Even though this story was posted last week, I saw this headline while I was checking my email, and I found this story a little odd. Apparently, having to urinate in the latrine hole during God Bless America at Yankee Stadium is not allowed, and because of it, Bradford Campeau-Laurion of Queens who was ejected from a Yankees game for having to go is now considering legal action against the Yuckies.

When he tried leaving his seat, the po-po said he had to wait until the song was over.

“I then said to him, ‘I don’t care about God Bless America. I just need to use the bathroom.’ As soon as I said that, he immediately pinned my arm behind my back. He shoved me out the front gate and told me get out of their country if I didn’t like it.”

It turns out that the Yankees do have such a rule, and it is enforced by ushers, stadium security, and the po-po. However, the New York Civil Liberties Union says it’s unconstitutional:

“Because they are enforcing a rule of that imposes political correctness through refusing to let somebody go to bathroom while a patriotic song is playing, that violates Constitutional rights,” said Donna Lieberman, a spokesperson for the NYCLU.

Of course the po-po spun it and painted Campeau-Laurion as the bad guy, saying

“The officers observed a male standing on his seat, cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol, and decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior.”

Right. I believe the po-po. He was drunk, cursing, and acting disorderly. Just like a bunch of other fans do at the game. This is definitely one of those NWA Fuck tha Police moments. Amazing that in the year 2008, in the United States of America, where we have freedom of speech, when duty calls, we can’t answer if we’re at Yankee Stadium and they are playing God Bless America. Note to self: When at Yankee Stadium, don’t urinate during God Bless America, even if it means my bladder will explode. I hope this man sues the pants of the Yuckies and wins.

Who knew such brain farts happened in MLB? Apparently, thanks to Sean Rodriguez’s brain fart, now we know that these things can happen.

With the LA Angels leading the Detroit Tigers 6-0 on their way to a 7-1 win, Angels second baseman Sean Rodriguez struck out on a 4-2 pitch. Apparently, the home-plate umpire had reset the count to 1-2 after the scoreboard read 2-2, which he thought was wrong, when in fact it was correct. Upon the reset, Rodriguez took 2 more balls to run the count full, when he should have walked. He then struck out.

Because the Angels did not catch the mistake, there was no course for appeal, not that LA would have needed to anyways, with them winning 7-1. As Mike Scioscia said, that’s embarrassing. Yes, it is embarrassing. Not only is it embarrassing, but it could be boneheaded. What if that was a tight spot in the playoffs with the game on the line, and this brain fart ended up costing you the game? Losing focus during the game is unacceptable.

“Tell [those Ohio State fans] to worry about [Hurricanes] Gustav and Rita and those kinds of things. Beanie [Wells is] going to be fine.”

Those words courtesy of Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel. That definitely made me feel a lot better about the status of Ohio State running back Beanie Wells, 3 days after seeing him fall to the turf and clutch his foot in obvious pain. Despite the horrific looking nature of the injury, Tressel didn’t rule Wells out of Saturday’s game, saying

“I have the third vote. The first vote is the young person. … Then the medical people have a major vote. How you practice has a little bit to do with it especially as you get into the back end of the week. But when you have a veteran who’s had a lot of snaps and so forth, it’s not quite as critical. I’ll have that third and deciding vote, I guess.”

Wells has been getting daily treatment on his foot according to reports. Before getting injured on Saturday, Wells ran for 111 yards on 13 carries, including a 43-yard TD burst. If Wells doesn’t play on Saturday, redshirt freshman Dan “Boom” Herron, sophomore Brandon Saine and senior Maurice Wells (no relation) would fill in. At this point, I would like to get something off my chest: I would like to say a big FUCK YOU to everyone who says we’re dead meat vs. USC if Beanie is hurt. FUCK THE HATERS

You people said this about us following the 2005 season when we lost 9 starters on defense. Guess what? Our defense was back at the top of the pack once again in 2006. You people said we wouldn’t play in a title game after everyone we lost following the 2006 season. Guess what? We were right back in the national title game. What are you going to say this time if Beanie’s replacements run wild over USC or we win with a passing game? Huh? I hope the haters will insert their feet in their mouths again.

