AP poll to allow voting for lower-division schools (AP/SI.com)

The Associated Press announced today that lower-division schools, like say Appalachian State for instance, can now receive votes in its 71-year old poll.

“It’s great they opened the door,” Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore said. “Certainly we’re not going to be the No. 1 team in the country. We know that. We’re not even going to be in the top 10. But if you have a win over a nice football team, I like that it’s not out of the realm of possibility for a school like us to be one of the top 20 or 25 teams in the country.”

The AP decided to make the change because schools that show they can compete with big-time teams on the field should have a chance to be recognized with them in the top 25, Sports Editor Terry Taylor said.

Rick Ankiel, the pitcher-turned-outfielder who is having a magical return to the majors, is having a career type o’day in St. Louis.

He’s slugged two home runs and five RBI in Thursday’s contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

The Cardinals lead 11-3 through five innings.

***UPDATED at 5:58 PM ET***
“The Natural” just knocked in two more RBI on a bases clearing base double to right field.  He has ten total bases on the afternoon.

Rare Honus Wagner baseball card sold for record $2.8 million (AP/Y! Sports)

A baseball card once owned by NHL Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky has been sold on the auction block for a cool $2.8 million, the Associated Press is reporting.

It was purchased by an unnamed private collector in a deal brokered by SCP Auctions, the firm that handled the previous sale to a California private collector and took a minority ownership position in the card at the time.  A little over six months ago, the same card netted a then-record $2.35 million.

How rare is the card? It is said that fewer than 100 versions of this rare card of the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer exists.

Coors Light Gal, game of cornhole and me (SportsBiz)

While covering the NFL Kickoff Extravaganza! in Indianapolis Thursday, CNBC’s Sports Biz reporter Darren Rovell had some time to kill. 

He decided to play some ‘bag, better known as cornhole, with the Coors Light Silver Bullet gal.

Tough gig he has, eh?

So I’m here in Indianapolis for tonight’s NFL Kickoff. But with hours to go until the game, besides my segments I’m doing for CNBC, I have to find something to do with myself.

Having done my tours of stadiums and arenas, I’m always up for a game of bean bag toss. It wasn’t until this year that I heard it being called cornhole, which is frankly weird and a little uncomfortable. It’s not a recent phenomenon at sporting events, but apparently this cornhole is catching on. According to what I’ve read in ESPN The Magazine, there’s a King of Cornhole championship in Nevada in January, with $13,500 in prize money.

We think the most amusing/hilarious part besides burying the lead (natch) is he placed fifth in the 2005 World Watermelon Seed Spitting Championships.  The second hilarious part? He competed in the World Championship Cow Chip Throw in Beaver, Oklahoma.

What happens in Beaver, stays in Beaver.

We better stop with all the double entendres before we pull something.

News and notes while gearing up for afternoon baseball and posting all about football…

Dunn gets the nod for Falcons (ESPN.com) ESPN’s Atlanta Falcons correspondent Len Pasquarelli writes that Warrick Dunn has nabbed the starting running back slot for the Falcons.

Peter King’s 10 fantasy things (SI.com) We can’t think of anything wiser than to take Peter King’s fantasy football advice.

Your (2nd) best NFL QB wingman (The Big Lead) The use of the word “chillaxing” in this story will now be of our lexicon.

NFL kickoff bukkake: NFL Family Circus (KSK) Click the link and donate to a charity.  It’s a good cause, honest.

JSF’s definitive NFL preview (JoeSportsFan) Pigskin prognostications from the JoeSportsFan.

(From time to time, we’ll post a short blog entry regarding a current topic or something else that catches our fancy. It might be something trivial or something that really makes us wonder what the hell is going on.)

The FanHouse took a look at the state of the NHL’s business model and uncovers what we have long thought: it’s pretty damn grim.

After three years of mostly negative national press, the NHL urgently needs to cast itself in a more positive light to try and regain the sport’s standing that was mostly lost in the work stoppage.

[…]

So, this is a watershed year for the National Hockey League, as there needs to be growth again in the game that a little over a decade ago seemed poised to threaten the NBA for the third spot among the big four. Now, thanks to the lockout and poor television visibility, the league is arguably not even among the sports’ elite in the U.S., and needs some positive press to help turn around a tide that right now has the league washing out to irrelevance.

More after the jump »

Report: Mitchell wants to talk to 45 more players (New York Times)

George Mitchell, who is leading MLB’s blue-ribbon panel investigating players’ use of performance-enhancing drugs, is still seeking to interview 45 more players — both current and former — as of mid-August, the New York Times reports.

The former Senator wrote a letter to the Player’s Association and the Times was privy to a reading of it recently.

