MLB Trading Deadline - Like Christmas Eve, kind of.

Let the trading deadline countdown begin...aka the Pittsburgh Pirate and Cleveland Indians firesale.

This time we promise...

The goods has resigned with LA, 4 years with a team option on the 4th which would bring it to a 33 million dollar total. This is slightly more than Miami was able to offer but also a shorter deal, however you break it down 8.25 million is a big bargain for Odom. 8 million is not a big NBA salary: the 5 mill range usually would suffice for whatever veterans (luke walton/vujacic) and 7 million is the big rook contract (e.g., Adam Morrison). The rest of the West was hoping on Odom bouncing back to Miami but this definitely sediments the Lakers as the favorite to come out of the conference, even in an increasingly top heavy league. As for title hopes? Sure, why not? I mean who knows what will happen with one of the East's Beasts but Oddsmakers had the Lakers winning with or without Odom. I personally wouldn't go that far but he does provide the necessary Bynum insurance, the 4 position versatility, and the third big man that makes the Lakeshow front court so hella. Also he doesn't usually drink beer but when he does he prefers dos equis. And he eats hella candy.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Poppin' Papi

Manny Ramirez AND David Ortiz tested positive in 2003? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? Oh hey, obviously. In fact this almost isn't worth talking about at all if it weren't for Ortiz's "hard stance" against steroids.

"I would suggest everybody get tested, not random, everybody," he said. "You go team by team. You test everybody three, four times a year and that's about it."

And if a player tests positive for steroids?

"Ban 'em for the whole year," the slugger said.

"I think you clean up the game by the testing," Ortiz said Monday. "I know that if I test positive by using any kind of substance, I know that I'm going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans and everybody, and I don't want to be facing that situation."


I mean what can you say?...that's pretty funny and almost Rafi like in terms of embarrassing. I still think its weird that players are being released one at a time from this secret list in 2003. Why is that happening? Who controls this list and how are people being unblinded from it? At this point I think they basically have to release the whole thing.

Everyone cheated. "Goodnight and godbless."

Traded To A Contender

A friend of mine was the one to break the news to me yesterday that Cliff Lee got traded. He was heartbroken, saying that the only Indians games he could watch were the ones in which Lee was pitching. I had to respectfully take another view. For me, it was those Lee games that were the hardest to watch. This former Cy winner goes out there and gives you good innings with the 7th best ERA in the league, and his team--or Curtis Granderson-- manages to arrange a 7-9 record for him at this point in the season. Cliff Lee has been the "bright spot" for the Tribe in this "Progressive Field" era, but I am sick of seeing him get the shaft. Either he's getting no run support, his bullpen is imploding, or in most cases, both. I am glad to see Cliff traded to a contender, where his talents will be supported and celebrated.

Sweet Surrender

Favre will not go to the Vikes and will stay retired. Finally! I think everyone would agree that the personal circuses Favre created last offseason and this offseason were very lame. And that no one wanted to hear anything more about his next comeback. This summer, during the height of the vikings rabble, I remembered those three MVP seasons (back to back to back) for Favre and how amazed I was with him. Its fascinating to have watched someone that I revered so greatly become so annoying so fast, and I struggle to come up with another example. Isaiah Thomas Maybe?

In any case, now that he is retired, I can slowly forget about the lameness of him being on the Jets and then trying to be on the Vikings and instead remember his dominance. He is after all the all-time record holder in stars, consecutive starts, victories, touchdowns, yards, and completions. All amazing records and ones that are hard to imagine anyone breaking. That is, of course, assuming that Favre really is retired...which he is, isn't he?

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Mancrush...again: Mark Buehrle

"It's just one of those things where you kind of appreciate and sit back and realize how hard it is to throw a no-hitter or a perfect game," Buehrle said. "Because you see today that I made some good pitches and they put them in play and got base hits off them. It's just frustrating."

Buehrle was perfect again, or at least through 5 innings (after which he sort of unraveled). But once he gets over that loss he'll start appreciating that he retired the first 17 batters he faced this game in a row. Adding that to his previous start (the perfect game) he retired an MLB record 45 straight batters in perfect fashion. (the previous record was 41 set by Jim Barr in '72) Despite the loss I think it is sufficient to say that Mr. Buehrle's pitching has been quite hella as of late.

