Shawn Marion Wants Out of Phoenix

Shawn Marion, the power forward of the Phoenix Suns for the last 8 seasons wants a trade out of Phoenix now. Marion wants out of Phoenix mostly because he was in trade talks with the Celtics when Phoenix was trying to pick up Kevin Garnett.

"I'm tired of hearing my name in trades," Marion said by phone. "I love my fans in Phoenix, but I think it's time for me to move on." Marion has two years left on his contract and is supposed to make $17.8 million in the 2008-09 season. I truthfully do not see the problem with being put in trade talks. Marion is taking the trade talks personally and he is taking it the wrong way. The Suns did not put his name in the ring of trade options because they hate him or because the head coach hates his guts, it's because Marion has value to trade for a much better player in Garnett. There is one thing every team should want to do and that is win at any cost, and if that means that you as a GM or owner will unfortunately hurt a player's feelings to get better so you can win the NBA Championship, then that's the way it works. If Marion does not like it, he should retire and go back to Chicago, but right now he needs to suck it up and be a professional about it and make his 16-18 million the next two seasons and after that he can go wherever he wants to go.

Steroid Sting Bust 120 People

I know it might seem like I'm beating a dead horse here, but I promise this story is big. Authorities arrested more than 120 people and uncovered dozens of steroid labs in an international investigation into the illicit trade of performance-enhancing drugs, federal officials announced Monday. The Drug Enforcement Administration said the investigation, called Operation Raw Deal, was assisted by the governments of nine other countries, including China. In the United States, agents seized 56 labs manufacturing anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) and seized 11.4 million doses of drugs in all, the DEA said.

One of the largest charged is a Chinese manufacturer accused of smuggling HGH in to the United States and four men who allegedly distributed drugs through a MySpace profile. DEA spokesman Michael Sanders said 143 federal search warrants were issued during the 18-month investigation, many of them since Thursday. The FBI, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Food and Drug Administration were also involved. One of the questions would be how China helped in the investigation since a company inside of China is being charged, here is your answer: "China really stepped up to the plate to help us in this investigation," DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney said in Washington.

In all, investigators seized over 500 pounds of raw ingredients from a steroid manufacture that originated in China. Other countries who participated in the investigation were Mexico, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Thailand.

This just shows how rampant the illegal drug industry is and that it isn't a problem just in the United States.

Mike Tyson Pleads Guilty to Drug, DUI Charges

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson pleaded guilty Monday to charges of drug possession and driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop last year when he was leaving a nightclub. Tyson also aknowledged that he had cocaine and was impaired when he was stopped for driving all over the road in Arizona on December 29th. Tyson faces up to 4 years in prison for the counts that are against him. Tyson is like O.J. Simpson in a lot of ways, they cannot stay out of trouble. I still think there are some people like Tyson and Simpson that enjoy it when they get in trouble. I hope Tyson gets put in prison and that the authorities forget to let him out of his cell.

Brett Favre Ties TD Recrod with 420

Brette Favre of the Green Bay Packers tied Dan Marino's tuchdown record at 420 on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers. Favre went 28 of 45 with 369 yards and 3 tuchdowns against the bolts in Lambo Field. The tuchdown was thrown in the 4th quarter when the Packers were down 21 to 17 with about 2 minutes left in the game. Favre threw a slant to Greg Jennings and Jennings ran about 50 yards or so to a game winning tuchdown. Phillip Rivers of the Chargers had a chance with about a minute left in the game to win it but he threw an interception to ice the game.

When asked after the game how big the record was to Brett, Brett could care less about the record and more that the Packers won a big game and that his team was 3-0. "I could care less about the record," Favre said, "Everybody's congratulating me, but I told them it doesn't mean anything if we don't win the game." I don't think anybody in the NFL thought the Packers would start the season 3-0, especially after the season they had last year.

I am happy for Brett mostly because of what he has had to go through during his career as a quarter back and I hope the team does well for the rest of the season, but the offense does not have any real fire power...they have Favre, and Donald Driver and that is it. They have no running game to speak of with Brandon Jackson running for only 22 yards on 6 carries. Later on in the season, the defensive teams will just stop the passing game and win ball games that way.

AP Top 25 College Football (for week 4)

Like every week at this time, the Associated Press releases their top 25 for college football. Here it is:

1. USC Trojans (43)
   
2. LSU Tigers (22)
   
3. Oklahoma Sooners (0)
   
4. Florida Gators (0)
   
5. West Virginia (0)
   
6. California Bears (0)
   
7. Texas Longhorns (0)
   
8. Ohio State Buckeyes (0)
   
9. Wisconsin Badgers (0)
   
10. Rutgers (0)
    
11. Oregon Ducks (0)
    
12. Boston College (0)
    
13. Clemson Tigers (0)
    
14. Kentucky Wildcats (0)
    
15. Georgia Bulldogs (0)
    
16. South Carolina Gamecocks (0)
    
17. Virginia Tech Hokies (0)
    
18. South Florida (0)
    
19. Hawaii (0)
    
20. Missouri (0)
    
21. Penn State (0)
    
22. Alabama Red Tide (0)
    
23. Arizona State (0)
    
24. Cincinnati (0)
    
25. Nebraska (0)
    

Well, there you go. The only suprises for me has to be that Nebraska stayed in the top 25, Cincinnati was entered into the mix, that Georgia was not moved up more after beating a good Alabama team and that Arizona State was entered in at #23. That's why I don't make the decisions for the AP.

