There’s nothing quite like the New York tabloids when they smell the blood in the water from a messy celebrity divorce.  The only thing that can rile these media sharks into an even greater frenzy is if one of the victims is a hated sports athlete like Alex Rodriguez.  Now I’m not saying that Alex, aka A-Rod, hasn’t made his share of mistakes professionally, personally and in his public image.  What I will say is that I have never understood the kind of venom and distaste that Yankee fans have regarding A-Rod that they never carried over to other so called “cash mercenaries” like Roger Clemons, Curt Schilling, Jason Giambi, and Johnny Damon (other all-star players lured by the Yankees big pocketbooks).
 
A number of theories have popped up to explain A-Rod’s poor public perception including the fact that he has had several poor outings in postseason play, he is bi-racial, he is good looking, he plays for the most hated team in sports (Yankees) or that he is the highest paid player in Major League Baseball (MLB).  Whatever the reason, he plays next to Derek Jeter who is espoused as a deity by Yankee fans. The fact that A-Rod and Jeter were once close friends who have since become distant seems to have caused Yankee fans to believe they must choose a side when it comes to their team favorites. 
 
New York City sports fans have never been considered the brightest banana’s in the bunch so petty team loyalties are not my concern.  Personally, I have never been much of a Jeter fan after I heard he gave Jessica Alba herpes (tsk, tsk, tsk).  I wonder how Mariah Carey, Scarlet Johanson and Jessica Beil, all former celebrity girlfriends of Jeter, felt when they heard that news?  Of course one has to admire Jeter for more than just his conquests; Derek Jeter is smart enough to remain a philandering single celebrity while A-Rod made the decision to marry his girlfriend.  This also created a change in lifestyle for A-Rod that might have contributed to the deteriorating relationship between him and his once close friend Jeter.
 
In 2001, Alex Rodriguez made several statements about Jeter that Derek took personally.  He stated that Jeter would not get the same contract that A-Rod had with Texas because he wasn’t a power hitter or as good defensively.  But perhaps the biggest wound that Jeter suffered was the statement ‘’He’s never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. He hits second - that’s totally different than third or fourth in a lineup.”  While these statements might have been true given the presence of clubhouse leaders Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neil, Jeter’s ego was bruised and he seems to have kept the grudge to this very day.  Given the very close nature of their previous friendship some call 2001 the date of his “first” divorce (with Jeter). (more…)

Unless, you have been on Mars, you know of the NCAA recent twist with blogger Brian Bennett who took issue with his live blogging. The NCAA believes any statistic that takes place during one of its athletic competitions is property of NCAA, and reporting it in a live game thread is a breach of proprietary information it claims it owns.

Well, its curious why at this point the NCAA has decided to take issue with this. As, any person with a computer can provide game updates either being live at the sporting event, or from the comfort at home while watching on tv, listening on radio, or even while its broadcast over the internet. I know I have been guilty of providing web updates of live events previously.

Well, there is a precedent that says that this claim the NCAA claim will not hold up. In the book The Numbers Game by Alan Schwarz (page 183) he mentions how the NBA came after John Dewan of STATS for supplying AOL and Motorolla with game statistics and game updates to their subscribers. The NBA claimed that STATS was infringing on their intellectual properties. In the battle of STATS vs NBA, Judge Preska ruled that providing game updates such as real time data was in essence providing a simultaneous rebroadcast of the game. Basically, by her ruling its was stating that STATS was stealing the NBA data unlawfully, even though STATS was simply providing game facts. STATS fought back and filed an appeal. In the appeal, they ruled that public-domain information can’t be considered private property. A HUGE win for STATS and this ruling will pave the groundwork to show that the NCAA claim is bogus, and the Brian Bennett’s of the world will be allowed to continue their work.

A year ago the 2006 Florida Gators baseball team with most of their offensive firepower back for another run were ranked the top team in the country in the pre-season polls. It was in 2005 Florida Gators baseball team had their best season ever making it all the way to the College World Series championship before losing to the Texas Longhhorns. Their were a lot of expectations for this Florida Gator team with its high powered offense centered around Matt LaPorta the NCAA HR champ of 2005, a candidate for the Brooks Wallace college player of the year award. But, the pitching staff is where the uncertainty lied. Unfortunately right before classes were to start, Alan Horne who helped lead the Gators to the CWS decidied to forgo his senior year and sign with the Yankees. Additionally, Stephen Locke went down with a season ending elbow injury prior to the season. As a result, Bryan Ball was thrust into role of the #1 pitcher. The Gators started off the season strong in beating Miami in Coral Gables, but with LaPorta out for a major portion of the year with a nagging oblique muscle injury, the season quickly unraveled for this Florida Gator team. They lost 10 of 15 going from SEC Champs to Chumps. The Gators finished at the bottom of the SEC East with a 10-20 record within the SEC. Thats the type of season that gets coaches fired, but Coach McMahon is back for 2007 and looking for a chance to turn this thing around with a fairly young team.

Gone from the 2006 team are the following former Florida Gators who signed with a MLB team :

Closer Darren O’Day (a fifth year senior) who wasn’t selected in the 2005 draft became a free agent the day the Gators season ended and signed with the Angels instead of re-entering for the draft.

2B/SS Adam Davis was the first Florida Gator to hear his name called in the 2006 draft in the third round by the Cleveland Indians

C Brian Jeroloman was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth round.

OF Gavin Dickey the former Gator QB was drafted in 12th round by Seattle.

3B David Cash who is the son of former major leaguer Dave Cash was selected in 40th round by Baltimore.

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