Corey Hart's Press Conference Video After Being Named All-Star

Corey hart
by bsap11

Arizona's Lute Olson Wont Recruit One and Done Recruits

Lute Olson has come out to the LA Times in this article and has said he will no longer recruit high school seniors who are expected to play one season of college basketball before going on to playing in the NBA.

This situation has come from the news out of Brandon Jennings camp where he spurned going to college and instead will go to Europe to play basketball. Jerryd Bayless who recently came to Arizona left after one year also played a role in this statement.

"It's a situation now that if someone's a 'one-and-done,' we're not going to pursue them anymore, no way," Olson said from his Tucson office.

Olson also suggests that the NCAA and the NBA need to revamp the one and done rule and change it to allow high school seniors to go pro right away or go to college for a mandatory two years.

Olson suggests that elite prep players be given a choice: opt to declare for the NBA draft immediately after high school, or be committed to spending a minimum of two years (Olson would prefer three) in college.

"Jerryd said all along he wanted to stay here two years," Olson said. "But then you get the agents working on the kids and parents all year. You might have the kid in your controlled environment for some time, but when [outsiders are] on the parents, you have no idea what's going on."

National's Not Paying Rent For New Ballpark

According to this Washington Post article the Washington National's of the MLB have decided to not pay their rent for the newly built National's Park that was completed before this season.

The Nationals went through the district and tax payers paid over 611 million dollars of public money towards the completion of the new park.


However as the season as officially passed the midway point the Nationals have decided to skip paying rent to the city because of some completion errors and other reasons.

The National owners have failed to pay $3.5 million in rent for the District's new ballpark, contending that the state-of-the-art stadium is still incomplete.

Besides withholding rent, the team is demanding damages of $100,000 a day, dating from March 1. The team and the city are also at odds over the timing of sales tax payments on tickets, with the Nationals paying game-by-game and the city wanting tax revenue from pre-sold ticket packages upfront.

D.C. officials said they plan to hire a special lawyer to handle what they expect to be prolonged arbitration over the ballpark, which was built with tax dollars.

According To FoxSports Asks For Release

According to this FoxSports.com's story Brett Favre has asked the Green Bay Packers for his unconditional release that would allow Favre to play for any other team in the NFL.

"What I remember about him is he was ready to retire, and that's how I feel today. I think down deep, that's exactly how he feels," team chairman Bob Harlan said, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Phil Mickelson's House For Sale

This enormous 4.55-acre estate shown above is golfer Phil Mickelson's home in Rancho Sante Fe, Calif.

It turns out it could all be yours. Ignore all that sub prime real estate down there in SoCal and across the nation and you find an absolute steal!

Priced between $10,750,000 - $12,225,876, the house includes a spa, two guest houses, a putting green, media room, and a pool thats huge.

To check out the entire listing of the house click here.

Mustache Commitment.

If you didn't hear yesterday, Producer Joey has committed to growing a mustache in the name of supporting his softball team.  

So far, his team has not won a game (0-8) and is in need of some sort of slump buster.  Since the mustache seems to be the slump buster of such major leaguers as Jason Giambi, we here at the Sports Idol show decided that Producer Joey should follow suite.

We're going to keep you up to date on how the mustache growing is going and how the team does with the new lip fur.

Mustache Update: slight stubble in week 1, haven't shaven in 4 days.  

Team Record: 0-8

Get the Update Every Wednesday.

Maarty Leunen Talks w/John Canzanzo on 95.5 FM

John Canzanzo of the Oregonian newspaper and also the host of the radio show "The Bald Face Truth" on 95.5 Wednesday.

After listening to the to short clip from the interview over at Ducks Sports News I got to thinking about one thing. Why did Canzanzo try to lure Leunen into saying something negative about the Oregon program and more importantly Ernie Kent? What type of agenda is he trying to accomplish with the attempts to bait Leunen into saying something bad about Kent?

