Archives for August 2013

August 31, 2013

August 30, 2013

Tim Tebow's Final Preseason Performance Tebowesque: Tim Tebow threw two touchdown passes and an interception in the second half of the New England Patriots' final preseason game. He completed 6 of 11 passes, ran for 30 yards and was sacked four times. Has he done enough to make the roster? Mike Foss of USA Today says yes. Howard Ulman of AP says maybe. Josh Katzowitz of CBS says no.

posted by rcade to football at 12:25 PM - 28 comments

August 29, 2013

NFL Settles with Players for $765 Million for Brain Traumas: A judge has announced a tentative settlement between the NFL and the more than 4,000 players who had joined in a suit over concussion-related brain injuries. The mediated result would cost the league $765 million, with payments to individual players based on their medical status. Any former NFL player would be eligible.

posted by Etrigan to football at 02:02 PM - 9 comments

August 28, 2013

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 10: It's Labour Day, the traditional 52.63%-way point of the CFL season. Use this weekend wisely for meditation, self-reflection, and making your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 09:34 PM - 13 comments

August 27, 2013

August 26, 2013

Claim: Bobby Riggs Threw the Match Against Billie Jean King: Bobby Riggs threw the famous match against Billie Jean King in 1973 to pay off $100,000 in gambling debts to organized crime, according to a new TV report. Hal Shaw, a former golf pro in Tampa, said he heard three alleged mobsters and a lawyer discussing how Riggs "would beat Margaret Court and then he would go in the tank" against King. The match before 30,000 spectators at the Houston Astrodome became a milestone for women in sports. King, the world's second-ranked female tennis player, beat Riggs in straight sets.

posted by rcade to tennis at 11:10 AM - 7 comments

August 25, 2013

Mark Sanchez Hurt in Fourth Quarter of Preseason Game: Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News on what happened Saturday in the Jets/Giants preseason game: "Rex Ryan took ineptitude and incompetence to new heights with a boneheaded decision Saturday night that ultimately could seal his fate as the head coach of the Jets. Ryan, apparently consumed with winning a trophy of a Peanuts character, vaulted into the annals of dumb moves by putting Mark Sanchez into the fourth quarter of the Jets' meaningless preseason 24-21 overtime win over the Giants at MetLife Stadium. Sanchez promptly suffered a shoulder injury that clouds the Jets' quarterback situation."

posted by Mr Bismarck to football at 02:59 PM - 10 comments

August 24, 2013

Guard on Knicks' Last Champion Team Dies: Dean Meminger, a point guard who played on the last New York Knicks team to win an NBA Championship, died in an upper Manhattan hotel room Friday at age 65. In that celebrated 1973 season, Meminger defended Boston Celtics guard Jo Jo White in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. "Dean went out and shut Jo Jo down, and we won that game," said former teammate Phil Jackson. "It was a signature performance in our history." Meminger struggled with cocaine addiction and had this to say about his failure to raise son Dean Jr. and daughter Maisha: "If I wanted to say somebody was my son, Dean is my son. Understands what values are, a loyal, family guy. I don't know where he learned it from."

posted by rcade to basketball at 05:57 PM - 2 comments

August 23, 2013

Ryan Braun Admits Using PEDs, Lying to Cover It Up: Ryan Braun has admitted using performance-enhancing drugs during his NL MVP season in 2011. "Now that the initial MLB investigation is over, I want to apologize for my actions and provide a more specific account of what I did and why I deserved to be suspended. ... I have disappointed the people closest to me -- the ones who fought for me because they truly believed me all along. I kept the truth from everyone."

posted by rcade to baseball at 08:17 AM - 7 comments

August 22, 2013

Ichiro reaches 4,000 hit milestone between Japan (1,278) and MLB (2,722 and counting).: While his production is a shadow of those early Mariners years when he was a 200+ hit machine for more than a decade (just LOOK at that rookie spike of 242 hits, or the record-setting 262 hit season), the 39-year-old Yankee outfielder continues to produce at a decent if unremarkable level.

