Unlimited Mulligans

Mike Hampton to get more free money from Houston!

2008-12-06T03:14:00.006-05:00

Mike Hampton, the oft injured pitcher for the Braves, you know the same Mike Hampton that stuck his hand in Atlanta's cookie jar for 4 years has decided he wants to take someone else's money. This time he suckered his original team, the Astros, into giving him a one year $2 Million contract. So I'm sure in the next month or two once we get out of football season and into spring training, we'll see the headline 'Hampton pulls quad muscle' or Hampton tears hamstring' or Hampton out indefinitely with tendinitis. Its really all just a matter of time.

He is basically a professional thief and how he got away with it for 3 years is beyond me. He was traded to the Braves in 2002 played with Atlanta from 2003 to 2008. But from 2005 through 2008 season he pitched in a grand total of 25 games going a Cy Young like 8-7.

While with the Braves for the last 5 years he made a mind blowing $84.5 Million, $35.5 of which was paid by the Braves the remainder by the Rockies and Marlins. Pulling out your calculator are ya? Well if you don't have one handy, here's a quick breakdown of his total time spent in Atlanta. He started a total of 85 games, so that's roughly $1 Million a start. But it gets better. His record in Atlanta was 35 - 24 so that's $2.4 Million per win.

So I guess you could say Houston is getting a bargain if he miraculously stays healthy for more than 5 games. If he goes 3-2 before blowing out his elbow Houston will only have paid $666k per win.

I still say Hampton should be forced to pay Atlanta to play baseball. Everyone says they'd pay just to play, well none truer than Hampton. He basically stuck his hand in the cookie jar for 5 years and he'll do the same, just it'll be someone else's jar.

Dabo Swinney beats South Carolina

2008-11-29T15:44:00.004-05:00

First off I've got to say....How Bout Dem TIGERS!!!!

It's unknown at this point if we have seen the last of Coach Dabo or if we have just seen the beggining but either way this was one hell of a win. Not saying we are like Marshall but out of
the ashes that was the first six games of the 2008 season, Clemson has risen and they have answered for all those that wrote them off and
quit believing. Sadely myself included. I thought the season was over after the Wake Forest loss and the much needed firing (yes I say he had no choice) of Tommy Bowden. But out of the ashes has Dabo Swinney emerged as a savior, he has been able to do what Tommy couldn't for 10 years, get players to believe in him, to play inspired football. And the result? A 31 - 14 dismattling of the hated rival South Carolina Gamecocks, they of who play in the much tougher (so says) SEC.

But there is speculation that there has already been a decision made on the new HC for Clemson with a press conference already set for tuesday. So the question is; Have we already seen the last of Dabo as Head Coach. It would be a shame if we did, seems everyone believes in him from the fans to the administration to more importantly the PLAYERS. They respond to him in ways they never did to Tommy.

So if this was Dabo's last win then it was definitley his most memorable and he's already left a legacy of his own, having gone 4-2 and 4-1 in his last 5 games. Legact intact, future uncertain.

Thanks Dabo for keeping hope alive!!

Andruw Jones vs Mark Kotsay

2008-05-07T23:58:00.008-04:00

No this isn't some MLB goes UFC kinda thing, just a little season comparison for any Braves fan wondering 'What if'.

Well here we are in May, over a month into the season and a little comparison in stats is worthy of note.

Good year or bad, the Braves basically decided they weren't going to get into a bidding war to keep Andruw in Center. Well coming off his worst statistical season ever, it looked like the Braves could throw something out there that would seem reasonable, well they decided not to even do that. Opting instead to say thanks for everything Andruw, we're moving in a different direction. Thus Andruw took his career low .222 AVG and 136Ks to the Dodgers who gave him a 2 year contract for $36.2, which is about $34.2 million too much.

Why is $34.2 million too much you ask? Well that is the difference for what the Braves are paying Mark Kotsay versus what the Dodgers are paying Andruw. When the Braves let Jones go they needed to replace him with a veteran centerfielder that would be salary friendly. Well they got that in a trade with Oakland in exchange for former first round pick Joey Devine. They also talked the A's into eating $6 million of Kotsay's $8 million contract. Thus the $2 million difference from what the Dodgers paid vs what Andruw is really worth.

So here is a breakdown on Andruw Jones vs Mark Kotsay's 2008 season to date.

_______Kotsay---Jones

AVG___-(.309)....(.170)
OBP___-(.367)....(.279)
ABs____(110)......(106)
Hits____(34).......(18)
RBIs___(15)........(4)
Runs___(15)......(15)
HR____(3).........(1) That one vs the Braves..we felt bad for him.
3B_____(2).......(1)
2B____(5)..........(5)
BB____(10).......(16)
K's____(12).......(36)
SB____(1)..........(0)

So you tell me, who's getting the most bang for their buck??!! I'm a die hard Braves fan and love watching Andruw roam centerfield but he's lost something and that something seems to be the ability to consistently see and hit the ball. He's not the same player that hit 51 Homeruns just 3 seasons ago.

Frank Wren in just his short time at the GM helm did a great job in landing Kotsay and getting him for the bargain price of just $2 million, its much better than the suckers in LA for paying $18 million for less production, we saw that coming, apparently the Dodgers didn't.

Pray for the fallen Heineken

2008-04-20T21:51:00.005-04:00

Please give a moment of silence to the fallen Heineken.

They were youngings on the way to their rightful owner, haven't even had a breathe of fresh air yet and didn't know what it felt like to be held when tragedy struck. A truck load of Heineken came to a regrettable end on Friday as numerous Heineken's expiration dates expired way too soon. Their journey cut short.

I ran across this little accident, tragedy if you will, on Friday and as I passed I gave my own moment of silence. The accident happened on Clements Ferry Rd in Mt Pleasant. No word on how many Heineken's lost their lives on this fateful day.

Here's a picture on the web strikingly similar but on a large scale than the one I saw.

Fixing the world one stupid driver at a time!!!

2008-04-10T23:31:00.006-04:00

You know there are times when you want to thank certain people or a group for one creation, god for us, Allen for Microsoft, whoever created toilet paper and Al Gore for the internet. Well today I want to thank whoever created the fad that is now the camera phone. Cause without that invention I wouldn't have caught the stupidity that I did today driving in Columbia SC.

This had to be shared.

I'm wondering what the thought process is when you go shopping for two 10 foot pieces of 2 X8's knowing you're not driving a truck but a small compact car, ' It's okay, I'll just put it through the window and drive down interstate 26 then around Columbia. Which begs the question now.

How many neighborhood mailboxes have to be destroyed but this person finally realizes, 'you know, I'm a first rate idiot. What was I thinking?'

Seeing this brought back a memory of another idiot picture that was forwarded around the world of an idiot in a VW Rabbit trying to stack 20 + sheets of plywood on the roof.

So next time you see Stupid, take your camera phone and snap a picture and thank the inventory so you have proof in case someone doesn't believe someone can be that stupid.

Michigan High School Hockey Co-Champs

2008-03-10T22:28:00.002-04:00

Heard this story today on the ESPN 'Mike Tirico Show' and felt like it needed to be shared.

A Michigan High School state championship hockey game ended in a tie and Co-Champs as they continued to play overtime after overtime after overtime. High School league officials finally made the decision to end it as tie after 8 grueling overtimes sessions. They played a total of 109 minutes which is the equivalent to 2 full games and one period. One period lasts 15 minutes and each overtime was 8 minutes in length. In other sports, football its like playing 9 straight quarters, baseball 19 innings.

Hydration and the kids health was the obvious reason for the league to rule Co-Champs. The High School league in Michigan doesn't allow for shootouts, deciding to let the game end as it normally would in regulation. After this game they might want to rethink that rule.

Click here for the full story.

Danny Green says "In your face" to Greg Paulus

2008-03-08T21:50:00.004-05:00

Captured this during the UNC vs Duke game tonight. Tarheels beating down the Dukies 42- 31 at the half with this nasty Danny Green dunk on Greg Paulus. With the 31 points UNC has held Duke to its lowest halftime total of the year.

ACC appears to be in UNC's control, along with a potential #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Charleston Riverdogs 2008 Promotion Schedule

2008-03-02T02:02:00.002-05:00

The Charleston Riverdogs have released their upcoming promotion schedule for the 2008 Baseball Season. Leave it to Mike Veeck to come up with some of these zany promotions. Here is the Top 10 list the P&C compiled. I won't go into explation, you can click on the link below for that.

1) Go Back to Ohio Night
2) Bobblection Night
3) Pope Soap on a Rope
4) Muscle Shirt Giveaway
5) The Writers Strike Back - Its All Unscripted
6) Cheap Skate Night
7) What Would Chuck Norris Do?
8) Beards and Mustaches Club
9) Indiana Jones is Old
10) Superhero Cape Giveaway

Here is the link for full descriptions.

2008 Promotions

Randy Moss to the Cowboys??

2008-03-02T01:36:00.005-05:00

Really? Could that actually happen?

Your guess is as good as mine, but just the thought of those two on the same team is mind blowing. Its like Madden Football just in reality. The thought of having those two line up on the opposite ends of the field makes your hair on the back of your neck stand tall, whether you're the opposing coach, player or fan.

It's been rumored that Moss could sign with the Cowboys since the day the Patriots decided not to franchise the leagues' top receiver this past year. And with Jerry Jones always looking for a "splash" it's not totally out the realm of possibility for Randy Moss to sign his name on a Dallas Cowboys contract offer sheet. Now common sense starts to take over once you hear this and the obvious thought turns to whether TO and his personality can co-exist with another super star WR and its seems that answer would be a quick NO. But here's the thing they both have in common and the thing neither has, a Superbowl ring.

Now I'm not sure if the NFL can produce enough footballs that would make either of them happy. They both want and demand the ball all the time and Tony Romo can only throw so many times. Now I'm a huge Cowboys fan and just the mere thought of those two combined with Patrick Crayton in the slot and Jason Witten with Marion "The Barbarian" Barber in the backfield just gives me the chills.

One thing I've learned thru the years with JJ is never say never, he wants to win and will do whatever he can do it. So just when you think Moss to the Cowboys couldn't happen, Think again!

Citadel upsets Louisville in the "Charleston 9" Memorial

2008-03-01T23:59:00.003-05:00

It was supposed to be a nice warm and relaxing home coming for ex-Citadel players Dan McDonald and Chris Lemonis. But someone forgot to tell The Citadel that Louisville played in last years College World Series. In what I can only imagine was a thrilling 1-0 game, Citadel beat Louisville on a bases loaded walk with two outs in the bottom half of the 10 inning.

Dan McDonald is the HC of the Louisville Cardinals and Chris Lemonis is his assistant. Both were integral parts of Citadel Baseball having played under legendary Coach Chal Port. They have both been with The Cardinals for two years.

Citadel is hosting a tournament this weekend to support the 'Charleston 9' Fund for the fallen firefighters that lost their lives in the Sofa Super Store fire last June. Before today's game they unveiled a tribute the men who parished that day on the outfield wall.

Louisville came into the game ranked #23 in the Nation. So the win over the Cardinals marks the third consecutive year that The Citadel has beaten a ranked opponent as a tournament host. In 2006 Citadel beat #3 Nebraska 8-5 and last year they topped #1 South Carolina 7-6.

Citadel is 2-0 in this tournament with todays win and after beating NC A&T 2-1 on Friday. They conclude the tournament on Sunday when they face off against NC State at 2pm.

The Love Guru Mike Myers's new comedy

2008-03-01T23:46:00.002-05:00

I saw a piece of Mike Myers new movie the other day and mistakingly took if for another of his genius Austin Powers movies. But alas I was wrong. It's his new movie called 'The Love Guru' that is scheduled to be released in June. But watching the preview I can't help but think Austin Powers, seems to have somewhat the same silly character that took over the nation for a few years.

Here's the Preview.

My 2008 Daytona 500 video of one lap

2008-02-23T00:23:00.003-05:00

Just wanted those who've never been to a race in person how fast these cars are traveling. The Daytona track is 2.5 miles long and they complete one lap in 48 seconds.

Clemson Tigers 2008 Football Schedule

2008-02-09T00:09:00.000-05:00

The 2008 Clemson Football schedule was released today. It includes three D-1AA games against Citadel, S. Carolina State and Duke. Wait, Duke?

Among the highlights of the schedule includes a trip to Atlanta to face Alabama in the Georgia Dome, an away game at Boston College and an a trip to FSU to face a team bent on revenge as Clemson as won 3 or the last 4 games. There really aren't that many attractive games at home this year, unlike this past year when BC and V Tech came to town. The home tilt includes in order, Citadel, NC State, SC State, Maryland, G Tech, Duke and S. Carolina. Away games are Alabama, Wake Forest, BC, FSU, Virginia.

Now I'm a homer when it comes to Clemson sports and I'm pretty confident 10 wins is almost a given. Clemson is fresh off what many consider to be their best recruiting class ever, filling and stock pilling talent at key positions. The 2008 squad will return 16 starters, 8 on each side of the ball including QB, RBs and WRs.

The only two potentional losses I see as of now would appear to be Alabama and FSU but they are having some issues with QB there and Clemson's defense looks to be very solid. A perfect season and a trip to Jacksonville in the ACC Championship game is a distinct possibility. But if you're a Clemson fan the one thing you've learned of the years is to not get too confident about potential, its come back to hurt.

Here's the 2008 schedule.

Aug 30 Alabama (Georgia Dome) W
Sept 6 Citadel W
Sept 13 NC State W
Sept 20 SC State W
Sept 27 Maryland W
Oct 9 at Wake Forest W
Oct 18 Georgia Tech W
Nov 1 at Boston College W
Nov 8 at Florida State W
Nov 15 Duke W
Nov 22 at Virginia W
Nov 29 S. Carolina W

Quite honestly I don't know where Clemson loses. Boston College is starting a new QB, FSU still has mediocre QB Drew Weatherford. Other question marks would be Alabama and maybe S. Carolina but everyone knows we own them, even Spurrier knows it now.

12-0?
ACC Champions
National Title Game Appearance?

It's all very possible and very realistic.

Go Tigers!!!!

College Football Recruiting gone bad

2008-02-08T23:32:00.000-05:00

This has to be one of the more bizarre recruiting stories I've ever heard. This HS kid named Kevin Hart in a small town of Nevada made up and lived in a lie he created six months ago that just came to a crashing halt two days ago.

I read the ESPN.com front page article about this kid committing to Cal but Cal had never heard of him before and that a recruiter he hired lied to him about the recruiting process and took his money so Hart filed a police report saying that he was a victim of fraud. The kid finally confessed that he made up the whole story about the police report and about his whole recruiting process. Seems the kid was starving to attention, and boy is he getting it. The story has been running on ESPN's Around the Horn, PTI, on its web site..Everywhere.

Click here for the complete story.

Harris Poll Shocker...NFL Rules

2008-02-08T21:41:00.000-05:00

Harris Poll, the leader in Polls, released a poll recently on America's most popular sports. And as would be expected Professional Football leads the way in the American Sports landscape.

Here are the Top 5 Sports according to this poll and the percentage change from 1985 to 2006.

1). Pro Football Up 6%
2). Pro Baseball Down 8%
3). College Football Up 2%
4). Auto Racing Up 5%
5). Hockey Up 3%

If you're wondering about the next 5,it goes in order of:

Pro Basketball
College Basketball
Men's Golf
Men's Soccer
Horse Racing

Couple things you might be wondering. Boxing ranked #14 followed by Women's College Basketball, Womens' Soccer finished last behind Women's Pro Basketball. Real question there is who really watches women's pro basketball over soccer, come on. Mixed Martial Arts, aka UFC wasn't included because when this study was started in 1985 the sport didn't really exist.

Original Link

Chest Hair Insurance for "Carlton Banks Song" Tom Jones

2008-02-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

Yes there is such a thing and if you can afford it you can buy a $7 million policy. Just ask Tom Jones. He approached Llyod's of London about covering his famous chest hair and they of course agreed because they insure just about anything for the right celebrity. They have insured the legs of Fred Astaire, Angie Dickinson and Heidi Klum. They've also covered Liberace's hands, Keith Richards's fingers and off course the amazing rumph of Jennifer Lopez. So chest hair isn't that shocking but still, chest hair? I mean whats going to happen? Someone going to break into his home and take the clippers to his Austin Powers like chest? Maybe he'll have an accident lighting some candles or maybe his grille will blow up. So does having chest hair been he can't pluck one or two here and there. What are the limits, can he file a claim when he takes off his t-shirt and some hairs come with it? Guess he won't pull at Steve Carrell moment anytime soon and get his chest hair waxed... ah Kelly Clarkson.

The one song I remember from Tom Jones will always be the "Carlton Banks Song" (Fresh Prince of BelAir). I can't help myself, that always makes me smile for some reason..how can you not?

