Saturday, January 19, 2008

Saturday 01/19 A.M. Quickie:
Walker, Favre, Seanor, Harbaugh, More

Today's Names to Know: Herschel Walker, Brett Favre, Dave Seanor, Dana Stubblefield, "Therapeutic Use Exemption," Baron Davis, Matt Holliday, John Harbaugh, Georgia Frontiere, Bill Callahan, Mike Carey, Patrick Patterson, Todd Wright and More.

I'm sorry, but this is my favorite story of the last 24 hours...

Herschel Walker has multiple personalities?! Not to make light of a serious condition, but I heard each personality ran for 1,000 yards in his sophomore season at Georgia.

Slurper Bowl XLII: Give the New York Times' "Fifth Down" blog a nice bit of credit for this Mad Libs-style satire of the typical slobbering coverage of Brett Favre. I love this thing.

Golfweek controversy update: Editor fired. The instantly infamous "noose" cover has cost editor Dave Seanor his job, just days after the story went national – and nuclear. It was a huge error in judgment.

PED Scandal: Dana Stubblefield pled guilty to making false statements to the Feds in their BALCO investigation. Again: It's almost always the cover-up and not the crime itself.

Meanwhile, apparently, even before Selig's testimony before Congress last week when the "Therapeutic Use Exemption" came up in regards to players abusing Adderall and Ritalin in lieu of now-illegal stimulants like amphetamines, MLB claims it was already working on closing T.U.E. loopholes – I wonder why they wouldn't publicize that they were taking active steps? Maybe because they didn't want to draw attention to the staggering increase between 2006 and 2007 in TUE's.

NBA Last Night: Baron Davis had 40 in a Warriors win over the Bulls. In the last 12 months, Davis has turned himself into one of the Top 10 most dynamic players in the NBA. (Meanwhile, the Heat lost their 12th game in a row.)

Rockies sign Matt Holliday to 2Y/$23M extension: What a critical deal for Colorado, particularly coming off last season's miracle finish, which is unlikely to be repeated – but worth rewarding its superstar... and the fans.

Twins give Justin Morneau a 1Y/$7.4M deal: Remember when he was going to be a break-the-bank player for them?

Ravens hire John Harbaugh: He has never been a head coach. He has never been an offensive or defensive coordinator. But, hey, he's likeable.

RIP, Georgia Frontiere: The Rams owner brought a team back to St. Louis -- and a Super Bowl championship to the city after bringing Dick Vermeil out of retirement.

NFL Coaching Carousel: Bill Callahan is back in the NFL, as an assistant with the Jets, after his ill-fitting (and ill-fated) attempt to be a college head coach at Nebraska.

Know the Name: Mike Carey. Carey will become the first African-American referee to work a Super Bowl in NFL history. I'm not quite sure whether to cheer or shake my head: In 2008, how could a league like the NFL be at a point where they are still saying "first African-American ANYTHING." Shouldn't those barriers have been long-broken? Guess not.

College Hoops Today: GameDay is in Gainesville today for tonight's Florida-Kentucky game. Even though Florida isn't the Florida of the last two years -- and Kentucky isn't the Kentucky of the last two decades -- it's still a huge rivalry game.

Florida fans can watch Patrick Patterson and think about how awesome the team would have been if he had gone to UF instead of UK.

(Wonder if he's regretting that decision now? Given that he is a one-and-done college player, he was probably better off at a place where he could be the No. 1 star. Patterson is just below Kevin Love and Michael Beasley as the best freshman big man in college hoops.)

Sporting News Radio debut last night: One of the benefits of being part of the Sporting News network is that I am going to get the chance to go on their radio shows.

Last night, I had a terrific segment with Todd Wright, who is a fantastic host – phenomenal set-up questions and tremendously informed.

I will keep you updated as I do more of that, so you can listen in to hear me make a fool out of myself, trying to translate my shallow online ramblings into on-air commentary.

-- D.S.

5 comments:

Eric said...

I don't blame the NFL too much for the first African-American ref for the Super Bowl coming in '08. The league was somewhat late in diversifying refs, true. But the playoff choices, including the Super Bowl, are earned STRICTLY off their grade for the year, are they not? This just happens to be the first year that an African-Amercian ref scored higher than everyone else.

Unknown said...

That's great DS you love Florida we get it - but the must see TV game of the weekend is easily UCLA/USC.

Tuffy said...

Biggest surprise? Mike Carey hasn't already worked a Super Bowl. Is there a better referee? I just assumed he'd already worked three Super Bowls.

Dr. Zoom said...

I'm curious, Dan. If you were the editor of the golf magazine, what cover image would you have used? A picture of Tiger? A picture of the commentator? Can you see that no other image boils down the story to its base element any quicker?

The cover is not advocating lynching. Nor does it trivialize lynching. I don't see what's so obviously wrong with it.

Unless you wouldn't have made it your cover story at all. And I don't see how that makes sense, either.

Someone, please explain it to me.

Michael W said...

Serious question, Dan. Is Wade All-Star worthy this year? He's playing sensationally, even while injured, but he's on a wretched, wretched team. His play against the Blazers was inspired... in a loss. How much would you punish him for that?