I've got some bad news for opposing batters: Ricky Romero has turned the corner.
When this exactly happened, What it precisely means are each questions that are difficult to quantify. The phrase “turn the corner” is usually thrown at players who are filling out their potential; they haven’t reached their destination yet but are well on their way. In the case of Romero, sorting out How it happened seems like an equation we’re a little closer to understanding.
We can get all Norman Mailer here, discussing things like his “grit” and “ferocity” on stages where others grow timid. Ricky grew up in East Los Angeles, after all, a neighborhood best known for eating its young. As a highschooler entering his senior year he left teammates and friends he'd known for years and transferred to a bitter rival, a team he knew would provide better coaches and a brighter future. Some athletes transfer their talents to South Beach looking for a party, but when Ricky Romero enrolled at Theodore Roosevelt H.S. he did it for a different reason: Pursuit of victory.
His performance that season was otherworldly, crowned by a no-hitter thrown against his former team; one which he struck out 15 of 16 batters faced before a mercy rule kicked in and ended the assailment. Ricky’s season at Roosevelt earned him a scholarship to Cal State Fullerton, a baseball powerhouse in Southern California. Four years and an NCAA Championship later, Romero had forged himself in one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, was drafted by the Blue Jays, and thus entered the life of a professional athlete.
But all of that is assuredly background info, a brief bio as to what brought Ricky into our sights – what’s truly important are the steps he’s taken since. After all, no one is drafted into this league as an All-Star.
The NHL’s free agent season begins on Friday, and contrary to the name, there’s nothing free about it.
Teams will be falling over themselves to sign 15-goal scorers with limited upside to contracts worth $3 million annually. The Florida Panthers set the market when they traded for and signed Tomas Kopecky to a four-year contract worth $12 million. Granted the Panthers are in a unique situation – they need to spend $25 million next year just to reach the cap floor – but the fact that they opened the vault for a 29-year-old whose career year is 15 goals and 42 points is actually pretty frightening.
The Old Boys Network that is the Hall of Fame selection committee has spoken for another year, choosing to elect four well-travelled players, three of whom played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and two of whom suited up for the Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers.
Ed Belfour, Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk and Mark Howe will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Nov. 14.
The ceremony will be particularly significant for fans of the Flames and Stars. Gilmour and Nieuwendyk were teammates on the 1989 Cup-winning Flames team that also featured HOFers Al MacInnis, Lanny McDonald and Joe Mullen. Nieuwendyk and Belfour, meanwhile, helped lead the 1999 Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup, with Nieuwendyk earning Conn Smythe honours.
(Canadian captain Christine Sinclair after the final whistle.)
So, essentially, the Canadian women have been all but mathematically eliminated from the FIFA Women's World Cup with today's disappointing 4-0 loss to France. But! There are plenty of positives to take from this year's tournament.
The first and foremost being that Canada actually has a women's soccer team. Now, I know that might sound stupid, but thanks to increased media coverage (and Christine Sinclair's nose) the women's national side has made leaps and bounds in terms of exposure and recognition among everyday sports fans. Secondly, captain Sinclair has become a national sports figure beyond the country's soccer community, thanks to her gutsy performance in the team's 2-1 opening game loss to host Germany, in which she brushed off a broken nose to keep playing and scored a beautiful free kick goal. Yes that storyline has been jammed down our throats for the past week, but still, it's impressive and won't soon be forgotten.
Speaking of not being forgotten, despite finishing below expectations, the quality of Canada's team and the soccer in general, should bode well for ticket sales come 2015 when the tournament comes to Canada. Sure, it's slower than the men's game, but anyone who caught, say, the Toronto FC/Vancouver Whitecaps tilt last night, knows the international ladies are more fun to watch than a lot on offer. By 2015, Sinclair will be 32 and should still be a bankable star. Hopefully, Canada will go into that competition at least ranked as high as this year's 6th and following a year when the men finally make it to the world stage. Though the odds of the former vastly outweigh the latter.
Mike Weir, the only Canadian male to win a major championship, will work with Brantford, Ont.-based golf designer Ian Andrew to create a new course at Le Club Laval-sur-la-lac outside of Montreal, it was announced today.
