In The News: September 27, 2007

McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton is on the cusp of making motosports history, but he literally and figuratively has miles to go before he can become the first rookie driver ever to win the Formula One driver’s championship. Earlier in the season, the incredibly talented driver sat on top of the world, a whopping 14 points ahead of rival teammate Fernando Alonso for the driver’s points lead. But now, having finished behind Alonso in five of the last six races, and with only 3 races to the end of the season, Hamilton finds himself up by a mere 2 points, 97-95.

To make matters more dicey, the relationship between Hamilton and Alonso, and Alonso and Team McLaren is severely strained. Alonso, for one, is essentially driving for himself, as it seems possible that this may be his final season with McLaren, after he snitched on the team costing them a whopping $100 million, as part of the now infamous “spygate” scandal. McLaren team Boss Ron Dennis and Alonso apparently aren’t speaking any longer, with Dennis recently calling Alonso a “remarkable recluse”.

Formula One makes its stop at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend.

Kevin McHale looking to wash his hands of past sins

If you’re going to strip a team of superstar talent like Kevin Garnett, you might as well take the rest of the proverbial fat off the bones and try to unload the remaining veteran players and their bloated salaries. It seems that’s exactly the plan for embattled Minnesota Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale. According to reports, McHale is trying his darndest to trade veteran players like Ricky Davis, Trenton Hassell and Juwan Howard, and truly start from scratch with a young core of Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Corey Brewer and Randy Foye. According to the Miami Herald, the T’Wolves may have found a suitor for the services of Ricky Davis in Pat Riley and the Miami Heat.

The Redskins have issues at Wide Receiver

While one team tries to go young, another, in a different sport, is for whatever reason going increasingly old. The Washington Redskins, whose key off-season free agent signing was nine year veteran London Fletcher, is apparently close to signing 37-year old wide receiver Keenan McCardell. There are rumblings out of FedEx field that the groin injury that stud receiver Santana Moss suffered this past weekend is a bit more serious than the team and snake-oil salesman coach Joe Gibbs is letting on publicly, thus the signing of McCardell.

It’s on again, it’s off again. The Shawn Marion trade saga contines

The Arizona Republic, which as would be expected is doing an excellent job staying on top of the Shawn Marion situation in Phoenix, reports that given all of the extranuating circumstances a trade seems unlikely. Marion said he would report to camp and realistically he is still bound to the Suns by the 2 years remaining on his contract, so any potential trade offer would have to be significant for the Suns to make the move. We’re not sure there are any truly mind-blowing, signifcant offers out there for the Suns, at least not at this moment.

An impressive sports streak comes to an end

One of the most impressive streaks in recent sports history is over. The US Women’s Soccer Team, which had previously won an amazing 51 straight matches, lost in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup to competing powerhouse Brazil by a score of 4-0.

Warrior’s coach Nelson to make rebounding a priority, or is he?

In an interview with the Associated Press, Golden State Warrior’s coach Don Nelson is rather candid in his assesment of the young, surprisingly overachieving team. Nelson, like the rest of the NBA world, is skeptical about whether the Warriors can replicate the success of last season, when they knocked out the Western Conference powerhouse Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. More specifically, Nelson is concerned about the teams lack of height and strength on the boards. Interestingly enough though, Nelson goes on to say that at least early in the season he anticipates playing 6’ 5” rookie shooting guard Marco Belinelli a lot more than 6’ 10” rookie power forward Brandon Wright. What were you saying about rebounding need again? That Nellie, he’s such a wild and crazy guy.

In The News: September 20, 2007

A day after Andrei Kirilenko demanded to be traded through a Russian blog post, both his agent and the Jazz tried to downplay the situation as much as possible. Agent Mark Fleisher told the Salt Lake Tribune that Kirilenko, though unhappy with his current role on the team, will report to training camp when it opens in early October. Kevin O’Connor, senior vice president of basketball operations for the Utah Jazz, also expected Kirilinko to be in camp, saying that he hopes the forward honors his rather substantial contract.

"I'd like to think Andrei recognizes that the Utah Jazz have helped him in his career,'' O'Connor told the newspaper.

