No. Colorado Backup punter may have stabbed starter

From AP-

GREELEY, Colo. – In a scenario reminiscent of Tonya Harding Nancy Kerrigan, the backup punter at Northern Colorado has been accused of stabbing his rival in the leg — his kicking leg.

Mitch Cozad, a sophomore from Wheatland, Wyo., allegedly attacked Rafael Mendoza in a parking lot this week. Arrested on a charge of second-degree assault, Cozad was freed Wednesday on a $30,000 bond.

Mendoza, who was treated and released at a Greeley hospital, will miss at least Saturday’s game at Texas State.

*****

“I guess the only identified motive (in the attack on Mendoza) at this point in time is the competition for that position,” Evans police Lt. Gary Kessler said.

But Downing wasn’t so sure.

Cozad and Mendoza, a junior from the Denver suburb of Thornton, were competitive, he said, but no more than players at other positions.

“No different than starting quarterback or starting right tackle,” he said. “Everyone was held accountable to the same level.”

*****

Cozad was suspended from the university and the team and was evicted from his dorm room, said director of athletics Jay Hinrichs. Cozad had no listed phone number in Greeley, and a phone message left at his Wyoming address was not immediately returned.

The stabbing took place Monday in Evans, a small town adjacent to Greeley and about 50 miles north of Denver. The Greeley Tribune first reported the story in Wednesday’s editions.

If Cozad did this to win the kicking job, he failed miserably. True friends stab you in the front. (Cue the sarcastic laughter)

ESPN Scores Highest Rating Ever with Monday Night Football

So far, so good for “Monday Night Football” on ESPN, the debut of which produced the highest ratings in the twenty-six year history of the network.

ESPN’s first regular-season Monday night NFL game under the new contract drew the cable network’s biggest audience ever and delivered a major boost to ESPN.com and its new “Monday Night Surround” content.

The game between the Minnesota Vikings and Washington Redskins, won 19-16 by Minnesota, drew a 9.9 rating, representing an average of between nearly 9.2 million and 12.57 million households, the network said. The previous record was 8.9 million households on Christmas Day 1994 for a game between Detroit and Miami.

ESPN’s second Monday night game, San Diego’s 27-0 win over Oakland, received a rating of 8.5 and was seen in an average of 7.87 million households.

The ratings are low by prime time football and MNF standards, though. Putting games on a network that not everyone has access to guarantees that.

Opening Week Overreaction

Rick Gosselin notes that fans always overreact to the first game of the season.

The opening weekend of every NFL season amuses me.

Half the teams win, half lose. The fans of the 16 losers immediately shift into panic mode — and the fans of the 16 winners border on overconfidence. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground. No moral victories for the losers, and no tempering of optimism for the winners.

Certainly true. Indeed, I was hopping mad by the 3rd quarter of the Cowboys-Jags game as the former squandered a 10-0 lead and made one boneheaded mistake after another. The team has a lot of talent, though, and were on the road against a playoff team. One suspects they won’t go 0-16.

17-year old Kiran Matharu denied trip to LPGA Qualifying School

From cybergolf.com

Carolyn Bivens, the new commissioner of the LPGA Tour, continues to generate controversy. Her most recent questionable action came when she denied a request by 17-year-old Kiran Matharu to attend the LPGA’s Q School, which starts on the 19th.

In her letter of denial, sent to Matharu via email on September 9th, Bivens wrote: “I do not believe your record in professional golf competitions demonstrates you can compete at the highest level of women’s professional golf at this time . . . I recommend you apply to qualify for the Duramed Futures Tour, ‘The Official Developmental Tour of the LPGA.’ “

Of all the Q School applicants this year, Matharu might actually be among the most qualified, and perhaps as importantly, the one with the most world-wide potential. She’s the reigning Ladies English Amateur champion, was a member of Great Britain and Ireland’s Curtis Cup team that competed last month at Bandon Dunes, and placed 15th in her first professional event. In addition, the young Englishwoman is a two-time Faldo Series Girls champion.

Yorkshire-born Matharu started golf at the age of 11 and has been an outstanding player ever since. She’s the only British Asian female golfer, has an engaging personality and been named twice as Leeds Sports Performer of the Year – in 2003 and 2004. Earlier this year she was named “Female Junior Sports Personality of the Year” at the Sony Entertainment Television Sports Personality of the Year awards for British Asians.

Of Matharu’s future, Nick Faldo said, “I’ve worked with Kiran for nearly three years now and in that time she has certainly proved that she has the potential to succeed on the big stage. Kiran combines a great game with a steady nerve and I’m confident that, with a little more experience, she will be in a position to challenge for the very highest honors that the ladies game has to offer.”

After the Curtis Cup, Matharu turned professional with a plus-4 handicap, the lowest of any female golfer in the UK. She made the cut and finished 15th in The Wales Ladies Championship, her first professional tournament.

I don’t know what else Ms. Matharu has to prove that she is ready to play professionally. What is the difference between Matharu and Morgan Pressel who one year ago at age 17 applied to qualify for the tour? Both players were reigning amateur champs. That’s the argument a lawyer should make if Matharu were to legally challenge Bivens decision. The LPGA would have a tough and costly time defending it. To me Commissioner Bivens decision is both arbitrary and wrong.

