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5724. wabbit - 8/24/2007 7:23:17 PM Michael Vick is copping a plea to everything but gambling. Michael Vick filed his plea agreement in federal court Friday admitting to conspiracy in a dogfighting ring and helping kill pit bulls. He denied ever betting on the fights, only bankrolling them.
The Atlanta Falcons quarterback is scheduled to formally enter his plea Monday in U.S. District Court. He signed the plea agreement Thursday.
"Most of the Bad Newz Kennels operation and gambling monies were provided by Vick," a summary of facts in the case said, echoing language in plea agreements by three co-defendants who previously pleaded guilty.
The statement said that when the kennel's dogs won, the gambling proceeds were generally shared by Vick's three co-defendants -- Tony Taylor, Purnell Peace and Quanis Phillips.
"Vick did not gamble by placing side bets on any of the fights. Vick did not receive any of the proceeds of the purses that were won by Bad Newz Kennels," the summary said... It doesn't matter what else he did, as long as he didn't place a bet, he'll get to play pro ball again in a couple years. I'll be interested to see if there is any way to prove he placed bets on the fights, or if there is any effort to investigate that aspect of the case.
I hope the NFL adds a clause requiring players to exhibit some semblance of humanity to their code of conduct. No, I'm not holding my breath on that one.5725. wonkers2 - 8/26/2007 11:35:28 PM Thursday night beer can race 5726. wabbit - 8/27/2007 1:01:26 PM  When Street Sense hit the top of the stretch in the $1 million Travers Stakes, it looked like the race was over. It was just beginning. Instead of pulling away from his less-than accomplished rivals, Street Sense found himself hooked up in a stretchlong duel with Grasshopper before prevailing by a half-length on a hot and steamy Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. The Kentucky Derby winner has lost his share of close calls -- the Preakness by a head, the Blue Grass by a nose -- but this time he came through after giving trainer Carl Nafzger a few anxious moments. Despite the absence of his toughest rivals -- Preakness winner Curlin, Haskell winner Any Given Saturday and Derby runner-up Hard Spun -- Street Sense needed his best effort to beat a horse running in his first stakes race. With the victory Street Sense becomes the 10th horse to win the "Run for the Roses" and the "Mid-Summer Derby" double. Thunder Gulch was the last to do it in 1995. Street Sense, trained by Carl Nafzger, was sent off as the 1-5 favorite in the seven horse field. Grasshopper set the pace around the first turn and into the backstretch followed by C P West, Street Sense and For You Reppo. The time for the 1 1/4 miles was 2:02.69. It was a much better race than most expected, including me.
In the supporting $250,000 King's Bishop Stakes, Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun also needed a full effort in defeating First Defence. Hard Spun, ridden by Mario Pino, posted a 1 1/2 length victory in the seven-furlong sprint. This was the first win for Hard Spun since the Lane's End Stakes in March.
Shadwell Stable’s homebred Shakis (Ire) rallied late along the hedge and closed resolutely for a three-quarter-length victory in the $200,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2) on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course to secure his first stakes victory. Shakis saved ground early on in fourth through an solid opening quarter in :23.10 and dropped back to sixth, more than 2-1/2 lengths off the pace, while Ballast (Ire) completed a half-mile in :47.10. The seven-year-old Machiavellian horse moved up along the inside, squeezed through a narrow opening in upper stretch, and quickly accelerated to the front with a furlong remaining. Under Alan Garcia, Shakis shook clear to complete 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:45.33.
5727. wabbit - 8/27/2007 1:01:43 PM  The New York Yankees hit the ball hard Sunday. The Detroit Tigers just kept making all the plays. The Tigers used three early homers and three late defensive gems to beat the Yankees 5-4, and can win their first series since mid-July with a victory in the series finale Monday night. The Tigers moved within 5-1/2 games of the Seattle Mariners in the wild-card race. Detroit began the day 2-1/2 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central. New York fell 2-1/2 games behind Seattle, and seven behind Boston in the AL East.
David Ortiz hit a two-run homer, and J.D. Drew and Bobby Kielty ended long homerless droughts to back Julian Tavarez's first win since late June as the Boston Red Sox finished a four-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox with a 11-1 victory Sunday. Strangely enough, Drew's last home run was in the same game as Tavarez's last win: June 20 at Atlanta. Kielty homered for the first time since last Sept. 19, when he was with Oakland. The Red Sox outscored Chicago 46-7 in the series, dropping the White Sox to 18 games under .500. Boston has won four in a row, improved baseball's best record to 80-51 and increased their lead over second-place New York to 71/2 games in the AL East. Tavarez (7-9), who has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen, was making just his second start since the beginning of August, but struck out seven and handcuffed the White Sox to two hits in six innings. He was 0-5 in his last seven starts, going back to June 25. Ortiz's 24th homer capped off a four-run fifth inning as the Red Sox ended Javier Vazquez's perfect month and sent the White Sox to their fifth straight loss and 13th in 15 games.
Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez singled home runs with two out in the 11th inning and the Cleveland Indians rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. The Indians, who scored a run in the ninth to send the game into extra innings, remained two games ahead of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. The Tigers beat the Yankees 5-4. Hafner's single off John Bale, the sixth Royals pitcher, scored Franklin Gutierrez, who led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Grady Sizemore, who was hit by a Bale pitch, scored the second run of the inning on a Martinez single. Joel Peralta (1-3), the fifth Royals pitcher, walked Gutierrez and was charged with the loss. Rafael Betancourt (3-0), who threw 18 strikes out of 22 pitches, struck out three in two perfect innings to pick up the victory. Joe Boroswki got his 37th save in 42 chances.
MLB scores
5728. wabbit - 8/27/2007 1:06:24 PM  Dalton Carriker said he couldn't feel his legs as he rounded the bases. His home run in the bottom of the eighth had just given Warner Robins, Ga., a thrilling 3-2 victory over Tokyo to win the 2007 Little League World Series title.
"I felt like I was flying, like Peter Pan," Carriker said. "I didn't know what I was doing."
Adrenaline took over from there, said the 12-year-old slugger with braces. His dramatic home run over the right-field wall off a 2-1 pitch from Japan's Junsho Kiuchi gave the United States three straight Little League championships.
5729. robertjayb - 8/27/2007 4:44:35 PM Michael Vick said in a press conference this morning that he has found Jesus and axed him for forgiveness. He accepts full responsibility for his actions. Amazing how Jesus turns up when the jailhouse threatens. 5730. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/28/2007 3:30:57 PM Dazzling!
Amazing Sports Acrobatics - The best video clips are right here 5731. wabbit - 8/28/2007 11:30:23 PM Amazing, but ... I'm sorry, there is just something unnatural about these kids. I see some serious knee problems in their future. Knees aren't meant to bend like that. And that one guy is going to have to kiss his cervical vertebrae goodbye by the time he is thirty. 5732. wabbit - 8/28/2007 11:31:51 PM Am I the only person who doesn't think Andy Rooney's recent column is in the same ballpark as Don Imus' remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team? Have people gotten so hypersensitive that they actually actively look for these kinds of things? In case anyone missed it, Rooney wrote a column in the Stamford Times about his lifelong dislike of baseball as it exists today. In the second paragraph he says, I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today’s baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me. They’re apparently very good but they haven’t caught my interest. How is that even close to "nappy-headed ho's"? Have I completely lost my sense of perspective? Perhaps this reveals Rooney to be a slightly ditzy old guy, but how exactly is it racist in the derogatory sense of the word? Suppose he had said 'Smith', or 'MacTavish', do you suppose the UK would be up in arms? Seriously, should he be tarred and feathered by the pitcher's union for saying in the same op-ed piece, "the player who starts the game as pitcher should have to play all nine innings without a substitution"? Rooney is backtracking now, no doubt at the behest of his employer. And I'm wondering when we'll see an apology from Manny Ramirez...for what, you ask? For saying, "Those Japanese guys know how to paint" in a recent comment about the Red Sox pitching staff. It's call op-ed for a reason. It's his OPINION. Sheesh. 5733. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/28/2007 11:35:04 PM Suckers for the Art, wabb. Whaddyagonnado? 5734. wabbit - 8/28/2007 11:52:35 PM True, true. 5735. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/29/2007 12:57:34 AM I loaded trucks to get through college and I'm still paying for it, every morning I awaken. Seven times down, eight times up, such is life. 5736. wabbit - 8/29/2007 1:07:49 AM I hear you, dahlink, and I feel your pain. I'm very lucky to have no major problems (minor scoliosis) with my back. But when it comes to knees, I know whereof I speak. 5737. robertjayb - 8/29/2007 1:11:15 AM 47th in health care but way up there in football...
AUSTIN — Mack Brown received a belated birthday gift on Tuesday.
The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved a two-year contract extension that pushes Coach Brown's annual base salary to $2.91 million this season.
