Larry Brown Sports

If I had a bucket list, driving a Zamboni while plastered would easily make the top five. I mean who hasn’t dreamed of driving around one of those tanks while wasted? In many ways, it’s just like returning to kindergarten just so you can color outside all the lines you damn well please.

Well one dude in Minnesota apparently made it happen Monday night.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, officers were called to the Hayes ice arena after people noticed the Zamboni dude was driving erratically. Police say the man was unsteady on his feet and smelled of alcohol when they arrived. The driver failed a field sobriety test and was arrested and taken to police headquarters for a blood-alcohol test.

I’d go on laughing and joking about this, but what’s sad is that this clown apparently has a real drinking and driving problem — he’s been convicted of DUI three times. Still, riding around in a Zamboni while smashed sounds like a lot of fun. Minus the whole DUI accusation, I’m jealous.

via Sports by Brooks Live

Giants safety Antrel Rolle declared that his team would win the Super Bowl Tuesday, but then he changed his tune.

“We’re going to win this thing,” Rolle said at Media Day Tuesday according to the Newark Star-Ledger. “We’re going to win this thing for a lot of good reasons.”

When he was asked if he was guaranteeing a win, he backed down.

“I didn’t say we’re going to win, I said we’re going to go out there and do whatever it takes to win,” Rolle said. “I didn’t guarantee anything.”

Why did Rolle reverse course? He probably is under orders from his coach not to create any bulletin-board type material. The Giants might not want to do anything to piss off the Patriots before Sunday and give them any more motivation.

I’m not sure why Rolle backed down; when he declared that his team could not be beat, they defeated the 49ers. He should maintain his confidence.

Over the past week or so, we have heard every rumor possible regarding Peyton Manning. He and the Colts will work things out. The Colts are set to release him. The Dolphins and Redskins are very interested in Manning’s services. Wait, none of that matters because his rehab is not progressing and reliable sources say Peyton will retire. In an interview with ESPN on Tuesday, Manning assured everyone that he intends to play next season.

“Doctors and I have been in good, constant communication,” Manning said according to Pro Football Talk. “And I’m very encouraged by what they’ve said.  Everything’s right on point. I’ll be cleared and ready to play.”

Trey Wingo then asked Manning if he has considered retirement, to which he replied: “I have no plans on doing that.”

So there you have it.  Amidst all the rumors and rumblings, we hear straight from the horse’s mouth that Manning plans to play next season.  We already told you we believe he is done in Indianapolis, and there is no reason to go back on that given what has unfolded over the past few days.  If Peyton can regain his arm strength and he is telling the truth about what doctors have told him, we could be in for a feeding frenzy this offseason when the Colts inevitably send him packing.

Over the past three years, we have all seen the David Tyree catch multiple times. Forget divine intervention helping Tim Tebow win with the Broncos this season. The closest thing I have ever seen to divine intervention on a football field was Eli Manning somehow escaping the grasp of Jarvis Green and Tyree somehow making a catch against his helmet. Rodney Harrison was the man covering Tyree, but he did everything he could. The ball just was not going to come out.

On Monday night, Harrison reluctantly discussed the most infamous play in Patriots history.  What’s done is done, and there are plenty of people who can be blamed for the Patriots failure to complete the perfect season.  Harrison did, however, reveal a piece of information that was not really known through the years: Tyree was Asante Samuel’s responsibility.

“I think I was playing Cover 4,” Harrison explained according to Pro Football Talk. “It was man-to-man coverage and, no one really knows this, but that was Asante Samuel’s man. I don’t want to throw him under the bus but basically he kind of let him go. He freed up and I thought that (Manning was going to be sacked) but I was still playing my position. I was in perfect position for my two wide receivers I had over here and all of a sudden I see (Manning) escape and I just see David Tyree. I see a receiver wide open in the middle of the field and I just did my best to try to separate him and the ball. It didn’t work.”

As you’ll see if you watch the video below, Harrison sounded like he was being sincere in not wanting to throw Samuel under the bus.  That being said, the information he gave makes that particular drive a nightmare for Samuel.  He allowed an interception to go right through his hands just before that, and on top of that it was his man running free that made the game-saving catch.  You know what they say about hindsight.

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Do we really need to say anything about this? I know two weeks off between conference championships and the Super Bowl is tough, but you have the Patriots and the Giants playing in the big game.  With the history behind those two franchises and all the star power we’re being treated to, that was the best question ESPN could come up with on media day?  When Tom Brady saying he hopes the Patriots win on Sunday becomes bulletin board material and SportsNation starts asking hypothetical questions about coaches and quarterbacks switching places, there’s nothing left to do but just kick the ball off.

The Timberwolves held their own in a 106-101 loss to the Lakers on Sunday night.  With fellow countrymen Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio sharing the court, some friendly trash talk was expected.  I’m sure there was some chatter going back and forth in Spanish during the game, but the trash talking was done after the game.  When Kobe Bryant passed Gasol and Rubio in the hallway, he and Rubio threw some friendly jabs about the Olympics back and forth.  Check out this video that Marca.com shared with us:

“You talking about London?,” Bryant asked Gasol and Rubio outside the locker rooms of the Target Center.

