Tennessee Defensive Coordinator Sal Sunseri is Sad About Having to Play His Son This Weekend

This week’s showdown between Alabama and Tennessee is interesting for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, whenever Alabama (the nation’s top team) plays, it’s a must-watch event. Just for the caliber of football that is on display. Beyond that, though, the Vols are a pretty intriguing bunch in their own right. Yes Derek Dooley is on the hot seat, and yes this team does have an innate tendency to underachieve – but they do still have enough talent to be a really legitimate squad.

Losses against Florida, Georgia and Mississippi State aren’t exactly equivalent to losses against some weak little Big Ten teams. Tennessee could challenge Nick Saban and Co. if they don’t bring their A game.

One of the interesting subplots to be aware of in this outing is the fact that Vols defensive coordinator, Sal Sunseri, will be playing against his son, Alabama defensive back Vinnie Sunseri.

When asked about the looming showdown, Sal had this to say (via Yahoo! Sports):




Vinnie, for his part, wasn’t especially comfortable with the idea of playing against his dad either.

"Very, very tough," Vinnie replied when playing against his father (via Birmingham News). "A lot of mixed emotions. Hard. Hard, hard, hard. I'm getting a lot of calls from the family saying good luck to me, but I know they're just giving the same, exact advice to my dad. It's tough. It's really tough. But I'm excited to see my dad."

Alabama versus Tennessee will air at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN.

(Kudos Yahoo! Sports)

Donald Trump Thinks the Yankees Should Get Rid of Alex Rodriguez

Our favorite talking hairpiece, Donald Trump, has found a new way to troll America. After spending the last three and a half years publicly wondering whether or not our first African-American President was really born here, he has now apparently decided to move on to a different topic. That topic? The New York Yankees.

A day after publicly proclaiming that Derek Jeter breaking his ankle in Game 1 of the ALCS was ‘karma’ for selling one of his apartments, Trump went on The Michael Kay Show and said this (via Larry Brown Sports):

“I would terminate his contract, personally,” Trump said. “I think George (Steinbrenner) would’ve done that. I would terminate his contract on the basis that when he signed, he didn’t say that he took drugs. Since he signed his contract, they found out that he took drugs. … He actually admitted that he took drugs. Now he’s not taking drugs anymore, and without the drugs, he’s a less than average player.”

The problem isn’t so much the substance of those comments, it’s the messenger. Trump suddenly becoming the world’s foremost authority on all things Yankees baseball is just the latest thing for people to hate about the Yankees. A-Rod is an admitted PED user. He is a less than average player now. But we don’t need Trump telling us that.

“I don’t think he’s an asset, I think he’s a liability to the Yankees,” Trump continued. “They’re paying him $30 million a year, and he strikes out every time he comes up in a playoff game. How about like $1 million instead of $30 million, because that’s what he’s worth?”

Again, all of that is true – but Trump being the one to say it just naturally makes you want to argue against the point.

Here’s to hoping that this guy finds a new segment of the population to troll in the coming days and leaves our sports teams alone.

(Kudos Larry Brown Sports)

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Lance Armstrong Steps Downs as Livestrong Chairman

On the same day that Nike terminated its sponsorship agreement with him, Lance Armstrong announced that he would "conclude" his Livestrong chairmanship.

Despite the fact that his charity has raised nearly half a billion since its inception 15 years ago, Armstrong has come under heavy fire as of late for allegedly doping throughout his cycling career. Even though he's never actually tested positive for anything, Armstrong has had numerous former teammates step forward and acknowledge that he did indeed use illicit substances to enhance his performance.

USADA compiled those testimonies and assortment of other evidence in a report they released a few weeks back.

Realizing that the public’s increasingly negative perception of him may hurt the Livestrong’s incoming contributions, Armstrong released this statement today:

"This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart," Armstrong said (via the Los Angeles Times). "Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship.

"As my cancer treatment was drawing to an end, I created a foundation to serve people affected by cancer. It has been a great privilege to help grow it from a dream into an organization that today has served 2.5 million people and helped spur a cultural shift in how the world views cancer survivors.

"My family and I have devoted our lives to the work of the foundation and that will not change. We plan to continue our service to the foundation and the cancer community. We will remain active advocates for cancer survivors and engaged supporters of the fight against cancer.”

For what it’s worth, Armstrong continues to maintain that he never participated in doping of any sort.

(Kudos Los Angeles Times)

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Torrie Wilson Indirectly Addresses Alex Rodriguez Allegedly Flirting with Model Kyna Treacy

Alex Rodriguez has had a really rough week. Beginning with his ineffectiveness on the baseball field and ending with an assortment of personal indignities, the highest paid player on the New York Yankees roster hasn’t had a single positive news item written about him in what seems like forever. In a way he deserves the criticism; in a way it’s sort of overstated.

The latest blow to Rodriguez’s image came on Tuesday, when the New York Post published a story indicating that, instead of just being useless during the Yankees’ Game 1 loss to the Detroit Tigers, he opted to spend his time flirting with some female fans. Per the report:

After being replaced in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, the highest-paid Yankee openly flirted with a pair of pretty women two rows behind the dugout — even sending them a ball bearing a note asking for their phone numbers, a witness told The Post.

“I watched him flirt with two admittedly very cute young women nearby,’’ the witness said.

That report poses several problems for A-Rod. First and foremost, it looks bad that he takes time during a postseason game to allegedly flirt with groupies. Just in itself – that’s not great for your image. What compounds the damage, however, is the fact that the man already has a very hot girlfriend. Here is what she tweeted out yesterday, once word of A-Rod supposedly spitting game at some fans began to circulate.

