In breaking news Barry Bonds, *the new homerun king,* has been indicted. A federal grand jury charges Bonds with 5 counts of purgery and one count of obstruction of justice.

Finally Bonds may have to answer to all the allegations against him. There will be no avoiding these questions like he avoided the press for so many years.

Soon he may be sitting in prison with his former trainer as they both realize ignoring the situation and lying on top of that, only makes things much worse.

I'd love to see the look on his face as the news hits home. Imagine working most of your life for something just to throw it away in the last five years of his career.

Yes, you may have the most homeruns ever hit by any player but I ask you Mr. Bonds at what cost?????????????????????????????

Was it worth it? I think you,ll soon begin to see it wasn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   In 1947 Baltimore is granted an AAFC franchise. The city took great pride in choosing the new team a name. After many considerations the team would eventually dawn the name Baltimore Colts in honor of Baltimore's rich history with racing, and breeding of horses. The Colts would incur moderate success in the rival league before becoming one of 4 teams to join the NFL in 1950. Great success came to the team until 1972 when Robert Irsay acquired the team.

Little did anyone know 11 seasons later, after recking the Colts tradition in Baltimore with losing season after losing season, on December 18th 1983 the Colts and Irsay had attended their final home game in Baltimore. Almost immediately after a season ending near win at Memorial Stadium; Colts owner Robert Irsay began  frantically talking to other cities about moving the club. On February 13th he toured the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

 The Colts also spoke to officials in Phoenix, as the Maryland legislature tried to use eminent domain laws to force the franchises' Colts name to remain in Maryland. On March 28th Phoenix dropped out of the bidding,  Irsay called up officials in Indiana and bluntly says that  he was on the way. However, he kept the move secret until just after midnight when by cover of darkness on a cold snowy night he used Mayflower moving trucks to pack up anything that wasn't nailed down, and relocate them in Indianapolis.

 By the time anyone realized what had happened it was too late to stop. The NFL feeling they could not win in court did not fight the move, as Maryland put up a fight in court before Irsay agreed to support the city of Baltimore in getting an NFL expansion team and once they did they could re-claim the Colts name. The city of Baltimore would fail in several attempts at landing a NFL franchise, and even entered the CFL, before landing a new NFL franchise named the Ravens. However, the Irsay family would not relinquish the name Colts, as they once promised. Indy kept the name even though  the city of Baltimore had such strong ties to the name. Indiana has nothing to do with horses, but they have a lot of corn. The name Ravens or Crows would have been more appropriate for Indianapolis.

Alas, due to the deception of Irsay, many Colt legends and fans in Baltimore, plus potential fans in Indiana were angered by the move. In Indiana this is why there is a large concentration of Bear fans in northern part of the state and a large concentration of Bengal fans in the southern part.  Legendary and most famous Colts QB Johnny Unitas, emphatically refused to acknowledge the franchise for the rest of his life. Many fans in Indiana and Baltimore feel the same way. I still have nightmares about Jeff George pulling in front of the Hoosier Dome in his corvette, sporting his mullet hair style. CREEPY!!!

For anyone who still thinks that M. Vick is a great guy or if you think he'll ever stand with the NFLs' greatest QBs' I implore you, do read on. If you think you know what type of person he is, I bet you didn't know just how sick of a person we are dealing with............

The animal rescue center that was called in to take custody of the dogs that were still alive reports, that these dogs, like other dogs trained to fight CANNOT be rehabilitated. These dogs, over 100, are left homeless, never have the option of having a normal life, never have the chance to become someone else's pet. The rescue center says they cannot possibly feed them all, the dogs will and must  be euthanized, as they are un-adoptable and it is the most humane thing to do......

The F.B.I investigation has revealed that Vick was involved in the killing of at least 10 under-performing dogs. They were killed by drowning and hanging. They sat around a tub of water or strung up a leash and watched these living things die a slow painful death. They did it to fill a sadistic hunger, to watch it for entertainment..........

Vicks own father says he has been present when Vick was training the dogs, that they would release the dogs on defenseless cats. Training them to kill and follow voice commands. Vicks own father says he himself has nursed dogs back to health after the brutal fights that Vick had financed, for which he had set up kennels and fighting rings. Over 100 animals, some very cruelly killed by Vick.............

