Hypocrisy By Brooks

Sometimes I feel like it is best to take a deep breath and just ignore Sports By Brooks.  After all, he is nothing more than a sleazy sports gossip writer with about as much dignity as the people that feel the need to follow Lady Gaga everywhere she goes, including stalking the drainage system she empties her bodily waste in to examine her poop to see if the feces reveal anything about a sex scandal.  And then sometimes it is best to stoop to that very level of depravity yourself just because, well, actually it is not for the best it is fun for me to expose how much of a hypocrite someone is.

I am not going to link any tweets, but if you take a look at Sports by Brooks's timeline you will see the sports gossip columnist has ceased to be a sports gossip columnist and has turned into a full time Penn State gossip columnist since the Penn State flattery.  In this timeline, you will see a bunch of tweets about rumors, speculation that Jerry Sandusky will be acquitted by a jury of his peers in Centre County (?), and several tweets perched atop his moral high horse as he uses mental gymnastics of the amazing kind to equate a vote in support of Joe Paterno and Joe Paterno's legacy as a vote in support of child molestation and this tweet of what can only be described as pure insanity.  Even if Sandusky does shockingly get acquitted, to suggest something of the nature this early on in the process is nothing short of insanity.

Here is the graphic, 23-page, grand jury report.  This is what is known, both in terms of what Sandusky did and what McQueary and Paterno knew and did.  You can try make heads or tails of comments and actions from the early 2000s to try and infer more about what was known and who knew it, but I won't get into that.  If you choose to believe the interview Sandusky gave last night and the interview Mike McQueary is giving tonight then we know that too.  But outside of that, everything else is opinion disguised as fact, or moral high horse rantings disguised as opinion.  Rumors/reports from a gossip columnist are unfounded at best and trolling for followers/pageviews at worst.

But, SbB is indeed that.  I said as much above, and I think Brooks might even say as much.  It is his job to do this.  But I am writing a post because there is a catch.  The point of this post is not to chide someone for having an opinion.  You do not need me to tell you that this Penn State scandal has elicited some violent opinions.  Brooks is not the first person to espouse such opinions on this issue and he damn sure will not be the last.  But what makes Brooks a special case is that everytime he tweets something from his moral high horse on the Penn State scandal, he is setting in a glass house, trying to throw stones.  Now as far as we know, Brooks does not have a history of pedophilia, but I can confirm he has a perverted history of ephebophilia.  Behold, the hypocrisy of Sports by Brooks!

Yes.  You saw that link correctly.  That is Brooks.  Unabashedly ogling at a 17-year old's breasts.

The patron saint of Morality, everyone!

(h/t @AvalonBryan and the essential @zoowithroy)

I Doth Protest: Trying To Sort Today's Debacle Between The Phillies And The Marlins

In a season where Wilson Valdez played 18 innings in the infield, pitched the 19th, and became the winning pitcher after starting in the field for the first time since Babe Ruth, incredibly, that is no longer the strangest Phillies game of the season. That honor now belongs to today's Phillies-Marlins game which ended on a walkoff walk. Though it was not the 3rd walkoff walk of the 2011 season that made it bizarre and strange, but rather the 6th inning where Hunter Pence hit a deep fly ball to right that was initially called a double before being reviewed and (rightly) determining that there was fan interference on the play. Now whether or not Bryan Petersen would have actually made that catch is certainly suspect at best. It looked like his glove was closing as the ball was the falling down and it would ultimately bounce away from him, however, that is not for sure. What is known is a fan definitively reached over the wall and made sure Petersen had no chance of making what may have been one of the great plays of the day. That is certain.

Now if only it were that simple. Where the controversy occurs is how the umpires went about today's festivities.

That the exact written rules for instant replay are not available online do not make things easier in judging if Joe West acted properly or not. This is what we know. Instant replay is used for reviewing home runs. This was ruled a double turned to an out based on fan interference. A home run does not factor into that at all, although if the umps wanted to review to see if it was home run, then they can make the call that they made today.

Joe West said Charlie Manuel requested a review. Charlie Manuel said he did not request a review. The rules say a manager does not need to make a request for there to be a review. Judging from the video that it never appears Charlie Manuel approaches the umpires asking for a review certainly does not lend credit to Joe West's case. Jack McKeon, on the other hand, does appear engaged with the officials. It is highly doubtful he would be requesting the umpires see if that play should result in two runs for the other team.

Joe West would go on to say, "We’ve got a decision as to whether the spectator inference happened over the fence or before the fence."

The question here is about the process, not about the results of that process. It certainly appears that at the very best there was a stretching of the rules to get where they got to, and if not, then a lot of lying on the part of Joe West after the game. Whether or not they got the call right, I believe they did, but at the same time, it is a stretch to say that the Bryan Petersen making that catch is a given. According to Rule 3.16, "If spectator interference clearly prevents a fielder from catching a fly ball, the umpire shall declare the batter out." It is unknown if the catch would have been made, but that fan reached over the wall and clearly prevented denied him that chance. But were the umps allowed to review it?

