Archives for November 2013

November 30, 2013

November 29, 2013

Don't Play Thailand: Many football fans will be scratching their heads to see Switzerland among the top seeds at next year's World Cup finals, while thoroughbreds like the Netherlands and Italy are not. The truth is that it could be down to the choices made by football administrators, not players.

posted by billsaysthis to soccer at 12:22 PM - 5 comments

Did Mike Tomlin Do That on Purpose?: Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin interfered with a Jacoby Jones kick return during Thursday night's game against the Baltimore Ravens, possibly denying Jones a touchdown. Tomlin, facing away from the play in the direction of a video board, was standing on the field, jumping out of the way at the last second. Several Ravens accused him of doing it intentionally. The Ravens won 22-20.

posted by rcade to football at 11:00 AM - 11 comments

Jason Kidd fined $50,000 for intentionally spilling drink: The NBA fined Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd $50,000 for his spilled-drink shenanigans that took place in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's 99-94 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the league announced Thursday.

posted by gfinsf to basketball at 10:54 AM - 1 comment

November 28, 2013

November 27, 2013

CFL Playoffs Pick 'Em, Final Standings: Saskatchewan wins big, which means it comes down to the wire in our standings. Hope you did your punting research before making your tiebreaker pick, because our winner sure did.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 08:18 PM - 4 comments

Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released.:
With a maximum of 10 spots allowed on a ballot (and an average of only 6.6 spots used per ballot in last year's voting), the baseball HOF logjam begins in earnest.

posted by grum@work to baseball at 09:23 AM - 31 comments

November 26, 2013

Rogers reaches 12-year broadcast deal with NHL worth $5.2-billion : Rogers Communications Inc. will be the exclusive national rights holder for the NHL for the next 12 years in a $5.2-billion deal that fundamentally reshapes the sports broadcasting landscape in Canada. Rogers will make annual payments of $300-million to the NHL, which will incrementally increase until they reach $500-million in the final year of the deal. There is also an upfront payment of $150-million. In addition to the Rogers deal, the NHL gets about $300-million (U.S.) a year from U.S. network NBC, which is also shared among the 30 teams. In total, each team will get about $25-million a season in television revenue, not including fees for local broadcast.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 12:01 PM - 8 comments

November 25, 2013

Saskatchewan Roughriders complete dream season: It was a celebration unlike any other at Mosaic Stadium. The sold-out, predominantly green and white crowd remained at the facility long after the Saskatchewan Roughriders had beaten the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23 to win the 101st Grey Cup.

posted by tommytrump to football at 11:58 AM - 3 comments

FCS School Passes for 0 Yards, Beats Florida: The box score for Georgia Southern's 26-20 upset of Florida is insane. The FCS school, which will be joining the Sun Belt Conference, had 0 yards passing. Run-option quarterback Kevin Ellison made three passing attempts, none completed. But his team amassed 429 yards rushing on 54 attempts, with nine players toting the rock. The 28-point underdog Eagles were paid $550,000 by the Gators to come to Gainesville and beat them. Florida falls to 4-7 and will miss a bowl for the first time since 1990 and has lost to an FCS school for the first time in ever. "Nobody needs to point a finger right now," said Florida coach Will Muschamp, who got a "1000 percent" vote of confidence to return next season from athletic director Jeremy Foley.

posted by rcade to football at 10:54 AM - 4 comments

New England Overcomes 24-Point Deficit to Beat Denver: After staking the Denver Broncos to a 24-point halftime lead, the New England Patriots scored 31 points to take the lead, gave it up in the waning minutes of the game and then won late in overtime 34-31 on a cold, windy Sunday night at Gillette Stadium. The game-winning field goal came after New England kicked a punt that touched a Broncos defender because he wasn't warned to get away from the ball soon enough by former Patriots wideout Wes Welker, who was on punt return duty. Knowshon Moreno ran for 224 yards in a losing effort.

posted by rcade to football at 08:30 AM - 46 comments

November 24, 2013

Bulls Lose Derrick Rose to Another Knee Injury: Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose suffered a torn medial meniscus in his right knee that will require surgery, the team announced Saturday. Rose, the 2010-11 NBA MBP, missed the last season recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his other knee. He's out indefinitely.

posted by rcade to basketball at 02:01 PM - 4 comments

November 23, 2013

November 22, 2013

November 21, 2013

Tigers and Rangers Swap Prince Fielder and Ian Kinsler: the move allows Detroit to move Cabrera to first and call up a prospect to play third and clears up a logjam in the middle of the infield for Texas.

