The SoapBoxers

Big problems continue for the beloved Ohio State Program. Not that it is any big shocker, but the NCAA the fastest yacht in the boat race, finally made a public statement yesterday that they are looking into “alleged” infractions. The violations in the Ohio State case happened a basically 12 months ago. The news splash came out in late December right before the bowl game, and then further escalated about 2 months ago with Tressel’s admission he knew about the problems with the five players trading equipment and awards for tattoos. Heck he even had the email train to show for it.

Now the Buckeyes have until July 5 to answer questions for the NCAA. A hearing before the infractions committee is scheduled Aug. 12 in Indianapolis.(coincidentally one day before Johnny Goodman’s Birthday) After that, god only knows how long this will drag on. Heck it took the NCAA 5 years to nail USC for Reggie Bush and other violations of basketball players taking place during the same time span.

The lingering question is will the NCAA think that the penalties imposed by the school are strong enough, or will they wield a heavier hammer? Hard to tell. The scuttlebutt in the coaching fraternity is that “The Vest” is in deep doo doo. Heck even Nebraska increased head coach Bo Pelini’s salary just yesterday making him the third highest paid football coach in the Big Ten. Why? They lost way more games than they should have last year and folded like a cheap card table in their bowl game re-match with lowly Washington. Maybe Athletic Director Tom Osborne wanted to make a possible move to Pelini’s alma mater, Ohio State, look less appealing from a financial perspective.

Lucky #7

The NFL Lockout drama saga continues this week we are quickly approaching the 2011 Draft. AP writer Jaime Aron had an excellent article on April 23rd that listed the top players taken at each position in the draft since the modern day draft has taken place. As you can imagine this could be a hotly debated topic. I mean which #1 overall is the best? Bradshaw? Manning? Aikman, Campbell? You could make your argument for any of these guys at #1. But what I found interesting was that the #7 pick in the first round has been a veritable point of weakness overall.

Tops on Aron’s listing was Adrian Peterson in the #7 spot, who many felt “slid” to the Vikings as he was coming off an injury plagued college career at Oklahoma. Phil Simms, Sterling Sharpe, Bryant Young and Champ Bailey are others of mention at the number 7 spot but no one really stands out like is the case at the other positions in the top 10 overall in any given year

Maybe this means the #7 spot is due to have a great player taken. Of course anyone in the Top 10 each year is considered great or they would not be considered to be drafted that high. The consensus at #7 this year is Patrick Peterson, the dynamic secondary player from LSU. Only time will tell if a Peterson will dominate from the #7 spot overall in the draft.

Until Next time…stay classy Mel Kiper Jr.

Mike Leake arrived at the 2010 Cincinnati Reds Spring Training camp in the shadow of another young pitcher. The other pitcher was a Cuban refugee named Aroldis Champman, who could light up the radar gun at 103 miles per hour. Mike Leake was merely the 2009 first round draft pick of the Reds. All he had done in college was rack up 40 wins against 6 losses during his career at Arizona State. He was a third team all-american as a freshman, second team as a sophomore, and first teamer in his junior year before being drafted by the Reds (more about draft eligibility here.)

Chapman was sent to the minors before the season began, but Leake – who, like many top picks, did not play in the minors after the draft – jumped straight to the big leagues. This was an unusual move, since this starts the clock ticking on a player’s arbitration and free agency (more about that here), but Leake had won a job in the Reds rotation.

Leake started the year strong before shoulder fatigue caught up with him at the end of the year (not uncommon in young pitchers). Leake finished the year with an 8-4 record. His spot on the 2011 roster was not a certainty, but injuries to other pitchers opened the door, and once again Leake was in the rotation to start the season. On Saturday, he allowed two runs in six innings against the Pirates and running his season record to 2-0.

Mike Leake’s star was rising.

On Monday, Mike Leake was arrested. He is accused of shoplifting six shirts from Macy’s. Total cost of the six American Rag t-shirts? $59.88 (you can get shirts for less than $10 at Macy’s?). While Leake is in the pre-arbitration phase of his major league service , he’s still making a healthy $425,00 this year (are athletes overpaid?) – and I would hope he still had a few bucks left from the $2.3 million signing bonus he got in 2009.

