Sturm, who led the Bruins with 27 goals last season, had surgery Tuesday on his left knee. Doctors repaired his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament and said the operation was successful.

Sturm played 19 games this season and had seven goals and six assists before getting injured in an 8-5 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 18.

As the Bruins are 32-7-4 for the year and have a 11-point lead in the Eastern Conference, I think they will survive this blow to their starting lineup.

Guess again. A column that recently appeared in central Maine’s Sun Journal illustrates how hard it is to cover sports. In addition it also demonstrates that one has to work really, really hard to be this foolish. Let’s go to the blockquoted text:

Just like Curt Schilling’s near no-hitter, the Red Sox will need some help if they hope to complete a perfect season.

The team they have in place right now is obviously pretty good.

But, the bullpen is shaky at best, the back-end of the rotation is suspect and the bench could use a clutch bat or two.

First off, the Red Sox bullpen, far from being shaky is actually one of the best in the league. Their ERA of 3.03 is the best in the American League. Toronto’s Bullpen ERA is second at 3.21. The American League combined bullpen ERA is 4.22. Hideki Okajima is proving lights out in his first year. Jonathan Papelbon has had a few knuckles int he stream, but by and large has been excellent closing out games. There have been shaky performances, but, more often than not, the bulpen has been sparkling good.

Every bench is in need of a good clutch bat. So that point is irrelevant. What team doesn’t want the luxury of having an all-star coming off the bench.

As for the back of the rotation, plenty of teams would like a pair of starting pitchers with five hundred records and ERAs of 4.18 and 4.97 at the back of the rotation. Tim Wakefield has remarkably allowed two runs or less in six of his fourteen starts. He has been torched by the Yankees (17 ER in 14 IP). Remove the Yankee games from his season stat line and Wakefield’s ERA goes from 4.18 to 2.91. There is nothing suspect about that. Julian Tavarez, meanwhile has faced Johan Santana, Roy Halladay (twice) Chien-Ming Wang, Barry Zito, Mike Mussina and Danny Haren among a few lesser lights. And in spite of allowing 1.4 baserunners an inning, Tavarez has kept the ball on the ground, gotten double plays and generally landed on his feet. The Red Sox meanwhile are 7-5 in his 12 starts. Having a fifty-fifty shot of winning on days when your worst starter is on the hill is something every team wants.

Well, there are worse ways to make a point than using vacuous rhetorical argument devoid of nettlesome things like facts. Like what, you ask?

Trade #3: Cardinals trade Jim Edmonds and Anthony Reyes for Coco Crisp, Kason Gabbard, Craig Hansen and a first-round draft pick. Edmonds is nearing the end of his career, but he can still play great defense and has some pop left in his bat. I think all Sox fans would admit that Crisp has been bit of a disappointment, but he still has market value. St. Louis will need to look at rebuilding and a speedy centerfielder that is built more for the National League (bunting, sacrificing, stealing bases) could be appealing. Reyes helps replace the loss of Lester/Buchholz in terms of future power arms. Also, the Sox may not have to give up Gabbard and Hansen. Realistic: Actually, this one could happen.(Emphasis mine -E.P.)

Maybe we shouldn’t let him know that Major League Baseball Teams cannot trade draft picks.

The 27-year-old from Hawkes Bay reached an unassisted free-dive depth of 81m, shaving a metre off the previous record set by Czech diver Martin Stepanek in 2005.

Trubridge achieved the feat yesterday in his adopted homeland of the Bahamas. In setting the record, Trubridge retrieved a tag – attached to a descending rope at a depth of 81m – without the assistance of fins, ropes or weight belts.

He had been building up to the unassisted free-dive world record for the past two years, and was ecstatic at having achieved it.

Now 25, with a neatly trimmed red beard bordering his still-boyish face, Goodman plays in the second tier of Israel’s professional basketball league. Not the place NBA scouts come looking for the next Michael Jordan.

Now married and living in Israel, Tamir hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype that surrounded him. The article is unclear if that his talent is lacking or his health.

As the first Orthodox Jew to play Division I basketball, Goodman became a role model in the Jewish community and a test of American tolerance.

“He was a Joe Lieberman in sneakers,” says Jeffrey Gurock, a professor of American Jewish history at Yeshiva University, where he is also an assistant basketball coach. “He became the fulfillment of the American Orthodox youngster’s fantasy that a kid could be so good as a basketball player that the world would stand on its head to accommodate his religious values.”

