 2nd year forward. On Tuesday Skiles said “We ask him to sprint the floor. To my knowledge in his career he hasn’t done it one time. Not one time.” Skiles now says he’s not unhappy about how Thomas runs the floor, he’s unhappy Thomas’ hasn’t made enough flashy highlights to con the Lakers into trading Kobe Bryant for him.
–A group of Pennsylvania high school football players who shaved their heads into mohawks as a show of unity have been told they will be suspended if they don’t get rid of them. Apparently it’s all part of the school’s crackdown on anything that can be construed as Chad Johnson-like behavior.
–The Mets and Marlins and working on playing a series of games in Puerto Rico next season. Puerto Rico residents say that getting a chance to see Sergio Mitre pitch is not the kind of U.S. citizenship benefit they’re looking for.
