Larry Brown Sports

My only question is this: What took them so long? Shane Victorino and CBS’s Hawaii Five-0 had to run into each other eventually. Now that we are smack dab in the middle of the MLB offseason, it’s happening. According to theFive0s.com, the Flyin’ Hawaiian will be a guest star in the Feb. 20 episode of the show. Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno will be joining him.

Five-0 investigates the murder of a man dressed as a Hawaiian NaKoa warrior found in the jungle near the site of a historical war re-enactment. Philadelphia Phillies outfielder and Hawaii native Shane “The Flyin’ Hawaiian” Victorino guest stars as a business executive on a company retreat. Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, the most decorated American Winter Olympic athlete of all time, guest stars as a Hawaiian history buff who helps Five-0 with the case.

As Big League Stew pointed out, Victorino called the appearance a “small scene” on Twitter, but we know anything the Flyin’ Hawaiian does is bound to be big enough. He’s going to fit in perfectly. How could he not?

Former college quarterback Mitch Mustain reportedly has signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox and is planning to attend spring training with the team in March.

Mustain had a disappointing college football career that included one season at Arkansas and three at USC. He played baseball in high school but stopped after breaking his arm his junior season. He says he threw 90 mph during a tryout for a White Sox scout last month, leading to the signing.

Mustain entered Arkansas in 2006 as one of the most decorated college football prospects in recent memory. He compiled a 44-1 record during his career at Springdale High School (Ark.) and set several state records. He played as a true freshman on the 2006 Arkansas team leading an offense that featured Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in the backfield. Though Mustain went 8-0 as the starter, he was replaced by Casey Dick and transferred to USC after the season.

The move proved to be a poor decision for Mustain who became buried on the Trojans’ depth chart. He hardly saw any action at USC, went undrafted, and ended up being cut by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. Though he signed to play in the Arena Football League last September, he’s decided to give baseball a try.

“I don’t want to work a 9 to 5 job, I don’t want to get into that, I wanna play ball,” Mustain said in an interview with KNWA.

Mustain is scheduled to report to spring training in Glendale (Ariz.) on March 8th.

Former MLB pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd admitted Wednesday that he was under the influence of cocaine for about two-thirds of his starts.

“Oh yeah, at every ballpark. There wasn’t one ballpark that I probably didn’t stay up all night, until four or five in the morning, and the same thing is still in your system,” Boyd told WBZ. “It’s not like you have time to go do it while in the game, which I had done that.”

Boyd, who pitched 10 seasons in the majors, says he wasn’t doing anything different from many other players. He also believes the excessive coke use and partying hurt his career.

“Some of the best games I’ve ever, ever pitched in the major leagues I stayed up all night; I’d say two-thirds of them,” said Boyd. “If I had went to bed, I would have won 150 ballgames in the time span that I played. I feel like my career was cut short for a lot of reasons, but I wasn’t doing anything that hundreds of ball players weren’t doing at the time; because that’s how I learned it.”

Boyd went 78-77 with a 4.04 career ERA. He played for the Red Sox, Expos, and Rangers, and says he only received support from a few teammates.

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Bryce Harper may be only 19 years old and have enormous baseball potential, but he is not exactly the most lovable character. Harper marches to the beat of his own drum and doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks about it. That confidence likely has contributed to his success on the baseball field, but it also tends to irritate the people around him. Harper has struggled in the minors and would need to put in a ton of work to make the Nationals team this spring. If and when he does become a superstar athlete, however, he wants to live his life like Joe Namath.

“I’m going to be my own person,” Harper said in an interview with MLB.com. “There are a lot of professional athletes back in the old days that did what they wanted to do. That’s how I’m going to be. I’m going to prove myself on the field, so I can be that kind of guy off the field.

“I’m not a clown off the field. I just say things … I speak my mind and I think that’s good. If I speak my mind and people know the real me, then they are going to like me more. I’m not a liar. I say things I want to say. That’s how it is, I guess.

