Month: May 2008 (Page 19 of 28)

Torry Holt to be a Panther in two years?

May 12, 2008 / Anthony Stalter

Here’s an interesting tidbit from Peter King’s “Monday Morning Quarterback” column regarding Torry Holt’s comments about his potential future plans.

“I have this year and next year here in St. Louis and hopefully I can finish those years out. Then I will see where I am at. I will see where I am at physically and emotionally and financially. Then, if they would like to do something here I will consider it. If not, then I will have the option to go and explore and give my services somewhere else. If that happens, Carolina will definitely be my first choice. There is no question about it.”
— St. Louis wide receiver Torry Holt, a North Carolina State product, on his football future.

I don’t think what Holt said is a big deal and it certainly shouldn’t be blown out of perspective. But shouldn’t this rub the Rams the wrong way (even a little bit)? If Holt continues to break down with old age, the Rams probably won’t care if he wanted to play for a divisional opponent in two years. But I always find it a bit interesting to hear a player say he wants to play for another team and how his current club reacts.

NFL

The Lakers have a hole at small forward

May 10, 2008 / John Paulsen

Vladimir Radmanovic: good shooter, horrible defender

Luke Walton: poor shooter, good defender

If you combine the strengths of these two players, you have a pretty good small forward. If you combine their weaknesses, you have the worst player in the NBA.

Walton had a couple of bad plays at the end of Game 3 that cost his team a chance at a comeback win. With the Lakers down seven and under five minutes to play, Walton failed to box out Boozer, who was shooting the second of two free throws. Boozer got his own rebound and made a strong move to the hole to complete the four-point play. Then, on a jump ball with the Lakers down four with 0:14 to play, Gasol tipped the ball to Walton who proceeded to fumble the ball away. It was interesting to see Kobe’s reaction after the play. (He screamed at Walton, who probably deserved it.)

These are two pretty simple plays for a supposedly high-IQ guy like Walton. I’ve never been much of a fan of his game and I don’t think he’d be in the NBA if he weren’t Bill Walton’s kid. It’s almost like Bill made a contract with the devil like that kid on “Reaper.” Send my kid to the NBA and you can have his eternal soul. I simply can’t understand how the fairly non-athletic poor-shooting Walton is getting crunch-time minutes on a good team in the playoffs. It’s just mind-boggling. (He did make a three with 1:07 to play to cut the Jazz lead to four, so there is that.)

I saw first-hand how Radmanovic can shoot. He hit five or six straight threes in a playoff game when he was with the Clippers. But he is just lost defensively, and he doesn’t seem to be getting any better on that end of the court.

The Lakers owe Radmanovic $19.5 million over the next three years. They owe Walton $26.3 million over the next five years. Walton’s contract is especially awful when you consider that the Lakers were pretty much bidding against themselves for his services. Who else was going to give him that kind of money? (That leads me back to my contract-with-the-devil theory.)

All things considered, Mitch Kupchak has done a pretty nice job getting the Lakers back to the top of the West, but he spent way too much money on these two guys, who are, at best, bench players.

If I were Phil Jackson, I might run Kobe at small forward in crunch time, and play Farmar at point guard and Derek Fisher at the two. Of course, Farmar played pretty miserably in Game 3, so maybe Jackson should go with Ronny Turiaf at power forward and put Lamar Odom at the three. Bryant and Odom can both play multiple positions, so the Lakers have options. They just need to use them.

Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals

Top 10 Active Home Run Hitters

May 10, 2008 / Mike Farley

No disrespect to Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa, who have not technically retired from baseball. But on Yahoo Sports, those two are not considered active players. So with that in mind, here is a Top 10 list of currently active MLB home run hitters.

1. Ken Griffey, Jr., Cincinnati Reds (597)—Have you noticed yet that while players linked to performance enhancers like Bonds, Sosa, and Mark McGwire keep fighting off asterisks, Griffey just keeps hitting home runs? This guy had home runs in his blood, but unlike Bonds, didn’t put anything else in his. And if he’d stayed healthy all these years, he’d surely have 800 by now.

2. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (522)—Okay, so this guy is probably a lock to overtake Bonds some day, but you can’t convince me that Rodriguez has done it legally all along either. I mean, look at his 2007 numbers compared to everyone else’s. He’s also never going to win a ring, because all he does in the playoffs is view the opposing pitcher as a big, hairy monster.

