All Sport Report

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Donovan McNabb is the player that football fans associate with the Philadelphia Eagles, but could recent injuries make him a thing of the past sooner rather than later in the city of brotherly love?

He’s been the go to guy, the franchise quarterback, the reason the Eagles have been in the playoffs with regularity, but Donovan McNabb has been unsuccessful in landing the team a championship.

What’s worse for #5 is - his last two seasons have been plagued with injuries. First the sports hernia that affected his play dramatically before landing him on the sidelines, then the knee injury sustained in the middle of last season that kept McNabb sidelined for the remainder of the year, and through the beginning of camp for ‘07.

Backup quaterback Jeff Garcia’s solid play in McNabbs absence last season opened up a whole array of quarterback controversy questions as the season came to a close, but head coach Andy Reid answered those questions by stating that McNabb was taking the snaps, end of story.

Then why, I’d like to know, did the Eagles use their first round pick in the draft on a quarterback?

We’ve all seen how Donovan copes with controversy - his altercation with Terrell Owens reeked havoc with the Eagles, how will he react now that his job may be in jeopardy?

So far Donovan has proclaimed he’ll be ready for the team’s second pre-season game. This seems like a bit of a rush from the original prognosis that said the big QB may not be ready until a few weeks into the regular season. The only reason I can see for McNabb to be in such a hurry is fear. I don’t think he wants the coaching staff getting to good a look at somebody else.

The birds have been able to win after Donovan has gone down in the past, but he may not be able to afford someone to take the reigns and go on a winning streak before he gets a chance to take the field.

Veteran reporter Sal Paolantonio gets a bit more in depth with his views on Donvan’s situation on espn.com

Eagles, McNabb, Andy Reid, Philadelphia

It’s no secret how Red Sox ace Curt Schilling feels about Barry Bonds and the slugger’s chase to break Hank Aaron’s all time home run record. In an appearance a local radio show and to reporters of the Boston Globe, Schill openly states that Barry is a cheater, “he admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes and cheating in the game.”

To my recollection Barry never actually admitted to using illegal substances or “cheating in the game” as Schilling put it. There does seem to be a lot of evidence pointing to the fact that he might have taken part, but I don’t believe anyone’s got a smoking gun.

I’ve said that if Barry had used performance enhancing drugs, then I’d rather have Hank Aaron’s record remain intact, but Curt Schilling seems to be both judge and jury in the Bond’s case, proclaiming that Barry “doesn’t deserve to break the record.”

I’m a Curt Schilling fan, I was crushed when the Phillies let him go, but isn’t there a saying - “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”

I’m as big a Phillies fan as there is, but even I suspect several of the guys from the ‘93 Phils (perhaps even Mr. Schilling himself) to have been using some performance enhancing drugs.

I think before you go blatantly accusing someone of wrong doing, you might want to have some concrete proof, especially if you could be accused of the very same thing.

Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds, steroids, Hank Aaron, homerun record

Two time junior lightweight champion, and two time lightweight champion Diego Corrales liked to live life fast, unfortunately for him the saying “live fast, die young” became a truth Monday evening.

Corrales was one of the toughest competitors to ever step into a boxing ring, he will be forever remembered for his 2005 victory over Jose Luis Castillo which can only be described as a war. In the ‘05 fight of the year, Corrales showed the true spirit of a warrior and held on after being knocked down twice in the tenth to score a knockout victory.

Diego wanted, above all, to be entertaining to the fans and to compete with the best fighters in the world - he accomplished both during his 11 year boxing career. Corrales compiled a very impressive 40-5 record with 33 wins by knockout.

Corrales’s life, and brilliant boxing career, came to a much too early end on May 7th due to a fatal motorcycle accident. Diego had only had the motorcycle for about a week, and he was wearing a helmet but the investigation revealed that he was traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour, he died at the scene.

A man that personified what it means to be a fighter, diego Corrales will be missed by boxing fans worldwide.

Diego Corrales, Castillo, boxing, motorcycle, accident

Seven time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens and the Yankees announced at a press conference on Sunday that they have come to an agreement for the remainder of the 2007 season.

Clemens and the Yankees couldn’t get a deal together last season, the money was there, but Roger wanted stipulations in the contract stating that he did not have to travel with the team if he was not scheduled to pitch. Yankee manager Joe Torre simply wouldn’t make that concession so Clemens went to play ball in his home town of Houston.

