Friday Wrap-Up

- Bills fire offensive coordinator Turk Schonert; immediately declared luckiest man in football. (ESPN)

- The NHL still sucks at marketing their product, even in Europe. (Yahoo! Sports)

- The "Green Ranger" from Power Rangers going into MMA. Awesome. (SI)

- Shane Mosley to absolutely tool Joshua Clottey in December. (Bad Left Hook)

- Jonathan Papelbon fined for pitching too slow. Baseball...slow? Never. (ESPN)

- Michael Vick scores a TD, everyone loves it. Vick sacked for -22 yards, no one cares. (Fox Sports)

Must See Games of the Weekend

Texas Rangers vs. Baltimore Orioles (Friday 7:05 P.M.) - If Texas can take care of business against one of the worst teams in baseball, the AL Wild Card race will get much more interesting. Lose this series and it's likely lights out for the Rangers. Probably won't be pretty but it's definitely important.

# 13 Georgia vs. # 9 Oklahoma State (Saturday 3:30 P.M ABC) - Props to the NCAA for giving us a slate of games we don't usually see until 6 weeks in to the season. Tough game for Georgia to open with trying to replace Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno. Look out for Dez Bryant, could be a huge day for him receiving.

# 5 Alabama vs. #7 Virginia Tech (Saturday 8 P.M. ABC) - Hopefully we can keep the punches to a minimum in this monster early season match-up. Nick Saban just inked an extension with the Tide, now he's got to go out and prove 'Bama didn't make a mistake committing to him long term.

"Pacman" to train for Cotto in Philippines; Is it over with Freddie Roach?

(Manny Pacquiao doesn't win...he destroys. But for how long?)

With the biggest fight of his career against Miguel Cotto just 10 weeks away, the pound-for-pound king of the boxing world, Manny Pacquiao, has made interesting decision regarding his training for the bout. The "Pacman" has decided to leave go against his trainer Freddie Roach's advice to train in Mexico and train in his home country. This decision comes on the heels of news that Roach is growing more and more impatient with his champion's "Team Pacquiao" entourage. Roach says that his team distracting the fighter and training in the Philippines will only make the problem worse.

This is definitely an interesting development considering the magnitude and importance of this fight. With the Mayweather/Marquez fight having serious troubles selling tickets and garnering interest, the future of the sport of boxing weigh heavily on two of the most popular boxers on the planet. Cotto is already 3 weeks into his training camp and Pacquiao just decided where he is going to be doing his training? Has the humble superstar begun to develop an dangerous ego, or is team that accompanies him everywhere altering his focus? Roach seems to believe the latter and has threatened to break ties all together if things don't change.

This rift between trainer and fighter could ultimately lead Pacquiao down the the unpredictable road that Mike Tyson traveled. Granted, the circumstances are extremely different, but the similarities are very striking. Despite what Team Pacquiao advisor Mike Koncz thinks, the trainer is invaluable to a fighter. When Tyson's trainer Cus D'Amato died, the seemingly unbeatable heavyweight lost his way and ultimately ruined his career. In the 2009 documentary "Tyson", he credited D'Amato with turning his life around. With Pacquiao, Roach has helped the fighter to sharpen his skills to a point where he looks absolutely unbeatable. The trainer's job extends far beyond the ability to get a fighter physically prepared for 30+ minutes of war. He must have his fighter mentally conditioned to understand his opponent, his tendencies and make adjustments if something unexpected comes up. A fighter that goes into a fight without being mentally prepared can lead to devastating consequences (see De la Hoya/Pacquiao).

For Koncz to say that Roach is "just a trainer" should be a giant red flag for Manny Paciquao that maybe this man shouldn't be advising him. If Pacquiao goes into the fight against Cotto less than 100% mentally ready he risks getting beaten, and badly. Cotto will be much larger than Pacquiao come fight night and has shown that he has put the demons of his loss to Antonio Margarito behind him and is ready to return to the top of the sport. We've seen Cotto overcome adversity and pull out wins, most recently against Joshua Clottey where he was badly cut early in the fight. The last time we've really seen Pacquiao in trouble was the first Juan Manuel Marquez fight where he was wobbled by a power left. With Roach in his corner, we know he can overcome a situation that doesn't work in his favor. The result is much less clear for the "Pacman" if he switches trainers at this point. Dangerous, dangerous stuff considering what's at stake.

A-Rod's International Incident

(Really, Alex? You can't restrain yourself during the game? At least wait until after the inning.)

