Loading ...
Hockey News from NHL.com
EDMONTON - New Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz believes depth in the team’s executive offices will lead to on-ice success, a theory that led to Steve Tambellini’s hiring as general manager Thursday.
The move comes as part of larger shakeup …
Manny Ramirez Trade Details:
They give up two minor leaguers, including Andy LaRoche, in three-way deal involving the Pirates. Jason Bay goes to Boston.
The Dodgers acquired outfielder Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox today in one of the boldest trade deadline moves in their history.
More
Oh My!!! The Boston Red Sox have traded superstar outfielder Manny Ramirez across the country to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Often temperamental and unpredictable, Ramirez went through one of his regular season “I don’t wanna be here” syndromes and Boston finally took action.
Boston will front the remaining $7 million for this season of Ramirez’s contract, so the Dodgers get a HUGE impact player for almost nothing.
I believe the trade instantly improves the Dodgers in a weak division, which looks winnable now w/ this move. The D-Backs are there only real competition and they haven’t made a move, so the Dodgers leapfrog them in my opinion.
There was a 3rd team involved in the deal, the Pittsburgh Pirates, who traded outfielder Jason Bay to Boston.
Wow, I really don’t see how the Red Sox lose a step at all w/ this trade. Bay will step in right away and they shouldn’t miss a beat.
The Pirates are surely just dumping salaries, as usual, and can be expected to suck ass for at least another year. Might want to check the GM’s head after this one… he was basically a pawn for the Red Sox & Dodgers. Does he know they still suck?
As a D-Backs fan, I am excited now… the division race gets more interesting, a player I like will play in AZ several times more now (vs. virtually never before). I love the move by Boston.
View all Manny Ramirez jerseys
View all Los Angeles Dodgers jerseys
View all Boston Red Sox jerseys
Baseball News from L.A. Times
Anderson powers the offense and Saunders gets his 14th victory as the Angels finish off their second three-game sweep of Boston in two weeks.
Garret Anderson went 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs, Joe Saunders earned his 14th victory and the Angels swept the lackluster and error-prone Boston Red Sox, 9-2, Wednesday night.
Football News from NFL.com
John Lynch’s days with the Denver Broncos appear to be over. The veteran safety met with coach Mike Shanahan on Wednesday and told Denver’s KCNC-TV that Shanahan gave him permission to explore other opportunities.
John Lynch has really only known two teams in his NFL career - the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Denver Broncos. Despite playing his heart out in Tampa Bay for 11 years, the Bucs let him go as a free agent in 2004. They simply couldn’t afford him anymore and they had good enough defensive system to where they could replace him fairly well (aside from leadership).
Denver was more than happy to take on Lynch, a 5-time Pro Bowl player at the time, after the Bucs had decided to go another direction. John went on to be appointed to 4 more Pro Bowls while with the Broncos, so he was clearly not done in Tampa.
While John may not have lost too much speed or athleticism to compete for his job in Denver, it’s clear that the Broncos are now heading in the same direction Tampa did in 2004 - younger & cheaper.
I’m not sure where Lynch could get signed now, but there are plenty of teams that might take him on just to get the leadership and a couple solid games out of him.
Hockey News from NHL.com
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -Mark Parrish’s homecoming didn’t work out.
The Minnesota Wild bought out the final three years of the right winger’s contract on Wednesday, ending Parrish’s frustrating return to his hometown market. Parrish cleared waivers…
Fantasy football owners and team managers are still sweating bullets w/ Peyton Manning’s situation still unknown. While Manning has arrived to training camp, he has not participated in any drills or practices and it’s not even clear where he’s staying (in town). The Indianapolis Colts have virtually everything riding on the former MVP and Super Bowl champion quarterback. Without him running the offense, they take a huge step back and probably don’t make the playoffs.
Peyton Manning finally arrived in town. Where he is or when he’ll practice with the Indianapolis Colts remains a mystery. The two-time league most valuable player had surgery July 14 to remove an infected bursa sac in his left knee, but still has not appeared on the Colts’ practice fields. Team officials are keeping his whereabouts hush-hush.
While other teams have had quarterback issues and concerns for several decades (see AZ Cardinals, Tampa Bay Bucs), Indy has had the luxury of putting Peyton Manning on the field for the last decade. This seems to be the first year that their have been question marks surrounding the status of their leader. If Peyton can’t make it to start the season, I would expect Jim Sorgi to get the nod.
