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Bees, en masse

Did you hear about this one? 60,000 plus angry bees unleashed on the 18th hole of Waterchase Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas?

You think Angry Birds are a problem? Try bees. Yes, they sure did cancel the final eighteen holes of tournament. The University of Texas-Arlington men's golf coach Jay Rees was stung near his eye, several other bystanders were also stung. When a beekeeper was called to the course, it was found that a beehive had fallen from a tree branch above the 18th green, and split open. According to Coach Rees, the beekeeper recommended cancellation.

They took the professional advice and shut it down.

NFL Preview thoughts

The Clarion Content is a dangerous source for predictions. We would almost recommend betting in directly opposition with our thoughts, save for this is what we are indeed thinking. This year we have had time for even less research than we have done in some years past, some sports talk radio, a podcast here or there, Grantland is about the sum total of it. Henceforth, we will only have a sentence or two about most teams, and for some even less.

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys
We agree with former Super Bowl winning Cowboys QB Troy Aikman that it is put up or shut up time for this core group of players. Gut instinct feel, this team collapses, they break it up and start over with a high draft pick. Last year's start was indicative, not a fluke.

New York Football Giants
We keep hearing how banged up they are on the defensive side of the ball. Eli Manning threw a ton of interceptions last year. This feels like a down year for the G-Men.

Philadelphia Eagles
They have assembled a defense of stars this year. But the offense looks vulnerable, lucky for them the NFC East looks very mediocre this year. Michael Vick has always been fragile. The Eagles wideouts are small and injury prone. Andy Reid is a horrible game manager and an even worse play caller. The Eagles consistent failure to develop a running game will see them come up short of the ultimate prize. (This must all sound so familiar to Donovan.)

Washington Redskins
Well, they got rid of Albert Haynesworth. But aren't they going with Rex Grossman at quarterback? We have never believed in Mike Shannahan.

NFC North

Green Bay Packers
The Super Bowl champs look great. We like Bill Simmons theory that the NFL lockout actually helped ameliorate the typical Super Bowl hangover. The Packers weren't feted the way most champs are. Did it help keep them hungry?

Detroit Lions
Apparently, it was Matt Millen, not ownership after all. The Lions are poised for a breakout season. Ndamukong Suh looks like he could be the defensive MVP. The only question mark is quarterback Matt Stafford.

Chicago Bears
We do not believe in Jay Cutler, we never have. They still have no number one wideout. We like Coach Lovie Smith. Is the defense aging? .500 at best...

Minnesota Vikings
It is just not going to be a happy career for Donovan McNabb... Maybe, maybe if Adrian Peterson stays healthy all year, their season will be less than disastrous.

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons
They are a chic Super Bowl pick. We like, not love, Matt Ryan. We think Julio Jones will eventually be an asset, but the lockout didn't help him. And what about their cornerbacks? Up to the task? This team takes a step back.

Carolina Panthers
The biggest question facing the Panthers this season is what position Cam Newton will play after the Panthers draft Andrew Luck. Tight-end? The Panthers resigned the stars of their 2-14 team. They still have no #2 wide receiver. We think Duke Blue Devil football wins more games than the Panthers this season. 0-6 in the division seems certain.

New Orleans Saints
Darren Sproles is the perfect Reggie Bush replacement and might even be an upgrade. Drew Brees is a wizard. We will take brains over brawn every day.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Nobody believes in Tampa quarterback Josh Freeman more than Bill Simmons, not his mom, not his coach... There must be a reason. We haven't seen enough to make up our minds on young Mr. Freeman. The Bucs appear to be the classic case of a team that suddenly faces a harder schedule and backs up. They are in a tough division.

NFC Worst

Arizona Cardinals
Kevin Kolb reminds us of the illustrious Scott Mitchell. Did they get worse defensively? This division is so bad that anything is possible.

San Francisco 49ers
If not for Alex Smith we would pick them to run away with this division. Why are they still sticking with Alex Smith? Andy Dalton would lead this team to a division title. Graham Harrell could probably be plucked from the Packers practice squad and lead this team to a division title. (We are assuming 7 and 9 will be enough again to win the West again.)

Seattle Seahawks
When did they give up on Charlie Whitehurst? Tavaris Jackson couldn't hack it in Minnesota with Adrian Peterson and a good o-line. What is he going to do here?

St. Louis Rams
We are not sold on Sam Bradford. Stephen Jackson is a useful asset. Do they have enough other offensive weapons? Says here no.


Division winners: Philadelphia, Green Bay, New Orleans, other
Wild Cards: Tampa Bay and Detroit

Conference Champ: New Orleans


Drew Brees is a winner on and off the field


AFC East

Buffalo Bills
We like quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. They need to find ways to utilize C.J. Spiller. Receiver Steve Johnson has skills too. The Bills are improving in a tough division.

Miami Dolphins
Bad ownership is destabilizing the franchise by undermining the head coach. We don't think Chad Henne is the problem, he might even be okay eventually, but not in this trainwreck of a situation. Brandon Marshall needs the departed Ricky Williams to tutor him in the way of karma.

New England Patriots
Why is everyone so enamoured with Belichek and company signing a bunch of aging defenders? Because the Junior Seau addition worked out so well? If these were the Al Davis led Raiders they would be getting killed for the same additions. Lucky for the New England defense, Tom Brady is on the other side of the ball.

New York Jets
Mark Sanchez is not getting any better. He looks great on a poster, less so on the field. Can the Ryan and the Jets defense carry them to the playoffs again?

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens
The last hurrah or the beginning of the other shoe dropping? We like the offense. This is the year the Anquan Boldin signing pays off. Ray Rice is dominant. Ricky Williams is a good change-up The o-line is pretty solid. Joe Flacco is a winner. Can the defense do its part? Is the window still open? Just maybe.

Cincinnati Bengals
We like quarterback Andy Dalton. And the Bengals won't be as bad as people think, oh they'll be bad all right, just not as bad as people think. Andy Dalton wants no part of the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. (Although, maybe he should, as it would hasten his departure from the black hole that is Bengal land.)

