I'm Baaack

Wow, let me start off this blog by saying I am sorry I've been gone for so long. Very busy, very busy. I know my last blog was horrendous about Greg Oden and David Beckham, but I was kind of in a rush. Let me start off this blog by saying: Does Barry Bonds play baseball anymore?

For Gosh Sake's, I'd thought he was in the NHL by now. Jeez, you'd have thought he'd been suspended or something. I am guessing it is because of the NFL and College football seasons. Thank you football. It seemed like a Barry Bonds popout to second base would cause a ESPN Game Break, or a foolish swing by Bonds would lead of SportsCenter.

Onto my second topic, the Seattle Mariners and the worst analyst is baseball. I know that Seattle has won 7 out of 10, but my God how the mighty have fallen. Once four games up on the New York Yankees in the Wild Card, the Mariners are six games BACK and have moved to just third place in the Wild Card. Didn't Steve Phillips say a few weeks back that the Yankees had no shot at making the playoffs and that the Mariners were too strong? I guess the Mets knew what they were doing.

And on a final note, the recovery of Kevin Everett. Best wishes to him on his fight, and he should know that a lot of people are praying for him.

Season Tickets Holders Crushed

David Beckham and Greg Oden. Injured and injured. All those pre-paid season tickets down the drain. Come one Galaxy and Blazers, if they want that money back give it to them. People would not be paying to see your lousy franchises if Oden and Beckham weren't playing for them. Oden is out until NEXT year and Beckham has seemingly disappeared off the face of the Earth. The cheapwad owners need to give people their money back or the fans will not come back. Even if Oden and Becks are healthy.

Oden = Knee

Beckham = Knee and Ankle

At least Beckham played ONE game.

Oden played a couple preseason games and had 10 fouls one game and 9 fouls the next game. Maybe the Blazer fans will go up to Seattle to watch wunderkid Kevin Durant play basketball.

A Tiger, A Duck, A Sooner, A Longhorn, A Nittany Lion and A Mountaineer

Hey for this weekly column, I am just going to write a few notes about the week of college football that just happened.

LSU looked phenomenal last night against my favorite team, Virginia Tech. Everything seemed to work. They did an absolutely fantastic job against VT's two marvelous linebackers, opening huge holes. LSU looked like a team that deserved to be number one.

Oregon looked amazing yesterday against Michigan. Dennis Dixon is an absolutely incredible quarterback, he threw for more than 300 yards and more than 75 yards rushing. If it wasn't for being sacked a few times, he would have had more than 100 yards rushing. Jonathon Stewart also looked incredible, rushing for 111 yards. Oregon had some great defense, and remember, Michigan has Chad Henne, Mike Hart (who played great) and Mario Manningham.

Oklahoma is looking national championship caliber team. They scored 51 points against Miami's amazing defense. Sam Bradford, the redshirt freshman, played great, tying a school record with 5 touchdown passes.

Colt McCoy played OK in Texas's win. I had actually picked TCU to rout Texas after Texas's seven-point win last week. I think Texas still has some flaws, though.

I am not sure if Penn State was really good or if Notre Dame was really bad. Notre Dame had no offensive touchdowns, and Tom Zbikowski had the only touchdown for the Fighting Irish. The offensive line needs to protect Clausen much better, if they want to have any chance of finishing above .500 this year.

West Virginia really turned it around, after being down 13-6 at half. WVU then decided to play a little football in the second half, with Pat White and Steve Slaton scorching the Marshall defense for 42 second half points.

My Player of the Week: Brian Brohm who had 401 yards and 5 touchdown passes, leading Louisville to a 58-42 win over Middle Tennessee.

My Team of the Week: LSU was all around dominate against Virginia Tech in the game of the week, winning 48-7.

