You're going to be hearing/seeing/reading plenty about Barry Bonds today...and, honestly, there isn't much more to add.
Here's the skinny.
First, the home run kind was handed a sentence of 30 days of house arrest, two years of probation and 250 hours of community service. Then, the sentence was delayed the sentence pending an appeal that is likely to take a year or more.
Silent during the procedings was Bonds. But do you know why the seven-time National League MVP said nothing?
Because this is the home that he's confined to for the next 30 days. And, yes, you'll want to click that link.
Good God, man!
Something tells me he can sleep in a different room every night and still not see every square inch of that place.
Whenever this sentencing comes to fruition, I'm hoping dude gives that trampoline a thorough workout.
Everyone's talking Tim Tebow and, unfortunately, I've been no different. Thing is, unlike the rest of you, I'm a recent convert.
Honestly, I was numb to the hype (avoided it actually) until the last couple of weeks. What turned me around?
I started listening to the guy.
Tebow isn't out there preaching rhetoric and spewing cliches...he's actually talking about what he believes. And what he believes, he fully believes. I mean, dude is fully committed and for season, I like that he's wrapped up in his own delusions.
Oh, the kid wins too.
So...does baseball need a Tebow? And, no, I'm not talking about baseball needing another person praising his God after a game winning home run or no hitter. I mean the actual guy himself.
Well, depending on who you ask...it probably could've happened.
You see, last year, the quarterback was hiding out and working out in Memphis and did what any fun loving athlete would do if/when asked...he took a few swings with a local high school baseball team.
How'd he do? He saw 15 pitches and blasted 12 out of the park.
"The kids were just awed by how far he hit the ball," Tebow's agent Jimmy Sexton told newspapers at the time.
What was the former Heisman Trophy winner's take?
“Um yeah, I hit it pretty decent that day. I hit it pretty good. That was awesome though, that was fun,” Tebow told the Palm Beach Post. “That was my first time to hit since my junior year of high school. And I was running pole laps in the outfield, and just conditioning, with Jim Denton, one of my agents. So I was just out there conditioning, and the baseball team was about to take BP, and I was talking to the coach and stuff. And Jim, he was the one, he was like, you don’t have a swing anymore, so he got me competitive. And then (the coach) was like, you can take some hacks, so I was like, alright. I warmed up and went up there, and then missed I think the first two. I didn’t miss them but I didn’t hit them out. Then I went on a good streak from there, so it was decent.”
The current Denver Broncos quarterback actually played some high school baseball before focusing solely on his future profession and, maybe, that's what prompted team exec John Elway to take a chance on the guy.
Elway himself was, famously, a two-sport star having been drafted by the New York Yankees in 1981. The Hall of Famer was actually taken six spots ahead of Tony Gwynn.
This is going to sound dumb, but quarterbacks being well-rounded athletes is nothing new.
Some other notable NFL quarterbacks that had their phone ring during the baseball draft...Dan Marino (1979 by the Kansas City Royals), Tom Brady (1995 by the Montreal Expos) and Michael Vick (2000 by the Colorado Rockies).
Kerry Collins found himself drafted on three separate occasions...1990 and 1991 by the Detroit Tigers and in 1994 by the Toronto Blue Jays.
I told myself I was done with "Baseball Wives" and, well, that's almost the truth. Truth is...I'm not watching the show, but I am reading re-caps and watching clips.
I know...I know.
The bombshell from this week's episode...Hall favorite Anna Benson is plotting to trick her husband Kris into having another kid. Basically, she told Erika "wife of Matt" Williams that she’d stopped taking her birth control pills and was planning a romantic night together with her husband.
In case you were wondering...the always controversial John Rocker is endorsing a presidential candidate.
The former big league reliever is throwing (get it?) his support behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
"He is an absolute genius; just a marksman in historical value of pretty much anything you want to discuss," Rocker said while on Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest radio show. "But I have always liked Gingrich; I would like to see him get the nomination."
So, why would anyone be giving Rocker time to talk about anything (much less politics) nowadays?
I'm struggling with how to start this one. So here goes...Derek Jeter bangs chicks and sends them away with signed swag as a parting gift.
There.
Done.
I said it.
According to one of his buddies, the New York Yankees captain, well...this is what the New York Post is saying:
“Derek has girls stay with him at his apartment in New York, and then he gets them a car to take them home the next day. Waiting in his car is a gift basket containing signed Jeter memorabilia, usually a signed baseball,” the friend dished.
“This summer, he ended up hooking up with a girl who he had hooked up with once before, but Jeter seemed to have forgotten about the first time and gave her the same identical parting gift, a gift basket with a signed Derek Jeter baseball,” the pal said.
“He basically gave her the same gift twice because he’d forgotten hooking up with her the first time!”
Classic.
At least this is better than a few years ago when he just simply paid for their parking.
Seriously...an autographed ball from the newest member of the 3000 hit club can come at a pretty hefty price. But, how would one of these ladies get it authenticated to draw top dollar if they flipped it on eBay?
Sure, the story itself would be awesome, but still.
Better question...how would you respond if your lady slid an autographed Jeter ball under the tree?
***UPDATE: Numerous Pirates bloggers are hitting the interwebs, supporting Cole saying that he's not on Twitter and this is a fake account.***
I'm no conspiracy theorist (actually, I totally am), but I'm willing to bet we're going to hear soon that Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Gerrit Cole's Twitter was hacked or that this is a fake account.
You see, late Monday night, the 2011 number one overall pick (or someone claiming to be him) tweeted the following piece of eye candy to his 980+ followers:
Considering quitting baseball to smoke weed. Fuck it
Someone needs to tell dude that he's a sure bet Major Leaguer with a million dollar arm and not running up and down a basketball court for a living.
Sure, it's possible Cole was joking around, but, in all seriousness...he should probably pick a better thing to joke about given the sport's pending crackdown on social media..
That is, of course, unless he was hacked...or this isn't even him! And just in case it gets deleted (and it probably will), here was the tweet in question.
The hard throwing righty was 21-20 with a 3.38 ERA in his three years at UCLA. Prior to being the Pirates number one pick this past summer, the 21-year-old was selected in the first round of the 2008 by the New York Yankees.
With this weekend's revelation that Ryan Braun was found guilty (not guilty?) of using performance-enhancing drugs, the interwebs were abuzz as to whether or not to strip the 2011 National League MVP of his award.
While that would probably make the Matt Kemp fans out there happy, it's probably not likely to happen.
Ryan Braun juiced - can we do the playoffs over again?
The one-time anti-steroids crusader might be on to something, though.
I mean, if it wasn't for Braun batting .500 (9-for-18) in the Milwaukee Brewers' best-of-five series against the Arizona Diamondbacks...there's no telling how the rest of the season would have played out. Heck, if they could have gone on to beat the eventual World Champion St. Louis Cardinals, it could have meant another trophy for the snakes.
You remember the last time McCain's beloved Diamondbacks hoisted the trophy, right? It was 2001 and on that team...current coach Matt Williams and team favorite Luis Gonzalez who were both suspected of, wait, nevermind.
