Snooki To Get Into The Boxing Business

Jersey Shore star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi has turned out to be a pretty savvy businesswoman. I’m not calling her Bill Gates smart, it’s just that she’s turned her reality TV role into business ventures outside of television.

Her next venture is Team Snooki. That is her boxing team that will feature the Hyland brothers. Three Irish brothers that are champions in their weight classes. I don’t know which division or belts they hold, but that’s what I’m led to believe.  

Patrick “Pajo”, Eddie and Paul Hyland will headline a night of boxing at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City on Saturday, January 28, 2012.

“We are incredibly excited to introduce The Hyland Brothers and Team Snooki Boxing. We’ve seen what these boys can do, and expect nothing less than continued success and ‘living up to the hype’ for each of them here in the States,” Vice President of Final Round Promotions Mike Pascale said in a press release.

I guess the Snooki brand has reached the world of sports.

     

Saunders Gets Techinical For Sending In An Ineligible Player

The NBA season isn’t all that old. So there might be some mistakes early in the season that you can correct so they don’t bite you in the ass later in the season. With a prolonged lockout the play and mistakes on the court may look ugly at times. You just don’t expect it to spill over to the coaches.

But I’m talking about the Washington Wizards and they’ve already had some early season dust-ups within the locker room. And the coach Flip Saunders isn’t much better.

You should already know my feelings about Saunders, and this current mistake confirms it.

He sent Roger Mason into the game in the first quarter. He scored a basket and appeared to give the Wiz some quality minutes. Problem is, Mason wasn’t on the active roster. The Wizards were assessed a technical foul and the basket was credited to Rashard Lewis. Nice to see him earning his keep.

Seems a little dumb to have someone on the bench, dressed to play, who is ineligible. You know, in case something like this happens. It is 100% inexcusable. Flip Saunders is one of the worst coaches in the game so this does not surprise me. He should be in an ice shanty fishing on some lake in Minnesota. He can’t coach his way out of a paper bag.

Welker Fined $10,000 For Wearing An Unautorized Hat

On the heels of Marshawn Lynch being fined $10,000 over his Skittles inspired cleats he wore last week, New England Patriots receiver Wes Welker is being fined $10,000 for wearing an unauthorized hat. A hat he’s been wearing after games and during interviews all season.

Wes Welker was fined $10,000 by the league for wearing an “unauthorized hat during his postgame interview,” according to a league spokesman.

The hat in question is a Bonk Breaker hat. Bonk Breaker is a gluten free, dairy free energy bar and Welker is an investor in the company. 

Welker isn’t too happy about having to fork over $10,000 for some nonsense.

“Got fined by the NFL for wearing a @Bonk_Breaker hat in an interview after the game,” Welker wrote. “Thanks for warning me the other 16 weeks I wore the hat.”

At least give the man a warning if you have a problem with it. It’s like getting wrote up at work for something you did 9 months ago. It’s good that the NFL has their priorities together reagrding whta you can get fined for. 

     

Ohio State vs. Michigan….In October?

Wolverine and Buckeye might find themselves on the same side of the fence again in their fight for tradition.

Once again the Big Ten is threatning to move the Michigan/Ohio State game to October, away from their traditonal late November, season ending clash. the reasoning behind it all. To keep the rivals from a possible following week rematch in the conference title game.

It’s only a rumor right now, but according to a report on Bucknuts.com , it may be closer than reality than some think.

That’s right, “The Game” might no longer be the final game of the regular season for both schools. And while we despise the idea of the Buckeyes and Wolverines not playing the last game of the regular season, this move was inevitable when the Big Ten made the foolish decision to put OSU and UM in separate divisions. If “The Game” was kept as the final regular-season tilt of the year, there would be a good chance each season that Ohio State and Michigan would meet exactly one week after “The Game” to play in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Now, is this move official? No. But we have people we trust telling us that it’s eventually going to happen.

I won’t say yay or nay on this, but I say just leave well enough alone, but I’m not the decision maker.

    

LaMichael James Freaked Out By Space Mountain

The Oregon Ducks are making another Rose Bowl trip and I suppose they are making the most out of their time in sunny southern California. You know the sightseeing perks the teams get before the game itself.

On Tuesday the Ducks mad a trip to Disneyland and some took a ride on Space Mountain. I would assume that most enjoyed it, but based on this photo, running back LaMichael James didn’t share the same enthusiam as others on the ride.

At my advanced age I stay away from roller coasters but I’ve never had this kind of reaction.

Wade Says Beasley Needs To Dedicate Himself To The Game

Michael Beasley came into the NBA with a ton of hype and ability. The only concern any scouts had about Beasley were between the ears. I guess he may have been a little space headed. He still has ability to be a top shelf player in the NBA, that’s not going anywhere. The question is whether or not Beasley can properly dedicate himself to the game.

Former Miami Heat teammate Dwayne Wade says that if Beasley is ever going to live up to his billing that he must have the focus and dedication to get there. A winning environment might also help.