Little Harlem Globe Trotter

2008-02-08T20:54:00.000-05:00

I found this little, pardon the pun, gem today. It's a video done by a local reporter on an 11 year old boy that has basketball skills far beyond his age. Lord knows I'm sure college basketball recruiters are already nipping at the bud to get this kid on campus.

glumbert - Little Harlem Globe Trotter

Click here for original link.

I'm pulling for _______ in the Superbowl.

2008-02-01T23:21:00.000-05:00

My reasons for pulling for the ______...

Patriots

Not in my lifetime have I seen or ever thought I would see a team go undefeated. NFL analyst have brain washed up over the last few years to think that it could never happen because of parity. So much for that theory that teams are more even. It was as top heavy this year as I've seen in a long long time. So seeing the Pats finish of this undefeated season would be pretty cool. My other reason is so that we don't have to listen to Mercury Morris run his damn mouth anymore about his 72 Dolphins being the only undefeated team. He is the only one that seems to have been on every damn telecast rapping about or offer his "wait till you're in my neighborhood" speech and I'm sick of it. And I don't think I'm alone. Seems that Mercury's identity is based completely around that undefeated season. I just want to see him go away. Go Away Mercury. Thirdly, I just hate the Giants, I'm a Cowboys fan.

Giants

Well I don't really like the Patriots and their whole "Spy gate" crap and I never wanted to see Dallas's record of 3 Superbowl titles in 4 years tied and damn if they didn't tie it. I'm sick of seeing the Patriots in the Superbowl, this is their 5th appearance since 1996 and winning this game would make 4 wins in 6 years. Secondly my Cowboys lost to the Giants in the second round and the Giants winning makes losing to them a little less painful and they are an NFC East team. Yes I know that contradicts my reasoning for seeing the Pats win but this is why I'm pulling the Giants. Thirdly, I'm worried about what's going to happen with Mercury Morris if the Pats win, if loses the "only" designation in "Perfect season" he may just go into deep depression and never be heard from again..wait. Anyways I don't wish bad things for him, just to be quite, but I'll pull for the Giants to win just to make sure old Mercury remains sane.

Chris Berman's off air explosion

2008-02-01T22:37:00.000-05:00

For some reason I like Chris Berman even more after watching this video of him exploding. Guessing someone didn't like the nickname he gave them. Here's the dark side of broadcasting we're not privileged to.

Here's the swearing count if you're counting:

GD....2
JC....5
Fuck...3

Hitler's take on Cowboys loss

2008-01-30T21:43:00.000-05:00

Thought this was worthy of sharing.

Citadel Bulldogs release 2008 Football Schedule

2008-01-30T01:15:00.000-05:00

The Citadel Athletic Dept released the upcoming 2008 Football schedule today. Among the highlights include games against Clemson, Florida and Princeton.

The Dawgs open the season at home against Webber International then travel to Clemson to take on the Tigers. Princeton comes to town the following weekend. Citadel will visit Florida in late Nov, a good time to face the SEC team as they will avoid the dreaded heat in the "Swamp" and maybe catch them resting some players in preperation for the SEC Championship game.

Other home games include Wester Carolina, Elon, Georgia Southern and Tenn Chattanooga (Homecoming).

This schedule is full of great games and road trips. I will no doubt be in attendance for the game of the "C" schools as Citadel visits Death Valley to battle Clemson. It'll be a tough game for me to root for, I can't win and can't lose. I don't want Clemson to get embarrased yet I don't want Citadel to get throttled. I'm hoping for a 35-17 type game.

The other game that I'm excited for is the trip to Gainsville in Nov. I missed out on the opportunity to witness this game in person when they last played in 1998. The Dawgs lost that game in somewhat respectable fashion 49-10.

I'm going on record to predict a 2008 record of 7-5.

Click here for the full 2008 Schedule.

Kansas Jayhawks top college in Football/Basketball

2008-01-30T00:29:00.000-05:00

Scout.com just released their rankings for the top Colleges in Football and Basketball. The rankings were based on the combined records for both sports. And in an unusual ranking, Kansas sits at #1 with its basketball record of 20-0 and football record of 12-1. They are five games better than #2 Tennessee. Clemson is tied at with 5 other schools at #11 with a combined record of 24-8.

Here's at look at the current top 25:

1. Kansas (12-1, 20-0 = 32-1)
2. Tennessee (10-4, 17-2 = 27-6)
3. Memphis (7-6, 19-0 = 26-6)
3. Texas (10-3, 16-3 = 26-6)
5. BYU (11-2, 15-5 = 26-7)
5. Florida (9-4, 17-3 = 26-7)
5. West Virginia (11-2, 15-5 = 26-7)
8. Wisconsin (9-4, 16-3 = 25-7)
9. Ohio State (11-2, 14-6 = 25-8)
9. Oklahoma (11-3, 14-5 = 25-8)
11. Arizona State (10-3, 14-5 = 24-8)
11. Boise State (10-3, 14-5 = 24-8)
11. Clemson (9-4, 15-4 = 24-8)
11. Indiana (7-6, 17-2 = 24-8)
11. Michigan State (7-6, 17-2 = 24-8)
11. USC (11-2, 13-6 = 24-8)
17. Houston (8-5, 15-3 = 23-8)
18. New Mexico (9-4, 16-5 = 25-9)
19. Georgia (11-2, 11-6 = 22-8)
20. UCLA (6-7, 18-2 = 24-9)
21. Boston College (11-3, 12-6 = 23-9)
21. Connecticut (9-4, 14-5 = 23-9)
21. North Carolina (4-8, 19-1 = 23-9)
24. Vanderbilt (5-7, 17-2 = 22-9)
24. Washington State (5-7, 17-2 = 22-9)

Shred Rich Rodriguez Night

2008-01-30T00:21:00.000-05:00

Saw this article on ESPN. Leave it to a Minor League hockey team to poke fun at former W. Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez.

Here's the article, C/P from the site:

Mountaineers fans get to rip and shred Rodriguez at ECHL game

The Wheeling Nailers, taking advantage of the rancor felt by the state's residents toward a certain former West Virginia football coach, is holding a "Shred Rich Rodriguez" night on Saturday.

The ECHL hockey team's promotion is playing off reports that Rodriguez was seen shredding team-related documents in his office about the same time he left the Mountaineers to take the Michigan coaching job in mid-December.

So on Saturday night, at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, the Nailers are playing host to the Charlotte Checkers, as well as an industrial-sized paper shredder. Fans who bring in a newspaper article or picture of the reviled coach to be shredded will receive a discount off tickets.

Any fan wearing WVU apparel at the game will get $2 lopped off the ticket price.

Ohio State fans, natural enemies of Michigan, get to share the love on this one -- anyone wearing Buckeyes paraphernalia also gets a discount on tickets.

"Everybody is so upset," Nailers co-president Rob Brooks said in Monday's edition of The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register. "We wanted to let [fans] release some frustration."

In addition, any fan wearing University of Michigan apparel "will be charged double in order to help Rodriguez pay his $4 million buyout to WVU," according to the Nailers' news release announcing the promotion.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

NFL Owners Resend Oakland Raiders franchise

2008-01-29T23:46:00.000-05:00

In stunning news today, 31 NFL Owners held an emergency meeting to discuss the current crisis that is the Oakland Raiders. In that meeting they held a silent vote to resend the franchise license in which a resounding statement was made as all 31 owners voted to rid the league of that mess of a franchise.

That of course didn't happen but my goodness someone needs to step in and relieve Al Davis of his ownership duties. Just days ago the media got word that Big Al wanted to remove first year Head Coach Lane Kiffin after he posted a 2 win improvement from the 2-14 record of 2006.

Al Davis at 79 is running this once proud franchise right into the ground. NFL analyst abound are quick to say that some coaches time has past them and that they no longer understand or can deal with the current players. I've never heard any analyst though say that an Owners time has passed them by. But that is the case with Al Davis. He doesn't seem to have a clue how to manage this club anymore. Since Jon Gruden left to take over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the Raiders have gone through4 Head Coaches. One of those was Art Shell who Al fired after the 1995 season in the same position. He was only given one year after Norv Turner compiled a 2 year record of 9-23. Al recently had a letter drafted for Kiffin to sign announcing his resignation. Davis wants Kiffin to resign to avoid having to buyout the current contract.

I compare the Raiders owner to the Yankees George Steinbrenner. The both had great success in their ownership years but both were quick to fire coaches for really no real reason. They only difference with them is that George finally realized that it was time for him to relinquish control. Raider faithful in the "Black hole" can only hope that Al finally comes to grip with reality that the game has passes him by. The Raiders have now replaced the NY Knicks as the worst sports franchise today, and only one person to blame.

If things keep going south, I wouldn't be surprised to actually hear that owners would vote to remove Al Davis from ownership duties.

Green Bay Bikini Girls

2008-01-29T17:29:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to get this posted but I couldn't get the picture downloaded from my phone till today. So this is about 2 weeks late now but still worth it.

If you didn't catch the Packers and Giants NFC Championship then you missed out on the best camera work ever in a freezing cold football game. Usually when you're watching a game that is 20 degrees or below, the camera man subjects you to the cruel image of some over-weight, beer bellied, hairy chested man wearing overalls. But not this time. The FOX camera man gave us the shot of the year as 3 very cute young ladies were dressed in jeans with only a bikini top in Packer yellow. They held up a sign that poked fun at Tony Romo that read "Favre, Thanks for not going to Mexico Love Bikini Girls".

Cheers to FOX producers for this shot.

Redskins = Sniksder

2008-01-27T01:46:00.000-05:00

I'm taking great pleasure right now in the backwards world that Daniel Synder now operates.

I woke up today the crack of 4:30 pm and logged into ESPN.com only to see that Redskins owner, Daniel Snyder , fired coaching candidate Gregg Williams and Al Saunders. Gregg Williams was supposedly the leading candidate to replace HOF Joe Gibbs.

Now I know that my team's owner, Jerry Jones has his way of running a team but it seems the only direction Snyder is running his team is into the ground. The normal way of replacing a coaching staff is to start with the head coach and work down but not Snyder. He'd rather hire a Defensive and Offensive Coordinator and the other staff than hire the head coach first. Usually the hiring process starts w/the head coach, then the coordinators and then all assistants. But this isn't your fathers Redskins anymore, this is your Redskins.

Welcome to the world of baseballs equivalent to George Steinbrenner, over paying for players that are way past their prime. Snyder is now looking for his 6 coach since he became owner in 1997.

Who knows what coach he'll reach for this go round, he already looked to the past for an answer to the present.

The new drinking game called "Bumbel"

2007-12-06T18:38:00.001-05:00

Here's what's required:

Cable or Satellite.
TV...preferably an HD one.
Two cases of beer at minimum...per person.
A sofa or chair or whatever won't let you fall over if you pass out.
Two or more people cause this game wouldn't be fun by yourself.
Must tune TV to the NFL Network during Thursday night games.

Here's how it work:

You must take a drink every time Bryant Gumbel screws up during the telecast of games.

Tonight's game is Chicago at Washington.

Have fun and please remember, we here at Unlimited Mulligans do not support heavy consumption of alcohol but it's not really our fault how many times Bumbel Gumbel screws the pooch.

Tommy Bowden and Clemson Football's Future

2007-12-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

Tommy Bowden, Clemson Head Football Coach, signed an extension to his current contract that will keep him at the SC school until 2012. Rumor has it that he is now on the hot seat for 2008.

Of course that's not true, TB is one game away from perhaps his best year ever at the school that last won an ACC Championship in 1991 and a school that is starving for a championship. He was recently being courted by Arkansas for the same position but for more money. But one would ask what exactly would he gain from such and move and why would he consider it. Here's my take.

The only tie that he has with Arkansas is the new AD there is a good friend from a coaching stop at the football powerhouse known only as Duke. Sorry for that little jab you cameron crazies. One benefit, money aside, would be that he gets that honeymoon period where expectations aren't as high as they would be at Clemson where he is currently in his ninth year. A new start would give him at least 3 to 4 years relief from being included in annual preseason football magazines as a coach on the proverbial hot seat. But of course the downside to Arkansas is that fan base basically just ran out a coach that won them two division titles in the SEC, regarded as the best football conference around. So if TB thought the expectations at Clemson were high he would've been stepping into a hornets nest at Arkansas.

TB's 2008 squad is already being hyped as his best team every, returning 19 starters including every skill position on offense and most of the defense. Things set up nicely next year as Boston College will no longer have Matt Ryan behind center, FSU will still have a weak QB and I think Clemson has finally figured out the Wake Forest issues and we get G. Tech at home.

But there are still Clemson faithful that actually wanted TB to part ways and head to Arkansas. Which to me is completely incomprehensible. Being a huge Clemson fan that I am I've grown frustrated with the program but I recognize that this program is headed in the right direction, the direction opposite of where we were headed before he took over in 1998. He has had Clemson bowl eligible all 9 years of his tenure. He is 7-2 against hated South Carolina, graduates his players and leads the program in a respectable manner.

Those that wish for TB to go are made up for a majority that still live in the days of Danny Ford, known as the greatest coach in Clemson history thanks to the programs lone National Championship in 1981. What those people fail to recognize is that football in 1981 isn't the same football that is being played today. Passing is the name of the game now as opposed to the line it up and just run it. Teams use spread offenses to better utilize more athletic players, the game is quicker now and if you can't throw the ball with consistency you're not going to win many games. Add in the fact that there are more powerhouse programs in the ACC thanks to the additions of Florida St, Miami, V Tech and Boston College. The ACC used to be a conference ruled by the Tigers and Maryland. Clemson became blinded by its dominance and failed to look to the future as other colleges started putting more money into stadium additions and facility upgrades. Not till Bowden entered the picture in 1998 did Clemson finally commit financially to upgrades. So for all those TB haters, look at where we were in 1996 and fast forward to today, do you not feel good about where the program is headed?

Coach comparison.

If you want to compare a coach in the ACC to Bowden you need look no further than Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer, know now as one the top coaches in college football. He is 3rd among current head coaches in wins. But for those that thought he was always successful know that he wasn't. In his first 6 seasons he had a combined record of 24-40 and in year six he was 2-6-1. Imagine where that program might be now if Hokie faithful had given up him at that point? Hard to imagine isn't it? Well he turned it around and in year 9 found himself in the Sugar Bowl as Big East Champions and a 10-2 record. Since that first double digit win season he has gone on to nine seasons of 10 or more wins. He legacy is now firmly secure at V Tech.

So for all those TB detractors, have a little faith. Good things are coming.

Stevo and LouLou Video

2007-12-01T00:07:00.000-05:00

Thought this was too funny and worthy of sharing.

Bryant "Bumbling" Gumbel

2007-11-30T21:43:00.000-05:00

Bryant Gumbel.

I'm really not sure I need a intro sentence for you to understand what this post is about, that is unless you've never heard him as an announcer on the NFL Network.

Bryant Gumbel is the lead play by play announcer on the NFL Networks games and without argue one the worst announcers ever. As I watched the broadcast last night of the Dallas Cowboys vs Green Bay Packers game, I couldn't help but wish I was in a market where I could get the radio broadcast so I could mute the TV. Having to listen to Bryant Gumbel is as much fun as getting a root canal, its just really painful on the ears.

Throughout the game last night he would often forget which team is was referring to, calling the Cowboys the Packers several times. He referred to Cowboys RB Marion Barber as "Marion Jones" and RB Julius Jones as "Julius Barber". He also referred to Tony Romo as "Rick Romo", he apparently hasn't been paying any attention to the hype of Romo. And at one point in the first half with Dallas holding possession of the ball with 2:20 left in the first half said that Dallas needs to hurry to get the snap off before the two minute warning, they get the snap off at about 2:15. Also as LB Kevin Burnett limped to the sideline, Bryant, like your elderly grandmother running through the names of her grandchildren, referred to Burnett as Akin Ayodele then Brady James until he could clearly see the name Burnett on his jersey.

The NFL Network is in a tug of war negotiations with cable companies to get their channel available to consumer but are asking for more money than what other channels with more shows typically get. They may have shot themselves in the foot last night in what was arguably the second biggest game of the year and one that had the feel of a playoff game. If you sat and watched and listened to that debacle of a broadcast you're probably not inclined to call your cable company to demand they add the NFL Channel to its lineup. Which is why the NFL Network must make a change with their broadcast team if they expect people to pay higher cable prices or switch to satellites. I've really never heard a worst broadcast than what I heard last night, even the Carolina Panthers, who get the worst announcers around, have better announcers than the NFL Network.

If they are looking for viewership and respectability they must make a change and that change is in the form of type-casted Bryant Gumbel. He needs to stick with his HBO show, it's more suiting of his lame personality.

Dear NFL Network;

This is one fan who won't watch another game until change is made.

Unlimited Mulligans vs Ken Burger Week 2

2007-09-21T00:07:00.000-04:00

Week One saw Unlimited Mulligans beating Ken Burger 7-3 to his 6-4. Here's the games for this weeks contest.