Until we hear more, Colts fans and fantasy owners will have wait nervously as the season approaches.
View all Peyton Manning jerseys
View all Indianapolis Colts jerseys
The Atlanta Braves have given up on this season, as evidenced by the trade of slugger Mark Teixeira, to the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday. For the Braves, who have Chipper Jones and Tim Hudson on the DL, and virtually no shot at a division title or wild-card berth, the time had come to shed payroll and plan for next year.
Teixeira adds more offense to an already potent lineup in L.A. I would assume that he’ll bat 3rd before Vlad Guerrero or 5th (after him). The trade moves probably doesn’t affect Torii Hunter or Garret Anderson a bit further down in the lineup. It will be interesting to see if they use Mark as the DH or put him on the field, although it’s been pointed out that the Angels did trade their 1st basemen for Teixeira, so he will probably play 1st base primarily. While I’m sure he’ll get a bit of both, I see him more in the DH role for the Angels.
The Los Angeles Angels already have the best record in baseball. That didn’t stop them from making a bold move two days before the trade deadline. With their sights set firmly on the World Series, the Angels pulled off a blockbuster deal Tuesday to acquire slugger Mark Teixeira from the fading Atlanta Braves.
My Arizona Diamondbacks were also in the running for Mark Teixeira, so I am a little upset that we did not make a big enough play to acquire him. The D-Backs are severely lacking on offense, so a bat of Teixeira’s caliber would’ve done wonders in Phoenix. It seems like they never have the balls to make a big move, despite the obvious need. There’s still a chance that they’ll make a deal, but the type of player they can get now has diminished. Kudos to the Angels for pulling the plug… it doesn’t hurt that they have a bigger budget to work w/ either though.
The ongoing saga of Brett Favre’s return to the NFL continues on Tuesday, after Favre faxed reinstatement papers to the NFL office. The paperwork sets the groundwork for Brett Favre to return to the NFL - whether that’s with the Green Bay Packers or with another NFL team. The Packers are addressing all questions about the issue to the commissioner’s office. They also continue to insist that Aaron Rodgers is the future and Favre is the past. A senior Packers’ official is planning to visit w/ Favre in Mississippi to discuss the team’s plans for him.
Brett Favre’s decision to file for reinstatement will force the Green Bay Packers to do one of three things: release him, trade him, or allow him to report to camp. If he reports, it potentially could cause a major distraction for a team that committed to moving on after he retired in March. NFL spokesman Randall Liu confirmed that Favre sent his reinstatement paperwork to the NFL offices Tuesday.
As I’ve stated previously, I hope Favre does end up w/ another team so that we can continue to watch him play. I do not feel that Green Bay is the right place for him, so I hope he ends up in New York w/ the Jets or in Tampa w/ the Bucs. Brett is still an asset, so it would be stupid of of the Packers to release him - if he doesn’t play, they must trade him ASAP.
Fantasy team owners will have a bugger of a draft if this issue isn’t worked out soon. Favre is easily one of the Top 5 fantasy quarterbacks - if he is a starter in the NFL. If he doesn’t get signed soon, however, chances are that Brett Favre will be picked in the later fantasy draft rounds as a “hopeful” contributor to a fantasy team.
Stay tuned to JockJerseys.com for the latest on Brett Favre’s situation…
The Chicago Bears and kick returner Devin Hester have agreed to a new 4-yr contract; amending an existing football contract w/ 2 years remaining. If you’ve read this blog before, you know that this process of contract re-negotiating pisses me off. Hester was under contract for 2 more years; he was not a free agent, he was not in the last year of his deal - he had 2 YEARS left.
Kick returner Devin Hester has signed a new four-year contract with the Chicago Bears. The team announced the deal Sunday. Hester skipped the first two days of training camp because he wanted to renegotiate his contract, which had two years left. Hester returned to camp Friday, saying there was progress in the negotiations.
Devin Hester had only missed 2 days of camp, but the message was pretty clear… pay up, or I’ll sit out. It’s really too bad that the Bears would not call his bluff and make him sit. Hester’s situation is not new; many high profile NFL players have used their status as leverage against their teams.
With this issue now resolved, we can once again focus on the circus that is Brett Favre & the Green Bay Packers. 
