- 08:03 AM
- 05/17/08
| Member since: | October 12, 2005 |
|---|---|
| Last visit: | May 16, 2008 |
Venicemenace has posted 7 links and 477 comments to SportsFilter and 1 thread and 49 comments to the Locker Room.
Why don't you (bleeping) block somebody, Gonzalez. A superb Joe Posnanski column from the Kansas City Star. As Bill Simmons writes, "It's incredibly hard to make a column work this well, with this much detail, when you only have 850 words."
posted on Dec 28, 2007 - Go to the detail view for this result
24-Hour-A-Day Drama With #24 As Kobe Bryant sits out his third straight practice with allegedly tired legs, the trade speculation is off the charts in LA. Ironically, the holder of the league's only full no-trade clause asked for a trade a few months back; recently, owner Jerry Buss suggested he'd be amenable to trading Kobe. Is there any chance that the Lakers will actually trade their most popular player since Magic? Moreover, is there an end in sight for the staggering variety of Kobe melodramas that seem to consume every Laker season?
posted on Oct 17, 2007 - Go to the detail view for this result
Patriots Caught Taping Jets Defensive Signals, May Lose Draft Picks ESPN is reporting with some confidence that the Patriots have been found guilty of videotaping the Jets' defensive signals during Sunday's game. Commissioner Goodell, who never misses an opportunity to make an example of a transgressor, is said to be ready to strip the Patriots of draft picks as punishment, although the team will first be allowed to present a defense at a closed hearing. What repercussions might this cheating incident have on the Patriots and the league as a whole?
posted on Sep 12, 2007 - Go to the detail view for this result
Billy Donovan's Magical Payday On the heels of back-to-back NCAA titles, he turned down the Kentucky job and apparently decided to sign a long-term extension with Florida. But now, for upwards of $36 million over 6 years, Billy Donovan is headed for the NBA's Orlando Magic, according to the Orlando Sentinel and ESPN.
posted on May 31, 2007 - Go to the detail view for this result
Gary Sheffield seeks The Calmness The Tigers' newest slugger has a new book out. He takes swings at the Yankees ("the Corporation"), Joe Torre ("an owner's manager"), racism in baseball, steroid accusations and more in an interview with ESPN.
posted on Mar 16, 2007 - Go to the detail view for this result
Boston Herald Apologizes for False SpyGate Story "On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots' video staff taped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI," the paper announces in today's edition. "... we now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed." One fan's reaction to the Pats' hometown newspaper running a false story about the team the day before the Super Bowl: "now and forever the Herald is dead to me."
posted to Football at 7:45 AM CDT
College junior self-declares for 2008 NBA draft. [via kottke.org] No skills? No agent? No problem.
posted to Basketball at 1:49 PM CDT
Before this kid wasted all his time, he might have checked the internet to see if this joke has been done before. It has. Several times. Not the first FPP on the topic here either.
posted at 7:47 AM CDT on May 9
Clemens reportedly had affair with country star Roger Clemens has another potential scandal he's already denying. He reportedly had a affair with country singer Mindy McCready in a decade-long relationship that began when she was 15 and Clemens was a 28-year old with the Red Sox. This could be especially damaging as Clemens' defamation suit against Brian McNamee proceeds.
posted to Baseball at 9:54 AM CDT
Dyams:
I thought this post might have a logical discussion of how this issue, if it turns out to be true, might negatively impact Clemens as he faces further legal issues...I apologize for my mistake in posting this.
Really, your only mistake was not tracking down the original article and making THAT the FPP. If everyone had read the original article, not this rehashed MSNBC link, a lot of confusion might have been cleared up. It's important to link the original article because a re-hash is not going to make nearly the same effort to get the story right. To wit:
(1) The NYDN states in the first sentence of their scoop that "several sources" confirmed the romance. Not McNamee's lawyers, not idle speculation on the Interwebs, several anonymous but mutually supporting sources. It's inaccurate to describe this as mudslinging or an "unconfirmed story." While I'm sure we'd prefer the sources to reveal themselves, McCready's "I cannot refute" statement pretty much seals the deal as far as this media skeptic is concerned.
