What a Wonderful Sports Thursday

Round 1 tee times of significance …

8:50 a.m. 1 Retief Goosen, Todd Hamilton, Mike Weir
9:23 a.m. 1 Robert Allenby, Edoardo Molinari, Tiger Woods
12:30 p.m. 1 Ernie Els, Shingo Katayama, Phil Mickelson

The Masters tv Schedule …

All times Eastern Daylight Savings Time

Thursday, April 6
4:00 - 7:00 USA
8:00 - 11:00 Replay USA
11:30 – 11:45 CBS Highlights

Friday, April 7
4:00 - 7:00 USA
8:00 - 11:00 Replay USA
11:30 - 11:45 CBS Highlights

Saturday, April 8
3:30 – 7:00 CBS

Sunday, April 9
2:30 – 7:00 CBS

Kam looks great, Rangers can’t generate offense …

Offensive failures in the fourth and the eighth turned starter Kameron Loe into a loser, even though he did everything the Rangers could ask for from a starting pitcher. In 6 2/3 innings, he repeatedly made Boston hitters beat the ball into the ground. Only against Trot Nixon did Loe let his sinker float. Nixon turned it into a two-run, seventh-inning homer that changed the game.

Had the Rangers grasped the idea of offensive efficiency a little better, the homer might not have mattered. Alas, it was the same old story. Without a home run, the Rangers are, well, powerless.

They were 8-31 last year when they failed to hit a homer; in three seasons and a series under Buck Showalter, they are just 27-98 when held without a homer.
"We had opportunities, not a lot of them, but we had some," Showalter said. "But we've got to take advantage of the ones we did have."

The more dramatic of the failed opportunities came in the eighth, when Mark Teixeira was thrown out at home trying to score the tying run from second on Kevin Mench's sharp one-out single. Teixeira waited for the ball to get through the infield, and it cost him and third base coach Steve Smith.

Even though left fielder Manny Ramirez didn't charge the ball and threw flat-footed, it was an easy relay to the plate.

"I went for it," Smith said, "and I got burned."

Said Teixeira: "I wasn't going to go at first. I was being held up at first. Then when Manny caught the ball kind of awkwardly, that's when I was sent."

Nascar takes on Dateline who is trying to set a trap on the Nascar fans …

NASCAR said it was "outrageous" that Dateline NBC targeted one of its race tracks last weekend for a possible segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.
NASCAR said NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Va., walked around and no one bothered them," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday.

"It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said.

"Any legitimate journalist in America should be embarrassed by this stunt. The obvious intent by NBC was to evoke reaction, and we are confident our fans won't take the bait," he said.

NASCAR is in the final year of a broadcasting agreement with NBC Sports.

"Dateline is looking into this story," NBC said in a statement. "We were intrigued by the results of a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll and other articles regarding increasing anti-Muslim sentiments in the United States.

The Frozen Four TODAY!
North Dakota takes on Boston College at 2 pm on ESPN2 …
and then, Wisconsin plays Maine at 7pm on ESPN2…Please help the Badgers with your thoughts and prayers….



Badgers count on their goaltender tonight …

As UW (28-10-3) returns to the Frozen Four for the first time since 1992 with a semifinal meeting against Maine (28-11-2) at 7 tonight at the Bradley Center, no college goalie in America can match Elliott's confidence or his recent statistical accomplishments.

Elliott, a junior from Newmarket, Ontario, enters the national semifinal with three consecutive shutouts, a shutout streak of 252 minutes 49 seconds and a 7-1-0 record in UW's last eight games.

During that eight-game span, he has allowed six goals, 0.80 per game, has stopped 212 of 218 shots, posted a save percentage of .972 and saved UW's season. He is one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top player in the nation. The 2006 winner is to be announced on Friday.

"He has got all his confidence back since before the injury," UW senior defenseman Tom Gilbert said. "I think his confidence is even higher now than it was in the beginning of the season."

That confidence was lost, both for Elliott and UW's team, during practice on Jan. 18 when the Badgers' No. 1 goaltender suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for eight games.

Meanwhile, in other University of Wisconsin news: Meet Brigid -- student, model and, yes, pro football player …

Tonight, besides the Frozen Four, Masters, Rangers, and Stars games, Ultimate Fight Night on Spike TV is on ….

LAS VEGAS, April 5 – It’s always interesting to watch a fighter’s rituals before a weigh in. Some, like welterweight Josh Burkman, walk around apparently without a care in the world while taking video of his fellow fighters; others - like Keith Jardine and Rashad Evans, along with Albuquerque training partner Nate Marquardt (who is not in action tomorrow) – don’t say a word. Really, not a word.

