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TOP STORIES - APRIL 18, 2007 Get your NFL football tickets now at TickCo. They have all team Cardinals tickets, Cowboys tickets, Packers tickets, Colts tickets, Patriots tickets, Titans tickets and more. Get your Super Bowl tickets here! 2007 FANTASY BASEBALL RANKINGS ARE HERE: C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF (AL) | OF (NL) | SP (AL) | SP (AL) | RP  NATS GIVE NOD TO VA TECH: In a class gesture, the Washington Nationals wear Virginia Tech caps for their home game v. Atlanta. Different variations of the cap were worn, similar to those seen sold on a retail basis. The idea was floated by a fan late Monday in an e-mail to Nats GM Stan Kasten and was quickly approved by MLB. The team also observed moments of silence before Monday and Tuesday night's games. The Nationals are the team located closest to the Virginia Tech campus.NBA REF SUSPENED FOR DURATION OF PLAYOFFS: The other day KACSPORTS paid homage to MLB senior umpire Bruce Froemming, who did have a little meltdown before a series in Japan a few years back that did get him an unscheduled 10-day vacation. But that is nothing compared to the suspension handed down to NBA ref Joey Crawford. The veteran official has worked more playoff games than anyone in league history, but will not be doing so this year after unprecedented indefinite suspension was handed down in the aftermath of his weekend incident with Tim Duncan. It's said that the San Antonio Star was ejected after getting a second technical foul in which he was merely laughing on the bench. It is said at that point Crawford actually challenged him TO A FIGHT (calm down Joey). According to Duncan, Crawford said 'Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?' Duncan did not come out unscathed, being fined $25,000 by the league. Joey Crawford comes from a well-known officiating family, brother Jerry Crawford is a longtime MLB umpire. It is also not the first time an NBA offical has been suspended this year, another ref got a three-game suspension earlier this year for making an obscene gesture and using inappropriate languange towards a fan in Portland. HACKSAW HAMILTON DISECTS VA TECH MASSACRE: Longtime Southern California sportscaster appearred on a special edition of George Noory's Coast to Coast AM last night. Hacksaw was in the Blacksburg area visiting family, including a niece who is a Virginia Tech student. According to Hamilton, the gunman opened fire on three different classrooms. It is said that the assailant killed or wounded or killed 21 of 26 persons in one room before opening fire on a second room in which there were only six students. The gunman then fired on students in the hallway trying to escape before going to a third classroom, where it is assumed he took his own life after finally running out of ammo. Hacksaw also noted in the interview that there was another shooting incident on campus on the first day of class last fall. VIRGINIA TECH ATHLETIC COMMUNITY REACTS TO TRAGEDY: The third week of April now marks yet another American tragedy, as a gunman opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus early Monday, killing at least 33 people in an incident that surpasses the 1999 Columbine massacre as well as the shooting that occurred at the University of Texas camups in the late 1960's. Says head football coach Frank Beamer in an ESPN interview 'How could one person cause so many senseless deaths? I'm in shock. This is such a caring, friendly place. This is a college town. And now one person has an impact like this?' Quarterback Sean Glennon drew the parallels between this and the Columbine tragedy, adding 'I wish this guy (the gunman, now confirmed dead) was alive. I wish we could find out why he did this. He took the easy way out.' A university spokesman has confirmed that all 110 student-athletes in the football program have been accounted for. Head basketball coach Seth Greenberg said he was heading to his office to conduct an interview when the shootings occurred and was equally devastated saying 'I'm numb right now thinking about the parents coming to campus to identify their children. This is the most peaceful, tranquil and safe environment. But this shows that there is nowhere that you're safe from tragedy or this type of senseless violence'. Greenberg added that his daughter, a freshman at the school was in a dorm where the gunman shot one of his first victims but escaped to a friend's house off-campus (one of hundreds of eyewitness accounts you will no doubt hear in coming days). Spring football practice along with other athletic events on campus have been postponed for the time being. (HOKIE SPORTS WEBSITE) LA TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE: Thanks to a new protocol which gives season ticket holders preferred parking at Dodger Stadium, it is said that fans are now stuck for upwards to 90 minutes trying to get in and out of the ballpark. Tempers flared and cars had near-misses before the Dodgers home opener while some parking attendents pulled a Bill Foster and just walked away in frustration. And this is before even mentioning that parking went up from $10 to $15 for this season. I'm sure everyone was in their seats by the seventh inning, which is not good news since fans now need to be out of the stadium by the end of the fifth inning. Anger in Los Angeles traffic??? Would have never of guessed. BOSTON MARATHON STILL A GO... Just make sure you have your wetsuit ready, as it might better resemble an open-water swim or a survival test than running. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 30's with 40+ MPH winds along with a driving rain. American runners in the race hope to break the Kenyan stranglehold on the event - 14 of the last 16 mens winners along with six of the last seven woman's champions have been Kenyans. BASEBALL WASHOUT ON EAST COAST: No less than six scheduled games rained out as storm slams east coast. Games in Boston, New York (NL), Philadelphia, Baltimore, and a doubleheader in Pittsburgh were all wiped away. No word on whether the players on those teams scheduled to wear #42 will be able to do so on another day. There is also headaches with rescheduling the games, with even during the All-Star break being considered now. HIGH WINDS HALT PGA EVENT: Final round of Heritage Classic at Hilton Head, SC suspended due to unplayable conditions for players as well as danger to spectators. Winds were so strong that balls that had stopped started rolling off the green and a tournament marshal was pelted by a fall tree limb. By the time the leaders teed off, flagsticks were bent in an arc and sand from the beach blew on to the 18th fairway. Meanwhile a swaying tree snagged the netting of the driving range while another long pine tree limb was split by the wind and was left hanging.  UMPIRE APPROACHES MILESTONE: He broke in on Opening Day 1971 with a crew that included legends Al Barlick, Harry Wendelstedt and Ed Vargo. Now an iconic umpire himself, Bruce Froemming will break a service record by being employed 36 years and 12 games if his game at Shea Stadium is not rained out Sunday. The game would be the 5,040th worked by Froemming, who is still behind the all-time leader by 328 games. That is because in 1979 the umpires negotiated to get vacation time during the season. Keep in mind that Froemming, along with other umpires, had to survive an ugly labor dispute several years ago that ended with most umpires needing to be re-hired. This is also Froemming's 50th year in professional baseball, starting right out of high school and working his way through the Nebraska State League, Midwest League, Northern League, Northwest League, Texas League and Pacific Coast League before finally reaching the show, at which time he also had an offer to become a National Basketball Association official. Froemming has worked 11 no-hitters and a perfect game in his career - his first no-hitter was in his second season when he called ball four on a borderline 3-2 pitch after the Cubs Milt Pappas had retired the first 26 batters, Pappas would retire the next man for the no-hitter.PENS ARE MIGHTIER THAN THE SENS... Widespread panic in Canadian capitol after Penguins tie series with Ottawa on third-period Sidney Crosby goal. USOC PICKS CHI-TOWN: This has to be considered an upset. In an announcement made at 3 PM Chicago time (a message from Brendan Filone and Mikey Palmice??) the USOC picked Chicago as the U.S. candidate over Los Angeles to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. This was despite the fact that the L.A. Coliseum is already planned for renovation and that many facilities are still in place from 1984. The Chicago plan includes a lakefront Olympic village along with a temporary $366 million main stadium (that cost will go up) that would be torn down as soon as the games ended. That sounds like a waste, couldn't they turn that into a new ballpark for the Cubs??? SHARKS/PREDS SERIES GETS TESTY: Jonathan Cheechoo makes surprise return for San Jose, but Sharks lose another player after he takes a header into the boards after being checked from behind. Penalty minutes really pile up when teams brawl after Preds clinch 5-2 win with empty net goal, San Jose coach bites his lip and declines to comment after the game. Meanwhile Nashville coach says 'We came here to play hockey tonight, and they turn it into a street brawl.' Game 3 Sunday night on the coast. CONDI RICE PILES ON IMUS: The Rutgers women's basketball team has accepted his apology, but others are not moving on quite yet. Secretary of State jumps on Don Imus' carcass, calling his comments 'disgusting' and saying that she's glad Imus got clipped. When asked how she feels about Imus' comments, Rice replied 'I'm a big girl, I really don't care, I'm a mature woman' But I think she does care though, Jason Whitlock may blow another valve by the end of the day. 736, 737... Barry unloads twice in Pittsburgh. WE'RE NOT IN MILWAUKEE ANYMORE... Carlos Zambrano allows the first seven batters of the fifth inning to reach base, and six of them scored in a 6-5 Reds victory. But of course