That's the question MLB will be asking when they rule whether or not to uphold the Phillies' official protest of the game. So much has been said, and the instant replay rules are not readily available online preventing me from definitively for sure, but given Joe West's comments, it certainly appears suspect. It's been 25 years since a protest has last been upheld. Regardless of it MLB should uphold the protest, it certainly would be shocking if they did based alone on their dealing with the umpires and historical precedence.

Blah Blah NHL Discipline Blah Blah Blah Rant Blah Blah Blah

Someone please explain to me how this is a 4-game suspension.....



But this does not even get a hearing.



Want the difference between the two in terms of how they should be treated with discipline? Last time I checked, you cannot piledrive someone into the boards like Boychuk did. And if you break down CBC's angles screen by screen (because all NBC gave was shitty angles that show nothing), you can clearly see Boychck did just that. The main crime Aaron Rome committed was he hit Horton late. Not only did Boychuk hit Raymond late, the actual check was much more vicious.

Though while I am pointing out stupid things Boston Bruins did, Patrice Bergeron, once a victim of this, elbowed a guy in the head.

And here is Brad Marchand being an ass just because he "felt like" it.



But go on, people. Keep believing the Canucks are the only team in this series that uses dirty tactics. Yeah. Sure. Whatever.

Eff You, Logan Couture

If the Penguins come back and take the Atlantic Division, the Flyers will have but one man to blame: Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks. Coming into the game 7 points behind the Flyers, the Penguins needed to salvage anything they could against the visiting San Jose Sharks. Just getting one point out of the game would be a huge improvement to the Penguins situation as being 6 points behind the Flyers (3 games) with is much better than being 7 points out (4 games). With just over a minute left, and up by a goal, Logan Couture had a chance to put the game out of reach with an empty net goal. Only instead of scoring, this happened.



The Sharks could not win it in the last minute and the game went to overtime. It does not matter that the Sharks would go on to win the game in awesome fashion in said overtime. The fact of the matter is the Penguins got a crucial Bettman point. The Penguins are now three games behind the Flyers instead of four because of Couture's inability to perform simple tasks to skate up to an empty net and put the puck in. So if it comes down to it, and the Penguins win the Atlantic Division by 1 point, there will be only one man worthy of your scorn in the NHL. Your potential 2010-2011 Philadelphia Flyers goat: Logan Couture, ladies and gentlemen!

Wakey Wakey Eric Snow

In his first year as 76ers color commentator for CSN, Eric Snow has grown to be everything I detest in an analyst. He very frequently refers to the Sixers as "we" and "us" (yeah I know I do that to sometimes, but I am not getting paid any money here), his analysis very frequently makes very little sense. And basically he just acts like a cheerleader for the team. But this video takes the cake. The already unprofessional Eric Snow took his unprofessionalism to a brand new level when he thought the middle of a Sixers broadcast was a good time to doze off.



I love how Marc Zumoff had no idea how to react ("are you meditating?"). I guess if I were in Marc's shoes, I would have had the same reaction. I am not a huge fan of the guy, but he has had his current job as Sixers play-by-play man for 17 years, worked with the Sixers for an even longer period of time, and the best CSN has gotten him for a color analyst is a guy who dozed off while they were on the air. Aye yi yi.

The Cliff Lee Signing Made For Some Pretty Awkward Interviews

My sincerest apologies for the lack of posts this week. Finals kicked me in the ass this year like no year before. Even though the videos I am about to post are a couple days old now, I still believe they are worth the awkward hilarity.

We all know that late Monday night, 4 minutes before Matt Schaub threw a game-ending pick 6 on Monday Night Football in overtime and 10 minutes before midnight, Cliff Lee agreed to take his talents to the city of Brotherly Love. That means that the late local news shows had to wait a whole 23 hours for them to cover this story. And when they did, it was showered with uncomfortable awkwardness. First up, NBC10 attempts to interview Cliff Lee who at the time was just arriving in Philadelphia International Airport. Needless to say, he was not really in the mood for a surprise interview.



The interview comes off a whole lot differently when you read the transcript. It's amazing what being interviewed after getting of an airplane can do to words.

As awkward as that interview was, on the very same Tuesday night, the Fox29 10:00 news decided to get even awkward. Luckily for all involved, they strayed away from a surprise Cliff Lee interview. They decided to be awkward by sending a man on the street to interview fans. No, not Phillies fans excited to have their star of 2009 back. But Yankee fans in town, pissed that Cliff Lee spurned them to go to the Phillies. And oh by the way, this was the lead story of the evening.



Douche-tastic!