Cleveland Browns
This is a team headed in the right direction. We like what Colt McCoy showed last year. They have some weapons on offense. But, the top of the division is amongst the NFL's elite. So .500 appears to be a best case scenario.

Pittsburgh Steelers
Everyone is talking about the Ravens aging defense, but the Steelers are actually older. In fact, we heard they are going to start the oldest defense of this millennium. James Harrison had two off-season surgeries. Predator Ben Roethlisberger and the offense will likely drag them into the playoffs, and if they do, anything can happen.

AFC South

Houston Texans
It doesn't seem like even Gary Kubiak could screw this up. No Payton Manning? Could he and the Texans get a bigger gift? If they don't win the title this year, he gets fired and they break the thing up.

Indianapolis Colts
The Colts season changed when Payton Manning got injured. Kerry Collins is a joke. The rest of the roster is less than talented. Even stud defensive ends Mathis and Freeney are less valuable on a team that does not have the lead all the time. We are, however, the last sports page in America to believe in Curtis Painter. In Purdue's Joe Tiller we trust, it says here if Painter gets the keys in time, he leads a late charge for a Wild Card berth that comes up just short.

Jacksonville Jaguars
Well, until they shocked us by cutting David Garrard last week, we were predicting the Jags would win the division. We like head coach Jack Del Rio. He has moxie. Maurice Jones-Drew has enough heart for three men. But what other talent is on the roster? On a team now led by a journeyman quarterback? No playoffs for them.

Tennessee Titans
We cannot believe the Titans were dumb enough not to be able to retain either Vince Young or Jeff Fisher. In this mess of a division, keeping just one of them might have been enough to get the team to the playoffs this season. Then again, maybe it is a better to bottom out and get into the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. The Titans figure to be about that bad.

AFC West

Denver Broncos
May as well play Tim Tebow, it is not like they have anything else going for them. Maybe Tebow inspires divine intervention on their behalf?? Mile High fans haven't seen back to back teams this bad since the early 70's.

Kansas City Chiefs
This is the year when Matt Cassell shows us why Tyler Thigpen and Matt Leinart have played ahead of him. K.C. got an easy schedule and lots of breaks last year. This team is backing up. We think Jamaal Charles is powerful running back, but they do not have enough weapons around him.

Oakland Raiders
We like Jason Campbell. We have believed in his leadership since his Auburn days. We love the way he throws the ball. The Raiders went 6 and 0 in the division last year. Why did they have to fire Coach Tom Cable and subvert it all? Answer: Al Davis.

San Diego Chargers
Phillip Rivers is a winner. Absent Norv Turnerm, we would be picking this team to the Super Bowl. They have a gaudy array of offensive weapons and a lousy division to beat up on. How will they find a way to lose in the playoffs this year? No idea, but we can't wait to find out.

Division winners: New England, Baltimore, Houston, San Diego
Wild Cards: New York Jets and Pittsburgh

Conference Champ: Baltimore Ravens


Ray Rice is a dominant force, with a defense that has one last hurrah left.

The Super Bowl winner?

Says here the New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees make it 2 out of 3, beating the Ravens of Baltimore in Ray Lewis's final game.

NFL has good guys too

The Clarion Content and many other media outlets are found of dragging the NFL and other sports leagues through the mud when one of their players does something ethically questionable. In the effort toward some kind of proportion, we want to highlight when we see something extraordinarily good, too. Regular readers of the Clarion Content's politics site, will know that our editors are suckers for a good hero story.



In this case, Baltimore Ravens rookie wideout, Tandon Doss, gave us an opportunity to both credit an NFL good deed and tell you a hero story. Indiana University alum, Doss said it wasn't his intention, he was merely thinking about a pregame meal when he strolled into 5 Guys Burgers and Fries in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Doss found a fight in progress. One man with a knife was holding the restaurant manager captive while another beat him. Apparent the knife wielding man had been fired in the days previous. Doss, who humbly downplayed his role, was quoted in the Baltimore-Sun, "I saw the guy on the ground bleeding, and I saw a guy on top hitting him. So I stopped it."

The manager suffered a cut on the chin. Doss said, "I mean, it was two dudes on one. I was trying to help the situation out. I broke it up."

Read more here.

Rays and Sox

We must beware the powerful Clarion Content jinx. We are noted for our ability to make the diametric opposite of what we predict come true. Thus it is always dangerous for the sports editor to predict things we wish will happen, but in this case we have to put it out there, despite the fact it is both our prediction and our desire.

The Boston Red Sox look awfully vulnerable to being caught by the Tampa Bay Rays in the race for the American League Wild Card. While Boston would appear to have a comfortable 7 and 1/2 game lead over Tampa, just last week they were ahead by 11 and 1/2 games. The Sox are increasingly banged up. Star third baseman, Kevin Youkilis has been dinged up all season and was recently put on the disabled list. Prized free agent outfielder Carl Crawford is barely hitting .250 and has a miserable 39 RBIs. The Sox offense is so meek right now, last night's line-up featured rookie Josh Reddick, he of the career 288 at-bats and 9 lifetime homers, hitting 5th. Line-ups that are that thin are more commonly associated with the Rays, than the Sox or Yanks.

However, it is not just the offense of the Red Sox that looks wobbly. The pitching staff has been battered as well, and that, pitching, is not an area either the Rays or the Yanks are vulnerable. The Rays with their pipeline to Durham have a seemingly endless supply of quality young arms. The Yanks have five solid starters and an extra $180 million dollar man, A.J. Burnett. The Red Sox conversely are trying to get by with forty-five year old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, free agent flop John Lackey and castoff Eric Bedard holding down the back end of their rotation.

As their limp start showed, the Red Sox have holes. Those failings maybe exposed the possibility of the kind of epic Red Sox stretch collapse that hearkens back to the days of yore.

Not a proud moment

We caught this strange and ugly scene on Bill Simmons vehicle, Grantland. Georgetown University and a local Chinese team, against whom they are playing an exhibition game, got in an ugly bench clearing brawl. It lasted less than a minute, but the visuals are disturbing. The crowd boos and throws plastic water bottles when the Georgetown team exits the court. Grantland links to the Washington Post's article here, which reads like a wire report: making no attempt at explanation or understanding. Just the facts ma'am.