NCAA Football Top 25 (after Week 4)

Again, I will do my version of the top 25 for NCAA Football Division I. So, after another crazy Saturday, I will go through the whole top 25 and work on my ranking skills:

1. USC Trojans (3-0 1-0)
   
2. LSU Tigers (4-0 2-0)
   
3. Oklahoma Sooners (4-0 0-0)
   
4. Florida Gators (4-0 2-0)
   
5. West Virginia (4-0 0-0)
   
6. California Bears (4-0 0-0)
   
7. Texas Longhorns (4-0 0-0)
   
8. Wisconsin Badgers (4-0 1-0)
   
9. Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0 1-0)
   
10. Oregon Ducks (4-0)
    
11. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-0)
    
12. Virginia Tech Hokies (3-1)
    
13. Boston College Eagles (4-0)
    
14. Georgia Bulldogs (3-1)
    
15. Clemson Tigers (4-0)
    
16. Hawaii Warriors (4-0) (Game Still In Progress)
    
17. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-1 1-1)
    
18. Penn State Nittany Lions (3-1 0-1)
    
19. UCLA Bruins (3-1)
    
20. South Florida (3-0)
    
21. Michigan State Spartans (4-0 0-0)
    
22. Kentucky Wildcats (4-0 1-0)
    
23. Missouri Tigers (4-0 0-0)
    
24. Miami (FL) (3-1 0-0)
    
25. Virginia Cavs (3-1 3-0)
    

There you go with the newest list! USC dominated Washington State, LSU beat a ranked opponent, Oklahoma scored 62 points, Florida had a little problem with Mississippi, WVU ran like crazy against East Carolina, the Cal Bears are playing very well, Texas has finally woken up and destroyed Rice, Wisconsin won by 4 points, Ohio State won by about 50 points at home, Oregon keeps on winning, Rutgers had the week off, Virginia Tech played well against William & Mary. Boston College is playing well, Georgia got a huge win in Alabama against the Red Tide in overtime, Clemson got an ok win, Hawaii was winning the last time I checked the score, South Carolina got a disappointing loss in Death Valley against LSU, Penn State also got a disappointing loss against 1-2 Michigan in the Big House, the Bruins got thumped last weekend when they were at #10 but I think they have turned it around, South Florida is the surprise of 2007, Michigan State thumped Notre Dame (which was not that hard this season), Kentucky got a big win against Arkansas, Missouri has not convinced me yet, but they just keep on winning, Miami (FL) thumped Texas A&M which was #20 at the time of the game and Virginia is at the top of the ACC right now by winning 3 conference games all ready.

The NCAA weekend in a paragraph. I will have the AP Top 25 tomorrow when it comes out and see how many I got right (more like how many I got wrong).

Enjoy,
Ryan

Federal Agents Seize Illegal Steroids from New Jersey Home

In Newark, New Jersey, Federal Agents raided a Jersey home and seized more than 40,000 doses of illegal anabolic steroids. The agents said that the house they raided was being used as a factory. The manufacturing was being done in the basement of the home of Alfred Scarpa, an electrician who was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Agency, agents said. Scarpa, 34 admitted that he was involved with buying, making and selling steroids. He was held without bail.

DEA Agents also seized $56,000 cash & 2 semiautomatic handguns and in the basement it was filled with "tubes, bottles, vials," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Kirsch said. The raid happened after the Feds acquired emails from Scarpa that showed that he was negotiating to buy steroid powder since at least April 2006. The DEA also found financial records showing wire transfers totaling at least $25,000 to businesses in Colonia and New Providence, some which were suppliers of steroids, the DEA said.

This story is huge because it shows that the Feds are now finding out how and where the steroids are originating. There was a story about this same thing in Yahoo! Sports that talks about how the Feds are finally figuring out where HGH is originating. The story is here: http://tinyurl.com/2kvp2e. Most of the HGH that gets into the United States for a multitude of reasons mostly comes from China. A man who in March pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally selling HGH and steroids received $108,900 for Somatropin, a generic form of HGH, which was imported from China which was in violation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules, according to the documents that were found. To understand the whole story, you will have to read the whole story by Josh Peter of Yahoo! Sports.

