Mickelson injures wrist at Memorial (AP/ESPN)
Phil Mickelson withdrew from the Memorial during the first round of the Memorial after injuring his left wrist. At the time, Mickelson was 2-over through the 11th hole when he walked off the Muirfield Village Golf Club course.
Bobcats hire Warriors general manager Higgins (AP/ESPN)
The Charlotte Bobcats landed a general manager on Thursday, luring the Golden State Warriors’ general manager Rod Higgins and signing him to a contract.
Higgins reunites with Bobcats co-owner Michael Jordan, who was with the Washington Wizards in 2000-2003 as an assistant general manager and played with Jordan in Chicago during the 1980s.
Higgins replaces Bernie Bickerstaff after Bickerstaff stepped down and now serves as an executive vice-president.
Teammates tell why Martin’s special (FOX Sports)
FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal breaks down Los Angeles Dodgers backstop Russell Martin in three ways — energy, leadership and athleticism.
Rosenthal put the questions to five uniformed members of the Dodgers and, as he put it: “their responses were even more revealing than Martin’s statistics, which are telling in their own right.”
A-Rod, Jeter and Ortiz lead AL All-Star balloting (BizofBaseball)
Major League Baseball has released the first vote totals for the MLB All-Star Game in San Francisco on July 10th. No surprise, the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, along with Boston’s David Ortiz, are the top three vote-getters in the American League.
In the National League, New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran is the leader in the first clubhouse, tallying with 586, 815 votes. He is one of four Mets that are leading their positions — shortstop Jose Reyes, third baseman David Wright and catcher Paul Lo Duca — are the others.
Reed’s 1970 Knicks NBA finals jersey to be sold at auction (AP/USA Today)
The New York Knicks jersey that Willis Reed allegedly wore during his dramatic Game 7 comeback in the 1970 NBA finals is set to head to the auction blocks, according to the Associated Press.
Also a part of the auction: a 1931 Lou Gehrig New York Yankees home jersey, a selection of Jim Thorpe’s letters and other materials from his personal archive, and a Walter Johnson signed baseball from the last out of the 1924 World Series
The auction is to take place on June 5th and will be conducted by Sotheby’s. Make sure you get your placards ready and waving next week.
Saban: Miami report on violations no coincidence (AP/SI.com)
Man of his word Nick Saban, the new coach of the University of Alabama, believes that it’s more than a coincidence that the reported violations of repeated contact with Florida recruits have come from the Miami-area.
Saban told the Associated Press at the SEC meetings in Destin, Fla. –
“You really can’t prove what you didn’t do. We respect the rules and certainly have always respected the rules and will continue to do that. And I think it’s funny that it came from Miami.”
Asked if the reports were false, Saban responded: “I said I think it’s funny it came from Miami.”
And when Nick Saban says something, you just got to believe him.
Majerus has already made a difference (STL Today)
Recently hired Saint Louis University coach Rick Majerus is starting to make an impact at his new school, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. After hiring a staff, doing a little recruiting and doing the meet-and-greet thing, Majerus is continuing to lay the ground work for the struggling hoops program.
Per Tom Timmermann’s article –
Athletics director Cheryl Levick said the focus for Majerus’ first month has been on three things: hiring a staff, recruiting and meeting the public, all of which have gone well.
He has hired two assistant coaches, and the school has hired a strength coach who will work exclusively with the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Majerus received an oral commitment from one of the top area players from the class of 2008, and he has met with most, if not all, of the other top area prospects. And he has regaled boosters and potential donors with basketball stories and strategy.
Besides, who doesn’t like a guy who hams it up at his opening press conference like Majerus did?
Competing with the NFL (BlogMaverick)
Yesterday, we told you about Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s plans for launching a league that’s in direct competition of the great behemoth that is the National. Football. League.
Cuban decided to write on this blog, BlogMaverick.com, why the idea of the UFL isn’t as far-fetched as some (including us truly) is lead to believe. He dissects it using six bullet points to why the league can co-exist in a day where the NFL dominates network television ratings in the fall and winter.
Three key points that Cuban covers:
The point that he touches upon that makes the most sense comes from Cuban’s blog entry:
They just extended their CBA. Their CBA structure is not designed for a competitive environment. Competition for top players, even if the UFL gets just a few, increases prices at the top end for all teams. Every star will get paid more, but still have to fit under the cap. That forces teams to use more low cost players, at the expense of signing the middle of the roster. That gives us access to quite a few very, very good NFL players. The downside is that it will significantly impact small market NFL teams and its unclear how the NFL would respond to that and what the impact would be on the UFL.
The way we see it, that’s a fairly potent point that few have realized (again, us included, dammit!). For more information on Mark Cuban’s reasons why the UFL can succeed, check out the entrepreneur’s blog post at the link.
Balsillie Copps another deal (sportsnet.ca)
The Canadian billionaire who purchased the NHL’s Nashville Predators late last week may have plans for the franchise — a move to Hamilton, Ont.?
The city of Hamilton has re-activated a deal with the Jim Balsillie that gives the billionaire exclusive rights to bring an NHL team to Copps Coliseum, according to the Hamilton Spectator.
