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2009-07-29 | Jim Murphy
After stumbling to a 0-2 record out of the gate, the Calgary Stampeders are starting to look more like the defending Grey Cup Champions. On Friday night in Vancouver, the Stamps fell behind early and then rolled off 34 unanswered points en route to a 48-10 domination of the BC Lions. With the victory, the Stampeders evened their record at 2-2 on the season having won their last two games by a combined 92-19 score.
2009-07-29 | Jim Murphy
Former All Star outfielders Ricky Henderson and Jim Rice were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame over the weekend along with former NY Yankees/Cleveland Indians great Joe Gordon. Henderson and Rice are iconic figures in 1970’s and 1980’s baseball, and although Henderson made the Hall on his first ballot and Rice was in his final year of eligibility there were few suggestions that the honor wasn’t deserved by both men.
2009-07-27 | Jim Murphy
Already reeling from the death of Arturo Gatti, the boxing world awoke to another tragedy on Sunday morning with Vernon Forrest’s murder during a robbery attempt in his home town of Atlanta. Forrest was reported dead at the scene due to ‘multiple gunshot wounds’ to the torso and thigh area. A police report on the shooting has yet to be released, and there is no confirmation on the identity or condition of his assailant.
2009-07-27 | Jim Murphy
Jimmie Johnson was the beneficiary of a pit road speeding penalty to race leader Juan Pablo Montoya as he won Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Montoya, who won the Indy 500 in 2000, was dominating the race with 35 laps remaining when he was called for the speeding infraction—an assessment that the driver vehemently denied. It was Johnson’s 3rd career victory at the legendary track.
2009-07-27 | Jim Murphy
The Portland Trailblazers have picked up an experienced point guard, signing unrestricted free agent Andre Miller. Miller played with the Philadelphia 76ers last season, but rejected the team’s overtures for a one year deal. Portland will pay the former University of Utah standout $21 million over three seasons. Two of the three years are guaranteed for a total of $14 million, with a team option for a third season for another $7 million.
2009-07-27 | Jim Murphy
The Toronto Argonauts used a stifling defense and some timely scoring to defeat the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers 19-5 on Friday night and even their record on the young CFL season at 2-2. Argos kicker Justin Medlock booted four field goals and Jamal Robertson scored a 1 yard rushing touchdown, and with the stop unit completely shutting down the Bombers’ offense that was all the scoring Toronto needed. A first quarter FG was all the scoring Winnipeg could muster, with the team added two points on a conceded safety late in the contest.
2009-07-24 | Jim Murphy
The Montreal Alouettes used their league leading defense to turn back the challenge of a scrappy Hamilton Tiger Cats team on Thursday night, remaining undefeated in the young CFL season by virtue of a 21-8 home victory. The score was more lopsided than the game itself, with the Als’ offense held scoreless in the second half by an opportunistic Hamilton defense.
2009-07-24 | Jim Murphy
After two days of scrambling to find a replacement opponent for WAMMA World Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko, Affliction Entertainment has cancelled their August 1st ‘Affliction: Trilogy’ event altogether. Emelianenko was originally scheduled to face #2 contender Josh Barnett in the main event. After a positive drug test, Barnett was refused licensing by the California State Athletic Commission setting off a frenzied search for a replacement opponent by the promotion.
2009-07-23 | Jim Murphy
The MMA world was rocked late Tuesday with the revelation that Josh Barnett had tested positive for a performance enhancing drug and would not be granted a license by the California State Athletic Commission. As a result, he’s been pulled from the August 1 Affliction: Trilogy main event against Fedor Emelianenko. Barnett is appealing the decision, but Affliction is moving on without him and scrambling to find another credible opponent for ‘The Last Emperor’.
2009-07-23 | Jim Murphy
It’s been a rough off season for the Chicago Blackhawks. First, it was a public dustup over some late paperwork that incurred the wrath of the NHL Players Association and cost GM Dale Tallon his job. The latest bad break has potentially more severe implications as the team’s prize free agent acquisition Marian Hossa has reportedly injured his shoulder and is considering surgery.