Was there anything else going on beyond a roughly contested basketball game here? Anything regionally or locally that was relevant? Was their a strain of anti-Americanism here?

America ought be very careful about pissing off the Chinese holders of almost all of our sovereign debt.

Free agency quick hits

The NFL's free agency flurry like many rushed decision-making processes is filled with gaffes.

We think that the Cardinals are out of their collective gourds to give up a good cover corner for the unproven Kevin Kolb, a guy who has had exactly one, big success in a meaningful game in his career to-date. Why were the Eagles and offensive guru Andy Reid so ready and willing to part with guy?

And what is up with everyone fawning of the Patriots and Belichek's swooping in and grabbing aging past their prime, big name guys? How well did that work for them with Junior Seau? In fact, what are they the new Raiders? Not only are they going old, but they are going with old dudes who are known to have bad or disruptive attitudes. When was the last time they had success doing following this route? Corey Dillon in 2004? Guess, one could argue that it worked with Randy Moss...

Anyway, we are not buying it this time.

Interesting Pujols theory

While the Clarion Content's Sports Editor was catching a game in PNC Park in Pittsburgh this month we heard an interesting theory on Albert Pujols impending free agency. The common line has been that he is going to resign with the Cardinals. Baseball's biggest spenders, the Yanks, Red Sox and Phillies are all set at first base, all have big name guys with long term contracts, Teixeira, Gonzales and Howard, respectively.

Two other big name franchises are in financial purgatory, the Mets have the Madoff mess and the Dodgers are lost in the Frank McCourt nightmare. Hence the conventional wisdom, Pujols stays in St. Louis, unless the Cubs, who have been burned badly by big time free agents, (Alfonso Soriano, anyone?) hop in from nowhere, despite new ownership and a rebuilding mindset.

But, while we were in Pittsburgh, we heard a new theory from a Pirates fan name Wish. No, it was not the Buccos themselves. Pirates fans are dreaming of the playoffs, but they haven't completely lost their minds.

How about the San Francisco Giants? The defending World Series champs could surely use some more pop in the line-up to go with all that pitching. With their beautiful China Basin ballpark and stable ownership, they have the financial resources. Having dealt with Barry Bonds, they are prepared and aware of what it is like to have a megastar in the locker room. And, as a bonus, Pujols is not known for the kind of charming personality that made Bonds so widely beloved by the media and opposing fans.

Could Albert lose his heart to San Francisco? Ever been there? Would you rather have $300 million in flyover country (St. Louis) or $270 million in the pearl of California? Interesting.

Reyes decision

A lot of style, minimal substance...

The Clarion Content is unclear on why it is so hard for the New York Mets to part ways with Jose Reyes. Reyes is a dynamic talent for sure. However, this side of Carlos Beltran no player is more closely associated with the Mets epic collapses, choke jobs and chronic underachievement. Reyes was a leader of the "Only plays hard sometimes" pack under Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya.

In the last 2½ years, he has missed 170 games, had two hamstring injuries, a separate calf injury, surgery on a torn hamstring tendon, a hyperactive thyroid and a strained oblique. He has failed to play 150 games in four out of his seven major league seasons. He is just the kind of guy who would have a spectacular contract year, like he is this year, and go in the tank as soon as he signs for big bucks.

The Mets should part ways with Reyes, Beltran, and the core of the Minaya flops. David Wright is a piece to build around, Jose Reyes is fool's gold.

Tiger, it is like that...

For Tiger Woods, has it gotten to that point?



Word is Tiger is doing commercials in Japan. Entourage fans will know how low that likely means the cashflow is. Tiger is selling back rub, some kind of Japanese Ben Gay. He has lost endorsement deals from Gillette, Accenture, Tag Heuer, and Gatorade in the last two years.

Tiger reportedly had to dole out approximate $100 million for his divorce settlement. Who knows how liquid that left him? Yahoo estimates his endorsement deals have dropped from in the neighborhood of $75 million a year to more like $20 million. His golf earnings have also dipped from the low eight figures annually to under a million dollars year to date.

Read more here.

Map of Baseball Caps

This awesome illustration maps the history of baseball cap logos from the 1950's forward, from the team with most, the A's, to the team with the fewest, the Yankees.

A grateful thank you to one of our Chicago readers, the Cleary Man, for sending this our way. Much obliged! View it full sized here.

NBA Draft talent

The Clarion Content can't comment on the Europeans leaguers and other global b-ballers who were drafted by NBA franchises the other night in what Bill Simmons says will be remembered as the "Foreigner Draft."



The Clarion Content does have some strong opinions on the players that got drafted, starting with Kyrie Irving. Word out of Duke is that he is a strong character kid, hope so, because it is very tough to get drafted number one overall by the franchise that lost LeBron when you have played less than twenty college basketball games and don't have the body of NFL defensive end. We think Irving becomes a successful pro, with a reasonable NBA career, never quite an all-star, but a nice blend of some of the skills of say Mo Cheeks and Vinny, "Microwave" Johnson. Good distributor, streaky hot shooter, small defender who has to play the point or is a sixth man, a 3rd guard.

We would rate him a the fourth best NBA career arc coming out of this draft. Number one we like Nolan Smith of Duke and now the Portland Trail Blazers. A leader with guts and heart, Smith is a tenacious battler who will win off the dribble and be able to get his own shot, even against much bigger players. He is unselfish to a fault and this will lead him to even greater heights in the NBA than he reached in college.

Number two we like, Derrick Williams. The guy can score. He can play the three or the four in today's NBA. He is the anti-Michael Beasley, who the Clarion Content warned about before he was drafted, Williams is level-headed and a diligent worker. Unfortunately, he got drafted by a team that is schizophrenic. They have Beasley, are run by Kahn, are dangling their coach Kurt Rambis from a meat hook, haven't integrated Ricky Rubio... etc. We do like Kevin Love.

