Why you can’t give your thoroughbred racehorse an obscene name (Slate)

It’s not everyday we plop down a link from the high-brow website like Slate.  Hell, it’s not everyday you get links from Business Week AND Slate.

The horse racing industry is long known to have thoroughbreds with unique, if not funny, names like On Your Knees (1977 and 2005), Spank It (1985) and Barely Legal (1982 and 1989).

In fact, Slate offers up a bunch more within this piece…after the jump.
More after the jump »

BusinessWeek’s Sports Power 100: Let’s debate! (SportsBiz)

Darren Rovell of the great sports business blog featured on CNBC’s website had a nice write-up on the latest issue of Business Week, which teamed up with ESPN: The Magazine to compile a list of the top 100 power brokers in sports.

While the idea of putting together the top 50 movers ‘n shakers in sports isn’t an original concept — The Sporting News has been doing it for years — a company that specializes in the business aspect of things lends a bit of credence to the project. 
Rovell offers up some names that should’ve made the list (and names that either shouldn’t have been or dropped considerably from their lofty perches), like Under Amour’s  Kevin Plank, whose revolutionary contributions to sports apparel (wicking materials) have become an essential mainstay for all high-performance athletes, gym rats and weekend warriors.
More after the jump »

Fielder’s driving force: Topping his father’s 51 HRs (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Prince Fielder’s 50th home run Tuesday, which made him the youngest player in major league baseball history to reach the mark, rekindled talk of the bad blood between him and his father, ex-big leaguer Cecil Fielder.

Fielder said he had no intention of keeping the 50th home run ball, but was hoping for No. 52.

“My dad had 51 (as a season high),” Fielder said. “Then, he can’t say anything.”

Fielder was not happy about comments his father made in a magazine article earlier in the year, claiming his son never would have been a first-round draft pick if he hadn’t paved the way. The two haven’t spoken for years and that rift apparently has widened.

That subject resurfaced when Fielder was asked about the “MVP!” chants at Miller Park and if he thought much about winning that award.

“It would be a cool award to get but that’s not something I think about,” he said, “besides the fact my dad never did it. If I do get it, that shuts him up again.”

Oh wait: Fielder wasn’t done taking his dad to the woodshed.

More after the jump »

According to a broadcast report on ESPN’s First Take, Major League Baseball suspends umpire Mike Winters for remainder of season.

You may recall that Winters was involved in a heated argument with San Diego’s Milton Bradley on Sunday in a game against the Colorado Rockies.  Bradley was trying to call timeout when it is alleged that Winters said something in a derogatory manner that set Bradley off.  During the exchange, Bradley was prevented by manager Bud Black in going after the umpire.  While being spun away, Bradley’s left leg got caught awkwardly, causing Bradley to tear his ACL and will miss significant time.

More upcoming…

***UPDATED at 1:31 PM ET***
The Associated Press has more details on the suspension of MLB umpire Mike Winters for the remainder of the 2007 season.

News and notes while thanking our lucky stars that we don’t have children…yet…

Woods will team with Howell III for President’s Cup (ESPN News Services) Woods and Howell III will take on K.J. Choi and Nick O’Hern in their opening President’s Cup match.

Vick tested positive for marijuana (ESPN) More of the Michael Vick follies as Kelly Naqi reports that the troubled NFLer tested positive for marijuana on Sept. 13.

Wilbon is afraid of blogs (Awful Announcing) We caught this interview yesterday while driving around town and must say we were completely surprised Michael Wilbon stated that “blogging has zero accountability”, but a major sports network could report a story related to the Michael Vick case becomes so false that they swept it under the rug.

Simmons: Booing breakdown (ESPN Page 2) Bill Simmons gets to the bottom of the question: why do we spend so much time booing our teams?

Kiss your grass goodbye (Reading Phillies) What better way to remove a playing surface that’s already slated for replacement than having a demolition night featuring five tribute bands? (Tip o’the cap to Deadspin)

Yost returning in 2008 (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost got a vote of confidence from team owner Mark Attanasio, who stated that his manager will return to the bench for the 2008 campaign.

“Ned is fine,” said Attanasio, who is in town for the club’s final home stand.

The Brewers still have a shot at the National League Central title, closing within two games of first-place Chicago with a 9-1 victory over St. Louis and the Cubs’ 4-2 loss in Florida. They also are one victory away from sealing their first winning season since 1992.

As the story indicates, Yost had received a lot of criticism — mostly from Internet and talk radio — due to the fact that the team has blown an 8 1/2 game lead since mid-July, only to be looking up in the standings during the season’s final week.  One website even went on to mention that there’s discord in the clubhouse over the manager’s incessant line-up tinkering and going with the hot-hand in situations when it dictates.

E-ticket: The Last Real Race (ESPN.com)

Robert Weintraub revisits the 1993 National League West pennant chase that pitted the Atlanta Braves (yeah, they were in the West) and the San Francisco Giants battling to the season’s final day.  The loser went home with a 103-wins and a feeling of failure.