Clemson at NC State -............................Clemson
South Carolina at LSU - ........................LSU
Charleston Southern at Hawaii -..........Hawaii
Winston Salem at SC State -.................SC State
Coastal Carolina at James Madison-....James Madison
Kentucky at Arkansas-..........................Arkansas
Georgia at Alabama-..............................Alabama
Maryland at Wake Forest-....................Wake Forest
Washington at UCLA-............................UCLA
Iowa at Wisconsin-.................................Wisconsin

This time I'm turning in my entry form so I can claim that sticker that I will attach to my Clemson cooler. Check in on Sunday for the results.

Red Sox Late Season Collapse

2007-09-20T22:13:00.000-04:00

Are we perhaps witnessing one of the greatest September collapses in Baseball history? Red Sox nation is collectively holding their breath in anticipation of the doom that is fast approaching. That being the Red Sox lead in the AL East which now stands at only 1 1/2 games. It doesn't seem that long ago that fans and baseball analysts alike buried the Yankees and gave the Red Sox the Division crown, I included. But, and there is always a but, the Yankees didn't just roll over and die like everyone wished they would. They battled, found young pitching and found their offense.

At the All-Star break on July 10th the Red Sox held what looked like a very comfortable 9 1/2 game lead. They were a Major League best 54-34. Since the break they are 36-29, a very respectable record. Here's that but again, the Yankees have been better, 8 games better, they have a post all star record of 44-21 which is the best in baseball since.

What's happened?

That's what many Sox fans would like to know. Part of the answer is that in the second half of the season the Red Sox are 1-5 vs the Yankees, that not only gives the Yankees confidence but also gives Sox fans heartburn. The other part is two fold. One being the biggest hitter in the lineup hasn't played since Aug 28th, Manny Ramirez has been out since he suffered a strained left oblique. He was a huge part of that lineup and the main reason the team has gone 10-11 in his absence. The other part of the problem is pitching and the bullpen, which after the acquisition of closer Eric Gagne was supposed to be their strong suite, instead it's been their Achilles heal. Gagne since joining the Red Sox, has posted stats that makes former Brave closer Dan Kolb look like a Cy Young pitcher. Gagne has an ERA of 8.80. But he's not the only one in the bullpen that is struggling, Rookie Hideki Okajima, since August, has also posted a balloon sized ERA of 7.05. But you also have to look at the starting pitching. Prized rookie Dice-K, Daisuke Matsuzaka, has gone 1-4 in his last 6 starts with an ERA of 8.44.

Good News
Yes with the bad comes some good. The Red Sox remaining games are against the Devil Rays, Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins, with the last 6 games at home. They Yankees remaining games though are against the Blue Jays, the Devil Rays and Orioles.

But look on the bright side Sox Nation, you're still going to make the playoffs, lets just hope though that the curse doesn't rear it's ugly head once more.

Week 2 NFL Power Rankings

2007-09-19T23:28:00.000-04:00

Week 1 in the NFL doesn't make or break a team, week 2 though starts to give you an insight into what a team is capable of. As such there is a big shake up in the week 2 NFL Power Ranks.

1) New England Patriots
2) Indianapolis Colts
3) Pittsburgh Steelers
4) Dallas Cowboys
5) Chicago Bears
6) San Diego Chargers
7) Baltimore Ravens
8) Houston Texans
9) Detroit Lions
10) Green Bay Packers
11) Washington Redskins
12) San Fransisco 49ers
13) Cincinnati Bengals
14) Denver Broncos
15) Tennessee Titans
16) Seattle Seahawks
17) Carolina Panthers
18) Tampa Bay Buccaneers
19) Jacksonville Jaguars
20) Minnesota Vikings
21) Arizona Cardinals
22) Philadelphia Eagles
23) New Orleans Saints
24) St Louis Rams
25) Miami Dolphins
26) Cleveland Browns
27) NY Jets
28) NY Giants
29) Buffalo Bills
30) Oakland Raiders
31) Atlanta Falcons
32) Kansas City Chiefs

Barrry's 756 a Future Space Odyssey or Cooperstown bound?

2007-09-18T23:57:00.000-04:00

The ball that Barry Bonds deposited into the left center seats that broke the Home Run record was just recently auctioned off for just short of $900K. Well if the public has anything to do with that ball could soon be floating in outer space. Yes you heard that right.

The winner of the auction was Mark Ecko, a designer from what I've heard today in NY. He has decided what he wants to do with the record breaking ball he just won, let the public decide its fate. Yep, the man that just spent almost a cool Million isn't keeping the ball but may end sending it up with NASA if the public says so.

He created a web site called, Vote756.com, to let people vote on three choices for the ball. They are as follows:

1) Bestow It - Give it to Cooperstown
2) Brand It - Mark the ball with an asterisk (*)
3) Banish It - Launch it to outer space

I'm really not sure how I feel about this. I'm not happy about Barry breaking this time honored record but now that it's broken part of me feels it should be in Cooperstown and then again part of me wants to see it in outer space. But I really feel like this is some marketing ploy for his designer clothing company and to get his name out in the general public that might not otherwise have known him, ie me. So I'll give him is 15 seconds of fame here and I'm voting for Cooperstown.

Click here to enter your vote.

Unlimited Mulligans vs Ken Burger of the Post & Courier

2007-09-13T23:20:00.000-04:00

Ken Burger of the Charleston Post and Courier holds a weekly contest in the fall for college pick'ems. Here's how it works. You cut out the form for the weekends games, fill out who you think will win then send it in to the Post and Courier. Ken will post his picks for the week on Saturday and if you beat him you'll get a bumper sticker that reads "I Beat Burger" and a chance to win a "Beat Burger" Koozie Deluxe Chair Cooler.

I'm going to try my hand at this for the first time. So the following are my picks:

Citadel at Wisconsin - Wisconsin
Furman at Clemson - Clemson
SC State at S. Carolina - S. Carolina
Johnson C Smith at Charleston Southern - Chas Southern
Boston College at Georgia Tech - G Tech
Virginia at UNC - UNC
Tennessee at Florida - Florida
Arkansas at Alabama - Arkansas
Notre Dame at Michigan - Michigan
USC at Nebraska - USC as in Southern Cal

I'll post the results on Monday against Burger. These seemed pretty easy to pick but you never know how these things will turn out.

Update

The only game Buger picked different from my picks was he stuck w/a promise to pick SC State in every game so he chose SC State over S. Carolina. I win!!!

Well as I had my mind on other things friday I forgot to get my entry by the Post and Courier so no bumper sticker for me this week. I'll try again this week.

Only the Raiders!!

2007-09-12T23:22:00.000-04:00

Finally!! He's in camp. He being the the #1 overall pick in April's NFL Draft. The Raiders are still the Raiders. They are perhaps the only organization that would let the top draft choice sit out all of training camp and the whole first week of the regular season. Most organizations take the suspense out of their selection prior to the draft, i.e. the Houston Texans signing Mario Williams before the draft.

JaMarcus Russell just signed his rookie contract which has a maximum value of $68 mil with $31.5 guaranteed. But this long hold out has also guaranteed that he won't see any playing time anytime soon. On a side note, these rookie contracts are getting completely out of hand, NFL needs to cap these contracts like the NBA does. These kids haven't proved anything yet they get paid more than 90% of veteran and more proven players.

But back to Al.

There's isn't much the Al Davis and company are doing right these days. Only Al Davis would hire a32 year old, yes 32 as head coach. One that would have zero experience as an NFL coach. His highest position as a coach was USC (So Cal) Offensive Coordinator. Only Al Davis would sue fellow NFL franchises for color and logo similarities. That's right, he tried suing the Carolina Panthers for their silver and black color scheme and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because of it's pirate logo.

His franchise was once feared, now people just laugh at them. Since their SuperBowl appearance in 2002, the Raiders have gone a total of 15-49 and are currently on their 4th head coach in that same span. This signing, well the fact that it took so long, is just another in a string of bad decisions he's making. This franchise isn't going anywhere anytime soon until Al decides to remove his name from the GM title.

Good luck JaMarcus, you're now a part of Raider Nation, one that isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

NFL Power Rankings Week 1

2007-09-12T20:36:00.000-04:00

Here are my week one NFL rankings. Choose to comment or leave you own ideas but this is mine.

1. Indianapolis Colts - Who knew the defense would play like it did against the Saints.
2. New England Patriots - Lets see what they do post spy games.
3. San Diego Chargers - Offense will play better but credit Bears D for lack of production
4. Pittsburgh Steelers - Browns not much of a test but new Offense will carry team, D good too
5. Chicago Bears - If they Rex can finally develop into a reliable QB this team is nasty.
6. Cincinnati Bengals - Defense is still the question mark on this team, Offense will carry them.
7. Carolina Panthers - Offense looks back in form, can Defense return to 03 form?
8. Dallas Cowboys - Offense hitting on all cylinders, can Defense play as expected? If so look out!!
9. New Orleans Saints - Didn't play well in opener but look for better in week 2.
10. Seattle Seahawks - Offense finally healthy, should be much better.
11. Denver Broncos - Team will go as far as Cutler can take them, how much will he improve?
12. Minnesota Vikings - Finally a franchise RB but question mark at QB.
13. Baltimore Ravens - Billick an offensive genius?? Really?? Defense will have to carry team once again.
14. St Louis Rams - If offense doesn't play better than week 1 they are in for a long year.
15. Philadelphia Eagles - Philly fans should hope McNabb can play all 16 games, rookie troubles otherwise.
16. Houston Texans - Offense improved w/additions at QB and RB, Defense better, new coach. No longer a laughing stock.
17. Jacksonville Jaguars - Not enough offense to carry team if the defense continues to get pushed around.
18. New York Jets - NY fans better pray Pennington stays healthy, no cheer.
19. Detroit Lions - Martz the mad scientist is at it again, weapons galore on offense.
20. San Francisco 49ers - Nolan has team in right direction, defense looks much improved.
21. New York Giants - Offense okay. Injuries and age hurting defense.
22. Tennessee Titans - VY (since when did we shorten his name media?) to have sophomore slump, on teams' radar now. Plenty of questions on defense.
23. Washington Redskins - Unproven QB...and well they are still the Redskins, great on paper..struggles on the field.
24. Miami Dolphins - Aging QB, Aging Defense, new coach...long season Dolphin fans.
25. Green Bay Packers - Yes they won but lack of playmakers on offense will hurt in long run
26. Arizona Cardinals - If monday is any indication this Offense will struggle thanks to it's O-Line.
27. Buffalo Bills - Only bright spots on this team; Losman, Evans, Parrish and Lynch.. Defense lacks playmakers.
28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - No Offense, aging Defense...another long year in Gruden's QB carousel.
29. Oakland Raiders - Well they are still the Raiders...They should be a couple games better in 07
30. Atlanta Falcons - With or without Vick this team would struggle.
31. Kansas City - I think Larry Johnson should've waited to be a free agent, this team stinks.
32. Cleveland - They belong in the Big 10. Seriously, App State would give them a game.

Palmetto State dominates Saturday Football

2007-09-10T21:53:00.000-04:00

Saturday afternoon was a great day for many of South Carolina colleges and their fans. In 11 games that involved state schools, 8 won and one game pitted two state schools against one another. All in all the state's Saturday record was 8 -3. Of course the big two of Clemson and USC both notched a win.

Here's a quick rundown of the Winners:

Clemson won big against a lesser foe in Louisiana-Monroe. They were able to shake off a sluggish beginning to route Monroe 49-26 as Junior QB Cullen Harper passed for 5 TD's, a Clemson record.

South Carolina had arguably the schools biggest win in Steve Spurrier's tenure, as well as Lou Holtz's. They beat Georgia in Athens and between the hedges which maybe the school's biggest road win ever. They led throughout winning 16-12. The win vaulted them from the land of the unranked to #17 in the country. As much as it hurts me to write this, S Carolina has put themselves in great position to challenge for a spot in the SEC Championship game.

Citadel. That's enough said. Call this a program statement game or call it a blow out but whatever you call they won BIG, as in 76 to zero BIG. They beat Webber International of the NAIA. Granted they only have 550 students but for Citadel to score 76 unanswered points it is a thing of beauty. For giggles Citadel scored 4 TD's on their first 11 plays and the defense scored 3 TD's. Look out Wisconsin, another So Con team looks to take down the Big10.

Wofford beat up a Charleston Southern team already coming off one blowout the previous week at Citadel only to get ripped again 52-24. The Terriers ran for 317 yards on 57 attempts. The Buccaneers sadly enough will need to get used to blowouts, as in two weeks they will travel to Hawaii to take on the pass happy Rainbows and record setting QB Colt Brennan.

South Carolina State recorded their first win of the year as they knocked off Bethune-Cookman 24-13. SC State will try to bring their run game with them as they travel to Columbia Saturday to take on the Gamecocks.

Coastal Carolina in a rebuilding mode was able to fend off Winston Salem State to win 28-21 and even it's record at 1-1. William Richardson threw for 301 yards and a TD.

Newberry beat up a Bowie State team 41-7 as RB Alex Haynes rushed for 255 yards as the Indians piled up 507 total yards.

Presbyterian, in their first year of Division 1-AA football (FCS), knocked off Pikeville 58-7. QB Grayson Mullins passed for 342 yards and 6 scores. The Blue Hose, for laughter, scored 35 points in the second quarter.

Loses

North Greenville remains winless as they lost 21-17 to Fairmont State.

Furman traveled to NY only to come back with a loss as they were beat by Hofstra 32-17. They are 1-1 on the year.

2007 NFL Season Predictions

2007-09-05T22:47:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the year, when football analysts and fans make their predictions for the season. Now I'm giving this a whirl for the first time. All give the winner for each division and the Wild Cards in both leagues and who will win the SuperBowl.

AFC

East
New England 11 - 5
NY Jets 9 - 7
Miami 8 - 8
Buffalo 4 - 10

West
San Diego 12 - 4
Denver 11 - 5
Kansas City 5 - 11
Oakland 5 - 11

North
Baltimore 12 - 4
Cincinnati 10 - 6
Pittsburgh 8 - 8
Cleveland 4 - 12

South
Jacksonville 12 - 4
Indianapolis 10 - 6
Houston 7 - 9
Tennessee 5 - 11

NFC

East
Dallas 12 - 4
Philadelphia 10 - 6
NY Giants 8 - 8
Washington 5 - 11

West
Seattle 11 - 5
St. Louis 10 - 6
Arizona 7 - 9
San Fran 6 -10

North
Chicago 12 - 4
Detroit 9 - 7
Green Bay 8 - 8
Minnesota 5 - 11

South
New Orleans 13 - 3
Carolina 10 - 6
Atlanta 7 - 9
Tampa Bay 5 - 11

AFC Wild Card: Denver, Indianapolis
NFC Wild Card: Philadelphia, St. Louis

AFC Championship Game: Baltimore at San Diego
NFC Championship Game: Dallas at New Orleans

SuperBowl: New Orleans vs San Diego

NFL Champion: San Diego

Check back on this in February to see how good of a prognosticator I am

App State makes themselves at home in the BIG HOUSE!

2007-09-05T01:14:00.001-04:00

It's now being called the greatest upset in sports history, not college history, sports history. Even over the Miracle on Ice, USA over Russia in Olympic hockey. And rightfully so. I mean this is Michigan, they have the most wins in the history of Division 1A football, err FBS and they were playing at home in front of 100,000 or so fans. True life David vs Goliath. If this were college basketball it would be the likes of a 16 seed beating a 1 seed, something that has never happened.

This was the greatest upset in sports history, plain and simple. Never in the history of college football has a division 1AA school (FCS) beat a ranked 1A school (FBS). And this wasn't like Michigan was a top 20 or top 15 school, they were ranked #5 in the nation. Had the likes of a lower tiered Big 10 school beat them it would've been considered an upset but this takes on an even greater meaning.

I awoke on Sunday morning expecting to turn on ESPN's Sports Center and finding the following headline, 'Michigan fires Lloyd Carr', alas but nothing. I likened it to my high school days when Citadel beat Arkansas and the very next day they fired the head coach. So I figured the situation and record in big games coupled with this disaster of epic proportions was enough for Michigan nation to say enough is enough.

Well he has so far escaped being fired but I'm sure he's on a short leash now. I would say unless he beats OSU (something he can't do) or wins out the remaining games he's out as head coach. There's no coming back from a meltdown like this.

The following coaches would like to say thanks to Lloyd Carr; Charlie Weis, Bobby papa Bowden and Al Groh.

Oh by the way: Michigan also becomes the first team to drop from the Top 5 to completely out of the Top 25 in one week.

Braves and September renewals

2007-09-04T23:41:00.000-04:00

Ah September!! It's that great time of the year when College Football and the NFL seasons are getting underway and baseball pennant races are heating up. It's the best time of the year if you're a sports fan, well with the exception of a three week period in March.

