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      Mickelson withdraws from Nelson Championship to attend to his wife

      May 20, 2009 /

      Golfer Phil Mickelson will withdraw from the HP Byron Nelson Championship to attend to his wife Amy, who was diagnosed with breast cancer.

      After undergoing an extensive battery of tests, Phil Mickelson’s wife, Amy, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The couple married in 1996 and has three children aged 9, 7 and 6.
      More tests are scheduled but the treatment process is expected to begin with major surgery, possibly within the next two weeks.

      Mickelson has suspended his PGA TOUR schedule indefinitely. He was due to play the HP Byron Nelson Championship beginning Thursday and defend his Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial title next week.

      My thoughts and prayers go out to Phil and Amy. Hopefully she’ll go through a successful treatment process and I’m sure she’ll get all the support she needs from Phil and the rest of their family.

      Golf

      Jerry Manuel: ‘I could have strangled Ryan Church’

      May 20, 2009 /

      Following a loss in which the young outfielder missed third base when scoring what could have eventually been the game-winning run, Mets’ manager Jerry Manuel said he could have strangled Ryan Chuch following New York’s loss to the Dodgers on Monday night. And apparently the rift between Manuel and Church started well before Monday night’s base running gaff.

      It started in spring training when Manuel suggested Church, not the young Daniel Murphy, could end up in a platoon with Fernando Tatis, saying Murphy was a better hitter.

      It continued when Manuel voiced his support for the Mets’ signing of Gary Sheffield just before the start of the regular season, a move that threatened to cut into Church’s playing time more than anyone else’s. And it did, even as Church got off to a scorching start at the plate.

      When Manuel didn’t even bother walking out to ask the umpire what happened Monday, let alone argue on Church’s behalf, then called him out afterward, it only fueled the perception that already existed.

      Manuel said he didn’t need an explanation because third-base coach Razor Shines told him Church didn’t step on the bag, and said he was only being honest in his post-game remarks.
      When asked Tuesday if he was angry with Church, Manuel said, “Oh, you doggone right I was mad at him. I could have strangled him.” But he said it was not something that carried over into the next day.

      It has to be tough being Manuel these days, knowing you have one of the most talented teams in the NL but they can’t even do the little things right. The media tends to overreact when a manager gets upset with a player, but what manager wouldn’t be upset with a player when they can’t touch third base when they’re heading home? It’s little league-type stuff and Manuel has to be beyond tired of it.

      Based on his comments in the article, it seems like Church is handling everything in stride though. He knows he’s a professional and being a young hitter he is going to be ridden more by the manager. We’ll see how he (and the rest of the Mets for that matter) respond.

      MLB

      Michael Vick released from prison

      May 20, 2009 /

      Michael Vick has officially been released from federal prison.

      Vick is due to return to his Hampton, Va., home and serve the remainder of his federal sentence on house arrest. He spent the past 19 months in prison after pleading guilty to bankrolling a dogfighting ring.

      Vick, once the NFL’s highest-paid player, is expected to take a construction job at $10 an hour while he serves the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. He will be handed a new set of rules when he begins serving three years of probation after his expected July 20 release from federal custody.

      Vick’s agent said Tuesday that the quarterback “will place football on the back burner” during his immediate home confinement and that there are no meetings scheduled with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss reinstatement for the 2009 season.

      “Michael’s looking forward to reacquainting himself with his family, his fiancée, Kiafa, his children and his mom,” Joel Segal, Vick’s agent, said. “When he gets home, that’s his priority, along with reinserting himself into society and being a positive influence in his community. This is going to be a special time for him, just being around family.”

      Goodell has said he would wait until the end of Vick’s sentence to consider reinstatement. He has said Vick will have to persuade him and the public that he is genuinely sorry for his crime, that he has been changed by his experience and that he is committed to leading a different life.

      Unless Segal was just playing to the media and wasn’t being sincere, I think Vick “putting football on the back burner” is a great idea. His life is in complete shambles right now and he needs to take one day at a time. Perhaps the most beneficial thing for him is to distance himself from anyone who had a negative effect on his life. Several reports have stated that he’s too easily influenced and if that’s the case, then he needs to surround himself with positive people. Considering he has immense financial debt, football should be the last thing on his mind.

