Month: February 2009 (Page 42 of 57)

      Rangers sign Andruw Jones to minor league contract

      February 9, 2009 /

      The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the Rangers have signed outfielder Andruw Jones to a minor league contract.

      An official announcement is expected soon, general manager Jon Daniels said. Jones will make $500,000 if he makes the big-league roster and can earn another $1 million in performance bonuses.

      Jones, a 13-year veteran who turns 32 in April, is another low-risk, high-reward signing by the Rangers. Overweight last season, Jones hit only .158 with three home runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he had knee surgery in May.

      But Jones has lost weight, perhaps as much as 25 pounds, and the Rangers hope that Jaramillo can help him find the powerful stroke that produced at least 25 homers for 10 consecutive seasons from 1998 to 2007.

      This was a solid signing by the Rangers. If he’s brutal in spring training, then the team could cut ties and not lose much in the deal. But if he’s in shape and ready to compete again, then maybe Texas just got one of the better bargain deals of the offseason.

      Either way, this is probably Jones’ last chance to make an impact at the major league level.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Wrestler Chris Jericho punches woman in the face

      February 9, 2009 /

      SPORTSbyBROOKS.com has the insane video of wrestler Chris Jericho punching a woman in the face after leaving a WWE show in Victoria on Saturday.

      An eye-witness describes the incident after the video.

      He spat in the girl’s face, and called her a “f—ing bitch.” The woman spat in Jericho’s face. Jericho started cursing out the woman some more, and was getting ready to go back into his vehicle (as all of this is still happening in the middle of the road). While he was turning to go into his vehicle, one of the guys he was fighting shoved Jericho against his car. Another guy then shoved Jericho, and that time he bumped his head on the top of his vehicle. This was where Jericho seriously snapped.

      After bumping his head, Jericho went into a sh*t storm, throwing and swinging at everybody around him. He knocked one guy to the ground, told another fan that he was going to “f—ing kill you.” The woman who got spit on was still yelling at Jericho, so he pie-faced her away from him (because the arena security couldn’t keep them separated). As soon as he put his hands on the woman, another fan jumped in and started swinging at Jericho. Jericho grabbed the guy and started throwing him to the ground, and at this point I had to yank my girlfriend out of the way and into some other people because Jericho had literally thrown himself and the other guy into our direction and we would of been knocked down by the scuffle.

      The arena security try again at this point to regain order, and two of them grabbed Jericho and started yelling at him to calm down. Jericho responded by taking a swing at one of the security guards and yelling at them to “do your f—ing job and get the f—ing police here.” Then he shoved the second guard to the ground and told him to “stay the f— off me”.

      Well, as that happens, the chick lunged at Jericho AGAIN, and this time Jericho actually punched the woman in the face, and shoved her to the ground. This stunned everyone, and the girl’s friends ended up jumping in trying to fight Jericho, to which he fought all of them off, then stormed into his vehicle swearing and sped off, running through a stop sign in the process.

      Apparently these fans were upset at Jericho for making statements on the WWE show and decided to attack him in mob-like fashion. Let’s rewind. Jericho’s character made remarks on the show that pissed fans off, so they decided to attack him.

      Punching a woman in the face is unacceptable in any circumstance. But these security guards clearly offered him zero help in getting him off the premise and Jericho took matters into his own hands. This looks like a case of complete self-defense.

      A note to wrestling fans: IT’S NOT REAL. What these characters say on the show isn’t real – they’re acting. Get a grip.

      General Sports, Video

      Jets hope Brett makes up his mind in next 10 days

      February 9, 2009 /

      The Jets hope to hear Brett Favre’s decision on whether or not he’s returning to the team next year by the NFL scouting combine.

      Brett FavreThe Jets are in the same position the Packers were in the last several years and it’s not comfortable. They are waiting for Favre to tell them what he’s doing.

      When the Jets made the trade in August, they got the entire Favre package: The leadership, the excitement, the improvisation and the interceptions. But they also acquired the aggravation of their life being put on hold as Favre takes his time deciding whether he’s going to play in 2009. The Jets need to be pro-active rather than playing nice and feeding into Favre’s diva act.

