Holland loses shutout gem in 9th as Rangers dismantle Mariners

From ESPN

ARLINGTON, Texas — Derek Holland was pleading to stay in for one more batter.

 Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington had already decided that the rookie left-hander, who allowed only two hits while getting within one out of his first complete game, had done enough.

“It was just me begging out there, ‘Come on, let me get this one guy, I’ve got it,’” Holland said, describing the conversation on the mound.

Holland had to settle for being the first Rangers rookie lefty with 10 strikeouts and leading Texas to a 7-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.

“We got a real good look at what Derek Holland is capable of doing,” Washington said. “His future gets brighter.”

QB Potts takes spread torch

From ESPN

Mike Leach’s view of the spread offense initially was anything but clear to Taylor Potts.

Soon after Potts arrived at Texas Tech, he embarked on a freshman season characterized by a dizzying array of new concepts and nomenclature. It was a steep learning curve that initially had his head spinning as he received a crash course in Leach’s demands to grasp his offensive philosophy.

“When I first got here, everything was different. The names of the routes were different, and it was almost like I was learning a foreign language,” Potts said. “But now, after being here almost three years, I feel like I’m finally fluent in it.

Pacman Jones Makes It Rain, New Video Surfaces of 2007 Incident

From FanHouse

A new video has surfaced showing then-Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones infamously making it rain in a strip club in Las Vegas in 2007.

ESPN acquired the video and previously unreleased court documents for a story that gives more detail than previously known about what, exactly, happened on February 19, 2007, at the Minxx Gentlemen’s Club & Lounge. A fight took place inside the club and a shooting took place outside the club, leaving a bouncer paralyzed. Ten months after the incident, Jones pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct for his role in the fight.

The video is below, and although profanity is bleeped and nudity is blurred, viewer discretion is advised.

Great ESPN Commercials

Texas grabs No. 1 baseball seed

It appears the University of Texas’ strong pitching staff has helped the team get the #1 seed in college baseball tournament.

The Longhorns (41-13-1), who won the Big 12 tournament for the fourth time, will host one of 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals that begin Friday. It’s the second time Texas, coached by Division I career victories leader Augie Garrido, has been the No. 1 overall seed.

The other national seeds, in order, are: Cal State Fullerton (42-14), LSU (46-16), North Carolina (42-16), Arizona State (44-12), UC Irvine (43-13), Oklahoma (41-18) and Florida (39-20).

The 16 regional winners move on to the best-of-three super regionals, beginning June 5. The eight super regional winners advance to the College World Series, which begins June 13 in Omaha, Neb.

The Big 12 — Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas A&M — and Southeastern Conference — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi, South Carolina and Vanderbilt — each had eight tournament berths.

Bracket

 

Texas grabs No. 1 baseball seed (ESPN)

Terrell Owens wears out his welcome in Dallas

Terrell Owens is through in Dallas. Done, kaput, and that’s all folks.

Let this serve notice. If you are an owner of the Dallas Cowboys and you are about to move into a 3 billion dollar stadium, you can’t have a player causing a stir in the locker room. Your players have to be on the same page as the team and the coaches. T.O. was controversial and therefore, Jerry had to cut the problem in the locker room.

I for one think this is a great move by the Cowboys. It proves several things, and the most important is there are people at Valley Ranch that still have a back bone. The Cowboys have too much tradition and pride to give it away to any player, especially to a player that loves him some him so much, he claimed Romo and Witten had a thing going on.

In late February, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did not deny the team was discussing the possible release of Owens. Owens’ future was brought up again in meetings Wednesday, but Jones had not made a final decision when most people left the building, a source at Valley Ranch told ESPN.com’s Matt Mosley.

I’m sure we will have T.O.’s story coming out soon as soon as he can. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Redskins sign T.O. just to further poke fun at the Cowboys. I say good luck to any other team that signs him. They’ll need it.

 

Sources: Cowboys cut T.O. (ESPN)

ESPN doesn’t want Emmitt back

ESPN in trying to be “professional” about Emmitt’s poor announcing, says thanks but no thanks in renewing Emmitt’s contract for next year.