If Tamir is now obscure though, consider what once was.

At the peak of his popularity, Goodman was receiving more than 700 media requests a week and was interviewed by 60 Minutes and Sports Illustrated and featured on ESPN.

He’s not kidding. We once saw a TV crew set up on our street, around a corner and maybe a half mile from where Tamir lived.

Still Tamir might have opened the door for other Orthodox Jewish athletes, however rare they might be.

As Goodman’s star has faded, other Jewish sports figures have emerged, combating the stereotype of Jews as only scholars, Gurock says. Benjamin Rubin, a 17-year-old Orthodox Jewish hockey player from Montreal, appears to be on the fast track to the NHL. Dmitriy Salita, a Ukrainian-American top welterweight boxer, is also deeply observant and refuses to fight on the Sabbath.

When Tamir ended up backing out of the deal with Maryland, Ken Rosenthal, then a columnist for the Baltimore Sun, wrote an excellent column criticizing Gary Williams’s behavior, Williams fails, Goodman aces test of faith.

All Gary Williams had to tell Tamir Goodman was that it couldn’t work. But that’s not what happened, is it?

Not even close.Not even at the bitter end.
 
Williams had to jump last Jan. 10, had to offer Goodman a basketball scholarship to Maryland, had to lock up this high school junior, right then and there, before other schools could enter the mix.

His ignorance of the complexities presented by Goodman’s Orthodox Jewish religion is forgivable. His refusal to play it straight with a 17-year-old — particularly one of such principle — is not.

Even acknowledging that Tamir may not have been as good as originally advertised, Rosenthal points out that Williams made it clear that he never fully understood Tamir’s commitment to observance. In a nutshell Rosenthal summed it up nicely

And you can bet Williams is relieved, too.

He now can give Goodman’s scholarship to a player who will be available seven days a week instead of six, a player whose religious beliefs won’t disrupt Williams’ almighty program.

Goodman answers to a different almighty, and that was the heart of the conflict.

A lot of us were rooting for Tamir. Hopefully, he’ll get his chance to play for a while without injury. Still, it’s nice to see that while he may not spend much time in the air, his feet are firmly on the ground.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

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Of course Versus provides you with a who to call and email form to voice your displeasure to Charter Cable. This all becomes a game, because really the only people who really get harmed in this are the people who watch Versus, like those 5 hockey fans.

Of course at 6′4″ and 247 pounds he’ll bring some new meaning to the phrase “last man to beat” on a punt return.

This was probably a foregone conclusion, as Florida vaulted past Michigan in the final polls. Adding intrigue and controversy to the situation, OSU’s Jim Tressel declined to participate in the coaches’ poll.

Florida passed Michigan and returned to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 and the USA Today coaches’ polls released Sunday.

While the Gators had a slim lead of three points over Michigan in the AP poll, they were 26 points ahead of the Wolverines in the USA Today poll — a margin that could help get Florida into the national title game. The coaches’ poll is one of three components used in the Bowl Championship Series Standings, along with the Harris poll and a compilation of six computer ratings.

[...]

Ohio State’s Jim Tressel did not vote in the USA Today coaches’ poll to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest, a move the newspaper said could jeopardize his future in the selection process. “We are excited to play in the BCS title game against a tremendous opponent,” Tressel said in a statement. “After consultation with my director of athletics, Gene Smith, and based upon our unique position in the BCS standings, I believe it is only fair that we not participate in the final poll.”

Monte Lorell, USA Today’s managing editor for sports, said Sunday in a statement, “We are disappointed with coach Tressel’s decision, but our oversight role does not grant us authority to compel his participation. The agreement with the American Football Coaches Association obligates the panel of coaches to disclose final regular season ballots, without exception. “Coach Tressel’s future involvement in the poll will be part of our annual review with AFCA executive director Grant Teaff.”

[...]

Teaff, a former coach, said Tressel’s decision was “not something that we would like to have happen, but it’s kind of an unusual circumstance.” Until last year, the coaches’ ballots were not made public. Now, the final regular-season ballots are released. “It’s just a tough situation,” Teaff said.

You can’t blame him, really. It’s an awkward situation for a coach guaranteed a shot at the title to have the opportunity to help pick his opponents. Indeed, one without integrity could easily pick a lesser opponent by voting the #3 or #4 team #1 and leaving the higher ranked teams off the ballot.

