Weekend Sports Open Thread

By NB Staff | February 16, 2008 - 12:12 ET

For those NBers not in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to watch Brandon Sheppard compete at the Tyson Invitational (men's high jump to begin just minutes from now, GO BIG RED!), here's your chance to discuss all things sports.

For instance: who's lying -- Clemens or McNamee? Will someone be charged with perjury and/or obstructing justice? Real baseball fans can start getting ready for the season at ESPN's Spring Training Blog.

Will Kobe play in the NBA All-Star game, and will Jason get traded?

Pretty full college B-ball schedule today. Any upsets to call?

Will Junior win tomorrow's Daytona 500?

Will Lefty have a good weekend at Riviera, or do one of his classic Sunday Slumps?

Finally, and with apologies to our female members, have you seen some of the gals competing in the LPGA lately? Can adding sex appeal make women's golf more, well, appealing?

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McNamee vs Clemens and Bush

The VRWC is being brought out of the closet.

I've heard twice now in the last 24 hours, once from the hosts of Sports Talk Radio here in Boston and then again later that night on ESPN Sports Center.

The point that is being made is Clemens is a friend of the Bush's so:

#1 - Everyone is trying to point out that the "Republican" vicously went after McNamee, too harshly the story goes.  And then went soft on Clemens.

#2 - Even if Clemens gets indicted or even convicted, Bush will pardon him.  Since of course Bush has to be worse than Clinton, Bush is going to go on a Clintonesque pardoning spree on the way out the door.

 

Embarrasment

That worthless Waxman circus was an embarrassment to members on both sides of the aisle.

Regarding Clemens his arrogance has gotten in the way of intelligence and good judgement, the same it did with Bonds. Both will end up paying a heavy price for it.

But this is not the business of Congress. If Clemens had an issue with the Mitchell Report he has every right to sue Major League Baseball.

 

There is only one sporting

There is only one sporting event worth mentioning this weekend, and that my dear friends is the DAYTONA 500! 

Set the GOP back on the right course. http://gopteaparty.com/

The Great American Race

Tony Stewart is going to sweep this weekend!

Nah, I'm hoping to see Jr.

Nah, I'm hoping to see Jr. win the big one tomorrow! 

Set the GOP back on the right course. http://gopteaparty.com/

Over due

He is way over due for a win, and Hendricks will get him there, but I like a guy with attitude. Gotta root for the Indiana home team, even though I live in Colorado now.

Well, he did win the Bud

Well, he did win the Bud Shootout last weekend. It's a good start. 

Set the GOP back on the right course. http://gopteaparty.com/

Win the Bud Shootout?

He dominated it and smoked them at the Duel. This may be his year (lucky for my wife who is a Jr. fan), but I want to see Stewart get his third cup.

I hate to burst all your

I hate to burst all your bubbles but I am looking for it to be one of the Gibbs' cars but not Tony Stewart.

If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.-Lewis Grizzard

So far, with 20 something

So far, with 20 something laps to go, the Nationwide race belongs to Stewart.

Dale Jr has won every other race that he has competed in, in Daytona, so he's a favorite for Sunday.

I'm a Tony Stewart fan too, so I would love to see him win today, and tomorrow.

Who ever wins though, it will be a great race. I love the new car. The wing works perfect.

I haven't really cared much

I haven't really cared much for Daytona or Talledage since they started using the restrictor plates. All the drivers had to do was sit behind the wheel and hang on. From what I saw in the twin 150s they are able to drive them again. Should be a good race.

I was a Junior fan up until this season. I can't bring myself to pull for Hendrix. I can't pull for a Toyota even though I have always liked Joe Gibbs. So I guess this season it will be one of the Childress cars. Whichever one finishes the best tomorrow will be the one I pull for the rest of the season.

If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.-Lewis Grizzard

Gibbs did it

Tony and Kyle pulled off one hell of a one two finish today. Let's hope we see it tomorrow as well.

Noel

here's praying that Brandon and the jumpers get to warm up in the warm this week and thus reach new heights.

Supreme Court,  National Security,  Borders,  Fiscal Restraint, my litmus test for President.

B

B,

Thanks. UA has a practice, indoor football field that they're making available to athletes for warm-ups, and then busing them to the track. So, Brandon didn't think this was going to be a problem.