(2) Richard Emery's comments are only a small part of the NYDN article and not really the story at all. He even couches his thoughts on the matter as a hypothetical: "If it's proved that he's a philanderer, his reputation is already damaged. When you sue for defamation, you put your whole reputation in the community at issue. Anything is fair game, including his claim of sanctimonious purity." (emphasis mine) The quotes from Emery in the NYDN article are a lot more nuanced and make it clear that he is simply reacting to the story as presented to him by the Daily News.
In a related vein, attacks on attorney Emery's ethics are absurd. He is representing his client! If I was paying a lawyer to defend me in a defamation case, I sure as hell wouldn't expect him to take a hands-off approach to the plaintiff in the name of "good sportsmanship," ESPECIALLY if I was innocent! Would you?
Much of the junk about posting to 153 and such only reinforces what I've been feeling for some time now. This site used to be enjoyable, but it just isn't anymore...Anyways, it's been fun while it lasted, and consider this my final post.
Come on. You (lazily) posted a link to a tawdry sex scandal story that is only tangentially related to sports, and you expected a sober discussion of the legal ramifications? Then when this doesn't happen, you denounce the whole website and loudly announce your retirement? If the website isn't entertaining you any more, you can just leave, you know. You don't have to give two weeks' notice or anything.
posted at 12:26 PM CDT on April 30
Perfect? Despite Super Bowl loss, 18-1 football team wants "19-0" trademarks
posted to Football at 11:00 AM CDT
Well as long as this is what passes for discourse around here, fuck the goddamn Chargers, Steelers, Jets, Colts, Giants, etc.
Did any of you actually read the link? The trademark application was filed in advance of the AFC championship. This latest "news" is only that a lawyer recently amended the filing to correct a typo - from "toy bans" to "toy banks." The Smoking Gun infers from this that the Patriots remain committed to securing the trademark, but it's quite possible the lawyer was acting independently of the team to fix his own work. I don't see much difference between this and the latest "Matt Walsh orders a ham sandwich and seems to imply while making his order that he knows something about Spygate" pseudo-news stories that litter the ESPN front page for the sole purpose of racking up page views.
That said, financially wise though it may have been, attempting to secure the trademark in the first place was an act of utter hubris. Better to pay the squatters later than invite retribution from the gods like that...
posted at 10:11 AM CDT on April 23
the Patriots have not abandoned the trademark attempt and continued working on it after the Bowl loss.
By ordering their lawyers to fix a typo lest someone else get the trademark on "19-0" toy banks? Stop the presses!!!!
This might constitute actual news. Or then again, it might just be another excuse for y'all to continue to develop the optimal alignment of expletives and unprintables to express your feelings about the Patriots.
posted at 12:06 PM CDT on April 23
Does speed kill? A thorough analysis of PitchFx data reveals some interesting things about fastball speed.
posted to Baseball at 7:20 AM CDT
Location > Changing Speed > Movement > Velocity.
So said Maddux while wiping blood off his samurai sword.
posted at 1:29 PM CDT on April 23
Where have you gone Darius Miles? Former basketball phenom Darius Miles waived by the Trailblazers after the team, and an independent doctor appointed by the NBA, deem his injuries "career-ending".
posted to Basketball at 11:17 AM CDT
Remember the starting lineup for the Cavs when LeBron first entered the league?
C Ilgauskas
F Boozer
F D. Miles
G Ricky Davis
G LeBron
One of the sloppiest-playing teams I've ever seen in the NBA. As I recall the Cavs blew up this lineup just about as quickly as humanly possible. It was fun to watch for a few games though!
posted at 12:24 PM CDT on April 17
Chris Webber retires Here's A Look Back at a Career That Was Above Average.
posted to Basketball at 4:12 PM CDT
When I think of C-Webb, I think of the guy calling the timeout his team didn't have. Sad but true. Enjoy retirement, fella.
posted at 9:37 AM CDT on March 28
Jose Canseco Has 'Stuff' on A-Rod Throughout this whole somewhat tainted steroids era, Alex Rodriguez's name has never really been slung through the mud. He obviously has a lot of home runs for his age, but he's never hit an exorbitant amount of them in one season. The general perception is A-Rod is just really, really good at what he does.
posted to Baseball at 10:40 AM CDT
I've said it before, but the ongoing talk does nothing but hurt baseball.
