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A Hard Earned Indefinite Suspension

Bad Behavior, NBA | - -

by Memphis Bengal on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 04:31pm

wiz

As if the gunplay in the workplace allegations were not already enough, Gilbert Arenas doubled down in the last few days with some pretty damn glib statements and tweets. The overall impression? He has not handled this well. No huge surprise there, I suppose.

At any rate, the NBA has finally had enough, apparently. An indefinite you-don’t-have-to-go-home-but-you-can’t-play-here has been handed down.

At the least, maybe it will be clear to anyone who might still be confused, but the whole thing was no laughing matter. No matter how Arenas tried to spin it.


What’s Old is New Again Part II (Washington Bullets Edition)

Bad Behavior, NBA | - - - -

by Memphis Bengal on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 12:42pm

bulletsPer the NY Post, and, well, read it verbatim:

Guess they’re still the Bullets at heart. NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas and his Washing ton Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other in the team’s locker room during a Christmas Eve dispute over a gambling debt, The Post has learned. League sources say the pistol-packing point guards had heat ers at the ready inside the Verizon Center, the Washington, DC, home of the Wizards — whose name was changed from the Bullets over gun violence concerns.

It was the three-time all-star Arenas, 27, who went for his gun first, sources said, draw ing on the 22-year-old Crittenton, who quickly brandished a firearm as well. It was not clear whether other teammates saw the shocking standoff, which happened on a practice day. The duel in DC — unprecedented in sports history — was sparked when Critten ton became enraged at the vet eran guard for refusing to make good on a gambling debt, a source said. “I’m not your punk!” Crittenton shouted at Arenas, according to a league source close to the Wizards.

That prompted Arenas to draw on Crittenton, who then also grabbed for a gun, league security sources said. A playground pal of Crittenton’s from Atlanta, Kendrick “Bookie Ball” Long, confirmed the locker-room standoff and said he learned of it directly from the third-year player out of Georgia Tech. “He [Arenas] was f- – -ing with him; he [Crittenton] was just defending himself!” declared Long, who said the dispute was over money but would not elaborate.

Holy shit. On a list of things to be concerned about in seeking to turn the Wizards around, one might have hoped that gunplay amongst teammates would not be on the list. Bill Simmons with the quick and relevant speculation that Washington’s rapid reporting of the potential felony may be tied to a desire to get out from under the fuckawful contract…

Frog co-founder and twitter-master garyclark with the heads up in the Swamp here.


When NHL executives go union-busting, they document it well

Bad Behavior, NHL | - -

by garyclark on Saturday, October 10th, 2009 at 08:29am

The Vice President of the NHL, Colin Campbell, and his head of officiating, Stephen Walkom, didn’t seem to care for one of their officials. And they discussed it via e-mail, because really, what better place is there to discuss potentially illegal discriminatory practices?

You see, they had an official who did really well on his performance reviews. Good enough that he worked the playoffs for four out of five years in one stretch. In 2003-04, 21 out of 22 evaluations were positive. The next season, the positive reviews continued. Then he was elected to an executive position in his union. Suddenly, he was no longer a good enough ref to work the playoffs, and was subsequently fired.

And now, through his suit against the NHL, some very interesting emails between Campbell and Walkom have come to light. Such as this exchange that Campbell initiated:

“There must be a way to get rid of this guy. Is there a way we could track total minors called by referees this year?

Walkom responded in writing: “I think we have that data but it may work in (Warren’s) favour. That why I’m against data.”

Apart from the incredibly obvious appearance of discrimination here, can we take a second to examine that last sentence by the head of officiating in the NHL? You are against data? Really? You understand that data is composed of facts and information, right? Facts and information by which you can and should be evaluating your employees. But no, who wants information, right? You’d rather evaluate your officials based on other qualifications, right? Not facts or information. No, never that. You’d rather evaluate them on less factual qualifications. Such as, oh, I don’t know, whether or not they’re pro-union?

You. Stupid. Man.

Here we have a person in charge of evaluating a number of employees who is essentially saying that he does not believe in an objective evaluation of his employees. And he writes that down, and documents it, in an exchange with a professional colleague. Just. Wow. And Campbell doesn’t come across as the brightest, or most ethical, bulb either. In addition to the line above, this one is fun:

“Can we use this sh– to remove him or is there an HR (human resources) excuse?”

Allow me to paraphrase: Dear sir, I want to fire someone for no good reason. Can you please help me make up an imaginary reason to fire him? Really, really stupid and highly unethical? These guys should consider moving below the border and running for Congress.


If you read this, Rick Reilly will give you a tongue bath

Bad Behavior, Baseball | - -

by garyclark on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 08:04am

Apparently, Rick Reilly likes to lick things. This morning on Twitter, Adam Schefter reported:

On April 10, ESPN’s Rick Reilly said if the Rockies made the playoffs, he’d tongue bathe the capitol dome in Denver. Time for a tongue bath.

That’s disturbing on its own. What happened to eating your hat, or walking a hundred miles? Why are we licking things? And not just licking, but giving tongue baths? That’s just ill. What’s more disturbing is that this appears to be a pattern.

Go ahead and google Rick Reilly tongue bath (I know, I feel dirty typing it too), and you’ll find a Deadspin article from earlier in the year where Reilly threatens to “tongue bathe the Queen Mother”, which was then changed to “or I’ll tongue bathe Windsor castle”.

