Month: August 2010

Two For Tuesday — Aug. 31

Posted by dobrien – August 31, 2010

One man, two random thoughts on the sports world:

1. If the opening night is any indication, this is going to be one wild, wacky high school football season

The opening night of prep football in the area was a weird one. First, the action at 10th and Jackson between Hannibal and QND lasted so long that it was still going on past the TV guys’ normal highlight window of 10:20 to 10:35. The Raiders’ last-minute comeback will be remembered by everyone in attendance for a long time. Off the beaten path, two teams that went winless in 2009 ended losing streaks. Highland won at Knox County to snap a 10-game losing streak. Then Unity, which hadn’t won a game since the final week of the 2007 season, won at Carrollton to snap an 18-game losing streak. If what happened in Week 1 is going to be the norm, expect the unexpected this football season.

2. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

You may have missed it, but Michael Jordan’s youngest son, Marcus, has a Las Vegas casino in trouble since he was there gambling even though he’s just 19 years old. From the sounds of Marcus’ tweet, he’s about as good of a gambler as his dad, too. Guess he spent $35,000 at one casino and $50,000 on the day. Remember, His Airness was a pretty regular gambler, too, when he was leading the Bulls to titles. Now, some will be up in arms that the young Jordan was gambling. If he’s dumb enough to waste his money (or his family’s), who cares? I’m sure some will think the kid, who plays basketball at the University of Central Florida, should be suspended or something for the Vegas trip. I don’t think that’s necessary.

Slap of the Week — Aug. 27

Posted by dobrien – August 27, 2010

When I first heard the news that Jim Furyk had overslept on Wednesday, I immediately thought of poor Jean-Paul Jean-Paul.

Jean-Paul was the marathon runner from Trinidad & Tobago that relied on Jerry Seinfeld and his crew to wake him up in time  for the New York City Marathon. Life mirrored art when Furyk missed his tee time for Wednesday’s pro-am at The Barclays. That forced Furyk to be DQ’d from the tournament before it had ever started.

Seems that Furyk’s cell phone battery died. With no cell phone, Furyk had no alarm and no way for his caddie or anyone else to reach him to wake his sleepy butt up. The fictional Jean-Paul had overslept at the previous Olympic Games, thus the need for a wake-up support system. On the day of the race, all of the power went out at Seinfeld’s building — thanks to Kramer — and Jean-Paul was late to the race.

The ramifications of Furyk’s mistake are very real. He was third in the Fed Ex Cup points race going into the first round of the playoffs. *Yes, Furyk was basically thrown out of the first playoff game for oversleeping. Not even Terrell Owens or Ron Artest could pull that off.) He’ll slide down the standings and his shot at winning the $10 million first prize took a severe hit.

A pro’s pro, Furyk handled the mistake gracefully. If he has some good karma, maybe he’ll win the playoffs in spite of the DQ.

We’ve all overslept at some point in our lives. Still, Furyk looks pretty silly right now.

Mid-Week Grades for Aug. 25

Posted by dobrien – August 25, 2010

The season’s upon us. Some 36 hours or so from now, footballs will be flying around area high school football fields and things will be back to normal. It’s an interesting week for the grades, sit back and enjoy. If you have a grade, send it to us at sportscenter@wgem.com or text us at (217) 617-9437. WGEM SportsCenter host Josh Houchins and I will break these down around 8:20 on ESPN 1440.

A — Ai Miyazato. She may be having the best season of a professional that you haven’t heard about. The Japanese golfer claimed her fifth LPGA title of the season last weekend at the Safeway Classic. The win bumped her back to No. 1 in the world golf rankings over American Cristie Kerr. She’s a great player, but would you know her if she walked down Maine Street in Quincy? I know I wouldn’t. That’s the LPGA’s problem — I don’t think they market their star players as well as some of the other leagues do. Still, Miyazato is having a heck of a season.

B — Accounting nerds. Usually the only statistics in Major League Baseball revolve around home runs, RBI, wins, losses and ERA. Well, the guys in accounting got to have some fun this week as someone leaked the financial documents for the Pirates, Marlins, Rays, Mariners and Angels. Turns out that the perennially cruddy Pirates are a hit on the spreadsheet, claiming nearly $30 million in profit over the last three years. Who knew that losing could make you into a winner?

