You should read this article about the deceased 25 year old former NBA player. It is a sad story. The guy really had a problem and it killed him.
McHale said Griffin begged for help during his three seasons in Minnesota and even started taking Anabuse, a drug that makes alcoholics violently ill when [...]

Reggie Miller comes to his senses and decides to stay retired. I've always liked Reggie -- and his Knick-killing was fun to watch. He's also struck me as a guy who really has a solid head on his shoulders. I enjoy his work on TNT and am glad he'll be calling the [...]

Bill Murray may be charged with a DUI in Sweden after being pulled over in a golf cart that he "borrowed" to drive himself to a restaurant.

No doubt motivated to move books, Jerome Bettis reveals that he faked the occurrence of an injury in training camp in 2000 to avoid being cut. In reality, he was already injured -- or rather recovering from an injury -- when he went down on a play in training camp. His new book [...]

Eddie ran into a moving train with his SUV down in Houston. I won't speculate about this except to say that this is a sad end for a troubled young man.

When I called him a criminal earlier, I was chastised for rushing to judgment. Now that he's agreed to plead guilty, I say again: this guy is a sadistic, heartless criminal.

Arizona has exceeded their Pythagorean Win Total by a whopping ten games. How is that happening? Chris Jaffe at Hardball Times has the answer. Think about the Twins when you read this article.

RIP, Bernadine.

Bud Selig announced that Jason Giambi would not be punished for admitting his steroid use, calling the decision "appropriate" and citing "the Yankee slugger's charitable work and cooperation with baseball's steroids investigator." Not cited as a reason was the fact that at the time, baseball did not have a punishment for using steroids and [...]

Chipper Jones opened up his big mouth and chirped about A-Rod and steroids on Wednesday, setting off a frenzy in the NY Tabloid media. Now Mr. Jones is upset and not talking to NY reporters. You know, Larry, if you had to walk a mile in A-Rod's or Barry's shoes, you wouldn't have [...]

Chipper Jones says that steroid questions will dog Alex Rodriguez. Bud, this is what you have wrought, you stupid idiot. You could have done something 15 years ago, you could have stemmed the tide with a focus on your new testing policy, but you were lily-livered and equivocating. Now, we're going to [...]

I expect that, with just 43 to go to 800, he'll keep playing.

I posted this in the Game Log on Wednesday night, but I thought it was worth a little front page exposure. This is video from center field of Barry Bonds's 756th home run.

Subtitle on Strib article about the players received from the C's in the KG trade: "Chemistry was on their side as members of the latest five-man band out of Boston stepped forward as the newest Timberwolves." If I was a snarky fellow, I'd ask if that chemistry is the same type that Mr. Bonds [...]

Bud "I Turned a Blind Eye to the Whole Steroid Situation for at Least a Decade and Now I Want to Pin All the Blame On the Best Player of His Era As If No One Else Ever Used (Assuming He Did)" Selig is "likely" to miss the Giants' next three games.

Keith Richards says he inhaled father's ashes "like" cocaine, not "with" cocaine. He also claims that his "shocked" doctors recently told him that he has "'perfect' liver, heart and kidneys". One wonders if he would object to his organs being a post mortem treat for Hannibal Lector or someone of his ilk.

A KG tribute. Link courtesy of Algonad.

The Wolves timed the announcement of the THUD buyout perfectly... almost no one heard about it in the clamor over the KG trade. THUD's agent Billy Neff says, "[The buyout] works out fine. Now we have to go find a team to take a chance on." Uh, any team stupid enough to sign [...]

ESPN's Marc Stein, no favorite of mine, knocks it out of the park in his analysis of the debacle at 600 First Avenue. The lion's share of the blame rests with Glen Taylor.

Front page Strib.com: "The Boston Herald reports the final package will likely have the Celtics sending Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and a No. 1 pick to Minnesota to acquire Garnett."

The NFL Network puts the kibosh on Deion Sanders's follow up column on the Vick sitcheashun.

Harmon Killebrew, when asked about Barry Bonds in Cooperstown this week, said, "We should just shoot him." Apparently, Killer was joking (he punctuated the comment with a "hearty laugh") and it's hard to know the context or what lead up to the comment, but let's just say that it was an unfortunate choice of [...]

Will Carroll on Bob Costas's little chemist and the logic (or lack thereof) of the accusations against Bonds.