Well for the second straight year I am only left to look forward to football and wondering if the Dallas Cowboys will challenge the Eagles for the NFC East Division Championship and to see if Clemson can manage to piece together a great overall season and play for a ACC Championship. The reason I can't include baseball into that mix is because the Atlanta Braves can't seem to get anything together and are in a serious hole to make the playoffs.

With 23 games remaining in the 2007 schedule, the Braves find themselves at 70-69 and in third place in the NL East. They are currently 8 1/2 games out of first in the east and 6 games back of Wild Card leading Arizona Diamondbacks. Playoff hopes are fading as fast as Michigan's chances at a National Championship, but that's another story all together. Basically in order for Atlanta to have a chance at making the post season they would seriously almost have to run the table in the next 23 games and considering in the last 10 games they are 3-7, I'm not holding my breathe for that to happen. So I'm now re-shifting my focus to football.

It's yet another disappointing season for the Braves world. Remember back in early April, think hard, like really hard, the Braves were 10-1 and looking like an all-world team. They had pitching and hitting, timely hitting and a consistent bullpen. It looked then like last years losing season was just a fluke, a hiccup in a 15 year winning stretch. Well it's looking more like they have a flu and this isn't a hiccup anymore.

There are two things that have stood out the most in this turbulent season. One being Andruw's well document struggles at the plate. The second is really three things, as in Atlanta's 3, 4 and 5 game starters. With the exception of Smoltz and Hudson the braves have used a total of 7 men for those 3 spots and their combined record is 23-35 compared to Smoltz and Hudson's record of 27-17.

So I am taking my emotions out of baseball now and moving them to football.

Ah September, time for some Football and sports rejuvenation.

David Beckham USA Soccer Savior? Really?

2007-08-31T23:35:00.000-04:00

There are times in American sports where hype never meets reality. Think Ryan Leaf, Brian Bozworth or Grant Hill. Now think David Beckham. He may not be in the same group as those other guys nor do those three get grouped together. What I'm saying is they none of them lived up to expectations imposed on them. I've grown old and tired of hearing about David Beckham being the savior for American Soccer.

The main problem with marketing him as the savior to a sport that has been dormant since the beginning of sports, is that he isn't a scorer in a sport where scoring is at premium. Beckham is only famous for one thing, his ability to score off of penalty kicks when he bends the ball over the defenders heads and into the corner of the goal. Hence the movie "Bend it like Beckham". I don't understand why the MLS and the LA Galaxy expect Americans to pay attention to an entire game to see maybe one play of his kicks, if at all. The American sports landscape is dominated by the big three of Football, Baseball and Basketball. Soccer for goodness sakes is as irrelevant as the NHL and we all know how popular that sport is today. So I'm having a hard time understanding why he is a savior to a sport that doesn't matter to the vast majority of Americans.

In my view American only pay attention to soccer once every four years. And if you can't figure out why that is then you really don't pay attention to soccer. The World Cup is played every four years, that's the time most people will tune in their TVs to watch. I myself am not a soccer person, I subscribe to those three previous sports mentioned above, but I will watch the World Cup not only when the USA boys hit the field but will watch other matches. But when it comes to the MLS and regular soccer it just doesn't hold our attention. If I asked you to tell me how many teams are in the MLS or name more than 5 teams you could you do it?

In my opinion here is what is wrong with soccer and why it can't capture Americas attention.

* There are too many tournaments within the MLS season that teams and players compete in. I looked at the MLS web site and counted 6 tournaments that are played throughout the year. Honestly that's just too much to keep up with. For example in David's latest injury, one that will sideline him for the rest of the year, he and his Galaxy teammates were playing in a Superliga tournament against Pachuca (who) and sprained his knee. Now this tournament is right in the middle of the MLS season. Can you imagine your favorite NFL team playing one Sunday against a CFL team in the midst of the NFL season, hell no. You wouldn't stand for it. But that's exactly what soccer does. Stop playing all these in season tournaments so people can focus on your season and your league.

* Soccer regularly has ties. We as Americans expect to see a team appear victorious. We don't pay enormous ticket prices and sit for 3 hours just to see a game end in a tie. Remember the outrage when baseball ended the All-Star game in a tie? We were outraged and to think that game was just an exhibition game, they wouldn't dare end a regular season game in a tie and ties in the NFL are a rarity.

* Scoring needs to increase. I say shrink the size of the field some, does it really need to be as big as it is? Other sports find ways to increase scoring. Baseball lowered the pitching mound, NFL pushed the kickoffs back and the NBA, well they just don't play defense.

* The MLS needs to change its name. Too many people think of the MLS in real estate terms. Change it to the NSL (National Soccer League) or maybe the ASL (American Soccer League). Okay this is a minor issue but seriously, the MLS (multiple listing service) was around way before Major League Soccer.

* In America we are used to sports in countdown mode, we start at 15 minutes and count to zero, 20 minutes to zero. Nope, not soccer. They count up and then have extra time at the end. We're a countdown society. Seriously, what if we changed New Years Eve, instead of 10, 9, 8, 7...1 we went 1, 2, 3, 4....10. Wouldn't work, that concept wouldn't be excepted. Soccer needs to start at 45 and count to zero and stop the clock for injuries and balls out of play.

I'll give MLS and LA Galaxy credit for trying to help a sport grow in a country that just doesn't care, but you can't expect David Beckham to save a sport from itself. Nice try. With his injury you're not relegated to the back page of sports yet again.

South Carolina in the Miss Teen USA Q and A

2007-08-28T18:41:00.000-04:00

I know this isn't sports related but since it has has made the sports talk show circuit I felt the need to post it.

This video is of Lauren Caitlin Upton, no doubt a very beautiful young lady but definitely lacking some education, or at least it seems. She was chosen to represent S. Carolina in the Miss Teen USA contest. Her answer will no doubt leave you scratching your head in wonderment.

Here is the dialogue from the Q & A:

Question: Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the United States on a world map. Why do you think this is?

Miss Teen South Carolina: "I personally believe the U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh...people out there in our nation don't have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as and...I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., err, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our...

Who will be Bonds's Al Downing?...

2007-08-07T23:57:00.000-04:00

That question has been answered and his name is Mike Bacsik, pronounced (BA-sek). Who you might ask. His name again is Mike Bacsik and he will forever be synonymous with Barry Bonds, like two brothers attached at the hip. However you choose to view him, whether as a failure or as a legend, he was the one who gave up Barry Bonds's record breaking home run number 756, breaking the tie with Hank Aaron. And in case you aren't familiar with Al Downing, he is the one that gave up Hank Aaron's 715 home run when he broke Babe Ruth's record in April of 1974.

Now to who is Mike Bacsik?

He is a starting left handed pitcher for the Washington Nationals, a team Bond's has now hit 64 home runs against, tying the Phillies. Bacsik, you could say in only 5 years in the MLB, has been a journeyman player. He has played for the Indians, Mets, Rangers and Nationals. He broke into the bigs in 2001 with the Indians, appearing in only 3 games, pitching in nine innings. He played with the Mets from 2002 to 2003 pitching in 16 games, 73.1 innings. He spent 2004 with the Rangers but started in only 3 games and 15.2 innings. He spent 2005 and 2006 in the minors. This year with the Nationals, he has started 16 games, including tonight, pitched in 85.1 innings and has given up 16 home runs including the historic one against Bonds.

He was born on November 11, 1977 in the lone star state in Dallas, Texas. He made his MLB debut with the Indians on August 5th, 2001. His career stats entering tonight's game is as follows:

Wins 10
Losses 11
ERA 5.11
Games 36
Games started 29
Complete games 1
Innings pitched 179.2
Hits 210
Runs 111
Earned runs 102
HR 29
BB 50
K's 79

View in History

Now who knows how history with treat this man. As a journeyman pitcher, when you give up a historic home run, you will always be remembered for that indelible moment. He's not a Smoltz, a Randy Johnson or a Greg Maddux, those are pitchers who's achievements wouldn't have been forgotten for this failure. Mike Bacsik, however isn't a household name, that is till tonight. History will always remember today as August 7th, 2007 the day Barry Bonds hit career home run 756 off Mike Bacsik. In 10, 20 or 30 years down the road he will be remembered chiefly for giving up this historic home run. Did you know who Al Downing was? Not until he served up Hank Aaron's 715th home run.

Remember Mike Bacsik. He will now be the answer to a certain trivia question forever.

755*

2007-08-04T22:46:00.000-04:00

As if you didn't know what that headline meant!

Yes Barry "Juiced" Bonds hit career home run number 755, tying Hank Aaron's record that has stood since 1976. It's only fitting that he did it against the San Diego Padres whom he has hit more home runs against than any other team (84).

There's been a huge cloud of doubt that has hung over his head for the last several years and I for one never wanted to see this record broken, tied or ever attacked by Bonds. Its one thing to know it was earned and done the right way with Hank Aaron who carried himself with much more class than to have it hit by Bonds. I want so hard to be able to embrace this triumphant achievement, to be able to watch with excitement but I can't. There's too much disdain and too much doubt as to how he came to 755 and how he will no doubt pass it.

Remember back in 2001 when Barry hit 73, it was again an empty feeling. Unexciting and joyless. Maybe it was because just 3 years earlier Big Mac had just passed Roger Maris's 61, a number that had stood for 37 years. Or maybe it was just the unpersonable Bonds that made it joyless. At any rate, Bonds is no doubt enemy number 1 when it comes to breaking home run records and baseball fans. Now, I have a lot of respect for his career pre 2001 when he was with the Pirates and his early Giants days. He was the first in the NL to have 40 HRs and 40 SBs in one season, he was an immensely talented baseball player, he didn't need steroids, he was already one of the game's best players. Coming into that 2001 season he already had 494 Home runs to his credit.

So there's no doubting the talent he has just the way he came to 755.

How long will it stand?

Now there is no telling what Barry's final home run count will be, he is currently 88 hits away from 3,000 so there is speculation that he'll be around for at least one more year. But if you're wondering if his record will stand for the 31 years that Hanks did, it's not likely to last 10. Alex Rodriguez is the more likely candidate to break whatever number Bonds puts up. And the reason for that is if you compare the two at the same time in their respectful careers you'll find that A-Rod is ahead of Bond's home run pace.

Alex in his first 13 years and 1855 games has 500 home runs, Bonds in the same 13 years and 1,898 games had 411 home runs. So if Alex plays till he is 43 like Bonds and averages 27 home runs a season, he will find himself with 800 home runs. His last 9 years he's averaged 44 home runs and at that pace he will break 800 by the age of 38, a very real possibility.

So don't fret all you Bonds haters, A-Rod is quick to the rescue.

A-Rod hits 500th Home Run

2007-08-04T15:10:00.000-04:00

Thanks A-Rod for nullifying my previous post, guess in my hast to put something up here I maybe jinxed myself and given you the motivation to get it done already.

Alex became the youngest player (32 years, 8 days) ever to hit 500 home runs, passing Jimmie Fox (32 years, 338 days). The home run came against the Royals and new acquired and former Brave, Kyle Davies who has now given up 13 homers in only 87 innings pitched. He now becomes the 22nd player to join the 500, which now-a-days seems to have a new member every month. By seasons end he should rank 17th passing Ernie Banks's 512 and just below Ted Williams's and Willie McCovey at 521.

This 500 club could also see 3 more added to the list by seasons end. Jim Thome currently has 489, Manny Ramirez 488 and Gary Sheffield at 478.

Congrats to A-Rod.

August 5th will be Milestone Sunday

2007-08-04T00:28:00.000-04:00

In case you've been locked in a closet somewhere and haven't heard of the milestone trifecta that is possible in MLB; Bonds is chasing Hammerin Hanks' 755 HRs and currently stuck on 754, A-Rod is stuck on 499 HRs and Glavine is still waiting on 300 wins. They were aligned to set their respected individual records on July 31st, none of course were successful in their attempts.

Well here we go again, Sunday August 5Th. This will probably be the last time all three of them go for their milestones in the same day. That's because Glavine, being a pitcher, won't have the chance to pitch again till August 10Th and I'm pretty sure A-Rod or Bonds will have hit their home run by then.

If all three were to hit their milestone on that day, Sunday August 5Th will live in Baseball lore. I can't recall any day that would have the drama in so many places and situations. ESPN is already covering every at bat Bonds and A-Rod have had for the last week. If it were to happen, make sure you save the paper cause it will be one for the ages.

Earlier this year we had 2 players reach their milestones on the same day. That of course being Frank Thomas (500 HRs) and Craig Biggio (3,000 hits). But the three going to their career milestones are more popular and more well known than those two.

Game Times

The excitement begins at 1pm when A-Rod and his Yankees take the field against the visiting Royals. A-Rod will be facing Gil Meche, someone he has had a lot of success against. He has it .417 in 24 at bats with 4 HRs and 8 Rbis.

Bonds attempts to tie Hank Aaron at 4pm when his Giants play at San Diego. Bonds will be facing Justin Germano, who in his 3 at bats against, is hitless with no walks and one strikeout.

Tom Glavine takes the mound at 8pm against the Cubs at Chicago. In his only game against the Cubs this year, Glavine got a no decision in the Mets 5-4 win. He pitched 6 innings allowed 6 hits and 4 earned runs with 4 walks. Since 2002 Glavine is 1-4 in 6 games against the Cubs with an ERA of 7.09.

I'm back

2007-08-04T00:17:00.000-04:00

After a long long layoff I'm going to get back to my posts. Not sure how much time I'll devote to this but I will be putting things on here periodically. I've had somethings brewing upstairs and been wanting to get them on here, besides, my buddy Jim at The Bushido Way has been urging me to get back to this. So bear with me on my return.

Super Bowl prediction

2007-02-04T13:50:00.000-05:00

Okay so I wanted to jump on here for a second and give my prediction for the SuperBowl. I think the Colts will continue the dominance they demostrated in the second half of the AFC Championship against the Pats and will take care of the Bears. I just don't think Rex "I am a" Grossman won't be able to handle the pressure of this game with all eyes upon him. Colts defense has been playing well in the playoffs in large part due to the resurgance of one Bob Sanders in the lineup. Colts just have too many weapons on offense and will spread out the Bears defense which I my opinion isn't as good as many seem to think.

Score

Colts 34
Bears 23

Okay now for a quick update.

I'm now at 240 pounds with another 15 to go to reach my goal of 225 so to date I've lost a total of 55 pounds. I just participated in my first organized run last weekend when I ran a 5K race on Sullivans Islands. My time was 29:35. I've been doing alot of running, two weeks ago I did 17 miles in one week, 5 on monday, 6 tuesday and another 6 on friday. I'm in better shape at 32 than I was when I was 22. I'm about a month away from starting the process of buying my first home, still got a few bills I need to payoff but I'm getting ever so close. Job is still going well, life in general is great and I finally have everything going for me now. For the last couple of years I've always wished there was a button you could hit to reset your life, well I found it but I had to check my ego at the door to do it and that was moving back home with my parents. Without their help I'm not sure where I'd be today. I've got a few more goals for this year yet to be accomplished but so far it's been a great year for me and it's only going to get better.

Enjoy the SuperBowl and go COLTS!!!!

Two months later

2006-11-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, someone asked for an update back in Oct and now it's almost Dec so I figured I'd let ya'll know how I'm doing for those still curious.

First off I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I'll be in Clemson for the last time this football season watching my beloved Tigers eat some chicken for thanksgiving for the 5th straight year.

Well I'm now into my second month of my new life. New job started mid Sept and my diet plan started about a week earlier. Well let me tell ya, you can change alot in two months.

My first month with my job I only did about $26K in sales. Well I've still got a week to go in my second month and I'm already at close to $70K so I'm tripled my sales and by the end of the month will be close to 4x.

As for appearance wise, I topped out at 295 pounds on my buddies wedding on July 1st. Well it's now almost Dec and as of now I'm at 255. That's 40 pounds loss, imagine picking up a 40lb dumbbell and that's what I was carrying around on my 6'4 frame that's now gone. I'm not done yet though. My goal is to be back at 225 and I haven't weighed that since about 1999. It's amazing how much confidence I have already regained and it's only going to get better the more pounds I drop.

If you're wondering how I've done it I'll give you the basics. First I had to make lifestyle changes and that began with my new job. With my last job I could never get into a routine and that caused a lot of problems with me. I cut out eating fast food for lunch and dinner. I drink nothing but water, okay I do occasionally drink a soda but rarely. I eat less proportions at dinner and only a sandwich for lunch and nutrigrain bar for breakfast. As for exercise I try to run everyday, I don't do a lot of free-weights, sticking mostly to machines. I don't need to bulk up, just tone up. I'm actually preparing for my first organized run in December. I'm doing the Reindeer Run with Jim. When I first started running two months ago I could barely complete a quarter mile, now I'm over 2 1/2.

The pictures above are before and after pictures, well after being current since I'm not done yet.