2009-07-23 | Jim Murphy
One day after Josh Barnett’s positive test for steroids forced his withdrawal from the ‘Affliction: Trilogy’ MMA main event against Fedor Emelianenko, the promotion was still trying to salvage the card. While Affliction’s Tom Atencio continued the search for a viable replacement opponent with only nine days to go before the event, Barnett’s future in the sport—at least in the US remained very much in doubt.
2009-07-23 | Jim Murphy
With a bout against Vitaly Klitschko all but a done deal, British heavyweight David Haye changed course at the last moment instead opting to fight Russian giant Nikolai Valuev for his WBA title. The bout will take place in Germany on November 7th. The move has fight observers scratching their head as to the reasoning behind the switch, and produced a livid reaction from Klitschko’s advisory team of Bernd Boente and Shelly Finkel.
2009-07-22 | Jim Murphy
Boxing’s reigning ‘pound for pound’ king Manny Pacquiao will return to action this fall, facing a stiff challenge from welterweight title holder Miguel Cotto. The bout will take place on November 14th at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Gardens and be telecast on HBO PPV in the United States. The fight took some time to put together, with both camps haggling over money and weight—eventually the fighters agreed to meet at a 145 pound catchweight.
2009-07-22 | Jim Murphy
The Montreal Alouettes are leaving no doubt about who is currently the best team in the CFL. This past weekend they ran their record to a perfect 3-0 with a 43-10 domination of the host Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Alouettes started slow on offense, but methodically broke down the Roughriders over the course of the game. The Als’ defense smothered Saskatchewan throughout, prompting fans to begin streaming out of Taylor Field by midway through the third quarter.
2009-07-22 | Jim Murphy
The Calgary Stampeders may have broken out of their early season slump. This past weekend their defense dominated by shutting down the Toronto Argonauts offense while scoring three touchdown as Calgary rolled to their first victory of the young CFL season by a lopsided 44-9 margin. The Stamps improved their record to 1-2, while the Argos dropped to the same mark.
2009-07-22 | Jim Murphy
It’s been kind of a soap opera summer for the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, at least as it concerns tying up their roster for a run at a title repeat. First, forward Trevor Ariza bolted for Houston though that wasn’t a major concern. In fact, they let him go in order to re-sign sixth man Lamar Odom.
2009-07-21 | Jim Murphy
Pioneering UFC fighter Kimo Leopoldo is very much alive after numerous mainstream media reports to the contrary. The New York Daily News was first to report the story that Kimo had died of a heart attack, and it quickly spread to other mainstream media outlets. MMA insiders were somewhat skeptical, a there were few details as to the circumstances surrounding his passing, or any real independent confirmation.
2009-07-21 | Jim Murphy
Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash has accepted a contract extension from the Phoenix Suns, and will formally sign the deal early this week. The deal will extend his current contract by two years, and will pay him $22 million dollars. According to his agent, Bill Duffy, Nash will make the deal official Tuesday or Wednesday in Phoenix.
2009-07-16 | Jim Murphy
Less than a month after his demolition of Japanese pop culture icon Bob Sapp, former WWE superstar turned MMA fighter Bobby Lashley has opted to return to the scripted world of professional wrestling. Lashley will make his debut for #2 US wrestling promotion TNA on Sunday’s ‘Victory Road’ PPV. Lashley had already made several on-camera appearances for the promotion, but the signing will mark his return to in-ring action. Lashley’s last in-ring pro wrestling appearance came in Mexico on a show for ‘Lucha Libre’ promotion AAA.
2009-07-16 | Jim Murphy
Alan Iverson may be ‘the answer’ for the Los Angeles Clippers after all. The Clippers are prepared to offer Iverson a one year deal for their full $5.8 million midlevel exemption. While Memphis is in a position to offer more money, most observers suggest that the potential for winning with the Clippers young talent—along with their location in Los Angeles—would be the determining factor should it come down to the two teams.