And this, my friends, is why 6ABC is the most watched local news station in Philadelphia. Wait a minute, on second thought, they are not perfect either.

Dan Dierdorf Does Not Enjoy Streaking Fans

This video is all sorts of funny for so many reasons.



I now eagerly anticipate everyone saying that all New York fans are crazy drunks, just like Philly fans. After all, the same was true about Philadelphia fans once they had idiots running onto the field at Citizens Bank Park. New York Jets fans are going to get the same treatment because of this one dumb drunken idiot, no?

A Lesson To Those Who Think They Can't Make An Impact On The Internet

May I present the power of having a few Twitter followers who have a bajillion more followers than I do.

In a fit of rage on Twitter, someone types the now deleted tweet: "Hey Philly, screw you and your homophobic, battery-throwing, smoke-bomb tossing, Santa Claus-booing fans," minutes after tweeting yet another now deleted tweet about how satisfied she would be: "If some sort of hilarious, season ending illness befell every Phillie," I respond to her with a "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" and a snide "All Philly fans in a nutshell," and the next thing I know, practically ever Philly sports fan I follow is completely bashing her into smitherines. Read at your own risk. (FYI, this is the smoke-bomb incident she was referring to)

What had happened was after I tweeted it, someone with a lot of followers who follows me also retweeted it, which prompted more retweeting from people with followers and the next thing you know, some reasonably anonymous NoCal and USC fan is a trending topic in Philadelphia. While I obviously had no intention of it becoming a huge deal square in the middle of Game 2 of the NLCS, I can't say that I did not revel in the hilarity of it. If you are going to go on a place like Twitter and spew out the tired generalizations about Philly fans that everyone and their mother is sick and tired of (never mind that the Santa Claus booing was over 40 years ago) on top of calling us homophobes (never mind that Philadelphia is for the most part a politically liberal city), and I am going to re-tweet it to point out the patheticness of it, and if it gets picked up by people with more followers than I have, then be prepared to feel the wrath of your stupidity. To her credit, she did not fire back with thousands of insults, she did apologize, over and over again, and she did seem to take it in stride (although she did delete her controversial tweets), but suffice to say, I think the lesson has been learned.

Now for those wondering how on earth I got to be following said Giants fan, well, she is 49er16's friend and a year or so ago he told me to follow her.

/DUCKS

Think you can't make an impact on the internet? Think again.

A Rundown Of The Play Clock Controversy And Why The Officials Are Entirely At Fault

Here is in more detailed, precise, and clearer terms a run down of what happened with yesterday's end of 1st half play clock controversy between the Eagles and the Redskins and why the sole blame of what happened lies directly on the officials.

1. Shady McCoy is tackled at the proverbial 1 inch line.

2. Referee Alberto Riveron goes upstairs for a booth review to see if Shady McCoy got in.

3. Despite replays being at best inconclusive and at worst short of the goalline, the review takes upwards of 5 minutes.

4. Riveron comes back and rules, "play stands as called."

5. Riveron then goes back and spots the ball at the 1-yard line, something that should not be happening if the play really did stay as called, otherwise, the play would not stand as called.

6. Having heard "play stands," Andy Reid calls a QB sneak to run on 4th and goal from the proverbial 1-inch line.

7. Seeing that the ball had been moved to the 1-yard line, Andy Reid calls timeout, and calls the official over to talk about it because while a good play call from the initial spot, a QB sneak is not so good from a whole yard out and he needs to get things straightened out.

8. All the while Andy Reid is trying to figure out the referee's ruling and why the ball was moved back, Alberto Riveron and his crew inexplicably start running the play clock after the 30-second timeout, even though normal officiating practices dictate that you do not run the play clock while the coach is conversing with the official and trying to figure out a call.

9. Because Andy Reid is talking to the official, he can't relay a different play to Kevin Kolb in time.

10. The play clock inexplicably winds down and because the Eagles just called timeout, they cannot call another one before a play is run and are forced to take a delay of game penalty.

11. That moves the ball back to the 6-yard line and the Eagles have no choice but to kick a field goal before the half.

12. Had the ball been spotted as Alberto Riveron dictated it should have been, the Eagles would have run the planned QB sneak and in all likelihood Kevin Kolb would have found his way in for a touchdown.

As he always does when something goes wrong, Andy Reid claimed it was his fault, but as you can clearly see by the outline of the events above, absolutely none of it was his fault. It is on the referees to not only be honest when they are ruling that a play stands as called, but to not run the play clock without at least alerting someone while a head coach is trying to sort out the controversy, especially after he called a timeout.

All in all it is excuseless piss poor officiating that played a big role in the Eagles losing yesterday's game. Now I am not saying the officials are the only reason the Eagles lost, other factors such as the Eagles shooting themselves in the foot by missing tackles contributed, but to say the officials played no part in the outcome last night is to say that pigs have wings and can fly. It is said that if an official does a good job, no one will notice or talk about him. Well, here is a whole blog post on Alberto Riveron in addition to the mention he got in last night's recap where I outlined some of the other blunders of him and his crew.

