American Sports Thread

Started by magickingdom, October 28, 2007, 06:02:17 PM

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heganboy

poor auld roger- the weird thing is he's lying to protect his "legacy" no financial impact, no suspension, and no jail time as far as I can make out...
Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

magickingdom

nice tribute to the new england patriots in yesterdays indo, better than the 1970s brazil even...


Brady's bunch play the beautiful game

Our national interest in American Football may have diminished somewhat since the days when any overweight youngster had a better than average chance of being called, 'The Refrigerator', but if you've been ignoring the NFL lately you've just missed one of the greatest team sporting achievements of all-time.


It's not just that the New England Patriots have become only the second team of modern times to go through a regular season unbeaten, it's that they've done so by playing football at a level without previous analogue.

When the Miami Dolphins set the record in 1972, they were a by-word for grim, almost military efficiency, something memorably pointed out by Hunter S Thompson in a legendary article on that season's Superbowl. The Patriots, on the other hand, are more fun to watch than Brazil 1970. I can't quite remember a team in any sport being quite so consistently exhilarating.

Their 38-35 win over the New York Giants last weekend not only gave them the unbeaten record, it also left them with the all-time record points tally. Meanwhile, quarterback Tom Brady's fourth-quarter touchdown pass to wide receiver Randy Moss was a double whammy which left Brady with the record for touchdowns thrown in a season and Moss with the one for touchdowns received.

For good measure, the record was achieved on the team's most difficult night of the season. An inspired Giants team led 28-16 at one stage, the biggest lead any team held over the Patriots all season. It didn't make any difference to the boys from Boston who once more swashbuckled their way to victory.

The good news, if you've fallen behind on your NFL viewing, is that the Patriots now go into the play-offs. There is always the possibility of an upset against the likes of reigning champions Indianapolis Colts, but Brady and the Patriots are famous for actually moving up a gear at the business end of the season, hence their three Superbowl victories in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Do yourself a favour and watch them in action. Because when a team is this good, they transcend the boundaries of the actual game they're playing and become the property of everyone who appreciates excellence and beauty.

- Eamonn Sweeney


Puckoon

Roger Clemens filed a deformation suit against former trainer yesterday. He did a live interview on ESPN (i think) where he played a recorded transcript of a taped telephone call he had with trainer Brian McNamee. Its getting hot now boys.


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3185494


Quote

Roger Clemens repeatedly denied using steroids during a telephone conversation with Brian McNamee, but the former trainer would not confirm or deny his claims.

On Monday in Houston, Clemens and his lawyer played a tape of a 17-minute conversation between the pitcher and trainer last week as Clemens continues his defense against allegations in the Mitchell report that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

McNamee told the Mitchell Commission that he injected the seven-time Cy Young Award winner with steroids and human growth hormone 16-21 times in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Clemens asserts that the trainer injected him with only the painkiller lidocaine and the vitamin B-12.


"For the life of me I'm trying to figure out why you told guys I did steroids," Clemens said to McNamee on the tape.

"I understand that," McNamee responded.

Over and over, Clemens makes statements like, "I just want the truth out there and like I said, I can't believe what is being said," and, "Just the stuff I'm reading and hearing, so much of it is untrue and it's just tearing everyone apart."

But McNamee never says that he lied to the Mitchell Commission regarding Clemens' alleged steroid use. He does repeatedly ask what he can do for Clemens -- 21 times to be exact.

"I'm telling the truth and I want it out there," Clemens said, and McNamee responded, "Tell me what you want me to do. I'll go to jail. I'll do whatever you want."

At no point in the conversation does McNamee say that he would be willing to say that Clemens did not take steroids, and Clemens does not ask him to.

Asked why Clemens never directly answered the "what do you want me to do" question, his attorney, Rusty Hardin, said:

"The last thing Roger wanted, just as we did, was any suggestion that we were trying to interfere or coerce a federal witness. So, yeah, all he kept saying [was] nothing. Except you hear him throughout saying, 'Tell the truth.'"

McNamee did not know the conversation was being recorded. Under state law in New York and Texas, only one party has to give consent for a phone conversation to be taped.

Richard Emery, one of McNamee's lawyers, told The New York Times on Monday that the tape is authentic, but he also expressed outrage that Clemens had taped the conversation.

"It's war now," he said, according to the newspaper. "This guy will stop at nothing."

