Bill Walton Is in Rare Form

Our favorite color commentator is back at it again tonight showing for the world to see once and for all why you should never do acid. Here are a few exchanges to highlight Walton’s level of excellence.

(lebron pepares for a sick dunk)
Saunders: uh oh
(lebron throws down the jam)
Saunders (jovially): As Lebron is getting ready to go up there the only words that came to mind were uh oh, which is probably what the Uruguayans were thinking. (Chuckles)
Walton: that’s also what the citizens of New Orleans were thinking 2 years ago tonight as Katrina ravaged their city…

Walton: 2 pointers are easier to hit then 3’s…. lets put it this way the big men like Amare want to shoot the threes and the little guys want to throw it down
Saunders: It’s like how athletes want to be rock stars and rock stars want to be athletes
Walton (exuberantly): Did you see Dylan’s new dates!?!

I could write about how his first comments were incredibly out of place and inappropriate in that context or how Walton once again proved how much of a hippy he is with his second comments, but I think that goes without saying. Darn, guess I just said it.

Marbury’s Words of Wisdom?

In last nights piece on Sportscenter about athletes’ reactions to Vick’s situation Stephon Marbury was interviewed. Here are a few quotes from the luminary that is Stephon Marbury, “We don't say anything about people shooting deers and shooting other animals, you know what I mean? From what I hear, dog fighting is a sport. It's just behind closed doors and I think it's tough that we build Michael Vick up and then we break him down ... I think he fell into a bad situation”

Now let’s ignore for a second the fact that Marbury is an idiot. He constantly says and does stupid things that have nothing to do with this situation, but again let’s ignore that for the purposes of this argument. Let’s also ignore the fact that these statements are insensitive. Most everyone knows what Vick did was wrong, and any condoning of his actions is to be deplored. Again however that’s not the point of this article.

The point of this article is that despite the source and the lack of sensitivity displayed I’m not sure Marbury’s comments don’t warrant critical examination. When Marbury said “From what I hear dogfighting is a sport,” I think what he was revealing was that he didn’t really understand the ramifications of what Vick had done. He doesn’t really understand why treating these dogs as brutally as they do is wrong, it’s simply a sport. Now you can Bash Marbury for this if you want or you can ask is this a more widespread problem than just Marbury? When you have guys like Clinton Portis and Roy Jones Jr also sharing similar sentiments I think it is. Perhaps its part of the communities they’ve been brought up in, and maybe there are racial or culture explanations of why these guys don't understand the significance of the dogfighting charges but it’s a problem that needs to be addressed.

Another issue Marbury brought up is that if we can agree that dogfighting and mistreating animals is wrong than why is hunting ok? In fact it is even a well respected sport in many parts of this country. Is it not inhumane to shoot a deer or bird that you’re most likely not going to eat? You could say that they don’t torture the animals, but I would guess most people don’t kill the animals instantly with one shot. These animals probably lay there on the ground having been shot for a significant time in a great deal of pain before they’re “put out of their misery.” The fact that its deer’s or quails should make little difference to how we treat the animals than if they were dogs. Now, admittedly I’ve never been hunting and I don’t know all the facts about it, but unless we’re killing animals for food I’m not sure we should be killing them at all.

Couch Released, Jaguars Clerical Error Fixed

Tim Couch was released by the Jaguars ending a very awkward situation for the team. Having thought they ordered a new set of couches for locker room the Jaguars were very embarrassed when they realized they had in fact given Tim Couch a contract to play professional football. Initially the Jaguars were excited about the prospects that they had unwittingly gotten a former first round draft pick to be a backup QB, but soon realized it was in fact Tim Couch. Unsure how to clear up this error it took some time for them to figure out how to fix it. With the regular season closing in on us fast they knew the couches would be needed though, so they gathered up the courage and let Tim know they wouldn’t need his services; they than proceeded to put in another order for couches in the locker room. Jaguars’ fans can rest easy as the couches are finally on their way and Tim Couch is far, far away.

Notes From The EPL (8/11)

Thanks to Fox Soccer channel (a soccer fan in the states best friend) I was able to catch 2 and a half games of soccer today. ( Derby County v Portsmouth, West Ham v Man City and the second half of Liverpool v Aston Villa) Some notes from the three games:

Derby County played much better than one would have thought. Unfortunately their goalkeeper should still be in the Coca Cola Championship because he let in a very savable goal. Derby was able still able to scratch out a much deserved tie. The most impressive player on either side was Tyrone Mears a right back for Derby, he made a fool of Hermann Hreidarsson on multiple occasions.

In what was mostly a dreadful game to watch, West Ham put in a poor performance against Manchester City, especially in the first half. Bobby Zamora did not look very good at all. Whether it was his poor first touches, bad passing or weak shots, he could have done much better. The Brazilian Geovanni come on as a second half sub and had a great finish for the second Man City goal. He nearly had a second goal but was unlucky to see his effort narrowly parried away. West Ham, while it's only one game, looked like a team that will have a lot of work to do this season to avoid relegation.

