Take a look at the Coyotes’ Nick Boynton sucker punching Steve Bernier and drawing him into a fight. Boynton was suspended for one game and his coach (somebody named Wayne Gretzky) was fined $10,000 for sending his brawler onto the iced in the final minutes of a blowout.
This kind of thing drives me crazy because it makes NHL fighting look so bad. The truth is (and I’ve only come around recently) NHL fights are a great thing. In the NFL, if a guy has been hitting you after the play or blocking dirty there’s nothing you can do. The same goes for an MLB hitter who just had a fastball whiz by his head or an NBA player who’s had his kidney’s tenderized by an opponents’ elbows. Any retaliation will cost their team dearly.
That’s not the case in the NHL. If a guy has been getting facewashed after every whistle or slashed all night long, he can drop the gloves and slug it out without hurting his team. It’s really quite awesome when you think about it. So shame on you Nick Boynton. If Bernier wanted to voluntarily fight you, that would have been fine. But don’t instigate it with a sucker punch.
Guess what? Illegal gambling rings can function even without the involvement of Rich Tocchet and Janet Gretzky. For the last 20 months an illegal ring was being run out of the Borgata poker room…until this week.
An illegal sports gambling ring run out of a high-stakes poker room in a posh Atlantic City casino was busted Wednesday and 23 people were charged, including four with alleged mob ties and six casino employees.
Since March 2006, the ring took in $22 million in bets on college and professional football and basketball in the poker room of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, said New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram.
The off-the-books exchanges of cash and casino chips were only unraveled when an informant told authorities what to look for using the casino’s eye-in-the-sky surveillance cameras, Milgram said.
This is exactly the kind of dangerous thing that happens when the government clamps down on internet gambling. Do you see this Congress!? This is all your fault.
The news that A-Rod is talking to the Yankees without Scott Boras is flat out shocking, but when you think about it, not having an agent can actually be the best economical move.
I’ve long wondered why free agents overwhelmingly sign with the team that offers them the most money, even when it means leaving teammates and uprooting families. Most athletes are already extremely wealthy, and so it doesn’t make sense that money is almost always the #1 factor.
The explanation is that there is a difference between a players’ best interest and the agent’s best interest. For players, keeping their kids near their friends is important. Playing with teammates they like is important. Living in a city they like is important. All of these fringe benefits are crucial in determining their best contract offer.
Unfortunately, these fringe benefits mean nothing to agents (not counting their desire for their clients to have true happiness). For most agents, the best contract an athlete can sign is the most lucrative one. That’s all there is to it. The biggest contract gets an agent the biggest possible commission and it’s the best advertisement for acquiring future clients.
As a result, agents will often push for the contract that has the highest utility for them (lots of $$$), but not the highest utility for their player (no fringe benefits). This is what is happening with A-Rod and Boras. (Obviously there’s no way agents can’t always convince players to sign wherever the agent wants, but I’m sure there’s some “they’re lowballing you and don’t respect you”-type conversations they use to steer clients toward the highest bidder.)
A-Rod clearly wants to play in New York because he likes the city and the team. He values those things. Boras, on the other hand, doesn’t care about them. He just wants a Scrooge McDuck-like pile of money to swim in. The good news for A-Rod is that he’s figured this out before it got too late. He’s realized that Boras doesn’t want what’s best for him and he’s made the economically efficient move to go forward without an agent.
That sound you hear is the economist inside me respectfully applauding.
The ESPN poaching machine is at it again. Mark Fainaru-Wada, the man who is 50% responsible for Barry Bonds’ stress-induced diarrhea, is leaving the San Francisco Chronicle to join ESPN. I assume the hiring is part of the network’s most recent attempt to take stab at “real” news (i.e., launching E-60).
It’s obviously a good move for Fainaru-Wada (he gets to be on TV and suckle from the plentiful ESPN bosom), but I just don’t think it will pay real dividends for ESPN. Fainaru-Wada has already landed the greatest sports scoop of the last decade and he can’t be expected to come anywhere close to that ever again. There’s basically nowhere for him to go but down. It’s like hiring Woodward or Bernstein right after Watergate—there’s just no way Fainaru-Wada can live up to the expectations. In economic terms, instead of buying low (and selling high), ESPN is buying really, really, really high.
Fainaru-Wada is still one of the better investigative sports journalists around, but much like Rick Reilly, at this point he’s really just a name—his reputation is much more valuable than his work. That reputation will get ESPN some nice PR for a few weeks, but what’s going to happen when low ratings force them to replace E-60 with “The Skip Bayless Show” and completely abandon the “real reporting” kick they’re on? Will the sizable salary they’re paying Fainaru-Wada be worthwhile then? I say no.
Thing That I Didn’t Like: The contract the Yankees gave Jorge Posada.
