NFL
– The Colts have hired Bruce Arians as OC. Arians “retired” after being fired by the Steelers, in large part because he was too pass-oriented. This is great news for the Colts’ and their likely first overall quarterback, as Arians is one of the most aggressive pass-first playcallers in the NFL. It’s also likely another sign that QB Peyton Manning is nearing his ends with the organization.
– League sources tell the Philadelphia Daily News impending free agent WR DeSean Jackson’s “opinion of his worth” is “night-and-day different” from the Eagles’. The two sides have apparently made little progress since the end of the regular season. Jackson has said he’d be open to playing under the franchise tag in 2012, but Daily News columnist Paul Domowitch doesn’t believe the Eagles would be willing to pay the roughly $9.5M the tag would guarantee. Stay tuned.
– The Bears have hired Chiefs director of college scouting Phil Emery as GM. Emery replaces Jerry Angelo, who was fired earlier this month after a decade on the job. Emery was an area scout for the Bears from 1998-2004. Emery has been with the Chiefs since 2009, and drafted well with KC in 2010.
– KTVU San Francisco reports 49ers’ OLB Aldon Smith has been arrested and charged with DUI in Miami Beach, Florida. Smith was reportedly booked into jail at 9:32 AM Saturday morning. He is currently in custody on $1K bond. Smith does not have a history of off-the-field issues. If Smith is convicted or pleads guilty, he’ll likely be facing a league-mandated suspension. He’s also the NFL’s rookie sacks leader this season.
MLB
– Cardinals GM John Mozeliak told Matthew Leach of MLB.com that, contrary to many recent reports, rumors of an impending deal with free agent RHP Roy Oswalt are “not true.” MLB Network reported Friday that a deal between the two sides is ”very close,” and ESPNBoston.com has since reported that Oswalt has “elected to stay in the National League” and is “likely” to sign with the Cardinals “soon.” Other teams believed to be in the running for Oswalt include the Rangers, Astros and Red Sox.
NBA
– Following a 27-point comeback in last night’s win over the Magic 91-83, Celtics’ F Kevin Garnett had a post-game interview to remember. Check it out:
– Bucks’ F Stephen Jackson has been suspended 1 game for verbally abusing officials and failure to leave the court in a timely manner after a meltdown on Friday night. He’ll miss Saturday’s game against the Lakers.
NHL
– Bruins’ G Tim Thomas spoke out during All-Star Media Day in regards to the negative attention he’s received from skipping the trip to the White House to meet President Barack Obama this week, and blames the media for blowing it out of proportion.
“[The controversy] is all media-driven and it has been from the start. Everything that I said and did was as an individual. It was not as a representative of the Boston Bruins,” Thomas said Friday at All-Star Weekend in Ottawa. “All it has to do is with me. But it’s separate from hockey. That’s my personal life and those are my personal views. Those are my personal beliefs. It has nothing to do with hockey. It has nothing to do with this All-Star Game. It has nothing to do with the Boston Bruins.”
Other players in the NHL weighed in with their thoughts on the situation:
“I’m not surprised about [the backlash] but I know it’s tough for him to go through it. But we as a team, nothing is going to change and we’re still going to play the same way. I don’t think it’s going to change the way we act to each other and behave to each other in the locker room. We always had a strong bond and it’s something that he addressed and he’s going to have to deal with,” said Bruins’ D Zdeno Chara.
“That’s how Timmy views it and you gotta respect how anyone thinks in this world and you never know. I’m a little surprised at the reaction. I think people sometimes read too much into it and make a big deal out of it,” said Leafs’ F Phil Kessel.
“I’m not a big political guy or whatever, but for me it’s a team event and should be an honor to be in the White House no matter what your political views are. It would’ve been the right thing to do to go there and enjoy the day, and who’s gonna say he’ll ever have another opportunity like that to go there again?” said Flyers’ F Scott Hartnell?
WWE
– To follow up on the rumor that Sunday’s Royal Rumble match will feature several WWE legends as surprise entrants, we can confirm that “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan canceled an independent date scheduled for Sunday in Louisiana for undisclosed reasons, a sign he could be at the Rumble. Hacksaw has a book coming out in several months and is expected to be featured on television leading up to the release. Duggan won the first Royal Rumble back in 1988.
