WBRS Sports Blog

Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks fell just short in an attempt to knock off the #2 Auburn Tigers on Thursday, as the Tigers survived in a 24-17 thriller. The Old Ball Coach began his tenure at South Carolina last season and since then has dramatically improved the quality of the football program at South Carolina, and that was truly manifested this past Thursday given the fact that South Carolina almost knocked off the #2 ranked team in the country. And although they did lose the game, the crowd vigorously applauded as the clock hit 0, recognizing both the South Carolina players' and Steve Spurrier's strong efforts. Well Spurrier would have none of that, as he condemned his own fans the following day for cheering after a loss...

"Please don't clap when we come close. I don't know if any coach has told our fans, 'Please don't clap if we get beat."

While I understand Spurrier was angered by the applause, as he wants to instill a winning mentality into the South Carolina program, regardless of what the Old Ball Coach says, I applaud the Gamecocks for their efforts!

Most people at one time or another have pondered how safe athletic venues are. Yet, it is usually a fleeting thought in the back of our mind that seems to go away the second the game begins. With thousands of people congregated in such a small space we often take for granted how necessary and valuable event security is. However, I am fairly certain those who attend Southern University football games are constantly conscious of how unsafe A.W. Mumford Stadium is. The most recent crime occurred this past weekend when intruders stole, "sneakers, money, football rings and electronics" out of North Carolina Central University's visiting locker room.

Just a week prior to this robbery Southern school officials had decided to increase security at the ballgames after a shooting took place at a Credit Union literally across the street from the stadium, leaving a man dead. Further, "everyone who walks into the stadium must pass through metal detectors while their bags and purses are searched." Tailgating has also been banned from the stadium's south end zone. In end, things are quite a mess down there and if I were you I would stay away from Southern University football games for the time being.

In regard to suspects pertaining to the robbery, local police officials are still searching, but have ruled out John Croce.

Here are the Week 4 picks from the radio personalities on the Wednesday evening show "Overtime"...

Cumulative season records vs. spread, going in to Week 4:
1. Mikey C (28-17-1)
2. Young Daniel (27-18-1)
3. Mini Me (26-19-1)
4. Intern Nate (23-22-1)
5. Random Boy (19-26-1)

Game	Young Daniel	Mini Me	Intern Nate	Mikey C.	Random Boy
Indianapolis (-9.5)@ New York	Ind	Ind	NYJ	NYJ	NYJ
San Diego (-2)@ Baltimore	SD	SD	Bal	SD	Bal
Minnesota @Buffalo (-2)	Min	Buf	Min	Min	Buf
Dallas (-9.5)@ Tennessee	Dal	Dal	Ten	Dal	Ten
San Francisco @Kansas City (-7)	KC	KC	KC	SF	KC
New Orleans@ Carolina (-7.5)	Car	NO	Car	NO	NO
Arizona@ Atlanta (-7.5)	Atl	Arz	Atl	Arz	Arz
Miami (-4)@ Houston	Mia	Mia	Mia	Hou	Hou
Detroit @ St. Louis (-6)	Stl	Det	Stl	Stl	Det
New England@ Cincinnati (-6)	Cin	Cin	Cin	Cin	NE
Jacksonville (-3)@ Washington	Was	Jax	Jax	Jax	Jax
Cleveland (-3)@ Oakland	Cle	Cle	Cle	Cle	Cle
Seattle@ Chicago (-3)	Chi	Sea	Chi	Sea	Chi
Green Bay@ Philadelphia (-11)	Phl	Phl	Phl	Phl	Phl
Survivor Team	Dallas	Dallas	Phil	Phil	X

Coming later this afternoon...stay tuned.

Athletes physically abusing their wives certainly isn't an aberration in the sports world, even when it is in regard to spares such as Lee Nailon. However the accidental assault might be the rarest feat in the history of sports...I have seen more triple plays in my life than what Jay Gibbons did this past Sunday.