File this one in the "That would happen" folder. A routine foul ball turned into just another in a growing list of A-Rod's embarrassing moments. He missed getting a hold of the pop-up but got a grip on alot more (see photo for proof). As Yahoo! Sports blogger Kevin Kaduk points out, the moment was something right out of a cinematic classic.

In all seriousness, would this happen to any other player in baseball? Would you ever see Pablo Sandoval (been waiting for a chance to put Kung Fu Panda in here) end up in this kind of situation? No...but it would be pretty great if it did happen. Pretty sure the officer would have been moving just a bit faster than she was last night.

Boise State gets defensive; LeGarrette Blount is offensive

(As if things aren't weird enough on the blue turf. Killer form on the cheap shot from Blount.)

Congrats have to go out to the Broncos and their fans. Barring an upset of epic proportions, you can pencil yourself in for a BCS game after taking down Oregon 19-8. A secondary congratulations go out, once again, to the fans in Boise for creating one of the most terrifying atmosphere's in all of sports at "the Blue".

With that out of the way, last night's game was once of the most bizarre college football games in recent memory. Beyond the obvious, viewed here for those who haven't seen it, the game featured two offensive minded teams playing extremely well on defense. Boise State gave up more yards on the Ducks one offensive score than they had given up the entire 1st half. Add this to a rarely seen safety, a punt bouncing off the head of the kicking team and one of the most unusual penalty calls ever. Not exactly a "he was giving him the business" moment, but any penalty call that includes the the words "so, basically what we've got here" is pure gold. I genuinely enjoyed watching this game...right up until the end.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the elephant in the room concerning this game. Channeling his inner Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson, Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount sucker punched Boise State lineman Byron Hout and knocked him out ( I don't care how fast he got back up, he clearly went out from that punch). Granted he was provoked, although very slightly from my vantage point at home, but seriously, grow up LeGarrette. It's a give and take game; you say that Bosie's in for an "ass whoopin'" then don't deliver, you've got to expect to eat a little crow postgame. But Blount didn't keep his foolish behavior limited to the field because, well, why not try to get a little extra attention for his temper tantrum by trying to go into the stands. Great idea, it worked out so well for all those involved at the Palace that one time. After awhile it just became a show for the nation. It was one of the those "hold me back!" moments where there is no intention to fight but you put on a good front for everyone. I wonder what his teammates thought of his performance, or what they will think of it later in the season. If it is that easy to get under LeGarrette's skin this early, imagine the crowds at UCLA and USC later on. Brutal stuff coming for the Ducks.

It's a shame it had to end that way last night. What could have been one of the more memorable games this season will likely become one all parties involved in will like to forget.

***UPDATE***: Oregon suspends Blount for remainder of the season. Probably too harsh but I'm not going to complain. It's his own fault. Tough way to learn how one impulsive action can ruin your career, or life for that matter. He needs help now or we could be looking at another Maurice Clarett situation.

"Am I Dreaming?" Moment of the day: Schilling to run for the Senate?

(I'm Curt Schilling, and I approved this shameless grab for attention)

Remember Curt Schilling? Well, he's going to force you to no matter how much you don't want to. Apparently Schilling has been contacted about a possible run to succeed the late Ted Kennedy. Really? It's not terribly shocking; people with less credentials have run/tied up a state's government/won elections before. This would be an interesting change of pace for the state of Massachusetts. Replace the highly liberal Kennedy with what would expected to be a Republican in Schilling (he campaigned for Bush in '04 and McCain in '08; pretty safe bet I think).

Could he be setting something up for the future? Hopefully not. Can't have a President bleeding all over the floor at the G8 Summit.

College football time! Handicapping the Heisman race

(Sam Bradford and his Heisman. Conspicuously missing: Billy Sims making an ass out himself)

If you're like me you're getting pumped for tomorrow's kickoff of the college football season. It only seems fair that while everyone is still 0-0 to make up some odds for a few players chances to win the biggest individual award in the game

The Favorites

Tim Tebow - QB - Florida: My odds on favorite to win the prize this season. Now, I'm going to pull a Lou Holtz here and say that Tebow may not be the best player in the country this year, but his schedule just screams monster numbers. There are at least 3 games on the schedule where he could be out of the game at halftime with the talent around him. Add that to only one difficult game away from "the Swamp" (at LSU) and we could see some all-time great numbers from the Gators' superman. HEISMAN ODDS: 3-2

Colt McCoy - QB - Texas: There were grumblings last year that McCoy was robbed of the award Bradford after that whole 45-35 thing. Much like the Gators, there are a few games on tap for the 'Horns that could be, as an understatement, pillow fights. Louisiana-Monroe, UTEP and UCF in Austin, and a road game at Wyoming could be just the type of stat padding games McCoy could use in this year's race. As always, the Oklahoma game could tip the balance for either McCoy or Bradford. HEISMAN ODDS: 3-1