      But the Jets need an answer. Freeing up Favre’s $13 million cap number would give them free-agent flexibility. Even if he plays, they still have some room to maneuver. The greater issue would be who plays quarterback? If Favre is done, the Jets can’t go into camp with Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff and pray one of them turns into Matt Cassel.

      At least when Favre was doing this to the Packers the last few years they knew Aaron Rodgers was next in line. The Jets don’t have quality options. That’s why the Jets are being patient. They might feel they need him more than he needs them.

      Hindsight is always 20/20, but you can’t help but get the feeling that the Jets made the wrong decision to acquire Favre last year. He made them competitive, but they still missed the playoffs and now they’re at the mercy of his pending decision. Worse yet, if he doesn’t return, they either have to hope Clemens or Ratliff emerges next year or take a shot at selecting a quarterback in a week draft class.

      Maybe it would have been better if the Jets allowed Clemens to get another year under his belt instead of taking a shot on Favre.

      NFL

      Lakers beat Cavs in impressive fashion

      February 8, 2009 /

      The Cavs were up 61-51 at halftime, but a 22-8 run to start the third quarter put the Lakers in control of the game, and they went on to win, 101-91. That run included an 11-0 spurt at the start of the quarter, and Mike Brown failed to call a timeout to stop the bleeding. After all, the Cavs are still a young team, so they are not as adept at playing through adversity as, say, the Celtics, Spurs or even the Lakers. I kept waiting for Brown to call a timeout but it never happened, and in many ways, that shift of momentum at the beginning of the second half was the difference in the game.

      But it didn’t help that LeBron James shot 5 of 20 from the field. He had a near triple-double (16 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds) but he’d be the first to admit that he didn’t play very well. It’s not often that the Cavs get 57 combined points from Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Wally Szczerbiak and still find a way to lose, but they did just that today.

      After the loss of Andrew Bynum for 8-12 weeks, the Lakers have to feel great about completing this five-game road trip with consecutive wins against the Celtics and Cavs. Kobe was apparently battling the flu, but still managed to outscore LeBron (with 19 points) and hit a crucial rainbow jumper with just 2:48 remaining to put the Lakers up six. Lamar Odom (28 points, 17 rebounds) continues to play big basketball in Bynum’s absence, and is doing wonders for the contract that he’ll be signing this summer as a free agent.

      So with a 1-3 combined record against the Celtics and Lakers, do the Cavs make a move with Szczerbiak’s expiring contract or do they stand pat and hope for the best? I think they have to do everything they can to win a title (or at least get to the Finals this year) if they hope to keep LeBron next summer, but clearly they have to hold out for a deal that has a great chance to make them better. I think they could package Szczerbiak with Hickson (and maybe a first round pick or two) and get themselves an impact big like Jermaine O’Neal.

      Is that worth the risk? Well, O’Neal had 22 points, nine boards and nine blocks in a recent loss against the Lakers and his contract expires in 2010, so it wouldn’t affect the team’s cap flexibility in the long term.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, Rumors & Gossip

      Spurs’ supporting cast keys big win in Boston

      February 8, 2009 /

      The Spurs posted an impressive win over the Celtics, 105-99, which marks the first time this season that Boston has lost two consecutive games at home.

      Check out the Spurs’ possessions down the stretch:

      3:20 Matt Bonner misses 25-foot three point jumper
      2:34 Manu Ginobili misses 23-foot three point jumper
      1:57 Matt Bonner bad pass (Kevin Garnett steals)
      1:19 Roger Mason misses 27-foot three point jumper
      0:45 Matt Bonner makes 14-foot two point shot
      0:20 Roger Mason makes 24-foot three point jumper

      It’s not often that you see an NBA team go away from their stars for that long in crunch time. The trio of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker only combined for one shot attempt in six possessions over three full minutes. The Spurs started that stretch leading, 90-87, fell behind 93-90, and then ultimately went ahead, 95-93, on the made shots by Bonner and Mason.

      Bonner co-led the Spurs with 23 points on 10-17 shooting, and led the team in shot attempts. George Hill was 3-3 and scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter with Duncan and Parker on the bench.

      Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 26 points, but after hitting two jumpers to give his team the lead, he missed a key 17-footer with 0:28 to play.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals

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