Category: General Sports (Page 89 of 112)

Did WVEC jump the gun?

On Friday, I posted a story from WVEC in Virginia, which stated three dozen dog carcasses were allegedly found by Federal investigators on the Surry County property owned by Michael Vick. It became such a national story that even ESPN Radio allegedly reported the same story via WVEC on some of their broadcasts.

Well apparently WVEC jumped the gun on the situation, because they’ve since taken down the story and replaced it with one dedicated to Surry County prosecutor Gerald Poindexter and how he’s upset with the way the Feds are now involved in the situation.

How can WVEC misconstrue the situation that badly? Did they make up that dog carcasses found or did they really know and just shouldn’t have reported it without the Feds releasing the information first? Either way, these national media outlets better get their crap together in reporting what’s really going on with this whole Vick-dog fighting fiasco. You can’t report something as serious as “Over three dozen dog carcasses were allegedly found on Vick’s property” and then later in the day pull the story and replace it with something else. If it comes out later that no dog carcasses were found on the property and this was all just a misread on WVEC’s part, then they should be ashamed of themselves just like Vick should if there really was dead dogs buried at one of his homes.

And shame on me for believing that there are journalists out there actually doing their jobs in reporting on this situation and not jumping the gun on something as big as this. What a freaking mess.

UPDATE: WVEC has a correction on its main page about Friday’s article, but now the network is blaming ESPN:

Correction: Friday, WVEC.com reported information about dog remains allegedly found at the Vick property. We attributed the information to ESPN Radio. That information was not reported by ESPN and cannot be confirmed by WVEC. We regret the error.

Interesting, WVEC didn’t “attribute” the news to ESPN Radio in the orginial article. Hmm…

Dog carcasses found on Vick’s property

With each passing day, more and more is coming to light about the Surry County, Virginia property owned by Michael Vick, in which an illegal dog-fighting ring allegedly occurred. Thursday, Federal investigators searched Vick’s property for the possible remains of dog carcasses. On Friday, national reports – including this one from WVEC.com – claim nearly three dozen dog carcasses were found buried on the property.

In related news, Davon Boddie, a cousin of Vick and the one who led investigators to the home originally after being arrested for marijuana possession, has been quoted as saying this whole situation was his fault. He also apologized to the NFL and the Atlanta Falcons for, “what’s going on”, but also claimed that, “there was no dog fighting” going on at the property. Riight Davon, there was no dog fighting going on – just a bunch of dogs who dug holes in your backyard and then somehow managed to burry themselves in the process. And I’m sure the Feds will take your confession about all this being your fault to heart and leave Vick alone from here on out.

From dog fighting in general, to Vick’s possible involvement, to many media outlets hanging Vick before any charges have been brought on, this whole situation is sickening.

EX-NFL receiver Morton KO’d in MMA debut

Former Lion, Chief and 49er receiver Johnnie Morton was knocked out just 38 seconds into round one of his Mixed Martial Arts debut against Bernard Ackah on Saturday night, then was suspended for refusing to supply a urine sample for drug testing.

Apparently Morton only trained for two months before fighting Ackah, but was ready according to his trainer Mike Guymon:

“When you want to jump into something, you jump into something,” Guymon told the Times. “I’ve been fighting for 10 years and I still don’t feel like I’m prepared.”

Uh, except when you’ve only trained for two months and are going against a guy that knows multiple ways to beat your ass. Not really a good way to dive head first into something if you ask me. Plus, if Guymon is saying he doesn’t even feel prepared after 10 years of fighting, how is Morton ready to fight after only two months?

Guymon later said that Morton, “needs more experience” before competing in bigger fights. Gee, ya think? I would tell Morton to completely find another hobby if he’s dumb enough to climb into a MMA ring – even if it’s only for 38 seconds – after only two months of training.

Another shot at ESPN

I know I’m turning the middle of this week into pick on ESPN time, but I’ve got yet another grip about the infamous, “Word’s leader in sports” network.

Why does it feel like I’m watching the NFL Draft every time I tune into SportsCenter? I appreciate the idea of having all of the highlights and stories listed along the right side of the screen, but it just seems like too much. Anyway, that’s not my real gripe. The real issue I have is with the way the network stacks the news for SportsCenter. Why was a meaningless regular season baseball game ahead of Marquise Hill’s death on Tuesday? Why is a 0 for 2 with three walks Bonds-night or a recap of Roger Clemens’ third minor league appearance ahead of the Stanley Cup series? I realize hockey isn’t the most popular sport these days in the US, but come on already.

It’s not that these things are keeping me up at night (I’m positive in nature, I swear), but I just shake my head with what ESPN finds to be newsworthy these days.

What the hell happened to the Cardinals?

I held off doing a post on this subject until the season settled in, but after being swept by the Detroit Tigers this past weekend I must ask: What is going on in St. Louis?

As of Monday, the Cardinals are 16-25 and 9.5 games back of first place Milwaukee. The reigning champs are just 7-11 at home, have lost 7 of their last 10 and five straight. Left fielder Chris Duncan is virtually their entire offense, leading the club in batting average (.290), home runs (7), runs (24) and on base percentage (.864). You mean to tell me no other Cardinal is hitting over .290? Albert Pujols has struggled mightily at the plate, although he seems to be heating up after going 4 for 4 day in a 14-4 loss to the Tigers last Friday.

The real issue seems to be the pitching, however. Obviously not having Chris Carpenter (elbow surgery) in the rotation has been detrimental, but Anthony Reyes (5.84), Adam Wainwright (6.34) and Kip Wells (6.75) all have ERA’s well over 5.00, and Brandon Looper (3.27) – the Cards best pitcher thus far – is still over 3.00.

Maybe St. Louis is the Yankees of the NL right now in that things will eventually turn around, but both teams are struggling where it counts the most – on the mound.

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