Thursday, August 02, 2007

Thursday 08/02 A.M. Quickie:
Minneapolis, Cubs in 1st, VY KO, StubHub, More!

Twins postpone Thursday's game, with weekend games possibly affected by that horrific bridge crash. Thoughts and prayers with the entire Minneapolis community.

Cubs in first place in NL Central: Mark it down "August 2." Forget the records: The race between the Cubs and Brewers (and accompanying Wild Card race between that runner-up and the runner-up in the NL West) will be the two biggest storylines to watch in the NL over the next two months.

Vince Young involved in training-camp scrum: He's throwing the punches, which isn't the best move for your QB. But I like his fight! (No pun intended.)

Vick Watch: Does Donovan McNabb REALLY want to be going on the record as supporting Michael Vick?

Randy Moss is going to be devastatingly awesome for the Pats... if his hamstring holds up.

Wellington John Mara tells Michael Strahan to cram it with walnuts, ugly. (If Wellington Mara was telling Strahan anything, it would have been much bigger news, obviously, given that it would have been some sort of Strahan Seance.)

Fantasy Watch: Between Frank Gore's hand and Willie Parker's knee and Clinton Portis' rehab, what's a mid-round fantasy GM to think?!

YOU design Chad Johnson's future TD dance: Now THIS is a brilliant idea from Yahoo Sports. Hat-tip to Y! (And Chad, too!)

Another day, another scandal: This one crosses over into that mind-bogglingly corrupt one where colleges and lenders colluded, via kickbacks, to screw over students looking for loans.

It now seems (via the Washington Post) that student-athletes were sold out by their institutions to these student loan lenders. Schools involved in subpoenas range from Georgetown to Virginia Tech to "Auburn, Georgia Tech, Marquette, Oregon St, Rutgers, Texas Christian, UCLA, Kansas, Louisville, Oregon, Pittsburgh and South Florida," according to the WaPo.

Let me say this: Any school that engaged in this sort of tactics should be punished, perhaps even their athletic programs. The NCAA has no purview over this, but if their mission at all is about the welfare of the "student-athlete," this is something they too should look into. I won't hold my breath.

Buddy Bell resigns as Royals manager: But he still had so many good years of Gil Meche left! (Seriously, I'm all for him deciding to spend more time with his family, if that's sincere and not just the usual euphemism for being fired.)

Johnny Damon is griping about playing time: Gee, who didn't see that coming? Yankees fan or not, raise your hand if you'd rather have Shelley Duncan in the lineup over Johnny Damon. Thank you. (Meanwhile, the Yankees are 2 games behind the Indians for the Wild Card. With 55 games left to play? Wow, that didn't take long to go from "season over!" to "won't bet against them.")

CFB: Just in time for the close of Big Ten Media Day(s), the Northwestern football blogger Lake the Posts reveals his No. 1 NU football moment of all time. It's a no-brainer: NU over Notre Dame on Sept. 2, 1995. I couldn't agree more: This was, arguably (or inarguably) the biggest regular-season upset in modern college football history. Re-live the glorious moment here.

NBA schedule out today: Get all your jokes out now about bookies circling special dates... all done? Good. Here's an intriguing one: Kevin Durant vs. Carmelo Anthony in the season opener. I love it: Remember, Carmelo WAS Durant... except Melo actually managed to carry his team to an NCAA title, while Durant couldn't even lift his out of the Tournament's first weekend.

Sports tickets: MLB does a deal with StubHub. Don't discount how huge this is. They used to be at war with each other. Now they'll collaborate. I think business schools call it "coopetition."

Predators staying in Nashville: Or so the new owners say.

US Swimming Championships: How can you NOT root for Dara Torres, trying a comeback at 40 – and winning the 100m freestyle!

Coming later this morning: Looking for your fantasy-football advice! Check back around noonish.

-- D.S.

48 comments:

Unknown said...

DAN, CHECK YOUR EMAIL!

Anonymous said...

Dan. Wellington passed away almost two years ago, his son John said it

Matt T said...

Way too early to say the wildcard is coming from the Central or West. Atlanta/NYM/Philly may have something to say about that.

I was at the Ted last night for the debuts of the new Braves team. Teixeira had an RBI in his first AB without even swinging the bat.

He got a standing O before his first AB and after that 3 run shot, he got a curtain call, it was awesome

Unknown said...

You like the VY's fight? Well, you know what they say; it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog.

Wait, are we not supposed to reference dogs together in a sentence with former college superstar and top 3 pick, current NFL, running, athletic, Pro Bowl, african-american, starting quarterbacks for south-eastern United States' franchises?

My bad.

Greg said...

i said the same thing last night after duncan belted another one out of yankee stadium. i'd rather see him in the outfield than johnny damon. i don't know if yankees fans ever got to like the guy, aside from the initial "we stole the token red sox player" glee.