The Pirates are among a dozen teams pursuing free agent Jeff Suppan, the St. Louis Cardinals’ best pitcher during their run to the World Series.

“There are a lot of teams reaching out, a tremendous amount of interest in Jeff,” Suppan’s agent, Scott Leventhal, said yesterday. “And Pittsburgh is one of those teams.”

That might surprise some, given that Suppan should command an annual salary in the range of $8 million-$9 million over a span of three or four years. But the Pirates have roughly $14 million to spend this off season, a figure that would rise to $17 million if they sever ties with Shawn Chacon, another right-handed starter.

Yes, that DOES surprise me. This is the first good free agent I’ve heard the Pirates name associated with in YEARS. Pittsburgh just hasn’t gone after any big names at all: the only money they have spent has been on some of their home grown talent (i.e. Jason Bay). However, this may signal a good change in the front office – the willingness to spend money to make the team better. A good farm system is vital, but that needs to be augmented with a good free agent on occasion – you just aren’t going to develop everything you will need.

Is this a sign that the Pirates are finally developing a team to be competitive? I sure hope so.

I can’t believe I’m saying this. Although I didn’t think the Steelers were the hands down favorite to win the next Super Bowl, I would have at least figured that they would be a playoff team that COULD make another good run.

So, now the question is “what the heck went wrong”? Also, “How on God’s green earth did the Steelers lose to OAKLAND?” has also been pondered. Here’s the main reason:

Turnovers.

Its as simple as that. The Steelers have turned the ball over at the worst times. On kick returns and in the red zone. They are either about to score, and cough up the ball, or they are about to get the ball back, and give it up, killing any possible offensive momentum.

The team is very productive on offense, but cannot score. We’ve out-gained many of the teams we have played. We also lost to them, because we give up great field position on turnovers. It is frustrating to see your team gained almost 500 yards in offense . . . and still lost.

Who is to blame? I have no idea, really. The whole team is dropping the balls. The defense is doing an OK job at stopping the other team, really. They could be better, but I really have no beef with them. The offense is playing horrible football. Big Ben is throwing way too many interceptions, and I wonder if that is because we are asking him to throw too much. Roethlisberger seems to do best when the running game is firing on all cylinders, which it is not. Which, of course, brings us to the run game. Willie Parker is doing OK, but he cannot grind out the yardage in the way Bettis could. We need someone who can grind out yardage, although I understand we are not going to get another Bettis – we need a back to fill that role, and the Steelers don’t seem to be doing a good job of getting running backs to try out for this position.

All in all, this is an extremely disappointing season. With the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7-4-1, I may just have to try to follow hockey for the first time in years. Also, a columnist pointed out that the Pittsburgh Pirates were no longer the worst team in Pittsburgh – they have a better winning percentage than the Steelers. Ouch.

University of Miami defensive lineman Bryan Pata was fatally shot less than two hours after the Hurricanes finished their afternoon practice Tuesday, the University of Miami and Miami-Dade police said Tuesday night. Pata was shot in the head at an apartment complex south of the university, Miami-Dade police spokesman Roy Rutland told the Associated Press. A Miami-Dade police dispatcher said a call reporting the shooting came at 7:03 p.m. A police spokesman said the incident took place at Pata’s residence and his death was ruled a homicide, Rutland said.

The football team, which is scheduled to play Maryland on Saturday, concluded its practice at around 5:15 p.m., and players, who were provided with catered food, dispersed soon after for their dorms or homes, a sports information official said.

Investigators remained on the scene after 10 p.m., the Miami-Dade dispatcher said. In a statement released at 11 p.m., the university urged anyone with information on the shooting to come forward.

“Tonight the University of Miami tragically lost a member of our football family, Bryan Pata,” the statement read. “Bryan was a fine person and a great competitor. He will be forever missed by his coaches and teammates. We offer our thoughts and prayers to his family. Our players are deeply saddened and are grieving. We ask that their privacy be respected in the coming days.”

Miami, which lost 17-10 to Virginia Tech at the Orange Bowl on Saturday night, is scheduled to face No. 23 Maryland in College Park on Saturday. No announcement was made regarding whether that game will take place as scheduled. ACC Commissioner John Swofford was aware of the shooting, according to the Associated Press, and was working with Miami officials to gather information, conference spokeswoman Amy Yakola said.

