Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 876 of 1503)

      Tribe spoil Yankees’ stadium opener

      April 16, 2009 /

      The New York Yankees built one of the most expensive and state-of-the-art stadiums in Major League Baseball and to celebrate its opening, the Cleveland Indians took a dump all over it.

      Reliever Damaso Marte apparently thought he was pitching a batting practice session, because he was lit up like Jon Daly on a Saturday night. The Tribe tagged Marte for six runs on six hits as Grady Sizemore blasted a grand slam in the seventh inning to break the game wide open. By the time the damage was complete, the Indians had scored nine runs in the inning and eventually cruised to a 10-2 victory.

      The good news is that CC Sabathia didn’t look too bad against his former team, yielding just one run on five hits and striking out four. The bad news is that he walked five batters and Cliff Lee, who had done his best Marte impersonation in his previous two outings, essentially shut down the Yankees’ offense for six innings. (Jorge Posada did hit a solo shot off Lee in the fifth to tie the game at 1-1, but that was all the Bombers could muster until Robinson Cano signed home Melky Cabrera for a meaningless run in the ninth.)

      What was supposed to be a proud day in Yankee history turned out to be a complete disaster. Yankee haters everywhere will enjoy the fact that for at least one day, all the money they spent in the offseason went for nothing but a 10-2 shellacking, compliments of a Cleveland team that has looked brutal so far at the start the season.

      MLB

      Curry to invite 12-year-old leukemia survivor to draft

      April 16, 2009 /

      This is one of the coolest stories I have read in some time:

      Aaron CurryCurry wound up at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday. In a prearranged meeting set up by his agent and hospital officials, Curry told wide-eyed, 12-year-old Bryson Merriweather that he wanted a tour of the place. The boy had spent the better part of two years there undergoing five rounds of chemotherapy for leukemia, which is now in remission.

      “We were acting like he was just taking me on a regular tour around the hospital,” Curry said. “Toward the end, we ended up outside tossing each other a football, and I just started talking about the draft.

      “He said he had seen it, and I was telling him that I had been invited and if he would join me in this experience. So I said, ‘So come to New York with me and get drafted into the NFL.'”
      So joining Curry’s mother, fiancee and siblings at his draft table on April 25 will be Bryson, the Madison, Ala., boy who is determined to play football again — and get more people to be bone marrow donors.

      “I was showing him around and then he asked me,” Bryson said of Curry’s surprise offer. “And I’ve never been to New York before.”

      While Curry has been fortunate not to have a friend or family member affected by cancer, he was drawn to Bryson’s story when he was directed to the St. Jude hospital through his agent, Andy Ross.

      The article goes on to talk about young Bryson’s battle with cancer, so do yourself a favor and check it out.

      There are plenty of athletes who do good things for their community and it gets overlooked. I think what Aaron Curry is doing for this young man is special and I’ll be rooting for him on Sundays, no matter what team drafts him.

      NFL, NFL Draft

      Why Mark Sanchez will be a Cleveland Brown

      April 16, 2009 /

      mill

      Have you heard the latest draft rumors on Mark Sanchez? Apparently only the Lions, Rams, Seahawks, Browns, Jaguars, 49ers, Jets, Redskins and Broncos are either in love, smitten or downright want to get in bed with the USC quarterback.

      Is that all?

      It seems every day rumors of a new team being interested in Sanchez emerge and while it’s easy to get caught up in all the pre-draft speculation, it would obviously be wise not to believe everything you hear. That said, with the draft quickly approaching, I’ve thoroughly convinced myself that Mark Sanchez will in fact be a Cleveland Brown.

      Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire and there’s a ton of smoke coming out of Cleveland that new head coach Eric Mangini isn’t a big Brady Quinn fan. Along with daily Sanchez-is-going-here speculation, there have been just as many Quinn-will-be-traded-here rumors. Maybe Mangini and new GM George Kokinis are just throwing up smokescreens to keep other teams guessing at what their draft day plans are. Or maybe (and this seems more logical by the day) Mangini and Kokinis want to blow up the entire roster and start over and that’s why Kellen Winslow was traded to the Bucs, Braylon Edwards will soon be dealt to the Giants and Quinn will be jettisoned to parts unknown.

      Continue reading »

      College Football, NFL, NFL Draft, Rumors & Gossip

      John Madden retiring from broadcasting

      April 16, 2009 /

      mill

      NBC made an announcement this morning that long-time NFL color commenter John Madden has decided to retire. Dick Ebersol also made an announcement of Madden’s retirement, but it’s unclear at this point whether or not this is effective immediately or if John will be in the broadcast booth through the 2009 season.

      Details to follow as they’re released.

      We’ve all laughed at the MadTV skits, the Frank Caliendo’s impersonations and the overall hilarity that comes with listening to a Madden broadcast. And if you’ve watched football long enough, there’s no doubt you’ve said to yourself many times throughout the course of a season, “What the hell is Madden talking about?”

      But one thing is sure: John Madden has always known football. He might go off on long tangents about what people are eating in the stands or wear out his commenting pen trying to describe a play. But if you get through all of that, he knows the game and even in these latter years where you think he’s off his rocker, he was still always through out a great nugget or two that made you say, “You know what? Madden is right.”

      Whether you like him or not, John Madden is an icon and a broadcast legend. Personally, I hope Madden gives us one more year in the booth before hanging it up.

      NFL

      Cardinals fielding offers for Anquan Boldin

      April 16, 2009 /

      While the Cardinals are still trying to work on keeping Anquan Boldin in Arizona, head coach Ken Whisenhunt noted that the team is willing to field trade offers for the wide receiver.

      “Before the draft, you know there is going to talk about Anquan and his situation and a trade,” Whisenhunt said. “Since not a whole lot has changed with his contractual situation, we know that will come back up.

      “It would be foolish from our standpoint not to listen to those opportunities and see what actually exists. But I want to make the point … our goal is to re-sign him to a long-term deal. That hasn’t changed.”

      Said general manager Rod Graves, “We just think it is prudent for us to evaluate all our options.”
      The Cardinals have already talked some with other teams, although Graves declined to say which ones.

      Boldin, who has been looking for a new contract, still has two years left on his current deal. Because of that, the Cardinals don’t feel a sense of urgency to deal Boldin. If a trade isn’t consummated before the first day of the draft April 25, it is unlikely Boldin is going anywhere.

      The way this story has developed this offseason has been strange. First Boldin says that his situation with the Cardinals is “irreparable” and the next moment he says he’d like to stay in ‘Zona. Then the Cards say that they’re doing everything they can to retain him, yet now they’re willing to field offers.

      My best guess is that the two teams most likely to come up with a decent trade package are still the Giants and Eagles. But it appears that the Giants are more likely to land Braylon Edwards at this point and the Eagles have more to offer the Cards in terms of trade value because they have two first round picks. But does Philly want to give up one of those first rounders for Boldin? General manager Tom Heckert has said all along that his receiving corps is set, but who knows if that’s just a smokescreen.

      NFL, NFL Draft

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