While I missed the first half of the game, Liverpool’s defense looked very shaky against Villa. Steven Gerrard is quite an interesting player to watch. Clearly world class for some reason every time I see him he’s running too fast for the ball and stumbling over it looking like a fool, and every time I see him he’s also doing something to help his team win. Today was no different as he converted a world class free kick to win the game, a free kick that was given on a controversial foul. You can’t hit a much better free kick then Gerrard did; there was less than an inch between the upper ninety and the ball leaving goalkeeper Stuart Taylor no chance at saving it.

What a (Yankee) Game!

Normally I don’t comment on specific Yankee games as there’s one every day, and I don’t want to write about every one. However today’s game was most definitely worth commenting on. It started off very interesting very early with Josh Towers throwing at A-Rod. This appears to be retaliation for either the infamous “Ha” game or more likely for him sliding hard into second yesterday and trying to take out John McDonald. A-Rod took exception to this of course as getting hit for the second time in two days gets old. This wouldn’t have been a huge problem except Towers yells at A-Rod to go to first. Honestly you’re Josh Towers, you shouldn’t be throwing at A-Rod in the first place and certainly shouldn’t be yelling at him. The benches clear and nothing really happens.

Then A-Rod goes to first and it looks like Towers yelled at him again. So the benches clear again and Matt Stairs almost lost control of his ‘roid rage and darted towards A-Rod. Shelly Duncan, NY’s new favorite son, was having none of it and made sure Stairs kept his hands to himself. I guess I can’t blame Towers for his stupidity; he does play for a guy who has challenged his own players to fights. No I’m not talking about Billy Martin, I’m talking about the idiot that is John Gibbons. How he still has a job given his record and conduct is beyond me.

Later Shelly Duncan takes out John McDonald sliding into second on a bunt attempt by

Shelly Duncan takes out John McDonald the whiney baby. He knocks the glove off McDonald’s hand and the ball went with it, great play. This is the same McDonald who was yelling at A-rod during the “Ha” game. Rocket then hits Alex Rios in the top of the 7^th which I think anyone with half a brain knew he would. They needed Rocket to pitch some innings, so he couldn’t do it earlier, but once they had a 7-0 lead and he’d gone 6 innings it was time. Clemens is one guy you know isn’t letting guys get thrown at with no repercussions. Why they decided to bring in Brower I cannot tell you. Luckily he only allowed two runs to score. Chamberlain got called up and got his first appearance in a 7 run game. He pitched 2 scoreless innings which doesn’t mean a whole lot given the situation, however seeing him throw 98 and strike a guy out with a 3-2 slider seems to indicate he has a bright future. Let’s just hope Farnsworthless stays far away from him.

Finally, kudos to Melky Cabrera for continuing to smash the ball and farewell to Miguel Cairo your contributions were appreciated.

Fix the Yankees Bullpen Please!

The Yankees finally came to their senses today and released Mike Myers. Myers numbers overall were not bad however, hired to be a lefty specialist, he had essentially become a righty specialist only able to get out right handed hitters. For some reason though, they decided their best option to replace him was Jim Brower. Brower who is 34 and pitching in the minors. Now Brower has had very good numbers in the minors, His ERA was 1.64 at triple A, however there's a reason you're 34 and in the minors. He had a couple decent years in the majors between 2002 and 2004 he wasn't bad. In 2005 he was ok and in 2006 he was awwwwful. The Orioles let him go; that's not a good sign. Maybe he's had injury issues i don't know, but I'm not elated to know he's going to be on the team.

To make matters worse the Yankees have better options. Edwar Ramirez who pitched a grand total of 3 games with the Yankees in the 20 days he was with the team. He came up and contributed right away, then he had a bad outing in a tough situation versus Anaheim and doesn't pitch again for another 2 weeks. Shockingly that outing with 2 weeks rest he struggled, Rivera also struggles when he doesn't pitch well. Obviously Ramirez is no Mo, but my point is his last stint with the team was not representative of his talent. What is i would like to believe more representative is his stats at triple A. He has a minuscule 0.79 ERA in 21 games pitched with 59 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. I'll repeat that 59 strikeouts in 34 innings, that is ridiculous. Give him an actual chance. NOW!

The other option is Joba Chamberlain. They clearly plan on bringing him up eventually but apparently they don't think he's quite ready. He's a starter who they're trying out in the bullpen for the rest of the year and turns 22 in September. The early returns on that experiment have been nothing short of great. As a reliever he's pitched 4 innings of 1 hit 10 k ball. It's understandable if they don't want to rush him as he is young, and hasn't even pitched back to back games yet, but his time has to be coming soon. Farnsworthless continues to be awful and the Yankees cannot trust him with anything less than a 6 run lead.

If the Yankees want to continue winning games and don't want to burn out Vizcaino the way they burned out Proctor and Tanyon Sturtze, they're going to have to bring these guys up and give them a real chance.