But while the gamut runs from the Gameboy-playing Luke Cummo and the suit-wearing Chael Sonnen to the wisecracking Joe Stevenson, all 18 fighters on Thursday’s Ultimate Fight Night card at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino had one thing in common – they all made weight for the show, leaving fight fans with nine intriguing matchups featuring some of the sport’s up and coming stars.

Ultimate Fight Night will be televised live on Spike TV beginning at 8pm ET / PT. It will be followed by the season premiere of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ season three at 10pm ET / PT.

OFFICIAL WEIGHTS
Stephan Bonnar (206) vs Keith Jardine (205)
Sam Hoger (206) vs Rashad Evans (203)
Josh Neer (171) vs Joe Stevenson (171)
Luigi Fioravanti (185) vs Chris Leben (186)
Jason Von Flue (170) vs Luke Cummo (170)
Jon Fitch (171) vs Josh Burkman (169.5)

eminem and Kim give it up again …

Even though Ray Whaley has done 100% of this, Here is My myspace page …Although Ray speaks for me…

And now, today’s batch of emails, and at the end one of yesterday’s comments from the blog:

Had a minute on my lunch break. Heard you crazy guys talking about the Rangers regular starters' batting averages with RISP. Decided to look it up. They were as follows for last year :

Young .368
Big Tex .366
Blalock .278 (Better than I thought)
Nevin .248 (I assume much lower with Rangers after trade)
Mench .185
Nix .304 (17Hits - 56AB)
Barajas .250
Soriano .235
Dellucci .288
All of that compared to AROd who hit .290 last year with RISP
All in all, it looks like most of the Rangers (with the exception of Mench) hold their own compared to the league average with RISP.

Love ya,
James in Frisco

This one is in response to the many of emails yesterday about Owens and loyalty to the Cowboys:

Bob,
I read the listener email you posted on your Wednesday blog blasting those Cowboy fans who are against the Owens signing because he is such a team-destroying turd. The common thread in all of these email is that winning is the only thing that should matter to “true” fans and that no “true” fan would ever drop his/her allegiance over a player signing that helped the team win.

These people are either amoral or hypocrites. If the Cowboys signed Charles Manson to be the coach or Osama bin Laden to play wideout, would they still be undying fans of the team, even if these two guys would make the team better? If they say “yes,” then they are amoral morons who should not be entrusted with sharp objects. On the other hand, if they say “no,” then they obviously have some line at which their blind fandom ends and some level of self-respect begins. They thus are being hypocritical when they say “true” fans stick with their teams no matter what.

The bottom line is that there are right ways and wrong ways to do things. To many Cowboys fans, getting in bed with the football and team sports devil is the wrong way to win. Jim Reeves had it right: fans like to feel good about themselves and about their team. It is very hard, perhaps impossible, to feel good Terrell Owens.

Dave in Tulsa

And, now this from the comments portion of my blog yesterday. I will attempt to his response to my rant yesterday on the MLS stupidity:

At 1:38 PM, El Jefe said...
…Bob, when you say "the sport overseas," you really mean "the sport in England," right? Geez. We could've gotten your played-out "we should do soccer in the US just like they do it in Jolly Old England" opinion from any of the suckers who pay for the PPV games down at the Londoner or wherever the hell else. All that you lacked was some fresh opinion about how some reserve forward from Scunthorpe United is better than Carlos Ruiz could ever dream of being.

Mr. Jefe, I can assure you that I enjoy many leagues across the world, with the MLS very, very high on my list given that I have been a “sucker” in buying the MLS package the last 3 seasons. I am not sure what has generated your anger, but I am not sure those few of us who do follow soccer faithfully should turn on eachother.

What we don’t love is a completely meaningless regular season, followed by 80% of the league making the playoffs.- Sturm on Wednesday

This from an NHL fan. Be sure to tell us about the good old days of the NHL in the '80s when teams scored a ton of goals... and 16 teams out of 21 made the playoffs. (And for the record, eight teams from a 12-team league is not 80%. I know that they told you that there'd be no math in this job, but c'mon.)

Actually, Jefe, if you were unaware that for a few years (all the way until 2004!) 8 of the 10 teams in the league made the playoffs, then I recommend you pay closer attention. Yes, I realize we have had two expansion teams join the league, but the history is the history. And what the NHL’s poor format has to do with the MLS format is anyone’s guess. Let’s stay on topic here. It is stupid for 8 out of 10 teams to make the playoffs. And it is equally stupid in the sport of soccer to have playoffs determine your league champion. And if you follow the sport, you know I am right.

Two conferences for 12 teams. Six teams per conference. Oh, the humanity. Oh, the insanity.

Poser.

P.S. I agree with the your take on the names, however.

I am not sure why my views make me a poser, but should we have a better handle on the MLS’ history before we accuse me of being the poser?

Like I said, I think the soccer fans should stick together lest we be divided and conquered. But, ease up, sport. Go Burn.