Please, no!

NBA ready? Hah! We doubt the super soft Rubio could dominate in the D-League.

The Clarion Content's Sports Editor can only hope that the Knicks don't have a chance to draft the 18 year-old Spaniard, Ricky Rubio. We know Coach Mike D'Antoni, he of the shoot in seven seconds or less philosophy, would love to do it. Hopefully, Rubio will have already gone to another sucker. Rubio has rumored as high as the number two pick in a mediocre draft. We agree with Celitcs General Manager, Danny Ainge's assessment that the New York Times quoted, "I don’t see Rubio being that dynamic player now. I think he’s got a lot of potential. He’s a very flashy player. He has a great mind for the game and he’s a terrific passer. I don’t see him — just physically, and because he doesn’t shoot the ball very well — I don’t see him having an impact as a rookie."

The Clarion Content says he won't have a career as good as the man formerly known as White Chocolate, Jason Williams (11 pts and 6 dimes, per game career). The next Pistol Pete Maravich? Pu-leeze, that man was one of a kind. We want to see the Knicks draft Stephon Curry from Davidson.

The Golden Sombrero

Jorge Posada wore the Golden Sombrero in the Yankees 4-0 shutout loss to the Atlanta Braves tonight. The Yankees have been icy cold, losers of 9 of 13 to the bottom three teams in the N.L. East, the Braves, the Florida Marlins and the lowly Washington Nationals.

As the Clarion Content warned, Alex Rodriguez has been putrid in his return. He is now batting an anemic .207 on the season. People returning from hip surgery simply don't recover that fast, especially when they are no longer on the same meds that their body was so used to depending on. A-Fraud's swing relies far too much on hip torque to expect much out of him this season. Now that pitchers and scouts around the league are coming to this realization, Mark Texiera isn't seeing anywhere near as many good pitches as he did when Rodriguez first returned.

Who would have figured Cano, Cabrera and Gardner could be having such positive seasons and the Yanks would still be struggling to score runs?

By the way, the Golden Sombrero means a hitter struck out four times in a single game. Posada also had a throwing error that contributed to a Braves run. How long before Wang says he doesn't want to pitch to Jorge either?

Lucas Glover

We know that the urge is to respond with, who? The answer is Lucas Glover from Greenville, South Carolina, a man with exactly one previous PGA tour victory is your 2009 U.S. Open Champion. When everyone else was fading away; Mickelson with a bogey at the 17th, the long lost David Duval, who after a birdie-birdie-birdie run to tie for the lead also bogeyed 17, and worst of all Glover's playing partner, Ricky Barnes, a former U.S. Amateur Champion who got it all the way to 11 under, before playing the final twenty-seven holes in 8 over par.

Meanwhile the small town Southerner, Glover, was as cool as the other side of the pillow. He personally witnessed Barnes meltdown, playing in the final twosome with him in the the third and fourth round, faltered with a bogey of his own on the toughest hole of the Open Championship, the 15th, then righted the ship and birdied 16. Glover closed with an every so steady Open winning par-par. Ladies and Gentlemen, Lucas Glover, who will spend the next year being announced as the U.S. Open Champion! Tiger Woods never really threatened after an opening round of four over 74, and finished in a three way tie for 6th place.

Joe Buck's an ass

Sanctimonious ass Joe Buck was totally embarrassed on his first episode of his pathetic sports show. Buck is a two faced loser. He is the very same man who excoriated Randy Moss on national television for a mooning gesture offered to the Green Bay Packer fan base at Lambeau Field. His first episode of his new show he hosts, in an attempt to push the humor envelope, he features live Artie Lang stand-up comedy. Lang is a regular on the toilet humor imbued, profanity laced Howard Stern program. He let rip with a segment that made HBO blush. Buck, class act that he is, had his two young daughters in the audience. Hypocrite, through and through, Buck after the television show did ten extra minutes of live podcast with Lang, then the next day claimed he was shocked and appalled by Lang's humor.

Day 1 of how many?

Whatchya gonna do when he comes for you?

The rain poured down on day one of the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York. It prompted officials to sternly warn that the champion would be determined with at least seventy-two holes of golf, whether that might mean Monday or even Tuesday. But stern warnings and gloomy weather were not the only story on an afternoon where the immortal Crash Davis might have said, "Some days you win, some days you lose and some days it rains."

The Boston Globe reported that the day was over when the horn sounded at 10:15 a.m., players hustled to shelter, spectators quickly sought cover. It didn’t take long for streams to form on the fairways, and greens to be completely submerged. The US Golf Association made the decision to suspend play. It was the first time since 2004 that a US Open round was not completed on the day it began.

Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post found a much more interesting story than the weather in Jeff Brehaut, forty-six years old, a journeyman who failed qualifying school 13 times and wandered the minor-league Nationwide Tour with his family in an SUV for six long seasons doing 30,000 miles a year on the open road. Though he only completed eleven holes today, Brehaut found himself "leading the U.S. Open at the end of Day 1." Even better his wife, teenage kids, seventy-six year old Dad and a total of nine family members were there to see it. It was delivered by a guy whose only two pro wins are on the Nationwide Tour and as a medalist at qualifying school.

Read Boswell's whole story here.

Tiger on the prowl

After watching the 71st and 72nd holes of the Memorial two weeks ago, the Clarion Content feels confident enough to announce Tiger is back. He is coming. He is driving the ball great and more consistently in the fairway than ever before. He is hitting his irons stiff. The competition is once again fearful. Sunday at the Memorial he made his charge from four off the lead on the final day. He capped it with a birdie, birdie finish, that included one of the most beautiful golf shots you will ever see, a seven iron from 185 yards to one foot from the pin leaving himself a tap in, tournament winning, birdie on 18th. New York welcomes Tiger to the U.S. Open today.

