Intentional Foul

Fighting Over A Hockey Stick? Really?

Chris — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:17:53 +0000

Was that horse manure really necessary? Is leaving the arena with a hockey stick somehow going to fill whatever empty space it is that convinces you something like that is worth getting into fisticuffs over? Fanhouse, among others, has the details of the scuffle, however, simply put, Anaheim Duck Scott Niedermayer decided he’d give his stick to a girl sitting in the front row after his team’s 4-3 victory, and apparently, the guy in the blue shirt decided he wanted the stick for himself.

The crowd then shows him the error of his ways, and then, everybody was Kung-Fu fighting. Or swinging wildly at each other, whatever you prefer — although, there were a few good blows thrown, especially when Blue Shirt gets the stick handle in the face.

Bonus: The woman sitting next to Blue Shirt decides she wants to get in on the fun as well.

Can’t we all just get along? No? How about getting over whatever it is that causes people to fight over freaking sports memorabilia? Is that too much to ask?

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Fighting Over A Hockey Stick? Really?

Sad Face Friday: Uga VII Passes Away

Chris — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:18:10 +0000

It’s been a sad day for the Georgia Bulldogs and their fans as news about the passing of their mascot, Uga VII, got out. The seventh generation bulldog was only four years old when he died yesterday morning. Obviously, the news of the Uga’s untimely passing comes as a shock to Georgia fans, who will go through the rest of their football season without that familiar face on the sidelines. When the Bulldogs line up to play Kentucky on Saturday, there will be no replacement for the beloved Uga, who will have a wreath placed on his doghouse.

Not only was Uga just an awesome mascot, on occasion, he gave opponents a little more to think about.

Damn right, that dawg bites.

Uga VII’s successor will be chosen next season, although, the Georgia Sports Blog indicates a interim dog will be used for the games against rival Georgia Tech and for the Bulldogs’ bowl game. The Uga generation has been a mainstay with the Bulldogs for over 50 years:

The Uga line of bulldogs, all owned by [the Seiler family], has roamed the sidelines at UGA football games and other athletic events for more than half a century, since 1956.

From UGA football coach Mark Richt on down, members of the Bulldog Nation mourned the dog’s death.

“I was very shocked and sad to hear about Uga VII,” Richt said. “I got a chance to talk to Sonny today actually and hear a little bit about it. You never think something like that could happen that quickly, but it certainly did. We’re sad we won’t have him on the sideline.”

A sad day, indeed.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Sad Face Friday: Uga VII Passes Away

Most Awesome Missed Goal Ever

Chris — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:46:35 +0000

Yeah, that’s a lot of hyperbole going on in the title, but then again, I’ve never quite seen a missed goal like the one featured in the lead video. I’ve never seen a ball just stop at the goal mouth like that. Granted, there was a puddle involved — as well as a perfect example of Newton’s laws of motion in action — but still, even the opposing goalie laughed after such good fortune shined on him and his team.

The good fortune comes from playing on a pitch that allows standing water.

In other news, the Irish could’ve used some of that luck to counter Thierry Henry’s handball. Good luck with the appeal.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Most Awesome Missed Goal Ever

The New Jersey Nets Season, In One Play

Chris — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:24:32 +0000

You know how a picture paints a thousand words? Well, sometimes in sports, one play can serve as a microcosm for the season to date. A great defensive play, followed by a nasty dunk or a timely basket can easily be such a reminder, but what happens if you are the receiving end of such a play? That can be used to sum up your efforts, as well.

Just ask the winless New Jersey Nets.

If, perhaps, you are wondering how and why a team can be so ineffective (I.E., bad), just watch the lead video. Three missed layups and one lazy pass later, Milwaukee Bucks rookie sensation Brandon Jennings collects a steal, explodes between the Nets he just stole it from, races down the court and finishes with a two-handed dunk.

That, friends, is ineffective basketball at its finest. 0-12 records don’t grow on trees. You have to work at being this bad, and poor efforts like the one I just described go a long way towards a team being winless almost a month into the season.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

The New Jersey Nets Season, In One Play

LeBron Dunks His Wrist Off

Chris — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:08:12 +0000

Adding potential injury to a Washington Wizards whipping, LeBron James hurt his wrist during a late fourth quarter dunk last night. When he left the court after the game, James’ wrist was wrapped in what looked like 20 bags of ice and about 15 ace bandages. Obviously, the motto here is no precaution is too big (or small) when it comes to protecting the franchise — even if he only has one more season left on his contract. Oddly enough, the dunk wound up being a garbage bucket, because the Cavaliers could never mount a late fourth quarter comeback against the Wizards. While the injury isn’t too serious — X-rays were not necessary — it certainly couldn’t have felt very good:

“I hit it pretty bad on the rim,” said James, who iced his wrist in the locker room after the game. “It’s like you hit your funny bone, but it’s not funny at all.”

So much for helping the Browns now. It’s hard enough catching Brady Quinn’s passes as it is. I imagine it would be next to impossible with an injured extremity.

Image courtesy of the DC Sports Bog.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

LeBron Dunks His Wrist Off

Brady Quinn’s Fine Is Inconsistent

Chris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:30:07 +0000

During the Cleveland Browns’ futile appearance against the Baltimore Ravens, Brady Quinn threw an interception and while he was trying to tackle cornerback Chris Carr, he went low and “cut” linebacker Terrell Suggs, who suffered a badly sprained MCL due to Quinn’s contact. Needless to say, Quinn’s tackle attempt was not well received in the Ravens locker room, nor by Roger Goodell and his band of merry men. In response to Quinn going low on Suggs, the quarterback was fined by the NFL to the tune of $10,000.

