Category: External Sports (Page 189 of 821)

      Rob Dibble: Starsburg’s dad got me booted from broadcast booth

      April 8, 2011 /
      Washington Nationals’ pitcher Stephen Strasburg pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Nationals Park on August 15, 2010. UPI/Kevin Dietsch

      A year after he told Stephen Strasburg to “suck it up” after the Nationals’ starter injured his elbow (which resulted in him having Tommy John surgery), Rob Dibble is opening his mouth again.

      According to Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, Dibble claims that he was let go at MASN because of an e-mail that Strasburg’s father wrote to the Nationals’ owner Ted Lerner.

      “Listen, it’s their team, they acted in their own interests,” he told FoxSports.com columnist Mark Kriegel. “And I’m gonna tell you something that I’ve never told anybody before. It was basically Strasburg’s father [who] e-mailed the owner and basically was offended by what I said.

      “Now remember, I said that on my own radio show on another network, and his father e-mailed the owner and the owner wanted me out of there. so that’s the bottom line. So that should end it. I want Stephen to go on, never have my name brought up and have a great career. I had a great career, I had fun, had a great seven years, and it’s sad for me that people still associate me with him. There should be no association with him.”

      As Steinberg points out, if Dibble doesn’t want his name to be associated with Strasburg then he shouldn’t be telling a national audience that the young pitcher’s father is the reason he no longer works for MASN. That’s just dumb.

      That said, if Dibble is telling the truth then this entire situation is ridiculous. A father of one of the younger players got his feelings hurt so he wrote an e-mail to the team’s owner to get him kicked off air? Oh, brother. Is Strasburg’s father going to write an angry letter to every person who criticizes his son over his career? Because if he writes in to TSR, I’ll delete. I swear to God I’ll delete it.

      Dibble is a loudmouth with little or no tact, but he shouldn’t have been let go for speaking his mind (regardless of whether you think he was wrong to tell Strasburg to “suck it up” or not). I mean, that’s what MASN paid him for, right? You don’t hire Rob freaking Dibble to sit there like Monte from the “Major League” movies and you certainly don’t fire him for being brash. Again: He’s Rob Dibble.

      This isn’t high school athletics and millionaire players (or their fathers for that matter) shouldn’t be protected from the stinging words of the big bad media.

      External Sports, MLB

      NFL, NFLPA will discuss the possibility of mediation on Friday

      April 8, 2011 /
      Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, arrives to continue negotiations between the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA) in Washington March 11, 2011. The parties were still negotiating a range of sticking points, including how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, but the players’ union insist one issue, the NFL’s proposal to add two more games to the regular season, was off the table. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS)

      The NFL and NFLPA are scheduled to speak at 10:00AM Friday with Judge Susan Nelson to discuss the possibility of mediation. Rotoworld.com has the details.

      We’re not holding out much hope for immediate progress, but Judge Nelson is at least known for “settling standoffs,” per Judy Battista of the New York Times. The NFLPA stance is that the owners’ offer to resume mediation under George Cohen “makes no sense” as collective bargaining between the two sides is “over.” The players do hold the leverage right now, but they’re also missing out on a chance to hammer out a favorable deal through collective bargaining in lieu of litigation.

      Any progress is good progress at this point. Maybe Judge Nelson can convince both sides that it’s best to go through mediation rather than allow the court process to play out. If not, we’re right back where we were when the players decertified and we could be looking at a lengthy lockout.

      If the lockout does last another couple of months, I wonder if the owners will eventually crack. The players have been preparing for this moment for the past two years and even put a “lockout fund” together just in case. The owners have dug in their heels and have flexed their muscles a couple of times throughout the last couple of months (or tried to in the case of Jerry Jones), but they were also hoping to fund their lockout using TV contracts. Judge David Doty squashed that plan, so I wonder if the owners will eventually crack the longer the lockout resumes. (Or obviously if Judge Nelson rules in favor of the players and ends the lockout in a couple of weeks.)

      We’ll see. (I feel like I’ve said that a lot as it pertains to this CBA mess.)

      External Sports, NFL

      B.J. Penn removed from July 2 UFC 132 fight card

      April 8, 2011 /

      According to HeavyMMA.com, UFC welterweight contender B.J. Penn has been scratched from UFC 132.

      Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion B.J. Penn will not be fighting at UFC 132 this July.

