MUSINGS FROM MY SPORTS PAGE

I wish I could say congrats to the Anaheim Ducks, but sorry, besides the fact that they knocked off my Red Wings, I refuse to acknowledge a team called the "Ducks". And people wonder why interest in hockey is dying. I think the Devon Horse Show got higher ratings than this years Stanley Cup playoffs.

I see Eric Snow is back in the NBA finals. He couldn't shoot when he was here with the Sixers, and he still can't. But at least this time he has King James as a side kick. I mean A.I. was nice, and I love the guy, but he ain't no LeBron. Still, I have to go with the Spurs. Too much experience and too much team defense. And I have seen Bruce Bowen shut down Kobe. Spurs in six!

So people are pissed at Gary Sheffield because he is speaking his mind. Now I don't agree with him, but the last time I checked this is America, and the man has a right to speak his damn mind. Besides, he plays for my Tigers, and he can straight stroke it. So please leave Gary alone; at least until he leaves Detroit.

Speaking of athletes people don't like; I caught the Barry Bonds show last weekend at Citizens Bank park, and he didn't go yard once. The skitzo Phillies were their usual up and down selves, but at least they kept Bonds in check.

R.I.P Howard Porter! I have never been a big Vanilla-Nova fan, but they are in the Big Five, and Jay Wright has done a lot to make them a part of Philly basketball, so I don't despise the boys from the main line as much as I used to. But back to Porter. He left Nova under a cloud, and he struggled with drug addiction. But when he met his tragic end in a St. Paul Minnesota alley way, he already seemed to have gotten his life in order and had beaten off his addictions. I saw some old film of some of his Big Five games and he [Porter] was a tremendous player. His battles with Lasalle's Kenny Durrett were classics.

Hey, whatever happened to Larry Spriggs?

Was It Worth The Hype?

OK so T.O. finally came back to Philly with the hated Cowboys, and as much as I hate to admit it, the game itself lived up to the hype. Although T.O. himself was way less than stellar in his return to Eagle Country (3 catches for 45 yards and one alligator arm attempt) D-Mc was all that and some, and the defensive line was chasing feet of clay Bledsoe all day long. Still, at the end, Dallas was driving and had a chance to send the game into O.T., when Bledsoe or his tight end-not sure which one-caught a brain lock and threw a nice pass right into the hands of Eagles corner back Lito Shepperd. The rest, as they say, is history. All Lito did was take that bad boy 102 yards to the house, and the game was over.

So maybe it was worth the hype, maybe I was wrong about the game not making a difference in the season . If the Iggles can keep up the momentum from that game, they might be able to do something this year. I guess that Giants game thought them something after all. One of the players said it was the best loss they ever had, and he might be right.

Congrats to the Tigers for taking out the Yankees. A team, by the way, which I happen to like. I just couldn't root for them when they were playing possibly my favorite team in all professional sports. The gambler-Kenny Rogers-, Jeremy Bonderman, and the rest of the Tiger's pitchers deserve all the credit in the world. And I must say, that my man, A Rod, came up real small. Now the news out of New York is that the Boss has fired the Manager, Joe Torre, and is contemplating bringing back Lou Pinella. News flash George! It won't help, not until you get rid of that GM Cashman of yours, who keeps spending your money like a drunken sailor on over the hill pitchers. Yes Boss, you might want to put some of that money you have into developing your farm system, and bringing up some quality young arms like the Tigers did, and like the Atlanta Braves did a few years back to make their unbelievable run at Division Championships.

So sorry Yanks, no tears from the field negro for you; my Tigers are in it, and now it's time to focus on Oakland. Now if the Cards can just win the NL pennant, it will be 1968 all over again.
Where is Bob Gibson, Mickey Lolich, and Denny McClain when you need em?

