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TOP STORIES - FEBRUARY 18, 2009 2009 PRE-SEASON RANKINGS ARE OUT!!! Top 40 drivers ranked for NASCAR 2009... 2009 KAC FANTASY BASEBALL (BIGGER THAN EVER!!): CATCHERS | FIRST BASEMEN | SECOND BASEMEN  PGA TOUR WINNER ONCE HUNG AROUND A DANGEROUS CROWD: Dustin Johnson won the rain-shortened Pebble Beach Pro-Am over the weekend, his second on the PGA Tour. With the win, the 25-year old qualifies for the Masters, and by moving his ranking up to #46 in the world, he also gets an invite to the World Match Play Championship in two weeks. Not bad for someone who found himself neck deep in the legal system a few years back. Johnson found trouble as a junior in high school as his parents were getting divorced, and eventually was kicked off his school's golf team for missing class. That was just the start of his troubles - Johnson was soon recruited by an 'intimidating' brother of a friend named Steve Gillian, who soon pressured him into crimes such as pawning off a dozen stolen watches. In January, 2001, Gillian arranged for Johnson and four others to break into a house. Not much was taken, angering Gillian, except for a .38 handgun. The next day, Gillian pressured Johnson into buying ammo for the gun using a fake ID at a local Wal-Mart, to which Johnson 'reluctantly agreed', with the transaction caught on store video. That night Gillian went to a party being held in the home of a student whose parents were out of town. After a night in which Gillian argued, fought, and bullied other patrons at the party, another friend of Gillian's asked to be taken home a 5:30 AM, the two left with Gillian proclaiming that 'You will see this in the newspapers tomorrow'. An hour later Gillian's friend was shot five times in the the head outside a local shopping center where Gillian had stolen the watches the previous year. Gillian would later say that his motive was that he considered himself to be an aspiring hip-hop performer, and that he would go over and his career would take off if he murdered someone. For being an accessory to the crime for buying the ammo, Dustin Johnson had to be made available to testify at Gillian's murder trial and also had to pay restitution for his involvement in the house burglary. Just last month, Johnson received a pardon from the state of South Carolina, restoring all of his civil rights. Meanwhile Steve Gillian is currently serving life without parole, which definitely puts a damper on his hip-hop career. You can read an official court document regarding the case here.IT'S OFFICIAL - THE ECONOMY IS BAD!!! It looks like the Dallas Cowboys will open their new stadium this coming fall without the naming rights being awarded. The Cowboys have gotten offers, but apparently well below the asking price that owner Jerry Jones is demanding.  MORE PROOF THE ECONOMY IS BAD: NFL Commimsioner Roger Goodell announces he is freezing his 2009 salary, also cutting his 2008 compensation. Goodell's salary is said to run in the $11 million range, trailing the recently revealed $18 million salary of Bud Selig. THAT'S OBESE!!! That's what the Nintendo Wii Fit game screamed to Padres reliever Heath Bell went he stepped on the balance board for the first-time this past off-season - I'm surprised the game didn't also say 'AND YOUR TEAM LOST 99 GAMES!!!' In case you didn't hear Elisabeth Hasselbeck rail on the game last week on TV, if the tables in the game considers one fat, it calls you overweight or obese, and also recreates one's avatar into a similar proportion. Bell says he ended up taking the game to heart, and ended up losing 25 pounds during the off-season.DUBAI TENNIS TOURNAMENT MAY BE STRUCK FROM SCHEDULE: WTA not happy about an Israeli player not being granted a visa to participate in the lucrative tourney to be held in Dubai, and is considering removing the tournament from it's schedule - adding that sports and politics should not mix and that Dubai's decision could have ramifications far beyond tennis. Dubai's stop on golf's European Tour schedule has become one of the more popular events on that circuit's schedule, with many top players including Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, participating in recent years. As anyone who has watched the golf event in recent years can attest, the area has been booming in recent years with numerous skyscrapers going up at a rapid pace. However the global change has hit that region's economic landscape in a huge way in recent months, expatriates who have been laid off from their jobs have fled the country in droves, leaving their homes behind and their not-paid-off cars in airport parking lots - escaping before potentially landing in 'debtor's prison', which does exist in that part of the world. #14/#39 WRECK IN FINAL DAYTONA PRACTICE!!! NASCAR season is now officially here, Tony Stewart is pissed at Goodyear. A tire goes on Ryan Newman's #39 and collects teammate Stewart in the process during final practice for the Daytona 500. After saying that it's the same story as every year for Goodyear, Stewart suggests that Goodyear probably enjoys the criticism, since it is at least publicity. Both