The Holy Taco has a post today featuring some of the best football celebrations of all-time. My favourite is shown above — an instant classic from the former Arena League, which reminded me of my a fine entry at the 1995 Springfield Film Festival.
The Holy Taco has a post today featuring some of the best football celebrations of all-time. My favourite is shown above — an instant classic from the former Arena League, which reminded me of my a fine entry at the 1995 Springfield Film Festival.
Posted in Football | Tags: arena football, arena league, cfl, cfl football, dance, Football, holy taco, homer, homer simpson, nfl, nfl football, ochocinco, simpsons, the simpsons, touchdown, touchdown celebration, touchdown dance

Bosh will have his hands full tonight with Tim Duncan
After splitting a pair in New Orleans and Dallas, the Raptors wrap up their current three-game west coast swing in San Antonio tonight against a Spurs team that’ll be without Tony Parker. Come on boys, capitalize! As always, a full preview over at Raptors Republic, where my NBA 2K10 game sim should be posted shortly.
The Spurs come in at 2-3, having lost back-to-back road games in Utah and Portland on Thursday and Friday, but I don’t think anyone is sweating it in San Antonio, because we know they’ll be there in May and June when it counts, as usual. With it being early and Parker out, the Raps actually draw the Spurs at the perfect time, with a win not out of the realm of possibility. The Raptors have actually played Tim Duncan & co. well the past few years — last season they picked up a win at the ACC sans Chris Bosh and they even escaped with a road win in ‘07-08, 83-73 in a slugfest. Don’t count on that kind of D tonight, but hey, anything can happen.
The key for Toronto, I’d say, is point guard play. Jose Calderon showed signs of coming out of his early season funk over the weekend, and he and Jarrett Jack will be counted on to jump on Parker-less Spurs, who’ll start George Hill in his absence. Post D, as usual, will be big, even with Duncan having lost an offensive step.
Anyway, how about a big road win before coming home for the Bulls and heading out west to do it again? The Raps and Spurs tip tonight at 8:30.
Posted in Basketball, Raptors Gameday | Tags: Basketball, bosh, calderon, cb4, chris bosh, dallas, duncan, george hill, ginobili, hill, jack, jose calderon, nba, nba basketball, new orleans, parker, portland, raps, raptors, san antionio spurs, san antonio, spurs, tim duncan, tony parker, toronto, toronto raptors, utah

Take a seat, L.J.
Looks like Larry Johnson is gonna have plenty of time to mess around on Twitter and spit on women at clubs the next couple months. The running back, who was suspended two weeks ago for criticizing Chiefs coach Todd Haley via the site and for calling a Twitter responder and a reporter a fag, has been released. Now, while the NBA continues to reel from the loss of Allen Iverson, the NFL will have to deal with losing one of its biggest bums.
L.J.’s release comes with him 75 yards short of the Chiefs’ all-time rushing record, held by Priest Holmes. Last week Kansas City fans even started an online petition to have Johnson booted before he could come back and set the mark, which he would’ve had a shot at this weekend this weekend against the mighty Raiders with his suspension ending.
Johnson will have to pass through waivers before he can sign elsewhere, but I’m betting no one takes a shot on him the rest of the season. In seven games with the Chiefs this year, L.J. rushed for an impeccable 358 yards and no touchdowns.
Posted in Football | Tags: AI, chiefs, Football, haley, holmes, iverson, johnson, kansas city, kansas city chiefs, kc chiefs, larry johnson, LJ, nba, nfl, nfl football, pacman jones, priest holmes, todd haley, twitter