I'll Order a Fallen Hero

Rick Ankiel was sports hero. I mean, pitcher turned hitter, phenom turned bust turned phenom, it all works out to something magical. Until yesterday. Allegedly, Ankiel used human growth hormone in 2004 after his Tommy John surgery, allegedly using it from a prescribed doctor. Even though the doctor had to write an illegal prescription. Even though his doctor was a known subscriber. Even though-- well, I think you get the point. Rick Ankiel was the one who made us forget about B*rry B*nds. And Sammy Sosa. And Rafael Palmerio. He was making the St. Louis fans forget all about their fallen hero, Mark McGwire. Ankiel was on fire. I mean, you could have fried an egg on him. But now, like everyone else, he will be clouded in a smoke of despair and illegal performance enhancers.

There is a part two to this story. Troy Glaus, the 2002 World Series MVP and in 2000, hitter of 47 home runs, was found by si.com to be using steroids from 2003-2004. Seems suspicious however, that during those seasons he was out with injuries. World Series MVP to Steroid User. What, is David Eckstein next? The difference between Glaus and Ankiel is that, even though both of the drugs they used were illegal in the U.S., Glaus's performance enhancers, testosterone and nalderone, were both illegal in Major League Baseball.

It seems as if there is some guy, behind the scenes, just shelling out names, one by one by one. (Thanks to Around the Horn for that last sentence.)

Ode to the NFL

NFL season is near,
Oh dear!

Pacman in trouble
Vick times that double
And Herm Edward's stubble
Means the NFL season is near,
Oh dear!

Too many preseason games,
LaDanian Tomlinson thinks that's lame
And Randy Moss looks the same
Means the NFL season is near,
Oh dear!

The Colts try to defend,
Dwight Freeney dominating defensive end,
Watch Reggie Bush bend!
Means the NFL season is near,
Oh dear!

Steve McNair's getting old,
The Steelers black and gold,
Simeon Rice just got sold,
Means the NFL season is near,
Oh dear!

Watch Steven Jackson run,
JaMarcus Russel's got a gun,
Terrell Owens still isn't having fun!
Means the NFL season is near,
Oh dear!

Matt Leinart is throwing
Byron Leftwich is going
And Bill Parcells is at home sewing
Means the NFL season is near,
Oh dear!

Brett Farve just did a flea flick,
The clock is going tick tick,
Whata know, Rex Grossman threw a pick!
Means the NFL season is near,
Oh dear!

The Umpire Strikes Back

Okay, I know I am a little late on this subject. My bad. But I am outraged at Joba Chamberlin, the hotshot New York Yankee rookie, being suspended two games. He got suspended after throwing two 98 mile per hour fastballs over Kevin Youkillis's head, but Chamberlin was never warned. If you ask me, the umps and Major League Baseball are being a bit too picky these days. Umps now toss guys at rate that is as frequent as Alyssa Milano has boyfriends. Apparently you are not allowed to argue with the umpires, or you'll turn into Prince Fielder who got three games for arguing a call in a game "too aggressively".

Just a couple years ago, Torii Hunter got three games for throwing a baseball back at a pitcher after he was beaned.

Who is Bud Selig trying to be, Roger Goodell?

Maybe suspended these guys if they actually got into a real argument, like a bench clearing brawl a la Jose Offerman. The umps have short fuses and seem to be ready at moments notice to toss someone out. In fact, Bobby Abreu, a few months ago, got tossed for talking to a teammate in the dugout after he struck out. The umpire's back was turned to him and Abreu didn't scream or yell or throw a hissyfit. Maybe Major League Baseball should be a little bit more considered with its steroid investigation, which is going nowhere, instead of throwing someone out for something not out of the ordinary.

No Love for Ian

I hear stuff around the NCAA Heisman Award. "Darren McFadden is a guaranteed Heisman winner." "No John David Booty's too good not to run away with the win." "What about Steve Slaton? He could be one of the best?" "Come on guys, it's Brian Brohm all the way, he's the best quarterback in college football!" Well, they are all right, all those guys definitely deserved to be mentioned in the running for Heisman. But I believe that these "experts" are forgetting someone very important.

Ian Johnson, junior running back out of Boise State.

The same Ian Johnson who once had a 240 yard, 5 touchdown game.

