Sports Blog

For anyone who thought that the sports world would slow down in the excitement department now that the World Series of Major League Baseball is over, well, think again. From upsets in college football to a certain disgruntled basketball player to the World Series of Poker, this past weekend had a lot of compelling action. There were teams that showed why they are considered among the best in their sport and teams that gained firsthand knowledge of what it means when people say it is a long fall from the top. So without further ado, here are the highlights of another great weekend in sports.

College Football: The top three teams in college football — Florida, Alabama and Texas — made it through the weekend unscathed and remain control of their destiny. If they win out, they will be in the BCS National Championship game. The emerging story, though, is the rise of TCU. Another lopsided victory at the expense of San Diego State has them No. 4 in the latest BCS poll and a potential BCS buster come bowl time. They are joined by No. 5 Cincinnati and No. 6 Boise State, who are both 9-0 along with TCU, as teams that could potentially cause controversy when it comes time to crown a national college football champion.

NBA: In what comes as no surprise to anyone outside of the Memphis Grizzlies management team, newly signed Allen Iverson is already disgruntled with his role on the team. He was allowed to return home over the weekend to attend to a personal matter, but many with insight into the NBA are predicting that we may have already seen Iverson in a Grizzlies’ jersey for the last time. ESPN’s Chad Ford summed it up best when he quoted an unnamed NBA general manager: “He’s finished in the NBA. He can go hang out with Stephon Marbury.”

NFL: While it is still much too early to start dreaming about the perfect season, there are still two teams that have an unblemished record. The New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts both won on Sunday in games that were much closer than anyone expected and moved to 8-0 for the season. Perhaps the most interesting news of weekend, however, came from former Colts coach Tony Dungy. He said that Michael Vick, whom he has mentored since Vick’s incarceration, could end up quarterbacking for the Buffalo Bills. The Bills reportedly had interest in Vick prior to him signing with the Philadelphia Eagles and are currently struggling with the injured Trent Edwards and underwhelming Ryan Fitzpatrick.

WSOP: If it seems like the WSOP has been on hiatus for eternity, that is because it has. On break since the end of summer, the November Nine resumed action on Friday and played until the wee hours of the morning. The field has been whittled down to the final two players, who will square off for the WSOP Main Event bracelet tonight at 10pm PT. I won’t say who the final two are out of consideration for those waiting to catch action Tuesday night on ESPN, but you can get a full recap here on ESPN’s Poker Blog.

MLS: The Chicago Fire, Los Angeles Galaxy, Houston Dynamo, and Real Salt Lake are Major League Soccer’s final four teams following an intense weekend of play. The Western Conference finals kick off on Friday at the Home Depot Center at 8pm PT and can be seen on ESPN 2. The Eastern Conference finals will take place in Chicago on Saturday at 5pm PT and can be seen on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Image Source: TCU Athletics

With Donovan McNabb cracking his ribs on Sunday and the Eagles not knowing how long he will be out, Michael Vick was now added to the 53-man roster and can now practice with the team. Though he can’t actually play till week three against the Chiefs because of his two game suspension, the Eagles want him to be ready if McNabb is out for an extended period of time. Eagles coach Andy Ried has maintained that Kevin Kolb is still the back and will start if McNabb can’t go even though they signed Jeff Garcia. Garcia was a free agent after the Raiders cut him before the season. The Eagles said that they will use Garcia as a back up in the coming weeks. To make room for Vick and Garcia the Eagles had to cut WR Hank Baskett, who in 48 games with the Eagles had 72 catches for 1,052 yards and 6 touchdowns.

The injury to McNabb will just fuel the fire to the quarterback controversy between him and Vick that the media wants to create. If McNabb is out for along time and Vick is leading the Eagles to wins, they will be stuck with a difficult decision when he returns. It’s going to be hard on all parties but we are not there yet and we still need to find out how long McNabb will be out. I don’t think they would sign Garcia though if it was just a one week injury.

