From the House of Sports - June 18

Does The Punishment Fit The Crime?

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter and was sentenced yesterday in Florida to one month in jail. Before you go ballistic over what initially appears to be a slap-on-the-wrist miscarriage of justice, let’s take a closer look. Stallworth was also sentenced to two years’ house arrest, eight years’ probation, loss of his drivers license for life, 1,000 hours of community service and an undisclosed financial settlement with the family of the man he killed, Mario Reyes. Let’s be honest here: what good would be served by locking up Stallworth for five or ten years? At least he remained at the scene of the crime when countless others would have fled, he took responsibility and admitted his guilt, and has agreed to the Reyes family’s desire to avoid a protracted legal proceeding. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Rundle emphatically stated, “He is being punished appropriately. This is what the family wanted.” Even a representative for Mothers Against Drunk Driving said the deal was the best outcome. “I think there are a lot of kids as well as adults who will listen to his message,” said Miami-Dade MADD Director Janet Mondshein. “I think he’ll do more good being out of jail and being active in prevention.” Now Stallworth must await further punishment from the NFL, usually meted out in the form of game suspensions.

Tiger Time

A fully recovered Tiger Woods can make history by winning this week’s U.S. Open in Farmingdale, NY. Playing on a course that will include THREE par-4 holes of 500 yards or more for the first time ever, Woods will try to become the first man since Curtis Strange in 1988-89 to win back-to-back Opens. Already the owner of a whopping 14 Major championships at age 33, Tiger modestly summed up the possibility of taking home the 109th Open trophy by saying, “I like my chances in any Major.”

Someone Finally Said It FINALLY!

A professional tennis coach has spoken out on an aspect of the game that we’ve felt needed to be addressed for quite some time. Nick Bollettieri believes some sort of action should be taken against touring players who GRUNT loudly during matches! “There is a need for some sort of regulation,” declared Bollettieri. “Players on both the men’s and women’s tours grunt. Something eventually needs to be done.” We couldn’t agree more, Nick. In fact, we’d like to see Maria Sharapova and other main offenders play a match with their mouths taped shut so they can’t bellow like farm animals on every serve and shot.

NBA Wipeout

No surprise here. The five NBA Finals games just shown on ABC between the Lakers and Magic recorded a viewer loss of 10% compared to last season’s matchup between the Lakers and Celtics. May not sound like much to the average Joe but to the NBA, ABC and the game advertisers, the dropoff was HUGE.

Danica, Danica...

Here’s the most interesting news we’ve heard in awhile. Even though she says she won’t make an announcement about her future in racing until after the current IndyCar Series season ends in October, Danica Patrick is supposedly gathering info about a possible switch to NASCAR! Although many Sprint Cup drivers have dismissed Patrick’s abilities with comments like, “You’ve got to DRIVE these cars, not just point ‘em straight ahead,” the fact is NASCAR is struggling in a major way this year and the addition of a mega-star like Patrick would give stock car racing a desperately needed boost in 2010.

Thoughts from the House of Sports.com.

Thoughts and Opinions from HOS

So Long To A Class Act

NBA Hall of Famer Chuck Daly, who coached the Dream Team to the Olympic gold medal in 1992 after winning back-to-back NBA championships with the Detroit Pistons, died over the weekend at the age of 78. Perhaps more than any other professional basketball coach, Daly was able to transform a group of marginally talented players with wildly divergent personalities into a cohesive, motivated unit (remember Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman?). Daly took over the Pistons in 1983 and led them to nine consecutive winning seasons. After leaving Detroit, he coached New Jersey and Vancouver before retiring in 1998. A snappy dresser, Daly will forever be remembered by the nickname Daddy Rich, bestowed upon him by Piston John Salley in honor of Daly’s penchant for impeccably tailored suits. Here’s to you, Chuck...

What’s In A Name?

This year’s ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ – the final player chosen in the NFL Draft – has been saddled all his life with a name that sounds like a vulgar insult. So when he appeared before the Kansas City media during a rookie minicamp on Saturday, he was ready for question No. 1. Your last name — uh, exactly how is it pronounced? “It’s ‘suck-up,’, believe it or not,” Ryan Succop said with a big, good-natured grin. When the room fell silent, he looked around and grinned again. “I’ve heard them all,” he said. “If you come up with something new, I’ll be impressed.” Succop failed to mention that he was teammates on last year’s South Carolina Gamecocks team with QB Chris Smelley.

Not So Fast, My Friends

With an injured Yao Ming on the bench for Sunday’s LA Lakers - Houston Rockets NBA Playoff game, the wagering public knew the Rockets had no chance to win and bet accordingly. WRONG! The line closed with Houston a whopping 8-point underdog and the home team never needed the points, cruising to a 99-87 upset that evened their Western Conference semifinal at two games apiece. Houston’s Shane Battier, who sank five 3-pointers while adding 23 points, said it best: “I think everyone but us got the memo that we weren’t supposed to show up without Yao.” The Lakers Kobe Bryant was held to a mere 15 points in the loss and the series now shifts back to LA where the home team has been installed as 12-point chalk in tomorrow night’s contest.

Horning In On The Action

Obviously distressed by all the attention given to Manny Ramirez’ recent drug-related suspension, NASCAR’s Jeremy Mayfield proved that the stock car boys can fail a random drug test just as easily as Major League Baseball players. Mayfield tested positive for a banned substance last weekend at Richmond International Raceway and has been suspended indefinitely by the sport’s ruling body. One thing is for sure: the substance could NOT have been performance-enhancing. Mayfield is currently mired in 44th spot in the 2009 Sprint Cup points standings, 1153 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.

Quote of the Week

Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote, arguing that QB Michael Vick should be reinstated in the NFL:“Ever hear of Leonard Little? The veteran St. Louis Rams defensive end once killed a woman while driving drunk. He was playing in a Super Bowl 16 months later. It was not to be his last DUI episode, either. He’s still in the league. But Vick can’t be? I’m sorry, anamalitos, but what Little did to that woman’s family is worse that what Vick did. By a lot. ”

Infomation from the House of Sports.