The Week That Was
2/5/07 - 2/11/07   


ED : Ed Agner : BB : Bill Barnwell : JS : Justin Slotman : PR : Phil Rippa : MM: Marc Manning

ED:  Remember: we knew Bill before he starred on Cold Pizza.

BB: Mornings bitches.


MM: Can you hook me up with Kit...errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...


JS: Wait-did that actually happen, or is this a metaphor or something? And do they need a Beijing correspondent? I work cheaper than Lewis Johnson.


PR: Doing this website earns me slightly less than I make working my sorta real job. My life sucks.


NBA

ED:  Former player John Amaechi is going to release a book and reveal that his is gay.  NBA commish Daniel Stern was prepared to fine for excessive happiness until they explained what gay in this case meant.

BB: In other news, David Stern resigns as NBA commissioner and is replaced by Daniel Stern. I don't know, maybe someone saw Celtic Pride and thought he'd be a good fit. I have no idea.


JS: Still-Daniel’s a step up over the life model decoy who’s been running the league for the past five years.


ED:  Sadly when Bill first pointed this out to me, I only paid attention to the Jooge-esque screw up of “reveal that his is gay.”  Now I see the Daniel Stern bit too.  God, I want that on my grave.


PR: I was convinced that Ed would try to fix it but instead of correcting Daniel he would think he got the wrong Amaechi and change it to Don.


MM: The narrator from "The Wonder Years" with full Luke Schenscher whitefro revealing Boston as getting pick number three in 2007 is something out of a Bill Simmons night terror.


ED:  LAYIN' DOWN THA LAW!!!  Heat G Gary Payton is suspended one game for back talking a referee.  Bulls F Tyrus Thomas is fined $10K for stating he was only in the slam dunk contest for an easy payday.


BB: Well, he wouldn't have slept with me either.


ED:  TROUBLE LIST!!!  Indiana Pacers Jamaal Tinsley, Marquis Daniels and Keith McLeod are allegedly in trouble for their involvement in a fight with a bar manager after a home loss to Golden State.  Kings F Ron Artest pays $1,942 to retrieve his impounded dogs.


BB: That is actually probably one of the least weird things Ron Artest has done in a while.


JS: The Gil Arenas Revenge Tour sputtered out in Portland. Nate McMillan’s name remains on the enemies list.


PR: The Knicks had a fun week as supposedly James Dolan said that Isiah’s job is safe and Eddie Curry got some sort of tattoo on his chest bitching about not getting selected to the All Star game. I could have probably worked that into some sort of target tattoo joke but I don’t care that much.


MM: Dolan Fans -- Messier, Gretzky, Mutombo. Not Dolan Fans -- NYC and people with no sense of humor.


NHL

ED:  Yeah, so I guess we can just talk about how cool it is that we can now connect Bill with Kit Hoover.  Sorta.

BB: Aww...I am pretty sure Kit Hoover's been gone since '05. But shouldn't I be able to get a Deadspin account now? I am part of BLOGGER BUZZ!!! Yeesh.


PR: Mark Messier wants to be GM of the Rangers. Oh yeah - that seems par for the course.


PR: Teams have started wheeling and dealing. We will let you know when someone you might have heard of gets traded (which in Ed’s case basically means Wayne Gretzky).


AFL

ED:  Uh yeah.  Oddly, the season isn't starting until March.  Phil?

JS: Not Phil! Let’s see what I can crib from Arenafan. Lincoln Kennedy-signs with Desperados. Grand Rapids! Still has a franchise! Graziani! Still in Philadelphia!


PR: I am really curious to know if the AFL will end up paying Kennedy more than the NFL Network. Because, for once, I could see this as being a distinct possibility.


PR: And this isn’t really a story but I am still on the fence with random former NFL QB signing amuses me more - the KC Brigade signing Jonathan Quinn or Shaun King with Las Vegas. Yes, I am seriously considering talking myself into an AFL preview this year.


MM: Awww, you mopped up behind West Texas A&M's head golf coach, Criag Whelihan - WELCOME TO THE SABRECATS! And 3B? Aaron Boone is now playing FB/LB for the Utah Mitt Romleys.