C — Minnesota Vikings. It’s been an interesting preseason for the team that nearly won the NFC title earlier this year. Of course, they had the whole Brett Favre saga. He’s back, but who is he going to throw the ball to other than Bernard Berrian? Percy Harvin’s health is a question mark and Sidney Rice may miss half the season thanks to a hip injury. The Vikings are loved by the Vegas oddsmakers as a team that could win the Super Bowl, but I’m thinking the Packers may be the team to beat in the NFC North.

D — NFL. The National Football League once again shows why some call it the No Fun League. It decided to fine Cincinnati’s Chad Ochocinco $25,000 for posting something to his Twitter account during the Bengals’ last preseason game. The NFL has rules for when it players can post to social media sites — just like they have rules for how the players are supposed to wear their socks. It’s micromanagement at it’s best. ESPN should share in the D since it decided to call the fine “breaking news” on Tuesday morning.

F — Sammy Sosa. If you haven’t read the Chicago Magazine story on Sosa, you need to take some time out of your day to check it out. Among other things, Sosa says the Cubs have disrespected him by issuing his No. 21 to other players after he left — former Cardinal Jason Marquis was the first to wear the number after Sosa’s departure and now rookie Tyler Colvin has the number. Sosa needs to come to grips with the fact that he has to lie in the bed that he made. That means no love from the Chitown people who adored him and likely no Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown.

Two For Tuesday — Aug. 24

Posted by dobrien – August 24, 2010

Two thoughts to get you through another Tuesday:

1. Albert Pujols absolutely owns the Pittsburgh Pirates.

On Monday night, Pujols hit his 43rd home run against the Pirates, giving him 399 for his career. His numbers in 149 career games against the Bucs are amazing. After Monday’s 3-for-5 performance, Pujols is hitting .375 for his career (208 for 555) with those 43 home runs and 128 RBI. He’s had an MVP season in his career against the National League Central doormats. The Cardinals still have eight games left against the Pirates this year. With Pujols in a groove right now, those numbers will surely balloon further.

2. Tiger Woods can play through now.

OK, Tiger and Elin are divorced now. Now that we have that done with, let’s see how Tiger responds on the course. He’s in the FedEx Cup playoff event this week, but it could be his last start of the season. He’s at 112 in the points standings and somehow needs to work his way into the top 100 to move on to the next event. If he doesn’t play well at the Barclays, Woods’ season could be over. He’s no lock for the U.S. Ryder Cup team — although I think Corey Pavin should use Woods as a wild-card pick. If this is it for Tiger in a forgetful 2010 season, so be it. I’d expect he’ll come back stronger than ever in 2011 — just as long as he doesn’t back into any more trees.

Really, QHS? Really!?!

Posted by dobrien – August 20, 2010

Got my first look at the Quincy High School boys basketball team’s 2010-11 schedule today. Most of the usual suspects are on the docket. Batavia’s back. Springfield and Peoria Central are there, too. Long-time rival Jacksonville will visit Blue Devil Gym as will Naperville Neuqua Valley.

But one of the Blue Devils’ non-conference games screamed out to me. On Dec. 18 the Blue Devils are schedule to play host to Monmouth-Roseville. Enrollment-wise, the Titans will be one of the smaller schools to come to Blue Devil Gym in recent memory. The Warren County school has an enrollment of 540. They were around the .500 mark (MaxPreps.com had the team at 10-8, but I can’t believe that was a final record). M-R wrapped up its season with a 17-point loss to a Rock Island Alleman team that was winless in the Western Big Six Conference.

Here I go again, banging the drum for a QHS-QND battle (QND is playing host to Jacksonville on the night that I’m sure we’ll all remember the Titans).

Can we please make Blue Devils-Raiders happen again?

Thank you, drive through.

Slap of the Week — Aug. 20

Posted by dobrien – August 20, 2010

Geez, so many slaps and so little time to break them all down. I’ll make a rare local slap although it could have been easy to go national with fodder like Roger Clemens, the cruddy St. Louis Cardinals and Bobby Petrino and a goofy Arkansas radio station. I could go off on the Cubs, too, but am saving that for my Sunday GamePlan column.

