Are you a Braves fan?

no, not especially. i enjoyed watching the jays win the world series over them though!

holy fucking shit, i just seen the highlights of the perfect game.

buehrle needs to buy dewayne wise dinner for the rest of his life. one of the greatest catches EVER considering the circumstances.

The Cardinals appear pretty close to getting a deal done with Oakland for Matt Holliday. It doesn't look like they'll have to give away too much for him since he's been a bit exposed as a big hitter who benefitted greatly playing in Coors Field for much of his career. He's still a very good, high impact bat.

EDIT: Update- Matt has been traded and is now officially a Cardinal. I'm not ready to predict St. Louis will take the NL Central just yet but this sure don't hurt their chances.

Fucking MMA thread aged out.

Fedor is a question mark, to be honest. He hasn't really beat anybody of worth in five years or so. Timmy and Andrei do not impress me. Neither does Joshu after the laughtastic Yvel wreck. He's good, no question, but how good, nobody really has any inclination.

Affliction: CANCELLED

To answer your question, drug testing policies are determined by the jurisdiction of the overseeing athletic commission (yes, that means you have absolutely no ground to stand on for it not being a "real sport", mark.)

Tim Tebow got left off of the All-SEC ballot due to a mistaken oversight from Steve Spurrier. Ain't that just like the Ol' Ball Coach to deflect blame to the AD.

I think he has now "retroactively" corrected his ballot and put Tebow first.

I think I like South Carolina last for the SEC East this year. They've got a good defense but I think their offense is going to be pretty bad while everyone else in the East is either at the top already or improving. I suppose Georgia could go either way with a new quarterback but we'll see.

yeh, id like to see more of fedor. the man is a total enigma. fedor vs. lesner? thatd be something. i dont really know how the matchups and leagues work though.

The price for Roy Halladay just went up tonight in what could very well be his final start as a Blue Jay. 2 earned runs and 10 Ks. This guy is fucking stellar.

my heart sank watching him walk back to the dugout.

If I had to bet, I would wager that they end up not finding a deal to their liking(especially now) and he stays for the rest of the season. Only if I were a betting man though.

he told ricciardi hes going to free agency in 2010.. so i dont see why they wouldnt trade him and get something.

That's still another whole season though. Remember, that free agency period will only arrive after the 2010 World Series. So December-ish of that year. A whole other season is still plenty of time to hold out for the best deal they can. No way in hell they're just going to give him away other than for exactly the prospects they want. They might settle for J.A. Happ and a stronger package of other farm guys from Philly right now but if I were Ricciardi, I would demand nothing less than Kyle Drabek and Carlos Carrasco.

ahh, as much and as long ive been into sports ive never cared to learn about contracts and the business side of things.

imagine if he went to the phils, doc and hamels = world series.

I think Philly is just find where they are without having to give up so much for as great a pitcher as Roy is. Toronto could even just hold onto him until his contract is up and let him walk into FA as they would get compensation draft picks for him should they not get a return to their liking.

OH YES YES YES YES YES YES YES DIE HAWTHORN PLZKTHX.

I'm going to look forward to this... I'm a pizza guy right next to Hawthorn, and all the young boys with their dads will be miserable from the game and having pizza as comfort food. And I'll wear my Cats jersey - don't care if I don't get a single tip the whole night. Basking in the pain and suffering of Hawthorn fans is totally worth it.

So hey I am a huge Tigers fan even though I live in Kansas, cuz I have lots of family in Detroit. Is it realistic to have World Series aspirations this year? We in first place, and the teams to beat would be the Yankees or Red Sox, and possibly Tampa Bay. And in the World Series, I would take Detroit over the Cardinals in a rematch. So am I sounding realistic or what?

The Tigers really pulled a Mama Cass that last World Series they were in. A friend of mine is a diehard Tiger fan he views talking about their possible Series aspirations this year as jinxing it. I don't think they have enough to beat New York, Boston nor TB in a playoff series to be honest.

so what is your guys' opinion on the DH? i think its fucking stupid. pitchers are ball players, ball players hit.. but in this day and age with aces getting insane contracts.. it almost makes a bit of sense.

I'm not the biggest fan of the DH but since there are two leagues I guess it's ok and makes things interesting for the differences between those leagues otherwise they might as well just be conferences like in football(which they kinda already are with all the damn interleague play anyhow.)
For those who hate the DH, you might as well get used to it because it's never going to disappear. The Players' Union will never allow it since getting rid of it would mean taking some jobs away from some players.

oh it aint going away at all. if anything the NL will cave and adopt it.

ever hear bill spaceman lee comment on the DH? he DESPISES it, and was a pitcher too.

edit: watching the dodgers game, kuroda reached base twice, once on a walk and once on a single! previously he struck out 7/11 times in his ABs.

