All Sport Report

My favorite time of year is College Football season. With my Big Ten, U of M Wolverines set to play on September 1, 2007 I was anxiously anticipating the first game of the season. I even planned to have a little party. That was until I found out that I CANNOT watch the game. Why, do you ask? Because it will be played on the Big Ten Network, a network I would have if the network and my digital cable provider, Comcast, could reach an agreement. Sure, they are playing a smaller school, Appalachian State, but shouldn’t I still have the right to see the game?

With the game only a few days away, my spirit has been crushed. I haven’t missed watching a U of M game in years. I have been a fan of the Wolverines since I was a child. I dislike the fact that the network makes it so we have to rely on our cable or satellite services to purchase the channel, especially since not every service provider is hip to comply with the network’s requests. For example, Comcast, which services over 40% of Big Ten country, is holding out due to financial reasons.

The Big Ten Network (and its parent company, Fox Sports) wants Comcast to put the Big Ten Network in its Basic Cable package. To do this, Comcast would have to up every person who has Comcast’s bill by $13 per year. That doesn’t seem so terrible, in terms of price (just over $1 a month). However, Comcast believes that this network has a niche audience and therefore does not want to force people who do not like sports to pay the increased amount.

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You’d think that after everything Michael Vick had done (66 dogs were seized from his home, they found something called rape stands (used to make the dogs more mean and aggressive - and yes they were used for what the name implies) in his possession, he participated (and admitted to it) in the murder of dogs, and he admitted to running a dog fighting ring near his home) that the Atlanta Falcons would wise up and fire him.

This is not the case. Michael Vick may still have a place in the Atlanta Falcons lineup, waiting for him, if/when he gets out of jail. That guilty admission should have been the thing to make the Falcons kick Vick off the team, but at this point, he will remain suspended until his plea has been filed and his punishment has been doled out.

Sponsors like Nike have already bid Vick adieu, not wanting the negative publicity to affect their sales, and rightfully so. Still, Vick has some people on his side. His Momma still loves him, and has defended her baby to the NY Post. Entertainer, Jamie Foxx has taken sides and remains in Vick corner. Even the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Blank, seems to be willing to look past the “terrible mistake” Vick made, and possibly give him another chance.

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I thought I’d let you all have a laugh. These sports bloopers are quite funny so I thought I’d share them with all of you. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what your favorite blooper is. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sports, Bloopers, Funny Accidents, You Tube

With so many new, young pitchers starting for the Detroit Tigers this year, we have to ask ourselves, where have some of the pitchers gone? While pitchers like Andrew Tata and Jair Jurrjens have been called up from places like Toledo and Erie, one Detroit starter was actually re-assigned on what is being called a rehab assignment. Andrew Miller, the 22 year old, who was a first round draft pick in 2006, was sent to play for Detroit’s AAA team, the Toledo Mud Hens.

The Mud Hens who are having a stellar season, may not have wanted the pitcher to come their way, because with him, he has brought the pitching problems that have plagued the Tigers the entire second half of this season immediately preceding the All-Star Game. Miller pitched for the Mud Hens last night (August 15) for the first time against Richmond. Luckily, the Mud Hens have a good enough team to handle pitching trouble, because without it, Andrew Miller would have bombed in his debut.

Despite giving up five runs in one inning, the Mud Hens still managed to beat the Braves by a score of 8-7. In the troublesome inning by the former Detroit pitcher, Miller walked three and gave up four hits. You would have to imagine the Mud Hens were sweating after this tumultuous round. Miller pitched for three innings, unable to pitch more than 75 pitches in the game. He pitched at least 39 pitches in the first inning, though eventually he did seem to settle down and find his groove.

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David Beckham helped his new football team, the L.A. Galaxy win the first game in which he played. The Galaxy beat the D.C. United 2-0 with one goal scored by the British superstar player. His first appearance in the MLS was playing for the Galaxy in the SuperLiga semifinals. While there was a lot of speculation about how Beckham would do in his first American football performance his team and fans were more than pleased with the way things transpired.

Beckham scored during a free kick that took place within the first 30 minutes of the game. He also had a hand in the second goal, passing to Landon Donovan, who scored, and receiving an assist for his efforts. This was scored a little over a quarter of an hour into the game making the score 2-0 and sealing the win for the Galaxy.

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What is being deemed as one of the biggest games of the AL’s baseball season was played out on Tuesday, August 14, 2007. The Detroit Tigers played the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe and Tigers, fierce rivals due to their close proximity to one another, were both tied at first place for the AL’s Central Division with 65-53 game records. This game would determine who would take the lead of the division, if only for 24 hours!