Meanwhile, Jay Cutler was recently fined $20,000 for “abusive conduct” towards a referee, while Chad Ochocinco was also docked $20K for his “bribe attempt” of an official when the Bengals played the Ravens a couple of weeks ago.

Is it just me, or are the Ravens always involved in controversial penalties and fines?

Digressions about Baltimore aside, does anyone else find it odd that if you go at a players knees, the resulting fine is actually less than if a player “interferes” with an official? The message handed down by the NFL’s gatekeepers is clear: go after a player’s knees — and indirectly, his livelihood — that’ll cost you, but if you even joke around with the referees, that’ll cost you even more.

This brings up a follow-up question: What’s more important to Goodell and company? Protecting the health of their players — you know, the people that actually make the NFL worth watching — or making sure the officials don’t get harassed?

What’s more detrimental to the game? Losing a very good player to an unnecessary knee injury or protecting the sanctity of the officials? Here’s an even more simple way to approach this, who do fans pay to see when they go to an NFL game? Ed Hochuli and his crew or Terrell Suggs and his teammates put a defensive beatdown on opposing teams? Don’t get me wrong, Hochuli’s arms are impressive, but I don’t see anyone rushing out to buy one of his jerseys.

Maybe the NFL needs to concentrate on making sure their punishments fit the crimes.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Brady Quinn’s Fine Is Inconsistent

Kobe Bryant Is a Layup Wizard

Chris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:45:34 +0000

It was just another day at the office for Mamba 24 as he casually tossed in a spectacular two-handed reverse layup with the greatest of ease and hint of nonchalance; something like, “Yeah, I’m damn good and things like this? Too easy.” In the off chance that his acrobatic layup didn’t drive the point home, Bryant also scored a ho-hum 40 points as the Lakers ended their two-game losing streak against the Pistons.

It was Bryant’s 100th career 40-point game, the third most in NBA history, trailing only Michael Jordan (173) and Wilt Chamberlain (271).

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Kobe Bryant Is a Layup Wizard

Introducing the Ugliest Court in America

Chris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:04:12 +0000

What we have here is the basketball court from the Scottrade Center, which hosted the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase doubleheader. While the games weren’t all they were cracked up to be (an underhanded Arkansas got ran by Louisville, while Kansas and Memphis showed us why the season probably starts a little too early), because of its sheer ugliness, the basketball court wound up being more of a story than the games themselves.

I’m not the only one who feels this way, either.

In fact, the court was so bad, I couldn’t stop commenting on it over at Storming the Floor’s marathon chat session. At one point, I threw out a new rule, saying, if your team doesn’t have orange in its uniform or its school colors, the color orange should be banned from adorning college basketball courts. Not only was the color scheme, well, bad, it looked like the advertisements/logos on the court seemed to be screaming “NOTICE ME!!!” All in all, I’m sure it contributed to the overall poor play that was on display. In fact, the only team that thrived in the Scottrade Center was Louisville. The three other teams looked like they had no business playing organized basketball at this point in the season.

Don’t get me wrong, Memphis/Kansas was fun simply because it was a close game. However, if you ask either coach, I doubt very seriously either one of them would be pleased with the way their team played, especially on offense. Two teams as talented as Kansas and Memphis should be scoring more than 57 and 55 respectively. If it was me, I’d blame the court and its Halloween-inspired color scheme.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Introducing the Ugliest Court in America

Zack Greinke Wins Cy Young, KC Star Beefs the Announcement

Chris — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:19:06 +0000

Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke won the American League Cy Young award, and apparently, the Kansas City Star was so excited by the news, they ran two announcements — one saying Greinke won and the other saying Greinke did not. Bonus: both announcements were/are in the same article.

Because they will undoubtedly change their error, we have a screenshot for your enjoyment. The announcement(s) read as follows:

The Royals’ Zack Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award. Greinke, who finished 2009 with a 16-8 record, became the third Royal to win the award, determined by a vote of the national media.

And

In the end, Zach Greinke’s league leading ERA wasn’t enough. The standout Royals picther [sic] finished second in the voting for the American League Cy Young Award, given to the outstanding pitcher of the year as determined by the national media.

So yeah, in their exuberance, the editors obviously overlooked the double-printing, not to mention the ugly misspelling in the second paragraph. Apparently, the folks at the Star are having quite the party to celebrate Greinke’s award, which also represents the lone bright spot of yet another horrific Royals season.

As for the Cy Young award, Greinke had all but three first place votes.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Zack Greinke Wins Cy Young, KC Star Beefs the Announcement

Stanley Robinson is the King of Putbacks

Chris — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:47:52 +0000

There’s nothing like a Stanley Robinson putback dunk to start your day. Besides offering even more proof that the college basketball season is alive and kicking, it goes a long way in confirming my hypothesis: Robinson is the best putback dunker in the amateur ranks, and his domination might extend throughout the basketball universe. That’s a heady statement, I know, especially when folks like Greg Oden and Patrick Patterson exist (Patterson had a nasty putback of his own last night), but Robinson’s timing, coupled with the springs-in-the-legs-like jumping ability, makes him one of the best at taking a missed shot and converting it for two in the most emphatic of fashions.

I’ve already spoken about Robinson’s ability at STF, and last night’s finish simply furthers his legend. Oh, and by the way, UConn won, beating Colgate 77-63.

H/t to The Dagger for the video find.

A post from the Intentional Foul Sports Blog, a Ticket Solutions property.

Stanley Robinson is the King of Putbacks