Larry Brown Sports

Who and what does this guy think he is? Better than Mariano Rivera? It appears as such. What a joke, what an utter joke. He throws his glove after being jacked from the game in the 8th — his inning — in favor of Mariano Rivera. What a whiny baby. Quite clearly, Joe Torre was not happy about the reaction, and even called Farnsy out:

Fortunately for the Yankees, Mariano Rivera “came in and bailed out Farnsy,” as Torre put it, striking out three in recording the final four outs to preserve a 2-1 victory over the A’s last night at the Stadium.

“(Farnsworth) was upset, but he has to understand it shouldn’t be an embarrassment to bring Mariano Rivera out of the bullpen,” Torre said. “I know you get passionate about what you do, but you certainly hope you keep in mind – whether it’s Farnsworth or anybody else on our team – that everybody is working their (butt) off to do the same thing. You certainly don’t want to call attention to yourself for that reason.”

What a selfish little ****. I understand the competitive fire players may have. I understand that they don’t want someone else to finish their job. But please Farnsworth, grow up man. No wonder a bunch of teams have tossed you around. Bad head on them shoulders.

The Patriots are apparently on a promotional tour in China, trying to sell the NFL to Yao’s people. I remember how hard it was for me to pick up football when I was young. You can tell one team is on offense and another is on defense. But seriously, they have rules for everything, and then the whole 1st and 10, 3rd and 6, 4th and 5 thing gets really confusing for a five-year-old. I couldn’t even imagine what it’s like in a foreign language. You know, like Chinese:

“We’ve had to come up with an entirely new nomenclature for the sport,” Gordon Smeaton, an NFL vice president, said yesterday on a promotional tour with the Patriots. “This is a situation we don’t face in any other country and it will take some time.”

In Chinese the game is known as “Mei shi gan lan qiu,” which can mean “American-style rugby” or “American-style olive-shaped ball,” depending on the translation.

Cool, American-style olive-shaped ball rules. I was aware about the NFL’s plans to expand to Europe, but China? Are you serious? Wow. When’s it going to end?

I guess when you’re the Pittsburgh Pirates, stuck in the middle of a 15 year losing streak, and your fans are about to walk out on you, it doesn’t take much to get you excited. That’s kinda how I would categorize the following news. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson was the star of a news conference yesterday.

He was picked by Franco Harris and Pittsburgh-based R Super Foods to have his picture adorn packages of Super Donuts and Super Buns.

“Having a donut box with your face on it is awesome,” Wilson said.

I’ve heard of players being excited about being on a cereal box — a Wheaties box to be specific. Now that’s cool. But a donuts box? That just leaves me scratching my head. Unless there are some things about Pittsburgh I just don’t understand. Which is entirely possible in itself. I don’t even know what else to say. Congrats perhaps?

I saw this a week or so ago on Dlisted and intended to post it, but somewhere along the lines, it got lost in the blogging shuffle. Anywhoo, I was watching MTV this morning and My Super Sweet 16 Remix was on, so I got to see all the never-before-seen footage from the shows. Needless to say, my day has been completely made. They just played some footage for Audrey’s sweet 16. I don’t expect you to know who she is. Luckily, here is all you need to know about her:

Yes, much to your and my surprise, people like that actually exist. It’s a sad world.

Mark Jackson had a great line in his analysis of the draft last night — the Blazers had such a good draft it overshadowed the release of the Apple Iphone. Well, there are a lot of people excited about Portland hoops, but probably not as many as people excited about the latest Apple I-___ technology. My buddy Sam Ahn, who shrewdly purchased a pair for purposes of resale (one of which he has made available on eBay here), directs me to the following listing on eBay:

Yeah, that’s straight up nuts. And I don’t know how much of that I can believe. Ccccrrazzzzy. Now, if anyone should be going over the NBA luxury tax, we know who it is…

It’s not like I follow the daily happenings of the Toledo Mud Hens, but this story of exemplary team chemistry was emailed to me and it’s too good to ignore. Funny thing about Mud Hens stories is that I usually recognize at least one of the names of the people involved, since they are a minor-league affiliate of the Tigers (last time I checked).