But O’Connor also said, “I think what we would be remiss in doing, is not exploring every option to make our team better, and that includes everybody and we've always talked about that."

Things don’t look too rosy for Kirilenko in Utah, which would be just fine with AK-47.

Soccer goalie kicks ball boy on the shin

The life of a ball boy, or girl, seems like a fun and carefree one. You get to go to every game, hang out with the athletes and generally have one of the best seats in the house. Life is good, just as long as you’re not applying for the ball boy position in the Peruvian soccer league. Apparently a Peruvian league goalkeeper, who also plays for the International squad, simply couldn’t take the heckling from a ball boy any longer and kicked the poor lad on the shin. The goalkeeper was of course kicked out of the match and taken to the police station, for, well, abusing a poor, helpless kid. You can read more about this saga on the Guardian Web site.

Olympic torch aspires to be the first torch ever to scale Mount Everest

Since the close of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the Olympic torch has been on a long and winding journey to its final destination of Beijing, China for the 2008 Olympic event. Apparently, the torch has just now reached a very crucial stage, as it will in fact journey to the summit of Mount Everest and back down on its route through Nepal and China. It’s pretty cool in general that the torch is passing up to and through the summit of Mount Everest, but the “free Tibet” folks don’t seem too thrilled about a Chinese icon passing through Tibetan land.

Houston contemplates comeback. NY hoops teams contemplate crappy rosters

The Nets and the Knicks are dueling for the services of one Alan Houston. But, the story here really isn’t the fact that Houston may be coming out of retirement, it's that both the Nets and the Knicks are desperate enough to covet the services of an over-the-hill jump shooter, who never played defense even in his prime and is entirely too intimate with the surgeons table to be considered even the least bit reliable. Goes to show the state of the Nets and Knicks respective rosters.

Race horse becomes the Tiger Woods of losers

We generally don’t write about horse racing, but this nugget of news was too good to pass up. Apparently, a Puerto Rican horse has set some kind of world record for futility. With its last place finish this week, the infamous horse named Dona Chepa became the losingest steed in horse racing history. And you thought the Chicago Cubs had it bad. All is not lost however. Apparently, Dona Chepa’s jockey received a very nice plaque for his completely and utterly uninspired life-long losing efforts. Great success.

The LeBron James project reaches critical Stage 3

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first Bionic Man.”

Apparently, the research to build the most potent basketball player ever, or otherwise known as the “LeBron James experiment”, is still in full development. Coming off a star performance during this summer’s FIBA America’s tournament, LeBron has ballooned up to 255 pounds (from 240) on the same 6’8” frame, while gaining zero body fat. The 22-year old also underwent recent Lasik laser eye surgery and has better than 20/20 vision.

On the flip-side, the research to build the perfect big man has hit a snag.

There really is only one downside to all this experimentation however, and that’s premature aging. See Exhibit 1, 22-year old LeBron James, and Exhibit 2, 19-year old Greg Oden. Right.

Go to sleep for a couple of weeks and wake up to the glory of the NBA

If you’re a basketball fan, remember these dates: October 1, 6 and 30. The first date is the official start of NBA training camps. October 6 is the start of the NBA preseason schedule, which includes the NBA Europe Live tournament kicking things off. And of course, October 30 is the start of the 2007-2008 regular season. Can you feel the excitement? The NBA is back!

Soccer, Formula One and Golf shine in the NFL's shadow

Chances are if you were watching sports this weekend it was either the NFL or one of the major college football match-ups, like number 2 LSU versus number 9 Virginia Tech, for example. But, if football is all that cannibalized your sports viewing this weekend, you missed out on some really great, non-pigskin related, sporting events.

First up, the USA soccer team got their lunch handed to them by the Brazilian National Team, which is led by all-world stars Ronaldinho, Kaka and Robinho, among others. Team USA lost 4-2 in the friendly, billed interestingly enough as the “Clash of the Champions”. How does that work if only one of the teams has ever won any “championship" of note? But, we digress.

The Brazil game proved yet again, that Team USA and soccer as a sport in America has a long, long way to go. You probably know by now that soccer is the most popular youth sport in the US. But, unfortunately, once these soccer-playing kids hit puberty and eventually high-school, the most athletic of the bunch go into other sports, namely baseball and football. Until that trend changes, and until some of the strongest and fastest athletes in the US make soccer their sport of choice, the US will continue to lag behind on the world scene.

