Big Lead Sports Bar

1/08/2010

TODAY'S HEADLINES, PART DEUX

As expected, Bruce Arians has divided the readers: As of this writing, there are 1,028 votes in yesterday's "Would you keep Bruce Arians" poll question, and it's currently 50.2-49.8 in favor of bringing him back. [Vizu Poll Results]

Adam The Penn State Fan....takes on the "Sour Old Men" of the Pittsburgh sports media. Say what you want, this guy generates a debate. [BSD]

Leavitt out at South Florida: Longtime USF football coach Jim Leavitt became the most recent coach to lose his job in the wake of player abuse claims, as he was let go today.

Leavitt, who built the program from scratch, had just completed the second season of a seven-year, $12.6 million contract. He leaves with a record of 95-57, including 3-2 in bowl games. Under his tenure, USF peaked at #2 in the BCS poll in 2007. [Fox Sports]

Steve Miller to distract you from bad baseball: If you want to watch Pirates-Padres, hear "Fly Like an Eagle" live, and get "a nice night out at the ballpark", mark your calendar for July 24. [TimesOnline.com]

Pirates' Lukewarm Stove Update: The Buccos have zeroed in on Octavio Dotel as a closer, and have also shown interest in reliver D.J. Carrasco, who spent 2009 with the White Sox. The 32-year-old Carrasco, a Pirate farmhand from 1999-2002, had a 3.76 ERA in 49 appearances last season.

The Bucs appear to be backing off of free agent OF Rick Ankiel, who is represented by Scott Boras. Their plan right now is to have an outfield of Lastings Milledge, Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones, and therefore they are not promising any full-time gigs to any free agents. [PG]

Hire Bill Cowher: The Billboard: If there's one thing that could sway Bill Cowher to Buffalo, I can guarantee you that it's a billboard. How do you think the Steelers got Mike Tomlin? [PFT]

Jason Bay, New York Met: Here's the video the Mets sent to their ticket-buying mailing list (preceded by a 30-second ad, of course). Hey, they've gotta get that money some way. [MLB.com]

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7 comments:

BURGH08 said...

* The P-G writers are old because NEWSPAPERS are old. I can see their point though, and they are probably more 'sour' because they know they won't see a playoff in their lifetimes.

Nice to see that Adam got a thesaurus (and another semester) from Santa though.

* What is up with coaches being physical toward players? It's one thing if a coach grabs you by the facemask, or verbally abuses you (I'm old school), but another when they grab you by the throat and punch you. Not good.

* Love the Billboard. I haven't heard from a Bills fan since Starter Jackets were popular.

* Jason Bay will be a bust in New York. Fences are father back, power numbers will decrease, and he is breaking down.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

Well, I don't know what drove Leavitt to do it, but he was wrong.

I bet Mike Leach wishes he would have hit Craig James' p***y of a son in the throat when he had a chance..... I know I sure as hell would have liked to.

That whole story was a joke, especially with the Evil Empire's one-sided coverage, including letting James blast off on Leach on the air.

Steve said...

How fitting Steve Miller would play at PNC park. The home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and "The pompatus" of bad baseball.

HomeRunFromBehindTheMeatballs said...

The Jay Bay 'Salary Crunch':

http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/salary/index?athleteId=4782172

See how quickly Baywatch will make your annual salary next season! I don't know about you, but i'd rather play a few innings of baseball than work for a whole yr.

Unknown said...

caption contest on the photo with ben and arians -

"ben: it's 3rd and 1 and you want me in the shotgun?"

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

Some people make me laugh. I've heard people criticize the kid for not being tough enough and say that in the 70s nobody would care and it happened all the time.

Yeah, it's called progress. See, we've since realized in the last 40 years that it's not cool when coaches punch student-athletes in the face! I know, it's crazy.

The Texas Tech kid, however, was a total wuss as someone mentioned. Leach got railroaded by a school that didn't want to pay him his massive salary.

But the Mangino and Leavitt incidents seem to have been over the line.


Speaking of college football, no talk of the game last night that we waited over a month for, only to have the star quarterback (and possibly the best QB in the country this season) get hurt 2 minutes in, get replaced by a true freshman, and thus ruin any excitement. I know Texas got close at the end, but we all knew Saban wasn't losing to a true freshman.

BURGH08 said...

I would be interested in what the local ratings were for Pens/Flyers in relation to the BCS championship.