The scary thing that comes out of these examples and stories is that it will be hard to stop the importing of HGH from China. Again like I said in my past posts, the "steroid period" will not go away until the feds come up with a way to test for HGH. MLB officials said that the "steroid period" was gone and that we were entering the clean period of sports, but obviously they were way off. Even if say Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants really took the "cream", we as a society need to look not just at popular players that you might hate, but the players that are really nice. I don't think Bonds truthfully took steroids because if you think about it, steroids cannot and will not increase you talent as a player by just "juicing" up. The concept of steroids is to give you more stamina so you don't get injured as much and if you do get injured it will cut down on the rehab time of the injury itself. Barry Bonds is one of the most talented baseball players of all time not because of the home runs he hit, but because of the overall game he has. The guy was a stellar left fielder when he was younger and he knew the concept of hitting the ball the other way and how to on a consistent basis. The only reason baseball people hate Bonds and think he took steroids is because he is an ass to the media. If you remember, before Mark McGuire retired, he was one of the nicest and most liked persons in baseball by the media during his home run breaking period. Then, after he retired and went to the government hearing and wouldn't answer any of the questions about what he did during his career because he only wanted to talk about the future, not talk about the past. Then you had Rafael Palmero of the Baltimore Orioles pointing his figure to the panel stating he had never taken steroids and then 2-3 months later he is suspended for failing the steroid test. I can go on forever, with Sammy Sosa who had the corked bat when he played with the Cubs and then afterword denied that he had a corked bat and lied about it. I know I'm rambling on, but it all ties back to steroids and how it will change and screw people up physically. Just look at the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and all of their wrestlers sudden deaths from heart failures. Most of them were "juicing up" and the "juicing up" destroyed their bodies and with one of them destroyed his brain. Chris Benoit went off of the deep end because of taking steroids and killed his kid by smothering him/her with a pillow, then killed his wife and after killing them both hung himself in the basement of his home in Atlanta, Georgia. The investigators said that the steroids he was taking screwed up the electrical impulses in his brain and made him go off of the deep end. My next post will talk about what steroids will do to people's bodies and how it will destroy young children if they take them.
Enjoy,
Ryan

Golf Testing for Steroids & Floyd Landis Positive for Steroids

The PGA Tour will start to randomly test its players in the spring as part of an unparalleled attempt to jointly coordinate screening and policing policies worldwide. 10 substances will be banned including anabolic steroids, street drugs, blood-doping agents and artificial hormones. The European Tour, LPGA, PGA of America, U.S. Golf Association, Royal & Ancient Golf Club and Augusta National Golf Club will all be testing for the same thing as golf will try to make the testing a worldwide policy. "This is very good news for us that all of the bodies are on 'side' including the four majors," the European Tour commissioner George O'Grady said.

The testing procedures and punishments will not be set in place until at least November, but the players will most likely be tested during the season and also during the offseason like other large sports do. Golf decided to do drug testing "so we can demonstrate our sport is clean -- and we can keep it that way," Peter Dawson said, the executive director of the R&A. Peter helped lead the need for standard global testing.

The testing will cost around $1.5 million to run over the next two to three years. It was inevitable for golf to join onto the random steroid testing that most of the large sports do now. Until there is a test for HGH (human growth hormone), steroids will stay out of reach and out of our control. A good example is a new sports story that came out today (Thursday). It was about the American cycling star Floyd Landis. Floyd's 2006 Tour de France title was taken away after he tested positive for synthetic testosterone, a type of anabolic steroid that was found in Floyd's 'B' sample. The ruling, handed down nearly four months after a bizarre and bitterly fought hearing, left the American with one final way to possibly salvage his title - an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The decision was 2-1 to maintain the results of the positive drug test. "Today's ruling is a victory for all clean athletes and everyone who values fair and honest competition," U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said. Landis will now take a huge blow because for months he consistently stated that he never took drugs and that the French anti-doping agency screwed up the tests.

Obviously, Landis had something to say, "This ruling is a blow to athletes and cyclists everywhere," Landis said. "For the Panel to find in favor of USADA when, with respect to so many issues, USADA did not manage to prove even the most basic parts of their case shows that this system is fundamentally flawed. I am innocent, and we proved I am innocent." If Landis does not appeal this case, then he will be the first cyclist in the 105-year history to lose a title because of a doping offense.

This only shows even more that it doesn't matter what professional sport it is, steroid use will not slow down until an iron fist comes down and general testing is done like what the Olympics do with their possible athletes. Everybody knows that the Olympic committee is the harshest when it comes to steroid testing and they are very successful with it. We have MLB and their bullshit way of testing baseball players and how they turned their head when they knew that players like Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire were "juicing" up when they were hitting 60 + homeruns. The NBA still has not used random drug tests with their athletes and who blames them, they already have bigger problems than the NFL and MLB combined. They have NBA refs betting on games and players running up into the stands and taking swings at fans. David Stern will never get the Detroit/Pacers game out of his history…the NBA will be tainted because of the game where Ron Artest was suspended for the whole NBA season without pay.

The next sport to test for drugs will be tennis, mark my words because they will be pestered by the media until they do it also. People will start to second guess tennis stars like Roger Federer and Rafael Nedal and ask if they "juice" like Jason Giambi.

