Chan Ho Park Sent To The Minors....In Japan

When an ex-major leaguer goes to Japan to play baseball, they usually dominate the competition and extend their careers. Some do go over there and fail, but it doesn't happen too much. And they hardly get sent to the minors. Unless your Jose Tolentino.

Somehow former all-star pitcher Chan Ho Park has been demoted to Japan's minor leagues. Park has won only one of seven starts for the Buffaloes with an earned run average of 4.29,so I can see why.

Pitching coach Osamu Fukuma said that Park needs to "stop fooling around" and get serious.

“He needs to pull himself together,” pitching coach Osamu Fukuma told the Sankei Sports newspaper. “He has not come here to fool around. He needs to do a lot better.”


In my opinion, Park hasn't been the same since he grooved that pitch to Cal Ripken Jr. in the All-Star Game.


 




   

Poking Fun At Tressel's Expense

Since the black cloud appeared at Ohio State and isn't leaving anytime soon, it's been real easy for rival fans to poke fun at Jim Tressel.

First there was the billboard along I-94 up here in Michigan, the minor league promotion, and now from Sportscrack.com is the latest t-shirt for Michigan fans to wear.

I'm a Michigan fan, but let's get some respect back and some wins over OSU under our belt before we start crowing about anything.  

Minor League Baseball Team Has "Rest The Vest" Night

With the vultures circling around Columbus,Ohio, more specifically the Ohio State campus, a minor league baseball team in Florida has decided to run a promotion "honoring" Jim Tressel's resignation.

The Fort Myers Miracle is running a "Rest The Vest" night on June 6.

- The Fort Myers Miracle feel the disappointment and anger of the Ohio State University football fan today and want to help ease the pain. So the time to move on from the Jim Tressel era is now!

The new coach of the Buckeyes presumably will not wear sweater vests on the sidelines; so it's time to retire them. Fans are encouraged to bring their sweater vest and place it in the retirement bin near the front gate of Hammond Stadium.

I'm sure the fans in Columbus won't be too pleased with this when they get wind of it. It wouldn't surprise me if some of them went down there to crash the party.

Also if you don't have a sweater vest, you can show a tattoo, Ohio State related or otherwise and receive some Miracle gear to keep or sell.

How creative.

Horace Grant Chips In About The LeBron/Jordan Debate

When Scottie Pippen came out and offered his opinion about the greatest NBA player of all time and said LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan, that ignited a firestorm of criticism. Much like Pippen has hit the current edition of the Chicago Bulls with.

LeBron came out and basically told Pippen thanks but no thanks. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote an open letter to the L.A. times and said don't forget about the old school. And now former teammate, Horace Grant is letting Pippen know that he's wrong. 

In an interview on Sportsradiointerviews.com, Grant let his feelings be known about this debate. 

“WOW! Pip is my man and you know we will always be close, but I totally disagree. LeBron is gonna be one of the top players to ever play the game but Michael Jeffrey Jordan, who we bump heads at times is I think in my era the best basketball player to ever play the game.”


And when he was asked if Scottie was holding a grudge against Jordan he had this to say.

“(Laughing) I hope not, I don’t think so, but you know to say that somebody, I mean listen, I’m mean I’m kinda at a loss of words cause Michael Jordan I mean when you win numerous MVPs and you’ve taken the team to six championships and probably could have been eight if he didn’t retire those two years. You know MVP’s and the playoffs and the championships I mean man he made us better, he made believe me, he, myself, Scottie, BJ, even Bill Cartwright who I still love, he made us better players. He gave us that confidence, but first we had to earn his trust and once we earned his trust man you know you saw championship after championship and as far as talent wise, that’s no man. Who do you want to take that last shot when three seconds are left in the game? Who do you want the ball in their hands the last 3 seconds? He proved that he can score the last few seconds of a ball game or if he gets double teamed that Steve Kerr or John Paxson are right there so you know I love Scottie, but I totally disagree.”

“You know this is a great country we live in. You’re entitled to your opinions but your uhh uhh…[Waddle: YOURE WRONG!] Yeah, yeah he’s wrong on this one.”


I gotta agree with Horace on this one. And he said it best when he said Jordan was the best in his era. Which is what i say all the time since it's so tough to compare different eras. Jordan was a truly great player, but there were many before him, so you really can't crown him or anyone for that matter as the greatest of all time.

It Might Go From Bad To Worse At Ohio State

If things were bad at Ohio State now, it's looking to get significantly worse if the NCAA has it's way with the Buckeyes.

After Jim Tressel's resignation earlier today, the NCAA will be starting an inquiry about quarterback Terrelle Pryor's dealings.

