Thursday, March 31, 2011

Headlinin’: Ramon Buchanan puts Hurricanes back on the rap sheet

Making the morning rounds.

? This is not the 'swagger' we were referring to. Miami linebacker Ramon Buchanan faces a pair of felony charges ? resisting a police officer with violence and battery on an officer, firefighter or emergency care provider ? after a Friday-night arrest near the UM campus. In addition to the felony counts, he was also hit with three misdemeanors for disorderly conduct, resisting a police without violence and trespassing. Details on what led to the alleged resistance, violence and battery: None, as police have so far declined to release the arrest report. Coach Al Golden called the arrest "out of character" for Buchanan but has suspended him indefinitely.

At any rate, Buchanan's arrest ends a three-and-a-half-year streak without a single reported arrest or major citation against an active Hurricane player. Former quarterback Robert Marve was charged with two misdemeanors for allegedly punching the rearview mirror of a car and running from police in October 2007, The U's first and the only legal incident in four years under Golden's predecessor, Randy Shannon. [Palm Beach Post]

? He found the Hospitality State especially hospitable to 6-2, 235-pound linebackers. Former Clemson starter Brandon Maye has landed at Mississippi State, where he'll enroll in a graduate sports administration program and petition the NCAA for a waiver to play this fall ? his fifth and final year of eligibility. This isn't exactly Jeremiah Masoli enrolling in Parks and Recreation: Maye was a three-year starter at Clemson before abruptly leaving school in January over concerns about playing time ? he saw half the snaps at weakside linebacker in 2010 that he saw in the middle in 2009, partly due to a lingering injury that cost him three full games and limited him in others ?�but he arrives in Starkville with an undergraduate degree and three straight seasons as an academic All-ACC pick. [Clarion-Ledger]

? Turning Green. On the same day he was forced to address the weekend arrest of one safety, Mark Barron, Nick Saban announced the suspension of another, Robby Green, for "violating team rules and policies." Green started six games and looked like an emerging mainstay in the Tide secondary as a sophomore on the 2009 BCS championship team, but was ruled ineligible for the entire 2010 season and may be on the fast track to becoming former Alabama safety Robby Green.

Barron, for the record, went through drills as expected in a non-contact jersey (he's still recovering from a pec injury that kept him out of the Capital One Bowl), and any discipline for his recent misdemeanor charge will be handled internally. [al.com]

? Brewer back on board. In other SEC safety news, sophomore starter Brent Brewer has rejoined Tennessee after having the domestic abuse charges that led to his suspension last month reduced to "offensive touching." (That charge will be dismissed later this year if Brewer completes a diversion program.) Brewer started six games last year, his first at UT after four years in pro baseball, but fellow starter Janzen Jackson's return from a personal absence is still up in the air.� [Knoxville News-Sentinel]

? Y'all come back now. The last two of the four now-former Auburn players arrested for armed robbery earlier this month, Shaun Kitchens and Antonio Goodwin, were both released on bond over the weekend after spending more than a week in the Lee County Detention Center, following ex-teammates Mike McNeil and Dakota Mosley into temporary freedom. Their first preliminary hearing is on April 6; in the meantime, all four have been legally barred from Auburn's campus to prevent them from "harass[ing], annoy[ing] or otherwise commit[ing] any acts that would cause alarm toward any witnesses in this case, any law enforcement officials or any Auburn University officials or students." [al.com]

Quickly… Wisconsin receiver Nick Toon will miss all of spring practice with a fractured foot that required surgery last week. … Heated rivals Boise State and Idaho won't play this fall for the first time in 40 years. … A certain 14-year-old quarterback will be watching USC's spring practice. … Florida defenders are liking the Gators' new defensive scheme. … Breaking down Ole Miss' spring quarterback situation. … Nick Saban actually allowed reporters to film Alabama's new offensive line coach running some drills on the first day of spring practice. … Bob Stoops doesn't like this Twitter nonsense, not one little bit. … And you know it's been a rough six months on the job for Mark Emmert when they're already trying to replace him.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Video: Behind the scenes of the NBA’s time travel ads

If you regularly watch NBA games, then you've probably seen the league's new "time travel" ads in which fans visit players in their younger days to tell them about the accolades and fame they'll reach in the world of professional basketball. They are bizarre, sometimes poorly conceived, and always creepy. For instance, have you seen the clip of the teenage Kevin Durant being told about the world of the Oklahoma City Thunder by a middle-aged man who probably owns a windowless van? If not, consider yourself lucky.

Yet, no matter how weird these ads are, they are impressive bits of modern CGI filmmaking. In the video above, you can see exactly how these modern technical wizards make these ads look seamless, as long as your definition of that term involves NBA players not acknowledging the time travelers in any way, shape, or form.

It's amazing, this computer magic. Unfortunately, it can't yet make up for a poor concept.

(Via Dime and PBT)

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Ask Alex: What can we expect from a healthy A-Rod?

We all have questions about the 2011 season and Alex Remington luckily has some answers. The Stew's resident stats guru will address the big questions as opening day approaches.

The Situation: Alex Rodriguez has been one of the best players in baseball for a decade and a half. But the last few years have seen a bit of a decline. He's averaged just 133 games a year since 2008, with DL trips for injuries to his calf, quadricep and hip. The hip injury was so serious that he had preseason surgery to fix it in 2009, costing him the first month of the season. He's still averaged 32 HRs, 109 RBIs and a .914 OPS over the last three years, which would be spectacular numbers for anyone not named Alex Rodriguez. But this spring he's been turning heads around the New York Yankees camp, inspiring "best shape of his career" stories, and he's been devastatingly effective even by his own standards, starting the spring with a 13-game hitting streak and batting a cool .410/.459/.949 with five homers through his first 39 at-bats.

The Question: Is this just a March mirage, or does Alex Rodriguez still have the old magic in his bat?

The Analysis: In the last three years, injuries and age have reduced Rodriguez from best player in the American League to simply being one of the four-best third basemen in baseball. In other words, even in decline, Rodriguez is still plenty good -- a star, just no longer the brightest in the galaxy. His defense isn't what it once was, as he's gone from being one of the better defensive players in baseball in his 20s to being a slight liability in his 30s. Nothing serious, and his bat more than makes up for it, but it's still� a component in his decline.

A-Rod won't be hitting 50 home runs again, though, and probably won't hit 40. His power is still formidable, but it has been declining too. In each of the past three years, his groundball percentage has increased, and his homer per flyball percentage and slugging percentage have declined. Since he slugged .645 in his 2007 MVP season, he has slugged .573, .532, and .506 in the past three years. None of that is too shabby ? he still led the league in 2008 with that .573 mark ? but it marks a real trend. In other words, he isn't lofting the ball as much and it isn't going quite as far as it used to.

But the power decline might not be aging so much as the lingering aftereffects of injury and surgery. All those lower body injuries have a way of taking a toll on power production, because power hitters generate their power from their legs. So if he's truly healthy ? and he's been saying things like, "This is as healthy as I've felt over the last several years," though of course a lot of players say that during spring training ? it would make it even easier to believe that he will be able to tap into more of his power than he has the last three years. He claims that he finally feels healthy following the 2009 hip surgery, and improved health could partly offset the effects of aging, including his 36th birthday in July.

