Who's to blame? Take your pick. There's Cashman who gambled on two rookie pitchers, in Ian Kennedy, and Phil Hughes, to solidify the starting rotation. To this date with one month left in the season, they have zero wins. Then there's all of the injuries that played a factor in the Yankees being able to field the team that they put together. Losing players like Matsui, Rodriguez, Posada, Jeter, Damon, Wang, and Chamberlain, would devastate any club. But if you ask me, the key factor for the downfall of the Bronx Bombers, is having too many players approaching the tail end of their careers. With the exception of Robinson Cano, who only hits three months out of the season, there's no other offensive player on their roster who's approaching their prime. There's a lot of old baseball cards on this team, making a lot of money.

Who's to blame? Father time............

Venerdì 8 agosto 2008
Fortitudo Italeri Bologna – T&A San Marino
Danesi Nettuno – Montepaschi Grosseto

Sabato 9 agosto 2008
Fortitudo Italeri Bologna – T&A San Marino
Danesi Nettuno – Montepaschi Grosseto

Mercoledi 13 agosto

T&A San Marino-Danesi Nettuno

Montepaschi Grosseto-Fortitudo Italeri Bologna

Venerdì 15 agosto 2008
Danesi Nettuno – T&A San Marino
Fortitudo Italeri Bologna – Montepaschi Grosseto

Sabato 16 agosto 2008
Danesi Nettuno – T&A San Marino
Fortitudo Italeri Bologna – Montepaschi Grosseto

Mercoledì 20 agosto 2008
T&A San Marino – Montepaschi Grosseto
Danesi Nettuno – Fortitudo Italeri Bologna

Venerdì 22 agosto 2008
Montepaschi Grosseto – T&A San Marino
Fortitudo Italeri Bologna – Danesi Nettuno

Sabato 23 agosto 2008
Montepaschi Grosseto – T&A San Marino
Fortitudo Italeri Bologna – Danesi Nettuno
LA SERIE FINALE PER LO SCUDETTO

Venerdì 29 agosto 2008: finale gara1
Sabato 30 agosto 2008: finale gara2
Lunedì 1 settembre 2008: finale gara3
Martedì 2 settembre 2008: finale gara4
Mercoledì 3 settembre 2008: finale ev. gara5
Venerdì 5 settembre 2008: finale ev. gara 6
Sabato 6 settembre 2008: finale ev. gara7

N.B. si giocherà sul campo della meglio classificata in regular season le seguenti partite: gara1, gara2, ev. gara6, ev. gara7, sull’altro campo le rimanenti gare.

Can you hear my Donruss/Playoff, Topps, and Upper Deck?  Why hasn't anyone made a Don Shula game worn Dolphins jacket card?  I see there are Knute Rockne and Tom Landry authentic worn coat cards, but no Don Shula.  I have found Don Shula game used jersey cards from when he played with the Colts, but no Dolphins.  Someone, PLEASE MAKE THIS CARD!!!!!!!!

Answer: After doing some research, it looks like a lot of the 2006 Prestigious Pros jersey cards from that set aren't serial numbered.  I really doubt that the Carson Palmer card you have is a fake because it isn't a rare card that is worth a lot of money.  People that make counterfeits usually make them of rare cards that are going to sell for a lot.  Thanks for the question. 

It was nice knowing ya. The 6'7 hefty lefty will be taking his CY Young and league leading strikeouts (123) to Milwaukee. In a move that was expected, but very disappointing the ace was traded to the Brewers who will send Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and the dreaded players to be named later. The belle of the ball in the trade is Matt LaPorta. He's hitting .288/.402/.576 with 20 homers in Double-A, and could join the Indians before the end of the season. Jackson is a lefty reliever who has gone 1-5 with a 7.58 ERA at Triple-A, and has lost most of his top prospect shine over the past couple years. Bryson is 3-2 with a 4.25 ERA at Class-A, but he has 73 strikeouts in 55 innings. The paper suggests the "player to be named later" could be third baseman Taylor Green.*

The move makes the Brewers a legitimate contender in the National League Central. It also marks the waving of the white flag for the underachieving Cleveland Indians (37-51). Sabathia and the Brewer's current ace Ben Sheets will give the Brewers perhaps the best 1-2 punch of any team in the National League. The hard throwing duo will rival Arizona's pair of Brandon Webb and Dan Haren.