Questions arise over how long Ichiro will continue to suit up (he's signed with the Yankees through the 2014 season), but even at his reduced performance level, if he can stay an every day player into the 2015 season he'll almost surely eclipse the 3,000 hit mark in MLB.

posted by hincandenza to baseball at 10:08 PM - 17 comments

August 21, 2013

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 9: Back to a full slate of games this week. Nice to have points again, eh? Especially for Reever, who grabs a share of the lead. Stretch your counting fingers and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 01:25 PM - 14 comments

August 20, 2013

Is Roger Federer Done?: Fallen to No. 7 in the world rankings, Roger Federer said recently that he's no longer playing for the money, the lifestyle or even the pursuit of the top ranking. But he doesn't seem to be contemplating retirement either. "Sometimes, the media uses what they have to make a good article for them, which makes sense," he said, "but right now for me, it is getting back playing well, going deep into tournaments, and then the ranking will follow automatically, up or down.

posted by rcade to tennis at 05:39 PM - 5 comments

August 19, 2013

Arsenal's Accounts: A forensic analysis of a football club. Where the money comes from, and where it goes. Except, apparently, on new players.

posted by owlhouse to soccer at 02:30 AM - 4 comments

August 18, 2013

Alex Rodriguez attorney accuses Yankees of hiding MRI results: Joseph Tacopina, the attorney representing Rodriguez in his appeal of a 211-game suspension for his involvement with Miami-based Biogenesis and performance enhancing drugs, said the Yankees hid MRI results from Rodriguez that showed a torn labrum in his hip in October 2012, an injury that would eventually require offseason surgery and sideline the third baseman for the first four months of the 2103 campaign. Rodriguez hit just .120 (3-for-25) during the 2012 playoffs for the Yankees, who lost the ALCS to the Tigers.

posted by bender to baseball at 08:50 PM - 12 comments

Never Too Early for Fantasy Hockey: The regular season is still six weeks away, but Koharski's Donuts fantasy hockey league has been set up on ESPN and needs eight more members. It's a head-to-head standard league with a live snake draft Saturday Sept. 28 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. The password to join is sprinkles.

posted by rcade to hockey at 07:27 PM - 8 comments

Fox Sports 1 Challenges the Beast of Bristol: On Saturday, the sports channel Speed became Fox Sports 1, putting a direct 24/7 sports news and live event rival to ESPN in 90 million homes. The network takes on SportsCenter with Fox Sports Live and will broadcast Major League Baseball, World Cup soccer, Pac-12 and Big 12 college football, U.S. Open golf, and Ultimate Fighting Championship. Soon, Fox Soccer will be disappearing as a cable channel, though its Internet broadcasts and website will continue.

posted by rcade to general at 05:16 PM - 6 comments

August 17, 2013

Seattle Investor Spends $80K Fighting Sacramento Arena: A leader of the effort to bring the Sacramento Kings to Seattle donated $80,000 to Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork, a political group trying to block a new basketball arena in the California city. Chris Hansen supported the group's effort to collect enough signatures to bring the arena to a public vote. "I made a mistake I regret," he said. "I would also just point out that the contribution was made in my personal capacity and not on behalf of our ownership group or my partners."

posted by rcade to basketball at 01:40 PM - 3 comments

August 16, 2013

August 15, 2013

WWE Wrestler Darren Young: I'm Gay: WWE pro wrestler Darren Young was walking out of LAX airport in Los Angeles when a TMZ cameraman asked him whether the sport would accept a gay wrestler. "Absolutely," Young replied. "Look at me. I'm a WWE superstar and to be honest with you, I'll tell you right now, I'm gay."

posted by rcade to other at 01:01 PM - 11 comments

EPL Fantasy Football: Just a reminder since the league starts Saturday morning. If you were in the SpoFi league last season you're automatically re-entered once your team is setup.

posted by billsaysthis to fantasy at 10:39 AM - 7 comments

Wimbledon Champ Marion Bartoli Retires Because of Pain: Only 32 days after surprising the tennis world by winning the Wimbledon title, Marion Bartoli abruptly announced her retirement after losing a second-round match at the Western & Southern Open, a warm-up to the United States Open. "It's time for me to retire and to call it a career. I feel it's time for me to walk away, actually. My body just can't do it anymore. I've been already through a lot of injuries since the beginning of the year. I've been on the tour for so long, and I really push through and leave it all during that Wimbledon."

posted by rcade to tennis at 09:04 AM - 2 comments

August 14, 2013

August 13, 2013

ESPN Drops Hugh Douglas Over Slur, Fight: ESPN has dumped former NFL player Hugh Douglas over an altercation he initiated with his Numbers Never Lie cohost Michael Smith during the National Association of Black Journalists convention recently in Orlando. When Smith tried to keep a drunken Douglas from taking the mike at a party (after doing the same a day earlier), Douglas called him an "Uncle Tom," grabbed him and threatened to beat him up. Two weeks ago Douglas tweeted, "S/O to Riley Cooper.. For keepin it 100.. At least now we know!"

posted by rcade to general at 10:09 PM - 8 comments

August 12, 2013

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 8: Back to a full slate of games, which means it's time to win some points and figure out whether you've made your Grey Cup hotel reservations yet. (Hint: you haven't.) Call your travel agent and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 04:20 PM - 12 comments

