The Sports Rumors

Unidentified Shot, Wounded

An unidentified person, first thought to be an NBA player, was shot and wounded at a party thrown at Washington Wizards’ Deshawn Stevenson’s house. The player has not been identified. Several NBA players were said to be at the party.

Here is the link

Credit Deserved

If you’ve been reading my posts for the past few months, or if you know me in person, it is clear that I am no David Beckham fan. You’ve read or heard me go on about how I think he’s more into his image than he is into playing the game at the MLS level. You’ve heard me ridicule him for not rehabbing fast enough, while choosing to spend time getting his pictures taken with Arod and Jeter instead. You’ve read my posts in which I all but call him a phony and a fraud. I’m not going to quickly jump on the bandwagon and change my opinion of him so fast, but I will give him his due.

This past weekend, he was phenomenal. He scored his first goal against D.C. United in thrilling fashion. It made even me, a Beckham-basher if you want to call me that, say, “Wow, that was a hell of a kick.” He followed up that performance with a three assist game which is an example of his playmaking ability. Three assists in one game is like the equivalent of Jason Kidd’s 20 assist performances. Now before you say, “You ARE jumping on the bandwagon”, let me stop you. I never questioned Beckham’s skill or ability. I questioned his motives, which I still do until proven otherwise. But at least I can bring myself to say that he had a hell of a performance this weekend.

That doesn’t change the fact that I think it’s a little too late. The dog days of summer are all but finished. We are now approaching the two most thrilling months in baseball; September and October. We are halfway through the NFL preseason which can only mean one thing; we’re two games closer to Opening Day 2007. If Beckham had these performances earlier on, say in the end of July early August area, I think he would have had a great chance of drawing in more of the casual sports fans. I think that time has passed. Despite his thrilling “Bend it like Beckham” type goal followed by Steve Nash like assists, the news was thirty five minutes into the Sportscenter broadcast. A rundown of what preceded it? Lots of baseball, lots of NFL preseason, and golf (even though it wasn’t a major weekend). What followed Beckham’s highlights, which lasted all but a minute? WNBA highlights and analysis of their playoff chase. I kid you not. So my point remains that the casual fan won’t be as exposed to the MLS as they could have been. Most people only watch the first 15 minutes of Sportscenter to begin with.

However, on this day, I will put all that aside and give Beckham his props. He did good and good deserves recognition.

(Beckham celebrates after scoring his first goal in the MLS)

Website Launch

Since so many of you people have checked in at my website daily, I have bought a domain name and am in the process of launching The Sports Rumors website. It will take some time to get it up and running but I’ll keep you posted on that. Once the site is set up, look for a lot more additions including more images, videos, lots of links and a lot more posting. Thanks for the continued support!

Vick Update

Updated 10:52AM EST
According to court documents, two of the co-defendants that pleaded guilty to dogfighting charges this morning have admitted that Michael Vick participated in the “executing” of dogs.. The three men “executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in ‘testing’ sessions” in April of this year. Still no word on whether Vick has accepted the plea deal or not. It is now confirmed that he had until 9:00AM EST to decide on accepting the deal or going to trial.

Updated 9:54AM EST
Shortly after 9:00AM EST and 9:15AM EST, two of Michael Vick’s co-defendants (Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips) pleaded guilty in Richmond, Virginia in charges related to dogfighting. The news of this was expected following reports early this week that the two had decided to reach a plea agreement.

Michael Vick, according to several reports, had until 9:00AM EST this morning to decide if he wanted to accept the plea agreement that the prosecution presented him with. According to details, it would entail serving at least one year in prison (somewhere in the ballpark of 12-16 months). Vick’s defense has recommended to their client to accept the deal. It is unclear however if Vick has accepted the deal or if he is going to go to trial. There hasn’t been any sighting of Vick at the courthouse and there isn’t expected to be any today. If Vick did accept the plea bargain, he could have done so in a number of ways that would not require him to show up infront of the judge until early next week. We may not know until sometime late this evening or early Monday whether Vick will be accepting the plea bargain or going to trial starting, November 26th.

There is some uncertainty to the details of the plea agreements of Peace and Phillips. The first co-defendant, weeks ago, agreed to plead guilty and testify against Vick in the case of a trial. However, it is not clear whether Peace and Phillips pleaded guilty or pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Vick.

