Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1125 of 1503)

      Mort: Raiders could lose draft picks over Randy Moss accusations

      October 9, 2008 /

      ESPN’s Chris Mortensen is reporting that the Oakland Raiders are subject to discipline for publicly accusing the New England Patriots of tampering with wideout Randy Moss. In his report, Mort states that the Raiders could be fined and lose multiple draft picks as well.

      Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis received a letter from the NFL this week saying, in essence, that if he has evidence the New England Patriots tampered with his team prior to a 2007 trade involving Randy Moss, he should present it.

      There is an NFL policy that does say that teams can be subject to sanctions for issuing false allegations in public.

      The punishment for violating the policy could range from a substantial fine — $250,000 or more — to docking the Raiders one or more draft picks, or both, NFL sources told ESPN.

      Davis said the Patriots had tampered with Randy Moss before a deal in April 2007 that brought the wide receiver to New England for a fourth-round choice the weekend of the NFL draft. Patriots coach Bill Belichick denied the claim by Davis that New England had a workout with Moss before obtaining him in the trade.

      And the Al Davis legacy continues to crumble…

      NFL

      Is Notre Dame football back?

      October 9, 2008 /

      Jimmy ClausenA storyline is brewing in college football right now that makes some want to shout it from the rooftops. (While others want to jump off those very same rooftops at the thought of it.)

      That storyline is none other than Notre Dame football.

      A year ago, Charlie Weis’s program stumbled to a 3-9 record, which included six losses to unranked opponents and back-to-back defeats at the hands of Navy and Air Force. But the Irish are off to their best start in three years and are starting to get people excited about the program again.

      After a sloppy win in their opener against San Diego State (a game in which one ignorant writer had the audacity to suggest Notre Dame hadn’t improved at all following last year’s debacle of a season), the Irish crushed longtime rivals Michigan, 35-17, before suffering their first defeat of the season – a 35-17 road loss to Michigan State. But ND has since won back-to-back games against Purdue and Stanford in rather convincing fashion, leading some to believe that Weis and sophomore QB Jimmy Clausen have the team back on the right track.

      So are the Irish back? It’s hard to say. Clausen has developed nicely in his second season and in turn, the offense looks like a completely different unit than the one that took the field on most Saturdays last year. In his last two games, Clausen has throw for 622 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions. His two main receivers, Golden Tate and Michael Floyd have also been fantastic, averaging over 15 yards a catch. The defense has improved as well, allowing just 19 points per game (17 PPG over the last six games dating back to last season), as opposed to the nearly 30 PPG they allowed a year ago.

      But the Irish have benefited from playing four of their first five games at home this year and their only loss was on the road. They have also yet to play a ranked opponent, which changes this week when they travel to No. 22 North Carolina, another improving program out to prove they’re legit as well. And despite Clausen’s solid play, the Irish haven’t been able to run the ball outside of the Purdue game and prior to last week, only had one sack. (Of course, they had five sacks against Stanford last week, so getting to the quarterback might not be a problem in the long run.)

      We should find out a lot about Clausen and Notre Dame this week. The Tar Heels have amassed 11 interceptions in their last four games and sophomore Shaun Draughn is emerging as a solid back to complement UNC’s already top-notch wide receiver corps. The ‘Heels also blocked three punts last week in their win over previously ranked Connecticut and if the Irish can’t run the ball to help take the pressure of Clausen, UNC’s ball hawking secondary could ruin the young quarterback’s afternoon.

      Is Notre Dame football back? Stay tuned.

      College Football

      Want a job with the Oakland Raiders? Apply here

      October 9, 2008 /

      Mike Lopresti of USA Today lays out a pretty humorous mock interview for anyone who wants to coach for the circus that is the Oakland Raiders:

      Al Davis1. Why in heaven’s name would you want this job?

      3. When you were a kid, did you ever dream of being in a circus?

      5. Name three men in the NFL more important than Al Davis. Extra points if you can’t think of that many.

      7. Are you prepared to make the tough decisions on the questions Mr. Davis gives you sole authority to answer? For instance, tie color. Very important. And when it comes to how you like your eggs, the buck stops at your desk.

      8. Would you say the fact the Raiders have not won a Super Bowl in nearly 25 years is due to coaching error, league conspiracy or global warming?

      9. Wouldn’t you agree that given the honor of working for the Oakland Raiders, getting paid isn’t really all that important?

      10. Which golf course will you be playing on NFL draft day, so the Raiders can find you and let you know who you’ve drafted?

