Archive for June, 2009

I’m not a converted soccer fan by any means.  I am patriotic though, so I enjoyed the US Soccer Team shocking the world and beating Spain to advance to the finals.  Here are some great stories:

• ESPN.com threw me a bone Wednesday linking to my Kerry Wood story.  Check out the love that author Rob Neyer gave me by clicking here.
• Predominantly Orange salutes high school coaches of all sports.
• PacMan Jonesin’ warns you to be careful of who you mess with in the parking lot after games.
• The Friendly Blogfines looks at some truly amazing Cubs stats.
• Steady Burn covers Seve Ballesteros’ first post tumor appearance where he likens cancer to golf.
• Zoner Sports tells us why Twitter has changed sports.
• Detroit4lyfe comments on Magglio Ordonez’s new haircut.  Maybe the aerodynamics will improve and we will see Magglio steal 50 after the break!
• Fansided gives their Top 10 list of sports transformers.
• Major League Jerk reports that Texas has activated El Duque, Orlando Hernandez in his article El Duque or El Dookie?
• PSAMP brags for his territory saying at least one Pittsburgh team is going to lose.
• Josh Q. Public looks at the NBA’s drafts past busts and bargains.
• King James Gospel already found 20 nicknames for the newest Cav, Shaquille O’Neal.
• Sports Rubbish has a classic find of an old Joe Namath and Farrah Fawcett commercial.

The Mahoning Valley Thunder have made several player moves in the past few weeks.  Obviously in arena football, versatility means something.  Jermaine Moye is a versatile athlete.  He is being used primarily as a wide receiver, but was listed as the teams backup quarterback last week.

Moye grew up in Rochester, Pennsylvania.  After a stellar high school career, he enrolled at West Virginia.  Moye later transferred from West Virginia to The University of California (PA) and enjoyed all the success he could at that level.  Cal (PA) made it to the semifinals competing for a national championship.

“Those years really helped turn Cal around.  That changed the whole program there”, said Moye. 

Jermaine is all about reality television.  He told me that he could watch Flava Flav on VH1 all day.  “Really, any reality show on VH1 is good to see.  If I get up early enough, I never miss Ellen DeGeneres.  I am an Ellen fan, her show is cool.”  Moye also watches Sportscenter and other ESPN programming such as PTI with Wilbon and Kornheiser.

Musically, Moye shows a very interesting variety in taste.  Right now he said Lil’ Wayne is ruling his MP3 player.  He expressed interest in just about any kind of music including Classical and Country.  The only kind of music Moye cannot tolerate is Heavy Metal.

Moye, like Jon Loyte, is misrepresented numerically in EA Sports NCAA Football’s video game.  As a result, Jermaine only uses the big boys and plays Madden ’08 on his PS2.  Madden 08?  PS2?  “I can’t afford to go out and buy one of those fancy new systems yet.  The PS2 is holding up just fine”, said Moye.

Being fairly new to this area, Moye cited Antone’s as his favorite place to grub.  “It’s like a little Olive Garden, but better.”  

Regarding the Thunder team that Moye is now a part of, he said that the record doesn’t come close in showing the talent level and potential this team has.  “With all of the changes happening here, everyone is making progress, it seems like we have the right people and we are gaining confidence each week.”

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is like Goliath in AF2.  They are 11-2 and are bringing their show to The Covelli Centre Saturday.  I asked Jermaine for a prediction, to which he declined.  He did however say that the Thunder were not just going to roll over and play dead and to expect a competitive game, not a blowout.   

On a beautiful night for baseball, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers saw their undefeated streak end at five games.  The Scrappers had chances but could not get a big hit when they needed one, ultimately losing to the State College Spikes, 2-1.

State College took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Pat Irvine RBI single.  With only one out and the bases loaded, Scrapper starter Anthony Ryan escaped without further damage.  Jose Hernandez hit a sac fly for the Spikes in the 3rd inning driving home Tony Sanchez.

Mahoning Valley answered with a Jason Smit RBI single driving in Kyle Bellows who doubled to open the inning.  With men on first and third, the Scrappers could only push their lone run across the plate as Tyler Cox struck out Kyle Smith and Rafael Vera looking to end the inning.

Scrappers Coach Travis Fryman knew the streak couldn’t last forever, “They made some great plays on defense and didn’t beat themselves.  We just couldn’t get a timely hit when we needed one all night.”

State College showacsed the Pirates #1 Draft Pick, Tony Sanchez, behind the plate.  Watching Sanchez throw a ball to second when the pitcher is done warming up is a treat.  Sanchez’s ball tails left to right a bit.  He blocked pitches in the dirt all night and moves with catlike quickness from his stance.

The Scrappers return home on July 1 to face Williamsport.  First pitch is set for 7:00 at Cafaro Field.   

Nothing like an old XFL memory huh?  Lots of good stories to check out today.