Emmitt Smith will not be back with ESPN next NFL season.

The network elected not to renew Smith’s contract, which expired earlier this month.

The former Dallas Cowboys star worked the past two years for ESPN after a brief stint with the NFL Network.

“We thank Emmitt for his contribution to ESPN and his work ethic for the last two years,” said ESPN spokesman Nate Smeltz. “We wish him all the best.”

Wow. About the only good thing they could say about him was his work ethic? Good luck Emmitt. We don’t need those guys at Sportscenter anyways.

 

Former Dallas Cowboys star Emmitt Smith out as ESPN analyst (Star Telegram)

What is going on in sports these days?

Sports are mostly tales of pride and accomplishments by individuals.  Sports is a place whereby if things are going lousy with the economy or whatever, you can always turn to sports to take your mind off of a losing stock market, unemployment, or the latest in company closings. At least it used to be that way in sports.

These days, there is no place to turn to get a break from bad news, even in sports. From Michael Phelps and his bong to countless other stories from the world of sports, there is no escape from bad news today. Let’s take a look at some sports stories that are pretty recent bad news stories in sports. Incidently, there were several stories with Texas ties.

 

Alex Rodriguez and steroids:

Alex Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003, when he was with the Texas Rangers and won the AL home run title and MVP award, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.

According to the report, which was posted Saturday morning on SI.com, sources told the publication that Rodriguez was on a list of 104 players who tested positive that year, when Major League Baseball conducted survey tests to see if mandatory, random drug-testing was needed.

Sources who know about the testing results told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan, an anabolic steroid.

 In 2003, there were no penalties for a positive result.

 

Even as I am writing this entry I see this on ESPN:

Jamal Anderson in jail onn drug charges

area jail late Saturday night on a felony possession-of-cocaine charge and possession-of-marijuana charge, a misdemeanor.

Anderson

 

Anderson, an NFL analyst for ESPN’s First Take this past season, was booked into the Fulton County jail in Georgia and denied bond.

His first hearing was set for Monday morning, the Fulton County sheriff’s office said Sunday.

Anderson, 36, was arrested at the Peachtree Tavern in the community of Buckhead after an off-duty officer working security at the club alerted police, according to The Associated Press, citing a police spokesman.

Police found a suspected marijuana cigarette in Anderson’s pocket, local reports said. Another man with Anderson was also arrested. Police said both men were in possession of cocaine, according to the reports.

“We just learned of this situation, and it is not appropriate for us to comment until we have more information,” said George McNeilly, senior director of communications at ESPN, in a statement.

Amazing.

It seems like drugs played a big part in all three of these stories. Why do athletes do drugs so bad? Is that the normal culture of society today? Is this a  mirror of today’s society in America? Pop a pill, feel better?

I’ve done alot of bad things in my life, but I am very thankful drugs wasn’t one of them.

Ex-Cowboy Bob Hayes named to Pro Football Hall of Fame

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He made it!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hayes was selected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Tampa, less than 200 miles from his boyhood Jacksonville home. He will join Tom Landry, Tex Schramm as well as former Dallas Cowboys teammates Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Mel Renfro and Rayfield Wright in Canton, Ohio, as well as fellow Ring of Honor members Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Tony Dorsett and Randy White.

The wait was long – Hayes’ career ended in 1975 – and painful – he reached the finalists stage in 2004 only to be rejected on the final ballot two years after his death – but historic – he is now the only man to win a gold medal, a Super Bowl ring and selection to the Hall of Fame.

Had Hayes not been selected this time, it would have been highly unlikely for him to come through the Senior Committee a third time.

After winning the 100-meter gold in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to earn the “World’s Fastest Man” nickname, Hayes revolutionized the NFL with his speed. From 1965 to ’74 with the Cowboys, he caught 365 passes for 7,295 yards and his 71 career touchdown receptions remain a team record.

In an era in which teams did not throw as much as they do now, Hayes changed the way the game was played. Defenses could not cover him man-to-man and developed zone coverages to keep him from beating them deep.