Worst coached NBA Finals?

A third Van Gundy brother?

The Clarion Content's sports editor didn't watch last night's Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the last game of this NBA season. He had already spent enough time hollering at the television and Stan Van Gundy. As a long time Knicks fan, this was not the first time he has watched a hopelessly overmatched Van Gundy get out coached in the playoffs.

Was this the worst coaching job in the NBA finals ever?

It was embarrassingly bad, to the point where Stan Van Gundy's players were criticizing him with anonymous comments to the press between Games 4 and 5. It was pathetic to the point where a clueless Van Gundy was quoting Spurs Coach Greg Popovich in his pre-game speeches, "Pop tells his guys...." The root of the problem began when Van Gundy inexplicably played point guard Jameer Nelson huge minutes in Game 1. Nelson who hadn't played in 4 and 1/2 months was out of sync and out of shape. After the game Van Gundy vowed not to make the same mistake again. Ha! If only, he should have simply promised to make a litany of new ones.

He took a team that was playing well enough to stop the prohibitive favorite LeBron James and the Cavs and screwed with the rotation like it was baseball Spring Training! He had no point guard in the game down the stretch at all as the Magic came up short in Game 2. Then in Game 4, he went back to his over play Nelson strategy, post-game promises forgotten, all the while screwing with the confidence of his mercurial and talented starting point guard, Rafer Alston, who had helped lead the team to three huge series wins.

Van Gundy did the same with his shooting guards. In one game J.J. Reddick would play huge fourth quarter minutes, in another, he wouldn't see the floor in the second half. In one game Courtney Lee would be asked to take perhaps the biggest shot of the series, then in another he wouldn't play at all in the fourth quarter. A fan could have been pulled out of the stands and done a better coaching job. As the Magic folded and gagged down the stretch of Game 4, Van Gundy set-up Nelson's final coup de grâce backing off Derek Fisher to stop a 2 point drive, and leave an open 3, with the Lakers trailing by 3 and seconds left in the game. It was the final head shaker. What on Earth was the diminutive Nelson doing in the game? Why didn't the Magic use their foul to give?

Our basketball posse discussed; had we ever seen any coach close out the first four games of a NBA series with four different line-ups (not due to foul trouble or injury) but just plain experimenting? Conclusion, never. Coach Van Gundy, it was Mike Dunleavy-esque. And to have to listen to his brother announce it, and pretend like all was well, vile, gut churning nonsense. Then after each game, Stan took time out to explain why the players were at fault, throwing them under the proverbial bus in a lame effort to deflect blame.

No Van Gundy should be coaching anything bigger than Cortland State's D-III program. Unfortunately, there was no Pat Riley to provide the hook this time before Stan screwed the pooch over and over on national television.

[edit. note: The author (our sports editor) is a huge Knicks fan and Lakers hater, this bias may shade his opinions on occasion.]

Mob Ties

Convicted NBA referee Tim Donaghy was attacked by a fellow inmate in a Florida prison where he is serving time for his role in fixing NBA games. Donaghy, through his spokesman says the assailant is known to be connected to the mob. Revenge for Donaghy's snitching? The Federal Bureau of Prisons declined to comment.

The Clarion Content has people in the Philadelphia suburbs that Donaghy is from, Springfield, PA. In that part of the country, mob ties are like cousins, everybody's got a couple. Fortunately, only seven other referees are from the same Philly area!!! When the real NBA fixing scandal blows up look for several of them to be involved.

Halfway home

Juan Pierre is locked in on the ball

The Los Angeles Dodgers officially passed the halfway point of star slugger Manny Ramirez suspension last night. They have weathered the storm so far. Fifteen wins and ten losses while Manny has been away, nursing his overly medicated libido.

The steady hand of manager Joe Torre at the tiller has no doubt been crucial. The Dodgers youthful line-up has continued to produce. Slap singles hitter Juan Pierre has stepped into the batting order and hit at a nearly .400 clip. The pitching staff has continued to throw quality start after quality start.

The Dodgers haven't been to the World Series in twenty years. Not since 1988 when Kurt Gibson had the gimpy pinch-hit, two run, game-winning, miracle dinger off of Dennis Eckersley, that set the tone for an upset of Tony LaRussa's 104 win "Bash Brothers" A's. Could this be the Dodgers year?

Say no to the Empire

A local Durham guest columnist examines the possibilities of Notre Dame playing college football in the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.



"Say no to the Empire"

The New York Yankees and the University of Notre Dame football program, two athletic clubs who have strugged in recent years by the lofty standards of their history, are in initial talks to hold football games at the new Yankee Stadium according to the New York Times.

Many epic football games were played in the old stadium. And with the Yankees seeking to maximize revenue from the new stadium; the country's most popular sport may help them do just that.

Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame's first year AD, told the New York Times that Notre Dame’s 35-13 victory against Army at West Point in 1913 is considered the most important in the program’s history. He said he was trying to plan around significant anniversary games and that he would love to have the 100th anniversary of that game played at Yankee Stadium. Swarbrick also said the Yankees may be inclined to hold college football at the Stadium before 2013, and if that is the case, he would like the Irish to be part of the debut.

Neither the Yankees nor Notre Dame have made official statements.

Could this finally fill the "luxury ring" on the first tier of the stadium? Only time will tell.