Big Weekend

So I go away for a couple of days and a whole bunch of stuff happens that I don't know about.

* One of the main issues of the weekend was the "no-hitter that wasn't." Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (we'll call them the LA Angels) tossed six innings of no-hit ball against the Los Angeles Dodgers while reliever Jose Arredondo added two more no-hit innings.

The Angels lost 1-0. Two errors cost them.

The issue here is whether the Angels should get credited with a no-hitter in the record books. They didn't get credited with the no-no because it was no completed in a full 9 innings, they only pitched 8. And since the Angels were the visiting team, Arredondo or whoever the Angels might have sent out there didn't get a chance to pitch.

I am on the fence with this one. I want to call it a no-hitter, but because they only pitched eight innings is why I can't. There has been a couple situations of where this has happened, Silver King in 1890 (way, way back), Andy Hawkins in 1990, and most recently Matt Young in 1992.

Either way, it is still a pretty rare occasion, but still a big L in the win-loss column.

* Floyd Landis, aka, I'm-a-fricking-dumb-cyclist-who-thinks-it's-cool-to-cheat-during-the -biggest-bike-race-ever-and-ruin-the-reputation-of-my-sport, lost his 2006 Tour de France crown and will (again) venture into our minds as an irrelevant athlete (I can't even call him an athlete anymore.) Here's part of the story:

A three-person panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a previous panel's decision, ruling his positive doping test during the Tour two years ago was, indeed, valid. Landis also must pay $100,000 toward the legal fees of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

"I am saddened by today's decision," Landis said in a statement. "I am looking into my legal options and deciding on the best way to proceed."

He has 30 days to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court.

In its 58-page decision, the panel at sports' highest court said the lab that analyzed Landis' positive test results used some "less than ideal laboratory practices, but not lies, fraud, forgery or cover-ups," the way the Landis camp had alleged.

In the end, the panel saved its harshest criticism for Landis, who it said essentially tried to muddle the evidence and embarrass the French lab, and continued on that course even after the evidence was shown not to exist.

"Appelant's experts crossed the line, acting for the most part as advocates for the Appelant's cause, and not as scientists objectively assisting the Panel in the search for truth," the decision read.

The decision comes just six days before the start of the 2008 Tour. Landis won the 2006 edition after a stunning comeback in Stage 17, a rally that appears now to be fueled by synthetic testosterone.

Good. Guess that's what cheating gets ya. While I totally agree of Floyd losing his Tour title, I also hate to see this happen to the sport of cycling. I like watching the Tour for the most part and it should be interesting seeing who wins this years event.

* Spain won the UEFA EURO 2008 championship, defeating Germany. Xavi was named the best player, and boy, do the Spanish know how to party. I mean, only one person DIED and 52 arrests were made in the post game celebration.

(Edit: I can't find video, I guess you'll just have to imagine it.)

* They are tearing down Tiger Stadium today. I'm not going to get all teary about it, but it certainly is a sad day in Detroit as the stadium on the Corner is a big part of the history of Detroit sports.

Seats from the old ballpark were available to the public and I was fortunate to grab some (well, my dad was). They're sitting in my basement right now. Here's the Detroit News article on it (LINK).

That's all for now. Tomorrow (or maybe later tonight) I'll post my All-Star ballot and some other stuff so stay tuned.

Gone for the weekend

You're stuck with Z-man for the weekend, because I won't have a computer anywhere near me in a camp site, unless they have WiFi. But I doubt it.

Actually, Zak is away makin' it rain or watching that practice (which may or may not be one of his plans to make a profit this summer) for Senior Week. So...this site may be vacant for the weekend, but I'll try and fix that. Maybe another FYI staff member will help us out.

The big story of the day is ESPNs crap program they put out for all of us last night during the NBA draft.

Stuart Scott is, and was, horrible last night with many errors, like, you know, saying Eric Gordon went to Illinois and constantly reminding us that there were in fact many freshman picked in the first round. May we remind you that the NBA has an age limit.

Jeff Van Gundy made sure every Exec. felt good afterwards by assuring that every pick was a great one and it should turn out just fine. He was too nice. Not every pick was great. Ask New York fans (you heard the boos), and there were some other questionable choices (DJ Augustin to Charlotte when Raymond Felton is running the show?)