• Sports Rubbish has a video of a Samurai cutting a baseball in half with his sword.
• Sharapova’s Thigh found something interesting on Twitter.  ESPN’s Ric Bucher assuring Timberwolves youngster Kevin Love that he won’t be traded.
• Major League Jerk addresses what criteria people use when casting votes to select MLB’s all-stars.
• Josh Q Public writes about Yankees starter Chien Ming Wang, and the recent struggles of the Yankees and Mr. Wang, no offense.
• No Guts, No Glory  talks about ex-NFL players trying to peddle hopes of weight loss through eating chocolate.
• Hugging Harold Reynolds found Martina Navratilova’s ex wife/lover calling the former tennis great a hypocrite on gay rights.
• NESW Sports found potential #1 NBA Draft Pick Blake Griffin losing a game of H-O-R-S-E to Jared from Subway fame.
• Zoner Sports has picture of EA Sports NHL 2010 with Patrick Kane on the box cover.
• The Fifth Corner lists his 2009 NBA mock draft and also does a good interview with Bob from Detroit4lyfe.
• Detroit4lyfe has footage of Joel Zumaya whiffing Milton Bradley with 104 MPH cheese.
• Style Points analyzes the questionable investments Bernie Kosar made on his way to filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Kerry Wood is having a bumpy ride in his first season as a Cleveland Indian.  The former Cubs closer has really been struggling as of late.  Over the weekend, Wood blew two saves against his former Cubs team in his return to Chicago.  Last night, Pittsburgh almost rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the 9th inning to put an exclamation point on how terrible the Indians bullpen is this season.

In his last four appearances, Wood has pitched three innings, given up six hits, three walks, four earned runs and blown two saves.  His ERA over those four games is 12.00, and his overall ERA is currently at 5.68.  These are not the numbers expected when paying someone $21 million.

So what happens?  I believe Wood will be headed to the DL soon.  History is on my side.  I don’t know of any report of injury to Wood at all, but if he blows another save this week, expect his back to ache just to get him cooled off a bit. 

The Indians bullpen obviously is horrible.  No lead is ever safe, regardless of the size of the lead.  I have watched the starters consistently turn in good performances only to play roulette with a group of pitchers who struggle every single time they are called upon.

Wood is the least of the bullpen problems as bad as he has been lately, and that is a pretty sad but true statement.  I can recall at least seven games this season already, when the Indians had at least a three-run lead after five innings and have lost the game.

Eric Wedge needs to go.  He is bringing in the wrong pitchers in the wrong situations and has had zero luck finding a cork for the leaky dam we call the Indians bullpen.  The bullpen, and Wood in particular, need to step it way up and do a better job for the next manager.  Wedge downplayed last nights almost tragic collapse and said, “Wood got the last out and that’s what matters most.”  Wrong Eric, what matters most is the fact that Wood should not have even been used in the game and that you have serious problems behind the fence in your bullpen.

Jon Loyte has only been a Mahoning Valley Thunder player for a few weeks.  He likes his team, he likes the coach, and he really thinks that things have gotten better since he got here.

Loyte was a standout tight end at Boston College.  He played a big role in as a “shorter” guy in the Eagles offense.  Against Georgia Tech, Loyte had 80 yards receiving sighting that game as his biggest individual moment in football.  He put the team ahead saying that the win at Virginia Tech when Matt Ryan went completely nuts in the second half was his greatest moment while playing college ball.

Loyte grew up in Boston and claims to be a huge Red Sox fan. 

Jon enjoys going to eat at Antone’s and Jeremiah Bullfrogs saying that the food here in the area is good and he can really struggle when trying to figure out what to order at either place.

Loyte revealed that growing up in Boston, he was a headbanger.  He liked the mainstream hard rock of the day.  He has since modernized and progressed musically to Kings of Leon and the modern alternative groove.

He also revealed that he only gets FOX in his room and watches the show Family Guy.  He also is catching up on the USA series Burn Notice that he has on DVD.  Since he can’t get ESPN, he watches Sportscenter when it is on anywhere else.

Loyte likes his video games.  He has an X-Box 360 and said he is totally and completely addicted to Halo.  “I usually don’t like shooting games, but Halo is just addicting – I can’t stop playing it.”  He also plays Madden and used to like EA Sports NCAA Football, but they screwed his number up on the game so he is on a mental boycott.  If you play NCAA ’08, Loyte is incorrectly labeled with #96 if you pick Boston College.

As far as being a member of the Thunder, Loyte told me that this team has the pieces to win, it just all needs to be put together.  The constant carousel of two or three new faces per week have been improvements to the team and that things are getting better every day for the Thunder.

Jon smiled when I asked him some of these questions and came off as a really good person.  He didn’t use and profanity or speak negatively about anyone or anything we discussed.  He is genuinely a positive person.

College Football is only a couple of months away.  Probably my personal favorite sport to follow from year-to-year.  The Buckeyes are reloaded and favored to win another Big 10 Championship.  Here are some stories from other sites.

