Valverde Denies Role In Spit-Gate

There's always a lot of back and forth between athletes and fans at a sporting event. Most players take it in stride, some fans take the heckling to a different level and which leads to atheletes lashing out. Ask Ron Artest and Vernon Maxwell about that. Recently the mild mannered, good guy Grant Hill even went after a fan. What is the world coming to?

Thursday night Detroit Tigers closer Jose Valverde was accused of spitting on a Baltimore Orioles fan. Valverde denies that he did it. He did say he spit in that direction but not at the fan. Fellow reliever Daniel Schlereth backed his claim which is basically saying the fan's claim was bogus. I wasn't there so I wouldn't know. I'd like an Orioles fan to clue me in on this one. Valverde said the fan was yelling at him all game. He shouldnt've spit in that direction as it is, that way you're not going into self defense mode.

"This guy's drinking and drinking, and he doesn't know what's going on in the game," Valverde said. "He started doing a lot of stuff, BS. The thing is, you have to sometimes leave it alone, because they pay for that. There's nothing you can do. He paid for the ticket. He can do whatever he wants to. But after a while, he ticked me off …

And sometimes you have to ignore it and be the bigger man. Well Valverde probably already is the bigger man.

"They're shouting, 'You [stink], you piece of …' And I'm tired of that. Everybody's tired. And I tell them, 'You know what, you want to do something? Come on. Come here.' And he told me, '[Forget] you. [Forget] your mother.' He talks about my mother, and I said, 'OK. God bless you.'"



As a fan there are lines you don't cross. Say anything you want but leave family out of it.






  

 

Brad Penny's Fiancee To Pose In Playboy

Karina Smirnoff of  "Dancing With the Stars" fame, who is Detroit Tigers pitcher Brad Penny's fiancee, will be posing for Playboy magazine, according to reports.

Hugh Hefner broke the news via Twitter of course.

"The May issue of Playboy is unforgettable with Dancing With The Stars' Karina Smirnoff on the cover & nude inside."

Smirnoff and Penny have been engaged since November and they are planning to wed early next year.

I wonder how Brad feels about it.

Karl Wants To Play Mavs In Playoffs, Not Thunder

If George Karl has his way, the Denver Nuggets will play the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. I wonder if the Mavericks will take this as a slight and tank just so they can play the Nuggets and beat them to a pulp once the playoffs roll around. Not saying that will happen, but it's a thought.

The Nuggets beat the Mavs 3-1 in the season series. Karl believes that since the Nuggets appear to be quicker and athletic than Dallas and would be a good matchup for Denver.

"If we had to pick and choose on it, we would probably say 55 percent Dallas, 45 percent Oklahoma City, only because Oklahoma City is athletic like we are and they have two great players," Denver coach George Karl told Ian Fitzsimmons of ESPN 103.3 FM's Galloway and Company, referring to Thunder forward Kevin Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook. "They have two All-Stars who are really in their prime and have never won on the playoff stage. I just think right now our speed might have more effect against Dallas than it will against Oklahoma City."


Karl also mentioned that the Nuggets would have the luxury of "doubling" off Shawn Marion.

I do think Karl is right in his assessment of playing an older, jump shooting, less athletic team. I just think he should've kept those comments to himself. They might come back to haunt him. 

Rodriguez Parlays Final Four Appearance Into a Late Night With George Lopez

Fresh off an appearance in the Final Four, VCU point guard Joey Rodriguez made an appearance on 'Lopez Tonight', with George Lopez.



He also got a trip to Disney World for him and his family. Not bad for a player on a team that everyone says shouldnt've been in the tournament.

Kiper Says Pryor Will Be A Tight End In The NFL

Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor will be suspended for the first five games of the upcoming college football season. Almost everyone knows that. The question is how much will it hurt his NFL aspirations. If it's up to draftnik Mel Kiper he would have Pryor switch positions. Maybe moving him to wide receiver while still at Ohio State.

Kiper also thinks Pryor will project to being an H-back or tight end in the NFL, pretty much the same thoughts he had about Tim Tebow.

"I've thought all along he was a tight end," Kiper said on a conference call. "I talked about (former Florida quarterback) Tim Tebow the same way last year.



"I think his best chance to be a very good NFL player is as an H-back. I think Pryor is going to be a projection to tight end."


Kiper feels that Pryor needs to work on some things, mainly throwing to succeed as a quarterback. I feel Pryor is an athletic wonder but he needed those five games to hone his skills at the position.

"Accuracy," Kiper said when asked what he could improve on. "Throwing the football is the main thing.


"He has to throw the ball, and he has to be precise with the football, and he has to do the things from a pure passing standpoint."


"Did he need to play those five games to prove he can be a quarterback? Yeah, he did," Kiper said. "I think there is going to be some concern whether he is going to be a quarterback or a position change, like I said, to a tight end spot."

Kiper is not the end all, be all of how a person does in the NFL. Maybe Pryor will surprise his skeptics and prove that he is an NFL worthy talent at quarterback and not tight end or some novelty player. I feel he should get a chance to play quarterback before they try to switch positions.

I think the talk of switching him to a different position might hurt him more than the five game suspension. That will get into the heads of the league executives before he gets a chance to prove he's worthy of being a quarterback.  

Darko To Auction Off His Championship Ring

In a page from Ron Artest's book, Minnesota Timberwolves center Darko Milicic is planning to auction off his NBA championship ring he won with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He's doing it for a worthy cause, it's to raise money and awareness for children dealing with the terminal illness Batten's disease 

He got the idea from Ron Artest, who auctioned off his Lakers championship ring to raise money for mental health programs in schools.

Outside of the championship he won with Detroit and being known as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history, this might be the most noteworthy thing he's done since being in the league.

Party Of One

When Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy held his pro day workout, he probably didn't anticipate that there would be a low turnout.

McElroy didn't throw at the NFL combine or Alabama's initial pro day because he broke a bone in his throwing hand during the Senior Bowl. He did have a productive career for the Tide and won a national championship there. Still he had to think he had better NFL prospects than what turned out to view him.  

The Seattle Seahawks were the only team that showed up to his pro day workout. Personally that would be a bummer. You work hard to get yourself in position for a shot at the NFL and only one team shows up to see you workout.

That team was the Seattle Seahawks, who sent southeast scout Derrick Jensen and quarterbacks coach Carl Smith. Heck, at least St. Pete (Pete Carroll) could've shown his face.

Here's the video below.