We agree with the Spurs about Kawhi Leonard, whom we rate as the number three NBA career in this draft. Guys who have little help in college don't look as good as they are because of the focus the other team's defense and coaching put into stopping them individually. This same issue applies to another guy who will definitely have a long NBA career, Jimmer Fredette. Other teams keyed on him constantly, built their defensive game plans around stopping him, and the guy still scored with minimal quality help around him. These kind of guys succeed in the pros. Steph Curry anyone? The difficulty is identifying them.

We rate Leonard above Kyrie Irving, Fredette below. Time will tell how good our eyes was.

Top College Draft Prospects 20111

1) Nolan Smith, Duke
2) Derrick Williams, Arizona
3) Kawhi Leonard, San Diego State
4) Kyrie Irving, Duke


Kawhi Leonard

Johnny Damon, Hall of Famer?

Some regular readers accuse the Clarion Content of having a too expansive criterion for selection to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. It is a claim we vociferously dispute. Jim Rice, Tony Perez, Bert Blyleven and Andre Dawson were all deserving. We did not, however, support the candidacies of Dennis Eckersely or Kirby Puckett, simply to cite a few examples on both sides. The borderline cases, of course, produce the most debate.

It is with interest then that we read a note from the Associated Press this morning about an exclusive club Mr. Johnny Damon joined last night while batting for the gritty Tampa Bay Rays. Damon doubled down the leftfield line and became the 11th player in baseball history to have 500 doubles, 100 triples, 200 homers and 2,500 hits. All the others, a prestigious list including names like Musial, Gehrig, Ruth and Brett, are in the Hall of Fame.

Is Johnny Damon a Hall of Famer? It is a fascinating question to ponder for the next few years.

Nowiztki

Defending Dirk Nowiztki? It is a tough job both for opposing players and for the player's supporters. Undoubtedly Nowiztki has been great in these playoffs, and his numbers are those of a Hall of Fame career.

Also indisputably, in the biggest moment of this season's playoffs so far for Dallas, Nowiztki had the ball twice in the last thirty seconds of a tie game in a tied seriess. Sandwiched around a missed LeBron James three pointer, Nowiztki turned the ball over, throwing it out of bounds, and missed his signature step back sixteen footer.

Tough to defend a guy with a reputation as a shrinking violet when he does that...

The team that has won Game Three has won the last eleven NBA Finals, all of them since the league switched to the unbalanced 2-3-2 format.

Atlanta Hockey is no more

The Clarion Content has long derided the National Hockey League for its move into warm weather United States cities. Locally, the Carolina Hurricanes have been the exception to the rule. The exception proves the rule? Bringing the Clarion Content's northeastern Original Six hockey biases to the table, we have never bought into hockey in warm places. This is the national sport of Canada. This week the NHL agreed.

The Atlanta Thrashers were the weakest warm weather franchise this side of the Phoenix Coyotes (in bankruptcy and league receivership while sucking money out of the City of Glendale). True North Sports & Entertainment bought the Atlanta franchise and is moving it to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The underlying premise? Canada loves hockey. How much? Winnipeg sold out its 13,000 season ticket plans almost immediately.

Atlanta is lukewarm about all of its sports teams. The team was 28th in attendance in a 30 team league. Hockey doesn't play well in warm weather cities. Only one warm weather city is in the top half of the league in attendance, though to be fair San Jose, just outside the top half, plays to sellout crowds.

Bottom line, this was an obvious move for the league.

Next up what Canadian city takes the Phoenix Coyotes?

Another World Series

Ruth as a Red Sox

The Clarion Content and the Sports Editor are familiar with the story of the Chicago Black Sox and the fixed 1919 World Series. We imagine many of our readers are as well. But had you heard the tale about the 1918 World Series between Babe Ruth's Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs? We hadn't either.

The New York Times had a fascinating article in its sports pages over the weekend (and fortunately we are not over our article allotment yet). The Times, relying heavily on a book by Sean Deveney called "The Original Curse," detailed the case that the Cubs threw the 1918 World Series. It centers around Cubs rightfielder Max Flack, the only man ever to get picked off-base twice in a single World Series game. In the same game, Flack also misplayed a Babe Ruth flyball into a triple by playing excessively shallow. In the final World Series game, Flack dropped a routine, two-out, can of corn, to right field in the fourth inning; his error allowed both Boston runs to score in the clinching 2-1 victory, a four games to one Sox triumph.

The NY Times reports there was strangely no celebration on the field. America's entry World War I was the big story, the following baseball season had been put on hold and most players assumed they would be drafted. Attendance was down. The economy was wobbly. World Series payout shares were going to be less than half of what had been anticipated. Conditions for a fix were ripe.

Anecdotal evidence from convicted Chicago Black Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte, indicated that several of his co-conspirators discussed the Cubs having been offered $10,000 per man to fix the 1918 Series.

All the principals are long dead and there is no more than Cicotte's words and the circumstantial evidence of Flack's failures. It is still an interesting story. Read more here.

Baseball Attendance

Word is Major League baseball attendance is lagging yet again. The moribund economy has done the game no favors. This, in combination with the struggles of a couple of major market teams, has pushed figures downward. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that through their first eighteen home games, the Dodgers averaged 36,672 spectators, which is a 16.5% drop from the same point in the season last year. The New York Mets, playing poorly and embroiled in the Madoff scandal, are also way down in attendance. Fannies coming through the turnstiles are even lower than the paid attendance figures that the Mets are reporting.

There are also a couple of smaller market teams who doing well whose public has yet to buy into their success, most notably Cleveland, but also Florida and Kansas City. Expectations are low and attendance has been still lower.

Tweet of the Night

From our buddies Petros and Money on the radio... Matt "Money" Smith got off the Tweet of the Night as the Lakers were going down in flames to fall behind the Mavs 3-0.

Think Peja is getting texted up by J-Will, Vlade, Doug Christie, C-Webb and Rick Adlemann right about now?

We are betting, yes, definitely yes.

Baseball, its punchless

While we at the Clarion Content love the new pitching heavy, post-steroids era of baseball, we have to acknowledge it sure is different. No more Punch and Judy second basemen hitting twenty-five homers in a season, same goes for the seventh place hitter in the line-up, no mas de 100 RBI seasons for a hack hitting that low in the order.

