Month: January 2009 (Page 30 of 61)

      Dodgers release Andruw Jones – are they making room for Manny?

      January 16, 2009 /

      The Dodgers decided to release outfielder Andruw Jones after just one season despite giving a two-year, $36.2 million contract.

      Andruw JonesThe 31-year-old center fielder reported to spring training overweight, then was booed roundly by fans as he struggled at the plate during the season. He had knee surgery in May and finished the season on the bench as the Dodgers won the NL West and beat the Chicago Cubs in the NL divisional series before losing to Philadelphia in the NL Championship Series.

      Jones asked to be traded after that and the Dodgers tried, but found no takers. The Dodgers owe Jones $22.1 million, which he’ll receive over the next six years.

      When the Dodgers added Manny Ramirez in a trade deadline deal July 31, that left Jones with minimal opportunities. But with the staggering performance by Ramirez (.396 with 17 homers and 53 RBIs in 53 games) and the fine work of fellow outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, Jones was hardly missed.

      With Jones out of the way, it’ll be interesting to see if the Dodgers put an end to their dance with Manny Ramirez. The club is offering him a two- to three-year contract, but Manny wants a deal somewhere in the five-year range. The Dodgers seem to be the only true contender for Manny’s services, especially now that rumors of the Giants being interested have proven to be false.

      What’s next for Jones? A once promising career appears to be falling apart and it’s highly unlikely any team signs him for more than one year after the debacle in L.A. Maybe he can return to Atlanta?

      MLB

      Lions go with another untested head coach in Swartz

      January 16, 2009 /

      Jim SwartzThe Detroit Lions found their next head coach in former Tennessee Titans’ defensive coordinator Jim Swartz, who was hired Thursday evening to take over a franchise in dire need of a facelift.

      At least as a head coach, Swartz is unproven, untested and his ability to lead a team (especially one coming off an 0-16 season) is unresolved. Can he do it? Can he take the Lions from the pits of hell to at the very least, mediocrity? Maybe. Or maybe he follows in the footsteps of Rod Marinelli, Steve Mariucci and Marty Mornhinweg and gets ushered out the door as quickly as he was rushed in.

      Lion fans had to have felt a little better when they woke up this morning. Matt Millen isn’t the general manager anymore, change is in the air and another offseason of free agent signings and high draft picks is upon them. But the cold, hard reality of the situation is that Martin Mayhew (Millen’s understudy) is the general manager, Swartz (again, unproven) is the change and what’s the point of getting excited about another offseason when failure is quickly to follow it?

      If you ask me, William Clay Ford Sr. got it wrong again. He should have hired somebody from a winning organization (somebody who has won somewhere, sometime) to be the general manager instead of Mayhew. Why would you want the guy that was under Millen? Why would you want the guy that was three people under Millen for that matter? If they wanted real change, then they should have air raided the entire front office and started from scratch. (Although to be fair, Mayhew’s first move was trading Roy Williams to Dallas for draft picks, which looks like it was a solid move.)

      It’s hard not to give a first-year head coach like Swartz a chance because of the success rookie head coaches John Harbaugh (Baltimore), Tony Sparano (Miami) and Mike Smith (Atlanta) had this year. But Swartz won’t be able to do his job effectively unless Mayhew does his.

      The Lions have a long ways to go to get the taste of 0-16 out of their mouths. Change is what they needed, but is Mayhew and Swartz the right change? Time will tell.

      NFL

      Yao getting frustrated with T-Mac?

      January 15, 2009 /

      On Tuesday, we discovered that the Rockets organization was getting tired of T-Mac’s act, and now there’s a rumor that Yao Ming is growing weary of it as well.

      According to a source close to the situation, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are no longer speaking with each other off the court. Ming is apparently so fed up with McGrady’s chronic injuries that he told the officials in Houston to get him out of the organization.