Yankees Creeping Up on Red Sox

At one point in the MLB season, the New York Yankees were 14 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the AL East title. Now after a couple of months, the Yankees caught fire and now are only 2 1/2 games behind the Sox. The hot streak hit a high when the Yankees played Boston at Fenway park this last weekend and took two out of three from the Sox. At that point, the NY was only 5 1/2 games behind, but the Sox weren't sweating yet. Now, after the Sox have lost 3 games in a row and after losing to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yanks are only 2.5 games back and are making the Sox sweat. If the playoffs started today (Wednesday), the Yankees would play in Los Angels (or Anaheim) and the Sox would play in Boston against the Cleveland Indians. The Sox will pull thru but the real question is if Manny Ramirez can come back and be a force like he was at the beginning of the season after coming back from a strained oblique muscle. If Manny can be Manny after his injury, the Sox will be just fine because their bullpen is the best in baseball (except for Eric Gange).

The AL West and Central are pretty much taken care of with under two weeks left in the season. The Indians are up 7.5 games on the Detroit Tigers and the Angels are up 9 games to Seattle. The really tight one is in the NL Central with the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. In that race, it isn't who wants it but who can actually win games for more than three days. I like the Cubs in that race mostly because Milwaukee is too young and inconsistent.

The New York Mets are dropping games like they are dropping baseballs. The Mets have lost 5 in a row and in the last ten are only 4-6. The Mets in two games, one against the Phillies and one against the Nationals had a combined 10 errors. Philadelphia is only a game and a half behind the Mets and have won 6 games in a row and are 8-2 in the last 10 games. I like the Mets, but if they cannot start winning baseball games, they are going to be done in the playoffs and maybe in the wild card race.

In the NL West, the San Diego Padres are only a game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Padres have won 5 in a row and are 7-3 in the last 10 games to where the Diamondbacks are only 6-4 in the last 10 games. Contradicting the streaks with both these teams, I like the Diamondbacks in that race mostly because of their dominate pitching they have had throughout the season. The Padres will not feel left out in the end either because they are on top of the Wild Card race in the National League. The Yankees are 5 up on the Detroit Tigers and don't look like they are going to slow down.

That is your update on the baseball playoff race with 10-11 games left. The playoffs will be a good one with really talented teams. Here are the matchups if the playoffs started today:

(AL) N.Y. Yankees @ L.A. Angels
(AL) Cleveland Indians @ Boston Red Sox
(NL) Chi Cubs OR Milwaukee Brewers @ Arizona Diamondbacks
(NL) San Diego Padres @ N.Y. Mets

O.J. Simpson Charged with 11 Felony Charges

O.J. Simpson Tuesday morning was charged with 11 total felonies after the armed robbery in Las Vegas. The 11 charges includes two counts of first-degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon; two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon; and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The kidnapping charge accuses the men of detaining each man "against his will, and without his consent, for the purpose of committing a robbery."

O.J.'s lawyer, Yale Galanter, said he would ask for Simpson's release and also added, "If it was anyone other than O.J. Simpson, he would have been released by now," Galanter also added, "You can't rob something that is yours, O.J. said, 'You've got stolen property. Either you return it or I call the police.'" The co-defendants, Walter Alexander, Clarence Stewart and Michael McClinton, entered the memorabilia store with Simpson and demanded the items while Simpson supposedly held a gun to the head of the victim.

Simpson allegedly went into the memorabilia store in Las Vegas looking for memorabilia he thought the victim stole from him. He set up a meeting with one of the victims Bruce Fromong and when Simpson and his cohorts entered the room they were not there to have a meeting, they came in with guns and held the victims at gun point asking for what Simpson thought was his. Fromong unfortunately suffered a major heart attack after the attack and was in critical condition Tuesday at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The one thing that is a little fishy about the whole story is if Simpson was actually holding a gun when he walked into the hotel room. The police recovered two firearms during planned searches. There were witnesses that saw the even that told the police that they did not think Simpson was holding a firearm. If Simpson was not holding a hand gun during the robbery, than his charges would diminish somewhat.

There is also chatter that O.J. might have been set up, but that is only a thought and has not been proved yet in anyway. Simpson should have paid for what he did when he allegedly killed his ex wife in the famous murder case where he was acquitted of all of the charges. Again like I said in past posts, Simpson should pay for what he did, if he did do what the charges are talking about he should be put in jail or prison for the allotted time. Sports stars in this world and in the United States are turning into people who think they are above the law and it has become true with so many different examples. Michael Vick was the rare exception when he was charged with charges including illegal gambling on dog fighting and then he with his own bare hands executed many dogs that were viewed as being un-fit to fight. He is going to get what he should get and I hope the same happens with O.J. Simpson for what he did allegedly.

After two weeks of football games, the NFL has 10 2-0 football teams. Before we get to the surprises, I will start with the disappointments:

NY Giants: The team has started 0-2 after losing games to Dallas where the defense unfortunately did not show up and to the Green Bay Packers 35-13. They have lost their starting running back Brandon Jacobs, their starting quarterback should not have even started the game on Sunday because of an injured shoulder. They have 12 injured players on their roster and things are not looking good for Tom Coughlin.

Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles started 0-2 after losing games to Green Bay in Wisconsin and at home against the Redskins on Monday Night Football. The Eagles on offense have Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook and that's about it. They need at least one big time WR for them to be effective at all. Unfortunately their schedule does not get easier...they have to play the 2-0 Detroit Lions at home next week.

New Orleans Saints: Wow, I did not see this coming! The Saints are struggling on offense at the beginning of the season. They cannot get anything going on offense with all of their talent they have on the offensive side of the ball. Reggie Bush, the Saints RB has run for 65 yards on 22 carries averaging 3.0 yards/rush in 2 total games. Drew Brees, the QB has thrown more Interceptions (3) than Touchdowns (1) this season a year after throwing for 4,418 yards with 26 Touchdowns and only 11 Interceptions. Oh yeah, their defense is as porous as a fire hose. They can't stop anybody either. The offense will come back no problem, I'm just worried about their defense (especially their secondary).

Now my surprises in the first two weeks:

Houston Texans: Thank god, they are finally doing things well in Texas! They found themselves a good quarterback in Matt Shaub and a all pro RB Ahman Green who came from Green Bay. The defense is stopping people on the other teams and there is actual excitement in Texas that the football team could just possibly end up over the five-hundred mark and I am hoping the same thing for the head coach Gary Kubiak.

Detroit Lions: 2-0 once again in Detroit where like in Texas, they are starting to do things well in Detroit again. Their QB Jon Kitna is throwing the leather off of the ball and their first round draft pick Calvin Johnson from Georgia Tech is paying off with 131 receiving yards on 8 receptions and 2 touchdowns. Their defense is nasty good and NFL teams now are afraid of playing the Lions which is I think a first in the NFL since Barry Sanders played for the Lions.

Green Bay Packers: I am happy for Brett Favre in what he has had to go through during his football and off the field life with the family tragedy, and now he again is being successful personally and the team is now winning again. Their defense is feared by other teams and the offense is scoring touchdowns again which is surprising in itself. They still need more talent around Brett, but for now if the defense can keep it up, the team will be able to win with Brett's late game heroics.

Cleveland Browns: They actually won a game! Seriously, the last two weeks for the Browns has been a head scratcher. The week after the Browns get embarrassed against the Steelers 34-7, they trade their starting quarterback and put the backup Derek Anderson in against the Bengals and watch Anderson throw for 328 yards, 5 touchdowns and one pick by throwing at a 60% completion percentage. Their running back Jamal Lewis who almost came back from retirement ran the ball for 216 yards on 27 attempts and one touchdown. The Browns won the game 51-45. They broke so many records I wouldn't have the time to type all of them down. I am happy for the head coach Romeo Crennel because he walked into a no win situation and hopefully this will give him and his team some confidence.

My Top 5 teams after 2 weeks of football:

1. New England Patriots - They destroyed the San Diego Chargers.


2. Indianapolis Colts - They are the defending champs and their defense is back and faster.


3. Pittsburgh Steelers - They still need to play a good team, but I will give it to them.


4. Dallas Cowboys - Their offense is on target, but their defense needs to step it up quickly.


5. San Francsisco 49ers - I love their defense even their offense is non existance.
   

O.J. Simpson Caught on Tape

O.J. Simpson, the ex running back for the NFL years ago was arrested Sunday and booked on charges connected with what police described as a robbery at a Las Vegas hotel. The audiotape was released today (Monday) by a celebrity web site TMZ.com, and a man believed to be Simpson demanded "my stuff" multiple times in the tape. He also said, "Think you can steal my s--- and sell it?" Now, Simpson was not the only person in the armed robbery and the others in the attempt were arrested or are in the process of going to be arrested.

Another collector in the same hotel room, Bruce Fromong, stated that the meeting was set up as if the men were customers, but when the men arrived, it was nothing like an orderly meeting: "The door burst open and they came in almost commando style, O.J. Simpson and some of his people, I guess you would call it, with guns drawn," Fromong said to ABC's Good Morning America Monday. "O.J. at that time was saying, 'I want my stuff. I want my stuff. The thing in my mind as soon as I saw him, I'm thinking, 'O.J., how can you be this dumb? You're in enough trouble."'

Simpson said that the men that accompanied him he met at a wedding cocktail party. The whole thing is almost deja vu again with Simpson. He has not been able to get out of trouble or it almost seems like he doesn't want to stay out of trouble. He has almost been like Daryl Strawberry, the ex baseball player who couldn't get out of drugs and alcohol, teams gave Daryl a bunch of chances but he literally threw away his chances at being a good baseball player.