Of course, injuries come more rapidly as players get older, and there's just no denying the effects of age. Fangraphs' Howard Bender simply doubts that Alex will really be able to stay healthy at this stage of his career:

Over the past three seasons we've seen a fairly dramatic decline across the board ? HR, SB, BA, OBP, SLG and, everyone's favorite, wOBA. The injuries aren't going to cease as his body is slowly breaking down from the general wear and tear of 15 full seasons in the majors (ok fine, the steroid use obviously doesn't help).

Bender cites Rodriguez as the fourth-best third baseman in baseball, so it's not like he thinks Rodriguez is headed off a cliff. Not only is his power likely to improve (even if other nagging injuries conspire to keep him off the field for parts of the season), but his batting average is likely to improve from his career-worst .270, which was due in turn to a career-worst .274 Batting Average on Balls in Play. That BABIP is almost certain to rise by 20 and possibly 30 or 40 points, and it will bring his BA, OBP and SLG up with it. (He has hit below .270, but it was during two teenage cups of coffee in 1994 and 1995. In his first full season in 1996, the 20-year-old Rodriguez won the batting title by hitting .358.)

The Forecast for 2011: Expect a modest bounceback, but not a major one. He has a healthier hip, but he's also a year older. ZiPS projects .277/.369/.527, with 30 HR and 103 RBIs in just 124 games; Bill James projects .284/.381/.530, with 35 HR and 116 RBIs in 144 games. Very similar, except for the games played, and obviously, the home run production mostly depends on the number of games he manages to play. He hasn't played 140 games since his 2007 MVP campaign, when he played 158; he won't do that again, but he can probably manage more than 140, and as long as that happens, he's as sure a lock for 30-35 home runs as any player in the game.

The new Yankee Stadium is a great place for a power hitter ? batters slugged .442 there, compared to .402 at all other stadiums ? and Alex still has plenty enough juice left in his bat to take advantage. I'll predict .280/.380/.530, with 35 homers and 110 RBIs in 145 games.

However, as Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues writes:

For most players, an MVP caliber season represents their best case scenario. For A-Rod, it seems like he's capable of so much more; you know he has the talent to put up a year that re-writes the record books. The chances of him doing so are far less likely now than they were five or ten years ago, of course, but I'll never put anything beyond Rodriguez.

Alex Rodriguez is no longer in his prime, but he's still one of the better players in the major leagues. This year, he'll be somewhere between good and amazing. I don't expect amazing, but I also wouldn't be too surprised if it happens.

Previous questions: Can the Red Sox win 100 games? ? How many games will the Astros win? ? Will the Phillies miss Jayson Werth? ? Will Buster Posey experience a sophomore slump? ? Will Trevor Cahill be a Cy Young contender? ? Will Justin Upton solve his strikeout problem? ? Will Neil Walker be a top 10 second baseman? ? Can Zack Greinke win the NL Cy Young award? ? Can Manny still be Manny at 39? ? Is this a breakout season for Jay Bruce's power? ? Can the Mariners offense rebound? ? Will Carlos Gonzalez take a step back in 2011?

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Latos to miss opening day, out indefinitely with shoulder ailment

Nine days ago, I suggested something seemed off with San Diego Padres ace Mat Latos. That speculation was coming on the heels of a rough first half of spring training, punctuated by a shockingly ineffective outing against a group of Padres minor leaguers on March 16.

I didn't know if it could be as simple a mechanical flaw, a result of extra pressure Latos had placed on himself after trash talking the San Francisco Giants all winter, or something more concerning like a possible ailment. Maybe it was none of the above, but something definitely seemed amiss.

Well, we may have a better idea of the cause based on the information we learned on Friday.

From The North County Times:

Black said Latos skipped his Wednesday bullpen session only two days after making his last start on Monday. Latos�?�who threw 90 pitches in four-plus innings ?�said he was caught off-guard by the injury because he didn't feel any symptoms during his start or while playing catch on Tuesday.

The Padres' medical staff diagnosed Latos as having an inflamed bursa sac and spent Thursday treating the area. On Friday, Latos felt much better.

"It's literally night and day," Latos said. "Yesterday, it felt like everything locked and as if there was a huge piece of glass or something sharp inside my shoulder. There was no strength to lift it.

Latos was never asked, therefore never denied if the shoulder has been an issue prior to this week. He did indicate he felt the best he has all spring after Monday's game, and stated he was feeling better after Thursday's treatment.

Also, it was reported early on Friday that Latos would only would miss his start scheduled for later today against the Los Angeles Dodgers. But by Friday evening, it was confirmed by manager Bud Black that Latos would miss his opening day assignment against the St. Louis Cardinals.

This development leaves the door open for 28-year-old Tim Stauffer, who recently returned from a hip injury, to take the ball on March 31.

Stauffer started only seven games for San Diego in 2010. The most impressive of which coming on October 2 in San Francisco. San Diego's 4-2 win forced the eventual World Champions to clinch the NL West on the final day of the season.

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The Miami Heat: A Study In Perceived Extremes

Hindsight being what it is, when the Miami Heat ultimately fall in the playoffs, a wave of columns (blog posts, Facebook status?, tweets) will materialize proclaiming the first super team a failure. We?ll hear about how the dynamic of two alpha dogs was doomed from the start. How the supporting cast was lacking in depth [...]

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Video: Ten rejected lines from Lane Kiffin’s USC acting debut

Coach Lane Kiffin made a ... let's say, earnest acting debut last week to promote USC season tickets. It worked out, but only after they'd left a few of Kiffin's original, raspy ad libs on the cutting room floor:

? [trumpet blares] "It's garbage day."

? "I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be."

? "They told me this is made of unicorn hair."

? "I used to coach in the NFL."

? [trumpet blares] "It's burrito day. You know, in the cafeteria."

? "Can I borrow those handcuffs?"

? "I'm just a gangsta, I suppose."

? [trumpet blares] "It's Tolkien Reading Day."

? "'The Visor'" is going to be my thing now. Did everybody get that? Spurrier? The Visor is my thing now."

? "Say hello to my li'l friend."

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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The Lakers won’t want the Kings in their county

The Sacramento Kings are likely moving to Anaheim before the start of the 2011-12 season, if there is a 2011-12 season, and nobody seems to be happy about this save for the Kings' co-owners, Joe and Gavin Maloof.

The casino-owning brothers have been bleeding money in both Sacramento and Las Vegas over the last few years, and they're hoping to cash in with Anaheim's NBA-ready arena already in place. The Honda Center might be behind the curve in terms of money-making amenities in comparison to most other NBA arenas, but it is light years ahead in that regard of the Kings' current home, Power Balance Pavilion.

The Kings' would-be Orange County neighbors, though, might not be too keen on any potential move. Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles is reporting that the Los Angeles Lakers might vote against any potential move based on the way an encroaching rival franchise might temper the team's record-smashing TV deal that it signed last month.