Oh, and one more thing before. Do we need anymore proof that the heavyweight division is boxing is now a complete joke? I saw the latest circus act Don King trotted out the other night (a seven foot plus Russian) and the guy is supposed to be 43 and 0 or something. Now other than being the biggest heavy weight I have ever seen, the guy actually had some stamina, and some limited skills. But if this guy is a legitimate heavy weight champion, I am Mike Tyson. The only thing that saved him, was that his opponent was even worse. Folks, it's gotten so bad that my man Bernard Hopkins is thinking of coming out of retirement, putting on fifty pounds, and fighting for the heavy weight belt himself. And you know what? He just might be able to do it!

DEALING IN THE BRONX!

It's a beautiful thing! I hope everyone caught my man Justin Verlander dealing on the Yanks the other night. Yeah, that 103 MPH heat will get you every time. Along with my man Joel Zamaya-who was throwing darts in the triple digits himself-Verlander shut down the Yanks to help my Tigers even the series.

Now will this last? I doubt it. Jeter is too much of a gamer to let his team go down to the team he grew up with in nearby Kalamazoo Michigan. But you gotta love 21 million man Alex Rodhitless. Yes folks he took an 0-ffer again last night, and he heard the Bronx cheer every time he went to the plate. In case you were wondering, let me write what a Bronx cheer looks like for you. It looks something like this: Boooooooooooo!

By the way, congrats to the Oakland A's for sweeping those frauds from the Twin Cities. The A's have been playoff chokers themselves over the past few years, but this could be the year they make a serious run at the World Series Title. And to think they were in Philly once and we let them go and not the Phillies.


Now speaking of Philly. Folks my home town is all in a tizzy over T.O. coming back on Sunday. And I just don't get it. I mean this is all you hear in the office, on the street corner, on talk radio, and on television. And I am not talking the sports report. I am talking the lead story. "T.O. is back". It's enough to make an Eagles fan like myself reconsider cheering for this team. Memo to me fellow iggles fans. Calm the f%*& down please. THIS IS THE FIFTH GAME OF THE SEASON!!We might just want to wait until it's playoffs time before we get this pumped.

Somehow I don't think the folks in Big D are even getting worked up over this game, because they understand that it's just one game early in the season. I know T.O. rolled on us, and broke a lot of people's hearts. But get over that s#@%, he is gone now, and we can't bring him back. And yes the guy is a jerk, and he is weired and we would like to whup up on his new team. After all, the only thing we hate more than T.O. around here, is the Cowboys. And now we have a two for one deal going with him being a Cowpoke. BUT IT'S EARLY! And this has always been the problem with this town-especially when it comes to football-we play our Super Bowl when we play the Cow pokes, and they are just one of the fourteen other teams that we will have to play.

So to all my fellow fans in the "City of Brotherly Love" I say, calm down, take a deep breath, and if we lose Sunday we lose. If T.O. goes to the middle of the field, and spikes the ball in the middle of our Eagle's eyes; turn the other cheek. Because at the end of the day, the best revenge against T.O. and the rest of the boys. Will be holding that Pete Rozzele trophy in that convertible, as it rides down Broad Street.

I'm out!

The Sweetest Swings In Sports

1. Tiger Woods- I might have some issues with Mr. Multi Cultural Man, but his golf swing ain't one of them. When it's all said and done, he will probably be the greatest to ever hit the little white ball.

2. Barry Bonds-Lots of hateration [yeah that's a word] out there against Barry. But even the haters have to admit, that his swing, steroid induced or not, is the best most have ever seen on a baseball diamond.

3. Roy Jones, Jr.,-His skills might have diminished somewhat, but when he was on top of his game, all the boxing purist agree that his swing helped to bring back the sweet science.

4. Floyd Mayweather, Jr., -Speaking of the sweet science. They don't call my man"Pretty Boy" for his looks.

5. Albert Pujoles-Lifetime BA of 331; nuff said.

6. Roger Federer- Read this blog and you will learn how I feel about this guy. IMHO, the best all around game ever, and his swing is magic.

