Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1075 of 1503)

      Phillies in hot pursuit of Rockies’ Matt Holliday

      November 7, 2008 /

      Matt HollidayThe World Series Champions aren’t sitting pat this offseason. The Phillies are apparently aggressively pursing Rockies’ outfield Matt Holliday to add another potent bat to their lineup.

      The Rockies surely would be interested in Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino, but it isn’t known whether Philadelphia would consider moving him. The Phillies have several other well-regarded young players, including catcher Lou Marson, shortstop Jason Donald and pitcher Carlos Carrasco. Sources indicate that the Phillies have enough good young players to be able to do a deal for Holliday if the sides can agree.

      Baseball executives expect Holliday to be traded at some point this offseason, but nothing appears imminent.

      Any team after Holliday is about to play Russian Roulette. His contract expires at the end of the 2009 season, so there’s a great chance that whatever team acquires him will only be doing so for one season. Obviously a long-term deal can be struck, but most players want to test the free agent waters before making a decision on if they want to return to the team they just played for.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Cubs interested in acquiring Jake Peavy

      November 7, 2008 /

      The Chicago Cubs have emerged as a possible candidate to acquire San Diego Padres’ ace Jake Peavy.

      The Chicago Cubs have leapt to the forefront of the Jake Peavy trade discussion, though the San Diego Padres are continuing to talk with the Atlanta Braves in hopes of extracting a better package, sources told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday night.

      The team that lands the former National League Cy Young winner could depend on which includes its top pitching prospect, according to the sources. The Padres have asked the Cubs for right-hander Jeff Samardzija as the headliner of a package that could include outfielder Felix Pie, pitcher Sean Marshall and infielder Ronny Cedeno. Other potential pieces, another source said, were pitcher Kevin Hart and minor-league pitcher Donnie Veal.

      A rotation of Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Jake Peavy and Ryan Dempster would be filthy, although the Cubs would be mortgaging their long-term future by parting with so many prospects. Still, their roster is set up for them to win now and in baseball, you have to worry about one year at a time if you’re a contender like the Cubs obviously are.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      The college football regular season is not a playoff

      November 7, 2008 /

      Phil Guidry of SI.com is my hero:

      The regular season is a playoff
      Of all the absolute nonsense network sportscasters and BCS apologists spew during the season, this might be the most galling. If the regular season is a playoff, it’s the most asinine, unfulfilling playoff ever devised. If this is a playoff, it’s missing one teeny, tiny, possibly useful ingredient for the big picture: the actual “playing” part.

      Things would be fine if everyone played the same balanced schedule and the best teams got the chance to pick each other off during the season until a true champion emerged. But if there’s one thing college football fans can agree on, it’s that conference schedules are not created equal…

      In reality, this alleged regular season playoff settles virtually nothing on the field, and that means at the end of the year we could have the following situation: Florida could get shut out of the title game even though it’s churning through SEC opponents by 30 points per game. Penn State could get shut out even with an undefeated season. USC could get shut out even though it’s, well, shutting people out (three times this season, and it hasn’t even faced UCLA yet). Texas could get shut out even though its only loss came against an unbeaten team, in the final seconds, thanks to the best play of the season. Oklahoma could get shut out even though Texas is the only team that beat it…

      Imagine a world where the NFL didn’t have playoffs. It just had a 17-Week regular season and at the end, the New York Giants played the Tennessee Titans because each team had the right combination of wins, common opponents and margin of victory points.

      I think I just threw up in my mouth. And that’s how I feel watching college football every Saturday knowing that there’s no true playoff system to tell me if Penn State is better than Texas Tech or Alabama is better than Florida.

      College Football

      Brandon Marshall tries to make political statement during game

      November 7, 2008 /

      Brandon Marshall explains his attempt to make a political statement in support of Barack Obama during the Broncos’ 34-30 win over the Browns on NFL Network Thursday night.

      One blogger at FanIQ.com sums up the situation pretty well:

      Well done on Stokely’s part, showing the awareness and intelligence that Marshall seemed to completely disregard in his zeal to play politics during a football game. Celebrating Barack Obama’s victory is something that can be done on one’s own time, and probably shouldn’t be something that is planned on the company’s dime. I’m not sure why anyone would feel that it’s ok for athletes to make these sorts of political statements when they are “at work,” but I’m sure if anyone in a normal job were to celebrate election results at work in a way that could potentially damage the company, it would result in punitive action.

      Is there a reason that athletes feel the need to abuse the public stage to express political views? I’m certainly not suggesting they be censored, but I do believe a certain amount of discretion should be considered, and I’m not sure that I see that in sports today.

      NFL, Video

      Utah keeps BCS hopes alive with last minute TD to beat TCU

      November 7, 2008 /

      Brian JohnsonThey had trailed all game and their BCS hopes appeared to be dashed. Yet back-to-back missed field goals by TCU had kept No. 8 Utah alive.

      Down 10-6 the entire second half, the Utes started at their own 20 with 2:48 left in the game. There, QB Brian Johnson marched Utah down the field in rhythmic fashion, even completing an 11-yard pass on a 4th and 5 from TCU’s 26-yard line. Then, on a 2nd and 4 from the TCU 9-yard line, Johnson found Freddie Brown for the go-ahead touchdown with only 47 seconds to play. Utah held on the final 47 seconds for a 13-10 win.

      It took the Utes nine plays and 80 yards, but they had saved their season. For the No. 12 Horned Frogs, it had taken them just two minutes and one second from blowing the opportunity to knock off the No. 8 team in the nation and perhaps climb into the top 10 themselves.

      Utah’s comeback was incredibly impressive and what a game by the senior Johnson. But TCU blew a golden opportunity to put the Utes away several times in the fourth quarter. Twice they had marched into the red zone with less than seven minutes remaining in the game and twice they were unable to put the game away with touchdowns or even field goals, as they missed two 30-yard attempts that would have at least kept the game tied once Utah scored.

      It’s hard to blame TCU’s defense for finally yielding in the final minutes. Normally when you hold the No. 8 team to only 13 points (including 6 until the final three minutes left in the game) you should walk away with a victory.

      College Football

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