LeBron James Goes Mami

By dfunzy on 7/9/10 10:46am
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LeBron James announced to the world last night that he was signing with the Miami Heat, and will hook up with fellow NBA All Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to go for a championship, to start a dynasty, to give LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant and coach Phil Jackson a run for their money, to give the Boston Celtics competition, to go forward and not look back.

What about the fans in Cleveland? Fans want championships, and though they may have loved their hero, have long would that have lasted, if he couldn't bring home a trophy? The Cleveland Cavaliers. organization is not putting a team on the court that can deliver championships. Mentioning the Cleveland Cavaliers organization -- considering the way LeBron James ex-team owner trashed him, I don't blame him for leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers. That team owner showed no class.

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New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka, 2nd T20, Florida

By MichaelP03 on 5/25/10 4:47am
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The first experiment of international cricket in the United States turned out to be a low-scoring, underwhelming affair. A dead pitch combined with long boundaries meant the match aggregate was merely 212, unheard of in Twenty20 cricket. While a hard-fought scrap was entertaining for the players and fans in attendance, questions were asked about whether this would be the best way to introduce cricket to an unfamiliar, sports-crazy market. So all eyes were on the second game between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Lauderhill, Florida.

 

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New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka, 1st T20, Florida

By MichaelP03 on 5/24/10 7:00am
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It's been a marquee week for cricket: first, England won the World Cup final against Australia; then on Saturday, Florida was the site of the inaugural match between two Test-playing countries in the United States. New Zealand and Sri Lanka had the honor of breaking hallowed new ground at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, the only purpose-built cricket stadium in America.

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Cricket Comes To Florida

By MichaelP03 on 5/21/10 12:10am
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There's a bat-and-ball game being played in Florida this weekend, but before you say "Marlins vs. White Sox", this one uses terms like "fine leg" and "paddle swept". International cricket comes to the United States for the first time, as former world champions Sri Lanka play New Zealand in a Twenty20 series in Lauderhill, Florida.

While the cricket subculture in America is quite strong (fifteen million followers, according to the Miami Herald), it's taken the International Cricket Council a very long time to make the significant first step in promoting and developing the game in the country. In the past, exhibition matches between retired players were the highlight, and there have been failed attempts at introducing a cricket league in the country. This weekend's series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka will be the first successful introduction of mainstream, official cricket to the United States. Time will tell how long-term the results will be. 



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Joey Porter's Troubles

By dfunzy on 3/28/10 12:28am
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Joey PorterJoey PorterJoey Porter, the thirty three year old,  11-year  National Football League, (NFL), veteran, formerly a player with the Miami Dolphins, and earlier with  the Pittsburgh Steelers,  presently, the  newly acquired Arizona Cardinals  linebacker,  was arrested this morning in his hometown of Bakersfield, California for  suspicion of  DUI (drunken driving) and for allegedly assaulting a police officer, and for resisting arrest.

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Tampa Bay Rays Roster

By colormejosh on 3/7/10 1:39am
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NO. NAME POS
49 Winston Abreu RP
65 Craig Albernaz C
61 Nevin Ashley C
16 Willy Aybar 1B
50 Grant Balfour RP
8 Jason Bartlett SS
73 Joe Bateman RP
64 Tim Beckham SS
47 Jeff Bennett RP
-- Joaquin Benoit SP
15 Reid Brignac SS
5 Pat Burrell LF
69 Angel Chavez SS
36 Randy Choate RP
67 Alvin Colina C
31 Lance Cormier RP
13 Carl Crawford LF
74 Jason Cromer RP
40 Wade Davis SP
72 Richard de los Santos RP
26 Joe Dillon 3B
54 Mike Ekstrom RP
63 J.J. Furmaniak SS
22 Matt Garza SP
58 Jeremy Hellickson SP
52 Carlos Hernandez SP
39 J.P. Howell RP
28 John Jaso C
27 Desmond Jennings LF
24 Dan Johnson 1B
9 Elliot Johnson SS
20 Matt Joyce LF
19 Gabe Kapler RF
41 Jose Lobaton C
3 Evan Longoria 3B
57 Jake McGee SP
30 Dioner Navarro C
34 Jeff Niemann SP
23 Carlos Pena 1B
38 Fernando Perez CF
76 Heath Phillips SP
14 David Price SP
32 Chris Richard 1B
1 Sean Rodriguez 2B
11 Justin Ruggiano LF
43 Ryan Shealy 1B
33 James Shields SP
10 Kelly Shoppach C

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Florida Marlins Roster

By colormejosh on 3/7/10 1:37am
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NO. NAME POS
31 Burke Badenhop RP
21 John Baker C
30 Brian Barden 3B
1 Emilio Bonifacio 3B
66 Jay Buente RP
3 Jorge Cantu 1B
25 Brett Carroll RF
50 Jose Ceda SP
8 Chris Coghlan LF
65 Scott Cousins CF
70 Brad Davis C
78 Matt Dominguez 3B
68 Kris Harvey RP
9 Brett Hayes C
18 Wes Helms 3B
32 Clay Hensley SP
76 Dan Jennings RP
40 Jorge Jimenez 3B
55 Josh Johnson SP
54 Hunter Jones RP
13 Mike Lamb 3B
52 Chris Leroux RP
7 Hector Luna SS
28 Mike MacDougal RP
51 Cristhian Martinez RP
71 Ozzie Martinez SS
24 Cameron Maybin CF
73 Seth McClung RP
53 Dan Meyer RP
23 Andrew Miller SP
27 Jai Miller CF
81 Logan Morrison 1B
22 Donnie Murphy SS
47 Ricky Nolasco SP
46 Leo Nunez RP
72 Kasey Olenberger SP
29 Ronny Paulino C
48 Hayden Penn SP
79 Bryan Petersen RF
75 Matt Peterson RP
37 Renyel Pinto RP
2 Hanley Ramirez SS
16 Danny Richar 2B
12 Cody Ross CF
34 Vinny Rottino C
44 Brian Sanches RP
19 Anibal Sanchez SP
14 Gaby Sanchez 1B
58 Chris Schroder RP

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Postgame April 23

By jemanji on 4/23/09 11:43pm
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=== All You Need Is Glove ===

On our pregame, Matty shot back:

I don’t like dogmatic comments like “It’s physically impossible for a defense to save a run a game compared to an average MLB defense.”

I don’t buy that for a second, Doc.

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Rays-Mariners rubber game

By jemanji on 4/23/09 4:42pm
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Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, as always, has a great-feel-for-the-game article up this morning.  He points out that with the Mariners and Rays struggling, and on teetering on the brinks of positive and negative momentum, it would be a great time for an ace-like performance out of your Opening Day starter.

Felix Hernandez wants to be viewed as a dominating ace.  Baker is right on track in putting the responsibility on him to take over a game in this particular situation.  The same applies to James Shields, one of my favorite pitchers.

.

=== The Shield, Dept.

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Shaky Closers and the Committee Option

By jemanji on 3/20/09 6:12am
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With Matt Lindstrom's tentative hold on the closer role, this Verducci article on a Boston bullpen experiment has some lessons-learned for the Marlins...

“By the end of spring training we will have one [closer] and we will have guys in defined roles,” Boston GM Theo Epstein says. “And by the end of the year, who knows who the closer might be? It might be some kid who gets put in that role on the second day of the season, like [Jon] Papelbon last year, or somebody from outside the organization, or somebody who started the year in Double A. We don’t know.”

[snip]

What Boston won’t do is repeat the mistake it made to open the 2003 season, when it thought a bullpen could be run with interchangeable parts.

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