Big Mouth of Big Brown Traininer

God bless Rick Dutrow, he believes in his horse. And I admire his confidence. Nevertheless, he's setting himself up for a huge fall if Big Brown falters in the Belmont.

The jury is still out - maybe forever - as to whether Big Brown ha true Triple Crown talent or is merely the best horse among a very weak bunch of competitors.

Given the lopsided betting on Big Brown expected of many hoping to keep the winning Belmont ticket as a souvenir, we could be looking at this horse going off at 1-10 odds a week from Saturday.

Pastor Disaster

For a guy that is running on a Hope, Change and New Way campaign, Barack Obama belongs to a church with a whole lot of hate.

Father Michael Pflegler managed to hit the daily double. Comments that were both racist AND sexist.

Hard to believe that this is a man of God. Clearly the Catholic Church has lowered its standards on priests.

Of Interest... To Me

This story is a perfect example of why readers should be ever wary of data reported in the media - and the stories built on them.
A front page Washington Post story reports that "only 5.7 percent of rapes officially recorded by police in England and Wales end in a conviction." A terrible figure to be sure and the Post spends hundreds of words elaborating on why it is: social, cultural, police and jury bias.

But buried deep, deep in the story is this shocking number. Only 13 percent of rapes reported in the U.S. end in conviction.

Whoa! That doesn't seem to be much better than England. yes, it is double the Brit rate, but only 13%?!?!? I was expecting a number in the 40s. Seems like the Post should do a follow up story on why the percentage in the U.S. is so low.

Not sure who said it, but it is true: statistics are like bikinis in that what they reveal is as interesting as what they conceal.

Kolb Again Confirming Veterans' Talent

Once again Kevin Kolb is prominently featured in a story about another player. This time it is a profile of newly acquired RB Lorenzo Booker.

Kolb said that when he heard about the draft-day trade for Booker, he was thrilled.

"He’s a huge pickup for us," Kolb said. "I was thrilled when it happened, and I’m even more thrilled now that I’ve been out there with him."

Kolb said his excitement comes from Booker’s low-maintenance attitude: He arrives prepared, and gets his work done in a dependable, time-efficient manner.

Part of me thinks Kolb's opinions are sought/included because he is the only quarterback around during this optional training sessions.

Another part of me can't help but suspect that this is a concerted effort on the part of the Eagles PR team to get more publicity for the "quarterback of the future" and help grease the skids - at least among fans -for the transition from McNabb to Kolb.

And I also can't help but think that if Kolb is becoming more visible right now then it also means (from the coaching perspective) that his play so far has indicated he won't be a bust.

Kolb's Tom Heckert Impersonation

The suddenly very voluble Kevin Kolb is also now offering talent evaluations about players that have been on the team for a couple of years longer than he, albeit on the practice squad players

Phil Sheridan's Conspiracy Theory

Phil Sheridan touches on the NBA's conspiracy theories that have resurfaced after Derek Fisher's foul of Brent Barry in the Lakers-Spurs series.

I'm a huge Sheridan fan, but unfortunately this column is like all too many about the league-influence on referee calls. Sheridan raises the issue under the guise of generic fan suspicions, gently touches on evidence to bolster these beliefs but then winds up defending the leagues - in this case, again the NBA - by picking apart one questionable call and by suggesting that it is unthinkable or inconceivable that a league would risk its reputation to tilt games for TV ratings (i.e., money).

Alas, Sheridan falls into the same old traps as so many others.

One, Stern does not send "encrypted messages dictating the outcome of games." No, that is too blatant. Sheridan needs to understand how these things are done in Washington. It's called "plausible deniability."

I always have to laugh at the radio half wits who complain that no "smoking gun" has ever emerged about a commissioner's complicity in influencing games. As if Stern would ever dare to put on paper (much less utter) some instructions like, "Crawford, make sure the Lakers win tonight."

No, the messages are much more subtle and deniable. Ref assignments, vague comments, etc. Those within the league, in this case the refs, get the message loud and clear. But the actual words are harmless or can be argued to be misconstrued if a ref ever tried to make it public.

Second, Sheridan writes,

"The key to a successful conspiracy is to make everything look as if it's on the level. Second, if the motive for all this is to set up a Boston-L.A. matchup to boost TV ratings, then why push the Spurs to the brink of elimination in Game 4?

I would say, precisely. Stern wants to give the appearance that everything is on the level. How easy it is to fix an early game in a series - like game 4. The series has yet to fully play out and the details of games 5 and 6 will easily displace the controversy of game 4. And isn't it preferable to fix an early game than a game 6 or 7 when everyone KNOWS the series is on the line. As it is, the NBA has tilted the series to the Lakers by giving them one game and only requiring them to win 3 of the next 6. Again, the NBA isn't blatantly "fixing" games per se, but they are tilting the playing field in favor of certain teams by certain calls being made or not made.

Interestingly, Sheridan glosses over "poor officiating" after "too many big games" but doesn't cite even one example.

