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      China wants to know — will Yao Ming’s child be an American?

      March 3, 2010 /

      Can we expect Baby Yao to play for Team USA in 2032?

      The Houston Rockets center recently returned to the United States with wife Ye Li. That prompted speculation among his followers that the baby girl due this summer could be born in America.

      Chinese fans online have said that would be a betrayal of China — in part because it could deny the country a future star for the national team. Ye is also a basketball player, and stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall — still well short of Yao’s 7-6.

      I expect the parents will arrange for the baby to have Chinese citizenship, but that’s pure speculation. This is obviously a very big deal in China.


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      NBA

      Jury convicts Becker in murder of Iowa HS football coach Ed Thomas

      March 3, 2010 /

      A jury found Mark Becker guilty of murder in the shooting of Ed Thomas, who was a well-known high school football coach in Iowa.

      From ESPN.com:

      Becker, 24, had explained to psychiatrists that after months of torment, he shot Thomas at least six times in the makeshift high school weight room, then kicked his body before walking away.

      Jurors deliberated more than 24 hours over five days before convicting Becker of first-degree murder, rejecting his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The guilty verdict carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

      Defense psychiatrist Phillip Resnick, of Cleveland, said Becker believed Satan had possessed Thomas and that he was doing the community a favor — and freeing Parkersburg’s children — by killing the coach.

      Resnick and others who interviewed Becker about his mental status said Becker suffered from such intense delusions that he incorrectly believed Thomas and the members of Becker’s old football team were sexually assaulting him, and that Thomas was trying to make Becker into a “sex slave.”

      Maryland-based psychiatrist Michael Spodak, testifying for the prosecution, agreed Becker suffered from severe mental problems, including paranoid schizophrenia, but said he still understood right and wrong.

      Spodak said Becker took rational measures to avoid detection on the morning of the shooting: He hid his gun while he was driving, told passersby that he was searching for Thomas in order to volunteer for the city’s tornado relief efforts, and made it a point to avoid shooting the teenagers in the weight room.

      Although I have my own take on this subject, I’ll leave psychological evaluations to the professionals. Draw your own conclusions as to whether or not you think this conviction was right.

      I will note, however, that Todd Thomas, the son of Ed Thomas, said it best after the trial when he stated that there are no winners here. One man lost his life, while the other will watch the rest of his go by from a prison cell. It’s a sad, unfortunate situation.


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      General Sports, High School Sports, News

      Adrian Gonzalez wants Mark Teixeira money

      March 3, 2010 /

      Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Adrian Gonzalez is looking for a contract similar to the one Mark Teixeira signed with the Yankees last offseason.

      “This is a premium ballplayer,” said John Boggs, Gonzalez’s agent. “If you think you can get it done, he’s obviously somebody who’s moveable …

      “I never try to dissolve the possibility (of a deal with the Padres), but I don’t see any signs.”

      Boggs said his preliminary discussion with Padres General Manager Jed Hoyer was so superficial that “you couldn’t characterize it as a negotiation.” Boggs said Hoyer inquired as to Gonzalez’s expectations; that Boggs cited the eight-year, $180 million deal of New York Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira, and that that comment effectively ended Hoyer’s exploration.

      Gonzalez still has two years remaining on the four-year, $9.5 million contract he signed in April of 2007. He’s owed $4.75 million this year and there’s a $5.5 million club option for 2011.

      If the report is true and Gonzo is looking for Teixeira-type money, then he won’t get it from the Padres. The more likely scenario is San Diego acquiring a package similar to the one the Rangers got from the Braves when they traded Teixeira to Atlanta in July of 2007.

      It’s likely that the Padres would look to trade Gonzo by the deadline this year, so they’re not on the hook for any of the $5.5 million in 2011. After all, if they know they can’t pay him then there’s no sense in delaying the process another year, unless they think they can get more in return if they wait until 2011.


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      MLB

      Bears to make a play for Peppers and Marshall?

      March 3, 2010 /

      According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bears met with the player rep for free agent Julius Peppers last weekend. While this might be music to fans’ ears, if this is true then the meeting could be constituted as tampering.

      Teams like to meet with player reps before free agency kicks off in order to establish a relationship with the rep’s client. Technically, teams can’t start negotiating with free agents until March 5, but deals always happen at midnight the day of, so clearly teams are in communication with reps and agents before then. The problem arises when the team gets caught negotiating before that time, so chances are the Bears will deny the Tribune’s report, whether it’s true or not.

      On a related note, Neil Hayes of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that at least one NFL source believes that Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall will end up a Bear in 2010. Hayes didn’t go into much detail outside of noting that the NFL source wagered a “steak dinner” on Marshall landing in Chicago.

      Marshall is a fit for the Bears just based on the relationship he has with quarterback Jay Cutler. Plus, Mike Martz would certainly love to reunite the pair in his offense.

      But the problem is that the Bears don’t have a first or second round pick in this year’s draft. So unless Denver is willing to take a third rounder and a package of air fresheners in exchange for Marshall, Chicago would either have to sweeten the pot with a player or two, or hand over a pick in the 2011 draft.


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      NFL

      Rams deny talking to Eagles about McNabb

      March 3, 2010 /

      Despite a report by St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell that stated the team had “intense internal conversations” with the Eagles about trading for Donovan McNabb, ESPN’s Adam Schefter writes via his Twitter page that the Rams are not going after the veteran QB.

      Are Rams really going after McNabb? … They are not. They haven’t had a single conversation with Rams regarding McNabb.

      It wouldn’t make sense for the Rams to acquire McNabb. Do they need a quarterback? Absolutely – without question. But they’re not one Donovan McNabb away from competing and they would presumably have to give up at least their second round pick, if not a conditional pick as well.

      Michael Vick would make more sense for the Rams, because he would come cheap and could be a boom or bust type of player.

      Regardless, the Eagles seemed destined to hang on to McNabb this season anyway. At this point, it looks like he’ll be in Philadelphia for at least one more year and won’t be involved in any trade this offseason.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

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