Markazi has the scoop:

Last month the Lakers agreed to an unprecedented 20-year television agreement with Time Warner Cable to distribute Lakers games and original programming across two regional sports networks in HD that will include the nation's first Spanish-language regional sports network. Although finances of the deal were not released, some reports at the time pegged the value of the pact at $3 billion, a figure Time Warner Cable and the Lakers have since refuted.

If a third NBA team moves into the market, however, the Lakers' television deal will decrease by about just under 10 percent, sources said without giving a breakdown of the numbers affected.

Oh noes!

Ten percent of a $3 billion dollar deal might not seem like a whole lot to those of us who clip deodorant coupons, but it will probably be enough to force the Lakers to vote against any possible Kings move when the league's 30 owners (or, "29 owners plus the league-appointed steward in charge of the New Orleans Hornets") vote to allow the move.

With only a majority win needed, any Laker nay-saying will probably have little affect on the creation of an NBA team in Anaheim.

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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Rockslide: Tracking the decline of slugger Garrett Atkins

When Garrett Atkins debuted for the Colorado Rockies on August 3, 2003, the sky appeared to be the limit.

Today, just 7 1/2 years later, the 31-year-old faces the very real possibility that his big league career is over after being released by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

How did Atkins go from the mountain top to rock bottom so quickly? I'm not sure there's one clear answer to that question, but can I easily identify the moment that changed my outlook on the once-promising superstar.

First, a little career retrospective.

Atkins was a fifth-round selection from UCLA in the 2000 draft. It was clear, right away, that minor league pitching wasn't going to challenge him, but Colorado elected to exercise patience, moving Atkins at a normal pace and allowing him to play in only 40 big league games between 2003 and 2004.

In 2005, at the age of 25, Atkins was finally handed the third base job after the Rockies parted ways with ever-popular Vinny Castilla.

I think we all understand the pressure involved in replacing a fan favorite such as Castilla, who had spoiled Rockies fans with monster production in two separate stints with the club. It wasn't an easy situation for any young player to step into, but Garrett handled it like a true pro, earning fan respect almost immediately, and establishing his presence at the hot corner with a very respectable rookie campaign.

In his second full season, Atkins became the centerpiece of a very good Rockies offense ? much more so than a still-effective Todd Helton or another upcoming slugger named Matt Holliday. He produced 29 bombs, 48 doubles, 120 RBIs and delivered an OPS of .965.�Those numbers instantly catapulted him into an elite tier with David Wright, Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Zimmerman.

An All-Star selection seemed inevitable at this point.�Little did we know that season wouldn't just prove to be his breakout, but also his career peak.

2007 saw his OPS drop over 100 points to . 865, but his overall production was still solid with 25 homers 35 doubles and 111 RBIs. His runs scored dipped from 117 to 83.

Another noticeable step backward came in 2008. His OPS dropped 70 more points to .780. He hit 21 home runs, 32 doubles, drove in 99 and scored 86 runs.

It was becoming clear that Atkins was not going to be a guy around whom you could build the offense, but those were still perfectly acceptable numbers for a middle-of-the-order type of hitter.

Then came the turning point in my feelings on Garrett Atkins. It happened after reading one snippet of a Rocky Mountain News article in January 2009. This was in the midst of an arbitration battle between Colorado and Atkins.

Jeff Blank, the agent for Atkins, said they were expecting a midpoint slightly below the $7.4 million contract Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau agreed to on the day salary figures were exchanged last year.

Morneau later signed a six-year, $80 million contract.

"We feel pretty strongly based on Garrett's career numbers and everything, he was above Morneau, but we were shooting for a midpoint just a little bit below Morneau just to be safe," Blank said.

To this day I still wonder how Blank made that statement with a straight face. I understand his job is to make his clients the most money possible, but that's an unfair amount of pressure to put on any hitter.

Within moments of reading that outrageous comparison, I wrote that the Rockies should seriously consider trading Atkins.�It was obvious he had no future with the club at that point, no matter if he stabilized at his current level, rebounded to his 2006 form, or his decline continued. Colorado also had Ian Stewart waiting in the wings, so they weren't going to go above and beyond to make Atkins happy.

Unfortunately, they did not move him, and the decline continued to the point of no return.�As the 2009 season unfolded, Atkins was awful in every possible way ? to the point that the Rockies couldn't find a team willing to part with a throwaway prospect to take him off their hands. He eventually was released on his 30th birthday.

After a failed stint in Baltimore last season, and now the news of his release today, where can Garrett Atkins go from here?

He entered that 2009 season needing just 11 home runs to reach 100 for his career. As we sit here now, he still needs one to reach that milestone. But will he ever get that opportunity?

Follow Mark on Twitter ? @Townie813 ? and check out the Stew on Facebook for more coverage.

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Get your free compost! Mariners plan to give away garbage

If you think about it, most ballpark giveaways aren't very eco-friendly. Cheap caps, thin T-shirt and flimsy seat cushions are inevitably thrust to the back of a closet and then they find a landfill a few years later. Not exactly a good use of resources.

The Seattle Mariners are trying to change that process this year, however, with an unusual series of "compost night" giveaways that will end up helping the environment.

Are you ready for opening day? Not until you follow Big League Stew on Twitter and Facebook!

Yes, instead of getting the usual Ichiro bobblehead for their desks at work, Mariners fans will head home with bags of soil matter and fertilizer that will hopefully grow their gardens at home (and not, say, end up on the field as a form of protest during another 100-loss season by the Mariners).

Even better, the compost will be made up of garbage that fans left behind during previous games at Safeco Field.

From The Seattle Times:

Not just any compost, mind you, but small bags of compost made from food waste, packaging material, drink cups, utensils and other stuff discarded during past Mariners games and transformed into a garden-friendly mix by Cedar Grove Composting.

Think of it as taking a little bit of the ballpark home, said Scott Jenkins, Mariners vice president for ballpark operations.

"We've had a culture of consumption," said Jenkins. "We need to have a culture of conservation."

Maybe that culture is changing now. In 2008, the Washington Nationals opened the first green stadium in the United States. Three years later, the Seattle Mariners and other Pacific Northwest franchises are working with the Green Sports Alliance so they can take their own steps toward preserving earth's natural resources.

In addition to salvaging all that tonnage of ballpark material for later use, the GSA views this promotion as an opportunity to bring awareness to sports fans who may not understand the importance of, or participate in the act of recycling. They also hope the knowledge they gather from this project will provide other franchises and venues with enough information and inspiration to make similar changes.

While some are sure to mock this giveaway, it is actually very commendable, and hopefully they'll find success as they move forward with their mission. It will be interesting to monitor the impact they do have and to see if more franchises jump on the environmental bandwagon. If you've ever seen the giant trash piles at a ballpark after a game, you'll agree that anything we can do to repurpose our rubbish is a good move.

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Video: The Lakers show that Chris Kaman is reversible, ornery

First, it was Shannon Brown ...

... and then, it was Ron Artest.


Yup. Reversible like a Pro Player jacket. Yikes. (Well, "yikes" on the dunks for Kaman. Big ups on Ron-Ron flexing again, which is definitely on the short list of the Best Things of the second half of the NBA season.)