Just how much has the balance of power swung back to the pitchers? Last night's game between the White Sox and the Twins featured seven starters with batting averages under .200, three for the White Sox and four for the Twins.

Against this fierce line-up, the Twins Francisco Liriano pitched the first no-hitter of the season and according to the Elias Sports Bureau the first no-no ever by someone named Francisco.

Notes from the Heat's win

Who is the more self-absorbed jerk here...

A couple of notes from the Miami Heat's closeout win over the 7th seeded Philadelphia 76ers last nights. Philly was a .500 team in the comparitively weaker Eastern Conference of the NBA. Miami beat them 4 to 1 in the series and by six points last night. A couple of notes for basketball insider from the game: LeBron James no field goals and only three points in the fourth quarter. Delonte West not only stole his Mom, but his mojo, too. The Heat, as a team, no field goals in the final six minutes and forty-three seconds as mediocre Philly whittled a ten point lead down to one, save for a Wade breakaway dunk in final moments after the outcome had been decided.

Very solid, Miami. Very solid. Well done. Seven titles here you come...

OKC's Westbrook must set the tone

The Zombie Sonics, as Clarion fave Bill Simmons calls them, were a popular second choice to win the Western Conference behind the two time defending champs, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Zombies had been holding true to form blowing the Denver Nuggets out of the water. The Nuggets are a collection of bit players and B-list stars and OKC should be pounding them. Last night, the Zombies slipped and they won't be getting to the Finals, let alone winning them, if point guard Russell Westbrook distributes like this: check out the brutal boxscore here.

30 shots attempted, five assists handed out. It is not possible to win titles with your point guard doing that. OKC fans hope it was an aberration not a sign Westbrook has been channeling his inner Calvin Murphy.

SEC tops itself

The SEC can always be counted on to top itself, that is to say, when you think that you have seen just how slimy it get can get, the SEC is happy to demonstrate it can go lower still. So in off-season where March saw four Auburn football players charged with first degree robbery, in an incident where students in an off-campus house were robbed at gunpoint, the University of Georgia is angling to beat that standard.

The Auburn robbers included the leading tackler on the national title team. UGA can trump that however, because this week they demonstrated that they like players who are criminals while they are still star high school recruits. Over at Auburn and Alabama, you have to wait until you get into school to become a felon, not at Georgia.

Seven Georgia players were the victims of locker-room thefts of iPods, iPhones and other small electronic devices. Whodunnit? Allegedly, three top Georgia football recruits who stole the items during an open house event at the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. Because the value of the property stolen did not exceed $1,500 the recruits in question were only charged with misdemeanor theft, clearly, leaving Alabama and Auburn free to argue that they recruit guys that are harder than that...

As ESPN SEC blogger Chris Low notes, this likely will hardlly even slow the recruiting of these kids in the scum filled pond that is SEC football, "Talent usually wins out, even when a kid has a troubled past." So that even after word of this incident broke, two of the three recruits involved were invited by Nick Saban and Alabama to attend their Spring football game.

Eastern conference playoffs

Derrick Rose and the Bulls will have to battle Hansbrough's Pacers for everything they get.

The NBA's Eastern Conference playoff match-ups have begin to come into focus this week. The Boston Celtics have continued to stumble down the stretch in the wake of the Kendrick Perkins trade. Last night it became official, the Miami Heat locked up the number two seed, ahead of the Celtics, in the Eastern Conference. The Chicago Bulls had already sealed up number one last week.

Strangely enough, the Celtics and Heats reversal of positions may help both teams. The Heat are lucky to avoid a match-up with the Knicks and their two high scoring star forwards. The Heat were the only Eastern Conference contender dumb enough that they might get lured into playing the Knicks and Coach Mike D'Antoni's run and gun style. No such thing will happen for the Knickerbockers against the Celtics, whose defensive will should crush the softies Melo and Amare. Rondo will make Billups look every bit of his fifty years old.

Ironically, the Heat will get a better match-up too. The Sixers cannot keep up with the Heat's offense. The Celtics low scoring ways might have allowed Philly to steal a couple of games with hustle and offensive rebounding. The Heat will simply blow Philly out of the gym on offensive talent.

Surprisingly, the toughest opponent for a Eastern Conference favorite might be the top seeded Chicago Bulls matching up with the eighth seeded Indiana Pacers. As noted in this space, the Pacers have benefited tremendously from a mid-season coaching change. They are playing smashmouth basketball and pounding it into the post with their huge front line. Roy Hibbert is a legitimate NBA center with post moves. Tyler Hansbrough is a never stop grinding, banging, hassling and hustling power forward. Danny Granger, back at his natural small forward position, is silky smooth and a match-up nightmare for most of the league because of his height. It will take Derrick Rose his full arsenal, plus a little bit of offensive help from either Boozer or Gibson, if the young Bulls are to get through the Pacers.

Rangers and Knicks both make the playoffs

The New York Rangers and the New York Knicks are both in the playoffs at the same time for the first season since 1996-97. Eons have passed. Whole careers in both sports have started and ended. How long ago was that? Boris Yeltsin was running Russia and Bill Clinton was running America, coincidentally with much the same methodology.

In the 1995-96 offseason, the Rangers had made the karmic sin of letting the Captain and the bringer of Lord Stanley's Cup to 8th Avenue, Mark Messier, walk, over money. It was stupid and petty. The Rangers and their fans paid the penance of seven straight seasons of missing the playoffs, plus a year lost to a lockout. It was a dark time in Madison Square Garden.

Shortly after the Messier free agency debacle, the Knicks dealt Patrick Ewing. Dave Checketts and Scott Layden came in from Utah on a mission to destroy the Knicks. They brought with them Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley. They signed Allan Houston to deal that the franchise has still not recovered from, for it started the cataclysmic chain of events that led to the Isiah Thomas hiring, which spiraled to and through Starbury and Larry Brown. The Knicks have made the playoff once in the last nine years, getting swept out of the first round by the heartless Vince Carter and the ignominious Toronto Raptors in 2003-04.