Vick may be headed to Buffalo, according to Tony Dungy
The Buffalo Bills and Michael Vick have something in common this season — neither have had much going for them. The Bills, as we know, have been their post-Flutie selves, while Vick, though on a winning team, hasn’t seen much of the field with the Eagles. Prior to tonight’s Philly-Dallas game, Tony Dungy had a little suggestion Bills fans might find a bit interesting: Vick, who he’s been mentoring since his release from prison, might find himself in Buffalo in 2010.
Vick, who signed a one-year contract prior to this season, has a team option for next year at $5.2 million. Considering the season Donovan McNabb is having and that he hasn’t seen much action, it’s unlikely he’ll be back in Philly.
“It’s technically up to Philadelphia,” Dungy said on NBC. “If they want him back, he has to stay there. If they don’t there are some teams looking for quarterbacks.
“I think a dark horse is Buffalo,” he added. “They talked originally. There was some communication there. I think it would be a good fit.”
So Trent Edwards isn’t the answer? I could’ve told you that awhile ago. Oh yeah, I did.
Posted in Football | Tags: bills, buffalo, buffalo bills, cowboys, dallas, donovan mcnabb, dungy, eagles, edwards, Football, mcnabb, michael vick, nfl, nfl football, owens, philadelphia, philly, prison, quarterback, sunday night football, tony dungy, trent edwards, vick
My main criteria for Random Raptors Moments: Obscurity. I wanna find stuff that I didn’t even know happened. For example, did you know Mark Jackson moved into fifth in all-time assists in his half season in Toronto and even grabbed a standing ovation from the ACC crowd? Could’ve fooled me…
Posted in Basketball, Random Raptors | Tags: acc, action jackson, air canada centre, alvin williams, assist, assists, Basketball, dime, dimes, golden state, golden state warriors, jackson, mark jackson, nba, point guard, random raptors moment, raps, raptors, toronto, toronto raptors, warriors, williams

Freeman fared a little better than Trent Dilfer did in the same digs
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into today’s game with Green Bay 0-7 and decided to bust out their peach throwbacks — the same uniforms they wore in a historically brutal era that included the NFL’s only winless season. It must’ve had some sort of reverse effect though — they rode an impressive performance from rookie quarterback Josh Freeman and made a fourth quarter run to come out with a 38-28 win.
Freeman, grabbed 17th overall out of Kansas State in this year’s draft, threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start, including a seven-yarder on fourth & 4 with just under five minutes to give Tampa Bay the lead. Tanard Jackson put it to bed with an interception return on Green Bay’s ensuing drive — the third pick of the day thrown by Aaron Rodgers.
Elsewhere around the league, the Bengals officially established themselves as legit (well, I’m believing it now, at least) with a nice 17-7 home win over the Ravens. Cincinnati made another big defensive stand and Cedric Benson continued his resurgence, rushing for 117 yards and a touchdown. Not sure what this was all about, but Mr. Ochocinco busted out some dolla bills for good measure.
Other scores from Sunday: Atlanta 31, Washington 17; Arizona 41, Chicago 21; Indianapolis 20, Houston 17; Jacksonville 24, Kansas City 21; New England 27, Miami 17; New Orleans 30, Carolina 20; Seattle 32, Detroit 20; San Diego 21, NY Giants 20; Tennessee 34, San Francisco 27.
At press time, Philly holds a 13-10 lead over the Cowboys in the third quarter of the Sunday nighter. Also, stay tuned for the crown jewel of the week tomorrow night — Kyle Orton and the Broncos are home to face the Steelers, and you can bet I’m going with the neck beard.
Posted in Football | Tags: baltimore ravens, bengals, benson, broncos, bucaneers, bucs, cedric benson, chad ochocinco, cincinnati, cincinnati bengals, denver, Football, freeman, green bay, green bay packers, jackson, kyle orton, nfl, nfl football, ochocinco, orton, packers, pittsburgh, ravens, steelers, tampa, tampa bay, tampa bay buccaneers, tampa bay bucs, tenard jackson

