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On what would already be a sad day losing Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson has killed himself much the same way Anna Nicole Smith did. The current speculation is that Jackson probably overdosed on perscription medication or pills of some sort.   According to TMZ.com, Jackson went into cardiac arrest and was rushed to UCLA’s medical center and could not be revived.  Jackson was 50.  Here is the link to the TMZ article…

As of 6:25 PM EST, CNN has confirmed Michael Jackson is in a coma, but not dead.  They are even commenting that CBS reported Jackson dead, but are refusing to confirm the death stating Jackson is still in a coma and not dead.  Wolf Blitzer is acting like a jackass making the story of official confirmation of whether or not Michael Jackson is dead or not bigger than the actual situation…

I know it doesn’t have anything at all to do with sports, but the King of All Pop is bigger than life, give the guy his respect.  Anyone who can keep an album like 1982’s Thriller on the top of the charts for 80 weeks deserves props.

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.

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.

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…

A rotten rumor about Kelly Pavlik has been circulating nationally.  The rumor is that Kelly Pavlik is in alcohol-rehabilitation.  Seeing a very healthy-looking Pavlik at tonight’s Thunder game, I am disturbed by what some people are writing and publishing on the national level when they do not know or understand any facts, but rather base a story on heresay to boost hits.

Being from Youngstown, and a nationally recognized blog, I am going to do the right thing and try to set the record straight.   Pavlik is not and was not in alcohol-rehab.  Everything the poor guy does is magnified times twenty because he is now famous.  In the months between training for a fight and fighting, Pavlik is all business.  What he does in the recreational time he has between the end of a fight and starting to train for the next fight is his business.

I know Kelly throws darts and shoots pool in sanctioned leagues in Youngstown.  Unfortunately for him, the dart matches do not take place in a church basement, but rather at a bar.  So he goes to a bar two or three times a week to throw darts or shoot pool with his friends.  Does that mean he automatically has an alcohol problem?  I shoot pool in sanctioned leagues too, the same ones as Pavlik.  I go to bars four nights a week, should I check into Betty Ford now? 

President Obama was photographed at a Washington Wizards game this past Winter.  He was photographed relaxing and drinking a beer.  Should we impeach him now?  I thought it was one of the coolest photos I ever saw because it showed him being a human being, an American.

First of all, drinking is legal in this country, and if any citizen chooses to drink, it is their legal American right.  Secondly, Kelly Pavlik is a self-advertised proud father, to him family comes first.  To me, that is respectable, because family comes first here as well.  Finally, I have had conversations with Jack Loew, Pavlik’s trainer, am friends with Mike Romeo, a member of team Pavlik, and have several common friends with Pavlik.  If this rumor were indeed true, I would know.  If I found out it was true, I would not write anything, especially in defense of Pavlik.

Bottom line is that my sources are people on the inside, and they would tell me the truth knowing I would not publish anything on this website to harm the reputation of someone who is pictured in my banner.  I can report here and now that Kelly Pavlik is just fine and that RingTalk.com writer Pedro Fernandez needs to re-check his sources because he was sorely misled.

The credibility of this website hangs on the balance of what I type every day.  I am willing to risk my own credibility based on who I have talked to and what they know. 

With a new deal in place with Top Rank signed about a month ago, Pavlik will continue to defend Youngstown.  With my credibility and reputation at stake, I will continue to defend Kelly Pavlik.

#1. Popeye – Spinach My Ass.  Whatever was in that can was laced with some kind of HGH.  The guy is 65 years old and can still twirl Bluto on his finger effortlessly. 

#2. Superman – What do you think he was doing in that phone booth besides changing clothes?  He pulled out his Super Syringe and bulked up quick.  Kryptonite was just an excuse not to get tested.

#3. Captain Caveman – A little too much energy and spotty behavior convinces me this guy is using some kind of foreign substance.

#4. Batman – This picture shows Batman really needing a hit.  Robin was really a dealer who kept all of the injections and pills in order for Batman. 

#5. Hercules – This guy was the one responsible for starting this whole mess.  Would have hit 80 HR’s in the New York Yankee’s new stadium.  The father of steroids.

