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Is A-Rod finished?

July 14, 2013 / Staff

The speculation around Alex Rodriguez is definitely heating up as Major League Baseball seems poised to hammer him on his PED use. The latest has MLB and his representatives negotiating a possible deal that would leave him with a 150-game suspension!

It’s still remarkable to me that A-Rod would tarnish his legacy with this greed and stupidity. Even with all the trappings of professional sports, A-Rod was a freak of nature who was destined to have a Hall of Fame career. He didn’t need the PEDs, but yet he was seduced perhaps by the lure of even bigger numbers and fatter contracts.

This is just one of many sad cases of a fall from grace. It’s pitiful, as he had plenty of opportunities to clean up his act.

It will be interesting to see how the union hand;es this, as there are reports that many players want the cheaters rooted out and punished. Will the union leadership listen?

MLB

Alex Rodriguez MLB union New York Yankees PEDs in Baseball PEDs in sports

Players advance in World Series of Poker

July 14, 2013 / Staff

In the video above, you can watch the reigning World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Merson talking about the 2013 Main Event. At that point he was still in the tournament and perhaps feeling confident, but he was recently eliminated, finishing 167th which is pretty respectable.

The Main Event has changed dramatically over the years, and now the tournament is so big it has to be staggering when compared to the old school events. On Friday the field was narrowed down to 648 players, all of whom will take home a minimum of $19,000 for their efforts. The last player eliminated was Farzad Bonyadi, a twenty-year World Series of Poker veteran who has three bracelets. The drama of having Bonyadi go down when he went all-in just punctuated the new reality of this tournament. There were only 34 players back in 1977 when Doyle Brunson repeated as Main Event champion, and Johnny Chan was able to win a second title in a row in 1988 by beating a field of 167 players.

The popularity of poker, it’s presence on TV, the acknowledgement now by many that it’s a game of skill, and the innovations in online gaming and tournaments have permanently altered the poker landscape. These trends are not slowing down, particularly now with smartphones and mobile apps expanding the playing field even more. Access now extends beyond the smoky poker table or even the computer screen, as we can play anywhere, 24/7. You can easily play casino games on Android phones by clicking here and seeing the best options. The new generation of players flooding Las Vegas for the World Series will only keep growing. Also, public sentiment has changed to the point that politicians realize that this game of skill should be afforded the proper respect and regulation.

It will be fascinating to see if we’ll ever have another back-to-back Main Event winner again. Now that the doors have been blown wide open, it seems practically impossible given the sheer number of poker players. The odds are definitely against it.

General Sports, Odds

Doyle Brunson Farzad Bonyadi Greg Merson Johnny Chan World Series of Poker World Series of Poker Main Event

Ryan Howard’s rough year

July 13, 2013 / Staff

Ryan Howard tried to be optimistic before the season as he came back from a difficult injury, but 2013 has been a tough year so for. His numbers are way down, with .266 batting average and 11 home runs as we come up to the All Star break, and now Scott Miller is piling on as he puts together his anti-All Star team of the season’s biggest disappointments.

Few are in dire need of ice packs as much as Howard — both for his knee and his numbers — so we can only wish him Godspeed on his impending knee surgery. Hope he returns on the short end of the six-to-eight weeks he’s expected out.
Before landing on the disabled list this month, Howard, at $20 million this year, essentially was reduced to platoon status. Against lefties, he’s hitting .173 with a .218 on-base percentage. That’s not hitting. That’s praying.
The Phillies’ frustration with their Big Man reached such epic proportions that general manager Ruben Amaro borrowed a page from the Brian Cashman Book of Calling Out a Player. Minus the F-bomb.
“If Ryan Howard is now relegated to being a platoon player, he’s a very expensive platoon player and he needs to be better,” Amaro told Philadelphia radio station WIP earlier this month. “I think he knows it. I know he’s struggling. I know he’s not happy with his performance. Neither are we. I think he’s going to be better, but right now, he’s just not doing the job.”

Josh Hamilton is another of the many prominent players on this list.

Howard is on the disabled list now, and we’ll see if he finds a way to turn his season around.

MLB

anti-All Star team Josh Hamilton Ryan Howard

Subway Boys In The Hall: Prince Fielder’s authentic power

July 9, 2013 / Staff

<br /> <a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/boysinthehall?videoid=8c0dc53e-abf0-430e-8698-1c8bb1536f8a&src=v5:embed:syndication:&from=shareembed-syndication" target="_new" title="Hall of Fame Hopefuls; Price Fielder">Video: Hall of Fame Hopefuls; Price Fielder</a><br />

Coming off an era where it seemed like everyone could be a slugger, it’s refreshing to get back to a game with balance. Prince Fielder is one of these authentic players that bring us back to a simpler time with his enormous frame and natural power. His father, Cecil Fielder, was one of the great power hitters of his day and I remember him as a kid, and it’s pretty amazing to watch his son live up to and then surpass his impressive legacy.

It’s must be difficult for some to live up to the hype surrounding a famous name, but Prince Fielder has handled it beautifully. The numbers speak for themselves beginning with his seven years with the Milwaukee Brewers followed by his new gig with the Detroit Tigers. With his father, they are the only father-son combination to have hit 50 home runs in the majors. Since Prince Fielder’s first full season where he hit 28 home runs, he has slammed 30 or more dingers for 6 consecutive seasons, with seasons of 50 and 46 in there. Yet he’s also maintained a lifetime batting average of .285 and on base percentage of a staggering .390, so he helps his team in many ways. Las year he had his career-best average at .313 with an OBP of .412, so he may be maturing as a hitter. When you think about young players who have a shot at the MLB Hall of Fame, power hitters garner plenty of attention, but it definitely helps if you’re not a one-dimensional player. But power definitely grabs the attention of the public, and it doesn’t hurt that Fielder has also won two Home Run Derby contests.

The key to any Hall of Fame career is longevity, and Fielder has been incredibly durable so far in his career. Now he’s blessed playing in probably the best lineup in baseball as he leads the way along with the incredible Miguel Cabrera. It’s scary to think about how much damage these guys can do if they stay together in Detroit as they feed off of one another. With this lineup and their pitching the Tigers should consistently compete for World Series titles, and that would be icing on the cake for Fielder.

So as of now, Prince Fielder is definitely one of those guys that have a shot as baseball immortality. Every indication seems to suggest he can keep this up.

SUBWAY is celebrating “The Boys in the Hall” and you can learn more about it here.