June 2nd 2011: Daily Sports News – Gossip – Headlines

Water Cooler – June 2nd, 2011

Here we go with today’s sports water cooler talk. Here, you won’t just find the straight news; you’ll find the stuff everyone is talking about – the ice breakers, the Twitter Sports Picks and topics…well, basically all the stuff you discuss at the water cooler.

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#1 958 San Diego Padres 96%
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Sports News – NBA news: Shaq retires; Ricky Rubio to join Timberwolves; Jay Triano out as Raptors coach; huge ratings for finals

One of the NBA’s greatest players of all time is calling it quits. Shaquille O’Neal announced on Twitter yesterday that he’s retiring.

“We did it,” he tweeted. “Nineteen years, baby. I want to thank you very much. That’s why I’m telling you first. I’m about to retire. Love ya. Talk to you soon.”

He told ESPN that he’d formally retire in a press conference on Friday at his home. “Father Time has caught up with Shaquille O’Neal,” he said. “I’m going to miss the competition… Actually I’m going to miss everything.”

Shaq retires at the NBA’s fifth all-time leading scorer, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. He won four NBA championships, was a three time Finals MVP, was a 15-time All-Star and won the league MVP as a Laker in 2000.

Ricky Rubio is finally ready to join the Minnesota Timberwolves. The guard, taken fifth overall in the NBA draft two years ago, had remained in Spain because of a $6-million buyout of his contract. No word yet if he has officially signed his contract with the T-Wolves but he has reportedly agreed to join Minnesota following the conclusion of the Euroleague playoffs.

Jay Triano has the honor of being the first Canadian to hold a head coaching position with the Toronto Raptors but his reign hasn’t been pretty. The Raps went 22-60 this past season and have gone 87-142 under Triano. So it’s no surprise that the Raptors have decided not to pick up Triano’s contract option for next season. Their search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

The NBA Finals ratings are exploding with The Decision taking center stage. Game 1 between the Miami Heat and Dallas Mavericks drew a 10.7 Nielsen overnight rating, the best since the Pistons and Lakers drew an 11.5 rating seven years ago.

MLB news: League investigating A-Rod, cousin again; Matt Holliday to DL; Tommy John surgery for Dice-K

Alex Rodriguez and his cousin, Yuri Sucart, are once again under investigation from Major League Baseball. Sucart, who A-Rod said injected him with performance-enhancing drugs, had been banned from any team-related function or facility. However, he was recently seen travelling with A-Rod on some road trips. Naturally, Major League Baseball is “looking into” the matter.

It looks like St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Matt Holiday’s quad will land him on the disabled list. The National League’s current batting leader played Monday for the first time since May 22 after straining his quad but clearly came back too early. He was scratched from Tuesday’s lineup and appears DL-bound.

Daisuke Matsuzaka’s star continues to fall. His new rock bottom: Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox righthander will miss the rest of 2011 and part of 2012 to have his elbow ligaments repaired.

NHL news: Patrice Bergeron says Alex Burrows bit him in Game 1; Bono hitchhikes with Gilbert Brule

Just one game into the Stanley Cup final, the Bruins and Canucks have some bad blood brewing. Bruins center Patrice Bergeron claims that Canucks winger Alex Burrows bit him during a second-period scrum.

“He did. Obviously, he cut me a little bit on my finger,” Bergeron said. “But I’m not going to be here complaining about it, but I’ll let the league do the job. But he sure did.”

Random hockey story of the day: Edmonton Oilers center Gilbert Brule picked up a hitchhiker on Tuesday: Bono. As in, Bono the U2 singer. Bono was to touched that he gave Brule tickets to his show in Edmonton on Wednesday. Brule then sold his tickets to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Don’t know about that decision, Gilbert.

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