Melbye said...

Luckily with the bridge in Minneapolis, they were doing construction and only 1 lane was open--reducing the number of people that were on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

Lighter note: anyone else write a 20 page graduate level paper in 24 hours? I also read the book and wrote a report on Tuesday. Pro-cras-tin-a-tion.

chitown italian said...

My idiot friends already drafted football.

I just received a trade: I have Addai and Seattle D. I am offered LenDale White and Chicago D.

Assistance if there is any out there. Is Addai really going to be the man in Indy? I know they don't have Rhodes anymore but with Peyton's arm is the D going to offset his O?

ndyanksfan05 said...

can anyone imagine the rant dan would have had if any other QB got into a fight other than vince young...it probably would have been a paragraph long about how the team is screwed and the QB shows no leadership, etc...but because it is Dan's boy its a good thing.

2 back...stupid O's bullpen sucks, can't hold off the stupid red sox.

PatriotsNation said...

@ Chi Addai is going to have a great year. He is a top 5 RB!!

Don't make that trade!

CMFost said...

Yankee fans do not get excite your free ride ends in a 1 week when you finally play a good team then we will see if this run was a product of who you were playing or if the Yankees are actually back. Let's see where the Yankees are after they have to play 3 games @ Cleveland, 3 vs Baltimore, 4 vs Detroit, 3 at the Angels, 4 at Detroit and 3 Vs The Red Sox starting next Friday.

Let's try not to forget the Yankees have not played a team with a winning record Since the all Star break.

Unknown said...

@ Chi:
I think Da Bears DEF is head and shoulders above Seattle. However, you'd be giving up a top 10 (if not top 5) RB and getting back an RB that won't even be the starter.

Don't do it.

ndyanksfan05 said...

that may be true - but they are taking full advantage of it and tearing into everyone's lead, which is exactly what they need to do to make another run after a tough stretch coming up. So being two games out of the wild card with 55 to go is a pretty good place to be.

Unknown said...

The Dismantling of the Yankee Empire

Ok, I tried to get this to Dan so he could get it into the Quickie but he didn't so I will just copy what I wrote in the email to him at about 6:40 when Fortune broke this story to Mike and Mike.

Thought that you needed to know that Mike and Mike are talking about a story that Fortune Magazine is breaking that the YES Network (Yankees TV) is up for sale. Rumors have it that this will lead to the sale of the Yankees in under 3 years. They spoke to limited partners of the Yankees and they thought that the team was being sold.

This seems to make sense because Steinbrenner was going to give the franchise to his son-in-law but he and the daughter got divorced.

As you might know, the YES network is how the Yankees make money. The Yankees as a franchise LOSE money every year (due to those crazy salaries) and without YES they can't afford to pay those players. I doubt that the Steinbrenner would want to cut down on his FA signings so that would seem to indicate that he is going to sell the team.

The word is that YES would sell at about 3.5 BILLION dollars. That money can hold them at their current lifestyle for some time, but not too long. It will probably be enough so that they don't get into the big trouble that was starting to be forseen with the crazy costs of building the New Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees being the 2nd most expensive franchise in sports at roughly 1.25 Billion (Redskins worth more) this is obviously a HUGE story.


The link to the story is:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/01/news/companies/yes
_sale.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007080206

Unknown said...

Sorry, here is the link:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/01/news/companies/
yes_sale.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007080206

David Kippe said...

craig,

thanks for pointing that out regarding John and "the Duke" Mara. come on dan, you slip more and more each week...

Unknown said...

I cross that Minneapolis bridge to and from work every day. My wife actually crossed to about 15-20 minutes before it went down. It's going to take years to restore that area and it's one of the most traveled stretches in the Metro. Just devastating to this community.

futurelegendvinceyoung said...

Here is what happened yesterday at Titans camp. First off the Titans were not in full pads just shells. VY threw the ball to Courtney Roby and Roby had to jump up to try and catch it. Donnie Nickey a back-up DB and special teamer for the Titans was on covering Roby. When Roby went up Nickey hit him with his forearm just below the neck. It looked like he followed through with the hit and did not ease up.

VY did throw a punch at Nickey for what he perceived was a cheapshot at his WR after the incident cooled down VY walked about 60 yards away from the scrum and was visibly upset because of his actions at Nickey and because he had hung Roby out to be lit up.

PatriotsNation said...

Pretty decent fantasy football rankings!!

Yahoo List

Gary said...

I love the Twin Cities. I have family out there and go to Twins/Red Sox games whenever I have the opportunity. That new baseball stadium is going to do wonders for that area.

It's a shame that happened and it would be awful anywhere, but the people of Minnesota, and specifically the Twin Cities are very kind, welcoming people (and I love the way they talk, you betcha).