In Chicago in 2004, we had the Mark Prior watch. In Columbus in 2008, we have the Beanie Wells watch.

Two days after Ohio State running back Beanie Wells injured his foot, Beanie did not practice, and continued to wear a protective boot on his foot. Wells has been receiving treatment, but the school had nothing new to say about his injury, except for coach Jim Tressel saying the doctors told him that there are no broken bones and it’s not turf toe.

It’s probable that Ohio State can get by this Saturday against Ohio University, but it’s not so certain the following week vs. USC in a huge showdown. If Wells is out, his replacements would be Brandon Saine, Dan Herron and Maurice Wells (no relation to Beanie). All of them have distinct styles of running the ball and have the ability to spice up the offense, but none of them have shown the game-breaking abilities of Beanie, and they most certainly have not gained 1,600 yards between them, as Beanie did last year

Now Chad Johnson really is Ocho Cinco. The Cincinnati Bengals nutcase wide receiver has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco. The change became official this week. On the Bengals team website, Ocho Cinco said,

“It’s something I don’t think anyone has ever done before. Have I ever had a reason for why I do what I do? I’m having fun.”

This all started 2 years ago in October 2006, when Johnson said during an interview that in honor of Hispanic heritage month, he would go by the name Ocho Cinco – a reference in Spanish to his uniform # 85. The correct way to say that in Spanish would actually be Ochenta y Cinco. No word yet if Ocho Cinco will be allowed to wear that on his jersey, or if the NFL will fine Ocho Cinco, or as his coach says, Ocho Psycho, for this stunt.

Heisman trophy contender Chris “Beanie” Wells injured his right foot during second-ranked Ohio State’s 43-0 victory over Youngstown State on Saturday and had to be carted off the field and did not return. X-Rays were negative, but after visiting doctors, his status was unknown.

Beanie however said he might have hurt it before the play he went down, saying

“I may have rolled it or planted wrong a play or two before. Something just didn’t feel right. Then I think I felt a pop. But the X-rays are OK, so we’ll see how it feels in a day or two.”

On the play where Wells went down, he fell to the ground without even being hit, fumbling away the football on a first and goal at the Youngstown State 2. He had to be helped off the field and carried to the locker room on a motorized cart. Beanie did however return to the sidelines in the 4th quarter wearing a boot on the foot.

How long Beanie is out for remains to be seen, but if he can’t play vs. USC, Ohio State’s hopes of losing the national title game to an SEC team for the 3rd year in a row might be in serious jeopardy.

2 days after (now former) Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti returned from Beijing where he covered the Olympics, the highly opinionated, controversial columnist in who’s honor this blog is named after, has resigned from the Sun-Times after 17 years to pursue other opportunities.

Mariotti told the Sun-Times rival paper, the Chicago Tribune in a phone interview that he decided to quit because while he was in China, it had become clear to him that sports journalism had become a web site business, and not many people there were writing for newspapers. He also said he doesn’t see himself having a future writing for newspapers, and that he doesn’t know what he will do from here, except that he will continue to be a panelist on Around the Horn.

In the city of Chicago, rich in sports tradition and loyalty, Jay Mariotti is regarded as the face of the Chicago sports media. With his no bullshit approach, always asking the hard questions that no one else wanted to ask, blasting the truth, and pulling no punches, Mariotti is the model of how sports writers, and newspaper writers in general ought to be.

What Mariotti does from here is not known yet. Mariotti has said he is talking with websites about writing for them. His bio on the Sun-Times website says he is planning to write a book soon. Maybe now he can write that book. Regardless of what happens, I wish Jay nothing but the best. When he gets his new gig, you can expect it to be reported here, with a new link to his work.

