Saturday, September 6th, 2008 - Soccer Saturday

The ever quotable Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox, on the Boston Red Sox diminutive Dustin Pedroia: “I never thought I was going to walk a (bleeping) jockey. Walking a guy who just came from being on top of ‘Big Brown’. I can’t believe you can change professions in one year, go from the Kentucky Derby to the Boston Red Sox ball park.”...going by 2007 record, tomorrow's game against the Houston Texans is the easiest non-divison game the Pittsburgh Steelers will play, out of their 10 games outside the AFC North...World Cup qualifying kicks off in Europe today, and Setanta will be covering several games, most on tape delay. I'll be watching tomorrow as Croatia play Borat's men of Kazakhstan...speaking of World Cup qualifiers, Toronto FC is down a mere 9 of 11 starters for today's match with Chivas USA at BMO Field, and MLSE brass are pushing for a change in the rules to prevent teams from getting decimated by national team duty like that. I would file their chances under "none" today. Kickoff for the nail in the playoff coffin is 4pm on CBC...UFC 88 goes tonight, and Rashad Evans better bring a gun, because short of killing Chuck Lidell, just can't see him winning any fight that is remotely close. The UFC has far too much riding on Lidell getting back in the prime slots...add AL home run leader Carlos Quentin to this weeks list of freak baseball injuries. He broke a wrist hitting a bat in the middle of an at-bat. Nice work, Q...it'll be Serena Williams vs. Jelena Janakovic for the women's final at the U.S. Open, and I'm using "women" loosely here...one final bit of soccer news today. Canada takes on Honduras in Montreal in their own World Cup qualifier. Based on what I saw in Toronto a couple weeks back, I'm not overly optimistic...have a great Saturday.

Friday, September 5th, 2008 - 584

In what was a pretty dull opener, the New York Giants threw a blanket of stifling defence on the allegedly improved Washington Redskins for a 16-7 win. There's going to be a lot of great games in the NFC East this year...speaking of "new", the expression "new and improved" is as moronic as saying that you or someone "could care less". Wrong in every way...could the Jays be one of the suiters willing to pay some big bucks for Manny Ramirez? They desperately need a presence in the middle of the order, he's mashed at Rogers Centre his whole career, he's get that shot to stick it to Boston like he wants, and he's said to be a fan of Toronto. Oh, and he does great at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, too. Makes a lot of sense, don't it?...believe it or not, the Yankees have won the last six games that Carl Pavano started. Three in 2008, two in 2007 and one in 2005. After going out in the fourth on Wednesday, Pavano said "I feel like I cheated my team tonight." Tonight?...Novak Djokovic knocked out Andy Roddick, and then delivered some post match smack that brought boos from the New York crowds. Djokovic is turning into a surly, prickly guy...a great list of 7 happenings in sports that may have been fixed, including the "Michael Jordan was suspended rather than retired" story...it is official, Chad Ocho Cinco jersey's are now available...life in the bullpen can be pretty dull, so a couple Florida Marlins pitchers took it upon themselves to count the "crowd" at their game on Wednesday. Their total? 584. No joke...have a great Friday.