      (If anyone else wants advice about their lives or financial situation, please call my hotline at: 1-800-I-Sound-Like-Dr.-Phil-In-This-Article.)

      NFL

      NFL Network furious with Gruden

      May 20, 2009 /

      According to Peter King of SI.com, the NFL Network is furious with Jon Gruden, who nixed a deal with them to replace Tony Kornheiser and join the cast of Monday Night Football.

      Do not invite Gruden and NFL Network czar Steve Bornstein to the same event anytime soon, or ever. Bornstein wants to wring Gruden’s neck. The NFL Network is furious with Gruden for jilting the network after he’d verbally agreed to a deal to work there. The former Bucs coach had been very good on the NFL Network, colorful and opinionated, at the NFL scouting combine and the NFL draft, and the network had finalized everything but the signature on the paper for Gruden to begin working there immediately. In fact, he was slated to be at NFL Films this week to begin his job full time. But ESPN swooped in, offered Gruden the Monday night seat vacated by Tony Kornheiser (how convenient), and Gruden took it.

      The NFL Network planned to put Gruden on the air all season, then move him to the Thursday night football booth alongside Bob Papa, replacing Cris Collinsworth. Now it’s back to ground zero in its search for a voice to pair with Papa.

      One of the reasons the NFL Network is so steamed, I’m told, is that no one from the Gruden camp called Bornstein to tell him. In many cases like this, the league might work with its TV partners to tell them, “Hey, hands off,” or “Play fair here,” but that didn’t happen here. ESPN got to Gruden too fast.

      Now there are two people who should have been NFL Network stars this fall — Gruden and ace reporter Adam Schefter — who will instead work for ESPN. And the NFL Network is not pleased about the defection of either one.

      The NFL Network has a tough roe to hoe when a bigger network such as ESPN comes a calling for some of their “players”, considering their reach and audience isn’t that big. If you got the opportunity to call a Monday Night Football game when you knew millions of people will be watching on a weekly basis, why would you stay at NFL Network calling late season Thursday night games for an audience of about 12 people?

      Still, if this report is true what a crappy move by Gruden. You have to at least have the decency to tell your employer that you’re moving on if you already had an agreement with them to stick around for a while. Either way, he’ll likely be back on the sidelines in 2010, so ESPN will be looking for his replacement soon enough.

      NFL, Television

      Tom Brady bouncing back from knee surgery

      May 20, 2009 /

      According to a report by The Sporting News, Tom Brady is showing no restrictions as he continues to recover from reconstructive knee surgery.

      Brady was able to return his normal rehabilitation schedule within “10 days to two weeks” after the follow-up procedures, the source said. That means the quarterback is roughly six months into the rehab process.

      “He’s full go,” the source said Tuesday. A second source confirmed that assessment.
      Brady hasn’t been shy about taking part in the club’s offseason program, giving teammates a close-up look at his progress. Most Patriots players are apprehensive about shedding too much light on player injuries and rehabs, but indications have been uniformly positive.

      Patriots coach Bill Belichick last month said Brady had been “doing his offseason work without any limitations.” Owner Robert Kraft has said Brady will wear a brace on the left knee, which is standard for players coming off this type of injury. Both Rivers and Palmer wore knee braces coming off their ailments.

      Even if Brady’s rehab is complete, it’s hard to say he has come full circle.

      There’s a significant mental mountain a player has to climb in returning to game action. Authorities in sports medicine say it takes roughly two months of live action for a player to fully learn to use his new knee.

      Brady has a long way to go, but this is definitely an encouraging sign for him and the Patriots. Obviously New England wouldn’t have traded Matt Cassel to Kansas City in the offseason if they didn’t feel Brady would fully recover from his knee surgery in time for the start of the season.

      If he’s fully recovered, there’s no reason to believe the Patriots won’t again be the team to beat in the AFC, as they were before Brady’s injury in Week 1 of last year.

      NFL

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