Jan 12th 2009 6:57PM by Tom Mantzouranis (author feed)

Tony Dungy, by all accounts, is a good guy. People who’ve met or know him constantly stress his character, his amicable personality, his overall likability. In the cutthroat NFL coaching world, where reputations are there to be broken down by those looking to climb the ladder, nobody has a bad thing to say about him. Also, he’s a great football coach.

But while you’re being inundated with retrospectives, glowing portrayals, and an avalanche of goodwill now that Dungy has retired from coaching; while it’s easy to let the media make you believe that Dungy is, just like deity he worships, infallible; it’s important to remember that he is in fact a human, and humans are flawed. Dungy is no exception.Continue Reading

Jan 12th 2009 7:00PM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)
Congratulations are in order for Jim Rice, who, after 15 long years of waiting, was finally elected to the Hall of Fame Monday.

Rice’s candidacy has been debated the last few years, with rigid statistical analysts citing his mediocre on-base percentage and poor numbers away from Fenway Park as cause to keep him out and equally rigid supporters, most of them writers who covered Rice when he played, lauding his presence in the batter’s box and status as the “most feared” hitter in the American League for much of his career.

Regardless of where you come down in the Rice debate (Personally, I would not have cast a vote in his favor), it’s impossible not to feel good for him. Getting as close as he did on the previous 14 elections, and then being forced to wait another year had to be tougher in many respects than falling off the ballot right away.Continue Reading

Jan 12th 2009 9:15PM by Bruce Ciskie (author feed)
When I was in high school, we would always ask “Who did you kiss?” when we found out someone we knew had mononucleosis. I’m a bit older now, and I understand that you don’t just get mono from kissing, so I’ll avoid the sophomoric joke when reporting this story. I’m sure you appreciate this.

It’s been a season of great play and great fortune for the Boston Bruins. Young guys have stepped into key roles and played really well, and they have gotten great goaltending from an unlikely veteran tandem. The news they got Monday is probably the first real bad news they have received all season.Continue Reading

Jan 12th 2009 11:00PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Shane Bacon, who makes TMZ look like the Superficial (no offense, SF), recently reported that golf’s young, total hotty Adam Scott was an item with Kate Hudson.

On the surface, it seems like a pretty cute little relationship. Until you hear that Alex Rodriguez might be dating her.
Kate Hudson was seen on a three-hour date with Alex Rodriguez in New York City this past week. We had reported late last year Kate and A-Rod flirting in Miami. Now that things have cooled between A-Rod and his “spiritual Kaballah” buddy Madonna, he can now finally date his way through all the blondes in Hollywood.
O.M.G. indeed. Look, the last thing to ever be remotely surprising is a gossip mag tying Alex Rodriguez to an attractive starlet. But it does seem odd that he’s being linked to Hudson so quickly after Scott was “dating” her. Of course, this can only really mean one thing: a duel to the death.

Glove, slap. Baby, glove slap …

Jan 12th 2009 11:25PM by Chas Rich (author feed)
It was a tight battle for most of the game. Louisville and Notre Dame went back and forth. The Cardinals taking it inside and getting their scores in the paint. The Irish doing it all on jumpers and kick-outs. It went to overtime, and Notre Dame did not have anything left in their legs and found themselves blasted out of Freedom Hall in that five extra minutes, 87-73.

The Cardinals got a big game from Terrance Williams and Samardo Samuels. The two interior players just overpowered the Irish inside. Their banging inside also opened things up for Earl Clark and Edgar Sosa to attack the rim. Louisville benefited from a game that was not tightly called.

For Notre Dame, they were in it in the first half with lots of threes. The Irish went 6-for-9 on the perimeter. Luke Harangody garnered 14 points in the first half, but a surprising number of his shots were jumpers rather than shots close to the basket. Louisville was able to keep from getting close to the basket with the ball.Continue Reading

Jan 12th 2009 11:45PM by Brett Pollakoff (author feed)
Warning: this one’s a little crazy, even for the insatiable New York media types. Knicks’ center Eddy Curry was handed a sexual harassment lawsuit on Monday, which normally wouldn’t be all that surprising — especially considering the example that was set by the team’s former president, Isiah Thomas.

