Revolutionary Ladies

The past month saw two notable and under-publicized achievements in women's tennis. In a scene that produced some delightfully joyous photos, Kim Clisters became the first mother to win a Grand Slam tournament in 27 years (since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon in 1980). Clisters accepted post match hugs from her eighteen month old daughter Jada after winning the U.S. Open last month. Score one for motherhood!


Evonne Goolagong Cawley.......................Billie Jean King

Yesterday Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm became the oldest winner of a WTA Tour tournament since Billie Jean King in 1983. Date Krum, nearly thirty-nine, won the Korean Open, beating top-seeded Daniela Hantuchova along the way. King was thirty-nine and seven months. It was Date Krum's eighth career title. For perspective, the last one was thirteen years ago over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. Congratulations.

Rapid Fire Reaction

A few quick thoughts from the Sports Editor having just watched the Tennessee Titans fall to 0-3 at the surprising New York Jets. As you know if you read the Clarion Content's AFC preview we didn't buy into the Jets and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez. Sanchez has the limitations you might expect of green rookie, the Jets missed their last nine third down conversion attempts. The Jets defense is stout. They are built around solid linebackers, led by Bart Scott and David Harris. They have all world might-mite safety Jim Leonhard, and a great scheme. With Kris Jenkins still healthy and playing at nose tackle, they are a dominating bunch especially at home where the deafening crowd sounds like a college stadium.

The long overrated Kerry Collins wasn't up to the task for the Titans. The play calling, influenced by trailing throughout the fourth quarter, negated one of Tennessee's best players super quick running back Kris Johnson. Collins was incomplete on his last thirteen pass attempts (to be fair there were a couple drops). He looked like a statue getting demolished by a bulldozer against the Jets blitz. Tennessee deep behind the eight ball, out of the gate 0-3, all three losses in conference, needs to give some thought to going to Vince Young (as we Twittered during the game).

*Just a sidenote, it was an awful abuse of its monopoly by the NFL and their partner Fox Sports to deny the city of Detroit the opportunity to watch their team's first victory in two years. The game was blacked-out on local television, in a city with 30% plus unemployment, because they did not sell out the game tickets. Sport's greed will yet be visited by comeuppance.

Old Master

The old master, Pedro Martinez, still has it. He is 5 and 0 since returning to MLB. The Phillies are 7 and 0 in the games he has started. He is pitching to a 2.87 ERA. Scintillating hardly even begins to cover it. Sunday evening he threw eight innings of shutout ball, yielding a bare six hits in a tense 1-0 victory over the Mets. The Clarion Content would love to see Pedro, one of our all-time favs, get starts for the Phils in postseason.

Football Preview, Part I, the AFC

The Clarion Content is attempting to shorten our football preview from some of the notoriously long pieces we have penned in the past. It is also noteworthy before reading these predictions to recall that the Clarion Content picked the Yankees to miss the playoffs, the Cubs to win the N.L. Central and the Tigers to finish last in the A.L. Central. Last year in the knockout pool, the Sports Editor tried to get creative and picked the Detroit Lions to win in week one. You know how that went. So suffice it say that these predictions are for entertainment purposes only.


This looks like a Super QB...


AFC West

The worst division in the American Football Conference, featuring two rookie coaches and the Raiders. Like most, the Clarion Contents likes the Chargers to win the division.


1st---San Diego Chargers over 10

Shawn Merriman was just trying to stop Tia Tequilla from driving. As long as he is
rushing the quarterback and Phillip Rivers is under center the Chargers will be hard to beat. We think LD will have something of a comeback year.

2nd---Denver Broncos over 6.5

The Clarion Content likes Kyle Orton a lot more than most. His regular season record looks good. It would help if rookie running back out of Georgia, Knowshon Moreno lit it up.

3rd---Kansas City Chiefs under 6

Tough call who will be worse, Chiefs or Raiders. Firing the offensive coordinator, risky. Counting on Larry Johnson when the going gets tough, riskier. How will Matt Cassell do with less talent around him? He will surely wish the Chiefs kept tight end Tony Gonzales.

