Bobby Murcer dies of cancer

Bobby Murcer, R.I.P. - You will be greatly missed. You’re a true Yankee in every sense.

Murcer Loses His Fight With Cancer
Bobby Murcer dies at age 62
Bobby Murcer, 62, Yankee on Field and Air, Dies
Ex-Yankees star, broadcaster Murcer dies at 62
Bobby Murcer statistics

(photo www.baseball-almanac.com)

Michael Jordan versus Tiger Woods - who’s more clutch?

I came across this Michael Jordan video…

and then started wondering who was more clutch, MJ or Tiger?

Both Michael and Tiger were/are the most clutch players in their sports.
Michael was not only the most talented player of all time, but was clutch when the game was on the line. Tiger is clutch and continues to make the important shot when the tournament is on the line.

The edge needs to go to Jordan. Not because he was better, but because of the sport he played. Tiger is awsome and the best golfer ever. The difference: in golf you are not double-covered by two 6 foot 8 inch athletes. Golf is a great sport but it is man vs the course and environment. Basketball is man vs man, or multiple men vs man.

This is not meant as a slight against Tiger. When his career is all over, he will probably be the winningest golfer of all time.

Hoops vs Golf… The basketball player was the better athlete… and more clutch.

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ESPN betrays the Yankees and MLB

Over the last year or so, ESPN and other sports carriers have been providing “open- or all-access” to professional sports.

You, the viewer, get to (for example) sit in the locker room and listen to Doc Rivers instruct Paul Piece, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and the rest of the Boston Celtics on what they should be doing in the second half of the game. Typically the coach has already told the team private, strategic message. By the time the camera is turned on, the viewer usually hears meaningless dribble like “fight over the pick-n-rolls” or “play hard, we have this game.”

In another sports scenario, a hockey player will be mike’d. You hear some of his conversation and banter. The viewer sees and hears a very moderated and edited clip. There is specifically no cursing and “important” interaction with the coaching staff.

We know ESPN (et al) are trying to give the viewers a taste of being behind the scenes at a professional sporting event. Nice try but weak. And now it seems like ESPN may have pulled a “Bill Belichick” and poked the cameras where they don’t belong.

According to Bronx Liason, “(July 7, 2008 ) While Brett Gardner led off the eighth inning, the ESPN cameras peered into the tunnel - which they’re not supposed to do - and caught Bobby Abreu showing Alex Rodriguez how Manny Delcarmen tips his pitches.” ESPN and everyone knew what they (ESPN) were doing was wrong. ESPN announcer Joe Morgan said, “I don’t think we should have showed that…”.

ESPN had been showing the players sharing how the pitcher was tipping off his pitches.

ESPN stepped over the line. Not just the Yankees, but Major League Baseball (MLB) needs to reinforce the rules with them. Obviously this needs to be done in a delicate way in that ESPN pays major fees to MLB, but it needs to be done.

ESPN is given special permission to be invasive. They need to use better judgement and not give up something strategic to the entire viewing public. They knew exactly what they were doing.

(photo pitchingtips.files.wordpress.com)

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The Year the NY Knicks Could Die… The 2010-2011 NBA Season

Let’s face it. The NY Knicks are a horrible sports product. Bad team. Bad management (that is hopefully getting better now that Isiah Thomas is gone). The only reason they have any revenue is because of (1) corporate sales, and (2) convenience of the location of Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.

In recent years the team has not improved. There is no indication this coming year will be any better.
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The Knick goal for the next few seasons should be the following:

• Clear Salary Cap Room.
  
• Clear More Salary Cap Room.
  
• Get a few solid young players.
  
• SIGN LEBRON JAMES!

When Lebron James becomes a free agent after the 2010 season, the Knicks must sign him. Hopefully, they will have collected a solid group of role players to support him. This will make the Knicks franchise on the rise. Lebron will give us a winning team and he will be largest star in NY. NY should be his the top choice on his list of franchises. Imagine all the opportunities he would have!

But… the rumors are that the NJ Nets (Brooklyn Nets?) may get Lebron James when he becomes a free agent.
If the Nets get Lebron James and have decent mass transit to their new Brooklyn arena, say good-bye to the Knicks. The Nets will become New York’s team. And Lebron will still have many of the same opportunities he would have playing for the Knicks.

So… Hopefully, the Knicks are already working on the strategy on how to sign King Lebron James! They need to do whatever it takes!

