WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'AND referer = referer_id AND osystem = os_id AND useragent = ua_] SELECT * FROM wp_bas_visitors, wp_bas_refer, wp_bas_ua, wp_bas_os WHERE visit_id = AND referer = referer_id AND osystem = os_id AND useragent = ua_id
WordPress database error: [You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ' '2008-09-05 18:46:25', 0, 118)' at line 1] INSERT INTO wp_bas_log (visit, stamp, outbound, page) VALUES (, '2008-09-05 18:46:25', 0, 118);
It’s this case of deny, deny, deny that these guys are running into the ground. Look, it didn’t work for Richard Nixon, what makes them think it’s going to work for a bunch of baseball players when both the media and the feds are working against them. I believe this speaks to their intelligence, as well as their stupidity to keep throwing money at these situations. They should be saving up for that rainy day when prison becomes a reality.
What’s funnier is that Brian McNamee’s lawyer is saying he’s expecting Andy Pettite to rat out Clemens in the upcoming hearing. Now if only somebody in the San Francisco Giants organization was ready to rat out Bonds, we’d all get some closure.
The positions of all sides has been sad and standoffish. And worse yet, incomplete. I just can’t wait for this mess to be over with — if that’s possible.
This news excites me for a few reasons that even I don’t fully understand. The Associated Press is reporting that the Phoenix Suns are planning on playing an outdoor preseason game next year at Indian Wells Tennis Garden (pictured above) in California. Sounds like it’s likely, although not for sure.
What immediately comes to my mind is the outdoor hockey game that was played this year between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres, that drew the best ratings for a regular season game in ten years. I missed the game, but think it was a brilliant idea for the NHL to try and win over some fans.
I wouldn’t have thought this would interest me in basketball, but it does and I can’t quite put my finger on why. Is it the possibility of a pidgeon pooping on some player’s head and watching the refs discuss whether that player has to leave the game because of the Magic Johnson AIDS rule? Sure, that goes without saying. Is it the possibility of an extra breezy day making Steve Nash’s hair move around like “inflatable arm-flailing tube man”? Of course, we’ve all wondered what that would look like.
It’s something I’ve never seen before at the professional level. We all grew up playing games outside, before some graduated to playing on an indoor court. Seeing an NBA game out in the sun and wind might not change the game much, but the difference in appearance will be huge.
Maybe the Suns will become the first outdoor team, giving them a huge home-court advantage in the Arizona heat. I want to see the Milwaukee Bucks play in -4 degree weather. This is a trend that should absolutely continue, even if it’s only in the preseason.
Barry Bonds wants his federal indictment case thrown out for reasons that are confusing to say the least. Here’s radio host Jim Rome’s take:
Barry Bonds has asked a federal judge to dismiss perjury charges against him, saying the indictment is “scattershot” and noted for its “striking inartfulness.” You know what?! …sure, Barry, you got it. That’s not an unreasonable request. Judges always just toss out federal criminal cases. Maybe while you’re at it, you can get the judge to throw out Charles Manson’s multiple murder convictions or reverse Roe v. Wade or Brown v. Board of Education.
It’s not like you don’t have a good argument. After all, you think the indictment is “scattershot” and “striking in its inartfulness.” Whatever the hell that means. If you’re looking to muddy the issue and create a reasonable doubt with confusing language…it’s working.
The indictment is “scattershot” and “striking in its inartfulness”? Who talks like that? It had me running for my dictionary, but neither was in it. Is that what you’re paying those high priced lawyers to do? Make up words and phrases. What are you going to tell me next? That Roger Clemens doesn’t have to show up for his deposition because the charges against him are “indiscriminate distruthfulment”….and “appalling in their quasi ham-handedness”.
Is that your “strategery”? Even I know that, and I didn’t go to law school. I’ll tell you what’s “scattershot” and “inartful”…your contention that you’ve never knowingly taken ‘roids. It’s also a bold-handed attempt at “disrelevant impertinentosity”.
I’ve got to work scattershot and inartfulness into a conversation sometime.
“There are 10 [expletive] good players on that team, but Richard Seymour is a dirty, cheap, little pompous [expletive],” Hardwick told reporters after the game. “They’ve got 10 great players on that team and when Jarvis Green comes on the field, they’ve got 11 great players who compete how you’re supposed to play. But Richard Seymour is the biggest [expletive] I’ve ever played.”
Hardwick accused Seymour of stomping on feet during a field goal, head slapping and back punching. “Who stomps feet?” Hardwick wondered. He later said on a radio show that Seymour head-butted a Chargers assistant coach. Who does that?! Seymour’s defense was weak.
“Whatever I did, it was between the whistles,” he said, according to the Boston Globe. “Of course there is some pushing and shoving; it’s a physical game. That’s the way I play the game. There was nothing after the whistle, but it’s a violent game and I play the game violently.”
