Thursday Water Cooler – March 11, 2010
Here we go with today’s sports water cooler talk. Here, you won’t just find the straight news; you’ll find the stuff everyone is talking about – the ice breakers, the Twitter Sports Picks and topics…well, basically all the stuff you discuss at the water cooler.
Enjoy!
Controversy from an unlikely source in baseball leads off Thursday’s hottest sports news.
MLB news: Hunter sounds off on black Latino players
There are plenty of big mouths in baseball and, while Torii Hunter has always been opinionated, he’s also generally respected and considered one of the nicer guys in the bigs by his peers. That’s what made his comments yesterday so shocking. In a roundtable article about African American players in the majors published in Wednesday’s USA Today, Hunter was quoted as calling black Dominican players Imposters. Here’s an excerpt:
“People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they’re African-American. They’re not us. They’re impostors. Even people I know come up and say: ‘Hey, what color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?’ I say, ‘Come on, he’s Dominican. He’s not black.’”
Gulp. Hunter has spoken out about the article, claiming his opinions were misinterpreted and that “My whole identity has been about bringing people together.”
Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry ripped Milton Bradley yesterday, claiming that Bradley should stop blaming everyone but himself for his 2009 struggles and that “he should look in the mirror.” Bradley had told ESPN earlier this week in an interview that Chicago fans were racist and that he was “a prisoner in my own home.”
NFL news continues: Bryant, LT2 courted by division champs
Oh, boy. I know it’s the Bengals but, even by their standards, this is a stunner. Sure, signing Antonio Bryant seems like a decent idea. He’s just a season removed from an 83-catch, 1,248-yard season. But four years and $28 million is pretty absurd for a 29-year-old with two good seasons in eight years.
The Bryant deal is complete but the Vikings and LaDainian Tomlinson are still in a courtship phase. They’re hoping he can fill the Chester Taylor role as backup to Adrian Peterson and third-down back. Imagine if you were in a coma for two years and woke up now discover LT2 and AP on the same team? You’d think it was madness, as you wouldn’t realize that LT2 is washed up.
File under “of course”: Larry Johnson may be an Oakland Raider next year. He’s reportedly weighing offers from the Black and Silver plus the Washington Redskins.
NBA news: Nike cashes on LeBron rumors
Apparently, Nike has little regard for the emotional stability of Danny Ferry and Cavs Nation. It released a special brand of shoe – the Nike Air Max LeBron VII Low Rumor Pack – featuring colors of teams that may sign LeBron James this offseason. Among the color schemes are the Knicks, Nets, Cleveland Browns and CSKA Moscow. Wow.
NCAA Basketball news: Opening-round upsets continue in conference tourney week
The first-round upsets just keep coming. The weirdest part is that they’re blowouts, too. Last night, Nebraska pounded fifth-seeded Missouri 75-60 to oust the Tigers from the Big 12 tournament. Brandon Richardson led the way with 19 points as Nebraska pulled the upset despite winning just two of 16 regular-season contests against Big 12 opponents.
Missouri was the defending Big 12 champion.
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