Pata, a senior expected to be taken in next spring’s NFL draft, started eight games for the Hurricanes and made 29 tackles. Having made the shift from defensive end to tackle at the beginning of the season, Pata was credited for making Miami’s run defense one of the best in the nation.

Tuesday night’s shooting turned what has been an abysmal season for the Hurricanes into a tragic one. Other off-field incidents and disappointing play on the field have frustrated and embarrassed Miami, which is 5-4 and unranked.

Pata, a criminology major, was the second Miami football player shot this season. In July, safety Willie Cooper was shot in the buttocks in his front yard by an assailant after an early-morning workout, but he was not seriously injured. Miami’s Brandon Meriweather, who shared a house with Cooper, returned fire at Cooper’s assailant but apparently missed.

[...]

Pata became the second Hurricanes player murdered in the last decade. Linebacker Marlin Barnes was bludgeoned to death and slashed with a knife in his dorm room in April 1996.

Horrible.

Randle El, a multipurpose wide receiver from Pittsburgh who signed a seven-year free-agent contract worth $31 million, was involved in a bizarre sequence on Sunday in Indianapolis that perfectly framed what’s gone so terribly wrong in Washington.

For the first time this season, Randle El produced an electrifying punt return — 87 yards, all the way into the end zone to give the Redskins a 14-10 lead. But then he leaped into the goal post, which is not on the NFL’s list of approved celebration props. That cost Washington 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff. And then Sean Taylor was called for an offside penalty, which moved the Redskins back to their 10-yard line. Thus, punter Derrick Frost was brought on for the free kick. But he kicked before the whistle and the play was ruled dead. Frost ripped off his helmet and screamed at the officials, costing the Redskins a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty. Frost eventually kicked from his 5-yard line.

Said Gibbs, “I’ve never seen that before.”

Me either.

The Redskins are 2-5, the same record as the Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, and Cleveland Browns. Like two other 2-5 teams–the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Pittsburgh Steelers–they’ve a lot better than that. They’ve got talent at key positions and solid coaching. But they’re going to have to pull out of their slump fast if they are going to avoid joining that first bunch at missing the playoffs.

With my Dallas Cowboys coming in this weekend, I hope they wait at least another week.

Vanderjagt is absolutely, certifiably the most accurate field goal kicker in the history of the National Football League. His success rate (.8745) is nearly four percentage points better than the second-best kicker, Phil Dawson of the Browns.

And yet, when Vanderjagt’s career epitaph is written, two words will loom larger than all others: Idiot Kicker.

Yet, he’s a multi-millionaire in a league that suddenly realizes the value of kickers.

There was a time, not so long ago, when kickers were outcasts in the NFL. They were undersized, finesse-oriented specialists in a smash-mouth man’s game. Kickers, even within the context of a team, weren’t considered real football players. But coaches have long known that special teams can determine the outcome of just as many games as offense or defense. Consider the recent results of Week 6, where, appropriately, six games hinged on the performance of placekickers:

• The Cardinals’ Neil Rackers, who set an NFL record last season by kicking 40 of 42 field goals, missed a 41-yard field goal with 53 seconds left. Arizona — which once led by 20 points — lost to the Chicago Bears 24-23.

• Seattle’s Josh Brown kicked a 54-yard field goal as time expired to give the Seahawks a 30-28 victory over the Rams.

• The Saints’ John Carney kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired, giving New Orleans a dramatic 27-24 victory over the Eagles.

• Jason Hanson’s 29-yard field goal was the difference in Detroit’s first victory of the season, a 20-17 win over Buffalo.

• Rob Bironas kicked three field goals — including a 30-yarder with 5:11 left to play — to carry the Tennessee Titans to their first victory, 25-22 over Washington.

• Two field goals by Mike Nugent ultimately made a difference in the Jets’ 20-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins.

No wonder they’re paying kickers like CEOs. The Colts, who passed on Vanderjagt in the offseason, signed the Patriots’ three-time Super Bowl champion Adam Vinatieri to a contract that featured a signing bonus of $3.5 million and an average salary of $2.5 million over the next three years. The Vikings signed Packers placekicker Ryan Longwell to a five-year contract worth $10 million and three weeks ago the San Diego Chargers locked up Nate Kaeding — beginning only his third NFL season — for five years with a $12.2 million deal, $3.5 million of it guaranteed.

[...]

With the 2006 NFL salary cap at $102 million and 53 players on each roster, you can argue that — based on their impact — kickers are still underpaid.