The wife of fellow player Jason Karnuth filed a report with the Toledo police department after her husband was injured June 12. The report alleged that Mr. [Roman] Colon punched Mr. Karnuth when Mr. Karnuth was trying to break up an argument.
…
The report said Mr. Colon and Hens pitcher Virgil Vasquez were arguing in the clubhouse before the Hens’ game against Norfolk, then Hens pitcher Jordan Tata and Mr. Colon began to argue. Mr. Karnuth, a three-year veteran of the Hens, tried to break up the fight when Mr. Colon punched him in the face, the report said.

The report also says that Colon could face up to eight years in prison if convicted of one count felonious assault. Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. The natural question is if Colon’s punch was intentional or accidental. I dunno, but I take one look at the Karnuth character’s mug and I have a pretty good idea.

(photo courtesy Toledo Blade)

Yeah, I thought we were in the 21st century, in more progressive and tolerant times. I guess I was wrong. From FanHouse, along with some other recent works

• Complaining about Padres Gay Pride Night
• What impact do hitting coaches have on the game?
• Barry Bonds’ Mistress is shopping a tell all book and plans to pose nude

I will be out all day consulting an NBA team for tonight’s draft, please act accordingly. And don’t miss me too long!

Last year it was Orioles fans, this year, Pirates fans. Apparently. Following the third inning of Saturday’s game against the Nationals, Pirates fans are expected to walk out of the stadium to express their displeasure with the organization. Team leaders Jason Bay and Jack Wilson didn’t have much of a comment in response, but the team sure has. They are planning to ignore the walkout as best as possible:

They have asked their television announcing crew not to discuss the walkout with the media. They have removed all comments about the walkout from their message board at pirates.com. They have the support of their television rights holder, FSN Pittsburgh, which does not plan to show the protest as part of its game coverage.
…
Contacted about the protest, Greg Brown, who will do the play-by-play of the telecast along with [Bob] Walk, said, “I have been asked by the Pirates not to comment and refer all calls to Brian Warecki.”

Warecki, the team’s senior director of communications, issued this statement via e-mail:

“We greatly appreciate the passion of all of our fans and their freedom to express that passion in any way they choose.”

No surprise that the teams is trying to downplay it as best as possible — they have to worry about putting 15,000 butts in seats on a daily basis! To counter Warecki’s email however, doesn’t sound like they appreciate the fans expressing their passion in this manner. Man, 15 years of losing, that really stinks. And that’s coming from a Bengals fan (sort of).

I was going through TMZ per usual only to come across a somewhat disturbing photo. They have caught Serena Williams in shall we say, a muscular pose. Check it out for yourself:

There’s no wonder only the likes of LaVar Arrington could handle that. No surprise, my man Michael David Smith has this up at FanHouse as well. Serena is stacked. In a different way. And she straight up puts me to shame.  But it’s OK, I’m comfortable with that.

If there’s any rhyme or reason behind Rutgers’ recent surge to competitiveness and popularity — besides Greg Schiano — it’s their P.R. department. They are flawless. Probably the greatest group I’ve ever worked with when it came to interview requests. And this story fits right in. As Ben Maller pointed out, the athletic department has created the website SeeRayRun in order to promote Rice for the Heisman. The mission statement of the site is as follows:

Welcome to the official website for Heisman Candidate Ray Rice. Throughout the 2007 season, the site will be updated with stats, photos and video highlights as Ray runs his way into the Rutgers record book.

Even better, the New Jersey Star Ledger says that a SeeRayRun themed gift will be sent out to reporters across the country. Speaking from experience, if there’s any way to get the media in your favor, a good meal and a nice gift are excellent starting points. All P.R. directors and media relations departments should take note. Now this is how to promote a player. And it’s much cheaper than buying a billboard in the middle of Times Square.