      Another source also revealed that Yao’s frustration is real. And Yao is not the only person that is grown tired of McGrady’s self-diagnosis, his up-to-the-last-minute decisions on whether he will play or not.

      If true, this could deal a serious blow to the Rockets’ 2009 title hopes. If a team doesn’t have chemistry between its stars, it’s unlikely that it will survive the gauntlet that is the NBA postseason. It’s a little funny that Yao is frustrated with T-Mac’s injuries when the big man has been injured several times himself. However, Yao’s injuries have typically been fractures and of the season-ending variety, not this nebulous, self-diagnosis stuff that McGrady has been experiencing with his knee.

      Unless they have some serious success in the playoffs, the Rocket will face a crossroads this offseason. They’re currently building around two injury-prone players. T-Mac has another year left on his contract, so he may be tradeable as his deal expires before the now-infamous summer of 2010. Still, his giant salary ($23.2 million) is a doozy, and it’s possible that the Rockets would rather let his deal expire than to take on all that salary in return. Yao is 28 (assuming his Chinese birth certificate is legit) and he has two more years left on his deal. The team’s third best player — Ron Artest — will be a free agent after the season.

      If the Rockets don’t make a run, we could see a very different lineup at the start of the 2009-10 season.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, Rumors & Gossip

      A Chat with NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice

      January 15, 2009 /

      Interview Date: 1/8/09

      It’s not often that a sports writer gets the opportunity to interview a sports legend. So when we were offered the chance to sit down and talk with former San Francisco 49er great Jerry Rice, we nearly leaped out of our seats.

      Jerry has dabbled in a number of different professions since retiring from his Hall of Fame NFL career, including competing on “Dancing With the Stars” and more recently, acting. He has a cameo appearance in the movie, “Without a Paddle: Nature’s Calling,” where he plays a character named Hal Gore (uh, Al Gore’s brother…seriously), who happens to be a bit off his rocker. (Hal’s game plan to stop global warming was focused around squirrel farts…again, seriously.)

      Jerry was gracious enough to talk to us about his role in the movie, his experiences with acting and whether or not more acting was in his future. We also couldn’t let him get off the phone without asking him some gridiron questions, including his thoughts on who currently is the best wide receiver is in the game, what young quarterback has the best chance of winning a Super Bowl, and what defensive backs were the best he ever played against. He also filled us in how legends Joe Montana and Bill Walsh were pranksters, and whether or not coaching is in his future now that the 49ers have hired former player Mike Singletary has their next head coach.

      Jerry Rice: Anthony!

      The Scores Report: Jerry, it’s an absolute pleasure to talk with you!

      JR: Not a problem. You’re the last one of the day, bud! It’s been a long day so I’m giving you my best.

      TSR: Excellent! Well my first question has to be – is acting harder than playing in the NFL?

      JR: (laughs)

      TSR: It’s gotta be, right?

      Jerry RiceJR: (still laughing) Yep! Of course it’s harder because it’s something that I’m not accustomed to. And in (my) particular scene in “Without a Paddle: Nature’s Calling,” I play someone else. I don’t play myself. So that was the challenging part of that, but it gave me a chance to challenge myself and I’m always looking for opportunities like that and I think it brings out the best in me. Hopefully people look at this on DVD and they appreciate it and they like it.

      TSR: Well I got a few laughs just watching you dressed up in that garb!

      JR: I bet you did!

      TSR: (laughs)

      JR: That’s why they put me in that!

      TSR: I’m sure it was. Why don’t you explain the role for people who haven’t seen the movie yet?

      JR: I’m this mountain man whose been in the wilderness for about 30 years and I’ve got this long beard…I’ve got this coat that’s pretty much made out of squirrels and stuff like that…and I thought I had found this cure for global warming by way of squirrel farts.

      TSR: (laughs)

      JR: But hey, I had a great time making it, man.

      TSR: How did you get involved in something like this?