Cincinnati has a much more potent lineup than the Brewers - just ask Z. While don't just Z open up and say that the Brewers suck, everyone has known that for the the past 15 seasons. And it isn't like the Brewers have any fans who will show up at Miller Park to taunt you when you pitch there - you might be bulletin board material in Ned Yost's office but it isn't like the team would ever be able to do anything about it. Meanwhile Cubs manager Lou Pinella snaps at reporters afterwards, saying 'What the hell do you think isn't working? You see the damn game'. Cool down already Lou - and by the way the crowd was saying 'boo', not Lou - you see the Cubs fans are all a bunch of unemployed bums who have nothing better to do on a Friday afternoon except watch your team stink it up. ROBINSON DEBUT NOT A BIG DEAL IN '47: Most of the game stories involving Brooklyn's opening game on April 15, 1947 went something like this, Pete Reiser's eighth-inning two-run double gave the Dodgers a 5-3 win over the Boston Braves. Robinson's debut was a side note, though it wa mentioned that he went 0-3, hitting into a rally-killing double play but redeeming himself late with a well-executed sacrifice bunt which was thrown wildly, leading to the winning rally. The big scandal heading into the opener was then-manager Leo Durocher being handed a one-year suspension by the commissioner for having connections with the organized gambling world. In the backlash the Dodgers opener drew 6,000 shy of capacity, the team also didn't draw well even in their pennant winning years of the 1950's, eventually leading to the move to Los Angeles. But before being clipped by the commish, Durocher made it clear that Jackie Robinson would be his first baseman, saying 'I don't care if he's yellow, black, or a f'ing zebra' Durocher would return in 1948 but was fired mid-season, then was quickly hired by the rival Giants, gaining revenge by his team winning the 1951 pennant and '54 World Championship. Leo would manage the Cubs in later years with much less success. Leo, Dusty, Lou...what a graveyard for managers. KEVIN GARNETT 'INJURY': Less than 48 hours after being officially eliminated from playoff contention, the Minnesota Timberwolves announce Kevin Garnett would miss at least two of the team's final five games with a nagging quadricep injury that he's been dealing with throughout the season. Let me translate that - KG will be nowhere near a venue of an NBA basketball game for the rest of the regular season. Going into the start of play Friday, the T-Wolves are in a three-way tie for the NBA's 8th worst record at 32-46, but only a game and a half ahead of the fifth-place Sonics who are 31-48 - in other words no KG is potentially the difference between fifth and 11th in the lottery derby, that is a lot of ping-pong balls in what's considered potentially the best draft class in NBA history. T-Wolves managements says KG wants to the play, and that the team wants KG to play because fans pay a lot of money to see him - but you read between the lines here. OTHER SHOE DROPS - IMUS FIRED: Not surprisingly the story ended up this way, especially after MSNBC dropped his simulcast and many of his sponsors bolted in the last 24 hours - and it seemed like the more he tried to apologize the more he was villified. In the end, Imus picked the wrong target poking fun with what was considered 'racially charged' comments at a Rutgers women's basketball team that includes a class valedictorian, a future lawyer and a musical prodigy. Imus reportedly met with the team and it's coach Thursday night - but even that had an unintended consequence, New Jersey governor Jon Corzine was supposed to sit in but his motorcade got into an accident on the way - Corzine suffered broken ribs and a broken leg in the crash. The question now is whether there will be a comeback for Imus at age 67, perhaps in the satellite radio world. Not to defend Imus, but hasn't worse come out of Howard Stern and many others in the shock jock world???  PHRASE THAT GETS YOU FIRED: A longtime Pennsylvania morning jock has been fired after having callers repeat Imus' now infamous comment. The DJ made 'nappy-headed ho' the phrase in a 'phrase that pays' promotion. The station said they took the drastic action, saying it was done in a pre-meditated manner. JASON WHITLOCK: In yet another of his thought provoling columns, Whitlock says irrelevent shock jocks are not the real problem. JACKIE ROBINSON GROUNDSWELL PICKS UP: The Los Angeles Dodgers had announced that as a team all players would wear #42 as a team on Sunday - then Ken Griffey Jr. (as he did ten years earlier) requested to wear the number for that day, and was quickly joined by other players. Now additional teams have opted for wearing #42 as a team, with the Dodgers now joined by the Astros, Brewers, Cardinals, Pirates, and Phillies - in all now upwards to 200 players in all are expected to participate, a list that now includes Eric Byrnes and Grady Sizemore, who are both white. Meanwhile the Angels Garrett Anderson, who is black - is taking a