2009-07-15 | Jim Murphy
The Chicago Blackhawks returned to the playoffs for the first time in years this season, and advanced all the way to the Conference Finals before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup runner up Detroit Red Wings. Having built a talented young team and landed a big veteran free agent signing, you would think that Hawks GM Dale Talon would have some degree of job security. Think again—on Tuesday the Blackhawks fired Tallon primarily due to an overblown paperwork snafu.
2009-07-15 | Jim Murphy
The Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly broken off negotiations with sixth man Lamar Odom. Reports suggest that the two sides had reached an agreement on a deal that would have paid Odom $9 million a year over the next three years. Odom wanted a longer deal, and continued to shop himself around to a number of suitors. Lakers’ owner Dr. Jerry Buss was apparently angered by this, and pulled the previously negotiated salary offer.
2009-07-14 | Jim Murphy
The New Jersey Devils felt no need to get creative with their search for a new head coach following the resignation of Brent Sutter. Five weeks after Sutter resigned to take the head coaching job with the Calgary Flames, the Devils on Monday introduced Jacques Lemaire as their new head coach. Lemaire himself had resigned as the coach of the Minnesota Wild, suggesting that he’d taken the team ‘as far as he could’. Apparently, he was anxious for a new challenge as reports suggest it was he that approached the Devils about their vacant coaching gig.
2009-07-14 | Jim Murphy
Ageless wonder Mark Martin used a great move on a late race restart after a caution to take the checkered flag at Saturday night’s LifeLock.com 400 NASCAR race at Chicagoland Speedway. The 50 year old legend led most of the way, but needed a strong finish and some good old fashioned ‘racing luck’ to pass Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne for his 39th career victory in NASCAR’s top level Sprint Cup series. Martin had also earned the pole position in qualifying, the 42nd time in his career he’s started at the front of the pack.
2009-07-14 | Jim Murphy
With it all but certain that former NBA scoring leader Alan Iverson won’t return to the Detroit Pistons for the 2009-2010 season, a number of teams have been in touch with the guard for his services. Until recently, the Miami Heat were considered the front runner to sign Iverson but in the past 48 hours reports suggest that the Los Angeles Clippers, Charlotte Bobcats and Memphis Grizzlies have also entered the race.
2009-07-14 | Jim Murphy
On a historic night for the UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts, Brock Lesnar avenged his early loss to Frank Mir with a TKO victory and in the process unified the promotion’s heavyweight championship. Mir/Lesnar was the main event of a stacked card and the culmination of an insane week in Las Vegas. The anticipation surrounding UFC 100 was unprecedented among the fight sport media and, more significantly, among mainstream sports media. MMA has long has been an object of scorn, disdain and ignorance among ‘traditional’ sports media, and in this context the fact that every major outlet including ESPN, SI.com and Fox Sports featured UFC 100 as their top story of the day is downright amazing.
2009-07-14 | Jim Murphy
Although it was only the second game of the season, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have a lot to be proud of with their home field upset of the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders. Before a sellout crowd at Winnipeg’s Canad Inns Stadium, the Bombers controlled the game throughout as they gave rookie CFL coach Mike Kelly his first win by thumping the Stamps 42-30. Winnipeg completely shut down the Calgary offense through three quarters, and held off a furious Stamps’ comeback effort in the final quarter to preserve the win.
2009-07-14 | Jim Murphy
On a stacked card for Saturday UFC 100 event, one of the preliminary matches gained a lot of hype—the fight between Brit Michael Bisping and American Dan Henderson. The two men had been opposing coaches on this season’s edition of the UFC’s reality television show ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, which on this occasion matched fighters from the UK against their US based counterparts. While the UK team got the best of the competition on the show, in the ‘coaches battle’ Henderson managed to gain some measure of revenge for the Americans as he brutally knocked out Bisping midway through the second round.