(photo www.thehoopnews.com)

USA Olympic Basketball - Selling Out to the NBA

The USA Olympic Basketball Team, or should I say, the NBA Olympic Basketball Team, consists of Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer , Chris Bosh , Kobe Bryant , Dwight Howard, LeBron James , Jason Kidd , Chris Paul , Tayshaun Prince , Michael Redd , Dwyane Wade , Deron Williams.

Talent-wise, this is by far the best basketball team on the planet.

The NBA will now have increased visibility overseas. The NBA will start playing games in Europe, Asia, and the Far East.

If the US Team wins, as expected, it proves absolutely nothing. They should win. There is no upside.

And for those of you who say it brings us national pride, please stop… A group of wealthy professional athletes winning a Gold Medal does nothing for us. If we sent college and high school kids such as OJ Mayo, Derrick Rose, and Michael Beasley… and they medal’d… now that would be a story…

This is really about the NBA and not national pride. The NBA benefits the most out of the arrangment…

Perhaps the NBA should be paying advertising fees to the United States Olympic Committee…. the way a company buys TV time to run an infomercial.

(photo withmalice.files.wordpress.com)

If you think MMA (or UFC) is Human Cock Fights, you don’t understand it

MMA is Mixed Martial Arts. UFC is simply one brand of MMA. UFC is leading the way to popularizing and making MMA a mainstream sport.

People unfamiliar with MMA, see it as people just beating the crap out of each other. Presidential candidate John McCain went so far to call it “Human Cock Fights”.

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Boxing is a violent sport. So are kick boxing, wrestling, judo, karate, and jiu jitsu. MMA is no more violent than any of those sports.

MMA is basically a combination of boxing + kick boxing + wrestling + judo + karate + jiu jitsu + Other_Martial_Arts

There is less punching in MMA than boxing. At times there may be more cuts and blood in MMA than boxing because of the weight of the gloves. MMA gloves weigh 5 ounces and boxing gloves weight 10 – 20 ounces. The kicking in MMA may also lead to additional cuts and blood.

The strategy is more complicated in MMA than in boxing or any other martial art. The participants need to decide whether to stay on their feet or take their opponent down. Should they strike or go for submissions? Or a little of each.

The true professionals are constantly thinking about the next move. It is almost like a physical chess game.

I watched 5 matches last night and none of them had any significant blood flowing. 3 of the 5 were stopped because of submission. This is when one of the fighters positions himself in a way that the other fighter “taps out” or gives up. (It is almost like when you wrestled with your friend and you made him say “uncle”.)

The other 2 matches were decided by the judges. All 10 participants walked away without any broken bones or serious damage. A few cuts. Yes. Not much more.

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Not convinced? If you watched 10 matches and listened to the announcers, you would start to understand the strategy, strength, speed, and endurance involved in the sport.

Is MMA a violent sport like boxing or kick boxing? Yes. If you think it is just pure violence and “Human Cock Fighting”, you haven’t given it a chance and paid attention to the detail involved.

(photo www.grapplearts.com)

Brandon Jennings burns the NBA, NCAA, and the Players Association

One of my favorite quotes is from the movie Other People’s Money. It relates to institutions making rules and the targeted parties working around the new rules….

Kate Sullivan: Someday, we’ll smarten up, change some laws, and put you OUT OF BUSINESS.
Lawrence Garfield (Danny Devito): You can change all the laws you want. You can’t stop the game. I’ll still be here. I adapt.

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According to the NY Times (6.23.08, Sports Section) Brandon Jennings, a great high school basketball player, may work around the NBA’s minimum age rule by heading to Europe to play professional basketball.

To prevent high school players from jumping to the NBA, the NBA instituted a rule requiring a player to be at least 19 years of age and one year removed from high school.

So, the NBA, NCAA, and the NBA Players Association get together and require individuals to play at least one year in college, knowing (a) he has no desire to get a college education, (b) the schools benefit financially through tournament money, and (c) the coaches get additional recognition.

How does the player benefit from the deal? Hmmm….. He doesn’t…

Brandon Jennings adapted, worked around the rule, and found the loophole.

Head to Europe. Sign a short term contract to play professional basketball. Earn good money. Work on and improve skills. Get solid basketball experience against better talent than in college. Live like a rock star.

He may enjoy living and playing ball in Europe and choose NOT to head to the NBA!

Seems like a no-brainer. Congratulations Brandon.

(photo sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
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Craig Biggio: A Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee from Long Island, NY

You hear about Jim Brown. Long Island’s greatest athlete of all time. Manhasset High School, Syracuse University. Often considered both the best football player and lacrosse player of all time.