Jay Bilas was great as usual and was the only one of the talking heads up there that was actually knowledgeable.

I didn't really have a problem with Stephen A. Smith but some of the repeated questions got annoying.

Let's rally for TNT to host the draft instead of ESPN.

I'm not very good when it comes to the NBA so sorry for the lack of writing on this post, just wanted to share my opinion on the whole ordeal.

'Don't BILL-shit Me'

To begin things, if you do not understand my title then extend your ten second attention span and read the rest of this entry. Today, Marshawn Lynch of the Buffalo Bills had his license revoked in court because he hit someone while driving last month and DID NOT REALIZE IT. That is where my title pun comes in, creative, yes I know. According to judge Thomas Gagola, Lynch "constituted a reckless disregard of human life or property." Let me remind you, this was a little past 3 a.m. when Lynch hit a woman in his Porsche Cayenne and simply kept on going.

Lynch claims that it was raining very hard and that the pedestrian was "dancing in the street." Supposedly, he had slowed down to let her cross and kept on going without realizing he had hit her.

The suspension of the license was for an unstated amount of time. Way to go Marshawn, setting a great example for young drivers!

We now know what fuels Shawn Chacon's fire

Shawn Chacon will not be pitching for the Astros anytime soon. He was released by the club after an altercation that all of you pretty much know about by now.

Maybe the Yankees will pick him up, seems like something they would do.

Now, some beautiful artwork.




EDIT: That's awful.

Todd Jones just wants to have fun - and disturb us in the process

From MLive:

About an hour into Wednesday night's rain delay, closer Todd Jones emerged from the Tigers' dugout, dressed as Magglio Ordonez, uniform and wig included.

Jones picked up a bat and strolled onto the tarp. Then, after mimicking Ordonez's pre-at-bat routine, he sent an imaginary pitch over the wall, jogging the bases in a similar style to Ordonez's trot after his game-winning home run during Game 4 of the 2006 ALCS.

Jones stuck one arm in the air as he ran to first and later slapped the hand of an imaginary third base coach -- all to the delight of several thousand drenched fans.

Here in Motown we call him the rollercoaster, but if he can do this and close out ballgames like early this morning, it's alright with me.

Check out the vid:

The blog formerly known as The Gun Show (sorta)

We're lookin' for a new start. And like the Tampa Bay Rays, we're hoping that a new name can help us out here.

So this blog is now called Calling the Shots. The name comes from Zak, oh, excuse me, "The Profit- Z", his old blog on AOL which he no longer runs (does that make me "The Revenue- N? I don't think so.) I don't know what point I am getting to, I guess just letting you guys know we are still apart of a site called FYI Sports Fans, which is currently being worked on but you can check out the forum at http://fyisportsfans.net. Anyway, enough of that.

* About an hour ago Jermaine O'Neal was traded to the Toronto Raptors. Some noise before the draft tomorrow night?

* Speaking of draft, Pat Riley has implied that they are probably going to skip over Michael Beasley with the No. 2 pick (assuming that Chicago takes Derrick Rose, which they will). I think he's out of his mind, Beasley is Elton Brand and then some, but it may just be a ploy and hopefully they do take him. You can't pass up a talent like that, no matter how bad you need a point guard to compliment Dwayne Wade.

* Fresno State won the College World Series yesterday (it's 1:00 am). To me, this needs to be publicized more. Yeah yeah, college baseball isn't as popular as the other college sports, but this "postseason" I guess has been nothing short of amazing and what Fresno has done is unbelievable. As I said in an earlier post, a No. 4 seed is like the equivalent of a 13-16 seed in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. We know how big a Cinderella like that is, well the shoe fit tonight with Fresno. Congratulations.

* Germany ousted Turkey's run in EURO 2008 today, winning 3-2. And because of a power failure, none of us were able to see it.

* Gary Sheffield just won the game for the Tigers. Slowly crawling up to .500 and this is a big win considering they waited out a 2-hour rain delay and won it in this fashion.

Pic from Wimbledon

Sundin in Florida?

Aside from the Stanley Cup Final, the NHL is now entering my favorite part of the year: free agency. Perhaps the craziest day in hockey is July 1, when free agents can start signing with teams.