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 - Agbongla-whore

Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has pulled off a feat that even Shawn Kemp or Travis Henry would be envious of. Three ladies. Pregnant. At. The. Same. Time. His reputation in the EPL is of being a poacher in the box, but didn't think that extended to everyday life...trivia in the making: the first use of instant replay in MLB? A-Rod. Of course. A-Rod hit one off the cat-walk at the Trop and 2:15 later (that's minutes), the umps made the ruling and no managers came out to argue. Seems to me baseball got it right with their use of replay. The Yankees swept their two game series with Tampa in a sure case of "too little, too late", though they're giving a nice help to Boston who are now three back...Ottawa 67s coach and junior hockey legend Brian Kilrea will be calling it a career after this coming season, his 42nd behind the bench. I would love to know how many players he's graduated to the NHL...apologies for calling the Abu Dhabi group that now owns Manchester City "billionaiires" yesterday. The truth is they're worth north of a trillion dollars, and looking to have fun with their new playtoy...Canadian national team captain Paul Stalteri's days at Tottenham could be numbered, with Croatian dynamo Vedran Corluka now in the fold and a stud at the same position...and speaking of Croatia and soccer, if Slaven Bilic quits as coach of the Croatian national team to take over West Ham, I suspect I might cry. Methinks that maybe the English press is looking to rock the Croatian boat ahead of next Wednesday's World Cup qualifier with England...Toronto FC has extended recent acquisition Chad Barrett with a four year deal. Barrett is definitely a keeper...baseball players can always be counted on for the most ridiculous injuries. Today, we've got two. Yankee Jason Giambi cutting up his head badly by wandering into a hotel room door, and Angel Jerred Weaver slicing his hand on, of all things, the bench..Brock Lesnar is working his wrestling background to the max, trashing Fedor Emelianenko when his name came up in the Lesnar-Randy Couture presser...and finally today, it is the opening of the NFL season, always a highlite of my sports year. The Washington Redskins are visiting the New York Giants. I'm going to take a run at doing what is typically a suicide mission in gambling circles: betting only the prime-time games, mostly for fun using the sometimes and mostly imaginary $100 wager. The Giants are 4 point favs in this one at Pinnacle. I'm taking the Skins (+4, +101) to cover the spread on the assumption that the public generally overvalues the defending champ going into a year. Bet wisely at Pinny!...enjoy the opener tonight, have a great Thursday.

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 - Lesnar vs. Couture

Not only is Randy Couture back for another UFC fight, but he'll be facing Brock Lesnar on November 15th. This has intrigue written all over it. Dana White says it'll be the biggest fight in UFC history, and he could well be right...here's Jim Leyland's post-game presser after his Detroit Tigers lost on Monday: “I’ll make this easy for you,” he said. “We basically threw a lot of balls when we should have thrown strikes and we threw some strikes when we should have thrown balls. And that’s the end of the conversation. I’ll see you later.” That is awesome...Manchester City signed Robinho, and their new Arabic billionairre owners have their sites on a lot more. They're talking about offering a huge amount of money for cross town star Cristiano Ronaldo among others. Things are about to get real interesting in the EPL with another big hitter in there. Somewhere in Canada, Noel and Liam Gallagher are hitting the bottle hard to celebrate...the Bryan McCabe error, err, era is over in Toronto. McCabe and a 4th rounder move to Florida for Mike Van Ryn. Toronto finished poorly in Mclean's rankings of Canada's smartest cities. Shipping McCabe out has to boost Toronto for next year...one developer says there's "no doubt" that L.A. will have an NFL franchise in 2009. Wonder if anyone in L.A. cares?...Novak Djokovic isn't winning over the fans at the U.S. Open like last year, but why should that ever be the point? He's lined up to face Roger Federer in the semis and Rafael Nadal in the finals if things keep rolling in a tourney loaded with intrigue...have a great Wednesday.

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 - A Flurry of EPL Moves

Figure this one out: J.D. Drew's actual name is David Jonathan Drew...Roy Halladay is one of four visiting pitchers in the history of Yankee Stadium to record four wins in a single year at The Stadium...Carl Pavano went 1,221 days between wins at Yankee Stadium...my alma mater, University of Waterloo, dropped an 18-17 game to the University of Toronto in CIS football action, giving U of T their first win after 49 losses. I'm returning my degree, alumni card, and Bombshelter VIP card...Cliff Lee went the distance again in pitching a shutout for the Cleveland Indians to pick up his 20th win. Sorry Roy Halladay, not much you can do about him this year in the Cy Young race...I wanted Tony Romo badly in my NFL fantasy draft last night, but at the #2 pick, you have to take Tom Brady, right?...Mike Weir soiled the bed to finish second at the Deutsche Bank tourney, shooting a 71 in the final round. Vijay Singh won again...Dimitar Berbatov went to Manchester United, Manchester City swooped in to steal Robinho out from under Chelsea's nose, and Vedran Corluka moved to Tottenham to hook up with compatriot Luka Modric. A flurry of moves at the close of the transfer window yesterday and last night, a bit of a summary which you can read here...and is it me, or does Berbatov look like Gavin Rossdale of "Bush X" fame in that pic?...don't look now, but the Colorado Rockies are only 6 back in the weak NL West...have a great Tuesday.