Roger Goodell : Judge, Jury and Executioner - No checks, no balances

In the light of Emperor Goodell's recent decision to "conditionally" reinstate Michael Vick, I thought it would interesting to revitalize the discussion on how much disciplinary power Goodell hold's as NFL commissioner. A brief refresher:

During the reign of Pacman Jones, Goodell handed down a suspension for the entire 2007 season that was subsequently appealed by the NFL players association to...Roger Goodell! Marshawn Lynch went through this same process, and Brandon Marshall too, but he got some mercy from the tyrant himself.

The WorldWide Leader touches on how this seems to be a conflict of interest, and that the NFL player's union should bring this little piece of contention up at the next collective bargaining agreement negotiations. However, Goodell believes he has "been responsible with his authority." So has everyone else that got to be the appellate court to their own judgments.

So how does Goodell decide how to decide his own appeals? Magic 8-ball? Ouija? Dinking games with a Leprechuan?

Obviously this would happen...

Tyson Chandler for Emeka Okafor, so obvious. Two defensive centers with limited offense, both 26, both with injury histories, the more than obvious move is to trade them for each other!? This is one of those weird deals where there was some politics or personnel issue that we are not privy to. We knew that the writing was on the wall for Chandler, given the failed trade attempt earlier this year, but Okafor just got a huge extension (6 years 72 million) from Charlotte. Its weird that Charlotte would want to part with him in exchange for Chandler: Okafor's injury problems have likely resolved given that he's played two years without problems and Chandlers are just beginning (going from a 12 and 12 player two years ago to an 8 and 8 player this year). Chandler also costs about 1.3 million more for this upcoming season, so this is not a short term salary dump. Essentially the Hornets "upgrade" their post man to a 13 and 10 guy and get under the luxury tax line at the same time. Good deal for them, and not so good for Charlotte. Can't think of a reason for it at all from their perspective actually, unless their is some nefarious Larry Brown witchery afoot.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Can you teach and old dog new tricks?

So potential additional suspension or not Michael Vick will probably be in the NFL this year. You have to think that at 29 years of age and with two years of "rest" that he has more than a little bit left athletically. The commonly used phrase on ESPN is that there aren't 32 QBs better than Vick in the NFL. Which I guess is true: In his last NFL season (2006) Vick threw 2500 yards with 20 TDS and 13 picks. For fantasy nerds, that's yardage that's somewhere between Tyler Thigpen and Jamarcus Russel, a touchdown total better than Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan but slightly worse than Matt Cassel and Eli Manning, and the same amount of picks as Aaron Rodgers. So not super great or anything, but not that bad. The thing is that year Vick also rushed for 1000 yards which made him the 19th most productive fantasy player that year and the 12th best QB overall.

So I think its safe to say that he will be useful somewhere. Probably not as a starter but at least as a situationally used backup--Kordell Stewart style. I mean can't you imagine Vick lined up in the some kind of hybrid wildcat formation? I'm guessing the main concern that people will voice is "what about the protesters?...won't that be a distraction?" Which might be true, though I don't know how much blood PETA could reasonably be after in a case that was fully adjudicated and with a transgressor who will be as deeply involved in obligatory charity work as Vick will be. But even if there is some uproar about him coming back its basically irrelevant, the NFL is no stranger to controversy and locker room strife and someone will sign Vick simply because he is talented.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Mancrush of the Day: Alberto Contador

"It has been an especially difficult Tour for me, but I savor it and it is more special because of it."

Despite the fact that he is obviously a communist for preventing Lance from winning, Contador is apparently quite hella at using a bike.

Booooooooring.....

Don't be down 'yall. We are almost done with July...hands down the worst month for general sports nerding ever. Other than midseason baseball the only thing we have is the WNBA (don't currrr). Football season never sounded so sweet...and its just around the corner.

Mancrush of the day: Mark Buehrle

Congrats to Mark Buehrle (yes i just googled that to check the spelling)on throwing a perfect game! 116 pitches, 6 Ks, and total domination. Weren't us nerds discussing how special a no-no is? Well a perfect game is something beyond that...Buehrle (I really hate typing that) threw the first perfect game in 5 years and the 16th ever in modern baseball. That must have been something special to watch...too bad I was stuck at work.

"I don't know if it's really sunk in yet. We have a short flight to Detroit. I'm sure it will be a little hectic later"
~Mark B.

Dunkgate Part Deux: Deep Throat HD

eBaum seems to have beaten TMZ at their own game and came up with this gem of Bron-Bron being dunked upon.



Deadspin has a nice little blurb on how eBaum procured the remastered version.

Who would have thought the website that brought us peanut butter jelly time and celebrity soundboards would give us this.

Breaking: LO to re-sign w/ Lake show

According to the following exclusive report, LO-who-loves-raymond-for-its-hilarity, has been offered $40 mil over 4 yrs by the lakers, and he will sign.

