Category Archives: ALDLAND

First Friday

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Perhaps improbably, ALDLAND has survived its first week. I am happy with the content so far, and I’m looking forward to getting some more folks on board, hopefully starting next week. (As I’ve said from the beginning, if you’d like to be a part of this group, send me a note: aldland[dot]com[at]gmail[dot]com. Would love to have you.)

Maybe not for every Friday, but definitely on the first Friday, I thought it would be good to start things off with a Friday-themed jam. Once I got the idea, there really wasn’t much choice as to which one to go with for the inaugural ALDLAND Friday groove:

Could A-Rod be the 21st century’s Pete Rose?

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From the front page of the USA Today sports section:

The New York Yankees third baseman is being investigated by Major League Baseball for participating in illegal poker games and could face suspension.

“We take this very seriously and have been investigating this matter since the initial allegation,” MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said in a statement. “As part of the investigation, the commissioner’s office will interview Mr. Rodriguez.”

The first allegation came early last month when Star Magazine published a story that several people saw Rodriguez playing in poker games that were also attended by celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

…

Wednesday, RadarOnline.com alleged that drugs were used in one game, and that another game organized by Rodriguez ended when a fight not involving the slugger nearly broke out. RadarOnline.com cited unnamed “eyewitnesses.”

One subsequent article states that A-Rod faces a risk of suspension, while others report questioning of the initial story by A-Rod’s publicist and others.

In the big game of baseball legacies, Rodriguez already has two strikes against him and is fouling off pitches due to admitted steroid use, a soft reputation on the field, and a sometimes misguided personal life away from the diamond. But what if it was a gambling problem that actually knocked him out?

While there are no allegations A-Rod gambled on baseball or any other sport, it’s Pete Rose’s gambling issue alone that’s keeping him out of the hall of fame. (For more on the baseball hall of fame’s potential anomalies, click here.) Charlie Hustle has all sorts of support, even given his gambling issue. It’s tough to imagine many people clamoring in A-Rod’s defense were this yet-unexplored potential gambling issue to blow up for him. If gambling put Rodriguez out of the game and the hall, it would be the only thing he and Rose had in common.

College football preseason coaches’ poll now available

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USA Today has it, and Oklahoma is #1.

Rank
Team (first-place votes)
2010 record
Points
Final 2010 ranking
1.
Oklahoma (42)
12-2
1,454
6
2.
Alabama (13)
10-3
1,414
11
3.
Oregon (2)
12-1
1,309
3
4.
LSU (2)
11-2
1,296
8t
5.
Florida State
10-4
1,116
16

See the rest of the top twenty-five at http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm

Time to retire #27?

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When British singer Amy Winehouse died late last month of as-yet-unknown causes, media sources were surprisingly quick to note the significance of her age at death, twenty-seven years old, the same age at which a number of the most famous Western musicians died. The following is a briefly annotated list of the members of the so-called “27 Club,” with a couple notable mentions for those who nearly qualified.

(Unsurprisingly, the cause of death of many of these individuals is not entirely clear, so I’ll include the official cause of death, along with any other rumored causes, as available.) Keep reading…

There’s a new dress code in the Mountain West Conference

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The AP reports:

Boise State players will no longer sport their all-blue uniforms for conference games on Bronco Stadium’s iconic blue turf, the result of a concession school officials say they made last year as part of the team’s entrance into the Mountain West Conference.

League Commissioner Craig Thompson said Tuesday during the league meeting that coaches believe Boise State gets a competitive edge when players wear blue helmets, jerseys and pants at home.

The Broncos have worn all blue at home for several years and built a 77-2 record and a 32-game winning streak on their home turf since 1999.

Coach Chris Petersen said his team intends to wear the signature uniforms for nonconference games against Tulsa and Nevada, but he finds the restriction for league games silly and an erosion of the team’s identity.

Beyond the silliness, there’s the obvious inconsistency with the policy, since it only applies to Boise State and not, as many have noticed, to other MWC members whose football teams wear similarly camouflaged uniforms and have done so for years. Colorado State, a charter member of the MWC, dresses its players in green and uses green turf at its home Sonny Lubick Field.

How many CSU football players appear in this picture? Craig Thompson can’t tell.

Book Review: Life (via QuestionsPresented)

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Book Review: Life Not to be confused with the movie of the same title, Life is the 2010 autobiography of guitarist and Rolling Stones co-founder Keith Richards. Finally catching up my reviews to some reasonable proximity to the subject book’s publication date, cf. here and here, I started reading Life about five weeks ago as an enjoyable distraction from the legal matters that had been commanding my time. How surprised was I, then, to read the opening lines of Ric … Read More

via QuestionsPresented

Jim Rome compares, laments league work stoppages

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Last night, radio and television host Jim Rome lamented the fact that, following the NFL’s recently resolved labor conflicts, the “NBA is running the same playbook.” I understand that, for people like Rome, whose livelihood depends on there being actual NFL and NBA seasons for them to talk and twit about, even the specter of a season cancelled is a valid reason to fret. But for those of us with a little more distance from the sport, the NFL’s off-season negotiations were just that– off-season negotiations. Sure, Tennessee’s Bud Adams had to formally hang onto Vince Young a few months longer than he wanted, but nobody else was making moves either, and VY landed in what now may be the illest of delphs with no more skin of the Titans’ backs, and the season will start on time, this compressed free-agency period is more exciting than infrequent summer updates (“Sportscenter’s top story for June 21, third-string DT to K.C.”), and most of the players held training camps on their own despite their complaints in the negotiations about having to do off-season training camps (and there’s no need to flood the comments about cancelling the Hall of Fame Game). I’m not saying we ought to do this every year, but I am saying that if you tune back into the NFL when it’s supposed to be getting underway again, things look pretty normal. Keep reading…

Justin Verlander: Right on the mound, wrong on the bunt, but the kid is alright

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Sunday at Comerica Park in Detroit featured a premiere MLB pitching matchup between the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim’s bemulletted Jered Weaver and the Tigers’ Justin Verlander. Although the Tigers won, it was Verlander who took heat for some of his post-game remarks.  Keep reading…

Is Bruce Pearl a Legend?

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ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth reports:

The Texas Legends are making a hard push to hire former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl to replace Nancy Lieberman as coach of the D-League franchise, according to NBA coaching sources.

Pearl told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz that he will interview with the team Thursday in Dallas.

“When the world champions call you have to listen,” Pearl said. “Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson have been great and I’m looking forward to talking to them.”

Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson heads the management team as Legends co-owner.

Sources told ESPN.com that there have been ongoing negotiations between the parties.

Said one source: “The job is [Pearl’s] if he wants it.”

Mark Stein calls it “a logical step for Pearl in his quest to break into the NBA,” while acknowledging Pearl’s viability as a college basketball analyst. Keep reading…

Ty Cobb as Detroit (via Grantland)

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Like those who romanticize Cobb’s meanness, Detroit’s cheerleaders try to balance negative press by powering uncomplicated positive stories: a café opened here, an art installation opened there. Unfortunately, this is a story too simple and stagnant to be honest.

Ty Cobb can be a cruel man, and at the same time be a misunderstood hero. Detroit can be both a ravaged, bleeding city and an inspired place where creative people are imagining new ways for an urban center to be successful. In fact, that’s exactly what is true. … Read More

via Grantland