Don't run til the ball gets past the infield!

I'm currently watching the Boston Red Sox take on the Oakland As. Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury, who nevertheless is 24 years old and has been playing baseball for 15 years or so... just tried to advance from 2nd to 3rd on a ball hit in front of him. Of course he was thrown out by a mile.

And I'm thinking.... what? What? How can a professional baseball player, who's been playing the game for 15 years and probably has watched the game on TV for the same amount of time, not know that you do not try to advance from 2nd to 3rd on a ball hit in front of you?

Jacoby's the latest ballplayer to make that foolish mistake, but he's certainly not the only one I've seen do it...

The boys of summer need to grow up

In a minor league brawl, pitcher Julio Castillo threw a ball - as hard as he could - towards the opposing teams dug out. It ended up missing that dugout, went into the stands, and hit an onlooker.

Castillo was arrested and is going to be charged with felonious assault.

Meanwhile, if you watch the video...it was a heckuva lot worse than the WNBA brawl, every player was involved in it - as happens whenever there is a benches clearing brawl in baseball... so much testosterone going on you could cut a knife with it.

And of course, if any player does NOT get involved in that brawl, he'd be branded a coward and would definitely never play again. But those who do get into the brawls, even if they hurt someone else, are probably heroes and their jobs are safe...

The Proof is in the Video?

It has long been known - by those of us who watch cop shows - that eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable. Everyone sees something different, and when they tell their stories they forget things, add things (in all honesty) etc. etc.

But you'd think that when video of an incident exists, it would be easy to tell exactly what happened.

Well, yesterday, I posted the video of the WNBA scuffle between Candace Parker and Plenette Pierson.

And its funny, but the different fan bases (the Tennessee Lady Vols, who love Candace Parker, and the UConn Huskies, who dislike her ) each of whom are seeing the same video, each have diametrically opposed opinions of what happened.

The Lady Vol fans think Candace Parker was the victim all the way. Plenette Pierson threw her to the ground, then got up and started to walk across her as if she intended violence (which ensued when Candace tried to get up even though Plenette was halfway across her.)

The UConn fans claim that Candace threw Pierson to the ground, and that when Pierson was walking over her Candace deliberately brought her to the ground again.

As for myself... In the initial incident, Pierson goes to box out Parker and hits her hard with a hip. PArker seems to react by putting her arms on Pierson and pulling her down - which seems to be why Pierson jumps up so angrily and heads for Parker.

But when it comes to Pierson deliberately trying to walk over Parker...I can't blame Parker for trying to get up to be in a position to defend herself should Pierson start swinging or kicking...or just not want the ignominy of allowing herself to be stepped over. Bad for street cred, I suppose.

This is reminiscent of the many basketball games those two fan bases have argued about in the past. Invariably, invariably, the Lady Vols fans say that their team is being shorted on the personal fouls, and equally invariably, the Husky fans say theirs are. And yet their each watchign the same game from the same feed....

Candace Parker and Plenette Pierson in scufffle

In the last few seconds of the Los Angeles Sparks/Detroit Shock game, a scuffle broke out. Plenette Pierson, a violent player who has been in trouble before, either tried to run over or was pulled down by Candace Parker. (It is really impossible to see which way it was). Pierson, however, went off the deep end and went after Parker - causing one of her own players to be injured in the process.


From Youtube


http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?categoryId=2378529&brand=null&videoId=3501154&n8pe6c=2

Witness the wrath of the WNBA

Not my title, but the title of this video:



"Witness the wrath of the WBNA. Mark Kriski is kidnapped and forced to apologize to the Los Angeles Sparks."

Weatherman to Lisa Leslie
Paraphrase: What's happening in the WNBA and Sparks?

Lisa Leslie to Weatherman
"If you were good at your job you'd know."

The video of Shaq dissing Kobe

The clips have been making the rounds of the various sports talk shows and can be seen at Youtube - or in the link below.



I must say I'm disappointed in Shaq. His behavior displays a distinct lack of class ...

I never liked him as a player. The referees gave him 99% of the calls, and in the unlikely event that he was ever called for a foul - he'd whine about it. "The only way to beat me is to cheat me."

Then a few days ago the news came out that Shaq wanted to help people in Florida facing home foreclosure, by buying up their mortgages. And I thought... classy guy.

And now we get this.

He calls Kobe by the "n" word. (And why Mike Freeman thinks *that* makes him an "Uncle Tom" I do not quite understand...any more than I understand why black rappers can get away with using that word, and derogatroy comments about women, and advice to kill people, including the police, and that's excused because it reflects the "black experience.") I dunno...if that's the black experience, in this day and age (1970s onward) where racism is not tolerated, and welfare is ladled out, seems to me they have only themselves to blame for their "plight," and this new black experience is not one to be proud of.

Interestingly, none of the comments - on this video at least - mention his use of the "n" word at all. I guess it's just not important...

Lisa Leslie first woman to dunk in WNBA

Earlier today I shared a video of Candace Parker dunking in a Sparks-Fever game yesterday. It was the second dunk ever in a WNBA game.

So, here's a video of the very first dunk ever made in an WNBA game - by Lisa Leslie. She did it July 30, 2002 (and interestingly, never dunked again, apparently.)

Of course it's different in the women's game. In the men's game, it's all about showboating, but if a defender "teaches a lesson" to a dunker, he most likely wont get hurt. If a female player gets taken down, an injury could occur - women are very prone to ACL tears...

Anyway: the video - rather grainy.