Did Obama Just Get the Tar Heels in Trouble?

Ok,for those who don't know, Yesterday Presidential candidate Barack Obama played a pick-up game with the University of North Carolina Tar Heel basketball team. If you haven't seen it, check the YouTube video right here...gotta admit he looks like he could hold his own a little bit.



But here's the "problem", it's possible that this game violated two NCAA regulations. First UNC Coach Roy Williams was at the game, and coaches are not allowed to view pick-up games in the off season. Second, the game was apparently mandatory for the team, and NCAA regulations state that their can be no mandatory athletic events during the period of finals (which started Monday at UNC).

The NCAA has already said they'll wave the violations because it was such a "special opportunity" for the team. Now, I'm not saying that the NCAA was right or wrong, but it makes you wonder. What do you think?

Why Weaver?

Here in Wisconsin, the Brewers have very quickly become a sexy team. What I mean by that is that they have become very popular...very quickly, because they have gotten very good...very quickly. So the hot button issue right now with the Brew Crew is that they've signed former post-season hot shot Jeff Weaver to a minor league deal.

My question is why? I haven't really understood the moves the Brewers have made with their pitching staff this year. There are major concerns for me in this pitching staff.

• I get that Ben Sheets looks really good, but I wonder if he's going to stay healthy?
• Chris Capuano is gone for the year, getting the second Tommy John surgery of his career. After the season he had last year that might be a good thing.
• Jeff Suppan is your #2, I Like Suppan but I don't think that he's a #2 on a world series contender (am I wrong?)
• After Sheets and Suppan, the rest of the rotation is either unproven (Yovani Gallardo, Manny Para and Carlos Villanueva) or incredibly streaky (Dave Bush a.k.a. "The Human Light Switch")
• Move to the Bullpen and you get more stability. Pitchers like Guillermo Mota and Seth McClung have been a great addition to the staff...
• ..But move to the closer role and again their are concerns. With the departure of Coco Cordero to Cincinnati, the position has become a weakness. How long will Eric Gagne hold up in the closer role (he hasn't been the same since he got hurt with the Dodgers...a brief appearance of the old Gagne in Texas last year was erased by a horrendous stint with in Boston)? and if he falters who's set to take over the closer role? Derrick Turnbow who was dubbed Derrick "Turnblow" by many in Milwaukee (Turnbow just hasn't been the same since his bobble head day at Miller Park).
  

The NL Central is still going to be decided between the Cubs and Brewers, and the cubs have their own problems too, but the Brewers' pitching staff concerns me...a lot.

...and Out Come the "Sue" Birds

Former Seattle Supersonics' (yeah I called them supersonics!) owner Howard Schultz isn't very happy with new owner Clay Bennett's plans to move the team from Seattle to Oklahoma City.

If you're a sports fan you've no doubt heard this story already. But, this morning it was discovered that Schultz isn't going to take the move lieing down. There are reports that Schultz is planning to sue Clay Bennett for breach of contract. Schultz is arguing that when he sold the team to Bennett, Bennett agreed to make a "good-faith effort" to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

I found this local news report from Seattle's NBC King 5 (I swear to god, that's their tag line) from this morning.

Calling all Knuckleballers!

It's not a secret that baseball is my favorite American sport. It's also not a secret that the Knuckleball is my favorite pitch in the history of baseball. Because of that, this ESPN.com Feature caught my eye. If you have a 5 or so minutes check out this video. Makes you think about how game changing a good knuckleballer can be.

So it's finally happend...the ground feels so cold

Alright so it's finally happened. Brett Favre has retired. (Yeah I called that one a little early I guess)

While it's still not 100% that he won't change his mind in 2 weeks. He may come back after he's seen all the talking heads yapping about how he still has 3-4 good years left, and how he's got a great young team that's just starting to come together. But for some reason this just seems to fit.

Doesn't it though? I mean everyone when they first heard it was shocked, I know I was, but after thinking about it you start to realize it fits. If you believe the reports, he doesn't have any close friends left on the team, FB William Henderson was the last of those (Henderson was released last March). He's been toying with the retirement idea for over 5 years, He's wanted Randy Moss for 2 years and hasn't gotten him, and i'm sure he doesn't want to go through yet another training camp.

Granted he could have pulled a Strahan and just kept the packers guessing through half of training camp so he wouldn't have to go through it, But that probably doesn't go over well with a QB as opposed to a DE.

Either way I think this is legit, he deserves to walk away after the great year he and his team had. even if he did end his Career with an interception. That really conveys his career, he was a gambler. He'll throw more then his share of INTs, but with that you get a lot of TDs.

Even as a childhood Bears fan, I'll miss Brett Favre, and I'm sure all football fans will as well.