Larry Brown Sports

2-1 last week, 13-11 overall against the spread. Building up some decent respectability but there’s still plenty of work to be done. As I said last week, I always like taking advantage of bye weeks. Of course when we did that in week 8, the Jags lost at home to the Browns. Go figure. That’s also why I think the Browns are a good play this week even if they’re not one of Doc Brown’s picks. They’ve been playing well lately. But I think I’ve found better choices for Week 9. Without further ado, it’s Doc Brown’s Sports Almanac Picks for Week 8, presented by the online sportsbook betus.com.

Pick time.

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For anyone who heard Chase Utley drop an f-bomb on the baseball fans that booed him in the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium, the speech he delivered Friday in Philadelphia would not be surprising. For those who did miss that window into his personality, the following video is probably pretty astounding. This is All-Star second baseman and World Series champion Chase Utley addressing thousands of Phillies fans in person, and several more thousand on live TV. Warning: the language by Utley and the fans is strong.

OK, a few things. I’m not sure who has the balls (stupidity?) to say something like that in front of all the kids at the stadium, not to mention all those watching on TV. Secondly, judging by the way Jayson Werth jumped up behind him, it seemed as if Utley had won a bet with his teammates by saying the F-word. Lastly, is there anything more emblematic of Utley and Philly fans than those three words? I think not. The fans sure ate it up!

Between running a national powerhouse football team, recruiting high schoolers, handling the media, and dealing with BCS jokers, USC coach Pete Carroll sure has a lot on his plate. Despite the pressures of trying to go undefeated each season and win a national championship, the guy sure has managed to set up pretty awesome pranks. He’s staged mock arrests, and LenDale White had a mock suicide once. But this Halloween prank might be the best. Via SC Playbook:

As practice was wrapping up and the team gathered at midfield, suddenly one of the video assistants that was taping practice from a scissor lift high above started yelling and fell from the lift and out of sight.

Seconds later, the door to Howard Jones Field flew open and Will Ferrell, in his Capatin Compete costume, emerged with the fallen video assistant safe in his arms, to the relief of several wide-eyed players.
…
Captain Compete then gave the team some words of wisdom before being interrupted by a loud explosion. A man then ran onto the field on fire.

Captain Compete saved the day once again by dousing the burning man with Gatorade.

Of course, the whole incident would not be complete without pictures of the events! Photos courtesy of SC Playbook. And may I ask one thing? Why does Will Ferrell always manage to wind up wearing nothing but a speedo?

**UPDATE: See video of the whole prank below**

Video of the incident via The Wiz of Odds:

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Could it be true? Is Jerry Seinfeld playing matchmaker in the A-Rod/Madonna love triangle? It appears as if the comedian’s home in the Hamptons served as a sly rendezvous for Madonna and A-Rod not long ago. From Page Six via Ben Maller:

Our spies say the clandestine East End meeting between soon-to-be-divorced Madge and freshly single A-Rod occurred on Oct. 21. A chopper carrying the Yankee slugger was seen landing in East Hampton, where he was picked up in a white Porsche 911 matching the description of Jessica’s [Seinfeld] car.

Less than 40 minutes later, another helicopter that took off from Chelsea Piers with Madonna aboard landed at the same airstrip.

“A dark SUV and Jerry in another Porsche both pulled up and picked up Madonna and they headed back to Jerry’s place,” a witness told us. “When they arrived at the Seinfeld home, Madonna poked her head out the window and could be clearly seen.”

Much like the Yankees playoff hopes this season, A-Rod was in-and-out, leaving Seinfeld’s mansion four hours later apparently. Hmm, I wonder what they were doing for four hours? A marathon kabbalah session? I’m sure that has to be it! I don’t believe things could possibly get more weird nor disgusting.

Look, I’m not saying that the Rays would have won the game otherwise, and I’m certainly not saying that the Phillies didn’t earn the World Series title — they did. But if there’s one issue I have with the way Game 5 finished out, it was that David Price didn’t enter the ballgame until it was too late. I know there were some complexities because the pitcher spot was due up 4th in the top of the 7th for the Rays, so you had to realize that whichever pitcher started the 6th would probably be lifted for a pinch hitter afterward. Funny thing though: J.P. Howell relieved Grant Balfour in the 6th and wound up batting in the 7th (he put down a sacrifice bunt) anyway. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: whenever possible, I always want to lose with my best available pitcher on the mound. Plain and simple.

