Weekly Sporties

-Yesterday a news story came out in which Robert Garrigus, most recently seen tying as low-American at the U.S. Open, said he often smoked marijuana during Nationwide tour events in 2002 (for those non-golfers out there, think baseball's AAA-level). Now, Garrigus has openly admitted to having battled drug addiction in the past, so no one was very surprised... until a few PGA Tour reporters came out and said not only was this hardly news to them, but Garrigus was far from the only person doing it. They said a lot of pros used pot during rounds to calm their nerves. Suddenly, I feel like an ass for being the only one who abides by most golf courses' "No Alcoholic Beverages Allowed on the Course" rule. A can of Miller Lite hardly seems like a big deal by comparison.

-Speaking of drugs, in an interview this week Charlie Sheen said that before filming "Major League" he went on an 8-week steroid regiment to look more like a professional pitcher and that while taking steroids his velocity went from the mid-70s up to the mid-80s. (Clearly whatever Freddie Prinze Jr was taking on the set of "Summer Catch" was not nearly as effective.) And while I'm not one to condone steroid use, I'm willing to guess that is the least destructive thing Sheen has put into his body in the last 20 years.

-Staying in baseball, last weekend the Marlins ended up getting bumped from their own home stadium in favor of a U2 concert. (Considering the Marlins draw about 5,000 people a night, I can't say I blame the stadium owners from a purely-business stance.) Instead, their series with the Mariners was moved to Seattle where the Marlins were treated as the 'home' team even though they were in a stadium which was 100% cheering for the other guys. Actually, now that I think about it, the Marlins are probably the one team best equipped to handle a situation like this, as most people in Miami root for other teams anyway. You know, I would have mentioned this in last week's edition of the Weekly Sporties except, as with most things concerning the Florida Marlins, I didn't noticed them until it was almost over.

-One final baseball item: there was much hang-wringing in this area when Terry Francona announced that, in an effort to find some runs in a National League park, for one game he was shifting Adrian Gonzalez to right field (a position at which he has played 1 major-league level game) and putting David Ortiz at first. Immediately people thought Ortiz's defense would come back to haunt the team and Gonzalez was, of course, going to end up hurting himself somehow. Not surprisingly, neither happened. I don't know why people were so worried - these people are professional athletes. When Terry pencils me in for a game at first, that's when you worry.

-So as of 12:01 AM July 1st, the NBA is officially locked out. Talks broke down much earlier in on Thursday as the sides saw they were too far apart to make any progress by the midnight deadline and thought grandstanding to the media was a better use of their time. Everyone is expecting this to be a very long, drawn-out lockout and the NBA to definitely lose games. Now, when the NFL players were locked out, their union head reduced his salary to $1. Someone asked NBA union chief Billy Hunter if he would do the same, since his players (essentially his employers) were now not making any money. According to reports, Hunter refused and actually got mad at even being asked. Way to show that union pride, Billy. Basically the players and their union head couldn't even stand together for one entire day. Oh yeah, they're totally gonna get everything they ask for in these negotiations. Why not just concede to the owners demands now and get it over with?

-Apparently, Kobe Bryant went to Germany last month and received a platelet-enhance blood transfusion. Basically they take some of your blood, put it in a centrifuge to get the healing power of your own body's platelets going, add some kind of natural proteins, then inject the blood back into whatever problem area you are facing, in this case Kobe's arthritic knee. Now, it sounds both futuristic and a tad shady, but it has been declared as legal by everyone involved in sports. People think this will do wonders for Bryant, as Hines Ward had this procedure done and it helped him play in a Super Bowl no one expect him to be healthy for. However, Tiger Woods has also had this done and his knees have shown no signs of improvement and he keeps getting hurt. I'm just saying, Lakers fans, I wouldn't expect Kobe to come back and start dunking on people like his old self just yet.

-Another guy who had knee issues that are just coming to light is Terrell Owens. Reports are that Owens blew out his ACL back in April, but the news is just coming out now. What's also not clear is how he hurt himself. His agent says it was during a private workout. Others say it happened while filming a reality show for VH1. At 37, Owens was already going to have a hard time signing with a contending team as his age could make his personal baggage not worth the trouble. Now with this injury he might miss half the year while rehabbing his knee. Basically, this torn ACL could be the end of his career. The only good news is that I bet if you asked Owens, going out while filming a crappy reality show no one will ever watch is the way he would have wanted his career to end.