It will be the first course for Weir, who partnered with Andrew in 2009. Andrew is best known for his restorations on classic Canadian courses like St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto, which hosted the 2010 RBC Canadian Open, and Nova Scotia’s Highlands Links, one of only two courses in the Top 100 in the world in Golf Magazine.
“We’re delighted to work with Mike Weir, the best golfer Canada has ever produced, and his partner, Ian Andrew, a respected Canadian course architect with whom we have collaborated for more than 15 years,” said Paul Legault, chairman of the board of Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac. Legault added that the Weir brings a “unique vision and experience to this ambitious project.”
Laval has two 18-hole courses, and Weir and Andrew will rework the newer of the club’s courses.
The renovation will see the course rebuilt, with a focus on providing greens that are playable by the club’s members, but will also challenge the best in the world.
Construction on the course is slated for later this year, with a projected opening in 2013. It is expected that the new course will host the 2017 RBC Canadian Open during the club’s centennial year.
“Mike and I are being given the opportunity to build something very special at Laval-sur-le-Lac,” said Andrew.
Despite giving kids of all ages horrible, horrible advice by advocating drinking milk right after a hockey game -- bad choice! -- Doug Gilmour had an excellent NHL career. Today, the Hockey Hall of Fame announces its 2011 inductees and the sports pages are filled with recommendations. But many seem to agree that 1,414 points and 450 goals in a 20-year career should be enough to get Gilmour in. Of course, we're talking about the same group that decided not to induct Pat Burns last year as the popular ex-coach was on his deathbed, so you never know.
Steve Simmons wrote in the Sun that the choice should be obvious, "Gilmour scored, played defence, killed penalties, led his team, made his teams better, won faceoffs, made his linemates the star. Dave Andreychuk, the former Leaf, who is up for the Hall again this year, was a 30-goal scorer playing with anyone but Gilmour. When he played with Gilmour, he scored at a 50-goal pace in 162 Toronto games. Joe Mullen, who has already been inducted to the Hall, scored 50 goals once. His centre was Gilmour."
Former NHL coach Ken Hitchcock told the Globe, "I've always wondered why Doug Gilmour's not there. Having coached against Doug Gilmour and knowing how he could just win games by himself, I've always found that surprising that he's never got into the Hall of Fame."
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to write this that is as inoffensive as possible, but there is something so inherently offensive in the sentiment I’m about to offer that it’s hard to avoid offending by typing it, so here it goes:
If Jonas Valanciunas was an American instead of a Lithuanian, Raptors fans would be cheering from the rooftops right now.
Here we have a seven-foot center (with a ridiculous 7-foot-6 wingspan) that plays around the basket, rebounds and blocks shots, is quick, nimble and runs the floor - and that’s a bad thing? I get that almost no fan has actually seen him play (I’ve only seen a handful of games myself), and I get that a buyout that may keep him out of the NBA next season, if there is a next season, is a bit of a downer, but the vitriol being spewed about this pick is a little unnerving. The sort of xenophobic/racist undertones of the fan’s discontent after last night’s pick made reading my Twitter @replies more than a little uncomfortable, and it was made all the more so by the fact that almost no one had actually seen him play and by the fact that there was no obviously superior option available with the fifth pick.
I was going to take a moment to explain why the four or five other possibilities for the Raptors in the draft had their red flags, just like Valanciunas does, but I feel that would be regressive. I’ll say this instead, because I think it gets at the heart of the issue: Valanciunas is NOT Andrea Bargnani. Valanciunas makes his living around the basket, Bargnani makes his out on the perimeter. Last year in Euroleague play, Valanciunas averaged 5.4 rebounds in just 14.9 minutes. Last year in the NBA, Bargnani averaged 5.2 rebounds per game in 35.7 minutes. That means that, per-40 minutes, Valanciunas averaged 14.6 rpg against Bargnani’s 5.8 rpg. So, he rebounds a lot more.
He also blocks shots, can defend the pick-and-roll, hustles when he’s out on the court and did I mention he plays around the basket? For someone that has a very similar build to Andrea Bargnani, he is in almost every way the opposite of Andrea Bargnani.