Here's one: Game 6 of the Lakers-Kings 2002 conference finals (see a theme among this incidents?) By general consensus the worst officiated NBA game in the 21st century. The game in which the Kings' two centers (Divac and Pollard) both fouled out, the Lakers shot 27 free throws to the Kings 9 in the 4th quarter, and was so bad even Ralph Nader demanded an investigation at its conclusion.

Finally, Sheridan doesn't mention the elephant in the room. The rampant suspicion that the NBA and Stern fixed the 1985 draft lottery to send Patrick Ewing to the Knicks. If you want to discuss sports conspiracies, that is the incident from which the NBA has never really recovered and which has ultimately led to such deep-seated fan skepticism.

Indeed, Sheridan is wrong to conclude that the fans won't watch if it is ever proved the games are fixed. Crooked ref Tim Donaghy has already shown that. No, the real risk to the integrity of the game itself is the constant whispers - to the point they are published by respected columnists in papers like the Inquirer - that the integrity isn't real.

Can the Kolb

Kevin Kolb makes some excellent points about the salary cap, veteran pay, and rookie contracts in criticizing Matt Ryan's $72 million contract. And yet, I can't help but slightly feel that the second year veteran and #3 quarterback should just keep his yap shut.

Pens Win!

Last night had to be Gary Bettman’s wet dream come true. An absolutely thrilling Stanley Cup Final game on national TV (and won by the Penguins which helped tighten the series).

 

Wow, what a game! End to end rushes, the Golden Boy’s two goals, and a desperate final minutes as Detroit tied to get the tying goal.

 

Hockey at its very, very best.

Justice out to answer his critics- NJ.com

Hopefully Winston Justice can rebuild himself and his "technique" to out of the wreckage of last year's Giants' game to be the projected starting tackle the second rounder should be.

"(Head coach Andy Reid) was very supportive (in a postseason meeting with the coaching staff)," Justice said. "He said, 'be ready to play and get stronger in the offseason.' So that's what I did."

To that end, Justice enlisted the help of a personal trainer who may have helped him more with improving his quickness than with building his body.

"One of the things I worked on was my upper body strength and another thing was reaction time," he said. "Because I think last year, especially in the Giants game, I had a problem with that. I think this year, it will be a big difference.

Eagles to run some 3-4 defense?

Future Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins hints at some of the defensive changes mastermind Jim Johnson is incoroporating this year, including some 3-4 alignments sure to give QB fits and that LB/DE Chris Gocong excelled in, particularly versus the Patriots.

Dawkins seems to be as excited as the fans about the subtle tweaks defensive coordinator Jim Johnson made to his unit near the end of last season, in which the linebackers moved around more -- sometimes behind a three-man front.

"That something that you can expect to see a lot more of," Dawkins said. "... Just look at the guys we drafted (and signed as free agents). We brought in basically the same type individuals, speed guys that can get after the quarterback and can drop into coverage.

"Then, with the way Chris (Gocong) played that jack linebacker in that 3-4 set, I think you can expect to see a lot more of that."

Pittsburgh

Here’s hoping the Pens can turn it around and get their offense back on track. Writes my brother about Steel City generally:

 

Pittsburgh is awesome.  Great place to go drinking and watch sports.  Passionate fan-base makes games better.  The new baseball stadium is great.  Good drunk food is a bonus.  Pittsburgh is great and no one ever thinks to go there because it’s Pittsburgh.

The Preakness Stakes

Running the Port-O-Potty gauntlet on the Preakness infield. Brings new meaning to the term, "Baltimoron."

Reid's Playcalling Cost Eagles' Game

Yes, the title is redundant. Reid's playcalling often loses games. Indeed, long time fans know that for all of Andy Reid's strengths as a coach, in game strategy and decisionmaking are not two of them. Now comes scientific data to buttress this belief.

According to a comprehensive analysis of "critical" play calling, the Eagles are ranked 25th and Reid's calls cost the Eagles a total of one game over the course of the 2007 season.

Choose Who

Read this profile of Eagles rookie WR DeSean Jackson and determine for yourself whether he is the next Allen Iverson, Terrell Owens, or Freddie Mitchell.

And is his dad the new Carl Lindros or Wilma McNabb?

I just hope Jackson can be the next Steve Smith.

Feeling the Draft

Lorenzo Booker is quick but not an everydown back, Jack Ikegwuono is a long-term investment, and King Dunlap has "Outland Trophy" talent (?) says Eagles personnel chief Tom Heckert.

Press Confirms Media's Support for Obama

The New Republic's John Judis adds further confirmation to the belief that the media is in the tank for Barack Obama. Typically reporters have denied such charged allegations but not Judis, who pulls back the curtain on the journalism industry's complicity in Obama's rise.

Writes Judis:

Clinton's second great political mistake lay in how she dealt with Obama's challenge. Sometime in December, having realized that Obama was going to be a genuine rival for the nomination, she and her campaign decided to go negative on him. ...