Now this is just an update, I'm not getting back on here to blog, at least right now. I've still got bigger things to accomplish yet.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Update

2006-09-26T23:54:00.000-04:00

For those of you still wondering what's going on with me and my blog I just wanted to give you a quick update. After much thinking I have decided to take a much longer break from this, maybe even a permanent break. Since I've started my new job last week and trying to get into the gym consistently and my softball season now underway I just don't think I will have the time nor the patience to write on here anymore. I know some of you, okay maybe a couple of you, will be disappointed but it really is for the best thing for me.

The only reason I really started this blog was to take my mind off the fact that I was depressed about my life. Writing about sports was a way for me to take my mind off my crappy job, my weight and lack of money. My girlfriend and sports were the only things holding me up for a while. Now that I don't have her anymore I have to focus on making me happy with me.

So I'm working on getting to a point where I'm happy with my job and good at it, have recovered my confidence by getting in shape and have most, if not all of my bills paid off. I'm tired of constantly being broke to the point where I have to make up excuses for why I can't do something. I want to be able to fly to Las Vegas if I so choose or finally get down to Jacksonville to see my friend and his wife.

Once I've accomplished all of that and reached the point where I'm confident again and happy with myself then I'll think of getting back on here. So basically check back in Jan 2007, maybe then I'll post my Superbowl prediction.

Thanks for understanding and support.

Taking a break from blogging.

2006-09-12T13:07:00.000-04:00

Sorry for my lacking of posts but I've had alot of things going on in my life the last month and I haven't really had the motivation to blog at this time. I've got some things I want to put on here but I've tried writing but it's not coming out like I'd like. Also starting a new job next week that will have me in North Carolina for a week doing training. So I'm taking some time off from this to focus on getting healthy and getting my job settled. Losing my girlfriend has honestly taken a toll on me and I can't find the motivation to blog at this point, so that's another issue I'm working through. So just hang with me for a little bit, I promise I'll be back soon.

Braves are done..see ya in 07

2006-09-08T02:34:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's become time for fans of the Atlanta Braves to go ahead and write the obituary for this 2006 team. I'm going to. Until we were swept by the Mets in the last double header, I held out hope the Braves would make a run at the Wild Card but this season has proved anything but the Braves ability to string together more than 3 wins on a regular basis. As it stands now, the Braves are a pathetic 66-73, 21 games behind the Mets and 7 games behind Wild Card leading San Diego Padres.

I have written off the Braves for this year, thus I have turned full attention to my other team the Dallas Cowboys. I'm sure I'll watch some of the playoffs and probably most of the World Series but it will be with little emotion. I won't even have the option of pulling for my adopted second team the Boston Red Sox. My buddy JET is in the same boat as me having pulled for the Sox then Braves. What a terrible baseball season it's been for me.

It's been 15 years since I've felt the pain and anguish of sitting thru a Braves losing season. The last time it happened I was a Sophomore in High School. I remember going to a game in the mid season of 91 and everyone around me was doing some chop chant and I had no idea what it was, I would later realize it became the Braves rally cry, the Tomahawk Chop.

So, not all is lost though. This losing season maybe a wake up call to the Braves organization and most importantly the Braves fans. We've all become too complacent as a fan thinking the Braves would always play in the World Series. Fans in Hotlanta haven't been really vocal since that magical season of 91', the year of the worst to first. Just remember back then to how special that season was. Who would've thunk that 14 years later they continue to win its division.

Well welcome to 2006, which will forever be remembered for the year the Mets ended the Braves record division streak and I can say they deserved it. Top to bottom they have the most feared, most dangerous lineup that's probably ever been assembled in the National League.

Well now it's time we start looking forward to 2007 and to try and regain the division title. We have Mike Hampton coming back to a rotation the will feature Smoltzie, Huddy, Chuck James, Ramirez or Kyle Davies. I'd say that's a pretty strong rotation if healthy not to mention the possibity of Tommy Glavine returning. Then you add in a healthy Chipper Jones, a much improved Francoeur, Martin Prado at second and leadoff. Now I'm sure the "homey up stairs", as John Smoltz put it when referring to John Schuerholz, will make some big adjustments when it comes to the bullpen. Now I'd almost guarantee you that closer Bob Wickman will return, after that its a toss up.

Here's to the remainder of 2006 and to a new beginning in 2007.

Parcell's track record

2006-08-25T18:06:00.000-04:00

My buddy Mark sent me a msg giving me an idea for an article on Bill Parcells track record. Well instead of actually doing the leg work to write this article I'll just take the lazy way out and just post his actual email to me.

Thanks for the idea Mark, I'll see what I can do on it. Here's his email to me:

Why don’t you start writing more about the Cowboys? I’ll give you a good topic. Bill Parcels started head coaching in 1983 with the New York Giants (a shitty team in 83 that really needed work) Bill’s 4^th year there they went 14-2 in the season and went on to win the Super Bowl. 4 years later 13-3 in the season and another Super Bowl win. In 1993 he took over the floundering Patriots. His 4^th year there they were 11-5 and went to the Super Bowl but lost because of two special teams plays by a freakishly smoking hot Desmond Howard who had a 99 yard kickoff return and a 90 yard punt return (by the way the only special teams player ever to win the MVP in a Super Bowl). Coach then went to the Jets for only three years but the pattern was the same. Who knows what would have happened had he stayed for a 4^th year. My point is this…..what year is this for him with our beloved Dallas Cowboys? _____

Has anyone thought of this yet? NO!!! I’ll just answer that before you try to say that you did think of that… That’s the type of interesting shit you should be writing about.

See you tomorrow Bitch!

Funny Friday - Picture of the Week

2006-08-25T12:34:00.000-04:00

Pictured w/the arrow would be Notre Dame's prized 2007 Football recruit QB Jimmy Clausen.

Jimmy Clausen is the nations #1 recruit.

Byrnes and Summerville among Nations Top 25 High School Programs

2006-08-24T11:17:00.000-04:00

Byrnes High School in Duncan, SC and Summerville High are ranked #2 and # 21 respectively in USA's Top 25 High School Football rankings.

Byrnes High is led by future Clemson Tiger, Willy Korn, the nations #2 rated QB behind Jimmy Clausen who is committed to Notre Dame. Last year Korn passed for 4,164 yards with 53 TD's, a state record. The 2nd ranked team will host #5 ranked Glades Central in Florida on Saturday which is being aired by ESPN at noon. It's a chance for Byrnes to show the rest of the country and dominating football they have been playing for last few years. They opened this season with another stellar performance in dominating Hartsville 55-20. Byrnes received some bad news this past week when another Clemson commit WR Xavier Dye's transfer was denied and won't be allowed to play for Byrnes. If you've never seen Korn on film or in person this will be your chance to see the arm this kid possesses. He is the nations #1 Dual-threat QB.

Summerville ranked #21, returns 13 starters that finished 2005 with a record of 12-3. They are led by Junior Wideout, AJ Green, who will no doubt be one of the nations top recruits in 2008. In his Sophomore year he amassed 1,501 yards receiving with 12 TDs. They open the season against Berkeley High tomorrow night.

I also have to mention Craig's Independence High in Charlotte NC. That is his alma mater and he was a coach there just 5 years ago. They start the season ranked #18 in the nation. If you haven't heard of them, you will soon, they currently own a 92 game winning streak. Yes that's correct, 92 games or just over 6 years since they last lost and that would be about 6 straight state titles. Chris Leak, the QB of the Florida Gators graduated from this football power.

So keep your ears open for these schools and if you get the chance you should definitely watch them in action.

Happy 48th Birthday Julio Franco

2006-08-23T17:59:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to wish former Brave Julio Franco a happy 48th B-Day. If you just stumbled upon this site and don't know who Franco is, he would be the 1st baseman for the Mets and the former 1st baseman for the Braves. Yes he really is 48 and he's still playing the game at a higher level than most players in their mid 20s. He's a freak of nature, by baseball age standards your career is supposed to be over in the late 30's.

He is no doubt baseballs oldest player and he wants to break the record as being the only 50 year old major leaguer ever.

He made his major league debut April 23, 1982, here's what was going on back in 82;

* Clemson defeats Nebraska 22-15 in the Orange Bowl in Miami for the National Collegiate Football Championship.
* The first "Late Night with David Letterman" show is broadcast
* Michael Jackson's "Thriller" sells 20 million albums to become the largest selling record ever
* Liposuction is introduced.
* Ozzy bites the head off a live bat thrown at him at a January 20 performance.
* John Belushi dies March 5 of cocaine and heroin
* Heisman Trophy: Herschel Walker, Georgia, RB Points: 1,926
* Super Bowl XVI: San Francisco 49ers vs. Cincinnati Bengals Score: 26-21
* "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" ... Chicago Top 10 song
*"I Love Rock n' Roll" ... Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Top 10 song
* "Eye of the Tiger" ... Survivor Top 10 song * Annie - Movie
* E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial - Movie

Oh and by the way, Franco made his MBL Debut before current stars and teammates, Jose Reyes and David Wright were born.

Here's to you Franco, hope you make it to 50.

Tom Cruise dumped

2006-08-22T23:17:00.000-04:00

Yeah I know this isn't sports related but I can't help to post this great news. Paramount Pictures has kicked Tom Cruise and his blimp sized ego to the curb. The reason they gave is for his crazy conduct the past year.

To me I love this. I, like most people, have grown tired of his antics this past year. I never saw his Oprah moment but I've seen the Scary Movie 4 version. Not only has his personal life sucked, well with the exception of Katie Holmes, but so has his movies. The last movie I liked w/him was Collateral and I liked that movie more for Jamie Foxx than him.

Tom Cruise's best days have been behind him. His best movies are all from the 80s; Top Gun, Color of Money, Cocktail, Rain Man, Days of Thunder and 92's A Few Good Men.

Bledsoe is the Cowboys starter ESPN !!!

2006-08-22T17:54:00.000-04:00

I really think ESPN is running out of news to report so its trying to create news. I'm talking about them trying to convince everyone that Dallas is wanting to start Tony Romo over Drew Bledsoe. ESPNs Sports Center teaser to open up the show asks the question, " Who will throw to TO, any chance it won't be Bledsoe?

They obviously haven't listened to Bill Parcells press conferences so let me tell them now, there is no chance of Drew backing up Tony, not a chance. Yes Tony Romo looks capable of starting but as long as Drew Bledsoe is healthy he will be the starter. I sincerely doubt they would bring in TO if they were basically going to start over at the QB position. Tony is in his 3rd year but has yet to throw a pass in a regular season game, just 3 kneel downs. Both Bill and JJ (Jerry Jones) are desperate to win a Super Bowl and only Drew gives them that chance.

Bill has repeatedly said that the only reason they are playing Tony Romo so much is that they are trying to evaluate him for the future. His contract is up after this year so he'll be a free agent. Bill and company need to know exactly what they have in him. So ESPN seems to be creating controversy just to fill air time and they continue to do it with TO but that's just a completely different story.

I am pretty confident in Tony Romo if Bledsoe were to get hurt and I think the Cowboys have found their QB of the future, it's just the future might have to wait a year or two.

ESPN, create your news else where, there's no smoke in Dallas so there surely isn't a fire.

Is Marcus Giles from W. Virginia??

2006-08-17T19:23:00.000-04:00

I always knew there was something goofy about the Braves' Marcus Giles, now I what it is. He's from West Virginia, well maybe not but he must have drank their kool-aid passing thru at some point.

The Braves beat the Nationals today 5-0 earning them a split in the 4 game series. Here's what Giles had to say about the split; "The last thing we wanted to do was drop three out of four to these guys," Giles said. "We definitely wanted to win three out of four, but getting a split, it's better than kissing your sister, I guess."

Did he really just compare kissing your sister to losing 3 of 4 games? Come'on Giles you can come up with a better analogy than that, unless of course you have some ties to West Virginia. How about, 'losing 3-4 would've been like getting kicked in the nuts', yeah okay I'm sure you can't tell a reporter that but it's better than saying "kissing your sister".

What if the Braves had lost 3-4, what would he have said in regards to avoiding getting swept? Would he have said 'it's better than having sex with your sister'?

Have a drink on us Koren Robinson

2006-08-16T19:55:00.000-04:00

Just when you thought the Vikings were becoming a clean, law-abiding team, Koren Robinson goes and returns their reputation as the 2nd bad boy team, of course #1 will always be the Raiders. Wow, they couldn't even make it to the start of the season to make news off the field. When Randy "Red bugs" Moss left you, thought the off field issues left w/him right? Wrong!

Koren Robinson was clocked at over 100 mph, 10 miles away from the Vikings training camp site. He was charged with DWI. Looks like he's on the juice, PJ that is. Koren says that he is a recovering alcoholic. Well I am one too, in fact, I'll be spending most of Friday recovering from turning yet another year older. I can't believe I'm turning 29.

Remember that boat party they had last year, man what I would've done to be on that boat.

Cheers to you Koren, and oh, have another.

Emmitt man...don't do it..please!!!

2006-08-15T16:39:00.000-04:00

I just heard this today. Seems Emmitt Smith is following in the footsteps of Jerry Rice. No I'm not talking about the Hall of Fame or anything football related. I'm referring to Emmitt committing to next years show 'Dancing with the Stars' on FOX.

Guess it's only fitting that it would be Emmitt since he ranks behind Jerry in TD's scored but did he really have to follow him in this? But then again he made his career by performing on the field w/a star.

I'm a little nervous for Emmitt, not sure what kind of moves he has on a dance floor but if it's anything like what he did on a football field his should win the competition.

Good luck Emmitt, represent the Star well.

Matt Diaz, you are the man...well almost !!!!

2006-08-15T01:04:00.000-04:00

Props go out to Matt Diaz of the Atlanta Braves. Who you ask? He's only the Braves left fielder that bats 7th in the lineup. He of the team leading .351 avg. Okay still not sure who is? Well you're probably not alone but he's made history. He tied a NL record by getting a hit in 10 consecutive at bats. The streak ended in the top of the 9th when he grounded out to short. Still though, on the night he was 4-5 with a 2-run HR and 4 RBI's and 1 run.

Here are some streaks that I think will never be broken. Here's how I rank'em.

1. Jake Taylor's 39 consecutive complete games
2. Cy Youngs 14 straight seasons of 20+ wins
3. Ty Cobb's 23 straight seasons of batting .300 or better
4. Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak
5. Cal Ripken's 2,632 games played streak
6. Orel Hershiser's 59 straight scoreless innings
7. Don Drysdale's 6 consecutive shutouts
8. John McInnis's 1700 defensive chances w/out an error
9. Joe Sewell's 115 straight games w/out striking out, a span of 437 ABs
(This is a record Jeff Francoeur won't break)
10. Ted Williams reaching base in 84 straight games
11. Eric Gagne's 84 consecutive saves streak
12. Carl Hubbell's 24 straight wins (over two years)
13. Vince Coleman's 50 straight stolen bases w/out being caught.

Who would rank #1??

Also, kudos to Chipper Jones on his 3 HR's tonight, two of which were just bombs.

Michael Vick is NFL's Most Overrated player

2006-08-11T22:24:00.000-04:00

Michael Vick, the Great Hope of the Falcons, is my MOP as in Most Overrated Player.

Can you really think of anyone else worthy of that distinction? Seriously, think about it. No one else coming to mind? That's because no one else gets the hype that Vick gets with as little success as he's had. Yet Vick in his 6 years as QB of the Atlanta Falcons has yet to lead that franchise to its first back-to-back winning seasons, yes I said that correctly. If you weren't aware, since the Falcons were born in 1965, they have yet to have back-to-back winning seasons. In that same span seven teams have won back-to-back Super Bowls. I digress, back to Vick.

Vick entered the NFL and many analyst said that he would re-invent the QB position and will be one of the games best players. Okay it was easy to predict that since his days at V Tech because he looked the part of that hype. But now that we're 6 years into his career he only has one big game appearance to his credit, that being the 2004 NFC Championship where they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 ( btw, I predicted that score in a preview I wrote). After that game there was plenty of expectations for the Falcons to not only break that franchise dubious distinction but also compete for the SuperBowl, but low and behold the Falcons finished the 2005 season 7-9.

Vick in his last two years has thrown 29 TD's compared to 25 INT's. He's not the dual threat that everyone thought he would be. Teams don't fear his arm, it's just his legs they fear and legs don't make a great QB. Defensive co-coordinators have learned schemes to control his running thus he has to pass more often which leads to a lot of stalled drives. His QB rating the last two years are 78.1 and 73.1. Compare that to a a similar QB in Eagles Donovan McNabb, his last two years he has thrown 47 TD's with 17 INT's with QB ratings of 104.7 and 85.0.

If I was the Falcons GM I'd be starting Matt Schaub instead, granted he may not have Vick's speed or scrambling ability but he's got a much better arm and accuracy. You don't need great speed as a QB, you just need to get rid of the ball quick enough. Now starting Schaub won't happen just because the hype that Vick has generated has led to more ticket sales and in some front offices ticket sales mean more than wins, a theory that the Falcons subscribe to.