Some of Long Island’s all time athletes, that your hear about, are Boomer Esiason, Ron Heller, Sue Bird, Willie Smith,…

You never hear about Kings Park’s Craig Biggio.

What about Craig Biggio?

Craig Biggio, the baseball player, is eligible to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2013. He will be a first ballot inductee with 3,059 hits as a Houston Astro player and community leader.

He switched positions having played catcher, 2nd base, and outfield. He stole bases and is one of the all-time leaders having been hit by pitches. He was a 7 time all star, 4 time Gold Glove winner, and a Roberto Clemente Award winner.

He was a leader on and off the field for Houston. He was loved and respected by the fans, community and the media.

Not just a professional and collegiate baseball player (All American at Seton Hall) New Yorkers may remember Craig as a great football player. He was the Hansen Award winner given to the best high school football player in Suffolk County. While attending Kings Park High School, he turned down many football scholarships to attend Seton Hall on a baseball scholarship.

There are still great athletes who are good citizens. Let’s remember and honor Long Island’s Craig Biggio.

(photo www.onlinesports.com)

Tapped: Early morning Yankee chat

The other person is unaware the chat will be posted. All “tapped” postings have had their screen names changed to protect the innocent. Date: 6/20/08:

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(7:55:35 AM) TopOfTheThread: joba
(7:59:47 AM) Friend_of_TopOfTheThread:

The unbelievable story

of Alfredo Aceves continues to grow as the 25 year-old RHP proved tonight he has no challenges left for him at AA-Trenton. Over eight scoreless innings Tuesday night, Aceves allowed just one hit, struck out four and walked two. Over six starts at AA, Mr. Aceves has a 1.64 ERA over 44 innings [7+ innings per start], striking out 33, walking just 5, with 33 hits and a ridiculous WHIP of 0.86.

In the same game, Austin Jackson went 4-for-5, hit his fourth homer in as many games [his se

(8:00:18 AM) Friend_of_TopOfTheThread:

and look up mark melancon-the next joba-is being moved to scranton

(8:00:57 AM) TopOfTheThread:

looks good

(8:01:02 AM) TopOfTheThread:

but what about 2008?

(8:01:26 AM) Friend_of_TopOfTheThread:

he’ll be up in 2008 melancon is the closer of the future

(8:03:14 AM) TopOfTheThread:

the yanks are only 5 out of 1st and 3.5 out of the wildcard. Make the playoffs and you never know

(8:05:03 AM) Friend_of_TopOfTheThread:

I don’t think the season could have worked out better to this point-the infusion of youth, conversion of joba, adversity of monstrous injuries, and now this close.

(8:06:37 AM) TopOfTheThread:

Agreed. And now Chien-Ming Wang goes down. Forces them to look harder at their youth. Psyched.

(8:09:22 AM) TopOfTheThread:

(8:09:49 AM) TopOfTheThread:

g2g

NBA Championship Basketball - Still America’s Game

Congratulations to the NBA World Champion Boston Celtics, Doc Rivers, Chris Wallace, and especially Danny Ainge. They really turned around the franchise in world record time. Wallace and Ainge gave Rivers the talent. Rivers blended and inspired them. Kudos to all.

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The NBA’s Celtics Lakers series showed the world NBA basketball is still the American game.

The Lakers bring in all these talented but soft players that get them out of the Western Conference but show their vulnerability when the games get physical.

• Pau Gasol - too soft to play big and no defense… and absolutely NO defensive fundamentals. (He NEVER stepped up on the pick and rolls to make Paul Pierce take an indirect route to the basket. Horrible defensively.)
• Vladimir Radmanovic - chucker and no defense
• Sasha Vujacic - soft and no defense

I do not recall any European-raised basketball player ever being praised for his defensive prowess.

The Celtics won playing smart, hard-nosed, defensive basketball.

And amazingly, there is not one foreign-raised player on this Celtics roster: Ray Allen , Tony Allen , P.J. Brown , Sam Cassell , Glen Davis , Kevin Garnett , Eddie House , Kendrick Perkins , Paul Pierce , Scot Pollard , James Posey , Leon Powe , Gabe Pruitt , Rajon Rondo , Brian Scalabrine.

Very interesting.

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Once again, congratulations to the Celtics. You earned it.

Message to Lakers and Lakers fans: Keep your chins Up! Remember Andrew Bynum comes back next year!

(photo blog.masslive.com)