As a researcher in my lab astutely points out, it's really like paying him $80 mil over 4 yrs, on account of the luxury tax. But whatever, the point is lots of anxious fans about to be butt hurt over losing another beloved big man to Miami will be able to spend the rest of the summer pondering all of the possible line up combos the 'show can throw at the opposition next season.

And the LO-induced heart flutters can now go away.

Dunkgate: TMZ is Deepthroat

So the much discussed much anticipate and much sought after video of Lebron getting dunked on by Jordan Crawford is apparently being released by TMZ this evening. Judging from the screen shot it will be a super crappy video but its hilarious that this is coming out anyway. Once this hits the youtubes we can all cackle insanely to ourselves, realize how bad Lebron James must be at basketball, and decide never to buy nike products again.

Well...maybe Jordan Crawford was playing hard...goodnight and godbless

A Shaq of All Trades

In this past month we have posted on Shaq's challenge to the king of trick shot basketball and his willingness to fight/get pummeled by Brock Lesner. Well apparently this was part of a larger marketing scheme for Shaq's new ABC show "Shaq Vs." in which shaq challenges various prominent athletes in their respective sports. The line-up already includes swimming against Phelps, boxing De la Hoya, hitting the cages with Pooh-Holes, serving it up with Serena, and Volleyball with Treanor+May. Lets face it...this is great, Shaq in a speedo lasersuit?! The Big Witness Protection has always been one of the funniest and most entertaining guys in sports and it looks like he has no intention of slowing down.



"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Mancrush of the Day: Tom Watson aka The Huckleberry Dillinger

“A lot of guys who have never choked have never been in the position to do so.” ~Tom Watson.

What a trip down memory lane that was, and so close to historic total victory. Next time Mr. Watson.

The Wilcoxon Regression?

Chris Wilcox 2 years 6 million. I love these kinds of moves: small money, average player, no risk, no drama, see a need, and fill that need. Wilcox at 26 years of age is a 6'10" athletic power forward that plays questionable defense. He will step in nicely into a Pistons roster that was desperate for another big man. And though they still have no true center (Kwame?) adding Wilcox to the arsenal is going to help. Especially if he gets his minutes and puts up numbers like he did when he started those 3 years in Seattle: 14 and 8 .530+ from the field.

Though its always satisfying to see GMs make simple moves for good value, I have to admit my real reason for posting on this move is to once again throw some salt on the Cavaliers. Unlike the Pistons (who are still redeveloping on the fly) the Cavs are a team that considers themselves a title contender. In fact they are on the clock and are desperate to win next year! And among contenders they have the most glaring hole in their front court. Exposed as it was in the playoffs, and then worsened by the departures of Ben Wallace and Joe Smith. After they failed to entice any of the marquee free agents to the Cleve they panicked and signed Sideshow to a huge contract just to fill their front court. I just find it weird that they would give 50 million to Varejao and not make a serious offer for a player like Wilcox that is better than Varejao, could be signed for shorter term, and would cost much much less. If they were actually committed to Varejao for "chemistry" reasons then they probably should have still signed Wilcox just to have the leverage to make Varejao take a reasonable contract. Instead they have locked in some serious dough on a C+ player and gave the exact contract that Wilcox took in the D to 34-year-old Anthony Parker. Parker is actually alright value for 3 million but don't the Cavs have enough guards? If they had that money left over they should have thrown it at a big. How does any of that make sense? I'm obviously not as smart as Danny Ferry.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

For True and For Serious?

Tiger Woods misses the cut at Turnberry? How lame is that? Apparently while the rest of us were stuck at our day jobs Tiger decided to try the two double bogeys on the back 9 strategy. As per normal the strategy failed and Tiger will miss the cut in a major for only the second time in his career. That's three majors we've seen since we left him in the hands of the orthopods: The Masters, the US open, and the British. Tiger tied for 6th in the Masters and showed us some uncharacteristic errors on Sunday when he was in the chase, he was 6th at the US too and though the mistakes of other players put him in the chase early on Sunday he was never capable of making a move, and now he is serious fail at the British: hitting 15 of 28 fairways and 21 of 36 greens in a self-eliminating effort. Is now the time that we are allowed to start worrying about the effects of Tiger's surgery? I dunno but its starting to look safe to pick the "field" over Tiger (as ridiculous as that statement is). Jimbo explain to us what the functional recovery time-table is from an ACL repair and a stress fracture to the Tibia.

I Remember These Guys!