different tact, saying he is 'not worthy' of wearing the #42. Don't be surprised if by Sunday all 30 teams decide to go the route of having all its players wear Robinson's number - retired by baseball in 1997 and today only worn by Yankee releiver Mariano Rivera under a grandfather clause. Like the Pat Tillman #40 tribute in the NFL a few years back, the intentions are good but there is potential for a firestorm at some point before Sunday - the Robinson anniversary has resulted in controversy before (see Ted Koppel/Al Campanis - 1987) 4 OT THRILLER HIGHLIGHTS DAY ONE OF NHL PLAYOFFS: For everyone out there who likes to bash hockey, ask me what is more exciting - Roberto Luongo being fired upon 76 times or watching two NBA teams playing scrubs in order to lose on purpose to get a better shot at the NBA lottery. The only downside to Canucks/Stars is it kept people up until 3:30 AM on the east coast, Bucks/Celtics Friday night will have fans dozing off by the middle of the second quarter. Perhaps most couldn't name many of the players on the Canucks or Stars - but I can't name too many of the players starting on NBA teams tanking it right now. Nashville and San Jose also went two overtimes, a contest marred by a knee-on-knee hit on Sharks sniper Jonathan Cheechoo which will likely shelve him for the remainder of the playoffs.DON CHERRY TO SHOW UP ON NBC HOCKEY TELECASTS: If this doesn’t jumpstart TV ratings nothing will, as the man with the loudest wardrobe since Lindsay Nelson is due to appear in studio with Brett Hull during NBC playoff telecasts. Hull in turn will also be in studio during games aired on CBC. If nothing else, Cherry has a future in the U.S. as a syndicated conservative talk show host, just in case the 48 that already exist is not enough. Grapes – from 9 AM until Rush… MICHAEL WALTRIP CRASHES: Nothing new here, except there wasn’t a NASCAR Cup race this past weekend, not like Michael would have qualified anyways. But that didn’t stop Mikey from rolling over his SUV, escaping from the vehicle and walking the rest of the way home. Authorities found the rig along with blood stains inside later. I’m just wondering if they found jet fuel in the gas tank. You and I remain 27 points ahead of Waltrip in the Cup standings as the 73 points he earned in the Daytona 500 was negated by the 100 points he was penalized before the race – the #55 car has not made a race since. When does NAPA pull the plug on this debacle??? BLEDSOE CALLS IT A CAREER: Rather than try to challenge for a starting job with yet another team, only to whine when he is rightfully replaced, Drew Bledsoe has decided to , which began with being the #1 overall draft pick in the 1993 Draft. IF THE 'GLOVE FITS' - NBA PLAYERS SUED: This story will not quite remain in the past. Two former strippers are suing the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks and and players Gary Payton, Sam Cassell and Jason Caffey for $15.7 million in regards to an incident that occurred in Toronto four years ago. According to the lawsuit, the stripping couple (now married) was walking out of the club when the female was allegedly verbally assaulted, when the man objected - he claims he was assaulted by Payton with the other two players joining in. the male stripper said he was kicked in the face and sustained numerous injuries, including back pain, brain damage and diminished hearing. Criminal chargers against the players was dismissed earlier this year when a judge ruled that the couples testimony was inconsistent. 'BLADES' TOPS BOX OFFICE FOR SECOND WEEK: Fresh off paroding NASCAR, Will Farrell seems to be doing better in his latest film which pokes fun at the figure skating world. Blades of Glory remained #1 at the box office for a second week, grossing $22 million after taking in $33 million on the opening weekend. Jim Lampley is also having a pretty good year in the cinema role, as he led a number of sportscasting and skating luminaries that appeared in the movie. Lampley's role was reportedly quite significant, as he said his improvisations were not cut from the movie. One prominent member of the skating community did walk away from the movie, as legendary skater/broadcaster Dick Button decided it was too much for him, saying 'I don't care what they say about us if they spell our name right. It's s-k-a-t-i-n-g.' In the real world, international rules state pairs must be a man and a woman. However The Champions on Ice exhibition tour does feature an all-male Ukranian team. CRAZY EDDIE IN ANOTHER LEGAL SCRAP!!! The end of the NHL season and South Beach never a good combination. Florida Panthers goalie Ed Belfour and a teammate were arrested Sunday night - no wait, it was early Monday (Montisanti's right, it's always three o'clock when things go down) after the two dropped the gloves on some bouncers and police officers. Just wondering if Ed offered a billion dollars to get let off again. Belfour should know the code of the NHL fight club after 20 years, goalies can only fight other goalies - not bouncers or cops, not even after a few pops. |