John McCain and Mitt Romney were doing similar things to each other--and Obama did some of it to Clinton, too. But there a was difference between her doing this to Obama and McCain's doing it to Romney--a difference that eluded Clinton, her husband, and her campaign staff. My friend David Kusnet, Bill Clinton's former speechwriter, explained the difference to me by citing what ex-heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson had once said about Muhammad Ali. "I was just a fighter," Patterson had said, "but he was history." Obama, too, was, and is, history--the first viable African-American presidential candidate. Yes, Hillary Clinton was the first viable female candidate, but it is still different. Race is the deepest and oldest and most bitter conflict in American history--the cause of our great Civil War and of the upheavals of the 1950s and '60s. And if some voters didn't appreciate the potential breakthrough that Obama's candidacy represented, many in the Democratic primaries and caucuses did--and so did the members of the media and Obama's fellow politicians. And as Clinton began treating Obama as just another politician, they recoiled and threw their support to him.

Sorry, but there is just no other way to read it. The "they" that "recoiled and threw their support to him" are clearly referring to the "many" in the primaries/caucuses AND the media and politicians, particularly since the they comes immediately after the last two interest groups identified. And yes I called the media an interest group. What else are they in the wake of Judis' revelation?

The Final Flyers Word

Comes from my friend and long-time Flyer fan (though he’s originally from Staten Island):

They overachieved and lost to a superior team, but at the same time made incredible strides and the future is bright.

Most pressing need is defense, so that will be priority in the offseason. And while we have a wealth of gritty 20 goal scorers, we need a little more offensive power. Maybe a skilled playmaking center like thornton from sj. Also I like the idea of getting brian campbell. One negative is the salary cap. I see carter or umburger going.

In sum, as flyers fans we should be more than happy about this season. I'm proud of this team. they rebuilt and fought to the end, and philly has a new sport hero in bobby clarke jr, mike richards. I can't say enough about this guy. I will be wearing his jersey on opening night in wachovia.

Who Was Walsh's QB Contact

Pats videographer Matt Walsh continues to explain that he worked with one of the Patriots' backup quarterbacks in showing the QB the opposing team's defensive signals, who on gameday would relay them to the Charlie Weis, who called a no huddle play for Drew Bledsoe.

But the voluble Walsh refuses to give the name of the backup QB. During the 2000 season, the QBs behind Bledsoe were John Friesz, Michael Bishop, and Tom Brady.)

It seems that such a job would be the perfect task for a rookie backup and not the veteran #2. So it was most likely Brady or Bishop. If it were Bishop, would Walsh have so much reservation about naming him? Especially since Bishop is now out of the league and playing in Canada?

What did Tom Brady know, and when did he know it?

The Patriots kept the circle of people who knew small. The only ones who knew, Walsh said, were Dee and another video department employee, Fernando Neto, Belichick, Adams, the offensive coordinator Charlie Weis and the quarterbacks...

After filming opponents’ signals, Walsh would edit the tape or deliver the original to Adams. Walsh said a quarterback — he declined to say whom — would learn the signals, and the next time the Patriots played that team, the quarterback would relay that information to Weis, who would use the coach-to-quarterback communication system to send the information to the field.

The first time Walsh filmed an opponent’s signals was against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2000 preseason — Belichick’s first as the Patriots’ coach...

The Patriots then opened the regular season against the Buccaneers. Walsh said this was the first time he had seen quarterback Drew Bledsoe operate a no-huddle offense when not in a two-minute or hurry-up situation.

In the week after the game, Walsh said he asked a quarterback — again, he declined to name whom — how helpful the signals were. Walsh said the quarterback told him “probably about 75 percent of the time, Tampa Bay ran the defense we thought they were going to run — if not more.”

Flyboys

I can’t be too upset with a series loss when you are so clearly the inferior team. The Flyers had a great playoff run, exceeding all expectations. I mean, the conference finals? That’s terrific. Along the way they beat the #1 and # seeds. Unfortunately, they also had to play the #2 team. In fact, the entire season has to be considered a marked success over last year’s dismal last place finish.

 

The future is encouraging, as this analysis correctly states. Biron proved himself in goal and as my friend the “Big O” points out, they have Bobbie Clark, Jr. in the play and leadership of Mike Richards.

 

But the Pens are a young team and the Caps are similarly young and improving too. So the Flyers can’t just stand pat and let these guys further develop. They need some upgrades, particularly on defense

 

Cheating for the Sport of It

Mark Bowden rises to the defense of all sports cheaters - at all levels of competition - in today's NY Times. Bowden asserts that sports cheating is merely standards operating procedure in this country and has infiltrated even little league sports, based on his own personal experience. While it's a cute story, I seriously doubt any pee-wee football coach did what Bowden avows he did.

When I played football as a teenager in a youth league, my coaches routinely tried to spy on our opponents by sending someone to watch them practice. And if we obtained intelligence about the other team’s play calling (like the time one of my teammates had a friend who could decode the other coach’s defensive audibles), it wasn’t reported to them, but put to good use.

Right. Pee-wee coaches "routinely" spied on other teams' practices. And this occurred 20-30 years ago? I'm calling bulls*#t.The NY Times need better fact checkers for its editorial page.