PR: Now you are just stealing jokes that I had already mentally written for the AFL preview dream.

NCAA

ED:  NATIONAL SIGNING DAY!!!! - AKA, NATIONAL REVITALIZING THE CAR INDUSTRY DAY.  THIS IS OUUUUUUUUUR COOOOOOOOUNTRY!!!  Or, I guess in USC's case, National Beat Up On Reggie Bush Day.  Whichever.

ED:  An autopsy report reveals the USC K Mario Danelo was incredibly drunk at the time of his death.  What?  A college kid drunk?  Get out!  Most importantly did Frank Solich drop some GHB in his drink?


BB: I have never seen a college athlete drunk and would not ever mention this in a book I wrote or anything no sir.

ED:  Duke is still stinky.  A nation mourns.


JS: Hey-UConn stinks too! And we neglected to mention Iona’s win over Rider a few weeks back. They are now 1 and 24.


PR: Shocker that I have applied for a few jobs at Iona and attended a Graduate Open House. Failure clearly attracts failure.


SOCCER

BB: Italy's in chaos and most teams' stadiums are still closed. So essentially every match looks like it's a Juventus home game. Or a Middlesborough home game. Or a MetroStars home game. I'm stealing Phil's gimmick aren't I? I should at least get paid for it again. OK, moving on.

PR: I hate you.


BB: Dennis Wise is ANGRY because his team was leaked to Crystal Palace before the match by one of his players. Of course, Leeds still won. But they are unhappy. There are fears of a WITCH HUNT!


BB: David Beckham returns to the Madrid first team and scores. Does not take off shirt in fear of revealing Anschutz tattoo on stomach.


BB: Something about Oleguer and a hunger strike and ETA.


JS: Oh, and QPR fought the Chinese national team in what looked like the soccer version of an empty arena match.


JS: Colorado Rapids to remain Colorado Rapids, and not to rebrand Euro-style as was previously reported in this space. We regret the error. They did adopt a new shield and the Avs’ colors, though.


PR: The FA bans homophobic chanting. Another reason Matt Millen will not follow the other football.


PR: OH! Sam Allardyce says that England is full of fatties and the national team will suck because of it. I love soccer.


MLB

ED:  Former Orioles P Steve Barber dead at 67.  Former Cardinals P Max Lanier dead at 91.  Former Braves P Lew Burdette dead at 80.  Former Yankee player, Oriole manager and Marine Hank Bauer dead at 84.

BB: Poor poor people from Ball Four dying. Ooh - new archetype for the never-happening Dead Pool II.


PR: My sister only told me twice about Bauer. That would be the under on the number that I quoted Ed. Of course - she was partly distracted because she was crashing the Thurman Munson dinner for the fifth straight year.


ED:  The Dominican Republic wins the Caribbean World Series.  God, Mexico doing their best impersonation of the Baltimore Orioles during the series was a thing of beauty.


BB: They sent the Japanese team an e-mail? Wait, what was the Japanese team doing at the Caribbean World Series?


ED:  Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols becomes an official US citizen.  Well, he should know his American History well enough to pass the citizenship test…considering he came to America on the Mayflower.  Oops.  I mean, he is a young man who does not like about his age…not his usage of PED's.


BB: Maybe we could get Jooge citizenship. Then he could become an Orioles season ticket holder.


ED:  The Diamondbacks hire Mel Stottlemyre as a special pitching instructor.  Aww, he renounces his TRUE YANKEE-NESS!!!


BB: Does this mean he's not Andy Pettite's friend?


ED:  PLAYA MOVEMENT!!!  The Pirates sign CUBAN!!! Serguey Linares.  The Reds sign PVC!!! Eddie Guardado.  The Nats sign, among others, P Tim Redding and OF Michael Restovich.  The Rangers sign P Bruce Chen.  The A's sign MVP!!! Shannon Stewart.  The Mets sign P? Chan Ho Park.  P Jeff Fassero retires.  Former Yankees OF Bernie Williams turns down the team's offer of a minor league deal.


