THE PRESS BOX (COMING SOON!!) |
|
1968 UCLA/HOUSTON AT THE ASTRODOME TIPS APPRECIATED!!! |
|
JONATHAN XAVIER INCIDENT |
|
Buy all Sports Tickets including MLB Baseball Tickets , NBA Basketball Tickets , NHL Hockey Tickets , Concert Tickets and NFL Football Tickets like Chicago Bears Tickets , Indianapolis Colts Tickets , New England Patriots Tickets , San Diego Chargers Tickets , New York Jets Tickets , and Miami Dolphins Tickets
TOP STORIES - FEBRUARY 1, 2009 2009 KAC FANTASY BASEBALL (BIGGER THAN EVER!!): CATCHERS  MICHAEL PHELPS - 420 We already knew that Phelps enjoys having an adult beverage on occasion - now comes this picture out of a British tabloid that has Phelps smoking out of a bong pipe, Phelps confesses to what he called 'regrettable behavior' in the picture that was said to had been taken just weeks after his record-breaking eight gold medal performance in Beijing. The cost could be considerable - it's said that cannabis is a banned substance under rules by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and that Phelps could be subject to a two-year suspension (DEVELOPING). WHAT WILL BRUCE PLAY??? Now considered along with Frank Sinatra as New Jersey's most enduring musical act, speculation mounts for which three-four songs Bruce Springsteen will play during his 12-minute set in Tampa Sunday night (approx. 8 PM Eastern), along with whether he might get a left-wing plug or two in. NBC boss Dick Ebersol notes that the 59-year old Springsteen has become the rare performer who has drawn an appeal from multiple generations. #999: Tennessee women's hoops dodge upset bid by Mississippi, Pat Summitt one win away from making it an even thousand. CHARGERS FINALLY PLOTTING THEIR MOVE BACK NORTH??? San Diego Chargers reveal that they've struck a deal with a media group led by the owner of the now-dormant Arena League Los Angeles Avengers to market the franchise in the Los Angeles/Orange County region, an area that has now been without NFL football for nearly 15 years. The Chargers have been said to become a somewhat healthy draw on Los Angeles TV, as most of their games are now shown during the regular season. Meanwhile efforts to get a new venue in the San Diego region to replace outdated Qualcomm Stadium have gone absolutely nowhere. In addition, a 'bolting' of the Chargers franchise out of the area would also possibly sound a death knell to the San Diego State football program (would anyone miss it??) along with the Holiday and Poinsettia bowls, as it's unlikely Qualcomm would be upgraded just to host a handful of college games each year. SALES NOT GOING SO WELL FOR PRO BOWL??? Now a lame duck in Hawaii, it's said that upwards of 5,000 tickets are still available starting at $45 with the game now just over a week away. Officials are blaming a down tourist economy and that locals may not realize that tickets are available (I'm sure they do). It is hoped that a late sure would prevent a local TV blackout on the islands, why would the league enforce it's blackout rule on an All-Star game no one watches I don't know. This years edition will end a 30+ year run for the game in Hawaii. As an experiment, next year's game will be held in Miami the week before the Super Bowl, with players of the Super Bowl teams obviously not participating - part of that decision deals with the fact that next year's schedule runs so late that a week after the Super Bowl would clash with a weekend that's become reserved for the Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star game. Another factor is the decaying state of Aloha Stadium, which is in serious need of a wrecking ball.  ANOTHER DEATH OF EX-NFL PLAYER LINKED TO BRAIN DAMAGE: Tom McHale was an NFL offensive lineman from 1987 through 1995, who died last year at age 45 after what was termed to be an accidental overdose. McHale got into the restaurant business after retiring, and according to his widow, began taking large doses of OxyContin in 2005, along with other drugs - which caused his life to spiral further downward. A subsequent autopsy found that McHale had become the sixth deceased NFL player under the age of 50 to develop a form of dementia more commonly associated with those in the boxing profession. Other players who died found with the same condition included former Eagles safety Andre Waters, along with former Steeler players Mike Webster, Terry Long and Justin Strzelczyk, all of whom developed various mental conditions once their playing days were done.AHL PLAYER SUFFERS SEIZURE AFTER FIGHT: Just weeks after an Ontario Senior Leuage player dies as a result of an on-ice scrap, a scary incident occurs in the opening seconds of an American Hockey League. Immediately after the faceoff, the Philadelphia Phantom's Garrett Klotz dropped his gloves to square off with Manchester's Kevin Westgarth, with both players (per hockey's fighting code) immediately removing their helmets. It's thought that Klotz wanted to fight immediately in retaliation for something Westgarth did in a previous meeting between the two teams. The fight ended when Westgarth landed three thunderous punches, leaving Klotz in a bloody heap and convulsing for 30-40 seconds, with a coach waving for help while a teammate of Westgarth tapped his stick in the ice in tribute of his teammate's KO. Klotz would be discharged from the hospital the next day. Klotz checks in at 6'5" 235 while Westgarth is listed at 6'5" 247.  