2009-07-10 | Jim Murphy
After finding a less than enthusiastic response on the free agent market, Utah Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer decided not to exercise his opt out provision and remain with the team for the 2009-2010 season. The Jazz might not give him the chance to finish out his contract in Utah, as they’re reportedly working on a three way deal involving Portland and Chicago that would send Boozer to the Bulls. The Jazz would end up with Tyrus Thomas, while Portland would get Kirk Hinrich from Chicago. The Blazers’ personnel contribution to the deal has yet to be made public.
2009-07-10 | Jim Murphy
The Edmonton Eskimos gave the host Montreal Alouettes a tough game for three quarters, before the home team exploded for 31 fourth quarter points en route to a 50-16 victory at Molson Stadium. The Als offense looked sluggish until the final period, but poured it on to remain undefeated at 2-0 on the young season. Edmonton dropped to 1-1 with the setback.
2009-07-09 | Jim Murphy
The turnaround of the Atlanta Hawks from league doormat to a team that’s made two consecutive playoff appearances has sort of flown under the radar of many NBA fans. The productivity of the current roster hasn’t been lost on team owners, however, who have taken a couple of important steps toward keeping the nucleus together. Within a span of 24 hours, the Hawks locked up two big pieces by re-signing pointguard Mike Bibby and center Zaza Pachulia to multiyear deals.
2009-07-09 | Jim Murphy
While the NBA’s Houston Rockets are obviously hoping that superstar center Yao Ming is able to return from a hairline fracture of his foot, they’re not taking any chances. On Wednesday, the league granted the team an injury exemption for Yao which will free up an additional $5.7 million worth of salary cap room. Essentially, the team regained their ‘mid level exemption’ which they’d used to sign free agent small forward Trevor Ariza away from the Los Angeles Lakers.
2009-07-09 | Jim Murphy
Despite the hoopla surrounding their 100th anniversary, the 2008-2009 NHL season was a profound disappointment for the Montreal Canadiens. After starting the campaign with expectations of a deep playoff run, Montreal struggled to make the playoffs and was swept in the first round by the Boston Bruins. As a result of the postseason debacle, Habs GM Bob Gainey has vowed to remake the team even if it meant making tough and potentially unpopular decisions. On Wednesday, potentially the most unpopular roster move of the offseason came to fruition as longtime Canadiens captain Saku Koivu signed a one year deal with the Anaheim Ducks.
2009-07-09 | Jim Murphy
Nashville Police have officially concluded their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shocking death of longtime NFL QB Steve McNair. Their findings validated the initial speculation that McNair was shot by his 20 year old girlfriend Sahel Kazemi, who then turned the gun on herself. The revelation of McNair’s infidelity makes an already tragic situation all the more difficult for his family and friends.
2009-07-07 | Jim Murphy
Even the ex
2009-07-07 | Jim Murphy
Veteran point guard Jason Kidd will resign with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, the first day that teams are allowed to tender written contracts to their free agents. Kidd decided to stay put despite a dedicated recruiting effort by the New York Knicks. The Knicks were unable to match the financial terms offered by the Mavericks due to their current roster situation and desire to keep cap space available in order to go after an impact free agent following the 2009-2010 season.
2009-07-06 | Jim Murphy
Three time NFL Pro Bowl QB Steve McNair was found dead of what authorities describe as ‘multiple gunshot wounds’ on Saturday morning in Nashville, Tennessee. His body was located along with that of a woman, Sahel Kazemi, who has been identified as a ‘friend’ of McNair. Kazemi had a single gunshot wound to the head, and a handgun was discovered near her body. While police have so far been tight lipped about their investigation there is growing speculation that it is a murder/suicide scenario which raises very dubious questions about the nature of McNair’s relationship with Kazemi.
2009-07-06 | Jim Murphy
When a professional athlete tries to rationalize a decision as ‘not about the money’ you can be certain of one thing: it’s about the money. The latest example is NBA forward Hedo Turkoglu, who played last season with the Orlando Magic. After verbally committing to sign with the Portland Trailblazers on Friday, he reneged on that agreement to take more money in Toronto. He’ll be introduced to the Toronto area media on Wednesday, the first day that teams are allowed to officially sign free agents.