Well that was then and this is now.., So far in ‘07 virtually all of the Yankees pitching staff, with the exception of Andy Petite, has been injured. The struggling Yanks sit 5.5 games behind the Red Sox and have been under some serious fire from the media and the fans.

Torre and the Yankees needed to do something, so they made the travel concessions and offered the Rocket 28 million dollars for the remainder of the season. So with more than thirty games already gone, that means Roger will probably start about 22 or 23 games during the regular season if he can manage to stay healthy - for those of us who aren’t into doing the math, that’s more than a million dollars per start…

If the Yankees pull it all together once Clemens comes into the fold, if he wins 17 games and leads them to yet another World Series Championship then I suppose this will have been worth it. But if they continue to falter, if Roger begins to show signs of his age and only manages three or four wins, if the pinstripes fail to make the playoffs - then this will be the biggest waste of money in Yankee history, and that is saying a lot.

Rocket, Yankess, baseball, pinstripes, Roger Clemens

After some serious miscues in my predictions in the sporting world of late, I finally managed to get one right - well not exactly right, I did call for a knockout, but at least I successfully managed to pick the winner:

Following more than three long months of predictions, trash talk and hype the Golden Boy and the Pretty Boy finally stepped into the ring Saturday night in Las Vegas, in front a sell out crowd and God knows how many PPV viewers.

Much to my surprise, it was a solid fight from beginning to end with Floyd Mayweather Jr squeeking out a narrow split decision victory. See I’m from the Mike Tyson generation, where more often than not the weigh in lasted more than twice as long as the actual fight, so I’m still a bit mystified when a championship fight of this caliber is not only a close fight, but entertaining past the third round.

The difference in the fight was, as expected, in Mayweather’s lightining fast hands and skillfull defense. Floyd landed an incredible 43 percent of his punches to De La Hoya’s twenty-one percent.

Oscar and his special guest (Floyd Mayweather Sr) both thought the Golden Boy won the fight with harder and cleaner punches, but two of the three score cards begged to differ.

This was De La Hoya’s third loss in his last five fights, and with Golden Boy Promotions going strong I find myself wondering how much longer he’ll stay active in the fight game. Floyd Mayweather Jr had already indicated that this fight may be his last…

I think we should give the two of them a couple weeks vacation and then put them on the nation wide hype tour again for De La Hoya/Mayweather II in January ‘08. Come on all boxing fans know that you haven’t really beaten someone until you beat them two out of three.

Floyd Mayweather Jr, Oscar De La Hoya, boxing, welterweight, light middleweight, Golden Boy, Pretty Boy

Tomorrow night will be the biggest, most anticipated fight of the year if not the decade. There has been constant talk and speculation about this fight, the likes of which boxing hasn’t seen since the days of Muhammed Ali.

There was a week long tour of the combatants filled with more hype than any fight that has preceeded it. Tensions mounted from the “trainer swap” - Mayweather’s father had been estranged from his son for several years, and offered his services to help De La Hoya beat Jr, for the small sum of two million dollars. When De La Hoya didn’t want to agree to the astronomical training fee, Floyd Sr ended up back in the gym with his boy and the most recent flip and or flop may have Floyd’s daddy showing up as a guest of the Golden Boy.

The big question in my mind as a fight fan is - Can this fight possibly live up to the expectations we as boxing fans have put upon it?… The answer, I don’t think so.

Oscar De La Hoya is one of the greatest fighters of all time, without question. He won an Olympic Gold Medal at the 1992 Barcelona games, and over the course of his 15 year professional career he’s fought his way to an outstanding 38-4 record with 30 KO’s.

The list of fighters he’s dismantled in his forty-two fights reads like a who’s who of boxing champions including: Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Hector Comacho, Arturo Gatti and Fernando Vargas.

Oscar is the only man in boxing history to hold championships in six different weight classes, and he’s only been knocked out once in a career that spans a decade and a half. He’s only lost fights to three men (Shane Mosley twice) and only been really decisively beaten once, by Bernard Hopkins.

The problem for Oscar is that all of the things I described above, as impressive as they are, are in the past. The Golden Boy has had problems coping with faster fighters (like Mosley) and not only is Floyd Mayweather Jr a bit faster than Oscar, he’s four years younger and, from what I’ve seen throughout the hype - Floyd wants it more, and he believes that he’s walking out of that ring the winner.

There are maybe one or two guys in professional boxing today that are better fighters than Floyd Mayweather Jr, and unfortunately for the Golden Boy, he isn’t one of them. If Mayweather comes out and fights his fight, I don’t think that De La Hoya stands a chance - Floyd Mayweather Jr hands Oscar the second knockout loss of his career in the eighth round.

