Sportscolumn.com – Page 88 – Sports News and Commentary

MLB Power Rankings for May 8- 2007

Post author By Garrett Rudolph
Post date May 9, 2007
2 Comments on MLB Power Rankings for May 8- 2007

To me, the biggest news in baseball is the announcement that the amateur draft will be televised for the first time. I’ve been saying for a while now that it’s time the MLB did some extra work to hype the draft. The NBA draft gets televised, the NFL draft gets televised; it only seems appropriate that the national pastime’s draft should be televised. The added hype of the draft will create a more knowledgeable fan base and it will help add some hype to the College World Series.

Some people say that the baseball draft isn’t as relevant as the NFL and NBA counterpart, because it takes too long to develop the talent in the minor leagues, that the players don’t make an instant impact. To those people, I would simply point at the players who were selected in the first rounds of the past three drafts: Justin Verlander, Jeremy Sowers, Jered Weaver, Stephen Drew, Phil Hughes, Huston Street, Alex Gordon, Ryan Zimmerman, Travis Buck, Brandon Morrow, and Tim Lincecum.

Next up is a revision to the draft-pick trading rules…

Tags mlb power rankings

Toronto Raptors

Gone Today- To Be Feared Tomorrow

Post author By Aaron Miller
Post date May 9, 2007
No Comments on Gone Today- To Be Feared Tomorrow

By the time the New Jersey Nets are settled in Brooklyn and Vince Carter’s grown used to the orange color scheme employed by the Charlotte Bobcats, his seasons of wincing and whining in a Toronto Raptors uniform and all the bitterness they created will be long forgotten.

And just as the days of the lowly Phoenix Suns have given birth to potential NBA champions, the Raptors will shed the past and almost certainly emerge as what we glibly call a “contender.”

Tags raptors

New York Yankees

Rocket Landing

By Billy Fellin

“Houston, we have a problem”
“Go on”
“The Rocket has landed in New York.”

The move that rocked the baseball world on Sunday, the Yankees signed Roger Clemens to a pro-rated 1-yr/28 million dollar deal. This comes out to about $4.5 million every month. So will the Rocket’s coming to the Bronx energize the team and get them back from the darkness of the AL East? Or is there nothing to help save the Yankees’ sinking ship?

Tags ny yankees, roger clemens

Boxing

Pound For Pound Champion……..I Think Not

Post author By Trevor
Post date May 6, 2007
8 Comments on Pound For Pound Champion……..I Think Not

By Trevor Freeman

Last night Max Kellerman said that Floyd Mayweather Jr. had put on a “virtuoso” performance. This is the exact equivalent of me saying Tom Hanks performance in “Joe Versus The Volcano” was “virtuoso”. Max Kellerman even called into question what the judge who scored the fight for Oscar De La Hoya was watching. There are only three possible reasons for why Kellerman could have felt this way. They are:

a)    He smoked a blunt with 50 Cent prior to the proceedings.
b)    Floyd Mayweather Jr. set him up with an account over at the Bunny Ranch.
c)    Lennox Lewis is a big fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and threatened to powerbomb Kellerman through the announce table while James Brown did his best Jim Ross impression yelling “Good God Almighty” if Kellerman didn’t pimp Floyd during the postfight coverage.

MLB General

The MLB Japanglicize Movement

Post author By YankTank
Post date May 5, 2007
2 Comments on The MLB Japanglicize Movement

Japanglicize v. (Juh-PANG-gluh-sahyz): to merge Japanese culture with that of English culture, ultimately enhancing both

I associate pasta with Sunday Night Football, hotdogs with baseball, Chinese food with rainy weather, and sushi with work. Those little white rice rolls, seaweed soup, and the green paste that masquerades as guacamole, conjure images of the suit-wearing, Blackberry-toting echelon of corporate America. Whenever a coworker suggests expensing lunch, I beg for Chipotle. But somehow I always get overruled and end up with an $8.95 lunch special on my desk (a "Bento Box," as it’s called), and a growling stomach for the rest of the day.

Tags baseball, japan, sushi

Random Thoughts

Biased towards Bias – What’s with those NBA Refs?

Post author By TheRussianBear
Post date May 4, 2007
2 Comments on Biased towards Bias – What’s with those NBA Refs?

The big non-playoff news in the NBA yesterday was the announcement that there may be a racial bias in how NBA officials referee games. Naturally, the minute that the words “race,” “bias,” and “sports” hit the front page of the New York Times, the sports media collectively had an orgasm at the thought of a juicy racial scandal to discuss. In short, the Times’ piece describes an upcoming study by a University of Pennsylvania professor which points to a racial disparity in fouls called during NBA games.

All Other Sports

The other side of the Kentucky Derby

Post author By bsd987
Post date May 3, 2007
2 Comments on The other side of the Kentucky Derby

It’s hard to believe only eight years ago Charismatic took 31-1 odds into the gate and emerged as the Kentucky Derby champion. And two weeks later, he took 8-1 odds and won the Preakness.

Sadly, the colt broke his leg in the stretch in his next race, the Belmont Stakes, finishing a close third, and was thus denied being the first Triple Crown winner in 21 years.

Tags horse racing, kentucky derby

NBA General

True Warriors

I will go ahead and eat some crow for what I said about the Golden State Warriors. I, like 95% of basketball fans, totally wrote them off of even winning a game in this series. When they win game 6 and win this series, it will be even more of a reason to totally disregard the NBA regular season. I can’t remember the last time I had more fun watching a series. To be perfectly honest, I have only kept track of one other series so far this year, the Suns and Lakers. But the past week and half, especially after the game 1 shocker, I have completely built my life around when the next game of this series is.

MLB General

Next: The National League

What’s the price of instant gratification? The Arizona Diamondbacks were an expansion team in 1998, propelled on a fast track by relentless manager Buck Showalter and an aggressive front office, participating in postseason play by 1999, winning an epic World Series in 2001. It was a whirlwind, a winning tradition instilled within infancy, the antithesis of Tampa Bay. But nobody stays on top forever. The team’s foundation gradually cracked, and the Diamondbacks finally kissed abyss in 2004, collecting an abysmal 51 wins.

New England Patriots

Patriots Dynasty Not Dying Out

Post author By Matt Wells
Post date May 3, 2007
3 Comments on Patriots Dynasty Not Dying Out

by Matt Wells

They defeated the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl two years later, and they followed that with another win over the Philadelphia Eagles the following year. Four years. Three championships. One coach. One quarterback. Oh, and a kicker that was really good in the clutch.

They almost did it again last season. They were four points away from beating the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game, a game which almost all of America figured would be won by the Patriots because Tom Brady never, ever screws up with the game on the line. Well, we all make mistakes.

The Patriots dynasty has lost a little of its luster, since the Pats haven’t won the Super Bowl (let alone made it there) in the past two seasons. However, if you’re waiting for the New England Patriots dynasty to fizzle out, you may be waiting for a few years.