Thursday, August 12, 2010

08/12 Quickie: Isiah, Pavin, Knocks

Today's Names to Know: Isiah, K-Rod, Tiger, Corey Pavin (& Jim Gray!), Roy Oswalt, Marcus Thames, Rod Thorn, Darren Collison, Rex Ryan, Evander Holyfield, Nick Saban and More.

Naturally, the whole Isiah-returns-to-Knicks story ends with a whimper...

Stat of the Day: Tiger has been the favorite in every tournament he has entered since 1997... until today's PGA.

(This has become the dominant meme: Tiger's struggles as amazing for golf -- tournament results are uncertain and Tiger is a "redemption-or-failure" proposition. I think most fans tune in to see Tiger win, but are getting accustomed to the idea of tuning in to see him lose.)

Are you on Team Pavin or Team Gray? (As jerky as Corey Pavin seems to be, it's very hard to be sympathetic to Jim Gray, who is still dealing with residual bad feelings over his participation in The Decision. On the one hand, I don't believe Gray would go public with a made-up story; on the other hand, I believe Pavin did not explicitly say "Tiger is in.")

Big win yesterday for the Cardinals to take over 1st place in the NL Central. And without the need for bench-clearing brawls, no less.

Roy Oswalt's debut for the Phillies went about as well as could have been expected: 7 IP, 0 ER.

Um... wow, K-Rod. That's a lot of in-law rage. (What did his father-in-law say? "Mets suck?" Is his F-i-L really going to press charges?)

LaRoche, Montero, Reynolds, Drew: Back-to-back-to-back-to-back HRs.

That Yankees' win over the Rangers was a nice foreshadowing of what's going to happen in the playoffs: Cliff Lee pitches amazingly against NYY, but ultimately, the Yankees win.

USC suspends RB Dillon Baxter for opener: I presume you have to screw up pretty badly to be suspended by Lane Kiffin.

Not sure why Nick Saban would think limiting pro scout access to his practices would stop agents from approaching his players -- all it becomes is a datapoint for other coaches to (negative) recruit with.

Wait: Didn't Rod Thorn leave the Nets for retirement because he was old and it was time? Apparently not! (Don't mess with the Russian....)

NBA Trade: Great news for Darren Collison, who gets to run his own team in Indiana and step out of CP3's shadow in NOLA. (Doesn't it feel like Collison was traded for dimes on the dollar?)

The Hornets get a solid frontcourt player in Trevor Ariza. The Nets get a solid frontcourt player (with an expiring contract) in Troy Murphy. The Rockets dump Ariza's salary. Small wins!

Can anyone explain what Evander Holyfield is thinking?

Wow, "Hard Knocks" was kind of great. Rex Ryan is made-for-TV.

I just realized that I have two fantasy football drafts next week. Entirely unprepared, except that I won't draft Tim Tebow with my first-round pick. Clarity!

-- D.S.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"Not sure why Nick Saban would think limiting pro scout access to his practices would stop agents from approaching his players -- all it becomes is a datapoint for other coaches to (negative) recruit with."

I think it was all about sending a message to the NFL and the NFLPA. Not to mention Florida does the exact same thing too.

Lee S. Kowarski said...

I believe that in NY, domestic violence charges do not require the victim to press charges....