Jamie Sale is back on the market

Jamie Sale and David Pelletier captured hearts around the world back in 2002 during the Salt Lake City Olympics when the Canadian pair was robbed of a Gold medal in pairs figure skating by a corrupt French judge. They later were awarded the Gold, although the Russian pair that the corrupt French judge had voted for also got to keep their Gold.

It was a big moment for the two lovebirds, at least it was for Jamie, whose loss made the world think to themselves, "My gosh, that Canadian skating chick is hot!" She even did a sexy spread for FHM magazine. Sadness followed when it was discovered by those who had never before heard of the pair (like myself) that she was married to Pelletier.

Well, fear not! While the couple plans to continue skating together in whatever events skaters compete in after their Olympics career ends, they also have decided to not be married anymore. They have confirmed that they have been separated for over a year and are getting a divorce. Thus all of us who remember Sale from 2002 can once again throw our hats in the ring, hoping to win the heart of a hot figure skater from Canada.

Pelletier, meanwhile, can't possibly do any better than Sale. Most of us couldn't believe that he landed her in the first place.

Vin Scully's tribute to John Wooden

Courtesy of SportsByBrooks:

Doing it wrong

It is being reported that the Chicago Bulls have offered their head coaching position to Celtics assistant/defensive guru Tom Thibodeau. He was a finalist for their head coaching position two years ago when they foolishly hired Vinny Del Negro instead.

I'm a huge fan of Thibodeau, the true mastermind behind the Celtics suffocating defensive play of the last three years, but given the stakes that are at hand this offseason, I question this decision by the Bulls. Should he leave the Cavaliers, everyone believes the Bulls are his best option because of the presence of Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, plus the ability to sign-and-trade or offer the max to one other player (Chris Bosh? Amar'e Stoudemire?). But how comfortable is LeBron going to be going to a place with a rookie head coach? And why wouldn't the Bulls wait it out to see if Phil Jackson could possibly coaxed back?

Oh, that's right--because the Bulls don't like paying head coaches. When was the last time they hired an experienced head coach? Have they ever?

It's a huge gamble on their part, one that could be the difference between signing LeBron and becoming an instant title contender and not signing him and continuing to be the No. 7 seed in the East for the forseeable future.

RIP

"Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."

Michael Kay eviscerates Phil Mushnick

High comedy! New York Post sports media writer/curmudgeon(/racist) Phil Mushnick ripped radio host and Yankees television play-by-play man Michael Kay in his column this morning:

"Now, a scold. When Kay lifts a chunk from a newspaper column, repeats it, almost word for word, on his radio show as if it's his original thought -- if he doesn't credit the author or at least the publication in which it appeared -- that's dishonest, a form of theft."

Kay didn't take it lying down, going on this rant against Mushnick on his radio show today. My favorite part:

“Because one day when I die more people are going to be sad than happy. And when you die it’s going to be the complete opposite."

Needless to say, I'm eagerly anticipating Mushnick's Sunday column.

To-be-canceled Big 12 championships awarded to Dallas and KC

The Big 12 today announced future sites of conference championship games and events. The football championship games be played at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas through 2013.  Kansas City's Sprint Center will host the men's basketball tournaments through 2014.

The awkward elephant in the room? The fact that the Big 12 may not even be around past 2011. With the Big 10 and Pac-10 desperately wanting to add Texas to their conferences, and the apparent willingness to take other Big 12 teams with the Hook 'Em Horns, the Big 12 conference is on the verge of going the way of the old Southwest Conference.

Let's just say that Cowboys Stadium and the Sprint Center would be wise to book backup events as contingency plans and would be smart to demand a refund from the conferences if when the Big 12 goes the way of the dodo bird.

Cleveland should be looking better to LeBron

If LeBron James had any doubts about the Cavaliers ability to improve in the wake of their pathetic showing in the final three games of their loss to the Celtics, he should be feeling better about those doubts today.

On the heels of Mike Brown being fired as head coach, Danny Ferry is out as general manager. Considering the horrible job Ferry did in constructing Cleveland's roster, LeBron has to love this development. Maybe the new GM won't be as incompetent as Ferry was.

Stanley Cup Final: Hockey Night In Canada Game 3 Intro

Juan Samuel is a Major League manager

Who can ever forget Juan Samuel's hilarious career with the Phillies and Mets? And now, he's the manager of the Orioles! Good luck to Samuel, who no doubt needs it, because the Orioles are a complete mess. A disaster. And it isn't changing any time soon because there is nothing to suggest Peter Angelos will be selling in the near future.

