Tuesday's Effort

Alright. 2 choices today. I can either give you a good blog or a good radio show. Since I cannot get paid by the blog, I think you know where the choice is going. So, here is my best effort in 30 minutes or less:

Buck makes bold claims ...

"I think our guys are ready to take the next step: playing in October. Simple as that."

"Some of our problems were of our own making," Showalter admitted, leaning back in a chair in his conference room and adjusting his red coach's cap.

It was the kind of thing that made one wonder whether the team was tuning out its manager and would be better off with someone else.

But Buck didn't get stopped there. He is back, as well he should be.
He is just as chipper. Just as engaging. Just as funny. ("It's Ah-room Ball-der-rahs," he instructed team spokesman Gregg Elkin of the pronunciation of the name of one of the Venezuelans who hasn't yet arrived because of visa problems. "I'm gonna call him Baldy.")

He is relaxed. He is forever inquisitive. He is comfortable.

"I'm comfortable in my own skin," he said. "I don't like comfortable because when people think of comfortable they think complacent.

"I know how fleeting this all can be. I knew that a long time ago.

"I understand what needs to happen around here for them [the bosses] to continue loving me back. Win."

Peter King weighs in on Johnny Weir ...

Johnny Weir could stand to grow up. And how in the world does he flop in the men's long program and walk out of the arena without some NBC person putting a microphone in his face? There were, what, five hours between his skate and the time NBC showed it on tape delay? At the very least NBC should have been in the mixed zone (where journalists can chat with athletes after their events) and gotten what everyone else got -- that he felt "black inside'' and that his mood for the competition was ruined by missing a bus from the athletes' village that day. Next to Bode Miller, at least from afar, Weir's about the least likable Olympian in the American stable.

Sports Guy with his All-Star Game Diary which includes wonderful story of Clemens ...

A high school kid and his cute girlfriend wanted to take a picture with Snoop. So the kid approached one of Snoop's bodyguards, asked politely for a picture and was greeted by stony silence. Then, the kid turned around and showed the bodyguard his football jacket, which said "CLEMENS" on the back, as if the bodyguard was supposed to be impressed. That's when the bodyguard gave him the "All right, I'm going to kill you in five seconds, get the hell away from me" look. And the kid walked away, but not before telling his girlfriend, "If my dad was here, I would have been able to get a picture with Snoop."

So now we start looking at the kid ... and damned if he doesn't look like a younger, meatier Roger Clemens ... and then we realized ...
(Wait, this deserves its own award!)

The Spaulding Smails Award for "Worst performance by a family member in a group setting"

... that this had to be one of Roger Clemens' kids!

Just to be clear: I never make fun of anyone high school-and-under in this column. That's just one of my ground rules. Even when I wrote a running diary of the Spelling Bee four years ago, but then I avoided any cheap shots. But I'm going to make an exception here for three reasons: First, this kid was likely directly related to Roger Clemens; second, his dad has probably made $200 million in his career; and third, his girlfriend was very, very cute. To recap, he's young, rich and has a good-looking girlfriend. I think this makes him fair game. I might be wrong. Frankly, I don't care.

Anyway, Sully and I are still reeling from this Son of Clemens thing when we notice that Gabrielle Union is standing about 5 feet from us -- and let the record show that she's jaw-droppingly attractive in person -- as various people are coming up and taking pictures with her. At the Super Bowl, Gabrielle would be considered a run-of-the-mill celeb. At the black Super Bowl? She's like a cross between Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston. And as she's graciously posing with people, we see Clemens' kid inching toward her like he has never seen a celebrity in person before, with Sully finally making the "Caddyshack" parallel with the obligatory, "Fifty bucks says the Clemens kid goes in for a picture" joke.

Now we're excited. And Kid Clemens keeps inching closer and glancing back at his hot girlfriend for support, and she keeps egging him on, and we're in disbelief that someone who's directly related to the greatest pitcher of the past 50 years could want a picture with Gabrielle Union this badly. (Hasn't he seen hundreds of celebs through his dad?) Finally, he tapped her on the shoulder, took a picture with her on his cell phone camera, and he didn't even have to show her the back of his football jacket to get it. That was followed by Kid Clemens happily leaving with his hot girlfriend as Sully and I grimaced in disbelief. Sully put it best: "I don't even want Clemens to come back to Boston anymore."

Champions League starts again today:
Liverpool travels to Benfica for the first leg today ...we will happily accept a 1-1 draw...

And, on ESPN2 at 1:45 Theirry Henry's last stand at Arsenal? ...As the welcome Real Madrid...

Spanish eyes will certainly be on Arsenal's Champions League trip to the Bernabéu stadium, where they face Madrid for the first time in their competitive history. With the Gunners struggling to break into the Premiership's top four, this tie has assumed particular import in the negotiations with Henry. "Of course [the Champions League] is very important for us financially but your big players want to play in the Champions League," said Wenger.

"I believe Thierry wants to commit his future to the club for a longer period, so of course he will not want to spend that out of the Champions League. That cannot work: you want to be there. I am confident we will do it and we want to show how good we are. If he is going to commit to the maximum term he needs to be working in that." Wenger recognises it is for the likes of Henry to ensure that Arsenal have a hope of progressing from this tie, though he rebutted criticism that the captain is not a big-game player.

A great list of gay or not gay ...

A pretty classless display from WWE ...even by their standards...

Today's "you will laugh or your money back" feature: Just 2 Guys ...

Big Night for the Cavs! ...

The Cavs are going to try to break a world record for ``most people wearing wigs in a single venue'' Tuesday, when they host the Orlando Magic on Anderson Varejao wig night. All fans in attendance will get a wig and, during a timeout in the second quarter, all will be encouraged to put them on. In April, Detroit Pistons fans set the record by wearing 6,638 wigs on Ben Wallace wig night.

And Latvia's loss this morning puts the US through to the Quarterfinals to play Finland it appears...USA!