posted by yerfatma to baseball at 09:32 AM - 13 comments

Former OL Shawn Andrews says Donovan McNabb made Eagles locker room a 'living hell': Former Pro Bowl offensive lineman Shawn Andrews says that his former Philadelphia Eagles teammates—led by Donovan McNabb—spread malicious rumors and verbally abused him so badly that he contemplated suicide and eventually underwent psychiatric treatment. Many of the rumors were about his sexual orientation, he said, and they eventually spread to other NFL locker rooms.

posted by BornIcon to football at 07:28 AM - 6 comments

November 20, 2013

CFL Playoffs Pick 'Em, Grey Cup Edition: Both road teams win the day in the division finals, and our match-up is set. Hamilton journeys to Regina to take on the watermelon-clad hordes of Rider Nation. You, on the other hand, have the option of staying inside and toasty warm this Sunday, so why not light a fire, find your fuzzy socks, and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 08:48 PM - 14 comments

Orlando Lands Major League Soccer Team: The Orlando City Lions are making the jump from the US Pro League to Major League Soccer. Commissioner Don Garber announced Tuesday night that Orlando is becoming the 21st MLS team in 2015. A $84 million, 18,000-seat stadium is being built for the team near the Magic's Amway Center with around half funded by local tourism taxes. This will be the first MLS team in the southeastern U.S. since Tampa and Miami franchises folded in 2001. New York City also is getting an MLS team in 2015, and two as-yet-undecided cities are expected to be added by 2020.

posted by rcade to soccer at 10:10 AM - 5 comments

November 19, 2013

Panthers Edge Patriots, Win Sixth in a Row: The Carolina Panthers beat the New England Patriots 24-20 on Monday night in a game that ended on a controversial non-call. The zebras threw a flag on Carolina for pass interference against Rob Gronkowski in the end zone, but Tom Brady's pass to Gronk was intercepted and they said this made it uncatchable. Cam Newton kept several drives alive with long third down scrambles, threw three touchdowns and was the game's leading rusher.

posted by rcade to football at 09:26 AM - 48 comments

November 18, 2013

Deep-Water Diver Dies Seeking U.S. Record: At the Vertical Blue free diving championship in the Bahamas, a 32-year-old American seeking to set his second national record died this weekend. Nicholas Mevoli was hoping to reach 72 meters on a single inhalation Sunday when he had trouble at 68 meters and seemed to turn back, reports the New York Times. Instead, he dove deeper seeking the record depth and fell unconscious after his climb back to the surface. "Diving to that depth with no fins, that's a hard, physical dive," said Mike Board, the British record-holder. "I was thinking, OK, he's going to have a hard time getting up." Resuscitation attempts for 90 minutes were unsuccessful. In May, Mevoli became the first American to dive below 100 meters using a monofin.

posted by rcade to extreme at 01:49 PM - 4 comments

November 17, 2013

November 16, 2013

November 15, 2013

ROB GRONKOWSKI Mocks Asian Fan WHERE'S THE FRIED RICE? : Maybe New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski hasn't heard what's going on with Richie Incognito -- because he openly mocked an Asian fan over the weekend, calling the guy "Leslie Chow"... and joking about fried rice. Today, Gronkowski apologizes.

posted by BornIcon to football at 02:29 PM - 22 comments

November 14, 2013

Together We Fear Football: Pop Warner Down 9.5%: Pop Warner football, the largest youth football program in the U.S., saw the number of players drop 9.5 percent from 2010 to 2012, a sign that the rise in severely debilitating brain injuries among former pro football players is scaring parents away from the sport. The organization's chief medical officer, Julian Bailes, called concerns about head injuries the "No. 1 cause" for the drop and said, "Unless we deal with these truths, we're not going to get past the dropping popularity of the sport and people dropping out of the sport."

posted by rcade to football at 11:20 AM - 16 comments

Raider, 'Renaissance Man' Todd Christensen dead at 57: Christensen, 57, a five-time Pro Bowl tight end with the Oakland/Los Angeles/during his NFL career (1978-1988), died Wednesday at a hospital near his home in Alpine, Utah, from complications during liver transplant surgery.

posted by BornIcon to football at 08:07 AM - 7 comments

November 13, 2013

CFL Playoffs Pick 'Em, Finals Edition: It's all favourites, all the time. Saskatchewan and Hamilton advance to their respective finals. This week we have two great quarterbacks in a dome, and two great running backs in the snow. Layer up and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 09:15 PM - 14 comments

Buffal Sabres announce Ted Nolan as head coach, Pat LaFontaine as president of hockey operations: "Last night I relieved Darcy Regier from his duties as Buffalo Sabres general manager and Ron Rolston as head coach," Sabres owner Terry Pegula said at a press conference at First Niagara Center. Pegula announced the creation of a new title in the Sabres organization, president of hockey operations, which will be filled by LaFontaine. Ted Nolan was named interim head coach effective today.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 12:00 PM - 2 comments