I really struggle with these types of stories. When Leake become arbitration eligible after the 2012 season, the Reds could raise this as an issue during the hearing. It could very well cost Leake hundreds of thousands of dollars. Already, Leake’s reputation has suffered more than $60 in damage.

Yet, this is not the first incident of a celebrity shoplifting. Why do they do it? I doubt it’s the money. Perhaps some are simply kleptomaniacs, but this mental illness is not that common in the general population, so I doubt that this is often the case with celebrities. Is is for the rush – the extra kick of adrenaline from getting away with the crime? Seriously? Staring down Albert Pujols with the game on the line isn’t enough adrenaline?

Anyone else have any explanations?

This article mentions: American Rag

The biggest and in my opinion the best sports memorabilia auction is just around the corner. Robert Edward Auctions does one auction a year and it is always a biggie. I believe Kosmo has written articles about it in the past (Editor’s note – Yep), but this year is also sure to not disappoint.

A few lots of early interest are a 1910 Old Mill cigarette’s Shoeless Joe Jackson rookie card. I am more of a Yankee fan you say? How about a Lou Gehrig game used jersey? Is there anything much cooler than an original signed 1902 Christy Mathewson players contract? There is even a Honus Wagner card in the auction that has been professionally restored. Not sure how that will affect its value, but my guess is that card will still sell for a quarter of a million at the very least.

Cards, bats, hats, balls, photos, autographs, historical documents, jerseys, cleats, sheet music, basically anything sports or historical related and all of it cool. There is even non-sports cards such as Mars Attacks, the Three Stooges, Duke Famous Americans (one of my personal favorites cigarette card sets made in the late 1800’s) as well as a veritable cornucopia of other items.

The best part of the auction is while you can view it all online, you can also follow the link below and request a free catalog. This catalog is a piece of art work in and of itself. You have to remember – this is an auction house so the write ups on the items will be flowery as they are trying to maximizing bids, but it is a full color catalog with lots and lots of photos. (last year the book was basically 725 pages) The Catalog ships this week and REA will Fed Ex it to you so if you sign up today – you will likely have it by no later than early next week.

Here is the link to get yourself a free catalog

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/contact/index.html

Last year 181 lots sold in excess of $10,000 and the total of all lots suprassed 10 million. I believe they get a 20% cut of both buyers and sellers commission which is partly why they can produce such an outstanding catalog. I have had great customer service with REA. Last year my son in a overzealous attempt at recycling, pitched a couple of my old catalogs into the recycle bin. I sent an email to REA and I received a note back from Robert Lifson himself, and he promptly overnight Fed Ex delivered the last 5 years of catalogs to me – at no cost with his compliments!

It is good customer service such as this, as well as great auction items, and the best catalog in the business that keeps buyers and sellers coming back to this auction each and every year. I personally will be keeping my eye on some of the golf card items as I am a serious collector of vintage golf cards and this auction is chock full of them.

Until next time, stay classy and may your Old Judges be worth thousands!

It is my favorite weekend of the year. The un-official yet very official start of the PGA Golf Season. The Masters Tournament from Augusta, Georgia.

Situated on the former home of a nursery and indigo plantation, the various types of trees and plants were preserved from the earliest days of golf course construction and design to give us the fabulous shots in High Definition television that we now get to see on CBS and the Golf Channel.

There are a number of little known facts about the Masters. So to see if anyone ever actually reads my articles, I am holding a couple of contests this year. All this information is readily available if you just do a little bit of searching on line or even better from Masters.org

Contest #1

The first person to correctly respond with all correct questions will received a professionally graded Tiger Woods Rookie card from 2001 Upper Deck golf. (a $10-$20 value)

1. Who were the owners of the land prior to it being sold and being utilized as a golf course (hint – it was a Nursery…I just need the family name)
2. Who was Bobby Jones’s main financial partner who helped him get Augusta National up and Running.
3.  The Masters is celebrating what significant Anniversay this year
4.  We call it the Masters today…wWhat was the name of the tournament when it was first held?
5. Who has the most runner up finishes at the Masters?
6. How many times in the last 10 years has Tiger Woods finished in the top 10 at Augusta?

