Sports update 12/16/11

Here's your sports update for Friday...Friday...gotta get down on Friday...

Chris Paul is a Clipper. Chris Paul met the media, yesterday, as the newest member of the Los Angeles Clippers. Paul was very complimentary of his former home (New Orleans Hornets) and talked about how he's ready to win now. Usually, I'd make a 'but you're a Clipper' joke but Blake Griffin + Chris Paul is a pretty legit combo...as long as they can stay healthy. And if they both stay healthy the Clippers very well could be a play-off team this year. There's also the chance that strange things happen this season thanks to the shortened training camp, pre-season and regular season. We'll see if it makes a difference or not but not having camp to develop chemistry between all these new guys could cause some issues. Then again it could cause a lot of issues league-wide where bad teams like the Washington Wizards could steal a few extra wins from the good teams - due to the lack of a pre-season/training camp. Should be fun to watch. Yahoo! version of the Paul to Clippers move here.

Here's a small quote from Chris Paul in the ESPN article:  "Why did I make a long-term commitment? Because I believe in this organization," Paul said. "I believe in the players here and I want to win and I want to win now. I'm excited about what the future holds. I can't wait. I'm tired of doing everything else, I want to play."

Kobe wants to be traded? Stephen A. Smith claims Kobe is 'livid' (because of the Paul deal falling through and the Odom to Dallas deal) and will demand a trade. I'm not a fan of Stephen A. Smith, but the NBA guys seem to love him so I doubt he's making it up. Kobe has every right to be furious at the Lakers, but more of his anger should be directed towards David Stern and whomever 'vetoed' that Chris Paul trade - because in reality the Lakers front office had the Chris Paul deal DONE and it was squashed. Not exactly anything the Lakers could have done better there. Turning around and trading Lamar Odom to the team that knocked you out of the playoffs (Dallas) didn't make ANY sense and didn't help make Kobe happy. This could also just be Kobe trying to make sure the Lakers bring in a big name guy. Either way all of this goes away if the Lakers pull off the deal for Dwight Howard (or another super star). Here is what Stephen A. Smith had to say; [transcribed from the link here - which got it from larrybrownsports.com]:

Appearing on SportsCenter, Smith said “I predicted that Kobe Bryant will demand a trade, and I am not budging from that. He’s livid. I’ve known Kobe too long. He is ticked off."
“It’s not just because [the Clippers] got Chris Paul, which is a guy that he expected to have. It’s because Jim Buss seems to be doing the inexplicable,” Smith said. “It makes no sense. It’s one thing for the team not to have improved [after losing to the Mavericks], it’s another thing entirely for them to regress. If you know anything about Kobe, that is the last thing that he wants to do.

I don't have any better or official links for this story - other than the one I linked you to that had the Stephen A. Smith quote. Will post more as it's available (or tomorrow).

Barry Bonds to be sentenced today for obstruction of justice. A non-story, really, unless for some odd reason the judge hands out a harsher sentence than is expected. Most analysts assume Bonds will end up with some variation of house arrest and/or community service based on the other sentences handed out to other sports figures convicted of similar charges. The main point here is that it will "end" the BALCO investigation. ESPN version here. Yahoo! version here.


Chicago Bears' Sam Hurd arrested on federal drug charges. Lots of drugs, lots of problems. Bad things happening in Chicago? I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you! Yahoo! version here. Also, here's a few lines from the ESPN article:


The investigation into Hurd's attempt to buy large amounts of cocaine and marijuana began in July 2011, when he was still a member of the Dallas Cowboys, and concluded when he personally met with an undercover agent Wednesday at Morton's The Steakhouse in Rosemont. At that meeting, Hurd told the informant that he wanted to buy "five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week for distribution in the Chicago area," according to the complaint.

High school students suspended for 'Tebowing.' In what has to be one of the dumbest suspensions of all time, a group of high school students were suspended for what must have been "Excessive Tebowing" after they continued to perform the Tebow pose in the hallways at school. Yahoo! version here.

MLB owners ratify CBA. Labor peace for the next 5 years.

Josh Willingham signs with Twins. 3-year, $21 million deal.

Prison inmate the 4th man to accuse Bernie Fine. Wow, sickening (if true). Glad Jim Boeheim defended this guy so vehemently. Yahoo! version here. ESPN version here. Also, here is a small excerpt from the ESPN article:

A 56-year-old New York prison inmate says former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine began molesting him more than 40 years ago and continued to have sexual contact with him into adulthood. Floyd VanHooser told The Associated Press during a prison interview Thursday that Fine began sexually abusing him when VanHooser was 14 years old. As an adult, the contact included sex acts for money.