If you’ve ever happened across the popular NBC situation comedy The Office and noticed the curly-haired, bespectacled mom making paper sales at her desk, you’ve doubtlessly wondered, “Hmmm... I bet you that Phyllis used to be a smokin’ hot professional cheerleader.” And you would be correct.
Actress Phyllis Smith (not to be confused by the character she plays on TV, Phyllis Lapin-Vance) revealed in an interview with Slate that she used to be a cheerleader for the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals, presumably rooting as hard for the birds as she now does Vance Refrigerating. Shy, gentle Phyllis is just full of surprises, isn’t she?
“I was at the height of my glory, because I loved dancing and wearing the boots and the hotpants, the tied up shirts, looking really hot,” Smith says in the article. “And I was able to dance, I loved football. My dad used to have season tickets, so I was flirting with the guys on the sidelines as much as I could. The organizations make sure that the cheerleaders and the players have minimal contact, but that’s what you try to do. It was great, in the ’70s.”
Though the Cardinals have changed locations (hello, Arizona) and today’s cheerleaders are discouraged from wearing full-length sweaters, it might be fun to see Phyllis conduct a midfield coin flip in Arizona this season. Or head up the Cards’ party-planning committee. Hotpants optional.
Former UFC fighter Nate Marquardt has been stuck in a nightmare the last few days, one that he has been hoping to wake up from. Marquardt was all set to make his 170-pound debut against rising star Rick Story on Sunday at UFC on Versus 4 until an issue with the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission (PSAC) brought a halt to his weekend fight but more importantly, his career.
In a shocking turn of events, UFC President Dana White quickly took to the Internet before the weigh-ins this past Saturday to announce the removal of Marquardt from not only the weekend’s card, but also UFC’s roster.
Marquardt very public dismissal from the sport’s premiere promotion stems from an issue with the PSAC and their pre-fight testing. Greg Sirb, the executive director of the PSAC held a brief press conference to shed some light on the situation. According to Sirb, Marquardt failed to meet the pre-fight medical requirements of the state to be licensed to compete in the cage on Sunday. Sirb went on to say that Nate had until 3 PM on Saturday to meet the commission’s requirements, but as a result of his non-compliance he was suspended indefinitely. Members of the media continued to hound UFC president and the athletic commission but Dana and the PSAC maintained that due to legal constraints, the only person who could release the specifics of the situation was Marquardt himself.
Before the fights on Sunday Dana White, who is never one to mince words, appeared on the Versus pre-fight show to give his opinion on the situation, “I’m pretty disgusted with Nate Marquardt.” He went on to say, “(Marquardt) has been cut from the UFC. He won’t fight in the UFC ever again.” When asked if this quick decision to fire Nate was as a result of some past issues with the fighter White remarked, “Nate Marquardt is a nice guy, he’s a sweetheart, always says nice things and is a nice guy. But you know, being nice and acting nice and doing the right things are two different things.”
This isn’t the first time Marquardt has had an issue with a state run athletic commission. In August 2005 the then UFC Middleweight tested positive for higher than normal levels of the anabolic steroid nandrolone and was handed a six-month suspension for his transgression by Nevada’s commission. Marquardt maintained that he had taken an over-the-counter supplement and that was the cause of the abnormal test results.
Nate Marquardt announced via Twitter today that he would be breaking his silence at 1PM ET today, so stay tuned to Sympaticio Sports for all of the updates as we get them.
[ Update ]
Nate Marquardt announces that he has been undergoing testosterone replacement therapy, not unlike the treatment Chael Sonnen was receiving before the Anderson Silva fight. Marquardt claims that he was taking this therapy before the Dan Miller fight in March of this year then stopped after the fight. The New Jersey Athletic Commission requested more paperwork from Marquardt's doctor as well as Nate visit their own endocrinologist. The state's doctor suggested that Nate go back on the testosterone replacement therapy, and so he did leading up to the Rick Story fight.
Marquardt and his manager claim that they have now provided the required documentation to the Pennsylvania state athletic commission and that pending a athletic board meeting later this week, his suspension should be lifted.
Nate chokes back tears as he takes full responsibility for his actions, or lack of actions leading up to this headlining fight. He realizes he should have handled the situation differently and been more proactive with his doctors leading up to the event.
May 2011