JAROME IGINLA - DON'T BAN FIGHTING: Players weigh in on the subject while convened in Montreal for All-Star weekend. Iginla says the game would actually be much more dangerous with much more stick-swinging from players, without enforcers ready to step in to police matters. COMMISH ALSO WEIGHS IN: Gary Bettman, also speaking at the All-Star festivities, says he doesn't envision any drastic changes to the league's fighting culture, such as demanding that players helmets stay on during fights. The article notes that much of the recent concern stems from pre-meditated fights between the teams designated enforcers as opposed to incidents that occur in the heat of the moment after a whistle, as well as the designated enforcers just getting too big and too strong - as evidenced by the tale of the tape in the Klotz/Westgarth scrap. COMMISH SUSPENDS TWO RED WINGS FOR SKIPPING ASG: Citing minor injuries which have hampered them in recent games, Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk both pulled out of this weekend's All-Star festivities. In response, Commissioner Bettman has ruled both players suspended for the Wings first game after the break. Curiously enough, that game will be against Columbus, their goaltender Steve Mason was slated to play in the leagues 'Young-Stars game', but pulled out citing back spams despite the fact that he had played in all of the Blue Jackets recent games. The ruling is the one-game suspension only applies for those pulling out of the actual All-Star game itself as opposed to passing on the JV version.DOLLAR BILL WIRTZ ROLLING IN HIS GRAVE: Various sports teams and broadcasters have always run promotions offering some sort of jackpot if anything significant occurs in a game. For years the Milwaukee Brewers offered players a Harley-Davidson (and a random fan a stinkin' jacket) for anyone who hit for the cycle or pitched a no-hitter in a single game. HD dropped their promotion, and backup catcher Damien Miller would pull the unlikely feet early in the next season. And then there's a supermarket who sponsors the Calgary Flames, who offer a million dollar payoff (in loonies) if any player scores five goals in a game. Jarome Iginla (by far the team's most likely candidate) has scored four times in a game once in the last nine years, and has had 3-goal games on seven other occasions - that seems like pretty safe money. But then there's the promotion the Illinois Lottery hatched with the Chicago Blackhawks last week, if a Chicago player scores at exactly the 10:00 minute mark at a home game, a random fan wins a cool $1 million. No one was expecting having to pay this off in just the third game of the promotion, as on Monday night the Hawks score their lone goal in a 4-1 home loss, at (you guessed it) 10:00 of the second period, giving a fan in the nosebleeds the big prize, at least it wasn't someone in the prime seats, who tend to be the ones chosen for these type of things. So what were the odds of this happening??? The Hawks are actually one of the higher scoring teams in the league, scoring over 3.25 goals per game, take out goals scored in OT as well as a few extras scored late in games (sixth attacker/empty net) and the odds of a score by a particular team at any given moment of a single game is about 1,200 to 1, divide that by 41 regular season home dates and the odds of the jackpot being won once drops to about 29-1 for any given year. For now, the lottery does not intend to drop the promotion, noting that giving out the prize is worth it due to the publicity received. But perhaps they should award prizes for feats that almost ensure that the home team is going to win.  DUMB 'CRIMINALS' OF THE WEEK: Believe it or not there are bigger knuckleheads than Anquan Boldin residing in the Phoenix area, if you don't believe me - then watch the 6 o'clock news, you can see their mug shots. Staying at his off-season home in suburban Chandler after his team arrived for the NFC Championship game, Donovan McNabb noticed that some Cardinal fans had left various flags and banners hanging on trees on the property, and later returned with a couple of cardboard signs expressing their rooting interest in the Cards, which McNabb laughed off. But then the two returned one more time, with diesel, torching a message into McNabb's lawn and causing $2,000 worth of damage. Maybe such a stunt is worth it if you can get away with it, problem was, one of the cardboard boxes had one of the suspects mailing address on it - you can now go ahead and cue this theme. Now someone ask them whether it was worth it, good news is McNabb's security detail apparently does not include German Shepherds.D-WADE, D-VORCE: Off the court, Dwyane Wade is known for his good deeds as well as his philanthropy, among other things recently purchasing a house for a South Florida woman. Also, two years ago the National Father's Day Committee named Dwyane a 'father of the year'. However Wade's soon-to-be ex-wife is painting a much uglier picture of the man who wears #3 in honor of the Holy Trinity. Mrs. Wade is contending that Dwyane abandoned his two children, committed adultery and infected her with STD - and wants the names of ALL of Wade's sexual partners