In reality, this is what UNL should have done two weeks ago, because they too have a practice indoor football field. In fact, they have plenty of indoor training facilities that should have been used for this purpose. Just bad planning, which is not to be expected from a school with such a fine track tradition. ns

 

NBers

NBers,

Sadly, Arkansas was not kind to my son today. :-(

In his first official away meet, Brandon had his worst performance of the year only clearing 2.00 meters. Very disappointing for him.

I wonder if the strategy of giving him last week off to rest was wise. Just like a father -- always second-guessing the coach. :-)

In high school, Brandon's best performances came in away meets, and at big venues like UC-Berkeley and Stanford. So, I don't think that was a factor. Instead, I think not having his friend with him -- Paul Hamilton will be competing later today in a separate division -- may have impacted him.

Also, an 11AM start is very early for track, and apparently the stadium was empty. Fans probably won't start filing in until the later events. Brandon said the big facility with nobody in it felt like a morgue.

In the end, it's all a learning experience for a 19-year-old in his first official year of big college track.

Easy for me to say, right? ns

Hey Dad (Noel),,, We

Hey Dad (Noel),,,

We here know how you feel today....really.

I exactly know about second-guessing the coach...more than you know, my husband did the same thing too...lol!

Well, there is always tomorrow and a brighter day a comin'...

Good luck for the future for your son, sounds like he will go a long way no matter what he does...

Cheer up! 

BT

BT,

Thanks, but no cheering up necessary. My son jumped here this morning:

Can you imagine what that must have been like? I'm crying thinking about it.

As I told him yesterday after he worked out there for the first time, I wanted him to enjoy the experience, and not worry about the results. Take it all in. Imagine that you're actually at the finest indoor track facility in the country living the dream you had the first time you cleared that bar and landed on the mat.

I don't know about you, but I hope that's what he was feeling today, even when he missed his final attempt at 2.05. After all, I never got to this level -- almost nobody does. I just want him to appreciate it, even on the so-called bad days, for years from now, when he's stressing about work, or his kid's acne, I hope he'll remember these days -- even the so-called bad ones. :-) ns

Noel... Well I"m grinning

Noel...

Well I"m grinning ear to ear just looking at the picture and my eyes get a little misty with fond memories too... now we have grandkids included and grown.

They will remember and appreciate as they get older like you say and have your grandkids...IMHO.

Glad you shared this news....turns back time for me with a big ol' smile.

BT - know about that

back when kid was in HS, she was the ONLY one from her HS to be at the State's. As the school representative, she was one of the first to be invited to "demonstrate" whell chair racing - was a co-ed 100M with 8 chairs, and she metalled(sic). With kids and parents from around the state, waiting for the starters' gun, there wasn't a sound, all eyes on the track, then, a rolling (no pun) appreciative applause as thoes 8 three wheelers went down the track, a true race, and the beginning of understanding that folks without use of legs can also compete.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

FastEd... Well you got me

FastEd...

Well you got me all misty-eyed too...

I'm also applauding....loudly.

I got a bassaball

I got a bassaball jones...

GO ZAGS I hope Kidd gets

GO ZAGS

I hope Kidd gets traded, but not to the Mavericks because of that a-hole Mark Cuban.

The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy

→ Weekend Sports

Does illegal drag racing in Maryland count?

♣ a seal

Being a drag racer, I am

Being a drag racer, I am pissed on two levels. First and foremost that these idiots would do this crap in the first place. I mean one woman, who managed to save her kid, but lost her 61 year old dad, makes me want to scream! What the hell were these nimrods thinking? What was a mother, with a young kid doing out there at 3 AM?

The other part of me gets pissed at the media. Drag racing is a sport. These jackasses were not drag racing, they were street racing, illegally. Call it what it is. Typical dumbass media.

Wally Parks, who left us last year at age 91, founded the National Hot Rod Association in 1951 to give hot rodders a sport, and find safe places to race. There are drag strips all across the world, all of them offering opportunities for kids with street cars to compete.

This accident happened on the highway that takes you to a very nice IHRA drag strip, Maryland International Raceway. It's a state of the art deal. http://www.mirdrag.c...

No excuse for this sort of thing, by the nuts doing it, or the idiotic press who reports on it!

Drag racers universally condemn street racing. There is no excuse for it. As someone who has held a pro license, and promoted events at real dragstrips, I can't tell you how much I would love to whip all of these idiots up in Maryland, myself!

Talk about needing duct tape!

Gary... It makes no sense

Gary...

It makes no sense to me either. There are so many classes at the strip that anyone of these kids could show up on a Friday night and run the strip LEGALLY! And, it can also be arranged to go against any competitor they want. I think part of the thrill for kids is, they can show up at these illegal races smoking dope or drinking and then race to their death. Morons. Too bad I was never a dumb teenager.