      JR: You know, this fell in my lap because Terry Bradshaw was supposed to do it and you know how crazy Terry is. Maybe Terry looked at it as, “there’s no way I’m doing that.” So they decided to contact me and they said, “do you want to do it?” And I said, yeah, I’ll go for it and I did, and I’m glad because to be associated with Paramount is an honor within itself. And to also work with the actors and actresses was really cool.

      TSR: Is there a future in this for you or is this a one and done type thing?

      JR: Hey, I’m hoping it’s not a one and done. You know, hopefully this opens up more opportunities for me just like “Dancing With the Stars” did. I feel as though I worked my butt off, I had fun with it and people are going to get a chance to see another side of me that they’ve never seen before. I’m going to watch the DVD tonight and I’m going to critique, and I’m sure I’m going to look at certain parts and say to myself, “I could have done that better than that, but that’s just part of not being complacent and being willing to continue to work.

      TSR: Consummate professional, right?

      JR: That’s it, buddy.

      TSR: Mind if I toss a couple football questions at you?

      JR: Let’s do it.

      TSR: I’m sure you watch the NFL closer than anybody. What current wide receiver impresses you the most every Sunday?

      JR: Probably Andre Johnson. But you have to look at Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald, you know…let me think…

      TSR: What about Terrell Owens, one of your x-teammates?

      JR: I thought you wanted younger guys, okay, yeah – Terrell Owens, Randy Moss all those guys. Those guys are still the big play receivers, you know? (They) are why you pay your money – because you know that those guys are going to put on a good show for you.

      Joe MontanaTSR: You’ve won Super Bowls with Joe Montana and Steve Young so you know what it takes for a quarterback to win a championship. What young quarterback – Tony Romo, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, etc. – that hasn’t won a Super Bowl yet is the next to win one in your opinion? What current quarterback is destined to hoist a Super Bowl trophy?

      JR: You know what? The next guy? Boy…it could be Joe Flacco from Baltimore with the way he’s playing right now. It could be Donovan McNabb. You know, Eli…well Eli’s won one already, so, you know, we’ll just have to wait and see how (the playoffs) pan out. The ultimate thing is to win the Super Bowl and I think all of those guys have a legitimate shot.

      TSR: Besides winning the Super Bowl, what would you call your greatest moment in the NFL? What was your greatest achievement?

      JR: (laughs) Oh my God! Probably…oh my God. I would say, uh…just playing with the guys that I had played with. It was never about records to me. So you know, just the relationships that I had built you know, with (Joe) Montana, (Ronnie) Lott, Roger Craig – so many great guys. Then going across the Bay (to Oakland to play with) Tim Brown and so many other great players.

      TSR: I always want to ask players this. Was there ever a funny moment, whether it’s on the field, off the field in the huddle, whatever, that you rarely share with the public? Could you share one of those moments to give fans an insight to what your playing days were like?

      JR: Joe Montana was always a prankster!

      TSR: Was he?

      JR: Oh, yeah – Joe Montana did crazy things. He would put Tiger Balm and stuff like that in jocks. Then all of a sudden guys would put their jocks on and they’d get that little burning sensation out there on the field!

      TSR: (laughs)

      JR: (laughs)

      TSR: Did he ever get you?

      JR: No, he knew better than that!

      TSR: (laughs)

      JR: (laughs) But you know, Joe was a prankster…Bill Walsh would walk through the locker room with those tights on, and his sweat towels and his football shoes and stuff like that trying to look like a wide receiver and all that stuff.

      TSR: That’s pretty funny, although it’s hard to imagine a legend doing that!

      JR: Yeah!

      TSR: You played against some of the best defensive backs in the league. Who was the hardest to beat or the best you’ve ever played against?

      JR: I had two of them – Darryl Green and Deion Sanders. Those guys were so fast and I had to study them, I had to work them off the line of scrimmage, and I had to be patient. That was always something Bill Walsh wanted us to do – he wanted us to be patient off the line of scrimmage. He wanted us to win at the line so, you know, I had some success against those guys.