during their marriage. Wade's wife also says D-Wade cut her off financially, 'dissipated substantial sums of marital property' such as buying his mother a church, and putting 'substantial sums' and also providing friends and family with more 'substantial withdrawals'. The spouses lawyer says 'A person's public persona does not necessarily reflect his behavior in private' While D-Wade's attorney writes off the accusations as false and describes the Mrs. as a 'obviously angry and bitter woman'. Recently Wade has been linked with actress Gabrielle Union as well as TV celebrity Star Jones. Dwayne Wade made $14 million in salary last year, plus several million more in endorsements. ANQUAN BOLDIN THE NEW T.O.??? Anquan Boldin, your team just won the Conference Championship, where are you going to go now??? I guess he's just going to beat the traffic. As big of a story that the Arizona Cardinals unlikely Super Bowl run has been, the antics of Boldin is quickly becoming a bigger story. Anquan Boldin, whose attitude is beginning to resemble that of fictional Cardinals receiver Rod Tidwell, was seen on TV arguing with offensive coordinator Todd Haley over not being in the game during the franchises most important offensive drive in 61 years - and was reported to have gone to the locker room, where he showered and then left, while the team and it's fans celebrated on the field. The team attempted to downplay the controversy on Monday, but Boldin was nowhere to be seen. All of this makes Super Bowl media day in one week to have the potential of being an even bigger circus than usual. IT'S A CARD-PITT SUPER BOWL: In 1944, the two franchises combined during a war-time season, the temporarily merged team would go 0-10 on the season. SB 43 also reunites coaches Ken Whisenhunt and Mike Tomlin, Whisenhunt was the offensive coordinator of the Steelers SB 40 winning team and Tomlin was selected over Whisenhunt after Bill Cowher departed. PLAYER'S BROTHER CONFRONTS REF IN BIG EAST GAME: You have to wonder where the guys who are always looking at the stands, and not the action on the court/field, were on this one. Jeff Xavier drives towards the basket in Providence's home game against Marquette, and is knocked out of the game when an inadvertent elbow gets him in the eye, eventually causing it to swell shut - no foul was called on the play. As a teammate (who was fouled seconds later) lined up to shoot free throws, a man makes his way down to floor, casually climbs over the Providence bench, and eventually gets in the face of the officials, before security finally woke up and escorts the man away, while Xavier soon also heads down the tunnel, also woofing at the official and possibly also the Marquette player. It turns out the man was Jeff Xavier's brother. Marquette coach Buzz Peterson threatened to pull his team off the court, but the game eventually resumed. Rules #1 and #2 of college and professional sports - fans don't venture onto the players turf and players don't go into the stands to confront fans. WAKE FOREST PLAYER SLAMMED BY OPPOSING STUDENT SECTION: WF stays unbeaten on the year by winning at Clemson in a battle of top-ten teams. During the game Wake's Chas McFarland dives into the Clemson student section after a loose ball, and winds up getting tackled by a brave student. Here's another rule, if you're in Row 2, brace yourself for the possibility of a player landing on you - not a good day for security at college basketball games. It is said that McFarland is one of the peskier players in the ACC.TERROR AT 30,000+ FEET: Somewhere in the air between Dallas and Honolulu last weekend, PGA Tour pro Chad Campbell got a morbid thought that he may had forgotten a minor detail, that he did not officially enter the Sony Hawaiian Open. Sure enough, upon landing Chad found out that in fact he was not in the field in an event he had traditionally done well in. Said Chad later, It's one of my favorite golf courses. That's what sucks more than anything' What comes worse for Chad is that the DNP will drop him from his position at #64 in the World Rankings, the top 64 players get invites for the World Match Play Championship next month. BIG-THREE ALL COMING BACK: Saying he doesn't want to cut his dream of playing for his beloved Sooners short, Sam Bradford announces he will return to Oklahoma for another year - Sam was thought to be the most 'NFL ready' between he, Colt McCoy, and Tim Tebow. Tebow's dramatic announcement at a UF pep rally last weekend immediately made the Gators odds-on favorites to repeat as National Champions for 2009. But Oklahoma got additional good news as it was announced that tight end Jermaine Gresham will also return to Norman. One elite college QB did announce his intentions to turn pro, as reports have USC's Mark Sanchez making the jump. But the cupboard will not exactly be bare at SC, one-time national high school Player of the Year Mitch Mustain are among those in the mix. USC is also expected to come up big in recruiting, one site has them nabbing at least eight of the top 100 recruits. Incidentally, for those who think the mid-majors are suddenly on par with the big boys, Utah and Boise State are both shut out of the top 100.  