The first round of this year's British Open has given me the greatest throwback to my childhood since Kenny Lofton's resurgence with the Tribe in 2007. During the first day at Turnberry, Shooter McTom Watson shot a 65, and John "The Guy At The Bait Shop" Daly shot a 68. Tiger Woods, for those of you keeping track, shot a 71. The first major that I ever watched--I must have been 7 or 8 years old--was won by Tom Watson. And I can remember the tournament when Daly, so drunk that he could see three balls on the tee in front of him, claimed that he was able to win the title by "making sure that I hit the middle one." The first round stories for these guys are great, and it's just great to see their faces again; Daly has aged with the grace of Joe Cocker. It's not uncommon for old timers to have decent first rounds, sparking Friday water cooler memories. They won't be around on Sunday, but for now I can sit back and fondly remember asking my Dad, "Why is that fat man showing his belly?"

Show me Shaq vs. Brock!

So apparently Shaq wants to fight Brock Lesner. And apparently Shaq has been training in MMA for the past 10 years. Given the timeline in the linked article, Shaq was in training at the time he threw that wild haymaker at Brad Miller during Miller's first stint with the Bulls. You know the one I mean.

Perhaps some last second restraint led him to intentionally miss that punch. Perhaps not. Hopefully the subsequent years of training have made Shaq into a better fighter, because I really want to see this fight happen. I mean, I'm pretty confident that Lesner would destroy him, but this would still be more interesting than that fake Malone/Rodman wrestling match way back when. Dana White, let's do the damn thing!

Don't tell him he cant...

Pitching has had several innovations over the years. They curveball in the late 1800s, the knuckler in early 1900s, and we're all still waiting for Dice-K to unveil the gyro ball. But none of us could be prepared for last night's debut of the hope-change-hope-mainstreet-wallstreet-bailout-goldenparachute-stimulus-smallgovernment-biggovernment-goodgovernment-wisdomOFaLATINAwoman-ball. It was absolutely un-hitable and required a lean in off the dirt from Poo Holes in order to cross the plate. But seriously what do you guys think about the pitch? The camera angle was awful but I would say it looked better than your average first pitch and still worse than the ringer that W threw.

How Big Is A No-No?

Not only did Jonathan Sanchez hurl a no hitter last Friday night, but he did so without walking a batter. How must Juan Uribe feel for being one of the only ballplayers in history to make an error that winds up being the only thing that stands between your pitcher and a perfect game. He's no Buckner, but it can't feel good.

I don't want to dwell on Uribe's error though. Did I mention Uribe booted a ball that spoiled his pitcher's perfect game? Because, yeah, I don't want to dwell on that mistake on Juan Uribe's part.

No, what I want to do--honestly--is ask how big a deal it is to throw no-hitters and perfect games. I am not questioning their significances, but I am wondering if they are comparable to any achievements in any other sport. A hat trick? A triple double? 100 rushing yards? We could equate "big deal" with rarity of the occurrence. That would definitely be a way to do it. But I am also interested in what throwing a no-hitter means about your overall value as a pitcher. There were certainly suggestions on Saturday morning that the Giants should treat Sanchez like solid gold, even though his immediate past with the team wasn't so great. Should a no-no change a team's mind like that? Or is it just a guy being in the zone for a night?

Mamba is better then Little Kids at Basketball

,

So Kobe, always willing to take the high road, made sure to talk plenty of smack about Lebron's dunkgate. Including an alleged call to D-Wade encouraging him to rip on Lebron for the incident. Coinicidentally Kobe's nike basketball camp started yesterday and one Kid told Mamba that if he were to go to Lebron's camp it would be "over" and clarifies this by explaining he is talking about the dunk...?...I'm not sure if the kid is saying Kobe would dunk on Bron or Bron would dunk on Kobe, but Kobe responds by emphatically telling the kid that "you ain't dunking on me in my camp!" Thus confirming that Kobe is able to stop a 12 year old that can't dunk from dunking on him. In your face King James!

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Man Crush and the Not so Much

Prince earns mancrush honors once again by blasting past Pooh-Holes and Nelson Cruz to win the homerun derby.

"It's pretty cool to actually win one," Fielder said afterward. "As a kid, you never think you'll win one. You just want to be in one. So [winning the Derby is] kind of like a dream come true, I guess."

Meanwhile Tiger's defensive ace Brandon Inge, who is having an surprising slugging season (21 jacks), managed to satisfy all the dissenters to his nomination to the derby by hitting 0 homeruns and immediately being eliminated.

