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Red Sox in last place, Indians in first – welcome to bizarro world

April 12, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Remember that Seinfeld episode when Elaine meets a new group of friends that are exactly like Jerry, George and Kramer, although they’re normal and not deranged?

Yeah, well I feel like Elaine in that “bizarro world” episode when I look at the current standings in Major League Baseball.

You feel like a woman, Anthony?

Well not…uh…ah, shut up.

A quick look at the standings reveals that the Orioles and Indians are in first place, the Red Sox, Tigers and defending World Series champion Giants are in last place, and the Pirates and Royals are in second place. What in the name of Rick Vaughn is going on here?

Well, it’s not “bizarro world” as much as it’s the second week in April. The most overused phrase at this point of the year is “It’s early,” and it is. But that’s not to suggest that a team like Boston doesn’t have some serious issues to work through and Cleveland’s current six-game winning streak is a fluke.

The Red Sox’s current run differential is –31, which is the worst in the league. In their first 10 games, they’ve already given up 69 runs, or 21 fewer then they did through 10 games last year when they started 4-6 and missed the playoffs. For a team that many believed would win the World Series, the BoSox are off to a horrendous start.

On the flip side, the Tribe is 8-2 after dropping its first two games and is getting tremendous efforts from Asdrubal Cabrera, Orlando Cabrera, Travis Hafner and a young pitching staff. It remains to be seen whether or not their starters can continue to eat up innings and pitch well throughout the year, but it’s not a stretch to think that this is the start of a career year for Asdrubal Cabrera or that guys like Justin Masterson and Carlos Carrasco are coming into their own. Who’s to say at this point?

Granted, at this point last year the Blue Jays, A’s and Cardinals were all in first place, and none of them made the playoffs. But every year a team that wasn’t expected to contend does just that and shocks the masses. Nobody thought the Padres would compete in 2010 and if it weren’t for a late-season collapse, they would have made the playoffs.

Yes, it’s early – really early, in fact. But confidence is a scary thing and teams like the Indians are bringing truck loads of it to the park right now. Chances are things will go “back to normal” eventually (Elaine did find herself back with Jerry, George and Kramer), but then again maybe we’ll be trapped in bizarro world for a while longer. (I’m sure Tribe fans wouldn’t mind.)

External Sports, MLB

Asdrubal Cabrera Boston Red Sox Cleveland Indians indians winning streak MLB scores mlb standings Orlando Cabrera Travis Hafner

Breaking down the Jenn Sterger interview

April 12, 2011 / John Paulsen

I just watched both segments of the first part of the “Good Morning America” interview with George Stephanopoulos and a few of Sterger’s statements deserve comment. If you’re wondering about my original take on the story, be sure to read “In defense of Jenn Sterger…”

“I didn’t want anything to do with it in 2008. I don’t want anything to do with it in 2010.”

If she didn’t want anything to do with it in 2010, why did she mention Favre’s advances to the editor of a sports gossip blog? As I outlined in the link above, when she spoke with Deadspin, she hadn’t yet landed her job on the now defunct “The Daily Line” and was probably uncertain where her media career was headed. If she had truly decided that she didn’t want the story to ever come out, she never would have brought it up to the editor of a sports blog.

“Whenever I would reply it was more so trying to figure out who I was interacting with. There was no actual, ‘Hey Jenn, it’s Brett.”

Is she serious? She’s expecting us to believe that she didn’t recognize Favre’s voice on her voicemails? Either it was Favre or someone doing a fantastic impression. Has anyone asked Frank Caliendo about his involvement? Or how about this guy?

This is the thing that has always struck me as odd about her story. She acts as if Favre’s advances were unwelcome, yet she admits that she sent multiple texts to him. She said his advances were “intimidating,” so why is she responding at all? Just block his number and move on.

Stephanopoulos must have had the same thought because in the key sequence of the interview, he eventually asked her, “Why answer?”

JS: Why answer? When all of this happened, I consulted several people and I said, ‘Hey this is the situation that is going on right now.’ And I said, ‘I really don’t know what to do.’ Every single one of them gave me the exact same answer. They said, ‘Jenn, do you like your job? Well if you like your job and want to keep it, I suggest that you just be quiet. Do your job.'”
GS: Leave it alone.
JS: Yeah, don’t complain.