TOMLINSON ON TRADE BLOCK??? Actually, hindsight says the Chargers should have traded LT this time last year and kept Michael Turner. Now after an injury-riddled where Tomlinson's productivity fell dramatically, LT could very well be on the outs. The Chargers have said publicly that they do not envision Darren Sproles as an every down back, but also have not publicly assurred that Tomlinson will be back, and LT is none too happy - here is what he had to say - 'I think it's ridiculous to be talking about trade and me not being here, that's just my personal opinion. I know every team has a right to make trades and all this stuff, but I just think it's ridiculous to be talking about this, to have this stuff in the media when this could be handled behind closed doors and in a professional way. Now I have people calling me, talking about this all the time; this has become a big story and I don't want this.' Only problem is NFL running back production is measured in dog years, don't believe me then just ask Shaun Alexander.DARIUS MILES PRODUCTIVE IN GAME #9: Proving he's not just on the Memphis Grizzlies roster to make a couple of token appearances just to screw the Portland Trail Blazers, Miles scores 13 points in just under 14 minutes worth of action in Memphis' loss to Cleveland Tuesday night. Some of it was garbage time, but it was a pretty impressive stat line nonetheless. It has also come to light that the Blazers tried to sign Miles themselves simply so they could stash him on their bench, the NBA rightfully blocked that signing. TONY DUNGY EXPECTED TO STEP DOWN: It was said Dungy would make a decision within 24 hours, and apparently here it is. It has been highly said that once Dungy steps down from the Colts that he would be done with the NFL. Teams that Dungy has coached has made the NFL playoffs in 11 of the last 12 years, and the Colts have won 12 or more regular season games in each of the last seven years.  MEMPHIS RE-SIGNS D-MILES: Taking the Portland Jail Blazers up on their triple dog dare, the Memphis Grizzlies sign Darius Miles to a second ten-day contract, and by playing in two more games, Portland is screwed in the salary cap next year and will be forced to pay out a dollar-for-dollar luxury tax this year. Now the big question is does Portland hire someone to carry out a Sopranos-style hit on Miles. Maybe perhaps get someone on the opposing team do a cut-block on the trick knee the next game Miles plays in. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies next game is against Cleveland, and Cleveland's owner has already called out the Blazers for sending that threatening e-mail. So if Miles plays in that game, then Portland is screwed the second Miles takes off the warm-ups and heads to the scorers table for magic game #10. But you could always get Miles in the parking lot - isn't Tonya Harding still in the Portland area, maybe the Blazers can borrow one of her 'bodyguards'.BRIDESMAID BOB: Oklahoma reinforces their status as the Buffalo Bills of college football with 24-14 loss to Florida in BCS title game, the turning point being when OU came away empty on two second quarter trips inside the UF ten yard-line. The Sooners are now 0-5 in their last five BCS games, three of which with the national title at stake. Now the speculation on whether coach Bob Stoops might be departing can begin anew, despite his denials that he has had any contact with the Denver Broncos. It should be noted that Stoops has now collected on a $3 million 'stay bonus' upon completion of his tenth year in Norman - so Stoops is now free to play the Jeff Jagodzinski game if he so desires. WHERE PRE-SEASON GAMES COUNT HAPPENS: In a bizarre story developing in the NBA, a franchise is threatening to go to court to keep a player off the court. Darius Miles suffered a knee injury while playing for Portland a few years back, an injury that was eventually ruled to be 'career-ending', which cleared $18 million dollars worth of cap space for the Blazers for this year and next. However there was a stipulation that Miles salary would again go against the Blazers books should Miles return to the Association and play in ten games in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons combined. Miles attended training camp with the Boston Celtics this year, and was eventually cut, but later signed to a ten-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, who waived him after two games. Thus, Portland thought that Miles had to play eight more games before again being on the hook. But that's before a story came out this week saying that EXHIBITION games count towards the 10-game mandate, Miles played in six of those for Boston - meaning he only has to play in two more games, which has Blazers management worried that another team will sign Miles basically to screw Portland. If Miles plays the two games, Portland would be over the luxury tax threshold for this year, and the other 29 NBA teams would all get a cut of what Portland would be forced to pay off. The Blazers would then also find themselves against the cap for next year, which would eliminate them from signing free agents. That has led Portland management to send a memo to the other 29 teams threatening litigation should any team sign Miles. That's not likely to work, and Miles himself is threatening a lawsuit if the Blazers are successful in keeping him from seeking employment with an NBA team. |