After seeing those, it's not too hard to see why Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman was in a "Street Fighting Man" kind of mood after an encounter with Derek Fisher late in Friday night's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Clips' fellow Staples Center tenants.

Video of the incident, plus more on the late-game dust-up from Greg Beacham at the Associated Press, after the jump:


In the final minute, the 7-foot Kaman jolted the 6-1 Fisher with a physical pick on the perimeter, with both players angered by the placement of his counterpart's elbows. Kaman and Fisher started jawing and eventually were separated by officials, who ejected Kaman and called a technical foul on Fisher with 28.8 seconds to go. [...]

Kaman made an apparent meet-me-in-the-parking-lot gesture at Fisher on the way off the floor, but Fisher turned down teammate Matt Barnes' joking offer of backup on the way out.

"I think I'm all right. My stepson is here, and he's been lifting weights," Fisher said with a laugh.

Pretty good "I'm a grown-up and not really concerned about this" shrug-off, Derek, especially since Kaman "refused to comment on the fracas on the way to his car," according to Beacham. Right or wrong, the guy willing to talk about it always comes out looking better than the guy who isn't.

But the last and best word on the fight-that-wasn't-and-never-will-be came from Kobe Bryant, via the lovely and talented Dave McMenamin at ESPN Los Angeles. And of course it did, because as we all know, Kobe is clutch and a closer and finishes everything better than anyone, and this is inarguable (COUNT THE RINGZZZZ, ABBOTT):

"What's [Kaman] going to do, shoot [Fisher] with one of his bow and arrows? Give me a break," Kobe Bryant said, rolling his eyes. "Everybody talks tough in this league. Nobody is a fighter."

That's an archery burn nearly six years in the making, friends. Savor the slow-cooked flavor. Mmm. Is that mesquite?

Seriously, though, guys: I'm a little worried. This avalanche of dunking and burns isn't exactly doing wonders for Chris Kaman's self-esteem. If you see him today, maybe tell him he looks like he's been working out or something? Or that Hawkeye was always a pretty underrated Avenger? Every little bit helps, you know.

International readers ("Int'l read'rs"): If the clips above aren't rocking for you, you can peruse videos of Brown, Artest and "the challenge" elsewhere, thanks to Erikcc1, The Hoop Scene and Black Sports Online, respectively.

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Glanville signs with UFL, Schottenheimer may soon follow

As the United Football League waits for its chance to capitalize on the NFL lockout, it's stocking up on coaching star power.

Jerry Glanville has been officially tabbed to be the head coach and general manager of the Hartford Colonials, and according to Chris Mortensen, Marty Schottenheimer is on the verge of being named the head coach of the Virginia Destroyers.

Can Marty and Jerry help the fledgling football league? It's likely not a game-changer for television ratings -- I don't think anyone has ever tuned in to see Jerry Glanville or Marty Schottenheimer coach -- but it grabs some headlines, and on some level, it probably does help to add credibility.

Not necessarily among casual fans, but for players out there who are wondering if the UFL is a legitimate option for them in the event of a lockout, it might help to see guys like Schottenheimer and Glanville on board. Well, Schottenheimer, anyway.

The Glanville hiring has more of a sideshow feel to it. When you think about Jerry Glanville's coaching career, what do you think of? Brilliant tactical decisions and a record of unparalleled success? Or the goofball who left tickets at will call for Elvis and encouraged his players to get in a cheap shot or two after the whistle?

He certainly wasn't hired because of his recent coaching brilliance. His last gig was as head coach at Portland State, and he resigned with a record of 9-24. Best of luck, Hartford!

Schottenheimer's reputation, by contrast, is that of a football purist who has always put fundamentals and teaching the game ahead of anything else. If you're a young player who ends up on the roster of the Virginia Destroyers, you can count on being coached by a guy who wants to make you a better player.

If you end up in Hartford, you can count on being coached by a guy with a terrific belt buckle collection.

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Brandon Webb stuck in limbo after ‘depressing’ shoulder setback

"Depressing." That was how Brandon Webb, who is trying to come back after nearly two full years of shoulder problems, called the setback he had on Wednesday.

The Texas Rangers called a premature end to Webb's live batting practice session after he told coach Mike Maddux that he could not get his right shoulder loose for regular tosses from the mound. Instead, Webb will be examined by Dr. Keith Meister and is reverting to throwing long toss only.

That is indeed a real bummer, considering that Webb appeared to be progressing after throwing three live bullpen sessions this spring. Now he's not sure how long the most recent results will set him back. The Rangers weren't expecting him to return until May at the earliest in the first place.

T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that Webb ? like everyone else ? is wondering what's next:

"It's tough," Webb said. "It's really frustrating for me when I'm going good and one day it's like it's pretty good, and then you have a day like this. It's a little depressing. Hopefully we'll push through it and get back on the mound again in three or four more days. [...]

Webb's was supposed to throw the batting practice session on Monday, but that was cut short because of rain and wind. Webb admitted he had trouble getting loose that day as well.

"I don't know," Webb said. "It's just not a good day. I didn't feel good. Talking with Maddux, even when it was raining Monday it wasn't the greatest. I said it was probably the cold weather. I don't know. I just didn't feel as good as I did the previous four times, or whatever."

Webb's� setback has a domino effect on how the Rangers set up the rest of their rotation. They've already sent Alexi Ogando back to the bullpen after a spring audition to start, and they might do the same with 2010 closer Neftali Feliz.

Or, with the unhappy news on Webb, they might just stick Feliz in the rotation.

As for Webb, his future gets even more murkier ? if such a thing is even possible since his last start came on opening day 2009. He's guaranteed about $3 million from the Rangers this season, but you have to assume it really isn't about money for Webb at this point.

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Recchi: Canadiens embellished Pacioretty’s injury for Chara case

The Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens will meet on Thursday night for the first time since Zdeno Chara's brutal hit on Max Pacioretty left him, in the words of Coach Jacques Martin, with "a severe concussion, as well as a fracture of the fourth cervical vertebrae, but it's not displaced."

Despite a massive outcry from Canadiens loyalists, Chara wasn't suspended by the NHL for the hit.

Nine days after the incident, Martin said that Pacioretty's prognosis had improved, somewhat dramatically: "It's encouraging that he will be able to start his training in a short time and should be able to play in the playoffs."

While he welcomes the recovery, veteran Bruins winger Mark Recchi believes the dire initial news and the more optimistic outlook just over a week later wasn't a coincidence.

Mark Recchi believes the Montreal Canadiens "embellished" Max Pacioretty's injuries to pressure the NHL into suspending Zdeno Chara.

"I believe yeah, they were trying to get Zdeno suspended and they embellished it a little bit. In terms of that side, they were trying to do whatever they could to get him suspended," Recchi told the Felger & Massarotti Show on 98.5 FM The Sports Hub on Wednesday afternoon.

What else did Recchi have to say?