5738. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/29/2007 3:33:39 AM Yikes, wabb! That happened because your brain is so heavy. :?> 5739. wabbit - 8/29/2007 7:11:03 PM nnnnnyaaaahhhhh, I don't think so, lol! 5740. Max Macks - 8/30/2007 9:07:51 PM When was the Kentuckly Derby run this year? 5741. robertjayb - 8/30/2007 9:18:54 PM First Saturday in May, the 5th this year. 5742. wabbit - 9/2/2007 3:22:37 PM  Lawyer Ron, winner of the Whitney Handicap, ran away from the field to capture Saturday's $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. It was the second victory for the colt this summer at the upstate New York track. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Lawyer Ron put himself atop the handicap division with the dominating win in the Woodward. The retirement of 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor left the division wide open. After a delay in the start of the 1 1/8 mile race, Wanderin Boy took the lead at the break and led the field around the first turn and into the backstretch. Lawyer Ron settled into second with Magna Graduate third and Sun King fourth in the eight-horse field. Entering the far turn Lawyer Ron moved past the leader as Met Mile champ Corinthian advanced on the outside into second. Coming off the final turn Lawyer Ron, ridden by John Velazquez, accelerated away from the competition as he left no doubt who was the best horse. The 3-5 favorite won by 8 1/4 lengths with Sun King finishing second followed by Diamond Stripes, Corinthian, Political Force, Brass Hat, Wanderin Boy and Magna Graduate.
Elizabeth Valando’s homebred Nobiz Like Shobiz held off a late charge from Twilight Meteor to win the $501,200 Kent Breeders’ Cup Stakes (G3) by a nose on Saturday at Delaware Park. Sent off as the 11-to-10 favorite, Nobiz Like Shobiz settled into fourth through a half-mile in the 1 1/8-mile turf race as Wheels Up At Noon set moderate fractions of :25.42 and :49.85 with Strike a Deal keeping him company. Turning for home, Wheels Up At Noon gave way as jockey Javier Castellano gave Nobiz Like Shobiz his cue. The bay Albert the Great colt charged up on the outside to take the lead and edged clear of Strike a Deal en route to what appeared to be an unchallenged victory. Twilight Meteor, who raced in midpack of the nine horse field through the first mile, picked up steam and rolled down the lane, narrowing the distance between himself and Nobiz Like Shobiz with every stride. The two hit the finish line in tandem but Nobiz Like Shobiz won his sixth victory in ten career starts by the slimmest of margins. Twilight Meteor was 1-1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Strike a Deal. Nobiz Like Shobiz completed the distance in 1:49.60 on firm turf.
Kentucky stewards have suspended trainer Patrick Biancone for 15 days after L’Aziza, winner of a maiden special weight race at Churchill Downs on May 3, tested positive for theophylline and caffeine. L’Aziza, a two-year-old filly by Zavata, out of Glimmer Ice, by Pine Bluff, is owned by Fab Oak Stable and Lewis Lakin. She was making her second career start, and will be disqualified and placed last. Purse money from the race will be redistributed. Biancone and veterinarian Rod Stewart are under investigation by the KHRA following a search of Biancone’s three barns at Keeneland Race Course on June 22. Caffeine and theophylline, a bronchodilator, are class B drugs under the KHRA’s Uniform Drug and Medication Classification Schedule. Biancone said the filly was treated with aminophylline six days before her race, and he did not expect it to still be in her system on race day. Biancone said caffeine and theophylline are residuals of aminophylline. He will serve the 15-day suspension from September 5 to 19. He said he will not appeal.
Thoroughbred Times
5743. wabbit - 9/2/2007 3:22:54 PM  What was supposed to be a tuneup turned into a stunner: Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32. Julian Rauch's 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds left Saturday put the Mountaineers ahead of the Wolverines and Corey Lynch blocked a field goal in the final seconds to seal one of college football's biggest upsets. "We're still sort of shocked," coach Jerry Moore said after being carried off the field by his players.
Tashard Choice helped Georgia Tech fans forget about the loss of Calvin Johnson . Notre Dame's three quarterbacks had Fighting Irish fans longing for Brady Quinn. Choice rushed for a career-high 196 yards and two touchdowns and the Georgia Tech defense had little trouble with Notre Dame's new passers, forcing two fumbles by Demetrius Jones , sacking Evan Sharpley seven times and keeping Jimmy Clausen from doing any damage in a 33-3 victory Saturday. Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis didn't see it coming either. He said one of the biggest problems was the Irish weren't ready for the speed of the game, and blamed himself for not having the team prepared. It was just the 15th season-opening loss in Notre Dame history and the most lopsided, surpassing the 31-10 loss to Pittsburgh to start the 1976 season. It's also the first time the Irish failed to score a touchdown in a season opener since a 20-12 loss at Michigan in 1985. The three points are the fewest points scored by the Irish under third-year coach Charlie Weis. The previous low was in a 14-10 win in the season-opener against Georgia Tech last season.
Linebacker Sean Lee led a furious defense with a forced fumble and a sack and Anthony Morelli threw for three touchdowns and a career-high 295 yards as the 17th-ranked Nittany Lions welcomed Joe Paterno back to the sidelines with a 59-0 rout Saturday of Florida International. Florida International? I know there are small schools that take money to offer their teams up as chum, but this is ridiculous.
NCAA Football
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