Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1212 of 1503)

      Wednesday MLB Headliners: Cubs continue to slide

      July 23, 2008 /

      – The Chicago Cubs couldn’t have pictured a worse start to the second half, dropping four of their last five games. Their latest defeat – a 9-2 drubbing at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks – allowed the Milwaukee Brewers to inch just one game out of first in the NL Central. All of a sudden the Cubs’ potent lineup has disappeared. Outside of a 9-0 win against Houston, the Cubs are averaging just one run a game.

      – The Brewers are officially the hottest team in baseball, winners of six in a row after Bill Hall homered in the top of the ninth to give Milwaukee a 4-3 win over division rival St. Louis. The Brewers are now 7-3 in their last 10 games and sit just one game out of first in the NL Central.

      – If the Brewers are the hottest team in baseball, the New York Yankees are by far the hottest team in the AL. With an 8-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, the Yankees have won five in a row and have cut the deficit in the AL East down to 3.5 games. Bobby Abreu hit his 11th homer of the year and although he didn’t pick up the win, Darrell Rasner (5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 K) kept the game close until NY’s lineup produce three runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to top the Twins.

      – Dice-K improved to 11-1 on the season after pitching 7.1 strong innings in Boston’s 4-2 win over the Mariners. He fanned six and gave up just two runs on five hits while J.D. Drew continued his masterful season, homering in the first and driving in Jacoby Ellsbury on a sac fly in the fifth. The BoSox remain just a half game out of first in the AL East after the Rays lost to the A’s 8-1.

      – The Florida Marlins are officially making a push in the NL East after shutting out the Atlanta Braves 4-0. Youngster Rick YanderHurk threw a one-hitter threw five innings and he also struck out seven in picking up his first win of the year. The Marlins and Mets trail the Phillies by only one game in the division.

      MLB

      NCAA Football 09 Review: 5 Stars

      July 23, 2008 /

      Jason Thompson of Bullz-Eye.com recently reviewed “NCAA Football 09” for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii gaming systems and gave it five stars. He says forget “Madden” – “NCAA Football 09” is the game to get this year.

      Amongst the new additions this year is the breakaway engine wherein players can easily break free of spin moves, stiff arms and other motions – and it doesn’t look or feel clunky. Indeed, EA has taken the time to get rid of a lot of the pre-programmed animations that the players would sometimes get locked into in the past and have made a much more realistic experience for gamers with super-fluid animations. This new look extends over into the entire game package, with more realistic on-field animations before, after, and between plays. And while some of the crowd animations are still looped, the stadiums look amazing and the action on the field looks as good as almost any you’d find on an actual game on TV.

      EA really brings the game home to the online crowd this year with a terrific 12-player Dynasty mode, where you can duke it out with 11 other people through 60 seasons (if that’s your thing). Fans of fantasy football should really enjoy this feature, hammering out every nuance of the season, recruiting and trading players, and getting rid of others to make the perfect college team. Never has online football been so well represented or integrated into a game until now. Whether or not this year’s “Madden” entry will follow lead will have to be seen.

      EA has ignored Playstation 2 sports games like “Madden” for two years now to concentrate on making the Playstation 3 and Xbox games pop. Sounds like it was worth it based on Thompson’s review.

      General Sports, Video

      Bears fans rejoice: Brian Urlacher gets restructured contract

      July 22, 2008 /

      The Chicago Bears and middle linebacker Brian Urlacher have reached an agreement on a restructured contract according to ESPN.com.

      Urlacher, 30, had four years and approximately $25.5 million remaining on his contract. Under the terms of the upgraded deal, Urlacher will receive a $6 million signing bonus along with a $1 million bump in salary each of the next four years. The sides also have agreed to extend the pact into 2012, at a salary of $7.5 million. Urlacher can earn an additional $500,000 in a workout bonus in 2012.
      That’s a total of roughly $43.5 million over the next five years, with $18 million in new money for the six-time Pro Bowler and four-time All Pro.

      Boy, the Bears certainly go about things the hard way sometimes, but they’ve made their star players happy (of late). Lance Briggs got a new contract at the start of the 2007 season and now Urlacher is set to go until 2012.

      Even though he was hampered by nagging injuries last year, there’s no denying Urlacher is still Chicago’s best option at middle linebacker in their Tampa 2 defense. With how important the position is in that type of defense, the Bears could ill afford not to pay Urlacher and have him back on the field in 2008.

      Fantasy Football, NFL

      Former USC Trojan Carson Palmer rips Ohio State

      July 22, 2008 /

      Former USC Trojan and current Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback Carson Palmer had some choice words for the Ohio State football program in a recent interview with a Los Angeles radio station.

      I cannot stand the Buckeyes. It’s amazing to hear what those guys think about that university and what they think about that football program and Tressel and all the crap I gotta put up with being back there.

      I just can’t wait for two years from now when SC comes to the ‘Shoe and hopefully we’ll have a home game that weekend, and I can go up there and watch us pound on them in their own turf.

      I’m really getting sick of it, and I just can’t wait for this game to get here so they can come out to the Coliseum and experience LA and get an old-fashioned Pac-10 butt-whoopin’ and go back to the Big Ten.

      Shortly afterwards, Palmer did his best defensive back impersonation and backpedaled:

      “I’m a Trojan all the way, and I was talking to a Trojan audience in California. I guess I got a little fired up, as all good fans will do. But I really do respect the Buckeyes, and I know their fans are passionate, too. I hope they all understand I’m just looking forward to a big game for my school against a very tough opponent, and that it’s all in the good fun of a rivalry. You don’t have a real rivalry unless both sides are great teams.”

      In the immortal words of White Goodman (Ben Stiller) from Dodgeball: You don’t crap where you eat, Palmer. You might be a Trojan through and through, but you make your earning in the state that Woody Hayes built. Better choose your words carefully.

      Actually, I love what Palmer said (pre-backpedal). Current and former USC players should hate Ohio State and vice versa. Rivalries are part of what college football is all about.

      College Football

      MLB trade rumors heat up

      July 22, 2008 /

      The MLB trade deadline is quickly approaching and as usual, rumors are flying. The Brewers have already made one huge acquisition (C.C. Sabathia) and one to beef up their bench (Ray Durham). Are they done? Will the Pirates become huge sellers? Will the Blue Jays successfully unload A.J. Burnett? Tampa is finally in contention – will they become buyers?

      THE FANTASY SPORTS FORUM takes a look at some of these questions.

      The Tampa Bay Rays have made it no secret that they would like to add another bat, preferably a right handed bat that can play right field. The players most associated with the Rays so far are Xavier Nady and Jason Bay of Pittsburgh. Tampa has a very strong farm system and would have whatever chips are necessary to add any bats they need. The question is if they choose to go that route. Tampa is in new territory at this season’s trade deadline, as this is the first season in their existence that they are in contention for a playoff spot…

      Toronto would love to trade A. J. Burnett, but his contract makes that highly unlikely. He has a player option for two years and 24 million or become a free agent at the end of this season. So, if he pitches well the last two months for a contender, he can exercise said option and become a free agent, and if he pitches poorly he can just stay with you for 12 million a year for two years. Don’t see many teams lining up for him…

      Things have to be frustrating in Pittsburgh. They have some sporadic position talent and young pitching in Zach Duke, Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny (optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis in early July), but it just hasn’t developed. Now they appear to be sellers again and the sad cycle continues.

      And I agree with the guys at TFSF – no team is touching Burnett with a 10-foot pole.

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

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