Sportscolumn.com – Page 138 – Sports News and Commentary

Dance to the Music – Starting Pitchers Edition

Post author By Matt Wells
Post date June 28, 2006
2 Comments on Dance to the Music – Starting Pitchers Edition

by Matt Wells

We all know that some baseball pitchers have songs they love to enter the game to. Mariano Rivera, and now cross-town rival Billy Wagner, come in to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” Trevor Hoffman comes into AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells.” I’m sure there are other relievers in the game today that, though it is not publicized as much, enter the game to their own brand of classic rock.

But, what about the less-publicized pitchers? What about the starting pitchers, for that matter? What songs do they enter the game to?

All Other Sports

Tour de France 2006 Preview

Post author By sluggo
Post date June 27, 2006
3 Comments on Tour de France 2006 Preview

Predicting the Tour de France has been pretty boring over the past few years. This year, however, without a certain Texan, the field is wide open. A look at the contenders:

Tags cycling, tour de france

MLB General

Midseason "Moneyball" All-Stars – American League

Post author By BostonMac
Post date June 27, 2006
4 Comments on Midseason "Moneyball" All-Stars – American League

By Ryan McGowan

Like my colleague Trevor Freeman, Michael Lewis’ Moneyball is one of my favorite books. For any baseball fan, the inside story of Billy Beane’s quest to change traditional thinking and manage a baseball team based entirely on analyzing statistics and turning the conventional wisdom upside down is a fascinating read. Looking at the 2006 season up to this point, I have chosen a 25-man American League All-Star team that accomplishes the major goals of any team driven by a Moneyball philosophy.

In no particular order, these goals are:

1. Find players who get on base (high on-base percentage, or OBP) and hit for some power (the combination of the two produces a high on-base plus slugging, or OPS, the golden statistic of Moneyball).
2. Pay no attention to fielding statistics.
3. Spend as little money as possible.

Tags all-stars, billy beane, MLB, moneyball, payroll

NBA General

Caught In A Draft

Suggesting as many do, that making the right decision at the NBA draft is an “imperfect science,” is making an understatement at absolute best.

Over the years I’ve discovered even the most adept general managers, ones that spend months or years watching players develop, still have absolutely no idea what they’re doing.

Detroit Red Wings

Will He Or Won’t He

Steve Yzerman has a tough decision to make. Does he hang up the skates, or will he be around the Red Wings for his twenty-fourth season? He’s imposed a July first deadline to make his mind up.

All Other Sports

Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale Review

Post author By Lakers0411
Post date June 27, 2006
7 Comments on Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale Review

The Ultimate Fighter 3 finale did not disappoint as usual and provided us with a clear picture of the future for the fighters involved.

Tags ufc

NHL General

Wild and Wacky NHL Draft Trades

Post author By matt Jordan
Post date June 26, 2006
3 Comments on Wild and Wacky NHL Draft Trades

Draft time has come in the NHL. Yesterday saw many deals, many surprises, and many, for lack of a better term, moments during the draft. For example, Edmonton’s phone would not stop ringing yesterday due to the news of Chris Pronger. Pronger apparently wants a trade, and again this is just rumored, because his wife thinks it’s too cold in Edmonton, and wants to move to a warmer climate.

Tags hockey, NHL

Philadelphia Flyers

Thank you- Philadelphia

Just when I think my world as a Philadelphia fan can’t get any more dismal, some Philadelphia team shakes things up by placing themselves eleven games out of the division lead, blowing it in the playoffs, not making the playoffs, or spending more time arguing with a crazy wide receiver, than playing the actual game. Over the past couple of days, I’ve started making a list of the things that make me crazy as a Philadelphia fan. Here’s a sampling:

Tags MLB, NHL, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Phillies

Boston Red Sox

Sox on Fire

By Rob LaBrie

Don’t look now, but the Boston Red Sox have won 8 games in a row, including today’s victory which followed a walk-off two run homer by David Ortiz. Yes, the Sox are surging and currently have a 2.5 game lead on the New York Yankees, who had their game rained out tonight.

Minnesota Twins

Twins Season Has Been A Flop

Post author By Leslie Monteiro
Post date June 25, 2006
2 Comments on Twins Season Has Been A Flop

The Minnesota Twins talked a good game in the off-season about how they are a sleeper in the division and how they would do well with no pressure on them. Twins fans and the national and local media did not have any expectations on them this season. As a result, the team had the mentality of them versus the experts and their own fans. It has not worked out for them as they are 27-33 heading to Saturday night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. The way they have played at this West Coast trip in which they went 3-6, it seems this team is far away from contending for a wild-card spot or the division let alone being a .500 team.