Falcons blow out Jaguars on Thursday Night Football, 41-14.


Dwight Howard still on the trading block. The Lakers are bummed about not getting Chris Paul and will almost certainly put the full court press on to land Dwight Howard. The Nets are also looking. And every other day Orlando seems like they might want to keep him. Ever-changing story. With this short pre-season though it might make it hard to pull off prior to the season starting. Yahoo! version here. ESPN version here.

New info on the death of IndyCar racer Dan Wheldon. Yahoo! version here. ESPN version here.

Flyers captain, Chris Pronger, out for season because of post-concussion symptoms. Concussions are a HUGE issue/topic in sports, right now, and even though this is a Flyer ya still have to feel for anyone dealing with this. Yahoo! version here. ESPN version here.

USC offensive tackle, Matt Kalil, to enter 2012 NFL Draft. Yahoo! version here. ESPN version here.

Joe Lunardi's latest 'Bracketology' is updated.

WVU sports news:

WVU football received two more verbal commitments, Thursday (at least that's when they became public knowledge, officially) bringing them to 27 total verbal commitments. One was well-known (Joseph), if you read this post yesterday. The other (Johnson) may not have been as widely known (on Thursday) but will replace the graduating Tyler Urban nicely. The order in which they were published is irrelevant, but I'll use the WV Metronews posts (since they're free).

Tight End Will Johnson commits to the Mountaineers. Will Johnson, from Osseo, Minnesota became WVU's 26th commitment (again if you're going by order they were posted). A 6'7" 245 pound tight end chose WVU over offers from Auburn, Boston College, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Minnesota and Mississippi. Johnson is a 3 star prospect (Rivals, Scout, ESPN and 247) and is ranked 24th best tight end by Rivals, 38th best tight end by Scout and 54th best tight end by ESPN. Scout profile here. Rivals profile here. ESPN profile here. 247 Sports profile here.

Safety Karl Joseph verbals to WVU. Karl Joseph, a 5'11" 190 pound safety, gave his verbal commitment to the Mountaineers at a press conference at his high school, Thursday. This marks the 27th commitment for WVU's 2012 class. Joseph is a versitle athlete that could play multiple positions in college (safety, OLB) but probably projects as a bandit safety for WVU. Joseph is a 3 star prospect (Rivals, Scout, ESPN and 247) and is ranked the 31st best safety by Rivals, 37th best safety by Scout and 36th best safety by ESPN. Joseph chose WVU over offers from Florida, Northwestern, Michigan State, East Carolina, Nebraska, Illinois, Kentucky, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Miami-FL, South Carolina and Tennessee. His final two were believed to be WVU and UCF. Scout profile here. Rivals profile here. ESPN profile here. 247 Sports profile here. WV Illustrated has more coverage here.

Nike's 'Rise and Roar' Campaign tabs WVU. Nike's new campaign relies on fan voting and the top 16 schools with the most feedback will earn a cool Nike designed shirt for their school/team. Here's an article about the campaign from WV Illustrated. And here is the link to the voting - spread the word!!

WVMetroNews Statewide Sportsline interviewed Johnson and Joseph's high school head coaches. You can listen here.

Here is a look at WVU's new football cleats:

Upcoming WVU basketball:

Just a quick reminder that WVU men's basketball has a game tomorrow. WVU takes on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Morgantown (2pm Saturday) in the opening game of the iBN Sports Las Vegas Classic. They follow that up with another game of the tournament in Morgantown on Monday night (7pm) vs Tennessee Tech. From there the Mountaineers will travel to Las Vegas for the last two games of the tournament. Thursday, December 22nd vs Missouri State at 8:00pm and the finale on Friday, December 23rd vs Baylor at 9:00pm.

WVU women's basketball plays tomorrow (Saturday) as well. WVU travels to Pittsburgh to take on Duquesne at the A.J. Palumbo Center (2pm). If you decide to go see the game it's "Buck Day" where tickets, hot dogs and drinks are all $1. After that the ladies will be back in Morgantown for a Tuesday night (7pm) tilt vs Mount Saint Mary's.

Have a great weekend!! Let's Go Mountaineers!!