Think you know what he should get? What do you want him to get? Well I'm afraid he on his way to getting off lightly so to speak. Early reports say he will not plead guilty to killing dogs, he will not plead guilty to gambling, that he will plea down to transporting dogs across state lines. Can you say Lindsay,Paris,or Nichole? I see it now, he's going to get off with 30 days like any other little rich #### Is an uproar from the African American community stopping prosecutors from throwing the book at Vick? Some say yes, I have to agree. If they take his career and a good 5-10 year chunk of his life away, that wouldn't be PC (politically correct) they don't want to risk that.  

Now that ESPN is running MNF it just doesn't have the atmosphere of old, that once sent chills down the spine. We've traded the years of Al Michaels and Hank Williams Jr. to make way for a Chris Berman story line beginning and the commentary team of Jaws, Kornheiser and Tirico. Now mind you, I stayed away from this story last year, even though I noticed a few things I didn't like. This year will be different.

First off the introduction, call me old fashioned but can someone please call Hank? Chris Berman giving the introduction just doesn't get the blood pumping. I'll take guitars, screaming fans and jumping cheerleaders over a bald pudgy guy that made his mark doing commentary for baseball, any day. That brings us to the announcers, for which I only have a problem with one so far.

Jaws and Tirico are doing a decent job, but I'm not fond of Kornheiser. His lame jokes and lackluster attitude toward the other commentators views are unprofessional. During the COTLS BEARS game he proceeded too tell all the kids watching, they should"drink wine and take sleeping pills" to ease the pains of traveling. As jaws was explaining the meaning of the green dots on the helmets Tony wondered if there was a referee to count the green dots? He then proceeded to say he thought the dots represented which players drove a Prius. How stupid is this guy? How long do we have to endure this? Give us back our MNF the way it used to be.

The '07 season is upon us, the Colts stand atop the league as defending Super Bowl champions. Now I want you to ask yourself something. How did, arguably, one of the worst teams from 1984 to 2001 turn it around to take their place among the NFL elite. Now don't be fooled by the first answers that come into your mind, like... Peyton is the Greatest QB to ever walk on water, the relentless running attack or a defense that holds the gods themselves to a "goose egg". Once you acknowledge that those reasons  simply aren't how the Colts went, literally, from worst to first, think about this... 

Here's what I think pushed them over the top, in 2001 the league approved the realignment of the NFL. This realignment removed the Colts from the AFC East and put them in the newly formed AFC South. Now the old East lost Indianapolis and kept Miami, New England, Buffalo and New York. In the new division with the Colts add 3 relatively new franchises; Jacksonville, Houston and Tennessee, you get a very easy road for success for the new look Colts. Who were in fact reeling from two dismal playoffs for the first four years of then young phenom Peyton Manning's' Career. When you look at the stats, standings, record breaking games and Colts players that had endorsement deals, before the realignment there's no comparison to now.

It's as simple as that, the Colts are good but not the greatest. The easiest division in the league plus a weak to medium difficulty in the rest of the schedule spells championships for the Indianapolis Colts. Now I wasn't there at the realignment meetings, but it has been reported that much influence came from the owners. Bill Polian must have seen stars in his eyes when the word came down that the once hapless Colts were put in such a weak division. What the NFL was thinking during the switch remains a topic of discussion still today. I won't go into the NFC changes but the AFC should look like this...

AFC East: BAL, NYJ, NE, BUF

AFC South: MIA, JAC, HOU,TEN

AFC Central: IND,CIN,PIT,CLE

AFC West: SD, OAK, DEN, KC

This alignment would be more evenly competitive. Area rivalries would be born and perhaps best of all you wouldn't have to travel 1,000 miles to see your team compete in a division game. I'm sure the Colts would oppose this alignment but sitting where they are wouldn't you...? 

Mike Vick, we all know he's been accused of financing a dog fighting ring. What you didn't know, hot off the press, are the new accusations coming to light. In a report seen on Fox News Agency there are unconfirmed reports of a man confined in a mental institute who says Vick himself, stole two of his Pit Bull dogs to force them to fight. The man says Vick later sold the dogs on ebay. Now for the jaw dropper. The man also claims that Vick bought some military grade missiles from an unknown source. The man says Vick told him he bought the missiles because, Vick, had earlier this year joined the  Al Qaeda terrorist organization. All of this report is unconfirmed, at this time investigators are working diligently to find out if there is any truth to these new allegations or if the man actually knows Vick. What's your opinion????

