7:36 PMLou Holtz observing Opposite Day on ESPN set today after Navy dominated Notre Dame during 23-14 victory in South Bend today: "It was obvious Notre Dame was the better football team."
7:17 PM Here's a thought: When watching the Yankees ticker-tape parade from one of the adjacent buildings looming over the route, don't toss documents out the window that contain people's social security numbers. Or meatballs.
6:13 PM Navy upsets Notre Dame 23-14. After losing 43 straight to the Irish, Navy has won two in a row at Notre Dame Stadium. Mayor McCheese with a whistle just commenced to melting.
The longer this whole recession thing sticks around, the more it’s going to affect our delicious, precious sports. Teams are already wringing their hands about slow ticket sales and sponsorship problems. Surprisingly (SARCASM), the inflated ticket prices and payrolls that skyrocketed over the past 10-15 years might not be sustainable over the long haul.
(No need to hurry, really.)
One team in particular, the New Jersey Nets, is having a wee bit o’ trouble putting butts in the seats at inflated prices in a crappy arena to see a terrible basketball team. But they’ve…got….a…plan: Jersey giveaways! No big deal, even if you can’t name a single stiff on the team these days (other than Devin Harris), because they’re possibly the first team ever to give away opposing team’s jerseys.
It’s been no surprise to any fan of the NBA (especially the televised version) that Dwight Howard is a popular person to put in front of a camera. Hey, why not? He’s a physical freak of nature with a flair for the dramatic, and acting goofy is a lot easier than learning post moves.
(Dwight, I know a place where you can take advantage of better special effects than that.)
But as you can imagine, Orlando ought to be very worried that Howard has evidently figured out that part about acting and playing basketball. And while there’s plenty of places in America to shoot a movie, the best place is right in the backyard of that team that just erased them in the Finals.
If the 1980s taught us anything, it’s that all is fair in love & war, and business = war. Shaquille O’Neal must have been paying attention when he was growing up. Did you watch the first episode of the new reality show “Shaq Vs.,” in which O’Neal is pitted against different sports celebrities in their own games? At least one person — Steve Nash — thought that show looked very familiar.
That’s because it was Nash’s idea, and Shaq stole it.
If you watched the credits following Tuesday’s debut episode (and I pity you if you’re that deathly bored), you may have noticed that Nash is listed as an executive producer. That’s what you get — plus a bundle of cash, I presume — when you mention your idea for a new reality show to a friend, and that friend “borrows” the idea and makes his own show. Come on, Shaq!
And so the NBA Twitter Revolution takes another strange, unexpected turn: Tweeting live, during your own arrest. The New York Knicks’ Nate Robinson is the unlucky pioneer here, as his Twitter followers got a blow-by-blow account of him getting pulled over by police in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon, and then getting hauled down to the local precinct for driving on a suspended license.
In Twitter posts that have been subsequently deleted by Robinson (but salvaged by the NEW YORK POST), our protagonist at first seems to laugh off the incident as he sits in his car (with passenger Terence Williams of the Nets), presumably waiting for the officer to run his information. But then things get a little more serious. From THE POST:
Robinson, 25, soon announced via a Twitter posting that, “Cops pulled me over cuz my windows were 2 dark (but my windows were down) lol how funny is that.”
Williams posted his own tweet: “being pulled over is so funnnnny now I got to go get him mannnnnnnnn”
Robinson followed up with another Twitter posting: “Iam still pulled over and its been 35 min they have me sit in my truck like I dnt have s#*+2 do lol.”
At 6 p.m., Robinson was arrested and charged with unlicensed operator of a motor vehicle, and taken into custody by cops. He currently is being booked at the 52nd Precinct.
Robinson’s Twitter postings soon after were taken down. Williams also deleted his posts.
If you go to Robinson’s Twitter page now, you can pick up the dialogue as he enters the apology phase. I’m assuming he Tweeted these when he got home that night, and not from a holding cell.
“To All My Tweeps: I was irresponsible earlier when I tweeted about being pulled over.”
“I apologize to the Knicks, my family and fans.”
“I also want to thank the NYPD especially the arresting officer. He was fair and helped process me quickly.”