3. Frank Thomas, Oakland Athletics (516)—Thomas was released by the Blue Jays last month after being benched, and then re-signed with Oakland, where he played in 2006. When the Mitchell Report was on its way, Thomas wanted everyone to know that he was and always had been clean. So what you’re saying then, Frank, is that you’ve always looked like a bloated cartoon character?

4. Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox (514)—Look, I know that people gain weight in their twenties and thirties, but Thome’s rookie photos to where he was a few years later parallels Barry Bonds’, um, growth. Still, the guy is still mashing at the age of 37, with 7 homers already in 2008.

5. Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox (497)—It’s almost mind-boggling to think Thome and Ramirez used to hit 3-4 in the Indians’ lineup. Will someone remind me how that team never won a World Series in the ‘90’s?

6. Gary Sheffield, Detroit Tigers (482)—The most mystifying thing to me about Gary Sheffield is that he’s Dwight Gooden’s nephew. Sheffield is 39 and Gooden just turned 44. Somebody get me a calculator.

7. Carlos Delgado, New York Mets (435)—He’s slowing down with creaky knees, but if I was a pitcher this guy would still scare the crap out of me every time he came to bat.

8. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves (396)—If Jones has this many home runs, as a Mets fan I’m convinced that 200 of those have come against my team. I’m not sure anyone has ever owned a team like Jones owns the Mets. This year he has come out of the gate like Ted Williams, batting .413 through 32 games with 10 homers.

9. Jason Giambi, New York Yankees (371)—Well this guy all but admitted to cheating, so if you take away even 20% of these bombs, he becomes fairly insignificant in the big picture.

10. Andruw Jones, Los Angeles Dodgers (369)—Was Andruw Jones on the Mitchell Report? Because how do you go from 51 home runs to 41 to 26, and then this year be on pace for FIVE? That’s a steep slope, Mr. Jones.

MLB

DVD Review: “ESPN Inside Access: Derek Jeter”

May 9, 2008 / Anthony Stalter

Overview
“ESPN Inside Access: Derek Jeter” is stocked with 134 minutes of interviews, highlights, an ESPN SportsCentury feature and much more. The disc also includes a feature titled “On the Field” which is a collection of Jeter’s most famous plays (including discussions on “the dive” and “the flip”) and rare minor league highlights, as well as an exclusive interview with him on the set of “Saturday Night Live” and on “Up Close” with Chris Meyers.

What’s interesting?
At the start of the DVD is Jeter’s interview on Up Close with Chris Meyers, done right after the shortstop won the Rookie of the Year Award and the Yankees won the World Series in 1996. As you proceed through the DVD, there’s another section of Jeter being interviewed by various people from 1998 to 2007. Watching Jeter’s maturation over the years was pretty cool, but the most impressive thing to note is that his demeanor never changes. In every interview he remains humble, grounded and appreciative of the opportunity he’s gotten to play shortstop for the Yankees. He’s unique in that he never shares too much information in any interview, yet always manages to give more than the standard, cookie-cutter responses that you get from most athletes.

Best feature
By far the best feature on the disc is the SportsCentury piece. Once you get past a review of Jeter’s upbringing for the umpteenth time, the feature shares a couple of inside stories that are rather interesting. (Such as the time Jeter privately blasted teammate Bernie Williams for being late to the clubhouse before a World Series game, as well as how former Yankee Chad Curtis essentially vanished from baseball after trying to publicly embarrass Jeter following a brawl with the Mariners in 1999.) The feature also discussed the incident in 2003 when Yankee owner George Steinbrenner suggested his shortstop was spending too much time in New York clubs and perhaps had “lost his focus”.

Could do without
There was only one small feature the DVD could have left off and that was, “World’s Sexiest Athlete.” Other than a funny comment or two from fans, do we really need to know how good looking people think he is? The guy used to date Miss Universe Lara Dutta and actresses Jessica Alba and Jordana Brewster – we know the guy does well in the female department.

Overall
On a whole, the DVD is rather enjoyable. The SportsCentury piece is worth a watch on its own, but it’s also interesting to see how well Jeter handles himself in interviews and how generally well liked he is by not only fans, but former manager Joe Torre and teammates Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez and a slew of others. You also get the impression that even though he appears to be a great guy, he’s rather private and even not to be crossed with in certain situations (just ask Chad Curtis). The “Make a Wish” feature was touching and the snippet of Jeter dressed in drag for a SNL skit was also funny. All in all, even if you hate the Yankees, it’s hard not to root for a guy that works hard to stay out of trouble, has never gotten a big head and outright loves playing the game.

General Sports, MLB, Television