Color Crazy

Clinton Portis - Wearing a Phillies cap to your home field (Washington DC's FedEx Field) the same week you're playing the hated Eagles?  What in the hell are you thinking?  Oh wait, it matched his red hoodie.  Now I get it.  LeBron used to wear his Yankees cap when he played in Cleveland, but there's no rivalry there.  In the NFL, every team in it's division hates one another's city.  I hope the Birds remind you who's hat you wore Monday night when they ... oh wait, you probably won't even play.  Must we remind him that they already beat his Skins once, which directly correlates to them trailing the Eagles by a game in the standings?

Coy Sheppard - Kicked off his HS football team (in Mississippi) for wearing pink cleats?  The coaches said it had nothing to do with the cleats and all to do with the fact that this kid - a placekicker - was insubordinate.  Who gives a shit?  Kids nowadays mimic what they see on TV, and October was National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Unless every kid on that team wears the same kind of cleats, I don't see anything wrong with this.  Especially given the fact that they were a gift from his grandmother, a breast cancer survivor.  The superintendent has the coaches back, too.  Are you kidding me?  Freedom of expression.  The kicker is that this kid banked on football counting towards his graduation requirement.  We'll see what happens.

Oakland A's - Scheduling a DH on purpose?  Awesome!!  They'll play the Angels twice on July 16.  I hope they wear the yellow socks.  (had to get a color in there)

NY Islanders - Once upon a time, they were 4-3.  Before losing eight straight.  I've seen two concerts at the Coliseum in the past several weeks, both of which are waaaaaay better than the product the Islanders are putting out there.  Just move the team.  They were great in the early 80's but that's it.  Give another city a chance to have a hockey franchise.  Sorry, just was looking through my drawers this morning and say my navy blue islanders long sleeved shirt.  Not wearing it until they're over .500.  Might be a while.

Oh yeah, and the Celtics are pumping the Heat to the tune of 72-52 with 8:25 left in the third.

RAIDER NATION is alive and well.  Bye week for the Silver & Black before heading to Pittsburgh to take on the always tough Steelers.  We'll see how good they really are.  I figure they'll lose, but let's keep it a game.

Happy Birthday's

  Just browsed a list of today's famous birthdays (courtesy of www.famousbirthdays.com) and found it interesting that there are no interesting birthday's today.  This prompted me to google "today's sports birthdays" and although I have yet to view the results, I'd imagine I can round up some pertinent information on at least 1 or 2 of these athletes.

  1.  Happy Birthday to Joliet, IL native Jesse Barfield.  51 years young today, he was once a featured gun out in right field, known predominantly for a cannon otherwise knows as his right arm.  He led all outfielders in assists from 1985 to 1987 - surprisingly, people kept trying to take an extra base on him.  He finished his career with 162 outfield assists - well short of Tris Speakers 449 career assists, but still a huge number for a 12 year career.

  Some of his on-field accomplishments included making the 1986 AL All-Star team (0-3, 2K), winning 2 Gold Glove Awards (1986, 1987) as well as a Silver Slugger Award (1986).  For his   After 8+ seasons north of the border, he was traded to the NY Yankees for left-handed pitcher Al Leiter.  He remained with the Yankees until after the 1992 season, when he took his game overseas and played for the Yomiuri Giants for a season in 1993.

  Barfield can still be found at Yankee Stadium for the yearly Old Timer's Day - throwing old dudes out at home with regularity.

  Over his 12-year MLB career, he amassed 241 HR, 716 RBI's, and 1,234 strikeouts (in 1,428 games).  He wasn't so much known for his bat, but he had an arm that base runners of his era will not soon forget.

  2.  Former NY Islander defenceman Denis Potvin turns 57 today.  He was the 1st overall pick in the 1973 NHL Draft and was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 1991.  Although he is currently one of the voices of the Florida Panthers, it might best be remembered when the Islanders and Rangers played at the Garden, Ranger fans chanting, "beat your wife Potvin, beat your wife." over and over and over again.  Unless you've been to a Rangers game, you don't know the tempo or cadence of that chant, but you get the picture.  Another favorite of Ranger fans, albeit less original, were the "Potvin Sucks!" chants that bellowed from the rafters of MSG.  They were all jealous of his beard.

  I was brought up an Islanders fan (it gets harder and harder to root for them) but I will stick by them.  They play in a dump, so the end product really is no surprise.  He and Brian Trottier are the only two players Islanders to play 1,000 games for the team, a list that isn't likely to grow anytime soon.

  Let's Go Islanders!  Let's Go Islanders!  Potvin helped lead the Islanders to an unprecedented 4 consecutive Stanley Cup victories from 1979-80 to 1982-83.  (even though on the 1980-81 Cup, it reads "Ilanders").

  3. NY Mets right handed knuckle-baller RA Dickey is 36 today.

  4. Former Ohio State standout RB and current criminal Maurice Clarett turns 27 today.

  5. Puerto Rican boxing great Wilfredo "Bazooka" Gomez (44-3-1) turns 54 today.

  SF Giants are two wins away folks.  SUCKA!  All you Rangers fans with that stupid air high five or magic fist or claw, whatever you wanna call it.  Doesn't seem to be working thus far.  Still a ways to go, but it's a good start for the renegade Giants.