Also lumped into the agreement — the city is looking into giving Balsillie the rights to run Hamilton Place and the city’s convention center if a team comes to land in the Ontario city. According to the paper, Balsillie contacted the city late last week about such arrangement and started the ball rolling on negotiations.
News and notes while trying to figure out how Dave Duncan does it…
Kobe backs off trade demands less than 12 hours after saying he wants to be dealt (AP/SI.com) Wake up up when this is over…really.
Messier considers open Rangers’ assistant GM opening (AP/ESPN) Former New York Ranger legend Mark Messier hasn’t been asked yet, but is willing to listen should the club call him.
Clemens tabbed to start against White Sox on Monday (AP/USA Today) Clemens is expected to join the club after the Yanks play the Red Sox.
Ducks edge Sens and grab 2-0 lead in Cup finals (AP/SI.com recap) Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza — the NHL’s highest-scoring line — got blanked again in the Stanley Cup finals, with the Senators losing 1-0 on a Samuel Pahlsson goal to give the Anaheim Ducks a commanding 2-0 series lead.
Spurs blow by Jazz to win Western Conference (AP/ESPN recap) Tim Duncan and Tony Parker powered an early 14-0 spurt that featured perhaps the most dominant stretch the Spurs have played all postseason and the Utah Jazz never recovered, letting San Antonio cruise to a 109-84 victory.
Padres’ Young continues to dominate Pirates (AP/USA Today recap) Chris Young, a former Pitsburgh farmhand, dominated the Pirates again, allowing four hits over seven innings in the San Diego Padres’ 9-0 victory.
Heart of Cardinals order snaps losing skid (stlcardinals.com) The Cardinals’ “MV3″ of times past (Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen) put on an offensive display, driving in six on five extra-base hits as the Cardinals win over the Colorado Rockies, 8-4.
Dodgers’ Lowe a two-pronged thread in victory over Nationals (AP/USA Today recap) Derek Lowe pitched seven scoreless innings, reached base three times and scored once as the Los Angeles Dodgers shut out the Washington Nationals for the second straight game, 5-0.
(From time to time, we’ll post a short blog entry regarding a current topic or something else that catches our fancy. It might be something trivial or something that really makes us wonder what the hell is going on.)
Rodriguez, McDonald share words in Yankees win (AP/Y! Sports)
After having a big night on the town with a lovely, shapely blonde, Alex Rodriguez decided to have a little fun on the base paths.
With two outs in the ninth, New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada skied one into the Toronto night towards short left-field in the vicinity of Toronto third baseman Howie Clark.
More after the jump »
Mavs’ Cuban hopes to create rival to NFL (AP/ESPN)
Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, is looking into the formation of a rival football league to the NFL that would focus on players drafted lower than the second round, as well as lower-level players who get cut near the end of training camps and free agents that go undrafted.
Included in this exploratory group is Bill Hambrecht, a Wall Street investor and a former minority partner in the Oakland Invaders of the USFL. The league would play its games on Friday nights, traditionally a night off for the NFL as it conflicts with high school football games around the country.
We just hope that old World Football, USFL and XFL mascots and names aren’t still under copyright protection.
Fractured left wrist lands Cards’ Molina on DL (AP/ESPN)
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina will be sidelined up to six weeks with a non-displaced fracture of his left wrist. His wrist will be placed in a wrist and immobilized during that time.
The catcher was clipped by a foul ball during Tuesday’s game in Denver against the Colorado Rockies.
The club has recalled light-hitting, all-defense catcher Brian Esposito from Memphis of the Pacific Coast League (AAA) and will start on Wednesday.
Fraud investigation launched against Bengal, comedy club (WLWT-TV)
Another member of The Cincinnati Nine (now with italics!) is in trouble again as wide receiver Chad Johnson and Kentucky comedy club are under investigation for fraud, according to television station WLWT-TV.
Johnson and The Funny Bone Comedy Club are under investigation following a lawsuit claiming that Johnson and the Funny Bone failed to deliver on promised prizes, including a Lexus and trips to the Superbowl and Pro Bowl.
A tip o’ the cap to ProFootballTalk for the story.
35 ex-NFL players qualify for dementia-Alzheimer’s assistance (AP/Y! Sports)
The lede/lead of the Associated Press article pretty much sums up how much the NFLPA president Gene Upshaw is in the dark on the issue of former NFL players and injuries related to football.
Gene Upshaw was taken aback when he first saw the list of retired NFL players applying for financial help under a new program to help those with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
“I played with or against quite a few of these guys,” the executive director of the NFL players’ union said Wednesday. “I knew one or two were having problems, but I never knew the extent.
And if you haven’t caught Bernard Goldberg’s latest piece on HBO’s REALsports, we highly recommend it — even you, Gene.
A quick description follows the jump.
Report: Grizzlies to hire Suns assistant as coach (AP/ESPN)
The Memphis Grizzlies are set to announce the hiring of Phoenix Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni as head coach.
Iavaroni is a 14-year veteran of the NBA as both a player and coach.
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