A.I. turned in his flashy blue uni, at least for the time being
Last week I predicted Allen Iverson would be off the Grizzlies and out of the NBA by Christmas. Now it looks like I was being a little cautious with that call — the washed-up gunslinger requested and was granted a leave from the team yesterday, for what is only being reported as “personal reasons” thus far. Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley insisted his absence has nothing to do with his hurt feelings over his role on the team, though I’m guessing we won’t see the former Answer back in Memphis regardless.
Whether Iverson has a family issue to attend to or not (he’s back home in Atlanta indefinitely), I don’t see him coming back and playing for the Grizzlies. Since he just signed this summer, he’s not eligible to be dealt until Dec. 15, but why would any GM bother with the guy? He won’t accept a secondary role and will only destroy a contender, as he did in Denver (as we discovered he was doing after Chauncey Billups came in and ran that town following the trade) and Detroit last year. I’m sticking to my guns — Iverson is finished in the NBA.
Memphis, by the way, has dropped all three games A.I. has dressed for this season, with their only win coming on Oct. 30 against the Raptors with him in street clothes.
Posted in Basketball | Tags: AI, allen iverson, Basketball, billups, detroit, free agent, gay, grizzlies, heisley, iverson, leave of absence, mayo, memphis, memphis grizzlies, michael heisley, nba, nba basketball, pistons, raptors, toronto
If I played football, I’d probably play one down and break every bone in my body. Surprising, Cal’s Jahvid best broke neither his neck nor his back in this spectacular spill last night against Oregon State, instead coming out with a concussion and a touchdown in the Bears’ 31-14 loss.
As for me, I’ll stick to playing baseball, basketball and non-contact floor hockey.

Phil Kessel is into big things
VICTORY!! I’m telling you Leaf Nation, it’s starting to smell like 1967 (note: sarcasm, though the boys are starting to play well). Phil Kessel notched his first goal as a Leaf and Toronto rolled to a 5-1 win over Detroit tonight at the ACC — their first on home ice this season. Make that two in a row, points in seven straight and a tie for 13th in the Eastern Conference. Yes, the tide is turning.
Again, the Leafs got big games from the new Big Two — Kessel tacked on a third period assist to his first period assist and The Monster made 35 saves to win for the second straight night. Wayne Primeau, Jeff Finger, Alexei Ponikarovsky and John Mitchell also scored for Toronto, who improved to 3-7-5.
Sure, the Red Wings aren’t exactly flying to start the season, but a convincing win might just be an indication the worst of times are behind the Leafs. Well, all they have to do is win four of their next 15 for that to be the case — after all, they can only go up from the way they got things started this season. My prediction: The Leafs ride this hot streak for another 67 games and end up somewhere between seventh and 10th in the East.
Anyway, Toronto looks to make it three in a row Tuesday at home against Minnesota. I’m guessing Ron Wilson doesn’t let Vesa Toskala anywhere near this one.
Posted in Hockey | Tags: acc, air canada centre, detroit, detroit red wings, east, eastern conference, finger, gustavsson, Hockey, kessel, leaf nation, leafs, maple leafs, minnesota, minnesota wild, mitchell, nhl, nhl hockey, ponikarovsky, primeau, red wings, the monster, toronto, toronto maple leafs, toskala, wild, wilson, wings

Woof Woof
A little follow-up on everyone’s favourite hair-pulling, spine-punching little jewel of a soccer player that was all over the news yesterday: She’s suspended. Locked up (or at least held off the pitch) indefinitely. The University of New Mexico announced last night Elizabeth Lambert will sit for the foreseeable future and think about her horrible, horrible actions in Thursday’s game against Brigham Young.
Alright, so she got her punishment and it was well deserved. I’m ready to forgive her — after all, she’s not the first athlete to get a little pissed off and act up during a game. To her credit, she’s not making excuses:
“I let my emotions get the best of me in a heated situation. I take full responsibility for my actions and accept any punishment felt necessary,” Lambert said Friday, according to a story on ESPN.com. “This is in no way indicative of my character or the soccer player that I am. I am sorry to my coaches and teammates for any and all damages I have brought upon them.
“I am especially sorry to BYU and the BYU women’s soccer players that were personally affected by my actions. I have the utmost respect for the BYU women’s soccer program and its players.”
So there, it’s in the past. Well, maybe we’ll let that poor BYU player pull her pony tail. Then we’ll call it even. Getcha popcorn ready!
Posted in Soccer | Tags: brigham young, brigham young university, byu, college soccer, elizabeth lambert, espn, espn.com, hair pull, lambert, ncaa, ncaa soccer, new mexico, new mexico lobos, pony tail, Soccer, university of new mexico, womens soccer

