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The curious case of Glen Coffee

SAN FRANCISCO - AUGUST 22: Glen Coffee #29 of the San Francisco 49ers runs against the Oakland Raiders during a preseason game on August 22, 2009 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.  (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

A little over a year ago, Glen Coffee put together an eye-catching performance in preseason and some pundits believed that he could emerge as a solid complement to Frank Gore in the 49ers’ backfield.

That, of course, was before Coffee unexpectedly announced his retirement on Friday.

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Coffee is calling it quits despite this being just his second year in the league. He was battling with rookie Anthony Dixon in camp, but head coach Mike Singletary noted that Dixon still had a long ways to go to leapfrog Coffee on the depth chart. Plus, Singletary has given Coffee high marks thus far, making his decision to retire/quit even stranger.

Singletary has developed a reputation over the last couple of years for running a tough camp, but that can’t be the only reason Coffee decided to pull the plug on his career this soon. After all, he got through Singletary’s camp as a rookie last year just fine.

That said, you never know what a person is going through until you’ve walked a mile in his or her shoes. Maybe Coffee has lost the passion to play or maybe he’ll regret his decision in a day and return to the practice field. Many young players struggle with being away from their friends and family and maybe Coffee is just going through a rocky time right now. Relatively speaking, he’s still just a kid.

Whatever the reason, it’s certainly a surprising development. The 49ers are still in good shape at running back with Gore, Dixon and Michael Robinson, but that doesn’t mean make Coffee’s decision any less shocking.

Giants’ Sabean throws all logic out the window, acquires Jose Guillen

April 12, 2010: Kansas City Royals' Jose Guillen (6) during the MLB baseball game between the Kansas City Royals vs Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan.

Jose Guillen can’t play defense, can’t get on base and he can’t hit for average.

So naturally Giants’ GM Brian Sabean had to have him.

On Friday, the Giants acquired the 34-year-old former Royal, who is well known for having a poor clubhouse reputation. That’s something the close-nit Giants don’t need right now heading into a huge weekend series with the first place Padres (the team the Giants are trailing by 2.5 games in the NL West).

Clearly hypnotized by his 16 homers this season, Sabean felt the need to add the outfielder despite the fact that Guillen is more useless than a chair with only two legs. Plus, his acquisition means that Aaron Rowand, Travis Ishikawa (assuming Aubrey Huff moves back to first base) and Nate Schierholtz will receive less playing time than they already are, which is befuddling when you consider that Guillen isn’t a better option than any of them.

If I punch myself in the side of the head enough times and squint hard enough, I might see the need for Guillen as a pinch hitter. But there’s no way that the Giants actually believe this schmuck is a starter. Do you know how much ground there is to cover in right field at AT&T Park? Guillen would be an absolute train wreck and for what? A couple of home runs down the stretch? I thought that’s what Pat Burrell was for? Didn’t Sabean already acquire Pat Burrell already? I’m confused.

The worst part is, Sabean traded away two capable outfielders earlier this season in Fred Lewis and John Bower – two homegrown players that were better defensively than Guillen and who came with zero baggage. How does trading Lewis and Bowker and trading for Guillen make any sense? Tell me what the difference is between those players, or how Guillen makes the Giants better than Lewis and Bowker? And what happens to Schierholtz? The kid entered spring training as the favorite to start in right field and after a poor couple of weeks at the plate, he became Lewis’d, Bowker’d and Kevin Frandsen’d in the blink of an eye. If I were a Giants’ farm player, I’d want to be dealt immediately because Sabean will eventually block my position with a crusty old vet. It’s only a matter of time.

Sabean doesn’t have the slightest clue what it takes to build an offense. For every Burrell, Huff and Juan Uribe, there’s a Rowand, Edgar Renteria and Mark DeRosa (who clearly wasn’t healthy when Sabean decided to hand him a two-year deal this past offseason). For every Bengie Molina trade, there’s a Guillen, Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez deal right around the corner.

I’ve never see a man make so many stupid decisions and yet retain his job for 14 years. If Brian Sabean were the President of the United States, half the nation would be underwater right now.

Did Nike muzzle LeBron at Team USA event?

Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James pauses during the second quarter in Game 5 of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff basketball series against the Boston Celtics in Cleveland, May 11, 2010. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL HEADSHOT)

Via the New York Post:

While a host of Redeem Team members were interviewed on the Radio City stage during yesterday’s Team USA scrimmage, LeCon became the noticeable exception. Nike did not want its World Basketball Festival to turn into a boo-fest.

“We wanted to stay away from that,” a Nike official said.

First of all, you have to love the Post writer, Marc Berman, calling him LeCon. It’s clear that the Knicks faithful — even the beat writers — are not going to let this summer’s snub go anytime soon.

Chad Ford comments on TrueHoop:

We shall see where this goes from here, but IMHO James being muzzled and kept off-camera is a development that will be dissected and debated ad nauseum by the sports business media, and deservedly so. When the biggest basketball star in Nike’s stable is front and center yet silent and relatively unseen on one of the world’s most famous stages, it certainly qualifies as a strange circumstance.

It’s certainly an odd thing for a company to bench his biggest name even if it meant he was going to get boo’ed by the Knick faithful. This might just be a symptom of a bigger problem, which Charles Barkley alluded to on Fanhouse.

“This thing that he’s taking mental notes, I’m bothered by him taking mental notes,” Barkley said. “He thinks he can’t get criticized. Every player who ever played the game has been criticized. I played against Michael Jordan. They said he couldn’t win in the beginning (of his career before later winning six titles). It’s the notion you can’t get criticized I have a problem with.”

While Barkley doesn’t have a huge problem with LeBron’s decision to play in Miami, he thought “The Decision” was a ‘punk move,’ but told Fanhouse that it was a poor choice of words.

“I should have never used that word,” said Barkley, sounding at first as if was an apology. “It was bull (bleep). Bull (bleep) is a better word.”

Gotta love Charles. The guy always speaks his mind.

Are Harvin and Rice pulling a Favre?

MINNEAPOLIS - JANUARY 17: Percy Harvin #12 of the Minnesota Vikings looks on before playing against the Dallas Cowboys during the NFC Divisional Playoff Game at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on January 17, 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

According to NBC Sports.com (via the ultra-shady Profootballtalk.com), the Vikings have sent a five-day letter to Percy Harvin as a warning to rejoin the team or risk suspension and/or fines.

Harvin has been dealing with migraines over the last couple of days, but there’s speculation that he and fellow receiver Sidney Rice are avoiding training camp a la Brett Favre. (Players hate this time of year and Favre has been known to do whatever it takes to skip camp.)

As a fellow migraine sufferer, I know first-hand how bad they can get. When they come on, your vision can get blurry and it often feels as though someone is driving a metal spike through one of your eyes. People who suffer from them often have a high sensitivity to light and sound, so trying to sleep is about the only thing you can do when one attacks. They can also last for several days.

With that in mind, I don’t blame Harvin for not showing up to camp if he’s suffering from migraines. This isn’t the first time they’ve gotten in the way of him practicing, as he had to miss several days last year because of them, too. That said, if he’s using them as a way to get out of practice, then the Vikings are well within their rights to send him the letter and force him to show up. If nothing else, he could see the team’s doctors and maybe they could help him with his headaches.

This is story is worth following leading up to the regular season. If neither Harvin nor Rice shows up to camp soon, maybe there’s something to the rumors that they’re pulling a Favre and playing hooky. If that’s the case, then the Vikings could have a small problem on their hands.

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