Categories
Sports

January 26th 2011: Daily Sports News — Gossip — Headlines

Sports water cooler headlines and sports gossip for Wednesday January 26th 2011. Shea Matthews weighs in with his analysis and opinions on today’s sports action…

Water Cooler – January 26th, 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.

SPORTSBOOK.COM PROMOS – JOIN and GET up to $100 FREE – 10% New Member Bonus on your first deposit. $20 Mobile Free Play – Stay on the go and in the dough with Sportsbook.com Mobile. Bet now! Join Now

Today’s Sports News – MLB news: Jays flip Napoli to Rangers for Francisco; Astros extend Wandy Rodriguez with three-year deal

Jays flip Napoli to Rangers for Francisco

Well, that was fast. Less than a week after arriving in Toronto as part of the Vernon Wells trade, catcher Mike Napoli has a new home again. The Blue Jays flipped him to the Texas Rangers reliever for Frank Francisco yesterday.

Napoli clubbed 26 homers last season but the Jays deemed him expendable with young gun J.P. Arencibia on the rise behind the plate. General manager Alex Anthopoulos instead opted to bolster his pen with Francisco, who was redundant in Texas after Neftali Feliz stole his closing job.

The Houston Astros won’t let Wandy Rodriguez take the Roy Oswalt route out of town just yet. They signed Wandy to a three-year, $34-million extension yesterday. The lefty was 11-12 with a 3.60 ERA and 178 strikeouts last year.

Rocco Baldelli’s career is no more. The former clue-chip prospect tired of battling illness and injuries and is expected to announce his retirement today at age 29. He’ll likely take a job with the Tampa Bay Rays’ front office.

NFL news: Dolphins pursuing DeAngelo Williams? Carson Palmer could net a first-rounder? Chad Ochocinco to become Chad Johnson again?

According to sources out of southern Florida, the Miami Dolphins have decided to aggressively pursue DeAngelo Williams. The free agent is probably looking for a new home, as the Carolina Panthers likely want to hand their starting running back reins to Jonathan Stewart.

Will the Cincinnati Bengals rethink their refusal to accommodate Carson Palmer’s trade request? An unnamed GM said this week that he believes Palmer’s skills haven’t declined and that he’d “net a first round pick.” Hmm. Perhaps this GM slipped into a coma in 2006.

Is the Chad Ochocinco era over? The (soon-to-be-ex?) Bengals wideout suggested in an interview yesterday that he’s “done with the Ocho thing” and may change his name back to Chad Johnson.

Maurice Jones-Drew’s MoJo will take a hit for the next four months. Turns out his meniscus was “bone on bone” by the end of the 2010 season and he’ll need four months to recover from surgery.

NBA news: Eric Gordon out three to four weeks with bone chip

The Los Angeles Clippers’ resurgence may have hit the skids. Blake Griffin’s elbow injury is just a contusion, so he shouldn’t miss more than a game if any, but Eric Gordon isn’t so lucky. The NBA’s eighth-leading scorer’s wrist injury is now being called a small bone chip fracture. He’s expected to miss three or four weeks.

MMA news: Herschel Walker to fight Saturday – but wants back in NFL?

As much as we want to laugh at Herschel Walker playing pro sports at age 48 – have you seen the guy lately? He’s built like Adrian Peterson. He’s a freak of nature. On Saturday night, he’ll attempt to go 2-0 in his mixed martial arts career against Scott Carson.

But will he stick with MMA? Walker recently spoke of a return to the NFL. He reportedly ran a 4.38 in the 40-yard dash last year at age 47 and says “there is a 100 per cent guarantee that I could help a football team out.” He says it’s only a matter of fitting the NFL into his schedule at the moment.

By Shea Matthews

Shea Matthews the Senior Writer at CP. Lives and breathes sports. He made the transition from athlete to sports journalist at a young age, writing in TV & national papers. Shea applies his knowledge to sports betting + handicapping daily, and shares winning picks with the world.