Source Image: AP

Everyone around football was predicting this since the Jets moved up in the draft to grab Sanchez, and now the Jets finally made it official. Mark Sanchez is the new starting QB for the New York Jets. He will get the nod for the rest of preseason and then when the Jets open at Houston. Though he struggled against Baltimore in the beginning of the game, his first pass was intercepted for a touchdown, the Jets felt that he has proved enough to be the starter. Sanchez went 3-8 for 43 yards and did throw his first touchdown pass, an okay game against one of the best defenses in football. Ray Lewis had this to say about rookie QB’s going against the Ravens D: “You put a young guy like Sanchez in there and you see our defense, it can be difficult. You saw his eyes get big, and he was jumping around in the pocket. Bottom line: We gave a lot of looks and disguises and we confused him a little bit.” And I think that Mark would agree because to start the game, he looked like a deer in headlights till he finally calmed down and just played. Jets coach Rex Ryan had this to say about Sanchez facing his former team: “I’m proud of the way he responded. It ain’t going to be perfect; sometimes you have these type of nights. You’ve got to give credit where credit is due, and most of that goes to their defense.” Well Sanchez will have plenty of time to improve and I’m interested to see how he performs with the Jets this season.

Its official: Michael Vick will be on the field for the first time in two years. The Eagles will play Vick in Thursday’s preseason game against the Falcons, his former team. The atmosphere should be crazy with media from all over there to cover it. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there was some protests around the stadium. In my opinion, I think he served his time and has been punished enough. I think he should be able to play football after that just like anyone else that has served their time in jail. You don’t have to forgive what he has done, but you should move on and let him live his life after the punishment. I’m sure time in jail will change anyone especially when it causes you to lose everything, like in Vicks case. It all makes for good TV on Thursday’s game.

Image Source: Getty Images, AP

Quote Source: ESPN.com

Rather than sitting on the bench and being a back-up in the NFL, J.P. Losman has chosen to sign a one year deal to be a starter in the new UFL (United Football League).  On Tuesday, he announced that he signed to play quarterback for the Las Vegas franchise and will be coached by former Giants head coach Jim Fasssel.  In doing so, he now becomes the face of the league (as long as Michael Vick doesn’t sign in the UFL) because he’s a former first round pick who started 33 games in the NFL.  Losman stated he will go through free agency again after the season but this year he just need somewhere were people could see him play.  “I’m trying to get back on the field as soon as possible,” Losman said.  “I love the game.  I want to play this game.  I don’t want to be waiting for somebody to get hurt or not play well.  We’re trying to have as much success as possible here [UFL], try to create some buzz … and then go through [NFL free agency] again next year.”

Losman was very inconsistent in the NFL throwing one more INT than TD in his six year career.  So, going to the UFL for one season could actually benefit him.  He’ll actually have time to play and develop better skills, though against far inferior talent, in an NFL type environment.  Another good thing going for him is he will be tutored by a veteran coach and coordinator in Fassel, who once reinvigorated the careers of John Elway in Denver, Boomer Esiason in Arizona and Kerry Collins in New York.  Fassel said this about the situation J.P. is in, “Listen, if he’d have went back to the NFL and sat on the bench this year, then he’d have been no better off next year.  Whatever anybody thought about him, they’d still say the same thing.  Nothing would’ve changed….Instead, you go in this league and you play.  The risk you take is you don’t play well.  But if you’re an aggressive person, you say ‘I’m going to play well, people are going to see me, and maybe I can erase some of those negatives that were in the past, and a lot of people will say, wow, look at him play now.  He’s a new guy.”

We’ll see in November if NFL coaches agree, as after the six game season ends he will immediately be able to sign with an NFL team.  The UFL might be pretty interesting and entertaining if each team could land a player as talented as Losman.  If Vick ends up playing in it than I will definitely be watching to see what he still has left.  If I were a 3rd string QB on an NFL team with a star QB, I think I would rather get playing time and publicity in the UFL than ride the bench in the NFL.  Just can’t wait for football to start!

