It’s official – Deuce McAllister is out for the season with a torn ACL. The Saints will hand the ball off to Antowain Smith and throw it to Aaron Stecker, limiting both players’ fantasy value. But keep an eye on Jesse Chatman – New Orleans acquired him from the Chargers to provide depth at RB.
Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse for the Saints, it got worse for the Saints.
Man, things just keep getting uglier and uglier for the Vikings:
“Investigators are looking into a party attended by several Minnesota Vikings players that allegedly involved drunkenness, nudity and visible sexual activity on a pair of charter cruises last week.”
Said head coach Mike Tice, “It doesn’t make things any simpler, and quite frankly I’m not happy about it.” Well, duh! Thanks for being “frank” with us, Mike. Now there won’t be any confusion as to your feelings about several of your players being involved with a floating sex party.
Stephen Doyle, an attorney representing the boats’ owners, said there’s “no doubt” Vikings CB Fred Smoot paid for at least one of the boats, but Smoot’s agent, Bus Cook, denies that his client footed the bill, though he does not deny that Smoot was in attendance.
“Once the boats left the shore, Doyle said women started stripping for some of the players, who put down money as the women danced. Doyle says that escalated to players giving and receiving oral sex.”
What’s Randy Moss thinking right now? “Oh sure, you guys have a sex party after I get traded. Sweet.”
“Customarily, if the ball is in the dirt, you hear: ‘No catch, no catch, no catch’ and I didn’t hear any of that. It was strike three, the third out of the inning and I threw the ball back to the mound.”
Those are the words of Angels catcher Josh Paul, who thought his pitcher, Kelvim Escobar, struck out AJ Pierzynski with a hard slider to end the ninth inning. The pitch was low, but Paul appeared to catch it before it hit the dirt and home-plate umpire Doug Eddings apparently confirmed that by raising his fist to signal that Pierzynski was out. The Angels, thinking the inning was over, jogged off the field and Paul, assuming he caught the ball and getting no indication otherwise from Eddings, rolled it out toward the mound before heading toward the dugout.
Not so fast.
Pierzynski took off toward first and was ruled safe. Angels manager Mike Scioscia argued the call, but after the umps huddled to discuss the play, the call was upheld.
I’m not sure what to think about this. I guess at the heart of it all, you’ve got an umpire who signaled that the hitter was out. Inning over. Eddings also admitted that he didn’t call “no catch” and thought Paul trapped the ball. But if that’s the case, why didn’t he call “no catch”? Still, while Paul definitely has a gripe about that, in a game of this magnitude, you’d think Paul would tag the batter just to be safe. I’ve seen catchers tag hitters hundreds of times in situations like this, just as a precaution. If Paul plays it safe and tags Pierzynski, there’s no controversy and the game heads into extras. Instead, Joe Crede came up and hit a game-winning double. Series tied 1-1.
But the bottom line here is, if Eddings thought Paul trapped the ball, why did he signal that the runner was out, and why didn’t he call “no catch”? If I’m the Angels, I’m feeling cheated right about now.
A source close to the decision told the AP that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has been chosen to lead Team USA in the 2006 World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The official word isn’t due until October 29th and the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Basketball wouldn’t comment on the leak.
In the world of basketball, Krzyzewski is certainly the best collegiate coach and maybe the best coach at all levels. He is a great choice for USA Basketball, who is reeling from a sixth place finish in the 2002 World Championships and a third place finish in last summer’s Olympics. It will be interesting to see how he deals with all the NBA egos and attitudes. I’ve got one tip for Mike: get some players who can shoot.
There’s an episode of “The Simpsons” where Homer, as an adolescent, is an accomplished gymnast. His father, Abe, is simply waiting for him to screw up. Homer performs a floor exercise flawlessly, until he steals a glance at his father, who instantly shouts, “You’re gonna blow it!” Sure enough, Homer trips over his own feet and flops miserably. Later, Abe tells Homer, “That’s what I get for having faith in you.”
Homer is the White Sox, I’m Grandpa Simpson. I picked the White Sox to win in five, but despite being a Chicago resident for ten awesome years, I’m only kind of rooting for them. It’s not a Cubs/Sox thing – yes, I’m a Cubs fan, but I wish the Sox no ill will – and it’s not that I love the Angels that much more than the White Sox. If anything, it’s the simple fact that Chicago baseball teams will break your heart, and there is no point in getting emotionally involved. I picked the Sox to go to the World Series not because I believe in them, but because in analyzing the stats and the circumstances, the Sox have a considerable advantage. The only problem is that they’re still the White Sox, and they’ll surely find a way to melt down like Chernobyl on the sun. Why? Because that’s what Chicago baseball teams do. For 97 years on the North Side and 88 years on the South Side. That’s the Chicago way.
In the end, I look at it this way: if they’re going to choke, I would prefer that they choke now, because losing to St. Louis in the World Series would be much, much worse than not getting to the Series at all.
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