Let me preface this by saying that the Yankees had to re-sign Jorge Posada. They didn’t have a choice. They’re losing A-Rod, the rest of their lineup is old, and Mariano Rivera might not be back. There would have been a riot if they didn’t sign Posada. With that said, the contract they gave him is horrible. Four years and $52 million? That’s absurd. The only good thing about it is that in two years it will have made people forget about Kei Igawa.
The most important thing to remember is that Jorge Posada is a 36-year old catcher. Three years ago, when Jason Varitek was a 32-year old catcher, the Red Sox signed him to a 4-year, $40 million contract. Since then his average season has been a .260 batting average with 17 HRs and 64 RBIs. Right now Posada is four years older than Varitek was and he’s played in 600 more games than Varitek had played in at that point. That does not bode well for the future.
Last year Posada had a career year (in his contract year), but that was an anomaly. From 2000-2006, Posada was remarkably consistent. He never batted higher than .287 or lower than .262. He always had at least 19 home run and 71 RBIs, but never more than 30 homers and 101 RBIs.
So what’s more likely—one of the most consistent players in baseball finally figured something out at age 36, or that he worked his ass off in a contract year and batted 51 points higher than his career best? I’m going to say option B.
The Yankees got their man, but they’ll be lucky if Posada can match his 2000-2006 numbers for even a year or two. By 2010 the deal will be harder to get out of than a Sprint cell phone contract.
Thing That I Liked—The Colts signing Simeon Rice
The problem with Rice is that he’s purely a pass rusher. He doesn’t play the run at all and that makes him a terrible fit for 99% of NFL defenses. Fortunately, the Colts defense is in that 1%—they unleash Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis on the quarterback on almost every single play, and their defense is designed so that the defensive ends don’t have to play the run. Rice won’t be the same guy that Freeney was, but there’s a decent chance he can step in and give the Colts what they need.
On the other hand, Denver cut him, and one would think that with a lackluster pass rush and Jarvis Moss already out for the season, the Broncos would hold onto any defensive end who could move.
Georgia Bay is a three-year old filly. Last week she entered a race as a 322-1 longshot…and won. A $2 win ticket paid $666.20.
What I want to know is how in the world a horse that was such a longshot was even allowed in the race? And how could she be such a longshot? Was Shaq her jockey? Did she have only three legs? The odds on Georgia Bay winning were about the same as the Dolphins beating the Patriots in New England…twice in a row. Just think about that for a second. A goat seems like it would be better than 322-1 to win a horse race.
Anyway, congratulation to Georgia Bay and her owners. You have the best terrible horse on the planet.
Remember back in 2005 when Chris Paul was the greatest thing since sliced bread? He was the next Jason Kidd. He was a guy with the Steve Nash-like ability to turn his team into a postseason threat no matter who was playing with him. He was a sure thing. Some people thought that by now he would already be the key to the Olympic team’s success.
Then 2006 happened. Paul and many of his Hornets teammates were banged up and the team won only one more game than the year before. Meanwhile, over in Utah Deron Williams was shredding the Warriors “defense” and making everybody forget about the guy who was drafted one pick after him. The Chris Paul hype machine died down.
But back is 2006 something else was happening. Paul was getting better. His sophomore numbers are improvements over his rookies stats in most categories.
Now the Hornets are 6-2 and everybody remembers, “Hey, Chris Paul is awesome.” Of course he’s awesome. How could we forget. We take our eyes off of him for a split-second and suddenly he’s leading the league in assists, and his team is the surprise of the season.
I guess here’s what I’m trying to say: Attention media, it’s time to officially re-start the Chris Paul bandwagon.
Take a look at Stuttgart’s Mario Gomez scoring against Bayern Munich last week. He doesn’t quite use his legs…or his head…or his shoulder…or his chest…but I guess there’s nothing illegal about how he scored. [Insert your own joke about soccer not being the only scoring that part of the body does]. The one thing I’m wondering is if Gomez still thought it was worth it five hours later?
Week 10 is in the books. The Dolphins are alone at the bottom, the Patriots remain alone at the top, and Adam Viniateri is just plain alone. Now let’s get to the good stuff.
…DeAngelo Hall’s touchback-inducing strip of Steve Smith. (:30 mark)
…Tony Dungy taking responsibility for wasting a timeout his team would later need. In addition, Dungy might have iced his own kicker. It’s nice when coaches admit to doing something inexplicable and idiotic.
…The story behind the Bears game winning touchdown pass. And guess what? Warren Sapp thinks he was held on the play
…Why the Lions didn’t try to run the ball. According to Rod Marinelli, “We liked our matchups outside.” coach Rod Marinelli said.
