Our friends at The Big Lead — via PFT.com — report that “The Worldwide Teaser” has sacked onetime MNF analyst Joe Theismann, buying him out of his deal.
“We have reached a settlement with Joe Theismann to end his association with ESPN. We thank Joe for his many years of work for us and wish him well.”
Maybe “Joey Sunshine” can latch on the revamp of American Gladiators for NBC.
The Demetrius Jones saga has led to Cincinnati, where on Thursday the former Notre Dame quarterback told football coach Brian Kelly he wants to enroll at the university and play for the Bearcats, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
When asked about Notre Dame, Jones commented like a guy who didn’t want to burn bridges.
“It’s a great school,” Jones said of Notre Dame, “a tremendous atmosphere. It’s just unfortunate the way it worked out.”
[…]
“My whole point of going to Notre Dame was the same reason I committed here,” Jones said, “the atmosphere on campus, they’ve got top-notch facilities. They’ve got a head coach who’s been coaching for 16 years, and the offense. I can put some of my best qualities on display. I just think it was a perfect fit.”
A good move all the way around as Jones gets to go to a school of his choosing and Notre Dame gets its wish of the quarterback going to a school that doesn’t directly compete with the Irish.
News and notes while wishing Dane Cook would just go away…
FSU reports academic misconduct to NCAA (Tampa Bay Online) Florida State has finalized its initial report of “academic dishonesty” by 23 student-athletes, sending the details of a six-month internal investigation to the NCAA.
Heyman: NL MVP race going down to the wire (SI.com) From the no shit department, Jon Heyman of SI.com states the obvious. There’s also more news and notes, including: silence isn’t so golden for Toronto’s Troy Glaus; the Barry Bonds post-game ceremony in San Fran was touching; and Brian Giles’ swat of a Brian Wilson pitch into the AT&T Park right field bleachers might be the hit of the year.
Jay-Z bids for naming rights (YardBarker) Is there anything that rapper/producer Jay-Z doesn’t have his hands in?
First, we must apologize for not having the EXACT quote since it just ran across our monitors here at the beautiful Buried Lead office complex.
After the team got whooped by Brazil 4-0 in the WWC semis, U.S. goalie Hope Solo, who was benched in favor of veteran Briana Scurry in their match-up against Brazil, ripped women’s coach Greg Ryan over the decision to swap goalies. In the process, she took a shot at Scurry, stating that “this isn’t 2004 anymore” when referring to one of the reasons why Ryan made the change.
Solo also told a broadcast reporter that she “would’ve made those saves” and that the decision made by Ryan was the wrong decision to make.
The U.S. has a third-place match set for Sunday and it’ll be interesting to see how this team competes are these comments.
Once we get the exact quotes on this, we’ll update this post.
***UPDATED at 12:13 PM ET***
Thanks to the folks at The FanHouse, a quote is now available.
“It was the wrong decision and anyone who knows anything about the game knows that,” Solo said in a TV interview after the game. “There’s no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves.”
CBS2.com is piggy-backing on a FOXSports.com mention that the Minnesota Twins and the Los Angeles Dodgers are exploring a deal that would send ace Johan Santana to the Left Coast in exchange for a deal that would include outfielder Matt Kemp.
The Dodgers would also “throw-in” highly-touted pitching prospect Clayton Kershaw.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz takes Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost to task over his school-yard reaction to the St. Louis Cardinals’ retaliatory strike upon his first baseman, Prince Fielder.
In Tuesday’s game, Brewers starter Jeff Suppan — the former Redbird – pitched Albert Pujols way inside, causing some chirping between the two dugouts over the pitch selection near Pujols’ jaw.
On Wednesday, things escalated a bit thanks to a Brad Thompson pitch that nailed Fielder. It would’ve been find had Yost retaliated the next half-inning or the inning after the incident, but Yost waited till the eighth inning with Cardinals having a perilous 3-2 lead.
It all started ominously before the match when U.S. Women’s coach Greg Ryan swapped starting goalies, naming Briana Scurry the starting keeper over Hope Solo. Solo, as you may recall, hadn’t yielded a goal in 300 minutes but Ryan went with Scurry, who had career success against the mighty Brazillian women.