So Samuel will be the latest in a long line of failed Orioles managers, dating back to Angelos running Davey Johnson out of town in 1997.

The good news for the fired Dave Tremblay? That he no longer has to deal with this disaster. The bad news is that he's probably finished as a Major League manager for life but I'm sure that's a better alternative than continuing on with the hapless Orioles, 15-39 with a .278 winning percentage (no other team is even as low as .350). Once a proud, model franchise with an awesome ballpark, Angelos has successfully murdered the sport in Baltimore.

Pronger controlling Chicago's top line

Philadelphia may trail 2-1 but, with the exception of the third period in Game 1, I feel they have been the better team. Chicago completely clamped down defensively in the third period of what was a 5-5 game through two periods in the opener.

Chicago's problems stems from two facts: Brent Seabrook is having a lousy series and Chris Pronger is shutting down the Patrick Kane-Jonathan Toews-Dustin Byfuglien line. It's fortunate for the Blackhawks that Duncan Keith is having a great series thus far, allowing him to cover for the struggling Seabrook.

As for the big line, I'm surprised Joel Quenneville hasn't shuffled them. No one knows how good Pronger is more than Quenneville, who coached the Flyers' defenseman from 1997-2004 in St. Louis. He should know better than anyone how good Pronger is at shutting down an opponent and how good he is at defending his own end. Early in the second period of Game 2, Quenneville was forced into a line shuffle because of a penalty killing situation. Kane was on the ice with Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa. Pronger was not out against this group and it turned into Kane's best shift of the series and resulted in his setting up a goal by Keith. Quenneville, however, returned to his normal lines soon after and the line continued to struggle against Pronger, although Toews did spring Kane for a breakaway goal in the third (worth noting that Pronger was not on the ice).

Toews, in particular, is really struggling to get his game going. The leading scorer in the playoffs through the first three rounds, Toews has been a zero offensively in this series save for springing Kane's breakaway goal. With Peter Laviolette matching Pronger against Byfuglien, it would be a good idea for Quenneville to play Toews elsewhere to try and force Laviolette's hand. If Toews and Kane play together with, say Kris Versteeg, does Laviolette keep Pronger against the behemoth Byfuglien or against the dynamic Toews-Kane combo? If he's out there against Toews-Kane, then maybe Byfuglien can again be a presence driving the net. If he plays against Byfuglien, then maybe Toews and Kane can deliver in this series with a little more consistency.

I'm very interested in seeing how this battle turns out in Game 4. At some point Quenneville has to do something to get Toews and Byfuglien going, right? If he keeps them together, I think Pronger and the Flyers take it back to Chicago even.

Rue McClanahan passes on

2008: Estelle Getty. Dead.
2009: Bea Arthur. Dead.
2010: Rue McClanahan. Dead.

2011 isn't looking so good for Betty White.

Ron McLean makes Gary Bettman squirm

Rewriting history

I feel as badly for Armando Galarraga as anyone but if hapless commissioner Bud Selig overturns Jim Joyce's blown call and gives Galarraga a perfecto, he also has to overturn Don Denkinger's blown call in the 1985 World Series.

If Selig wrongly overturns this call, I hope everyone in St. Louis marches to the Commissioner's Offices in both New York and Milwaukee and riots until that happens.

Joyce's blown call altered a historical feat but didn't even alter the outcome of a game. Denkinger's blown call altered the outcome of an entire season.

There's a lot happening in baseball this year

Ubaldo Jimenez's no-hitter, not to mention his 10-1 record and 0.78 ERA.

Dallas Braden's perfect game.

Roy Halladay's perfect game.

Jason Heyward's debut.

The Stephen Strasburg watch.

Jim Joyce's blunder.

Ken Griffey Jr. falling asleep (allegedly) and now retiring as the untainted slugger of his era.

The 20-inning Mets-Cardinals blunder bowl.

Kendry Morales' broken leg.

CC Sabathia's near no-hitter.

Three-homer games from Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols.

Roy Oswalt's trade demand.

The Padres, Reds and Braves.

The Rays.

And that's just scratching the surface. It's been an incredible start to this baseball season with a lot of stuff happening. I hope you've been paying attention.

Stanley Cup Final: Hockey Night In Canada Game 2 Intro

Stanley Cup Final: Hockey Night In Canada Game 1 Intro

City ribbing goes too far, I think, and LA Times agrees

One of my favorite parts about championship matchups is when the newspapers in the competing cities decide it would be a good time to print an article that rips the other city to shreds or rips everything about the other team. These articles are complete layups, in my opinion, because the writers and editors are too lazy to do their jobs and cover real stories.

