The Drubbing

Dear US, prepare to be dismantled. Love, David Villa.

The United States Men’s National Soccer Team find themselves in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in South Africa.  However, when they meet Spain on Wednesday in Bloemfontein (a completely real city, despite its seemingly fictitious name) they will not subsequently find themselves advancing to the finals.  Anything can happen in sports, but the fact that the US are in the semi-finals is a bit of a false indicator to the lay soccer fan.  In all honesty, they made it here by mistake.
Continue reading “Fumbling, Bumbling, Tumbling… Into the Semis.” →

My name is Denard Span. I deserve to play more than the guy I am cutting in front of. FREE DENARD SPAN!

Before the season, I did a piece on some hitters that made their debuts last year that might make a mark with their teams this year. You can find the link here. Although it isn’t the All-Star break yet, I figured it might be time to check in with the 9 guys we looked at then:

Chris Dickerson, Reds: He had an OPS of 1.021 in 102 AB’s for the Reds last year. As a result of that, the Reds penciled him in as their starting LF. Most projection systems were pessimistic on him, and while he has not held up to his stats from last year, he has not completely embarrassed himself. His batting average is .265, which can be mostly explained by the fact that his batting average on balls in play is (BABIP) is .340. That is .70 points less than it was last year. Historically, most hitters will be between .290-.300 on BABIP, so the fact that these numbers are so high is quite disturbing. His SLG% is also .222 points lower than last year. Summary: Chris needs to pick it up, especially since he is now 27.
Continue reading “A look back at last year’s rookies so far…” →

College World Series heats up this week:

Duke fans, or hell any NCAA bball fan, want to own a the floor where arguably the most memorable NCAA shot ever was taken? you will need at least $2,500.

Some one on the Cubs needs to help Sweet Lou out.

Your Weekly Chuck Norris Fact:

Chuck Norris’s family crest is a picture of a barracuda eating Neil Armstrong.

* Please note that Chuck Norris is in no way affiliated with The Drubbing or its writers. If he did find out we were using his name in a gimmick he would roundhouse kick all of us to death.

The NBA’s technical foul/suspension scale is fine. It deters players that are approaching the limit from acting like three-year olds and let’s the officials keep the games moving with fewer tantrums. But of course, any time big stars like Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard risk suspension, there has to be a problem with the rules. So the NBA will of course “review” the policy in question.
Continue reading “Where technical fouls happen, all the time” →

Commissioner Goodell, too many of your players are facing this situation...

Today there was news that Donte Stallworth plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter for killing someone while driving drunk. As part of the plea deal he will serve 24 days in jail, 2 years house arrest, 8 years probation, a lifetime drivers license revocation, and 1,000 hours of community service. He also agreed to a financial settlement with the family of the victim. The NFL is expected to suspend Stallworth for his actions, but the length of the suspension is yet to be determined.

This got me thinking about the NFL conduct policy as it relates to suspensions. In a quick Google search, I found at least 18 DWI arrests of active NFL players in the last three years, with many more before that. A study by the San Diego Union-Tribune found that 73 players on 2008 NFL rosters had been arrested for DWI, and 28 percent of all NFL player arrests were related to drunken driving.

In 1998, Leonard Little was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter for killing another driver while he was drunk. He served three months in jail and an 8 game suspension from the league. He was arrested again in 2003 for another DWI. Eric Warfield racked up three DWI’s in a four year stretch. Leon Hall, Chris Henry, Koren Robinson, Odell Thurman, Chris Chambers, Marcus Coleman, Adrian Awasom, Reggie Williams, Dwayne Jarett, Deltha O’Neal, Marshawn Lynch and Brandon Marshall have all gotten DWI’s. Their reported BAC levels were between .092-.149.
Continue reading “NFL are three of the greatest letters… DWI are three of the worst” →

A fellow blogger over at Midwest Sports Fans has been taking some heat this week for a piece he wrote on Raul Ibanez. The article titled “The Curious Case of Raul Ibanez: Steroid Speculation Perhaps Unfair, but Great Start in 2009 Raising Eyebrows” is from my point of view, a pretty even-handed piece, that actually searched for reasons other than PED’s that could be attributed to Ibanez’ early-season success at the ripe age of 37, and didn’t actually come to any conclusions. As should be expected, he was subsequently blasted by baseball fans and sports writers around the globe.
Continue reading “Calling steroids in a crowded room” →

Joba Chamberlain's reaction after a 2nd inning groundout...

In a recent conversation with a reporter, Brian Bruney of the NY Yankees commented on the actions around NY Mets closer Francisco Rodridguez.  I have a few comments around this, so lets start first with Brian Bruney.

In case you do not know Brian Bruney, let me introduce him to you.  Mr Bruney is a 27 year old middle relief pitcher who has a career 4.28 EAR.  He is part of arguably the worst bullpen in MLB with a 5.60 ERA after the 7th inning.  So far he has pitched only 9 innings this year, which with the current state of the Yankees starting pitching is a 4 game series worth of work.  Bruney is also on the same team as the one and only Joba Chamberlain.  Yes, the same Joba who fist pumps, screams, beats his chest in the middle innings of games that he is losing.  Ask Aubrey Huff how he feels about Joba.  So Brian, before you start criticizing players on other teams, in the other league, you may want to address things on your own team first, you jackass.
Continue reading “Brian Bruney, meet your team” →

Now that the Falcons have officially released Michael Vick, I guess nobody wanted to trade for his rights, the next question is where does he go from here. There are plenty of teams that could use his services and athleticism. Some may say they also need to be able to tolerate his indiscretions, but I believe his personal life is a far smaller risk than many would like to believe.
Continue reading “Top-5 NFL teams for Michael Vick to land with” →

The Lakers and Red Wings jump out to an early lead this week:

Alex Rios hears a heckler after his Golden Sombrero 0-5, 5K’s game (language is rather strong).

LBJ leaves a dust cloud for Anderson Varejao.

Remember that ESPN commercial about being a big buddy? Well this guy must have went to their camp.

Your Weekly Chuck Norris Fact:

Chuck Norris can charge a cell phone, just by rubbing it against his beard.

* Please note that Chuck Norris is in no way affiliated with The Drubbing or its writers. If he did find out we were using his name in a gimmick he would roundhouse kick all of us to death.

Bud looks like a drunk speaker at the local Legion Club

For the first time ever, i decided to somewhat follow the MLB.  Partially because it was on the MLB network, and also because you could listen to it live on mlb.com.  I think it is great that MLB is trying to pump-up their product by broadcasting what normally was a conference call between teams.  Well, after watching and listening to the draft i can understand why this thing was dormant for so long.

The NFL and NBA drafts are somewhat spectacles, and veterans of making this a popular fan affair.  The MLB however, yowzers.  Bud Selig announced the first round in what looked like a miniature stadium filled with desks for each team.  It was the equivalent of a model UN at a local school, while the NFL and NBA drafts were the real UN.  His suit was partially off to the side, he stumbled with how he said each player’s school, name and position, it really was amateur hour.  I have no idea how many rounds good ole Bud announced as i could only sit through the first 20 picks before i found something more entertaining to do, like cleaning my bathroom.
Continue reading “The MLB Draft is not for TV” →