Thoughts and prayers to anyone affected by this accident

ToddTheJackass said...

Nice break Guy. That is really interesting, even if it's only speculation at this point.

As per the Yankees, they are most definitely back into the playoff picture. Earlier in the year, they couldn't even win a lot of these games that they were supposed to win (against sub-.500 teams), so while I still don't think they'll catch the Red Sox in the division, they are certainly right in the picture of the Wild Card. Is there anyone out there that knows the run differential splits for the Yankees home/away? It has to be an insane split, right?

Unknown said...

todd-

Yankees have scored 350 runs in their 54 home games for an average of 6.5 runs per game and 270 runs in their 53 away games for an average of 5.1 runs per game.

Unknown said...

CMFOST, have to agree with NDYanks. Yankees are playing the soft stretch of their schedule going into a really tough stretch. So I agree that we will need to wait and see but also they needed to pull within a few games of the WC leader now to have a chance. I don't think it is a done deal yet. Even as a Yankees fan, I really think there is little chance they will catch the Red Sox. However I would give them at least a 50% chance of playing a couple of games better than Cleveland and Seattle for the next two months.

You can say it is bad that the Yanks are playing all those tough teams but those are the team in front of them. Basically they control their own destiny.

We all agree that Damon and Giambi are a problem. All Yankee fans would rather see Phillips, Cabrerra and Duncan start right now. Part of the reason for all the curtain calls is the fans are trying to show their support.

Boomhauertjs said...

Terrible thing that happened in Minnesota. My company's HQ is there, but it sounds like everyone is ok.

If they have to postpone the Twins' weekend series with the Indians, they should move the games to Cleveland to make up for the home games that the Tribe lost thanks to that early season blizzard (they were played in Milwaukee). It will be a HUGE disadvantage if the Tribe has to make up 3 games (on top of the one they have to make up with Seattle).

Unknown said...

McNabb heavily recruited Michael Vick to Syracuse. Vick didn't come to be closer to home and to not follow in McNabb's footsteps. Many Syracuse fans consider that a pivotal moment in the recruiting woes that caused the slide from perennial top 25 team to a bottom feeder. It seems McNabb and Vick remained close over the time which is sort of strange to me since McNabb seems so classy and intelligent to me while Vick - not so much.

ToddTheJackass said...

MLB Studs and Duds from yesterday:

Studs:
1. Andy Pettite - W, 7.0IP, ER, 6H, 6Ks, BB
2. Jorge Posada - 2/4, 2HR, 3RBI, 2R
3. Manny Parra - 6.1IP, ER, 4H, 8Ks, BB (relief)
4. Mark Teixeira - 2/4, HR, 4RBI, 2R, BB
5. Marlon Anderson - 2/4, HR, 4RBI, 2R

Duds:
1. Bronson Arroyo - L, 1.2IP, 7ER, 7H, 2BB
2. Wandy Rodriguez - L, 4.0IP, 8ER, 6H, 5BBs
3. Heath Bell - L, 1.0IP, 4ER, 4H, BB (11th inning)
4. Mike Maroth - 1.2IP, 7ER, 9H, BB
5. Claudio Vargas - 2.2IP, 7ER, 5H, 2BB, 2HR

Unknown said...

Interesting topic on Mike and Mike this morning. Unfortunately I was getting ready for work and didn't get to hear the whole discussion but something I have wondered about for years regarding the contract situation in the NFL.

Contracts in the NFL are not guaranteed so if a player gets hurt or doesn't play up to expectations or even if there is a cheaper younger player, they get cut and the contract is meaningless. However if they play better than expected, they are bound to the contract and most teams are very resistant to renegotiating. It seems like the contracts do nothing for the players and only benefit the owners.

What the players go for in lieu of the guarantee is the signing bonus. In effect the signing bonus is the up front money that is guaranteed. Of course to get large signing bonuses, they need to sign long term contracts and lock their salaries down. If they hold out then teams feel they should get their signing bonus back. It is kind of a strange situation compared to other sports.

Part of the problem is that the NFL player's union is one of the weakest in sports. I wonder if that is going to change.

jhawkjjm said...

Bell resigns effective at the end of the year so he'll finish out the season and was given a job in the front office as a consultant or whatever.

I want to know what happened to Cleveland and Detriot. Both teams have just completely struggled lately it seems. That coinciding with the surge of the Yankees is why NY is only 2 out.

Unknown said...

cycledan-

How about the Yanks being sold? That was the much more interesting topic on M&M this mourning. I'd like to see some of the Yankee fans give their opinions.

I can't believe I typed that last sentence...

Unknown said...

Since I was a little kid, the only owner of the Yankees was Steinbrenner. People like to criticize and villify him but as a fan you appreciate the fact that he wanted to win as much as the fans did. I felt bad for fans of teams with corporate owners who wouldn't go all out to get that player who would make the difference.

