Please Bud, Make them go away!

Billy Martin once said of Reggie Jackson and George Stienbrenner, "One's a liar and the other's been convicted of it!". Well, in the case of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, both are liars, one's been indicted and the other will be soon. And in the meantime, we are left to speculate as to who might sign Bonds and we get to watch Rocket soft toss to minor leaguers. How cute....can they come talk to my son's youth team as well?

Look, I am fully aware that the game is full of juicers, admitted and otherwise, but the difference between the Andy Pettitte's of the world and these clowns is one of compounding the error. These cheaters aren't asking for forgiveness for bad decisions, they're telling us it never happened. And soon, Clemens will join Bonds as a federally indicted liar.
Bud Selig needs to step up and ban these two from any association with the game until this is all sorted out. Like they did with Willie Mays when he worked for the casinos. Like they did with Pete Rose. And Joe Jackson. Come'on Bud, strap on a set and do the right thing.

The Effect of the "Cause"

How many people are still upset at the NBA for the "Brawl"? How many of you were appalled to see Roddy White flash a Free Mick Vick t-shirt as he celebrated a touchdown? Even if you SUPPORTED Vick it was still a blow to his PR...Well instead of shaking our heads and moving on, only to be offended by the next misguided young man or woman, why don't we try and see where it starts?
One of the little things swept under the larger scandal of Kelvin Sampson; was the young men on the team not only issuing threats of not showing up to practices with their new coach, but also showing support for their former coach on their shoes. A former coach mind you found guilty of doing the same thing at two separate universities! We need people to step in and say, "Hey, I know he supported you, loved you, coached you. But he was WRONG, and to support his actions is WRONG"...Yet we wonder how a Ron Artest comes about, well how about just getting them while they are young. Unfortunately, we cater to these young stars BECAUSE of their celebrity status, where we need to be as tough if not tougher in how we deal with these young stars....BECAUSE of their celebrity status.

Pearls of Wisdom

It's nice to be #1 in February. Nice, but really meaningless. UT and Memphis should both be top seeds in the NCAA Tournament, barring some major failure down the stretch. What we did learn in UT's road win at previously unbeaten was what we suspected....Memphis is going nowhere if they can't make a foul shot down in the final minutes. UT was not much better from the line for the first 35 minutes, but in the last 5 minutes, the Vols made 4 of 6, while the Tigers were 1 of 6. UT also gained valuable Big Game experience that will pay benefits in March, if not April. They'll lean on this one in crunch time. And they know they can do it without Chris Lofton being Superman.
Next question for UT is, can they regroup against another tough team on the road? We'll find out Tuesday night in Memorial Gym as Vandy awaits...

What ever happened to the Regular Season?

Man...there was a time when every game mattered. Every pitch, every swing, every shot, every catch. It seems everywhere I look today the regular season becomes less and less a factor. Have we put so much pressure on winning a championship that the road to it has lost it's value? Or is it the over saturation of a money driven market? Look around you, baseball is a prime example, the NBA's playoffs are filled on the eastern side with underachieving teams with sub 500 records, the Pats won every single game in the regular season and it means nothing since they lost the super bowl. Tiger Woods picks and chooses when he shows up for tourneys, power houses in college hoops schedule Sister Mary for the Poor until January when conference play starts, and conference tourney's are becoming less and less important as they are looked at a time for good teams to rest. Then we have the last "true" sport...College Football. But I feel we have the exact opposite here, there is TOO much stress placed on the regular season, too much stress placed on a loss in week 1. Somewhere out there is a healthy medium, somewhere there is a yearning from sports fans to watch a regular season baseball game, a good out of conference matchup in college hoops, or maybe it's just me...

Hello, Newman!

Hendrick....Gibbs...Chevy...Toyota...Junior...Tony....Dodge? Newman? Penske...1, 2? Whoa, didn't see that coming! Sunday's Daytona 500 featured 60 lead changes and some great drama in the last 50 laps in the debut of the "COT" on the beach. Junior said it was "Boring" which is quite a statement for a guy driving without a shifter knob, running in the top ten all day. Of course, it may have been a bit more exciting for him and his fans had he pitted on the second last caution with Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch. And that was no strategy call. Crew Chief Tony Eury, Jr. was trying to get to Junior on the radio, but was blocked by a conversation between Dale and his spotter as to whether Dale could hear him or not. In any case, the hearalded Hendrick team finished with one car on the lead lap (Junior) in what ended up being a battle of Team Gibbs v. Team Penske...and much to everyone's suprise, Penske, and Newman....brought home the mail. Just couldn't let it go!

Rocky's Rant: Who's in charge over here?

Well here we go again, another day full of coverage about who may or may not have used a substance that may or may not have helped their performance...No, this is not a Clemens apology...Clearly anyone who used HGH used it for purposes of longevity, to extend careers and get more innings or at-bats. The overwhelming amount of mediocre players in the Mitchell Report (see Nook Logan) show that. But once again, we have no real fingers pointed at the man in charge, that would be Bud Selig last time I checked. Now, here is what we know about Selig...1) he is a former owner appointed by current owners. 2) He has made these owners a lot of money, even if the sport itself has not made money, and is beloved by the only people who can remove him. So, the only people who can truly remove or at least come down on Selig besides MLB is Congress. Instead what we see is a mockery of both the sport and our "leaders" in Congress!

If we have no credible means of finding out if these idiots injected stuff in their bodies, then at some point we are going to have to move on...put an asterik next to it fine, keep these same idiots out of the HOF? I'm ok with that if that's what veterans want. But Selig's irresponsibility, his role as Dr. Frankenstein in creating this monster, is just as serious an offense as the injections themselves. Maybe WE should be writing our congressmen...

