What did I say?

"TV analyst Lamar Thomas tells the Dan Patrick Show he got 'caught up in the moment' during the FIU-Miami brawl and doesn't condone fighting."

Link

Lamar,

Are you really saying: "when I was speaking in the moment with passion, it really was not my true feelings. Now that I realize I am in a national spotlight, let me tell you what I 'honoestly' feel. . . "

If you "wuz-da-man" you try to claim, you would admit that you said it and it was wrong and take your lumps. Stop the bleeding; end the embarassment. You continue to be "an embarassing display of unsportsmanlike behavior."

Return of Convict U.

It can hide, but not forever:

"no matter how much Larry Coker and the UM brass have tried to scrub away the old Canes' roughneck image -- still keeps finding itself in the muck. If anyone wanted to say the Canes are still the thugs they were in the old days of Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson, they now have five disturbing minutes of YouTube proof."

Link

Kobe returns to practice after knee surgery

" Kobe Bryant participated in his first preseason practice with the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday since having right knee surgery.

Bryant joined his teammates in a controlled five-on-five scrimmage and did several drills.

"We're easing our way back," he said. "I didn't do every drill. I just did certain things. It felt pretty good."

Link

I realize this in only one practice, but any knee surgery without a rape charge, a $4million ring and an undisclosed out of court payment will probably be viewed as ahead of expectations.

Knee should be fine for ball-hogging in the regular season, and pouting around playoff time. . .

I honestly feel sorry for both Phil Jackson and Bill Parcels, but more for Bill, because Phil was free from the circus and chose to go back. . . Both have Hall of Fame careers coaching team sports that are being marred by idiots that don't understand it is a team sport. . .

Terrell Owens is done talking to his position coach.

Owens said on his radio show Friday that his relationship with Dallas Cowboys receivers coach Todd Haley was ruined by a blowup this week. It began when Owens missed the start of Wednesday's practice because of an upset stomach, and Haley berated him for being late. Owens held his tongue then, but they later argued during a meeting.

The story getting out seems to bother Owens the most because Haley vowed since training camp that all internal matters would stay behind closed doors. Owens spoke with reporters for 45 minutes Wednesday without ever mentioning any problems with Haley. But the incident was reported by several media outlets Friday before Owens gave his side of the story later on his weekly show.

From now on, T.O. said, "there will be nothing else, no other dialogue" between him and Haley.

"There will be no more friendly nothing because I don't trust anybody like that," Owens said. "I will go out and practice hard. I will respect him as a coach, and he should respect me as a player. Anything outside of that I am not going to be able to deal with.

"Right now, we are merely coworkers, and that's it," he added.

Link

TO, man, you don't deserve respect. Look hard in the mirror! When you keep having the same problems everywehere you go and no one else in the league is having these problems, the problem is YOU!

The media needs to stop covering this guy. He is an immature, mal-adjusted, self-focused narcicisst whose only joy is being in the media spotlight. Cover him based on what his actual, on-field performance deserves and ignore the rest. Stop falling into the trap, show you're smarter than TO.

MLB - Report: Torre to be fired

"Newsday reported Sunday that Steinbrenner would like to fire Torre, but that no decision has been made just yet, according to several people familiar with the situation. The Long Island-based newspaper said Yankees officials were expected to meet to discuss Torre as early as Sunday, with Piniella the likely favorite to replace Torre."

Link

Yahoo!!!! Now I can fully hate the Yankees again; firing the one guy with class makes it easy!

FMVA Studio Crawl

Today Cooper and I participated in the Fargo/Moorhead Visual Artist's Studio Crawl. We made three stops:

1) Ellen Jean Diederich's watercolor studio

2) Sandi Dahl's pastel studio

3) Robert Crowe's "Crowe's Nest" pastel studio.

Cooper hit the snack tables quite heavily while I wandered and observed the work shown and their workspaces. It was great to see an artist in their work environment. Lots of fun and highly recommended.

Vickers spins leaders; then spins the facts. . .

Brian Vickers stole his first Nextel Cup victory Sunday by turning teammate Jimmie Johnson into race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr., then skirting by the two spinning cars on the last lap at Talladega Superspeedway.

and

'That's the last thing I wanted to do was get into Jimmie,' Vickers said amid a shower of boos in Victory Lane. 'But what happened, happened. And it's still nice to get this win.'"

Of course, the story buries the key facts:

"Vickers is leaving Hendrick at the end of the season to drive for a Toyota team, and his impending departure led the organization to lock him out of their team meetings.

Now he might not even be allowed in the building."

Now when I reread the quote, it amazes me how sincere it sounds. . . Well, at least the point about liking his first career win was probably from the heart.

Original Link

ESPN Ombudsman on TO Story

"'We had an obligation to cover this story live from the time it broke,' said Norby Williamson, ESPN's executive vice president for production. 'We felt the need to track its twists and turns and stay with it. Our concern was not how much we did, but to be careful not to speculate over Owens' state of mind.'

My gripe was that, in hindsight, some of the information that got on the air proved to be inaccurate. In general, the network's producers and editors need to be more restrained. It's better to be right -- even if it means being second to the competition. Meanwhile, many ESPN viewers, via e-mail, said the coverage of Owens this past week on ESPN was just too much -- a belief that had merit."

Original Link

Wouldn't it be nice to see a story saying: "We were late to report because we wanted to be right. . . " Instead we see lots of after-action reports like this but never any change before the next runaway train wreck. . .

Just who is Peter Gammons anyway? :)

ESPN has their experts up picking the playoffs. Two things stand out:

1) Exactly ZERO of the seventeen experts think the Tigers will beat the Yankees. Guess it doesn't pay to end the season being swept by the Kansas City Yellows. . .

2) Seven have it perfect (Jerry Crasnick, Jim Caple, Eric Neel, Pedro Gomez, Eric Karabell, Phill Rogers, and John Shea). Twins win it all!! Now, they cannot agree if Mauer or Johann will be MVP, but at least they have the champion correct. Now, I don't know what these other guys are thinking (Gammons, Neyer, Stark), but I am happy that Crasnick and crew got it right. I am especially proud of Pedro Gomez. He spent so much of the season reporting daily on Sports Center: "Berry Bonds took batting practice today, denied published reports, and would not speak to reporters. . . " It's nice to see he had time to keep up with the rest of the league and especially the Twins.

For the official record, the votes are:

Yankees 6
Mets 1
A's 2
Dodgers 1 (Neyer maybe California Dreaming, but it is 1988 in his dreams)

Twins 7


Go Twins!!!