When Dumber And Dumberer Are Opposing Coaches In A Football Game...

...This is how it ends.



I did not think it was humanly possible for Les Miles to be out-stupided, but Derek Dooley and the Tennessee Volunteers accomplished that task with flying colors. Oy ve.

MLS Forgets The Philadelphia Union Exist

This is the pennant for the 2010 MLS All-Star game. Displayed in the pennant are the logos of 15 MLS franchises. Just one problem. MLS has 16 teams. Missing from the pennant? The Philadelphia Union. Yep, Sebastian Le Toux will be representing a league who forgets to add his team's logo to their special All-Star pennant. A soccer league that on a daily basis is competing for viability and legitimacy among both diehard American soccer fans and to an extent the soccer world has forgotten to include one of its teams' logo on the All-Star pennant. That's unfortunate.

(Hat tip to Brotherly Game)

Did Someone At The Bell Centre Try To Sabotage The Flyers Yesterday?

Now whether or not this was just an accident or an actual case of sabotage on the part of someone from the Canadiens organization, Bell Centre staff, or Habs fan(s) will likely never be known. But an interesting there was a rather interesting discovery in the walkway leading from the Flyers locker room to the ice at Bell Centre. Littered across said walkway was sand or a sand-like substance. Now for those not sure what impact this has to do with anything, sand can dull skate blades, and its impact on the Flyers win in Game 4 was very noticeable. Several Flyers needed to head to the locker room to get their skates sharpened (Mike Richards led the most times sharpened with 5). From myFoxPhilly.

Broadcasters at NBC first pointed out during Game 4 on Saturday that the Flyers' key players kept disappearing to get their skates sharpened during the game, which the Flyers won 3-0.

In fact, Mike Richards and Claude Giroux missed stretches of game time, with Richards having to get his skates sharpened five times.

At one point, Richards was spotted standing in his socks. He missed about 3 minutes of game time, because he had to wait for teammate Kimmo Timonen, who was also having his skates sharpened.

The possible culprit: a large amount of a sand-like substance found on the access area to the Flyers' bench, which the Philadelphians had to walk through to get to the ice.

The sand may have put large nicks in the Flyers' skates until the team put towels over the walkway.

In Montreal, there is no mention of the tampering in the Montreal Gazette. The NHL had no comment to the AP about the incident. Some Flyers coaches and players downplayed the incident.

But in other parts of Canada and in the U.S., the incident has raised a lot of questions of how the sand got near the Flyers bench during such a critical time.

In the Toronto Sun, one writer questioned if it was the lackluster Habs who were stuck in a sandstorm.

"The Montreal Canadiens looked like they were skating in sand in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals," said Chris Stevenson.

Frank Seravelli from the Philadelphia Daily News brought up an obvious question: How did sand get into the Bell Center when the nearest beach is 180 miles away?

He says at least five Flyers players had to leave the game at one point due to skate issues.

Adding to the mystery are comments made by Richards, who said Flyers assistant equipment manager Harry Bricker believed the substance on the floor was “a little too big for being sand pellets.”

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette didn't point any fingers at Montreal for the sand problem and said he wasn't aware of any issues. He would only acknowledge that some Flyers players had "skate issues."

Off the record, two Flyers told Anthony Sanfilippo of the Journal Register that someone may have been up to no good in Montreal.

“I don’t know where it came from,” one Flyer told Sanfilippo. “But it was definitely getting in our skates. To have that many skate problems in one game is rare, no, more than rare, it’s unheard of.”

It is important to note that sand does not show up out of nowhere. Montreal is not Atlantic City. The Bell Centre is not Boardwalk Hall. I am not going to point any fingers to anyone, but I am going to bring up the question of how a foreign substance resembling sand finds its way to the Flyers walkway (and only the Flyers walkway) inside the Bell Centre, especially when the closest beach is over 2 hours away from the arena. Is it possible that there is an explanation that this is some sort of freak accident? Yeah, it is possible, though knowing Montreal and some of the shit they have tried to pull in this series alone, it would not wholly surprise me if someone from the organization, close to the organization, or even an unruly fan decided it would be a good idea to blatantly sabotage the Flyers. The good news that comes out of this: if it was sabotage, the plan clearly backfired as even though they had skate problems, the Flyers still went on to win the game 3-0.

Great Moments In Streaking

Seeing as Philadelphia has had it's surge of streakers in the past few days, I figured now would be as good a time as any to lighten the mood by posting some of the funnier and humorous videos of fans running onto the field and/or streakers.

Super Bowl XXXVIII streaker, moments after Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction.