The decision seemingly backfired as the U.S. Women lost in the Women’s World Cup semi-final 4-0.
An own goal tally on a header by Leslie Osborne started off the scoring for Brazil and the second goal came on a screamer by Marta in the 27th minute inside-post on Scurry to make it 2-0. Just before halftime, a questionable call on the United States’ Shannon Boxx forced them to play a woman down for the remainder of the game.
Brazil tacked on two more goals, including a highlight reel goal by Marta, to make the score 4-0 and gave them a trip to the finals.
They will face Germany on Sunday for all the marbles.
The morning after the Yanks clinch a playoff appearance for the 13th consecutive season…
Michael Young collected his 200th hit, joining only Wade Boggs and Ichiro Suzuki to do so in five consecutive seasons; Philadelphia moved within one game of NL East-leading New York, which lost 9-6 to Washington; the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland indians take part in an unusual double-header and Albert Pujols notches his seventh consecutive season with 100 RBIs.
Angels 2, Rangers 16 — The story of this game: the Angels lost two key players to potential long-term injuries — Gary Matthews Jr. had to leave the game with an injured left knee after making a running catch and Vlad Guerrero got plunked on the forearm by pitch in the 16-2 mashing by the Rangers.
A’s 6, Red Sox 11 — Mike Lowell led a 17-hit attack with three singles and five RBIs and kept the ball that gave him the team record for RBIs by a third baseman on a two-run single in the third inning.
M’s 4, Indians 12 (Game 1) — Playing a “home” game in their third stadium this season, the Indians — wearing their road uniforms no less – used a big third inning to back Fausto Carmona in Cleveland’s 12-4 win over the Seattle Mariners.
Indians 2, M’s 3 (Game 2/10 innings) — …and now for something completely different: an hour later, they’re the visitors! Joe Borowski blew a save for the second consecutive night as the Mariners tied up the ballgame with two outs in the ninth. In the tenth, Mike Morse singled home pinch-runner Rob Johnson with two outs to give the Mariners a 3-2 victory.
Yanks 12, Rays 4 — A George Steinbrenner appearance. A weeping Joe Torre. No, Torre wasn’t canned but was weeping with joy as his Yankees downed the Rays 12-4, clinching the club’s 13th consecutive appearance during his tenure.
Suspension not enough for Winters (FOX Sports) Ken Rosenthal is pleased that MLB took some action against umpire Mike Winters for his behavior against Milton Bradley. But he writes that the league’s hierarchy didn’t do more addressing it.
Vick faces restrictions after positive test (USA Today) Not only does the moron have to be relegated to house arrest for his failure of a drug test on Sept. 13, the suspended quarterback faces additional time off from the NFL once his legal obligations are cleared up.
Dan Patrick Radio Show due to launch Oct. 1 (SPORTSbyBROOKS) Not only that, but it looks as if his radio program will have the same representation as Jim Rome: Premiere Networks via The Content Factory.
It’s not everyday we plop down a link from the high-brow website like Slate. Hell, it’s not everyday you get links from Business Week AND Slate.
The horse racing industry is long known to have thoroughbreds with unique, if not funny, names like On Your Knees (1977 and 2005), Spank It (1985) and Barely Legal (1982 and 1989).
In fact, Slate offers up a bunch more within this piece…after the jump. More after the jump »
Darren Rovell of the great sports business blog featured on CNBC’s website had a nice write-up on the latest issue of Business Week, which teamed up with ESPN: The Magazine to compile a list of the top 100 power brokers in sports.
While the idea of putting together the top 50 movers ‘n shakers in sports isn’t an original concept — The Sporting News has been doing it for years — a company that specializes in the business aspect of things lends a bit of credence to the project.
