Month: July 2011

Slap of the Week — July 29

Posted by dobrien – July 29, 2011

There was a time when I felt bad for Toni Kukoc.

Drafted by the Bulls in 1990, Kukoc missed out on the first team’s three-peat. He got to town just as Michael Jordan decided to retire for the first time. Kukoc was pretty bummed about the situation, but eventually got to play alongside Jordan and win three NBA titles.

Maybe that time in NBA purgatory when Pete Myers was his shooting guard instead of Jordan was what Kukoc was talking about when he told the Croatian Times that he had “been in worse situations” in his life.

And what exactly has the retired baller in the his home country’s headlines? The Waiter’s name has come up in a prostitution ring. This runs in stark contrast to an ESPNChicago.com piece about Kukoc loving retired live outside the Windy City.

Hopefully, Kukoc isn’t mixed up in the deal. If he is, he’s got some explaining to do to the wife and kids.

Mid-Week Grades for July 27

Posted by dobrien – July 27, 2011

Another toasty edition of the Mid-Week Grades for you. As usual, we’ll pour over these on WGEM SportsCenter around 8:20 on Wednesday. If you’d like to chime in with your own grades, please do so via our text line at 217-617-9437.

A — Chris Serritella. He’s been in the Quincy Gems’ lineup a little over a month and has posted some amazing numbers. He went into Tuesday’s game at DeKalb County leading the Prospect League in homers with 11 and was second in batting average (.371) and RBI (42). Can you imagine what those numbers would like had he not missed the first three weeks of the season trying to play in the Cape Cod League. He’s carried the offense as of late. The Gems will need similar production the final two weeks of the season if they’re to win their second Prospect League crown in the last three years.

B — Pastor Joe Nelms. There are some out there who loved his “Talladega Nights”-inspired prayer before the Nationwide Series race in Nashville last weekend. Others around the Internet don’t like how he handled himself. I thought it was pretty funny. I think God has a sense of humor. Enjoy his riff:

C — NFL. Maybe I’m being a bit too nit picky, but I’m bothered by all of the hooping and hollering about how football is back. People, football never left us. Sure, we missed a few OTAs (or Organized Team Activities) and the free-agent period is going to compressed into about a 72-hour or so window. But we really missed nothing (and spare me your angst over the Hall of Fame Game being axed). The players and owners got their deal done at the deadline before the start of training camps. Now we can all focus on putting our fantasy football teams together.

D — Big 12 Conference. What a bunch of whiners. Pretty soon, The Longhorn Network, which is dedicated to University of Texas sports, will launch. With ESPN’s muscle behind it, The Longhorn Network figures to be a formidable entity. And the rest of the Big 12 is scared stiff. The network hoped to show Texas high school games, which may be more important than Cowboys games in some parts of the state. But the Big 12 isn’t going to let them until they figure out the NCAA ramifications of doing so. On Monday, Texas A&M wouldn’t let its coach, Mike Sherman, be interviewed by the network at the conference’s football media day. I’m hoping Texas crushes them all.

F — Seattle Mariners. At least they still have Starbucks, because not much else is going right in the Emerald City. They’ve been without the NBA for a while, and the Seahawks are still trying to figure things out. The Mariners are in the midst of one of the worst stretches in baseball history, having lost 16 straight games going into Tuesday’s game with the Yankees. They’ve fallen to the bottom of the AL West and may soon challenge Baltimore for the worst record in the American League. Wonder how many pieces they’ll put on the trading block this week?

Two For Tuesday — July 26

Posted by dobrien – July 26, 2011

Since my keyboard hasn’t melted from the heat, I guess I’ll bang out a couple of thoughts on this final Tuesday of July:

1.How soon until we turn on the Pirates?

Seems that everyone is wrapping their arms around the huggable, lovable Pittsburgh Pirates. The plucky little bunch hasn’t had a winning record since 1992 when Sid Bream tore Pirates’ fans hearts out with that slide into home in the NLCS. We’re closing in on August and the Pirates are still fighting for first place. Even St. Louis Cardinals fans don’t mind seeing the Pirates’ rise. But when will that change. Yes, the Cardinals took 2 of 3 from the Pirates over the weekend, but there’s a lot of baseball to be played between the teams this season. They’ll play seven times in August and have a three-game set in the middle of September. By then Cardinals fans may hate the Bucs as much as they do the Brewers, Reds and Cubs.

