Endweek Downrun

Long day tomorrow . . . and the rest of the weekend. I received a nice comment on the Kenny George article from someone who works at his school. I hope to be able to follow up on his story at some point down the road.

Unfortunately, the following stories don't quite inspire the same hope (well, I guess that depends on your perspective), but I believe in balance. Jumping right in:



1. Michael Beasley has now been fined $50,000 for unspecified conduct during the rookie orientation program in which his fellow rookies, Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers already coughed up $20,000. I had heard rumors about his involvement but nothing was ever substantiated so I certainly wasn't going to write anything unless it seemed credible. (It's tough enough being in the public eye without people writing untruths about you and presenting it as fact.) But it seems something went down, and the punishment appears to be just that - punitive - since Beasley didn't cooperate with the investigation. Something else seems to be going on, though, since Beasley canned his agent last week, too. I'm sure we'll find out more about this shortly . . .


2. The WNBA playoffs have started. What? You didn't know they were in season? Maybe you couldn't find their tab on ESPN.com. It's kind of hard to find under "mixed martial arts." What happened to that big marketing push they started when Candace Parker came to the league? I haven't seen her or anyone else on TV since the night she was drafted. SportsCenter very rarely mentions the league unless a fight or other controversy occurs. Did they even compete in the Olympics? I'm going to tune in to the playoffs, though. I watched them last year and was quite entertained. I just wonder how long the NBA will continue funneling money to this league without doing more to promote it. It's like they don't want to end it and face criticism that they're being sexist, but on the other hand, they want to see it fail so they can say "I told you no one was into this." We'll see who wins.

3. Just a day after talking about both Adrian Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson (AP and LT, respectively), neither was able to practice today, and it's not clear they'll play this weekend . . .and the fantasy football bust just keeps moving . . .

4. Speaking of busts, the Detroit Lions have been "interviewing" several former high-profile running backs this week who are looking for jobs, including Cedric Benson (da Bears) and Shaun Alexander (Seahawks), among others. The Lions claim that they aren't hiring immediately and are only window shopping in case of injuries. Sure, I buy that. Now, they probably have a greater need at just about every other position, so more RB's may not make sense, but the Lions are at (or past, depending on whom you ask) the point of no return, so I say anything is better than stagnancy. Whoever gets his luggage lifted first has been signed.


5. Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez and his (now former) wife Cynthia reached an amicable settlement of their divorce proceedings. No dirt and public mud-slinging? That's definitely a first, especially considering how the events surrounding their divorce were splashed across the New York dailies for the better part of a month until she finally decided to file. So this relatively quick settlement can only mean one of two things: 1) the prenuptial agreement was air tight, fair to both parties, and contained no terms which could be disputed by either of their lawyers . . . or 2) whatever he's trying to hide is worse than we imagined. I know, I know, this is a tough one.

Have a great weekend!

Ready to Run . . .

Hopefully things (i.e., life) will lighten up soon. As it was, it took me two nights to write this, and more stuff happened, but I've updated where necessary. So until that light day, here goes nothing:

1. #24 Kansas State (a.k.a. Michael Beasley) finally beat #2 ranked Kansas in college basketball on Wednesday night. Kansas had won 35 or their last 36 meetings, and K State hadn' won on Kansas' floor since 1983, before most of the players who played last night were even born. Since Michael Jackson's Thriller album debuted . . . If you were expecting an MJ joke to follow, keep loooking. MJ is the man! And so is Beasley. Get a good look at him now, folks, because he will be gone in a few months.

2. The MLB has ruffled some feathers by asking potential umpire hirees whether they belong to the KKK. Asking whether they beat their wives or have a drug problem are OK, but the KKK is somehow offensive. A simple "no" would suffice. Thou dost protest too much . . . And since I wrote this yesterday, Jesse Jackson, Jr. has spoken out against such "ill-contrived questions" being asked.

3. Miami dropped its 17th game in the last 18 they have played. This time to the (spin the wheel, it has stopped on . . .) the Orlando Magic. And to add insult to injury, Shaq didn't make the All-Star roster. He would have made it for a record 15 years (wow, I'm getting old, and so is he) but, alas, it was not to be. They might want to just scrap the season and start over next year. Maybe they can get Michael Beasley if they lose badly enough. That's not the position they need the most, but I don't see any other really talented big men coming up the ranks, so I say start building up a solid roster.

4. Pacman Jones is getting charged dropped left and right. After avoiding charges that he punched a woman in a night club, his latest escape is frommisdemeanor public intoxication and disorderly conduct charges in Tennessee. Just one more charge for whooping some guy's _____ in Georgia, and he's a shoo-in for reinstatement to the NFL. This Super Bowl Sunday will be his first major test of the new year. Study hard, Pacman.

5. 5'5", 133 lb. Earl Boykins is back in the NBA with the Charlotte Bobcats. This will be Boykins 7th year in the league after he opted out of a $3 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he put up solid numbers. Let me just say that anyone who can make it in the NBA at 5'5" for one day much less seven years has to be one of the most talented players in the game. Yao Ming is about two feet taller than him, and Shaq weighs about 200 more pounds than he does. "Impossible Is Nothing" personified.