From the Felger & Massarotti Show, some of the Pacioretty-relevant comments from Recchi:

Q. What's your reaction to how that story played out in Montreal over the last couple of weeks?

RECCHI: "I think the League made their statement when they didn't suspend Zdeno, Big Z. That was all that really should have come out of it. They deemed it a hockey play and nothing more. We all know it was an accident, and that's the bottom line. Zdeno had no intentions to hurt him, and it was unfortunate there was a partition there and that it happened. But it's the game of hockey and part of it. I think when the NHL didn't suspend him, they made a huge statement that it was just a hockey play."

Well Mark Recchi, I'm sure you're aware that up in Canada they threatened to arrest him. They had fans calling police lines asking for an arrest warrant be taken out on him. There's been sponsorships threatened. The owner of the Canadiens came out and spoke out against the League. My question is: Has the story changed in your mind since it turns out Pacioretty's OK? That he'll probably be ready for the playoffs?

"Well, you know what? We're very thankful that he is OK and he's getting better. We know he was twittering at a movie four days later, five days later. Obviously if you have a bad concussion like they said, you're not going to be in a movie. So we're glad in that sense that he's getting better. But it was a hockey play and an injury happened."

Yeah, well, Mark, let me be more direct: Does it bother you they embellished it, obviously?

"Well obviously, yeah. When there's an injury … he does obviously have a fractured vertebrae, but the concussion was obviously, really a non-factor. Maybe a day or two. Maybe a day he felt it, and then he was fine couple days later. I believe yeah, they were trying to get Zdeno suspended and they embellished it a little bit. I guess in terms of that side, I guess they were trying to do what they could to get him suspended.

"I think the League sent a message that it was a hockey play. And that's the important thing that people have to understand. If the League deemed it something serious … they just suspended Matt Cooke for up to 17 games for a headshot. They're serious about protecting the players right now.

"That was an interference play, at worst, and the partitions got in the way. I don't think Zdeno is to blame for that, obviously the League found that. We don't feel as players it is. I've been run into the turnbuckle probably 40 times over my career. As a winger, that's the risk you take when you go along the boards like that. "

The full interview is here.

Well, consider that scab ripped open.

Look, there's no question that when Chara was going to plead his case to the NHL, the announcement of Pacioretty's injuries had a huge effect on public sentiment. There were questions if he was ever going to play in the NHL again.

To go from that to a potential return in the playoffs is understandably jarring and suspicious to a player like Recchi, who was in that foxhole with Chara and has been playing in the NHL since 1989. He's had his share of injuries. He's seen his share of teammates concussed. He's seen how teams operate when there's the potential for supplemental discipline, and the PR battles that are waged by general managers and coaches.

As they say, this isn't his first rodeo.

But, for the love of the hockey gods, why, why, why would you voice this theory on the radio?

Why would you pour gasoline on the embers, even if you're convinced it's true? The teams play on Thursday. They could very well play in the postseason. The hockey world had turned its weary eyes to Matt Cooke after weeks of Chara/Pacioretty; Recchi just shot up a giant burning flare to draw attention back the other way.

No one should be na�ve enough to think teams don't do what Recchi claims the Canadiens did. There's no doubt cynical applause for his voicing an opinion that others silently shared, upon hearing of Pacioretty's recovery.

But for a veteran as cagey as they come, Recchi's gotta know this isn't what the Bruins needed on March 23.

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The 10-man rotation, starring Laughing Thunder Baby

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: YouTube. An Oklahoma City Thunder fan reacts to the trade that landed the team Kendrick Perkins. Via SB Skeets.
PF: TBJ. Trevor Booker is getting burn in D.C., but despite his crummy Tuesday, I'm really feeling Jordan Crawford.
SF: Sports Radio Interviews. Sir Charles says you can't build a team around Amar'e Stoudemire.
SG: Silver Screen and Roll. This MVP race reminds of the one in 2001. Basketball-Reference thinks so too.
PG: Magic Basketball. Part III of the (non) comparisons between the NCAA tournament and the NBA.
6th: SLAM. A Sacramento-area writer says goodbye to the Kings.
7th: Fat Shawn Kemp. Adam Keefe, as defended by Frank Brickowski.
8th: Pro Basketball Talk. Minnesota players want you to blame them for their terrible play. Will do.
9th: Celtics Town. What Shaq means to the Celtics. Quite a bit, actually.
10th: Sports Illustrated. Chris Mannix, on what LaMarcus Aldridge has gone through this year.

Got a link or tip for Ball Don't Lie? Holler at me at KD_BDL_ED (at) yahoo.com, or follow me on Twitter.

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What’s GQ got against booze and burning couches, anyway?

Hey, college football fans! Do you love drinking, verbally abusing opponents and setting inanimate objects on fire? I know, right: What kind of pantywaisted killjoy doesn't?

The pantywaisted killjoys at Gentlemen's Quarterly Magazine, for one. In a (successful) attempt to generate cheap hits and links, GQ compiled its "heavily researched, highly scientific" list of the 15 "Worst Sports Fans in America" for its April issue, a compendium that goes heavy on college football with disapproving nods to Wisconsin ("Boozehounds"), LSU ("Deep-Fried Lunatics"), Penn State ("Urine Tossers") and West Virginia ("Mad Arsonists"). In fact, WVU fans come in behind only the heartless Philly misanthropes that root for the Eagles and Phillies as the worst in America, mainly for their traditional affinity for immolating couches, chairs and/or effigies of their ex-coaches:

… what really defines the West Virginia University faithful is their devotion to celebratory arson. The school led the nation in intentionally set street fires from 1997 to 2003, lighting up an unmatchable 1,120 blazes. That includes 120 in a single night to celebrate a football win over Virginia Tech in 2003 and sixty infernos set to celebrate advancing to the second round of the NCAA basketball tournament in 2005. When school is in session these days, the local fire department reports that it extinguishes as many as twelve Dumpster fires in a week.

You can tell that comes out of an uppity East Coast swank organ that thinks of college football as a quaint-yet-corrupt flyover distraction, because anyone who actually gets college sports would have written the same paragraph to describe West Virginia fans as some of the best in sports. Their passion for the Mountaineers is literally burning. Wisconsin requires breathalyzer tests for previously expelled fans because they have to have some way to keep score. LSU fans don't hurl unspeakable insults at young girls in Alabama gear to make them feel bad; they do it as a rite of passage — Welcome to the family! Penn State fans … well, actually, Penn State fans can be pretty bad. But it's only because they care.

- - -
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Saturday School: Colts center gets detailed on lockout with NFL Network

The standard expectation of the NFL Network's lockout coverage is that a media entity owned by the NFL owners will be a mouthpiece for the league and nothing more, especially at a time with labor unrest and a work stoppage�affecting public perception of the game to a greater degree every day. I'll admit that there have been times when I wondered if the players and the NFLPA were getting equal time on the network through the mediation negotiations, and whether the league's message would be the network's filter on a no-matter-what basis.

And that's why Rich Eisen's interview with Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday was so important. In a back-and-forth so long that it �went past the time limit on the "Total Access" show and onto the pages of NFL.com, Saturday ? one of the most outspoken player representatives in this fight -- took a series of frank questions from Eisen and gave back equally frank answers.

