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Tampa Bay Bucs CB Elbert Mack suspended for one game

It is for a helmet to helmet hit in last Sunday’s game against Atlanta. From AP-

Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie cornerback Elbert Mack was suspended one game without pay by the NFL on Tuesday for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.

The league said the flagrant violation of player safety rules was the second in three games for the undrafted free agent, who was fined $5,000 for an unnecessary roughness foul against Houston Texans quarterback Alex Brink during the Bucs’ preseason finale Aug. 28.

The hit against Ryan occurred Sunday when the NFL said Mack unnecessarily launched himself into the rookie quarterback and made helmet-to-helmet contact during an interception return play.

I haven’t seen a video of the play in question, but I’m hazarding a guess that the hit was pretty flagrant. Accidnetal contact shouldn’t lead to suspensions, but the NFL fines or penalizes players for end zone celebrations. What ever happened to the days of Billy ‘White Shoes’ Johnson?

 

2009 dates awarded to Balmoral, Maywood, and Hawthorne raceways

However Hawthorne’s dates are only for Thoroughbred racing. From Harnessracing.com-

The Illinois Racing Board has awarded 2009 racing dates and only Balmoral Park and Maywood Park will host Standardbreds, with Hawthorne only receiving dates for Thoroughbred racing.

Maywood Park will race on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2, with Balmoral racing on Jan. 3 and Jan. 4. Then, both tracks will be dark for live racing, with Balmoral resuming Jan. 28 and Maywood on Jan. 29. Maywood will race through Dec. 31 on Thursdays and Fridays only, being dark on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Balmoral Park will then race through April 29, three nights per week: Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturday, but dark on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 1, and Easter, April 12.

The track will then be closed until May 2, when it resumes racing four nights per week—Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday—through Oct. 31. From Nov. 1 through Dec. 30, the track will go back to its three-night-a-week schedule of Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The only reason I find this news interesting is because it brings back memories from the 1970′s for me. My father owned standardbred race horses driven and trained by Bruce Nickells. Bruce, whose wife Joanne died in 2007, had stables in the Chicago Illinois and Columbus areas during the spring and summer before taking all operations to Florida for the winter.

I’ve been to Hawthorne and Maywood plus Sportsman Park, another Chicago area track at the time. Most racing I saw was at Sportsmans, but I was to races at Hawthorne and Maywood also. I remember my Hawthorne experience to this day.

On the first night of racing at Hawthorne in the summer of 1972, the racetrack suffered a power out. It was confined to the trackside area, I think a blown transformer was the reason. After a few hours, the rest of the racing program was cancelled. Including a race family’s best horse, record holder Fast Clip, was supposed to be in.

The race was re-scheduled for Tuesday, however Fast Clip never raced in it. He being a late scratch. The groom taking care of Clip, put the wraps around his legs on too tight, this cutting off the horse’s circulation to its lower legs and hooves. A very dangerous thing to do with a horse. Fast Clip did recover from what happened and a month record set a lifetime mark for himself, 156.3 at the Duquoin raceway in Illinois. The following month Fast Clip finished 2nd to Strike Out in the second heat of The Little Brown Jug. There Clip bested the record for a pacer on a half mile track at the time, in the race that is the Standardbred Pacer’s equivalent of The Kentucky Derby.

 

Washington Redskins TE Chris Cooley apologizes for revealing photo

The internet and dumb football players don’t mix. From AP-

ASHBURN, Va. – Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley apologized Monday for posting an explicit photo of himself on his Web site.

Cooley accidentally revealed more of himself than he wanted when he took a picture Sunday morning while preparing for the game against the New Orleans Saints. Cooley wanted to show the readers of his popular blog some of the study materials the players were given by coach Jim Zorn.

Cooley, however, was studying in the nude, and he didn’t examine his photo closely before posting it.

“All apologies from the website. … We did not want to offend anyone,” Cooley said in a posting Monday afternoon after the photo was removed. “The picture wouldn’t have been up for so long, but we were in the middle of winning a big game. Once again, this was a complete accident, and we regret not reviewing the post more closely.”

People post nude photos of themselves by accident all the time. Yes and I’m going to replace Doug Ferguson as AP’s golf beat writer. Chris Cooley is a moron and pervert. Anyone want to disagree?