Well, someone named Ted Green penned a blog post on the Los Angeles Times website that rips every single Celtics player. I thoroughly enjoy this because some of the criticisms he levels at Celtics players just as easily be applied to Lakers players but whatever. Anyway, Green wrote this about Paul Pierce, the Celtic who absolutely destroyed the Lakers in the Finals two years ago:

"By the way, Pierce's idea of a fun night is going clubbing and getting stabbed. Good times!"

I don't know about you but I don't want to live in a world where we can't make fun of people for nearly being stabbed to do. And I don't know about you but I feel like getting stabbed 10 times isn't nearly as bad as raping a girl. Allegedly.

Anyway, the LA Times correctly pulled the post (poor Ted Green, a lazy 45 minutes of his life he'll never get back pulled by the publication that paid him to give up those 45 minutes to write such nonsense, although for his trouble he'll spend the next few days getting skewered by the national press) but fortunately, the page lives on in Google's cache.

Anyway, there are several lines penned by Green that could just as easily be applied to Lakers players but perhaps the best one is his take on Rajon Rondo:

"This is the point guard who is faster than any Laker. He's an emerging star and acts like it, too. If he were any more conceited, he'd dribble with his left hand and carry a hand-mirror with his right. He preens more than TV news anchors. If he has a weakness, other than the villainous franchise he suits up for, it's his shooting. He has trouble making open five-footers in empty gyms, much less full arenas. Just remember this kid is, like, 8 years old and already as arrogant as the rest of them."

An emerging star who acts like it. Highly conceited. Young and arrogant. I think Ted Green just described Kobe Bryant's career perfectly.

In honor of America

Today is a day to honor and thank the brave men and women in the United States military for all they do to protect our freedom. In their honor, I present to you the four greatest renditions of the national anthem.

First, the greatest of them all, Marvin Gaye at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles. Only Marvin could successfully turn the anthem into a song which you make sweet love to in front of a fire with that special someone. The best part is when the crowd starts clapping along. When does that ever happen with the national anthem?



Next up is Wayne Messmer at Chicago Stadium at the 1991 NHL All-Star Game. President George Bush had announced just days earlier that the United States were going to war with Iraq and the Blackhawks fans were known for going crazy during the anthem anyway. Combine the especially patriotic time period and the raucous times and this is the result:



A couple of weeks later, the NFL held the red, white and blue Super Bowl between the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills. In retrospect, everyone should have known that these two teams would win their conference championship games because it was only fitting that two teams with these colors would meet in the Super Bowl. Whitney Houston, back before she was a complete and total mess, belted out one of the most emotional and stirring national anthems of all-time. It's a shame that the Whitney Houston of 1991, who had one of the most incredibly beautiful and powerful voices of all-time, effectively murdered her own career in the subsequent years by allowing Bobby Brown to physically abuse her and load her up on drugs on a daily basis.



The best anthem singer in the business today is the lovely Lauren Hart in Philadelphia, the daughter of the legendary Flyers voice Gene Hart. In the 1970s, the Flyers started a tradition of forgoing the national anthem in favor of God Bless America for big games. They used to play a tape of Kate Smith's rendition of it and once, Smith came and performed the song live. Incredibly, the Flyers always seemed to win when they went with God Bless America. That tradition continues to live on today with Lauren Hart on the ice in person and Kate Smith on the video board singing a joint duet of God Bless America. I fully expect to see this duet on Wednesday night during Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Let's hope Versus is smart enough to show it instead of going to commercial.



And with the Stanley Cup Final going on, a tip of the hat to the people of Canada, who have a great anthem. I sometimes wish Americans took as much pride in their nation as do Canadians, as this clip from the 2006 playoffs in Edmonton displays. The anthem singer belts out the U.S. national anthem, then shuts up and lets 18,000 strong at the old Northlands Coliseum take over for O Canada.

Ubaldo vs. Lincecum

My condolences to those of you that miss today's Rockies-Giants game. Ubaldo Jimenez. Tim Lincecum. 4 pm ET. One of the rare must-see regular season baseball games.

(My condolences to the hitters on both teams as well.)

There are no words

We should all slump so badly

Albert Pujols blasted three homers today in the Cardinals 9-1 shelling of the Cubs. Pujols' struggles have been a source of concern for the first two months of the season but as we hit Memorial Day, he leads the National League with 12 homers, is third in RBI with 38, and his .310 average is a respectable ninth (although 24 points below his career average through last season). His .994 OPS is second to phenom Jason Heyward. His 43.1 runs created is first.

Remember, this is a bad two months for Pujols.