“Oh yeah,” Gasol said.

“You’re gonna be there?” Rubio asked Bryant.

Kobe said that he was, to which Rubio responded: “You know you’re getting the silver medal. You know that.”

“S*** . I’m taking bets! … If I win I get the keys to Barcelona.” Kobe fired back

Nice to see the new guy isn’t intimidated by the best player in the NBA.

H/T to Sporting News and Hoops Hype

Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Tony Sanchez has shown a lot of promise — as a baseball player.  Off the field, Sanchez has a difficult time staying out of trouble.  On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review revealed that the 23-year-old catcher was involved in a bar fight about three months ago.  The fight occurred while he was participating in the Florida Instructional League.  No police charges were filed after the incident, but Sanchez suffered a broken jaw.

You maybe remember hearing Sanchez’s name in the news late last spring, when the Pirates asked him to delete his Twitter account since he had developed a habit of using the social medium to tweet about parties and criticize umpires.

As Hardball Talk pointed out, this is also not the first time Sanchez has suffered a broken jaw.  He also missed significant time in 2010 when he broke his jaw from being hit in the face with a pitch.  With that in mind, I can think of two reasons why Sanchez should probably avoid getting into bar fights: his jaw is fragile and he is expected to one day be a Major League Baseball player.  Those sound like pretty solid reasons to me.

This is just a hunch, but I’m guessing the biggest event in Indianapolis this weekend will be the Super Bowl. Unfortunately for basketball fans, the Pacers and Magic will have to take a back seat this time around. In fact, there are not even any hotel rooms remaining for the Magic to stay in on Friday night before their game against the Pacers Saturday.

According to the Indianapolis Star, the Magic will have to fly to Cincinnati on Friday night after their home game against the Cavs. They will stay in Cincinnati that night, and fly to Indy to face the Pacers the day of the game on Saturday. You didn’t expect Stan Van Gundy to be pleased about that, did you?

“I don’t even need to comment on it,” an annoyed Van Gundy said. “You guys can comment on it and save me my money. When you come out with the schedule in December and have a game in the Super Bowl city, lodging might be a problem.”

In the NBA’s defense, the condensed schedule from the lockout made things a bit more complicated. Still, Van Gundy is right. Somebody should have thought of that right away and known it was going to be an issue. Things are going poorly enough for the Magic at the moment. They don’t need any added distractions or complications.

“I guess we’ll try to walk through in the hotel,” Van Gundy said. “It’ll be a different situation than what we’re normally used to. Normally if people are going to play us, they don’t fly into Tampa. That’s the way it goes.”

That is, indeed, the way it goes. It may not be fair, but no sporting event in America is more important than the Super Bowl. As much as I hate the phrase, this is the epitome of a “life’s not fair” scenario.

Chest bump to I Am a GM for the story

Mike Francesa will be turning 58 in March. My old man is 55, and he doesn’t really understand computers. For some people it is a generational thing and they just can’t get it. Francesa, however, should have a pretty good idea of how the digital era operates by now. He works in radio and sometimes television. He must know that those computers he’s surrounded by all day store information and record what he says, right? Apparently not. According to the NY Post, Francesa blatantly lied about his Super Bowl 42 pick on his show last week to make himself sound better.

Last week, Mike Francesa claimed to listeners that before Super Bowl XLII, he picked the Patriots to beat the Giants, 20-17. With the Pats a 13-point favorite, that would have made Francesa a winner.

In fact, though, it was with great conviction and authority, that Francesa predicted, on the air, a 35-17 Pats win. The tape must be right there, at WFAN for all to again hear. What’s that? It seems to have disappeared? Not again!

Fortunately, nothing is ever lost for good in the age of the internet.  Our friends over at Bob’s Blitz did some fine investigative work after a reader sent them an email about Francesa lying days before the Post published their blurb.  Sure enough, Mike picked the Patriots to blow the Giants out back in 2008.  Have a listen:

Having heard that, you have to wonder if Francesa really did think he picked the Giants to cover the spread in Super Bowl 42 or he just assumed nobody would get a hold of the audio?  In any event, shame on him.

What constitutes a dunk? When I first saw this video I was insanely impressed, but I was wondering if it qualifies as a dunk since Blake Griffin didn’t even touch the rim. According to Webster’s dictionary, it does: “A shot in which a player near the basket jumps with the ball and attempts to thrust it through the basket with one hand or both hands held above the rim.” Check and check.

Since we already knew Griffin was capable of throwing down dunks like this one and this one, he has to really work hard to make our jaws drop.  His dunk on Kendrick Perkins Monday night did exactly that.  How did he make the ball go in the hoop there? It pains me to even say that Perkins got posterized, because there was absolutely nothing more he could have done.  Perhaps Blake was trying to make up for that missed alley-oop from a couple weeks ago?  Between LeBron literally jumping over someone and now this, it has been a good few days for monster jams.