As the Track Turns....

Stewart and Busch get in a door-bangin' battle in practice and get sent to the NASCAR trailer where Tony promtly pops Curt in the face...Jr. takes his new Hendrick 88 to Victory Lane, aided by a shove from current champ Jimmy Johnson as bad-boy Stewart tries in vain to hold off the Hendrick express...Jimmy takes the pole for the 50th running of the Daytona 500 lining up next to.....fan fave Michael Waltrip! Now look, I buying all the rest as great NASCAR irony, but Waltrip on the front row???? Now you're testing me! Even as big bro DW told us, "Things are looking good for Mikey" who thought front row!
No matter, NASCAR's peaked my interest again and it'll be very interesting how they handle the Stewart-Busch deal. NASCAR can't show us enough how Cale Yarbough and Bobby Allison duked it out on the back stretch at the end of the first fully televised 500 in '79 (Bobby's favorite line: Cale took to beatin' on my fist with his face!) and now they say they want a return of "Personality". Well, they've got plenty of that, and this should be a fun week on the beach!

Rocky's Rant-Good for Business

Anyone who thinks getting Shaq out of an atrocious situation in Miami is a bad thing, that putting his name in one if the NBA's premier markets is a mistake; obviously has not seen this from what truly drives motivation behind any major deal...money. I'm not here to tell you what Shaq brings to a team that cant play the half-court game in the playoffs, or how well he matches up against big men who have routinely killed the Suns in the past i.e. Tim Duncan, or even how Shaq not only opens up things for Amare on the offensive end but also provides another stopper in the middle once Steve Nash let's his guy get to the hole for the 67th time in the game...yea I said it, Nash plays less D then Irk Nowitski(get it? No D) What this trade does is prove that the NBA is one of the best run businesses in the country, led by one of the most savvy leaders we have ever seen playing the role of the commissioner. Shaq changed the game. He was at a time larger then the game. If you don't think he still holds weight in the PR department look at the ratings for Kobe-Shaq rematches EVERY time they play. Shaq to the desert means the NBA's fatest moving team now has a shot at winning, it brings back the Kobe-Shaq rivalry we all came to love (or hate), and most importantly it allows the game to go back to marketing it's biggest name since MJ. Criticize the move if you want, but the league and those who make money off it are smiling right now...Shaq has found his motivation. In the day where we either rush preps to pros or outsource our major talent like Dirk and Manu, it's nice to know we still have the Diesel to add a little drama to a post-season series, make fun of Kobe, or just make us smile. Time's running out and maybe this is his last shot, but one thing you can count on is that I will be watching...and I suggest you do the same.

New York, New York

January, 1969. I was 8 years old. And this image made me cry. I was born into the NFL and there was no way that a team from the Minor league AFL could beat a juggernaught like the Colts. 13-1 in '68, they had hammered my beloved Browns 34-0, in Cleveland, to win the NFL Title. It was of little solice that the Browns had handed the Colts thier only loss that year. The AFL was a joke, and now thier champion was the World Champion.
And then, this. Oh, don't get me wrong, I preferred a Giants upset, and a week ago was trying to get my arms around it. But in the end, I saw 49ers-Chargers, not Jets-Colts. So in an ironic twist, the team with the long standing NFL pedigree, was the huge underdog. The Patriots, of AFL heritage, seemed unbeatable with Tom Brady in the roll of Johnny U. But it happened again. The team from New York authored once again the Big Upset. Maybe even sothing some of the wounds from the Bloody Sock of 2004...Maybe not. But some 8 year old in Boston was crying last night. It's what makes sports matter...

Out Classed and Classless...

I have always been a Bill Belichick supporter. No more. He lost me with his mad dash from the field with 1 second left on the clock in Super Bowl 42. Ignoring the field officials who were telling him that there was one snap left, he charged across the field to give a quick congrats and bolt from the field. Leaving his team to hold there heads high, while he high tailed it. He showed no class and zero dignity. Who are you in defeat defines your character. It doesn't mean being a good loser. It's just a class thing....

Disregard Previous Post!

Happy to be so totally wrong about Super Bowl 42! So many story lines in what may be the biggest upset ever. SI's Paul Zimmerman said the Giants would win if they could put pressure on Tom Brady...Boy, did they put pressure on Tom Brady! Everyone told the '72 Dolphins to shut up and go away....you know what? They finished the deal! Is it the biggest Super Bowl upset ever? Vote in the poll at right. None of this makes sense, but the Giants were the best team tonight. The play made by David Tyree and Eli Manning on the winning drive may be the greatest clutch play in Super Bowl history. But the big story was the 18 times Brady hit the turf. At the end of the night, the Patriots dfense played well enough to win this game...it was the high flying, record setting offense that couldn't get it done. Did someone once say "Defense wins championships"? A caller last week reminded me that the highest scoring team in the league, has never won the title. That the QB with the most TDs, never won the Super Bowl. That the QB with the most yards, never won the Super Bowl. I ignored my early sense, and said, "Tom Brady has never lost the Super Bowl." Until now.

For the Record...

After trying in vain to come up with ways the New York Giants will hang with the Patriots tonight, I have come to the conclusion that the Patriots are going to ROLL! Speaking of "Rolling", that's show regular Wesley Britt of Cullman, Alabama (#65) on Media Day. What....you want a score? How does 44-17 grab you. I see Brady having a huge day, and the underated Pats defense keeping the Giants in check. And all this new "Spygate" talk has just turned up the wick....Patriots in a ROMP!