One of the NFL Wembley games saw this guy go to midfield and do a very odd dance



This streaker is likely still eating food through a straw.



The only thing funnier than this streaker getting knocked out is the way he is dragged up to be taken away.



The streaker shoots.....and scores (WARNING: Rated R and NSFW)



I'm such a dweed for constantly laughing at this old Nike commercial featuring a streaker



The fans keep coming in this video from Dodgers Stadium!



This streaker can....win....the.....race.......or take a face plant



It's a streaker love story. For realz.



Bertie Bee watches too much WWE, as evidenced by this rather impressive back body drop, northern lights suplex combo.



There's no better way to celebrate a big hit by Albert Pujols than by streaking onto the field!



This takedown is awesome



Beckham shoots....and it goes wide of the guy with little clothing!



And lastly, security could be a bit better at Portland State



It should be noted that while hilarious, I in no way condone this behavior, and if you are going to be a complete jackass and run onto the field/pitch, acknowledge that you could get your head taken off, get tased, or whatever, and also, try to make it funny like most of these are. Better yet, do it with little to no clothes on. If you are going to be dumb, be somewhat funny as well. And don't do it in clutch situations. Please never run onto the field before a clutch situation. I hope you enjoyed seeing way too many people with little or no clothing on!

If anyone has any other good ones that I could not find, put the link in the comments section and I will add it.

Don't Tase Me, Bro!

Interesting occurrence at last night's Phillies game. Somehow a 17-year old moron found his way onto the baseball field last night at Citizens Bank Park. After a brief chase around the outfield, the cops finally corralled him and took him away in handcuffs. Just how were they able to get him in handcuffs? They tased him!



You want to be a dumbass and run onto the field like that? Then you deserve every bit of that tasing and the subsequent laughter that comes from the internets when the videos get posted all over YouTube. Good times last night at Citizens Bank Park...........good times.

Eagles Draft Brandon Graham

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Okay, maybe not really. Here's the good and the bad real quick.

The good: Tom Jackson called him the best defensive player in the draft. That's high praise from a man who knows what he is talking about. Graham is a hybrid type player and can play either DE or OLB. Look for the Eagles to use him opposite Trent Cole.

The bad: The Eagles traded up for this pick and in doing so,ignored a glaring need in their secondary. They need a CB and they need a safety, and once they traded up, they had Earl Thomas and/or Kyle Wilson at their fingertips and they blew it. They had their guys and instead they took Graham. The opposite of this is a deadly pass rush can help the secondary out a bit, but it starts to become a bit of a problem when you don't have a physical body back there. And now the Cowboys drafted Dez Bryant. Yeah we're screwed this year.

The Funniest Overtime Ending You Will Ever Seen

(Video originally posted at Broad Street Hockey)

If I said at the beginning of the playoffs that a team will score an own goal in overtime to lose a game for his team, please name it, chances are, you would have said the team it actually happened to. Words can't describe the bizarre hilarity of this.



Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the Sharks, I don't wish ill upon them, and my heart goes out to Dan Boyle who must be beyond sick right now, but good grief, this is just flat out hilarious. The team with the reputation of choking in the playoffs has come up with 2 all-timers in the past week, and frankly, I think this one takes the cake. I have never seen anything like this in my life. Wow.

The Eagles Have Officially Dethroned The Seahawks For Dumbest NFL Trade In 2010

Wow. Um. Wow.

The Eagles have just let Tom Heckert and Mike Holmgren rape the shit out of them with this trade.

Eagles trade: CB Sheldon Brown and LB Chris Gocong
Browns trade: LB Alex Hall and their 4th and 5th round pick in the 2010 draft (105 and 137 overall).

You've gotta be shitting me?

The Eagles traded a shitty starting linebacker for a shitty back-up linebacker who has only played 2 games. Advantage: Browns.

The Eagles traded the heart and soul of their secondary (not to mention best player in their secondary) for 2 middle of the draft picks. Advantage: Browns.

I have no idea what is going on anymore. The Eagles now have 10 draft picks and instead of filling a need, they have created another one. If there is truth to the rumor that the Eagles are going to trade McNabb and picks for Nnamdi Asomugha and picks, then the Eagles need to realize that Asomugha is only one player. As of this trade, our secondary corps is worse off than it was at the start of the day, our LB corps is worse off than it was at the start of the day (at least Gocong has NFL playing experience), but we have increased our number of draft picks to ten! Yay for draft picks!

Last season the Eagles tried to win a championship around a core of players that had been there for awhile. They built around that corps. They failed miserably. Now they are essentially getting rid of that entire corps. But if you are going to trade Sheldon Brown, at least get more value for him than a 4th round pick and a 5th round pick. Sheesh. And besides, having one or two veteran leaders that can still play the game of football is never a bad thing. Besides, Sheldon Brown is as tough as nails. He will be something that is very difficult to replace. As sad as it is, my belief in the Eagles secondary rests on the completion of a miracle deal involving Donovan McNabb and Nnamdi Asomugha. Save me now.