2. Serritella on a tear

I haven’t seen every Quincy Gems team — I got to Quincy a year into the team’s run in the CICL — but have covered them enough to be somewhat of an expert on the squad. What first baseman Chris Serritella is doing this season is pretty amazing and is right on par with some of the best seasons in team history. In just over a month with the team — he didn’t get here until June 24 — the Southern Illinois player leads the Prospect League in homers (11) and is second in batting average (.371) and runs batted in (42). I put Ryan Duncheon’s 1998 campaign as the best in club history. The Illinois State catcher won the CICL’s Triple Crown that year with 10 homers, 53 RBI and a .398 batting average. But if Serritella can keep up his pace and lead the Gems to a Prospect League title — like Duncheon did in ’98 — then we may have a nice debate.

Slap of the Week — July 22

Posted by dobrien – July 22, 2011

Please make it stop!

For most of the week, we were all fed the same lines:

“The NFL players and owners were getting closer and closer to a deal.”

“Training camps should start on time.”

“They’re not going to miss any games.”

Now, some of this still might happen, but I’m not nearly as optimistic about the NFL’s labor situation than I was earlier in the week. The owners seemingly have painted the players into a corner after voting to accept the labor agreement. If the players reject it, they look like the dummies in this situation.

There’s so much information/misinformation out there, who knows what’s real and what’s not.

I’d just like the players and owners to figure out how to divide their $9 billion haul so that we can all  get back to more serious things — like scheduling our fantasy football drafts.

Mid-Week Grades — July 20

Posted by dobrien – July 20, 2011

This steaming hot edition of Mid-Week Grades will be bandied about around 8:20 on Wednesday’s edition of the award-winning WGEM SportsCenter show, which you can hear every weekday morning from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on ESPN 1440 or on WGEM.com. If you’d like to grade the week in sports, zip us a text at 217-617-9437 or email us at sports@whig.com:

A — Darren Clarke. I was nice watching the Irishman earn the “Champion Golfer of the Year” moniker. Considering all that he’s gone through — being on top of his game and then slipping as his wife battled cancer and ultimately lost her battle to seeing him come back to the top again — it’s hard not to like the guy. And how can you not root for a guy who replaces the post-round bottle of water in the media conference with a freshly poured Guinness?

B — Justin Jennings. He hasn’t done a whole lot this season at Quincy Raceways, but the 18-year-old from LaGrange, Mo., was able to experience something last weekend that few of his Broadway Bullring buddies to. Jennings jumped behind the wheel of an ARCA car and took on some of stock cars best at Iowa Speedway. Jennings acquitted himself quite nicely, too. He qualified 28th and finished 19th in his first ARCA start. Maybe that will help Jennings move up the late model pack at the Bullring. He’s currently 11th in points and has two top-10 finishes in four points races this season.

C — U.S. Women’s World Cup team. The top-ranked team in the world couldn’t quite live up to that billing in Germany, losing to Japan in the title match in penalty kicks. They were lucky to even be there after a miraculous victory over Brazil in the quarterfinals. The U.S. used to be the bully on the women’s soccer scene, but many countries are catching up with us. The only thing that saves them from being ranked lower here was the undeniable fact that they did captivate the nation. The ratings for the final match were boffo — the most-watched soccer match in ESPN history. Only the 1999 Women’s World Cup final, which was on ABC, had more viewers. Hope, Abby and the girls will fade into the background again. They’d better do a lot more work, too, if they want their next appearance on a world stage to be better than this one.

D — Tour de France. Remember that bike race? Yes, it’s going on right now, but no one really seems to care. Since everyone was doped up during its hey day no one seems to care now. We haven’t run any results in the Whig this year. Wanna know how many complaints we’ve gotten? Zero. The 2011 race ends on Sunday. The French should be happy since countryman Thomas Voeckler leads the pack right now. They’ll all sip champagne on the Champs-Elysees during the final stage, but no one stateside will care.

F — Colby Rasmus. At one point, Colby’s fire was burning in the outfield. Now, many St. Louis Cardinals fans would like to see him fired from the team.  There’s a growing sentiment among fandom that Rasmus needs to be traded before the trade deadline. It’s getting argue with those folks. Going into Tuesday’s game, he was hitting just .241 with 9 homers and 36 RBI. Over his last 10 games, Rasmus was hitting just .121 (4 for 33). Is it too early to give up on Rasmus? I don’t think so, but he obviously needs to pick it up — and fast.