The king of the soccer world, Ronaldinho however, was only gracious in the win saying, “They are on the right path, and I believe in the future, it's a country that's going to have soccer with a very high level.”

Classy comments from a classy player.

Speaking of class, or lack thereof

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the Italian Grand Prix ran this weekend. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso put some distance between themselves and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa by finishing a respective 1-2 in the race at Monza – with Alonso finishing first and pulling within 5 points of Hamilton in the driver’s championship standings. With only four more races to go, Ferrari will need pull together a string of consecutive podium finishes, and hope that the McLaren duo falters, if they expect to have any chance of even sniffing the driver’s or constructor’s championships this season.

For the sake of “good guys” everywhere, let’s hope the Ferrari teammates are able to do just that. Because all the McLaren guys ever do is bicker among each other and with their team. Apparently, Alonso hasn’t heard that there is no “I” in TEAM. Following the race, Alonso made it very clear that he could care less about the constructor’s cup, as long as he’s able to catch Hamilton for the driver’s championship. At the same time he hinted at the issues that team McLaren has faced this year, including Alonso’s very public tiff with Hamilton.

"We are extremely lucky to have such a fast car and it means a lot to become world champion,” Alonso said after the race. “But, at least for me, it is not special if around the team there are problems. In the end it is good to be the drivers' world champion, but the constructors', from a driver's point of view, is not really a big factor."

Team McLaren must love hearing that from their star driver.

Jordan, Ali, Ruth…Woods?

This just in: Tiger Woods is really good! We’ve played golf from time to time, and generally hack our way around the course just like every other weekend golfer. So, we know how much skill and mental toughness it takes to be as consistently great as Tiger Woods has been over his 11-year career. Coming into Sunday, Woods found himself 1 shot down and very much in the thick of the competition in the third leg of the new FedEx Cup playoffs. By the end of the day Woods had shot an unbelievable low round of 63 and had blasted the competition on the way to his 60th career win (the youngest golfer ever, by far, to achieve that feat).

“I've exceeded my expectations and it's been a lot of fun to enjoy that whole road, that whole process to get to 60,” said Woods looking back. “It's been a lot of work, there has been some changes along the way, but I think that's all been great.”

Mark it down, Tiger Woods will not only go down as the greatest golfer of all time, but once he hangs up the clubs he will generally be regarded as one of the top 3 or 4 athletes ever, in any sport. And we’re not just talking about his skill on the course. Woods has had a huge social impact as well, in popularizing the sport outside of its traditional, sometimes non-inclusive boundaries, and getting new players excited about the game – us included. If they build a Mount Rushmore of sports 100 years from now, Woods should find himself on it joining the likes of Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan.

In The News: September 5, 2007

Calling Kobe Bryant confident is like saying Ferraris are fast – it goes without saying. The Los Angeles Lakers and recently minted Team USA star displayed some of that bravado during his current whirlwind, Nike-sponsored trip to Asia by announcing that he is confident that the US National team can win gold during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. Kobe said that this US Team will face a “much greater” challenge at the Olympics than what the 1992 Dream Team led by Magic, Jordan and Bird faced in Atlanta. "We're preparing for (the Olympics) like we were playing for the NBA finals,” Kobe said.

Michigan takes monumental tumble

From being ranked number 5 to being clear out of the AP Top 25, the Michigan Wolverines took the largest tumble in the NCAA college football rankings since the poll expanded to 25 teams. The Maize and Blue lost this past weekend to former Division 1-AA school Appalachian State, marking what some are calling the biggest upset in the history of college football. If you think Michigan Wolverine fans were devastated by the loss to the lowly Mountaineers, imagine how Michigan football head coach Lloyd Carr must be feeling right about now. Carr, who was contemplating retirement after season’s end, might want to speed up those proceedings.

