Lincoln Financial Sports Would Like You To Sweat Your Balls Off

I heard on Monday about the Gators changing the kickoff time of their first game from 6pm to 12:30pm, though I didn't catch the reason. Well, as it turns out Lincoln Financial Sports decided they wanted to televise the UF game, and unlike last year when they wanted to do the same thing, there were no other games available as a replacement. Jeremy Foley let's us know about all of the in's and out's regarding the decision.

"The Southeastern Conference asked us to move our season opener to 12:30 to accommodate our television partner, Lincoln Financial Sports. We were in a similar scenario last year and the league had other options. This year, they had no other alternatives other than to ask us to move our game time and we are contractually obligated to do so."

Which really means "sorry everybody, but because of money we're going to subject you to possible heatstroke, definite sunburn and without a doubt dehydration from drinking too much alcohol and not enough of our wonderful Gatorade."

To give you an idea of the temperature difference between the two times here's what they averaged in Gainesville over the past two days(Sept. 1 isn't too far away, and it's hotter in the stadium anyway).

6pm: 84 degrees
12:30pm: 91 degrees

Remember too, that the game is going to last roughly 3 hours, which, when started at 12:30pm, pushes it into the hottest part of the day. Yesterday, the temp went from 91* at 12:30pm to 93*(2pm) to 96*(4pm). Compare that to 78* at 9pm, and you can see that it's about 20 degrees hotter for the duration of the game.

I knew they made this Gatorade commercial for a reason. Just replace "players" with "fans", and let Keith Jackson tell you what to do.

Felix Trinidad Leaving His Retirement Castle To Face Recently Unretired Roy Jones, Jr.

Yesterday, everyone's favorite boxing promoter with the finger-in-the-power-socket inspired hairdo(curiously absent in the following clip) announced that Felix Trinidad was coming out of retirement to face Roy Jones Jr.



Remember when Jones was at the top of the boxing world? The point where he had amassed over 40 wins, and his lone "loss" was a DQ against Montell Griffin. And remember when Trinidad had an umblemished record, going an impressive 39-0?

Well, that was back in 2000. The year when this fight was first talked about. At the end of 2000, Jones held the light heavyweight title, and Trinidad was the reigning junior middleweight/super welterweight title holder. However, a deal could never be made, perhaps because of the 15 pound weight difference between classes, and it remained something that people just talked about wanting to see.

The talk of a Jones vs Trinidad match continued into 2001, but went quiet when Trinidad was beaten by Bernard Hopkins. Since then, Jones has compiled a 6-3 record, but one of his greatest accomplishments, taking the WBA heavyweight title from John Ruiz, has been overshadowed by a TKO in the second round by Antonio Tarver and follow-up losses to Glencoffe Johnson and again Tarver. Trinidad has fought three times since that loss to Hopkins, going 2-1. His last fight was a loss to Winky Wright in 2005.

So now we're here in 2007, with the Trinidad vs Jones match tentatively scheduled for January 2008. Trinidad says that he's not planning on any type of "tune up" match before his fight, and while there had been some talk of Jones fighting in November, that's probably not going to happen now.

The old adage "better late than never" may prove to be true with this fight, and I truly hope that this turns out to be a great match. However, I think it shows exactly where boxing has gone over the past few years. Instead of getting excited about new talent, we're eagerly anticipating a match between two fighters that, seven years ago probably would have been incredible, but now has us hoping that it won't be a letdown with someone getting seriously injured. Oh well, I'll probably buy it on PPV because right now it's about the best that mainstream boxing is providing.

Suspects In Two Seperate Robberies Of NBA Stars In Custody

Authorities in Chicago announced on Saturday that they had four suspects in the robbery of Antoine Walker during a home invasion in custody. The four suspects are: 28-year-old Antoine Larkins, 25-year-old Demorris Hill, 28-year-old Phillip Allison and 23-year-old Gregory Reedfields. Hill and Larkins are also suspected of robbing Eddy Curry a few weeks after the Walker robbery.

Like I usually do when I read "interesting" new articles, I hopped on good 'ole MySpace to see if these guys had profiles, and to see if they mentioned the robberies on them. However, I must state that I'm not a detective of any sort, no matter how much I wish I could grow a Magnum P.I. 'stache, and that I'm pretty sure that the profile listed belong to one of the suspects but I can't be 100% sure.