Personally, I have two views towards this question. The first is that Canzanzo is trying to create a stir or ruffle some feathers you could say in Oregon Country as he knows this will cause a stir with people and have them start talking about him. Second part is that he just doesn't like Ernie Kent and the University of Oregon very well and will take any attempt to stab at the UO as he can get.

Am I the only one that believes this was somewhat of a strange interview?

Manny Ramirez Back To Usual Self

Man Ram is back baby! This photo was taken by a media member back east during a 6th inning pitching change where it appeared Man Ram needed to go to the Green Monster and grab a cell phone because he needed to make a call.

Here are some other funny moments Man Ram has done in his career from Wikipedia.

Manny Moments

• The Original Incident April 4, 1994 - In the first game of his rookie season, Manny hit a two-run ground-rule double in the 8th inning to tie the game. At first he thought he hit a home run, and continued to round the bases, until the third base umpire stopped him. The announcers commented on how he was a tremendous young hitter, but seemed to have a short attention span: Manny was then almost immediately picked off at second base by the catcher. (Later, after drawing a walk in the 10th inning, he was replaced with a pinch runner.)^[15]

• December 10, 2001 - Ramírez, in his first season with Boston, claimed he was uncomfortable, prompting the new ownership group to create a separate interview room, to ease Manny's transition with the Red Sox.^[16]

• May 18, 2002 - Ramírez lost his diamond earring sliding into third base during a rehab start with the Pawtucket Red Sox. After the game, 13 PawSox players and the Syracuse grounds crew combed the third base area and found the stud, but not the diamond that was worth a reported $15,000.^[17]

• September 7, 2002 - Ramírez requested the song Good Times (I Get High) by Styles P for his plate appearances. The unedited song's lyrics are played over the Fenway Park public address system.^[18][19]

• August 29, 2003 - Manny expressed in an ESPN interview that he would like to play for the New York Yankees.^[20]

• August 30, 2003 - Manny missed several games with pharyngitis amid media speculation that he was well enough to play. When the New York Yankees came to town to play, Manny was still too sick to play, but was seen at the downstairs bar of his hotel with former Yankees player and close friend Enrique Wilson.^[21]

• September 1, 2003 - Manny refused to pinch hit in a game against Philadelphia, angering manager Grady Little, who benched him the next game.^[22]

• July 21, 2004 - From his spot in left-center field, Manny inexplicably made a diving play to cut off a relay throw from center fielder Johnny Damon, allowing David Newhan of the Orioles to score on an inside-the-park home run. This event is widely considered by many fans of Red Sox Nation to be the most popular Manny moment.^[23]

• July 31, 2005 - After heavy speculation that he would force a trade, Manny entered the game versus the Minnesota Twins as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 8th inning, to a standing ovation 54 minutes after the 4:00 trading deadline had passed (he had been booed his two previous games). Ramírez proceeded to chop an RBI single up the middle off Juan Rincón that would prove to be the game-winning hit. After the game, Ramírez was quoted as saying, "Forget about the trade, man. This is the place I want to be, man. It's great, man. They love me here, man. This is the place to be. 'Manny being Manny,' he's great, man... we've been through a lot, this is the place for me, I'm just happy to be here... I'm back!"^[24][25]

• August 24, 2005 - Ramírez, up with one out and the bases loaded, hit a ground ball, but doesn't run down the first base line, resulting in an inning-ending double play. The Kansas City Royals rally to tie the game, and eventually win in extra innings.^[26]

• May 20, 2007 - Ramírez appeared in an Ebay listing selling a BBQ grill. ^[27] The listing was later cancelled by Ebay.^[28] He later posted a custom Chrysler 300M on EBay.^[29]

• October 17, 2007 - With the Red Sox trailing Cleveland 3-1 in the ALCS, Ramírez told reporters that if the Red Sox were eliminated, it wouldn't be "the end of the world." Though Ramírez faced criticism in the media for his statement, his team would go on to win their next 7 games to win the ALCS and World Series.^[30]

