It’s time for another fun edition of the ‘Thursday 10.’ Today - I’m going to send you around the Internet with 10 of the best links of the day. Let’s get started.
1. How can anyone avoid this story? In case you tried, you can’t now - Brett Favre has been traded to the New York Jets. The Jets didn’t waste any time getting a replica Favre #4 jersey online to buy. Several things have come to light since Favre is out of Green Bay, like the amount of pressure Aaron Rodgers now has. Also - how do you feel about Chad Pennington? Since Favre’s arrival in New York, it looks like Pennington will be released. Maybe the Packers will pick him up?
5. Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jeff Karstens took a perfect game into the eighth inning until Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Young broke it up with a double. Since being acquired from the New York Yankees, Karstens is 2-0 with a 0.00 earned run average.
8. The Detroit Tigers lost again. That’s six in a row. Looks like Detroit is going back down the ladder and could be in store for a return to the form of the teams from the 2001-03 time frame.
When it comes to sports, everyone has their favorites, right? Favorite sports, favorite teams, favorite players, favorite stadiums, and so on. Well the fabulous b5media sports bloggers wanted to talk about their favorites.
YES network posted a brief interview with former New York Yankees (and Mets) outfielder Darryl Strawberry. In the interview, Strawberry talks about overcoming adversity and also talks about being famous.
It’s another preview of some great upcoming promotions in the world of Minor League Baseball. This week Jay Buhner’s Everett AquaSox and the Vero Beach Devil Rays top the list of some of the interesting happenings this week.
Buhner is the co-owner for the AquaSox, so he is bringing back one of the Seattle Mariners promotions from the mid-90’s. One where Buhner will give you a buzz cut before the game on Friday, August 8.
Vero Beach is running an Olympic Night on Thursday, August 7. In between innings, fans can participate in various Olympic-style events, including a warning-track cycle race, archery, boxing, the 200-meter hurdles, among others. This would be my pick for the week. If you happen to be in the area of Vero Beach - check it out!
Bad news for New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain. Usually when you hear the name Dr. James Andrews, it means shoulder surgery. However, right now nothing is certain. No mention of surgery has been made, however it’s always a possibility when visiting Dr. Andrews.
There’s a good and bad scenario for Chamberlain. The bad news is if his MRI reveals surgery is needed, then his season is likely finished. The good news, however, is that if surgery is required, he’s in the hands of the best orthopedist, in Dr. Andrews.
Right now, both Hank Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman are hush-hush on the subject, until any results can be produced.
The Yankees, who sit five-and-one-half games out of first place in the American League East, are hoping that just a quick trip to the disabled list is all Chamberlain requires in order to make a push for the playoffs.
Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio served as the cornerstones of the Houston Astros for many years and hopefully will again reunite in Cooperstown. Photo: Newscom
This week at b5media we are talking about our favorites; our favorite teams and our favorite players. Lucky for me, my favorite team happens to carry the colors of this blog. That’s right - the Houston Astros. It’s no coincidence that the colors were modeled after the Astros’ colors, since Hunter Pence was the previous author of this blog. But, since I’m a fan of Houston, you’ll never hear me complain about the colors on this site.
Houston has not always been my favorite team, however. Growing up, I always like the Minnesota Twins - back in the late 80s and early 90s when they had Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Kirby Puckett, Danny Gladden, Frank Viola and Scott Erickson. I’ll never forget being grounded during the 1991 playoffs, because of a bad progress report at school, so I couldn’t watch any of the playoffs that season. However, I was reinstated just in time to catch the World Series triumph over the Atlanta Braves.
As I went through high school I started becoming more interested in the Astros. Mainly because of Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. These were two young guys that played so hard each game. I tried to do the exact same when I played on the diamond.
Then college time came. I was introduced to the Fox Sports channel, which meant daily Astros games! I really picked up on Houston when they were just exiting the Astrodome and entering Enron Field… err… Minute Maid Park. I watched intently as Chris Burke hit a game-winning 18th inning home run. I watched as the Astros finally made it to their first World Series in 2005, only to be swept by the Chicago White Sox. I watched the Killer B’s. I watched Derek Bell near the end of his great run with Houston. Then I watch a new Killer B, in Lance Berkman, bloom into a superstar. Through all of that, I’ll never forget how hard Biggio and Bagwell played. I’ll never forget the way that they never complained and always played the game the right way.