Rick, keep it in your mouth.




The FBI Makes an Arrest in the Erin Andrews Case

Bad Behavior

by Memphis Bengal on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 07:39am

A 48-year-old named Michael David Barrett who is identified in the AP as being from the Chicago-area is the one under arrest. The AP article provides a few additional details, at least new to me who has not been following every twist and turn in the story, in that the hotel where Andrews was staying when the invasion of her privacy occurred was in Nashville, Tennessee and the video taken through a modified peephole in the door.

Good for the FBI.


I am glad I am not Ted Williams’ head.

Bad Behavior, Baseball

by edwzipper on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 11:50am

What would you do with a frozen head? Play soccer? Go bowling? Haunted house? There really aren’t that many things I can think of doing. It’s not even useful as part of a  ”Weekend at Bernie’s” sequel.

Apparently, there are some people out there even sicker than my imagination. Yes boys and girls, there are some scurvy fucks out there that humanity just doesn’t need. It is time to put a filter into our gene pool.

 

The New York Daily News is reporting that Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams’ severed head was mistreated at an Arizona cryonics facility, according to details from a new book.

In “Frozen,” Larry Johnson, a former executive at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz., writes that Williams’ head, which had been severed and frozen for storage, was abused at the facility. Johnson claims a technician took baseball-like swings at Williams’ frozen head with a monkey wrench.

Williams, the last player to hit over .400 in a season, died in July 2002 at age 83 and had his remains sent to Alcor for cryogenic storage in the hope that future generations would develop the technology to revive him.

According to the Daily News, Johnson wrote the book while in hiding after becoming a whistleblower in 2003. He held the title of chief operating officer of Alcor for eight months, the newspaper said. He is scheduled for a Tuesday appearance on the ABC news show “Nightline.”

The bad jokes regarding this story have already begun in the Swamp.


Baptists Have a Dog-Fighting Problem?

Bad Behavior, NFL

by Memphis Bengal on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 05:33am

vick and the baptists

Who knew?

I know Mike Vick is doing the community speaking thing on the evils of dog-fighting, but I was thinking schools and community groups, not so much church-goers. At any rate, his latest speech was to Covenant Baptist Church in Washington DC.

Remember people, Jesus would likely NOT fight dogs. Either personally or over-seeing same.


Tom Cable: Felon?

Bad Behavior, NFL

by Memphis Bengal on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 05:00am

felon movie

From the San Jose Mercury News this morning:

Raiders defensive assistant Randy Hanson told a Napa Police Department detective Friday that coach Tom Cable struck him and broke his jaw, according to Hanson’s lawyer in an NFL.com story, in an incident during training camp. Hanson reportedly was interviewed by detective Mike Walund for approximately 90 minutes and also turned over medical records pertaining to the case being investigated by the Napa police, as well as the NFL. Hanson’s lawyer, John McGuinn, called the case “a textbook case of felony assault,” according to the NFL.com report….”Randy answered the detective’s questions, but we have no idea whether charges will be coming,” McGuinn said. “That will strictly be determined by the police and the DA’s office. We have no input. He just answered questions.

Hanson had been removed from his job just shortly before the incident. Much like Rich Gannon, he is banned from the Raiders facility. Unlike Rich Gannon, he still gets a paycheck with the Raiders logo on it.

Can we get a Cable perp walk out of this? A little something for the cameras as a warning to other NFL coaches to not attack their assistants?


The Kansas Kerfuffle

Bad Behavior, College Basketball, College Football

by Memphis Bengal on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 04:47am

Luke Winn wanders about half an inch down a limb at si.com and notes that Kansas’ image is hurt by the brawling between its football and basketball teams.

Uh, ya think, Luke? And let’s just say you and I arrived at the same place with your thoughts in this paragraph:

The damage had already been done, thanks to Facebook and streaming video. While watching Wednesday’s clip, I thought back to the national title game in San Antonio in 2008, and how I’d encountered a number of unaffiliated fans who were rooting for Kansas to beat Memphis because, well, they thought the Jayhawks were more virtuous than the “thuggish” Tigers.

The university newspaper at Kansas doing some good work here.


That’s Gonna Hurt His Prospect Ranking

Bad Behavior, Baseball

by Memphis Bengal on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 05:11pm

jail

Top SF Giants prospect, 19-year-old Angel Villalona, is the prime suspect in a murder of a man in the Dominican. From mlb.com:

A police spokesman in La Romana, in the east region of the Dominican Republic, told the AP that Villalona, 19, is the prime suspect in the shooting death of 25-year-old Mario Felix de Jesus Velete. “The incident occurred Saturday at around 11 at night, and the main suspect is Angel Villalona”, said Adrian Urbaez of the Dominican National Police. Villalona turned himself in to local authorities on Sunday afternoon.

“We know there was an incident and that there is one person dead, but we don’t have the details of the case”, said Frank Micheli, president of the Azucareros del Este team in the Dominican Winter League. Villalona is affiliated with the Azucareros for winter baseball. According to the AP, Villalona will appear in court Monday and could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Villalona, ranked No. 48 in MLB.com’s preseason Top 50 Prospects list, made headlines in 2006 after receiving a $2.1 million signing bonus with the Giants as a 16-year-old. He hit .267 with nine home runs and 42 RBIs in 74 games with the San Jose Giants at the Class A Advanced level in 2009 before being shut down in early July with a quadriceps injury.

Oof.