      11. When you’re fired, would you prefer it be by e-mail or cellphone?

      12. Were you ever in the jury pool for an Al Davis lawsuit?

      13. If things go south, what names will you not mind being called on national television?

      16. How quickly can you pack?

      19. What will be your deadline each week for suggestions to be faxed from the owner’s box?

      Thank you for your answers. We’ll be in contact soon. Just wait, baby.

      No. 10 is pretty good.

      NFL

      Cubs fans vs. Rays fans – who has it worse?

      October 9, 2008 /

      The State brings up an interesting argument: Which baseball fans have had it worse – Cubs or Rays? The site goes into great detail and suggests that Tampa fans have had it worse.

      Chicago Cubs FansEnough is enough: The poor, beleaguered Rays fan deserves a defense…Cheering for the Cubs is like carrying on with a rotten tooth; cheering for the Rays has, until this year, been like being stabbed in the face repeatedly with a butter knife.

      Consider the plight of the Tampa Bay baseball fan. For pretty much the entire 20th century, he didn’t even have a team. If you don’t count that as suffering, consider that in the 1980s and 1990s, his city was regularly used as a means to extort other baseball-having cities into building new stadiums—the Twins, White Sox, Rangers, Mariners, and Giants all teased Floridian fans with threats to move to Tampa/St. Petersburg, but none of those deals came to pass. When Tampa did finally get a team in 1998, they instantly became the worst franchise in baseball—and perhaps in all of American pro sports.

      Since 1998, the Cubs fan has watched his team play in October four times; the Rays fan has watched his lose 90 games 10 times. While the Cubs fan has taken in games at Wrigley Field, the finest park in the major leagues, the Rays fan has trudged into Tropicana Field, the only park in baseball whose ground rules distinguish between four possible calls that can be made on balls that strike one of several catwalks suspended over the field…Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa hit 129 home runs in 1998 and 1999; former Rays right fielder Aubrey Huff is the team’s career leader with 128. On a given game night there are probably 8,000 Cubs fans drinking on Clark Street; the Rays could muster only 8,000 fans to a recent rally celebrating their epic ascent to the postseason.

      I guess the question really becomes, is it a great suffering to have your team make the postseason but never win anything? Or never make the postseason at all? Personally, I would much rather have my team make the postseason every couple of years than to know they have no hope and then proceed to watch them lose 90 games. Although I’m never going to be the one to tell a Cubs fan they haven’t suffered.

      MLB

      Brennan misses the point about baseball postseason

      October 9, 2008 /

      Christine Brennan of USA Today writes that the format for the baseball playoffs needs to be redone.

      Angels-Red SoxTo pique fan interest, lure sponsors and maximize TV ratings, MLB has, over time, adopted a three-tiered playoff system — four divisional series leading to two championship series to, finally, the World Series — which by definition diminishes the meaning of the regular season.

      Talk about your mixed messages. On the one hand, the game is at its pastoral best when it is played out over time, when it meanders through the summer like a lazy river, when patience is rewarded, when one game by itself may mean so little.

      Then, once we hit October, baseball becomes manic. The marathon turns into a sprint, especially in the division series, which still are the quirkiest of arrangements, just a quick, best-of-five-games test.
      Of course, every team knows what the rules are. None of this is new to them. And what infuriates purists delights the masses. When teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were only six games above .500 and had the 15th-best record during the regular season, are potentially just four games away from the World Series, that’s the kind of story that brings people running to their TV sets.

      But let’s examine that sentence again. A team with the 15th-best record in baseball is four games away from the World Series. And the teams with the two best records in the game are at least 169 games from the World Series — next year’s World Series.

      Like all other big U.S. professional sports, baseball elongates its season not necessarily to crown the year’s best team, but to meet and perhaps exceed all financial, marketing and entertainment goals.
      But not every last bit of regular-season integrity need be lost. It’s time for MLB to go back to two divisions in each league, with the top two teams in each division making the playoffs. In other words, no more 15th-best teams allowed.

      Brennan makes a great point that in the end, baseball wants to market itself in the best way possibly to make more money. But MLB is a business, so of course it wants to make more money and will continue to think of ways to do so.

      Where she misses the point is that it’s not the league’s fault that every infielder for the Cubs made an error in the same game against the Dodgers, or that the Red Sox continue to own the Angels in the postseason. And only four teams in the postseason? How is this fun for fans? Without a salary cap, more times than not the teams that spend the most will go to the playoffs. (And before anyone says anything, I know that the Rockies and Rays made the playoffs the last two years with small pay rolls. But look at the Rockies – they couldn’t sustain their World Series momentum this year because they don’t spend enough to compete year in and year out.)

      The postseason format is fine. It’s getting a cap in place that should be the league’s top priority. But that will never happen.

      MLB

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