Sabathia started off slow (0-4) for the tribe but has been the most dominating pitcher in the American league since then. His career record is 106-71 with a 3.83 in 237 Tribe starts. He has 1265 strikeouts in 237 starts. Sabathia could be the last piece to the puzzle for Milwaukee (49-39), which leads the National League wild card race. They are also on the heels of Chicago Cubs (53-36), sitting 3.5 games behind them in the Central.

source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Queste le formazioni:
SAN SALVATORE: Calamari, La Macchia, Pagni, Dami, Lupi, Bernardini Fabio, Bernardini Francesco, Paganelli, Biagi, Biondi, Bianchi.
A disposizione: Brandinelli, Lazzaretti, Magnani, Ramadori, Traversi, Verrilli, Vannucci.
AQUILA NOZZANO: Nassani, Riolo, Roberti, D'Amico, Campo, Vannini, Andreotti, Pardini, Giusti, Secchi, Salani.
A disposizione dell'allenatore Braconi: Del Ry, Marraccini, Decanini.

Arbitro Morini (Amerighi e Franco)

Reti; Bernardini Francesco(2)

Al termine della gara si è effettuata la premiazione per il Fidelitas Porcari, campione provinciale, il Gar Cerasomma, vincitore della Coppa Disciplina, Bernardini Francesco, capocanniere del campionato con 21 reti, oltre alle due squadre finaliste.

First, I just want to bask in the glory of the Celtics winning it all.  I believe my analysis was One-Hundred Percent correct, and Paul Pierce as my Finals MVP was a no-brainer.  Thank You very much. 

The two things I did not expect was to Ray Allen find his shooting stroke and become the most consistent player on either team offensively and then for Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to effectively render the Lakers useless because Kobe was taking 25 shots and only scoring 25 points.  By keeping him from the line, it forced Kobe to take more shots than he wanted, limiting the touches for the other players around him.  There is a reason that the Lakers did not score as much in this series than they did in any other.  Everybody's scoring was down and that is the great team defense that the Celtics played.  The same as Football, Defense Wins.  Period.

I also have to give props to Doc Rivers on a masterful coaching job (did I just really say that?).  He stuck to what he knows, and that is motivation.  I don't believe I saw the Celtics run an offense except for the high screen and roll (that the Lakers could not defend) and Ray Allen running around 50 screens.  I think he showed that he is not as bad of a coach as I and others make him out to be, but actually a middling coach who can rise up to the occasion and outcoach lucky bastards who have the two greatest players of their generation playing for them (Shaq and MJ, there is a reason that Kobe has not won without Shaq and Shaq has won without Kobe.  Why doesn't anyone give Shaq the props he deserves and proclaim him the player of the period of time after MJ?  Kobe just isn't good enough to win it without him, and he never will, the same with Phil...he is never going to win another championship with Kobe).  Doc just flat out bent Phil over and said, "I am your daddy!"  Memo to Phil: it's ok to make in-game adjustments like taking out Lamar Odom because he can't stretch the floor and playing a line-up that consists of Fisher, Vujacic/Radmonovic, Kobe, Farmar/Walton, and Gasol/Turiaf.  That is what I would've done.

Yet, the real reason that the Celtics won (last point about this game, I promise) was not because of the play on the court, but the comraderie off the court.  The difference in the desire can be seen in the bench players and those in street clothes.  Every possession, the Celtics bench was standing, cheering, and into the game, as if they were playing.  I can't count the times I saw Brian Scalabrine or Eddie House jumping up and down and cheering on their teammates.  The same goes for Sam Cassel.  Everybody bled for each other and represented what it truly means to be a team.  I can only hope this continues because it was a treat to see it and all high-school and younger kids should take notice.

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In addition to the Celtics taking the NBA Championship, the second team in New York fired its coach.  By second team, I mean the Mets.  And I just gotta say I think this is one of the biggest mistakes that the Mets could have made.  I can understand maybe firing Rick Peterson because the pitching staff, mainly the bullpen is not performing up to par, but the Mets were just beginning to get on a roll by winning 3 out of 4 and get some positive momentum.  They had something to play for (Randolph's Job) and were motivated to make sure that he kept it.  Now they have nothing to play for and if last nights game was any indication of things to come, it does not look good.  I was actually discussing this with my father the other day and we both came to the conclusion that Mets are going to struggle to finish .500.  I just don't seem them being competitive unless they turn the switch on now.  I can only hope I am dead wrong.

Also, what a classless way to handle the entire situation.  Sometimes, I wish it were possible to fire an ownership group.  The Wilpons seem to be just as clueless as Jimmy Dolan over at MSG on the correct tact and timing to fire coaches.  The Wilpons jumped the gun way too early and have a history of leaking things to the press.  This became such a bad situation that I feel happy for Willie that he finally has this monkey off his back and can now focus on getting a job with an organization that will value his class and great baseball mind.  I only hope he does not land in the NL East.