• My Sports Rumors does an interesting comparison of the Transformers to the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, sighting good vs evil.
• Sports Rubbish posted a Ryan Parker song about the two A-Rods, Alex Rodriguez and Andy Roddick.
• Zoner Sports posted a picture of a Ryan Leaf jersey for sale in an NFL Shops brochure, I wouldn’t pay the shipping fee just to get the shirt.
• Josh Q. Public posted a video of Joana Krupa expressing hatred toward Terrel Owens.
• NESW Sports posted video of the Shaq and Ben Stein Wild West Comcast Commercial.
• PacMan Jonesin’ writes about the retirement of Donald Fehr after 25 years of trying to ruin baseball in Darth Vader retires.
• PSAMP has video of Rashard Mendenhall dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
• Steady Burn informs us that William & Mary University will change their school nickname again.  They were the Indians, then The Tribe, now God only knows what.
• The Fifth Corner reports that Tyler Hansbrough has been invited to Madison Square Garden on draft day meaning his stock is definitely on the rise.
• Fansided gives their Father’s Day Lifetime Achievement Award to Marv Marinovich.
• Detroit4lyfe thinks the Pistons should avoid taking BJ Mullens with the 15th pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
• Style Points has the story on Vince Young getting booed at Coach Fishers charity softball game.
• Bootlegger Sports tells you why the US Soccer Team is setting a good example.
• Major League Jerk finds Yahoo saying Mike Cameron is suspended 25 games for using an illegal substance.  Are they guessing?  Nobody else has said a thing.

I am excited to announce that I have been media credentialed to cover the Mahoning Valley Scrappers for their 2009 season.  Big deal you say?  Actually it is.  With the growth of my websites hits multiplying by 5 in the last two months, this type of forum is perfect for coverage of minor league baseball.

Anyone who has followed the Mahoning Valley Thunder football team on this site has learned about the players, gotten game reviews, and had inside information through my profile features.  I plan on doing Scrapper profiles as well as game summaries and can post some interviews here as well.

Victor Martinez (above) was a Scrapper.  There are several others who played for this very team now playing in the majors.  Because it is a Cleveland Indians farm club, many current Indians played for the Scrappers.  There are also plenty of others who were once in the Indians farm system and were traded or left playing in te big league as well.

Current Indians players who were once Mahoning Valley Scrappers include : Trevor Crowe, Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko, David Huff, Aaron Laffey, Jensen Lewis, Scott Lewis, Chris Gimenez, and Tony Sipp.

Players on other teams include: CC Sabathia (Yankees), Josh Bard (Nationals), Ryan Church (Mets), Chad Durbin (Phillies), Kevin Kouzmanoff (Padres), Joe Inglett and Brian Tallet (Blue Jays).

An early notable off to a hot start is Bo Greenwell, 18 year-old son of former all-star Mike Greenwell. 

The Scrappers, much like the Thunder, are a very family-friendly organization.  Although they run a dollar beer night on Thursday and have a Playmate (Lisa Neeld) in future promotions, the Scrappers really aim for quality family entertainment.

Someone on this years team will make it to the big leagues, nobody knows who…  But by attending a Scrappers game, you can say you saw them when…

Congratulation to Lucas Glover, the 2009 US Open Champion!  Here are stories from other great sites!

• PacMan Jonesin’ pays homage to Tony LaRussa on his 2,500th win.
• NESW Sports  has a unique video of Michael Jackson vs Michael Jordan in a 1 on 1 matchup.
• FOX Sports takes a look at the rare Monday ending to the US Open, and poses the question, Tiger is out of it, isn’t he?
• Josh Q. Public invites everyone to enter the John Smoltz era, as Smoltz gets ready to make his long awaited Red Sox debut.
• Major League Jerk has had enough of ESPN’s Joe Morgan and gives plenty of examples of why the network should seriously consider firing him.
• Fanhouse has the scoop on John Daly wrecking his bus into a tunnel.
• Sports Rubbish has video of a jockey falling off of the horse well before a race ends, but the horse still going on to win the race.
• No Guts, No Glory posts six of the greatest manager ejection videos of all-times.  There have been plenty in baseball, but I like the ones shown in this post.
• The World Of Isaac found some funny photos from the US Open golf tournament.

ESPN is reporting that Bernie Kosar has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in Miami.  Kosar’s filing lists his assets between $1 million and $10 million and debts falling between $10 million and $50 million.

Kosar owes the Cleveland Browns almost $1.5 million in unsecured debt.  He also owes ex-wife Babette $3 million and the owner of the Cleveland Gladiators (Arena Football League) $725,000.  Kosar’s big hole is that he owes a bank about $9 million for bad real estate deals.

I knew the 45 year-old Boardman Spartans grad liked to invest and had a hand in ownership of some local Arby’s franchises.  Kosar also had ownership of a steakhouse which went out of business last year.

Kosar played his college ball at the University of Miami (FL) and was drafted by the Browns.  His 10 + year NFL stint also had stops in Dallas and Miami until he retired in 1996.  Kosar got divorced in 2007.

I can only hope Bernie can pull it together, he is a class act.