With Vick, the Falcons will always be stuck in mediocrity until they realize that Vick isn't going to reinvent the QB position and won't lead them to the promise land.

I dare you to name someone more overrated than Vick, please do try.

A little Clemson vs South Carolina comparison

2006-08-05T01:12:00.000-04:00

There's always something I've wondered when it comes to Clemson and South Carolina and that is.....

Okay I can't tell ya just yet cause then you'll go and copy my idea then I won't get credit for it. It's a little research if you will.

Check back for an update on this on August 31st for the results.

Welcome to Unlimited Mulligans

2006-08-03T13:19:00.000-04:00

The Bradford Report is no more, replaced by new and improved Unlimited Mulligans.

If your wondering about the name, no there is no connection to golf, other than I play it sparringly and sometimes not quite so good. Unlimited Mulligans won't be focusing on golf, but occasionally when Lefty pulls another Tin Cup at the US Open you're guaranteed to see something on here about it. UM will have the same sports coverage that The Bradford Report had but I'm going to try and get away from strickly doing articles on recent sporting news and try and mix in some humorous comparisons and pictures.

Each Friday I'll post a picture of someone or something related to sports that is of humorous value. Now I know today is Thursday but for example, you'll get a picture like such:

If you can't figure out what this picture represents then you won't get the humor in it.

Hope you'll enjoy Unlimited Mulligans.

The Bradford Report changing names

2006-08-01T23:01:00.000-04:00

Okay, when I started this blog, I didn't really think I'd be putting this much energy into it. Figured I'd just come on here once in a while and throw some stuff up. So thinking that I wouldn't put too much time into this, I didn't put much thought into a name so I just chose my real first name and went with that. Well now that I'm about 5 or 6 months into this, I feel like it's time for a name change. So I've narrowed down my list to 7 and I want to see what ya'll think. These are in no set order. Honest responses please.

1) Just a bit outside (thanks Jim)
2) Word from the cheap seats
3) Gone for a drink at the 19th
4) Unlimited Mulligans
5) Inside the Huddle
6) View from the bench
7) Out of Bounds

I'm feeling either #1 or #4. Anyone got a better name?

Football season is only a month away!!! Fantasy time.

2006-08-01T18:34:00.000-04:00

College season begins in less than a month, NFL is just over a month.

Can we please spot the damn ball already.

Is it just me or does the offseason for football seem like it gets longer and longer? Maybe its because my baby Braves are struggling through this season that makes me feel like the offseason is even longer. This football season is like a 90 year old man doing a sprint, you can see him moving but damn if you don't get impatient waiting for him to get to the finish line.

So such with football season approaching, fantasy leagues are forming all around. We have a group full already on yahoo for Fantasy Football which I will update on weekly.

I've also formed a league for anyone interested for Pro Football Pick'em weekly. There is no spread or stupid confidence points. It's just straight up pickem for fun. I'll also update this weekly on who the top winners were. The league name is Palmetto NFL Pick'em and the ID is 7658, group password is football. So get your team in asap if you want to be apart of the league.

I also formed a College Football Pick'em as well. League ID is 507, password is football. Same setup as the Pro pick'em with 50 open slots, no spread or confidence points.

Click here for the fantasy site. After you click on Pro/College Pick'em, click on join custom league then enter ID and password for each league.

Happy 31st Craig and Mark

2006-07-31T21:55:00.000-04:00

The Bradford would like to take a quick moment to wish buddies, Mark and Craig, a Happy 31st Birthday. Unlike past years, neither were available to help celebrate the occasion. I love it when their birthdays roll around each year, Mark is the 31st and Craig the 27th, because their birthdays correlate to the start of training camps for NFL teams.

Aug 6th is the first preseason game, Oakland vs Philadelphia.

Also want to wish Betsy McDaniel a happy birthday and welcome her to the 30 Club.

Top 10 Sports Lawsuits

2006-07-28T02:19:00.000-04:00

I'm going to make a post about a Gamecock lawsuit but for now here are the top 10 Most Rediculous Sports Lawsuits.

1) Foul Ball Territory––A New Jersey man sued a baseball team and the owners of a food service company for getting hit in the face with a baseball while buying a beer in the concession area at the stadium. Judges in the case said fans in concession areas are at greater risk because they “let their guard down” more than when they’re in the stands.

2) Offensive Line––A woman in Tennessee filed a lawsuit for billions of dollars against Super Bowl half-time performers Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake as well as the broadcasters, claiming she was injured by the performers’ lewd actions when Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson’s costume, exposing her breast. According to the suit, she suffered outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury.

3) Field Goal Attempt––A man was injured when fellow Ball State students toppled a goal post after a football upset filed a lawsuit against the goal post maker claiming the aluminum posts were “designed and constructed in a manner which allowed them to suddenly snap and collapse.” Dumb South Carolina fan, you're not supposed to rush the field when you beat New Mexico St.

4) Blocked Shot––A California father filed a lawsuit seeking $1.5 million in damages from a school district after his 15-year old son was demoted from the varsity to the junior varsity basketball team. The suit claimed the demotion was “messing up [his son’s] future and professional earnings.”

5) Quarterback Interception– – A high school football star from New Jersey filed a lawsuit against the coach at the University of Miami for not naming him the starting quarterback, something he claims the coach promised through an oral contract when he was a high school senior.

6) Caught in a Pickle––A popular softball tournament in Arizona was canceled because of a lawsuit filed by a player who broke his ankle in the tournament the year prior. The man was injured sliding into third base in a game at the city-owned sports complex. According to the suit, the city is responsible for “the dangerous condition existing at third base.”

7) Take Me Out to the Courtroom––A family of four sued the Los Angeles Dodgers for false imprisonment and battery by security guards after one of the family members assaulted a female usher.

8) 40-Yard Dash–A woman injured by someone lunging for a ball in the stands during a Notre Dame football game filed a lawsuit against the university for failing to exercise care to protect her.

9) Choke-N-Roll–Latrell Sprewell, a guard for the Golden State Warriors basketball team, filed a $30 million lawsuit against the National Basketball Association attempting to recoup the salary he lost while carrying out his one-year suspension for choking his coach.

10) Warmin’ the Bench–A Florida father sued a youth baseball league because his son was told he’d made the league’s allstar team when he hadn’t. As a result of the lawsuit, the baseball league was threatened to be canceled the following year due to costs of the case.

Link

My Bud Lite 'Real Men of Genius' commercial Lance Bass style

2006-07-27T03:46:00.001-04:00

Okay, I'm only posting this because buddies at both SportsTalkRocks and Bushido have posted the breaking news of Lance Bass finally coming out of that damn closet. On a side note can someone please chain thatdamn door shut. Anyways, to mark this occasion, I came up with my own Bud Lite 'Real Men of Genius' jingle to mark this moment.

Here's to you Lance Bass, boy band singer. You're the pioneer
of your genre, others hide in the closet while you're busting out.
You're not afraid to tell the world of your meat packing days,
you work up a thirst thinking about other boy band singers so
you reach for a cold Bud Lite. Because you're tired of living a
lie that everyone knew was a lie, so when you get to singing you
can't be weighed down by a heavy beer, you reach for a cold Bud
Lite. Here's to you Lance Bass, closet boy band singer.

I promise no more gay news on this site, this is a once and only time.

Now post your own jingle.

ESPN's back handed slap to the face to Spurrier and S. Carolina

2006-07-27T02:24:00.000-04:00

Apparently the love affair ESPN has had with Steve Spurrier is over or at least on hold. They have a team preview for the 2006 South Carolina squad on its Insider site. In the brief article, you have to pay for the whole thing, they just give some facts about the coach and the program. There is a question they ask at the end of page. Here's the Jeopardy style multiple choice question. Answer B is where the back handed slap to the face comes in.

COACH AND PROGRAM

OK, the final Jeopardy! answer is: 38,806.

We know it's a doozy, so we'll make it multiple-choice:

A. The number of media requests for new coach Steve Spurrier since he was hired by South Carolina last November.

B. The amount of bond money raised for Gamecock players who were arrested for various offenses since January.

C. The quantity of T-shirts featuring a visor-clad palmetto sold since Spurrier's arrival.

D. The attendance for the Garnet and Black spring game last April.

If you answered D, congratulations, champ. If you picked any other letter, don't fret. You may be proved correct before too long.

There's no word on what the actual total of bond money raised to bail out players, though I'm thinking it's somewhere around the 38K.

Link to article.

Braves possibly trading Betemit for bullpen help

2006-07-27T00:41:00.002-04:00

The Atlanta Braves are dealing with the devil, the NY Yankees that is. They are in serious discussions about sending utility infielder Wilson Betemit to the Evil Empire for one of their best relievers in Scott Proctor. Now I know the Braves need help in the pen but do we really have to get rid of Betemit to get it. Can't we package Giles and a prospect instead? I just view Wilson as too valuable to trade, he can hit for power, hit for average, back up Chipper, play shortstop or second base. He can play all three infield positions as if it were his natural position.

Here's what we'd be getting in return for Wilson. Scott Proctor, in his second year of MLB, would become the Braves setup man for newly acquired closer Bob Wickman. Proctor is 3-2 with a 3.94 ERA, 60 strikeouts to only 23 walks. Opposing hitters are averaging only .226 against him. Like Betemit, his best baseball is being played after the allstar break. Since said break, Proctor has pitched 9 innings of shutout ball, given up only 3 hits with 12 strikeouts limiting hitters to a .103 average.

So that's what makes this deal so attractive to the Braves brass, only question mark about the deal is what they are going to do to replace Betemit's utility role. Two options appear in the form of minor league prospects Martin Prado and Yunel Escobar. Prado seems the likely candidate since he's been with the club before and plays a solid third base to back up Chipper.

I'm sold on this as a short term trade getting solid help in the pen where we need desperate help, but this is not a good long term trade. I'm pretty sure over the next five years, Betemit will have the greater career and bigger impact for a team than would Proctor.

We'll see how this unfolds in the next couple of days. If it happens I hope Betemit does well in NY.

Click on their names for stats and personal info.

Wilson Betemit
Scott Proctor

Cowboys training camp begins in 3 days

2006-07-26T22:38:00.003-04:00

I'm so ready for football season to get here it's driving me crazy. Dallas, still in the process of signing draft picks, starts training camp on the 29th in Oxnard, California. They won't break camp until August 20th. This will be the first real opportunity to see just how well TO will fit in with the team and Drew Bledsoe. As mentioned Dallas is in the process of getting all draft picks signed and on the field. So far Pat Watkins and OL Pat McQuistan are the only ones signed, 6 more to go including first round pick Bobby Carpenter.

In other Cowboys news, Dallas has begun to break ground on their new stadium in Arlington, TX, it will be next to the Texas Rangers Ameriquest Field. It will be home to the SuperBowl in 2011.

It's not known yet when Safety Keith Davis will be able to get on the field, he's still recovering from shot wounds he suffered two weeks ago. Though no serious injury it's still enough to keep him out some time. He needs to quit doing whatever it is he's doing, this is the second time in three years he's been shot late in the morning.

Here is the Cowboys training camp schedule.

ESPN fires Baseball Tonight's Harold Reynolds

2006-07-25T18:08:00.000-04:00

Harold Reynolds, a fixture on ESPN's Baseball Tonight has been fired by the network, no reason has yet to be given. Undoubtedly he was one of the better analyst on the show, John Kruk is more the comedian of the crew but Harold was always easy to listen to. He was with the network for 11 years, he also covered the College World Series and the Little League World Series. His fill in on some shows and now probably permanently, will be former GM Steve Phillips. If you watch ESPN and aren't familiar with him, you'll know him through ESPN's baseball offseason faux press conferences in which he acted like the team GM for all 32 teams where he would talk about where each team needed improvements. If you weren't blessed to see that series don't worry, you didn't miss much. It was just another bad idea by the network to drum up ratings. This is the part where I have to stop myself from bad mouthing the current state of ESPN programming. I digress, back to Reynolds, if you didn't have the pleasure of watching him on the Baseball Tonight show, you missed out. He was colorful, always had fun and more importantly was just a great baseball analyst. The show will be different now having to listen to Steve Phillips analyze baseball, he once was a GM for the Mets until he was fired.

Good luck ESPN, you will be hard pressed to replace Harold Reynolds and you may lose viewers as well.

Story

Story update 7/26/06

I've been doing some reading on multiple sites and apparently Harold was the cause of his own demise. Around ESPN he is known to be a flirt with woman and was told by ESPN brass to chill on his antics. Well he finally hit on the wrong woman and she reported it, thus ESPN had no choice but to fire Harold or risk a sexual harassment lawsuit which would be more damaging to the network than keeping Harold. What has happened to our society when a former player, now analyst can't sexually harass a sexy female co-worker?? J/K. I hate to see someone as knowledgeable about baseball be fired from a show I love watching but he did it to himself. Hope you land on your feet Harold, just quit annoying the ladies.

Here's some legal info about Harold Reynold's termination and other info.

Woods, Landis and Hamlin, weekend worriors

2006-07-25T01:59:00.000-04:00

PGA
Congrats to Tiger Woods on his 11th Major, 2nd straight and 3rd overall British Open Championship. He bettered Chris DiMarco by 2 strokes to claim the victory. You can't deny the talent and fortitude he has, he's just one month removed from missing the cut at the US Open and looking like he would need a few more months to get over the death of his father. In winning the tournament, Tiger only used his driver one time, favoring to play it conservative and getting it on the fairway then play from there. He's well known for his distance off the tee with driver but this course favored those that could accurately play from the fairway. He is now only 7 majors away from Jack Nicholas' record 18 majors and he's only 30 years old. Move over Phil, Tiger is back.

Tour de France
With Lance Armstrong retiring there's no way America continues it's dominance in the Tour de France right? Wrong. I'm sure the French thought this was their year to reclaim the title but thanks to Floyd Landis team America continues it's dominance in this race. It's now 8 straight years an American has won this tour, 7 of course by Lance. I think in some way, Landis winning this tour is a greater accomplishment than that of Lance Armstrong. I know you must think I've lost my mind but I haven't. Okay we all know what Lance has to go through to get back to racing and winning but at least he wasn't going through chemo when he was racing. Floyd Landis has an arthritic hip, a hip that requires surgery in the next month. He can't walk, he can only get on the bike from the left side, if he were to try from the right side he'll fall over. He was written off by everyone at least two or three times and after one grueling day lost a lead and fell 8 minutes back from the leader and that usually spells the end at that point. But Floyd just ignored the pain from the hip the next day and had one of the most incredible days in Tour de France history. Not only did he win the stage but cut that 8 minute deficit down to 30 seconds.
Look for Floyd to be next years ESPN's ESPY Male Athlete of the Year, something else Lance has owned the last few years.

NASCAR
If it were up to Rookie Denny Hamlin, he'd race at Pocono every weekend. He won the Pennsylvania 500 this weekend and won it from the pole. With the win he swept the season series at the track having also won the Pocono 500 June 11th, he also claimed the pole in that race as well. The rookie now finds himself in the race for the 10 team playoff, he climbed 4 sports to #8 and is now 425 points from NASCAR series leader Jimmy Johnson. He is a member of the Joe Gibbs racing team.

Notre Dame is Public enemy #1 in SC

2006-07-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

Notre Dame has recently come under fire here in the Palmetto State for its recruiting tactics. For those of you that don't keep up with college football recruiting or log on to Tigernet, Notre Dame has gone after and recruited away South Carolina University's prized recruit, Gary Gray.

Gray is a 5 star Defensive Back out of Richland Northeast, Columbia SC. He is ranked #3 in the nation at his respective position. Up until about a week and half ago he was Gamecock devoted. Then enters in Weis and the Irish, poof, bye bye South Carolina, hello Notre Dame. Okay so Gray hasn't committed to ND yet but decommitting from SCU is just the same. He told Spurrier that he was reopening his recruiting and would make a decision in September as to where he will be going to school next year. SCU has been counting on Gray to help make this a top 25 class, one 5 star recruit usually brings such a ranking. Before his turnabout, he had been helping to recruit kids to the school so this decommittment might have some serious consequences to the recruiting class the coaching staff is putting together.

Now where ND comes into play here is that they may have used some very questionable recruiting tactics to get Gray away from SCU, at first you could dismiss this case because there was nothing previous to go on, well now there is. Enter Jamie Cumbie, a 4 star DE that signed with Clemson this past February out of Illinois.