      MMAjunkie.com reported the news earlier today after confirming the information with sources close to Penn’s camp.

      A rematch between Penn and Jon Fitch was scratched from the card after the American Kickboxing Academy star was forced out of the contest due an injury. While it was believed that the UFC was searching for a replacement, the sources say that Penn will be fighting on a different card later this year.

      Penn and Fitch fought a draw at UFC 127 last February and an immediate rematch was set in place for the two. The winner of the rematch would have in all likelihood been the next man to earn a title shot against the winner of Georges St. Pierre vs. Jake Shields.

      UFC 132 is set for July 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada and features a bantamweight championship between rivals Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. A replacement co-main event has yet to be announced.

      Read more MMA headlines.

      External Sports, Mixed Martial Arts, UFC

      Red Sox, Rays each drop to 0-6 – time to panic?

      April 7, 2011 /

      Raise your hand if you had the Red Sox and Rays going 0-12 to start the year…

      …oh, stop it. You don’t count, Yankee Fans.

      The Red Sox, a preseason favorite of many pundits, have started off the year losers of six in a row. Their team ERA is 7.13, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Marco Scutaro, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and big money free agent Carl Crawford are all hitting below .200, and Indians starter Mitch Talbot just struck out 13 Boston batters on Wednesday night. (That’s 13, and that’s Mitch Talbot.)

      The Rays have also started off 0-6, but they haven’t even held a lead this year. They’ve scored one run in five of their first six games and fans are already booing Manny Ramirez. Ironically, White Sox starter Edwin Jackson also struck out 13 Tampa Bay batters in a 5-1 win on Thursday.

      What does this all mean? Maybe something, maybe nothing. Pundits figured that the Rays could struggle with the amount of talent they lost in the offseason, but nobody saw an 0-6 start for Boston. Not after they shelled out big money for Crawford and traded for slugger Adrian Gonzalez. But the reality is that they’ve done nothing right so far.

      Of course, we haven’t even reached the middle of April yet. If Boston sweeps two three-game series, they’ll be back to .500 (I took math in college) and this 0-6 start will fade a bit from memory. Besides, you can’t look too deep into what a team does in April – nevertheless the first week in April. Does anyone think the Pirates will continue to play well? No, they’ll eventually fall off. They’re playing well now because everyone expects them to finish dead last in the NL Central and therefore, the pressure is off.

      That said, teams like the Red Sox that are expected to make a World Series run have a tendency to press when things aren’t going their way. Boston shouldn’t worry too much about being 0-6 but they obviously can’t wait too long to start winning either.

      External Sports, MLB

      Derrick Mason: Roger Goodell is a “joke”

      April 7, 2011 /
      Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason is seen as the Ravens play the Cincinnati Bengals at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on January 2, 2011. UPI/Kevin Dietsch

      During a recent radio broadcast, Ravens’ receiver Derrick Mason said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should stop worrying about blood tests and HGH and start worrying about getting a CBA deal done.

      Oh, and Mason also called Goodell a joke.

      Goodell said Monday that the new labor agreement will include rigorous testing for human growth hormone, with the possibility of a blood test as well.

      Referencing Goodell’s comments, Mason said “He needs to stop crying about blood tests and HGH. He needs to try to get a deal done, that’s what he needs to do.

      “To me, he’s a joke, because every time I look, he’s talking about performance enhancements instead of talking about trying to figure out a way to make sure football is played in August.”

      Fair enough, although in Goodell’s defense if he wants to ensure that there will be HGH testing in the next CBA, this is the time to do it. It’s not like he can spend all of his time working on a new CBA deal and then turn around and say, “Ah crap, you know what I forgot? HGH testing. I swear, I’d forget my head if it weren’t bolted onto my neck!”

      I think calling Goodell “a joke” was an irrational comment by Mason. Does he think that Goodell doesn’t want to get a deal done? Does he think that Goodell likes being perceived as one of the villains in this CBA mess? Does he think that Goodell isn’t focused or determined to ensure there’s a season next year? Does he think that Goodell wants to go down as a commissioner who couldn’t figure out a way for the owners and players to share billions of dollars?

      Come on, we’re all fired up about the lockout but let’s relax and think rationally here. Goodell wants a deal done just as bad as anyone so things can go back to normal. Comments like “he’s a joke” are unconstructive.

      External Sports, NFL

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