The only one I could find was Antoine Larkins. Male, 28, from Chicago and has the same name. I'm pretty sure it's our guy. Nothing juicy here. He only has two friends, Tom and R. Kelly. Though, listing that you're a "proud parent" probably shouldn't be followed up with being held for two robberies.

Unfortunately, that was the only MySpace profile I could track down out of the four suspects listed. However, I'll continue to check out MySpace profiles for some humor or insight whenever the names are provided in the articles.

Maybe I Should Reconsider My Non-Support of Pacman's TNA Wrestling

Just to get this out of the way, I'm not a fan of Pacman Jones. Since that's the case maybe I should reconsider my decision not to support his involvement with TNA Wrestling because I think that it might ultimately cost him even more support and success. Take his involvement with the TNA PPV event "Hard Justice" last night.

Jones entered the ring with the announcer saying:

"He is the most controversial figure in professional sports today!"

Well, Barry Bonds probably wishes that Pacman was the most controversial, but I digress. If you're trying to "rehab" your image do you really want people calling you the "most controversial"?

Then, what about when he actually made it into the ring and explained why he joined TNA?

He explained he wanted to join TNA because it "is the trendsetter and Pacman Jones is a trendsetter." When asked why he decided to wrestle, Jones said he wanted to show, "I'm the best team player that ever lived."

I'm not exactly sure what trend Pacman is setting by being partially involved with TNA wrestling matches, but I do know that he is not the "best team player that ever lived". If he was, he would have stayed out of trouble, and not forced the Titans to sign Kelly Herndon and Michael Waddell, and draft Ryan Smith. However, by saying that, he's projecting a level of arrogance that doesn't make him seem the least bit remorseful for what he's done. And he's pretty adamant about it.

"You talk a lot, know what I'm saying," Jones said. "You talk a lot. But one thing about me, I don't talk the talk, I walk the walk."

Sure, if "walking the walk" includes being implicated in a fight and triple shooting in Las Vegas, or biting a police officer.

In the end, Jones was shown backstage being carried out of the arena on a stretcher after supposedly being attacked(though, it is wrestling so I guess everything "supposedly" happens).

I understand that wrestling is scripted(there's something I have to tell you about Santa and the Easter Bunny too), and that Pacman is playing a character, but the crimes he's accused of and his NFL suspension are very real. Somehow I don't see his participation with TNA as being the best vehicle for showing that he's willing to change. But maybe that's the biggest reason why I should support his involvement with it.

It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere - Flight Of The Conchords Edition

Since it's Friday, and the end of the workweek for most people, we think that you should be provided with a post that takes the edge off so to speak. Because it's going to be random and hopefully humorous, that means that it won't always be sports related. It will also pop up at any time on Friday.

This week you get some comedy to get your weekend started off right. I'm not sure how many of you out there have seen the Flight of The Conchords show on HBO. If you haven't, then get HBO immediately and start watching!

Seriously, Jemaine and Bret are damn funny, and their band manager Murray cracks me up all of the time. Here are a few clips to get you acquainted with what you've been missing.











Happy Friday!

The Hair Club For Baseball Suspensions

Things really aren't going your way when you receive a suspension because of the hair growth medicine you're taking. Which is exactly what happened to an American pitcher playing in a Japanese baseball league.

An American pitcher has become the first player to fail a drug test in Japanese baseball history.

Japanese baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro said Friday that Rick Guttormson tested positive for a banned substance and has been suspended for 20 days. Guttormson's team, the Softbank Hawks in Japan's Pacific League, were fined $63,000.

Japanese baseball officials said a postgame test July 13 revealed Finasteride in Guttormson's system. Finasteride was in a hair-growing agent the 30-year-old Guttormson had been taking for two years. It's banned because it can be used as a masking agent.

I wasn't able to find any pictures showing exactly how bald Guttormson is, but it doesn't sound like he was purposefully trying to mask his test results. It sounds like he was just the unfortunate victim of baseball's broad steroid/doping ban.