 

Milwaukee Brewers fire Manager Ned Yost

3rd base coach Dale Sveum will take off as Manager. From AP-

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers have fired manager Ned Yost in the midst of a late-season slump that has jeopardized the team’s chances of making the playoffs for the first time since 1982.

Third-base coach Dale Sveum will become interim manager for the remainder of the season.

The Brewers have lost seven of their last 10, and share the NL wild-card lead with Philadelphia.

This is a really almost unheard of move for a team with postseason possibilities. It is usually teams playing badly or underpeforming that have their managers fired in September.

Since Sveum has never managed in the majors before, who’s to say he’ll be an improvement on Yost.

 

Ryder Cup course damaged by storm

The biennial matches begin on Friday. From AP-

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Strong wind felled a TV tower and some trees at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday, five days before the start of the Ryder Cup.

Kerry Haigh, managing director of championships and business development for the PGA of America said the television tower fell on the 12th hole.

“The PGA of America is working to clean up all affected areas and is confident that when spectators arrive on Tuesday for the first full practice round, Valhalla will be ready for the biggest event in golf this year,” Haigh said.

Less than a month after Hurricane Wilma, Trump International was ready for the 2005 ADT Championship. Vahalla’s damage has to be much less severe, I think the course will be ready in time for play.

 

Chicago Cubs Carlos Zambrano throws a no-hitter

It was the first one for the franchise since 1972. From AP-

Carlos Zambrano pitched the first no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs in 36 years, returning from a sore rotator cuff to shut down the Houston Astros 5-0 Sunday night in a game relocated because of Hurricane Ike.

“I guess I’m back!” Zambrano hollered.

Pitching for the first time since Sept. 2, Zambrano stopped a Houston team that had not played since Thursday. The storm forced baseball to move two games from Texas to Miller Park and the Astros flew hours before they took the field.

Zambrano, known for his emotional displays on the mound, kept himself in control until striking out Darin Erstad.

*****

Zambrano struck out a season-high 10 and walked one in the Cubs’ first no-hitter since Milt Pappas pitched one against San Diego in 1972. This was the 13th no-hitter in team history, including five in the late 1800s.

This was the second no-hitter in the majors this season — Boston’s Jon Lester did it against Kansas City at Fenway Park on May 19.

The Astros only once came close to a hit. David Newhan lined a drive that first baseman Derrek Lee jumped to catch to end the fifth inning.

Way to go Carlos. Now can the New York Mets, the favorite team of my youth, get their first ever in franchise history.

 

Weekly Miami Dolphins prediction

Miami(0-1) plays at the Arizona Cardinals this afternoon. I had a longer post written about today’s game, one that recalled what happened after the last time these teams played. A 24-23 loss to Arizona causing Miami Head Coach Dave Wannstedt to resign two days later. The post was lost after a computer crash.

Tony Sparano’s job isn’t on the line today, but the outcome will be the same as 2004. A Bad Miami Defense + A Strong Arizona Receiving corps makes me predict Arizona 31, Miami 20.

 

LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens speaks

She answered questions from the golf media yesterday about the tour’s recently rescinded penalties for players who don’t speak enough English. First we’ll start with Golf Week’s Beth Ann Baldry-

GW: If that’s the case, then why did you change the policy?
CB: It isn’t a policy. It’s a program. What we did was rescind the playing suspension.

Golfweek: Can you take me through last week and how you went from Tuesday’s memo to Friday’s memo?
Carolyn Bivens: What we said in the policy was that we listened to the feedback.

First the Commisioner says it is a program not a policy. Then Bivens calls it a policy. Get me some dramamine fast. I’m feeling seasick.

The fun isn’t over yet.

GW: Looking back on the way everything developed, is there anything you would do differently? Is there anything the LPGA has learned from this?
CB: We learn from everything.

GW: Would you care to expand on that?
CB: The only thing I would expand on there is that this was not an announcement and it was not a policy. Unfortunately that is the way that it was portrayed.

The only mistake the Commish sees is that the dumb headed idea wasn’t properly presented by others. How about you Carolyn not going on vacation and letting Golfweek instead break the news rather than the LPGA Tour? I can think of a few other mistakes made but I’m guessing you’ll never fess up to them.

