I fell in love with DeJuan Blair as an athlete, so to speak, when Pitt beat UConn on the road during in February. In that game, Blair outplayed UConn’s vaunted front court, dominating Thabeet for 22 points and 23 boards. That game really opened my eyes as to what kind of player Blair was and his abilities gave me the confidence to select Pitt as the team I thought would win it all. Naturally we all saw how that played out. Anyway, apparently Blair knows how skilled of an athlete he is and how rare his wide and bulky 6′7″ 265lb frame is. He thinks it could give him a career in football if the whole basketball thing doesn’t work out.

Blair hasn’t completely put his gridiron aspirations to bed.

As a 6-7 post player, an NBA future isn’t a certainty. And with Antonio Gates having drawn the blueprint, Blair admits he has thought about an NFL future as a tight end or defensive end.

“That’s my Plan B,” Blair said.

Aaron Wilson at PFT pointed that story out to me because it related to the news of a Cleveland State basketball player who plans to try out for some NFL teams. Apparently football has interested Blair all along but he had two torn ACLs in high school that prevented him from playing back then. Maybe some NBA team won’t be scared off by the knee injury history. They shouldn’t be; I see a lot of Elton Brand in him. (Or is that only because they look alike?)

Based on the logic that I will use here, this situation wouldn’t be at all unique to the Angels. I guess what I’m really asking is if a team could sue to reclaim money from a player if the contract was paid based on past accomplishments that were later determined to be performance-enhancing drugs-based. Taking Gary Matthews Jr. as the perfect example, I cringed when the Angels signed him a few years ago. It was no surprise to then see his name linked with a steroids raid in ‘07. Alan commented on that article perfectly by saying “In about two years, maybe next year even, we’ll be wondering who the 35-year old, $10 million guy sitting on the Angels bench is.” Well, two years later he was exactly right — Matthews is on the Angels’ bench not as the backup, but as the fifth freaking outfielder! And he’s not at all happy about it:

Told in a meeting with Manager Mike Scioscia and General Manager Tony Reagins that he would begin this season as the Angels’ fifth outfielder, Matthews did not take the news very well.

Instead of traveling with the team to play the Texas Rangers in Surprise, Ariz., Matthews asked for and received permission to take the day off, a 24-hour cooling-off period apparently necessary.

Obviously teams would love to get some money back for bad signings of the past but that isn’t exactly realistic. Still, the Falcons were able to sue Michael Vick and reclaim some of his signing bonus. Why shouldn’t teams be able to reclaim money from players who performed one way while they were using illegal drugs and got paid based on that, then sucked once they stopped using? Matthews Jr. would be an excellent starting point for the Angels. Guys like Eric Gagne, Paul Lo Duca, and Miguel Tejada seem like they could also fit into the same category. Or maybe I’m just bitter because I knew from the start that 5-years and $55 million was absurd for Gary Matthews Jr. Still, there’s no doubt that Bill Stoneman was “had” by Sarge Jr.

Many curious fans have wondered about Tim Tebow’s sex life for quite some time. There was speculation for quite some time that the busty young lass featured in this photo was his girlfriend. The smart money said it wasn’t his girlfriend, but The Big Lead has used some intrepid detective work to dig up this photo of someone who could be Tebow’s woman.

Gotta love the details by TBL whose source is someone from Gainesville: “We don’t have her name yet, nor her Facebook or Twitter account, but apparently the two have been ‘hanging out’ for quite some time.” Well, if this indeed is Tebow’s lady, he’s done well. And if the Heisman comes down to him and Colt McCoy, I might be torn. Monday Morning Punter at WL has a hysterical post on the matter, it’s a must read.