Kudos to Eisen for avoiding the temptation to frame the questions; he was at his best as an interviewer, going for the real story as opposed to the slanted soundbite. The network let Saturday say what he wanted to say on several labor-related subjects. We have the full transcript of Part 1 after the jump courtesy of the NFL Network; Part 2 will air on "Total Access" Tuesday night. Saturday will be a guest on the show Tuesday and Wednesday as well.

A great job on both sides, and a win/win for the fans, who want enlightenment into the issues, and the eventual resolution of them. In Part 1, Saturday talks about why the players walked away from the table, and how veteran players would really feel about first-round prospects who chose to attend the NFL draft.

Rich Eisen: "Once again, we are thrilled to have in our studio over the next three days a 12-year veteran in the National Football League, five-time Pro Bowl center of the Indianapolis Colts, Jeff Saturday. But for the purposes of this segment, you are a member of the executive committee of the NFL's Players Association, so we're going to dive right into all of the labor strife that's going on the NFL right now, which you are intimately involved. Let's start with the story of the day that the players have decided to have a draft event during the week of the draft but not up against the Thursday and Friday televised events of the NFL draft. What are your thoughts on that Jeff?"

Jeff Saturday: "I think it's a good idea. I think obviously it shows just a sense of solidarity between rookies who are coming into our game, getting to know people in our association, other players as well, and kind of showing or letting that support, knowing that we're in a locked out situation. I think it was smart they didn't compete necessarily for the actual draft time. I just think you kind of get into the point where it affects fans, and I don't think anybody wants to do that. You leave it up to the player, let them make the decision on where they want to be on draft day, however they want to do that. I think it lends itself to being the best for everybody."

Eisen: "What about the notion, though, that players who do show up at the draft, shake the commissioner's hand, take part in the Radio City festivities, might have some sort of repercussions with veterans in locker rooms once the league opens up for business again. Tedy Bruschi was very vocal about that, obviously a long-standing veteran of the NFL, essentially said I wouldn't want to be one of those players showing up into a locker room. Do you think there's going to be a problem?"

Saturday: "Well I think each team will be different. It's a tough situation though for a young guy. I think, from my perspective, I'm looking here is a 20, 21, 22-year-old young man who this has been his dream his whole life. I think we all agree we're going to play football again at some point, and so to be that strong as a player, when the guy shows up on my team and he's been drafted and he becomes part of the Indianapolis Colts, I'm going to respect him for what he does, and that's what he�does on the field and how he lives his life as man. So that one isolated incident I don't think will make or break what a rookie's going to look like to the veterans."

Eisen: "But would you advocate to other veterans, 'Hey back off the kid.' Would you advocate that, or would you just say essentially every locker room's their own and even though a kid wants to take part in a draft festivity that they've been dreaming about and have seen play out year after year after year? Would you advocate not holding that against a rookie?"

Saturday: "Yeah, as a whole I don't think there's a lot of veterans who would hold that against that kid. First of all, it's such a select few of men, maybe 25 guys at the very most. You're talking about the upper-echelon even of the draft, and so when they come into teams, these guys are usually going to be players who are going to be playing for you fairly quickly. You're going to get to know them and know who they are. I think it's a tough decision for them to make, whether do you go up and shake the commissioner's hand being locked out, or do you skip it? And I think there's a lot of pressure that will come from their agents, from their families and from a lot of different areas. So I don't feel like it will be an issue that veterans will necessarily go after those guys or give them any kind of hard time. Your rookie is tough no matter what; you're going to catch your share of flack. So I don't think that will necessarily be the one issue they catch it about."

Eisen: "Let's get to the breakdown in negotiations here Jeff. So many fans disappointed, so many people who depend on the business of the NFL equally as disappointed. I don't want to get into the numbers and all of this stuff that makes your head spin. We don't have a whiteboard, we don't have a forensic accountant on-hand to look at this sort of stuff. And 'true ups,' which sounds like a bad Arnold Schwarzenegger movie; it's confusing. But what isn't confusing is the letter that we see the commissioner send the players, the players' response and then the response from the league, and the players' response to the league's response to the players, that we have seen some sort of in the ether numbers on one side, numbers on another side that sounds like something could be negotiated. That there does seem to be a lot of the response, including the players' response to the league, was in response to what the league did and did not offer. That sounded like something could be negotiated. Why did the players hit the decertification button when they did?"

Saturday: "I'll tell you, it was one of the toughest decisions I've ever made in my life. I was in the room for the 15 days we negotiated, I've been a part of many negotiations that were before that in the two years that led up to it. It was a very difficult decision, but I think from each of us sitting in that room, we realized we were in a time-sensitive issue. And from the players' perspective, we know the best thing that can happen for football is for us to play. And so had we waited and continued to extend the thing out, whatever the owners decided if we couldn't get a deal, whenever they decided to place a lockout on, and all the key ingredients were there. From the hiring of Bob Batterman, all the way from the way they had structured everything, we always felt like their intention was to lock us out.

"And so as we got down to that point, the week before on the Thursday that we shut it down to the following Friday, nothing really changed. There was nothing that really grew, minus some small details; but the reality was we had worked up to that, and so to decertify we felt like as players to break apart our union was by far our best capability to get back on the field. Because now you're fighting the owners in a litigation battle; it has nothing to do with the union and an employer that they can keep you locked out. We felt like, 'Hey listen, we don't have to be a union, we can fight it as individuals, we can break this thing apart and it will allow us to keep football going. Because there's nothing now causing the owners to keep the lockout; their fighting of it is to say that we are still union, which we're not.' So that was really our decision was to get our players back on the field as fast as possible."

Eisen: "And we're going to get into what the players' end game is through litigation later on in our conversation here. But one thing listening to your response there, and I think if you asked a fan who's involved in a negotiation with his or her boss, would you sue your boss if you knew you didn't have a fear of losing your job, regardless of how the litigation turned out, they'd say 'You know, I might take a crack at suiting my boss,' if that was the situation. But that said, why not another three days, four days, another week? Because when you do see ? again you can go back and forth as to what the owners offer, what the players accepted, or what the owners accepted, back and forth ? there did seem to be enough in there, and again if it was predicated on numbers that you refused to accept that's one thing, there did seem to be enough in there that was a basis for, 'OK, this is what we now think should be the case in a CBA,' playing off what the owners gave you from what you say last-minute, but there still was something there. Why not another three days, why not another four days, why not another week?"

Saturday: "Again it went back, listen, it took two years to get there. If you can't get a deal done in two years, what's another three days going to mean? And that's why I'm telling you when you got down to the brass tacks of the deal, nothing had changed from the two years ago to where we were that afternoon. And when you looked at the numbers and you looked at all of the things that we're going to have to happen for there to be an agreed upon contract, there wasn't enough in there that I could go back to the men in my locker room and say, 'Hey listen, I support this, I'm behind it, or we're even close.' I had made mention the week before, we weren't close then. And so you go through an entire week again where you really don't have anything exchanged for an entire three or four days, and then at the 11th hour you get this paper with 20 points, and four sub-points per 20 points, we just felt like it's more stalling. And so the best thing for the players to do was say, 'Hey listen, we're decertified, we're no longer a union, we'll have a court date in April so at the latest we know we'll be playing football again.'