drivers will now be forced to start from the rear of the field in backup cars, for Newman make it a sleeve, it will be his third car of the weekend. RAIN EXPECTED TO IMPACT RACE: The Daytona 500 could end up going late into the night, as the chance of thunderstorms is expected to increase to 90 percent not long after the scheduled 3:45 PM ET race time. For those not familiar with NASCAR rules only one lap past the advertised distance needs to be run for the event to be official, in this case - 101 of the scheduled 200 laps.BLOCKBUSTER A-ROD BOOK BEING RUSHED TO PRINT!!! Looks like the other shoe will be dropping on Roidriguez right around opening day, considering how book excerpts tend to come out in advance. Selena Robert's highly anticipated and unauthorized tell-all book on A-Rod as now due to come out April 14th, one month earlier than originally planned. The book reportedly includes 'salacious' details about A-Rod's private life, is due for an initial print of 150,000 copies - excerpts of which will be copied about 150 billion times.  BOB KNIGHT - GATORADE IS A PED: When asked on ESPN for his take on the Alex Rodriguez saga, Knight says the following - 'You know, Gatorade is a performance-enhancing drug. Anything with electrolytes is performance-enhancing. Who decides what you can use and what you can't and on what basis is it decided? That's always amazed me. Every time I turn on television there's an energy drink being advertised. Why isn't that performance-enhancing?' Knight's out-of-the-box perspective is interesting, but will it sit well with ESPN or Gatorade, which sponsors it's product on ESPN. MARVIN MILLER BLASTS BASEBALL'S 'WITCH-HUNT': You have to say the 91-year old former MLBPA czar still has a sharp mind, and a way for defending his union. Saying that the union is now paying the price for agreeing to drug testing in 2004, Miller comments about other issues, and asks why is the sale of tobacco products still very much legal and even subsidized by the government - noting it as hypocritical. Aside from that being an apples and oranges comparison, a good question. JOSE CANSECO - VINDICATED, AGAIN: When asked about the Alex Rodriguez issue by a media member Sunday, Canseco hung of the phone. Canseco of course, said in his last book that he once introduced A-Rod to a Canadian steroid dealer, and later said that the only reason he didn't out A-Rod in his first book was simply because he hates him so much.FAVRE GOES QUIETLY THIS TIME: Favre sends e-mails to the media and the Jets that he's is done, ensuring in a statement that this time it is for good. #4 says he feels that it would be better that he doesn't do another 'farewell' press conference. EX-GIRLFRIEND FILES 'EXPLOSIVE' LAWSUIT' AGAINST ROBBIE ALOMAR: Says that the 17-year MLB player insisted on unprotected sex for four years despite having 'obvious signs of HIV'. The plaintiff is seeking at least $15 million in damages, saying Alomar refused to get tested for HIV, despite severe fatigue, sores on his mouth and throat, a constant cough and an infection of the esophagus commonly associated with AIDS. The woman says that Alomar finally did get tested and was diagnosed with the disease in 2006. Alomar was a 12-time All-Star and a 10-time Gold Glove winner in a stellar career that was marred by his infamous spitting incident with umpire John Hirschbeck while a member of the Baltimore Orioles. FORMER REDSKIN DEFENSIVE STANDOUT DEAD AT AGE 50: Linebacker Mel Kaufman appeared in three Super Bowls for the Redskins from 1983-1988 and was a team captain from 1981-88. Kaufman was later a scout for the team and most recently was on the coaching staff of the Cal-Poly Mustangs, who this past season won their conference and qualified for a FCS playoff berth for a second consecutive season. Kaufman played on Cal-Poly's 1980 Division II championship team and is a member of that school's Hall of Fame. MANNY RAMIREZ SAGA - DAY 92: Want to read some good comedy this morning - Manny Ramirez says he's still anticipating that four-year/$100 million contract, and feels like he can play six more years and reach 3,000 hits and 700 home runs for his career - and for all his baggage at least he hasn't been linked to any positive drug tests. Man-Ram says he is not concerned with the length of the contract talks noting that 'We're in the seventh inning and I'm waiting for my pitch.' Manny's only contract offer to this point has been with the Dodgers, the latest being a one-year/$25 million deal, only the NL West rival Giants have been rumored to be the only other team with any interest whatsoever, it's said that the Giants may be working up a 'creative' contract offer - and agent Scott Boras is not a fan of 'creative' contract offers.  