Filed under: Louisville Basketball, Big East Basketball, NCAA Basketball Coaches, Louisville

Rick Pitino doesn’t waste time with a lot of interviews and searching when an assistant leaves. With Marvin Menzies taking over at New Mexico State, Pitino announced the hiring of his replacement almost immediately. Say hello to Walter McCarty, a player on Pitino’s Kentucky squad and a couple years playing for Pitino with the Boston Celtics.

Blah, blah, blah. Member of the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats national championship team. 19th pick overall by the New York Knicks. Another former Kentucky player working for Pitino in Louisville Ten years in the NBA. Uh-huh.

What really matters is that McCarty loves to sing. He’s sung the national anthem numerous times before basketball games — get ready, Freedom Hall.

Mike at Card Chronicle, found his 2003 debut album, Moment for Love.

According to the liner notes:

Moment For Love is the debut album by Boston Celtics superstar Walter McCarty This album features an eclectic mix of retro R&B and up-tempo dance tracks inspired by the fun and laid back music of the late 80’s and the early 90’s

Continue reading Louisville Assistant to Get “Freaky Wit Me”

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The high-five being replaced with the prostate-massage … long, long, overdue. But if this Cubs winning streaks goes much longer, I shudder to think of what’s going to start happening in that dugout. Bat boys are going to have to be replaced with jizzmoppers.

Aramis Ramirez Walk-Off Jack (off) [YouTube]

Filed under: Soccer

Seriously, is this any way to reward a coach who delivered a league title?

Fabio Capello may just have guided Real Madrid to their first league title in four years but the club have decided to dispense with his services.

Perhaps it’s not the fact that he was let go, but the reason why he was let go that may be the most shocking…

The Italian’s departure had long been mooted but many believed Madrid’s dramatic overhaul of Barcelona in the final weeks of the season would have convinced the club’s authorities to keep faith with the man to whom they gave a three-year contract only last June. Ultimately, though, the team’s laborious, if successful, playing style is what has cost Cappello his job.

If that’s the new standard, I fully expect the San Antonio Spurs to shove Gregg Popovich out the door within the next three hours. Winning ugly is still winning, and if it’s not aesthetically pleasing, maybe that requires a review of the rulebook rather than a new coach.

Of course, passing new laws in soccer is a lot harder to do than in, say, the NFL, because new laws affect the entire planet, and not everyone will want to play by your new rules just because a few clubs in Spain play a style that their fans think isn’t very pretty. Still, is winning a title without looking fabulous really a reason to fire the coach?

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Filed under: NY Giants, NFL Gossip, NFL Rumors, New York

In an interview with NFL Network, Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora became the latest person to say that it’s time for quarterback Eli Manning to deliver on the promise the Giants thought he had when they acquired him on draft day 2004.

When Rich Eisen asked Umenyiora whether Manning is the leader of the team, Umenyiora initially said “absolutely,” but he hedged a little bit:

“He’s the quarterback. I’m not going to say he’s the leader of the team, but he’s the quarterback. We follow him and as he goes that’s how far we’re going to go.”

Eisen asked how far Manning would go, and Umenyiora said, “I mean, this is his fourth year, and I think this is his year. He has no choice. It has to be his year.”

Umenyiora said Manning is becoming more of a vocal leader. That’s fine, but the reason not everyone in New York is sold on Manning as the quarterback of the future has much more to do with the accuracy of his passes than it does with the inspirational quality of his locker room speeches. If Manning continues to improve as a passer, everyone will say he also improved as a leader — whether that’s true or not.

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• 7:00, TBS. MLB. Atlanta Braves @ Florida Marlins. You know what? I think Billy the Marlin is cute, and I won’t apologize for it.
• 7:00, ESPNU. Soccer. FIFA U-20 World Cup. Argentina vs. Czech Republic. The long-anticipated rematch of their one match back when … I don’t know, they’ve probably played each other before, right?
• 7:30, ESPN. IndyCar Racing. SunTrust Indy Challenge. If they trust the sun so fucking much, why have this race at night?

Filed under: Mountain West, Mid-Majors Basketball, NCAA Basketball Media Watch, NCAA FB Media Watch, Brigham Young Football, Utah Football, BYU

With the Big Ten fledgling network still involved in a public spat with Comcast, comparisons to the Mountain West’s less than spectacular first year with “The mtn.” sports channel are inevitable. In the first year of operation, the mtn. has made it to a whopping 1.2 million homes.