"The scene occurred in the ninth inning of the Baltimore Orioles' game against Minnesota on Saturday. Gibbons fouled a ball straight back over the screen and into the rib cage of his wife, Laura."

The odds of hitting your wife is pretty rare and this whole event might be viewed as one big, weird coincidence, but I have my own theory...

WBRS Sports Blog certainly doesn't endorse spousal abuse, but we do know that at times marriages can be very frustrating and even in some instances one spouse might want to let out their emotions upon their significant other (just ask T.J. Kidd's French fry). To somehow maneuver a foul ball so you could directly hit your wife would be crazy, right? So crazy that it might be possible? Perhaps...

When the calendar turns to October and the Red Sox find themselves no longer playing baseball, Red Sox Nation becomes, well a depressed nation. On top of that, having to watch the Yankees attempt to capture their 27th World Series title is too much to bear. The only mild remedy available to Red Sox fans is to somehow keep their minds preoccupied with anything non-baseball related in an attempt to forget just for a second that their beloved Red Sox aren't playing in the postseason.

While most members of Red Sox Nation will struggle to find this state of mind, Curt Schilling isn't going to be one of them...the Red Sox ace has signed on to participate in Celebrity Jeopardy. The two-week competition will be taped at Radio City Music Hall on Oct. 5, 7 and 8, and will be broadcast beginning Nov. 8 and ending Nov. 21, it was announced Tuesday. Hopefully Schilling's competitive nature will get the best of him and result in a little skirmish with Alex Trebek...a real life Happy Gilmore - Bob Barker encounter perhaps?

A typical day in the life of the newest World's Strongest Man winner includes squatting several beautiful women simultaneously.


America is back, baby! After the US Men's Basketball team placed third in the FIBA World Championship, the US Women's basketball team also failed to win gold, and Team USA got their butts whooped in the Ryder Cup, I truly wondered when again the United States of America would win an international athletic competition possessing some sort of respectability.

Well...that day is today! Firefighter Phil Pfister, from Charleston, West Virginia took home the title in this years World's Strongest Man competition. The 6-6, 325 pound American "beat 25 athletes from around the world in events such as bus pulls, car pushes, tire turns and stone lifts."

When it comes to international athletic events...I am again proud to be an American.

Here are the Week 3 picks from the radio personalities on the Wednesday evening show "Overtime"...

Game	Young Daniel	Mini Me	Intern Nate	Mikey C.	Random Boy
New York @Buffalo (-6)	Buf	NYJ	Buf	Buf	Buf
Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh (-2)	Cin	Cin	Cin	Cin	Cin
Jacksonville @ Indianapolis(-7)	Jax	Jax	Ind	Ind	Ind
Tennessee @Miami (-11)	Mia	Ten	Mia	Ten	Mia
Washington (-4) @ Houston	Was	Was	Was	Was	Was
Chicago (-3.5) @ Minnesota	Chi	Chi	Min	Chi	Chi
Carolina (-3) @ Tampa Bay	TB	TB	Car	TB	Car
Green Bay @ Detroit (-6.5)	GB	GB	Det	GB	GB
Baltimore (-7) @ Cleveland	Bal	Bal	Cle	Bal	Bal
St. Louis @ Arizona (-4.5)	STL	AZ	AZ	STL	STL
New York @ Seattle (-4)	Sea	Sea	NY	NY	NY
Philadelphia (-6.5) @ San Francisco	Phl	Phl	Phl	Phl	SF
Denver @ New England (-6.5)	NE	Den	Den	NE	Den
Atlanta (-3.5) @ New Orleans	Atl	NO	Atl	Atl	Atl
Survivor Team	Mia	Mia	Bal	Mia	X

I don't really follow women's basketball that much, but I know this shouldn't have happened.