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The other major sports event of the past week or so was the PGA US Open that was an instant classic.  I'm gonna be honest, I've become so inundated with Tiger Woods that I hope he loses every tournament, but I know he is going to win if he is within one or two strokes on the last nine holes.  Yet, while I enjoyed watching Rocco Mediate, Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, and a few others battle it out over the five days, I almost wanted to punch my computer screen on Monday while I watched the playoff at work (by the way...kudos to IBM, NBC, and ESPN for putting the stream up for free and in wonderful quality.  Why can't all sports do that?  Was that so hard?).  The reason: the fabulous announcers that NBC employed kept telling me how much of a classic this was, how great Rocco Mediate was, and how even greater Tiger Woods was (in addition to how mentally tough he was...give me a break.  Yeah I'm sure he learned mental toughness on the links as a child.  I think that was dumbest thing I have ever heard...even if it was said by his dead father - no disrespect to Earl Woods).  Broadcasters, and this happens in every sport, please learn to shut up and stop ramming the same 3 talking points down my throat.  SILENCE IS GOLDEN!  Learn from that proverb.  Its not awkward unless you make it that way.

By the way...Rocco Mediate, where have you been all my life and why isn't mic'd up all the time when he is playing.  He was so funny and insightful...much more so than those so called "expert" broadcasters.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

And finally, some things to watch this week now that the Never Ending Basketball Playoffs are over:

Euro 2008: Jump on the Netherlands Train and watch them take the tourament by storm.  They are so dominant offensively that it doesn't matter that there goalkeeper is really old and that their defense is middling.  I see them beating Portugal in the finals (really, I just want to make fun of Ronaldo again)Watch them and the rest of the tournament this week on the ESPN Channels and ABC.

NBA Draft: On June 26th, the world will finally have the answer to Beasley vs. Rose.  Watch the NBA draft...if you havn't had enough yet.  Hopefully our draft expert J-Fense will come out with a final mock draft with the correct pick of Michael Beasley going to Bulls. 

MLB:  Interleague play is heating up.  This weekend features marquee match-ups like Philadelphia vs Texas (the two best offenses in Baseball) and the three best inter-city rivalries in Baseball: The Cubs vs the White Sox, the Angels vs the Dodgers, and the Subway Series aka the Mets vs the Yankees. 

Should be a great week or so of sports.  Enjoy!

Also, I'm going on vacation for the next two weeks so unfortunately this massive column is going to have to tide you over until I get back from relaxing.  Until then...

BEARD

Okay, let's start with the important stuff.  First of all, you can't win a major sporting event rocking mom dockers and a peace sign belt.  Look, I want peace too, but at what cost?  The price you are paying is way too high.  Don't golf courses had dress codes?  You know, collared shirt tucked in, no metal spikes, no denim...all the bases are covered.  They don't feel the need to get all the way down to the details of "you must wear shoes", "no tank tops" and "no flip-flops" because all those rules are assumed.  Well, I have to believe the peace sign belt and the extra high rise mom khaki's have to be on that assumed list.  Which is really bad because this outfit is completely acceptable:

Now Payne (R.I.P) made it look good, but that joint is ridiculous in the streets.

Back to Rocco's second issue.  Anyone leading a major championship who is within 3 strokes of Tiger Woods always suffers from "The Tiger Effect".  It means that as they are playing their final round on Sunday they hear the wild cheers and they see Tiger charging up that leaderboard and they start gripping up and losing strokes.  That is if it just happens on the same day.  Rocco got to sleep on it last night.  Talk about pressure.  You are the 157th player in the world and you have an 18 hole playoff against the baddest golfer in the history of the world.

I know how you feel Rocco.  The commentators only had 20 hours or so to whip out all the sports clichés.  "Rocco has nothing to lose".  "Tiger has a bad wheel".  "Rocco has the chance of a lifetime".  "Tiger will be worn out because he is going into the fifth day of his first tournament since his surgery".  Whatever.  Tiger is coming for blood and he's a straight killer.  Rocco is going to be paired up with him and watching him play all day too? 

You can't watch that all day and keep your head.  Does Tiger wear red on playoff day too? 

Rocco, I hope you got a good nights sleep last night (you didn't), I hope you ate your Wheaties, I hope you've got the Rocky theme on repeat on your iPod and you watched the '04 Red Sox vs. the Yankees, the Giants vs. the Patriots, the Miracle on Ice, and Angel Lola Luv vs. Gravity because you are going to need to serious inspiration.

Man up Rocco.  This is the chance of a lifetime.

-Brock 

Bum knee, no problem. Tiger Woods ends a shaky final round by nailing a 12-foot putt to force an 18-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate. It doesn't get much better than this.

Hats off to Lee Westwood, who was just a few inches from joining the party.

Tune in tomorrow at noon on ESPN.

Here it is again for those who missed it:

Sicuramente, mentre sto scrivendo, molti tifosi del Lecce saranno nelle piazze e per le vie della loro splendida città a festeggiare il ritorno nella serie che secondo me, come tradizione, le appartiene.

Allora porgo innanzitutto un grosso augurio per il futuro alla squadra (nonchè alla società) e la omaggio inserendo nel post il video del loro inno, Giallurussu, performed by Sud Sound System.