– December’s WWE TLC pay-per-view drew an estimated at 182,000 buys. That number, which is not finalized, is down from 195,000 buys in 2010 and down from 228,000 in 2008. The preliminary report is based on the average buys reported for Q4 of 2012. The number will likely change, probably for the worse, when the official total is reported as the company includes “average current period buys” in their updated average for each PPV. The fourth quarter’s other events, Hell in a Cell, Vengeance and Survivor Series, all had higher buyrates.
– Former WWE and WCW star Paul Roma, a former member of the Four Horsemen, spoke to James Guttman of World Wrestling Insanity this week about not being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame along with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and Barry Windham. Roma says it’s unfair how Vince Mcahon gets to pick and choose which version of the Horsemen gets recognized in the Hall of Fame, especially when WWE honors actors like Drew Carey, who haven’t done virtually anything in the wrestling business:
“First I want to thank everybody for not forgetting and remembering that – A, I was a Horsemen. And B, why they chose me. At the end of the day, it gets down to the fact that the Horsemen were considered the elite, the best of the best and all that. When you pick just a chosen few, you’re leaving out everybody else. So what are you saying about that? They weren’t recognized? They weren’t Horsemen? Or is this Vince just being Vince and saying, ‘Oh. I get to pick and choose who I want because the Hall of Fame is Horsesh*t,’ for lack of a better term anyway. When you put Drew Carey in the wrestling hall of fame, what’s his claim to fame? Did he grease Vince’s backend or what?”
“How can you take it serious? They threw him in. He’s an actor. He beat nobody. Everybody that you put into WrestleMania, why don’t you put them in the Hall of Fame? Or anybody you throw in the ring, throw them in the Hall of Fame because they were on TV once. “
Roma argues that there’s one glaring omission in the Hall of Fame – a superstar who deserves to be recognized, but hasn’t due to his issues with Vince:
“Why isn’t Savage in there? He was an icon, wasn’t he? Why not put him in or some of the other guys? I don’t get it. Listen, if you run it like the baseball Hall of Fame and you have people nominated, you vote, and you can show all that – where the voting went – it might make a little more sense. But how do you keep guys out who made you so much money and made the business what it was back in the day, like Savage?”
– Zack Ryder’s “Long Island Iced Z!” YouTube show is moving to the official WWE Youtube channel next week. WWE will be launching new “webisodes” on February 1, 2012 as part of their partnership with Google/YouTube.
– As reported earlier this week, David Otugna returned to the court room on Thursday as a lawyer. The WWE website features an interview with Otguna following his recent legal victory. Otunga had this to say about his legal career:
“I actually worked as a full time trial lawyer in Boston while in my third year at Harvard Law School. Most people couldn’t have handled trying to graduate from the most prestigious law school in the world while trying cases full time, but I’m obviously not most people.’
“I don’t have time for a full caseload because I’m a globally recognizable WWE Superstar and Official Legal Counsel to Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim Raw General Manager, Mr. John Laurinaitis. But I like to stay sharp.”
“I’ve tried twenty cases and I’ve won them all. I have a perfect record. What else would you expect from someone like me?”
– During an interview with Inquirer.net to hype the release of his new movie “Journey 2,” The Rock reveals that he requires police protection every few months because of stalkers. Rock said:
“I go through cycles – it comes about every eight to ten months where I have a stalker fan that starts to require the local police to get involved, and it’s interesting because they’re generally women who eventually just want some attention. It’s the pecs (laughs),”
Despite all the crazy women who take their love of The Rock 3 or 4 steps too far, Rock said he did not have any problems when filming Journey 2 in Hawaii, where he grew up:
“But in Hawaii (where “Journey 2? was filmed), the fans are just wonderful. I grew up there, and personally it was such a pleasure to bring our movie there, what it did for the locals and the local businesses in Hawaii was just my way of giving back.”
TNA
– Thursday night’s episode of TNA iMPACT! Wrestling drew a 1.17 cable rating, with 1,597,000 viewers. The show ranked #35 among cable TV showson Thursday, #18 among the male 18-34 demographic and #12 among males 18-49.