The same Ian Johnson who scored the Fiesta Bowl's game winning two-point conversion on a Statue of Liberty play.

The same Ian Johnson who immediately proposed to his girlfriend on national television after he scored the game winner.

And yes, the same Ian Johnson who led the nation last year in touchdowns as a sophomore.

It is ridiculous. He was 1st team All-American in most voting. The guy is only a junior. He should be recognized for the Heisman instead of always being noted as the "dark horse" by stupid experts. It seems like since his magical Fiesta Bowl, Johnson has fallen off the face of the Earth, same with his team, Boise State, who won against Weber State last night, 56-7 as Johnson had 128 yards on 18 carries for 3 touchdowns.

Heisman voters, vote Ian Johnson in '08.

Undefeated Against Undefeated

The United States of America beat Uruguay last night (or morning, depending on where you live), by a score of 118-79. The problem? The United States faces a foe in Argentina, who, like the US, is also 6-0 after beating Brazil last night, 86-79 in overtime. The United States have obviously crushed teams like Argentina, but remember, these Argentinians are the defending Olympic champions and the number two ranked country in the world by FIBA (to the US). But, team Argentina is without the heart and soul of their team, and possibly their only chance at knocking off the United States, Manu Ginobili. But you also have to remember Luis Scola of that Argentina team, who had a double-double last night, scoring 23 and bringing down 12 rebounds.

To recap the US's game last night, they simply dominated. LeBron James put on arguably the tournament's best performance so far, going 11-11 from the field and 4-4 from behind the arc, scoring 26 points in just 14 minutes, after Coach K decided to give LeBron the second half off. LeBron's performance was only 2 points off Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson's record for points in a qualifying game. If the US wins, they will go into Saturday's semifinal as a number one seed.

Pool B Victory

11 pm. It's late night. But there is still basketball to be played. In Las Vegas, beyond the knowledge of anyone, the FIBA Americas Championships have been played and the United States of America have dominated. They are 4-0 so far, and defeated one of the toughest opponents last night, or this morning, technically, in some parts of the world, Brazil. Brazil has reigning sixth man of the year Leandro Barbosa and two other players with NBA contracts. But the U.S. destroyed Brazil last night, 113-76, with Kobe Bryant scoring 20 and LeBron James bringing home 21. The Americans will now open second round play after clinching their group, against Mexico tonight.

Barbosa was dominating the tournament to that point, averaging a tournament high 27. But the U.S. held Barbosa to just four points on 1of 7 shooting. Brazil was 3-0 to that point.

Mexico did lose last night however, as Uruguay won 91-82 on Nicolas Mazzarino's 36 points and 8 three-pointers. Uruguay is now 3-1 in tournament play.

It still remains to be seen if the updated "Dream Team" can knock of the basketball champs of the world, Argentina, led by San Antonio Spurs superstar Manu Ginobili.

Stay tuned for more wrap-ups of the FIBA America's Championship, where the top two teams are automatically in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

20 Times 10 Equals Hall of Fame

In a sea of dogfighting, steroids and gambling, there is one story that puts a smile on my face. Greg Maddux, yes, good Ol' Reliable Greg Maddux is in the news. Maddux has won his 10th game of the year of Friday, become the first pitcher in the history of baseball to win 10 games in 20 consecutive seasons. Not even Cy Young could do that (he previously held the record at 19 seasons). To be honest with you, I had no idea Maddux had even played 20 seasons. That kind of consistency is remarkable, especially in this day and age where the players are juiced. Maddux rarely throws 90 but is a pitcher's version of Ichiro Suzuki. Maddux has tremendous control, and controls his pitches the way Ichiro controls his pitches. Greg Maddux never strikes out many batters, and has almost taken over a journeyman's role the past few seasons, but with the same results. Maybe we should take time to recognize the remarkable achievement and record instead of concentrating on the achievements of false record.

Greg Maddux is one of the greatest pitchers of this generation, and if it weren't for Roger Clemens he would be the greatest pitcher of the generation.