Still today, I watch Houston. I watch the Astros trying to fight their way back into contention this season, however, without Bagwell and Biggio. They still have Berkman, Roy Oswalt, and Brad Ausmus, but there’s a new group of Astros to watch. But, it doesn’t matter who’s on the field. If they are wearing an Astros jersey, I’ll be watching.
Mark Cuban is hoping to add to his owner tab, by becoming the leader of the storied Chicago Cubs franchise. Think about it. What could be better than the ivy, the bleachers and Cuban heckling those poor outfielders!
Mark Cuban is still interested in becoming the owner of the Chicago Cubs. Owning the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks is not enough for Cuban. He wants in on one of the most storied franchises in Major League Baseball. But many wonder, would the other owners or Bud Selig put up with Cuban’s antics?
Just think about it - Cuban sitting in the right field bleachers, among the other fans, heckling that poor rightfielder. Sure, umpires would be almost out of earshot of Cuban’s taunts, but not that lonely rightfielder. I’m sure with Cuban’s help the entire bleacher bum parade would heckle the … well… heck out of that poor soul in right field. So bad, in fact, that there might be a recreation from that movie “Bleacher Bums,” where the right fielder gets so fed up with the heckler in the stands, he attempts to climb the wall to throw down. What you never saw it? That’s OK (I only picked it up because it was five bucks at Wal-Mart) - I don’t think many others did either.
Anyway, you get the picture. The fans would love Cuban at Wrigley Field. But MLB probably would not. And other owners definitely would not be able to put up with some of the antics he has shown off court side at Mavs games. But the Cubs deserve an owner that would care and would put up the money to bring a championship to the franchise (don’t worry - it won’t happen this year… I don’t care how far ahead of the NL Central they get). So why not Cuban? He’s shown that he can take care of his players and coaches.
And you can forget about quotes from Ozzie Guillen if Cuban becomes the owner. Fans in Chicago will only be watching WGN for those press conferences where Lou Piniella and Cuban fire off expletives about umpires and players on opposing teams.
This could be a match made in Wrigleyville, but for now we’ll have to wait to find out if it will ever happen.
It wasn’t the greatest brawl and it didn’t even have enough punches to make it that entertaining, however, it was a brawl. The Chicago White Sox and the Kansas City Royals mixed it up a little after Miguel Olivo was hit by a pitch. Olivo charges the mound but does not swing or even go after the pitcher. Instead - Olivo swings and connects with the bright white head of A.J. Pierzynski! Check it out.
Did anyone really think Gary Coleman was going to face a pitch? Sure, he stood in the box and pointed towards the outfield fence (or more likely just the infield grass). Less than five second after the home plate umpire yells, “Play Ball,” the same umpire calls time. Wait, why? Well - could it be the fact he’s choking up halfway on the bat? Nope. It was the pine tar. Except it was a skit that made George Brett cringe.
Before Coleman was able to take a hack at a pitch, he was ejected from the game for having too much pine tar on his bat and super balls inside of his bat.
Check out this must-see video from the Madison Mallards with Coleman as the special guest.
The time has come. Manny Ramirez needs a haircut. Joe Torre has a rule against long hair and Ramirez says he doesn’t want to be treated any different than any other Los Angeles Dodgers player. Good move, Manny!
So the question now — what type of haircut should Ramirez get? More than likely, he will just end up trimming up his hair, but what type of hair would you like to see on Ramirez’s head? How about a shaved head? Or what about some Dodger blue hair? Maybe a mini-fro?
Let me hear what type of haircut you think Ramirez should get to comply with the new rules in L.A.
Interested in sports? Then our sports editors have you covered. All the news, gossip, rivalries, scandals, and enjoyment of the sporting world - at your fingertips - all the time.
