Big Lead Sports Bar

2/20/2007

ARod-Jeter Break up, Pillow Fight League, Castillo vs Wilson, Chesney Not Gay, Stallone Mullet, Britney's Wig

Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter have broken up. That will be one tricky divorce settlement.
If you thought Shawn Chacon was unstoppable last year, just wait until you see his secret weapon in 2007: arthritis.
Welcome the newest pro sports organization...the Pillow Fight League. Pittsburgh was rumored to get a franchise, but our local officials can't put together a plan for a suitable Pillow Fighting arena.
There's another new league starting up...the Israel Baseball League. The Pirates are predicted to finish last in that league too.
Jack Wilson and Jose Castillo met privately to discuss Jack's comments a few weeks back. Jose basically said he doesn't care, and I'm not surprised. I don't think he really cares about much of anything.
Ron Cook says PSU basketball is abysmal, but does anyone care? Ron obviously has never met board regular Adam.
Dominic Rhodes got a DUI. He put some lives in danger, sure. But the important question is how this will affect the Colts backfield next season.
I received an email from artist Jim deMaine, who turns out to be the artist behind the Bill Cowher art featured recently. Jim offers a variety of original sports art, including various Steelers, MJ, Lance Armstrong, and many more. Check out his online store here for the full line.

Kenny Chesney says
he's not gay, contrary to numerous reports by the Sports Pickle.
Ron Rivera goes from potential head coach to linebackers coach in a few short weeks. Time to fire that agent, Double R.
Michael Jordan is certainly not gay. In fact, he's so cool that his lady walks 10 paces behind him.
Here's a controversial list of the best sports movies ever. When I say controversial, I mean there are some absolute dogs here. Nacho Libre, Dodgeball, and in the top 10...Space Jam?
Corporate fat cats are jumping off the luxury box bandwagon. If there's one way to impress a client, it's feeling the electricity of a Pirate game.

Here's the
most awesome sports moves ever. This list starts with charging the mound and ends with the Tiger Punch from Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Pathetic video game player as I was, I could never beat Tyson, even though my cousin could literally beat him with his eyes closed.

Sly Stallone is rocking the mullet while being busted with HGH. Hey, you have to keep up with Drago.
Sly may be mulletized, but at least he's not shaving his head and now wearing a wig, a la Britney. By the way, you can now buy Britney's hair for the low price of a million dollars.

14 comments:

DCScrap said...

Hey I didn't rank the movies, the American public did. They are listed and seeded by how much money they made. No one said that Americans have taste! If you don't like the seeding, rock your vote and cause an "upset!"

And thanks for the link, Raul.

Adam said...

Before I systematically rip Ron Cook to shreads, I wanted to throw this line out there:

"

Ron Cook: Penn State basketball is abysmal, but does anyone care?
Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Penn State men's basketball team has lost 11 in a row, is 1-11 in the Big Ten Conference in coach Ed DeChellis' fourth season and has a game at No. 2 Ohio State tomorrow night.

Other than that, the program is doing just fine.

Who knew?

Really, did you know Penn State was so awful?

Do you care?

Fan apathy should be high on the long list of concerns the Penn State administrators have about their basketball program. Penn State football fans are as passionate as just about any in America and routinely turn out 110,000 strong for games at Beaver Stadium. Not so with the school's basketball fans, few that there are. Penn State basketball long has been irrelevant in Happy Valley, just as Duquesne basketball has been here.

It's safe to say ESPN 1250 isn't thrilled about having the local radio broadcast rights to the Penn State games. If a station wants Penn State football, it has to take on the burden of carrying the basketball. The ESPN people think so little of Penn State basketball that, earlier this season, they cut away from the games late to go to their staff-produced Penguins postgame show. Word is at least five Penn State fans complained, although there was no official confirmation that all five were relatives of DeChellis, a native of Monaca, Beaver County. Penn State's brass rightfully screamed breach of contract, but it was hard to tell if they were more angry or humiliated.