"If the courts agree with us, which we feel like they would, football will be played. Now it will be played under whatever system they want it to be played under, but we're willing to take that chance just to play. I didn't feel like as a player our fans would put up with a lockout where we're missing games. I didn't think our players would put up with it, and I didn't think our owners could tolerate it. As I sat in all of those meetings, as you hear everybody's conversation, you realized what we were really going to miss out on, and that's our fans. Those are everybody who pays our check, and to push this out where they don't get football, or they don't get preseason games, or they're worried about seeing the actual games, I didn't feel like was a good bet for us. And so timing, it really had to happen there."

Eisen: "Well, let's get into the state of distrust as well and where it came from. What do you think the owners were delaying? If you spoke another week, what do you think the owners' game-plan was to delay? Where was that taking them in granting another week extension to talk about?"

Saturday: "I think through our discussions, and we didn't have very much owner-to-player discussion. In the entire 15 days or however many days, there were probably a few hours of actual owner-to-player exchanges. And so we felt like from the owners' standpoint, they were just continuing to push us out so as the date gets further out and gets closer to the season. Right now for players, there really wasn't these expectations of being paid or missing games or having to answer questions about missing games. And so we felt like the best time for our game to take a hit was then. And so as we talked about it, we understood, 'Listen, nothing's moving forward.' We never felt like they deterred from their plan of locking us out from when they started ? when they hired [Bob] Batterman, the whole TV case which I won't bore you with the details ? but everything led up to all of us feeling that's where the distrust came from.

"And if you hear comments like Mark Murphy from the Packers and he's talking about we give retired players too much, we don't give them the incentive to go out and get a job, you can imagine how many times my phone rings when that comment gets laid out. How are you going to sign a deal, tell me what's going to happen with former players? What's going to happen with the rookies? What's going to happen with present-day? All of these things happen and there are all of these fuels that get put out there and get pushed out, and players understood what was at stake. Again I go back to all the time I try to tell fans back at home, because obviously I answer to a lot of those people, is…Indianapolis is my home and we have the Super Bowl coming up; it's a big deal for our city and for where I live, and I wanted the very best for it and not to play football is unacceptable to me. So whatever we had to do, which we felt like decertification was the only way we could get back to football."

Eisen: "And yet with the level of distrust that you're talking about, you still shared a beer with the Commissioner the night before certification."

Saturday: "Infamous beer."

Eisen: "Yes, and I want to talk with you about that, as well as a tweet from the Colts owner Jim Irsay calling out the process about wanting to have more discussion, and all the rest of the end-game that the players are trying to see through their litigation. We're going to put the rest of this conversation on NFL.com, but that's it for our discussion right here on 'NFL Total Access' with Jeff Saturday, who is here for three days. Maybe we'll continue this conversation on the air over the next two shows."

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If you can pony up $1,000, you might be able to own the Leafs

When the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan announced earlier this month that they are selling their 66-percent stake (estimated at $1.3 billion) in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, the sports business world was abuzz.

Enter businessman Darren Thompson, who grew up in New Brunswick and now lives in Alberta. This man has an idea. It's an idea he believes enough Leafs fans can get behind. It's an idea that his website specifically states in its FAQ is "not a scam".

Thompson's idea is to get the support of one million people to donate $1,000 to purchase the 66-percent stake in MLSE that's for sale.

That's $1 billion dollars with which to enter into the bidding for MLSE.

From the Toronto Star:

"It's always been a dream of mine to own a professional sports team, and being a good Canadian, that professional sports team should be a hockey team," Thompson said. "I believe there's enough people out there to truly and honestly do this."

A�Facebook page, Twitter account and .COM and .CA websites have been set up to further promote Thompson's "dream".

That 66-percent share of MLSE also includes FC Toronto, the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Marlies, Air Canada Centre, BMO Field, Ricoh Coliseum, and real estate in the area. Despite the initiative being mostly Leafs-based,�Thompson told�Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun that anyone who invests that isn't a Leafs fan can choose which team their money will go towards. So if you've been a Vince Carter fanboy and want to see him lace them up for the Raptors one last time, your $1,000 could go towards signing him to a bloated contract.

Having already spoken to the Green Bay Packers brass, a team owned by the community, Thompson is looking at other business models to make his dream work, including one similar to that of the OTPP.

So we ask you, dear readers: If your favorite team was up for sale, is this the type of business proposition that'd make you plunk down your hard-earned money towards?

Or in the post-Bernie Madoff world, would you be incredibly suspect of a random guy who doesn't live in your team's city, who's asking you for a grand?

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Is Showalter poking the AL East bears or pumping up his Orioles?


Everyone loves a little trash talk, right? It adds a little spice to the mix.

Well, apparently, the AL East race wasn't spicy enough for Buck Showalter already. As you might have read via Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Baltimore Orioles manager added some flavor by taking shots at Theo Epstein, the Boston Red Sox and the rest of the top dogs in the division during an interview for the April issue of Men's Journal.

"I'd like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll," Showalter told the magazine. "You got Carl Crawford 'cause you paid more than anyone else, and that's what makes you smarter? That's why I like whipping their butt. It's great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying, 'How the hell are they beating us?'"

Just like we don't understand why Jake Gyllenhaal was given the cover over ol' Buck, we don't know the entire context of Showalter's remarks. Was the question he responded to building up Epstein as some kind of genius? The Red Sox GM gets to work with a payroll three times the amount of the Rays', based on current estimates.

But Showalter surely knows that a baseball team isn't made solely on one high-paid superstar or even a handful of them. And it's not like the Orioles didn't try to land one themselves, chasing Victor Martinez, Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko before finally getting the less relevant Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero to take their money and head to Charm City for the summer.

But perhaps Showalter was really trying to pump his team, and dismiss any ready-made excuses his Orioles might try to make about being unable to compete against the gargantuan budgets of the Red Sox and New York Yankees.

His comments about his former shortstop, Derek Jeter, seem to indicate that kind of thinking (via the St. Petersburg Times' Marc Topkin):

"The first time we went to Yankee Stadium, I screamed at Derek Jeter from the dugout.�Our guys are thinking, 'Wow, he's screaming at Derek Jeter.' Well, he's always jumping back from balls just off the plate. I know how many calls that team gets ? and yes, he [ticks] me off."

Who might have taught Jeter such underhanded tactics? Is it possible that Jeter's manager during his rookie season influenced how he played the game? If so, Buck Showalter has a problem with ... Buck Showalter. But maybe Showalter was implying he didn't coach that stuff, and Jeter learned those tricks from Joe Torre when he took over as Yankees manager in 1996.

Maybe we're all just a bit too eager to add gasoline to the smoldering embers Showalter created with the intention of boosting his team's morale. He also just made an already intriguing AL East race that much more compelling.

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First Glance: How UL-Lafayette gets its Rage back

An absurdly premature assessment of the 2011 Ragin' Cajuns.

