Recently in sports Category

Oh, what a tangled web we weave! Here's the short version of the Title IX mess at Quinnipiac University:

• March 2009: Quinnipiac University, citing budgetary concerns, cuts three sports: men's golf, men's outdoor track and women's volleyball.
• April 2009: The ACLU and the Quinnipiac University women volleyball players sue Quinnipiac University, citing that the University has a history of violating Title IX.
• May 2009: The ACLU wins the case, Quinnipiac University reinstates women's volleyball and cuts men's indoor track, bringing the number of men's sports cut to three.

Total bullshit.

Wrestling 411's Jason Bryant weighs in, and has Title IX expert Allison Kasic of the Independent Women's Forum on his show. Really good stuff.

ESPN.com's Bill Simmons posted a two part mailbag today (part 1 / part 2). The funniest reader question/comment had to be from Blake Griffin's Left ACL. If you don't know who Blake Griffin is or anything about the LA Clippers then this will go right over your head, otherwise enjoy! Oh and next week at some point I'll be posting an argument explaining how the aforementioned Simmons has become the always loathsome sports bigamist so stay tuned.

Q: Now that the Clips have secured the No. 1 pick and proclaimed their intentions, we have been arguing about which one of us will go first. I, Left ACL, think it will be me because I'm his dominant leg, but Right ACL thinks it will be him because Blake jumps off him more than he does me. Blake's Will to Live walked by and overheard our argument. He said he and Blake's All-Star Potential had been lamenting the fact that they're both screwed as well. I guess we're all in pretty bad shape. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Blake's Work Ethic all day, though I heard he was trying to look up a phone number for Josh Childress' 'Fro. Something about dollar-to-Euro exchange rates.

-- Blake Griffin's Left ACL, Oklahoma

As for me, I'm heading out to camp for the holiday so I'll be seeing y'all in a few days. Peace.

For this generation of tennis players, being a clay-court specialist is no longer an insult, it's a necessity.

Patrick McEnroe (Manager of elite player development at the USTA): "You can't just bang your way to victory in today's tennis anymore. You need to know how to build a point, use different spins and angles, to mix offense and defense. Those skills are exactly what playing on clay teaches you."

Jose Higueras (Consultant for elite player development at the USTA): "Clay teaches you how to suffer. Playing on clay is like playing chess. You have more time to be creative and more choices to make on what shots to hit. Clay is the best surface to allow young players to learn. We want to build more clay courts and add clay tournaments to the calendar, but that will take some time."

We've all heard of Take Your Child to Work Day, but Take Your Trophy to Work Day?

The Philadelphia Phillies and Comcast SportsNet are holding a contest in which one lucky winner will get to take the 2008 World Series Trophy to work with them.

If I ever had a reason to teach summer school, this would be it!

One of my favorite plays of this past NBA season, neigh, my lifetime, is LeBron James' block against Jason Richardson of Phoenix, who was attempting a 360 degree dunk. Just last night I was discussing the play with a friend and what it meant. For a player to attempt a 360 dunk in game action a couple key rules have to be followed. One, the player has to be able to pull off the attempt and two the player has to feel confident enough that he is alone and ahead of the defense.

Jason Richardson, a previous NBA All Star dunk contest competitor certainly fits the bill on rule number 1. As for rule number 2, the lesson is, when LeBron James is on the court there is no such thing as 'alone and ahead of the defense'. ESPN has a quick little video about that block and some others that LeBron has pulled off. The block itself can be seen there or below.

Some genius somewhere mashed the recent Manny Pacquiao vs Ricky Hatton fight with Street Fighter. Great idea. Even better execution. Well done indeed.

By now you've probably seen (or at least heard of) the overhead camera view of 50-1 long shot Mine That Bird, ridden by Jockey Calvin Borel, coming from last place to finish first at the 2009 Kentucky Derby by several lengths. It is, perhaps, the greatest win in horse racing history

This past Saturday at the Preakness Stakes, he almost did it again. I kept my eye on him the entire race; it was exciting as hell as Mine that Bird made his move around 1:15 mark (again in last place) and fell just short, this time being ridden by jockey Mike Smith.

Congrats to Rachel Alexandra, ridden by jockey Calvin Borel, the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes since 1924, and the first horse, male or female, to win the Preakness from the far gate, aka, #13. If any horse won other than Mine That Bird, I'm glad it was her.

Oh, and by the way, Calvin Borel became the first ever jockey to ditch the Derby winner and ride a different horse in the Preakness. If he wins at the Belmont Stakes, no matter what horse he rides, it'll be the first-ever jockey-only Triple Crown.

New York high school wrestler Austin Meys shows off his incredibly bizarre strength. He will attend and wrestle for Lehigh University in the fall.

Totally rad...cowabunga.

Update 8:08 pm ESPN investigative reporter TJ Quinn is reporting that Manny Ramirez was using hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, a women's fertility drug that stimulates a man's ability to produce testosterone. It is commonly used at the end of a steroid cycle by bodybuilders and athletes.

Sorry Manny, you're off the list again. EA Blair - stop telling me what to do!

Update: 1:46 pm Peter Gammons reports that the banned substance was not a steroid or a performance-enhancing drug, but a prescribed medication. after consultation with the Players Association and his personal representatives, waived his right to challenge that suspension.

Okay, so I jumped the gun, as pointed out by resident memetician EA Blair via email. Welcome back to the list, Manny.

11:43 pm ESPN is reporting that Major League Baseball will announce today that Manny Ramirez will be suspended 50 games for violating the league's drug policy.

This is very disappointing news. Sorry Manny, you've just been removed from the fanboy list.