 

BTW... I love the track at Bristol. If you have never been there the strip is set-up in a valley with ridge tops on either side and heading in the same direction for as far as the eye can see. I don't care where you decide to sit or stand, the roar of the engines just stays in the valley and damn near deafens you. I love it! 

Set the GOP back on the right course. http://gopteaparty.com/

I went to my first drag

I went to my first drag race in 1970, when I was 10. And have worked at the track off and on, doing everything from keeping the surface mopped up, to announcing, and even promoting my own events over the years. Although no longer.

We have a cool old track here. Nothing fancy, just a nice track. Like every other drag strip we have a "test and tune" night, where you pay next to nothing, and can get as many passes as your car can stand. You can race your buddy, or just get a time. Most small tracks pay the bills off these nights, and during the summer, we have a Thursday and Friday nught T&T session. We have more serious racing on Saturday and Sunday.

As close as this accident was to MIR, this is unforgivable. Royce Miller, the track owner is a class guy, who goes out of his way to have a spot for this kind of crowd. Although, I have heard from some of my friends up there that the grudge racers still get stupid pretty regularly. Makes you want to get a baseball bat and give 'em a little schoolin'!

I have been to Bristol. It has always been a neat spot. The mountain makes the nitro cars even sound cooler! Bruton Smith, who owns so many of the top NASCAR tracks bought Bristol from Larry Carrier (the founder of the IHRA) a while back and along with the NASCAR track, has sunk millions into the facility. It is one of the nicest on the NHRA tour. http://www.bristolmo...

Bruton is also building the newest NHRA track in Charlotte, NC on the Lowes Motor Speedway property. The new place will be a state of the art, $60 million dollar track, which will host a new NHRA national event this fall, after Indy. http://www.lowesmoto...

It just burns my butt, that with drag strips big and small accessible to most folks, you still have dummies who want to use the street as a race track. Of course, what makes this even sadder, if that's possible, is the "racers" didn't run over these people. It was just a random car that happened upon the crowd standing in the middle of the highway after the cars took off. Just plain stupid.

Then there are the dummies

who buy a house near an established track, then try to get it shut down because of the noise - that's what's happening in NJ at Raceway Park, Englishtown. They don't want people racing legally, yet all the street near there are long and straight - wait till something like this happens and the dummies come out and ask - why didn't they go to the track? It won't be there if you dopes close it.

And as much as I like the top fuelies, aint nothing like seeing the big rigs race. Nuttin like 10 wheelers going fast, and not on the NJ Turnpike!

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Same thing happend here to

Same thing happend here to our local short track. We had ton of family fun there for years, then the New Orleans "elite started moving up here with their law degrees and snot filled noses. I quit racing because the next closest track is about 80 miles away, the other one was about 5.

 

"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest". Mark Twain

Sounds like you raced at

Sounds like you raced at LaPlace. Man, that was a cool track. We were actually there for the last race, it was a DRAGBIKE/AMA natinal.

I always loved going there. The track was in the middle of town. Really nice folks.

Clemens/McNamee

Does this even matter? I mean, you have a proven liar (McNamee) versus a suspected liar (Clemens) and another now proven liar (Pettite) selling out his "friend" to stay out of the hearings! The DoJ will never be able to prove that either man lied because there is no real proof...even those witnesses that may have supported McNamee will have credibility problems in front of a jury. The best thing to do now is what should have ben done to begin with; keep the government out of this mess. You would think that with the FISA act about to expire Congress could have found something a little more important to do with it's time than worrying about whether Roger Clemens used HGH or not!

Yeah, I agree with you on

Yeah, I agree with you on all fronts.  I've been in Henry Waxman's office, and I don't think you'll find a more self-important windbag if you tried (I know that may sound hyperbolic given all the other Congressional blowhards, but it really isn't).  I don't even watch ESPN anymore, they've taken all the sport out of sports and replaced it with show trials, lame promotional tie-ins, ignorant socio-economic commentaries, fashion and self-absorbed hype.  You'd find more relevant sports news on Entertainment Tonight.

Clinton scandal hits NFL

Do not needles produce scar tissue?

Of course they do as there was a big stink in the livestock industry of vaccinations going into meat caused scar spots which cost slaughter houses a few pennies, so they jerked livestock producers around on how they stuck needles into animals.