#6. Thor – Another early user, went down the same path as Hercules.  Swinging that big sledge hammer just isn’t possible au natural.  There was something going on there.

#7. Mighty Mouse – Definitely the smallest offender on the list.  If you study the picture above, you can see obvious pupil dilation and facial discoloration.  Two sure signs there was horseplay.

#8. Foghorn Leghorn – This was one of the first examples of why PETA jumped into Kentucky Fried Chicken’s business.  Genetically enhanced meat here. This is also the perfect example of what happens when you juice but don’t work out enough.

#9. Fred Flintstone – Look at the appetite imbalance.  Flintstone was another example of how not working out defeats the purpose.  He also tried to juice little kids in his Flintstones Chewable Vitamins.  What do you think was really in those?

#10. The Incredible Hulk – Another no doubter on the list.  Obvious skin discoloration and facial sagging.  He is the best example as far as mood swings as a side-effect of abusing steroids.

Baseball is trying to clean up its act.  Unfortunately, most of it’s biggest stars over the past ten years are somehow linked to steroids and HGH.  As baseball continues to try to weed out the artificial enhancements, the point is raised that there are plenty of other sports where steroid use is obviously rampant.  When will the other sports be forced to take the same stance as Major League Baseball?

Tony Mandarich can be called the Jose Canseco of the NFL.  He has not outted guys the way that Canseco has, but he has been quoted as saying that steroid abuse is very popular in the NFL.  Is John McCain a baseball purist?  He spent almost a year scolding MLB’s testing policies but said very little about football players.  Let’s face facts here.  Steroids are all about adding bulk and muscle.  NFL lineman are the bulkiest athletes in sports, yet you are not hearing about too many of them using steroids.  Football has adopted the slogan “bigger faster, stronger“, in its description of a complete player.  In a league where bulk is everything, we all know they are using.

Boxing may be the most corrupt of all sports.  For years, talk of fixed outcomes and political agendas have scarred the sweet science.  Recently, the names of “Sugar” Shane Moseley and Bernard Hopkins have come up in steroid discussions.  They are both in the “old man” bracket, but have come off of recent performances where they looked like they were 20 years old.  I wouldn’t put it past boxing to hide the drug testing results of any of its participants to keep the popularity wave on an increase.  The heavier the fighter, the more likely he is on something. 

There has also been plenty of chatter lately about the use of steroids in golf.  Maybe that is why many of us common folk can’t hit our drives 300.  Granted, I am not dropping any names in this category and the reason I chose the Tiger Woods picture is simply because of the pose.  Golf, questioned to even be a true sport by many for years can quite possibly be the next big list of names we see dropped when the muscle police get done with baseball.

Call Dana White a genius, I will continue to call him a weasel.  MMA may have the highest percentage of users.  Many MMA fighters have more muscular definition than bodybuilders and it isn’t because they can jump rope for an hour straight or learn how to pass a guard in an octagon.  I look for MMA to head down the same path as professional wrestling soon.  Not in the sense that the match outcomes will be predetermined, but rather it’s stars start dying at young ages due to all of the substances used in training.  The UFC is not a legal sport in many states.  The states that do permit MMA would be wise to start drug testing as a mandatory requirement.

Bodybuilding and pro wrestling do not need to be mentioned, I would be stating the obvious.  Batista of the WWE is way too big, too muscular and has to be on something.  He is only one example.  Vince McMahon is a weasel, moreso than Dana White, but is awfully bulky for a man at his age. 

Bottom line, any athlete who competes and brings home a check needs to be tested by an outside company before and after competing.  If this were ever going to happen, America’s new #1 sport will become archery.

 John Cena is the face of WWE Wrestling right now.  He has been put in that position because of the excitement he generates, both positive and negative.  You either love him or hate him.  I have never seen crowd reactions like his over such a long period of time.  75% cheer him, 25% boo.  It has been this way with him for a very long time.  I don’t think Cena will be around for more than a couple more years.  He is going to go in a different direction, probably acting, much like The Rock did almost ten years ago.

