random ramblings fred riecke, gamblersdata
..Now here’s a new sport that all of us, well, many of us, can fully support. Dennis Rodman will be coaching for a topless women’s team he’s launching for Headquarters Gentlemen’s Club, the New York mammary mecca.The NBA bad boy dreamed up the team after hearing that rival strip joint Rick’s Cabaret had launched a league with former Atlanta Hawk Spud Webb, who runs the Texas Legends, an NBA Development League team. Rodman is even challenging Rick’s Cabaret’s topless team to a charity game.“I don’t know too many men that don’t like a good-looking woman running up and down around the court,” Rodman said. Uh, yeah!
…Sorry ladies, if you had your heart set on Michael Jordan, you are too late. Charlotte Bobcats majority owner and NBA legend Michael Jordan got engaged over the Christmas holiday, a Jordan spokeswoman first confirmed to WCNC Thursday afternoon. Several celebrity gossip websites reported MJ proposed to longtime girlfriend Yvette Prieto recently.
…Mike Muchak wanted no part of Penn State and who could blame him? What coach in his right mind would battle the daily double of situations facing the next Penn State coach? The Sandusky scandal has the program in shambles and no one can even begin to predict what the NCAA will or won’t do. And even if he’s disgraced, you are still following living legend Joe Paterno. But, the search goes on. It is now being speculated that the Nittany Lions might be turning their sights on former NFL coach-turned-analyst Eric Mangini to take the reins of a program in complete and utter disarray. According to several reports, Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien is set to become the next head coach at Penn State.
…Dez Bryant has problems other than the Cowboys inability to hold 4th quarter leads. According to the Rap Sheet Report in the Boston Herald, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant is on the verge of getting sued again, and he could be getting served his papers this Sunday when his team travels to New York to take on the Giants. This summer, it was learned that WR Dez Bryant had been sued for over $800,000.00 dollars in unpaid bills. This summers suits stemmed from jewelry, direct loans and tickets to sporting events, which his debtors claim he never paid for. This latest case stems from a $100,000.00 loan taken out by the Cowboys player. The paper reports that Endurance Capital Fund (ECF) loaned Bryant 100,000 dollars and the receiver has refused to repay any portion of the loan with the loan now one- year in arrears. ECF reports that they are in the process of attempting to serve Bryant with lawsuit papers and that the firm might attempt to do so this weekend in New York. In an ECF statement provided to the Boston Herald, the firm states, “This was a simple transaction with a loan agreement and a promissory note reviewed by Mr. Bryant’s advisers and signed by Mr. Bryant. We held up our side of the bargain, now we are simply asking that Mr. Bryant follow through with what he promised to do”. Bryant signed with the Dallas Cowboys on July 22, 2010 for a five-year, $11.8 million dollar contract with $8.63 million guaranteed. His base salary for 2011 was $1.112,500.00.
…We mentioned that this is not a good year for NHL coaches. Six have already been canned this year. Look for a seventh very soon – Scott Arniel of Columbus.
…Texas Ranger catcger Yorvit Torrealba was suspended from Venezuela’s professional baseball league for striking an umpire. Torrealba was arguing with the home plate umpire Friday after striking out. he angrily put a hand on the umpire’s mask abd shoved him. He was then ejected. No word on what, if any, action will be taken by MLB.
…Nothing says “bowl game” like the Kraft Fight Hunger game which pitted 6-7 UCLA against 6-6, 6 straight losses Illinois. To top it off, both teams had fired their coaches beforehand. The Illini broke their 6 game losing streak to win 20-14. UCLA became the first bowl team to lose 8 games in a season.
…Personally, I’ve never been more bored with bowl games. I remember when there were games that you looked forward to seeing. Games that meant something. Now we are fed a steady diet of games where few people other than alumni can even name the starting quarterbacks. It’s taken the fun out of the bowl season for me.
…Talk about your epic rematches – how about the Spartans and the Trojans? In Greece! Michigan State’s athletic director says his school is interested in playing a college basketball game against USC in Greece. Of course, we’re talking hoops here.
…Brock Lesnar lost to Alistair Overeem by TKO at UFC 141 and announced after the fight that he was retiring from MMA. Lesnar has been rumored to be inclined to make a return to WWE. His MMA career was the epitome of overhype rivaled only by Kimbo Slice. But the win was bittersweet for Overeem. On the plus sidd, the win gave him the second highest disclosed payroll of the night with $385,714.28. on the minus side, unfortunately for the newly crowned heavyweight number one contender the Nevada State Athletic Commission was forced to withhold $241,285.49 of his fight purse by a Nevada judge due to his ongoing legal battle with his former management team Golden Glory. The legal team representing Golden Glory filed a lawsuit against Overeem in the Clark County courts alleging that the newly signed UFC heavyweight fighter breached his contract entered with them four-years ago.
…According to Jeff Darlington of NFL.com, the Denver Broncos’ quarterback’s have an informal system in which they can fine one another throughout the season. Quarterback Tim Tebow started receiving fines from his teammates four days after a billboard was raised on 58th Avenue one block east of Interstate 25 in Denver demanding head coach John Fox to bench Kyle Orton in favor of him. The quarterbacks on the Broncos fined Tebow everyday the billboard remained posted. Supposedly Tebow was never given a true reason why he was getting fined and he never asked. But it seems the reason was that he never asked the fans to remove the billboard. Tebow ended up being fined for six days until Orton was finally benched in favor of him and the billboard was finally taken down.