4th---Oakland Raiders under 5.5

The Clarion Content was feeling halfway okay about the Raiders until the focus became Tom Cable's uppercut. Then we heard Ja'Marcus Russell the quarterback reported to camp at nearly 300 pounds, and the Raiders still cut Jeff Garcia. Worst news for old school Raiders fans this week, learning from Bill Simmons column that Al Davis's mom lived to be 103.



AFC Central

A tough top of the division for Carson Palmer and the Bengals to breakthrough.

1st---Pittsburgh Steelers over 10.5

Can Ben Roethlisberger stay healthy all season, holding the ball as long as he does? Fast Willie Parker looks a little slow a foot. Troy Polamalu has been bitten by the Madden curse...

2nd---Baltimore Ravens over 8.5

The Clarion Content loves the young guys Joe Flacco and Ray Rice. If Ed Reed isn't the best safety in the division in just might be because there are two future Hall of Fame safeties in this division.

3rd---Cincinnati Bengals over 6.5

We would love to see Marvin Lewis and his team succeed. Palmer is a good quarterback. How much talent to the have around him? It didn't help that Bengals fatty offensive lineman Andre Smith held out, then broke his foot two days after reporting. Look for a career season from Laveranues Coles and breakout year from fullback Brian Leonard.

4th---Cleveland Browns under 7

How fast is Eric Mangini going to wear out his welcome? Six games? Eight? He already painted over a mural of Browns greats and alienated the local media. Brady Quinn is set up to fail. The defense looks terrible. The competition looks tough.



AFC South

Perhaps the hardest division to figure. The Jacksonville Jaguars are? The Colts without Tony Dungy will? The Titans led by Kerry Collins can? And all the experts like Houston...

1st place---Tennessee Titans over 9

Even if Kerry Collins, gets hurt with think Vince Young is poised to succeed. We love Kris Johnson and their defense, led by Keith Bullock.

2nd place---Indianapolis Colts under 10

They will miss Marvin Harrison and Tony Dungy. The offensive line has question marks. The defense is vulnerable.

3rd place---Jacksonville Jaguars over 8

We like David Garrard more than most. We worry about Marcus Jones Drew holding up while getting all the carries, but if he can, look out. The Jags fans are the most likely to screwed by the NFL TV blackout rules. Sorry the bottom fell out of the economy, but, no, no you can't watch your team on TV.

4th place---Houston Texans under 8

The best fourth place team in the conference. They have stars on both sides of the ball. Too bad Andre Johnson can't play quarterback and wideout. Their defensive line gets pressure on people, but the Texans are just a find a way to lose games kind of team, even after exiling Sage Rosenfelds. Is it coach Gary Kubiak?



AFC East

All four of these teams can't finish over .500 can they? Even the Jets with a rookie quarterback and new coach could still be halfway decent. Tom Brady's return makes all the difference.

1st place---New England Patriots under 11.5

Could there be a little slippage in New England? There has appeared to be some defensively over the last couple of years. Won't Brady be a little rusty? We'd be shocked if the Pats won the Lombardi Trophy this year.

2nd place---Miami Dolphins over 7

We like the wildcat offense, especially now that they have added former WVU quarterback Pat White. Good defense, good running game, Bill Parcells picking the players, what's not to like? Did you know Chad Pennington has led his team to the playoffs every year of his career that he has played ten healthy games?

3rd place---Buffalo Bills over 7.5

We like Trent Edwards. We like the defense. Will TO help or hurt? If he is the good TO, he and Lee Evans could be a terrific wideout combo. Dick Jauron gets the most out of his teams' talent.

4th place---The New York Jets under 7

This was a good defense already and then they added Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard. But can the offense keep up? Thomas Jones is slowing. They don't have a true number one receiver, much as we like Jerricho Cotchery. And no less than Pete Carroll said rookie QB Mark Sanchez should have stayed in school.

Football Preview, Part II, the NFC

This looks like a Super QB...


NFC West

The worst division in the National Football Conference?


1st---Arizona Cardinals over 8.5

Even if Warner gets hurt.

2nd---San Francisco 49ers over 7

The Clarion Content loves Mike Singletary. We like gutsy former Maryland QB, S. Hill, too.

3rd---Seattle Seahawks under 7.5

Bad o-line, limited wideouts.

4th---St. Louis Rams under 5.5

Will challenge Detroit for the title of the worst team in football.