No the Slap of the Week this week goes to another set of parents and a seemingly clueless school board that dumped a good coach on the side of the road this week. In 12 years as Liberty’s boys basketball coach, Jeff Kasparie won 232 games and led the program to some rare heights, including a fourth-place finish in the Class A state tournament in 2005. There may be a pocket of fans in the eastern Adams County town happy that Kasparie resigned his post, but there are others who are none too happy with the developments.

“Liberty High School, slap of the week? At least an F in mid-week grades!” one Liberty alum texted me on Thursday night.

Kasparie didn’t exactly know why the people didn’t want him back for a 13th season this winter. “I guess my coaching hasn’t been good enough,” he told Herald-Whig Sports Writer Matt Schuckman. “I guess that’s not a proven winner.”

Ken Schuster knows what Kasparie is going through. For reasons we’ll never know the Hamilton school board decided Schuster’s services as West Hancock girls basketball coach were no longer needed. All he did for the program was lead it to state twice, including a state title in 2008.

Liberty superintendent Matt Runge didn’t return Schuckman’s calls seeking comment on Wednesday. Not that he probably would have said much anyway. Because it’s a personnel issue, administrators hands are tied in such matters. Instead, the rumor mills get to run wild with speculation why these coaches are no longer doing what they love. And if you’re a coach, why in the heck would you want to go coach at either school after seeing how the previous coaches were shown the door after long runs of success?

I wish no ill will for the kids on these teams. They’re caught in the middle. Let’s just hope karma catches up to those behind these firings and gives them a good swift kick in the butt.

Mid-Week Grades for Aug. 18

Posted by dobrien – August 18, 2010

Welcome to the dog days of August. Congrats to those Quincy parents who survived another summer and are shuffling your kids back to school today. It’s an all-baseball edition of the Mid-Week grades. WGEM SportsCenter host Josh Houchins and I will break these down around 8:20 on Wednesday’s program. Be sure to listen in. You can submit your own grade at sportscenter@wgem.com or via the text line at (217) 617-9437:

A — Jim Thome. Even though he played at Limestone — a rival of the Galesburg High School baseball team back in the late 1980s — I’ve always liked Thome. I met him once back at Marty’s Bar in Charleston, Ill., in the early 1990s through a buddy of his that was on the EIU baseball team. Thome’s been a class act during his time in the big leagues. Now that A-Fraud has passed the 600-homer mark, Thome’s next on the list. He’s sitting an 580  thanks to 16 homers this season and has a chance to pad that total over the next few days against one of his old teams — the Chicago White Sox. And he’s no LeBron. He’s looking forward to beating his buddies instead of playing with them. He had a chance to go back to Chicago during the off-season, but opted for the Twins. Thome’s having a blast in Minnesota, which is getting a lot of bang for their buck out of him. Here’s to hoping he makes it to 600 homers and beyond.

B — Bryan Bullington. His first major-league victory Sunday over the Yankees — a game in which he threw eight shutout innings and struck out five – isn’t going to make up for the fact the former Quincy Gems player had little business being the No. 1 overall pick by the Pirates in the 2002 draft. (Also in that draft: No. 2 B.J. Upton, Rays; No. 6 Zack Grienke, Royals; No. 7 Prince Fielder, Brewers; No. 16 Nick Swisher, A’s; No. 17 Cole Hamels, Phillies; No. 19 James Loney, Dodgers; No. 24 Joe Blanton, A’s; No. 25 Matt Cain, Giants to name a few.) Unless Bullington, who is nearing 30 years old, can somehow jumpstart his career, he’s going to be looked at as one of the bigger draft busts with the top pick. For a day though, he took down the defending World Champions, and a day after Alex Rodriguez slugged three homers in a day. Not too bad.

C — Orlando Cabrera. The Reds shortstop found an interesting way to bide his time while on the disabled list. He spent part of Sunday’s game serving as the Reds’ bat boy. Cabrera did everything a bat boy’s supposed to do and even wore the uniform with the “BB” on the back. He only lasted four innings, but that’s four innings more than a lot of big leaguers would do it. He’s eligible to come off the disabled list today, so he’s days as the highest-paid bat boy in baseball are over.

D — Jose Canseco. Baseball’s steroid whistleblower is back. A team in the United League — the Laredo Broncos — signed Canseco to a contract where he would serve as a coach and a designated hitter. In his first game with the team on Monday night, he wound up hitting a home run. Guess, he’s back “playing” as part of another reality show. He may have been right about all of the steroid use in baseball, but I’d like for Canseco to just go away.

