LeChoke Nominated For Time Man of the Year

Just like Hitler!

While We Were Thinking...

Fun win for the Buckeyes hoops squad on Friday, 102-61 over NC A&T.  The Freshman class reigned as Deshaun Thomas led all scorers with 24 points and added 8 boards.  Blue-chip prospect Jared Sullinger contributed 19 and 14, while PG Aaron Craft scored 8 and dropped 9 dimes.  A real test comes tomorrow at 6p when OSU travels to Florida to play the #9 Gators.

I feel like a broken record when discussing the BcS, but 2-loss Alabama has jumped Michigan State and 3-loss South Carolina has jumped to #17 on the strength of a win over now 4-loss Florida.  Meanwhile, no one will suspend Cam Newton.  The sheer volume of disgust that I have for the SEC rivals my animosity for the Yankees.

I was sitting in the north stands at the Shoe on Saturday and Sanzenbacher's circus catch was even less believable in real time.

Despite the fact that the loss does not inspire me to sing the Browns' praises full-post style, I saw little regression against the Jets.  I noted that I would have bet money on the Browns winning and I am not a gambler (at least not at all an effective one).  In hindsight, it seems that I did not give enough credit to the talent gap between the two teams, especially after Josh Cribbs went down (4 sprained toes btw).  The last drive of regulation was a thing of beauty and the defense looked strong again.  Eric Wright simply has to go and the rash of injuries to the linebacking corps is unpleasant, but this team obviously believes in itself, its on the field leaders (McCoy, Hillis, Cribbs, Fujita), and the direction the coaching staff is taking them.  Again, I never expected this team to challenge for the playoffs, but they continue the reinforce the foundation of, what I hope to be, quality football for years to come.

MLB Notes:  (1) The Marlins traded CF Cameron Maybin (the centerpiece of the deal that sent Miguel Cabrera to MoTown) to the Padres for, among other(s), our old friend Ed Mujica.  (2) Buster Posey and Neftali Feliz are your rookies of the year.  No surprises there.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl 11.15.10 - Ellen Pompeo

Can you believe this chick is 41?

Pretty Girl 11.14.10 - Aimee Gonzalez

It is odd that I found Catfish neither bizarre nor unlikely?

Pretty Girl 11.13.10 - Madison Riley

Y'know that ass you see fixing the jeep in that Grown Ups preview?  This is her.

You Damn Dirty Apes...

Give me something back.  ;-(  Am I the only one so lost amongst the sea of idiocy?

LeWaaah

Adrian Wojanorowski of Yahoo Sports on the Heat's 2nd consecutive home loss -


Most of all, James found himself in postseason shape, closing a loss to the Boston Celtics with a missed layup, two missed free throws and a corner 3-pointer off the side of the backboard.
 
The world’s bearing down, times are tumultuous, and James is the one Heat star in playoff form.

“For myself, 44 minutes is too much,” James declared. “I think Coach Spo knows that. Forty minutes for D-Wade is too much. We have to have as much energy as we can to finish games out.”

There you go, Coach Spo.

Get to know him well.

Two days earlier, James had done nothing in overtime and ultimately decided the difference was a Hall of Fame coach, Jerry Sloan, who knew exactly what the Heat were going to do. James never takes responsibility, never says, “I’m the MVP and I need to do more.” He didn’t do it in Cleveland, and he’s never going to do it in Miami. Now, 44 minutes in a grudge game with the Celtics is too much. Always an out, always an excuse.

...


And let’s face it: They’re getting buried because of LeBron. Now, they’re the bad guys, and they’ve never had to deal with the thickness of that haze. They turn on the television, the Internet, and people are wishing ill, reveling in the small failures of a young season. In a lot of ways, James is cut out for it. He’s oblivious. He surrounds himself with so many yes-men, so much skewed perspective, that his lack of self-awareness almost benefits him.

...


When things don’t go well for the Heat, there’s one guarantee: James will never take responsibility. Here’s a man who quit in the middle of Game 5 to the Celtics a season ago, stopped playing in a conference semifinal and still wanted Brown and his supporting cast blamed like in the past. Here’s a man who needed Nike to make some kind of half-baked commercial apology that only came within the context of pushing his shoes. James knows only how to be about James, and he’ll sacrifice anyone to protect himself.

Pretty Girl 11.12.10 - Gabrielle Anwar

Sometimes plastic surgery works out for the best.

Whistle Stops

So... Cam Newton's dad, Cecil, demanded between $100K & $180K from Mississippi State in return for his son signing a scholarship offer from the school.  Although Auburn maintains that Cam is still eligible, expect some serious backlash from this very soon.  Let's see... Cam Newton played for (and plagiarized at) Florida as a freshman, was nearly sold to Mississippi State and is now leading the Heisman race for #1 Auburn.  What do all of those schools have in common?  Wait... one second... Yes!  They're all in the SEC (Surely Everyone Cheats).  This is the conference that gets all the accolades, all the respect.  This is the with the #1 team, the highest ranked 1-loss team (#5 LSU), the highest ranked 2-loss team (#12 Alabama) AND the highest ranked 3-loss team (#22 Florida).  Stand there with a straight face and tell that the BcS doesn't favor the SEC, intentionally or not.  Everyone would be that proficient if they could partice in the sunshine 12 months a year.  Flush 'em all away.  Sanction the whole conference.  This former judge running the show should just take his teams out of BcS contention for a year and wait for the dust settle.  It would be the best year ever.  And the chicks are hot.

TP swears that he'll be back on campus for his senior year.  I would assume any "superstar" college quarterback who has no hope to play position at the next level would do the same.  Terrelle has also made it clear that he won't ballin' with basketball team, ever.

According to my Magic 8-Ball, all signs point to the Tigers signing Victor Martinez.

The White Sox are shopping Gordon Beckham and the Indians are in the mix.  If Antonetti can just talk Kenny Williams into trading within the Central, Beckham would be sight for sore eyes at third.

Ooh Rexy, You're So Sexy

Uh, there might be a bit of a sibling rivalry building into the Browns/Jets game.  This is what Rex Ryan thinks of his brother, Rob.  Rex also called Rob fat.  Hello pot, this is the kettle.

The Indians are "grooming" Jayson Nix to play third base in the spring.  File this under "we're cheap and we don't care if we win next year."  Despite reasonable pop out of his bat, Nix's defense at the hot corner is atrocious.  Last season, in 434 innings at third, Nix committed 16 errors for an .883 fielding percentage.  The league average was .959 in 2010.  Fielding percentage is not the be all and end all (see Derek Jeter's gold glove) and some of the meta-stats are arguable, but, by baseballreference.com's measure, Nix cost his team 12 runs with his defensive ineptitude at 3B.  And now he is option #1 for the Tribe.  He is playing winter ball in Puerto Rico to "sharpen" his defensive "skills."  How long does it take to hone an egg to a fine point? 

The Indians have 5 open spots on their 40-man roster, which must be filled by the 19th to protect those 5 from the rule 5 draft.  5 5 5 5 5 5...  IPI suggests that LHP Nick Hagadone and RHP Corey Kluber are locks, so I'll jump on board with that.  My guesses at the other three: RHP Adam Miller, 3B Jared Goedert, and... RHP Josh Judy.

Tickets for the Indians/Clippers exhibition game (03.30.11, 1pm @ Huntington Park) go on sale tomorrow morning at 10am.  Avoid TicketMaster fees by calling the Clippers ticket office at 614.462.2757.  I'll be getting 4 seats myself.

Cheers.