What? Believe it or not, these things you’ve been accused of are still against the rules and are still dirty even if they are during a play. And who said pushing and shoving? Hardwick didn’t say, “The whistle would blow and that jerk would just start pushing me on purpose!”
Seymour also said he wouldn’t go crying to the media like Hardwick did, then went on to cry about getting pushed over piles….uh, “and all that stuff in the trenches.”
Here’s the supposed head butt video. Doesn’t look like it to me, but at best he’s talking trash to an assistant coach. Not the coolest thing ever.
So Richard Seymour becomes another Patriots player to be called dirty and another Patriots player that I hate. What I hate more, though, is an accomplished looking smile on Eli Manning’s face and seeing Michael Strahan’s gap-toothed grin. I’m hoping Seymour plays dirty for one more week and steps on Manning’s neck, then says, “Hey, it was in between the whistles.”
I’m all about going against the grain, which is why I’m rooting for the New York Giants and Eli Manning in Superbowl 42.
No, it’s not because I have an affection for New York or because the Patriots just have to be hated by everybody outside of the Tri-state area.
I’m going for the Giants because I can’t stand to hear about 19-0. Yup, Tom Brady has already been elevated to Elvis status and I’m almost sick of hearing about it. It’s draining my mojo. I haven’t posted in a week and it’s all because I got not juice.
No worries, I’m coming hard in return on Dana Stubbliefield, Chuck Knoblauch and the rest of the B-12 capers. But the Superbowl is gonna be a battleground of what the national sports topic is going to be for six months.
As I’m writing this, ESPN commentators are debating whether or not the Patriots are the greatest team ever. This is nuts.
So in that essence, I’m rooting for the bad guys who are now the good guys facing the evil empire. Bill Belichick is the mad scientist and Randy Moss is the devilish sorcerer. It’s a bad B-movie and all you hope for is that good wins out and there’s something to celebrate at the end.
Yeah I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true. And I know the game was five days ago, but I’ve been avoiding human contact for a while, and I want my thoughts on record. To me it’s clear that the numerous Dallas mistakes, namely dropped balls and penalties, are the reason they lost this game. The Giants deserved to win because they played mistake free, but if anything, the game only further proved to me that the Cowboys are a better team. Wade Phillips agrees with me:
“After looking at the tape, I feel like the best team lost the game,” he said. “I thought we outplayed them. But we lost. Certainly, that goes directly to the coach, and I accept that.”
It’s easy to argue with Phillips. The old “scoreboard” argument works well. But let’s break it down. The Cowboys outgained the Giants 336 yards to 230. They held the Giants to 57 total yards of offense in the second half, and their only two drives that began in the fourth quarter (excluding a kneel down) were three-and-outs. Dallas also won the time of possession battle, 36:30 to 23:30.
The Giants scored three touchdowns. The first came after the Cowboys stopped them on third down, but DeMarcus Ware jumped across the line a split second too soon. They scored on a 52-yard pass to Amani Toomer, with the help of two awful tackles by Greg Ellis and Anthony Henry. Their second TD was a nice one, I’ll give them that. They drove 71 yards in 46 seconds to tie the game at 14 before the half. Their third came after a great punt return by R.W. McQuarters (that included missed tackles), leaving the Giants with only 37 yards to go.
The Cowboys two touchdown drives were 90 and 96 yards long. They should’ve had a third, but tight end Anthony Fasano dropped a pass, right between the numbers, at the goal line. Potential 1st-and-goal, maybe he even gets into the endzone on the catch. Instead it’s a field goal.
Dallas had 11 penalties for 84 yards. That adds up to way too many 3rd-and-longs. Luckily there were a couple bad ones for me to complain about. A big completion to Jason Witten for a first down was erased because of an unnecessary roughness penalty on lineman Leonard Davis, because apparently you’re not allowed to hit a defensive lineman that’s trying to get up to sack your quarterback. Instead of being at the 33, the Cowboys are back to the 12-yard line. That’s when Crayton had his famous drop that might have gone for big yardage. Punt.
On the second to last drive, Romo was penalized for throwing the ball away. He wasn’t under pressure when he threw toward the first down sticks, and the league has even apologized for this call. Ten yards and a loss of down. No big deal, not an important drive or anything.
Even after all of this, if Crayton hadn’t slowed down while running to the endzone for some reason (God I hate that guy), he might have caught the game-winning touchdown on the final drive. Don’t worry about it Patrick, let’s just try again on fourth down. Or maybe cut you from the team.
All I’m saying is I’m not impressed with the Giants. They talked trash before all three games and should’ve been beaten in all three. I’ve got $30 saying they lose by more than seven to Green Bay. They shouldn’t even be in that game. I’m sick to death over this loss. How the hell did that just happen?
Editor Dave Seanor has been replaced by Jeff Babineau after the current debacle of allowing a noose to be the cover graphic of Golfweek after Tilghman’s comment that “(Tiger Woods) should be lynched in a back alley.”