“the media is try n 2kill my name and my image, but its cool only GOD can judge me now, they are make n it seem iam a head case not cool”
God’s going to judge you for a suspended license? That must be from the Old Testament …
Anyway, here on Earth, I’m not sure what’s the bigger imperative for the Knicks; taking away Robinson’s iPhone, or his car (his license has been suspended four times since June, 2008). It’s not very wise to flake on paying your tickets, but it’s even crazier to Tweet your own arrest, especially when you’re a restricted free agent trying to negotiate a new contract.
One of the first things that many high schools did when cell phones became ubiquitous with students was to ban them during school hours. And since professional sports is like high school with money, and athletes are getting themselves and their teams into trouble all the time with technology, it’s inevitable that contracts will soon begin including clauses such as “May not use Twitter while a member of this organization.” It wouldn’t be as hard to enforce as you’d think: One intern with a laptop and no social life could keep tabs on an entire team. The Truth Is Out There.
But what about the contention by Robinson that the media was trying to “kill” his name? Dude, you posted that only four hours after you were arrested. Quick work if it’s true.
Meanwhile, as Robinson lay snug in his bed after washing the booking ink off of his fingertips, Chad Ochocinco was still up, Tweeting into the wee hours of this morning. Mostly he was venting over a KENTUCKYPOST.COM article quoting Shaquille O’Neal as saying that he had better hands than him. Of course it was all a way for O’Neal to plug his new reality show, “Shaq Vs.,” which debuted Tuesday night (I didn’t watch it). But Ocho either didn’t know that, or was playing along with the joke.
Why in the hell didn’t yall tell me Shaq called me out Twitter family, he had the nerve to say his hands are better than mine!!! It’s on (about 3:30 a.m., EST)
I been sleep all day after I broke camp now I can’t sleep (about 3:33 a.m.)
WTF!!!! He called me Ochonachos, them is fighting words and that’s the challenge, must see tv=Black Mexican beats Giant man to a pulp!!!!! (about 3:33 a.m.)
@OGOchoCinco Ocho, make a play in a game that matters and then I will give you love on the radio all night long. Larry Fitzgerald is the NFL
@JTTheBrick who cares and who are you, nice to meet and hear your input but: Child Please!!
Hey Chad, aren’t you in the middle of preseason? Shouldn’t you be in bed?
In keeping with our Twitter theme, here’s Erika David, a rising pop star who Tweeted all her followers to be sure to watch the 7th inning of the Dodgers-Cardinals game on Tuesday night. That’s when she would be singing “God Bless America,” and … oh my Lord. That’s horrific.
The poor woman just had a bad day … it happens. Quit mocking her, James Loney! OK, at one point she forgets the lyrics and simply mumbles. And then the ending … my dog just fled the room. This performance is so bad, it’s good.
Now we switch you to Michael Bisping’s UFC blog, where the British middleweight announces that he won’t be fighting Wanderlei Silva in the main event of UFC 105 on November 14 in Manchester, England, as everyone expected. Silva, says Bisping, is due to undergo facial surgery. Can we skip the next year of transition and just go directly to way that all sports news will be reported in the future — via each individual athlete’s blog or Twitter account? Why deal with the bothersome middleman at all?
The ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH tells us that John Smoltz will sign with the Cardinals today at noon (CT), when and if he clears waivers. The Cardinals will insert Smoltz as their fifth starter, and only have to pay him a pro-rated share of the major-league minimum, about $100,000; with the Red Sox responsible for the balance of his $5.5 million contract.
Worst episode of “Cops” ever: Yet another MLB figure has been caught jaywalking; this time it was Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who was stopped by a policeman in San Diego’s Gaslamp District while crossing the street while chatting on his cell phone. The cop actually used his siren to get Lou’s attention, lectured him, and unlike Kenny Williams in Seattle, let him go with a warning. On Tuesday, Ryan Dempster was not so lucky.
Here’s a pretty humorous Michael Vick comic which HOLY TACO rolled out on Tuesday, an excerpt of which is shown above. But for my money, nothing beats the classic strip MARK TRAIL, which manages to be funny just about every day without meaning to. That’s because the artist, for some reason, insists on positioning the word balloons so that it appears the animals are talking. And, um, sometimes they’re talking from more than one orifice. (Witness below).