And while using the excuse "I didn't know" isn't always viable because the players are supposedly informed of what is legal and what isn't, there does seem to be an expansive gray area that legit players get caught in. Hopefully it's something that can be tweaked to make incidents like this non-existent.

PacMan's Charges Dismissed

Well, it looks like we were wrong. PacMan was innocent, and it was proven today when the charges against him were dismissed.

In his traffic violations case.

Back in June, PacMan was pulled over in Tennessee because the plates on his Lamborghini didn't match that vehicle. He was also cited for a "registration violation, as well as a residency violation for having a Georgia license and failure to show proof of insurance".

Of course PacMan made it out to be an extremely important legal victory.

"I knew the truth would come out in the end," Jones said after a hearing in Williamson County, the Nashville suburb where he owns a home.

It will definitely be interesting to see what truth comes out in his other cases. I have a feeling that he might not be as celebratory.

That Train Wouldn't Have Had A Chance

Some nationalities are just known for certain things. The French deliver us great wine and cheese. Russians and Poles produce great vodka. Germans have to have beer present when supporting soccer teams or they get rowdy. Well, at least that's what Germany's national railway tells us.

Germany's national railway wasn't about to risk sending a trainload of soccer fans to a German Cup match without beer.

Federal police said Monday that the beer tap failed aboard a special train carrying Bayer Leverkusen fans to Hamburg on Saturday. The fault was discovered half an hour into the journey.

"In order not to endanger the good mood" of the passengers, railway officials halted the train in Wuppertal for 25 minutes and had a replacement part delivered by taxi, a police statement said. It added that there was no trouble among the fans.

I love the fact that they didn't want to "endanger the good mood". That's a more polite way of saying "we didn't want them to burn this motherfucker to the ground!"

It's a much different outcome than if it had happened to soccer fans in the U.S. If this had happened on an Amtrak train here they would have kept on going and everyone would have just blamed David Beckham.

Don't Say That Warren Sapp Didn't Warn You

Last year Warren Sapp revealed that he had been poisoned while eating meals on the road. It appears that a similar case of food poisoning may have struck the Norwich City soccer team.

Norwich City's preparations for the new second division season have been hit by vomiting and diarrhoea following a social event for players, staff and their families.

Four players were among some 30 people taken ill following a barbecue at the club's training ground on Sunday. The club said in a statement it had contacted the local environmental health authorities about the incident.

I'm actually surprised that this doesn't happen a bit more often with how overzealous some fans can be. I guess that's just proof of how good the quality control is with respect to the food that the players are eating. Or maybe the teams have learned from Emperor Claudius, and they employ trustworthy food tasters.

Eugene Gross, Heading Back To School For The AAFL

I'll admit, when I first heard about the AAFL, I was a bit skeptical. Though, it's hard not to be when you look at all of the different football leagues that have popped up and then folded throughout the years. However, the same was probably said about the AFL when they started, and look what that's become.

The more I read and hear about the league, and the more interaction that I have with the people working hard to make this league a reality, the more excited I get to see this thing kick off next spring. It's also made me hopeful that a number of former athletes will return to their former college or university to get their degree. Athletes like Eugene Gross.

Gross was a very successful running back for the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, starting at tailback all four years. Despite being able to run and catch the ball well(he holds the MTSU record of total receptions by a running back), he went undrafted following the completion of his senior season this past year. Gross views the AAFL as his way to continue playing football, but there's one problem. He doesn't hold the four year degree from his college that is required by the AAFL. So he's heading back to school to pick up the 13 credit hours he needs for his diploma so that he can continue playing the game he loves in a professional league.

Former MTSU running back Eugene Gross has an additional incentive to finish his degree. Gross wants to play in the new All-American Football League, but it requires players possess a four-year degree.

Gross, who recently earned his real estate license, lacks 13 credit hours to graduate with a bachelor's degree in sports psychology. The All-American Football League is set to start in 2008.

"I want to put the pads on again because I've still got the love for the game in me," said Gross, MTSU's all-time leader in receptions among running backs.

"My agent is trying to get a tryout set up for me, but I've got to focus on school so that I can graduate in December and keep playing."

And while getting fans to come to the games is a great indicator of the league's success, if they can motivate former student-athletes to go back to school to finish their degree requirements that might ultimately be the most successful aspect of it.