By 2003-04 the Rangers had brought back Messier, but he was forty-three and not going to carry the team the way he once did. They missed the playoffs for a seventh straight year. They dealt away signature stalwart and future Hall of Famer, Brian Leech. The next season brought the NHL lockout and the league has never been the same. The Rangers have tasted to the playoffs a few times since, but the Garden faithful have been waiting on the Knicks.

This year has been one of revival for the Knickerbockers, though it was nearly snuffed out at mid-season though a disastrous deal brokered by owner James Dolan with a whiff of Isiah Thomas behind the scenes. Knicks fans are desperate, so desperate that any playoff appearance will make this season a success. The Rangers had to win the last game of the season, against their hated arch-rival, the New Jersey Devils, and then sweat out a Carolina Hurricanes loss to know that they had qualified for the postseason. As a reward, they get the top seeded Capitals and their star leader, Alexander Mikhaylovich Ovechkin.

Hey, Jim Mora, at least the New York teams, the tenants at the world's most famous arena, are in the playoffs!

Baseball salary notes

A couple of interesting baseball salary notes from legendary football writer Peter King. "The infield of the New York Yankees (Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez) makes more money than the 53 players on the Royals and Rays."

Wow!

And how about this one, "Peter Bourjos plays center field for the Angels. Vernon Wells plays left... After four games, Vernon Wells has made more money ($651,234) than Bourjos will make for the full season ($414,000)."

These statistics do answer a critique of basketball salaries made by Clarion Content fave, Bill Simmons. Simmons pointing out that the NBA's owners have made their own bed economically by over-paying fringe and mid-level players says

"In Hollywood, you don't pay "character actors" like Mike Miller or Travis Outlaw $30-35 million to appear in your next five movies. Why? Because it's bad business!!! Because it would be irresponsible! We're headed toward a lockout because NBA "character actors" should be paid like what they are -- character actors -- and because the dopey owners need to be saved from themselves. It's a broken system. Luke Walton and Ron Artest should not be making half as much combined as Kobe Bryant. Brandon Bass, J.J. Redick and Chris Duhon should not be making as much combined as Dwight Howard. If NBA owners ran Hollywood, the creepy uncle from "Winter's Bone" would be enjoying Year 1 of a six-year, $58 million movie deal."

Baseball, as one can tell from Peter King's salary statistics, has at least figured this one out.

Game Two

This coach is in the title game for a second year in a row...

There was a strange dichotomy in the two NCAA Final Four games played last night. In game one, there were two gritty, mid-major teams that few expected to be there. In game two, there were a couple of storied programs with long but sordid histories. It made for a strange rooting dynamic, in game one we felt sad that one of these gallant underdogs had to lose. In game two, we felt perturbed one of those cheaters was going to win.

Who do you root for one when on one bench is a coach who has had to vacate both of his previous two Final Four appearances and on the other side is a coach who the NCAA has cited for multiple violations, including lack of institutional control? Blech.

The narrative was undermined and we predict the television ratings reflect it.

Auburn back in the news

The ink was hardly dry on the Clarion Content's last critical post about Auburn football, four of their players were charged with armed robbery and kicked off the team, before HBO was airing a scandalous documentary about the university.

HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" aired an episode that included four former Auburn football players saying they were paid during their time at the school. Does this shock anyone? Is their any meaning left in the phrase institutional control when it comes to the state of Alabama, home of the last two college football national champions?

The Case for Expansion

VCU and Alabama, enough said. It is time for 128.

VCU could cost Vegas

We tweeted about it last night, asking what were the opening odds on VCU to win the tournament? A little bit of research has revealed that VCU was part of what the casinos label "The Field" bet, a group of nineteen teams where any one of them winning paid 200 to 1.

Jay Kornegay, executive director of the race and sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton said, "I've been doing this for 22 years, I can't remember a field team making it to the Final Four." But apparently there was not much action at that point, supposedly the bets that are really poised to hurt Vegas if VCU wins the tournament were made just before the Sweet Sixteen. At that point, VCU had beaten Georgetown and Purdue. Vegas offered new odds on each Sweet Sixteen participant to win their tournament and set VCU winning the title at 80 to 1. Word is they took some big money action. Now they are worried.

Kentucky is the 8 to 5 favorite of books looking at the four teams left. VCU, if one were to hop at their bandwagon at this late date, only pays 13 to 2. My, my what a long way they have come.

D'Antoni fails to use the bench

Fun times

New York Knicks Coach Mike D'Antoni is one of the worst coaches in the league when it comes to under-utilizing his bench. This is not news to Phoenix Suns fans. He did it there, too. Last year with the Knicks, he had the productive shooter and defensive stopper Toney Douglas pinned to the bench simply because he was a rookie.

This year is more of the same. The Melo trade, by getting rid of the Knicks depth, just gave D'Antoni a built-in excuse. The Wall Street Journal breaks down just how bad D'Antoni's substitution patterns are here.

We would be very surprised if both D'Antoni and General Manager Donnie Walsh are back with the team next year.

Evidence mounts

At Madison Square Garden evidence continues to mount that having two no defense playing, All-Star caliber power forwards gets a team a lot more razzle-dazzle than it does wins. The Knicks lost again last night. Melo managed five points in the second half and no field goals in the fourth quarter, while the Celtics rallied from a fifteen point deficit to beat the Knicks.

The Knicks are now under .500, 7 up and 9 down since the Anthony trade. The Nuggets meanwhile are surging. The Knicks lack depth, play no defense, and already there are signs of chemistry issues between the two big guys, Amare and Melo. Amare chastised anonymous teammates early this week for not buying into Coach Mike D'Antoni's system, while Melo bellyached and whined a day or two later that time to mesh may mean that successes are postponed until next season. (when the Knicks could have had 'Melo for nothing but Benjamins and could have kept Ray Felton to spell the geriatric Chauncey Billups).

As things stand, the Knicks will be unlikely to win a game from either the Bulls or the Celtics in a first round playoff series. The Miami Heat, who are even softer inside than the Knicks, are somewhat more vulnerable. If the Knicks could lure the Heat into high scoring battles, playing games in the 110's or 120's they might win one or two from the Heat, then as sphincters tightened in South Beach, they would have a puncher's chance against LeBron and D-Wade.