Sam Bradford - QB - Oklahoma: Last year's winner could have a rough go of things if he wants to be the second repeat winner. A revamped O-line and a schedule that sports only one real cream puff team has the odds against the Sooners. Add in the possibility that DeMarco Murray could see a larger role and Bradford could see a significant drop in his numbers. Great QB's overcome adversity to win and it's clear that he knows how to do that. I've got him running third to start the season. HEISMAN ODDS: 5-1


Middle of the Pack

Jevan Snead - QB - Ole Miss: Look up the definition of "off-season hype" and Snead's picture will be the first one you see. The Rebels have a pretty favorable schedule and Snead has shown that he has the ability to win big games and make Heisman candidates cry. Tough year to be a QB trying to win a Heisman though. HEISMAN ODDS: 7-1

Jahvid Best - RB - California: Best's, well, best shot to win the award will more than likely be to win the elusive Pac-10 title. Games at Oregon and home versus USC in consecutive weeks will tell us a lot about his chances against the big dogs. HEISMAN ODDS: 9-1

Dez Bryant - WR - Oklahoma State: Must be tough to a top 10 team but only be 3rd in your own conference. Lost in the McCoy/Bradford hype is the Cowboys' talented wide out who put up almost 1,500 yards and 19 TD's last season. It's always tough for a wide receiver to win the Heisman and it will be even tougher with this year's field. HEISMAN ODDS: 10-1

Dark Horse Candidates

Robert Griffin - QB - Baylor: Freakishly talented, but trapped in the stacked Big 12. It's going to take some astronomical numbers for him to win this season. ODDS: 18-1

Terrelle Pryor - QB - Ohio State: Don't believe the story about his 4.2 40-yard dash time for 4.2 seconds, but if he can topple USC and Penn State this season he's got a shot. ODDS: 20-1

Joe McKnight - RB - USC: Could be his time to really break out and get some national recognition, especially if Matt Barkley struggles early in the season. ODDS: 25-1

C.J. Spiller - RB - Clemson: Big time sleeper candidate. The ACC is wide open outside of Virginia Tech and Spiller could earn some massive interest if he can lead them to a conference title. ODDS: 30-1

Jimmy Clausen - QB - Notre Dame: Why not? Stranger things have happened. ODDS: 50-1

MY PRE-SEASON TOP 5

#1 - Tim Tebow - Florida
#2 - Colt McCoy - Texas (My Predicted Winner)
#3 - Jahvid Best - Cal
#4 - Sam Bradford - Oklahoma
#5 - C.J. Spiller - Clemson

Another reason not to care about the CFL

(Making it rain for 10 cents on the dollar)

Good news; Adam "Pacman" Jones is going somewhere that doesn't require an orange jumpsuit or charge a $10 cover. Every one's favorite cornerback signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL. As if it wasn't thrilling enough to watch games played on 110 yard field with 20 yard end zones by significantly less talented players (sorry, but they really are), now we get the all time king of failed (self) hype patrolling the secondary. To be honest, there is no reason anyone should care about what "Pacman" does anymore. Seriously, what did he ever do on the football field that garners the amount of attention he gets? He very well could have been the next Deion Sanders coming out of West Virginia, but decided it was better to spend his time at strip clubs, getting arrested and blowing every chance he got to play in the NFL. The most memorable thing from his career was getting his own special call from Chris Berman. Let's be real, we all loved the "wacka, wacka" in the highlights. Beyond that, nothing about him should make us care about what he does.

It's a shame that it's come down to this for "Pacman". A once great prospect forced to try and take the circuitous Ricky Williams route back to relevance in the NFL. Hopefully it works out the same way.

What is going on in Chicago?

(Possibly the most stable man in Chicago sports. Scary, right?)

There must be something in the water in Chicago, something other than hundreds of wise guys and their favorite pair of cement shoes. It's been an odd few months for the Windy City and it's hometown sports teams. Where do we start? Should we go with the Bulls and their fans collectively hating Vinny Del Negro while their star point guard Derrick Rose is being accused of taking a seat on the bench for his SAT's? How about diminutive Blackhawks' winger Patrick Kane going Mike Tyson's Punch-out on a cabbie in Buffalo over pocket change? Better yet, what about the Cubs and White Sox race to see who can trade or release the most players or be the most games out of first place before the end of the season? Would anyone have guessed that Jay Cutler to the Bears would be the least sensational story in Chicago sports this year?

