Month: May 2009

Slap of the Week — May 29

Posted by dobrien – May 29, 2009

APTOPIX Pirates Cubs Zambrano Ejected BaseballOn the same day that we yammered on about whether or not Lou Piniella should get tossed to rile up the Cubs on WGEM SportsCenter, starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano went absolutely bananas on home plate umpire Mark Carlson for a call he made.

Not only did Zambrano bump Carlson, but he also flung the ball into the outfield on his way off the field. When he got in the dugout, Zambrano murdered a Gatorade machine with a bat.

Zambrano’s lucky he didn’t do what  Cubs minor-leaguer did last year and fling the ball into the stands. That player, pitcher Julio Castillo of the Peoria Chiefs, was arrested for pulling that trick.

Zambrano wound up getting a six-game suspension and a $3,000 fine from Major League Baseball, which probably isn’t enough. Six games means that Zambrano, a starting pitcher, will miss just one start. MLB needs to take a look at how it deals with starting pitchers when it comes to punishment. Would Zambrano have lost it knowing a five-start  or three-start suspension could be his penalty?

Mid-Week Grades — May 27

Posted by dobrien – May 27, 2009

Welcome to the “School’s Out” edition of the Mid-Week Grades. I’ll be back in the saddle, playing wingman to Josh Houchins on WGEM SportsCenter. We’ll take a look at the grades around 8:20 or so on Wednesday. Make sure to listen in on ESPN 1440 or online.

A —  Helio Castroneves. Watched all of 15 laps of the Indy 500 on Sunday, the final 15. Don’t know if there is crying allowed in open-wheel racing, but Castroneves deserved to let loose after winning at The Brickyard for a third time. Considering what the guy has gone through for the last year or so, you have to tip your cap to him for winning the biggest race in his sport. A month ago, he didn’t know if he’d be free to race. But he beat tax evasion charges and then whipped the Indy field.

B — Payson Seymour and Griggsville-Perry baseball teams. Both teams captured their first regional titles over the weekend in the Class 1A state playoffs. Thanks to all of the wet weather, it’s been tough for teams to get in any kind of flow. Both teams were the No. 1 teams in their regionals and lived up to that billing. Anything else from here on out would be gravy for both squads.

C — Calvin Borel. Darn near made the jockey the Slap of the Week last week for his hemming and hawing over which horse he’ll ride at the Belmont. He won the Kentucky Derby riding longshot Mind That Bird and then dumped him for favorite Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness and won again. He’s going for the jockey triple crown, which I guess is a big deal since only Steve Cauthen has done it — 1977 and 1978.  I’m sure the horse racing community will wait with baited breath about how this one turns out.

D — Jose Canseco. First, it was Danny Bonaduce. Now, it’s some 7-foot-2 stiff from Korea. Seems that Canseco is a much better writer than he is a fighter. The former Bash Brother lasted all of 76 seconds in his first ever MMA bout Monday in Japan. At this point, the only guy Canseco can probably whip is Baba Booey from the Howard Stern Show. At least we know Canseco can throw a baseball better than Booey.

F — Raymond Ridder. Probably wishes he was with John Ridder right now. The Warriors PR director was busted for posting fake comments on a fan message board. Ridder pumped up how great the organization was despite the fact all of the other posters were ripping the team to shreds. The board wound up tracing the IP address back to the team’s headquarters and Ridder had to come clean. Obviously, Ridder doesn’t know the first rule of message boards: Don’t read them.

Slap of the Week — May 22

Posted by dobrien – May 22, 2009

5_13_09-marlins-vs-brewers-miller-park-029-thumb-525x700-1155181It’s pretty much every baseball fan’s goal when they go to a Major League Baseball game to walk out of there with a free baseball that has been hit into the stands.

Of course, you’d better be careful how you go about trying to get that ball. A certain Chicago Cubs fan could tell you when not to go for a ball.

Of the dozens of Major League games I’ve attended, I’ve only been fortunate enough to come away with one ball — hit by Derrek Lee when he was with the Florida Marlins. I caught it during Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS while sitting in the auxiliary press box at Wrigley Field.

There’s a guy at Miller Park in Milwaukee who has made an art of collecting baseballs. Dubbed “The Happy Youngster,” Nick Yohanek has caught nearly 50 home run balls. That doesn’t mention the numerous other balls he gets during games. The guy is averaging more than seven balls a game this season. He has a system down pat and claims to give a lot of baseballs to younger fans, which is good.

Yet, the Happy Youngster recently pulled a weak power play against Florida rookie Chris Coghlan. The Youngster caught Coghlan’s first ever Major League homer. In order to get the ball back from him, the Younger demanded a few things from Coghlan, including a Hanley Ramirez signed bat as well as a signed bat from Coghlan.

Coghlan wasn’t too amused with The Happy Youngster. Nor should he have been. Ever since some dope paid millions for Mark McGwire’s record home run ball in 1998, it seems everyone wants something when they catch a special home run ball.

That’s too bad. It’s taken the joy out of what was once a simple pursuit.

