OUT OF SIGHT by ST

When you follow sports the athletes are front and center and in a strange way, a huge part of our lives. Then they either retire or in some cases simply no longer play in the major leagues we follow. That doesn't mean they aren't living their lives or pursuing their craft. Then every once in a while we get slapped in the face with a harsh reality like today. Not sure why, but the death of Robert Traylor really made me stop in my tracks. It's a cruel world. When he retired the viscious jokes about his eating himself out of the NBA came in droves. Guy was the #6 overall selection in the 1998 draft and would be traded for a fella still playing at a pretty high level, Dirk Nowitzki. After 7 seasons he was gone. Turns out he was just 34 years old and playing professionally in Puerto Rico. Seems the poor guy had a heart attack and dropped dead.
I read that boxer Bernard Hopkins, a Philly area guy, tore into Donavan McNabb. Said some really nasty things and actually implied he wasn't "black" enough. Said McNabb wasn't that tough. Sounds like Hopkins is desperate to remain relevant. He's 45 years old and still fighting for a paycheck. He's fighting a week from Sunday for the WBC Light Heavyweight Title against Jean Pascal. The whole rant came off pretty pathetic. He also insinuated Michael Vick was tougher than McNab. Right, need to be a real macho guy to drown or shoot or strangle an innocent dog. Hopkins has now risen a tad higher on my official "douche" list!
Not sure when we'll join you today because we have Oregon baseball starting at 12:30. Enjoy!

THE FUNNY WORLD OF SPORTS by ST

I heard an interview with the Tiger ace Justin Verlander who informed us that during his no hitter over the weekend, his catcher Alex Avilia refused to use the john for fear of jinxing his pitcher. How do you not love that story.
The Pirates are over .500 this late in the season for the 1st time in 7 years. The fact remains that's embarassing! This is one of the most historic NL Franchises in the history of our national pasttime. Now it's a big deal because they're 18 & 17 the 2nd week of May. Still have not had a winning season since Barry the Baloonhead left for Frisco after the 1992 season. With that rotation, it's not gonna last, even in the weak NL Central.
I'm hearing a ton of negativity about the "dynamic" between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant of the Thunder. Okay?? They just won a huge game to re-take home court edge in their West Semi set against Memphis. These guys are both incredibly young and are still finding their way but doing it while moving on in the playoffs. Get a grip people because as Herm Edwards once emphasized, "the goal is to win the game"!
I don't even care about the details as long as the Celtics lose playoff games in Boston. The end of regulation was a car wreck with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen losing their mind and failing to set a screen to give Paul Pierce a better look or room to roam.
I read that Tiger Woods dropped to 8th in the World Rankings. I think there was a time, let's say after winning the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines when we were 100% sure he'd surpass the magical 18 that Jack Nicklaus posted for Grand Slam victories. After the personal implosion I'm thinking the number dipped a bit to maybe 75% sure? Then seeing him look like just another really good golfer another drop in the percentage of certainty. He's 35 and don't forget, he still has to WIN FIVE MORE! To put that into pure numbers, in the past 50 years, only 9 players have won that many. Just that accomplishment alone would put him past Phil Mickelson, Ray Floyd and even with Seve Ballesteros and Byron Nelson. It would only leave him one shy of hall of famers like nick Faldo and Lee Trevino. I no longer think it's a done deal. Until proven otherwise, Jack remains king!