While I don't think of the PED issue as that dire, I have a hard time accepting this statement. If PEDs are a problem for baseball, then it is the use of PEDs that has hurt the sport, not the release of information about PED use. It sounds like you are advocating a cover-up of any damning PED information that has yet to emerge in an effort to protect baseball. I don't think that's a wise solution at all. Coverups ultimately unravel and backfire.
Regardless of Canseco's motives, you have to acknowledge that he has demonstrated more veracity on the PED issue than other players, owners, or even beat writers. The first round of prominent guys he accused have all come to be regarded as legitimate PED users. His first book, while worthless literature, is nevertheless a milestone in the exposure of widespread PED use in MLB. While his motives are sketchy and he's not a wholly consistent witness, we have to lend his accusations some degree of credibility since his past accusations have held up under serious scrutiny. That doesn't mean his most recent statements are necessarily true, though. After all, Canseco is covering for Clemens (against whom a mountain of evidence has been compiled) and apparently offered his silence to Ordonez.
So while Canseco's word alone isn't enough to convict A-Rod in the court of my opinion, it also isn't something to be quickly tossed aside. More to the point, though, while I think Jose Canseco is a bad guy, I don't think it's fair to label him THE bad guy of the PED debate. If anything, I'd say the bad guys are the union reps who foolishly stymied efforts to implement PED testing, the owners who turned a blind eye to PED use and made very little effort to stop it, and the star players who have lied about their PED use. Canseco is a sleaze, but at least he has told the truth on an issue about which so many have repeatedly misled the public.
posted at 8:49 AM CDT on March 27
And as for Canseco himself, give him all the credibility you want for bringing this issue into the light, but he's also probably the biggest reason it became a problem for the sport in the first place.
Canseco started the problem, to a large extent (with his Bash Brother McGwire), and now he wants to keep it going as long as possible to continue profiting.
Dyams, you keep asserting that Canseco is largely responsible for PEDs in baseball. I find this hard to accept since there are PEDs in virtually all sports. Just because he was a user, helped distribute them, and then became a whistleblower (albeit the sleaziest of whistleblowers), it doesn't follow that he was the Johnny Appleseed of roids. The reason it seems like he's at the epicenter of PED use in MLB is because he is one of very, very few players to speak openly and candidly about PED use. That does NOT make him a hero or even admirable, except by contrast with the liars and coverup artists that some of his colleagues have proven to be.
posted at 3:04 PM CDT on March 27
The Red Sox and Oakland open the season in Japan with Dice-K returning home to start. Usually these trips result in a lot of grousing by the players (most famously, Mike Mussina), but there's not a lot of sympathy when you're getting $40,000 for your troubles. Except if you're not: the MLB has announced that while players and managers will receive the stipend, coaches will not. Red Sox players are threatening to walk off the field today if the MLB does not reverse its reversal of its original stance.
posted to Baseball at 9:03 AM CDT
From that Maxim article: "What is there to say about a city whose biggest contributions to popular music are Aerosmith, Boston, and New Kids on the Block?" That you conveniently overlooked the Pixies, douche.
posted at 1:19 PM CDT on March 21
posted to Basketball at 5:27 PM CDT
From the article that Howard linked:
"Kevin's Kevin," said Cassell. "Ask anyone in this organization if Kevin tanks anything. Games? Practice? I wish he did tank a couple practices."
posted at 1:35 PM CDT on March 19
What Part Of "Spring Training" Don't You Guys Get? Spikes go high and benches clear between the Yanks and Rays. To paraphrase, Man, we talkin' practice here! With nifty spikes-to-crotch photo action!