Contest #2.

Lets see if we can have some fun with this one as well. Same Prize is awarded to the winner as in Contest #1 above.

Simply pick 3 golfers that are playing this week. The person who has the three golfers that win the most cumulative amount of money will be the winner of contest. Simply post your picks under “comments” to my article to enter either the first or second contents or both.

Good luck and Stay Classy Clifford Roberts!

NCAAs

Last year, Butler came tantalizingly close to winning the national title when Gordon Hayward’s three point shot at the buzzer missed.  The Bulldogs lost 61-59, star Gordon Hayward left early for the NBA draft, and everyone thought that the chance for a mid-major to win a title had evaporated.

Butler came into this year’s tournament as a #8 seed.  In spite of the absence of Hayward, they have made their way through the jungle and into the NCAA Finals once again.  Is this the year that we can finally say the Butler did it?  I certainly hope so.

Butler coach Brad Stevens is a year younger than me … and is sure to be wooed by some bigger programs with fat pocketbooks.  Will Stevens be tempted by the money?  It’s worth noting that Stevens got his start in coaching when he quit his good paying job in the “real world” for an unpaid gig at Butler.  Bulldog for life?  Maybe.

The UConn men are the forgotten team in the final – the dynastic program led by an iconic coach.  How ironic would it be for Jim Calhoun to win another title the day after the dominant UConn women’s program tasted defeat for the second time this year?

Cricket

On Saturday, India won their second ever World Cricket Cup and the first since 1983.  India beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets, scoring 277 runs to Sri Lanka’s 274. I have a lot of friends of Indian descent, and really need to learn more about the sport, which has a slight resemblance to baseball.

Baseball

Speaking of baseball … my Rockies faced some bad news on three consecutive days.  On Friday, Ubaldo Jimenez got roughed up and the Rockies lost in extra innings.  The culprit was a split cuticle which force Ubaldo to alter his grip on the ball.  On Saturday, Jorge de la Rose shut down the Diamondbacks, but developed a blister on his finger.  Both pitcher received an extra day to recover when Sunday’s game was snowed out, pushing their next start back by a day.

One of my favorite players is former Rockies star Matt Holliday, now with the Cardinals.  Happy, as I refer to him, wasn’t so happy on Friday.  Holliday was experiencing discomfort and went to the hospital – and came out missing an appendix.  The Cardinals are hoping to avoid placing Holliday on the disabled list.  It hasn’t been good few months for projected NL division leaders, with the Cardinals losing Adam Wainwright for the season and now Holliday for an unknown number of games and the Phillies starting the season without second baseball Chase Utley.  To make things even worse, Holliday is on my fantasy team.

A Giants fan is in critical condition after being savagely beaten by two men outside Dodger stadium following Thursday’s opening day game between the two teams.  Seriously … it’s a game.  Any time you’re thinking about slugging someone, take a step back and think about what you enjoyed about the game as a kid.

First of all, if you got caught by yesterday’s April Fool’s joke, sorry about that.  For those who missed it, you’ll need to use this link to catch it in its full glory.  The “fake” ads (which did take you to the featured site, but were not tied into Adsense) were my favorite part.  I take this holiday quite seriously, and spent a fair amount of effort finding a fitting theme, making code changes, tracking down good images for ads, and then actually writing “Candy’s” article.  A big “thank you” goes out to Candy for playing along.

Lots happening around the sports world.  At long last, baseball season has begun!  I always think that the Rockies are one of the teams to watch, and this year is no different.  Pitcher Jhoulys Chacin had a really good rookie campaign in the shadow of Ubaldo Jimenez, and I expect Dexter Fowler to take a big stride foward this year.  Expect the Rockies to be in contention for the division title, especially if they can avoid digging themselves into a hole early in the season.