Before South Africa’s 800-meter gold medal favorite Caster Semenya can run in the semifinals of the World Athletics Championships in Berlin Thursday morning, IAAF officials must confirm her gender. Yep. Take a look at the link here and decide for yourself; guy or gal? The IAAF will go with your decision.
No, you only wish you could parallel park with the expert aplomb of this 5-year-old. Check out the video at this link: There’s about seventy dozen people at my local Safeway parking lot which I have to go slap in the face now. The adjustment at the end is the best part.
Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., the spelling capital of the world, Redskins running back Ladell Betts gets somewhat of a surprise when an equipment manager sheepishly approaches him during the first quarter of their preseason opener against the Ravens, and tells him he needs to take his jersey. “Actually, I do like Jerome Bettis, but I don’t prefer to have his name on my back,” Betts said. “I wasn’t upset or anything. I think the equipment people felt bad, but I wasn’t mad at them.“
Wait, 10 hits in one inning? The 2009 New York Mets? I find this hard to believe and must see further documentation.
We’re all happy to hear that David Wright says he’s feeling fine, and wants to return to the Mets’ lineup as soon as he is eligible to do so, on Sept. 1. Wright was hit in the batting helmet by a pitch from the Giants’ Matt Cain on Saturday, and the Mets are being cautious; not quite yet ready to give him the green light to play. Of course if Wright had been a fan of The Faith Tones like I am, he’d know that no pitch could ever penetrate those imposing hair helmets. I’m here with my record collection to help in any way that I can, MLB.
The Faith Tones, by the way, would have NAILED “God Bless America.”
We’re big fans of Shaq. Have been for years. It’s not just that he’s been one of the most dominant players in NBA history, of course. It’s all the other stuff - the police raids, the White House pop-ins, the Twitterness, the David Beckham “feud”. Just as recently as last week, you warmed our hearts with your Conan O’Brien dance contest. We’ll always love you and your wacky, attention-whoring ways.
But while we hope you succeed at beating everyone at everything in your new, narcissistic reality show ventures, we’ve found a new favorite NBA player to watch and be entertained by. No, not Ron Artest. And jeez, no, of course it’s not Starbury. No, we’re talking about Bulls rookie James Johnson, who has assumed the crown - for now - of the awesomest player in the NBA. Not only is he an actual multi-discipline athlete - an undefeated kickboxer/MMA fighter - he’s a dancing machine … who thankfully for us, showed off his breakdancing skills on YouTube.
I’m confident that I speak for most of the men when I say that I’ll be rooting feverishly for Shaquille O’Neal to beat Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in their upcoming reality show beach volleyball showdown. Oh yes, it’s an imperative.
Shaq will team with Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers to take on the women in the first challenge in his new “Shaq vs.,” reality show on ABC. And during Wednesday’s press conference for the episode, O’Neal said that if he loses, he’ll walk two miles in a pink Speedo. And then, Shaq added a horrifying post script: Read more…
If Vegas actually had a betting line on Pete Rose making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame, it would have probably been taken off the board for “suspicious activity” after the events of the last few days. The odds improved significantly when Henry Aaron - a close friend of Commissioner Bud Selig - mentioned to reporters that he’d like to see Rose in the Hall of Fame, leading to a report by the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS that Selig was “seriously considering” lifting Rose’s lifetime ban.
But if ESPN is correct, betting on seeing Rose anywhere in Cooperstown other than selling autographs at a card table might be a sucker bet. Their sources are saying that Selig is not considering reinstating Rose, leaving him to be happy with his place in the Soup Bowl Haircut Hall of Fame (alongside sartorial luminaries as Moe Howard, Chairman Mao and Jim Carrey from “Dumb and Dumber”).
Personally, I could care less one way or the other - at this point, the only way Rose actually makes it into the Hall of Fame is through the Veterans Committee, and they are chock full of grumpy old men who would keep people out of the Hall of Fame for not wearing suits and hats on their train rides during road trips, much less betting on baseball. The only person I feel sorry for is Ray Fosse, as he has to deal with a new round of awkward questions about Rose turning him into a tackling dummy and ruining his career.