Remember back in 2001 when Jason Kidd was arrested for abusing his wife, Joumana Kidd? According to the story, Kidd spit a French fry at Joumana and then proceeded to punch her in the face. Well Lee Nailon recently one-upped Kidd in the abuse deparment, as today "Former Philadelphia 76er Lee Nailon was fined $300 and ordered to do community service in a case in which he was charged with elbowing his wife in the face and throwing a picture frame at her." Yes you read that right. Not only did he elbow her in the face but he threw a picture frame at his defenseless wife!

Come on Lee, you are better than that. Unlike a French fry, a picture frame hurts! Apparently the whole ordeal began when Nailon's wife discovered several women's phone numbers in her husband's cell phone. In typical athlete fashion, Nailon was fined a measly $300 to go along with some anger-management classes and community service.

Make sure to tune in to all of the WBRS Sports shows this week as we will be giving out a pair of Red Sox tickets to a random caller on one of the shows! That caller could be YOU...if you are listening in at the right time! The tickets are for the September 27th game, when the Red Sox host the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Good luck!

Team USA begins Ryder Cup play this Friday at The K Club, in Straffan, County Kildare, Ireland. This should be an interesting event as the U.S. is truly considered the underdog. In particular, you have to wonder if Tiger Wood's success this season on the PGA Tour will correlate to success in the match play format of the Ryder Cup. For his career, Woods is 7-11-2 in four Ryder Cup appearances. Woods is going to have to play much better than that if Team USA wants to hold the Ryder Cup trophy for two years.

But I have one question to ask...what the hell is Team USA wearing?

Mendoza is the man to blame for Northern Colorado's punting woes.

I am sure most fans are a little bit curious as to how the punting went for Northern Colorado this weekend when they traveled to San Marcos to take on Texas State. For those of you that were living in a hole this past week, Mitch Cozad, the backup kicker at the University of Northern Colorado was arrested for stabbing teammate, and starting punter, Rafael Mendoza. Cozad has since been kicked out of school, and with Mendoza still recovering from the injury, who punted for Northern Colorado and how did it go? Initially, Jason Hildenbrand, one of the team's strong safeties was assigned punting duties and was doing a decent job, averaging just under 30 yards per kick. However, early in the fourth quarter Hildenbrand went down with an injury while playing strong safety, so the team was forced to use backup placekicker Michael York. York's first punt traveled an entire 7 yards! While Northern Colorado's punting department may be considered questionable at the moment, they did defeat North Texas 14-13, with the winning touchdown coming via a blocked punt! That is what we call irony, boys.

WBRS Sports Blog is honored to interview Adam J. Morris, the winning bidder of the Melissa Lima dress auction. Adam is an avid Texas Rangers fan, and runs the Lone Star Ball blog, a sports nation Texas Rangers fan site. Adam won the dress worn by Melissa in the famous photo (seen above), for a whopping $152.50 and we were able to sit down with him and ask him a few questions about the auction and his new dress...

WBRS Sports:What exactly is behind the motivation for bidding on such an unusual piece of sports memorabilia?

Adam J. Morris:I saw a link to it on Baseball Think Factory, and with not much Rangers stuff to talk about I figured I'd throw up a link on my site. Then I saw that the bidding was still relatively low, so as a lark, I put a bid up. I figured Golden Palace or someone would end up outbidding me, but if they didn't, well, the price wasn't too prohibitive, and it would make for an amusing anecdote.

WBRS Sports:Included with the dress is an autographed 8 X 10 photograph, personalized by Melissa Lima. Have you decided what you want her to write?

Adam J. Morris:I've been soliciting suggestions on my site, and several other sites, including Deadspin and Fark, have linked to the story and asked folks to make suggestions, as well. I haven't quite decided what I'm going to ask for yet...

WBRS Sports:In 2004, a woman accused Jose Lima of giving her genital herpes. Do you feel that once you receive the dress, a thorough cleaning might be necessary for your own safety?

Adam J. Morris:I'm sure that's not anything to worry about.

WBRS Sports:Seriously though, what does your wife think of the fact that not only did you bid on this dress, but you actually won?