NFC Central

The most overrated division in football.

1st---Green Packers over 9

They will be consistently up and down.

2nd---Minnesota Vikings under 9

If Peterson stays healthy they will just miss the playoffs. If he gets hurt, look for under .500.

3rd---Chicago Bears under 8.5

Will the Jay Cutler acquisition really turn out to be even more overblown than the Favre signing? We think there is a good chance. The defense looks old and slow.

4th---Detroit Lions under 4.5

The citizens of Detroit have done exactly what to deserve this? We like Calvin Johnson. We not sure Matt Stafford has the accuracy and touch of a successful NFL starter.



NFC South

The ups and downs of this division are meteoric. The last two years the Clarion Content has picked the Panthers to the Super Bowl, we will quit jinxing them this year.

1st place---New Oreleans Saints over 9

Imagine the Chargers had Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers, Ladamaian Tomlinson, Michael Turner and Darren Spoles at the same time! The Saints will score boatloads.

2nd place---Atlanta Falcons over 8.5

It was the fourth place schedule, right? Matt Ryan can't do that again, can he? Tony Gonzales was a huge addition.

3rd place---Carolina Panthers under 8.5

Last year's draft day trades and the off-season resigning of Julius Peppers hamstrung this franchise. Next year the bottom could fall out.

4th place---Tampa Bay Bucaneers under 6.5

We're not sold on the defense, the running game or the new coach.



NFC East

The best division in the NFC, maybe the league.

1st place---New York Giants over 10

Wide receiving corps has slipped, but great defense and running game will propel the G-men to a strong regular season.

2nd place---Philadelphia Eagles over 9.5

Is this the year Donovan McNabb goes back to the Super Bowl? The Eagles are loaded on both sides of the ball.

3rd place---Dallas Cowboys over 9

The race for third in this division is a battle for a playoff spot. Our hearts are with the Jason Campbell and the Skins, our heads say it be Jerry's Cowboys. Word on the street is the monstrous new Dallas stadium TV screen blocks the view from almost all but the lowest seats. Brilliant!

4th place---Washington Redskins over 8

If Portis stays healthy and they catch a few breaks, they could easily make the playoffs.

Cautionary Tale

Young men, be careful. That was the thought that assailed the Clarion Content's Sports Editor this morning when we saw brief item in the New York Times Sports page reading, "The Detroit Lions have gone to federal court to recover $6.1 million from the former receiver Charles Rogers."

Rogers was the second overall NFL draft pick in 2003 out of Michigan State. Only one incoming player in all the land was deemed better than Charles Rogers by the talent evaluators. He has been out of the NFL since the Lions released him in 2006 citing his work ethic. At the time he was coming off of his third violation of the NFL substance abuse policy which mandated a four game suspension.

Talent alone guarantees nothing.

NFL Twitter rules

The National Football League finalized its policy and announced rules governing its personnel, players and coaches twittering. The Clarion Content highlighted this story for you over in the Politics Section a few weeks back when discussing the Marine Corps ban on its personal twittering.

The NFL, rather than adopting an outright ban, has instituted a policy which says players, coaches and other team-affiliated personnel must refrain from tweeting 90 minutes before games and are not allowed to tweet after games until meeting with so-called "traditional" media outlets. (No tweeting until after the post-game press conferences.) These rules ostensibly apply to player agents and friends, too.

The league also said regarding media members twittering, "Longstanding policies prohibiting play-by-play descriptions of NFL games in progress apply fully to Twitter and other social media platforms. Internet sites may not post detailed information that approximates play-by-play during a game. While a game is in progress, any forms of accounts of the game must be sufficiently time-delayed and limited in amount (e.g., score updates with detail given only in quarterly game updates) so that the accredited organization's game coverage cannot be used as a substitute for, or otherwise approximate, authorized play-by-play accounts."

Read more here at CNet.news.

Petros and Money

Petros and Money do bang-up radio

The Clarion Content's Sports Editor has happened upon an excellent, new (to our offices) sports talk radio show. Here is a little background on what we listen to at the office. We have long been Jim Rome fans, since he was working on Extra Sports 690 in San Diego. We were also aficionados of the now broken up duo, Mike and the Mad Dog, long of sports radio 660 WFAN, New York City.