The game started out with Jeremy Bonderman pitching for the Tigers. If you have read my other posts on the Tigers, you probably already know my opinion of Bonderman’s ability as a pitcher. He had come in to this game having lost the past four he pitched. Right off the bat, he also gave the Indians two hits making the first inning score 2-0 in favor of the Tribe. I grew up watching the Tribe play, so this was a very tense game for me, especially since Kenny Lofton is back in the Cleveland uniform. Still I sat with baited breath hoping that my Tigers would get themselves out of the mess Bonderman had already created.

Luckily, Bonderman got his act together, making it through the sixth with no more hits. In the meantime, the Tigers’ offense managed to even the score up, with two RBIs batted in (one of whom was Ryan Raburn, the star hitter who was recently called up from his place with the AAA team, the Toledo Mud Hens). By the time the eighth inning was in progress, the score was tied and the Indians seemed raring to go.

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There is big news in the golfing world. Tiger Woods has just won his 13th title. I’m sure all of you golf fans are enthralled with the Tiger. After failing to win in Scotland (perhaps he was too focused on becoming a Daddy?), Tiger still managed to win the PGA Championship. His fierce win was a surprise to golfing fans despite being deemed one of the greatest golfers in the game by players and fans alike.

Things looked grim for Tiger on the back nine. At one point he had a five point lead. However, that diminished to where he led by just one. Tiger was probably inspired to keep going and win by the presence of his little girl, Sam Alexis, and his wife, Elin. At just two months old, little Sam Woods has finally gotten the chance to see Daddy as a victor. The doting Papa said the experience was surreal and gave him “chills” knowing his baby was waiting for him to come to the scorer’s tent to see them after the victory.

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Today was a big day in the Evans household. I had my remote set to flip between three different sporting events. At 1:00 PM EST, the Detroit Tigers took on the Oakland A’s. If they happened to win this game, they had the chance to move half a game ahead of Cleveland for 1st place in the AL’s Central Division. Of course, the Tribe would also have to lose their game today to the New York Yankees for this to occur. With the Yankees playing some damn good baseball lately that seemed like the inevitable outcome.

Meanwhile, Football’s pre-season began in Detroit when the Lions took on the Bengals. I’m not a fan of either team (though as a little tyke my heroes were Icky and Boomer – I perfected my “Icky Shuffle”). However, seeing football on TV was exciting enough to get me all riled up. Besides, being in Michigan, I feel minor loyalty to the Lions, even if they have had some rather “sucky” streaks in the past few years. The exhibition game just happened to be on my Detroit CW station with the Tigers on one of my other, local stations.

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As I sit here watching the Detroit Lions play an exhibition game against the Cincinnati Bengals, I can’t help but feel a little excitement at the prospect of Football Season’s fast approach. The first game of the 2007-2008 season begins on September 6, 2007, which is less than a month away.

I don’t know about you, but Football Season is my favorite season of the year. The whole universe seems to shift its attention to sports (it doesn’t matter whether its college or professional). Everyone has their favorite team or teams. Everybody has a sense of who should win a game in order for their team to better advance and make their way inevitably to the end of the season playoffs (or bowl game placement for college football).

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The Detroit Tigers need to get out of their funk and start playing baseball! Those of us who love our Tigers are sick of the mediocre game play and crappy pitching. Can’t at least ONE pitcher get out of their funk? Not even Verlander can seem to handle the “curse of the Tigers”, which has plagued the 2006 AL champs since just after the All Star Game. Sure, there is an occasional good moment, such as Andrew Tata’s big league debut in Oakland, which is one of the three meager games the Tigers have won since their loss streak began on July 26 (against the Chicago White Sox). In that time, Chicago and Oakland kicked their asses on the road and then Chicago came to Detroit to do it again.

In between, Tampa Bay, one of the worst baseball teams in the game currently with a 44-71 record and placement at the bottom of the East Division of the AL, shared wins during a four game series at Comerica Field. Yesterday, it was time for Oakland to cream the Tigers again and they did, winning in an astounding 16-10 victory over Detroit. I can only blame the pitching for this debacle as the offense (and defense) rallied together to try and keep the A’s from upping the Tigers again. Not even Tata could control the A’s and he left in the 3rd in a sad display, his rookie colors showing. If he keeps it up, they might just send him back to Toledo.