People in Boston get upset about Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in too long against the Yankees back in ’03. I still say I’d rather lose with Pedro on the hill than some chump like Mike Timlin, you feel me? Even though David Price is extremely young, he has the best stuff of anyone that was available in the Rays pen in Game 5. To me it’s a no-brainer who you trot out there — you go with your best pitcher — David Price. What’s the worst thing that could happen? A veteran like Pat Burrell touches him up for a home run and they lose 3-2? How is that any worse than Geoff Jenkins beating Grant Balfour, Pat Burrell beating J.P. Howell, and Pedro Feliz beating Chad Bradford, in that order? Even after the double to Burrell, how don’t you put Price in there to try and get the critical strikeout so that the runner isn’t moved to third base with less than two outs?

I hate to nitpick here, but it’s no secret I was pulling for the Rays so it just bothered me seeing Joe Maddon handle his staff differently from the way I would have. And just so you know I’m not a results-oriented Monday Morning Quarterback, I thought Maddon mismanaged the 8th inning of Game 7 against the Red Sox pulling Garza too early and bringing Price in too late there too, it just happened to work out that time.

You knew it was going to happen the moment the Phillies won the World Series. They didn’t quite burn the city down, but they did their share of damage. Of all the celebration videos I found, this is probably my favorite. Here’s an excellent taste of the drunken Phillie fan in celebratory mode (language is strong):

I’m guessing Lenny Dykstra would approve. Running a close second to the drunken subway chant would be Philly fans jumping on a taxi in the middle of the street, not to mention bringing down a fence. Oh, they’re so charming!

One of the biggest gripes against Peyton Manning is that he’s the face of the NFL and overexposed. Honestly, you can watch football all day Sunday and see more of Peyton in commercials than of him on the field. Weird he finds that much time on his hands, but apparently he has enough free time for Bar Mitzvah appearances, too. OK, I’ll admit I liked the ESPN commercial with him and Eli picking on each other, as well as the cut that meat commercial. His latest MasterCard commercial? Not so much. Here’s Peyton playing the role of the happy-go-lucky quarterback:

As you might expect, the commercial is set to make its debut Sunday night for the Colts/Patriots game. And I’ll tell you, between Brady being out and the way Peyton’s playing, this game has no meaning to it. In past year, you bet your ass. Now? I’d much rather have the Packers and Titans on Sunday Night, no question.

****Check out my podcast on KNX 1070 in LA along with reporter John Ramey as we discuss the World Series****

I’ve already said that there was no clear solution for the problem the rain presented in Game 5 of the World Series. While I agree that suspending the game was the right thing to do, I believe Bud Selig is lying when he says he was planning to suspend the game all along and that he wouldn’t let the game end without all nine innings being played. If that were the case, then why didn’t he stop the game half an hour earlier when conditions were out of hand on the field? One person who believes Selig has bungled matters is none other than former commissioner of MLB, Fay Vincent. As a guest on The Monty Show on Sporting News Radio, Vincent said that one of Bud Selig’s strengths is the way he handles the owners on issues behind the scenes. However, Vincent said exactly what many fans have learned: Selig doesn’t handle on-the-spot moments very well. As he said on the show:

“I agree with those who say that [playing in those conditions] was just too dangerous. It wasn’t baseball that was being played, and for my money it would have been better to have canceled it long ahead of time and come back and play a full nine inning game in better weather. … They weren’t really playing baseball [Monday] night in that weather and I don’t think anybody was getting anything out of it. I think it was unfortunately it was an attempt to get the game in for a variety of reasons — all of which are economic — one regrets that because baseball deserves better.”

It’s much easier to say that when you’re out of the spotlight and don’t have to answer to all the TV execs from FOX and all the advertisers that had millions of dollars on the line, but no doubt Fay Vincent speaks the truth with his statement. Vincent made it a point to say that Selig also screwed up the All-Star Game when it ended in a tie, saying he would have come up with some sort of solution on the spot to determine a winner. Then when he was asked about the way Selig handled the celebration of Barry Bonds becoming the home run king in baseball, Vincent was incredulous at how ambivalent Selig was:

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