Last year brought many big signings. New York got Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. Philadelphia nabbed Daniel Briere, while Detroit bolstered its defense by signing Brian Rafalski.

This years bundle also has some big names like Marian Hossa, Kristian Huselius, Brad Stuart, Sean Avery, and Ryan Malone. But this years big kahuna is center Mats Sundin.

Many teams are in contention to sign the 37-year-old star, most notably the Montreal Canadiens. I have also read that the Florida Panthers may be a dark horse in the race, with some courting by former teammate Wade Belak.

Montreal GM Bob Gainey is supposedly heading to Sweden to meet with Sundin and try and get him to go to Montreal. Sure, why pass up the sun and beaches of Miami and live in Montreal? OK, that was stupid, I'd rather play in Montreal.

I'll have more on this later hopefully, I just wanted to get something up here after getting home.

Couple of things

The plane from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport takes off at 5, and I have to be out of here in half an hour, so I'm using my time to make this post.

* Three big league managers were fired this week: Willie Randolph (New York Mets), John McLaren (Seattle Mariners), and most recently, John Gibbons (Toronto Blue Jays). For each of those skippers, er, former skippers, playoff aspirations were within reach. Didn't happen. Each of these were understandable because to put it bluntly they did not do their job.



I do have a problem (as many people do) with the Randolph firing. The way they did it was classless and gutless. I'm sure by now you know what happened and I don't need to reiterate it, but it bugs me how Omar Minaya did it in that fashion. Jerry Manuel is the interim manager. I do not think that the Mets will make the playoffs this season, the Phillies offense will carry them to the division title and the other teams in the National League (Cardinals, Brewers, even the Marlins) will have a better chance to compete for the Wild Card position. Unless Manuel can restore order in that clubhouse, I don't see it happening.

John McLaren's team has been the most disappointing for me (next to the Tigers). As of now they own the worst record in the big leagues (26-47) and had some big expectations at the beginning of the season. I picked them to win the American League West. Now the Erik Bedard trade looks like the Orioles got the better of it and the pitching staff is one of the worst in the league, sporting a 4.65 ERA. Jim Riggleman takes over for the Mariners. Honestly, I have no idea who that is so I know nothing about this replacement. Good luck.

Cito Gaston takes over for the Blue Jays. He led the Blue Jays to two World Series wins back in 1992 and 1993, so this has potential. The Jays are 10 1/2 behind the AL East leading Red Sox. The Tampa Bay Rays are ahead of them. As with the Mets and Mariners, this team had big expectations for this year and so far have failed to live up to them, digging deeper and deeper with every game. The pitching staff is phenomenal, it's the offense that needs work. They are 10th in the AL with a .257 batting average, next to last in home runs, and last in slugging. The only thing I can get of is beg and plead Bud Selig to get them out of the East, but I don't see that happening.

* The NHL Entry Draft was last night in Ottawa, and Tampa Bay bolstered their offense by taking forward Steven Stamkos with the number one overall pick out of Sarnia. Stamkos will play alongside former number one pick Vincent Lecavalier, forming a 1-2 punch that should be deadly for years to come. Here's how the Top 10 rounded out:

1. Tampa Bay -- Steven Stamkos, c, Sarnia (OHL)
2. Los Angeles -- Drew Doughty, d, Guelph (OHL)
3. Atlanta -- Zach Bogosian, d, Peterborough (OHL)
4. St. Louis -- Alex Pietrangelo, d, Niagara (OHL)
5. Toronto (from NY Islanders) -- Luke Schenn, D, Kelowna (WHL)
6. Columbus -- Nikita Filatov, lw, CSKA 2 (Russia)
7. Nashville (from NY Islanders via Toronto) -- Colin Wilson, c, Boston University (Hockey East)
8. Phoenix -- Mikkel Boedker, lw, Kitchener (OHL)
9. NY Islanders (from Nashville via Florida) -- Josh Bailey, c, Windsor (OHL)
10. Vancouver -- Cody Hodgson, c, Brampton (OHL)

Obviously I like the Stamkos pick, but some other picks I liked were Toronto's pick of Luke Schenn and Boedker of Phoenix. My Red Wings took Thomas McCollum, a goalie, with the 30th pick. Looks like our goalie of the future is this guy, or Jimmy Howard.