O.J. Simpson right before he had issues with this Las Vegas armed robbery tried to release a book that talked about how he would have committed the murder of his wife, but yet he still thought that after we read his book we would still believe he didn't murder his wife. The guy needs to be thrown in the slammer and the key needs to be thrown away because the guy has tainted any career he had as a running back in the NFL and most people now do not even think of football with O.J., all we think about is somebody who had a chance to have a peaceful retirement, but threw it all away by making horrific choices. I hope young children do not view Simpson as a role model because of what he has done.

Tiger Blew Up the Competition

(Photo by S.Greenwood/Getty Images)

Zach Johnson said it best, "The man is a freak," pausing a second and finishing with, "of nature.

Tiger Woods was who Zach was talking about after Tiger won both the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup that he criticized. Tiger won the Tour Championship by 8 strokes (no, not a misprint) at 23 under par to win his 61st career victory, tied with Jack Nicklaus. Tiger won a $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup which he personally has no problem with. Tiger broke the tourney record by six shots and shot a 257, which matched the third-lowest score over 72 holes in tour history. And in his 3 starts in the FedEx Cup, he shot a combined 59 under par in 12 rounds.

Tiger before the start of the Tour Championship was on top of the FedEx Cup Standings and didn't budge. One of the biggest criticisms of the FedEx Cup was how the standings and points were dealt out to the players and it showed here today. Just like how Nascar for years tried to get the points to work and for years there was always a problem with them at the end of the season is how the FedEx Cup worked. Mark Calcavecchia and Zach Johnson tied for second with 15 under par in the tournament with the underdog Steve Stricker taking second overall in the FedEx standings.

Tiger Woods (PGA), Roger Federer (Tennis), and Alex Rodriguez (MLB) all are on top of their games and professions. Tiger still doesn't have a competitor that can beat him at any given day and Roger is trying to find ways to motivate himself he is so good. Alex is hated probably the most in all of baseball (behind Barry Bonds obviously) because of the salary he has and in where he plays (New York). Tiger has broken so many different records years before he should have and is not showing that he is going to slow down anytime soon.

For golf (PGA) to get more exciting and watched by more people in the world, Tiger Woods needs at least one player that can create a rivalry that people will want to watch every weekend. Phil Mickleson is too inconsistent for that to work. Yes, Phil beat Tiger while paired with him once and it was good for golf, but it has only happened once ever. Vijay Singh was supposed to be that one person at the beginning of the season but he has been a dud in many ways for golf.

Woods is dominating golf and seeing him shoot a 28 on the front nine after 5 birdies in a row never will get old. Seeing him make the fellow golfers look like high school kids will never get old for me either. Some people do not like Tiger mostly because he is so good.
Enjoy,
Ryan

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

AP Top 25 (Week 4)

The NCAA Bowl division AP Top 25 was released today after an exciting Saturday of games...text came from Yahoo! Sports:

AP Top 25

1.  USC (46)
2.  LSU (19)
3.  Florida
4.  Oklahoma
5.  West Virginia
6.  California
7.  Texas
8.  Ohio State
9.  Wisconsin
10. Penn State
11. Rutgers
12. South Carolina
13. Oregon
14. Boston College
15. Clemson
16. Alabama
17. Virginia Tech
18. Louisville
19. Hawaii
20. Texas A&M
21. Kentucky
22. Georgia
23. South Florida
24. Nebraska
25. Missouri

Well, after looking at the polls for today from the Associated Press, I got 7 out of 25 correct and didn't see two or three coming.  I can see Alabama coming, but not all the way up to #16, I would have put them at about 20 or 19 and then make them show me that they can win on a consistent basis.  Kentucky at #21 is a little high for me, put them at about 24 or 25.  The rest looks good for me and after a big weekend, there is a lot that was changed and we have new teams into the top 25 like South Florida after upsetting Auburn when Auburn was undefeated.  Missouri was entered at #25 after beating Western Michigan at home 52-24.  Missouri's big test is against #24 Nebraska on Oct 6 and then @ Oklahoma on Oct 13.  Their ranking will be short lived.

My Football Top 25 (after week 3)

After every weekend of bowl division football, I am going to put down my top 25 based mostly just on my instinct and also statistics (Wins & losses and who they beat) and I will have who the team is playing next.  I hope you enjoy and put your input if you would like to.
Ryan

1. USC Trojans (2-0 0-0)

2. LSU Tigers (3-0 1-0)

3. Oklahoma Sooners (3-0 0-0)

4. Florida Gators (3-0 0-0)

5. West Virginia (3-0 0-0)

6. California Bears (3-0 0-0)

7. Wisconsin Badgers (3-0 0-0)

8. Texas Longhorns (3-0 0-0)

9. Ohio State Buckeyes (3-0 0-0)

10. Penn State Nittany Lions (3-0 0-0)

11. Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-0 0-0)

12. South Carolina Gamecocks (3-0 1-0)

13. Louisville Cardinals (2-1 0-0)

14. Oregon Ducks (3-0)

15. Virginia Tech Hokies (2-1)

16. Boston College Eagles (3-0)

17. Clemson Tigers (3-0)

18. Georgia Bulldogs (2-1)

19. Hawaii Warriors (3-0)

20. Texas a&m Aggies (3-0)

21. Arkansas Razorbacks (2-1)

22. Nebraska Corn Huskers (2-1)

23. Alabama Crimson Tide (3-0)

24. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-1)

