Weekly Sporties

-You know, I was running out of ways to be annoyed with this Red Sox season. Thankfully, the players keep coming up with new and inventive ways to show how much contempt they have for the loyal fans of this team. This week it was revealed that two days before he was scratched from a start due to a sore back, pitcher Josh Beckett was out playing some golf. This raised the question of how hurt he really was because if he could play golf than he probably could have pitched. Still, it wouldn't have morphed into such a big story if Beckett had pitched well in his next start but he didn't, failing to making it out of the third inning. Predictably, Beckett was defiant in his post-game press conference, saying what he did on his 18 off days (funny how he had the number ready to go) was none of the fans' business. You know, Red Sox fans can take losing, but what they won't take is a lack of effort. Given that Beckett was also seen as the leader of the "chicken and beer" collapse of last season, his attitude has begun to make the Sox fans turn on him. Beckett just doesn't seem to get that people are still pissed out the collapse last September and they want him to at least act like he cares half as much as they do. He's got another couple of years left on an extension he just signed, but something tells me that he would gladly accept being moved to another team. How about Arizona? I hear they have great golf there year-round.

-Last Sunday the upstart Washington Nationals were playing the Philadelphia Phillies when Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels drilled Nationals' phenom Bryce Harper with a pitch in the first inning. Not much was made of it at the time and Harper eventually stole home to make Hamels look stupid for putting him on base. But the real story came after the game when Hamels told reporters he had intentionally drilled Harper as a 'welcome to the majors' greeting. Almost immediately the baseball world turned on Hamels, wondering just who appointed him (at the ripe old age of 28) the man whose job it is to knock the 19 year-old Harper down a peg. Also, they didn't like that he appeared to be so proud of his action. Predictably, the Commissioner's office suspended Hamels 5 games, which to a starting pitcher is pretty much a slap on the wrist. Still, I find it funny that in the messed-up world of baseball ethics Hamel's crime wasn't hitting Harper in the back with a fastball, just admitting it. For example, later in that same game Washington National's pitcher Jordan Zimmermann hit Hamels with a pitch which looked to the world to be intentional retribution but later said it was accidental - no punishment was handed down to Zimmermann. I watch a lot of cop dramas and in those the cops always tell the suspect to just confess, because the judge will grant them leniency if they do. Apparently none of those show writers are big baseball fans, because it certainly looks to me like shutting up is the way to go.

-Just a couple days later Bryce Harper was in the news again. This time it was Friday night after a particularly rough game at the plate. After his third strikeout Harper went down the tunnel and started swinging his bat at the wall to relieve some stress (you know, because going 0-5 was totally the bat's fault). The problem was Harper hit the wall so hard that the bat snapped back and caught him just above the eye, opening a gash. He needed a few stitches and will miss a couple days. (This reminds me that "None of his teammates point out what an asshole the guy flipping out in the dugout after a bad game looks like" is another one of those unwritten codes of baseball I just don't get.) Anyway, Harper is just 19 years-old, so I'm not going to get on him too much for this idiotic display. I think we all did things as teenagers that we look back now and regret. Personally, I am much less forgiving of baseball players in their 30s who feel the need to take a bat to the cooler to prove to their teammates how much a man they are. Still, the guy who has to feel really stupid here is Cole Hamels. Think about it - he didn't even have to drill him and get suspended to take Harper out of the line-up. All he had to do was wait a few days and Harper would take care of it himself. Ironic.