“The devil’s advocate will say we don’t really work a whole lot,” Vanderjagt said. “You know, we stand around for an hour and 45 minutes out of a two-hour practice. But we get paid to make plays on Sunday. Field goals are definitely deciding more games and more and more teams are realizing that.

Certainly, the Cowboys are among them, after losing three games last year because of going the street free agent route on kickers.

Enter Vanderjagt, who is as decorated as a placekicker can be. He is one of only four placekickers to go an entire season without missing a field goal, going 37-for-37 in 2003 with the Colts. That was part of his NFL-record 41 consecutive field goal run. Vanderjagt is the Colts’ all-time leading scorer, with 995 points and has scored 100 points in each of his first eight seasons. He also has 11 game-winning field goals in the last 15 seconds of a game.

[...]

Vanderjagt could maintain his lead as the league’s most accurate kicker through the end of his career. For one thing, he has a comfortable margin over Browns’ kicker Dawson. For another: He enjoyed the indoor safety and comfort of the Colts’ RCA Dome and Texas Stadium, though it has an opening in the roof, keeps most of nature’s elements out.

Vanderjagt says he is happy in his working environment, which is something he hasn’t experienced in some time.

“To this day, I have not received any verbal thrashings for missing field goals,” he said. “When I met Coach Parcells for the first time, he said, ‘I don’t want to screw you up. I’m going to let you do your own thing.’ I wasn’t pushing the panic button.

“I keep telling him, ‘You’re the head coach and you’ve got a lot on your mind. The field goal kicker shouldn’t be one of them.’”

Thirty minutes after a lengthy phone interview, the phone rang again.

“Yeah,” he said, “it’s Mike Vanderjagt.

“Hey, I just wanted to mention that my field goal percentage is actually better outside than it is inside. There’s a perception that I’m more of an indoor kicker. It might be just half a point, but you should point out that I’m better outside.”

Heh. So far, at least, the Cowboys haven’t lost any games this year owing to crappy kicking. (Crappy quarterbacking, on the other hand. . . ) I’ll take an Idiot Kicker that makes ‘em over a smart one who misses every time.

So, what has happened? Well, from what I can see, a lot:

1. Big Ben is not playing how he played last year. This is the most obvious flaw in the team. Roethlisberger is making bad decisions, throwing a lot of interceptions, and has not thrown a touchdown this season. He’s no Peyton Manning as far as QB stats go, but at the moment, he isn’t even up to “average quarterback” standards.
2. The recieving corps is lousy. Hines Ward doesn’t seem to have fully recovered from his injuries, and has never been the deep threat anyway. (He’s also not smiling, which is unusual, and indicates to me that he may very well be in pain from that hamstring injury.) Santonio Holmes is a rookie, and Nate Washington isn’t playing up to the level of Randel-El and Qunicy Morgan. They need to pick up their game in order to make Ben’s job easier.
3. The offensive line isn’t giving Ben any time. He needs time to make things happen, and isn’t getting it.
4. Troy Polamalu is not making the plays he made last season. Since the defense is set up to allow him to roam around and follow the play, Troy not making said plays adversely affects the defense.
5. Finally, James Harrison and Joey Porter are going to be out with injuries. This is bad for the defense, which has enough problems already.

There are a few positives:
1. Willie Parker has made some good runs, and had some good games. Considering the lackluster performance of the offensive line, this isn’t bad.
2. Ricardo Colclough isn’t returning punts anymore. While I hope he recovers from his injuries, I sure hope he never returns to special teams as a return man.

OK, that’s all the positives I can think of. The Steelers are in big trouble, and while I think they can win, they are going to have a long road ahead in order to do so. Espicially with the Ravens and Bengals looking as good as they are.

Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler hopes to inject some horsepower into his U.S. House bid by renting advertising space on a racing car.

The campaign is spending $10,000 to put the Democrat’s name on the No. 23 Chevrolet driven by Brad Keselowski during the NASCAR Busch Series event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Friday night, spokesman Andrew Whalen said.

“It’s an opportunity to reach out to voters in a different way,” Whalen said. “Heath and the rest of the campaign staff are big NASCAR fans, so we’re excited about this.”

You’d think he’d advertise on the #21 car.

At any rate, his NASCAR gambit can’t be any less successful than his NFL run. Perhaps it’s fitting he’s sticking to the Busch league this time.