posted to Baseball at 4:00 PM CDT
Gotta love Shelley Duncan! One minute he's telling a little kid his favorite team sucks, the next he's applying spikes to unsuspecting Nipponese crotch. This guy is quickly becoming one of the most entertaining guys in the majors. It's just too bad that he isn't that great of a baseball player.
posted at 5:06 PM CDT on March 12
Randy Moss Re-Signs with the Patriots Moss and the Patriots agree to a three year, $27 million deal. Meanwhile the Falcons release Warrick Dunn one day after signing Michael Turner to a six year deal. However, the week's biggest winner is Ben Roethlisberger who agreed to a $102 million deal with the Steelers.
posted to Football at 8:07 PM CDT
it's typical of some personality types to completely erase that little episode and continue to tout NE as the second coming. That's okay, stay in your fantasy world.
You're inventing things out of whole cloth and Patriots fans are the ones in the fantasy world? I don't see anything on this thread even remotely resembling the hubris you describe. Any NE fan will tell you that for the team to contend again this year they have to do some serious work through free agency/drafts/trades to address the gaping holes in the secondary. I'm pretty sure the "second coming" wouldn't enter anywhere into it.
Whatever it is that has inspired such unbecoming hate, you really need to get over it, especially since cosmic justice and the Giants D-line already humbled the Patriots and their fans for all time. Your trash talking is pointless. Look at the comments from our esteemed contributor Steelergirl. I ask you, when a STEELERS FAN has charitable things to say about the Patriots, where do you get off being such a dick?
posted at 12:49 PM CDT on March 4
Why are you putting words in my mouth? I never called the Patriots classy, praised them as great sportsmen, advocated "win at all costs" or accused you of jealousy. I'm just pointing out that you are coming into this thread spewing bile apropos of nothing, and making straw-man arguments. I fully support your right to dislike the Patriots for all the reasons you noted, Lord knows there are some teams and players I loathe. But I assure you when the Yankees re-signed A-Rod I didn't go into that thread saying "I hate the Yankees, I hope A-Rod blows out his hammy and they lose for all time!!!" Why? Because that kind of boorish, asinine commentary would only make me look like a douche.
posted at 1:26 PM CDT on March 4
As Will Bunch wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News, "If you simply took Specter at face value, and assumed his passion for grilling the NFL in his official Senate capacity is the passion of a jilted fan, that alone would be an outrageous abuse of his authority. But the truth is much worse, because Specter's interest in this issue dovetails far too closely with those of his two largest contributors, whose employees have given his campaign more than half a million dollars to keep him in office. I believe if there's any Senate hearing involving the NFL and Arlen Specter, it ought to be the Senate Ethics Committee, looking at a potential link to these donors." (Sports Illustrated)
While I agree that the use of anonymous sources, or relying too heavily on one possibly misleading informant (cough cough, Curveball), is one of the serious problems mainstream media in the US needs to wrestle with, there is part of me that feels a little sorry for John Tomase and the Herald. Tomase isn't a hatchet man, he's actually a pretty good reporter. Meanwhile, I don't blame the Herald for running a story potentially harmful to a hometown team on the eve of a big game -- given how much we rely on beat writers and other reporters for our information on our favorite teams, don't we want those reporters to deliver the unvarnished truth, not a team-approved PR edition a la mlb.com? I don't want my local papers to cover up for my favorite teams or take their stories at face value, I want them to investigate and if dirt is being done, expose it. For instance, reporters from the Indy Star should be leading the charge to find out what exactly happened with Marvin Harrison, his Belgian hand-cannon, and Philly malcontents a week or so ago. So I don't hate on the Herald for betraying the Pats with this story, I only hate on them for running a half-reported, bogus "scoop." My beef with them is as an armchair media critic, not a sports fan.
The Herald has admitted its mistake and apologized, and will no doubt by punished by the animosity of the die-hard sports fans that make up a large percentage of its readership. Tomase's name is mud in Boston right now, on a par with Mike Fish and Gregg Easterbrook, if not Walsh himself. It would be ironic if the same Patriots fans who desperately want Spygate to go away persist in rubbing this mistaken story in the face of the Herald for months on end...