Did you see what she did there? That’s a classic deflection. Stephanopoulos asked her about her reasoning for answering Favre’s texts in the first place, and she responded with a soliloquy about how she was asking her friends for advice and that they told her to “be quiet.”

Huh?

What does her advice-seeking have to do with her responding to Favre in the first place? ANSWER THE QUESTION!

Stephanopoulos must have some inside info, because he later asked her about a specific text that she sent Favre:

GS: Did you send him a text that said, “If this is you, smile at me.”
JS: No, I don’t really recall all of the texts. I don’t remember what was in them. I’m sorry.

Ah, well, that’s convenient. She remembers all sorts of details about how this whole thing started and how she deftly put together that her “secret” admirer was in fact Brett Favre, but she can’t remember if she sent him a text that asked him to smile at her. Her answer was evasive as well. First she says “no” but then she says she doesn’t recall.

The interview turned to Deadspin and how they got the texts and photos, and she still claims that she didn’t sell them. When Stephanopoulos asked if she had ever given the texts/photos to anyone, she responded, “I shared them with individuals when I was asking for advice, but that’s it.”

When “asking for advice,” is it really necessary to provide proof of Favre’s texts/photos? If that’s the case, she should seriously rethink who she goes to for advice. A friend would believe her story and not require that she send over all of her evidence in order to help.

When George Stephanopoulos asked if she owed anyone an apology, she replied, “I don’t think so. I didn’t really do anything wrong.”

She doesn’t think that actively texting a married man who is obviously interested her is wrong? She would have come off a lot better here if she had apologized to Favre’s wife, Deanna, for sending her husbands any texts at all.

I’ve decided that this is what really happened: Favre started texting Sterger and the two engaged in a flirtatious, if-this-is-you-smile-at-me-type relationship through text. After some time passed, Sterger decided that she didn’t want it to go any further and pulled away. Favre upped the ante with some pics of his junk, and she shared them with some friends for a laugh. That’s it, the texts eventually stopped. Two years later she stupidly mentions the interaction to Deadspin and the blog somehow acquires all the texts and photos (and voicemails!) from one of Sterger’s so-called “friends,” who totally threw Sterger under the bus for $12,000.

End of story. I hope.

See both segments of the first part of the Jenn Sterger interview after the jump.

External Sports, NFL, Women

Brett Favre brett favre jenn sterger Jenn Sterger

Terrelle Pryor not leaving Ohio State for the NFL Supplemental Draft

April 12, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Rest easy, Buckeye fans: Terrelle Pryor will be in an Ohio State uniform next season.

After speaking with “a source,” Dave Miller of the National Football Post wrote on Monday that Pryor had “not dismissed the idea of going the NFL Supplemental Draft route” and the odds of him staying at Ohio State for his senior season “are about 60-40.”

But Pryor put that rumor to rest last night when he Tweeted:

I’ll be suited up at Lincoln Nebraska !! And first player at QB to meet with the Wolverines for the fourth time!!

Unsurprisingly, Miller is now being lambasted in the comments section of his article, although I find the criticism a tad hypocritical. People spend a quarter of their day searching for rumors and gossip on the internet, another quarter on bashing writers for not coming up with news-worthy topics and another quarter on bashing said writers if their source fails to deliver accurate information. (That last quarter of the day is spent on internet gambling and porn, of course.)

Obviously Miller ran with something that one of his reliable sources came to him with, which is his job. If someone told him that Pryor was thinking about heading to the NFL Supplemental Draft and then Pryor did just that, Miller would have been the fool that sat on golden information if he didn’t print it. Instead, his source was seemingly wrong and now he’s vilified, although such as the life of a writer/blogger.

Of course, the flip side is if Miller just made the information up, in which case he deserves to be criticized. There are plenty of writers and websites that throw sh*t up against a wall just to see if it’ll stick and they deserve to be heckled. I don’t know if Miller fits into this category or not, so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Hey, sometimes a writer’s sources just don’t pan out. That doesn’t mean that the writer is an irresponsible journalist and an undeniable bum. (Although in my case, that bum part is pretty spot on.)

College Football, External Sports

Ohio State Buckeyes Terrelle Pryor terrelle pryor supplemental draft Terrelle Pryor suspension

Could Randy Moss wind up with the Jets next season?