Steinbrenner is getting old and his health reportedly is not so great. Everyone knew change was in the air inevitably. It is the end of an era. With the whole son-in-law divorce thing earlier, things became even more uncertain.

I would like to see Mark Cuban buy the Yanks! Well I can hope, can't I. You have to say that there are a lot of parallels between Cuban and the young Steinbrenner.

In some ways I am nervous, in others I am fatalistic since there is not much I can do about it and there are more important things in life to worry about.

I also think that this is Torre's last year and Girardi is the manager next year. I always loved Lou Pinella, as a player and manager. He did a great job with Seattle, did what anyone could do with the triple A talent in Tampa and look at the Cubs now.

Unknown said...

As Marc Cuban once said; "There are two types of owners; the type that can't stand to lose money and the type that can't stand to lose games."

If the Yankees new owner is the former of the two they are going to have to go through rebuilding period. This is something I would love to see.

Could you imagine if the Yankees just stunk for like 3 years? I'd go to the ballpark when they come to town and would get to boo them and watch them stink. That would be great.

TBender said...

Todd:
Better Dud than Maroth is Looper 7ER in 4IP. By the time Maroth got into the game it was already 8-1.

Unknown said...

tbender-

How is 7ER in 4IP worse than 7ER in 1.2IP?

FOR ALL THOSE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PEOPLE...
Colin Cowherd will have the Pac-10 commish on his show this hour. You can listen online at espnradio.com if you want.

mcam09 said...

The Yanks have taken full advantage of this soft schedule and have beaten some decent pitchers. (Shields, Halladay, Meche) Saturday, Phil Hughes is back which means a quality starter goes out every day. Chamberlain will be up by next week which will help the pen. As long as they can keep everyone happy with playing time, this team is going to the playoffs and I predict a 4th ALCS meeting of Yanks/Sox.

Kevin said...

Yankees fan or not, raise your hand if you'd rather have Shelley Duncan in the lineup over Johnny Damon. Thank you.

Um...whose point are you trying to make here? Is anybody raising their hand? Duncan has had an outstanding 25 at-bats. Damon has been a solid hitter his whole career (well, since '99, anyways). Anyone remember Shane Spencer? He had a couple great weeks in 1998, and then was never even an average hitter again for the rest of his career. Duncan was never viewed as a potential superstar; sure, it's possible that all the scouts missed something and Duncan is the next great hitter, but it's more likely that he's done extremely well in a small sample size and that he will be an average to below-average hitter for the rest of the season.

TBender said...

Looper was the starter.

The game already a blowout when Maroth came in and threw his kerosene on the fire.

For the game situation, his 7ER didn't matter.

ToddTheJackass said...

Dude, I don't even want to see another Red Sox/Yankees ALCS on Fox... I can't imagine how painful that would be for everyone else out there.

I have a bad feeling that Rupert Murdoch could own the Yankees... if it's not an anti-trust violation, it'd be like two parts of my axis of evil coming together. To misquote South Park, it'd be like 9/11 times 1,000.

futurelegendvinceyoung said...

Fuck Shane Spencer the greatest half year wonder in the history of baseball is Kevin Maas. Whatever happened to that guy?

pv845 said...

I just don't want to see another ALCS on Fox. The reason that people aren't watching the NBA and MLB playoffs has some to do with the teams, but more with the morons calling the games. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver ruin it for me.

ndyanksfan05 said...

The thing about Shane Spencer was that he was a huge pick-me-up for the yanks down the stretch that year and propelled them into the playoffs and eventually to a WS Championship...duncan is going to do the same thing. (come on-I'm a yankee fan, i have to hope)

David Kippe said...

didn't the yanks win 114 games that year? hard to say he was a catalyst that propelled them to the world series. just a hot september roster call up.

chitown italian said...

@ dan: Do Not, I repeat, Do Not jinx my Cubbies. There is a lot of baseball remaining.

futurelegendvinceyoung said...

NDYanksfan, Sparty is right. Spencer was called up in September of 1998 the year the Yankees won 114 games so how did Spencer help them that year?

CMFost said...

early dud - Roger Clemens out after 1.2 Innings - Yankees Down 8-0 with 2 outs in the 2nd.

ToddTheJackass said...

CM, that's just sporting the White Sox a chance with the way the Yankees are hitting. The game will be 14-12 by the end.

When are they calling up Joba?

Jen said...

Yeah, it's already 8-4 in that game.

Unknown said...

8-8 tie game!

Jen said...

Ahhh, the Tribe finally wins.

Kevin said...

The more important point is that Spencer really only was great for the last two weeks of September, excluding one monster game in August. Sure, Duncan can be great for a two-week stretch...but I can't see him doing it for two months.