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Sports fans are a dedicated bunch. We have our favorite teams and our favorite players. It’s hard when one of your favorites gets traded to a team you hate because you want them to do well, but not the team. The idea of cheating and steroid use tends to put some sports fans off. Who can blame them? If you’re not a strong enough athlete to play the game on your own, without the help of cheating and drugs, then you don’t deserve the millions of dollars that they give you to go out and play.

So, while looking through sports news today I came across an article on ESPN. ESPN asked people what they thought of cheating. Like I said above, some mentioned that they no longer liked sports because of the fact that so many cheaters are being found out.

Others seemed to think cheating was part of the game and that fans should get used to it because it’s not going anywhere. However, my favorite comment came from a sports fan with the name, goblue3509. He said perhaps the dumbest thing that I have heard, at least all day.

“You have to respect someone so driven that they are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to be successful,” commented goblue3509. “Maybe some of the overweight population should take a page from Barry [Bonds] and Merriman’s book and sacrifice a little to get in shape.”

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Today was a bad day for NASCAR. After last week’s snafu with Robby Gordon, the last thing the Nextel Cup needed was to be rained out at Watkins Glen, where the race will be held on Sunday. This prevented racers from being able to qualify and pushed one very happy Jeff Gordon back to the pole. Unlike Gordon (who surely liked his placement) many other racers, simply couldn’t understand why qualifying didn’t commence on Saturday just prior to the Busch series race, which begins in the afternoon at 3:00 PM. With top five placements for the Nextel, which includes Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, and Tony Stewart it’s no wonder less prominent race car drivers want the chance to vie for the pole instead of accepting placement based on Nextel’s overall points system.

Stewart alone has won at Watkins Glen three times previously. To have Stewart take it a fourth time would be quite the upset. Still Gordon stands a good chance of maintaining his lead. It’s nearly as good as the chance Hamlin has of overtaking him. Ultimately, it’s a combination of a crapshoot and driving skill. We can all say every one of the 43 drivers in the race tomorrow is an excellent driver, but skill on the track, the weather, car conditions, and other drivers mean that anything can and will happen at this famed NY race track.

Frankly, I think the fact that Gordon is in first place and has been chosen to start at the pole is incredibly fair. Gordon has worked hard all season and this start is the payoff for his hard work. If they run the qualifying race, their cars have less of a chance of being in tip top condition. The drivers will be more fatigued if they plan to race in the Zippo 200, and it is an overall pain in the kiester for everyone involved. The fact that other drivers want to qualify just goes to show the top five intimidate them, especially Gordon, who has dominated racing since 1993, when he won an award for being the Rookie of the Year.

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Sorry to all my readers for the short hiatus I took from All Sport Report. It wasn’t intentional and I missed writing for you all. I promise I am now back. The 451 Press server had a small snafu. Like all computer oriented things, servers sometimes do the most unexpected things and it is out of all of our control until things are fixed.

Luckily, the 451 Press staff and management are amazing. They kept us informed of the issue, and got it fixed as quickly as they could. So, now I’m back to provide you with all the stories you love to read about. Believe me when I say a lot has happened in the few days since I’ve left you last. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Your Humble All Sport Report Writer,
Dominick “Big D” Evans

Despite the fact that the Seattle Mariners’ mascot ran into Boston outfielder, Coco Crisp, while riding an ATV during a game on Sunday, the moose will not be punished. According to a team statement, the Mariners have apologized for the unfortunate accident and are glad that no one was hurt. Both Coco and the Red Sox were apologized to and they graciously accepted the apology. No punishment is being planned for the Mariner moose.

This crazy turn of events occurred in the fifth inning of Sunday’s game. Coco was heading from the Red Sox dugout and the Moose just happened to drive by at the same moment. The moose clipped Crisp as he drove by and the impact caused Crisp to lose his balance and fall down. Like a good sport, Crisp dusted himself off and pretended to shake a fist at the Moose.

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Brady Quinn has come to an agreement with the Cleveland Browns and will sign a $20.2 Million contract with $7.75 Million guaranteed that will put an end to his holdout. The five year contract has the ability to grow to $30 Million with incentives. The contract was signed Tuesday night and ended a holdout of 11 days. Due to the fact that Quinn has missed as many days as he has, he essentially eliminated any shot he had of beginning the season as the team’s starter.

As the terms have been negotiated, Quinn flew from Arizona to the Browns’ training facility. He will have a chance to begin practicing on Wednesday afternoon, after a press conference that will announce the deal.

The question is will Quinn be able to make up the time he has lost? He not only missed the first 10 days of camp, but he also struggled significantly in the spring workouts and mini-camps. This leads people to wonder just how far behind Quinn really is.

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