The Raps have another early-season test tonight in Disco Dirk
I’m usually none too thrilled about a road date in Dallas, but after last night’s sh-lacking in New Orleans, I’ve got the Raptors winning by about 50. Okay, well maybe 30. Alright, I’ll settle for anything that doesn’t have us jumping to an early double-digit lead and then letting it get away, which has been par for the course for the Raps in Dallas the past few years.
First off, last night’s win still feels sweet. Sure, the Hornets are scuffling to start the year, but bad teams don’t go on the road and win by 17 against Chris Paul. A heroic effort to say the least, and all the more special with my guy Jose Calderon shaking his early season funk.
Meanwhile, the Mavs come into tonight’s game coming off a loss to those same Hornets in that same Big Easy, 114-107 in overtime on Wednesday. They’ve been up and down thus far — aside from the loss to CP3, they fell to the Wizards at home on opening night and came up with a win in Kobeland last Friday. Still, I’ve gotta figure this one won’t be a walk in the park. I’m starting to think the Mavs are a better team than I gave them credit for in my season preview, and they’ll be even more of a force when Josh Howard and Drew Gooden hit the court in the near future. Maybe it’s good we get to face them tonight, then.
Anyway, last night’s romp was a nice start to a hellish west coast swing and it certainly bodes well for tonight. The Raps look to make it two straight on the road and three straight overall — tip is at 8:30.
Posted in Basketball, Raptors Gameday | Tags: calderon, chris paul, cp3, dallas mavericks, dallas mavs, dirk, dirk nowitzki, disco dirk, drew gooden, game preview, gameday, gameday preview, gooden, howard, jose calderon, josh howard, mavericks, mavs, nba, nba gameday, nowitzki, paul, preview, raptors, toronto, toronto raptors

Not a Halloween costume, either
Tributes to Michael Jackson are all over the sports world, but nobody has taken it as far as Slammin’ Sammy Sosa to this point. The former steroid junkie showed up to some gala the other night and…well, see for yourself (here’s the Sammy I remember). There’s no word on what exactly is going on, though there are rumblings ranging from botched plastic surgery to a bad makeup job to vitiligo — the skin disease that got to MJ. I’m no family physician, but considering all the garbage Sosa pumped into his body all those years, I’d say anything is possible.
Anyway, something’s up. Not to sound insensitive or anything — I’m just sayin’.
Posted in Baseball | Tags: artest, Baseball, chicago cubs, cubs, jackson, michael jackson, mj, mlb, physician, rangers, ron artest, sammy sosa, slammin' sammy, sosa, steroids, texas rangers, tribute, vitiligo

CB drops the hammer
I love it when the Raptors surprise me, even if it does make losses like last Friday’s in Memphis all the more difficult. Chris Bosh and the boys shocked the world tonight in The Big Easy, blowing out Chris Paul and the Hornets 107-90 behind a second half three-point barrage and some rare D.
This one was a thing of beauty — the Raptors got at ‘em on the glass (a 51-41 edge) and forced every other Hornet than Paul to beat them. CP3 got his to the tune of 21 and 18 assists, but Bobby Brown and David West were the only others in double figures (16 and 14). Aside from Paul, no Hornet had more than one assist.
Chris Bosh was again the man offensively for the Raptors, going a perfect 9-of-9 and finishing with 27 points and seven boards. Jose Calderon shook his early-season blues with a nice little 16 and eight (with no turnovers) on 6-of-11 and Hedo Turkoglu chipped in 16 of his own. Toronto outscored the Hornets 34-14 in the decisive third quarter, making eight of their 14 total threes in the frame.
So, we’re back on track in Raptorland. Those worries after a pair of embarrassing losses last weekend? Out the window, my friend. Well, at least for one night. The Raps look to make it three in a row tomorrow night in Dallas, where dreams have historically gone to die for this team. Let’s make this the year that changes.
Posted in Basketball | Tags: Basketball, bobby brown, bosh, brown, calderon, cb4, charlotte hornets, chris bosh, chris paul, cp3, dallas, david west, hornets, jose calderon, mavericks, mavs, nba, nba basketball, new orleans, new orleans hornets, paul, raps, raptorland, raptors, the big easy, toronto, toronto raps, toronto raptors, turk, turkoglu, west