25. UCLA Bruins (2-1)

 

Ok, that is my top 25 for college football after the 3rd week and is up for controversy which is good.  I really liked Alabama this week and was disgusted with UCLA which is why they dropped from 11 to 25 this week.  Cal has been tearing it up against quality opponents.  I don't like how Texas has been playing yet...struggling against lower quality teams so far.  I hopefully will be doing this after every week and again this is all me.
Enjoy,
Ryan

Big Problems at Notre Dame

Image found on USA Today web site

To say that Notre Dame's head coach Charlie Weis is having trouble with his new Freshman starting quarterback Jimmy Claussen is being nice. The Fighting Irish started out the college football season 0-2 which is not good at all and then Charlie has a true freshman as his starting quarterback. The first start of Clausen's college career was against Pen State in Happy Valley in front of over 100,000 fans covered in white. Then, he got in a bus and went to Ann Arbor, Michigan to play in front of over 110,000 fans covered in blue and yellow.

At the beginning of the season every year, fans of Notre Dame and Michigan lick their chops at this weekend's game because both teams are usually in the top 25 in the polls and are undefeated, but this season was totally different. For the first time ever, both teams started the season 0-2 and Notre Dame's offense was hideous.

In the game against Michigan, the Fighting Irish put up a total of 86 yards compared to 379 for Michigan. The Irish were shut out once again losing 38-0. Chad Henne was out for the game with an injury so the Wolverines started a freshman Ryan Mallett, a 6 ft 6 inch 250 pounder who was 7/15 for 90 yards and 3 touchdowns. Mike Hart, the outstanding Michigan running back during this last week guaranteed a win against Notre Dame right after Michigan got destroyed by Oregon and he put his performance where his mouth was: 187 yard rushing in 35 attempts with 2 touchdowns and 14 yards receiving.

Before I go, I understand that it is not all the quarterbacks fault mostly because most of the offense line is completely new and that most of the starters (offense and defense) left after last season, but still this was a joke. I know Charlie Weis has worked hard but I used to love to watch Notre Dame win games against big opponents but now they are getting destroyed. It almost looks like they are in the playoff division playing teams in the bowl division.

Tiger Shoots 28 on Front Nine @ Tour Championship

Photo taken from Rapid City Journal web site

The Tour Championship is this weekend and the end of the FedEx Cup after four weeks of tournaments. The top runner in the Cup and this weeks tourney is obviously the best in golf, Tiger Woods. Tiger shot a -6 64 on Thursday which isn't a bad round in any way. On Friday though, Tiger shot a seven under 28 on the front nine which is not supposed to happen to a regular individual. He made birdies on five consecutive holes (holes 4 thru 8) and then to finish that off made an eagle on hole 9 (which is a par 5). At this posting, Tiger is one under thru 3 holes on Saturday and is leading the tournament by three shots over Woody Austin. There have been shots taken by the big time golfers (Woods, Mickelson, etc) about the way the FedEx Cup is run and the rules of it. The biggest problem many people are having is that there are four golf tournaments in four consecutive weeks which can get pretty grueling for some people I agree with that. So to make their positions known, Tiger out of the blue during the first tournament of the FedEx Cup stated that he would miss the tournament to take a week off. The Commissioner was not very happy because the PGA basically centered the tournament around Tiger and people who paid to watch the tournament didn't come to pay to watch Woody Austin or Steve Stricker. Those golfers are good golfers, but Tiger is idol that all young golfers want to be when they get older, not just physically but mentally also. After Tiger's one week break he came back to play in the remaining three tournaments and won last week's tournament to put him on top of the FedEx standings which makes the golfer's point exactly. One golfer should not be able to take a week off in the "playoffs" and come back the next week and expect to win the championship in any sport. In other team sports, whole teams cannot take a game off in a seven game series and expect to win the whole thing, the same thing applies in golf. I like the concept of there being a playoff system on golf at the end of the season to give some closer in golf, but before making the system, make sure that the big time golfers in the PGA are ok with it or happy with it so that they don't take shots against you as the commissioner. In the end, Tiger has been shooting the lights out the last couple of weeks and is two under thru four now in the 3rd round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia.
Enjoy,
Ryan

Yankees-Red Sox Series This Weekend

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox meet this weekend in Boston at Fenway for a large series that could mean so many different things. First of all, the Sox come into the series with the best record in all of baseball and have been for most of the season. The Yankees started out this season about bad as it could have been for Torre and the team, but has rebounded and is now set on top of the Wild Card standings for the American League. If the Yankees do indeed make it into the Wild Card for the AL, they will most likely play the Angels of Anaheim in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for NY, they have not done well against the Angels in the playoffs specifically in past years. The big issue for the Yankees (like every year) is their pitching in general and if it can hold up in the end and their starting pitching is the worst mostly because of the aging arms in the starting position and then their bullpen before they get to Rivera is pretty shaky. I personally hope the Sox can win 2 out of the 3 games in this series to give them confidence going into the playoffs (assuming Manny Ramirez will come back from a sore side).

