racingmeridian.com

The richest baseball contract of all time is the 275 million dollar package the New York Yankees gave Alex Rodriguez. Yesterdays 161 million dollar agreement between the Yanks and CC Sabithia ranks fourth, but does represent the highest amount ever given to a pitcher…sports radio was burning up with the rumoured Jason Blake for Sean Avery swap. It’s laughable. Brian Burke, Leaf GM, will never on board the unpopular and selfish lout…Burke already made his “unpopular and selfish lout” mistake. See Todd Bertuzzi for details…is there any athlete more tedious than Indiana Pacer T J Ford? An ungrateful swine, unmindful of the fact that if he wasn’t proficient with a bouncing ball his coda in life would be, “Fries with that?”…S I reports that the sole reason the Detroit Pistons took on career loser Allen Iverson was for the cap relief in the offing when his 20 million dollar deal comes off the books at the end of this season. Re-signing Iverson will simply not be an option for the marauders from Motown…why does the Joe Sakic snow blower incident remind me of the Mike Palmateer concoction of years back? The cocky Leaf goalie missed playing time after falling while hanging drapes. The injury occurred at two in the morning and was largely doubted by the faithful, especially those who had spent the previous hours getting well oiled with the puck stopper…the New Orleans Saints march into Chicago’s Soldier Field to tackle the Bears tonight. The Saints are 1-5 on the road this year…J P Losman will start for the beleaguered Buffalo Bills Sunday against the New York Jets. Trent Edwards is currently battling groin problems…Tarvaris Jackson will start for the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday against the Cardinals of Arizona. Downgrade the Minny chances…the NFC East is generally credited with being the toughest division in football. The Cincinnati Bengals are generally credited with being an atrocious excuse for a football squad. The Sporting News wonders aloud, how come the Bengals play that particular division so tough? They went into OT with the Eagles and the Giants and gave the Cowboys a tussle. Points to consider as the underdog’s line up against the Washington Redskins on Sunday… Matt Schaub posted 414 yards for the Houston Texans last week, torching the Packers, and he challenges the Tennessee Titans with his confidence at a high. Oddsmakers are offering only a field goal on the Texans, evidence of just how good this team is playing at the moment…the National Thoroughbred Racing Association is reeling after a marketing survey they commissioned came back with brutal news. The support is bleeding serious gamblers with the integrity of the sport the primary reason cited for defections. Worse, the survey found that cynicism was highest among “stakeholders” i.e. jockeys, trainers and owners. Racing has moved far too slowly in dealing with the critical issues of “juicing” and high “takeout”. The chickens are coming home to roost and racing looks likely to pitch into a period of steep decline. The blatant fix of a race at Woodbine on Nov 30^th is certain to discourage punters even though the jock involved was handed a lengthy suspension…HBO reported 1.25 million buys for Saturdays Manny Pacquiao - De La Hoya fight. In tough times that is an admirable number. There have only been four non-heavyweight fights to top one million and Oscar was a participant in all four (also Trinidad, Mayweather and Hopkins)…S I has a picture on their website captioned “Manny Pacquiao”. The picture is of Manuel Marquez… TSN will be showing the replay of the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight, along with a same-day tape delay showing of Vladimir Klitschko-Hasim Rachman, on Saturday night at 8pm…in Gene Wilder’s autobiography, “Kiss Me Like a Stranger”, he reveals he was never as close to Richard Pryor, his co-star in numerous flicks, as was presumed. The pair invariably played bosom buddies in their movies but Wilder speculates Pryor’s drug use contributed to his volatility and distance on the set. Huh, another myth explodes. I feel the same way I did when a classmate explained the improbability of Santa…Heath Ledger was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as the Joker in Dark Knight. His chilling portrayal of the psychopath deserves the posthumous reward…