Mid-Week Grades update

Posted by dobrien – May 21, 2009

Since I was out of town on Wednesday, Josh Houchins took over duties for this week’s Mid-Week Grades. To check them out, go here.

I’ll slap someone around on Friday.

And if you haven’t already done so, check me out on Twitter. It’s an up-to-the minute DOBservations feed.

Cleaning out the notebook

Posted by dobrien – May 18, 2009

Time to clear out the notebook with a few tidbits:

The Great Lakes Valley Conference will have its spring meeting this week in St. Louis. Other than between-meeting scuttlebutt about the situation at Southern Indiana, the league will be looking at expansion.

GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich said there has been interest from two current NAIA schools in reclassifying to NCAA Division II with the hopes of joining the league. As previously reported, William Jewell has shown heavy interest in joining the league.

One new name Naumovich mentioned was McKendree. The Lebanon, Ill., school, currently competes in the American Midwest Conference for all sports except football. The McKendree football program, like Quincy University, is a member of the Mid-States Football Association.

With 15 teams for 2009-2010 with the additions of Maryville and Illinois-Springfield, there’s a chance the league could swell to as many as 17 teams.

There is also a chance Rockhurst could leave the GLVC. The school has applied for membership with the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. The 12-school MIAA would have to waive its football requirement in order to allow the Kansas City, Mo., school into the fold. Rockhurst should find out soon whether or not it has been accepted into the MIAA.

• • •

Quincy Notre Dame product Emily Powers competed in her first Futures Tour event over the weekend in Leawood, Kan. Powers missed the cut shooting 81-80 to finish at 19-over 161. She missed the cut by six shots and finished in a tie for 113th in the 140-player field.

“I’m going to try to play — no, I’m going to play — on this tour next year after I graduate,” Powers told The Kansas City Star. “So it was a learning experience because I don’t know how I stack up against them, if I can play against them. This kind of showed me what I need to work on and where I am in the pack.”

Powers was the only amateur golfer in the field. The Futures Tour is a developmental tour for the LPGA Tour. The top 10 players on the money list earn an LPGA Tour card for the following season.

Slap of the Week — May 15

Posted by dobrien – May 15, 2009

Celtics Magic BasketballEarlier this week, Glen “Big Baby” Davis hit a game-winning shot and then had to say he was sorry.

As you’d expect, Davis went nuts after hitting a last-second shot to help Boston beat Orlando in Game 4 of the teams’ Eastern Conference playoff series. He was ready to celebrate with his teammates and raced back down the court. On his way to the party, Davis stepped out of bounds and bumped into a 12-year-old kid. You can see in the photo where Davis is pushing the kid away.

picphpThe kid’s dad was bitter about the whole thing. Ernest Provetti called Davis “a raging animal” for his celebration and demanded an apology from the NBA. Asking for an apology  is a little over the top, not to mention his “animal” comment bordering on being racially insensitive. This isn’t Charles Barkley spitting on a little girl in the stands. The kid didn’t even fall down. Give me a break.

Not only is Ernest Provetti (shown at left) a slap, but his kid probably took some ribbing at school for his pop’s dumb move.

Dude, your team lost. Get over it.

Mid-Week Grades for May 13

Posted by dobrien – May 13, 2009

Seems like I always come down with a little senioritis at this time of year. Oh, well. Here’s a look at who’s been doing well and who gets the dunce cap in the sports world. Listen in to WGEM SportsCenter around 8:20 Wednesday as seventh-year senior Josh Houchins and I run these down

rosalessmallA — Adam Rosales. The former Quincy Gems player is certainly making the most of his callup by the Cincinnati Reds. Playing for the injured Edwin Encarnacion, Rosales has hit two home runs already this week, including his first career homer against St. Louis’ Adam Wainwright on Sunday afternoon. The best part: He sprints around the bases after he goes deep. Dubbed “Pete Rosales” by his teammates during training camp in ode to Reds legend Pete Rose, he’s hitting .295 in 12 games this season. He’s another feather in the Gems’ cap.

B — NHL Playoffs. We’ve given the NBA plenty of love the last few weeks. It’s time to give the guys on ice their due. The Chicago Blackhawks have worked their way to the Western Conference finals, which is good for some around here. One of the bigger games in the playoffs will happen tonight when Pittsburgh goes to Washington for Game 7 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. It’s the final meeting of Ovechkin v. Crosby. I’ve tried to tune in to as much of this series as possible. Tonight, will be must-see TV.

img_01931C — Peoria Chiefs. Like all of us, the Cubs’ Midwest League affiliate needs some cash. It doesn’t have a contract for naming rights to its home park. As a result, the team is selling naming rights on a game-by-game basis. The place is still being called O’Brien Field in the interim. That’s a catchy name. Why don’t they just stick with that?

ramirezsmallD — Chicago Cubs‘ luck. Don’t know if the team is jinxed or not, but the 2009 season certainly hasn’t been kind so far. The team doctor has been busier than Lou Pinella. Three key cogs are out right now — Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano. The team isn’t out of the NL Central race by a long shot, but Cubs fans would certainly like to see everyone at 100 percent.