Saturday night when the opening bell rings, after all the dust of the trash talk has settled, the only thing that’s going to matter is who’s better, who wants it more and right now that guy is Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Here’s just a sample of what the Golden Boy is in for tomorrow night:

Mayweather, De La Hoya, Pretty Boy, Golden Boy, boxing

Roger Federer hasn’t lost a match on a grass court in nearly four years, Rafael Nadal hasn’t lost a match on clay in two… So what happens when you pit these two tennis greats against each other on a court of grass…and clay.

Well, you get one of the most bizzarre, intruiging and entertaining exhibition tennis matches since the Billie Jean King squared off against Bobby Riggs in the “battle of the sexes”. This crazy split-court match cost quite a bit more money to put on, but like King vs Riggs, it attracted a lot of attention (a sell out crowd of more than seven thousand were on hand) and the underdog came out on top.

It took nearly three weeks and over a million and a half dollars, but in Palma De Mallorca a tennis court was constructed of one half grass, the other half clay.

The number one and number two ranked tennis players in the world adjusted as well as can be expected while switching back and forth between the two drastically different surfaces, having to change shoes with each switch, but in the end it was Rafael Nadal (No. 2) that took the victory.

There were mistakes and unforced errors as was to be expected with the unusual circumstances of the match, but it was hardly an easy victory for Nadal. Coming into this split surface match, Nadal had never lost to Federer on clay and never beaten him on grass. Nadal had to earn this exibition victory: 7-5, 4-6, 7-6.

tennis, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, grass court, clay court, split court

In baseball, football and hockey it’s not unusual for a struggling player to be seranaded with a chorus of boos, to be verbally assaulted and insulted, even to hear some vulgarity, but that’s usually where it ends. In the world’s most popular sport, however, things can get a bit more intense.

Former French national goalie, Fabien Barthez, was talked out of retirement to play for Nantes, but after a 2-0 loss to Rennes this past weekend put his team in last place in the French League, fear for his safety has sent him back.

A few key mistakes by the veteran goalie first led to some verbal harrassment from fans, but when a small crowd surrounder Barthez’s car while he was attempting to leave the stadium and threatened to “rub him out”, kicking the vehicle and trying to pull the goalie out, Barthez decided it was time to call it quits.

He told AP reporters that booing and whistling at him through matches could be accepted, that it was part of the atmosphere, but what he went caused him not to feel secure anymore.

The team offered him private security through the end of the season, but Barthez declined. He said he would rather leave than to have to live like that.

Nantes, soccer, Fabien Barthez, goalie

The defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals had begun the season with a less than impressive fashion.

The team currently sits with a record of 10-14, five and a half games out of the division lead, in a three way tie for last place. The ace of their pitching staff, Chris Carpenter, is on the disabled list as is another big arm from the starting rotation - Mark Mulder.

At the outset of the weekend a two word headline appeared in a St. Louis newspaper “No Chance”, speaking of the Chicago Cubs and their World Series hopes. The struggling Cubs were coming into town for a three game weekend series, and they now had extra motivation in the form of a newspaper article.

Cardinals’ manager Tony Larussa lashed out at the media before the series began, and in a story straight from a movie script - the jilted, insulted Cubs won the first two of the scheduled three meetings. The teams didn’t make it onto the field for the third.

Early sunday morning Cardinal’s relief pitcher Josh Hancock was involved in a fatal car accident. The twenty-nine year old’s SUV struck the back of a tow truck and Hancock was presumably killed on impact. Police reported that Hancock was driving at or very close to the speed limit, and there were no open containers in the vehicle. It appears Hancock just didn’t see the truck until it was too late.

This is the second time the Cardinals’ have lost a player in the last five years - in 2002, 33 year old pitcher Darryl Kile was found dead in a hotel room from heart failure.

In 2002 the Cards coped with the difficult loss and went on to win the central division and were later beaten by the Giants in the National League Championship Series.

The Cardinals were picked by many, as defending World Series Champions, to have another strong season in 2007 but they’ve got a long and difficult road ahead of them. After postponing the final game of their series against the Cubs on Sunday, the Cards dropped the first of a 3 game series agains the division leading Brewers.

The Cardinals will wear Hancock’s number 32 on their arms for the rest of the season to pay homage to a young man who will be remembered as a great friend, a great teammate and an integral part of their 2006 success.

St Louis Cardinals, Josh Hancock, World Series Champions, Darryl Kile