John Cena was born April 23, 1977 in West Newbury, Massachusetts.  He is the second oldest of five boys.  He went to college at Division III Springfield College where he earned All-American status as a center.  Pay attention, Cena wore #54 when he played football, and he wears that number in WWE alot.  He graduated with a degree in exercise physiology from Springfield in 1998.  He made money driving limousines and competed as a bodybuilder before hitting the mat.

Cena’s training took place at Ultimate Pro Wrestling, where he was used as a robot-type character named The Prototype.  While at UPW, Cena held the championship for a little over a month.  WWE signed Cena to a developmental deal in 2001 and sent him to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to continue training.  Cena held the OVW championship twice and the tag-team championship once while wrestling at OVW.

Cena first popped up on WWE airwaves in 2002, answering an open challenge from Kurt Angle on June 27.  Cena lost a hard-fought contest, but kicked out of Angle’s Olympic Slam before losing.  WWE teamed Cena with Billy Kidman as partners in WWE’s tag-team tournament.  After losing in the first week of the Smackdown branded tournament, Cena turned on Billy Kidman blaming him for the loss and tournament elimination.

The rap image came to be on the Halloweem edition of Smackdown when Cena rapped, imitating Vanilla Ice.  From this point, Cena started cutting all his promos via freestyle rapping.  Into 2003, Cena rapped and wrestled his way to then-champion, Brock Lesnar.  It was during this storyline that Cena unveiled his finishing maneuver, the FU.  The FU has since been renamed to the Attitude Adjustment as WWE continues to strive for moral cleanliness.

Cena beat The Big Show at Wrestlemania XX to earn his first title, the US Championship.  Cena lost the belt to Carlito in an angle which Carlito’s bodyguard, Jesus, supposedly stabbed Cena at a nightclub.  This angle was used to free Cena up to film his first movie, The Marine.  When he returned, he won the belt back from Carlito, and debuted the new “spinning” WWE Championship belt.

During a 2007 match with Mr. Kennedy, Cena suffered a legitimate torn pectoral muscle injury which shelved him for seven months, forcing Vince McMahon to strip him of his title ending what was the longest WWE Championship reign in over 19 years.

Cena is currently involved in an angle with The Big Show.  Cena has beaten Show at Judgement Day and Extreme Rules PPV’s but the feud is still moving forward. 

Cena, with his array of throwback jerseys and incredibly glib microphone skills is in the prime of his professional wrestling career.  Overexposure has to be a concern for WWE, as it seems when healthy, Cena is involved in a major storyline.  Injuries have sort of kept Cena away for periods, but he gets airtime, and ratings.  His Boston loyalty and his name are real.  Look for John Cena to be around as long as he wants to be, and look for a heel turn by the end of this year.

The 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates are overachieving so far this season.  The pitching has been great with the exception of Ian Snell and some shaky middle relief.  The offense has been almost bearable as compared to seasons past.  So where does this team go from here?

With the trading deadline fast approaching and Pittsburgh right there in the hunt, wouldn’t it be cool to see management make a trade to go out and get a big name free agent pitcher?  Show the fans you want to win.  Many Pirates fans are under the impression that the front office has been more concerned about minimizing finacial losses instead of paying people to create on the field wins.

Go back one year.  Jason Bay and Nate McLouth in the outfield.  Bringing up Andrew McCutchen would have given the Pirates one of the strongest outfield trios in all of MLB.  But no…  Bay had to go, he had a contract coming up, McLouth was one of those deals where quantity exceeds quality, and had McCutchen not been a mandatory call-up, they might have left him down just to keep him in the organization at league minimums.

Paul Maholm is the new meter to me.  If they trade this guy less than 6 games out, you know that their hearts are in the pockets instead of on the field.  I would be completely ecstatic to see them do something nobody would expect.  Go get Ryan Spilborghs from Colorado.  Let the hot Delwyn Young play second base and for God sakes, do something with the LaRoche brothers.  Eric Hinske should be the everyday third baseman.  Ryan Doumit will be back in about three weeks, teach Jaramillo to play first and keep Robinson Diaz to back up Doumit.