GW: Looking back on it now, do you wish you have discussed the penalty portion with more sponsors or . . .
CB: Sponsors never want to be part of these decisions.

What was it State Farm said a week ago about not liking the LPGA not communicating to them about the new policy or program or what ever and asking for their feedback.

The spewing of nonsense from Carolyn Bivens isn’t done yet. Compare what she said to Golfweek, and what Tommy Hicks reports for a Alabama newspaper.

She said the meeting was meant to address those issues, as well as issues that would assist players in marketing, communication and competition, but what was highlighted “was about 10 percent” of what was discussed. “We were addressing sponsors’ needs and requirements.”

LOL Bivens contradicts what she told Golfweek. Is this woman lying or out right unbalanced? In either case, Carolyn Bivens has no business running a professional sports organization. The LPGA would be wise to dump their commissioner and the sooner the better.

Hat tip- Ryan at Waggle room. I suggest all my readers read what Ryan has to say.

 

Atlanta Brave Manager Bobby Cox says he’ll be back in 2009

Next year will Cox’s 20th year managing the Braves. From AP-

Despite Atlanta’s worst season since 1990, longtime Braves manager Bobby Cox vowed Wednesday to return next season.

The 67-year-old Cox signed a one-year contract extension in May, but his team was ravaged by injuries — especially to the pitching staff — and went into a game against the Colorado Rockies with a 63-82 record, 18½ games out of first in the NL East.

Cox said the Braves’ record — good or bad — would not be a factor in his decision to step aside, whenever that might be.

“I’m not going to decide my retirement based on wins and losses or anything like that,” he said, sitting in a tiny room just off the Braves dugout at Turner Field. “I still love the game. It’s fun. It’s no fun to lose, but I look at it different than most people. The game is fun to me. Coming to the ballpark is fun. I enjoy being able to be a part of the game.”

When Cox pointed out that he already had a contract for 2009, someone said the Braves would surely let him out of it if he had changed his mind. After all, he’s been managing the team since 1990, and management has made it clear that he can stay in the dugout as long as he likes.

“I won’t change my mind,” he insisted.

Cox is the fourth-winningest manager in major-league history and likely headed to Cooperstown after he does decide to retire. The Braves won a record 14 straight division titles from 1991-2004 and captured the city’s lone World Series championship in 1995.

Before the Braves, Cox had a successful tenure managing the Toronto Blue Jays. Taking them to the LCS in 1985. Bobby Cox’s MLB playing career consisted entirely of two unspectacular years playing 3rd base for the New York Yankees.

No doubt, Cox deserves enshrinement in the HOF one day. I do think he has outlived his usefulness to Atlanta. Like ballplayers, managers can stay on too long too.

 

SF 49ers QB Alex Smith has broken shoulder, probably out for 2008

Another day, another NFL QB put on injured reserve.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Alex Smith’s season is over with another shoulder injury. The high-priced quarterback’s short career with the San Francisco 49ers is probably finished as well.

The 49ers put Smith on injured reserve Wednesday with a broken bone in his right shoulder, though coach Mike Nolan claimed to know little about the injury. Smith, the top pick in the 2005 draft, probably will require more surgery, but Nolan provided no specifics.

“I feel sorry for him,” said running back Frank Gore, a third-round pick in Smith’s draft. “He was a great teammate and worked hard. I just hope the best for him, and hope he gets well.”

After paying Smith more than $31 million during his four years with the 49ers, the bleak realities of NFL salary cap life mean the club is likely to release him before next season. General manager Scot McCloughan said last week that San Francisco can’t risk paying $9 million in base salary to a backup quarterback in 2009, and Smith lost his starting job to journeyman J.T. O’Sullivan in training camp.

“I’m not going to answer any hypothetical questions about the future,” said Nolan, who had an embarrassing public spat with Smith last year over the severity of the quarterback’s shoulder injury. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. My focus right now is on [Sunday's game against] Seattle.”

Smith had surgery on his shoulder in December to repair three torn ligaments, the product of a separated shoulder from a game in late September 2007. He appeared to be at full strength in training camp, but experienced severe pain in his shoulder last Friday while making a long throw during practice.

If Smith is released after 2008, and the Miami Dolphins continue their hopeless ways at QB, I wouldn’t be surpised if this former number one pick comes to South Florida to continue his career.

 
 


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