All poke holes cause scars. Get Clemens doctor to go on record AS TO HOW MANY HOLES HE POKED INTO CLEMENS AND HIS WIFE. Do a "radioactive dye" into the skin and photograph it like you would a stained glass to illuminate it and voila one finds out if Roger is lying or his accuser.

My bet is Clemens will not take the test proving he is a liar. That is how House would solve it on FOX television.

As for sports, it takes all the joy out of college hoops that Bobby Knight is retired. He made the game fun to watch like Bud Grant of the Minnesota Vikings.
So until cheerleaders appear in the March Madness and I can look for the tear stained tie of my buddy Jim Nance over the Patriot cheaters loosing........well hoops will not be that interesting.

What is interesting that NB should be covering is Roger Goodell being caught by Arlen Specter destroying evidence and Matt Walsh "disappearing" with tapes he made of the Pats 3 Super Bowl cheating among others. THAT ALL SMELLS TO ME like a Clinton cover up that goes as follows:

Roger says to Belichick, "Hey buddy how goes the cheating?"

Bill says, "Not bad as I did not cheat but here are the tapes I HAVE".

Roger says, "I hope there is no more".

In the meantime owner Kraft of the Patriots pays Matt Walsh who was taping to disappear.........and everyone plays stupid and Goodell thinks he covered it all up.

Problem is the former coaches, like the Jets head coach are still screaming about this behind the scenes.........and gee it would be Arlen Specter is hearing about this in Penn from the Rooney family who own the Steelers who went 15-1 and were beat by the Pats costing them a Super Bowl now would it?????

Goodell should be fired for the Clinton type cover up. I know the disaster of how does one take games from the Patriots and award them to which Super Bowl winner? or which AFC team who would have won the Super Bowl over an NFC team.

Would be nice to bust Goodell on here as he IS the one doing the Olberman, Gumbel and Collinsworth lefty BS football fans are being pounded by.....along with green tree hugging.

Where is the NFL promoting children like they used to? Now it is all leftist trees.

Come on NB this is a story to deal with. Talk to Sen. Specter and give him some coverage. Rush loves football this is another example of leftist dogma screwing up another part of society.

Matt Walsh has tapes and all the evidence, but Goodell is game playing over carte blanche........Walsh is scared he is about to be left holding the financial bag as teams start suing him for what Kraft, Patriots, Belichick and the NFL sanctioned.

Just like the NFL sanctioned the Patriots undefeated season "to prove that the Patriots really were that good in not cheating".

Uh huh, watch the Eagles game in 2 passes to Randy Moss.....he drops the first long one and right after Brady passes again which he catches.
The Eagles cornerback stands and watches both passes just like Moss gets watched on most of his receptions.

Moss is the Grassy Knoll in Dallas. The owners appear to have agreed to throw games to keep this all hushed up.

I want to see people in prison and Belichik banned for life, Kraft made to sell the Patriots and this entire points spread referee cheating ended too so my NFL is fair again.

 

 

*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS

LPGA

There is no reason to apologize to the ladies re good-looking golfers. I don't play golf anymore (too slow), but I would be willing to caddy for several of the ladies, if only they'd call.

In fact, when I log off NB, I think I'll e-mail the LPGA and let them know that I am available.

Liberals don't care what you do, as long as it's mandatory.  -Franksam

Me, too!

The photo of Sophie Sandolo made my putter flutter (thanks to Johnny Carson for that line)!

Scam

Scam,

Natalie Gulbis. Ouch. :-) ns

Yes

She sometimes looks like the missing Landers sister.

 

 

College Hoops

A good day for college basketball all round.

Georgetown, meet Karma. Cheaters never prosper.

For the Tar Heels, the best medicine is kicking the crap out of some unsuspecting Hokies.

Did the Vols even show up to play Georgia?

And last...my condolences to South Florida for that heartbreaking loss.

Or, from the opposite perspective, candance,

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE UCONN HUSKIES for keeping their cool on the road for a hard-fought overtime win over a tough and determined opponent.  

I don't think most people got to see it, but take my word for it, it was a great game, start to finish!

Don't let their W/L record fool you. This is a good team with a good new coach.   In years to come, I expect to see South Florida coming up through the ranks. 

Johnny Weaver-Master of the Sleeper Hold

Johnny Weaver-the master of the sleeper hold was found dead in his Charlotte apartment from natural causes. He was 72. He used to wrestle for the Crockett family's Mid Atlantic Champsionship. He was my hero. He and George Becker were the best tag team in the business but they never could get the masks off the Bolos.  The Bolos called him skinny neck Weaver. That really pissed me off. As a kid you could not make me believe that wreslin was fake. That was real blood. RIP Johnny Weaver.