Ohio State spokesman Jim Lynch wouldn't confirm whether Pryor is being investigated.

"The university continues to work with the NCAA as they investigate matters involving our football program, and we will continue to do so until the conclusion of the investigation," Lynch said. "We are unable to comment on specific players' situations because of federal law."


Sounds like a roundabout denial to me.

Pryor has been questioned before by OSU, specifically surrounding the cars that he has been tooling around campus with since he became a Buckeye. Pryor has been linked to Columbus area car salesman Aaron Kniffin.  Kniffin reportedly has sold cars to Pryor's mother and brother as well.

Right now it looks like Ohio State's cover up might tumble like a house of cards. If it's anyhting like what happened to Michigan's basketball program, not even having Tressel step might not help them.

If Pryor is guilty of more than penny-ante infractions, this will be a bizarre case of what goes around comes around.

Tressel chose to cover up Pryor’s shenanigans, which came to light anyway. Once they came to light, it cost Pryor five games. The only reason he’s here to serve his five games is because he promised Tressel he wouldn’t go pro. But now Tressel is gone, and if anything else comes out, Pryor will probably have to sit out the season. That will hurt his NFL draft prospects.

If Pryor had held off on selling the trinkets, none of this would have happened and he’d either be looking forward to signing a lucrative NFL contract or making an NCAA championship run.

If Tressell had told the truth, Pryor would have served a one- or two-game suspension that wouldn’t have harmed his career, and Tressel would still have a job.

If everyone had agreed to Pryor being suspended for the Sugar Bowl–as he should have been–he could have gone pro after the season. Then he could spend the 2011 season locked out by the NFL instead of suspended by the NCAA. At least he’d have a job when the lockout ends. Instead he stays at OSU out of respect for a coach who won’t be there. And if these reports are right, he’ll wind up with more than a five-game suspension. So his draft stock, if he comes out at season’s end, will plummet.

This is like an Aesop’s Fable with a moral on the importance of truth-telling.

Michigan fans should consider themselves lucky that he didn't end up with the Wolverines. In a strange way it's almost like had got two coaches fired.

 

Oregon Freshman Linebacker Ran Down By Bicycle Cops

I don't knock police officers for doing their job and upholding the law. Personally it is kind of comical when you see officers on their bikes making sure justice is served. What's more funny is a college football player being ran down by the cops on their bikes. I don't mean motorcycles either my friends.

Now out of the Pacific Blue files comes this. 

According to multiple reports, freshman linebacker Tyson Coleman was arrested late Saturday night and charged with a minor being in possession of alcohol and interfering with police officers. The Eugene Register-Guard has the pertinent details.

Coleman, 18, was walking near campus with a can of the alcoholic energy drink Four Loko when he was spotted by officers at the intersection of 16th & Patterson on Saturday at about 11:15 p.m. A report of the incident said the can appeared to be unopened, an EPD spokeswoman said.



When questioned by the officers, who were on bicycles, Coleman said he was 21 but could not produce identification. Coleman then threw the can and ran off; it took the officers a “considerable time” to chase him down, the spokeswoman said, during which Coleman repeatedly glanced back to see if they were still in pursuit.

Not trying to be funny but maybe if he had a better 40 time he would have been able to evade the cops and could have gotten away and we wouldn’t have heard about this… Speed drills in the off season for all underclassmen!


In all seriousness, it's not a major crime and it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Coleman shouuld be made to got to alcohol abuse classes and get some kind of suspension. Another thing that gets me is why did he run? he would've got the same ticket that he got if he didn't run. Hopefully Coleman will learn and grow from this mistake.

Sooner Nation Has Had A Rough Few Weeks

The Oklahoma Sooners football program has had a rough couple of weeks. First starting linebacker Austin Box died from an apparent overdose. Then the brother of defensive coordinator Brent Venables passed away.Now former Sooner All-American safety, Brandon Everage has died from a reported drowning.

According to Sheriff David Greene of the Milam County Sheriff’s Office, Everage, 30, drowned in the Little River about 80 miles northeast of Austin.



Authorities received a call late Friday about a possible drowning and commenced a widespread [search] into the night. Everage’s friends told police he had been swimming, went under water, but never resurfaced.

Everage’s body was finally found by a dive team about 10:50 a.m. Saturday, and he was immediately pronounced dead. His body has been sent to the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

Everage was an All-American in 2001 and a member of the Sooners’ 2000 national title team. He played for the Sooners from 1999-2003.


The Sooner family has had a lot ot endure this offseason. Man alive, this has been a tough few weeks for the Sooner family. Condolences and thoughts to all the families and friends that have been impacted the past few weeks.


Let's hope the Sooners will be able to bounce back from the string of tragedy.