Cumbie has now gone public with what he says were some very questionable recruiting tactics the Irish and Weis used to try and sway him away from Clemson last year. "I'm not going to lie," Cumbie said Tuesday. "The coaches at Notre Dame sent some bad letters ripping Clemson after I committed here." What happened to the days when college coaches recruited using their respective schools own merits? A school with the reputation that Notre Dame has should be ashamed to stoop to that level to get kids to go there. And it gets worse. Here's what he said about his recruiting trip to South Bend, Ind, "They had a piece of paper, and it broke down advantages and disadvantages. It said Notre Dame was televised every weekend, every Saturday. They said Clemson has a horrible education." You know I can maybe understand knocking a schools athletic program but why the need to try and do the same to its education? So not only does Weis use some very negative tactics but he's not very educated in the process. Clemson prides itself on his education, they are annually ranked by the US News for Americas best colleges and in 2001 was named the #1 public college of the year.

So I'm sure if Weis will trash Clemson to Cumbie you bet he did the same to Gray, I'm sure he used ND's football heritage to go against SCU's lack of football success which is well documented. I'm sure these aren't the only cases where ND has done some negative recruiting and I'm sure it won't be the last time either.

Story update 7/21/06

Jamie Cumbie has corrected the story that ran in Charleston's Post and Courier, thus I'm inclined to add it to this article, or not, but I should. Jamie says that Weis and company didn't really say that Clemson had a horrible education system, he just thought that was implied by the comparison. Here's the statement he gave about the situation and story:

"In an article in the Charleston Post (and) Courier earlier this week I was quoted as saying that Notre Dame recruiters had said Clemson's education was horrible. I did not characterize our conversations properly in that interview.

"No one from Notre Dame, either in writing or in general conversation, said Clemson had a horrible education. Notre Dame made a comparison in different areas between the two schools and the facts made Notre Dame look better. One of the areas was education. I am sure everyone makes comparisons during the recruiting process. It didn't bother me at all.

"No one from Notre Dame did anything wrong in their recruitment and I wish them the best this season."

Okay so maybe Charlie Weis and staff aren't the users of negative recruiting that we thought they were but they, thus they are no longer Public Enemy #1 here in the State of South Carolina, but they do remain the enemy in camp Gamecock for the Gary Gray fiasco.
Though Weis won't apologize for the Gray situation, he did take time to address what Cumbie had to say. "I find it quite amusing that a student-athlete already enrolled at another university has decided to be the team spokesman on Notre Dame recruiting practices," Weis said. "There is an obvious contradiction between how this was handled and what was stated. We do not use negative recruiting tactics."

Weis said all his coaching staff does is "represent what Notre Dame stands for."

"If supporting Notre Dame academics can be misconstrued as speaking down on another school's academics, call us guilty," he said.

We, along with Jamie, here at The Bradford Report no longer have an issue with ND and Weis and wish them both the best this season and into the future.

Go Tigers

Braves continue to celebrate 4th of July

2006-07-19T01:13:00.000-04:00

It's 14 days after July 4th but don't tell the Braves that, they continue to light up the sky with homeruns, 20 to be exact in this 5 game stretch where they've scored in double figures in each. They've yet to score less than 10 runs since the Allstar break, they're crossing the plate at a record pace right now. In the 5 games, they have amassed 65 runs, which is a franchise record for any 5 game stretch. They also are the first team to accomplish 5 straight double digit run games since the 1930 NY Yankees, that was a team that featured some guy named Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

If you're wondering how they are doing it, just look at the line up and the players stats for July, it's really a team effort and everyone is hot.

Player	Avg	AB	Runs	Hits	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB
Betemit	0.432	37	10	16	12	3	0	3	3
Renteria	0.411	61	20	25	8	4	1	1	9
C Jones	0.551	49	17	27	20	5	1	7	9
A Jones	0.302	53	12	16	22	3	0	6	11
McCann	0.345	55	8	19	19	3	0	5	2
Francoeur	0.328	61	15	20	7	3	1	2	1
LaRoche	0.401	50	12	20	11	5	0	4	3
Thorman	0.429	28	8	12	7	4	0	3	0

The Braves now stand 4 games under .500, 4 games from Wild Card leader Cincinnati and 11.5 away from division leading Mets. How much longer this offensive explosion will continue is anyones guess though I have a feeling it will end tomorrow against Allstar pitcher Chris Carpenter but if they do post another 1o it could continue well into the weekend against weak pitching Phillies in a hitters park.

Cubs fans throw trash items on field

2006-07-17T17:38:00.000-04:00

Did you happen to catch the highlights from the Cubs/Mets game yesterday? If not you're missing out. Cubs fans littered the field with whatever objects were at their disposal after the team gave up 2 grand slams in the 6th inning, an inning that the Mets plated 11 runs.

The first grand slam was hit by Floyd two batters after Todd Walker's error allowed Beltran to reach base to start the rally with only 1 out. 5 batters later Beltran hit the second grandslam after another Todd Walker error let the inning continue. Two batters after Beltran, David Wright hit a two run homer. In all, 11 runs, 8 hits, 2 errors, 3 BB, 16 batters sent to the plate, 2 short of batting around twice. And to think the Cubs led this game 5-2 going into the top of the 6th but these are the Cubs and what could happen usually does happen.

Now usually I would say they fans are in the wrong and shouldn't throw things on the field but put yourself in their shoes. What would you do, your faithful team is 21 games under .500, you are beating one of the best teams in baseball and by 3 runs then they just completely fall apart. Yes there is a better way to show your displeasure like just don't go to the games but I'm sure those fans felt a little better afterwards. These cubs would drive me to alcoholism cause I'd be just as frustrated with them as their fans are. Cubs need to release both Wood and Prior, they seem to be living on the DL more than they are on the field and when they're on the field they are just a shadow of what they used to be in 2003 when they dominated in the post season.

The curse of the Goats continues to live in Chicago, they haven't won a world series since 1908 and that streak looks to continue for at least the next 4 years.

No Saves recorded on Saturday in MLB

2006-07-16T15:33:00.000-04:00

I found this odd. For the first time since 1978 there were no saves recorded in a full day of games of MLB. There were 15 games with 6 blown saves and 4 games won in the bottom half of innings.
Guess the Braves aren't the only team with a struggling relief corps.

Seriously relief pitching now-a-days has just become a joke. Watching the Braves game last night I got probably just as frustrated as Bobby Cox. McBride was brought in the pitch the 8th inning and he wasn't able to finish it. He gave up 3 runs and was pulled with the basesloaded. Side note on that, McDowell was the one to pull McBride, a duty normally handled by Cox but I'm sure he's tired of that walk and speach. Braves entered the 8th with an 11 run lead, all McBride needed to do was just throw strikes, a seemingly impossible task for a Braves reliever. With an 11 run lead throw it down the middle and let the defense do the work for you, no need to get perfect. So when Bobby decided not to pull McBride himself he may have sent a msg to the rest of the bullpen, lets just hope they received it.

Story

Braves closing in on Wild Card/Mets

2006-07-16T02:27:00.000-04:00

Remember back to June when it seemed the Braves couldn't win a game going a team worst 6-21? Well that looks like it was forever ago now. Since July started they are 8-3 and will be going for their first sweep since May 26-28 when they swept the Cubs. In the two games since the Allstar game the Braves against the Padres have scored 26 runs on 29 hits. Some of this resurgence is coming from former MVP Chipper Jones who won player-of-the-week honors a week ago.

Since the start of June, Chipper is hitting a ridiculous .527 with 19H on 36 AB's. With those 19 hits he has 8 Doubles, 6 Homeruns and is currently riding a 13 straight game extra base hitting streak. If he gets an extra base hit tomorrow he will tie a MLB record for consecutive games with an extra base hit. He also is riding a 15 game hitting streak. His 14 RBIs and 8 Runs lead the team in July.

Chuck James, the left handed rookie, takes the mound tomorrow in hopes of completing the 3 game sweep. He has only started 3 games this year and has won all 3. He brings in an ERA of 2.87. Sweeping the Padres will be exactly what this team needed if they are to get into the Wild Card chase and make a dent in the Mets division lead.

After tonights win, the Braves now stand 5 1/2 games behind the Reds for the Wild Card spot and are 12 games back of the Mets for the division crown.

83 year old makes baseball history

2006-07-16T01:43:00.000-04:00

I heard about this the other day and couldn't believe it. 83 year old Jim Eriotes suited up for Sioux Falls Canaries in a minor league game and led off in the first inning. Though he ended up striking out on 4 pitches, fouling one off, he became the oldest person to play professional baseball.

You gotta love this mans attitude about his only AB and subsequent strikeout, here's what he had to say: "I don't give a damn about that stuff," he said, bothered by his failure to reach base. "If I got a couple more at-bats, I'd get a hit. Easy."

Mr. Eriotes used to play minor league baseball but for an 83 year old man to just be able to swing his stick, the bat I'm talking about, is impressive enough much less fouling one off. He says that he's hit pitches harder than the 83mph stuff he struck out on. He says he's hit 90+ mph pitches off of machine but notes that the real thing is harder than machine pitches.

So this story gives me hope that I can get out there and get my arm strength back up, I think I could get out there and throw at least an inning or so, well at least I'd like to try.

Story

Braves on TBS no more after 2007

2006-07-12T23:46:00.000-04:00

I so wish yesterday was April 1st, that way I still wouldn't be sitting here in a state of disbelief. My beloved Braves will no longer be seen on TBS after 2007. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that is in a state of panic. TBS is pretty much carried by every cable company and thus can be seen in where in the country. So much for my plan to move to San Diego, if I can't see my Braves play I ain't moving, not that I would move from Charleston anyways. But I digress, I've been a Braves fan since I can remember picking up a baseball and have been following them on TBS since I was about 10 years old so it's going to be a sad day in 2008 when i want to turn on the tv to see the Braves and all I get is a Friends repeat.

If you haven't heard the news, TBS and it's parent company Turner South, just inked a deal with MLB to carry sunday baseball games and the Division Series playoffs. The reason for this is that TBS financially gets more advertising money from showing Friends and Seinfeld reruns that showing Braves games. But hope is not all lost unless you live outside of the southern region, because Atlanta based WTBS will still air about 45 Braves games to the clubs six-state home territory to include Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennesseee.

So for my buddy Miles in Denver you're just SOL.

Internet gambling may be a thing of the past

2006-07-11T22:54:00.000-04:00

If you are or have done any internet gambling, your gambling days maybe numbered. If Congress has it their way, you will no longer will you be able to place a bet online. It may also effect all those online pay-to-play poker sites. Congress was to vote today to prohibit credit cards and other forms of payment to settle wages. The bill would also give law enforcement the ability to block gambling web sites. John Kindt, a business professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says the internet is "the crack cocaine" of gambling. "There are no needle marks, there's no alcohol on the breath, you just click the mouse and lose your house".

To me, I do use gaming sites to place bets on football games and sometimes basketball games but mostly I use them to play poker. Playing for fun just is not as playing for money is. As they say, 'Money won is sweeter than money earned'. And that phrase can't be more true, there's just something about gambling and winning that feels so much better. Now I think Congress is taking this one step too far, instead of shutting it down they should figure out a way to tax this billion dollar industry. Too many Americans are using these out of country sites for their gambling kicks.

If this bill does go through and goes into effect, I'm not sure what I'm going to do come football season. I can't fly to Vegas every weekend so I guess I'll have to find a bookie somewhere.

This is America after all and Americans need to gamble during football season, that's what American men do in the fall.

Link to the article.

Steve Spurrier follows Zindane's lead, head butts Clemson's Tommy Bowden

2006-07-11T22:03:00.000-04:00

Steve Spurrier inexplicably head butted Tommy Bowden during a friendly golf game recently. Later after being banned from an upstate golf course, Spurrier said Bowden called him a "terrorist rooter." "So, I butted him out of the game" the O'l ball coach explained. Later when asked about the incident, Bowden denied calling Spurrier a "terrorist rooter". "I said his team were a bunch of terrible roosters. That's the truth." When asked if he would like to retaliate against Spurrier, Bowden smiled nodded his head and appeared to mumble "Gaines Adams" under his breath. (Picture shows Steve holding his nose in pain afterwards)

I borrowed this little funny joke from revmarkg off Tigernet.

France's Zindane is this weeks "What were you thinking" award winner

2006-07-11T00:50:00.000-04:00

France Captain Zinedine Zindane was given a red card for headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi in the chest. For all you non-soccer fans, I count myself in this group until I found myself glued to the TV for this World Cup (okay back to my point), a red card is an automatic ticket to the locker room. The reason Zindane wins this award is that he is France's best player and by getting kicked out of the game he in affect may have cost his team the World Cup. He was their leader and best scorer so his team had to of felt the pressure of playing without him. He wasn't there to help them in penalty kicks to decide the championship or the remainder of overtime. Way to lead your team Zindane. It's ironic that today Zindane was named the World Cups most outstanding player by FIFA, the governing body of soccer.

If you haven't seen it, here's the clip.

Georgia Southern WR dies from Motorcycle accident

2006-07-07T03:05:00.001-04:00

Teddy Craft, a wide receiver on the Georgia Southern football team, died Thursday from complications he suffered in a two-vehicle accident near Statesboro. He was reported to have been in serious condition late Wednesday night.

Craft was a senior for the Eagles and led them reception yards (319) and td's (5) , he was also voted to the second team All-Southern Conference the last two years.

First off I'd like to send my condolences to his family and to the university and the football team for it's loss. It should be noted that Craft was wearing his helmet at the time of the accident. But I still can't realize why athletes continue to ride these dangerous vehicles when they have so much to lose. It hasn't even been a month since Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was almost killed in an accident where he flew into the windshield of an oncoming car.

The list of athletes involved in motorcycle crashes just continues to grow and until pro-league officials and college administrators do something about it, the list will continue to get bigger and lives will continue to be lost and careers ruined. The joy of riding in the open wind isn't worth your life or career.

Again though, my prayers and thoughts go out to Teddy Craft's family. My God bless you.

Lefty regroups at the Cialis Western Open

2006-07-07T01:12:00.000-04:00

Remember back just 3 weeks ago. Phil Mickelson needed only par on 18 to secure his first US Open and 3rd career major. I'm sure if you're reading this blog you already know what happened to him on 18 unless you've been stuck in a closet. I'm not going to explain what happened, lets just say that watching Phil on 18 was reminiscent to watching the movie "Tin Cup" when Kevin Costner (Roy McAvoy) took aim at 18 at the US Open. In the movie Roy McAvoy needed birdie to win where Phil only needed par, well lets just say that Roy missed, and missed, and missed and missed some more. He wound up with a 12 over par to blow his chance at the US Open. I wonder if Phil has watched Tin Cup lately?

Well at any rate, you would think that blowing such a huge tournament would set someone back a while. Well Phil took the last 2 weeks off to regroup himself after calling himself an "idiot" for his shot selections on 18. But in true lefty fashion he seems to have gotten over that nightmarish hole and now finds himself one shot from the leader at the Cialis Western Open. He almost pulled of the shot of the tournament if not the year when he reached the green on a par 5 in only two shots. The second shot missed the cup by inches and would have been a double-eagle, instead he settled for an eagle on #9, his last hole of the day.

To say he's got some momentum behind him is an understatement. Look for Phil to take charge of this tournament early tomorrow and claim the championship. Looks like there is no let down hang over for Phil as many expected.

Here's a look at the leaderboard. Tiger sits at +1, 6 shots back.

10 year old being courted by Addidas

2006-07-04T11:13:00.000-04:00

If things continue like this, then recruiters and shoe companies will be following kids from birth.
A 10 year old basketball player in Baltimore is already being followed by Addidas. This is most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Justin Jenifer is the 10 year that is striking everyone's fancy.

Across the gym, Scottie Bowden pulled down a flat-brimmed Washington Nationals hat until it almost shielded his eyes. A representative of Addidas, Bowden had invested many weekends and about $20,000 of company money in Justin and his teams. Bowden had provided the boy and his teammates with sneakers and travel money to tournaments in an effort to build brand loyalty in a 10-year-old with distant NBA prospects. In Justin, had Bowden accurately identified a star?

How exactly does an adult go about trying to figure out whether a child will achieve such greatness in adulthood. Does he go and look at family tree lines and genes? Does he just scout the kid for a time period? I think at 10 it is almost impossible to tell if a kid will develop the body necessary for basketball or if he will still want to play in the future. Some kids quit sports when people around them take it more serious than they do. Take for example his father.

Here's what Howard Jenifer had to say; "I always tell Justin: 'Get to 6-2 and we're good. We're good,' " Howard said. "But if he stops growing way early and everybody else keeps shooting up? Then that's it, man. That's a wrap. We might as well go try badminton or something." He was speaking of his size of 5'10 and mothers size of 5'2. What's going to happen to this kid if he grows no taller than say 5'8, his parents need to be focusing on his education, if genetics fail him then his parents will have failed him.

Here's what Howard makes his son do to get into shape: He has to run up and down 240 rows of stairs in a bleacher in 100 seconds or less twice a week, 25 pushups before dinner, jump rope 100 times in a minute, make 14 straight free throws and shoot 300 jumpers. This is the stuff of legend little league fathers. If there is one way to burn out a kid at 10 years old is to put him through some kind of army physical and make him practice hours on end. That's why most kids quit sports because they have parents that couldn't make it on their own so they use their kids for retirement or to live vicariously through them.