      TSR: Is there a current defensive back playing now that would fit into Green or Sanders’ mold?

      JR: You know what, no, because you don’t have that many cornerbacks that play one on one anymore. It’s because of the (defensive) schemes, so you know, you still have some good defensive backs out there but (Green and Sanders) were going to pretty much be singled up with the best receiver on every team. And their job was to shut that guy down and they were great.

      Mike SingletaryTSR: I thought the hire of Mike Singletary was absolutely the right move to get the 49ers headed back in the right direction. What are your thoughts on the hire?

      JR: I think it’s fantastic. I think that was the best move the Niners (could make in hiring) Singletary. I also heard that Tom Rathman is going to come back as the running backs coach, so this team is starting to move in the right direction. They have someone (in Singletary) that’s a great leader, will lead them by example and if the players don’t do their jobs, he’s going to let them know it. And if they don’t pick it up, they’re going to be out of there.

      TSR: Is coaching in your future, Jerry?

      JR: No.

      TSR: No? Absolutely not?

      JR: (chuckles) Not at all, buddy!

      TSR: (laughs)

      JR: Hey I have to run, my man.

      TSR: Thanks Jerry – I appreciate your time!

      JR: You got it – take care.

      Interviews, NFL

      L.A. Galaxy to overhaul team at MLS Draft

      January 15, 2009 /

      draftWhile baseball fans eagerly hang on to every miniscule transaction during the offseason, the MLS Draft is the real place where significant headway is made. Whereas drafts from the other major professional sports pull players out of their respective collegiate pool, the MLS Draft contains players from all over the world as well as the NCAA. Even though the league is in its fourteenth season, it is still struggling to find its identity. That’s why teams like the L.A. Galaxy will be looking to revamp the bulk of their team during today’s draft, which is happening right now on ESPN2.

      Assuming that David Beckham returns from AC Milan and Landon Donovan comes back from Bayern Munich, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena needs to find nine other starters to make the team competitive in 2009.

      Already, Arena has found one — Jamaican national team goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who was signed in December.

      One move the Galaxy made Wednesday was to acquire New York Red Bulls’ midfielder/forward Mike Magee, a 2003 first-round draft pick who played for Arena in New York. Magee, 24, was a starter on the Red Bulls team that reached the MLS Cup final last season. The Galaxy gave up a second-round pick in the 2010 draft for Magee.

      Arena is there, along with Galaxy assistant coach Cobi Jones and Tom Payne, the team’s president of business operations. The Galaxy has five picks in the draft, but only the first-round pick — and the third pick overall — is worth anything.

      Because of the Galaxy’s salary-cap issue — with Beckham and Donovan accounting for a significant share — Arena could also be tempted by one of the 2009 Generation Adidas players (nine young players identified by MLS as likely future stars and who do not count against cap).

      In that case, University of Akron forward Steve Zakuani, who led the nation in goals in 2008, could be the target. But Zakuani is projected as the likely No. 1 draft pick and, if so, would be gone by the time the Galaxy makes it first selection.

      Zakuani, already targeted by English clubs, reportedly has been guaranteed a contract worth between $150,000 and $200,000 by MLS.

      Generation Adidas Players? Looks the MLS is wising up and has realized that a $2.8 million salary cap is ludicrous if you want to draw established (i.e. foreign) talent into the league. In other news, due to David Beckham’s popularity, teams can now have up to four designated players that total up to $20 million in salary. So, these are your A-Rods, Sabathias, and Mannys. However, if the franchise elects for this option, the remaining members of the team will then have a cap of $100,000. What?

      Sounds like the MLS is still severely confused. They’re split between trying to run a league that cultivates young players into stars on the cheap and attempting to become an instant success with expensive European talent.

      Just drop the cap. If anything, try to land a blue chip European talent on every team. Then continue paying the young players and mid-level stars the same wages they’ve always been paid, which is next to nothing compared to other sports.

      Soccer

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