A few Dec. 5 birthdays:
1901 Walt Disney
1905 Otto Preminger
1932 Little Richard
1947 Jim Plunkett (pictured), Jim Messina
1951 Morgan Bittany
1954 Gary Roenicke
1957 Art Monk
1968 Rhett Hall
1970 Kevin Haller, Thomas Smith (Former Bills CB)
1972 Cliff Floyd
1982 Eddy Curry
Coming tomorrow: The Dec. 6 edition.
Okay, so maybe that first part of the headline is not, uh, entirely accurate. But, nevertheless, the second part apparently is.
David Ortiz told Yahoo! that A-Rod will play for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic next March.
What I find interesting in this is that Ortiz is the one who essentially announced the news. Was it off the cuff? Or by design? As you may recall, during the last go-around A-Rod absolutely hated deciding between the U.S. and the D.R. to the point that he at one point even opted out of playing in it. (See what I did there?)
When A-Rod showed at spring training that year, he gave a long-winded interview in which he criticized both MLB and union officials for how both sides handled his waffling.
In case you're interested in A-Rod quote trivia, that also was the same interview when he uttered this infamous A-Rodism: "My whole life is about getting crushed." And the next year he began spring training by lamenting no more sleepovers with Derek Jeter.
As if Islander505 needed more reason to hate Penn State -- see post no. 12 here -- we get this news via the AP from State College, Pa.:
The Penn State senior who plays the Nittany Lion mascot will miss the Rose Bowl after being suspended for violating team rules.
The school suspended James Sheep, of Chambersburg, Pa., on Thursday, a week and a half after being charged with DUI.
The university says Sheep will not participate in school events or attend the Rose Bowl game or events. Penn State cheerleading coach Curt White says Sheep will resume his duties in 2009.
University police say Sheep was pulled over on campus around 3:15 a.m. on Nov. 22, hours before Penn State's game against Michigan State. He was later charged with DUI and summary traffic violations.
The school says another member of the cheerleading squad will serve as mascot until Sheep returns.
Wonder if there will be an investigation into whether he ever was under the influence while on the job? BTW, to steal a phrase from this guy, thanks to this site for the picture. Or, if you're too lazy to click on that, it's from the Penn St. student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, which is published by students independent of the school.
Here's their account of MascotGate.
I liked this line at the bottom of their story: Other former students who served as the Lion did not return repeated phone calls or refused to comment about the issue.
Very sad news about former Nugget, Clipper, Sun, Celtic, Net, Hornet and 76er Rodney Rogers.
Friends and family members are wondering now whether he'll ever walk again after an accident last week involving an all-terrain vehicle. The N.C. Highway Patrol said Rogers was four-wheeling in the woods in rural Vance County north of Raleigh when he fell off the vehicle.
Dave Odom, Rogers' coach when Rogers was an All-America basketball player at Wake Forest University, said Wednesday that his former star is paralyzed from the shoulders down. Rogers, 37, was recently transferred from Duke Hospital to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. The center's mission is to help people who have experienced a catastrophic injury.
"Say a prayer for Rodney and his family,'' Odom said.
Why is Alex Rodriguez smiling? Maybe because he lucked out bigtime with the timing of his opt-out.
He opted out Oct. 28, 2007. He agreed to the framework of a new 10-year contract worth $275 million (with escalators all the way to $300 million) on Nov. 16.
Now imagine if he opted out Oct. 28, 2008, not 2007.
The way our economy has gone downhill so fast, what kind of contract do you think he would have received? Would it have even hit $200 million, let alone $300 million? Talk about good timing...
Madonna.
(Sorry, just had to say her name so I could mention it as a tag.)
Got to hand it to the entrepreneurs. They react quickly when they see the opportunity to make a buck.
Less than a week after Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg at a New York City nightclub then apparently used the name Harris Smith as his alias as part of a cover-up at the hospital, there already are shirts for sale commemorating the moment in Giants history.
On eBay, you can buy a white t-shirt with letters in Giants blue; H. Smith is the name above Burress' No. 17.
