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      Report: Westbrook out until Week 1 with high ankle sprain

      June 3, 2009 /

      According to a report by Comcast Sportsnet in Philadelphia, Eagles running back Brian Westbrook will be sidelined until at least Week 1 of the regular season due to a high ankle sprain.

      Comcast SportsNet reported that Brian Westbrook was examined by ankle specialist Dr. Mark Myerson in Baltimore on Wednesday and may need to undergo a procedure to clean out the ankle. Either way, according to the report, Westbrook is done until the start of the regular season.

      The only official comment thus far from the Eagles came from offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg who said that he wasn’t “concerned” about the injury after discussing it with Westbrook on Tuesday afternoon.

      While working out recently, the ankle began to bother Westbrook and he contacted head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder to check on it. Andy Reid said on Tuesday that Westbrook would see a doctor, but again, there has been no official update from the team since.

      Considering he’ll turn 30 in early September and averaged just 2.9 yards per carry in Philly’s last six games of the 2008 season, this is incredibly damper news for the Eagles. As the article states, the team hasn’t officially stated that Westbrook will miss camp and preseason, but let’s assume for a moment that the report is true.

      Philly did draft “Shady” McCoy in the second round this year, but he wasn’t considered a prospect that could be an every down back and he had injury issues himself while at PITT. The Eagles also have Lorenzo Booker, who is a poor man’s Westbrook but like McCoy, isn’t considered an every down back. In seven games for the Dolphins last year, Booker rushed for 125 yards on 28 carries.

      If Westbrook is out for the rest of the summer, the good news is that McCoy and Booker will receive plenty of reps. But nobody should be surprised if the team signs a veteran as insurance. Edgerrin James is still available, as is Deuce McAllister, although he’s expected to be suspended for the first four games of the 2009 season, so it’s doubtful the Eagles would add him. Another cheap option would be to bring back Tony Hunt, who was released last October by the Eagles but is a player that has experience in the offense.

      It’ll be interesting to see if the team makes this news about Westbrook official.

      NFL

      Federer advances to French Open semis

      June 3, 2009 /

      Roger Federer isn’t going the way of Rafael Nadal, at least not yet. He beat #11 seed Gael Monfils 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4.

      Federer is now just two wins away from tying Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles. A French Open win would be even sweeter because it’s the only Grand Slam he hasn’t yet one.

      He is 5-0 against Juan Martin del Potro, his opponent in the semis.

      Tennis

      Bill Simmons’ Finals preview

      June 3, 2009 /

      Bill Simmons previews the Finals by taking fake questions from well-known people. Here’s a sample:

      Q: Let’s say I pull this off and we win a title. Does that push me past Oscar and Jerry and make me the third-greatest guard ever?
      — K. Bryant, Los Angeles

      SG: Yes. Absolutely. No question. Just know that your title window is closing because of your odometer — more than 1,100 games in 13 seasons and 203 games (not including the 2009 Finals) over the last 19 months alone — and a group of contenders that will be better next season with Garnett and Ginobili back, Portland and Chicago possibly making a leap, and Cleveland undoubtedly getting LeBron more help. You will never have a better chance at another ring than you do this month. And if you get it, your place in history is secure.

      Let’s say you don’t get it. Let’s say Orlando continues to ride the “Nobody believed in us!!!!” wave and topples your Lakers for its first title. Let’s say the matchup troubles from the regular season (both Orlando wins) translate to the postseason just like they did in the Cleveland-Orlando series. That would mean the following things:

      A. You never won a title when you were the best guy on your own team. An indisputable fact.

      B. You lost not one, not two, but THREE Finals in which you were the best player on a favored team heading into the series: 2004 (versus Detroit), 2008 (versus Boston) and 2009 (versus Orlando). You played poorly by your standards in 2004 (23-4-3, 38 percent FG, 17 percent 3-point FG) and 2009 (26-5-5, 40.5 percent FG, 32 percent 3-point FG, 4.7 TOs); in deciding games those years, your team lost by 13 points and 39 points. If history repeats itself in 2009, you won’t be able to recover historically. You’ll be the guy who needed to ride Shaq’s coattails to win a title, and that’s that.

      Honestly, this is one of the reasons I love basketball so much. Kevin Garnett’s career was altered by the 2008 Finals in a good way. Karl Malone’s career was altered in the 1997 and 1998 Finals in a bad way. Walt Frazier’s career was altered in the 1970 Finals in a good way. Clyde Drexler’s career was altered by the 1992 Finals in a bad way. You can come up with 25 superstars like that. A “fork in the road” moment, if you will. For Kobe, we’re here. Officially.

      That pretty much sums up Kobe’s situation, though I’m not sure that a Finals loss would send him into a tailspin that he couldn’t recover from. The Lakers will be good again next year.

      Humor, NBA, NBA Finals

      NFL Power Rankings of 2000s decade

      June 3, 2009 /



      Don Banks of SI.com       did a cool feature in which he ranked all 32 teams based on their performance this decade.

      1. New England
      Regular season: 102-42, .708
      Playoff wins/record: 14-3
      Super Bowls won/appeared: 3 out of 4
      Playoff seasons: 6
      Winning seasons: 8
      Losing seasons: 1
      In the past six seasons, the Patriots have won an astounding 77 games in the regular season (one shy of 13 per year), and 11 more in the playoffs. And let’s not lose sight of the fact that Bill Belichick’s 2001 no-name club authored one of the most remarkable Super Bowl upsets in history. If the 2007 Patriots had just been able to close the deal against the Giants, the only debate would be whether that New England team is the NFL’s greatest ever, not whether the Patriots are the best of the current decade. Alas, the Pats are one miraculous David Tyree helmet catch away from all of that.

      He’s top five consists of the Patriots, Steelers, Colts, Eagles and Giants, which is hard to argue with. The Patriots won three of the four Super Bowl appearances they played in, while the Steelers won both of theirs. The Colts made the playoffs eight times this decade and won the Super Bowl in 2006. Even though the Eagles didn’t win their Super Bowl appearance in 2004, they had seven playoff seasons and seven winning seasons.

      Giant fans might be a little upset that their team didn’t get a higher ranking than No. 5 after producing one of the best upsets in SB history (if not the best), but they were stomped in their other SB appearance of the decade and had three losing seasons, which was the most of any teams in the top 5. Banks’ ranking was fair.

      Not surprisingly, the Lions ranked dead last in Banks’ rankings and there’s little debate that they’re the worst team of this decade.

      NFL

      Pens cut into Wings’ Stanley Cup Finals lead

      June 3, 2009 /

      With their 4-2 victory over the Red Wings on Tuesday night, the Penguins have cut into Detroit’s lead in the Stanley Cup Finals and now have the chance to tie the series at two games apiece when the series continues on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

      Here is what local columnist and beat writers are saying about the Pens’ victory:

      – Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press writes that even though they lost, the Wings look like more of a lock than when the series started.

      – Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that the Penguins have new life after soundly beating Detroit in Game 3.

      – Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press writes that if the Wings can’t kill penalties, then they won’t be able to put the Penguins away.

      – Michael Farber of SI.com writes that the Penguins’ wounded warrior Sergei Gonchar, who hurt his knee when Alexander Ovechkin of the Capitals knocked into him in Game 4 of Pittsburgh’s series with Washington, delivered when his team needed him the most.

      – Scott Burnside of ESPN.com writes that Game 3’s defining moment was when Matt Cooke drew a penalty that lead to the Pens’ winning goal.

      NHL

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