A certain amount of big stories should be expected to come out of a city that is home to two of the higher profile, and more vocal, managers in baseball as well as a football franchise with a fanatical fan base, but to see this many in one year borders on the surreal. It's as if Chicago offered to take the pressure off teams in New York, Boston and Los Angeles by losing it's collective sporting mind. One can only wonder if losing the state's favorite Senator has something to do with the foolishness

The more I think about this, the more bizarre it all becomes. Just days after Ozzie Guillen says he feels like he's "stealing" from Kenny Williams, the White Sox raise the white flag (see what I did there?) on their playoff hopes by trading slugger Jim Thome and Lustrium Glove winning pitcher Joes Contreras despite being only 6 games back of Detroit in an absolutely atrocious division. They give up the 2nd least runs in the division, while the division leading Tigers score the the 2nd least. The difference between first and third place can be a good or bad weekend series in the AL Central.

Remember when everyone thought the Cubs were going to run away with the Central and be the team to beat in NL? It must be fun living that fantasy world. Win or lose, the Cubs are always good for some great drama. Whether it be Milton Bradley wanted to beat the traffic out of Wrigley every day, the potential for a surprise shower from fans in center field or a Hall of Fame manager expecting to come back next year despite driving one of the most talented teams in baseball into the ground, the Northsiders usually good for a decent laugh, cringe, or both.

An open note to Patrick Kane: Nothing good happens at 4 A.M., and always carry change. I thought the story of him punching a cab driver over 20 cents was a joke the first time I read it. How can one of the NHL's biggest rising stars not be willing to part with 14 dollars, deciding instead to take a beating in the media and risk a spot on the U.S. Olympic squad? Patrick Kane, really? Probably the last person on that squad I would have expected to jack up a cabbie. Maybe he took offense to the drivers request for an autograph of his picture on the cover of Mad Magazine.

I'd expect these kind of circus-like headlines to come out of the "traditional"places, not from the relatively low key city of Chicago. The Super Fans may be less ridiculous than some of the current sitiuations. Hang on...breaking news...Mike Ditka expected to return to the playing field and challenge for the Bears starting tight end position.

What? It's no more outlandish than the real stories.

A Moment of Pause for the Greatness of Derek Jeter

Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way early. We all know about the 4 World Series, his numerous achievements off the field (think about it), the Gold Gloves, the All-Star games, but what exactly is it that makes Jeter so great? To really appreciate just what a special player he is, you have to look beyond the nightly box score. There is something about the way he plays and what he brings to the table every night that makes him arguably the most indispensable player in the game.

One only needs to look back to the 2003 season to see the impact he has on his team. Hustling to third on Opening Day against the Blue Jays, Jeter injured his wrist and missed 36 games. Sure, it was a relatively short DL stint and the Yankees went 26-10 in those games but there was always that gaping hole in the middle of the infield that just couldn't be filled. Everyone remembers the image of Aaron Boone from that season, but lost in that image was Jeter hitting .324 in the regular season and .314 in the playoffs. Did I mention these numbers were both coming off a wrist injury? I can barely type when my wrist hurts a little. Try swinging a bat and fielding in the majors after dislocating a wrist.

But these aren't the type of things that make a player truly special. Any player can have a year that makes people say "wow" (or "hmmm" in the case of Brady Anderson) and still not be considered special. What makes a player special is the ability to excel at every aspect of the game day in and day out over many seasons. It's pretty safe to say that the poster boy for this in the modern day is Derek Jeter. A few things that get looked over when people look at Jeter's career.

- Passed Luis Aparicio for #1 all time in hits by a shortstop in 2009

- Second behind Lou Gherig for all time hits by a Yankee

- Third youngest player in the modern era to have 2,700 hits

- 34 stolen bases in 2006 (finished 2nd in AL MVP voting)

- .309 career average in the playoffs

- .976 career fielding percentage


The number that really sticks out among all of these monster numbers is the 34 stolen bases. What a lift to your team if you can take pressure off the batter to move you around on the base pads. With the exception of a few teams in MLB, the stolen base is a bit of a forgotten art in baseball. It's no coincidence that Jeter scored 118 runs that reason. The ability to move yourself into scoring position can be invaluable to a team, especially if that team is struggling to gets hits and drive in runs.