But getting back to Addidas. Addidas rep Scottie Bowden gets paid to find these young kids and get them into Addidas gear. Bowden started following Justin at 9 years old. "It's about brand loyalty, " Bowden said. "If you're in my uniform at 10 or 11, maybe you will stay with me later on. I'm not always happy we're focusing on 9-, 10-, 11-year-old kids. That's so early. But this is a business. And if that's what I've got to do now, then that's what I'm going to do." Why couldn't this have been going on when I was 9 throwing shutout games striking out 12 or more.

This craziness of looking for the next LeBron James at 9 is getting out of hand with these shoe companies, it's not going to stop unless there is some regulation put against it but that's not likely to happen. These companies need to let these kids be kids and not some superstar at 10 who hasn't even developed physically yet. They have these kids focusing on sports when they need to be focusing on education and life.

I can't wait to read up on the next kid when he's only 4 or 5, I'm sure that's not too far off into the future.

Click here for the entire article.

Dan McDonald to coach at Louisville

2006-07-03T20:28:00.000-04:00

Former Citadel player and assistanct coach, Dan McDonald, was hired by Louisville to be it's new head baseball coach. He was at Ole Miss where they were one win away from the College World Series.

I am especially happy for Coach McDonald as I played for the team in his second year as a assistant coach. I remember going to his house with the rest of team watching the 1993 World Series matchup of Toronto and Philadelphia.

Here is the Citadel's article on him.

Congrats Coach McDonald, wish you alot of luck up there.

C of C brings in Cremins

2006-07-03T20:11:00.000-04:00

In a stunning turn of events and I might add, ironic, College of Charleston has hired former Georgia Tech HC Bobby Cremins. The ironic part comes from C of C hiring Cremins to replace him with someone that pulled a "Cremins". Remember back 15 years or so, Bobby left G. Tech for South Carolina only to change his mind two days later. Chances are that he won't do that again.

Cremins has a mess to clean up once he gets behind the desk to begin work. He has to work to repair the broken imagine Tom Herrion left behind. The program under Herrion has gone downhill. Players involved in trouble with the law weren't punished on the court, players grades have slipped, and he wasn't good with boosters and if all that wasn't enough, he hasn't taken C of C where Kresse used to and that's to the NCAA tournament.

Cremins gives the school instant recognition with boosters and to future recruits. He knows how to win, having taken G Tech to the final four and to 10 NCAA tournament appearances. The court at the school bears his name. He will keep players from transferring and will get the quality recruits that will help restore the Cougar imagine.

The only problem with this hiring is it seems like a short term solution instead of a long term fix. But Cremins will succeed where Herrion couldn't and that is a fix.

Congrats to C of C for landing such a quality coach, look forward to seeing him on the sidelines against my El Cid Bulldogs.

Winthrop's Gregg Marshall says April Fools to College of Charleston

2006-06-30T03:14:00.001-04:00

Gregg Marshall, the Winthrop Mens Basketball coach, just two days ago accepted the Head Coaching position at C of C. He was a former assistant coach under former legendary coach John Kresse. They held a major news conference at the school to announce his hiring, but no contract was signed. Well news came out today that he had second thoughts and returned to Winthrop leaving C of C jilted at the alter.

Seems Coach Marshall has been following the career of former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins. If you can remember way back, 15 years to be exact, he pulled this same stunt. He was offered the coaching job at South Carolina where he graduated, only to decide two days later his heart was still with G. Tech. Cremins would later retire from the school and the game as a coach and is now a commentator. Time will tell if this will have an effect on Marshall's career. I would imagine he won't be at the top of any AD's list because of this stunt so in effect his entire career could be spent at Winthrop. Though he's made 6 NCAA tournament appearances in his 8 years there, there is only so much that a small D-1 school from the Big South can do in the post season. He's going to have trouble landing with a big school, the likes of which come with big money and national championship hopes. He won't get either at Winthrop.

Gregg Marshall is a good coach and I'm sure a great person but he basically just shot himself in the foot.

Dead time...here's some sports pics I've collected

2006-06-28T02:35:00.000-04:00

Additional notes from previous posts and other news.

2006-06-27T17:36:00.000-04:00

Here are some updated news from previous posts and other news.

- Isiah Thomas has now been given only one year to turn around the team he put together. In a press conference today, NY Knicks owner says that since Isiah is the person that put this team together he felt it best to let him coach it and in turn is only giving him one year to turn around the mess. The Knicks finished this past season with a record of 23-59 and I'd have to say he would need at least 15 wins or more to show improvement. I don't see that happening, bye Isiah, you will now have failed at everything you've touched since your playing days ended.

- It's looking more and more like College of Charleston will be hiring former Kresse understudy and current Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall. They have officially contacted the school to seek permission to speak with him about the vacant position. The Post and Courier says that the position is basically his if he wants it. C of C wants someone that has ties to the school instead of what they got in Tom Herrion 4 years ago where they wanted to start anew.

- Ghana was eliminated by Brazil today in the World Cup by a score of 3 - Love. Though the score would indicate a blow out it was far from that, in fact Ghana really played Brazil tough and won the battle but lost the war, Brazil getting a few breaks to score a couple goals. Ghana is the team that eliminated the USA team from the Cup. This was Ghana's first time in the World Cup and they made it to a round the USA can't seem to get to.

- The Braves finally ended their 10 game losing streak this past weekend, their longest since 1988, as they took 2 of 3 games against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But they still don't seem to be out of this funk yet having getting beat by the Yankees last night 5-2 as Tim Hudson, the Braves ace, continues to struggle. He gave up 5 ER in only 5 Innings. If the Braves are to get this season going the way it should, Huddy needs to get right soon.

- Since Clemson was eliminated from the College World Series I really didn't follow it quite as much but I did catch a little of the Championship series between UNC and Oregon St. From the first game it appeared that UNC would run away with the Championship but as Oregon St has done since it lost in their first game they continued to battle and scrapped their way back to claim their first National Championship in baseball. The ACC sent 4 teams to the CWS and none were able to claim the title.

-If Atlanta Braves fans think they have it tough right now, well they need to think again. It could be worse, much worse, we could be Pittsburgh Pirate fans. The Pirates are in the mist of a 11 game losing streak with upcoming games against the White Sox (3), Detroit Tigers (3), at Mets (4), at Phillies (3). So that 11 game streak could end of being a 24 game losing streak. Ouch!!!

- If you care, the NBA draft is tomorrow at 7pm. The Toronto Raptors have the first pick but there is no clear cut #1 pick out there. Top prospects include; LSU PF Tyrus Thomas, Italy PF Andrea Bargnani, Texas PF LaMarcus Aldridge, Washington SG Brandon Roy and Gonzaga SF Adam Morrison.

- Let the countdown begin. NFL training camps are now only a month away from opening up which means college and pro seasons are just two months away. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of team Clemson and Dallas can be on the field. I will have my football predictions posted later in mid august.

Ghana knocks US out of World Cup

2006-06-23T13:21:00.000-04:00

Ghana took advantage off Claudio Reyna's error to score the first goal then they took advantage of a bad call on a foul to score the winning goal to knock team USA out of the World Cup. Now I know that Ghana is in Africa but I couldn't tell you where. This is their first World Cup and they have now gotten to the second round that has been illusive to the US in previous Cups.

So this leads me to my Ghana list, feel free to add to this list.

Ghana knock USA out of the World Cup
USA is Ghana with the wind
Ain't no sunshine when she's Ghana
Watcha Ghana do when they come for you
Ghana Ghana Ghana Ghanacameleon
Bruce Arena is Ghana as Head Coach

Is Jeff Francoeur in a slump?

2006-06-23T10:44:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to wonder if Jeff Francoeur is just in a really bad slump or is this really how good he is? Its hard to tell since this is just his first full season after only half a year last year. I've heard of the sophomore slump and it seems Jeff i in the middle of it. There is doubt the kid has talent. Last year he came to the Braves from AA and just lit up the league finishing 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting, hitting HR's Hank Aaron style and was even pegged by Sports Illustrated as the "The Natural".

Remember last year when the announcers and everyone was joking about him not receiving a walk until about after 140 ABs, well that was all fine then because he was hitting .400 at one time and was driving in runs. One year later though and him not taking walks is starting to cost the team. To this point in his sophomore year he has been to the plate 300 times, 27 more than any other Brave. With those 300 at bats he has produced a .250 AVG, an on base percentage of .269 with 75 hits, 61 Ks and only 6 walks. That walk to strikeout ratio is an alarming 1-10.

Now I'm not blaming the Braves failures on Jeff alone, that blame could be extended to Adam LaRoche, Marcus Giles, Ryan Langerhans and everyone in the bullpen. But if this team is to catch fire and get back into the NL East race or at least the Wild Card then Francoeur has got to figure out how to take walks and eliminate his strikeouts. He's supposed to be the next Dale Murphy for this franchise, we need him to look like Dale now. I think its time to sit Jeff and put someone else in right who can get on base cause .269 OBP just isn't good enough to help this team win.

Additional Notes:

The Braves now have a 10 game losing streak. Last time a Braves team lost that many in a row was back at the start of the 1988 season, a season in which they lost a franchise record 106 games. Back then, John Smoltz was 3 months away from his major league debut and Tommy Glavine only had 11 starts under his belt. The Braves record now is 30-43 and 15.5 games behind the Mets and 9 games behind Wild Card leader Cincinnati Reds. To make it worse the Braves winning % of .411 is ahead of the likes of the Royals .310, Pirates .351 and Cubs .394.
Here's the upcoming series for the Braves; at Tampa Bay, at Yankees, Baltimore, St. Louis, Cincinnati then the Allstar break. Things ain't looking good.

Isiah Thomas has lost his marbles

2006-06-23T01:05:00.000-04:00

The Miami Heat haven't yet finished enjoying their moment in the spotlight but it can to an abrupt end today, well at least was put on pause, as the news of the firing of Larry Brown started spreading like wildflower. NY Knicks GM, none-other than Isiah Thomas, fired the legendary coach after only 1 year and with 4 years remaining on his contract.

His firing could be considered his own fault for stepping into this mess that Isiah himself has created. So next season Isiah is going to try and duplicate the success that Pat Riley has enjoyed from building the Heat as the GM then hiring himself as the coach. But Isiah is the mad scientist that thinks above else that because of his success as a player it automatically translates into success as a Head Coach. Well he's going to find out it doesn't happen like that.

In his 3 year head coaching career he guided the Indiana Pacers to three straight playoff appearances with regular season records of 41-41, 42-40, 48-34. Lets also not forget that on that team was Jermaine O'Neal, Reggie Miller, Ron Artest, Scott Pollard, Jamaal Tinsley, Kenny Anderson, All Harrington and Anthony Johnson. That's a team that if I were coaching, I too could lead them to at least the same amount of victories. This current Knicks team is led by 3 Guards that want the ball all time in Jamal Crawford, Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury, other members are Eddy Curry and Jalen Rose. That's a mess that even Larry Brown couldn't turn this team into a winner (23-59)and he has made himself by turning around teams. But then again he wasn't given a chance, it's hard to turn dust into gold in one year. In the season of 88-89 , his first year with the Spurs he had a 21-61 record, the following season he was 56-26. Same with this 76ers, his first year with them in 97-98 they finished 31-51, second year 28-22.

So on comes Isiah Thomas with ego in hand to try and turn this once proud franchise back into the NBA's elite. Well he's going to fall flat on his face and there won't be anyone there to pick him up because he's the genius that put this squad together. I give Isiah two years as coach before he or the owner realize that he's not fit to be either a GM or a Head Coach. They just let one of the games best coaches just walk out the door.

It's been rumored that Larry Brown's next stop could be back in his college state of North Carolina coaching the Charlotte Bobcats. He's built a relationship with now part owner Michael Jordan as both were part of the great UNC teams of Dean Smith. He'll look back at laugh as Isiah rides this sinking ship even further into the dark sea.

Here's a look at Larry Browns coaching career:

Larry Brown timeline
Years	Team	Record
'72-74	Carolina Cougars	104-64
'74-79	Denver Nuggets	251-134
'79-81	UCLA Bruins	42-17
'81-83	New Jersey Nets	91-67
'83-88	Kansas Jayhawks	135-44
'88-91	San Antonio Spurs	153-131
'91-93	Los Angeles Clippers	64-53
'93-97	Indiana Pacers	190-138
'97-03	Philadelphia 76ers	255-205
'03-05	Detroit Pistons	108-56
'05-06	New York Knicks	23-59

Now compare that to Isiah Thomas:

Isiah Thomas Coaching Record
Season	Team	Record	Playoffs
'00-01	Pacers	41-41	1-3
'01-02	Pacers	42-40	2-3
'02-03	Pacers	48-34	2-4
TOTAL		131-115	5-10

Its easy to see that the Knicks will continue to be a bad team well into the future as long as Isiah Thomas is making the decisions.

Clemson Tigers Baseball season comes to an end

2006-06-21T00:25:00.000-04:00

The Clemson Tigers baseball season came to a bitter end today as they lost to Cal State Fullerton in the elimination game 7-6. It's a disappointing end to an otherwise very successful season. This team started the season as #1 in the nation and went on to win the ACC regular season title and the ACC Tournament Championship.

Though I'm proud of the teams accomplishments this year, I'm very disappointed the way we played in this College World Series. We were the #1 seed in this tournament but from the first game against Georgia Tech we didn't look like it. We came back from a 4-0 hole going into the 8th to win 8-4. In game 2 against UNC though we couldn't do anything, only accounting for 3 hits. In the elimination game against Cal St Fullerton our starting pitcher couldn't even complete the first inning putting us in a 3-0 hole though we did manage to post 3 runs ourselves to tie it, we still had to lean on the bullpen for 8 innings to shut them down and we couldn't. The way we played at the end of the season, anything less than a National Championship would be bust.

Not sure what to expect from the Tigers in 07 as we had 10 players and 4 recruits drafted two weeks ago. I don't expect for a repeat of this year.

Congrats to Carolina Hurricanes

2006-06-20T23:53:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes. They became the first major professional organization in the Carolinas to win a Championship. They outlasted the Edmonton Oilers to hoist the Lord Stanley Cup winning game 7 3-1.

I'm not a big hockey fan but I did manage to turn the channel a couple times to NBA to watch the Raleigh based team in action.

With a southern team winning the NHL Championship, it's time for those in the marketing dept to take advantage of this and promote the game the way other leagues do. The Hurricanes can increase their fan base by touring around both North and South Carolina with the Stanley Cup to drum up interest in hockey and in their merchandise sales. The have a golden opportunity now to do this.

Congrats again to the Carolina Hurricanes, you have another fan on board.

Bachelor Party weekend has begun

2006-06-16T16:08:00.000-04:00

The Bradford and Bushido's good buddy, Mark Campbell, is two weeks away from entering into the world of constant chores and can't-make-decisions-by-myself. He's getting married in two weeks to a great girl. But we're now into the Bachelor party weekend, well it's actually already begun with Jim, me and the Bachelor going downtown to get some $1 Corona's at Coast only to be heartbroken to find out it was canceled due to serving underage kids. The fun continued this morning as us three finished off the remainder of a 18 pack Jim bought the previous night. Things continued to Wild Wings where we did some damage on the lunch buffet. Re-enforcement were called in today as Rich made the trip down from Greenville and just arrived a few minutes ago. Tonight we're heading to Isle of Palms to watch Cowboy Mouth
in concert at the Windjammer. If you haven't seen them in concert you need to get to one, they put on one hell of a show.

More trouble is due in town tomorrow when Craig, Stephen, Ed and Shawn make the trip from Charlotte. The plan for Saturday is to spend the day on the water drinking and who knows what.

There are already stories being told and knee slappers being created. With this group together who knows what will be said so we've started recording quotes being said during endless moments of running of the mouth.

Update from the weekend.

Saturday morning we were in recovering mode from friday nights fun, ears were still ringing from the concert. Things finally got going saturday around noon once everyone got rehydrated. Finally at around 2pm the remainder of the crew got into town, Craig and Stephen, unfortuantly Shawn and Ed weren't able to make it. We lounged around a little then got into a game of Assh**e and of course Mark the bachelor wound up the assh**e the most and as such ended up drinking the most, beer after beer but isn't that what the bachelor is supposed to do? Anyways we finally got ready to hit downtown, everyone getting showers. Finally when it came time for the bachelors turn a plan was in place to pull off one of the funniest pranks in our groups years together. I took a vase in my apt, filled it with ice and put some water in, steered it around a bit so the ice would met some, added a few more ice cubes for good measure. I gave the vase to Craig so I could record it on video.

Here's the result of the prank.

As for what happened saturday night, well, what happens on a bachelor party stays with the bachelor, but somehow no one was arrested or sent to the hospital. So the Party was a success and we've sent Mark out with style.

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