(From left to right: Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Chase Daniel, Urban Meyer’s daughter)

When Michigan State won its Elite Eight matchup on Sunday against Louisville, coach Tom Izzo said that he hoped the team’s victory would be a glimmer of hope in what’s been a difficult year for the state. He said he hoped the fans could rally around the success of the team to restore some happiness and pride in the community. It makes you think that the Final Four being held in Detroit couldn’t be happening at a better time and that it was almost imperative for the Spartans to make it to Ford Field. With the condition of the automotive industry, the state will now receive a significant boost in the form of tourism for the upcoming weekend. Additionally, Sports by Brooks points out that ticket prices will likely ascend because of the Spartans’ presence in the Final Four. As Darren Rovell tells it:

StubHub spokesman Sean Pate told me that the Spartans getting in should be worth at least a $50 increase in each ticket sold on the site.
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Pate says that, thanks to the close proximity to their East Lansing campus, MSU fans will be willing to invest more in a ticket since many don’t have to worry about booking a plane flight.

I hope that doesn’t mean more debt-spending for folks, but if people get out there with positive thoughts and start opening up the pocket books the way they used to, it will be good for everyone. And if the folks from Carolina, the Northeast, and Philly make their way to Michigan, it could serve as a nice stimulus package for an economy that needs it so badly. All those times Tom Izzo was rumored to take a job elsewhere (Kentucky, anyone?), maybe he never left because he knew the people of Michigan needed him more than anyone else (and MSU knew that too, that’s why they paid him top dollar). I feel the same way about the town of Memphis and John Calipari, but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to stop him as of now.

This is slightly presumptive of me, but I’m not buying the whole “Dontrelle Willis has an anxiety disorder” thing. Much like when teams put a pitcher on the disabled list after they got bombed in a game, I think this is just a convenient excuse for a bruised ego. The Dodgers placed Andruw Jones on the DL last year with a knee injury. U-Jones later admitted that he asked to get away because he was sucking so badly. I’m figuring this is the same situation for Dontrelle and the Tigers.

The D-Train has been derailed since his last season in Florida in ‘07 when he went 10-15 with a 5.17 ERA. Last year with the Tigers was a nightmare as Dontrelle went 0-2 with a 9.38 ERA and 35 walks in 24 innings pitched. He was so bad he got demoted all the way down to Single-A ball — not Triple-A — which would be the logical step downward. Willis was doing even worse in Spring Training, posting an ERA north of 12. Most of the time I can see right through the move when a team places a player on the disabled list as an excuse for the guy struggling. This is clearly one of those instances.

The thing I don’t get is why the Tigers are saying Dontrelle has an anxiety disorder, one that was discovered with a blood test no less. Medical professionals argue that such a disorder can’t even be determined by a blood test! So if it’s pretty plain to see that Willis wasn’t fit to play ball right now and needed time to figure things out, why didn’t the Tigers just make up some sort of injury like teams usually do? Why not just say the guy has some sort of arm injury, or better yet, a knee injury related to the one he had surgery for last season? Why not just do that instead of telling the world he has anxiety issues? Is there really a need to kick a guy when he’s already down?

That Andrew Bynum isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to his injury rehab methods. About this time last year, the Laker center was spotted at a UCLA frat party while he was also recovering from a knee injury. For his 21st birthday, he pulled a Pacman Jones/Floyd Mayweather and made it rain at Ivar in Hollywood. This time around, the young center also out with a knee injury, was spotted at the Playboy Mansion for a party, appeared to be doing fine, and even tried out the hula-hoops:

Wearing a green smoking jacket and slippers, Bynum … partied like a rock star near the infamous grotto.
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He picked up Playmate Nicole Narain and placed her on his shoulders and got somebody to take a picture with his digital camera.
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He hopped over a velvet rope near the DJ booth so he could take a picture with Narain and other Playmates who ended up sitting on his lap.

Between Bynum’s past rehab methods, Kwame Brown’s lesbian bar rehab, Vlad Radmonovic’s snowboard, and Shaq’s healing on company time line, it seems like everyone’s trying to milk the Lakers. Typically you would just chalk all this stuff up to the errors of a young kid — which Bynum is — but the difference is he’s a professional now, not a college player, so he has to be smarter and more responsible than that. If I’m out with an injury, I’m not trying to rub it in for my franchise by partying at the Playboy Mansion. That just shows a lack of respect. Thanks to my man JS for hooking LBS up with the story!