Shake it up.  Want people in the seats?  Put them there.  A Matt Capps bobblehead doll won’t sell you a seat on a Tuesday night non-promotional game.  Putting a quality product on the field that can win, will put people in the park.  If management is confused, call the Rooney family for tips on how to win wiithout spending millions on free agents.  Call Mario Lemieux and ask him how important it is to snag guys from teams that have no chance to win anything.  They must know something, look what they did in 2009.

This isn’t rocket science to me.  It is not a bocce league where teams don’t usually know much about each other, it is Major League Baseball.  Get busy and try to deal some of these stale prospects from Boston and Atlanta to get some star power back.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.  Well, my money happened it Vegas, and you can bet that it stayed in Vegas too.  Fresh off of the plane from Vegas, I have some mistakes I made to share with you so if you go you will be better prepared to gamble wisely.  There are smart ways and dumb ways to gamble.  Getting caught up in the moment is not hard to do.  Flashing lights, bells, whistles, free drinks, and so many different ways to lose money contribute to a lack of concentration when you need to be able to.

Having an extra three hour layover in Denver pushed my arrival time from 7:30 to about midnight.  Once I landed at McCaren Airport in Las Vegas, I was just feeling the rush to get checked in, get a players card and get to the casino.  By 1:00 AM, I was gambling.  I started out playing blackjack with Toni Lynn Bisconti, a lifelong friend who shares my joy of gambling.  We were at a $10 minimum table.  After about an hour of back-and-forth wagering, the dealer caught fire.  I was out about $200 in a very short time.  The next day, the craps table, the roulette wheel, and the Captain kicked my ass.

The Captain?  Captain Morgan.  I am not much of a drinker.  At about 9AM, after I had a good breakfast, I settled in at a video poker machine and was getting ready to start playing when a cocktail waitress asked me if I would like something to drink.  I told her that I would take a Captain and Coke.  This turned into an all-day thing.  I’ll bet I killed a bottle myself.  I was in bad shape and needed to sleep by 9 PM.  The group I was with went downtown and had a blast while I watched my room spin.

My final day, I battled a hangover, but won back some money betting on the Penguins to win the Stanley Cup.  I put up $50 to win $90.  People were all over the Red Wings and were putting up $240 to win $100.

Here are some tips:

• If you are a drinker, build your tolerance before the trip so you can keep focus while gambling.  If you are not a drinker, or only drink on special occasions, don’t get caught up being Mickey Mantle while you are gambling.  You will lose more times than you win because of mistakes caused by a lack of focus.
• Find time to go downtown.  Old Vegas is nice because you can play $1 craps or blackjack.  The atmosphere is more fun because your focus is allowed to wander a bit due to the reduced stakes.  The Vegas Strip is a brightly lit trap for the casual gambler.  Downtown is missing that new shine and luster, but offers better play odds and more affordable table minimums.
• If you have a hangover, avoid loud slot machines.  My last day there, I put a twenty into a machine.  On my first spin, I hit one cherry on the payline.  The audio blared at me and almost knocked me out of my seat.  It was louder than a KISS concert, for one cherry.  I cashed out and moved on.
• Plan your days but not each event.  If you want to go to New York, New York on Friday until 5 and then to Rio until 9, and then to Bally’s until 11, leave windows of time, just in case.  If you find something you are really enjoying or winning at, stay.  Don’t cash out at 10 minutes to 5 because you have to be somewhere.  Stay on the roll.  It only happens a couple of times while you are there.
• Player cards are great if you are Mr. Howell from Gilligan’s Island.  You need to drop some very serious cash to have your status moved from gold to platinum on your rating card.  The comp trap is usually good for a free breakfast or a T-Shirt, but never panned out to much else.  I gambled for two days straight and was only a quarter of the way to platinum status.
• Know when to take a break.  If you get your clock cleaned in ten minutes at any game in Vegas, either switch games, switch tables, or take a break.  I was persistent at craps and lost major cash because no one was making a point.  Discipline adds to your chances of winning.

The trip to Vegas is one I will continue to make every year or two.  I don’t want to swim or ride a rollercoaster, I want to gamble.