The Hippie Southpaw. Didn't he once once request the number 337 to be worn on his uniform so after each victory he could do a headstand on the mound so it spelled 'LEE'? or something like that. His antics were well known.

hahahhahahaha thats awesome, i havent heard that one before. he used to smoke pot while jogging to the ballpark and his reason was because the bus fumes were too bad. he also thinks pitchers should be allowed to wear gloves on their throwing hands since batters can use whatever batting gloves they want. theres a certain logic to that.

That would be awesome if AL pitchers had to bat too, too bad the DH is now firmly engrained into baseball.

The Rockies lead the NL wild card race?! Holy crap. It's around this time of year that I only begin to look at that standing and I am blown away by that fact. Still alot of games to be played but that is stunning. When Clint Hurdle was canned most people were writing that team off. It's also a testament to how dominant LA is though too. If the Rocks do end up taking the wild card, Jim Tracy should get NL manager of the year.

I love this tidbit about the Hot Dog Eating Contest in Peter King's recent column:

"Whoever at ESPN thought of televising the Fourth of July contest from Coney Island and giving it some form of sporting glory ought to not only be fired but also sent to a class for education on world hunger. Here's a stat for you, according to world hunger organization Bread For The World: One in seven people on earth suffer from severe hunger daily. That's 963 MILLION people. The ratings suggest we are all guilty of promoting this grotesque custom. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves for giving ESPN reason for showing this."

I agree 100%.

nice. that shit is stupid and disgusting to watch. they show highlights of it every year on sportsnet and i sometimes see it by accident.

Yeah, it reminds me of that comically gross sequence in Stand By Me about the fat kid at the cake eating contest.

Where he drank a bottle of oil? Blergh, that was horrific.

Hey at least it's not Nascar. Am I right?

Don't forget the raw egg.

ITS ONLY THREE AND A BIT WEEKS UNTIL THE PREMIERSHIP IS BACK!

Football season can't start soon enough. Michael Vick will be back. I think someone will sign him.

lincecum pitched 9 innings and struck out 15

kid is a freak.

I heard. That kid doesn't look a day older than fifteen yet he fans fifteen batters. Amazing. He could be the next Pedro.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/hunt-headed-to-afl-reports/story-e6frexni-1225755767113

This is huge. I honestly hope he does switch codes, as it will then show the NRL that it's not invincible to the AFL.

Wow, I absolutely would NOT have seen that coming.

Tell you what, the people trying to make this Gold Coast AFL franchise work (especially Andrew Demetriou) will be positively salivating at the mouth with glee. This will draw the kind of publicity that you just can't buy and will at least turn heads towards the Gold Coast team.



3+ weeks till the premiership, and eight days till the A-League kicks off with the biggest powerhouse club in world history, the mighty Melbourne Victory, plays Central Coast at Etihad Stadium. Can't wait.

Perplexed, will you be at White Fart Lane for the opening game?

Best part about getting into football is that now I can follow foot-sports all year round, and not have to deal with cricket.

MIGHTY is right, i really need to go catch some more games this season, only saw one last year, all other 5 members of my family are club members, i should really follow suit.

I was going to join MVFC this year but I couldn't believe it's fucking $150 concession for a full season!!!! What worried me though is that the girl on the phone said that almost the entire new stadium has been sold out. Every week, the new 31,500 capacity Melbourne Rectangle Stadium will be sold out just from the season ticket holders. Brilliant bit of planning there, Victorian Government.

I won't be at White Hart Lane, no. Its not actually that far from here, 40 minutes on the train to London, then about 40 minutes on the tube (fucking hate the London Underground though, so that seems like an eternity).

Tickets for Liverpool away games are only sold primarily to season ticket holders and they rarely ever go to general sale. I'm not a season ticket holder (can't afford that any time soon + I live about 300 miles away from Liverpool). One day, when I'm older and have finally moved North, I will go to more games. I went to Anfield in May, to see the Newcastle game - was amazing sampling the atmosphere live. Was in the front row too, so got real close to Gerrard and co when they came over.

I have a trick though ... I will start going to away games, but sitting with the home fans. A) Some Premiership teams don't sell out so tickets will be available (though they normally do when Liverpool come to town) and B) I have a fucking chance of catching a game.

*Rants*

In the news today, we've reorganised our finances and have started to deal with our debts - something like £300m worth - and we're still up for sale, I think, just looking for a buyer. Pre-season is going alright - young players looking good. Another new signing or two would be nice, and hanging on to Alonso + Mascherano would be great.

Fantastic to hear about our financial situation getting better.

Isn't that dangerous to sit with the home fans? Anyway, I'm going to be at a Liverpool game one day, and can't wait!