April 12, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

There have been a couple of interesting reports surrounding the Jets over the last couple of days, specifically their receiving corps.

On Saturday, Santonio Holmes told ESPN New York’s Rich Cimini that he won’t sign his restricted free agent tender if the 2010 work rules remain in place for 2011. The Jets placed a first-and-third-round restricted free agent tender on Holmes last month, but he says he wants a long-term deal and will sign with the highest bidder if he hits the open market as an unrestricted free agent.

On Tuesday, Greg A. Bedard of the Boston Globe noted that Randy Moss could eventually wind up in a Jets uniform this year.

Randy Moss in a Jets uniform? It could happen. Among several free agents, the Jets have receivers Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards. They have said re-signing Holmes is a priority. Edwards would likely have to agree to a contract with the Jets that might be less than market value. And he might very well balk at that and cash in elsewhere. Enter Moss, another big target. Only one team, the Titans, put in a claim for him when he was released by the Vikings. And considering his performance in Tennessee, most teams aren’t going to waste their time with a 34-year-old receiver with diminishing skills, let alone one who’s known as a problem child. But coach Rex Ryan could be interested. Ryan has enough cachet where he could keep Moss in line, and the Jets would probably enjoy tweaking the Patriots. Ryan spoke highly of Moss last month. “Randy Moss, I’ve said all along, is a great vertical receiver,’’ Ryan said at the owners’ meetings. “And you have to roll coverage. Most teams would have to roll coverage to him. We never did, but we got burned for a touchdown. But he was a weapon. A vertical weapon down the field.’’ Curiously, when Ryan began to speak about Moss, he checked first with team spokesman Bruce Speight to see if it would be tampering.

Even though Moss would probably sign a one-year deal for cheap (assuming he even wants to play for Ryan and the Jets), I don’t see how New York can sign Holmes, Edwards and Moss in one offseason. And why would they want to? This isn’t “Madden” and there’s only one football to go around.

Receiver will be a priority this offseason, but the Jets also need help at defensive end, linebacker and guard, too. Giving Holmes a long-term deal, signing Moss for cheap and allowing Edwards to walk probably makes the most sense (again, assuming that both Moss and the Jets are interested in each other). That would allow the Jets to concentrate on other areas as well.

External Sports, NFL

Braylon Edwards Randy Moss Rex Ryan Santonio Holmes

Breakdown of Charlie Villanueva/Ryan Hollins tussle [video]

April 12, 2011 / John Paulsen

Strange scene in Detroit last night during the Pistons/Cavs game. Charlie Villanueva set a hard screen on Ryan Hollins (throwing his shoulder into him a little bit). Hollins didn’t avoid the contact and threw a shoulder of his own trying to go through Villanueva’s pick.

Watch as Villanueva reacts to the news that he was ejected.

One thing that’s interesting to note here is the favoritism that the Cavs announcers showed Hollins. I guess that should be expected, but at every point during the incident, the guy doing the color commentary, Austin Carr (I’m assuming — let me know if I’m wrong), blamed Villanueva exclusively as if Hollins was completely innocent during the incident.

Villanueva definitely gave his screen a little extra (he reportedly said after the game that Hollins had hit him with an intentional elbow earlier in the game) but Hollins threw his shoulder into Charlie V as he set the pick. Then Hollins wrapped up Villanueva which led to Villanueva raising his arms up into Hollins’ face. Had Hollins let go there, the two probably would have had a stare down or a pushing match and neither would have been ejected.

The most perplexing thing about this situation is Villanueva’s reaction to getting ejected. At the 1:29 mark he learns that he’s been tossed, and it takes him a full seven seconds of stroking his chin before he decides to go after Hollins.

External Sports, NBA

2010-11 NBA season Charlie Villanueva Cleveland Cavaliers Detroit Pistons Ryan Hollins

Page 348 of 2957

Red Sox in last place, Indians in first – welcome to bizarro world

Breaking down the Jenn Sterger interview

Terrelle Pryor not leaving Ohio State for the NFL Supplemental Draft

Could Randy Moss wind up with the Jets next season?

Breakdown of Charlie Villanueva/Ryan Hollins tussle [video]

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