At Auburn, no way?

Very legitimate...

Well, well, well we can hardly believe what we are reading on ESPN.com this morning. Four players from Auburn's football team were arrested for five counts of first-degree robbery, one count of first-degree burglary -- both of which are felonies -- and one count of third-degree theft. Reportedly, three men entered a house off-campus, displayed a gun and robbed the residents.

Their vehicle was stopped by police, a pistol and stolen property were recovered, and the four players were taken into custody. They are being held on $511,000 bail. Three of them were part of Auburn's 2010 recruiting class. The fourth was their leading tackler in the national championship game last year. All four have been kicked off the team.

Read more here.

Knicks find a pothole

Former Syracuse star, Andy Rautins, breaks it down for Knick teammate, Landry Fields. That's right, Stanford, it snows here, in New York. Snow, ice and salt breakdown roads. Yes, Long Beach, this leads to gaping potholes. Apparently Fields, with Rautins in the front seat, hit a huge pothole getting on the Major Deegan Expressway. Ouch.

Harvard Hoops

Harvard Coach Tommy Ammaker learned from the best...

The Clarion Content was on this story many moons ago. Duke alum, Tommy Ammaker, and his Harvard Crimson, have a shot at the school's first Ivy League Men's Basketball title in 100 years of competition. They are the only one of Harvard thirty-four varsity sports not to have won a single league title. They are the antithesis of Jack Nicklaus, having finished second only twice in school history. Once was under Coach Ammaker, with a star, who has since matriculated to the NBA, Jeremy Lin.

This year Coach Ammaker's squad is the youngest in the Ivy League. With wins in their remaining games against league pillars Penn and Princeton, this team can do something never accomplished in the history of Harvard basketball. The New York Times quotes the coach, "I’m not sure you can walk anywhere on this campus and find something that hasn’t been done before," Amaker told the Times this week. "But we are on the verge of doing it."

Read the whole story here.

Not sold on the new Knicks

This was Knicks alpha dog. Now?

An expanded look to follow on the main page soon, but let it be heard that the Sports Editor is not sold on the new look New York Knicks. Sure Melo and Amare were both All-Star starters, but they play the same position and neither plays defense.

Anthony's first two games with the Knicks, twenty-five shots and twenty-two shots to score twenty-seven points each time, as the Knicks split games with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Not exactly impressive.

There are those that will say Coach Mike D'Antoni style is the problem. The Clarion Content certainly agrees it is a problem, nobody has ever won playing Loyola Marymount ball in the NBA. Having Melo and Amare together couldn't solve that conundrum even if Dog Moe were running the offense.

The Knicks are no closer to a title today than they were a week ago and apparently they could have had Deron Williams for half the price.

Look out

The Duke Blue Devils backed into the #1 ranking in the land this weekend when the four teams ahead of them lost. However, last night Duke took a much more definite step forward when the Most Outstanding Player at last year's Final Four finally exploded. Much like the beginning of last season, Duke's Kyle Singler has battled to find his place in the offense. Singler has rotated over the course of his career between center, power forward and wing player, depending on the needs of the team.

This year, like last year, as the team has grown around him, Singler has been willing to sublimate his own game to let others develop theirs. About this time last year Brian Zubek's emergence as a defensive and rebounding presence helped clearly define Singler's role and led to Duke's run.

Last night, against a banged up Temple squad, Singler exploded for twenty-eight points without the benefit of a single three-point shot. Temple Coach Fran Dunphy said, "He was just not to be denied."

Singler humbly noted, "The bigs were actually passing the ball to me, so I got good post entries and ... just kept getting the ball and putting it back up."

Has the Duke offense turned a corner?

The Wood Brothers ride again

The last time the Wood Brothers team won the Daytona 500 was in this legendary, 1976, David Pearson driven Lincoln-Mercury.

NFL Labor strife

Why are the NFL owners aggressively going on the warpath against the players?

In the post King George the II economy, there are a bunch of franchises struggling with cash flow (in some cases needed to service their debt). Struggling to sell out the stadium, no new luxury boxes, no new PSLs and no new naming rights money on the horizon in: Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Nashville, San Diego...

No doubt these greedy old white men (billionaires) are wealthy beyond belief already, but the reason they want a cash grab back from the players (millionaires) is that they don't have as many new revenue streams as they did in the 1990s. (Much like the rest of the America...)

The increase in value of their franchise is only realized when they sell. And 97% of these guys are going to own their team for the rest of their lives.

This year is the perfect time for the owners to attack because they have secured a deal with their television contracts where they get paid-in-full even if there is a labor stoppage.

Mets money

The New York Mets sent a letter to their fans base today that one supposes was meant to be reassuring. The Mets, as we have covered here, were caught up in the massive fraud perpetrated by Bernie Madoff. Since Madoff's scheme collapsed and the dollars disappeared along with it, there have been concerns about the Mets budgetary ability to compete. The new ballpark has not ameliorated those worries. The Mets do not print money like their crosstown rivals, the Yanks. Can the Mets afford the payroll to compete, especially in a division with the newly minted powerhouse ninety miles down the Delaware River...

The letter said:

"January 28, 2011

Dear Mets Fans:

As Sterling Equities announced in December, we are engaged in discussions to settle a lawsuit brought against us and other Sterling partners and members of our families by the Trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy. We are not permitted to comment on these confidential negotiations while they are ongoing.

However, to address the air of uncertainty created by this lawsuit, and to provide additional assurance that the New York Mets will continue to have the necessary resources to fully compete and win, we are looking at a number of potential options including the addition of one or more strategic partners. To explore this, we have retained Steve Greenberg, a Managing Director at Allen & Company, as our advisor.

Regardless of the outcome of this exploration, Sterling will remain the principal ownership group of the Mets and continue to control and manage the team's operations. The Mets have been a major part of our families for more than 30 years and that is not going to change.

As we have said before, we are totally committed to having the Mets again become a World Series winner. You deserve nothing less.

We wanted to share this information with you concurrent with sharing it with all Mets employees and the media. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Sincerely,

Fred Wilpon
Jeff Wilpon"

Huh. If you were a Mets fan, dear readers, would you feel reassured?

