Inside Sports - insidesports's Blog

Inside Sports - insidesports's Blog - Bakersfield.com http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports en-us Barry Bonds sets home run record http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/13013 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/13013 You may have heard by now that <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_6569330">Barry Bonds blasted No. 756</a>, passing Hank Aaron's 33-year-old record of 755. Hank didn't use steroids that we know of. Barry did for awhile. But you still have to swing a bat at blazing fast balls or wicked curve balls. Bonds isn't that all endearing of a person, but that's a heck of an achievement. Posted by Steve E. Swenson Paper: Joey Porter fight wasn't one-on-one http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/7179 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/7179 The <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/616/story/56453.html">Miami Herald is reporting</a> that the fight earlier this month between Joey Porter and Levi Jones wasn't a one on one affair. Turns out surveillance tape shows Porter punching Jones and then some of his friends jumping in on the fight. Jones called the attack "cowardly" and appeared to want to set the record straight so folks didn't think Porter kick his "butt." I couldn't find the video on YouTube, but I imagine it will turn up eventually. Cut the chatter on the ball field, prevent crybabies http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/7083 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/7083 If you want to want to say, "Hey, battuh-battuh, swing" in Cincinnati, go to a Reds game and yell at Ken Griffey Jr. At a youth game in the Ohio city, you have to be more positive because the traditional baseball chatter has been banned in the Knothole Club of Greater Cincinnati. The 23,000 kids in the Cincinnati area can only engage in chatter if it is positive and directed at their own team. We don't want kids feelings hurt, because then they would cry, and we all know there is no crying in baseball. How did we ever survive before with all this chatter? I'm tempted to call this group the Knothead Club of Greater Cincinnati, but that wouldn't be positive. Posted by Steve E. Swenson   David Carr is waived http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/6881 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/6881 Well, it happened. The Texans have <a href="http://www.bakersfield.com/619/story/106889.html">waived David Carr </a>after five pretty lackluster years. Carr seems to be the scapegoat for this team and his days had to be numbered after the team passed up Vince Young. Nevermind the kid was sacked like crazy. Here's hoping he lands somewhere that he can get another change. Although he's pretty highly paid for a backup. Check out our <a href="http://www.bakersfield.net/photography/galleries/2004/david_carr">2004 gallery</a> on Carr, back when the future was still bright in Houston for him. This big guy is a wuss in the Joey Porter fight http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/6686 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/6686 It's probably not good for my health to call a 6-foot-5, 307-Pound guy wuss, but that's exactly what Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Levi Jones is for not <a href="http://www.bakersfield.com/619/story/105987.html">derailing a battery complaint against new Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter.</a> The two took some trash talk inside a Las Vegas casino outside where Jones suffered a small cut over his eye with the one punch Porter, 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, threw. I'm thinking Jones gets hurt more than than on every down he plays, and he might watch out for Porter the next time the two teams meet. I'm not condoning the fight — both guys are dumbbells for that — but if the two agree to go outside, they also agree to the consequences. That's just the way it is between men. Posted by Steve E. Swenson P.S. I ain't going outside with either of these guys. They can call me names if they want to but that's as far as I'm taking this fight. P.P.S. My boss, Davin McHenry, put me up for this blog so if either of the gentlemen come to Bakersfield to make things right, they can take him outside. Seems fair to me. Where will Joey Porter go? http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/6223 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/6223 J<a href="http://www.bakersfield.com/619/story/102623.html">oey Porter, that outspoken linebacker for the Pittsburg Steelers </a>who hails from Bakersfield, has been released by the Steelers. It begs the question. Where will he go now? I'm thinking a loudmouth would blend with the Oakland Raiders.   Where do you think Joey's talents could best be put to use? Posted by Steve E. Swenson Soccer star David Beckham leaping over the pond to LA http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/2793 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/2793 <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/football/01/11/beckham/">David Beckham</a>, one of the most recognizable soccer players in the world (they even made a movie about him titled, "Bend It Like Beckham," is leaving Europe to join the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy, for the uninitiated, is a professional soccer team. He signed a $250 million, five-year contract, which is a galaxy of money in itself. Beckham, 31,  rose to fame in England where he was captain of Manchester United.  