Larry Brown Sports

Los Angeles Times columnist TJ Simers recently suffered what he called a “mini-stroke” while in Arizona to cover spring training, and he apparently can thank the Los Angeles Dodgers for helping to save him.

Simers, who is known for his humor, negativity, and confrontational style, revealed the news in a column that featured his usual amounts of sarcasm.

As best as I could tell while deciphering fact from sarcasm, Simers fell multiple times getting out of bed. He says he then fell off the toilet, but later managed to climb back to bed. He called his LA Times colleague Dylan Hernandez to inform him he wouldn’t be able to cover spring training that day. Hernandez called the Dodgers, who sent over a trainer who took the writer to the emergency room.

Simers must have recovered well from his mini-stroke because he was able to write his usual witty column with only one day between published items; his previous column was on Mar. 16. Simers says Dodgers GM Ned Colletti even came to visit him while he was in the hospital.

I’d say that Simers might take it easy on the Dodgers this season considering they helped save him, but that just doesn’t fit his style.

Photo: Twitter/TJ Simers

Bill Simmons reportedly was suspended by ESPN from Twitter for a few days for criticizing “First Take” last week.

Last Thursday, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman went on the offensive attacking host Skip Bayless during an appearance on the ESPN morning show. The video went viral, and there was no comment from ESPN on the embarrassing segment.

Simmons, who is the most popular writer at the network, addressed the Sherman-Bayless exchange on his Twitter account later that night.

“I am not defending this segment,” Simmons tweeted before linking to video of the exchange. “I thought it was awful and embarrassing to everyone involved. Seriously.”

He also sent this critical tweet:

But what bothers me about the reaction to that segment is people saying Richard Sherman “won.” Nobody won. Everyone lost. Including ESPN.

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 8, 2013

The tweets apparently violated ESPN’s social media policy (pdf link).

The Sherman-Bayless interview gained plenty of attention because Sherman refused to go along with the questions asked of him and instead made it his mission to bash Bayless.

“I am intelligent enough and capable enough to understand that you are ignorant, pompous, egotistical, cretin,” said Sherman. “I’m going to crush you on here in front of everyone because I’m tired of hearing about you.”

Deadspin noticed that Simmons did not tweet Tuesday or Wednesday. They pointed out that he only tweeted one item Monday and two on Thursday — all three of which were links to Grantland stories. That is after Simmons tweeted daily from November-February, save for Feb. 7, per Deadspin. Deadspin also adds that Simmons did not appear on “NBA Countdown” Wednesday night despite being previously scheduled to do so.

Sports Illustrated media reporter Richard Deitsch says ESPN declined comment on the suspension report.

“First Take” has come under criticism many times before because of some of the antics we have seen on the show. Stephen A. Smith seemed to use the N-word on the program and escaped without penalty. Bayless turned the Washington Redskins quarterback situation into a racial matter, while Rob Parker did something similar and was let go by the network. The show has no credibility or respect by anyone with a brain, and its sole purpose is to rile up viewers by having hosts make outrageous statements.

By suspending Simmons for his critique of the show, ESPN is proving once again that it is choosing ratings over quality programming.

Bobby Valentine had a shaky relationship with the Boston media while serving as manager of the Red Sox, and it looks like his tenure at Sacred Heart University is getting off to a similar start.

Valentine was introduced Tuesday as the new athletic director at the small Connecticut college. He took some questions from the media and was promptly grilled.

“Bobby, at this point in your life, why do you want to be an athletic director at Sacred Heart and some people think this is kind of a joke, what can you say about people not taking you seriously as athletic director here?” he was asked.

Valentine said the question came from the reporter who broke the story of his hiring, which was Bill Paxton of the Connecticut Post (Paxton was also identified as the reporter in question by one of his colleagues).

Valentine clearly took offense to the question.

“I really didn’t think I would be insulted with the first question, but what the hell, I guess that’s the way it goes,” he responded.

Valentine says he is looking forward to the new challenge. He also is making headlines for defending the job he did with the Sox last season. He was fired after the team went 69-93.