Don't sleep on Formula One

The Formula One season rolls into Monza, Italy this weekend for the aptly-named Italian Grand Prix. With only five races to go until season’s end, two drivers each from Ferrari and McLaren are locked in an incredibly close race for the coveted drivers’ championship. McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who have had a rather contentious relationship, are at the top of the standings, with Alonso only 5 points behind Hamilton. While, Ferrari teammates Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, who seem to be on better terms, having finished one-two at the recent Turkish Grand Prix, are third and fourth respectively in driver points. The remaining five races will be a literal sprint to the finish and should be a lot of fun to watch. The Italian Grand Prix will be shown on Speed TV on Sunday, September 9 at 3:00pm Eastern.

Beckham's former coach has serious beef

Soccer star David Beckham’s former coach, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, doesn’t think the former “Man U” star has what it takes to significantly increase the sport’s profile in the US.

"It is difficult with David going there. I don't know what kind of impact he can make," Ferguson said. "David Beckham himself can't change the whole country. In European soccer, and especially in British soccer, you can travel easily. If you are in Boston and need to go to Los Angeles, it's a six-hour flight. Supporters don't travel, so you are missing that rivalry between fans."

Soccer wasn’t specifically the only subject discussed, as Ferguson addressed an audience in Glasgow, Scotland. It seems that the Manchester United manager isn’t a big fan of Beckham’s high profile spouse, Victoria Beckham of the Spice Girls, either.

"He was never a problem until he got married," Ferguson continued. "He was a fantastic young lad. Getting married into that entertainment scene was a difficult thing -- from that moment his life was never going to be the same. He is such a big celebrity, soccer is only a small part."

Apple drops iPhone price. Is a sleeker version planned at the original price point?

Only month's after its launch, Apple cut the price of its decidedly cool iPhone from the original $599 to a somewhat affordable $399. Historically, particularly with its line of iPods, Apple has been known to hold the launch price point well into the product's lifecyle, so the quick price-cut on the iPhone is a clear indication that the product may be falling behind the company's sales targets. So, while At&T network users are the still the only consumers that can buy and use an iPhone (unless you use this hack), the new $200 cheaper price point should help move a lot of the devices this fall. The price-cut though brings up an interesting question. Is Apple planning on bringing a newer, sleeker, cooler iPhone to market at the original $599 price point soon?

The MLS is to International Soccer, as Nascar is to _____?

The answer is Formula One.

It seems that former Formula One star Jacques Villenueve will follow in the footsteps of Juan Pablo Montoya and take his services to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. This exodus of once talented, but relatively washed up, Formula One drivers to NASCAR seems eerily similar to the exodus of once talented, yet relatively washed up, international soccer stars (see Beckham and Denilson) to Major League Soccer.

“You know, after Formula One, when you want to carry on racing, you want it to be at a tough level,” Villeneuve said of the move. “And in North America, the top level is NASCAR.”

We realize the popularity of NASCAR, but comparing the two, Formula One blows oval racing out of the water, especially when it comes to driver skill and their lightning quick reflexes. See Juan Pablo Montoya’s rookie success, particularly on the non-oval tracks on the NASCAR circuit. Whether this trend helps raise the profile of Formula One in the United States, or gets more Europeans to watch NASCAR, remains to be seem, but either way it's a win for the sport of auto racing.

In The News: August 27, 2007

Team USA finished the preliminary round of the FIBA Americas Tournament with a perfect, never in doubt, 4-0 record. Led by 21 points each from Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James and 20 points, and what is now becoming his trademark suffocating defense, from Kobe Bryant, Team USA beat the Brazilian National Team by a final score of 113-76. In reality, the game wasn’t nearly that close, as the US Senior National Team pulled away in the late second and third quarters. Extensive fourth quarter garbage-time against the Team USA second team produced the final relatively respectable tally. We could go on here and discuss the talent laden Brazilian team and the fact that they will likely pose the greatest challenge to Team USA during the FIBA tournament, but that in-depth discussion isn't really necessary. This version of Team USA looks good, really good. They’re starting to develop the type of swagger where Brazil could be replaced with any number of teams, from Germany to Argentina, and it wouldn’t really matter – the result would likely be the same. Team USA hasn’t had that type of sway since the original 1992 Dream Team, or 1996 Olympic team.

Leave My Sister Out of This!