Then Bivens has been making a series of blunders over the last few months.

Biven’s had a rocky time during her brief commissionership, which began a year ago this month. Here’s a list of some of her more controversial moves:

Requiring tournaments to pay for the electronic scoreboards that dot courses (currently, the Tour splits those costs – about $30,000 each – with the sites);

Dropping the popular LPGA-ShopRite Classic on the Jersey Shore for a more lucrative event (the ShopRite has generated $12 million in charitable donations, with more than $1.8 million going to charity last year – the highest of any LPGA event);

Creating chilly relations with many of the media that cover the LPGA, including Dottie Pepper, an early supporter;

Imposing a sanction fee of $500,000 on new tournaments that want to be added to the LPGA’s schedule;

Threatening to drop existing tournament sponsors, including McDonalds, a generous LPGA backer for 26 years, the last 13 as sponsor of the LPGA Championship, the Tour’s flagship event.

Even the LPGA’s unquestioned star player, Annika Sorenstam, has expressed dissatisfaction with the way the Tour’s new leader has performed. “I am quite concerned about some of the decisions and changes I have seen lately,” commented the usually stoic Swede. “I just wonder where we are headed.”

I’m with Annika. The above decisions by Bivens and some others show her complete incompetence at running a ladies’ professional golf tour. The LPGA needs to dump Bivens before she runs the tour into the ground.

Seahawks Sign Branch to $39M Deal, Pats Charge Tampering

Deion Branch has signed a six-year, $39 million deal with the Seahawks a day after being traded by the Patriots.

Deion Branch eased the pain of nearly $600,000 in fines for his holdout in New England by signing a $39 million, six-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday. The former Super Bowl MVP missed the entire preseason with the Patriots before he was traded to Seattle on Monday for a 2007 first-round draft pick. He signed the contract with the Seahawks one day later.

Branch will receive $13 million in bonus and guarantees, according to a person in the league close to the negotiations who requested anonymity because the terms had not yet been announced. About $23 million is due to Branch in the first three years of the deal, likely making him a fixture in Seattle’s currently crowded passing game.

Branch’s former team smells something fishy (same link-sidebar).

The Patriots have asked the NFL to look into possible tampering by the Jets over New York’s attempt to obtain wide receiver Deion Branch, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports. A league source confirmed that the grievance was filed by the Patriots last week.

According to reports out of Boston, the Patriots are contending that trade talks were intended to be solely between the teams and the fact that Branch’s representatives knew what the Jets offered in a trade compromised New England’s ability to keep the wide receiver.

I don’t know what the rules are in this regard, so the Seahawks may well have violated them. Still, it’s rather absurd to think that a team would offer to trade–let alone give up a 1st round pick–for Branch, who was holding out over a lack of a long term contract without making sure they could sign him to a long term deal.

NFL Players Average $1.7 Million from TV Deal

Gregg Easterbrook makes an interesting observation of how the new multi-billion television package impacts the NFL:

The way the latest NFL-NFLPA agreement works, for all intents and purposes, broadcast fees go directly to players. Ticket sales cover the clubs’ expenses (coaching, facilities, overhead), and owners make their profit on everything left over (local radio rights, tie-in marketing, parking and food sales). Let’s stop to consider what this means to the average NFL athlete. This season, average NFL pay — monies actually received, not contract paper value — will be somewhat more than $1.7 million per gentleman. That’s almost exactly the $3.7 billion in broadcast rights fees, divided by roughly 2,000 NFL players on rosters or on injured reserve.

Now think about the amount the typical NFL player will earn this year just from ESPN. Ready? An average of $550,000 per player. That’s the amount ESPN is putting in the average NFL player’s purse for the 2006 season, and for seasons to come. From ESPN directly to you, dear NFL player: $550,000. The sum works out to $32,000 per Monday Night Football game. If you are an NFL player, every time you tune in Monday Night Football this season, bear in mind ESPN is sending you $32,000 worth of thanks. The next-highest rights fee on the landscape works out to about $12,000 from CBS to each NFL player for each game the Columbia Broadcasting System airs. So guys, ESPN is being almost three times as nice to you and your families as CBS! Remember this when interview requests come in.

Now, of course, those are averages and the incredibly high salaries of the star athletes mean a whole lot less for the marginal players. Still, that’s real money.

Pats Trade Branch to Seahawks for 1st Round Pick

After barely holding off hapless Detroit yesterday, the Seattle Seahawks upped their offer to the Pats for holdout Deion Branch to the 1st rounder at which they had previously balked.

Deion Branch might return as soon as Week 2, but it won’t be with the Patriots. New England traded the disgruntled wide receiver to Seattle on Monday. ESPN.com’s Michael A. Smith has confirmed a report that the Patriots will receive a 2007 first-round pick from the Seahawks.

[...]

