All Sport Report

After a few days break from my daily sports run down due to life really giving me a sharp kick, it’s back to the grind. So, what did we miss during my brief hiatus? Scandals abound like crazy in the sporting world. From Cycling to Basketball, Friday, July 20, 2007 was not a good day in the vast majority of the world’s top sporting organizations.

Baseball

Cleveland and Detroit Battle it Out for First Place – The Central Division of the American League has been heating up. With just a half game lead over the Cleveland Indians going into the second half of regular season, Detroit and Cleveland have been in a constant battle to see who will be number one. While Detroit remains just barely ahead of Cleveland, Detroit’s catastrophic 10-2 loss to Kansas City after a four game winning streak on Friday thrust Cleveland (who beat the Rangers 3-2) one step closer to taking over the top spot and kicking Detroit down to second place. My Tigers better hustle and win their next game if they want to remain in first place not only for the Central Division, but for the American League as a whole.

Bud Selig comes to Watch Bonds – So Good ol’ Bud has stopped by to watch Barry Bonds attempt to beat a record. Bud stopped by to see the Brewers take on Bonds and the Giants. He also has plans to attend the next two games in the three game series, but beyond that his plans are anyone’s guess. You know what I find especially pathetic? The Giants are in last place in the NL’s West Division.

The Giants are so bad that they are one of the worst teams in baseball. I wouldn’t want to be a Giant, unless of course my only other options were to be a part of the Devil Rays or Nationals franchises. Barry Bonds is supposedly going to break a homerun record playing on the third worst team in baseball and Bud Selig (as well as the rest of America) is supposed to be proud? Gimme a Break!

Barry certainly didn’t show off this star quality he is supposed to possess in Friday’s game. Coincidentally, it was the anniversary of the day in which Aaron hit home run number 755 in Milwaukee. The history makes the series that much more interesting…at least according to Bud. Barry was back to his “hitless” ways. Though the Giants won 8-4, he went 0 in 4 and one was a long fly that got a few people overly excited for nothing.

American Football

The NFL’s Bad Boys: Scandals Everywhere – It could be said that 2007 is the year of the NFL scandal. Let’s not even get started on Michael Vick who was indicted stemming from his part in an “underground” dog fighting network. His indictment has led to protests (amongst the loudest by PETA) urging for Vick to lose his job as the Falcons’ star quarterback. As if his troubles were not enough for the NFL, along came Joey Porter.

The NFL fined Porter, a linebacker for the Miami Dolphins, close to $150,000 on top of the $1000 fine he had to pay the courts for his no contest to battery plea in relation to an incident that happened in the Las Vegas Palms Hotel & Casino. Porter got into it with Levi Jones, an offensive lineman for Cincinnati. The amount is at least three paychecks for Porter making it probably the most expensive beating he’s ever given anyone else.

Think Porter is bad? How about Adam “Pacman” Jones, the former Tennessee Titans cornerback, who has already been suspended from the NFL? Reasons for his removal of the upcoming 2007-2008 season are due to his misconduct in relation to the league and six arrests. Pacman is being charged in relation to a disagreement in a strip club that eventually led to three shootings. If convicted for two felonies for coercion (which include biting a bouncer’s ear and threatening to kill people working in the club) he could spend up to 12 years in prison and a have to pay $10,000 fine.

NASCAR

NASCAR Car Photos Hope to Find Missing Kids – The Shawn Hornbeck Foundation has teamed up with NASCAR to put missing children’s photos on some of the race cars. The hope is that the visibility of such photos will help find missing children who have been missing for a while, as Shawn Hornbeck was. Hornbeck was found after four years while authorities were searching for another missing boy, Ben Ownby.

The Partnership has the photos placed on stock cars. In fact, stock car driver, Christina Lemons and her son Dylan (also a driver) had photos, which were enhanced with age-progression software, placed on their cars in an attempt to find these children who may be living within their own communities or nearby as Shawn was.

Basketball

NBA’s latest Scandal puts Major League Baseball and the NFL to Shame – You thought the sport’s world couldn’t get any worse than Michael Vick encouraging and partaking in Dog Fights or Barry Bonds, accused of using steroids, breaking a record as a cheater, but it has. The commissioner of the NBA, David Stern was faced with one heckuva shock. He learned on Friday, July 20, 2007, a day that will live on in his mind as a horrible day for the NBA, that the FBI was investigating an NBA referee.

Tim Donaghy, a 13 year NBA vet, was being probed to find out if he had indeed bet on NBA sports outcomes. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it is being looked into whether Donaghy made calls to up his own bets, and not on whether the play was valid or not. All I can wonder is what’s next? Will we find out one of the NHL’s teams is actually the cover up for a U.S. terrorist cell? I guess in sports, anything’s possible.

Golf

Steroids in Golf: You’ve got to Be Kidding! – Look out Tiger, something bigger than your baby news is coming out and taking the golf world by storm. At the British Open, which Tiger was hoping to win, golfer Gary Player made a shocking announcement. He knows of at least one golfer who has used steroids, no doubt, to pump up their swing. Player, a nine time PGA champion, who won the British Open in 1968 urged PGA authorities to start random testing.
Player has said he vowed not to mention names, but he does know first hand that players are doing it. Is the cryptic warning enough for PGA officials to start random testing or not? Who knows! I just can’t believe a golfer would take steroids, but then the whole point of golfing still baffles me.

Football (Soccer)

Rome Loses Totti Near the Top of His Game – A captain of AS Roma, is saying goodbye to the game. Francesco Totti, who started with the team nearly ten years ago, in 1998, has announced he is retiring. While he hates to say goodbye, Totti is doing it while he is nearly in the top of his game. Having scored the most goals last season (26), Totti won the prestigious Golden Boot, given to the top scorer in all of the European football leagues. Totti’s retirement comes after 58 appearances and just nine goals following a foot injury. At the age of 30, he has decided to retire since he feels he cannot give his all to the Azzurri. His absence should have little effect on Rome or the Italians in the Euro 2008, who are just two points behind first place France.

Hodge Podge

Scandal Hits the Tour: We Just Want to Ride Our Bikes – Young Bikers are saying according to ESPN, that they just want to ride their bikes. The news that Michael Rasmussen admits there were errors in testing comes after the tour was wrought with scandal the past two years (and even before then) due to doping violations supposedly made by American Tour winners Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis. According to Rasmussen himself, he missed two doping tests he was scheduled to take. For his transgressions, he received a warning from the International Cycling Union (UCI). All I can say is what, how, and why did this have to come out now during the Tour de France?

Baseball, Tigers, Bonds, Football, Basketball, Soccer, Steroids, PGA