Hayes, who was inducted into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor on Sept. 23, 2001, was a three-time Pro Bowl pick and was named All-Pro four times.

The enshrinement will be held on Aug. 8.

Former Cowboys greats Lee Roy Jordan (left) and Bob Hayes — wearing his gold medal — were celebrated before a game in 1996.

Can the Texas Rangers’ new batting helment look any more goofier?

The new batting helmet is a dramatic shift. It is two tone, with metallic flecked paint.

I speculate the design is inspired by the way players accumulate more and more pine tar on their batting helmets as the season goes on. The design even has wing thingys which are positioned where the players fingers would stain pine tar down the sides of the helmet as the players press the palms of their hands against the fronts of helmets while shoving the batting helmets into place. The wing thingys even fade out as they go back – exactly as the players’ finger-implemented pine tar stains fade out as they go further back on the helmet. I’m speculating, but this makes sense as inspiration for the design.

My Southern brother is not speculating. He is a professional in the field of sports uniforms and helmets. He emails some industry scoop:

OK…sometimes I have the most obscure knowledge given my career path….similar to MSNBC’s Morning Joe program feature of “News You Can’t Use” …that’s me

1. The Rangers had to make a special appeal to Major League Baseball to request wearing BLACK shoes. MLB dictates / requires that a team’s shoe color be their dominant uniform color. Also, MLB defines the dominant uniform color as that which applies to 75% of their uniform. Therefore, MLB requires one of their teams colors to be 75% of their uniform from head to toe.

2. Most common plastic used in baseball helmets is ABS. ABS plastic is used in football helmets 9^thgrade and below. ABS allows for greater flexibility and of course is much less expensive. Two things happened a couple of years ago…first helmet paint went to acrylic…the same stuff used on cars….several application steps are required…priming, painting, hardener application , then the final clear coat finish. It is during this final clear finish coat you have the option for metallic flakes to be added. Look at your car paint, all cars have metallic flakes in their paint, you don’t see any of them with just a flat color. I never sell a helmet without adding metallic flakes in the clear coat process, even on white helmets it makes a huge difference…note The University of Texas helmets and how they shine on TV compared the big Badger football team or even the Cardinals in the Super Bowl. This is why HS, college, and Pro football helmets shine so much better today, and look so much better with HD TV cameras. The metallic flakes come in multiple shades of different colors…next time you watch Rutgers , they have red flakes in their red paint, makes their helmets really shine. Metallic flakes even allow eccentric alumni such as Phil Knight and Nike to dream up so many color combinations for Oregon ’s helmets.

3. MLB had a problem…ABS plastic won’t accept acrylic paint…it weakens the integrity of the shell (that means they crack)…so MLB was SOL on the retail market for good looking helmet paint colors. MLB used their heads…good ‘ol lawyers and money being the root of all evil. MLB said they were concerned with concussions so they appealed to NOCSAE to increase the standard on protection of helmets used in college through the big leagues. To increase the scoring ratio from baseballs slamming into batting helmets required helmet manufacturers to move into GE’s Lexicon plastic which is used in HS varsity through NFL level football helmets, but VERY expensive. But guess what this does for MLB now Sherlock? If I told the story line correctly, hopefully you have concurred MLB is now able to use high gloss metallic acrylic paint and thousands of parents through out the metro-mess will be filling into Academy, Oshmann’s and Lids at the mall to pay $200 for a MLB merchandise approved Rangers batting helmets. MLB and the Rangers put mega bucks into their pockets…thank you very much. Only in America !

 

It all looks totally stupid to me, and it’s going to be pretty laughable seeing the rangers trot out to the batter’s box wearing these ridiculous helments and having a losing record. They may very well be the laughing stock of Major League Baseball if that happens.

UPDATE:::::: It looks like my story has caught on over at ESPN

I love this internet blogging!

UPDATE 2:::::::: It looks like the Rangers have scrubbed the goofy looking helments!

 

Texas Rangers new 2009 uniforms: Industry scoop (The End Zone)