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July 26th 2010: Daily Sports News – Gossip – Headlines

Sports water cooler headlines and sports gossip for Monday July 26th, 2010. Shea Matthews weighs in with his analysis and opinions on today’s sports action…

Water Cooler – July 26th, 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!

It’s MLB trade deadline week, so it only feels right to open the daily news with a major trade announcement.

MLB news: Angels acquire Dan Haren; Magglio Ordonez breaks ankle

Here come the Los Angeles Angels. You have to wonder if they would’ve made the move had Texas not acquired Cliff Lee earlier this month. Either way – the Angels got a whole lot better yesterday.

They shipped Joe Saunders, Rafael Rodriguez, Patrick Corbin and a player to be named to land Haren. That’s it!? Haren was struggling in 2010, sporting a 4.60 ERA, but he’s been one of baseball’s best and most durable starters for the last five years.

Even in his off year, he was leading the National league in strikeouts. This was a first-class hosing. Good job, Angels. Since they also acquired Alberto Callaspo last week, they’re clearly not ready to roll over and die in the American League West.

At 51-46, the Detroit Tigers are very much alive in the American League Central, trailing the Chicago White Sox by two games for the division lead. But the climb just got a whole lot tougher. The Tigers lost outfielder Magglio Ordonez to a broken ankle over the weekend and won’t have him back for six to eight weeks.

They also placed Carlos Guillen, a.k.a. Mr. Glass, on the DL with a strained calf.

NFL news: Giants sign Keith Bulluck; Dez Bryant refuses to carry pads; Sergio Kindle injures head in fall

During a wacky NFL weekend, the Giants were busy for the right reasons. Looking for veteran support to replace the retired Antonio Pierce, they signed Keith Bulluck to a one-year, $2.5-million deal over the weekend. Bulluck played 10 seasons with the Tennessee Titans and will shift to middle linebacker.

He comes with some risks; he had offseason surgery to repair a torn left ACL.

Dez Bryant continues to inspire Randy Moss comparisons – in more ways than one. First, he dazzled at the start of his first NFL training camp, even beating teammate and Pro Bowler Mike Jenkins on a deep ball. Wade Phillips called him the most impressive first-day player he’s coached in ages.

But the other Randy Moss parallel came when Bryant flashed some attitude. He refused to carry teammate Roy Williams’ pads as part of a rookie hazing process, claiming, “I feel like I was drafted to play football, not carry another player’s pads.”

Williams, who just happens to be the man standing in Bryant’s way for a starting receiving job, said every rookie has to go through rituals like carrying pads or paying for meals as a rookie. He did.

Ravens rookie linebacker Sergio Kindle spooked the team over the weekend when he took a nasty spill down a staircase and injured his head. He wound up hospitalized but is expected to make a full recovery.

NBA news: Kobe has knee surgery; T-Wolves owner fined for Beasley marijuana comment

It shouldn’t come as a major surprise that Kobe Bryant underwent surgery on his right knee. Given how hobbled he was throughout the playoffs, he was bound to need some kind of repairs. It was an arthroscopic procedure and it isn’t expected to affect his status for training camp.

Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations David Kahn is $50,000 poorer all of a sudden. The league fined him on Friday for making “inappropriate” remarks about new acquisition Michael Beasley.

Kahn said Beasley was “a very young and immature kid who smoked too much marijuana” while playing for Miami.

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