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Before the Olbermann v. Simmons thing asploded recently, I was asked during an interview for an upcoming E! televison special on Tiger Woods to compare the celebrity of Woods to Muhammad Ali.
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(’Champ, seen my waffle iron?)
I said Ali was the only enduring, authentic worldwide sports celebrity we’ll ever know. His phenomena was just recent enough to benefit from technology-wrought global interconnectivity while missing sports as an end-all for hawking washing machines.
Today, the acknowledged reason Nike is in the golf business is its association with Tiger Woods. If Nike was around for Ali’s emergence, it’d be in the boxing biz.
With Woods (and Michael Jordan) as our guide, had Phil Knight fired up the waffle iron 20 years earlier, there’d be no Olbermann-Simmons debate.
(more…)
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Aroldis Chapman first burst onto the international scene when he showed his stuff at the WBC and Cuban National Series. Although Chapman didn’t dominate in either competition, scouts saw his ridiculous fastball and impressive breaking ball. Like many top Cuban prospects, Chapman defected and then established residence in Europe so that he could cement his free agent status instead of being subject to the draft. The move paid off as Chapman was signed by the Reds for what is believed to be five years at around $25 million. That solid investment by Cincinnati — they outbid teams like the Angels, Red Sox, and Blue Jays supposedly — seems like it could pay off as early as this year.
Making his Sprint Training debut on Monday, Chapman pitched two scoreless innings and struck out three against the Royals. Even more impressive is the report from USA Today that Chapman touched 102mph on the radar gun. Three of his pitches were clocked at 100mph or higher. While Chapman has some control issues and throwing hard doesn’t guarantee success, it sure makes it easier. Recall the examples of Justin Verlander, Randy Johnson, and Jonathan Broxton — all three have touched triple digits and have had tremendous success in the majors because they can blow hitters away consistently. Guys like Kyle Farnsworth can throw hard and get lit up but having a 100mph fastball is a tool that most people don’t have, thereby making it much easier to succeed.
Initial reports suggests Chapman would spend some time in the majors to hone his skills before going straight to The Show. If he continues to dominate like this, there wouldn’t be much of a reason to hold Arolids back. For all we’re hearing about Stephen Strasburg, Chapman is another pitcher we may have to keep just as close of an eye on.
(bonus video of Chapman’s outing below)
Sources: Reds’ Chapman Tosses Two Scoreless in Reds Debut [Hardball Talk] Reds’ Aroldis Chapman solid, tops out at 102 mph in debut [USA Today]

So the ‘net is all a twitter (web pun!) about the news that Robert De Niro will be portraying legendary football coach Vince Lombardi in an upcoming bio pic. Yeah, for real, people (or at least REALLY convincing bots) are actually giddy. To which I retort:

Dan Graziano at NFL Fan House has written an article saying they believe the Seattle Seahawks may be a possible landing spot for Eagles Quarterback Kevin Kolb.
Here is the blurb:
With Matt Hasselbeck still viable but getting old, the Seahawks could be interested in somebody like Kolb, a young player who’s already had some development and some NFL experience and could be ready to step in as a full-time starter soon, if not immediately. If Kolb were in this year’s draft and available at the No. 6 pick, the Seahawks might well jump at him. Does that mean it makes sense to deal the No. 6 pick for him?
The angle taken seems plausible, a young Quarterback with more experience then an unknown the Seahawks might draft.
However, this is still extremely unlikely to happen, and nothing has been reported as being official. If the Seahawks are serious about trading for Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall he will undoubtedly cost one of their first three picks. With a viable option at Quarterback with Matt Hasselbeck it would make little sense for them to deal two of their first three picks with so many other pressing needs amidst a rebuilding phase.

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I am going to side with Marbury on this one.
Seriously, because I can’t stand cold weather, someone needs to pay me to keep living in Saint Louis. Do you know the amount of Vaseline Marbury must has used while playing this year for the Shanxi Zhongyu in China?
According the Hoops Market he is not pleased with his current arrangement:
Former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury has failed to help his new team, Shanxi Zhongyu, to qualify for the CBA play-offs. Marbury has made good numbers in China (23.1 points, 9.4 assists and 6.2 rebounds), but it’s not happy with the cold weather of Shanxi province, and has demanded $2 million to continue next year. Marbury is earning $25K a month right now, since signing for the Chinese team a month and a half ago.
Since he was only being paid $25,000 a month, he obviously needs a more of a financial incentive to stay as well as he has to budget for his Vaseline.
I say give him the two million, so he can buy him a coat or something. Maybe he can invest in a new web cam for live streaming from China.
Keep fighting the good fight Starbury.
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Make no mistake, the Rooney family is infuriated with Ben Roethlisberger right now. The reckless driving of his motorcycle was one thing, the civil suit out in Las Vegas was pretty much accepted as a woman realizing she had the opportunity to make some money, but now this latest allegation, to go along with all the other little thing, has the Rooney family up in arms. They’ve made it quite clear, along with a lot of their fans, that Big Ben is quickly becoming an embarrassment to the black and gold he dons every Sunday…

Stephen Strasburg just completed his pro debut, which consisted of two scoreless innings in a Spring Training game against Detroit. My notes:
1. He works fast. So fast that MASN almost missed his first pitch.
2. He threw mostly fastballs, hitting 98 on the gun, but he missed the mitt with most of them.
3. The few breaking pitches he threw were filthy, including a knee-buckler to Miguel Cabrera and a called third strike that ended his day.
4. Despite striking out two and giving up two weak basehits, it only took him 20-some pitches to get through two innings.
5. Recycling what I tweeted: “The downside of watching Stephen Strasburg pitch? Hearing Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble talk.” And adding what Chris tweeted: “Oh, and Debbie Taylor. Can’t forget about her awfulness.”

The jury is definitely still out on Dwight Howard. Some people already see him as a dominant post player. Others believe that he’s missing something. Whether that something is post moves, a short jump short, or just a mean streak, people have noticed and they aren’t sold. One of the people that has noticed is former Chicago Bull, Scottie Pippen. Pippen recently gave his observations about Howard to the Orlando Sentinel and he was very clear about what he thinks Howard is lacking.
“He’s a very special player but I don’t think he’s going to win a championship until he gets another superstar to play alongside of him,” Pippen said recently while visiting Orlando. “A guy that’s very consistent and has that drive, that’s what it’s going to take. I don’t think that he can carry a team to a championship.” “He’s not that great of a scorer, he’s not a good shooter and he’s not a good foul shooter. So in the latter parts of the game, as big as he is and as much athleticism as he has, that becomes very small when the game gets into crunch time. He’s not the type of player that can dominate a game in the fourth quarter.”
Can’t carry a team to a championship? I won’t go that far. But I do believe Dwight Howard is missing a mean streak. If he sets his mind to it, he could be unstoppable. Fortunately for him, and the Magic, he has time to get it. Is Pippen right about Howard’s inability to dominate? (Orlando Sentinel) Have some breaking news or an interesting story we should see? Hit us up at nogutsglory@gmail.com

Plenty of NFL coaches have questions about the WR.