View all Devin Hester jerseys
View all Chicago Bears jerseys
Former LSU football standout Glenn Dorsey, a 1st round draft pick by the Kansas City Chiefs has agreed to a 5-yr, $51 million contract. Dorsey had some injury issues coming into the draft and slipped a few spots down to Kansas City, but it appears that the team is confident that Dorsey is their guy.
Glenn Dorsey walked up and shook hands with the man who’d just made him rich. “I promise I’ll work hard,” said the big defensive tackle, towering over Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt. “I know you will,” Hunt said. “It’s great to have you with us.” After a brief contract holdout that essentially cost him only one practice, Dorsey signed a five-year, million deal Saturday morning that includes…
From all accounts, Glenn Dorsey is a quality guy and a tough football player, so he should be a tremendous asset to the Chiefs organization. It is good to see the two sides come to an agreement before too many official practices had been completed at the Chiefs training camp, otherwise, half the season would’ve been lost for Dorsey (figuratively).
View all Glenn Dorsey jerseys
View all Kansas City Chiefs jerseys
Reports out of Green Bay are that Packers coach Mike McCarthy is pushing Aaron Rodgers as the team’s starter at quarterback, despite the ongoing issues w/ Brett Favre.
Even Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy isn’t quite sure how the Brett Favre unretirement saga will play out over the next few days. But he does know this much: Favre or no Favre, Aaron Rodgers is his starting quarterback. In his season-opening news conference at Lambeau Field on Saturday, McCarthy strongly affirmed the team’s commitment to Rodgers and reiterated that players and coaches spent…
The entire team has already indicated that Favre is done as a Packer, although not in those exact words. Green Bay is ready to move on w/ Rodgers at the helm, but they still have to figure out what to do w/ Favre. Brett has 3 yrs remaining on his contract, so the Pack aren’t just going to let him go. NFL rumors have Favre going to the Bucs (Tampa Bay) or Jets, although nothing is for sure at this point.
It would certainly be weird to see Brett Favre in another uniform, but cool at the same time. I HATE the Packers, but love Favre, so it will be nice to be able to fully cheer for his team (whoever it might be).
The New York Yankees bolstered their chances of making the playoffs by acquiring Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte from the Pirates. The trade gives the Yankees another outfielder who will improve the batting lineup and a reliever who will be a welcome change to the bullpen.
While the trade is by no means a guarantee that New York will reach the playoffs, it puts them a leg up for the 2nd half of the season. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are showing signs that they’re just not ready to lead the division and the Boston Red Sox are going through some “Manny” problems, so the Yankees are primed to take over.
Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte were with the Yankees and ready to play against the Boston Red Sox after New York finalized a six-player trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday. The Yankees are sending top outfield prospect Jose Tabata and minor league right-handers Dan McCutchen, Jeff Karstens and Ross Ohlendorf to Pittsburgh.
Good news for Jimmie Johnson fans - their driver has earned the pole in this weekend’s Allstate 400 race at the Brickyard.
In a Saturday morning qualifying session dominated by Chevrolet and Dodge, Jimmie Johnson won the pole for Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, narrowly edging Mark Martin for the top spot (watch video).
Jimmie Johnson currently sits in the 5th spot of the NASCAR driver standings. He has not performed quite up to his capabilities so far this season, but there are quite a few races remaining and Johnson usually finishes the race season extremely strong.
As NFL training camps get ready to open up (some already have), prognosticators are plentiful, but no one will really know with absolute certainty who this year’s Super Bowl champion will be. There are many possibilities, including 3-4 “pencil them in” candidates, as well as 3-4 other teams who could pull off a stunning playoff run (e.g. 2000’s St. Louis Rams). Last year provided some intense moments, record breaking performances and an unlikely NFL champion in the New York Giants. With several teams fielding almost identical rosters from last year, it will be interesting to see how this year’s NFL season develops.
NFC Contenders
New York Giants
You can’t write a list of contenders without including last year’s Super Bowl champs. They lost Michael Strahan to retirement, but Eli Manning’s confidence should be through the roof and the offense is virtually the same as last year. If the running backs can stay healthy and the defense can survive (mentally) without Strahan, the Giants will be in the mix late in the season. [New York Giants jersey]Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys have beefed up their payroll (and problem child’s) this year, but there’s hope in Big D. Tony Romo has another year of experience and is primed for a better season. Terrell Owens is a monster receiver, but could be the cause of more headaches that he’s worth. The recent signing of Adam “Pacman” Jones is risky as well, considering he’s not been reinstated to play this season, but if he is allowed to play, the defense should be outstanding. There are only 2 threats for the Cowboys: the Giants and themselves. [Dallas Cowboys jersey]Philadelphia Eagles
Another NFC East team - another contender. The Eagles have a strong offense and defense; much like the Giants. When healthy, they can compete with anyone. If Donovan McNabb can stay on the field all season, Philadelphia will make the playoffs and be in good position for the playoffs. [Philadelphia Eagles jersey]Nobody
Yes, these above are the only 3 serious contenders in the NFC from my perspective. Carolina, New Orleans, Washington, Minnesota and Green Bay round out the “maybe’s”, but they all have issues that could keep them from winning a title.