The Mistake Of The Tournament: 11.2 Seconds

Frankly, I am surprised that this mistake has not gotten more coverage in the press today, as after all, this dumb mistake is the reason why the Tennessee Volunteers lost to the Michigan State Spartans. Tennessee made one grave and avoidable mistake in their elite 8 game against the Spartans, and yet, it cost them the whole game. Check out the video below, and before you get intimidated by the 9-minute length, I have set it up so that it begins at the relevant part of the video.



Seeing as CBS and/or the NCAA will likely take it down in a few hours, here is what happened. With the shot clock off and Tennessee with the ball and 28 seconds left, they had the perfect opportunity to win the game. But then Scotty Hopson made one mistake that ensured that his team would not go to the Final Four.....

He shot the ball. With 11.2 seconds left. Thus I ask the rather obvious question, WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU SHOOTING THE BALL WITH 11.2 SECONDS LEFT???? What sense does that make? In this game? Against this team? How dumb can you get?

All you have to do is ask a Maryland fan what happens when you attempt a game winning shot with too much time left on the clock. And the Terps only left Sparty with 6.6 seconds in that ill-fated 2nd round game of 8 days ago. Why are you giving Michigan State 11.2 seconds to work with? Again I ask, how dumb can you get?

I don't care if it was the best look in the world, you wait until at least the clock says 5 seconds before shooting that ball, that way if you miss on the initial shot, you have a chance for a rebound or a tip in. It's a 1-point lead, Sparty is not going to foul you in that situation, you hold to ensure that either you have the last shot or you force them to outdo Christian Laettner on the 18th anniversary of his game-winning shot at the Spectrum. But under no circumstances do you give Michigan State a whole 11.2 seconds to work with. If they buried a team in 6.6 seconds, what on earth made Scotty Hopson think their defense could hold Michigan State for 11.2 seconds?

But Hopson is not the only one to blame for this grave mistake. Tennessee had timeouts left (emphasis on the plural), why on earth did Bruce Pearl not call a timeout there? Make sure everyone on the team is 100% aware of the situation. You have to make sure there are room for no errors there. You can't just trust that all your players know the situation. Let them know, no matter what, you have to hold the ball for the final shot of the game. And if it's not the final shot of the game, ensure that the last shot of the game is nothing but at least a half court heave or an attempt at a miracle catch and shoot. Under no circumstances do you give a tournament tested team with the best tournament coach of our time 11.2 seconds with which to work and get his team to the Final Four. And for all those people claiming that this is just hindsight, let me ask you this, after Hopson let that ball go with 11.2 left, was there anyone in the country that felt like Tennessee was going to win that game? Or was it a foregone conclusion that Michigan State would drain the last shot of the game, even if it had to be from the free throw line like it turned out to be? I knew instantly Sparty was winning at that point.

And lastly, as evil as it would seem for me to be to call out one of my favorite analysts in any sports, I have to call out Bill Raftery for this one. Maybe he was in NBA mindset for a minute where he was thinking that common strategy would be each team trying to score as quickly as possible and did not say anything because Sparty would make the same mistake that Hopson made and leave Tennesse with more than 1.7 seconds to score again, but how did he not mention that error at all? And even if was the strategy of each team wanting to score as quickly as possible, why wait a whole 17 seconds before shooting with 11.2 seconds left? Here's the link to the MMOD video of the game. Fast forward to the end and this moment and see if there is ever a moment where Raft talks about Hopson's grave error. I can save you the time and tell you there is no mention of it. But if you think I am stupid, you can click on the link, jump it to the end, and see for yourself that in the near 10 minutes from the time of Hopson's mistake to the end of the broadcast, there is no talk of Verne or Raft of that mistake. You are one of the best analysts in the game.....how do you not bring that up????

And it's not just Raft. Hardly anyone mainstream is talking about that mistake, and yet, it is something that everyone should be talking about. If not for Hopson shooting too soon, the refs never have a chance to call a questionable foul on Prince sending Sparty to the line and the win. You never give Michigan State another chance to do what they did to Maryland. You control your own fate and destiny in this crazy mixed up world. The Vols had that chance. Scotty Hopson and Bruce Pearl choked. Majorly. Tennessee fans can cry foul to the refs all day long for calling that questionable foul, but it's like I said, why even give that chance? Better yet, why are you giving a team skilled in buzzer beaters a whole 11.2 seconds to score one???? Tennessee did it. Question that foul all day long, it does not matter, Hold the ball longer. Take that last shot with less than 5 seconds left. Hope it's a buzzer beater or Evan Turner did not transfer to Michigan State overnight. If it's a miss, fight for the rebound or the tip in. You have timeouts, use them! Bottom line: Tennessee deserved to lose that game. They made the fatal mistake, the biggest mistake thus far in the tournament. They gave Michigan State too much time. You never do that. Never. Just ask Greivis Vasquez about what they can do in 6.6 seconds. And you can now add Scotty Hopson to that list. Only he will tell you about 11.2 seconds.