"It was fun, though. Regardless of what happened -- I didn't care. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I'll ask to do it again...I wanted to hit one. We play a team sport, but personally, this is the biggest stage on earth for a baseball player."

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Rinku Singh Ladies and Gentlemen!

Rinku Singh became the first Indian born player to win a professional baseball game when he got the timely K in a 10-5 victory. Remember this guy? Him and Dinesh Patel won the contest the "million dollar arm" where they went around India and looked for the two dudes that could throw a baseball the fastest. Dinesh and Rinku won by throwing in the high 80s. They then went and trained with USC's baseball coach and were picked up by the Pirate's farm system.

Notable hilarity: during an interview on ESPN they asked these guys if they knew who Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron were. Answers to both "No surrr." These guys basically knew nothing about baseball at all and probably still think of it as cricket without wickets. I mean in all likelihood neither one will ever start in the show, but its still pretty amazing what they have done in such a short time. Especially considering that they probably spend most of the day studying for the MCAT.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Mancrush of the day: Brock Lesnar, aka the person you would least want to get punched in the face by

This guy is the closest thing to an actual superhero. Ridiculously giant, fast and skilled (former NCAA wrestling champ, almost made a career in the NFL, etc.). Plus awesome tattoo, and on top of it all, world class trash talking skills (honed by a stint in WWE):

Lesnar walked across the cage and got in the dazed face of Mir, "Talk all the shit you want now," he said. The 11,000-plus booed loudly as Lesnar walked away from Mir.

Lesnar responded by flipping off the crowd. "I love it!" Lesnar screamed back at his detractors. "Keep going, keep going!"

"Frank Mir had a horseshoe up his ass," Lesnar said. "I told him that a year ago. I pulled the sum bitch out and beat him over the head with it."

"I'm going to drink a Coors Light. That's right a Coors," Lesnar then looked down at the Bud Light logo on the mat. "Bud Light don't pay me nothing."

Lesnar closed by remarking that he's going to celebrate with friends tonight and that he may even "get on top of his wife tonight."

Stepping in the ring with Brock Lesnar, BIG MISTAKE:



At least one of these teams played hard.

Varejao to get $50 Million... seriously

So this may be the most ridiculous contract of the summer. The Cavs have agreed to terms with Big Bird/Side Show Bob/Carrot Top on a 6 year deal for $42-50 Million. For those of you that are in disbelief I will quote from Cleveland.com ...

"Varejao, the team's versatile big man who became a starter last season, is set to get a six-year contract that could be worth as much as $50 million."

Okay now, lets try to make some sense of this. He had his best year ever and averaged 8.6 points and 7.2 rebounds, respectable but he's basically an energy player and has no real offensive game at all. Maybe he had a video of someone dunking on Lebron and LBJ forced the Cavs to pay to keep it secret or something. Because with so few teams with any cap space and no reported interest in Carrot Top I see no reason why they would give him this huge contract. He has shown no signs that he'll develop into a 15 and 10 type power forward.

Vaejao's agent shrewdly claimed that there were teams going after his client both in free agency and sign and trade deals that were willing to pay Side Show Bob $10 Million per year (claiming he took the "hometown discount"). At the Sporting Nerd we are far too smart to believe such garbage..... too bad for Clevelanders that the Cavs and Danny Ferry are not...

Some interesting comments at Cleveland.com:
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2009/07/anderson_varejao_agrees_to_6ye.html#comments

Mancrush of the Day: Antonio McDyess aka Dice

“I was a little more motivated for the win. It was my first finals. To lose like we did, I'm going to remember it for the rest of my life.”

Sad to see dice go, maybe it was his unwillingness to buy into the facemask offense that made him leave!

The reality is that everyone in the D is sorry we couldn't pull one down for the Dice. He is one of the classiest warriors out there. You definitely deserve a shot with G-Pop...get some McDeazy!

If I get dunked on in the middle of the woods...

Sore loser McGee aka King James reportedly got his ass dunked on by Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford at the Lebron James Skill Academy. Apparently right after the dunk James got on the phone with his Nike representative who then had all film of the dunk confiscated. BOOO! Nike had this to say about the allegations:

"Nike has been operating basketball camps for the benefit of young athletes for decades and has longstanding policies in place regarding what events are open and closed to media coverage," Nike spokesman KeJuan Wilkins said. Unfortunately, for the first time in four years, two journalists did not respect our 'no videotaping' policy at an after-hours pick-up game Monday evening following the LeBron James Skills Academy."