2009-07-06 | Jim Murphy
Tony Stewart was in no mood to celebrate his victory at Saturday’s NASCAR Coke Zero 400 in Daytona. As so often happens in ‘restrictor plate’ racing, Stewart’s last lap bump of Kyle Busch set off a nasty multicar pileup as he slid through to victory. The usually outspoken Stewart was downright reserved in his post race victory celebration, despite the fact that no significant injuries occurred as a result of the last lap melee.
2009-07-06 | Jim Murphy
The Boston Celtics have picked up some much needed frontcourt depth with the report that free agent Rasheed Wallace had verbally agreed to join the team. Wallace will sign a two year deal for the mid level exemption next Wednesday—the first day that NBA teams are allowed to offer written contracts to free agents.
2009-07-03 | Jim Murphy
The Montreal Alouettes struggled against their Western Conference last season, and in particular against the Calgary Stampeders. The biggest setback for the Als was a 22-14 loss in the Grey Cup championship game. In the CFL season opener for both teams on Wednesday, Montreal got some measure of revenge as they pasted host Calgary 40-27.
2009-07-03 | Jim Murphy
Kobe Bryant and the NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers have significantly upgraded their frontcourt game with the signing of rugged Ron Artest. Artest, who played with Houston last season will provide some much needed scoring, rebounding and interior defense to the Lakers. Artest confirmed the deal via text messages to several media outlets that read “"I am happy to say I am goin' to L.A."
2009-07-03 | Jim Murphy
The Edmonton Eskimos got their 2009 Canadian Football League season off to a winning start on Thursday night, as they nipped the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers 19-17. It was the CFL debut for both coaches—Richie Hall for the Esks’ and Mike Kelly for the Bombers and an ugly game all around. Hall had to be pleased with a victory in his Canadian coaching debut, but both teams clearly have much work to do.
2009-07-03 | Jim Murphy
Less than 24 hours after Ron Artest verbally agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, the man he’ll replace in the lineup took his old spot in Houston. Trevor Ariza, rebuffed for a pay increase by the NBA champions has verbally agreed to sign with the Houston Rockets. NBA free agents aren’t allowed to put their name on the dotted line until next Wednesday, but both Artest and Ariza are expected to quickly make their team swap official.
2009-07-02 | Jim Murphy
After insisting all season that he was certain to become a free agent this summer, Utah Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer has reversed course and announced that he’ll return for another season with the team. Center/forward Mehmet Okur also declined to opt out and will be back with the Jazz, though his circumstances are different and he has been strongly leaning toward returning all along.
2009-07-02 | Jim Murphy
The CFL kicked off their 2009 season on Wednesday, with Toronto facing Hamilton and Montreal traveling to Calgary. Yesterday we examined some of the major rule and gameplay differences between the NFL and the Canadian game. Today we’ll take a look at the biggest rule difference of all—the ‘non-import’ player quota.
2009-07-01 | Jim Murphy
Alexis Arguello, one of the greatest boxers to ever compete at 130 pounds, was found dead in his Managua, Nicaragua home early Wednesday of an apparent suicide. He was 57 years old. Arguello was found with a gunshot wound to his chest, but his high political stature in the country meant that an investigation would be forthcoming to verify that it was indeed self inflected. Arguello was the mayor of Nicaragua’s capital city at the time of his death.
2009-07-01 | Jim Murphy
While Americans celebrate their big national holiday a few days later on July 4th, the first of the month is ‘Canada Day’. The holiday marks the unification of Canada as a nation via the British North American act in 1867 and is celebrated much in the same way as their neighbors to the south. For the country’s sports fans, it marks the beginning of football season—Canadian Football League (CFL) season. Two games on the docket for Wednesday get the unique form of professional football underway for the 2009 season, to the delight of CFL fans and sports bettors alike.