I remember opening my first pack of baseball cards back in the early 90's, right when I was starting school.  These cards really helped me learn how to read and write.  Since I was so young I really didn't recognize the pictures of the players but in order for me to figure out who they were I had to learn how to read. 

Sports cards are also great tools for hand-eye coordination.  Have you ever seen a pack of cards?  As the years have gone by, packs have become more and more complicated to open.  Years ago, packs of cards used to by wrapped in wax.  It wasn't too hard to open the back and pull the cards out.  In today's world, packs come in foil, boxes, clamshell casing, etc......  Trying to open these packs can be great practice with your hand-eye coordination, especially for younger kids.  Also, have you ever tried getting a card into a penny sleeve?  Sometimes it can be difficult to get a card in a sleeve and then place it in a top loader.

If you were like me when I was young, I just put my cards in an old shoebox and put it in my closet.  Over the years when I got more and more into collecting, I knew that I would need to develope organizational skills so I knew where I could find my cards.  Now, I don't use shoeboxes at all.  I have boxes for my baseball and foootball cards.  Each sport is separated and is no longer mixed.  Since I am a Phillies and Dolphins fan I keep those cards in a special place I can get to fast.  If you are just getting into collecting and your worried you won't be able to stay organized, don't worry, you will develope the organizational skills as you go along.  Thats what happened to me.

Money is what makes the world go around.  Collecting sports cards will really teach you money management.  It can help you learn how to save for a special card that you plan to buy.  Collecting can also help you learn how to sell something and make money.  If your lucky, and have a card shop near where you live, collecting can teach you about how a business works.

Collecting cards can provide a great social experience.  It doesn't matter whether you buy, sell, or trade, you will need to interact with people to acquire the cards you want.  You can interact with them in person or over the internet.  Card collecting can bring people out of their shell.  Some people are very quiet, but when you touch a subject that they are interested in they could talk all day about it.

As you can see, card collecting has a ton of benefits.  They can teach a lot that you need to survive in the world.  There aren't too many things in the world that are fun to do, and helps you learn at the same time.

I predict that card companies will start making Mascot Memorabilia cards.  With all these gimmick cards out there, I think these might be next.  I'm a Phillies fan, but if the manufacturers start doing this I think there will be a lot of angry collectors.  Lets hope they put their money to better use.

ribaund basketbol temalı oldukça güncel bir blog.

blog ayrıca görsel açıdan da oldukça başarılı. bol fotoğraflar sitenin görselliğin etkin hale getirilmiş ve hoş bir görüntü oluşturmuş...

E spero tanto che in serie A ci vada l'Albinoleffe!

Haydar scored on a breakaway at 7:35 of the first period, his 52nd career AHL postseason goal. That broke the record of 51 goals previously held by AHL Hall of Famer and current Rochester Americans general manager Jody Gage.

Haydar then converted on a power play at 13:31 of the first, his 120th career AHL postseason point. That surpassed the record of 119 held by AHL Hall of Famer Willie Marshall since 1971.

Haydar has played 91 career AHL playoff games with Chicago and Milwaukee. He is currently in the Calder Cup Finals for the third time in his career, winning a championship with the Admirals in 2004 and returning to the Finals in 2006. Haydar led the league in playoff scoring in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Gage played 115 playoff games while Marshall skated in 112 in their careers.

The Wolves entered the game with a 1-0 lead over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the best-of-seven American Hockey League championship series.

Chargers sign long-snapper Binn to four-year deal
Wolves double up Penguins to grab 2-0 lead in Finals

i risultati delle semifinali

Folgore Verano-ALBIGNASEGO 2-5 (andata 3-2)
EDO MESTRE-Settimo 1-0 (and. 3-1)

MANZANESE-Airaschese 1-0 (and. 1-1)
Brixen-SUZZARA 1-3 (and. 1-1)

CANTU'SAN PAOLO-Borgorosso Arenzano 4-0 (and. 2-2)
Selargius-COPPARESE 0-3 (and. 0-2)

Group C.di Castello-BOVILLE ERNICA 1-1 (and. 0-0)
Pianese-CASOLI 5-5 d.c.r. (and. 1-2)

Virtus Pavullese-SANGIMIGNANO 2-2 (and. 1-2)
Cingolana-APRILIA 2-2 dts (and. 0-2)

SGM Basso Molise-RICIGLIANO 2-2 (and. 1-3)
Bisceglie-TRAPANI 4-5 dcr (and. 1-2)

PALAZZOLO-Alba Sannio 7-6 dcr (and. 1-1)
BATTIPAGLIESE-Praia 0-0 (and. 1-0)

In MAIUSCOLO le squadre che accedono al prossimo turno

TuttoSportCalabria.com