F — Francisco Rodriguez. This guy could be up for Slap of the Year honors. First, he gets into a fight with his girlfriend and then slugs her dad. He was arrested for the assault. Turns out that he injured his hand during the incident and needs season-ending surgery on his right thumb. The Mets are going to try to get their money back from him, but it’s not going to be easy. Any hopes the Mets had of making the postseason are gone with their all-star closer.

Two For Tuesday — Aug. 17

Posted by dobrien – August 17, 2010

Two random thoughts about the world of sports:

1. Dustin Johnson has no excuse.

In the moments after the ruling that cost Dustin Johnson a chance at playing in a playoff for the PGA Championship, I was just as upset as many other people. After hearing the rules official go over the decision and learning that the local rules were not only posted in the locker room, but on every hole on the course, I changed my tune a bit. Johnson — and every other player in the field — should have been very wary whenever they went off the fairway. He should have conferred with a rules official before hitting his second shot on No. 18. Better yet, his caddie should have reminded him of the wacky rules at Whistling Straits, which has more than 1,000 bunkers. I’d have to think people will be more than aware of the rules when the PGA Championship returns to the Wisconsin resort course in 2015. It will also host the Ryder Cup in 2020. You have to give Johnson credit. He took the high road when talking about the penalty on Sunday and didn’t make any excuses — not that he could have.

2. Why do they even keep score in NFL preseason games?

Had a Tony Romo hater give me some grief on Monday because the Cowboys lost to the Raiders in their second exhibition game. I could care less about preseason football. Can’t believe there are people willing to pay regular-season prices for games that have many players who will never see the light of day during the regular season. The only thing I want to see happen is my team’s players all walk off the field in one piece. With as much practice as these teams do year around now, the preseason games aren’t really that necessary. If the NFL is intent on going to an 18-game schedule, nix the entire preseason. Have teams hold a few controlled scrimmages and call it a day.

Some Gem City flavor at the PGA Championship

Posted by dobrien – August 13, 2010

Quincy could have a reason to be proud of its golf heritage once again after this weekend’s PGA Championship.

One player with a direct tie to the Gem City and another with a indirect tie are near the top of the leaderboard at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisc. As of this writing around 2 p.m. on Friday, D.A. Points is tied for the lead. Points, who grew up in Pekin, has plenty of relatives from Quincy. His mother and father are from here.

Then there’s first-round leader Matt Kuchar. The former U.S. Amateur champion credits his resurgence this year to help he’s gained from working with Quincy native Chris O’Connell. O’Connell is the son of the late Mike O’Connell, who won eight Quincy Men’s City Golf Championships. Based in Plano, Texas, O’Connell has worked with Kuchar since 2006.

There are also a number for player who once participated in the Pepsi Little People’s Golf Championships, a group that includes Points.

Slap of the Week — Aug. 13

Posted by dobrien – August 13, 2010

It was lost in these part thanks to all of the silliness between the Reds and Cardinals, but there was an interesting spat in the golf world prior to the PGA Championship.

Seems that U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin and reporter Jim Gray got into a little tiff. Gray says Pavin told him that Tiger Woods was going to be invited to play on the U.S. Ryder Cup if Woods didn’t play himself into an automatic spot. At No. 10 on the Ryder Cup points list, Woods needs to get into the top eight to automatically make the team.

However, Pavin said he never told Gray that and says he won’t make any picks until he has to make them. Gray got in Pavin’s face after Pavin’s denial and pretty soon everyone’s shorts were in a bunch over the whole thing.

( I wonder if Gray — who was host of LeBron James’ “Decision” special on ESPN — asked his question like this: “Hey, Corey? Will Tiger be taking his talents to Wales in a few months?”)

Gray and Pavin both looked pretty silly. Gray just can’t go around telling Pavin he’s a liar and that he’s going to “take him down.”

And is it really a debate whether or not Woods belongs on the Ryder Cup team. Yes, he had a really bad tournament last week in Akron where he nearly finished last. But he’s still Tiger Woods. You’re telling me that you’d rather have Bo Van Pelt and Nick Watney than Tiger Woods? Pavin doesn’t need to say who he’s taking now, but if he heads to Wales in October without having asked Woods to be on the team that will be one of the dumbest moves in Ryder Cup history.