CLUBHOUSE LEADER FOR DINGBAT COMMENT OF THE WEEK: Anna Rawson is a decent LPGA golfer, and is also a part-time model, and if I dare say it, not bad looking. That's not why we're talking about her this weekend though - before this weeks LPGA event in her native Australia, Anna appears on a radio program, where she talks about how women's golf continues struggle in the mainstream despite the emergence of some fresh new talent - where she blames the media and the golf industry in general - then unloads with this - 'They still think we're at 25 years ago when the tour was full of, you know, a lot of (lesbians) and unattractive females nobody wanted to watch' Uh, no we don't know. Anna tries to backtrack later explaining that this was just her opinion on how others feel, and that she was in diapers 25 years ago. Rawson has raised eyebrows with comments before, last year she appeared in a men's health magazine where she confessed to having envy over that certain part of the male anatomy - saying 'I could never be with a woman, because I'm just fascinated by what men can do with their bodies that we can't.', then confessed that the interview was probably going to get herself in trouble. Back to this week, after this weeks tournaments third round the media wasn't looking for the leader who kept making putts from different zip codes, they all wanted to talk to Anna, which led to an awkward presser where she breaks down, which led to her PR firm issuing a statement. Buck up lady and face the music, perhaps you and Kelly Tilghman can be the co-captains of the next Idiotic Comment Cup team. You can see her photo gallary in addition to her her old USC profile, where she appears sans makeup and talks about how she likes purple and pink tees because 'you can see them better and they're cute' It also says she was a communications major - you'd think she would had learned something there, maybe she was too busy chasing Matt Leinart or something. For someone who likes to see the LPGA get publicity in the worst way, she just got them publicity in the worst way.MLB OWNER SUGGESTS BASEBALL 'MIGHT NOT EXIST' IN 20 YEARS: Jim Pohlad became the point-man in the Twins ownership family when father Carl Pohlad passed away at age 93 last month. This story talks about the family's intentions on continuing to own the franchise for a long, long, time - perhaps to the dismay of the team's fan base still mad about Carl Pohlad offering the team for contraction a few years back and Carl not using his considerable wealth to re-sign the likes of Torii Hunter and Johan Santana. But one comment made by Jim in the middle of this story ought to catch everyone's attention, where he says 'The way things are, 20 years from now, baseball might not even exist. Who knows? It’s just a bad time' Somebody say we're just in a mere recession??? Can we use the 'D' word yet??? Just glad the Pohlad family didn't let that comment slip out during all those year's they fought for financing for that new stadium - oh, to be a fly on the wall at Jesse Ventura's palacial estate in Baja right now...  THIS BUSH ONLY LASTED FOUR YEARS: Intimidated at the prospects of having to deal with Scott Boras for the services of higher thought of prospects (Jared Weaver, Justin Verlander) before the 2004 Amateur Draft, the San Diego Padres ended up using the #1 OVERALL PICK local high school product Matt Bush. Oh, he was signable all right, and that was just the start of the Padres problems. As a shortstop Bush struggled mightily, never making it above the Midwest League and barely hitting over .200. The organization then tried to make a pitcher out of him, the very small sample looked promising, he struck out 16 in 7 2/3 innings, but then blew his elbow out and is currently rehabbing from major surgery. Just on the field the man was a disaster enough - but then there are the off-the-field escapades. The ink wasn't even dry on Bush's $3 million plus contract when he and his family trashed a Petco Park skybox before a game. Not long after that Bush was arrested in connection with an incident at an Arizona bar, mind you he was still just 18 at the time. This past year Bush (now legal at least) got himself in trouble yet again at another Arizona watering home. The final straw came this week when Bush reportedly beat up a freshman lacrosse player at a local high school, an incident culminating with Bush allegedly yelling 'I'M MATT (FREAKIN') BUSH, (SCREW) EAST COUNTY!!!'. So 4 1/2 years, others that the Padres could have drafted are already contributing in the big show, and this clown is still beating up on ninth-graders in the name of some sort of juvenile turf war. The Padres have now dropped Bush from it's 40-man roster, I heard someone tell Bush this weekend to 'enjoy your Mercedes and the rest of your life' - Naw, I'm sure his money is gone, but if that Tommy John surgery works out he will be one hell of a staff ace in the California Penal League in a few years. And can we start the Fire Kevin Towers website already??? ALEX RODRIGUEZ - STEROIDS!!! A very damaging development in the career of Alex Rodriguez and perhaps many other current and former MLB players. Sports Illustrated is reporting today that sources have told them that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two types of steroids during his MVP season with the Texas Rangers in 2003. A-Fraud hit 47 home runs with 118 RBI that season, which was actually down from 57 HR/142 RBI the year before. And there's more, the story says Rodriguez's name is just one on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in MLB's '03 