Prime Time with his take on the Michael Vick sitcheashun.

Reusse brings some clarity to the situation: trade Hunter, trade Castillo, trade Silva. No Top Jimmy-esque hand wringing about Torii, no wishful thinking about the 2007 campaign. This season is over, get what you can for next year.
Now, there's been plenty of talk about whether or not trading a player like Hunter is [...]

Curt Schilling weighs in on Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and steroids in general. Again.

Bud's gonna head to SF to watch Barry, but won't be a part of any on-field celebration.

Accused fixer Tim Donaghy worked game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series.

Minnesota Gopher football coach Tim Brewster has kicked four players accused of being involved in a rape off of the football team. The players are still enrolled at Minnesota and are on scholarship, but "that could change".

Vick accused of "conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in Richmond, Va." These are felony charges. Dogfighting is a despicable activity. Here's hoping that if he's guilty, he's thrown [...]

Ichiro signed a $90 million, five-year contract extension Friday, three days after he was the unanimous MVP of the All-Star Game.

Mark Cuban confirms that he's trying to buy the Cubs. Please, God, let this happen.

Link. And down in Arlington, the prayers go up: Please opt out, A-Rod.

Believe it. Gotta love Rickey.

Ozzie in the Chicago Tribune: "I have to change the name for [the Twins], from piranhas to sharks. The way they swing the bats they have to be a bigger fish."

ESPN is out of ideas.

Shane from the Greet Machine with a hilarious story about a home project gone bad.

Jim Caple writes a column entitled, "101 things all sports fans must experience before they die" and the list does not include The Super Bowl.

Mac O'Grady says Tiger Woods only wins because of technology, calling him the worst driver to ever win the Masters. He says that Woods is "cheating" because his clubs have square grooves and the balls have different dimple patterns. Says Mac, "For him to go after Nicklaus's records is cheating. This is like [...]

Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in connection with bus accident after judge declares mistrial in response to actions by Minneapolis police officer on the witness stand. Victim started the fight on the bus by being aggressive with bus driver. Man punches victim repeatedly, causing victim to fall out of bus and onto his [...]

This time from Sam Smith: "All the particulars aren't established, but the basics are the Suns get Garnett, the Celtics get Shawn Marion and the Timberwolves get the No. 5 pick, the Hawks' unprotected first-round pick for next season, which the Suns hold, the Suns' two firsts this year (No. 24 and 29) and the [...]

Publisher Par Ridder testifies that he "cop[ied] confidential financial documents from his Pioneer Press computer onto a portable computer drive and t[ook] them to the Star Tribune.
He also acknowledged sharing some of that data on advertising, profits and personnel matters with Star Tribune officials, including members of its operating committee."
Ouch. Combine that with the [...]

Ozzie: I'm tired of being positive. They'll blame the coaching staff and the manager and [owner] Jerry Reinsdorf and [general manager] Kenny Williams, but blame the players, too. I'll take the blame because I run the club, but every move I've been making so far is the wrong one because [the players] are not supporting [...]

It's his prerogative to testify in front of the Mitchell Carnival if he wants, but he can rest assured that his testimony will be leaked. Further, the Yankees will get the ammunition they need to terminate his contract. Also, he will lend legitimacy to a Carnival that should never have started in the [...]

Says the SI columnist: "In the coming years, we'll be talking about a Sopranos movie or one more season the way our big brothers and sisters talked about a Beatles reunion before John Lennon died." I highly doubt that.

ESPN is reporting that Andy MacPhail will be taking over as COO of the Baltimore Orioles. After an uneven tenure with the Cubs, the one-time boy wonder will need some results in Bird-Town to rehabilitate his reputation.

Nice piece by Joe Christenson on the last game of the 1991 World Series. Was this the greatest game in Twins history, or was it the game played the night before?

The Commissioner threatening suspension of Jason Giambi if he doesn't cooperate with the Mitchell Investigation. Giambi's big sin wasn't taking steroids, it was saying that baseball had any culpability in the whole steroid situation. Giambi should not have to testify, nor should he have to turn over medical records. I hope he [...]

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is now a teammate of Jeff Gordon.

The motto of former Viking Orlando Thomas, who is now dying of ALS.

I hope that Randy Moss returns to his former brilliance. A little positive publicity won't hurt. Neither does playing with a QB that can get him the ball.