BB: Jeff Fassero will never retire. He will come back in five years.


NFL

ED:  Former Browns CB Tommy James dead at 83.

ED:  PRO BOWL!!!  The AFC wins the Pro Bowl on a late field goal, 31-28.  In the process, Saints QB Drew Brees goes down with a dislocated left elbow.  Poor poor New Orleans.


BB: And the worst part is that they don't even have Adrian McPherson anymore.


PR: SEAN TAYLOR HIT A PUNTER REALLY REALLY HARD!!!! GREATEST CORNER EVER IN FOOTBALL AND THIS PROVES IT!!! SEE!!! SEE!!!


ED:  The Cowboys hire Wade Phillips as their new head coach.  Sad to see that even the Cowboys now have an anti-Cowboy bias.


BB: Awww....


ED:  Former supervisor of NFL officials, Earnie Frantz, files a suit against the league claiming he was fired because of race.  Nonsense.  The NFL is not racist…as long as those black folk know their place.


ED:  We collectively weep for the poor little Bears fan who is changing his name to Peyton Manning as part of losing a Super Bowl bet.  Well, I weep for him because he's a Bears fan.  But the Manning part sucks too.


BB: Better than Daniael Manning.


ED:  We also collectively chuckle at Andy Reid's junkie son.  Well, we collectively chuckle at Andy Reid.  Being his son is reason enough to turn to smack.


BB: Awww...it's not like there weren't enough things to chew on in the house.


ED:  Of course, tempting me to turn to smack - the Raiders hire Tom Friggin' Rathman as RB's coach.  Oh youth, where did you go?


ed_canseco (12:37:52 PM): WAIT

ed_canseco (12:38:03 PM): why did no one tell me the Raiders hired Tom Rathman?
Bill_mcgwire (12:38:26 PM): awwww...poor poor tecmo bowl memories
ed_canseco (12:38:33 PM): hehehehehe
ed_canseco (12:38:42 PM): you so underetimate my age
ed_canseco (12:38:53 PM): whatever that word was supposed to be
ed_canseco (12:39:03 PM): electronic football, jack!
Bill_mcgwire (12:39:04 PM): oh no - well they're my tecmo bowl memories
ed_canseco (12:40:42 PM): I am too old for your new-fangled Nintendo tomfoolery
Bill_mcgwire (12:41:00 PM): awww
ed_canseco (12:42:15 PM): damn you and your youth

ED:  TROUBLE LIST!!!  Bengals CB Johnathan Joseph pleads not guilty to pot possession charges.  Titans CB Cortland Finnegan accepts a plea bargain to get out of DUI charges.  Bears DT Tank Johnson pleads guilty to violating his probation.  Former Falcons and Raiders CB Ray Buchanan is busted for writing bad checks.


PR: Andre Rison is going to wrestle or be on Pros vs. Joes or cock fight or sleep with the crazy member of the Pussycat dolls or change the smoke detectors in his house or something. There was definitely a note about him this week that I read somewhere on this stupid internet thingy that I can’t find again.


OTHER

ED:  David Gilland wins the pole for the Daytona 500.  Whee!

BB: Is he going to die in a homage to Dale Earnhardt? No? Just turn left? OK. All set then thanks. Justin...


ED:  EDDIE FRIGGIN’ FEIGNER…you know, THE KING AND HIS COURT fast pitch softball pitching God, dead at 81.  Yeah, and for those who wondered - Bill has no clue who this is.


JS: FOUR CONTINENTS! KIMMIE MEISSNER! Rules all of them! And she came back from sixth place after the short program to win.Team Japan came up way small, with Emily Hughes and Joannie Rochette taking the rest of the medals and Fumie Suguri withdrawing after the short program. Evan Lysacek took men’s gold; Shen & Zhao took pairs. Belbin and Agosto finally lost at Four Continents, to Dubreuil and Lauzon, and by 1.61 points.

JS: Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow both got silvers at the World Cup, which is of course relatively great for Americans but this appears to be the year of Anja Paerson. Bode Miller: still underperforming.