There were many trades too. Ollie Jokinen went to Phoenix for two defensemen, which further makes me love what Phoenix did yesterday. The Flames made some moves, trading away center Alex Tanguay to the Montreal Canadiens, then basically filled Tanguay's spot by picking up Michael Cammalleri from the Kings in a three-team trade.

* Curt Schilling's career may be over. He announced that he is having season ending surgery that might force him to hang up the cleats. Should have listened to the doc, eh? Anywho, like most people, I will remember the bloody sock and his amazing playoff performances, and I think he deserves a shrine in Cooperstown.

* The EURO 2008 tournament has been a great one. Turkey has had some excellent come from behind victories and will face Germany in the semifinals. The other semifinal match will be determined today, as Holland takes on Russia and Spain will play Italy.

I think Turkey's run ends as Germany will take them down off a Ballack goal (he's been on a tear). The Dutch will defeat Russia today and Italy will take down Spain. That will set up a rematch of the "Group of Death" game and I think the Netherlands momentum will carry them to the title game to play Germany.

I can't pick against the Dutch right now, so I am going to say the Netherlands will win it all after a 3-2 win.

EDIT: As soon as I get home tonight, I learn the Dutch lose. I was wrong. Screw it.

Just Another Reason To Hate Beantown

First and foremost, I must congratulate the Boston Celtics on their recent NBA championship. Although this years Celtic's team was completely bought and I feel as if their win was nothing special, they won nonetheless. The only good I see in this win is that Paul Pierce has finally received the ring he deserves. This guy has been the heart of the Boston franchise for awhile and deserved to be a champ for at least one year. The same goes for Kevin Garnett considering he carried those horrible T-Wolves for his entire career but that team was completely controlled by the $$$.

I also give credit to the league MVP, Kobe Bryant. Throughout all types of situations and scenarios in the season, Kobe stayed strong and proved that he was the key to that LA squad. No matter who was on the court with Bryant, he would make them shine. A Lakers' win would have been the greatest thing to happen all year in the NBA world because when you look at that team, they were all heart. Kobe didn't even want to be caught dead in a purple and gold uniform this season and look what evolved from that decision.

Although the series panned out the way many expected, the Lakers put up a solid fight and this Celtics win shows some sign of dominance building up within the East. Those All-Star games will probably be MUCH closer from here on out.

P.S. Can we please stop Boston? It's no fun when they are winning all the championships. I see the Patriots weaking up a little bit and the Red Sox are not AS dominant so there is hope for the rest of us teams out there.

---Z

MLB Finally Sees the Light

Who knows what took them so long but the MLB has finally considered initiating the use of instant replay. The challenges would only occur to clarify whether or not they awarded a homerun in the correct situation but hey, it IS a start. I believe that the MLB probably needs instant replay just as much as the NFL. So, in due time they will probably incorporate it into other aspects of the game such as a close-call at first base, a diving catch that could have hit the grass and other small aspects that could have big effects on the outcome. According to MLB officials the rules of this certain proposal are as follows:

• An umpire supervisor would serve as a replay coordinator, and would communicate with the crew chief.
• The umpires would have access to all video feeds -- television broadcast feeds, home and visiting feeds, and MLB.com. This would allay concerns that a home team television producer would serve as a filter for what replays the umpires can see.
• It is expected that retired umpires eventually will play some role in replay supervision.
• Major League Baseball believes replay would be used only about 10 times each season.

Thought you guys may enjoy this video. Just an example of how baseball players are screwed by the system.

What if the NHL misspelled Lidstrom on a jersey?

Oh wait, they did.

I'm sorry, but this is an issue that I feel needs to be addressed.

Thanks to Melt Your Face Off, we present to you another Gary Bettman and National Hockey League screw up.

Now, I'm not big on names. But can we please get this checked out?

The correct name spelling of 6-time Norris Trophy winner is Nicklas Lidstrom.

What you see on the screen here is Lindstrom. Yes, you use the NHL Award ceremony, one of the unique opportunities the NHL hops on (I mean, how many other sports played on ice have an Official Tire?) to showcase this crap.

Should we also mention that Versus misspelled the name of the Lady Byng trophy? (If you care, they spelled it Lady Bing.)