Humiliated, probably.

It wasn't supposed to be like this when Penn State moved to the Big Ten in 1992 and opened the beautiful Bryce Jordan Center in January 1996. I remember talking to Joe Paterno the day Penn State played its first game in the new building. "I love what's happening with our basketball program," he said. "We'll be good forever now unless we get sloppy."

I'd like to say Paterno was old and out of touch back then, but that would be hypocritical. I agreed with him at the time. I remember writing: "Pitt fans aren't going to like this. They don't need another reason to be jealous. ... It's fascinating to think about the heights Penn State basketball can climb. ... It almost seems unfair that Penn State has the Jordan Center and JoePa. One school shouldn't be so lucky."

Hey, I'm not proud of it.

That was before Pitt opened the spectacular Petersen Events Center.

That was before Pitt went 79-8 in the new building.

That was before Pitt became a Big East Conference power and a Top 10 team.

Neither the Big Ten nor the Jordan Center has given Penn State a similar boost. It hasn't been able to overcome what long has held it back. A weak basketball tradition. A rural campus that makes it difficult to attract top inner-city recruits. A reputation -- fair or unfair -- of not being the friendliest campus for African-Americans. A lack of a natural recruiting base ...

It's a crying shame Penn State isn't in the Big East. It would make the Big East twice as good of a football league..."

Wow. What does that say about the Big East? It says that Penn State itself could beat the Big East All-Conference team. Twice as good? Haha, high praise for PSU.

Now onto the basketball side of things. Obviously, Ron Cook hasn;t watched or listened to a Penn State basketball game this year. Penn State started off 9-4, and looked like a lock for the NIT. Sure, they lost to Stony Brook, but also beat Bucknell and St. Joe's both considered quality programs. They opened the Big 10 season with a win over Northwestern to move to 10-5. I was impressed at that point. But now, the horrible run in the Big 10 has put a damper on things. What Ron Cook doesnt realize is how hard it truly is to build a program in a power conference.

#1 The Big 10 is full of perenial powerhouses. For Penn State to even consider drawing recruits from the midwest is a pipe dream. Unfortunately, they are also situated between Big 10 and Big East schools, who are also powerhouses, making it hard to draw top recruits from the big cities. To make matters worse, the best conference in the country, the ACC sits to the south. There is really no pipeline for penn State to draw marquee talent from. Whose fault is that? previous administrations of Penn State basketball, not Ed Decellis, who has, in my opinion, done the most with the Lions, and given them the best chance to win. That includes the tournament team.

#2 As we've seen, other schools with crappy basketball programs have risen only after adopting an unconventional style of play. It worked for Duquesne and West Virginia, maybe it can work for the Lions.

#3 I really like the team going into next year. Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornly are studs who would see signifigant minutes at any school in the country. Other than that tho, the Lions lack that killer gurad. Danny Morrissy may develop ino that player next year, or as a senior. Mike Walker is also seviceable. Penn State's biggest weakness is their lack of a big time center. Everyone else in basketballhas that huge, 6'10-7' big man who can change a game. Penn State doesnt. Imagine Pitt minus Aaron Gray, and the gurads shooting 10% less from the arc, and you have Penn State. Penn State needs to nail a big man, and develop the gurads they have now, and who knows, maybe they are a solid team who will go far in the NIT or maybe even squeak into the tournament if everything breaks right.

#4 Dont forget, this team gave Ohio State and Wisconsin all they could handle at the Jordan Center. All they need is an upset or two plus beating the teams they should beal: Minnesota, Purdue, and Nothewestern and you have a chance next year.

So go ahead, bring on the bashing, but until you truly know PSU basketball, you really arent in a position to talk about where the program is headed.

Adam said...

i dunno how i copied and pasted the whol article, but my rebuttle starts with "Wow"

Adam said...

o and Raul, a yahoo fantasy baseball league might be fun. just thought id throw that out there.