The furor has reached a deafening level.
The silliest thing about this firing is that Tilghman got less in reprimand, a two-week suspension, for igniting this controversy. All the while, Woods remains silent on a subject his agent deemed a “non-issue.”
Can his agent say that now?
And here I thought the cover was provocative and was worthy of the ensuing article and debate that would follow. Yeah, it’s a terrible image. I would know, I’m black. But it’s a necessary conversation to have in order to deal with race relations. Unfortunately, the article that was supposed to back up this claim failed to address that in its entirety. The article (and editorial) have been removed from Golfweek’s Web site.
Too bad they don’t have the cajones to deal with the aftermath, especially if they want to go tabloid.
How much do people outside of golf circles really care about Kelly Tilghman? Not so much.
The Golf Channel’s anchor made a slip of the tongue in which she said young players on tour should “lynch (Tiger Woods) in a back alley.”
She has apologized and has been suspended but not before Al Sharpton threatened a boycott and march on TGC if it didn’t fire her.
Talk about fanning the flames.
And if you think that’s enough of an issue, sports writers and commentators alike have jumped on the bandwagon in picking sides as far as whether or not the comment is a “non-issue” as Woods’ lawyer so eloquently (or haphazardly, however you choose to see it) put it.
The main issue(s): Is Tilghman a racist and was her comment inflammatory as well as malicious enough to warrant a suspension and/or firing?
I think not. Yes, as a black dude, I’m on that end of the fence. It was offensive, it was careless and it was stupid. But there is plenty of context that should be put into place. Golfweek does a good job, but doesn’t hit the root of it.
What people on the other fence are so in fumes about is the fact that she ignorantly doesn’t seem to understand the ramification of a slip that is as strong as using the word lynch, which is rooted in the evil acts of American history against solely black Americans. She, these critics argue, is not capable of holding an anchor position if she cannot seem to understand this very basic understanding of volatile word usage.
Just to be straight: Using the word lynch about a black person is right up there with calling him a nigger, calling a person of latin descent a wetback and saying a jewish player should be thrown in a gas chamber. It’s just not cool. What Tilghman said was not cool, it offended people, it offends me and it should’ve sparked a better response from Woods. But it didn’t, and we really, as a society, shouldn’t hold people accountable for those who are allegedly offended and for those we do not know are offended.
Tilghman was appropriately suspended for two weeks, a notice to TGC’s rising star that you have to watch what you say. Her friendship with Woods has possibly helped her position, but that is in essence a “non-issue.” The issue is calling for the dismissal of an employee who by all accounts has only made one mistake. She is no Don Imus, with a history of racial and sexist slurs. She has a sole mistake unto itself. And for that, we should be mad, not angry.
It’s about time Greg Ellis got some national recognition. Cowboys fans know the defensive end turned linebacker to be one of the steadiest, most productive members of the defense for the past ten years. I was disappointed when he didn’t get named to the Pro Bowl this year, his most productive, but today he was named the Associated Press 2007 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
And I’ve still got something to complain about. The voting was way too close. Ellis received 12 votes, edging out Randy Moss’ 10. Let me compare the two.
Ellis tore his achilles in week 10 last season, November 12. The injury can ruin football careers and might be the toughest to come back from. Recovery time is typically estimated at a year, at least, and even then some say it takes two years to get back to being effective. But Ellis was able to come back for week 4 this year, September 30, and probably could’ve come back sooner if not for contract/insurance issues.
Not only did he come back ahead of schedule, in only 13 games he’s totaled 12.5 sacks (tied for 6th in the NFL). It’s been the best season of his career.
On to Moss. I can’t argue with his stats and the year he’s had - 98 catches, 1,493 yards, and an NFL single season record 23 touchdowns. But what exactly is he “coming back” from? Laziness? We’re going to start rewarding guys for taking two years off, then finally giving some effort? No way in hell Moss deserved this award. In 13 games last year, he had 42 catches for 553 yards and three touchdowns. Three touchdowns? Well, 23 was certainly an improvement, but his numbers should’ve never been that low. And his obvious lack of effort in Oakland was disgraceful.
Ellis is too often associated with being picked in the draft instead of Moss. But if I were Jerry Jones (and one day I hope I will be) I’d make the same pick again. Ellis might not be the superstar that Moss is, but you know you’re going to get his best every day. Cowboys fans know it, and love it, and now he’s getting some of the recognition he deserves.
I can’t even fault the dude on this one. Not like I ever have. But this is a situation that any one person looking at time because of some snitching, whether righteous or not, hasn’t thought about doing. You wanna reach out to those that are gonna put you under the bus, wondering what’s going through their minds and try and sway their sympathy. Simpson violated the law in this sense but I won’t hold him for anything more than that.
Either way, some people never learn to go by the book. But when emotions are so heavily involved in the thought process, it’s hard to get these guys to think logically, even if it means jail time.
