Police said Thursday they are investigating whether a woman was raped by a University of Colorado football player after leaving a bar in 2002 -- the seventh allegation of its kind to surface since 1997.
"This was a particularly brutal case," Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner said. The alleged victim said she was sodomized.
Fire Gary barnett. Now. I know he didn't commit these crimes but he either:
A) Knew what was going on and did nothing.
OR
B) Had no idea what was going on, making him the most oblivious human being on earth.
For Boras, the party was over. But give the Tribsters credit for increasing the offer to a reported $24 million over three years, a deal that can be voided in the last year if Maddux doesn't pitch a required number of innings in 2005. Boras flew to Phoenix, where an arbitration hearing is scheduled for yet another high-profile client, closer extraordinaire Eric Gagne. But with the New York window shut -- not that Maddux was ever signing there anyway -- Boras knew he had nothing in hand but the Cubs' offer. And with Maddux being too much of a team player to report late to camp and cause a distraction, the word came down Tuesday night that he would be at Fitch Park today for the official arrival of pitchers and catchers in Mesa.
Suddenly, this is a gaudy, giddy time for global legions of suffering suckers who've watched many a loss through time. If the Cubs don't have the best starting rotation in baseball, they're right alongside the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics and, most importantly, the Houston Astros. Before the Maddux agreement, the Cubs were two or three games behind the Astros in my estimation. Now they are the favorites, not only to win the NL Central, but also to win an entire league that lacks the superteams of the American League.
Hey, I actually agree with Mariotti for once. I pick on him and his Around the Horn co-stars, so I figured I should say something nice when he gets somethign right, even if it is a pretty obvious thing. The cubs signing Maddux is a good thing for the Cubs, but more of a psychological boost than anything. they aren't geting the mid-1990s Maddux, they are getting the end-of-my-career Maddux. He's still good, but he had a higher ERA than any pitcher in the Cubs rotation save Matt Clement. He's not the ace, and he's only the third starter because of his name.
The big thing is that this contract can be voided afetr two years. So if Maddux goes down with an injury, the Cubs are protected. It's alost a no-risk deal, particularly for a club as loaded as the Cubs. It's nice to actually see them reach for the billfold.
The Caps are now selling off all the parts. Konowalchuk is gone, Jagr is gone, and now Petr Bondra's on a plane to Ottawa. Hey, this trade, like the last three, is entirely about money, which the Caps are losing hand over fist. Ted Leonis spent lots of money to bring in the best players and he was rewarded with a pretty bad team and miles of red ink. It's time to start over, and the Sens are the latest beneficiaries of a team desperate to shed payroll.
Even as a Caps fan, I can't get mad about this. Leonis tried. He failed, and now he's trying to just save some cash on a team mired in last place.
The personal weight trainer for San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds admitted to authorities last September that he gave anabolic steroids to several professional baseball players, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday.
The trainer, Greg F. Anderson, 37, provided names of the players to investigators, according to the affidavit, but federal officials said they have chosen not to release them at this time because the players have not been charged with a crime.
Why is Barry Bonds the only player always mentioned? In today's New York Times, they do mention a player by name invloved in shipping steroids, and it wasn't bonds, it was Gary Sheffield, not exactly a slouch player himself. This story isn't about Barry bonds, it's about BALCO and all of Major League Baseball. to keep mentioning Bonds like he's the only possible suspect is ridiculous, particularly on the day we learn that Sheffield is involved.
Hnida said she never went to head coach Gary Barnett with her concerns during her one season on the Buffs football team and didn't report it because she didn't want to create a big "media mess." On Tuesday, Barnett said he was surprised by the allegations and that Hnida should have expected some problems when she joined the football team.
"It's a guy's sport. (Players) felt like Katie was forced on them. It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful. You know what guys do? They respect your ability. I mean, you could be 90 years old, but if you could go out and play, they would respect you. Well Katie was a girl, and not only was she a girl, she was terrible," Barnett said.
What a reprehensible scumbag Barnett is. He all but comes out and says she was asking for it. It's one thing to defend your program, it's quite another to say that "oh yeah? Well, she wasn't any good." That makes it okay to rape her? No one knows the truthof her allegations, but we can say without a doubt Barnett is a Grade A asshole. If one of his players was beaten by another player, would he shrug it off because the victim couldn't run a very crisp post pattern?
College sports don't need this. We've had our fair share and then some of degenerate scum-suckers (I'm looking at you, Dave Bliss) Colorado's already hired an oversight committee, but they need to hire a new football coach. And this time, how about they hire a guy who doesn't think Ethics are for pansies. McCartney, Neuheisel, and Barnett? What a crew. Neuheisel's probably the least objectional one, and he's only guided Washington to the verge of the death penalty. How about a guy who doesn't recruit the local correctional facilities?
Around the Horn is one of the worst shows in TV history. but it's not simply terrible just because it has Max Kellerman as the host. It also gives a public forum to some of the worst sportswriters in the country (I'm looking at you, Jay Mariotti). But Bill Plaschke really steps up the plate today with one of the dumbest columns I've ever read.
Here's a taste:
Change it they have, from Branch Rickey to Little Rickey, from Buzzie Bavasi to Bill Gates, from wise old men who trusted effort to a kid who relies on … equations?