Expect a strong year from David Ortiz of the Red Sox, too, if he can likewise avoid his slow starts.  He has been a great player from June onward during the past couple of years, but the Aprils and Mays have people very concerned.

A big shout out to India for defeating Pakistan en route the World Cricket Cup final against Sri Lanka today.  I have a lot of friends who hail from India, and it was great to see the buzz of excitement surround the semifinal game.  (Alas, I also have friends of Pakistani heritage … sorry for your loss).

The Final Four kicks off today.  I gotta say I’m pulling for underdog VCU.  VCU didn’t even get their own line on most brackets, being listed as VCU/USC (or USC/VCU) on the 11 seed line, as they had to play their way into the main bracket of 64 teams.  I love seeingf VCU make a deep run into the tournament, but I hate seeing the tournament expand from 64 teams to 68 teams and beyond … I say make the tournament 64 teams, and if that leaves out some quality teams, so be it.  Life isn’t always fair.

If VCU wins the tournament, they will become the first team to win seven NCAA tournament games in the same year.

I’m not a huge golf fan, but I’ll be pulling for Ryo Ishikawa to do well this year.  The 19 year old Japanese golfer announced that he will donate off of his winnings this year to aid the victims of the Japanese earthquake.  Ishikawa made $1.6 million last year, so we’re not talking about peanuts.  I think a lot of athletes – and people in general – could learn a lot from this young man, who appears to be wise beyond his years.

Closing on a non-sports note … I had the opportunity to see The King’s Speech.  Good flick, especially if you have an interest in history.

Opening Day for Baseball is later this week. Hard to be in the mood here in the midwest for baseball since it has been snowing and we have had temperatures in the low 30’s . Wonder if the Twins are re-thinking that new outdoor stadium at all this year with record snowfalls in the Minneapolis area this winter. We are not out of the woods just yet.

Speaking of Woods, Tiger Woods showed a brief glimpse of old Tiger on Friday last week carding a nice round at the Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Invitational and getting back into contention. He promptly got back out of contention on Saturday and on Sunday, no one it seemed wanted to win the tournament. Martin Laird from Scotland took the title and an automatic invite to the Masters with the win after he had squandered a 3 shot lead late in the round, only to see everyone else mail it in even worse.

Since I mentioned worse, do you ever remember a year that was worse for number one seeds in the NCAA basketball tournament? None of them make it to the final four, which is not a totally big deal. What is a big deal is who did make it in….Only 2 people out of over 5 million in the ESPN on-line bracket pool had these final four teams all picked correctly. Butler, Kentucky, Virginia Commonwealth and Connecticut. I am guessing it is two households that either have kids at VCU and Butler or one spouse went to one of those schools and got married to someone that went to the other.

On the topic of Big Deals, the NFL lockout continues. Now we are approaching draft time, and teams are “encouraging” some of the players to not attend the draft. C’mon owners, this is a dream day for most of these guys and it is not like you get to get paraded across the stage and be in the spotlight again. You only get drafted once. Can’t we just agree to all get along for the three days of the draft and not make these rookie players feel uncomfortable.

Regarding handshakes and spotlights, kudos to Gonzaga women’s basketball star Courtney Vander Sloot who became the first NCAA basketball player to score 2000 points AND dish out 1000 assists in a career. That is some big time playing.

Until Next week, stay classy Shaka Smart!

As we stand on the cusp of baseball season, football still manages to take center stage. Usually, it’s just the scouting combine and draft getting all the coverage on sports talk radio. Now there’s also the lockout. Who is in the right and who is in the wrong?

I personally think there’s enough blame to go around. The union recently decertified in an effort to make the league subject to anti-trust legislation. I’m not a legal expert on the matter, but it seems that the NFL has anti-trust exemption if the players are represented by a union, but do not have this exemption if the players are not part of a union – the un-unionized players are allowed to file lawsuits in court.