November 12, 2013

Breaking Real Bad: Inside the Sam Hurd Drug Case: On Wednesday, former Cowboys and Bears receiver Sam Hurd will likely be sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking. Is he the cocaine kingpin the government has made him out to be, or the victim of an overzealous prosecution and excessively harsh narcotics laws? An exclusive 22-month investigation reveals how it all went wrong for one of the NFL’s most promising and well-liked young talents—and why there’s more to Hurd’s downfall than we’ve been led to believe.

posted by Ufez Jones to football at 07:07 PM - 6 comments

November 11, 2013

Atlanta Braves plan to build new stadium in Cobb County: “We didn’t take this decision lightly,” said Schuerholz, the Braves’ president. “We’ve played in our current facility for quite some time (since 1997), and it was with mixed emotions that we made this decision because we have many great Braves baseball memories that occurred for all of us … in that facility. But we are quite enthused about where our new facility will be.”

posted by tommytrump to baseball at 10:04 AM - 34 comments

November 10, 2013

November 09, 2013

November 08, 2013

Saying 'I'm not happy at all,' Broncos' John Moffitt quits NFL: John Moffitt wasn't unhappy with a lack of playing time in Denver. He quit the NFL because he'd lost his love for the game and was tired of risking his health.

posted by BornIcon to football at 09:36 AM - 7 comments

November 07, 2013

Fresno State's Mascot Also Used by Gang: A California street gang that began in prison calls itself the Bulldogs and has caused problems for Fresno State University, which is popular in the state's agricultural interior and has a Bulldogs mascot. Sales of the school's athletic gear have increased tenfold, often for the wrong reasons. In 2011, Stephen Maciel, a father of four, was shot and killed by a Bulldogs gang rival in a liquor store parking lot wearing a red Fresno State shirt. He had no gang affiliations. "If you love sports, you want to be all geared up in the team's colors. But I don't wear it any more, and I don't let my kids wear it. It's too dangerous," said Maciel's widow, Marisol Aguirre.

posted by rcade to football at 07:14 PM - 1 comment

Cubs to Hire Rick Renteria as Manager: The Chicago Cubs are hiring Rick Renteria to succeed Dale Sveum as manager, signing him to a three-year contract. Renteria, 51, was bench coach for the San Diego Padres the past two seasons. He speaks Spanish and served eight seasons as a manager in the Marlins’ and Padres' farm system. The news comes as the Cubs are angling to end the team's TV contract with WGN, which would end a relationship that began in 1948.

posted by rcade to baseball at 06:02 PM - 0 comments

Ace Parker, Who Played in NFL in a Leather Helmet, Dies: Ace Parker, who at 101 was the oldest living member of the NFL Hall of Fame, died Wednesday in Portsmouth, Va. Parker played for the Philadelphia Athletics in baseball and the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees and a merged Brooklyn Tigers/Boston Yanks team in football. He was the NFL MVP in 1940. The NFL was a more ragtag operation back then. He was expected to supply his own equipment and one of the Dodgers' owners, John "Shipwreck" Kelly, also played on the team. Elected to the hall in 1972 at age 60, Parker said in his acceptance speech, "I'm sure glad it happened when I'm still around."

posted by rcade to football at 05:57 PM - 1 comment

CFL Playoffs Pick 'Em, Semi-Final Edition: It's the exact midpoint between Canadian Thanksgiving and Ron Lancaster Day, which mean it's time for playoff football! If you're still stinging over your Costanza-worthy performance in the regular season, or kicking yourself for not signing up back in June, kick no more: it's a clean slate and all are welcome. Grab your metresticks and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 05:50 PM - 13 comments

Incognito and Martin: An Insider’s Story: Former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Lydon Murtha pulls back the curtain on what he saw and what he’s heard of the relationship between Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, from the locker room dynamic to that now-famous O-line trip to Vegas

posted by BornIcon to football at 08:32 AM - 29 comments

November 06, 2013

November 05, 2013

Red Sox Write Love Letter to Cardinals: The Boston Red Sox have bought a full-page ad in St. Louis praising the Cardinals, their fans, the Red Sox and their fans. "We're both home to the most loyal fans in the game," states the ad. "We look forward to seeing you again next August. Let's hope that it's just a prelude to meeting again in October."