The Most Frivolous Sports Lawsuit Ever

When I first heard of this story earlier this week, I did not want to touch it with a ten foot pole, due to, well, quite frankly, you never know who is reading or what mess you can get yourself in by posting something you feel is harmless fun. It all started when porn star Samantha Ryan posted this video for TheShiver.com, entitled Top 5 Reasons Being A KU Fan is Better Than Being A Kentucky Fan (note: this was before the loss to NIU). I am not going to name the reasons here, but you can click on the link and watch the brief PG-video involving a porn star for yourself. It really is nothing more than a standard trash talk from a KU fan (Samantha Ryan) to Kentucky fans. There are some decent zingers but nothing over the top or outlandish, although it should be mentioned that she proudly declared she was in the movie Girls Kissing Girls.

Anyway, out of good-natured fun, Kentucky Sports Radio (which, believe it or not, is nothing more than a sports blog) decided to post a reply/parody to Samantha Ryan.

What followed a few days later was a letter from Samantha Ryan's attornety threatening to sue KSR for defamation of character. Seriously. In the following blockquote from Kentucky Sports Radio is the letter from Samantha Ryan's attorney to KSR and KSR's reply to the letter.

Dear Mr. Jones,

We are attorneys for Samantha Ryan. We have been alerted to the following article (enclosed) currently posted on your website kentuckysportsradio.com

Top 5 reasons being a UK fan is better than being Samantha Ryan

(1.) We are content with the fact that most of our guys could be “one and done.” Samantha Ryan can’t stomach the thought

(2.) Kentucky can take six highly touted recruits, combine them with seven hungry players, and make the best team in the nation. Samantha Ryan can take 13 guys, at once, and make her father disappointed.

(3.) A great day to UK fans includes bourbon and horses. A great day to Samantha Ryan includes bourbon and… well… horses.

(4.) UK fans erupt after watching the Wildcats’ good penetration, going back door, and slamming it in. On second thought, Samantha does, too.

(5.) Earlier this season, Ben Roethlisberger came in Rupp Arena…Hmmm we’re not so different after all.

Are you sure you’re not a Kentucky fan, Samantha?

The above statements are false and defamatory. We have also been informed of similar defamatory statements and statements that portray our client in a false light made on the air. These statements constitute actionable defamation and false light. Further, there is an unauthorized photograph of our client on the site.

We hereby demand that you immediately remove the article from your website. We also demand that in its place, you post a correction stating that the statements made were untrue. We also demand that you correct on air the fact that the statements made about our client on your broadcast were untrue.

Please provide proof of correction to us immediately. If we do not hear from you, we will seek an injunction and damages.

Sincerely,

Michael

There goes my peaceful Sunday afternoon. When I first read the email, I must admit that I assumed it had to be a prank. Because the KSR legal staff (right now me…but feel free to apply) has been working extra hours recently dealing with whiny complaints from entities near and far, my assumption was that one of my friends had tried to think of the most ridiculous lawsuit possible and then sent the letter. “Hey I got it…what would be the most bizarre thing we could do Hubby? I got it, lets act like we are lawyers and say that KSR defamed a porn star…Matt will love it.” But then I inspected the email, looked online, and sure enough….Michael and the letter were real.

Now one could quickly ask two question. First, who in their right mind would think that Drew’s article was serious? Samantha Ryan had written an article entitled “Top 5 Reasons Being a KU Fan is Better Than Being a Kentucky Fan.” , and Drew responded with what is so obviously a PARODY that no one in their right mind could think it was true. Look at that list again…really Michael? You guys think THAT was supposed to be fact based? And then step 2, does anyone really believe that even if that list were true and not a parody, that it would be possible to defame her with it? One quick internet search provided by the Turkey Hunter showcased a slew of “movies” Ryan had been in with titles that were more risque than anything ever even fathomed to be put on KSR. And Drew’s blog post ruined her reputation? Child please!

So I decided, it was time to call Michael and try to work this out. What followed was a 30 minute phone conversation so surreal that I am not even sure it really took place. Michael went one by one through Drew’s list of five and said why each of them were (a) not true and (b) needed to be removed. Good taste prevents me from recounting that conversation in detail, but lets just say that the Turkey Hunter was in the background and I am not sure I have ever seen him laughing harder at anything. At one point Michael even said, “you also suggest she drinks bourbon…she does not drink bourbon!” I responded, “you are telling me that a famous porn star believes she was defamed because we said she drinks bourbon???? You cannot be serious!” Michael said he indeed was and that he was taking this matter very seriously. I suggested to him that it couldnt be all that seriously since he was alleging we said things “on the air”, when we dont even have a show in which to say something on the air and he then responded, “well it may have been on Twitter or something like that.” Yeah maybe.