Not surprisingly, at least one owner (Rooney of the Steelers) has suggested that it might be prudent for the National Labor Relations Board to take a look at this. Does the practice of having the players hop in an out of the union depending on which is better at the moment constitute an unfair labor practice? I would say yes. You’re either a union, or you’re not. You have to take the good with the bad. And does anyone actually believe that the players are not still unified, despite not being in a “union”?

That’s not to say the owners are blameless. They have been very reluctant to open their books. This is troublesome for the players, since the collective bargaining agreement gives the players a 60% share of revenues in excess of one billion dollars. If the union is unable to determine what the actual revenue for the league is, then they can’t determine that their share is.

I’m admittedly not an expert on the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, but it seems that the players are going to have to drop their no-union charade and the owners are going to have to open their books. Why not have the owners and players agree on an independent audit from a CPA firm. The firm wouldn’t need to share details, just state that revenue is $X. And while you’re at it, get a commissioner that is truly an unbiased mediator instead of one that basically serves as president of the owner’s group (this flaw isn’t unique to the NFL).

Or the NFL could just drop the salary cap and allow teams to bid freely on players. I hate salary caps, since they don’t exist in the real world. Imagine that you’re a programmer at Microsoft, and you can’t get a raise because the League of Computer Companies sets a salary cap that every company must abide by. It’s not that your employer doesn’t want to pay you and your co-workers more, they simply aren’t allowed to. Weird, huh? Yet, this is standard in team sports. Baseball is the holdout, with no hard salary cap. Baseball teams that exceed a certain payroll level must pay a luxury tax, but nothing prevents them from spending $500 million on payroll. (Yeah, I’m a fan of a small market team and am opposed to salary caps. Weird, huh?).

Personally, I’m on the fence. I’ve been a Vikings fans for many years, but have largely ignored the NFL for the past two years as a result of Brett Favre playing for the Vikings. I’ve lost quite a bit of interest, and really don’t miss the games very much – and if there is no football this year, I’m probably gone for good.

Ah…the first weekend of games is over for the NCAA basketball tourney….Most of you are complaining about your Brackets being “busted” in your office pools. The Big East showed that it is clearly the most over-rated conference in all of NCAA basketball. While getting Eleven teams into the tourney, most took an early exit. The East Coast bias always throws them on a pillar of excellence, but this year they crashed and burned. Louisville…upset in the first round. Number 1 Seed Pittsburgh, smoked out by the lowly Butler Bulldogs. Granted two teams were eliminated by other Big East teams but overall the performance of Big East schools has been exceedingly lackluster at best.

Bruce Pearl and the Tennessee Rocky Toppers get bounced and then so does the coach. For cheating. Nice to see a school step up and can someone for a change for cheating. Let’s look around the brackets at other well known and busted cheaters such as John Calipari, Jim Calhoun. Why do schools continue to hire these guys? Duh….Winning!

Football is even more bogus. Schools get busted all the time and nothing and I mean NOTHING happens to the coaches. Jim Tressel is the latest one to fall under the trap and not be smart enough to avoid serious ramifications. Will Ohio State remove him? Doubtful…why…..DUH!!! Winning!

The most recent Big Cheat was paraded on to the Capital One Game Day set to talk about the National Title game two years ago and then promptly left for the NFL and the Seattle Seahawks. I am guessing Pete Carroll felt that he had done “all he could do at USC” and was ready to get “back into the NFL and the challenges it provides” Nope, liar again here sneaky Pete….you saw the steamroller called NCAA Sanctions coming and you ran like Chicken Little to the safe haven of the NFL, just before the house of cards came crashing in and your old beloved college school got smashed with sanctions and loss of scholarships.