Um sure, thus confirming your long standing policy of not filming young athletes. Not to mention that this is completely the opposite of what the camera men appear to be saying. I wonder how bad it would really be for the nike-lebron hegemony if the video got out. I mean would this make anyone really think that Lebron was bad at basketball or that they shouldn't buy nike shoes? Maybe if the Lebron got dunked on by one of the 10-year-olds that manufacture the nike shoes...maybe then.

The far more obvious conclusion is that some kid with ups took it to the King and he either underestimated the kid or the kid got lucky. Nothing crazy there. It would seem that the same guy who could not bear to shake hands with his opponents in defeat couldn't stand the idea of some youngin making a name for himself on the King. I wonder if this whole cover up will just end up making his name even bigger. I mean check it out this guy got jumps and seems like a pretty funny dude.



Perhaps he really did push Lebron's shit in...if so release the video! I want to be a WITNESS.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

The Halladay is Over?

So JP Riccardi, manager-extraordinaire of the Toronto Bluejays, has stated that he is willing to listen to trade offers for the best pitcher in baseball. This is a situation that is similar to the CC Sabathia in Cleveland or Johan Santana in Minnesota ordeals where they knew they couldn't keep their guys. Halladay's 3 year 40 million $ contract runs out after this season and because Toronto has been unable to build a winner Halladay is almost a lock to walk away this winter. So Toronto is forced to either trade away their Ace or wait and get nothing. Rumored front runner? The Phillies! Snap! They have been agressive about searching for front-line type pitching and this could be their opportunity. But I expect that the Sox, Yanks, Mets, etc. could hardly let such a big fish go without at least getting in the water. Doc Halladay will of course dictate the outcome of this potential trade as he has one of those oh so convenient no-trade clauses.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Mancrush of the Day: Joe Sakic aka Burnaby Joe

“Any free meal is a good meal, you know?” ~Joe Sakic

Congrats on a great career Joe. You were always on the wrong side of the puck for my taste, but you were the best of the best and always classier than those around you.

A-Rodd: My New Favorite D-Bagg

I always thought that Andy Roddick spent all of his time getting girls stolen away from him by Van Wilder, or having pranks pulled on him by the guys from the more blue-collar fraternity. But I found out this past Sunday that sometimes, he plays tennis. Yes, he went down to FedEx, who is still The Sex, and now more so than ever with 15 Slam titles. But it took R-Fed not only 5 sets to beat A-Rodd, but the longest Wimbledon final ever (in terms of games played). You'd think that given the historic implications for Federer, and given that Roddick often comes off as a total a-hole, everyone watching this match would be pulling for Federer and for history. But in this heavy weight title bout of a final, A-Rodd had his serve broken only once--in the last and deciding game of the 5th set. He held serve for something incredible like 40 straight games. The final game of the final set was 16-14, for crying out loud, and Roddick held serve for like 11 straight games with the title hanging in the balance. In conclusion, I have done my share of Andy Roddick bashing in the past. But the guy certainly brought his game on Sunday, and I have to admit it was hard to see him lose the match.

Need for Sheed?

So Danny Ainge continues the "get older faster" philosophy as the Celtics reportedly agreed to a 2 year deal with Rasheed Wallace which presumably pushes out Leon Powe. Most of us would agree on this being a fail. Sheed will undoubtedly be less productive than he was in his last three seasons in Detroit (12 and 6 with 1 point something blocks and too many three point attempts) as he will have likely have limited minutes sharing a front court with Perkins, hopefully Garnett, and hopefully Big Baby. Which is really the reason this deal is weird, the Celtics were a team with a lot of young bigs and instead of letting them develop in the youth friendly situation of playing with KG they push Powe out and take away playing time from the rest. Not to say Sheed is worthless or anything, he would have something to contribute to a team that really needs a shooting forward like Cleveland or San Antonio. But in Boston's case he seems like an obstacle.


I guess it would have been nice to see him go someplace where he could showcase what's left of his versatility and be a contributor again. Long before Sheed was in the D he was one of my favorite players in the NBA. At his best he was one of the most versatile and skilled bigs in the league. The combination of insanity, intensity, and passion was explosive (both in an entertainment and a basketball sense). From yelling "ball don't lie" to answering every single question in a press conference with "both teams played hard" Sheed provided the kind of instability that made people watch basketball. Its too bad that as his game faded he stayed just as crazy, and he could no longer back up his antics with those mad skills. He definitely falls into the unfortunate category of players who will be unfairly remembered more for their later suckier years than their supertight prime (Gary Payton style). I can only hope the fact that I sign every single post with my favorite quote from him will help to maintain his legacy.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Mancrush for Life: Steve Mcnair aka AirMcNair (1973-2009)

"He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans. He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl." —Titans owner Bud Adams.