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How much would you pay for a baseball that is signed by the legendary Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian? If you answered “more than $1,000,” you still have a shot to become the proud owner of this rare collector’s item. The Minnesota Twins are currently auctioning off a ball that was signed by the soon-to-be divorced couple, with proceeds benefiting the Minnesota Twins Community Club. The item description on the Twins’ auction website reads as follows:

Fans can now bid on an official Major League baseball autographed by both reality TV star Kim Kardashian and soon-to-be former husband and Minneapolis, Minnesota native Kris Humphries.

“We have as far as we know, a one-of-a-kind item – a baseball with both of their signatures which we believe is best used to raise incremental funds for the good works of the Community Fund,” said Kevin Smith, executive director of public affairs for the Twins.

The Minnesota-native Humphries threw out the first pitch at Target Field on July 1 and his fiancee was there to cheer him on. From there we had the scripted proposal, the marriage, the divorce, and Kim K. chasing after Tim Tebow. You all know the story.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to buy a lottery ticket this afternoon. If I hit it big, I’m hopping right on that auction website and outbidding everyone for this thing. Once in a lifetime rareness doesn’t even begin to describe how excited I am. Bidding ends on Valentine’s Day. Time to go to work.

Fist pound to Big League Stew

Do Giants fans really want to hear that their star pitcher lost weight during the offseason? Tim Lincecum has always managed to throw smoke despite looking like he’s a meal away from emaciation. They don’t call him The Freak for no reason. However, Lincecum claims he is down to 175 pounds from 197 last season. If you want to believe that this dude weighed 197 pounds during any point in his Major League career, that’s your prerogative. The secret? Less fast food and some time swimming in an endless pool

“You take your first bite of a McDonald’s burger and it’s like ‘Why did I buy this?’” Lincecum told reporters over the weekend according to Big League Stew. “You feel instantly sick. That’s what ended up happening with all these places and why I started eliminating them. I take a bite and I’m like ‘I can’t even finish this.’ So I just started going for stuff that made me feel better. I’m not crushing vegetables by any means, but I’m definitely eating better.”

Big League Stew also pointed out that Lincecum answered questions while wearing a “Tacolicious” hat, which is a San Francisco restaurant that relies on local farmers for all of their ingredients.

What we have to point out is that Lincecum conveniently left out any discussion of In-N-Out burger. It’s possible that fast food is simply fast food to the Giants’ ace, but judging by the insane order he puts in at In-N-Out burger we have to guess that is (was?) one of his favorite spots. I suppose losing some weight is good if it means working out more and eating less junk.  That being said, Lincecum might want to consider hitting the weights so his arm doesn’t fall off.

Jose Reyes parted ways with a commodity near and dear to his heart Friday — his hair. The Marlins shortstop had a televised haircut on MLB Network to show he is complying with his new team’s rules. He also turned it into a charity event; the hair is up for bid on eBay and the proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in South Florida.

“It’s going to be a little bit emotional, because I’ve spent three years with this hair,” Reyes said before getting his locks chopped. “At the same time, I understand it’s a rule of my new team, the Miami Marlins. I’m a team player, so I have to cut it off.”

Bidding for the hair started off at $2,500 and has nearly doubled. Given the way Reyes was so attached to his locks, I wouldn’t be surprised if turned out to be the winning bidder.

Josh Hamilton took some time on Friday to address the relapse he had on Tuesday at a local bar in Dallas.  He took full responsibility for his mistake and admitted that what he did was wrong.  Here is some of the transcript from Hamilton’s press conference on Friday that ESPNDallas.com passed along:

I had a weak moment on Monday night in Dallas, personal reasons with a family member. But I walked to a restaurant to have some dinner, and did just that, had dinner and ended up ordering a drink and probably had three or four drinks.

Ended up calling Ian [Kinsler] just to come kind of hang out with me. Ian did not know I had been drinking because once I do drink, I can be very deceptive, very sneaky in a lot of ways. So while he was there, I did not drink in front of him.

Hamilton then detailed his evening with Kinsler, saying Ian had to go home so he drove Hamilton back to where he needed to be.  Hamilton says Kinsler asked him, “You’re not going to go back out or anything, are you?” and Hamilton told him that he wasn’t. He then returned to the place where he was before and had “some more drinks.”

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