The All time Biggest Cheater award goes to none other than Lou Holtz. How the hell ESPN pays this guy is beyond me. Cheater Lou had 4 coaching stints that are proven or pretty much guaranteed that he was cheating. Arkansas – He leaves, they go on probation, Minnesota and the House that Ricky Fogge built…you guessed in Lou again moves on to greener pastures and Whammo! The Gophers get hit by the NCAA. Of course the NCAA is not dumb enough to try and take on Touchdown Jesus, so while at Notre Dame, Lou’s cheaters ways go noticed but unseen, and Notre Dame goes from woeful to suddenly a National Powerhouse…..coincidence? He then hangs it up for 3 years (was he forced out or was the speaking circuit really that good?) and then goes to South Carolina, where …you guessed it, once he retires…shocking as this may be…they go on probation.

Am I the only one noticing a trend here???

Bottom line is until the NCAA does something to permanently remove coaches from the ranks of college athletics for cheating, nothing is going to greatly change. Boosters and coaches will continue to cheat the system, push the envelope and try to swindle in the best recruits for one basic and simple reason…

Duh….Winning! Duh…..

Stay Classy Richmond Spiders!

The first weekend of the NCAA tournament is over, and what havoc the upsets have wrought!  Three of the regions have at least one seed 8th or lower still alive, and the wacky Southwest region has the 10, 11, and 12 seeds still alive – ensuring that a 10 seed or worse will make it to the elite 8.

Virginia Commonwealth won three games in a span three games in a span of six days, beating USC in the play-in game (now known as a “first round” game) before beating #6 seed Georgetown and finally thrashing #3 seed Purdue 94-76 on Sunday.  The Rams face the Seminoles of Florida State (10 seed) in the next round.

Michigan made tournament history in their first round game, becoming the first team to ever win a tournament game without making a single free throw.  It’s not as bad as it sounds, though – the Wolverines only attempted one free throw.

I went out on a limb this year and picked a lot of upsets in my bracket.  Unfortunately, I picked the upsets that didn’t happen, while missing the ones that did.  While I correctly picked Butler to make it to the Sweet 16, I also predicted that Belmont and Bucknell would still be dancing.  Akron and Princeton also let me down, failing to win their games against Notre Dame and Kentucky.

Overall, my bracket is in horrible shape – but it can still be saved.  I have San Diego State cutting down the nets on April 4.  If that happens, I can stll emerge victorious.  Aztec Nation, I am one of you!

Disappointing sports weekend for the state of Iowa

While none of the men’s teams from Iowa made the NCAA tournament, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, and Iowa all made the field for the women’s tournament.  Unfortunately, they were all wiped out in the first round.  I forgot that the ISU women’s game was on ESPN2 until halfway through the second half.  I switched over the game, only to see Marist in full control.

At the NCAA wrestling tournament, Iowa State’s Jonathan Reader won a title in an otherwise disappointing weekend for the Cyclones.  The only bright spot was the fact that arch-rival Iowa was thwarted in their quest to win a third straight national title, as the Hawkeyes finished behind Penn State and Lehigh.  Even that silver lining had a cloud, as Penn State was lead by former Iowa State wrestler and coach Cael Sanderson.  The Nittany Lions won their first title in more than 50 years.

Get your baseball geek on

A friend of mine has developed a baseball simulation engine.  You pick a pitcher and a hitter, and he’ll spit out the results of a full season’s worth of plate appearances.  The app is now available as a web app and on Facebook, and will soon be available for Android.  More details from the mouth of the developer:

AtBatSim puts advanced simulation into the hands of baseball fans. Simulate at-bats between an MLB pitcher and hitter of your choice. While you’re watching a game, try out the simulator to get the inside track on what might happen next.

Sabermetric research has shown that pitchers have limited influence on what happens when a hitter puts a ball in play. This simulator puts an average defense on the field, and lets them react to hit balls. Fast players beat out more ground balls and stretch outfield hits into doubles and triples more often. You can simulate 700 plate appearances in seconds and get one detailed play as an example.

AtBatSim is available on the web http://www.atbatsim.com and as a Facebook app at http://apps.facebook.com/atbatsim/ . AtBatSim is targeting a release of an Android App by Opening Day 2011.

You can help by trying it out and offering feedback so the ratings and simulator improve over time…and of course by spreading the word on Facebook and telling your friends and co-workers about it.