It appears to be a flop. Utah and BYU took the lead and got the rest of the Mountain West members to help foot the bill in hiring an attorney to explore options with their TV deal.

In its annual meeting Tuesday, the MWC Board of Directors voted unanimously to retain Kelly Crabb, the lawyer originally hired and retained last week by BYU and Utah, in efforts to clarify the nature of the TV contract and delineate distribution strategies of The mtn. network.

Crabb will work with Commissioner Craig Thompson and an ad hoc committee made up of three Board members - BYU President Cecil Samuelson, Texas Christian University Chancellor Victor Boschini and Colorado State University President Larry Edward Penley. The conference presidents spearheaded the TV deal that the MWC settled on a year ago with the network co-owned by Comcast Cable and CBS’ College Sports Television.

However, there is widespread displeasure because of the troubles in getting The mtn., distributed.

This has fueled speculation that the Mountain West may try to find a way to get out of its deal, and pull the plug on the mtn. The mtn. has not been picked up by either satellite provider, and very few sizable cable operators in the markets (PDF) where the schools operate (Comcast in Utah and Cox in Las Vegas and San Diego are the largest carriers that have it).

Continue reading Learning from the mtn.

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Tonight’s Pirates vs. Nationals game at PNC Park is a sell-out … the Bob Walk bobbleheads are just too great a temptation to ignore. But if some pissed off Pirates fans have their way, the stadium will empty out quickly.

A group called “Fans for Change” wants the people of Pittsburgh to rise up against shitty Pirates management and walk out of the game tonight (after you get your Bob Walk bobblehead, of course).

Don’t expect to notice anything if you’re watching on TV, though. One, the Pirates TV station doesn’t plan to show the walkout. And two, these things rarely ever work, let alone have the desired effect.

Last year during a Lions game, tens of thousands of fans were supposed to get up and leave in the second quarter of a game, but only about 4 people actually ended up doing it. And even if they had left, what was it going to do, alert Matt Millen to the fact that the Lions suck? I’m pretty sure he had noticed.

But I don’t begrudge you your anger, Pirates fans, you certainly have a right to be upset … and I do wish you well with your public hissy-fit tonight.

Would Bob Walk Walk-Out? [Carpetbagging 101]
Smizik: Walkout by Pirates fans gets blacked out [Post-Gazette]

• Here’s a draft post that will hold your attention … all 30 first round picks, compared to various slices of fine trim. [Insomniac’s Lounge]
• Smart people love Daequan Cook. [Winning the Turnover Battle]
• And here’s more - a lot more - on Daequan Cook. [SporTech Matter]
• You hate to see it come to this for Maartin Cuntschlagel. [Loser With Socks]
• Yes, the security around Barry Bonds does seem to be a little lacking. [Sox & Dawgs]
• A preliminary breakdown of ESPN’s “Who’s Now?” tournament. [Blog of Hilarity]
• A photo essay on some of the more wonderful things Title IX has brought us. [Foul Balls]
• Rockies fans are upset with the baseball gods, and they are writing them letters. [Up in the Rockies]
• 24 years ago yesterday, a Kansas City Chief named Joe Delaney died heroically. [Arrowhead Pride]
• This guy is really expecting great things from The Bronx is Burning. [Doberman on the Diamond]
• Ways to fix the America’s Cup. I assume this is a very long post. [Two Cents]

Filed under: Olympics, Fighting

Mixed martial arts is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports, but Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White has outdone himself with his latest goal: He wants to make it an Olympic sport.

“That’s always been my goal, and it will happen,” White said. “It will be awesome. I know there have been talks, but no one has approached me.”

I admire White for thinking big, but I seriously doubt this will happen. Mixed martial arts still has a long way to go before it’s accepted as a legitimate sport everywhere, and the International Olympic Committee is fairly conservative with its approach to adding sports. Add to that the fact that the Olympics already have wrestling, judo, taekwondo and boxing, and it’s an extreme long shot that the IOC will add MMA. it would be cool, though.

Hat tip: UFCMania.

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I’m not sure it makes me any more anxious to get out and see the Greenville Drive, but … it is, unquestionably, the best Black Eyes Peas parody video I’ve seen by a minor league baseball team this year. In fact, it’s right up there with Alanis Morissette and Will Ferrell.

“My Umps” - Greenville Drive [YouTube]