The Roundup: Manny’s Struggles, Bitter Vince Wilfork and the Obama Hits the Links
Baseball, College Basketball, Fighting, Jerseys, MMA, NBA, NFL, Politics, Shady McShady, Video, Youth Sports August 25th. 2009, 8:00am
Felt like doubling up: Sophia Bush and Rihanna … the Top 5 topless music groupies … quit destroying soccer pitch, U2 … if you add your boss on facebook, be careful what you write about them … the newspaper battle against angry commenters continues … who wants to buy a seized firearm? … the 50 best websites for 2009, as deemed by Time Mag … cracking down on illegal downloads …
Duke fan responds to the Corey Maggette-Derrick Rose comparisons. (Duke Big Balls)
The bottom 1/3 of the “influential people in basketball.” Maybe we’re in the next group? If John Hollinger … (Hoops World)
Joe “Bangbus” Banner once showered without his Casio. (Sports Hernia)
Vince Wilfork described his contract negotiations as “frustrating.” As a Jets fan, we love this. (Globe)
Picking the best players by jersey number in sports. (Rumors and Rants)
Manny’s only hitting .284 with two homers since returning from suspension. (LA Times)
13 of the fastest MMA knockouts. (In Game Now)
Is baseball not doing enough to penalize pitchers who purposely throw at hitters? (Boston Globe)
Chris Carpenter is making a move on Lincecum in the NL Cy Young race. (MSF)
Is it open season on Shaq? Sounds like it. (AZ Republic)
Recapping the horrendous Oakland A’s season … and there’s still 35ish games to play! (SF Chronicle)
Press corps not permitted to watch Obama’s drive off the 1st tee yesterday. (Inside Track)
During a youth soccer match, a fight broke out and a grown man sucker punched a 13-year-old. (Sports Rubbish)
At the :32 second mark, you’ll see a tremendous flying kick to the head. Only in Bolivia.
46 Responses to “The Roundup: Manny’s Struggles, Bitter Vince Wilfork and the Obama Hits the Links”
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August 25th, 2009 at 8:07 am
what a dirty, dirty kick.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:17 am
he’ll be franchised or transisioned during the non capped year since virtually no team will be signing any top tier free agents. a deal will get done. he’s just frustrated that as a player he has no leverage going into the year w/o a cap.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:19 am
I’m going to imagine those Pats/Wilfork negotiations in my head for a second. Guy comes in, with his agent, into the negotiations room. In that room is Bill Belichick and 2 giant TV’s, and that’s about it. One one of those TV’s, there is an endless loop of big time highlights from Ron Brace, the NT that the Pats took with pick # 40. On the other TV, there’s an endless loop of Wilfork getting run over by Jeff Saturday (the one time it happened), and the only other thing spliced into that video loop is Wilfork picking his nose in dozens of settings.
Then, the negotiations start. He has zero leverage, as he wants a shit ton of money, and he’s already been replaced.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:20 am
stupid slideshows.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Is baseball not doing enough to penalize pitchers who purposely throw at hitters?
What a ridiculous article… almost unrealistic.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I got about three sentences into that Boston Globe piece on pitchers throwing at batters before I realized that the author has a faulty premise. I’d venture to say that more than 99% of the instances of guys getting hit in the head are out and out accidents. When pitchers throw at batters, they tend to hit them in the back or hip, because if the game is allowed to police itself, as it should be, they know that their guy is going to get hit too, and you probably don’t want your teammate getting earholed. Nobody should throw at anyone’s head, but to make a blanket statement that throwing at, or up and in to, a batter should be outlawed is ridiculous.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:25 am
doesn’t come close, to doing that piece of work justice. my gawd.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:27 am
ill – did you see the author?
August 25th, 2009 at 8:28 am
The chick who got fired due to Facebook is an idiot. Who posts that kind of stuff on Facebook?
August 25th, 2009 at 8:28 am
well, you do have a handful of pitchers that are headhunters or throw it up and in when trying to send a message. it isn’t like how the Globe details it. However, over the recent weeks, it sure seemed like there was a lot of beanballing going on leading to fisticuffs and injuries, and Bud has said nothing.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:30 am
ha! didn’t notice it at first either. now that is rich.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:31 am
I’d like to see an unwritten mandate that the only time it’s acceptable to “retaliate” for hitting a batter is if he gets drilled in the back with a fastball. getting plunked in the hands with a breaking ball b/c you lean over the plate, or getting drilled in the ankles, or even the head should not warrant a retaliation.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:32 am
I would say Carp is the Cy Young over Where’s Waldo currently, not “closing in”…
August 25th, 2009 at 8:33 am
using younglefty’s logic, which I agree with.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:33 am
I agree with this, but I think that if they let the game police itself, and fine and suspend guys that charge the mound more than pitchers that hit batters, the problem will eliminate itself. As it stands now, a pitcher can drill a guy, and he runs out to the mound, and there’s the team of the guy that threw the beanball knows they have free reign the rest of the game to crowd the plate or whatever, because if the opposing pitcher throws anything that even looks like it has a purpose, he gets run. Guys like Youkilis need to sack up and quit being a bitch, and just go to first base. If your pitcher is a halfway decent teammate, he’ll have your back.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:34 am
stupid slideshows.
Yeah what the hell, so did you make the top 50 or not TBL?