Source:  Getty Images, ESPN.com

This week in news and sports blogs around the Net:

• Derek Jeter is all over Maxim’s Top 100 list - Deadspin
• Judge Orders Michael Vick to pay Canadian Bank $2.4 Million - Fox Sports
• College Junior Enters the NBA Draft, Has No Basketball Experience - The Inquisitr
• Passenger on Benson’s boat claims he was abused - Fox Sports
• Video of Cedric Benson’s arrest - Sports by Brooks
• Unbreakable Modern Era Records - Joe Sports Fan
• Charles Oakley to get his own cooking show - Deuce of Davenport
• The Sports Hernia’s funny take on when A-Rod has fainted - The Sports Hernia
• Phlashback Phriday - Timmah! - We Should Be GMs

And in the Smarter Sports Blog we talked about:

• “The other toilet was out of order”
• Peyton and Eli Manning Just Wants Daddy to Love Them
• Bullet Casings Linked to Marvin Harrison?
• Buzzer Beater: He Shoots, He Scores!
• Funny Video Clips: Charles Barkley Pulls a Ron Burgundy

Photo Source.

This week in news and sports blogs around the Net:

• Alex Cora heads to jail for 1999 DUI charge - Sports by Brooks
• Top 7 Super Bowl CounterProgramming - Joe Sports Fan
• Super Bowl Deal - Want some strippers with your room? - Deadspin
• Did Reggie Miller just say “man region”? - Awful Announcing
• Michael Vick’s pitbulls to have their own reality TV show - Larry Brown Sports
• High schooler Brittney Griner is 6′8 and dunks like a man - Deuce of Davenport

YouTube - Watch 

And in Smarter Sports we talked about:

• $19,446…
• Bring it On - Cheerleader Bloopers
• Brady Anderson is the Man with Online Chicks
• Johan Santana Traded to the New York Mets
• Kansas State Hands Kansas Their First Loss

This week in news and sports blogs around the Net:

• Mitchell Report is released. Clemens and Pettite among others named - CBS Sportsline
• Michael Vick asked judge for second chance in letter - Fox Sports
• Roger Clemens is getting off easy compared to Barry Bonds - 100% Injury Rate
• Rasheed Wallace apparently raps - Deuce of Davenport
• Take the poll, “what does Isiah have to do to get fired” - The Sports Hernia
• Kangaroo interrupts a golf tournament - Larry Brown Sports

YouTube - Watch 

And in Smarter Sports we talked about:

• “Look at me! I’m doing a handstand”
• NFL Fantasy Football Stats of the Week
• Michael Vick sentenced to 23-months in jail
• 9-year-old hockey kid has slick moves
• Marion Jones stripped of her medals, banned from Beijing
• Marshawn Lynch is “Beast Mode” comic hero
• Alex Rodriguez officially signs 10-year, $275 million contract

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Michael Vick was sentenced to 23-months in prison today, ending the long wait to see how long the former Pro Bowl quarterback would spend behind bars.

Although it is just under 2-years, the former Falcon faced up to 5-years in prison and dodged a heavy bullet.

In August, Vick pleaded guilty and admitted to bankrolling the “Bad Newz Kennels” dogfighting operation and helped kill six to eight dogs that did not perform well in fights. He also admitted to providing money for the bets, but never shared any of the winnings.

According to this ESPN article, Vick stands to lose around $100 million for his involvment in dogfighting.

Source: SI.com, ESPN

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“He lied and then came back and apologized to everybody. I felt that was classy.”

- Ron Artest, Sacramento Kings Forward on Michael Vick’s apology.

Source: Sports Illustrated.
Photo Source.

There is no way to tell if this note is real or not, but if it’s on eBay then it must be, right? It was even written on an Omni Hotel notepad!

Who knows, but it’s still fun to write about. Anyways, so far this little piece of paper that is supposedly the notes to Michael Vick’s public apology, is up for grabs on eBay. As of 2 p.m. today, the bid is now up to $3,000, with the proceeds of the final bid going to the Humane Society of the United States to help end dogfighting.

Want to make a bid? Click here to go to eBay.

Source: Deuce of Davenport.