The Seahawks, along with the New York Jets, had fashioned a contract agreement with Branch before the season, agreeing to a six-year, $39 million deal that would have paid him $13 million in combined bonuses and about $23 million in the first three years of the contract. Neither team, however, could satisfy the demands of the Patriots, who were seeking first- and middle-round choices as compensation at the time, and the deadline set by New England passed without a trade.

[...]

The Seahawks could use Branch’s help in the passing game, especially after an anemic offensive performance in Week 1. Wide receiver Darrell Jackson, arguably the Seahawks’ best receiver, has twice in the past year undergone surgery to his left knee. After missing 10 games in 2005, his durability has come into question. Jackson caught five passes for 47 yards for Seattle against Detroit, but the Seahawks struggled on offense in a 9-6 Week 1 victory, failing to score a touchdown.

In addition, tight end Jerramy Stevens will probably miss the first month of the season because of a torn meniscus in his left knee. Stevens is an often-inconsistent pass-catcher, as evidenced in the Super Bowl, but he does provide Seattle with a big presence in the middle of the field. Wide receiver Nate Burleson, signed as a free agent in the spring, is still assimilating the offense, and is more of a deep threat who may not be the best fit in a West Coast-style passing game. Always-reliable wide receiver Bobby Engram, forced to play outside in 2005 because of injuries, is far more effective working out of the slot.

[...]

The Patriots are without their top two receivers from last season. David Givens signed with Tennessee as a free agent for five years and $24 million, including an $8 million signing bonus.

Despite most pundits’ confidence in Belichick’s “system,” you still need talent to win ballgames. But Branch was likely to sit out most of the year absent a trade and a 1st rounder next year will much more valuable to the Pats long term than a disgruntled Branch.

In memory of Ken Marino, NYC Firefighter, Father, Husband, and Baseball/Strat-O-Matic fan

I’m going to do a different post. James, I hope you don’t mind.

This post is in memory of Kenneth Marino. He was a NYC firefighter who died in the line of duty five years ago today, September 11th 2001.

Kenny Marino was a Mets fan and a Seattle Mariners fan, but his all- time favorite ballplayer was Ken Griffey Jr.

So Katrina Marino, his wife, e-mailed the Cincinnati Reds wondering if Griffey could hit a home run for her husband because he would be “looking down with a big grin.”

On Sept. 25, Griffey, in his second at-bat against Philadelphia, obliged Mrs. Marino. He said it would always stand out as one of the most memorable he had hit.

The bat was later given to Mrs. Marino and her two children, Kristin, 3, and Tyler, 1.

Firefighter Marino, 40, was with Rescue 1 in Manhattan. His family happened to visit him at the firehouse the morning of Sept. 11, shortly before the summons to the trade center. Firefighter Marino whispered into Kristin’s ear, “If you are a good girl, when I get home I will get you a prize ‹ a Wizard of Oz prize.”

A couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Marino found the prizes, a Dorothy doll for Kristin and a Scarecrow for Tyler.

And there was a Fireman Santa Claus ornament for Mrs. Marino.

She mentioned those treasured final prizes at the memorial service for him on Long Island. As Rescue 1 led the mourners out, the organist played “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

The members of Rescue 1 had to smile. They knew that was so Kenny.

God bless Ken’s wife and children today.

Why I’m writing about Ken is we shared two interests. One was baseball, another was the board game based on the sport, Strat-O-Matic. SOM is arguably the most popular sports based board game. If you want to understand how its played a little, check out the wikipedia link.

I began playing SOM in the 80′s. Mostly solitaire, but I played in a couple of TBA(Table Baseball Association) too. In 1996 I began a six year run of playing in the newly formed Star Tour, when anywhere from 8 to 70 players would gather on a weekend to play SOM in a tournament format. I used to play in each year’s Florida tournaments, plus in events in Los Angeles where I sometimes had to travel to for cancer treatments, and to other places. One of which was Newark.

A little about the tournaments- Play would begin at 8 a.m. on Saturdays with players drafting 25 players plus a ballpark. After the draft was over, play would begin and wouldn’t end till the first round was finished. Usually sometime around midnight, sometimes as late as 3-4 a.m. in the morning. The next day play would continue(Usually after some players were eliminated by process of who had the best records. Tournament formats sometimes varied, so play would vary from week to week.) usually beginning at 8 or 9 and continuing till a winner was declared. Again play could go into the wee hours of the morning.

People(Almost always men, sometimes a few teenagers) paid anywhere to $25 to $100 to enter an event. Did we play for lots of money? With the exception of the worlds or regional championships, prize money was rarely above $500. So those gathered played because they loved SOM and Baseball.

As I said, Ken played in these tournaments too. Just the ones based out of New York and New Jersey. He won the 1998 Eastern regional, no small accomplishment since all the best SOM players east of the Mississippi were there. I was there playing too.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember Ken very well and I regret that today. According to other players he was a great guy who loved the board game hobby we both shared. The Star tour now gives a yearly Ken Marino Sportsmanship award.

Ken you are missed and won’t be forgotten. RIP.

Gay Runs Fast

I don’t care much about track and field unless it’s the Olympics (and not that much even then, now that the Cold War is over). Still, this headline is rather amusing: “Gay sets sights on 200 meter record.”

OTB