"There wasn't a tougher quarterback out there," Dyson said. "I've seen him take his shots, pull himself up off the ground and get back up in the huddle and not say a word." —Former Tennessee wide receiver Kevin Dyson.

"Steve was such a happy person. He was always smiling and was always willing to lend a hand to anyone who needed it. I've known him for 13 years, and he was the most selfless, happiest and friendliest person I have known. It is a devastating day. Steve will always have a place in my heart." —Wide receiver Derrick Mason, who played with McNair in Tennessee and Baltimore.

America is good at sports

And sports analysis too.

Nuff said.

Happy 4th sporting nerds!

"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."
- President William J. Clinton

Let's hope so Bill

Goodbye Athreeza, Hello Tru Warrior

Sorry Cleveland, Ron Artest is a Laker? Or at least that's what Ron Artest says and ESPN reports a three year 18 million dollar deal has been verbally agreed upon. 3 year 18 million? That sounds like the mid-level exception...which basically means goodbye Ariza. This is an aggressive move by Kupchak, he is spurning the fan favorite to sign an eccentric veteran. But as we all know fan favorite doesn't mean all-star player, in fact it usually means overrated (that's right I said overrated, JohnB just got a boner). Ariza is energetic and a tenacious defender, no doubt the qualities that make him a fan favorite. He was certainly important for the lakeshow and his playoff performance of 11.3 ppg, 1.6 steals, 2.3 assists, and 4.2 rebounds was instrumental. Instrumental, but certainly not irreplaceable. The interesting thing about Trevor is that he has always been known as an athletic prospect but a poor shooter; however he earned his affectionate nickname "Athreeza" by shooting .497 from the field and .476 from beyond the arc this postseason. Crazy percentages for a 2 guard right? Well I'm going to argue that Ariza was only able to shoot at that percentage because he was on the Lakers and was therefore getting a few wide open shots every quarter as opponents were scrambling to guard Kobe, Pau, and Odom. If he really was a reliable lights out create your own shot shooter consistently able to put up .476 from three, would he only have scored 11 ppg these playoffs? To put it in perspective, .476, if you stretched it out beyond a single playoffs and over a whole season would be the 3rd best single season 3pt % in history and Steve (worst GM ever) Kerr shot .454 career (best ever). Could he that good? Ariza is great but is a product of the Laker system no doubt.

Artest at 29 will replace and surpass what Ariza provided to the Lakeshow. Last season he posted 17 ppg, 5 boards, 3 assists, 2.5 steals, and shot a very nice .40 from three point land. There is no doubt that playing within the Lakers' system could only benefit the efficiency of Artest's production and would make it clear that Artest is basically the player that everyone else hopes Ariza may become. The main thing that has got to be worrying the Lakers fans is all those games they watched Artest jack up wild shots and basically lose the contest for the Rockets. Keep in mind however that on a McGradyless and eventually Yaoless Rocket team Adelman had to run the offense through Artest at times. Barring several injuries, the lakers will not have to do that at all. Offensive production aside, the real value of RonRon is his lockdown defense at the 2 or 3 spot, and make no mistake he is still the tits at this. This is quite a boon for the lakeshow as Kobe has traditionally expended a lot of energy guarding the opponent's best player (at least far more than other guards who elect to this only in the 4th). Could there possibly be a better closer than a RESTED Kobe Bryant? Maybe Kyra Sedgwick...maybe.

Expect the Lakers to resign Odom, Ariza to go Houston, and teams to have a lot of trouble scoring against the Lakers.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

Jason Bay takes step to legitimize himself as a baseball player....

By becoming a US citizen. He was quoted as saying "it's a pretty proud day for me." He said his wife and daughters are Americans. While this makes a nice story of wanting to be American along with the rest of his family, here at the sporting nerd we are too smart to buy that excuse.

You see, Bay is a native of British Colombia, meaning that he is vastly underrated as a ball player due to the fact that he is or was Canadian. Being in his contract year there was a strong motivation for him to get more respect on the field. His stat line so far this year is a solid .262BA, 19HR, 69RBI(leading the Sox in HR and RBI). He's a career .280 hitter with 168 homers and 590 RBIs, with greater than 20 HR and 80 RBI in every season since 2003 and greater than 30 HR and 100 RBI in 3 of the last 4 seasons, and on pace for his best season so far.