Love that Monster
We’ve got a winner! The Leafs picked up a point for the sixth straight game and didn’t even have to lose in overtime tonight — instead, they came up with a 3-2 win in a battle of the league’s worst in Carolina.
The Monster made 34 saves for the Leafs, who erased a 2-0 first period deficit and won it on Jason Blake’s power play goal about midway through the third. And who assisted on the winner? You guessed it — Phil Kessel! The new era has begun!
After Brandon Sutter and Sergei Samsanov scored to give Carolina an early lead, Toronto got second period goals from John Mitchell and Nikolai Kulemin to even it and set up Blake’s winner.
So, points in six straight and a fine little 2-7-5 record leaves the Leafs second-last in the Eastern Conference with a date with Detroit at the ACC tomorrow looming. Seven straight? To quote my close friend Tim Bentum, “Let’s see what happens!”.
Posted in Hockey | Tags: toronto, acc, leafs, tim bentum, nhl, Hockey, carolina, hurricanes, red wings, maple leafs, gustavsson, the monster, kulemin, blake, nhl hockey, kessel, toronto maple leafs, toronto leafs, detroit red wings, carolina hurricanes, wings, air canada cente, samsanov, sutter

That's gotta hurt!
Yep, a new contender for most offensive Halloween costume of 2009 has emerged. I still think Steve McNair is having a better year than Kerry Collins, though.
The above picture, by the way, is from another of Deadspin’s “Sports-O-Ween” galleries.
Posted in Football | Tags: baltimore ravens, collins, costume, deadspin, Football, halloween, kerry collins, mcnair, murder, nfl, nfl football, ravens, sports-o-ween, steve mcnair, tennessee, tennessee titans, titans

Adriano Belli and the Argos look to finish on a strong note Saturday
The CFL regular season consists of 18 games over four months, but you can forgive the Argos for feeling like it’s lasted a lot longer. At 3-14 and long eliminated from postseason play, Toronto wraps up the 2009 season Saturday at Rogers Centre against the league-best Montreal Alouettes.
The Alouettes, 14-3 and locked into a first round bye, will likely spend much of the afternoon with big guns such as Anthony Calvillo and Avon Cobourne stapled to the sidelines to ensure their health for when the games actually matter. Similarly, Argos coach Bart Andrus will be sending out a few fresh faces, though for different reasons — he’s holding auditions for next year.
“It’s the last game,” Andrus said after Friday’s walk-through. “It’s their last opportunity to play and make an impression. Still, we’re approaching it from the standpoint that we’re playing to win this game.”
The most notable new face in the Argos lineup will be at quarterback. After spending almost the entire season on the practice roster, Stephen Reaves will get the ball for his first career CFL start. Reaves came in in relief last Saturday in Edmonton, completing 10-of-16 pass attempts for 122 yards and a touchdown in Toronto’s 36-10 loss.
“The last few weeks everyone has been auditioning for jobs,” Reaves said Thursday. “In this league, it seems like it could be one play that could either get you back or not get you back the next year. Personally, I see it as an audition for me.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity,” he added. “It’s not under the circumstances everyone wants, but I’m excited and hopefully we come out with a win.”
While Reaves and the Argo offense will be looking to finish on a strong note, the Toronto defense, which enters the finale amongst CFL team leaders in several major categories, is left to lament a season of strong play left to waste. Still, that doesn’t mean they’re ready to mail it in a week early.
“It’s the same mindset as every other game,” said defensive tackle Kevin Huntley, who leads the Argos and sits sixth in the CFL with nine sacks. “We want to go in and compete and do the best we can, regardless of whether they’re going to the playoffs and we’re not. We want to end the year on a good note.”
Adriano Belli, Huntley’s partner in crime on the defensive line, echoed his sentiments.
“Tomorrow’s our Grey Cup,” Belli said after the walk-through. “We’re going to go out there and have fun.
“More than anything, we feel bad for our fans, though it hasn’t been for a lack of effort. We’re going to play our hearts out.”
The Argos and Alouettes kickoff at one Saturday.
Posted in Football, argos | Tags: adriano belli, alouettes, als, andrus, anthony calvillo, argonauts, argos, audition, auditions, belli, calvillo, cfl, cfl football, cobourne, finale, grey cup, huntley, kevin huntley, montreal, montreal alouettes, reaves, rogers centre, season finale, stephen reaves, toronto, toronto argonauts, toronto argos