Week in Review

OK, some big things happened this week in sports. One thing that is huge is in college football with Notre Dame and Michigan. Both starting 0-2 for the first time ever in their wonderful history. Notre Dame's offense is a big 0fer for the first 2 games without putting a single point on the board. They started with 3 quarterbacks and that was a big mistake and then appointed Jimmy Clausen as the single starter which was a good idea by Weis. I think if Notre Dame can take a single bad year Clausen will pull it together and be a wonderful quarterback not just in college but also in the NFL or CFL (or NFL Europe).

Michigan is a different story...Lloyd Carr is in a pressure wash and the only way to get out of it is to resign. Michigan won't fire Lloyd in the middle of the season because they would look bad, but everybody is pressuring Lloyd to resign as the head coach to make everybody's life much easier. The team started at #5 in the preseason polls when they were going to play Appalachian State (division II team). Everything was going to be easy for big Michigan against the Mountaineers but that did not happen. Michigan only lost the game by 2 points in the end but the score didn't show how bad the Wolverines played. The wolverines were outplayed and out-coached in the end and got destroyed. It was in my mind the biggest upset in the era of college football. There was outrage in Michigan and so after days of players and coaches addressing the pissed off fans they went up against the Oregon Ducks which just got off of a game in Oregon against Houston (W 48-27) and Oregon brought the offense that Michigan could not and still cannot defend: the spread offense. Oregon went into the "Big House" and destroyed the Wolverines just like the Mountaineers did a week ago. The Ducks piled 624 total yards against the vaunted Wolverines defense, 331 on the ground. The final score was 39-7 and the Michigan senior quarterback was injured during the game (Henne). Now, against Notre Dame Michigan will have a true freshman against the Notre Dame defense. The first time Notre Dame and Michigan have been both 0-2 starting a season in college football ever.

LSU has been dominating by shutting out Mississippi State 45-0 and destroying #9 Virginia Tech in Louisiana. I think LSU should be considered #1 in the polls just because how they have dominated the other teams they have played. I know #1 USC has only played one game because in week 2 they had a bye but still, USC had issues with Nevada at home.

In the NFL, we have a story that expanded very fast is the Patriots spying case which was resolved last night by the commissioner Roger Goodell. During the Patriots-Jets game in New York on Sunday during the game an individual was video taping the Jets coaches and sideline looking for signs and hand signals (stealing signals), the Jets head coach, which coached under the Patriots head coach Bill Belichick for a few years tipped off to the NFL that the Patriots were video taping the Jets sideline. The NFL took a video camera and tape with them and sent it to New York (it didn't have to go far) and looked at it. The NFL commissioner yesterday came down hard in the coach and organization for what they did. The New England head coach was fined the maximum the NFL can fine players/coaches $500,000, and the Patriots team has to pay $250,000. Also, the Patriots will lose a draft pick: if they make the playoffs this season they will lose a first round draft pick and if they don't make the playoffs their 2nd and 3rd round picks. I think that was a big penalty not just the money the team/coach has to pay at a total of 3/4 of a millions dollars in fines and to lose their picks for this next season is huge for "cheating" in the rule books for the NFL. Belichick said he misunderstood the rule, but I think that wasn't fully true, the guy is a genius and couldn't read a simple rule?

More names in the human growth hormone (HGH) era are coming out in the news from various sources. The first large one was Jason Giambi and now the feel good story of Rick Ankiel of the Saint Louis Cardinals is now tainted like everything else in MLB. Ankiel got HGH shipped to him from a Miami doctor who also is being indicted by the government. What's interesting about this story is that HGH was not banned in MLB until 2005 and Ankiel received and supposedly used the supplement in 2003-2004 during his rehab from surgery he had. Ankiel today told the St. Louis Dispatch that he talked to baseball officials to talk about HGH. Baseball's one feel good story this season that was going to take them away from steroids and hgh was destroyed by another big name that used the "juice" during the era of all eras.

Greg Oden (#1 pick by Portland Trail Blazers this season) went in and had micro-fracture surgery on his right knee and will likely be out this next season at least. LeBron James had surgery on his eye to improve his sight...LeBron James now having better sight is something that players on different teams are scared about. Boston Red Sox still have best record in MLB which is good and it looks like the Yankees will make it in as the Wild Card Spot but they have to play the LAA Angels which they have been outplayed and killed by playing the Angels in the past playoff series.

There was more that went on in the past week of sports, but from now on I will post at least once a day about big stories and my take on them.
Enjoy,
Ryan

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my new blog. This blog is going to centered around one thing: sports. I love sports and have for a long time and now will be able to dissect what happens around the world (mostly US) in sports and tell people what really happens. I hope you enjoy this blog and good luck with life.
Ryan