Two For Tuesday — July 19

Posted by dobrien – July 19, 2011

Two thought to get you through this sweltering Tuesday. (And how come no one can think up a catchy slogan for this heat wave? When the blizzard hit in February, we had snOMG, but nothing for this heat. I’ve really thought about this long and hard for an hour to come up with a Twitter hashtag to use during the heat, but can’t think of a thing. Any help would be appreciated.)

1. Let’s hope a deal gets done

All signs are pointing to the National Football League finally getting a labor deal done just as training camps were ready to start. As a fantasy football commissioner, I’m happy they’re getting their act together. I can finally send in my money to my league’s web host. Glad we FFL types don’t have to worry about how to schedule a fractured season. It’s going to be a crazy couple of weeks once the deal is put in place. I’m a big Transactions nerd. I love scouring them in the paper each day. We’re going to need to leave some extra room on our Scoreboard page to get all of the NFL’s comings and goings in.

2. These are the dog days of summer

For media markets like Quincy’s, this is the toughest time of the year. Outside of the Prospect League games, there is no real local news happening. The movers and shakers in the prep and college scene are charging their batteries for the upcoming season. We do the same and take some time off as well. Still, I’ve been spending part of the last few weeks “game planning” for the upcoming fall sports season. When you have the pedal to the metal for 10 straight months, it’s odd not to be able to floor it right now. Thankfully, business will pick up again very soon.

Slap of the Week — July 15

Posted by dobrien – July 15, 2011

Would someone please tell the folks at ESPN that the general sports fan doesn’t care about Roger Clemens’ perjury trial?

On a slow news day, the Worldwide Leader was able to hammer away at the Clemens case after the prosecutors botched the trial by trying to put evidence into play that the judge told them they couldn’t use. Thanks to those dopey lawyers, we got a healthy dose of Law & Order on Thursday. It might be big news in New York and Boston — and I question whether people in those cities care — but in middle America, the Clemens case wasn’t on anyone’s radar.

The general public knows Clemens did steroids at some point in his career. Should we be shocked that he may have lied about it? Not at all. Right now, you just assume everyone who played in the big leagues at 1990s had something to do with steroids — either taking them or looking the other way when teammates were shooting up.

After declaring a mistrial, the judge in the Clemens case is supposed to rule in early September whether or not a new trial will be ordered. I’ll save him the trouble — and the taxpayers some money: Just let it go. But if he finds the need to order up a new trial, let’s hope the prosecution trots out some people who actually know what they’re doing.

Mid-Week Grades — July 13

Posted by dobrien – July 13, 2011

After a mini break, the Mid-Week Grades are back. As always, we’ll break down the gradebook on the amazingly popular and award-winning WGEM SportsCenter program around 8:20 or so on Wednesday. We’ll take your submissions via text at 217-617-9437 or via email at sportscenter@wgem.com:

A — Derek Jeter. It’s always been hard to hate the Yankees’ captain. Those who do hate on him or either Red Sox fans or are just jealous of him. He scripted quite a day for himself on Saturday when he joined the 3,000-hit club. A 5-for-5 day with a homer as hit No. 3,000 and he later drove home the game-winning run against the Rays. At 37, Jeter’s not going to play long enough to get to 4,000 hits, but that doesn’t matter. He’s already won five World Series rings and crafted himself a Hall of Fame resume, doing it with class every step of the way, too.

B — Steve Stricker. The former University of Illinois golfer tied Quincy’s D.A. Weibring over the weekend with his third John Deere Classic championship. Stricker, the top-ranked American golfer in the world, won with flair, too, draining a birdie putt from the fringe to capture his latest title. It wasn’t that long ago that Stricker didn’t even have a PGA Tour card after going through a rough patch. It would be great to see him take the momentum gained by winning at the JDC and capture his first major this weekend at the British Open.

C — Deron Williams. Here’s another former Illini in the news. Instead of waiting out what could be a long NBA lockout, Williams was proactive and struck a deal to play over in Turkey during the work stoppage. He won’t get paid anywhere near his NBA salary, but he’ll still be playing. Don’t know that it’s worth the risk of putting the millions the New Jersey Nets owe him in jeopardy by playing overseas, but Williams is going to go down his own road. Some are worried about a mass exodus of players to Europe. That’s not going to happen since those leagues have restrictions on the number of Americans who can be on each team and the pay isn’t anywhere near what the NBA dishes out.