As soon as I know more, I’ll let you know. Stay tuned…

Fascination With Disaster

I have a nine year old cousin who is in the fourth grade. A few months ago, before summer vacation began, she came to my office to visit and was telling me about her class project. They had to come up with three professions that they would want to be when they grew up. This made me think about when I was a kid and wanted to be a football player and a basketball player, at the same time. I also wanted to be a meteorologist but that was because the weather guy on the news was “cool” at the time and I wanted to be like him; we don’t need to talk about that. The point I’m getting at is as kids, we have such huge aspirations of what we want to be and what we’re going to do with our lives. Then you hit your twenties or your thirties and you realize that those dreams will never come true. You realize that you’re going to be an average, above average, or maybe even a little better than that, 9-5 Monday through Friday worker. You’re going to have two kids and a dog and that will be your life.

You flip on ESPN and you see stories of guys like Pacman Jones, who was throwing $81,000 in cash one night at a strip club. $81,000 is almost double the average salary in most states. You see guys like Vick, who have $130 million dollar contracts, now facing jail time and no football career all together. I’d say 98% of us will never seen $50 million in front of us, let alone $130 million. You turn on the entertainment channel and see stories about Britney Spears who had it all, but now is a 24/7 train wreck. You watch Lindsay Lohan throwing her life and her riches away at the age of 21. Then you think, ‘If I were in that person’s shoes, I’d have the greatest life ever. I would never mess up the way these idiots are throwing their life-lottery-ticket away.’ Soon, your thoughts turn to anger and frustration. You’re frustrated because these people, these stars, are living your dream and ruining it. That was supposed to be you scoring 81 points in a single game. That was supposed to be you diving over 250 pound men for a touchdown. That was supposed to be you, but it isn’t.

Our fascination, and almost addiction with troubled athletes and stars isn’t because the media bombards us with 24/7 coverage. We are provided that coverage because we want to see it. I just went on espn.com at 9:48AM Eastern Time and the number one topic commented on was Vick, with over 4,000 comments. Number ten is no other than Pacman Jones, even though it’s been over a month since he’s been suspended from the league. We want to see these stories, we want to read about these stories, and we want to talk about these stories. In a way, it appeases us by saying “Ha ha, you had it all but guess what buddy? Now you’re back in reality. Have fun in jail.”

I spoke in length with a close friend of mine, with a psychology degree from a prestigious university, about our attraction and appeal to watching and commenting on the “lives gone wrong” of celebrities and athletes. “Cliques” are formed by people associating with others who have similar traits or characteristics as themselves. You want to be around those who are like you because it helps reinforce whatever it is you’re doing. Stuck up cheerleaders stick together. Angry goth kids stick together. Math geeks stick together. Alcoholics make friends at the bars so that they feel like they aren’t alone; so that what they are doing is justified because Tom and Nancy are doing it also. Now parlay that into sports. Have you ever noticed that once a few people start bashing an athlete, the snowball effect takes its course? People who know nothing about Barry Bonds’ attitude or the game of baseball hate him. Why? Because they hear about it all the time and everyone else hates him. People who know nothing about Kobe’s trial hated him and presumed him guilty. Why? Because Bill O’Reilly and everyone with a voice on a TV or radio was presuming him guilty.

Why are we so interested in watching train wrecks and celebs throwing their lives away? Because without knowing it, it makes us feel better as individuals. It makes that 9-5 job not so bad anymore. Things could be worse and you could be going to jail, but you’re not. It makes us feel like, “Okay, he was living my dream but he screwed up and now its over for him. I still have my life. I win.” If some random John Smith from Alabama was the leader of a dog fighting ring and was facing two or three years in prison, we wouldn’t give a crap. Just like Vick, he’d still be facing jail time and animals were still harmed, but we wouldn’t care as much. The reason is because he wasn’t out there living our dream nor having the opportunities to succeed that we never had; the ones we wished we had. He didn’t fall from the top to the bottom. He just fell from average to gutter.

I’m not saying it’s everyone’s dream to be a star athlete. A lot of you wanted to be doctors and lawyers and all the other prestigious professions; and that’s fine. My point is, the reason we are often so fascinated by watching the tragedies unfold in lives of famous people is because whatever it was we envied about them at some point, is no longer there. We have no more reasons to look up at them and be like “Man, I wish I was Mike Vick. He has it all,” because now, Vick, Lohan, Spears and many others don’t have it all. They have nothing. They are in trouble and we no longer aspire to be them. Now our lives seem to be a lot better. We feel superior. We win. Until another superstar with everything handed to him on a golden plate comes along that is.