In the letter, signed by MLBPA general counsel Michael Weiner, the union restated its concerns about players cooperating with the investigation — namely, that they could face discipline from Commissioner Bud Selig’s office, as well as legal ramifications. It also raised the possibility that the final report, if it names players who have already tested positive for banned substances or suspended under baseball’s drug policy, would violate the collective bargaining agreement between baseball and its union.

We anticipate zero participation from these players since the former Senator doesn’t have subpoena power.

Lakeland man wasn’t who he said he was (The Ledger.com)

A man that claimed for years that he was ex-Major Leaguer Bill Henry died of a heart attack last week in Lakeland, Florida and gone with him are how and why he tried to pull it off.

For decades he passed himself off as the former major league pitcher from Texas. The Lakeland man, a retired salesman from Michigan, kept right on telling that story until his death here last week of a heart attack, and no one doubted him.

Especially his wife of 19 years and his stepchildren.

Naturally, his obituary made headlines nationwide. After all, Bill Henry had been in the majors for 16 years, even pitched in two games of the 1961 World Series while playing for the Cincinnati Reds.

And then Bill Henry - the lanky left-hander from Texas who debuted with the Boston Red Sox in 1952 and went on to a career record of 46 wins, 50 losses, 90 saves and a career earned run average of 3.26 - caught wind of the story. Needless to say, it took him by surprise.

Thanks to an eagle-eyed SABRE-matrician in New England, the hoax was exposed when he noticed a discrepancy in both men’s age.

Tip o’the cap to STLToday.

Ex-Chief/FOX broadcaster tries to carry-on gun (Can’t Stop the Bleeding)

The blog Can’t Stop the Bleeding writes via a Kansas City FOX station that former FOX Sports football analyst Bill Maas was arrested at Kansas City International on Wednesday for attempting to carry a concealed weapon on board in his carry-on luggage.

TSA authorities alerted the KCI Police who arrested Maas at 11:17 a.m.  He was booked and released and will have a future court date..

Maas is already facing charges in a July 7th incident in Peoria, Illinois when he and a female companion were arrested on felony drug and weapon charges.  Maas had a loaded .22 revolver during that incident.

Clearly, 2007 isn’t going Maas’ way.

Tip o’the cap to The Big Lead for the informational link.

The morning after Joe Morgan cried himself to sleep because Brandon Phillips broke his single-season home run record for a second baseman in Cincinnati…

The Indians swept the Minnesota Twins for the second time in ten days; the Dodgers fell four games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West as Arizona knocked off San Diego; Timo Perez (!) made the difference in Detroit with a walk-off single against the White Sox in extras and St. Louis’ Rick Ankiel hit his third home run in five games in his clubs’ miserable loss to Pittsburgh.

Indians 6, Twins 2 — Victor Martinez had two hits and two RBIs to back a quality start from Fausto Carmona and Cleveland beat Minnesota 6-2.

A’s 6, Angels 2 — Mark Ellis hit a three-run homer and Donnie Murphy led off the seventh inning with a two-run shot as the Athletics rolled over the Angels, 6-2.

BlueJays 6, Red Sox 2 — Vernon Wells hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning after Troy Glaus’ solo shot tied it in the eighth and Toronto tagged Boston’s usually strong bullpen for a 6-4 victory.

White Sox 2, Tigers 3 (11 innings) — Timo Perez’s single off the right-center field wall with two outs in the 11th inning gave the Tigers a 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.

M’s 2, Yankees 10 — Rodriguez talked his way into the lineup and became the first Yankees player in 30 years to homer two times in one inning, connecting twice in an eight-run seventh to lead New York over Seattle 10-2.

More after the jump »

News and notes while betting on NFL players’ fantasy statistics…

Woods, Els join list of FedExCup’s critics (USA Today) More critics, still no explanation how this tournament really works.

Niedermayer to discuss future Thursday (TSN.ca/The Hockey News) The Anaheim Ducks will discuss the future of All-Star captain Scott Niedermayer(!) Thursday.  It is already known that he will not be attending training camp.

Shock hold off Mercury (AP/ESPN) Detroit’s Shock win game one over Phoenix Mercury. Color us thrilled.

Raiders to name McCown starter for opener (NFL Network) The NFL’s Adam Schefter reports that Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin has named Josh McCown his organization’s starter for their Week 1 against Detroit.

A-Rod’s case for megabucks gets stronger (FOX Sports) It’s going to be downright hilarious that the possibility of his departure looms after A-Rod puts up epic numbers and could conceivably capture the AL MVP.  The sight of Yankee fans crying might flood NYC.

Browns corner jailed after airport run-in (AP/SI.com) An NFL player from the state of Ohio was arrested and charged after he drove a sport utility vehicle in reverse down a one-way street outside an airport, became verbally abusive with police…and he doesn’t play for the Bengals: Leigh Bodden of the Cleveland Browns.