The sports editor's dearly departed grandmother was a one of those fatalistic Mets fans who endured the drought between 1973 and 1986 when the Mets were a laughingstock. Right now, Mets fans aren't there. Despite the collapses and the disaster that was last year, Mets fans can still say, 'At least we don't root for the Pirates'.

You want how much for parking?!?

Cowboy Stadium, home of this year's Super Bowl

Just when you thought, dear readers, that the $200 Dallas officials want to charge fans to stand outside the Super Bowl and watch the game on large screen television was the most outrageous rip-off you were going to hear about it; it has been trumped.

Because, your $200, or for that matter if you paid way more for tickets inside the building, does not include parking. Now the locals wouldn't attempt to gouge you for parking, would they?

ESPN reports that some lots are charging as much as $900.

That's right, $900!!! For the f*cking parking!!! At least you can tailgate and there is a porta-potty included at the $990/per North Collins spot which is only a tenth of a mile from Cowboys Stadium.

Willing to park a little further away? NFL sponsored parking a little over a mile away from the stadium will only run you at $71.40 Six Flags over Texas, but bear in mind, you cannot tailgate there.

Hmmmm, why do they call it the No Fun League?

Ducks Anti-Semitic?

The Anaheim Mighty Ducks are facing a lawsuit accusing their organization of systematic Anti-Semitism. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Orange County, California, Superior Court alleges that coaches for the Bakersfield Condors, the minor league affiliate of the Ducks, repeatedly made anti-Semitic remarks and denied player Jason Bailey ice time because he was Jewish.

Reportedly, Ducks officials downplayed the allegations and had the Condors coaches write letters of apology. Both Condors coaches were suspended in 2009. The Bakersfield Californian reported that the reason was related to Bailey, who has now been traded out of the organization.

Tiger's back

It is a new season and Tiger is playing this week in the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines. Tiger is playing Thursday and Friday with Rocco Mediate, the man who famously battled the limping Woods, at this same course during 2008 U.S. Open, through regulation and then an extra 18 holes, plus a sudden-death hole before Woods won. Rising young star Anthony Kim completes the trio.

What do you think, dear readers, time for Tiger to begin the comeback?

Those texts will haunt you

A thought from the Australian Open tennis tournament, do not put anything in a text message that you would not say to a person's face. Kim Clijsters reminded former Australian tennis star turned sideline reporter, Todd Woodbridge, of that axiom very publicly. The story goes like this. Woodbridge had sent a text to thirty-nine year old Australian doubles player Rennae Stubbs. Stubbs, a female, apparently felt some solidarity with Clijsters, the first mom to win a Grand Slam tournament since Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980, so she showed her the message. Woodbridge had sent a text saying Clijsters looked "especially busty" and "grumpy" suggesting perhaps she was "pregnant" again. Clijsters called him out with grace and humor, courtside and on tv, after her next match. Watch below.

How much money in golf?

Bob Hope knew people...

The prize money in golf is unbelievable. We were once again reminded of that this weekend when they played the Bob Hope Classic in the desert near Palm Springs. As the Los Angeles Times reports, "The Hope was once a tour flagship event. Movie stars and celebrities showed up in droves. TV loved the blue skies and palm trees, and so did large TV audiences, much of them watching from snow piles back East..."

Nowadays, Bob Hope, himself, has long since slipped off the national radar. The event's tradition of playing with amateurs is not highly regarded by the touring pros, who can collect fat appearances fees for showing up at events on other continents. Which brings us back to the money, the obscene gobs of money. The Bob Hope Classic pays the winner $900,000. 900 large, 900 grand, that would be nine thousand $100 bills, but in this glistening era of recovery the purse size is among the smaller on the tour. Only seven PGA events offer less prize money, four of them are in late Fall, played after the Tour Championship when the season is all but over.

Where is the resentment at the disconnect between California's economic masses and these elites? Burbling.

Making bank

We ran across an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that cited a wonderful little piece of investigative journalism by The Sports Business Journal. Did you know, dear readers, that twenty-three of the college bowls are ostensibly non-profit foundations? Nonprofit organizations like those that operate the bowls are not allowed under the federal tax code to give excessive salaries or perks could be seen as using charitable funds to enrich private individuals.

Yet The Sports Business Journal found that:

the Outback Bowl paid Jim McVay $808,032
the Sugar Bowl paid Paul Hoolahan $645,386
the Sugar Bowl also paid Jeff Hundley $398,023
the Chick-fil-A Bowl paid Gary Stokan $504,444
the Chick-fil-A Bowl also paid David Epps $210,013
the Cotton Bowl paid Rick Baker $419,873
the Alamo Bowl paid Derrick Fox $419,045
the Fiesta Bowl paid John Junker $415,118
the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl paid Gary Cavalli $377,475
the Orange Bowl paid Eric Poms $357,722

These bowls are all ostensibly non-profit organizations!

And the Obama administration just agreed to extend all these guys tax breaks.

The societal train has jumped the tracks.

L.A. Football?

AEG football stadium project, artist's conceptual drawing

If you are a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, this note from Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column in Sports Illustrated has got to make you very nervous. "I hear the new AEG football stadium project in Los Angeles is very close to a stadium naming rights deal with Farmers Insurance, and the insurance company will pay at least $400 million over 20 years if the deal is consummated. Which I expect to happen."

The Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars are the two franchises most likely to move to Los Angeles. It has been sixteen years since the NFL has had a team in L.A., that is a long time. There are definitely powerful forces at work trying to get Los Angeles a team, even if they do not agree on where to put it. The Clarion Content hates to be cynical, but it is worth noting that a time of labor strife, like the looming potential NFL lockout, might offer just the cover a franchise needed to ditch its existing fanbase.

Commissioner Roger Goodell weighed-in at the league's owner's meetings, "The No. 1 thing for us to make the economics work in Los Angeles is going to be a new collective bargaining agreement. I don’t think it is a coincidence that we have not had a new stadium built since we had an end to this collective bargaining agreement in 2006."

Look for follow-ups on how this story plays out in the coming months.