D — Major League Baseball fans. First, there was the tragedy in Texas where a fan died going after a ball thrown to him by Josh Hamilton. On Monday night, another fan almost fell during the Home Run Derby. MLB and its teams are going to need to do something to save the fans from themselves. Parks are going to need to be adjusted so that people can’t fall over the railings so easily. Fans are going to need to adjust their behavior, too. Putting your life on the line for a $10 baseball isn’t worth it.

F — MIA All-Stars. I’m looking at you, Jeter. (For what might be a DOBservations first, someone is getting an A and is part of an F in the same week.) Jeter is one of 16 all-stars who didn’t play in Tuesday night’s game in Arizona. Jeter said his pursuit of 3,000 hits wore him out. That’s bunk. The people voted him in, he should be there. He’s not alone though as many others turned down chances to play in the Mid-Summer Classic. For the second straight year, more than 80 players can call themselves “all-stars” — and collect any bonuses coming their way. Since when did the all-star game morph into the NFL’s Pro Bowl?

Two for Tuesday — July 12

Posted by dobrien – July 12, 2011

I’m back from break and ready to roll. Here are two things that struck me while trying to watch the Home Run Derby last night:

1. Revoke Chris Berman’s media credential

Growing up, I loved listening to Chris Berman. When he anchored SportsCenter in the 1980s, I used to live to see what nickname he was going to come up with next. (New Hall of Famer Bert “Be Home’ Blyleven was my fave.) My tastes have changed as I’ve gotten older and I find Berman’s act to be stale. His repeated shouts of “back, back, back” during the derby are more annoying than they are entertaining. He makes the event nearly unwatchable.

2. Let ‘em swing metal

The Home Run Derby is kind of like watching the old And1 MixTape Tour street ballers. Yes, it’s amazing to watch a guy dunk a basketball, but it gets old after a while. The same thing can be said of the HR Derby. MLB needs to spice the competition up a bit. The whole captains thing was a good twist this year, but let’s put some “ping” into the competition. Let the players swing aluminum bats. Maybe someone could hit it out of Kaufmann Stadium next year. Maybe someone could mash one more than 500 feet.

Slap of the Week — July 1

Posted by dobrien – July 1, 2011

Members of the Herald-Whig Dirt Diggers. Front row from left: Maggie Henke, Tom Van Ness. Second row from left: Jenny Dreasler, Trianna Stark, Don O'Brien, Rodney Hart, Patrick Cornell. Back row from left: Matt Hopf, Julie Ann Marra.

One of the neat events that I’ve been a part of the last few years is the Hannibal Y Men’s Club mud volleyball tournament. It’s a Fourth of July staple.

The event lasts all weekend with dozens of teams congregating along the riverfront in America’s Hometown. On the night before the real players dive into the mud, the Men’s Club has been nice enough to let us media types battle it out.

In 2009, the Herald-Whig Dirt Diggers got it done, winning the title. Sadly, I wasn’t on that team because I was on vacation. I hopped into the mud last year and we took second, losing to our nemesis from across town — KHQA.

The Dirt Diggers were all set to get their revenge on Thursday night. We had put together a team that we thought was going to take down everyone, including our arch enemies.

Sadly, we left with mud in our eyes. The Dirt Diggers didn’t get it done. As a matter of fact, I’m not so sure that we could have beaten any of the junior high teams that were playing on the other courts. It was a really sad effort. We got beat by U.S. Cable in our opener in straight sets and then were given a forfeit victory after the folks from KICK FM left.

That left us waiting in the loser’s bracket for the loser of KHQA and the Cable guys. KHQA lost that match, giving us our chance at redemption.

I try to tell the folks from KHQA why the Herald-Whig Dirt Diggers were going to beat them like a drum. Sadly, the Dirt Diggers couldn't back me up.

The match started off right as we won the first game 15-13 as Hitman Hart, an infamous member of the H-W’s title-winning H-W Demons softball team, served out the match. But then the worm turned and KHQA won the next two games and we left in shame.

I have full stats from the game, including plus-minus for each player on the Dirt Diggers. (Plus-minus is how many points your team scored or was outscored when you were in the game.) Because I don’t want to ruin anyone’s weekend, I won’t post the individual stats. Let’s just say that DOB was a plus-23 when he was on the court during the team’s two matches. The others weren’t so hot.

For their inability to beat a bunch of TV people in mud volleyball, the third-place Herald-Whig Dirt Diggers get the dubious honor of The Slap of the Week.

This is my last post for a while as I’m on vacation next week. If you just can’t live without me, follow me on Twitter. I’m sure I’ll be posting thoughts there during my time off.

Have a happy holiday.