Jeff Pearlman: Although baseball boasts its fair share of enlightened players who actually (gasp!) read and pay attention to world events (Mike Piazza, Sean Casey, Derrek Lee, Mike Mussina, Matt Morris, Carlos Delgado, etc.), they are always overshadowed by the dangerous morons, who equate volume with veracity. They are men like John Rocker, David Wells, [...]

Apparently, the Yankees can opt out of Clemens's deal. Will they? Clemens has a fatigued groin and may start again in the minors. If that groin keeps nagging the Rocket and the Yankees keep sliding, Roger may not may his much ballyhooed return, after all.

Sports Guy in his Cleveland/Detroit Game 5 preview: "Like many others, I'm looking forward to Game 5 solely because of LeBron. Like many others, I want him to shift into fifth gear, hush the crowd, rip Detroit's heart out and make the Vivid Video face after everything's said and done. Like many others, I [...]

Will Carroll suggests that agent Scott Boras might make a good commissioner. I have to believe that he's making far more money representing players than he would as commissioner. Nevertheless, he'd be a strong commissioner (consider how good he is at being an agent for players). Whether he'd be good for the [...]

The new ban extends a previous policy, which prohibited alcohol in the lockerroom.

A-Rod distracts Blue Jay infielder by yelling "Ha!" at him. Golfers everywhere are enraged.

The proposed league would play on Friday nights and would go after players drafted lower than the second round of the NFL draft. Mark, the NFL doesn't Bert around. Don't throw your money away.

Kobe demands trade . Shaq backs Kobe's version of events leading up to Shaq's trade. Buss arrested on DUI charge with 23 year old woman in car.

Link. The spectre of Bud Selig suspending players for not cooperating while he himself has been, at the very least, disingenuous on this topic would be the height of hypocrisy.

This article talks about security and the potential for someone to hurt (or kill) Bonds. I dunno, doesn't writing articles like this appeal to the crazies?

Dick Pound asserts that the PGA Tour needs to implement a performance enhancing drug testing policy. I'm not buying what he's selling.

Ric Bucher is reporting that if the Lakers don't hire Jerry West, he may ask for a trade. Maybe he can find a team with someone to carry him.

I wonder if the Atlanta Falcons ever think, man, we could have had LaDanian Tomlinson and Drew Brees instead of this prick?

Randy Wittman (74-132 as head coach) just got a new three year contract and is now more optimistic about the team. "It's not a situation that calls for a total rebuilding project to get back into the playoffs." Yeah, whatever.

Jayson Stark: As great as Bobby Abreu can be, he lacks that all-important Derek Jeter gene. There is no voice in his head, screaming: "This ball has to be caught." Or: "That runner on third has to be driven in."

Eric Neel writes an article entitled Larger than life: Today's future legends. He listed players that included David Eckstein but did not include Joe Mauer or Johan Santana.

JH breaks it down (sub. req.) and concludes that passing to Donyell Marshall was the right play. I agree and the biggest factor is that Cleveland needed to go for the win on the road.

Link. $40 million for 19 mostly ineffective starts.

Bill Simmons with the biggest whine in the history of sports writing.

Giambi reportedly failed amphetamines test last year. As an aside, first failures are supposed to be kept private, but privacy is no longer very important in this country.

The Wolves not only didn't win the lottery, but the two winners are in their own division.

Kubel in left tonight. Well playing Edsel Ford (.185/.241/.259) is on the bench.

The Dallas Cowboys' new stadium will hold more than 100,000 people.

Guess who Bill Simmons thinks *deserves* to win the NBA lottery (and by winning I mean there are two teams).

Clinton Portis is okay with Ron Mexico's dog fighting ring.

It's official. Everybody has a blog.

Chad Ford (sub. req.): The Durant-Oden debate usually supposes that Durant has the bigger "upside" and Oden is the "safer" pick. But after watching Oden on Sunday, I have to say that his upside may be bigger than that of anyone else in the draft.

Yesterday, in response to a question as to when Reyes would be Ponson'd, ubelmann said he's more likely to be Crain'd because ubes believed he was hurt. Listen to that boy.

Jeff Pearlman is advocating it. Well, the Yanks have had a ton of injuries and are 5 games below their expected win total. I find it hard to blame Torre.