Dirty Sanchez said...

$1 million for Britney's hair? You could get Britney for an entire night for a case of Bud and bag of tacos from Taco Bell.

Adam - thanks for the 10 page dissertation on the state of PSU hoops. But really, either they suck or they don't. Don't rag on Pitt because they never make it past the Sweet Sixteen while you're singing the praises of a win over equally sucky Northwestern, which has been followed by 11 straight losses.

Every program in the country can go spin the whole "we gave team X a hard game, or we were soooo close" yarn. What Ron Cook stated is that PSU sucks and no one cares. Facts, right? If this player develops or if PSU can get a big Aaron Gray-type center sounds great on paper (and if Zach Duke and Paul Maholm win 25 games each the Pirates might make the playoffs), but at the end of the day what Cook said is true. They are 10-15 and play to a half-empty arena, and neither figure to change appreciably in the near future. You might not like it, but facts are facts.

Unknown said...

WAAAAAA We can't recruit from the midwest, WAAAAAAA we can't recruit against the Big East. WAAAAA the ACC is to the south. WAAAAA we can't get kids out of the big cities.

Have you ever heard anything more pathetic?

Unknown said...

The "we can't recruit from the big cities" line is total crap...PSU is within 4 hours of NYC, Philly, and the DC Metro Area(all of which produce solid numbers of legit D1 basketball players), don't tell me they can't get at least a few kids from that area, the football program has mined gold from Jersey and Northern VA for a long time. The "big-time" recruit issue is more whining, both Pitt and WVU have proven you can be successful without stocking up blue-chippers(though both are now attracting higher caliber athletes to their basketball programs in recent classes). They are a football school with a solid women's program and some solid Olympic Sports programs. They aren't getting it done with top notch resources in men's hoops.

Anonymous said...

Caddyshack behind Space Jam AND Cool Runnings? Who voted, fourth graders?

Adam said...

football is a lot different from basketball. Both sports have seperate caches with seperate capabilities even at the same school. Ed certainly isnt JoePa. Sure Penn State is 4 hours outside the big cities, but teams like Uconn, GW, BC, etc have a much better rep than PSU. We scrape the bottom of the barrel in those cities. And by the way, i wasnt ripping Pitt as a basketball program, they've done a good job, I just have trouble calling them "elite" when they havent pulled out anything more than the seet 16. and facts being facts, geary claxton could kick levon kendall's ass, and Jamelle cornley is probably more effective than any pitt foward besides gray.

expecting morrissey to develp is not llike expecting maholm to win 25 games either. hes a good shooter. watch penn state before you talk about their future.

Watch out buckeyes, wisconsin lost, and yer next. Go Lions!!

Sean said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sean said...

Adam - Let's make a bet.

If Penn State defeats Ohio State, I welcome you to be a guest writer on my website to write about the greatness of Penn State and how I was wrong to have ever doubted you.

If Ohio State wins, you are not allowed to mention Penn State basketball again until next fall. Deal?

Dirty Sanchez said...

Penn State charges admission to their men's hoops games?

You know, sometimes I can't tell if Adam is just being clever and facetious, or if he really is just the biggest homer/apologist on Earth? I think I'll go with the latter.

And Adam, why would I need to watch PSU before commenting on them? Do you watch a lot of Kansas City Royals, Oakland Raiders, or Philly Flyers games? Do you think these teams might suck? And by the way, we're talking about the TEAM here, not how one player might be better. If Geary Claxton can kick Kendall's ass, does that make PSU better than Pitt (or Stony Brook, or any team in the ACC/SEC/Big East)?

Sometimes it's just better to say, "My team sucks", and deal with it then to show your ass in some ignorant statement.

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

I still would like to know all of these "perennial powerhouses that the Big 10 is full of."

The Duke from Dukes Court said...

You know it is a slow sports news day when PSU basketball is on the front of the PG sports page, even if it is about how bad they are.