610x1F — Tony Romo. It’s pretty obvious the Dallas Cowboys quarterback is no John Brodie in the making. For you yungins, Brodie was a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers throughout the 1960s and was the NFL MVP in 1970. I remember him as a commentator on NFL games, but he was also a fantastic golfer wound up playing on The Champions Tour and actually winning an event. Don’t know if Romo has plans to announce after he retires, but the Eastern Illinois product loves golf. He’s pretty good, but probably not as good as he thinks. Romo tried his hand at U.S. Open qualifying on Monday and shot an 80. Maybe Tony should stick to his day job.

Herdes out at Southern Indiana

Posted by dobrien – May 8, 2009

20090508-000338-pic-806679895_t220Some surprising coaching news coming out of the University of Southern Indiana Friday with the resignation of men’s basketball coach Rick Herdes.

Herdes stepped away from the program after some “irregularities” were found within his program. Herdes was 200-59 in eight seasons at USI, including a 27-7 mark last year and a Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division championship. It’s not known yet whether the school will face any NCAA or GLVC sanctions.

Under Herdes’ watch, the Screaming Eagles reached the NCAA Division II national championship game in 2004. He was also an assistant coach to now-Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl when the school captured the Division II national title in 1995.

Herdes was 12-5 lifetime against Quincy, including an 8-5 mark against current QU coach Marty Bell. The Hawks have beaten USI in four straight meetings at Pepsi Arena.

Of course, the big question now is: Who’s next?

Wouldn’t it be something if former Kentucky Wesleyan coach Ray Harper wound up on the Screaming Eagles’ bench? The chances of that happening are none, but it’s still interesting to think about. Imagine how the USI and KWC fan bases would handle that one.

Current Indianapolis coach Stan Gouard was a star on USI’s national title team, but has just one year of experience at Indy. You’d expect his name to be mentioned.

USI Athletic Director Jon Mark Hall said during a Friday press conference the school would being a search immediately for Herdes’ replacement. It won’t come from within the school as Herdes’ assistants have both been placed on leave.

Herdes rubbed some people the wrong way, but I always enjoyed dealing with him. He always told it like it was, which is refreshing when you consider the number of coaches who carefully construct what they say to the media. Need an example? Try this one from USI’s 74-71 loss to QU in February:

“We missed point-blank layups,” Herdes said in the wake of that loss. “I can’t get them any closer. I can’t put Tyrone Bradshaw any closer to the rim. He missed three layups in the final five minutes.”

Blunt? Yes.

Accurate? Yes.

Depending on what happens with any investigation into Herdes, he should land on his feet. He’s too good a coach not to work somewhere. It wasn’t that long ago when he was a finalist at Indiana State. I’m sure there have been other Division I schools interested in his services.

USI is the second men’s team in the GLVC that will have a new coach next season. Missouri Science & Technology head coach Dale Martin resigned and was replaced by assistant Jim Glash.

On the women’s side, Rockhurst is still looking for Rebecca Morrisey’s replacement after she resigned following the season.

Slap of the Week — May 8

Posted by dobrien – May 8, 2009

Dodgers Ramirez Drugs BaseballGeez, what a week for Slap nominees. They just kept getting better as the week wore on.

Leading off, you had the Quincy City Council. For reasons I’ll never quite figure out, the Democrats on the council decided not to let a tax-paying citizen speak at its last meeting. Doug Wilson hit the nail on the head on his blog. Let the guy rant for a few minutes and it’s a non-story, a blurb at the most at the bottom of the story.

Then past Slap of the Week winner Brett Favre started texting ESPN employees about the possibility of coming back to play again, this time for the Vikings. Then, he supposedly told the Vikings he wants to stay retired. Whatever. Enough of the soap opera already.

But the best was saved for last with Thursday’s news about Manny Ramirez and his 50-game suspension for failing a drug test. Guess Manny being Manny isn’t so cool after all. Again, can’t be surprised since it seems like everyone in Major League Baseball is on something.

This might not be the worst thing for the Dodgers though. Manny didn’t start playing until after July last year when he joined them. A little rest may do him some good. It’s not like there are a bunch of beasts in the NL West. The Dodgers will be OK. Too bad, Manny will be lumped with all of the other ’Roid boys of this era.

Weibring WDs from Players

Posted by dobrien – May 7, 2009

Quincy native D.A. Weibring withdrew after playing just six holes at The Players Championship this morning.

According to the PGA Tour’s Twitter site, Weibring cited a back injury for his reason to withdraw.

Weibring told me earlier this week a herniated disc in his back had bothered him, which is one of the reasons why he’s off to a slow start on the Champions Tour.

Weibring struggled on Thursday. He made a double-bogey 7 on his first hole — the 10th — and posted five straight 5s after that — one double bogey and four bogeys. He was last in the field at 8-over when he withdrew.

Hopefully, the injury isn’t too severe. Weibring was hoping to play next week in Alabama ahead of the Champions Tour’s first major — the Senior PGA Championship — the following weekend.

UPDATE: To see what D.A. had to say about his WD, click here. I’ll have more from my conversation with him later.