CLASSLESS CRASH AND BURN by ST

I recall Phil Jackson as a player. As you might recall or even figure, he was very insightful, intelligent and pretty solid in the fundamentals. He was far from spectacular but productive. He was a part of those incredibly unique Knicks teams that regularly played for titles in the early 1970's. Like or hate the Bulls or Lakers, they carried themselves pretty well and obviously won like 8-thousand championships. That leads to my question. What the hell happened at the end of their season killing loss at Dallas? We're talking about a level of classless unprofessionalism rarely seen since the Malace at the Palace, or most days with Terrell Owens. In a recent article that appeared in Sports Illustrated LA's Andrew Bynam was portrayed as a very soft spoke, intelligent, cool kind of guy. That's flushed. He came off as a total punk ass. I hope they suspend him for half of next year. Lamar Odom is now viewed as the most whipped pro athlete since Doug Christie. More on that later. Odom has always been Dirk Light. A talented big man who is a match up problem. While Nowitzky brings it on a nightly basis, Lamar is hit or miss and in this series the numbers weren't bad but he just looked disinterested at times. I commend the Mavs and Tyson Chandler for not responding to the Laker crap and not running into suspensions. They're now poised to emerge as the favorite to win the West versus the Thunder/Griz victor.
Gotta send a shout out to my guy, Derek Jeter. 1st two homers of the year as part of a 4 hit day in the romp against the Rangers. Raised the batting average 26 points in the series to a semi respectable .276 though well below his career number of .313. He's 40 hits shy of becoming the first pinstriper to reach 3K.
Awful weekend for the Oregon Baseball team. They mustered just 2 runs off a very good UCLA pitching staff. The bottom line is they can forget the post season. It's also critical to remember they're 3 and playing in one of the most cut throat conferences in America. The foundation is strong under George Horton but they've clearly been given a jolt of reality this year, especially at the bat. Tough week with games at Seattle tomorrow and Wednesday before hosting Stanford this weekend.

THAT DARN LEOPARD by ST

It's considered an Olde English Proverb that "A leopard cannot change it's spots". Apparently neither can Ron Artest and Phil Jackson should know better. After another brick from downtown late in the game 2 victory by Dallas at LA, the ball headed for the corner. Shawn Marion and Ron Artest both gave chase. Artest shoved Marion into the bench. :33 seconds left and the outcome was no longer in doubt. Why in the world Laker coach Phillup didn't yank this punk right then and there is beyond me. A mere 9 seconds of game time later, kind of going for a steal, Artest committed a blatantly stupid act by forearming the Mav's Jose Barea getting a technical foul and an ejection. Down 2-zip the champs needed the time off to re-design their game plan before the must win battle in Big D . They also would have preferred to have their full compliment of players which obviously includes Ron Ron. It's 10:22 am on the West Coast. I'm assuming Artest is suspended for Friday's game. We all know about the irony of Artest recently being awarded the NBA Citizen of the Year award. That's off court. On court he remains nothing more than a talented punk who can barely contain his emotions. He's just another spoiled brat in a man's body. The knucklehead is 31 years old for crying all night. Grow the hell up! We'll get into the specifics of what the Mavericks are doing to torment the LA defense, but this is nuts.
In the East I was really impressed with the game plan designed by Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau who made his bones as the defensive master under Doc Rivers with the Celtics. In a game they had to have, the opponent(Hawks), managed just 73 points. Atlanta did not make a bucket the final 4:15 of the game, managing just 2 Jamal Crawford free throws as Chicago locked them up air tight. They rendered the perimeter impenetrable. Needing points, Atlanta managed the following down the stretch. Misses from 17, 28, 20, and 19 feet while the Bull offense put the game on ice. Well done and that thing is all square heading for Dixie.
Major question of the day for Crunchtime and Sportstalk gets us back to Artest. Who are some of the athletes we view as "troubled" who just never changed and a few who actually matured and put their pain in the butt past behind them. Curious as to who you come up with.