He joined the Real Madrid team in Spain in 2003. He wasn't treated as well in Spain where he sat on the bench a lot. Let's say you don't care one whit about soccer. How about women? Do you admire women? Beckham married a former Spice Girl, Victoria Adams, who was seen recently in Los Angeles looking for houses. Beckham's glory days were at Manchester United where he won four English Premier League titles and the Champions League as they memorably won the treble in 1999. The treble is the league, the Football (people on the other side of the pond call soccer football) Association  Cup and the Champions League.  That's a big deal like in Golf winning the Masters, the PGA Championship and the US Open. The 2002 movie starred Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley and was a story about the daughter of orthodox Sikhs rebelling against her parents traditionalism by running off to Germany with a football (soccer) team. The tagline was, "Who wants to cook Aloo Gobi when you can bend a ball like Beckham?" Posted by Steve E. Swenson   High-priced punks http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/2792 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/2792 I wouldn't say any of this to the faces of these football and basketball players. They are too big and they've shown by their actions that they would beat me up or spit in my face. But Terrell Owens, receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, and seven NBA players on the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, you are a bunch of high-priced punks. And I'm glad Owens got fined $35,000 for spitting, both basketball teams got fined $500,000 for brawling and each of the seven players got suspended from one to 15 games for throwing fists, pushing and shoving in a Saturday fight. Basketball and football are fiercely competitive games and good players fight hard to win. But athletes are role models to young and old alike and it's so unnecessary to fight like brats. Referees can take care of fouls and unfairness in games. As for Owens, he knows he has a volatile reputation, so it would behoove him not to make it worse. NBA Commissioner David Stern in addition to the fines and suspensions he imposed suggested that continued antics by players would mean they will not have long careers in the NBA. Sounds fair to me. Posted by Steve E. Swenson Bakersfield Jam wins first game http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/2791 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/2791 It's like catching the first fish on a slow day at the lake. The Bakersfield Jam won it's first game Sunday, holding on to an 87 to 86 victory over the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the Rabobank Arena. This follows four straight defeats in games where the Jam is still trying to gel. Sometimes it feels good not to be skunked at the lake. And it gives hope for more fish and more wins. Let's hope the Jam team can renew its confidence and start a victory trend. Posted by Steve E. Swenson Mark McGwire, hall of fame or hall of shame? http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/2790 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/insidesports/2790 <a href="http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2006/11/28/a_no_vote_for_mcgwire/">Mark McGwire has been nominated for baseball's Hall of Fame. </a> If it wasn't for that steroid thing, he'd be a shoe in. Just last decade, virtually every American was wrapped up in home run races between McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Bloomberg sports writer Scott Soshnick summed  up the dilemma for voting sportswriters this way: <blockquote>Their consternation centers on whether to admit McGwire, who finished his career with 583 home runs, which ranks seventh on MLB's all-time list. Five-hundred home runs, 3,000 hits --both are usually considered automatic entries. </blockquote> <blockquote> Consider some of the surnames who hit fewer homers than McGwire: Killebrew, Schmidt, Mantle, McCovey and Foxx. All are enshrined at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. </blockquote> <blockquote> If only McGwire hadn't gone to Capitol Hill last year. Things might be different. </blockquote> <blockquote> The slugger was peppered with questions from opportunistic lawmakers wanting to know what he put in his body to become Paul Bunyan. </blockquote> <blockquote> He shed no light, instead making a half-hearted effort to plead the fifth. </blockquote> <blockquote> Asked, point blank, if he had used performance-enhancing substances, this is what McGwire offered on national television: ``My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family and myself.'' </blockquote> <blockquote>Only McGwire didn't stop there. He meekly uttered the now- famous, ``I'm not here to talk about the past.'' </blockquote> <blockquote> Those eight words haunt him. </blockquote> <blockquote> The Associated Press earlier this week surveyed about 20 percent of eligible voters. Only 1-in-4 who gave an opinion said they planned to vote for McGwire this year. </blockquote> <blockquote> That's far shy of the 75 percent needed for induction. In fact, it's closer to the 5 percent needed just to remain on future ballots. </blockquote> If you were a sports writer, how would you vote on McGwire's nomination? Posted by Steve E. Swenson