And so, 8 Hours After the Steelers Season Ended, it Began Again
The Steelers season was effectively over after they beat the Browns. With a three game lead in the division and little chance of passing the AFC’s top two teams, it looked like the Steelers would be on cruise control for the next seven weeks. But then Adam Vinatieri missed a chip shot and suddenly the Steelers became the #2 team in the AFC. They still have to play at New England and the Colts toughest remaining road game is against the Falcons—so it will be hard for them to hold onto the #2 spot—but at least now the last two months of the season will be interesting.
The same thing might not be able to be said for the Cowboys. It’s now clear that no NFC defense can stop them and no NFC offense can outscore them. When they beat the Packers the week after Thanksgiving the Cowboys will have five weeks to start preparing for their AFC Super Bowl foe (and maybe some potential NFC championship game opponents.)
Shrewd Moves of the Week
Joe Gibbs/Gregg Williams
It’s something you almost never see teams do, but the Redskins coaching staff made the right move when they instructed their defense to let the Eagles score a touchdown in the final minutes of the 4th quarter. If they wanted, the Eagles could have kneeled on the ball, kicked a field goal, and left the Redskins with less than 30 seconds and no timeouts to score the game winning touchdown. Instead, the Redskins defense wisely let Brian Westbrook run right through them and that gave their offense a full two minutes to engineer a game tying touchdown drive. It didn’t pay off, but Gibbs and Williams made the right move. It almost makes up for the inexplicable decision to go for a two point conversion in the first half.
Tony Dungy
Down 23-7 the Colts had 4th and 2 from the Chargers 46 on their first 2nd half possession. There was no hesitation from Dungy—he knew the Colts had to go for it, and Manning ended up completing a first down pass to Aaron Moorehead. The drive was later wiped out by a Manning interception, but that move set the tone for the Colts’ 2nd half dominance.
Bonehead Moves of the Week
Tom Coughlin
The Giants’ coach faced a similar decision to that of Dungy—on his team’s first second half possession they faced 4th and 2 from the Cowboys 45. Although the Giants were in a tie game (instead of trailing by 16), going for it was still a no-brainer. The Cowboys hadn’t been able to stop Brandon Jacobs or the Giants passing game. However, instead of going for it Coughlin punted, and the Cowboys easily marched 86 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
Reggie Wayne
What was Reggie Wayne doing on Antonio Cromartie’s spectacular one-handed interception (1:40)? Wayne obviously didn’t think Cromartie was going to be able to get the football and so he just stood there instead of try to chase Cromartie down. The Chargers cornerback easily made the interception, and because Wayne was just standing there, Cromartie was handed an easy 20 yard return.
This Explains so Much
Apparently David Carr has suffered two concussions this season. The first one (which was unreported) occurred earlier this month in New Orleans. Carr stayed in the game and ending up leading the Panthers on a game-winning field goal drive. So basically, the empirical evidence points to the fact that Carr plays better when his brains are scrambled. Interesting.
Tony Romo is Above the Law
Am I the only one who noticed that Tony Romo was clearly in front of the line of scrimmage on his first quarter touchdown pass to Tony Curtis. Where’s the challenge flag Tom Coughlin?
Joe Jurevicius’ Hands Are Too Good
I don’t know if Joe Jurevicius saw Troy Polamalu coming on the Browns final offensive play, but at some point during the crushing hit it would have been smart for Jurevicius to drop the ball. That would have given the Browns one more offensive play, and if they could have gained more than the three yards Jurevicius’ catch netted them, Phil Dawson’s field goal might have landed on the other side of the crossbar.
Catch of the Week
Mahi Mahi, and Reggie Brown’s much-more-difficult-than-it-looked 4th quarter grab against the Redskins. In the whole scheme of things, that was probably a bigger play than Brian Westbrook’s go-ahead touchdown catch.
Stat O’ the Week
220. The difference in rushing yards for the Titans between their week 1 win over the Jags and last Sunday’s loss.
(Every week there are a number of stories slip through the cracks here at ShakedownSports. These are just a few of them.)
–Chris Leak is returning to the football field. The former Florida quarterback says he will play in the brand new AAFL (All American Football League) this April. Leak spent training camp with the Chicago Bears, so playing in the AAFL should allow him to work with a much more talented offense.
–Todd Bertuzzi has offered Steve Moore $350,000 to settle the $15 million lawsuit Moore filed against him for his on-ice attack. Yep, there’s nothing quite ending a guy’s career and then lowballing him with an offer that’s 3% of what he’s asking for.
–Eric Lindros announced that he will retire. The good news for Lindros is that now he will have much more time to spend on his favorite hobby of suffering from post-concussion syndrome.
–Earlier this week middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik severely cut his hands and arms in a window cleaning accident. One report said he needed 108 stitches, but Pavlik’s trainer said it wasn’t serious. What I don’t understand is that Pavlik is a wealthy boxing champion—why is he dangerously cleaning his own windows? And what was he cleaning them with? An uzi?
Thing That I Didn’t Like: The contract the Yankees gave Jorge Posada.