• October 18, 2007 - In game five of the ALCS at Jacobs Field, Ramírez hit a fly ball to deep center field that bounced off the top of the outfield wall and back into play. Ramírez, assuming he had hit a home run, casually strolled to first base and was forced to settle for a single instead of an easy double after it was ruled that the ball had never left the field.^[31]

• October 27, 2007 - In game three of the World Series, Ramírez was thrown out during a controversial play at home plate. Manny often flips his helmet off while he is running the bases, to help pick up speed. In this instance, replays show that Manny's helmet bounced off of his heel, causing him to stutter-step as he rounded third base.^[32]

• May 14, 2008 - At Baltimore, Manny caught a Kevin Millar fly ball to deep-left, ran up the wall, and high-fived a Red Sox fan in the stands. Manny then turned around, fired the ball back to the infield, and doubled-up Aubrey Huff off of 1st base

Top 10 Sports Mascots You Want On Your Side

Spencer Hall is the blogger from Every Day Should be Saturday and also a contributor to Sportingnews.com came out with a top 10 list today that fits Justin's forte.

Here is his list from his article:


10. The Northern Arizona Lumberjack
9. The Pitt Panther
8. The West Virginia Mountaineer
7. The Hawaii Warrior
6. Bucky the Badger
5. The Stanford Tree
4. The Michigan Wolverine
3. Big Red
2. The Arkansas Razorback
1. Mike VI, the LSU Tiger

To view the bio's of the mascots and why they are ranked click here.

Here is my choice for my top mascot....
















The Florida State Mascot...hes got a horse to run you down and then his Spear is on fire and hes got his war paint!

Diamondbacks Looking To Sign Barry Bonds

With Outfielder Eric Byrnes likely out for the rest of the season with an injury it appears the Arizona Diamondbacks are looking to sign Barry Bonds to a free agent contract according to the Arizona Republic.

Is this a right move for the Diamondbacks? Great hitter who will drive in runs and also help load the bases with his massive amount of walks each game. Should also be a great ticket seller as the Diamondbacks will become one of the most talked after teams in all of the Major League.

But, does Arizona want to deal with the media circus that will follow Bonds? Will the team take him in like he's part of the team? Will Bonds expect star treatment even though he has been out of work for months now?

Sports Best Commercials

Found this list courtasy of Bill Palmer Sports. Its a solid list.

Here is Bill Palmer's list.

5.United Ways Sam Adams



4. Any Of "The Rick" Commercials




3. I Am Tiger Woods



2. Tracey Morgan NFL2K



1. Any Michael Jordan Commerical

Pac-10 Recruit Chooses Euro Ball Instead Of College

Brandon Jennings who has been committed to the University of Arizona for long time now has decided to skip going to UA and instead will look to sign a one year deal with European pro team to play one year and then enter the NBA draft in 2009.

Jennings has been considered to be one of the nation's best high school senior point guards this season and was considered the gem of Arizona's recruiting class that is expected to bring Wildcat basketball back to dominance with the likes of UCLA, Duke, North Carolina, and Kansas.

It's been expected the main reason Jennings has decided to spurn UA and go Euro is because he failed to meet score standards to get into college and hold his eligibility right away. With that lack of faith in his scores Jennings will go to Europe and look for a team that will allow him to practice, play, and better prepare himself for the NBA Draft the following year.

This move could spurn a bunch of other high school seniors going over to Europe in the future if Jennings has success over in Europe. Jennings will get paid to do exactly what he would be going to Arizona for and better yet he won't have to go to school and deal with classes.

Europe is also worlds better than what it was 20, 10, and even 5 years ago. Now it's still not on par with the NBA, but, it is better than college basketball right now at the highest level in Europe.

Will Jennings' decision decide the fate for college basketball in the future? Will future stars who can get into college choose to go over to Europe instead?

Who knows what will happen but the entire college basketball scene could get a total makeover if this works out.