Tom Shatel of the Omaha World-Herald recently interviewed Nebraska Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson.  I found some incredibly telling information within the few questions and answers.  Among them:
Wats explained how the offense was thrown into ‘management’ mode even before the season started when they lost both OL Jaivorio Burkes and IB Quentin Castille, both of whom [...]

I’m tired — tired of hearing that I should ‘leave Tiger alone’ — tired of hearing that he ‘needs his privacy’ — tired of being told ‘others are doing far worse, bother them’ — Listen, Tiger is a Kagillia-Billionaire, and he owes damn-near ALL of it to his (previous) marketability. So let me get this [...]

Besides the Nationals signing Adam Kennedy and maybe the Giants signing Todd Wellemeyer, it seems like the “big” signings are drying up. There are certainly still some solid players left on the market, like Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon and Carlos Delgado, but the “big” signings aren’t happening at the rate they were earlier in the [...]

Hey, did you hear? The Reds signed Orlando Cabrera, the Rockies signed Melvin Mora, and the Mariners signed Ryan Garko. I heard…and so did everyone else. Let’s take a look at the signings that fell under the radar.
The one that I really like is the Nationals’ signing of Kevin Mench. Though he hasn’t played in [...]

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve turned this “Under the Radar” series into a regular occurrence. Anyway, onto the news.
The Cubs signed Xavier Nady, the Phillies signed Jose Contreras, and the Nationals signed Miguel Batista. Fascinating. With the bigger signings out of the way, let’s focus on the smaller, more interesting and intriguing moves.
First off, the [...]

Big names have been moving all over the place recently. Jim Thome signed with the Twins, Ben Sheets signed with the Athletics, and Rick Ankiel signed with the Royals. Ah, but who cares. Here’s the real important stuff.
One of the most interesting moves of this past week involved a guy who hasn’t even played since [...]

After Sunday’s AFC and NFC championship games, the sports world focus turns to Super Bowl XXXXIV in 2 weeks between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. The first word is in on the spread for the game from the Las Vegas Sun and the AP.
Las Vegas Sun:
The Colts (16-2) opened as a 5.5-point [...]

Over the last couple of days, the baseball world has seen some notable transactions. Miguel Tejada signed with the Orioles. Joel Pineiro signed with the Angels. In keeping with my previous installment of this article “series,” if that’s what you want to call it, those are not the types of transactions—the big, headline grabbing ones—I’m [...]

AFC
NY Jets Vs. Indianpolis Colts
Yes the Jets have been on fire lately, but the Colts have been hot almost the whole year, and their defense came off an excellent game where they shut down Ray Rice. The question is can they play that well against the Jets one-two puch of Shonn Greene and [...]

These past few days have produced quite a slew of interesting—although not entirely notable—baseball moves. We all heard about Felix Hernandez signing a mega-contract with the Mariners and Josh Johnson signing with the Marlins, but those aren’t the kind of moves I’m talking about. I’m talking about some of the smaller moves that may have [...]

AFC
NY Jets vs. San Diego Chargers
The Jets surprised me last week by beating the Bengals; don’t expect them to do it again. The Chargers have been red-hot almost the whole year and have no reason not to continue their streak. Although these are not the same old Chargers from a couple years ago, they will [...]

Now that the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 has been elected, I have turned my attention to next year’s Class of 2011. From various sources, there are twenty-nine players who retired between 2005 and 2006 and who are eligible for the class of 2011. Hold on to your seats for these [...]

Mark McGwire has decided to speak about his past. Per the AP:
Mark McGwire has finally come clean, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998.
McGwire says in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade and he [...]

According to reports at ESPN, the New York Yankees have finalized a trade with the Atlanta Braves to bring Javier Vazquez back to the Bronx.
The Braves will be getting outfielder Melky Cabrera and left-hander Mike Dunn as well as $500,000 in cash. In addition to Vazquez, the Yankees will be getting right-hander Boone Logan
Vazquez, [...]

Thurday night, Anaheim Duck’s Scott Neidermeyer handed his stick over the boards to give to a fan. It resulted in a small fight between fans. Enjoy.

I’m going to try and keep this clean. It’s going to be hard for me, but I’m going to try.

As people have no doubt heard, a University of New Mexico soccer player went on the rampage this week. Here is the video, courtesy of ESPN and YouTube.
Updated: I’ve linked a new video of it, since the original has been taken down.

Picher who returned to baseball with a handlebar mustache after giving it all up wins honor

For the past few weeks, sports news has really been at a premium. Yes there have been some news but nothing to write home about. So this will just be a quick hit and off we go!
Kiffin vs refs
Maybe I am uninformed but how come you can’t criticize referees? If they miss [...]

IP Sports is proud to introduce the 2010 MLB Free Agent Tracker. It’ll be updated almost daily with free agents, signings, minor league free agents, and top prospect lists from around the web.
If you see any errors, omissions, have comments, or want your published prospect list added, e-mail me and I’ll get it taken [...]

Baseball and Mustaches have a long history together. From classics ’staches like Rollie Fingers and the “Mad Hungarian” Al Hrabosky to the tradition ones of Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs, and Keith Hernandez, the mustache has been a fixture in baseball. This season was no different, and 2 players are being recognized for it.
Earlier [...]

Here are a few interesting news stories and my views on them.

Tailgate Crashers is going to be running a “Current Top Athlete Tourney”. It will be held in the same fashion as the NCAA Tourney – 64 athletes. The TGC staff will determine the 64 and arrange the seeds from the athletes picked by our readers. All voting will occur on the Inside [...]

The news came today that Plaxico Burress was going to prison for 2 years. And he somehow thinks he’s going to play in the NFL again.

This has to be the biggest steal of the season.  If Smoltz throws a few strikes, he will have earned his 100k salary from the Cardinals.  He is already better than the 5th starting pitchers (Wellemeyer or Boggs) that the Cardinals currently have and honestly can’t do any worse.  If and when the Cardinals do [...]

Michael Vick is back in the NFL with a two year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, that’s the news, I’m going to be looking at the fit and how this will work.

It’s been a busy few days for the Cardinals. Let’s go through the proposed timeline (WARNING: There are many rumors and opinions here, so don’t take all of this as fact).
Tuesday Afternoon: Card’s GM John Mozeliak and Red Sox GM Theo Epstein agree to a trade; the Cardinals will send Chris Duncan and a [...]

The New York Mets have traded Ryan Church to  the Atlanta Braves for Jeff Francoeur, and the Mariners have traded Yuniesky Betancourt to the Royals for a couple minor leaguers. Who got the better of the deals? Let’s see…

Tailgate Crashers is proud to announce our First Annual MLB All Star Contest, where the winner will receive an Official League Baseball signed by St. Louis Cardinal’s pitcher Adam Wainwright.
The Rules:
- All contestants will select their picks for the winners of the Home Run Derby, the All Star Game, and the All Star MVP. [...]

Kobe Bryant, is arguebly the best player in the game right now. He was dissatisfied with the end result of last year’s NBA Finals matchup with the Celtics, as the Boston won the series much in part to the help of their big 3. This time, Kobe is back and is hungry for more.
Going into [...]