So with the recent news of Chicago Bears left tackle Chris Williams having back surgery to fix a herniated disk that the Bears knew about when they drafted him, but claim is unrelated to the previous condition, what is Jerry Angelo when it comes to success in the first round of the draft? 0 for what? I’ve lost count. In any case, Jerry Angelo has done it again, ignoring the warning signs and trying to spin it as something new. Give it up Jerry, admit you messed up. Explain why he was slipping on other team’s boards over concerns on his back? Explain why you took him, when other left tackles were there at #14? Explain how 3 tests before the draft didn’t catch this? Ladies and gentlemen, I nominate Jerry Angelo for worst GM of the year. Enjoy your 3-13 season thanks to no line, no WR, no RB, no QB, and no defense. This is possibly the worst team I’ve ever seen.

With the United States winning the men’s 4x100m medley relay in world record fashion, Michael Phelps has achieved his goal of winning 8 gold medals in these Beijing Olympics, topping Mark Spitz and his 7 golds in Munich in 1972. Unbelievable. 8 gold medals. 7 world records, and an 8th Olympic record. Wins by the slimmest of margins, and wins by wide margins. When it looked like his dream of 8 gold medals would be shattered, at the last instant Phelps or his teammates turned it on and got the gold. To recap, this is what happened:

400 m Individual Medley: WR 4:03.84
4 x 100 m freestyle relay: WR 3:08.24, the anchor leg swimmer Jason Lezak was one body length behind the French team when he dove in, Phelps also set the American record for the 100 m freestyle, with a lead-off time of 47.51
200 m freestyle: WR 1:42.96
200 m Butterfly: WR 1:52.03
4 x 200 m freestyle relay: WR 6:58.56, first ever relay team to go under 7 minutes
200 m individual medley: WR 1:54.23
100 m butterfly: OR 50.58, was trailing until the end when he out-touched Milorad Čavić of Serbia
4 x 100 m medley relay: WR 3:29.24

What an unbelievable performance. The greatest Olympic performance ever, in my opinion. To go with his 6 gold medals, and 2 bronze medals from Athens, Phelps has more Olympic gold medals than anyone else, and with 3 more medals in London, he will have more Olympic medals than any other Olympian ever.

The long-standing negotiations between Ben Gordon and the Chicago Bulls seem to have ended, when Ben Gordon said on Friday that he doesn’t see himself playing for the Bulls in the upcoming 2008-09 NBA season, saying,

I guess it’s safe to say I’ve played my last game in a Bulls uniform.

Gordon said that his agent has been talking with other teams about a possible sign-and-trade, saying,

I’m pretty optimistic it’ll happen. It’s very likely.

Gordon’s agent has also said that playing in Europe is a possibility, but the only certainty is that Gordon won’t sign the Bulls one-year qualifying offer of $6.4 million. Gordon has also said that because of the slow pace of negotiations that he feels he’s being stiffed, and with a logjam in the backcourt, he feels going somewhere else is best, saying

“It’s a numbers game. Last season at the trade deadline, they brought in more guards and I saw my minutes drop and didn’t understand why. This year, the problem’s still the same. I don’t see it getting better, so maybe it’ll be a better situation for me personally somewhere else.

After turning down a 5-year, $50 million contract last year, Gordon feels that he should be the team’s highest paid player because he’s the leading scorer. If the Bulls were to comply, they would have to top the 6 year, $71 million contract they recently gave to Loul Deng, which will never happen as long as Jerry Reinsdorf is running the show, as it would put the Bulls over the luxury tax limit, and JR has said he won’t pay the luxury tax for a team that isn’t a title contender. (Like he’d pay it for a title contender, but I digress)

Who the hell is Ben Gordon to want to be the team’s highest paid player!? He’s not a superstar worthy of that kind of money. He doesn’t play any defense. He clanks a lot of shots. And so what if he’s the team’s leading scorer. He doesn’t even average 20 points a game. What good is that? Why do you think you’re better than Monta Ellis, who recently got a 6 year, $67M contract from the Golden State Warriors? You’re not. Being the leading scorer on a crappy team is like winning 10 cents in the lottery. Congratulations. Would you like a cookie? Ben Gordon can go rot in hell for all I care. He is a useless scumbag and he sucks.