A Whacked Wednesday

Hey Peeps and anyone else checking in. Another Wednesday, another edition of the "Weird and Whacked Wednesdays" - for those of you who are regular readers, you know what Wednesdays are all about; for those of you who haven't been here before, Wednesday entries take a look at some of the stories making news in the world of sports over the last seven days or so - Wednesday entries look at stories that make the news for the wrong reasons - if there is such a thing. Stories range from the weird, to the whacked, to the downright silly.

Before we get started...as always, a special "Hey" goes out to Hazel Mae, fresh off her show stealing appearance at WEEI's Whiney Awards.

The Olympics dominated much of the headlines over the last couple of weeks - so this week's version is a bit shorter...but give these boys and girls time, they'll be back in force next week. So lets get to it.

YOU THOUGHT HOCKEY DADS WERE BAD?
We have all heard about the crazy hockey dads across North America, from parents in Canada who threaten referrees, other parents, and even the kids playing hockey - to the extreme, where one hockey dad in Massachusetts took the life of another parent - we get word from France of a new breed of sports parent. Beware the Tennis Dad. I don't normally do tennis...but Hazel likes tennis, so why the hell not?

Christophe Fauviau of Mont-de-Marsan France, went on trial for allegedly drugging opponents his children were competing against - which lead to the death of one player. Mr. Fauviau drugged other players with Temesta, an anti-anxiety drug which can cause drowsiness - police allege that in July 2003, he drugged Alexendre Lagendere who complained of fatigue after playing Fauviau's son and later died when he fell asleep at the wheel of his car on the drive home.

Monsieur Fauviau is facing up to 20 years in the can. File this one under the category of the whacked.

YOU THOUGHT HOCKEY DADS WERE BAD PART II
Everyone knows that Texans take their football seriously - but this is going too far. A parent was sentenced to 20 years in the can for shooting his son's high school football coach.

Take the 15 seconds and read this one - whacked doesn't begin to describe it.


STRAIGHT UP NOW TELL ME
Barry Bonds has come into camp with one goal - no, it's not passing that white guy on the all-time home run list - it certainly is NOT to be more media friendly...he has rules and conditions around one on one interviews this year. If you haven't read them - don't bother, not worth it. No, Barry is out to prove that he may actually be a human being - take that Jeff Kent.

Bonds dressed up as Paula Abdul to entertain fans at the Giants camp - and raise money for the Giants Community Fund. The Giants organization went on record as saying they are going to match the funds raised - a whopping $337, according to CBS Sportsline. No word on whether or not Barry is going to match the donation. These guys are all heart huh?

For this shameless attempt at trying to make Barry look like a good guy - File this one under the downright silly...I mean, it Paula FREAKIN' Abdul.


APRIL MUST BE SWEEPS MONTH...RIGHT?
ESPN announced that they are going to be airing a new reality TV show - featuring Barry Bonds' pursuit of Hank Aaron's Home Run Record. TV is two dimensional...Barry has shown himself to be pretty much a one dimensional figure. How is ESPN going to do this?

File this one under the whacked - if they think people are really going to want to tune it to see what's what with Barry.


WHY YOU LITTLE...
Roger Clemens made news this past week - doing an imitation of Homer Simpson (baseball style). Clemens son hit a HR off of him during a minor league workout session - the Rocket responded by throwing high and tight on his own son. Just read the story if you haven't...classic quote by Clemens about the pitch.

File this one under whacked...throwing a heater high and tight at your own son is nuts.


HONEY, I'M ... HERE
Manny Ramirez showed up at the Red Sox camp in Ft. Myers Florida. Boston media noted that Manny seemed less that ecstatic at the thought of being in camp with the Sox - with all that attention, all those mics, all those pads, all those cameras...and Manny's desire to be left alone - I wonder why he wasn't more excited at being there.

This whole thing is being handled very badly from all perspectives - from Francona choosing his words carefully and bending over backwards to say everything is ok - to his teammates who keep trying to answer questions about Manny - to yes, the Boston media who in their pursuit of a story are bugging the crap out of David Ortiz. Since when was Ortiz appointed Manny's keeper? It's common knowledge that Enrique Wilson is Manny's buddy - why bug Ortiz about Manny's whereabouts?

File this one under the downright silly - Manny's money, leave it at that...He asked to come one day late - they said yes. Over!


GOLDEN GIRL?
Somebody told Oscar De La Hoya that he still had a boxing career - and told him he should fight again. De La Hoya (the one time golden boy) got into it with his opponent, Ricardo Mayorga during a press conference. Mayorga called De La Hoya an old lady - somewhere Bea Arthur is some sorta pissed that she got lumped in with Oscar.

De La Hoya fighting again? File it under the downright silly.

Well, I'm gonna wrap it up for tonight - listening to Mike Adams drop Hazel's name every five minutes....bugger. Have a great one peeps.

Hazel I hope things are groovy in your world - from all accounts, you were great. Congrats

Song of the Day on Hazelspeeps - for Barry Bonds' impersonation of Paula Abdul...and Ricardo Mayorga's assessment of Oscar D -

Forever Your Girl - Paula Abdul

Peesth Out!