But the shock comes when you realize that this lawsuit was actually filed by a dude: Curry’s former driver, David Kuchinsky.

If the man-on-man harassment case didn’t grab your attention at first glance, then maybe some of the details will.Continue Reading

Jan 13th 2009 12:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Blake Griffin is, in all likelihood, in the middle of his farewell tour, folks, so enjoy him while you can. Jeff Capel, Oklahoma head coach, did just that Monday night as the insanely talented sophomore picked up his NCAA leading 14th double-double to lead the Sooners over Rick Barnes and the Texas Longhorns in a decisive 78-63 win.

ESPN’s broadcast got particularly spicy around halftime when Barnes decided to call his starters out for not trying hard enough on the floor; certainly they could have played better, but a strong first half effort from Griffin and the Sooners — Texas ripped off an 11-1 run in the middle of the first half to close the gap — nearly put this one away before it could ever get good.

What it says about these two teams — and the upper echelon of college basketball — is that, despite the fifth and eleventh overall rankings, respectively, Oklahoma is currently the team to beat in the Big 12, and, I’m sorry, but right now it’s just not that close. Now maybe that gap shortens when the show rolls to Austin, but Oklahoma’s effort probably makes any coaches who put them below two loss North Carolina feel a little awkward.

Jan 13th 2009 1:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)

Wake Forest shocked most of the world on Sunday night with a win over North Carolina. (I say “most” because, well, some smart people picked them to win the national title before the season.) But it really wasn’t shocking to see them jump Duke in the AP poll and become the nation’s new number two ranked team; Pittsburgh, naturally, stayed put at one.

The only shocking thing to see was that in the Coaches poll, the Deacs didn’t jump the Devils. Quite odd, considering that, even as good as Duke is, Wake did just beat the unstoppable will of one Tyler Hansbrough. Perhaps it has something to do with Mike Krzyzewski’s recent comments to the media about the lack of respect his Devils have been getting.Continue Reading

Jan 13th 2009 1:30AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Ryan mentioned the possibility this morning that the San Diego Chargers could trade LaDainian Tomlinson this offseason; I suppose it kind of makes sense considering he really hasn’t factored into their final game during each of the last two seasons. Oh, and for the most part he looked more Dungy than Tony this season.

Well, those rumors have circulated just enough to hit the blogs, the mainstream and then filter their way back to sunny San Diego and LDT himself. For his part, he’s choosing to pretend like they’re just that: rumors.
Tomlinson says he’s heard the rumors that the Chargers may trade him, allowing them to keep the cheaper Darren Sproles and get some younger players and draft picks to build a stronger future. Tomlinson still has 4 years left on his contract, and says management has not told him anything.
Continue Reading

Jan 13th 2009 3:33AM by Chas Rich (author feed)
Missouri Tigers Leo Lyons is the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder. He is also the team leader career suspensions. First it was over academic issues. Last January his suspension came from his involvement in a night club incident.

Lyons grabbed suspension number three. It wasn’t exactly for anything major. If it were not for his previous problems, it probably would not have led to a suspension. Lyons was arrested after being pulled over for a traffic violation. Not for that incident, but because he failed to pay the fine for a previous traffic violation in 2006.

Coach Mike Anderson suspended Lyons indefinitely for the arrest. Coach Anderson explained that it was about Lyons failing to be responsible. A running theme for most of Lyons’ suspensions. He does not do anything particularly bad. He just behaves irresponsibly.

The reality is that the indefinite suspension of Lyons will probably be for just Wednesday game against Colorado. Lyons will pay the fines and then he will most likely be reinstated for Saturday’s game with Iowa State.