Friday Water Cooler – July 16th, 2010
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.
Enjoy!
The deadest sports week of the year is wrapping up and it’s time to the action to pick up again. What’s new in the news?
MLB news: Justin Morneau hits DL with concussion; Zambrano completes anger management (seriously)
The Minnesota Twins have lost their star slugger at the worst possible time, with their division rival Chicago White Sox streaking like crazy.
Still feeling the effects of a knee in the head from Toronto’s John McDonald, which left him concussed, Justin Morneau has missed four games. He’ll take a little extra time to recover now that Minnesota has placed him on the 15-day DL.
Believe it or not, Carlos “Big Z” Zambrano has completed anger management training and will resume throwing today.
He’s been away from the Chicago Cubs since his June 25 dugout tantrum and tiff with Derek Lee. The Cubs suspended him without pay and sent him to New York for his anger management sessions.
Part of me hopes Big Z is healed, but I hope he doesn’t stop breaking bats over his knee when he hits.
NBA news: Udoh out six months; Knicks pursuing Shaq? Fans try to pay Dan Gilbert’s $100,000 fine
The eventful NBA offseason rages on – and with some bad news this time. Golden State drafted Ekpe Udoh sixth overall out of Baylor but won’t have the big man’s services for at least sixth months. He tore a ligament in his wrist during a supervised workout this month and had surgery yesterday to repair it.
Could Shaq take Manhattan? The Big Aristotle played just 53 games for Cleveland last year but was still a useful player at 38 years old, averaging 12 points and 6.7 boards.
The New York Knicks believe he could help them in 2010-11 and have inquired with the Cavs about a sign-and-trade. Interesting.
The city of Cleveland feels for Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, who was fined $100,000 by the NBA for his letter slamming LeBron James for leaving the team.
The fans are so behind Gilbert that they’ve offered to pay his fine. Kids are even selling lemonade. Thankfully, Gilbert reminded Cleveland that he’s rich enough to own a pro basketball team and insisted on paying off the fine himself.
Boxing news: Clock ticking on Mayweather decision
Manny Pacquiao wants it. Boxing fans want it. Dancing with the Stars fans want it. But does Floyd Mayweather Jr. want it? He’s reportedly supposed to decide whether or not to fight Manny Pacquiao today. Boxing pundits are so confident a decision will happen that Top Rank Boxing’s website has set up a Mayweather decision clock.
Stay tuned, as the decision could happen any second.
NHL news: Wild extend Koivu in massive deal
No disrespect to Mikko Koivu. The guy is a great playmaker, a likable captain and solid all-around hockey player. But contract extension the Minnesota Wild just gave him is a bit absurd. $47.25 million over seven years?
Yahoo Sports put the signing in perspective by offering this list of players whose contracts have smaller annual cap hits than Koivu’s new deal: Pavel Datsyuk, Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom, and Henrik Sedin.
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