-The day before Game 6 (which would turn out to the their last game of the season), Atlanta Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon, Jr. was being interviewed and said the usual playoff complaint that his team wasn't getting any calls against the veteran Celtics. Everyone complains about officials during the playoffs, so that wasn't exactly breaking news. But, Gearon also said that Celtics forward Kevin Garnett was the dirtiest player in the NBA. Now, some guys in the NBA don't care about being called dirty, but that is the one thing which seems to annoy Kevin Garnett more than anything. What resulted was a vintage KG game as Garnett went for 28 points and 14 rebounds and hit the key shot to seal the Celtics 83-80 victory. Afterwards Garnett told the assembled media to thank the Hawks' owner for him, as it gave him extra motivation. Now, I'm happy the Celtics won, but it does trouble me that a guy like KG needs extra motivation from the other team's owner for a playoff game. Also, KG said he didn't read the comments, they were passed to him. Sure they were. Because superstar athletes love to have people around them to tell them all the negative things people are saying. (If that was the case, something like "The Decision" never would have happened.) Going forward I really hope KG stops reading what the opposition is saying about him and just concentrates on the game. Winning is the only thing which will really shut everyone up.

-Still, if you want to talk about symbolic gestures speaking volumes, you really need to look to Dallas. After they were eliminated from the playoffs, the Mavericks were gathered to vote on how to distribute the bonus money they get from making the playoffs. (In the NBA players get bonuses for how many playoff rounds they make. Player can either be given a full share, meaning the is split equally among the team, or a partial share, usually given to a guy who wasn't around for the full regular season.) The Mavericks voted that forward Lamar Odom shouldn't get even a partial playoff share for his effort. The Mavericks only played 4 games, which meant there wasn't much money (by NBA standards) at stake. By not giving Odom, who left the team a month ago after a sub-par season and effort, his share each player was given roughly an extra $900. Not enough to make voting Odom out worth it, but enough to make it known how much he was disliked in the locker room. Odom showed up out-of-shape and never seemed to have his heart in Dallas, but until this very public show of contempt I still thought he at least had the respect of his teammates. Apparently, that assumption was wrong. An offseason of hard work could get Odom back into basketball shape, but something tells me he will have a harder time finding a locker room which is going to want to deal with his off-court baggage. Good thing he has that reality show to fall back on.

-Just a couple weeks ago I was telling you how the NFL was full of some of the worse gossipers in the world. This week just proved that again as a "sealed" letter from Anthony Hargrove, one of the players suspended for his role in the hits-for-pay bounty scandal was discovered. In it Hargrove is alleged to have told the people investigating the bounty program that then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and assistant coach Joe Vitt told to him and other players to "play dumb" when questioned by the NFL about the bounty program. Hargrove has since come out and said that he was very disappointed by the story being leaked. You'll notice that he never said he was surprised. Hargrove has appealed his suspension and you have got to think that a piece of evidence like this, in which Hargrove does not acknowledge his role in the bounty program but does implicate himself in the attempts to cover it up, would pretty much doom any chances he has of getting his suspension reduced, even if his appeal is heard by a third-party arbitrator. Also, I'm sure in some players' eyes he looks like a snitch. Now, I'm not saying that the Commissioner's office was the one who leaked this document to the press. But, Sean Payton appealed his suspension and now he's not allowed to contact anyone remotely connected with the NFL for a year. The NFL wants this story out of the press as fast as possible and it certainly seems like they are going to do their best to make sure that anyone who tries to keep it going is not going to enjoy the experience.

-Since the Bruins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, I admit I haven't been paying as much attention to them. Still, I did notice that the Phoenix Coyotes had advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they will play the Los Angeles Kings. Normally one team bubbling up to have a great season wouldn't be news, except the Coyotes are currently being run the NHL because they haven't had an owner for almost three years. (There is a rumor they could be sold to a local businessman very soon, but as of right now they are still owned and operated by the NHL.) Personally I want to give major credit to the NHL. Teams being run by their various leagues while they look for an owner is nothing new, but those teams tend to do almost nothing during the season as the league looks to keep operating costs as low as possible. Seriously, the NBA ran the Hornets for 6 months and not only traded their best player but now it appears they didn't get much for him. Meanwhile, the NHL league offices might have just built themselves a winner. I guess they really don't want to put a team in Quebec, which is where the Coyotes were rumored to be going if they couldn't start making money. I don't think this is going to turn Phoenix into a hockey hotbed, but it does seem like whichever group purchases them could wind up with quite the bargain.