So I then asked Michael what he wanted. He demanded a retraction and the post be removed. I then went into full “lawdog” mode and said this: “Look, the post is off the front page now, and no one will ever see it again. BUT if you want it removed, I will. However when I do it, I will post a NEW post about this story and it will only make things worse by bringing it up again. Your client really can’t want that, can she.” I was assured that yes, that was what Samantha wanted. I then asked well, what if I dont do it. He said that he would then look to all legal remedies, including a potential case against KSR and Drew Franklin individually. I then lost is for a second and said this:

“This is beyond ridiculous and seriously must be a dream. You mean to tell me that you are going to sue us for a silly blog post that is clearly in jest when your client is a PORN STAR! And sue us for what? What could possibly be her damages? She does pornography for a living and you think somehow we have somehow sullied her reputation? Are you serious? And sue Drew individually? Do you understand that Drew does not currently have a job and wears velcro shoes? What exactly are you suing him for, his hair gel?”

Michael however would not budge and demanded a correction. Even though we did nothing wrong and Drew (god love him) did not defame anyone, I agreed to give one. But as I promised him, the retraction would be done KSR-style. So here we go. If anyone out there believed that Drew was serious and that Samantha Ryan did not like “one and dones”, knows Ben Roethlisberger, drinks bourbon or did any of the other things Drew jokingly suggested, then let me say, KSR was parodying the situation and was not saying it has any knowledge of any of it being truthful. Further, if any of you thought that was true, seriously get out of the house and try to understand what is parody and what is not. To whatever extent anyone could have even fathomed that Drew was doing anything but writing his normal, insulting nonsense, KSR apologizes. We know nothing about Samantha Ryan beyond her movie career titles and wish her nothing but the best. KSR would never sully the reputation of anyone intentionally and certainly not someone like Samantha. Drew, along with the fans of Northern Iowa, would like us all to move past this.

So let me get this straight, a porn star is suing a website because the website made porn star jokes after she put herself out there to be made fun of by having filmed such a video? I see. In that case, Andy Reid should sue me for everything because in the mind of this delusional attorney, he would win. Posting light-hearted jokes about someone in a parody of something that someone posted first is not defamation of character. Somebody should give these fellows a lesson in free speech real darn fast because frankly, this is beyond frivolous and just reading about this whole situation makes me laugh my ass off. I mean really? Threatening to sue someone over the above quoted blog post. Are we sure this lawyer did not get his degree at Whatsamatter U?. Oh, shit. I just made a sarcastic joke about someone whom I don't know. I guess I receive a letter in the mail threatening a lawsuit in a few days.

Deadline Day Has Come And Gone And The Flyers Hold Steady

Compared to other sports, the NHL has one of the more active trade deadline days, but you would not know it from following the Flyers today. Somehow, someway, Flyers GM Paul Holmgren (from here on out referred to as Homer, his BSH nickname) managed to do absolutely nothing. While doing so avoids the bone-headed trade, a team not making any deadline deals is rare, especially when you are "burning the phone lines".

But Homer succeeded. It was tossed around in the beginning of the day that the Panthers wanted Jeff Carter for Tomas Vokoun. But Carter is untouchable in the eyes of Homer, therefore no deal.

Combine the fact that Homer considers half the team untouchable (and with pretty decent reason too), the lack of cap space on the Flyers, the dearth of 1st and 2nd round draft picks (exactly how many 2nd rounders were swapped today?), and the overabundance of no-trade clauses (NTC) prevented a deal from being done oday. Hold on, wait a minute, that is not true. I have just received word that Homer has signed a bag of pucks to a 2-year deal complete with an NTC! Forget all I wrote above, Homer is the best GM in all of hockey! A bag of pucks with an NTC! This is like my hockey dream come true times 100,000!

Oh, and about that whole Jeff Carter-Tomas Vokoun speculation, yeah, they were on the same sheet of ice as opponents tonight in Miami. Carger got a goal but Vokoun won the night as the Flyers defense crapped out on them, Scott Hartnell and Braydon Coburn took their classic dumb penalties, Michael Leighton had an off day, and when Brian Boucher was called in to replace Leighton and thus play his first hockey in months, completely sucked monkey dick, goat balls, and cheetah ass before rebounding slightly for a scoreless 3rd period. In other words, the Flyers lost 6-4 to an offensively inept team that just lost it's best defensive players to the trade deadline! Lord Stanley, HERE WE COME!

And the second that Bettman hands Mike Richards the Cup, Homer will steal it away from him and proceed to give it a no-trade clause.