Jack Clark, co-host fired from radio gig after Albert Pujols-PED flap: Former major-league slugger Jack Clark recently used his talk-radio forum to level a pretty serious accusation at Angels first baseman Albert Pujols -- namely that he, at least at one time, used performance-enhancing drugs.

posted by BornIcon to baseball at 11:16 AM - 4 comments

August 11, 2013

Usain Bolt Meet Lightning Bolt: Photo by Olivier Morin of AFP: Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the 100m final at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow.

posted by rcade to olympics at 06:49 PM - 1 comment

August 10, 2013

August 09, 2013

August 08, 2013

Slate Won't Call NFL Team 'Redskins' Any More: "This is the last Slate article that will refer to the Washington NFL team as the Redskins," writes David Plotz. "Americans think differently about race and the language of race than we did 80 years ago. We now live in a world, for instance, in which it's absolutely unacceptable for an NFL player to utter a racial slur. Changing the way we talk is not political correctness run amok. It reflects an admirable willingness to acknowledge others who once were barely visible to the dominant culture, and to recognize that something that may seem innocent to you may be painful to others."

posted by rcade to football at 02:05 PM - 8 comments

August 07, 2013

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 7: It's the second bye week and first place is being challenged across the board: if your name is Toronto, Saskatchewan, or cixelsyd, you'd better hike up your socks and ready your defence. The rest of y'all should make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 10:32 PM - 13 comments

Peyton, Eli Manning star in rap video: Football on your phone: The Manning brothers are outstanding NFL quarterbacks, but it’ll be hard to look at either of them without thinking about their rap video from now on.

posted by BornIcon to football at 08:47 AM - 5 comments

August 06, 2013

August 05, 2013

Baseball Suspends A Rod Through 2014, 12 Others for 50 Games: New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was suspended for a record 211 games on Monday for alleged doping offences. The 12 players given 50-game bans are Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, San Diego Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera, Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, Philadelphia Phillies reliever Antonio Bastardo, New York Mets outfielder Jordany Valdespin, Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli, Seattle Mariners catcher Jesus Montero, New York Mets outfield prospect Cesar Puello, San Diego Padres pitching prospect Fautino De Los Santos, Houston Astros pitching prospect Sergio Escalona and New York Yankees outfield prospect Fernando Martinez.

posted by rcade to baseball at 05:41 PM - 30 comments

August 04, 2013

Rangers' Garza Tells A's Player to Shut His Wife Up: Newly acquired Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Garza, angry that Oakland A's second baseman Eric Sogard laid down a safety squeeze bunt that scored a run in the A's 4-2 defeat of the Rangers, posted several sexist messages to Sogard's wife Kaycee on Twitter. They included "@KayceeSogard tell your husband to speak up so his wife doesn't have to do it for him ... Chumps! ... Hahaha!" and "Certain people can't shut there woman up!" Garza and the Rangers have apologized. Sogard responded with class: "Obviously it's something you want to leave on the field and move on when the game ends," he said, adding added that he and his wife "took it as a joke, and that's how we'll continue to look at it."

posted by rcade to baseball at 10:31 PM - 8 comments

Pt 1 - An American Coach in London: Pt 2 - Seattle Sounders pay $9M transfer fee for Clint Dempsey, then sign Deuce to a $32M, 4 year contract.

posted by billsaysthis to soccer at 11:23 AM - 1 comment

August 03, 2013

J.B. Shuck Makes Home Run-Stealing Catch: Los Angeles Angels outfielder J.B. Shuck made one of the plays of the year Friday night, going into the left field stands to rob Toronto Blue Jays player Jose Bautista of a two-run homer. The Angels won 7-5.

posted by rcade to baseball at 12:07 PM - 6 comments

August 02, 2013

August 01, 2013

Philadelphia Eagles' Riley Cooper apologizes for racial slur: Saying he was "ashamed and disgusted" with himself, Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper apologized repeatedly for making a racial slur at a Kenny Chesney concert that was caught on video and led to him getting fined.

posted by BornIcon to football at 10:54 AM - 36 comments

CFL Pick 'Em, Week 6: Lt. Gov. Simcoe may not have been thrilled with the overall performance of his teams from Upper Canada, but we know he definitely wouldn't have scheduled the bye week for his holiday weekend. Check your bank's hours and make your picks inside.

posted by DrJohnEvans to fantasy at 08:57 AM - 17 comments

Sochi Athletes Subject to Anti-Gay Law: Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko warned Thursday that athletes and visitors to the Sochi Olympics will be subject to the country's laws against promoting homosexuality, contradicting a statement from the International Olympic Committee that the government had promised they would be exempt.

posted by bender to olympics at 08:49 AM - 2 comments