Gotta love the gossip mills. It's amazing how ppl get their kicks, huh?
— Torrie Wilson (@Torrie11) October 17, 2012

On Wednesday, the Daily Mail identified the object of A-Rod’s affection as model Kyna Treacy. This is her:

If all of this is in fact true, you have to hand it to A-Rod. Dude can’t read a pitch to save his life anymore, but he can still scope out models from the dugout.

Good for him.

(Kudos Daily Mail, New York Post)

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NBA Rumors: Are the Lakers Looking to Make Any Trades Right Now?

The Los Angeles Lakers had an interesting summer. Whereas for any other team in the league adding either Steve Nash or Dwight Howard would be a big deal, for Mitch Kupchak and Co., adding two future Hall of Famers is just another offseason. And that’s to say nothing of the Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks signings that figure to at least partially upgrade what was undoubtedly one of the worst reserve units in the NBA.

Given everything he has done over the past few months, it’s understandable that folks are taking Kupchak’s proclamations about not making any more deals this year with a grain of salt. Already the rumor mills are churning out stories of a pending Derek Fisher return and possible trades involving Chris Duhon and Steve Blake. The year hasn’t even started yet. That’s just the preseason gossip.

During a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kupchak was asked about what moves he envisions the Lakers making in the near future. His answers were intriguing, to say the least.

On how the new luxury tax will play into L.A.’s decisions: "Maybe it's more of a concern for us than it is for a lot of other teams right now."

On whether he expects to do any deals any time soon: "This time of year, teams are not looking to make deals. They're evaluating their team and if anything they're going to cut players as they go into the season."

On guys currently on the roster (think: Duhon and Blake) getting traded: "Some guys may not be happy if they're not playing as much as they thought they'd play or their contract's running out and they're concerned about their next contract. It's too early right now. There's a lot of energy and excitement right here. Everybody's pretty happy. So we'll just see how it plays out the next month or two."

All in all, it’s probably a safe bet that the Lakers will stay pat for now. They have too many players signed as it is. Depending how the season progresses, though, it definitely wouldn’t be surprising to see Kupchak make some minor tweaks as he sees fit.

(Kudos Los Angeles Times)

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Northwestern Will Have a Nap Time Before the Nebraska Game

This Saturday’s showdown between Nebraska and Northwestern is something of a big deal. Because of how awful the Big Ten is this year, really, anyone has a chance to be the non-Ohio State team that legitimately finishes atop the conference.

The Huskers enter this weekend sitting at 4-2 (1-1 in the conference, though) and looking to knock a 5-1 Northwestern group (2-1 in the conference) down a peg. If that were to happen, Nebraska could in theory win out -- which would mean beating Michigan and Iowa -- and then finish as the best team in the Legends Division.

Will all of that actually happen? It’s impossible to say. But there is definitely a chance.

This outing is huge for Northwestern, too. The Wildcats have a similarly manageable schedule ahead of them, so if they were to beat Nebraska and then win out – they could be the squad that ends up at the helm of the Legends Division.

Given everything that’s at stake, you can’t fault all involved for doing every little thing imaginable to gain an advantage. Including scheduling mandated nap times, apparently.

As reported by the Chicago Tribune (via Larry Brown Sports):

This is the result of the Sept. 15 Boston College game, also a 2:30 start. NU coach Pat Fitzgerald noticed his team came out sluggish, trailing 10-9 in the second quarter. So he asked members of his Leadership Council: "What's the deal? Why didn't we start fast?" They told him the game clashed with nap time. NU players typically arrive at the team complex at 6:50 a.m. for meetings, practice from 8:50 to 10:30, attend class and then snooze in the early afternoon. So Saturday's itinerary will call for an early breakfast and a nap at around 9:30. Fitzgerald almost could not believe he agreed to it. "Unbelievable," he said. "This is what I get paid to do. Seriously. Create nap time. It's pathetic." A snooze-in at the team hotel six hours before kickoff? Quarterback Kain Colter loves the idea. "We'll wake up, have our pregame meal, do our mental things and then have a mandatory nap," he said. "Those hotel beds are really comfortable and the pillows are soft. … (Then) we'll come down refreshed and ready to kick some butt."

So there you have it. If Northwestern comes through with a clutch win this weekend, don’t credit the team’s preparation or homefield advantage – credit nap time.

Only in the Big Ten.

(Kudos Chicago Tribune, Larry Brown Sports)


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Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez IV: Limiting Distractions

Manny Pacquiao has acknowledged on numerous occasions that he wasn’t at the top of his game last November when he last fought Juan Manuel Marquez. For an assortment of reasons, both professional and personal, he came into the proceedings lacking the focus and concentration necessary to beat an opponent of Marquez’s caliber.

He vows to do better this time.

Thanks to a somewhat shocking and extremely unfair loss to Timothy Bradley this past June, Pacquiao’s back is against the wall. Folks could forgive a defeat to Bradley that wasn’t really even a defeat. If Marquez gets the better of him, however, there will be no excuses left for the Filipino champ.

During a recent interview with PhilBoxing, Freddie Roach expounded on why Marquez gave Pacquiao so much trouble on the last go-round.

"We had a great camp last fight (against Marquez) and everything fell apart before the fight, distractions of course. Manny got rid of all that stuff in his life. It's not going to happen this time," Roach said.

And how is the actual training process going to be different this time? Roach covered that, too.

"We'll have a great camp and Manny's attitude is great. I see no problems. I have to come up with a different type of strategy for Marquez. We decked him three times though, we had some success but not as much as I want. He told me that he will knock him out this time and I am going to hold him to do it," he said.

So all involved understand what the stakes are right now? According to Roach – yes.

"Manny understands that he needed that killer instinct back and that firepower. And that people want to see knockouts and not decisions. So, Manny knows that and he promised me a knockout for the first time ever and I'm going to remind him that every day."

December 8 is going to be very interesting.

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