If you follow soccer, or perhaps even if you don’t, you’ll likely remember French legend Zinedine Zidane treating Marco Materazzi of the Italian National team like a soccer ball at the World Cup last year with the infamous head-butt. At the time, both Zidane and Materazzi refused to discuss the exchange of words leading up to the surreal incident. But, with a new book on the episode coming out soon, Materazzi went into full publicity mode to let the world know exactly what he said to his French counterpart. We’re still not sure if Zidane should have resorted to an ejection inducing head-butt particularly during such an important game for his team, but you can certainly understand his anger. Materazzi’s lewd comments were entirely too harsh, as retaliation to the relatively tame trash-talk by Zidane that preceded the remarks.

Denilson Adds MLS Paycheck to Social Security Earnings

FC Dallas announced late last week that it had signed former Brazillian midfielder Denilson to a contract. Terms of the agreement were not announced, and the team said that Denilson would play as soon as he is able to secure a Visa. Denilson is a significant name in the world of soccer, having won the World Cup in 2002 following an illustrious career with the Brazilian national team and league teams like San Paolo FC and Flamenco, but he is also well past his prime. Not surprisingly, Denilson’s signing with the MLS produced barely a blip in the American sports landscape. Once again this goes to show that although David Bekham’s signing and subsequent games with the Los Angeles Galaxy has and continue to receive considerable attention, the cat-like curiosity toward Bekham, and his Spice Girl wife Victoria, is almost entirely celebrity driven. We don’t expect the same type of attention even if the MLS were to sign other legendary, yet past their prime, players like former Brazilian star Ronaldo or the aforementioned Zidane. For soccer to really take off in America, the MLS will need to spend the millions, which it incidentally doesn’t have at this point, to sign a few of the current stars like Ronaldinho, Christian Ronaldo, Messi, John Terry, Kaka and others -- not has-beens looking to make a few extra millions before riding off into the sunset.

myPhone, yourPhone, Everyone Gets a iPhone

A 17-year old kid in New Jersey, named George Hotz, has figured out a way to “unlock” the iPhone. It’s a relatively complicated process for sure, but Hotz, having worked with other “hackers” in the US and in Russia, was able to unlock his own iPhone and use it on the T-Mobile network, instead of the requisite AT&T service. Apple and AT&T haven’t commented yet on the developments, but we’re sure T-Mobile is already planning the company-wide happy hour in celebration. You can read more on Hotz’s blog. Hotz, incidentally, recently sold the first-ever “unlocked” iPhone for enough money to buy himself a Nissan 350Z and 3 new iPhones for his online partners who helped with the project.

Soccer star says, I’m not gay! (not that there’s anything wrong with it)

A Brazilian soccer star named Richarlyson is telling anyone who will listen that he’s not gay. Really, he’s not. Honest.

The comical drama, which could rival any daytime soap opera, began when a local newspaper reported that a prominent player in the Brazilian league team Palmeiras would soon come out of the closet. Palmeiras manager Jose Cyrillos Junior went on television soon thereafter to deny that any current players on his team is gay, but he did throw a passing jab at Sao Paolo FC player Richarlyson before signing off. Cyrillos insinuated that Richarlyson was almost hired by Palmeiras and perhaps he was the subject of the vague newspaper report.

Now this is where the story takes its greatest and most inane turn. Richarlyson, like any wrongly accused, red-blooded citizen would do, took Cyrillos to court. But, the judge took things to a whole new level by issuing a ruling that suggested that Richalyson leave the game if he’s homosexual.

"Not that a homosexual can't play soccer," said Judge Manoel Filho. "He can, but he must form his own team and federation, setting up matches with those who want to play against him."

The judge ordered Richalyson to defend himself on the same television program on which he was originally accused by the Palmeira head coach.

And, what does Richalyson’s mother have to say about all this?

“My son does not have this kind of problem,” she stated emphatically.

Mother knows best.

On an unrelated note: The steaming rivalry between Thailand and Mexico goes way back to the days of….well yesterday, when a crazy brawl broke out among players and then fans at a World University Games (did you know there was such an event?) soccer match. Four players were red-carded, fighting broke out in the stands and fans threw water battles on the field. (Fun times)