McNamee is obviously distraught in the profanity-laced conversation. Saying his son is sick and that he has no money, McNamee added, "it is what it is, and it's not good. And I want it to go away. And I'm with you. I'm in your corner. I don't want this to happen. But I'd also like not to go to jail, too. But it has nothing to do with you."

Emery said Brian McNamee Jr., 10, has celiac disease, which damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.

"It's outrageous and disgusting for them to for their own cynical purposes, to perpetuate a continuing lie, to use this child and splay his disease and disability all over the press for the world to know," Emery said. "It just shows they'll go to any lengths."

As for his money problems, McNamee said: "I'm not doing a book deal. I got offered seven figures to go on TV. I didn't do it. I didn't take it. I didn't do anything. All I did was what I thought was right -- I never thought it was right, but I thought that I had no other choice, put it that way."

McNamee says a number of times that he would "like to sit down in person with you."

Clemens does not agree to meet, instead saying, "Just give me a little time."

Another of McNamee's lawyers, Earl Ward, told Andrew Marchand of ESPN 1050 radio in New York that "the tape adds absolutely nothing."

He also said that McNamee will not speak again until he testifies Jan. 16 to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

As for his reaction to learning that McNamee had spoken with Clemens, Ward said, "I was surprised. I wasn't pleased."

After the tape was played, Hardin said Clemens was willing to speak to Congress. Clemens and McNamee were invited to Washington to testify.

Clemens' former teammates Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch also have been asked to testify. Pettitte hired Jay Reisinger, the lawyer who represented Sammy Sosa before the committee three years ago.

Kirk Radomski also was asked to appear before the committee. In the Mitchell report, McNamee said he obtained the drugs he used to inject Clemens from the former Mets clubhouse attendant or Clemens supplied them.

"I'm going to Congress and I'm going to tell the truth," Clemens said. "I'm going to tell everything that I know about the situations and steroids and anything else that I have knowledge about, which isn't a lot."

The committee planned to ask Clemens' representatives for the complete recording of the telephone conversation played at the news conference, said Karen Lightfoot, communications director for the panel's chairman, California Democrat Henry Waxman.

Laying out a timeline of events, Hardin said on Monday that they did find out before the release of the Mitchell report that McNamee had made incriminating statements about Clemens. They decided not to respond, Hardin said, because it was not clear if the report would name names.


  • EnlargeAP Photo/David J. Phillip

    Roger Clemens, left, and his lawyer, Rusty Hardin listen to the tape.

    They also had another hope.

    "Roger thought that since it was so untrue, perhaps Brian McNamee would change his mind," Hardin said.

    The New York Daily News also reported on Monday that days before the scheduled release of the Mitchell report, Clemens' investigators asked McNamee whether he would be willing to recant.

    McNamee reportedly called Clemens and Pettitte to warn them that he had spoken to the government. During an interview on "60 Minutes" which aired on Sunday night, Clemens denied knowing that he would be named by Mitchell.

    McNamee said during the call to Clemens that in 2004 he warned Jim Murray, who works for Clemens' agents, to be prepared for a link to Radomski to come out.

    "Any suggestion by Brian McNamee that he gave the name of Kirk Radomski to anyone at our firm is erroneous," Hendricks Sports Management said in a statement.

    Clemens filed a defamation lawsuit against McNamee Sunday night in Harris County District Court in Texas, listing 15 alleged statements McNamee made to Mitchell. Clemens claimed the statements were "untrue and defamatory."

    "We are ready to go to Congress and we are ready to countersue," Ward said, adding that they will first try to get Clemens' suit thrown out before they decide for sure if they will sue.

    Also Sunday, McNamee told SI.com that Clemens was "in no way an abuser of steroids."

    "He took them in late July, August, and never for more than four to six weeks max," he was quoted as saying. "Within the culture of what was going on, he was just a small part of it. A lot of guys did it. You can't take away the work Roger did. You can't take away the fact that he worked out as hard as anybody."

    Hardin said he is recommending that Clemens not take a lie-detector test.

    "I think he's the one guy who could probably beat the test," McNamee told SI.com. "He might actually believe that he's telling the truth."

    Monday was the first time Clemens answered questions from a group of reporters.

    His anger at reporters for the way he has been portrayed was clear when he mentioned the Hall of Fame. There has been speculation that the allegations in the Mitchell report would hurt his chances for induction.

    "Do you think I played my career because I care about the Hall of Fame? ... If you have a vote ... you keep your vote," he said and walked off shortly afterward.