More than anything, if there was one word I would use to describe Derek Jeter would have to be "flexible". Now before we spiral downward into the Jeter man-love jokes I'll explain what I mean. How many times have we seen a player that is completely incapable of moving out of a certain comfort spot in the batting order? Manager Joe Girardi decided to experiment with Jeter in the lead off spot this season and he hasn't missed a beat, batting for his highest average since his MVP runner-up season in 2006. In big spots, how often can you tell that a player is up at the plate swinging for the fences and the highlight hit in place of fundamentals or the "right" play for that moment? There is no ego in Jeter's game. He is not above going up to the plate and laying down a sacrifice bunt to move runners up in place of trying to inflate his RBI numbers with a big swing. There is just something about the captain of the team giving himself up as an out that just makes me nod in approval.

So sit back and enjoy watching Jeter play the game. He is a once in a generation player. I'm just glad he plays for my team.

UFC 102 Recap: Where I Will Never Doubt "Minotauro" Again

("Big Nog" is back following a convincing win over Randy Couture. Photo by Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com)


To say I was a little bit off on the main event (among other fights) on Saturday night would be an understatement. One of the major pitfalls of the the typical sports fan is that they judge athletes or teams on an anecdotal basis rather than look at the big picture. I'm embarrassed to say that I fell into that trap when analyzing the Couture/Nogueria bout.

Judging by their last performances it appeared that the careers of these fighters were going in completely opposite directions. Against Frank Mir, Nogueria looked to be a shell of his former self, getting dropped my multiple shots that the fighter of old would have walked through. Couture on the other hand not only showed that he could still hang with the current crop of top level fighters, but that he may be improving. This became my basis for looking at how this particular bout would pan out. Forget the reports that Nogueria suffered from staph and a torn meniscus before the Mir, those were nothing more than post-fight excuses in my eyes. The wear and tear of over 35 wars had finally caught up to the once great Pride champ. Randy was going to impose his will and dominate "Minotauro" with heavy top control and almost at will takedowns.

Wrong. Oh wow was that wrong.

Nogueria not only showed that he still has his trademark iron chin, but his legendary ground skills are still effective, even against a world class wrestler like Couture. There were a minimum of 3 times in the fight where I was thought "It's over" and "Wow, I really need to work on my fight analysis". From his back, Nogueria swept Couture into mount like he was rolling with a white belt back in Brazil. And Ron Frazier (Couture's boxing coach), how about Randy's superior boxing skills? "Big Nog" completely outclassed Randy on the feet, dropping him several times and leading to several near finishes.

Not to take anything away from Couture's performance; he showed tremendous heart and resiliency by escaping several submission attempts and nearly being finished by strikes in the third round. This was a Chuck Liddell/Wanderlei Silva-esque war between two legends of the sport giving it everything for the fans, trying to prove that they are still relevant in the game. It was a special fight that more than lived up to the hype it received. Couture simply appeared to be a bad stylistic match-up against the BJJ specialist. Too bad I couldn't figure that one out until after seeing Nogueria's return to form at the end of the night.

My Picks Results - 7-4 (2-3 Main Card)

Where I was right
- Brandon Vera did exactly what I expected him to do against Krzysztof Soszynski. He came out and picked his opponent apart, and did it in extremely lackluster fashion. He appears to be gun shy as far as getting inside and showcasing his muay thai after being hurt in previous fights. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when someone brings the fight to him without gassing like Soszynski.

- Todd Duffee hits hard. 7 second KO hard. Granted, Tim Hague was going to be knocked out at some point anyway because he doesn't move around and just takes shots from his oppoents, but Duffee basically ended the fight with his first punch. Welcome to the age of gigantic heavyweights.

- I thought Nate Marquardt would win, but to dominate in the fashion he did was extremely impressive. Hell, he even made SportsCenter's top ten for his knockout that separated Demian Maia from the laws of gravity. Will he beat Anderson Silva like he said he would after the fight? Probably not. Definitely makes the rematch more interesting though.

Where I was wrong
- Note to self: Awkward does not equal effective. All it took for me to learn this was Keith Jardine being added to Thiago Silva's highlight reel. Watching Jardine in that fight was like watching a monkey have a seizure while trying to knock out a high level striker. Note to Keith: If you're opponent has serious KO power, try not to throw uppercuts you learned from video games.

- Ever see a fighter that looked gassed out before the opening bell? That's what Chris Leben looked like against Jake Rosholt. Yes, he was probably ahead or even going into the third round, but watching the fight you just got the feeling it was only a matter of time before Rosholt took him down and ended it. Leben is of the mindset that if he can't hit you, it's you running away and not him telegraphing wild, looping hooks. Not really sure what the UFC can do with him now after this somewhat embarrassing loss following a steroid suspension. Big ups to Rosholt for showing he's got some decent submission skills to go with his wrestling.