If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.-Lewis Grizzard

Sad to hear about Weaver

Sad to hear about Johnny Weaver passing away, I remember watching him when I was a kid. By that time he wasn't doing a lot of wrestling, but I loved it when he would come in and put some poor sap to sleep! JCP was wrestling as far as I'm concerned, everything else is just "sports entertainment!"

BTW, have you heard anything about Number One Paul Jones? I haven't even heard his name in years, so I don't know if he's still among the living

Memories

Used to watch Portland Wrestling on Saturday nights. Loved it.

Jesse "The Body" Ventura and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper got their starts there.

Don't recall ever seeing Weaver there, but heard his name a lot.

I don't think he ever

I don't think he ever traveled far from the Charlotte area in NC and SC. Mid Atlantic was pretty much just regional. They would tape on Wednesday night's at WBTV for a Saturday broadcast. I got to go to a few of the tapings. It was great. The Crocketts eventually sold out to Ted Turner's WWA I believe it was. I didn't watch it much after that.

If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.-Lewis Grizzard

Wow! Guess I'll have to start watching the LPGA again. :-)

As for Daytona, I don't really care who wins it as long as his name isn't Jeff Gordon.

Go Zags!

Go Zags!

Zags?

BT,

Was looking at the top 25. Zags still have a b-ball program? Just wondering.

Duke is still #2.

GAT

GNY.... Hope springs

GNY....

Hope springs eternal...

Not any more! (At least for

Not any more! (At least for now.) Go Deacons!

Congrats Memphis

The Best Team in the Country almost had a scare in Birmingham today...and suddenly everyone remembers Memphis is not unstoppable.

John Calipari is a classless man who deserves to lose in the tourney. When UNC beat Clemson the first time, Calipari told reporters that the refs would not let Clemson win. Real nice thing to say about a team you might face in the tournament.

I hope Tenn lays the smackdown on Memphis. 

Duke falls to Wake!

My Deacons need a big win. They are 0.500 in the ACC with six left. Duke and Carolina are next but the Heels are at the Dean Dome. Got a great performance out of our big tree mid-week with his first career double-double. Hopefully he and the rest of the crew will step up and upset #2.

hermano

Nothing would please me more than to see dook get beat by Wake.

PS I used to live in Winston Salem, half a mile from the Wake Forest campus.

candance

Nice place, W-S. I was there before the days of the Joel, so we had to travel to Greensboro to see the Wake mens team play. My most memorable moment was beating the #1 Duke team in 1988. I was in the front row center and my friends and I were huddled together while people climbed over us to get onto the court. Wake has done it a few times to Duke since. We also used to call Food Lion "Beer Lion."

ha ha

I used to work at the Harris Teeter on Reynolda Road and would have to wait on Wake students every day. All of them were annoying snobs, and most of them were from New England.

Thus we used to call it The University of Connecticut at Winston Salem.

My husband graduated college at the Joel Coliseum. We moved away just months before the Heels opened the tournament there, and he spent the whole week crying in front of the TV because he missed it.

I didn't have a car, so I

I didn't have a car, so I couldn't be one of the snobs! I didn't even get to choose what grocery we went to. I still remember commencement. It was a beautiful spring day. They had just replanted the trees after Dutch Elm disease decimated the quad. It was a sad Sunday after Thanksgiving that all the students returned to see all the trees laying in the quad. But I couldn't imaging graduating in an arena.

well hermano

This was literally just two years ago, more Yankees go there now than what they used to. Hubby graduated from Winston Salem State (and Erskine Bowles spoke at the ceremony - eye roll) but he tells everyone he went to UNC Chapel Hill.

Duke falls to Wake!

Perhaps I should be a prognosticator. The starting five fouled out for Duke and our freshmen shined. As long as they don't have a complete collapse and end the ACC at 8-8, I think they are in.

I do not remember the name of the speaker at my commencement - CEO of PepsiCo. Had just donated a boatload of money for a new student center. Back in my day, they tried to pair roommates by geography. Mine, like me, was from FL. Another suitemate was from Miami. We did have one northerner, but the rest were from NC. It is good to see that Wake is diversifying. When I was there it was a top regional school. It has become a top national school in the last 10-15 years. 

ROFL @ dook

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, dook got beat by Wake! That's gonna leave a mark!

Somewhere up in the sky, old Skip is smiling.