…Dallas Mav fans are hoping that Tracy McGrady is the new Nostradamus. The former NBA superstar, currently an Atlanta Hawk, turned into a fortune teller of sorts and said he believes that soon-to-be free agents Dwight Howard and Deron Williams will ultimately end up wearing Dallas Mavericks uniforms. I don’t see that in the cards, but stranger things have happened.
…Evidently bad boy hockey player Sean Avery has finally worn out his welcome with the New York Rangers. The New York Rangers have placed forward Sean Avery on waivers this afternoon, per TSN. In 15 games played this season, the 31-year-old winger has recorded three goals along with 21 penalty minutes. Avery began the season in the AHL with the Connecticut Whale, before being recalled by the Rangers for a match-up with the Montreal Canadiens on November 5. As expected, Avery played few minutes to begin, but slowly earned more and more ice time in each passing game. He ultimately found himself with chances of playing alongside buddy Brad Richards on the second line at times during November, but as the story always goes, his minutes, along with his role on the team, slowly diminished until he eventually became a healthy scratch on a nightly basis. I think Avery can still help a few teams and would be surprised if he didn’t land upright.
…Not far removed from a World Series win, the San Francisco Giants may be in for rough year. According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, there is still a “sizable gap” in long-term contract talks between the Giants and Tim Lincecum. The club is believed to have improved upon its initial four-year offer from this summer, but Lincecum is thought to be seeking an eight-year deal. Those close to the negotiations tell Heyman that both sides are weighing one-and-two-year contracts in case a long-term deal cannot be reached. Considering Lincecum already owns two Cy Young awards, helped the Giants win their first World Series title in San Francisco, and is coming off a season in which he posted a 2.74 ERA with 220 strikeouts, one would think San Francisco would jump at the chance to re-sign one of its prized pitching possessions. But 8 years seems a little long for any starting pitcher.
…Is any NFL team, Green Bay included, playing at the level of the New Orleans Saints right now?
…Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos are going to the playoffs sporting a 3 game losing streak. Denver opened an 8.5 dog to the Steelers. Well, Illinois won their bowl game coming off a 6 game losing streak so maybe the Broncos have a chance! Of course, they aren’t playing UCLA. The once proud Oakland Raiders could have gone instead if they beat the Chargers at home, but the silver and black lost for the 4th time in the last 5 games to miss the playoffs once again. The Raiders haven’t been there since 2002.
…Besides missing the playoffs for 10 straight seasons, the Raiders continue to be amazing consistant in leading the league in penalties. This year Oakland even topped themselves and set the record for the most penalties and penalty yards in a season. Talk about a committment to excellence.
…The Rams and Bucaneers started the traditional Black Monday following the regular NFL season by firing their head coaches. Expect many more to follow. Certainly San Diego has seen enough of Norv Turner to send him on his way. Andy Reid may not be far behind, though I would give him another chance and definitely dump Turner. I also expect a shake up of sorts in Dallas.
…Matt Flynn, Green Bay backup and soon to be free agent, earned himself a huge chunk of green Sunday when he took over for Aaron Rodgers. All Flynn did was set Packer records with 480 yards passing and 6 touchdowns. Here’s guessing that he will sign a big contract and be a bust next season.
…Playing on a poor team and not garnering much acclaim, congrats to Minnesota Vikings Jared Allen who had 3.5 sacks against the Bears on Sunday to finish the season with 22, a mere half a sack less than Michael Strahan’s NFL record 22.5.
…Santonio Holmes may not be a Jet for long. During the final two minutes of Sunday’s 19-17 defeat in Miami, Holmes was shown the bench after reportedly arguing — on two separate occasions — with teammates in the huddle. Running back LaDainian Tomlinson said the $45 million receiver displayed a demeanor “throughout the game” that didn’t sit well with the rest of his offensive cohorts, and “they said something to him about it.” This evidently triggered a shouting match between Holmes and right tackle Wayne Hunter, which led to Holmes’ benching and subsequent criticism from teammates. ESPN’s Adam Schefter learned, via a team source, that Holmes has “developed a reputation in the locker room for not working hard during the week.” The source, a player that chose to remain nameless, also proclaimed that Holmes “quit” on the Jets, who were officially eliminated from playoff contention, ending a disappointing season that once again began with championship expectations.
… Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins has formally requested a trade. It looks like the Kings will try to accommodate him. Sacramento Kings head coach Paul Westphal said Sunday that Cousins approached him to demand a trade and that Kings management has told him to stay home and that he will not be allowed to be at the stadium for their game against the New Orleans Hornets. Westphal’s statement is as follows,“Whenever a new season begins, in any sport, there is great hope that everything will progress in only a steady, upward direction. As we all know, it seldom happens like that in this life! As coaches, we can only ask that our players do everything they can to improve themselves as individuals and teammates. If they do this with all their hearts, we live with the results. Everything that happens on a team does not become known to the public. This is how it should be. However, when a player continually, aggressively, lets it be known that he is unwilling/unable to embrace traveling in the same direction as his team, it cannot be ignored indefinitely.DeMarcus Cousins has demanded to be traded. In the best interest of our team as we go forward, he has been directed by me, with the support of management, to stay home.”