For the last four seasons, DePodesta has essentially been the webmaster for that funky site known as the Oakland Athletics.
Billy Beane was the general manager, DePodesta was the statistics cruncher, and together they built a team that overachieved during the season but crumbled in the playoffs, spreadsheets being unable to judge heart.
The Dodgers haven't been to the playoffs in nearly a decade, and they haven't won a series since 1988, so they shouldn't be too critical of a guy who has no postseason success. At least he gets there.
OK, it's the standard "I hate sabermetrics" column. And sportswriters do hate sabermetrics because, well, they don't understand math. OK, Plaschke's not the first guy to write this column, and he won't be the last. What makes him a complete idiot is this: Branch Rickey is probably the first sabermetrcian. He's almost a god to stats geeks.
Rickey did run his teams based on numbers, primarily OBP and slugging. His methods of running a team aren't too foreign from Billy Beane's. I mean, at least have a basic history of the team you cover for godsakes.
A lot of things bother me about this trade, so I'll just go through all of them. I'm not among the Chicken Littles who feel big market teams are ruining baseball. Just a minimal amount of knowledge of baseball's history shows that we are in a remarkable era of parity. Well, except for the Yankees, but how is this different from the 1950's?
ONE. This trade sucks for the Rangers. They give up the best player in baseball, in his friggin' prime, for a pretty good second baseman and a player to be named later. On top of that, they agreed to pay $8-9 million of A-Rod's contract. to review, that means the Rangers will pay $8 million to Soriano, $8 millon to A-Rod, and $2 million to Eric Young. Total savings: a whopping $4 million. And instead of having A-Rod, you have Young and Soriano.
TWO. The Rangers don't suck because of A-Rod's contract. They suck because of the reamining 51 million in payroll, only about 5 of it is spent wisely. I mean, check out these slaries:
Brian Jordan 9,600,000
Rusty Greer 7,000,000
Glendon Rusch 4,250,000
Jeff Nelson 3,983,333
Jeff Zimmerman 3,366,667
Jay Powell 3,250,000
Kenny Rogers 2,000,000
Eric Young 2,000,000
There's 35.5 million the Rangers are flushing down the toilet. That's an oft-injured, fairly productive outfielder when he actually is healthy, a well-past his prime outfielder, some mediocre pitchers, a bunch of middle releivers, and a worthless second baseman.
And that's not including the $10 million for Chan Ho Park.
THREE. The Yankees have a $240 million infield, and Enrique Wilson is the second baseman. That's just wrong.
FOUR. Why the hell is A-Rod moving to third? By any defensive metric you can find, Jeter is an awful shortstop, and A-Rod is a deserving Gold Glove winner. There's no earthly reason to move the good defensive player to the easier position.
FIVE. If we had a real commisioner, he'd kill this deal.
In the mid 90s, when Greg Lemond and Claudio Chiapucci faded from cycling and Miguel Indurain dominated cycling to the point of boredom, Marco Pantani became my favorite cyclist. Friday he was found dead in a hotel room in Italy with a few bottles of anti-depressants at arm’s length. The medical examinations aren’t done yet, so we don’t know if his death was because of a heart defect, an accidental combination of medication and alcohol, an intentional overdose, or any combination of the above. Regardless, it’s a sad and tragic end to a troubled man who was once the best in the world at his sport.
Pantani was the last pure climber to win the Tour de France, and the only one to win since 1976. He was also the last man to win both the Tour and the Giro d’Italia in the same year–an even rarer feat. He made a name for himself in the 1994 Tour. He started out as an unmarked rider, but once he blew away the elite climbers by several minutes en route to a podium finish, the contenders watched his every move. That usually didn’t matter, because Pantani attacked in the mountains like no one else. When Pantani was in his prime he owned the mountains the way John Elway owned the two minute drill. Pantani would attack his rivals again and again, dozens of times, until no one was around him. Then he’d attack again even though no one was close enough to see him. And this was despite a broken hip that nearly ended his career.
Marco Pantani was one of the most beloved athletes in Europe. We don’t appreciate it here in America because we don’t really care about cycling, but as the guys at velonews.com put it, in Italy Pantani could draw just as big a crowd as the pope. His flamboyance and arrogance just added to his fame because that’s what pro cyclists are supposed to be.
In 1999 it all turned bad. He was wearing the leader’s jersey in the Giro when he failed a drug test. He was booted from the race and his suspension prevented him from defending his title at the Tour. By the time he returned in 2000, he was in great form, but could not match Lance Armstrong. As his skills faded over the years it got ugly. He had to abandon races; he got busted for doping. In 2003 he started to regain form. He finished 14th in the Giro–a shell of his former self, but at least competitive. Though he practically begged to get invited to the Tour, he was denied, and by the end of the year the only news he made was when he sought professional help for drug use.
I obviously never knew the man, so I can’t say what he was thinking, but he looks like a man who could never cope with the loss of success, and he had no one to support him in his darkest hours. A year ago I was saying it’s a shame that his career has to end this way. What’s worse is that his life ended this way.
posted by uberschuck 2/16/2004 01:50:00 AM email