Monday, September 1st, 2008 - Adult Content

Jim Thome's homer yesterday moved him into a tie with Mickey Mantle. Just don't seem right, does it?...MLB has an interesting case on their hands already thanks to CC Sabathia yesterday. Sabathia missed a ball rolling - on the road - and it was scored a hit, the only hit he gave up on the day. Does MLB call it correctly and give him the no-hitter? Would be a strange thing to do given replay was just put in and not to reverse those kinds of calls. See the play below...the Toronto Sun's great baseball reporter Bob Elliot writes a swan song for Yankee Stadium. Solid read. He forgot one of my favs though: the Yankees and Jays getting into a bench clearing brawl in 1999 and Daryl Strawberry taking on about four Jays himself, and winning. That was my first game at Yankee Stadium...believe it or not, there is an actual line on which NFL team will have the most arrests this year. The Cincinnati Bengals, as you might imagine, are the fav. The Dallas Cowboys check in third, despite being the only team in the NFL to not have anybody arrested in the last year...speaking of arrests, Iowa State has had 22 of its football players arrested since April of 2007. Where are they recruiting? Compton?...Mike Weir has one just one tournament in 10 tries he lead after 54 holes. Easy to wager on a meltdown today...after Chelsea and Liverpool draws yesterday, nobody has a perfect record in the English Premier League. Going to make for a real interesting year when that's the case after three games...a 7:30 start for the Argos and TiCats? Has that ever happened? Must be to make sure no kids are watching with school starting tomorrow. That kind of content shouldn't be seen by the young and impressionable, particularly on a Monday Night, if you know what I mean...have a great Monday.

Sunday, August 31st, 2008 - TFC Gutted

Last night's last gasp loss to Chivas USA all but eliminates TFC from playoff contention. How many points can you throw away in the dying moments and contend?...by the rules of baseball, which state that ""any Playing Field constructed by a professional club after June 1, 1958, shall provide a minimum distance of 325 feet from home base to the nearest fence..."the new Yankee Stadium has an illegal field configuration by maintaining its current setup...Ricky Williams got a one year contract extension from the Miami Dolphins. Looks like he's finally out of debt...Arsenal finally got on track yesterday and Newcastle United suffered the consequences in a 3-0 clinic...the transfer window closes tomorrow so you can expect some last minute wheeling and dealing, particularly from Chelsea who seem tied to everybody...Ohio State anihilated Youngstown State 43-0 to get their NCAA season off to a fine start, but they did lose Heisman candidate Chris "Beanie" Wells to a foot injury...the Mets blew another lead in the 9th. They are making Billy Wagner look like an MVP with their inability to close games in his abscence, and it could well cost them a playoff spot...JP Ricciardi just may fix another of his mistakes in the coming days by trading David Eckstein...word is that the moving vans have already cleaned out Bryan McCabe's Toronto digs, in anticipation of the trade to Florida that will be announced likely Tuesday. Bryan - don't go away feeling you'll be missed...the Vancouver Canucks are but one team charging "premium" pricing for the Leafs visit this year. Is there anything about the Leafs that makes you think "premium" right now?...the Patriots opponents this season had a league low .387 win percentage. They might not go wire to wire without a loss again, but 13-3 seems an easy pick...SI.com's Don Banks has his takes on the NFL season here, and picks a Chargers-Saints Super Bowl...have a great Sunday.

And on this beauty slice of summer day, nothing better than a dip in the pool...and a dunk.