ALWAYS OUT OF NO-NO WHERE by ST

As a season moves along and certain records appear on the horizon, a team or player can tweak their approach and make a move towards history. That is never the case with a no hitter. Not a coincidence Hall of Famer's Nolan Ryan and Sanford Koufax are tops in history, but the list of no-no's includes many, many pitchers who are not so memorable. In the past 25 years alone we've seen Joe Cowley, Juan Nieves, Tommy Greene, Wilson Alvarez, Eric Milton and Kevin Millwood. Now we add the Twins Francisco Liriano. This guy is high on the list of out of no-where. He entered the game with a 1 & 3 record and an era over 9!!! He walked 6 batters, but gutted it out over his 123 pitches. F.L also benefitted from facing an anemic White Sox lineup who has not scored more than 4 runs over their last 12 games. It's the 4th time over that stretch they've failed to put anything on the board.
So what happens if the Miami Heat win the NBA title. In the best shape of anyone right now up 2 games to zip against the Celtics. Does goofball Cleveland Cav owner Dan Gilbert take out a retraction ad in the Plain Dealer? Remember he pretty much guaranteed they'd win a title before Miami after Lebron's infamous "Decision". How about all the pickle headed media and fans who hammered this guy for a one hour indiscretion after carrying a franchise on his back and busting his butt 24/7 over his 7 seasons with that miserable, loser franchise? It's far from etched in stone, but even making the league finals would be quite the accomplishment considering it's only happened once before with the Heat.
More than 24 hours after his idiotic tweet about the Bin Laden killing, I'm still astouned at what a complete and total moron Rashard Mendenhall is. As we discussed yesterday and a sentiment that has been echoed by those with a clue, his freedom of speech is locked and loaded. But his bosses can also exercise their rights by telling him to find employment elsewhere. We in the public can also tear him a new one and mock him publicly. Not as emphatic, but a hell of a lot of fun!

MANY THINGS, FOOLS AND KINGS by ST

Once again I've peaked. I've joked for years that my all time record is one in a row. When the announcement came down in late March of 2009 that Larry Scott would become the new Pac 10 commissioner, I was ecstatic and claimed it would be magificent for fans and the league. Considering Autzen has sold out each home game since 1998, many(self included), have expressed serious disappointment when the Ducks go on the road in football and the game is not televise or there is an issue and we're kept in a holding pattern. Let's celebrate. New 12 year TV deal with ESPN and Fox more than triples current media rights fees and is now the most valuable of any college conference. It takes effect for the 2012-2013 season. This is a beautiful thing.
The Steelers Rashard Mendenhall went on a tweeting binge. Interesting take. We should not be hating on Osama Bin Laden because we've never heard him speak and only heard one side. So if we took the time to hear him give a speech, we'd be okay with the murdering of innocent kids, women and people for the past 2 decades? He also backed Adrian Peterson comparing the NFL to modern day slavery.
The NCAA has cited Boise State for a major violation. Lack of institutional control. In women's tennis. They also hit the Broncos with some secondary issues in four other sports that included football. We all know that at a school like BSU, beyond football, women's tennis really drives the athletic department wagon. Odd.
Stupid me. I'm all geeked out pouring over the NFL draft when it turns out I missed the pro poker league choosing 200 people to compete in it's 1st tournaments. If this is one of those deals where it's only hold 'em, I vote no. Who started this trend? It's not even real poker. You have 8 year olds playing on line. Give me some old school hi/low, stud or other games where you actually have to read cards and players. Hold em sucks!

TIED FOR BEST RESULT EVER by ST

I give you the same brilliant analysis of this Spring Game as I have under similar circumstances in the past. No one got hurt. It was magnficent. We did our pre-game. I met up with a couple folks, watched a series and went home. Recorded the game. Still have not watched it. It's May. I'll know what went down and who is playing were by the time summer rolls around.
I don't want to hear the apologists regarding Kiko Alonso. Remember the Reggie Bush mess at USC? Their excuse was you can't keep an eye on all 100 players 100 percent of the time. They complained about a short staffed compliance department. Bull-hooey! When it's the best player in the program, the level of focus and crossing those T's and dotting those I's must be unyielding. Coming off a season long suspension like Alonso, he had to be a choir boy. At the first sign of trouble, and that includes who he hangs around with, he's gotta get out of Dodge. It's a simple formula at this point. Smoke = Fire. He's been indefinitely suspended. With Casey Matthews NFL bound and the departures of Spence Paysinger & Bryson Littlejohn, the linebacking spot had already taken a substantial hit. Now this. Brutal!
I know some are uneasy over the level of celebration regarding the death of the face of evil when it comes to international terrorism. Here's my read. It's wrong to take joy in the death of a fellow human being. Cats like Bin Laden ain't human in my book. Hip Hip Hoo-FREAKING ray!
Did you hear the NBA is mandating metal detectors for the rest of the playoffs in the wake of our Special Ops people taking out the garbage in Pakistan? Smart. Never let your temporary joy allow you to take your eyes off reality. Look forward to your thoughts this afternoon. Enjoy it!