But has anyone ever heard of him? Not really. It's because when people heard he was from Canada it perplexed them and they just mumbled "must have sucked at hockey." It was even more confusing when he told people he went to Gonzaga and was continually asked "so you must have been a great 3-pt shooter, eh? " Or they asked him how cool it was to make it to the final four with a team full of unathletic white guys.

His story is similar to fellow Canadien Steve Nash who got very little respect from the basketball world (only one D-1 scholarship offer, mid first round pick, traded for Martin Muursepp, Bubba Wells, Pat Garrity and a draft pick) until finally overcoming the fact that he was from the tundra, and becoming an All-star in his 5th season.

Bay obviously did not have the patience to wait until he could overcome this anchor that had been weighing him down, and obviously did not have the desire to try-out for the Bruins, where some would say he obviously belonged. But no longer, now that he is an American he will finally get the baseball respect that he deserves, and just in time for his journey into free agency this winter....

This guy will probably beat you at horse...

This is allegedly real footage of Bruce Manley the self-procalimed King of HORSE and trickshots (why he didn't go with Turkish HORSE I have no idea). Apparently Shaq loved this video so much that he challenged Mr. Manley to to a game of HORSE on twitter for 1000 bones. Mr Manley has gladly accepted and this is actually going to happen in a televised event this July. The trickshot King has agreed to exclude free throws in exchange for Shaqer Heights excluding dunks. I know that whenever we get into one of these things where a world class athlete is pitted against a regular dude with some gimmick we tend to somehow always be amazed when the world class athlete kicks their ass (i.e. Barkley vs. Bavetta). But I really have trouble imagining Shaq beating this guy, assuming Mr. Manley can make those shots with any reliability.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."

This seems like a good decision

As reported in the NYT, Steven Soderbergh (?) and Brad Pitt (?!) were all set to film a movie based on the book "Moneyball", which tells the story of how A's GM Billy Beane used innovative statistical analysis to create a team, using a limited payroll, that could lose in the first round of the playoffs every year.

Apparently some executive at Sony actually put down the drugs for a little while and realized this movie makes no sense, and it was shelved after $10M+ of pre-production.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/business/media/02moneyball.html

Go Mariners!

Heir Gordon

Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva are Detroit Pistons. Gordon's deal is apparently 5 years 55 million and Villanueva is getting 5 years 35 million. Gordon at 26 years young is the obvious prize here with his impressive playoffs (24.0 ppg and several clutch plays) and deserved billing as "instant offense." 11 million a season is by no means an overpay for the services of a player of his type especially since his theoretical prime is still some years off. Consider 13.6 million for Larry Hughes 10.1 mill for Dampier, 16 mill for Zach Randolph! 23.2 million for T-Mac!!! OK not all of those are fair comparisons, but still Gordon's Contract is reasonable value for locking in a young prolific scorer. I wonder what this deal means for Rip Hamilton...two 2 guards who could both start? The time for Gordon to be satisfied heating it up off the bench is over and Rip managed to get butt hurt enough over the starting of Allen Iverson that Michael Curry got fired! I presume that the only solution is a Rip Hamilton trade of some kind. Hopefully for a center since the Pistons have no centers on their roster.

OK so now Charlie Villanueva. Let's face it he's not super tight or anything. In fact there is absolutely no mystery to him, his "break out" year last year was 16 points and 7 rebounds shooting .447 from the field. So basically he is a 25 year-old, 6' 11'' scoring forward, nothing spectacular but most teams (including the Pistons) could use one. So if we agree that he is what he is the question really is what is the value of his deal: 7 million a season. 7 million is certainly a raise from his 3.4 million and I think Joe D probably reached a bit with the offer. I'm guessing he was heavily motivated to do so because the D had no front court. But still 7 million is not a a huge commitment. 7 mill is in the ballpark of what the Shane Battiers, Mike James, Matt Harprings, Jared Jeffries, and Udonis Haslems (including the price of a whole new udonis haslem) make in this league. Basically guys that have something specific to contribute and thus competition for their services usually brings their salary slightly above the mid-level exception (5.6 millish). Who knows maybe Villanueva will grow to exceed the value of his contract. He is only 25 and as you can see he has no eyebrows because of his allopecia. Having no eyebrows will keep him agile as he matures into his prime, after all we saw how Sczerbiak's jumper fell off as he started getting weighted down by his brows later in his career. In any case Gordon and eyebrow have signed for a total of 2 million less than the Pistons were paying Allen Iverson. Now all they need is someone to coach the team (Doug Collins Doug Collins no whammies)

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."