? Previously On… Longtime coach Rickey Bustle finally lost a nine-year struggle to keep his head above water at one of the more thankless jobs in the country, going under amid a 3-9 flop. Two of those wins came by a single, climactic point: First, North Texas' comeback bid fell short in October when the Mean Green failed on a two-point conversion to win with seconds to play; next, rival Louisiana-Monroe's standard extra point to tie was blocked as the clock wound down in the season finale, preserving the Cajun win.

In between, Lafayette dropped seven straight by an average of 17 points per game, and Bustle got the boot immediately following the triumph over Monroe. Once you've lost to Western Kentucky by 33 points, at home, the pink slip pretty much issues itself.

? The Big Change. On paper, Mark Hudspeth is one of the best head-coaching hires of the offseason, a proven winner as head coach at North Alabama (the Lions were 66-21 with two undefeated regular seasons and four Division II playoff bids under Hudspeth from 2002-08) and as a position coach on Dan Mullen's energetic, overachieving staff at Mississippi State the last two years. Save one season as offensive coordinator at Navy, Hudspeth's entire career has been spent in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. With an SEC interlude under his belt, the Lafayette gig was the next rung on the ladder, and even if it's just a stepping stone, the enduring affection of the locals can be had with a bid to, say, the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

The Least You Should Know About...

Louisiana-Lafayette
?? In 2010
3-9 (3-5 Sun Belt); Outscored 204-111 at home (1-4).
?? Past Five Years
2006-10: 24-36 (18-19 Sun Belt); 1-11 vs. teams from "Big Six" conferences.
?? Five-Year Recruiting Rankings*
2007-11: N/A (No classes in nation's top 50).
?? Best Player
When he signed with ULL in 2008, Ladarius Green was listed as a nondescript, 6-foot-3, 185-pound wide receiver. Now a 6-6, 230-pound tight end, Green would be a mismatch over the middle in any conference; in the Sun Belt, he's been practically a one-man show the last two years. Green's production in 2010 dwarfed the contributions of any other Cajun receiver, and not by virtue of a bunch of five-yard hitch routes: He finished the season as the SBC leader in yards per catch, catches for first downs and catches covering at least 25 yards, establishing him as the league's most effective deep threat and arguably its most coveted pro prospect.
?? Best Year Ever
The Cajuns have never been to a I-A/FCS bowl game, but only because there happened to be half as many available slots in 1993 as there are today. Southwest Louisiana, as it was then know, took eight of its last nine games that season behind freshman quarterback Jake Delhomme, losing only to eventual SEC champ Florida down the stretch. Unfortunately, the 0-2 start included an opening day loss to Big West rival Utah State, a blemish that would cost the Cajuns the league's automatic bid to the Las Vegas Bowl when they finished tied with USU for the Big West championship.
?? Best Case
Viable effort on the ground complements one of the Sun Belt's top two or three passing attacks; secondary improves from "engulfed in flames" to "mediocre." 7-5, GoDaddy.com Bowl; first bowl game in school history, accompanied by high optimism (and maybe a job offer or two) for Mark Hudspeth.
?? Worst Case
Stagnant running game and porous pass protection continue to plague the offense; opposing quarterbacks continue to view the ULL secondary as target practice. 3-9, return of pervasive stagnation that's hung over the program for most of its existence. Honestly, though, it doesn't really matter what happens, because it's south Louisiana, and they're still going to have a damn good time regardless:

* Based on Rivals' national rankings (top 50 only)

? Big Men On Campus. Hudspeth has also spent his entire career on the offensive side of the ball, and can look forward to a basically functional passing game ?�probably the only aspect of the 2010 team, in fact, that managed to qualify as functional. (Though not quite functional enough, of course, to overcome the Sun Belt's most generous scoring defense.) Across the board, it happens to be the only aspect that returns essentially intact, as well.

Even by SBC standards, quarterback Chris Masson is nothing special in terms of foot speed, arm strength or accuracy (especially in terms of accuracy), but he does have plenty of options: Besides obvious headliner Ladarius Green, with whom Masson connected about twice as often as any other receiver last year,�six other Cajuns brought in double-digit receptions last year for at least 200 yards and 10 touchdowns between them. The best of that lot is Javone Lawson, who was off to a fine start last year before a broken collarbone cut his sophomore campaign short at midseason and probably represents the best chance at emerging as a reliable compliment to Green.

It would also help if the nonexistent running game picked up some slack. But the most intriguing candidate in the backfield is incoming freshman Qyendarius Griffin, an oddly un-hyped prospect despite his prototypical size (5-10, 210 pounds), ridiculous stats (2,670 yards, 39 touchdowns) and headliner status on the No. 1 high school team in America, Mississippi juggernaut South Panola, whose regular blowouts limited his opportunities with the ball. Somehow, Griffin was relegated to borderline two-star/three-star status and was the only member of Rivals' High School All-America Team who didn't wind up at a "Big Six" school (the vast majority landed at traditional recruiting powers), which only seems possible if he's considered a time bomb academically. If he qualifies ?�apparently a big if, though I find zero indication one way or the other ? none of the incumbent backs have done anything to keep him off the field.

? Open Casting. The biggest obstacle to both the passing and running games was up front, with the offensive line, whose persistent struggles are reflected in the Cajuns' pathetic yards-per-carry average (2.97, making them one of nine teams nationally that couldn't make it to 3.0) and red carpet rolled out for opposing pass rushers en route to ULL quarterbacks. Between them, Masson and more athletic backup Blaine Gautier were sacked a whopping 39 times, including seven takedowns apiece by Middle Tennessee State and Florida International and six by Ohio U.

Surprisingly, that came from a relatively grizzled group: Tackle Jonathan Decoster and center Ian Burks were both four-year starters, and the other tackle, Colin Wichard, was a fifth-year senior. Needless to say, their departures aren't being met with much hand-wringing: With friends like that on security, who needs enemies?

? Overly optimistic spring narrative. Hudspeth has the track record and the ingredients in the passing game to field a fairly explosive offense that, if it limits turnovers, gives the Cajuns a chance to at least compete in every Sun Belt game, a significant step after being blown out in three of their five conference losses in '10. It doesn't hurt, either, that they're only scheduled to play sacrificial lambs to bigger schools on two occasions, at Oklahoma State to open the season and at Arizona to close, instead of the usual three or four. In between, there are ten consecutive games Lafayette has a plausible opportunity to win.

? The Big Question. Will the secondary materialize in physical form? The abstract concept of "pass defense" only existed in hypothetical form for most of the season, leaving ULL languishing at eighth in the conference in yards per game allowed through the air and dead last in efficiency D. The Cajuns were also dead last in the conference in overall scoring defense, despite finishing second against the run. Most of the key faces in the back four are the same ? seniors Lionel Stokes, Dwight Bentley and Lance Kelley, sophomore Cooper Gerami ?�but if the performance is the same, it's hard to see even a vastly improved offense having a chance to push the record above .500.

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Other premature assessments (in alphabetical order): Iowa State. … Marshall. … Nebraska. … Nevada. … South Florida.
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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