congrats ish...you are one of Hazel's three stars for yesterday...though I should have ignored you for dissin' Noy.

Hey Peeps and anyone else checking in. A special “Hey” goes out to Hazel Mae if she is checking in.

How would you like to be Ron Mexico today?

- You’re facing jail time, with speculation that the judge presiding over your case is going to impose a harsh sentence;
- Your NFL career is in jeopardy – with fans wanting you banned for life (we don’t get the calls for a lifetime ban);
- Your former employer is looking to recoup the $22M signing bonus you received;
- Your sponsorship deals are being cancelled;
- The only guy that has your back is Stephon Marbury.

Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse for you – you have Chris Collinsworth of NBC telling you what you should do during the halftime show of yesterday’s Steelers/Eagles game. For those of you that missed it, Collinsworth made an impassioned plea, counseling Vick to come clean about everything that happened. Keith Olbermann went so far as to suggest that Vick admit guilt that which he is accused of, and more – in order to start mending fences with a public that wants to forgive. We’re wondering where these two get off “speaking to Michael Vick” via the halftime show – strikes us as a little pompous and arrogant to be offering your advice to Vick.

For the record, we have no position on Mike Vick – other than on a professional level, where we hate him for screwing up our NFL pool each and every week. We’ve been saying for over two years that he is a below average QB – and we won’t go back on that position.

In terms of the advice given by Collinsworth and Olbermann – we’d tell Vick to ignore Dumb and Dumber. Let’s face it, with the public wanting blood – anything Vick admits to, short of assassinating JFK is likely to be questioned and viewed with skepticism. He’s too far down the road now to try an offer an explanation that will somehow change the collective opinion of “a public that is very forgiving” and wants to forgive. Gee, it wouldn’t be in the interests of the media to have Vick open up a whole new can of worms that can be dissected huh? Really, if Vick made a public admission – would anyone believe it? Or would they be more likely to question it and wonder if there was more? We can’t see this one ever being resolved to the satisfaction of anyone.

Five minutes that we won’t ever get back. Admittedly, our eye was on the Dodgers/Mets game last night; but after listening to Collinsworth and Olbermann, we fell hook, line and sinker for the teaser on Jerome Bettis discussing comments made in his book – see entry from last week. We listened as Jerome participated in the contrived, scripted piece of nonsense – moderated by Bob Costas. Jerome wanted to let everyone know he was there to “tell the t-r-o-of” about what really happened. Mike Vick is being vilified, for among other things – “lying”, but Jerome gets a free pass on NBC. Granted the scope and severity of the issue aren’t even in the same stratosphere – but nonetheless, Bettis’ actions denote those of a punk, but it’s A-OK and laughable if you are part of the studio crew.

Note to Miguel Tejada after his 1 for 4 perforrmance yesterday against the Twins – you still suck, and you are still blowing up our Pro-Line tickets. What? No chicken, rice and beans before yesterday’s game? You couldn’t hit a meaningless home run with your team down? You seem to be able to do that when you are killing us. You suck Tejada – you’re in Mike Vick territory here now.


SATURDAY’S THREE STARS
Boston Red Sox P Tim Wakefield wins again; 26 starts – 26 decisions. Wakefield pitched six scoreless innings, giving up three hits and three walks while striking out six in the Sox 14-2 pounding of Chicago Saturday.

Tampa Bay DRays P Scott Kazmir was dominant against the A’s – striking out thirteen over eight innings in the Rays 14-3 win. The only bad thing about the performance was that it came against Joe Blanton of the Maeple Leafs – still in first though, so we’ll give Kazmir his due.

Pittsburgh Pirates RF Jose Bautista hit two home runs and drove in three to lead the Pirates to a 4-3 win over the Astros in a “who cares?” game.


SUNDAY’S THREE STARS
Red Sox West P David Wells comes out of “retirement” so to speak to pick up a win against the Mets last night. For those of you that missed it, Wells had a good night on the mound – but he makes the grade today for laying down a bunt single in the fifth that started the comeback for Big Blue. Yes, you read that right – the big guy laid down a bunt single. Jeff Kent gets honourable mention for taking a 90+ mph fastball in the head and not going down – he walked it off and made it to the dugout on his own – that’s TOUGH.

Portugal’s new wonderkid and Manchester United F Luis Nani hit a screamer from 30 yards out to give Man U a 1-0 win over Tottenham. We haven’t been able to get the video from footytube – but it was a beauty.

Ottawa_Tilt went down to Niagara this past weekend and left the poker tables a big winner – we won’t go on and on, because Tilt just emailed his entry. What he didn’t mention was that he followed up the win at Niagara with a win in a 90 man online tournament last night.


MONDAY’S THREE PLAY
We had a tough week last week – one bad day killed us. We start the week with an ugly, ugly, UGLY total. Never mind, we’ll update it next week – though you can scroll back to last week and figure it out for yourself if you are so inclined. Today’s suggestions:

San Diego over Arizona – a mismatch on the mound with Jake Peavy vs Livan Hernandez. You have to go with the Padres tonight (as much as we hate to). Lay $100 on the Padres - $230.

Red Sox West over Washington – the emotion of a big win last night over the Mets should carry over tonight against the Nats. We like Derek Lowe, who has pitched well at home, over Mike Bacsik tonight. Lay $100 on the Dodgers - $180.

We like the overs in today’s afternoon game and tonight’s Braves/Marlins game – but since we can’t get a total, we can’t suggest a play.

That’s it for today gang – thanks for taking the time to check in. Today is going to be an update day here, with Tilt checking in this morning and our contributor addition expected to check in tonight. Have a great one peeps!

Hazel, we hope things are groovy in your world.

We’re Out!