We still listen to Rome, the best interviewer doing sports talk radio, when the midday opportunity avails itself, he is on 12pm until 3pm locally in Durham. We stream WFAN's Mike Francesca from the station's website, though he takes half the Summer off and is replaced by lesser lights. We also enjoy the podcasts of ESPN's best writer and Jimmy Kimmel's pal, Bill Simmons.

It was just recently that our local sports talk radio station "620 the Bull" started carrying the syndicated Fox Radio show, "Petros and Money" which is hosted by KLAC AM 570 out of Los Angeles. These two guys are a hilarious combo. They have some of the modern, moderately vulgar humor of the Jim Rome show and Bill Simmons, as well as their pop culture references. Petros and Money are knowledgeable about their sports. They wear their homer-ism proudly on their respective sleeves for teams such as the LA Dodgers and the USC Trojans, which is an attitude and a mindset the Clarion Content respects.

They are funny, smart, big city perspective guys. They know how to cover a national story. They have some fascinating and creative bits including alternate personalities such as dating advice guru Lance Romance, a persona assumed by Petros Papadakis and Matt "Money" Smith's financial adviser alter-ego, Vance Finance, who distributes fiscal wisdom over their airwaves. They also do, "I'm a horse," Mondays and "Win Forever," Wednesdays with USC Coach Pete Carroll.

In Durham, they air at 7pm normally, unless the lowly, local station hacks are screwing up the programming with some kind of lame high school football show or Appalachian State football call-in garbage. Rarely does Durham feel more podunk than when this happens. Stand by while we get the injury report on the junior split-end for Wake Forest Rolesville High School. Let's talk about a Division I-AA football school that's more than 150 miles distant. Pul-leeze! We can't flip the dial fast enough. Unfortunately, we have yet to discover a place to stream Petros and Money. If any of you dear readers know, please advise us. Thanks!

Old Master shows young Jedi a trick or two

The old master, Pedro Martinez, showed the young Jedi, and odds-on Cy Young Award favorite, Tim Lincecum a thing or two the other night when he beat him and the San Francisco Giants, 2-1. Now pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, Pedro is not quite his former self, but Friday night he was good enough. He struck nine and walked none. In an era sullied by cheating, Pedro Martinez is one baseball player the Clarion Content will tell the proverbial grandchildren we saw. For his career, opponents bat a mere .217 against Pedro. And only the Hall of Fame Yankee, Whitey Ford, has a higher all-time winning percentage than Pedro's .687. At his peak, he was must see, don't turn away for a pitch entertainment, and positively unhittable.

What if nobody came?

Empty seats follow the Pirates around...here in Houston

What if they played a game and nobody came? What if they played two and nobody came? The Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates attempted to answer this question earlier this week with a twin bill in the Queen City. The Yahoo blog the Big League Stew reported that no more than 2,000 people were in the 42,000 seat stadium, turning it into a giant echo chamber. The photo attached to the story is pretty amazing. A rookie by the name of Drew Stubbs was quoted as saying that the crowds reminded him of the Florida rookie instructional league.

The Clarion Content has been relentlessly hammering the theme that says there is an earthquake of economic comeuppance that is soon to be visited on American sports. This was another tiny tremor.

Mets continue to deny they are strapped

The New York Mets baseball club continues to deny that they are having financial difficulties, but mounting evidence suggests otherwise. The Clarion Content had been down this road with you even before they let reliever Billy Wagner go to the Red Sox in a patently cost-cutting move. We didn't hit on that transaction because we thought it made baseball sense too. Wagner was an expensive loud-mouth on a team that was and is going nowhere. Getting him gone was a good idea.

The latest Mets maneuvering to cut costs came to our attention via the New York Times Richard Sandomir. It was not a player transaction. Rather the Mets are moving 75 prospects from the team’s program in the Florida instructional league to the Dominican Republic. The Mets, of course, claim that this is not a cost cutting move. However, there is no denying that there will be significant savings in the living and maintenance expenses for the franchise and the players. For example, the per diem the team doles out to the roster can be far less.

These are times when a great many organizations are trimming expenses. The Mets have no compelling reason to be different. It is only the continued rumors of the ownership's massive Madoff related losses that bring these moves under such scrutiny.