Vick Being Sued… For A Lot

I found this funny story this morning on FOX News when going through the internet sites that I frequent. Vick is apparently being sued by a South Carolina inmate for $63 billion. The inmate alleges that Vick stole his pitbulls and then sold them on ebay to buy missles from Iran. Can you imagine having to be the person to tell an already stressed out Vick about this lawsuit?

Umm, Mike. I have to, uh, tell you something.

Vick: (scratching head from stress) What now?

You’re being sued…. for… 63 billion… for selling someone’s pittbulls on ebay and buying missiles from Iran.

Vick: . . . . .

Awkward.

Future is Bleak for Michael Vick

When this whole saga began, I was a believer of the “Rich people don’t serve time” theory. Well, apparently, I couldn’t have been more wrong about that. Michael Vick is in not just fighting a battle with Goodell to play in the league anymore; he’s fighting to stay out of prison.

News broke late last night that the other two co-defendants are also entering into a plea agreement. This is the worst possible scenario for Vick and his defense, although they had to expect it. Now it’s seemingly going to be three defendants blaming one defendant in a tell-all situation. We still don’t know what the specific evidence is and there is always a chance that something bizarre happens and Vick walks; but that’s a far, far stretch.

Here’s what I know and will share with you. These are federal charges, this is a federal case. So if Vick is sentenced to prison, there is no parole. You have to serve a minimum of 85% of your sentence. It doesn’t matter if you help the feds or not, 85% is the minimum you serve. If Vick had ratted out the other three back in April or May, he would be looking at about 6 months (not taking the 85% into consideration). Now he has two options:

a) Enter a plea bargain and admit to wrongdoing.

b) Take the case to trial with three co-defendants willing to testify against him.

Under option “a”, Vick would be looking at anywhere from a year to two years in prison. If he took the case to trial and went with option “b”, Vick would be looking at serving a minimum of two years. Most likely, it’d be in the ball park of 2 and a half to three years. Now you can do the math and calculate what is 85% of each to get the minimum he’d serve under each scenario but the fact of the matter is, he’s going to jail for a long time if he goes to trial and loses.

There is always the chance that it can go to trial and you have one or two jurors who won’t budge and feel Vick is innocent. But again, the chances of that are extremely slim. Throw in the fact that the judge of this case is a no nonsense kind of guy and you have the makings of a potential disaster for the defense.

I thought that someway, somehow, Vick would escape this dilemma of immense proportions the way he so many times escaped the grasp of 325 pound linemen. But now, the longer this thing goes on, the more it looks like Vick isn’t just fighting to play another snap; he’s fighting for his freedom.

Golf: Remove Any and All Doubt

As I’m sure you’ve read or heard, Tiger Woods won his 13^th career major at Southern Hills yesterday, putting him only 5 away from the mark set by Jack Nicklaus of 18. It is without a doubt, an amazing feat by Tiger to be going at the pace that even he said was unforeseen. I’m not going to go into details about the weekend because you can turn to any other sports website for that information. Instead, I want to throw in my two cents about a topic I heard discussed on Mike and Mike this morning on my way to work.

Josh Elliot and Michael Smith were substituting for Greenberg and Golic this morning and Elliot brought up a very interesting topic; should golfers be subject to steroids testing? ESPN’s Michael Smith, one I agree with the vast majority of the time, said that golfer’s should not be subject to testing because golf isn’t a game about strength, it’s a game about finesse and mental strength. He also said that any testing put into place would be aimed at Tiger Woods because he is the buff, top golfer in the world.

I have to disagree with Smith on this one and here’s why. Though it is true that golf is not a game of pure strength as maybe football is, it still requires physical ability. The golf courses have gotten longer and you have to be able to get the ball to travel the distance for you to have a chance at being competitive. Also, the misconception about steroids is that it only gets you jacked like Barry Bonds or Shawn Merriman. That is false. Steroids also help you heal quicker and keep your body more fine tuned, artificially of course. Golf is a year around sport and anyone who has played the game before knows the toll it can take on your back and your knees. Healing quicker would be an obvious advantage, one in which steroids can provide the aid. Smith also pointed out that the steroids testing would be aimed to make sure Woods is clean. This is true but that’s because whenever you have a star athlete who is so gifted and above anyone else in competition, naturally, doubters will come along. Throw in the fact that Woods is in excellent shape and you have a recipe for intense scrutiny and questioning.