August 25th, 2009 at 8:34 am
The way Youkilis hovers directly over the plate, no one should ever be blamed for plunking him. It could be a pitch high and over the other batter’s box, and he’d lean into it and make his now-tiresome “mean face” at the pitcher for a few seconds before running to first.
And that head-kick was brutal. My face hurts just from seeing it.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am
If you mean he moved past him, then yes.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Youkilis got hit in the back. Whaaaaaaaaa. Youkilis got suspended for 5 games for making an ass of himself. Whaaaaaa.
/Boston Globe
August 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Manny’s only hitting .284 with two homers since returning from suspension.
Is the press still not allowed to bring up his lack of steroid use as a reason for this?
August 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am
ill – did you see the author?
Good stuff. I noticed it was in the opinion section, but not the author.
I like how his conclusion (purposely throwing at a batter’s head) is spawned by a unrealted (Youk being hit in the back) incident.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:41 am
so are we going to hear about mark sanchez’s first start in the preseason, TBL?
i think it’s worth discussing.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:43 am
This would make sense for the times hes hit in the arms/hands. Not square in the back.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:44 am
The way Youkilis hovers directly over the plate, no one should ever be blamed for plunking him. It could be a pitch high and over the other batter’s box, and he’d lean into it and make his now-tiresome “mean face” at the pitcher for a few seconds before running to first.
If every MLB hitter went to the plate knowing that there was no chance he’d be plunked, the MLB average would rise 30% points. And that number would be higher if it wasn’t for guys like Melvin Mora who can’t seem to make an adjustment.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Fedor’s bro needs more tats and less Hep…
August 25th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Oh, very much so. I want to hear if he’s still standing by his 20/15 prediction. He certainly has more around him than a lot of rookies thrown into the fire have, but I’m thinking more around 15/23.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Here’s a link to the list of the Time 50 Best Websites, so you can circumvent the slideshow.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Oh… and I would like to be the meat in that Sophia Bush/Rihanna sandwich.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Carpenter’s only pitched 145 innings? We shouldn’t award the Cy Young to pitchers who took off a significant part of the season.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Open season on Shaq? Like that is news? How many more folks like me since the time he went to Phoenix are there who just wish the “Diesel” would park it off court for good. All he has done since his last championship year with Miami is back it up into the lane, on a far more physical basis to make up for diminishing skills and injury and stats, and weigh down the entire log not to mention get still way too much air time.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/shaquille_oneal/career_stats.html
I can’t wait until Shaq just plain goes away, perhaps after the Cavs flop next season sometime in the playoffs, and we all get plenty of more breathing room and the NBA becomes a bit more than the “Spentatainment” it was at its height the year Dictator Stern decreed that the league would use a different ball until halfway into the season at least it was painfully obvious his unilateral decision was the wrong.
Most incriminating about the NBA is how the “free” press gave or give Stern absolutely NO DUE CRITICISM well after his and the league’s best years had passed post the Chicago Bulls and Jordan.
When the game opens up again without the Diesel weighing in disproportionately on and off the court, yet then we have now Lebron crashing into the lane full speed to charge and not have it called to contend with as well, the league will thrive even better like in the 1990s.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Here’s a link to the list of the Time 50 Best Websites, so you can circumvent the slideshow.
Lefty, can you find one that’s alphabetized? That’s still too hard.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Pandora is great, except now they only give you 40 hours of free music a month, then you have to pay. the iphone app, however, is fantastic and still free unlimited.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:59 am
That’s exactly what I got out of it, too.
And I would totally let Sophia Bush and Rihanna double up on a dude like me.
That soccer kick was brutal. I watched it twice. I recommend everyone takes a look at it. It’s so badass that it’s funny.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Holy shit that kick was awesome
August 25th, 2009 at 9:01 am
watched “The Girl Next Door” last night on FX while falling asleep… holy sh*t Elisha…
August 25th, 2009 at 9:06 am
The man with the most power who turned the other way starting in the late 1990s, the start of the PED/steroid era in baseball, said nothing again? The horror! Bud Selig — what a crock of steaming hot overflowing excrement.
/Fixed
August 25th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Joe “Bangbus” Banner once showered without his Casio
too funny
August 25th, 2009 at 9:08 am
There is a place to go to complain about your job. I’m pretty sure it’s not Facebook.
When did we begin caring what Alan Dershowitz says about baseball? He’s not a baseball writer and that article borders on embarrassing.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I own that movie because of her. That’s it. If it was that chick from the Glass House or something, I wouldn’t even watch it. But it’s Elish and… oh bless her.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Definitely! I would not have bothered to check it had it not been for all the recommendations either.
No. 9 had it coming for the cheap shot he took at the guy who was flopped into the goal who ended up kicking him a la Bruce Li.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:10 am
that is an aweseome description.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Grooveshark is a little better than Pandora, imo.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Pandora is great, except now they only give you 40 hours of free music a month, then you have to pay. the iphone app, however, is fantastic and still free unlimited.
try slacker radio…i made the switch some time ago from pandora and havent regretted it
August 25th, 2009 at 9:16 am
i’ll have to check out grooveshark and slacker radio this weekend. work banned streaming media, “for the good of the company” they said.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:17 am
almost xactly what i told TBL. That wouldn’t be a horrendous rookie season, especially if that leads to 6 or 7 victories.
August 25th, 2009 at 10:47 am
/at least the kick showed passion & creativity