survey testing, as part of an agreement with the MLBPA, test that year was only conducted to determine if mandatory testing was necessary in the future, which of course is what is in place today. The results of the '03 tests were supposed to be confidential, but obviously and not surprisingly some intell has managed to leak on A-Rod. But the good news is that Ken Griffey, Jim Thome, Albert Pujols, and Ryan Howard are amongst those still believed to be clean for their entire careers, at least we THINK, which is the problem.PHELPS LOSES HIS STRIPES: He loses his first sponsor over the now infamous bong picture, as Kellogg's announces they will not renew their sponsorship since his actions are not consistent with those of the corporation. Phelps is also suspended by USA Swimming for three months, and will lose financial support ($1,750 per month stipend plus performance bonuses). Earlier in the week, it was reported that law enforcement in South Carolina was looking into pressing charges over the bong picture provided that there would be enough evidence - it's said that the sheriff down there is no-nonsense when it comes to these type of things. PETTY LANE: Just maybe Al Davis is right, there might be something up with this guy. While announcing his recruiting class for 2009, Lane Kiffin noted that Tennessee landed a player right out of the hands of Florida despite coach Urban Meyer's attempts at 'cheating' by calling the recruit while he was on his official visit to UT. Only one problem - Florida was not in violation of any rules by calling the player during that period, and Kiffin earns a reprimand from the Southeastern Conference for running his mouth. Perhaps Lane could get together with basketball coach Bruce Pearl to learn about some of the finer points of recruiting and ratting out cheaters. And one more piece of advice to Lane, don't be looking up at Mississippi and Arkansas in the standings at the end of the year. JAKE PLUMMER COMMENTS ON SHANAHAN FIRING: Says that the dismissal of Mike Shanahan was long overdue, saying that the coach had become more concerned with statistics rather than mere wins and losses. The biggest shock of this story is that Jake Plummer actually talks, that Jake Plummer is actually still alive...  LOW-LIFE - KAY YOW MEMORIAL DEFACED: A mural painted in North Carolina State University's Free Expression Tunnel to honor women's basketball coach Kay Yow has been restored after being defaced over the weekend. The memorial was sprayed in blue with graffiti with a mustache and the message 'CANCER RULES'. No word on what the motive may have been, was it someone from another Tobacco Road school taking rivalries way too far or just plain hatred. It is said that threatening graffiti regarding Barack Obama was also found in the tunnel following the Presidential election. Yow recently succumbed to cancer after battling the dreaded disease while continuing her coaching career for over 20 years. Seeing someone fall to the Big C - yeah, very enjoyable to watch, I'm sure the perpetrator is also eagerly waiting to see Ted Kennedy and Patrick Swayze go down as well. I wouldn't want to be that person, karma has a way - just wait until that person goes to the doctor's office sometime down the road and gets some bad news - enjoy your chemo and radiation treatments, and the doctor bills.MATT CASSEL PISSED ON!?!? Rotoworld reported that this supposedly happened at the stadium during the Super Bowl, but according to the gossip page this would have happened at an ESPN function on Friday night. It's said someone tried to cut in the line to the men's room at the function - and Cassel told him to get back in line, leading to the man deciding to take dead aim at Cassel's pants leg. PORN INTERRUPTION DURING CLIMATIC MINUTES IN TUCSON!?!? Comcast is apologizing to subscribers in the Tucson area after their signal was apparently sabotaged just after Larry Fitzgerald's 64-yard touchdown reception that put the Cardinals ahead 23-20 with less than three minutes remaining. In what was said to be an 'isolated, malicious act', a porno show suddenly interrupted the NBC feed. The porn material was said to have aired on Comcast's standard definition feed but not on the high-def feed. GAME SECOND MOST WATCHED PROGRAM EVER: As you would expect, viewership peaked late in the fourth quarter, Super Bowl 42 and the final episode of M*A*S*H in 1983 are the only programs in TV history rated higher.JONATHAN XAVIER UPDATE: He's the one who got on the floor to get in the face of a referee when his brother got decked by an inadvertent elbow with no foul called in Providence's game a couple weeks back. At the time it did not seem like a wise move - was it really worth getting arrested?? Turns out it may end up being much worse. Turns out that Xavier pleaded no contest to a drug charge back in 2005, and did eight months of a six-year sentence, and was on probation. Now Xavier is ordered held without bail while it is determined whether he violated terms of his probation, and whether he has to return to prison to serve some or even all of the 5+ years remaining on his remaining sentence. Guess that move was doubly stupid. |