All of which Rose finds pretty funny, I guess:
And speaking of “suspicious activity,” I guess you can go ahead and add The Big Security Threat to Shaquille O’Neal’s list of monikers. While appearing on “The Mike Wise Show” a few days ago to promote his stint tonight on WWE Raw, he asked the hosts if they thought he could get into the White House and meet President Barack Obamaif he dropped in unannounced. DC SPORTS BOG has the answer, and it’s a resounding “No.”
Shaq actually tried it yesterday, as part of a bet (1,000 push-ups) with one of his handlers. While the guys at the front gate were “nice,” they weren’t going to let Shaq act like this is a Tonight Show episode from 1982, and he’s Bob Hope interrupting an interview between Johnny Carson and an 82-year-old shoe collector to do a walk-through on the way to his latest special. Between the economy, the Middle East and studying the White Sox roster to find Walt Weiss, President Obama might have better things to do.
As far as Raw is Shaq went: he hung out with a leprechaun:
So yeah, I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want him hanging around the Oval Office.
Finally, Jim Bunning might be a Hall of Fame pitcher, but it turns out that the Republican Party has no problem pulling him early and telling him to hit the showers. The WASHINGTON POST says that the Senator from Kentucky is bowing to pressure within his own party and will not run for re-election in 2010, a political fall from grace that would have been almost unthinkable a few years ago.
So what happens to the 77-year-old Bunning? Perhaps a seat on the Veterans Committee - or at least a table at a card show next to Pete Rose.
Other sports news that happened while you were accidentally shooting three people with your brand-new Taser gun.
If the Washington Nationals were looking to enhance the trade value of Josh Willingham, they just received the Mother Lode of all gifts last night. He became the 13th player in MLB history to hit two grand slams in one game in the Nats’ 14-6 rout of the Brewers. To put this into perspective, Willingham had 14 home runs this season - 12 solo shots, and 31 RBI. So the real story here is that the Nationals actually loaded the bases twice in one game.
Speaking of grand slams: Alfonso Soriano’swalk-off slam in the 13th inning gave the Cubs a 5-1 win over the Astros. Meanwhile, Matt Holliday had an RBI double in his home debut with St. Louis and Brendan Ryan had four hits as the Cardinals stayed a half-game back in the NL Central with a 6-1 win over Los Angeles.
Police feel they are making a break in the case of former Memphis Grizzlies player Antonio Burke, who was shot in the leg and abdomen during a robbery of a dice game at his house on July 20 - they’ve arrested a 16-year-old as an accessory after the fact in the shooting.
And it’s one, two, three punches and you’re knocked unconscious at the old ball game! At least it was in Irvine, CA as a baseball game turned rowdy, with a steal attempt turning into a brawl that left four people taken the hospital and two people arrested.
Here’s what you need to know about Jerry Byrd Jr., a high school football coach in Shreveport, LA: he came to the Superior Bar and Grill to do two things - drink some beers and get arrested for disorderly conduct. And he’s been cut off from having more beers.
If you’re young son is a budding tennis prodigy and you’re looking for a tennis academy for him, here’s a good rule of thumb: if the coach says he’ll need nude pictures of your kid for his computer records, you might want to look elsewhere.
BALL DON’T LIE points out that nothing says “I love you” likeStephon Marbury Valentine’s Day cards. For that special, totally insane person in your life.
You might remember Caleb Campbell as the former West Point football stand-out whose shot at the NFL was taken away from him when the Army backed out on a deal. Now he’s getting his second shot at athletic glory - this time as a potential Olympic bobsledder.
There have been few athletes who have dominated pop culture the way Shaquille O’Neal has over the past 15 years. He was one of the first to fancy himself a crossover star between the worlds of sports and entertainment. Sure, you might think that Michael Jordan was there first, dominating the NBA, sneaker market, and business worlds in equal measure, but he never did so with the wink-and-a-nod lightheartedness that Shaq did with things like Shaq Diesel and Kazaam.
(Wouldn’t be the first time.)
But the odd thing about Shaq is that as his athletic ability has diminished with age, his presence in the cultural discussion has increased. He was the first athlete to embrace Twitter, and his hubris has taken on a whole new level lately with things like his “Shaq Vs.” reality show concept. And now Shaq is throwing around his celebrity weight in a whole new way, with plans to show up at the White House and pal around with President Barack Obama - uninvited and unannounced. This could end badly for everyone.