Maybe I'm overreacting here. It may seem like it. To me this is a blend of embarrassment (you could throw pathetic in there) and at the same time I laugh at their stupidity. I would call it, 60/40. Maybe 65/35.

Just a thought before I leave for the friendly confines of Busch Stadium, where the Cards are currently getting shellacked 20-2 by the Phillies. I can't wait.

You will not be missing me

Even though I am leaving for Missouri tomorrow and won't be coming back until next Saturday, you'll still have Z and maybe a couple other writers.

I'll try and check in from St. Louis.

In the meantime, I leave you with Rick Sutcliffe hitting on Erin Andrews...(via Awful Announcing)

Breaking News: Lidstrom wins. Again.

Nicklas Lidstrom is amazing. He just won his sixth Norris Memorial Trophy. Make that sixth in seven years. Add that onto a Stanley Cup championship, actually four championships, he could retire right now and be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

In addition to Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk won two awards for the Lady Byng and Selke. The first time up he started with "hi" and pulled out his notecard or whatever for his speech. It ended with something I couldn't understand. Apparently he is still working on his English. The second time up he began with "hi." It didn't get much better. He forgot his second notecard.

The scary thing is is, Patrick Kane won the Calder Trophy, and he looks younger than me. I'm 14.

Brodeur won another Vezina. Bruce Boudreau won Coach of the Year, and Ovechkin won the Hart. Oh yeah, like we didn't already know that.

That's all I got for now.

With Soriano and Pujols out, how will Cubs and Cards manage?

On the outside, the two injuries may seem vastly different. But on the inside, they both make managers and teammates cringe at the thought. A broken hand and calf strain both strenuously force the human body to take a backseat to all physical activities - including the game of baseball.

The two teams battling for National League Central supremacy, the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, both now face serious setbacks in their race for the division crown.

Tuesday night, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols suffered a Grade I-II strain of the calf in his left leg. Wednesday night, Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano suffered a broken hand after being hit by a pitch by Atlanta Braves pitcher Jeff Bennett. In the end, both teams have been through the same type of scenario to survive.

We'll start with the Cubbies. In his short stint with the Cubs, Soriano has been placed on the DL three times, including stint this season. During that, the Cubs had a record of 9-5, and hit .312. The left fielder's batting average was .231.

The Cubs should have enough versatility to keep their 2.5 game lead in the Central division even without Soriano. They have proved, last season and this season, that they can continuously put up six or seven runs a game without their star player. Now, Soriano only missed 14 games back in April, this time he will be out six weeks.

Manager Lou Pinella is expected to move shortstop Ryan Theriot into the leadoff spot. Mark DeRosa, who plays second base when Soriano is in, can play left field replacing Soriano. Mike Fontenot can play second base, platooning with Reed Johnson, who off and on plays center field with Jim Edmonds.

If the Cubs can use their versatility to their advantage, and keep Kosuke Fukudome, DeRosa, Derrek Lee, and Geovany Soto playing at the same level they have been, the north-siders can welcome Soriano back with a lead in the NL Central division.

For the Cardinals, they face a tougher task. By now we should all know that Albert Pujols is impossible to replace. But, like Soriano, he has been on the DL before and the Cardinals managed, going 8-7 back in 2006 (they won the World Series that year) and scoring 5.6 runs per game. The Cardinals are also very well managed by Tony La Russa.

La Russa will find a way to keep the young team composed. As proven before, playing the "heroes" role is not a good option during times like this. They need to keep playing the way they have been playing - high on-base percentage and solid defense.

It's not like they'll fall below .500, they're 13 games over. With a team that boasts La Russa as manager, all-star hopefuls Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick, and veteran third baseman Troy Glaus, the red birds should manage even without Pujols.

With both of these guys out, it only fuels the fire of the compelling battle that is the National League Central.

T.O...Sounds Like a Steroid In Itself

As the title may point out, Dallas Cowboys' wide receiver Terrell Owens has been getting a little heated about the extra drug tests being requested by him. Now, whether he was put on the 'careful-watch' list due to the fact that he missed an earlier screening or that he has roughly 2% body fat is something that only NFL officials truly know but Owens needs to calm down.

The outspoken, hot-headed receiver said "The thing is they had already put in the reasonable cause testing program, which I didn't want to do." "I didn't want to be a part of that." Well, NO SHIT! Who in their right mind WANTS to be on the probable cause list of steroid use? Frankly, out of all of the professional athletes in our country (not just the NFL) I believe Owens should be focused on the most.

There are the obvious cases of Jose Conseco, Barry Bonds and the huge baseball 'steroid era' but they have already been outed. There shameful cheating and fake performances have already been put to shame both publicly and within their personal realm. I mean for Christ sake, Barry Bonds is close to having an asterisk(*) bestowed upon his name in the Hall of Fame if they decide to allow him in.

So, now I think they need to begin to focus on other stars of other major sports which they are rightfully doing. Guess you should have stopped staring in the mirror, slobbering over your toned pecs and answered your phone when someone along the lines of hmmm.....ROGER GOODELL pops up on your caller I.D. But hey, that's just what I would have done.

"It's just ridiculous," Owens said. "I take pride in what I do. I take pride in keeping myself healthy. ... I know what I put in my body." So, if he knows what he puts in his body he must have known that he was going to overdose last year when he took those uncalled for amount of pills. A little off topic but I had to point out that obvious remark of stupidity. Any other way you want to contradict yourself Mister Owens?

--- Z

Welcome to the Gun Show

Working out is not exactly my field of expertise, but Zak could help you out there. Welcome to the Gun Show is merely a description of the explosiveness feeling you will experience when you visit this internet page.

To tell you the truth, I don't think you can beat that entry he put down there. I mean, you got the insults, a description of his sorry, soon to be college life (god help you all at West Chester), and he said I work the streets of NYC. Now, New York is a couple hundred miles away, but it is easily within reach if necessary. And he definitely is speaking the truth when he says Nick Barnowski is the mastermind behind this site called FYI Sports Fans. Great guy!

You'll find the big stuff here. We like to keep the discussion part over at our forum, conveniently located at the web address http://fyisportsfans.net.

What I mean by big stuff is the articles that I desperately need to get back into. I used to blog. I was in sixth grade. It brought me some good things, like actually knowing what I want to do in life and got me some good connections with some very cool people. I can't speak for Zak, but for me you'll mostly find a mix of opinions and the facts in my writings. And mostly articles about hockey or baseball, my two favorite sports.

At the moment we are working on starting fresh with our main site - www.fyisportsfans.com, as Zak pointed out in the last entry (try and make a painting of that, Da Vinci!). So to catch up on everything FYI Sports Fans visit our forum which you can find in our navigation bar on the side of this page. Pretty soon we will be adding polls, possibly a podcast, and some live blog events, so stay tuned!

That's it for now. I don't have a cool nickname like "The Profit." And neither of my names start with "Z." So you're stuck with -- Nick Barnowski for now.

-- Nick Barnowski
Executive Administrator
FYI Sports Fans

What You've Been Waiting For

Wutsup everyone,
My name is Zak but you can call me 'The Profit' or simply 'Z.' By now you all will know that I am cocky, arrogant, conceited or any mixture of those words that you like to use. Frankly, I do not care because I like it and don't even mind if you judge me. My partner in crime, the brilliant mastermind behind FYI aka Nick Barnowski will be the opposing force to my crude humor. Let's face it, we all need some leveling out here and there and Mr.B is a very cool, down-to-earth dude. This is a small introductory for right now until Nick finds the time to give you the big picture but in a quick little overview, we are just here to blog. Whether you enjoy the entries or not they will keep flowing like the overpriced Cristal at a Puff Daddy bash.

This blog will be strictly sports and we hope you all enjoy our writing enough to visit our main page and work of art...FYISPORTSFANS.COM (yeah, Da Vinci couldn't even think of that shit.) If you do swing by the page, kudos to you and make sure you sign up for our forum because that is where the magic truly happens (get your head out of the gutter.)

That's all I can grace you with for right now but I plan to make an entry somewhere along the day and Nick will pop his head in whenever he gets back from workin' the corners of NYC. Hey, don't judge him, everyone has to pay the bills somehow and I hear prostituion is in season! Just kidding of course but I really have to go. Thanks for sitting through my horrible ranting, bye.