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:37 PM - 23 comments

Wisconsin Columnist: What If Rodgers Got Hurt Monday?: Two days before Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a collarbone break, Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel wrote a column stating the team could win if he was lost to injury. "Fools will cry that I'm jinxing Rodgers and the Packers by writing about this," McGinn wrote. "Injury is the grimmest fact of life in the NFL. The Packers have been immune at quarterback for 21 years, but it doesn't represent the unthinkable for them. ... [T]he guess here is that even if the Packers were to lose Rodgers early Monday night against the Chicago Bears they'd find ways to finish 11-5."

posted by rcade to football at 12:28 PM - 6 comments

November 04, 2013

Fan tackles Marty the Marmot mascot during musical chairs at WHL hockey game: Victoria police have launched an assault investigation after an aggressive fan tackled Marty the Marmot at Saturday’s Victoria Royals hockey game. Marty landed hard on the ice on his back and lay prone for several seconds until a staff member came over to help him to his feet. The aggressive fan was escorted off the ice to a torrent of boos from the crowd and Marty was helped away, clearly in pain.

posted by tommytrump to hockey at 09:53 PM - 13 comments

Password change: Asked about this a while back ... was it ever added anywhere?

posted by Ricardo to other at 02:45 PM - 1 comment

CFL Pick 'Em, Final Standings: Furious activity in our standings as many of our contenders nail spreads in hopes of unseating cixelsyd. But were they successful?

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 12:46 PM - 7 comments

Even after the NFL wised up, the Premier League still isn't sure concussions matter: Saturday's Everton/ Tottenham matched featured a 10 minute Keystone Kops skit that ended when the Tottenham medical staff gave up and let Hugo Lloris stay in the game after being knocked unconscious by Romelu Lukaku's massive thigh.

posted by yerfatma to soccer at 12:18 PM - 7 comments

Gary Kubiak Collapses on Texas Sideline: Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak collapsed at the start of halftime during the Sunday night game against the Indianapolis Colts. Kubiak, 52, was walking off the field when he became stricken, and he was taken off on a stretcher to an ambulance. "He had an episode; he was light-headed and dizzy," Houston general manager Rick Smith said. Earlier this weekend, Denver Broncos coach John Fox felt light-headed at a golf course in Charlotte, and he will be having surgery for an aortic heart valve replacement.

posted by rcade to football at 10:42 AM - 1 comment

Dolphins Suspend Incognito For Bullying, Intimidation Towards Miller: Bullying rears its ugly head in the troubling allegations towards Dolphins offensive lineman Richie Incognito against fellow lineman/teammate Jonathon Miller. Miller left the team last week, apparently due in large part to the treatment he says has been aimed towards him.

posted by dyams to football at 06:18 AM - 28 comments

November 03, 2013

Jaguars' Justin Blackmon Suspended for Drugs: Justin Blackmon, the second-year wide receiver who was the fifth pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2012 draft, was suspended indefinitely by the NFL Friday and is going into drug rehab. Blackmon missed the first four games of the season on a previous drug suspension and has been in the league substance-abuse program since a month after the draft, when he was pulled over for driving drunk at three times the legal limit. Blackmon put up good numbers in the four games he played -- 29 catches, 415 yards, one touchdown -- but Florida Times-Union columnist Gene Frenette believes the team should cut ties. Jacksonville has been here before with wideouts Jimmy Smith and R. Jay Soward, both who fought substance abuse woes while on the team.

posted by rcade to football at 12:50 PM - 3 comments

Brad Ausmus Is Your New Detroit Tigers Manager: Former Tigers catcher Brad Ausmus has never been a manager — in the major leagues or the minor leagues. But all signs pointed this morning that Ausmus would become the Tigers’ next skipper.

posted by NoMich to baseball at 08:23 AM - 4 comments

November 02, 2013

Contrary to popular opinion, African-American NBA players are less likely to come from impoverished backgrounds: "Growing up in a wealthier neighborhood is a major, positive predictor of reaching the N.B.A. for both black and white men. ..... Putting all the information together, my best guess is that black N.B.A. players are about 30 percent less likely than the average black male to be born to an unmarried mother and a teenage mother." Infographic. NYTimes link

posted by rumple to basketball at 08:54 PM - 1 comment

Tom Landry Died a New York Giants Fan: Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry was a New York Giants fan when he died, his widow Alicia Landry is quoted as saying in a new book. Landry was disgusted with how he and his family were treated by Jerry Jones, the Cowboys owner who fired him. Alicia Landry said after Jones bought the team and fired Landry, he took away the Landry family's suite at Texas Stadium and barred Tom Landry Jr. from continuing to buy season tickets. "It’s not the same Dallas Cowboys," said Alicia, who has not been to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, to see the statue of her husband, who died in 2000.

posted by rcade to football at 09:56 AM - 9 comments

November 01, 2013