Opening bid is $8.99. Or you can buy it now for $9.99. And it's another $5.99 for shipping and handling. Just a hunch, but I bet someone will be standing outside Giants Stadium selling these after games.
Ventured out to Giants Stadium yesterday to speak with Jerome McDougle, the Giants' little-used injury-prone defensive lineman.
Why talk to him? Because of this:
At 11:37 p.m. on July 28, 2005, McDougle was shot in the stomach during a robbery attempt that went bad. According to newspaper reports, McDougle was sitting in his silver Mercedes at a street corner in Miami awaiting a friend when four youths aged 15 to 17 approached.
"They gave me an ultimatum," the defensive lineman said yesterday as he sat in front of his locker after practice. They demanded his watch and his cash, according to the newspaper accounts. With a gun pointed at him, McDougle handed over his watch. As he rose to get his wallet, one of the robbers apparently panicked and shot McDougle in the stomach.
"I did what he told me to do," he said, "and he still shot me."
McDougle stood and lifted his shirt to show a vertical scar above his navel. Next to the scar is a tattoo that says, "True Story." And if that isn't enough proof, he still has a piece of the bullet somewhere in his stomach. Every time he goes for an MRI, McDougle said it's right there on the screen.
I respectfully disagree with my colleague, Shaun Powell, who wrote today: "You know what's really sad in all this? The same admirable thing [Antonio] Pierce does to get teammates out of a jam on Sunday afternoons has gotten him into one."
Here's why I disagree:
I am not ready to describe Pierce's actions as admirable because police have openly been saying they are investigating his role in a potential cover-up. Whatever role that Pierce played, he is the only one to blame.
Everyone describes Pierce as a leader for how he plays on the field. Fine. But a leader off the field would not have aided one bit in a cover-up. Why? Because there's a guy whose leg is bleeding from a gunshot, and the first - and only - thought should be: let's get you to a hospital!!!!
PB: I can't let this get out. The Giants will get rid of me.
AP: Dude, worry about that later. We need to get you help - now!
We don't know what exactly went down yet with Pierce, because the police only know so much. Problem is: Pierce hasn't spoken to them yet. Which also is bothersome. The incident happened early Saturday morning and it's now Thursday and Pierce has been avoiding police as if they're the plague. Hey, there's got to be a reason why his lawyer wants to negotiate terms of an interview, right?
BTW - I enjoyed the Giants' 425-word single-spaced essay about how and why they did nothing wrong. What did you expect: an admission of a cover-up? We'll give them a pass when the police come out and say the Giants did nothing wrong.
Dec. 4 is also Tyra Banks' birthday, so we'll use her picture instead.
1890 Bob Shawkey
1912 Pappy Boyington
1930 Harvey Kuenn
1937 Max Baer Jr. (Jethro Bodine of the Beverly Hillbillies)
1949 Jeff Bridges
1956 Bernard King
1957 Lee Smith
1964 Marisa Tomei
1969 Terry Glenn, Jay-Z
1970 Jeff Blake
1973 Tyra Banks
1974 Tadahito Iguchi
1985 Carlos Gomez
Let us know if Dec. 4 is a special day for you, and come back tomorrow for our Dec. 5 edition.
When the Yankees were in D.C. for an interleague series in 2006 the Nationals fired John Wettleland as their bullpen coach. Why do I remember this? Because it's not too often teams cite too many pranks as the reason for the dismissal.
Frank Robinson, then the Nats skipper, said: "They seemed focused more on practical jokes and fooling around in the bullpen rather than concentrating on the game. I couldn't put up with it anymore."
From The Washington Post:
Several club sources said Wetteland encouraged pranks among the relievers, and they started with firecrackers in spring training that were set off in the bullpen during Grapefruit League games and in the clubhouse. One source said the clubs in each of the first four cities the Nationals played in this season complained to Major League Baseball about damage to their bullpen sustained when Washington was in town. Two sources said the most egregious misdeed came in Philadelphia, where Wetteland was involved in an attempt to disassemble a video camera.
Guess the Mariners feel their bullpen needs some loosening up...
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