Rovell offers up some names that should’ve made the list (and names that either shouldn’t have been or dropped considerably from their lofty perches), like Under Amour’s Kevin Plank, whose revolutionary contributions to sports apparel (wicking materials) have become an essential mainstay for all high-performance athletes, gym rats and weekend warriors. More after the jump »
Prince Fielder’s 50th home run Tuesday, which made him the youngest player in major league baseball history to reach the mark, rekindled talk of the bad blood between him and his father, ex-big leaguer Cecil Fielder.
Fielder said he had no intention of keeping the 50th home run ball, but was hoping for No. 52.
“My dad had 51 (as a season high),” Fielder said. “Then, he can’t say anything.”
Fielder was not happy about comments his father made in a magazine article earlier in the year, claiming his son never would have been a first-round draft pick if he hadn’t paved the way. The two haven’t spoken for years and that rift apparently has widened.
That subject resurfaced when Fielder was asked about the “MVP!” chants at Miller Park and if he thought much about winning that award.
“It would be a cool award to get but that’s not something I think about,” he said, “besides the fact my dad never did it. If I do get it, that shuts him up again.”
Oh wait: Fielder wasn’t done taking his dad to the woodshed.
According to a broadcast report on ESPN’s First Take, Major League Baseball suspends umpire Mike Winters for remainder of season.
You may recall that Winters was involved in a heated argument with San Diego’s Milton Bradley on Sunday in a game against the Colorado Rockies. Bradley was trying to call timeout when it is alleged that Winters said something in a derogatory manner that set Bradley off. During the exchange, Bradley was prevented by manager Bud Black in going after the umpire. While being spun away, Bradley’s left leg got caught awkwardly, causing Bradley to tear his ACL and will miss significant time.
More upcoming…
***UPDATED at 1:31 PM ET***
The Associated Press has more details on the suspension of MLB umpire Mike Winters for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Vick tested positive for marijuana (ESPN) More of the Michael Vick follies as Kelly Naqi reports that the troubled NFLer tested positive for marijuana on Sept. 13.
Wilbon is afraid of blogs (Awful Announcing) We caught this interview yesterday while driving around town and must say we were completely surprised Michael Wilbon stated that “blogging has zero accountability”, but a major sports network could report a story related to the Michael Vick case becomes so false that they swept it under the rug.
Simmons: Booing breakdown (ESPN Page 2) Bill Simmons gets to the bottom of the question: why do we spend so much time booing our teams?
Kiss your grass goodbye (Reading Phillies) What better way to remove a playing surface that’s already slated for replacement than having a demolition night featuring five tribute bands? (Tip o’the cap to Deadspin)
Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost got a vote of confidence from team owner Mark Attanasio, who stated that his manager will return to the bench for the 2008 campaign.
“Ned is fine,” said Attanasio, who is in town for the club’s final home stand.
The Brewers still have a shot at the National League Central title, closing within two games of first-place Chicago with a 9-1 victory over St. Louis and the Cubs’ 4-2 loss in Florida. They also are one victory away from sealing their first winning season since 1992.
As the story indicates, Yost had received a lot of criticism — mostly from Internet and talk radio — due to the fact that the team has blown an 8 1/2 game lead since mid-July, only to be looking up in the standings during the season’s final week. One website even went on to mention that there’s discord in the clubhouse over the manager’s incessant line-up tinkering and going with the hot-hand in situations when it dictates.
Robert Weintraub revisits the 1993 National League West pennant chase that pitted the Atlanta Braves (yeah, they were in the West) and the San Francisco Giants battling to the season’s final day. The loser went home with a 103-wins and a feeling of failure.
Since the article is quite lengthy — and interesting — a short summary wouldn’t do it justice. Instead, we’ll just tease you with a buried lead to try and force you to click the link.
Commonly known as The Last Real Race, the pennant duel fashioned by the Giants and Braves offered more day-to-day drama than Lindsay Lohan on her fourth vodka and Red Bull. It was a campaign that featured 207 combined wins between the two teams, one of only two seasons in history in which two teams in the same division won more than 100 games (New York and Baltimore won 103 and 100, respectively, in 1980). And it would be the final time such a successful second-place team would feel so empty at season’s end.
Any reference to Lindsay Lohan and vodka/Red Bulls deserves mentions, eh?
Loading ...