Adam J. Morris:My wife's comment, when I told her about it, and showed her my blog entry about it: "I find nothing about any of this amusing."

WBRS Sports:Finally, what do you plan on doing with the dress?

Adam J. Morris:I have no idea. I've suggested on the blog that I'd photograph my brother, Ben, wearing the dress, and post it on my blog. Or re-create the original photo, with me as Jose Lima, Ben wearing the dress, and my currently-8-month-old playing the role of the Little Lima. Maybe I'll frame it and hang it up. But I'd probably only do that after exhausting the humorous possibilities involving pictures of the dress with Ben.

Here are the Week 2 picks from the radio personalities on the Wednesday evening show "Overtime"...

Game	Young Daniel	Mini Me	Intern Nate	Mikey C.	Random Boy
Oakland @ Baltimore -12)	Balt	Balt	Balt	Balt	Oak
Houston @ Indianapolis (-13.5)	Indy	Indy	Hou	Indy	Hou
Cleveland @ Cincinnati (-10)	Cincy	Cle	Cincy	Cle	Cle
Buffalo @ Miami (-6.5)	Mia	Mia	Mia	Buf	Buf
Detroit @ Chicago (-8.5)	Chi	Det	Det	Chi	Det
Carolina (-2) @ Minnesota	Car	Min	Car	Min	Car
New York @ Philadelphia (-3)	NY	NY	NY	Phi	NY
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta (-6)	TB	TB	TB	Atl	Atl
New Orleans (-1.5) @ Green Bay	NO	NO	NO	NO	GB
St. Louis (-3) @ San Francisco	STL	STL	SF	STL	STL
Arizona @ Seattle (-7)	Sea	Ari	Sea	Ari	Ari
New England (-6) @ New York	NE	NE	NY	NE	NE
Tennessee @ San Diego (-12)	SD	SD	SD	SD	SD
Kansas City @ Denver (-10.5)	KC	KC	KC	Den	Den
Washington @ Dallas (-6)	Dal	Dal	Dal	Dal	Was
Pittsburgh (-1.5) @ Jacksonville	Pit	Pit	Pit	Pit	Pit
Survivor Team	Ind	SD	SD	Balt	X

You can leave a computer comment or now you can leave a voice comment!

Could things have gotten much better for Chicago Bears fans after starting the season with a huge 26-0 shutout over Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers? Yes, assuming you were a shopper over labor day weekend at Gonigam's World Furniture Mall, just outside of Chicago. Owner Randy Gonigam hoped to attract more customers by offering free furniture if the Bears shut out the Packers...206 customers bit on the offer, and 206 customers received checks for the furniture they purchased over the holiday weekend.

Gonigam came up with the idea after Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher insisted the Bears defense would be the best in the NFL. "As a Chicago sports fan, you get frustrated," Gonigam said. "I thought, 'Prove it." The Bears showed just how good their defense was, Gonigam lost approximately $300,000 from the free furniture offer, but hey, at least Bears fans aren't frustrated....For the moment at least.

"I noticed that wind was kicking up a bit. You might want to adjust about six to eight inches to the left."- Billy Hoyle to Sidney Deane in the the 1992 film White Men Can't Jump



Woody Harrelson's famous words of advice to Wesley Snipes in regard to shooting on an outdoor basketball court in the sports classic White Men Can't Jump now appear to have transcended the movie into real life. Perhaps the cautious guidance of Billy Hoyle, played by Harrelson, will be taken to heart this winter by the women basketball players of Arizona State and Texas Tech. That's right, it was recently announced that the December 18th basketball game between the Lady Red Raiders and the Lady Sun Devils will occur outdoors! The game will take place at Chase Field, home to the Arizona Diamondbacks. A basketball court will be installed in the infield and the game will take place in the evening, "under the stars." I can't think of anything more exciting than playing outside on a cold winter night, having to adjust to the heavy evening breeze...maybe they will even install chain nets, to make the outdoor setting a little bit more "authentic".