I personally have no suspicions of Tiger Woods being on any type of performance enhancer that would be deemed illegal. I view him as a very competitive person who does whatever he can to stay ahead of the competition and takes care of his body as any superstar athlete should. However, just the fact that in recent months, the topics of steroids has been raised in golf is reason enough to implement the testing. Why leave any doubt in the public’s mind, even if it’s the minority. Tiger Woods will go down as the greatest golfer to ever live. I’m sure he has nothing to hide. Putting a steroids policy in place will do nothing but prove to everyone, once and for all, that Tiger is the best at what he does; without artificial support.

(Needs no caption)

The Yankees, Nadal-Federer Upset, Fantasy Football Season and More…

Well guess who’s knocking…scratch that…kicking on the door of the Red Sox. Lo and behold it’s the New Yawk Yankees, who at one point were 12.5 games out of the division lead and all but proclaimed dead, now just 4 games behind the Sox and are white hot. This is why I love how these baseball insiders and analysts. I love how they get on the radio airwaves in May and talk about how it’s over for New York. These are the Yankees people! They can turn it on and turn it off at their own disposal. I had been saying to wait till mid August or September before you throw them in the grave but people wanted to prematurely dismiss them. Well now look what you Joe Torre and Arod haters have gone and done. The Yanks are a lock for the wild card and now have a really good shot at taking the division. Eric Gagne has been a disaster so far for Boston as he blew another game to the Orioles. Yankees rotation seems to be all but set and they are slugging away like it’s nobody’s business. Those of you who said that Clemens wasn’t worth the money, all I know is since he’s been there, the Yankees have been on fire. He may not have the greatest ERA in the world but having Clemens on your squad is a boost of confidence and the Yankees record before and after supports the claim that Clemens has something to do with it. If the Yankees go on to win the World Series, you bet your ass he was worth every cent of that fat prorated contract. September marks the start of the football season and the collision of two of the greatest rivals in sports; Yankees-Red Sox. Get ready.

I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I know who this guy is but Novak Djokovic beat both Nadal and Federer…in the same tournament mind you, en route to winning the Rogers Cup. I don’t know what the Rogers Cup is, and I don’t have a clue how to pronounce the guy’s name. I do know that beating Nadal or Federer alone is impressive; let alone beating them both in the same tournament. I don’t think that has ever been done but you can check me on that because I could be wrong. Regardless, hell of a feat.

Fantasy Football Season is officially here now and as I have my league set up, as most of you probably have done by now as well. I remember when fantasy football started getting popular a few years back. I used to make fun of the people who spent all their time looking at waivers and signing no name players because they had a touchdown the previous two weeks. I called fantasy lovers stat-geeks who live in a pretend world. Well now I am Commissioner of a league in pretend world and I have been scouting players stats and splits like no other. I’m can now say that I am officially a geek.

Preseason football kicked off this weekend. My beloved Redskins stunk, even though they won. Jason Campbell looked terrible, completing 6/14 passes but more importantly scoring no points and fumbling the ball twice. The offensive line looked shotty at best. The defense looked solid but it was against the Titans, who were without suspended QB Vince Young, so that’s not saying much. Speaking of which, Young apparently spent the night at home instead of at the team location so Fisher was quick to suspend the young stud. It’s obvious that the Titans are now in a no nonsense mode and I applaud that. Another game I saw was Dallas-Indy. Really didn’t see much of anything in that game. Both coaches played their starters for a few series and that was it. Colts have no reason to play Manning or any other starter returning from last season for that matter. The Pam Oliver vs. Producer exchange was mildly entertaining. Here’s a link if you missed it. I saw a bit of the Arizona-Oakland game. If that game doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will. (That’s me, being sarcastic). Prettyboy Matt Leinart didn’t look so sharp. He wildly overthrew Larry Fitzgerald on more than one occasion. Maybe if he spent more time practicing than he does on Sunset Blvd., he’d be a better quarterback but hey, I’m not one to pass judgments.

Hope your Monday goes well people, check back for more stuff. I’ll get it out to you as it comes in to me.

(Got a case of the Mondays people? I feel your pain.)

NFL Superbowl Odds (To Win)