Brent Musburger is not shying away from the Katherine Webb situation. In fact, he is embracing it.

Musburger was calling the Kansas-Iowa State basketball game in Ames Monday and was approached by a fan who brought a Katherine Webb poster. The fan, Iowa State freshman Matt Mummelthei, showed Musburger the poster, and the announcer happily signed it with a personalized message.

“She’s a 10!” he wrote.

Mummelthei tells Larry Brown Sports that he got the idea to bring a Webb and Honey Badger poster to the game because Musburger “obsessed over” both of them during the last two BCS National Championship Games. He says he spotted Musburger before the game and approached him with the posters.

Mummelthei says he was nervous and worried about approaching Musburger with the poster, but the announcer was laughing and easygoing about it.

“He just loved it,” Mummelthei says of Musburger. “He gladly signed it.”

Musburger said last month that he didn’t think he did anything wrong when he gushed about the beauty queen’s good looks during the BCS National Championship Game. Webb stated that although she hadn’t spoken to Musburger, she appreciated his compliments about her looks. She also recently said she was thankful to him for launching her career, and she even retweeted a picture of the poster.

Photo credit: Twitter/Matt Mummelthei, a proud representative of the Willow Deuces
H/T Kegs ‘N Eggs

A video of the brutal crash at Daytona International Speedway Saturday that was shot from a fan’s perspective is visible on YouTube after the website overruled NASCAR’s attempt to block the video on grounds of copyright infringement.

NASCAR’s official YouTube channel uploaded video of the 12-car wreck that took place at the end of the Drive4COPD 300. However, NASCAR blocked a fan’s video that was uploaded to YouTube because of a copyright violation.

The fan’s video provides a look at what it was like for people in the stands to witness the crash unfold in front of them. As Yahoo! Sports’ Jay Busbee reports, NASCAR retains rights to all video shot at the track.

NASCAR later said in a statement: “The fan video of the wreck on the final lap of today’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race was blocked on YouTube out of respect for those injured in today’s accident. Information on the status of those fans was unclear and the decision was made to err on the side of caution with this very serious incident.”

The fan’s video had been ripped and re-uploaded on various other sites, but it turns out that was unnecessary; YouTube overruled NASCAR and made the blocked videos available again.

“Our partners and users do not have the right to take down videos from YouTube unless they contain content which is copyright infringing, which is why we have reinstated the videos,” a YouTube spokesperson told The Washington Post.

The video shows fans calling for medical attention after car parts and debris go up into the stands. A tire from Kyle Larson’s No. 32 car ends up in the stands just a few feet away from the spectator who shot the video:

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Jim Boeheim went off on Andy Katz following Syracuse’s loss to UConn Wednesday, calling the ESPN reporter an “idiot” and “disloyal person” while refusing to answer his question at a postgame press conference.

The verbal assault towards Katz seemed unnecessary, excessive, and unprompted. As of Wednesday evening, the reason for Boeheim’s attack was not known, but there was plenty of speculation. We thought Katz may have irked Boeheim by reporting something about James Southerland that was off the record. We also threw out the possibility that Boeheim was upset with Katz over a 2011 article that was critical of the Syracuse program in relation to the Bernie Fine situation. It sounds like neither theory explained why Boeheim was upset with Katz.

Boeheim told The Syracuse Post-Standard that he is still upset with Katz over a Nov. 2011 interview.

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Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim went off on ESPN college basketball writer Andy Katz following his team’s 66-58 loss at UConn Wednesday.

Katz asked about the UConn-Syracuse rivalry and received a verbal assault in response.

“I’ll answer anybody’s question but yours because you’re an idiot and a disloyal person,” Boeheim shot at Katz.

“There are a few other things I could add but I’m not going to go there.”

It’s unclear why Boeheim went after Katz, but there are some ideas floating around.

WAER believes Boeheim may have been upset with Katz over his reporting on the James Southerland situation. Southerland is a senior forward who missed six games after being declared academically ineligible. He was cleared to return to action on Sunday after being suspended mid-January.

Katz wrote this regarding the Southerland situation on Jan. 14:

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