“Michael is an unbelievable talent,” Wade said. “And he can erupt any game, any moment. The ability that he has to use both hands around the basket, finishing. His jumpshot. He has all the tools. With Michael, it’s just going to take him to continue to grow at the game, and get to a winning environment, and start understanding what his team needs from him. I mean, he’s a good player. He’s one of the best young talents that we have in the game. But he has the potential to be a great player. If he wants it. And that’s what we always told him in Miami. So we’ll see.”

To anyone that didn’t know why Beasley was dealt to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a bag of hockey pucks, you know now. One day Beasley’s mind might catch up with his body.

 

Lynch’s Skittles Shoes Cost Him $10,000

The NFL’s uniform police has a problem with Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. Earlier this year Lynch was fined $5,000 large for wearing lime green socks against the St. Louis Rams.

Now the league is going after the shoes. After catching America’s fancy by eating Skittles on the sidelines during the same Monday night game against the Rams, Lynch donned some Nike cleats with a Skittles candy pattern against San Francisco last week. Lynch will be fined $10,000 for violating the league’s uniform policy a second time.

I know the NFL likes to keep everything in lockstep, but come on. The Seahawks have some of the worse uniforms in the league. I can’t fault Lynch for trying to jazz them up a bit. Lighten up and focus on the bigger issues of the game like bad officiating and how to reduce concussions without taking the macho element of the game. It’s not like hardcore fans look to see what uniform accessories players are wearing. I know I’m and I can care less what they wear out there.

I know what some say, it’s a uniform and the rules should be followed. Sorry but I like a little showmanship. It’s entertainment and a little individualism entertains me. Call me what you want but in a game like football there has to be some individualism as long as it isn’t detrimental to the team and Lynch’s shoes weren’t detrimental to the team.    

Porcello Might Be Trade Bait

According to reports over the past few weeks, the Cubs may be looking to part with starting pitcher Matt Garza who went 10-10 with a 3.32 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 2011.

Jon Heyman of SI.com tweets that in return for Garza, the Cubs will more than likely want young starting pitching in return which seems to be the case with any potential trade.

Earlier in the week, it was rumored that the Detroit Tigers could be interested in acquiring the 28-year-old right-hander who does have a history of pitching in the American League Central. The Tigers too also have some young pitching in the farm system including Andy Oliver and Jacob Turner.

But could the Tigers trade an arm already in the rotation?

Jason A. Churchill of ESPN believes that there is a possibility that the Tigers use Rick Porcello as bait to land Garza.

Porcello and Garza are different types of pitchers in their own right however Porcello would fit the bill in terms of what the Cubs are looking for in return.

McGrady Thinks Howard And Williams Will Land In Dallas

Dwight Howard is still waiting to be traded and Deron Williams wants help in New Jersey. The two parties recently had dinner together. It could’ve been to get an idea of where each other wanted to play at next season.

There is one person who thinks that they will end up playing together. Tracy McGrady. You see, McGrady can predict the future and in his future he sees that Howard and Williams will go and team up with Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas. I bet Mark Cuban would love for that to be true. I’d rather have McGrady tell me tomorrow’s winning lottery number.

It could happen, since the Mavs jettisoned some contributors from last year’s championship team and acquired some cap space. Enough to land the two biggest fish in next year’s free agent class.

“D-Will is from Dallas,” McGrady said. “You’ve got Dirk Nowitzki there. They’re going to have [cap space] there. That looks sweet. Dirk. D-Will. And then you get Dwight Howard. That’s it, right there.”

McGrady added: “Dwight’s going to find a sweeter spot for him next year with him being a free agent, with D-Will being a free agent, and Dallas already having an established star there. … Yup, Dallas.”

A dream scenario for Mavs fans and a possible nightmare for opponents. I think it won’t happen and look for the Los Angeles Lakers to be a player for either one.

  

   

Raiola Hopes He Doesn’t Get A Full Moon On Sunday

Now that the Detroit Lions are somewhat relevant again (they are headed to the playoffs), Green Bay Packers fans might have a reason to make them a target. In the past it was a guaranteed win for the Packers so the fans had no reason to get riled up for the Lions. Now that there has been some bad blood recently (the Ndamukong Suh stomping) there might be a “full moon” of sorts on Sunday. Everyone knows that the Packer fans like to flash opponents their backsides when they get off the bus.

Leave it to the Lions center Dominic Raiola to stir the pot regarding the Packer backers.

“It looks like they live a simple life,” he said. “They love the Packers and that’s about it. They are passionate. They tailgate right in their backyards, right where we park our busses.”

Raiola or the Lions haven’t been the targets of a moon shot but they could be this Sunday.

“We get there too early, but that would be pretty awesome,” Raiola said. “Well, I don’t know if I want to see some of those people naked, though. They aren’t in the best shape.”

We’ll have to see if that comment gets back to Green Bay.