    Clemens angrily denied taking performance-enhancing drugs on Sunday as well. His appearance came after weeks of criticism that he wasn't publicly denying the allegations.

    Hardin said on Monday the legal team told the pitcher to wait.

    "We knew that once this came out, there would surely be congressional hearings," Hardin said.

    Hardin also wanted to make clear that Clemens and his legal team were not questioning the integrity of former senator George Mitchell.

    "We are not making any allegations of misconduct by the government or the Mitchell Commission," he said.

    On Monday, Mitchell said the characterization of the interview as a 'Cold War interrogation,' in which McNamee was read a statement and asked to confirm it, was false, according to the New York Daily News.


    "At the outset of each of the interviews, the federal law enforcement officials told McNamee that he should just tell the truth and warned him that he faced criminal jeopardy if he made any false statements," Mitchell said, according to the Daily News. "Also at each of the interviews, I told him that all I asked of him was the truth, nothing more and nothing less. He said that he understood and would comply.

    "Occasionally, members of my investigative staff or some of the federal law enforcement officials who were present asked questions or sought clarification. There was no 'Cold War era' reading of McNamee's prior statements by any federal official, as alleged," Mitchell said, according to the Daily News.

Gabriel_Hurl


Minder

Quote from: Gabriel_Hurl on January 08, 2008, 06:46:45 PM
he's guilty

......as sin. Trainer does not really have anything to gain from lying.
"When it's too tough for them, it's just right for us"

Puckoon

Quote from: Gabriel_Hurl on January 08, 2008, 06:46:45 PM
he's guilty

After watching 60 minutes, Id agree.
After watching his ESPN press conference, im not so sure.

Tyrones own

Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
  - Walter Lippmann

the Deel Rover

Just wondering lads has any one here ever been to a play off game or even the superbowl or is that just mission impossible?
Crossmolina Deel Rovers
All Ireland Club Champions 2001

Galwaybhoy

Your man on TV3 who does the sport was talking about the NFL last night and the lead up to the superbowl.  Cant wait for the weekend until the New England Patriots take on the Jacksonville Tigers as New England want to get to their first Superbowl in two years... ;D

lfdown2

jaguars?!

would love nothing more than pats to reach the afc final and chargers to kick their a** (colts first of course!)

thejuice

Quote from: the Deel Rover on January 09, 2008, 10:57:08 AM
Just wondering lads has any one here ever been to a play off game or even the superbowl or is that just mission impossible?

Considering the last 2 Superbowls were played in stadia smaller than croker, and the population difference, I'd say its very difficult to get tickets. Would do anything to go to a Superbowl or Championship game.

I reckon Jaguars have a good shot at the pats. They have the best running game in the league, and David Gerrard is a great QB. But they'll have to have a flawless game and their D will need to be immense. Anyone know what the lowest the Pats have scored in a game this season?

On a side note, from a sporting point of view, Boston seems to be the place to be. Three major American trophies could be heading that way this year, I think.
It won't be the next manager but the one after that Meath will become competitive again - MO'D 2016

Puckoon

Quote from: thejuice on January 09, 2008, 02:56:42 PM
Quote from: the Deel Rover on January 09, 2008, 10:57:08 AM
Just wondering lads has any one here ever been to a play off game or even the superbowl or is that just mission impossible?

Considering the last 2 Superbowls were played in stadia smaller than croker, and the population difference, I'd say its very difficult to get tickets. Would do anything to go to a Superbowl or Championship game.

I reckon Jaguars have a good shot at the pats. They have the best running game in the league, and David Gerrard is a great QB. But they'll have to have a flawless game and their D will need to be immense. Anyone know what the lowest the Pats have scored in a game this season?

On a side note, from a sporting point of view, Boston seems to be the place to be. Three major American trophies could be heading that way this year, I think.

Id say they have the best shot of most of the teams left, however - If you give Bill Belichick 2 weeks preparation and a flawless injury roster I would be very very scared for the jags. The man is a perfectionist machine.

Gabriel_Hurl

Quote from: thejuice on January 09, 2008, 02:56:42 PMAnyone know what the lowest the Pats have scored in a game this season?

20 points vs the Jets in Week 15

the Deel Rover

Had the pats home field advantage the years they won the superbowls?
Crossmolina Deel Rovers
All Ireland Club Champions 2001

Gabriel_Hurl

of the 3 times they won the AFC Championship game - only one was held in New England - the other 2 were in Pittsburgh