A week after Colorado was upset by Division I-AA Montana State, the newly crowned king of I-AA football schools fell victim to an upset of equal proportions, when Division II Chadron State knocked off Montana State. The 35-24 victory is considered the biggest in the small school's history. Meanwhile, Chadron State's new favorite Division I team is Colorado, not only because Colorado was upset by Montana State, but also because the Buffaloes are scheduled to play the Nebraska Cornhuskers later this season. Hoping the Buffaloes can knock off Nebraska, already Chadron State quarterback Joe McLain is using the transitive property to proclaim his team the best in all of Nebraska..."Everyone is saying they want Colorado to beat the Huskers, and then we would be the best team in Nebraska."

Until then, Chadron State will look to remain unbeaten, otherwise other teams might latch themselves on to the back of that transitive property chain.

The Texas Longhorns host the Ohio State Buckeyes tomorrow evening in arguably the biggest regular season college football game of the year. Unless you are a season ticket holder or have at least $1,000 to spare, you are basically crap out of luck in regard to finding a ticket...or at least that was the case until the newest Pluckers' franchise in Round Rock, TX, intervened. The well-known chicken wing restaurant didn't host a chicken eating contest as most would expect but rather a Rock, Paper, Scissors contest, with the winner receiving two tickets to the Texas-Ohio State game.

Rey Buentello eventually beat out 199 other contestants to win the pair of tickets, but the most amusing aspect of this peculiar event was the training regimen of Michael Ortiz. Yes, training regimen. Apparently Ortiz "trained for three weeks and had bruises across his knuckles to show for it." As karma has it for anyone who attempts to train for such a random sequence of events, Ortiz was matched up against his girlfriend in the second round, and of course he lost.

It was less than a week ago when Team USA lost to the Greece National Team in the semifinals of the FIBA World Championship. Why and how exactly did this NBA-less Greece team defeat the US? Perhaps former Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara can figure that out firsthand. McNamara has signed a one-year deal to play in the Euroleague for Olympiacos BC, a prominent basketball team located in Greece.

The NFL season officially begins tomorrow night, so what better time than now to give my NFL predictions? Please leave yours in the comments section.

NFC

NFC East
Dallas Cowboys
New York Giants
Washington Redskins
Philadelphia Eagles

NFC North
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings
Green Bay Packers

NFC South
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers
Atlanta Falcons
New Orleans Saints

NFC West
Seattle Seahawks
St. Louis Rams
Arizona Cardinals
San Francisco 49ers

AFC

AFC East
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
Buffalo Bills
New York Jets

AFC North
Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cleveland Indians

AFC South
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Houston Texans
Tennessee Titans

AFC West
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs
San Diego Chargers
Oakland Raiders


NFC Playoff Teams
1. Seattle Seahawks
2. Chicago Bears
3. Dallas Cowboys
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
5. Carolina Panthers
6. New York Giants

AFC Playoff Teams
1. Indianapolis Colts
2. Miami Dolphins
3. Cincinnati Bengals
4. Denver Broncos
5. Baltimore Ravens
6. New England Patriots


Round 1 Winners: Cowboys, Panthers, Bengals, Ravens

Round 2 Winners: Cowboys, Seahawks, Colts, Bengals

Championship Weekend: Seahawks over Cowboys, Bengals over Colts

Super Bowl Pick: Bengals over Seahawks

Is United States basketball looking for a savior? Today on ESPN Radio's The Dan Patrick Show, Reggie Miller came out and said (ESPN Insider required) that if Michael Redd and Ray Allen aren't on the U.S. qualifying team, YES Team U.S.A. has to qualify for the 2008 olympics, the former Pacer sharpshooter would play for Team U.S.A. At 41, Miller isn't that old and his shooting touch certainly would have come in handy during our lose to Greece (32% behind the arc). Also, Miller has won gold before so he knows the feeling of winning in international competition. Even if Redd or Allen decides to play, I am in favor of bringing Reggie back for the '08 olympics...Thoughts?