Since the article is quite lengthy — and interesting — a short summary wouldn’t do it justice.  Instead, we’ll just tease you with a buried lead to try and force you to click the link.

Commonly known as The Last Real Race, the pennant duel fashioned by the Giants and Braves offered more day-to-day drama than Lindsay Lohan on her fourth vodka and Red Bull. It was a campaign that featured 207 combined wins between the two teams, one of only two seasons in history in which two teams in the same division won more than 100 games (New York and Baltimore won 103 and 100, respectively, in 1980). And it would be the final time such a successful second-place team would feel so empty at season’s end.

Any reference to Lindsay Lohan and vodka/Red Bulls deserves mentions, eh?

Designer to brand asterisk on ball; Hall of Fame to accept it (AP/ESPN)

Fashion designer attention whore Marc Ecko, who purchased Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball via an online auction, will have the record-breaking ball branded with the asterisk after an online vote determined its fate. 

Baseball’s National Hall of Fame announced that despite the branding, they will accept the ball.

Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey, also interviewed on the show, said accepting the ball did not mean the Hall endorses the viewpoint that Barry Bonds used drugs.

“We’re happy to get it,” he said. “We’re a nonprofit history museum, so this ball wouldn’t be coming to Cooperstown without Marc Ecko buying it from the fan who caught it.”

Last week, the soon-to-be former Giants slugger called Ecko “an idiot.”

Blackhawks owner Wirtz dies of cancer (AP/NHL)

The oft-critcized owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, Bill Wirtz, passed away Wednesday from cancer at the age of 77.

The notoriously frugal Wirtz became team president of the NHL club in 1966 and was chairman of the NHL’s Board of Governors during a key period in league’s history: the WHA-NHL merger that ended up bringing four clubs to the NHL and a youngster with a bright future by the name of Wayne Gretzky.

He’ll best be remembered by ‘Hawks fans as the man who snapped closed his wallet and took home games to a paid-television but had a philanthropic heart, donating countless funds to Chicago-area charities.

The morning after Prince Fielder became the youngest in Major League history to club 50 home runs in a season…

The Cardinals lost their 11th straight road game for the first time since 1978; the Lugo brothers (Julio and Ruddy) became the first brothers to face off in a pitcher-position player match-up since 1979 when the brothers Brett (Ken and George) accomplished the feat; Jimmy Rollins became only the second Fightin’ Phillie to join the 30(home runs)-30(stolen bases) club (Bobby Abreu was the first) and the Rays kept the Yankees from popping champagne with a walk-off.

A’s 3, Red Sox 7 — Manny Ramirez singled and scored Boston’s first run in the first inning, then walked to start a two-run fifth in a 7-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics.  Ramirez returned to the BoSox line-up after missing 24 games with an oblique strain.

Yanks 6, Rays 7  (10 innings) — The Devil Rays climbed back from a five-run deficit with a six-run sixth, capped by a Jorge Velandia grand slam, to take the lead, but the Yankees tied things up on a sacrifice fly by Melky Cabrera to knot things up in the eighth before hitting extra frames.  Dioner Navarro ended it with a walk-off, solo shot off Jeff Karstens in the tenth.

Angels 1, Rangers 3 — A three-run sixth inning off Darren Oliver left the visiting Angels trailing 3-1 and Rangers never looked back, winning by that same score.

Indians 4, M’s 3 (12 innings) — The Indians bullpen coughed up a ninth inning lead by allowing an Adrian Beltre two-run home run to tie up the festivities at 3-3.  The bullpen didn’t squander the second lead they were given as Kenny Lofton drove in Asdrubal Cabrera with a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning to give the Indians a 4-3 win.

More after the jump »

News and notes while a piece of history is sold on the auction block…

Fightin’ Phils GM doesn’t plan to return after 2008 (AP/ESPN) Pat Gillick will fulfill contract obligations, retire after ‘08 season.

Sources: Scurry to start v. Brazil (Soccernet) Veteran Brianna Scurry will start in goal instead of Hope Solo, who had started every game so far during this World Cup. Should the U.S. reach the finals, head coach Greg Ryan plans on bringing Solo back as his No. 1 keeper.

MSG boss: Plaintiff tampered with Thomas probe (AP/ESPN) More fun from the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment trial: James Dolan told a jury in U.S. District Court that another company executive told him that MSG vice president Anucha Browne Sanders tampered with an internal investigation of her discrimination claims by meeting with her employees and trying to persuade them to support her.

Landis: Anti-doping system ‘corrupt’ (AP/SI.com) Cyclist Floyd Landis wrote on his website that “the anti-doping system is corrupt.”

All-around excellence (Y! Sports) Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports writes that a third baseman in the NL and a second baseman in the AL are his choices for the Rookies of the Year Award.  The names? Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies and Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox.

For a real drug deterrent, start naming names (USA Today) John Saraceno of USA Today writes that sports organizations should release names of those involved in steroids ring as a means of deterrent for others.