AFC Contenders
New England Patriots
After finishing the regular season undefeated and reaching the Super Bowl, only to lose to New York, the Patriots will be out for blood in 08-09. Randy Moss is on board, Tom Brady is still there and they still have their asshole coach, so you know they will perform well all season. Less focus will be paid this year on finishing with a “perfect record”, but they may still have one when all things are said and done. [New England Patriots jersey]Indianapolis Colts
Another extremely strong & well-coached team, the Colts are serious contenders for the NFL championship as well. With Peyton Manning at the helm and Tony Dungy on the sidelines, this team can beat anybody and could also challenge the Patriots for a perfect regular season record. They will have to figure out how to beat the Patriots (again), and face extremely competitive challenges from the Jaguars, Chargers and/or Steelers if they want to try for their 2nd championship in the last 3 years. [Indianapolis Colts jersey]San Diego Chargers
LaDainian Tomlinson… One player who could almost single-handedly put his team in the playoffs. Add Phillip Rivers, w/ another year of experience, a decent wide receiving core and a solid defense, and you have a contender. I’m not sure this crew has enough to get past the Colts or Patriots, but they’ll certainly give it their best shot. [San Diego Chargers jersey]Pittsburgh Steelers
Big Ben and Co. will be seeking their 2nd championship this decade, featuring a lineup of Willie Parker, Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu. This team is explosive on offense, controls the clock well and punishes the opposition on defense. To be a serious contender, the Steelers will need to average at least 20-22 points per game - their defense will handle the rest. [Pittsburgh Steelers jersey]Others
The Jagaurs have a good shot, as do the Broncos, Browns and Bengals of making the playoffs. They will struggle against the elite teams, but will put together strong games and be competitive until they are eliminated.
Super Bowl Preview
I see the Patriots vs. the Cowboys in the championship game, w/ the Cowboys taking it.
I’d love to get some other predictions… leave your comments.
The man in orange, “smoke”, Tony… whatever you like to call him, Mr. Stewart is on his way out of Joe Gibbs Racing after 10 years together in NASCAR. Reports surfaced yesterday and confirmed today that Tony Stewart, NASCAR’s current “meany”, will be leaving the JGR team to start his own team w/ Haas CNC Racing. The new name will be Stewart/Haas reportedly.
Stewart is my favorite driver, so I am quite upset that all my lovely orange merchandise will have to be thrown out… ok, it’s UGLY orange, so thank god he’s switching to another color. I wish he was keeping the #20 car, but that’s not likely.
Tony will be an owner/driver for the new organization, so there’s a lot riding on the deal. A familiar sponsor for Stewart, Home Depot, will remain w/ Gibbs racing and the #20 car will likely be filled by Joey Logano, a rising Nationwide driver and potential racing superstar.
JGR is definitely headed in a different direction than w/ Stewart, as evidenced by their switch to Toyota this year (Stewart is a Chevy guy) and the success of both Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin this season. Their success has almost pushed Tony Stewart into the “3rd guy” role. Unfortunately, Tony is a “me first” guy, so that philosophy at JGR wasn’t vibing w/ him in my opinion.
Other drivers have moved to the driver/owner role in the past, including Michael Waltrip (unsuccessfully). Tony will certainly have his work ahead of him as he tries to field a competitive team w/ a lower-profile racing team. While the new team is a partner w/ Hendrick Motorsports, they will still be at a disadvantage w/ equipment and come race time. Stewart hasn’t really struggled to qualify in the past, but Gibbs racing is probably at least partially responsible for Tony’s driving success. No matter how good the driver, and Tony is good, you can’t win w/ a crappy car.
Other News…
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Nationwide team has lost NAVY as it’s sponsor. Not a good sign for JR Motorsports.
Shop below for Tony Stewart apparel & merchandise:
