Bent Corner

What’s even better than watching Notre Dame get beat at home by a truly bad team? Seeing Notre Dame students demonstrate just how pathetic they really are. From Fox Sports:

Fans at first threw snow in the air, but then quickly switched to tossing snowballs toward the Notre Dame sideline. Defensive lineman Ian Williams got hit in the helmet, defensive end Ethan Johnson was struck on the left cheek and a St. Joseph County police officer on the sideline looking into the crowd got hit in the chest. An NBC camera man also was a frequent target and several snowballs reached the field, although none landed near where play was occurring.

I wish that I had watched the game. Not only do I despise the Fighting Irish, I like the Orangemen. Technically, I’m sort of kind of a Syracuse alumni in that I completed my associates degree (the 14th grade) by taking night classes at Utica College of Syracuse University. I used to go to both Syracuse football games and basketball games while I was stationed at Griffiss Air Force Base back in my Air Force days.

Good times!

I just read a headline on a sports website that said the Oklahoma City Thunder have fired coach P.J. Carlesimo. At this point, I’m not sure that P.J. Carlesimo getting fired from a coaching position qualifies as news. I’ve lost count of how many times the man has been fired from an NBA team.

The headline reminded me of the fact that Oklahoma City has an NBA basketball team. During the off season, the Seattle SuperSonics pulled stakes and moved to Oklahoma. No, they aren’t being punished by the league. The owner actually wanted to move the team from Seattle to Oklahoma City.

I’d say that Thunder was the dumbest name ever for a professional basketball team, but I’m sure there is a semi-pro basketball team some where in the Philippines called something even dumber, but since I don’t understand Tagalog, I can’t really tell. I bet they named the team Thunder just so they could play the AC/DC song Thunderstruck during timeouts.

I cannot imagine them signing any quality free agents.  Who would want to live in Oklahoma City when they could live anywhere else?  Maybe having a perennial lottery pick team in Oklahoma City will help keep more underclassmen in college. If they know they have a good chance of being forced to play in Oklahoma City, they might just stay in school.

Yankees 40-year old pitcher Mike Mussina is calling it quits after achieving his first 20 win season in 18 years of playing Major League Baseball. Mussina was an Orioles first round draft pick in 1990. He played for the Orioles from 1991 to 2000, and then went on to sign a free agent contract with the rival Yankees.

The big knock on Mussina – if there was one — was that he never registered a 20- win season. He had two back to back 19-win seasons while playing for the Orioles as well as two 18-win seasons. With that said, he was almost always the number one pitcher on his team for much of his entire career.

I happened to be in Camden Yards the night he scored his 100 win. I don’t remember the date, but it was an interleague game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Baltimore Orioles. I remember there being more Philly fans in attendance then Oriole fans. That’s a trend that only worsened as the Orioles worsened. Not just with the Phillies, but with the Yankees and the Red Sox too.

The most exciting sporting event I have ever seen in my life was a game between the Cleveland Indians and the Baltimore Orioles. Mussina was on the mound. He had a perfect game going into the ninth inning. Indians catcher Sandy Alomar then got a one-out single to break up the perfect game.

If Mike Mussina somehow doesn’t end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, it will be a crime against humanity. He finishes his career with a 270-153 record and 3.68 ERA. He has 2,813 career strikeouts and just won his seventh Gold Glove award. He spent his entire career in the offense happy AL East and 10 years of that pitching in hitter-friendly Camden Yards. He’s also a total class act. That shouldn’t matter much when it comes to Hall of Fame consideration, but it counts a lot in my book.

Not that I even have a book.

During the final seconds of the Chargers-Steelers game Sunday, the Steelers were up on the Chargers 11-10. The Chargers had only time for one play. Chargers QB Philip Rivers made it a short pass to Ladainian Tomlinson, who flipped it back to Chris Chambers, and Chambers lateraled it to the ground because I guess the ground was wide open.

Steelers long haired hippie Troy Polamalu picked the ball up and ran it back for a touchdown, giving the Steelers a 17-10 lead as time expired. Before the Steelers could kick the extra point making the final score 18-10, an official in the booth reviewed the play and announced that one of the lateral passes was not a lateral, but an illegal forward pass. The touchdown was called off and the final score resorted back to a final of 11-10.

Either way, the Steelers would have won the game. The only difference is that in Las Vegas, the bookmakers had the Steelers as five point favorites. This meant that if you placed a wager on the Steelers, they would only win your bet if the Steelers won by more then five points.

From Pregame.com:

An estimated 100 million dollars was wagered worldwide on the Pittsburgh/San Diego game, according to RJ Bell of Pregame.com. Approximately 66% of that money was on the Steelers; with only 34% on the Chargers.

“If the touchdown was properly upheld, Steelers bettors would have won about 32 million dollars instead of losing big. This admittedly incorrect call resulted in a 64 million dollar swing in favor of the bookies,” said RJ Bell of Pregame.com.

There was no valid reason for the official in the booth to reverse the call. There was no flag on the play. There was no whistle blown. When Troy Polamalu picked up the ball, it was a live ball.

Part of me thinks it’s funny that so many gamblers lost money when they really shouldn’t have. Anyone stupid enough to bet their money on something they have no control over deserves to get fleeced.  With that said, I think this makes the NFL look really bad.  It looks like they have a problem with officiating in that game officials have an interest in things such as a gambling points spread.

The fifth game of the World Series was suspended last night in the 6th inning. The game is rescheduled for today at 8:00 p.m., but that seems unlikely since they are calling for even worse weather.

The Phillies and Rays are tied 2-2 with the Phillies leading the series 3-1.

Last week Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs appeared on a sports radio show where he admitted to the two hosts that the Ravens had a “bounty” on two Pittsburgh Steelers players, rookie running back Rashard Mendenhall and All-Pro receiver Hines Ward.  In a recent Monday night Ravens-Steelers game, Mendenhall suffered a fractured left shoulder and will miss the rest of the season.  He was injured in the game and required surgery.  Ward escaped the game unscathed.

The NFL responded to the talk of a bounty by writing a terse letter to Suggs stating that talk of bounties will not be tolerated and if it happens again, he will face “significant disciplinary action.”  Whatever that means.

Maybe the NFL missed the point that the bounty existed with the whole Ravens team.  Sending a letter only to Suggs doesn’t really take of the problem.  It makes it look as though the real egregious act was not the bounty itself, but talking about it on a radio show.

The NFL has a thuggery problem.  Not that this should be news to anyone.  What I find to be surprising is how anemic the NFL seems to be at taking care of the problem.

They aren’t going to fix the problem by writing letters.

It looks like quite a few NFL players have tested positive for steroids. ESPN is reporting that the New Orleans Saints have three players, Deuce McAllister, Will Smith, and Charles Grant have tested positive under the NFL’s steroid policy.

NFL players are taking steroids? What’s next, an ESPN report that players on the road cheat on their wives?

Of course players in the NFL take steroids. Men don’t naturally put on as much muscle as the average NFL lineman or any of the other strength position players without taking extraordinary messages. That includes lifting lots of weights and taking lots of supplements, including steroids.

Steroids don’t make you stronger. They don’t give you more muscles. What they do is allow you to heal and recover quicker. That means you can lift a lot of weights and spend less time recovering in between workouts. Some people mistakenly think steroids allow you to work less, but the complete opposite is true. They allow you to work harder and more often. [ESPN]

I didn’t get to watch much of the game last night between the American League champs the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the National League champs the Philadelphia Phillies. Even though both teams are here on the east coast, the game didn’t start till nearly 8:40 p.m. The game was scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m., but Fox being Fox had to waste the first 40 minutes with redundant filler. The highlight was former Phillies great Mike Schmidt announcing the Philadelphia starting lineup.

I’m pretty sure he was drunk.

I got up this morning and the Internets told me that the Phillies won, 3-2.

From Goal.com:

Beckham will join the Italian side in January while the MLS season takes a break, and he will stay at Milanello until the end of the European season, possibly then making this a permanent move.

“Beckham wants to train and play with Milan,” Galliani told Il Corriere Della Sera.

“We want him. He will arrive in January and we will sign him for the rest of the season.

“It’s not just a shop window deal, it’s a great deal. He will be available for Ancellotti for Serie A and the UEFA Cup.

“Football today is not just about tactics and technical abilities. It’s about full stadiums and sponsors. No-one can beat the 65,000 fans we had on Sunday.

“The stadiums will only fill up with superstars like Beckham who has asked Milan for hospitality, not another club.

“With him, Kaka and Ronaldinho, it will be a dream team.”

The English midfielder is still under contract with LA Galaxy but it seems as if Galliani has concrete ideas already in place in trying to land Beckham on a permanent deal.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I bought an LA Galaxy Beckham jersey this past weekend.