7. Ken Griffey, Jr.,-Damn another Junior, and another deserving mention on this list. Juniors swing isn't far behind Barry's, so that tells you all you need to know.

8. Ernie Els-They don't call him "Big Easy" for nothing.

Honorable Mention goes to all the goons who swing for a living in the NHL. Because anybody that can skate, and dish em like that at the same time, deserves some props.

The field is out.

Sports Rants From The Field

I don't know, maybe it's because there is so much f#%^$d up stuff going on in the world, or maybe it's because it's football season. But lately, I find myself wanting to write more about sports and less about real serious s#%t. Like frat boys phony war on terror, young Americans still dying in Iraq.....ah I said I would only blog about sports, and by God that's what I will do.

Whew! I think I have some issues.

OK so this is my first official posting on FNsports my new blog dedicated to all things sports. [ Like I don't spend enough time blogging] I must confess, I love this blogging stuff.

So anyway, this is going to be nothing but rants on my part, because this is such a huge sports weekend here in these United States.

So where do I start? Well, I just saw those "white hats" [my name for Penn State] get their asses kicked by Notre Dame. That Charlie Weiss has made a believer in the field of his abilities. Now don't get me wrong, I still despise Notre Dame for the way the got rid of Ty Willingham, and I happen to know that a few racist boosters of that fine catholic institution were itching to get rid of him. [There I go already. What, three paragraphs into my new blog and I am calling out racism already] Still, the man can flat out coach. And since I don't particularly like PSU, [maybe it's the white hats] it was nice to see them get a good old fashion ass whooping.

Mmmm, let's see what else? Oh,big Texas OSU game tonight. Quite frankly, I don't know what the hype is all about. I don't think either team will be playing come new years day for the big one. I like OSU's QB a little bit, and Teddy Ginn, Jr., is a legitimate first round pick, but I just don't see OSU going undefeated. As for Texas, you just can't lose a Vince Young, and expect to bounce back the next year. Unless, you are SC of course. For my money, everybody better watch the aforementioned Notre Dame, and West Virginia, Florida, LSU, and Auburn will be right there as well. Not sure if anyone significant will come out of the left coast. I know SC is loaded, but I don't think they can play smash mouth football.

OK so what else, oh, Andy Roddick got into the finals of The U.S. Open against my man Roger Federer. Bye bye Andy it was fun while it lasted. I swear everybody is talking about the way Tiger is dominating his sport. And he is. But if you want to see real dominance, check out what Mr. Federer is doing on the tour. His game, in my humble opinion, is the best all round ever. And that includes Sampras, Agassi, Borg, and McEnroe. And I know a thing or two about tennis. [4.5 rating from the USTA thank you very much]

I see Mr. Bonds went yard again; that's 731 and counting. So all you haters out there, better fall back. Steroids or no steroids, Barry is the truth! And, the Giants are in the middle of a pennant race.

I heard some loser on one of my local sports radio stations [I will be talking a lot about them]try to diminish what Bonds has accomplished, and the guy sounded so hollow and pathetic that it was almost laughable. But what do you expect from some fat old overweight guy who, the closest he ever got, or will ever get, to that type of greatness, is writing or talking about it. Don't even get me started on those losers. [Sports journalist and talk show hosts]

Speaking of baseball, the Phililies have the next young super star in the game in Ryan Howard. I just hope these Philly fans don't destroy him. They have a way of doing that here. Especially to certain... ah ahm, field negro types.

Finally, good luck to my man Asafa Powell in Athens next week. Yeah Yawdie, you are the true and only world record holder. So big up!

Now the thing I like about sports is, performance doesn't lie. And tomorrow morning, if Roddick puts an ass whopping on Federer, or Auburn gets upset, the field will look like a complete moron. But hey, no one is perfect, and the field like everyone else, just has opinions. I just happen to be right most of the time :)

I wonder where the SU Jags play this week, I could use a nice half time show.

Hang on Tigers, hang on!

The field-negro is out.

Peace!