In this SportsUniverse, there sometimes, well, I'll just say sometimes things happen like, deja vu , history seeming to repeat itself or there are similarities in people and things over time. While eagerly making my way through the sports year like any everyday average sports fan, I couldn't help but notice a steady stream of strange things and stunning similarities.  So I decided to put together some interesting oddities going on in 2K6.

Recently, controversial and probable Hall of Famer Barry Bonds hit his 713th home run bringing him to within one of tying Babe Ruth on the all time list. Carlos Oliveras the 25- year- old Air Force serviceman, who caught the home run asked Bonds to autograph the ball. Much to Oliveras' disappointment the home run slugger refused, but did pose for a picture.

Then, a strange turn in events was set into motion. As you may know Bonds has his own show airing on ESPN. Lawyers from the show later approached Oliveras and asked him to sign a waiver, giving the show permission to use his image. So a millionaire baseball player needed an autograph from a fan ! Go figure ! It was reported that Oliveras signed the release form, but it's doubted that Bonds will change his mind about signing the ball.

Victoria Secret the lucrative lingerie company, announced that they will begin making a line of sports bras. The venture is new and will be premiering the trio of supermodels (from left) Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio and Gisele Bundchen, pictured here attending a Women's World Cup match.

The announcement spawned a sudden spike in interest in Women's World Cup Soccer. I can't imagine, why three supermodels showing off their unmentionables would get more of us interested in......................... never mind.

Avery Johnson, the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks started his NBA career as an undrafted player, in his first 10 seasons he played for four different teams. During these 10 seasons his offensive numbers were mediocre at best. In 1995 he would make his third stint for the San Antonio Spurs and from '95 - '01 he recorded his best offensive numbers. Johnson attributes the resurgence in his career to his coach during those six seasons current Spurs coach Greg Popovich.

This years conference semi finals pits student against teacher. The man who was a huge coaching mentor and  was responsible for the rebirth of  Johnsons' career, now must face him in a seven game series that puts two Texas cities in a basketball war.

 Undoubtedly, the two things you can't do very well, while drinking alcohol. Driving and writing. Not sure how that's going to work out.

 The thoroughbred horse Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby last Saturday. He goes for the Triple-Crown soon as horse racing fans everywhere are hoping for a horse worthy of achieving the feat.

A similar named athlete, but different than a horse of course, Adrian Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns is sharing similar success as his team beat the Lakers in a seven game series. Now they have taken the first game of the Conference Semi Finals against a tougher Clippers team..

 A myriad of college basketball players have announced their intent to enter the NBA draft. Some of these players have signed with an agent and some have not. Those that don't sign an agent should still be allowed to come back to school, as eligible athletes, as long as they withdraw from the draft by the June 16th deadline.

Oddly freshman center Cem Dinc, who played one season under former Indiana coach Mike Davis said he would enter the draft. He played a total of 9 minutes and scored 3 points last season.

For those few who read my blog, you may have noticed,  I'm not the biggest Lakers fan. I would like nothing more than to see Kobe, and the rest of the Lakers, on the loosing end, when the smoke clears, after tonight's game seven.

The Suns and the Lakers have played themselves into a three games a piece tie. Tonight they go for it all in what can only be described as one of the greatest things to happen in professional sports, game seven , an all out war to see who has the right to advance to the second round.

The few times we, as fans, have been fortunate enough to witness something as exiting as a game seven, we are rarely deprived of, that game, being one of the greatest in NBA history. I have to think if you asked NBA fans all around the world, they would vehemently agree there is nothing as spine tingling as a game seven.

So tonight the Lakers and Suns suit up to play in what has the potential to be one of the greatest game sevens in history. They play for keeps tonight, you either win or take your butt home men. It's going to be a battle, some blood may be shed, but someone will walk away a winner, the other will just walk away.

 Who do you think will win this pivotal game seven ?

LETS GET IT ON !!

The Suns, despite Kobe Bryants' 50 point performance, force this year's playoffs first game seven. The following are some convincing reasons why the Suns will prevail, proving Nash deserves the MVP award.

I want to make a statement before I get into the reasons why the Lakers will loose game seven. All the people who are saying Steve Nash doesn't deserve the MVP must not watch very much NBA basketball. Nash is going to be one of the greatest when his career is over, his intense desire to give his best at all times will assure his place in NBA history.  

.

The first reason the Suns will win? Their ability to run and shoot. When the Suns control the tempo of the game and keep it at a fast break pace, there isn't a team in the leauge that can stop them. As we saw in game six, the Lakers physically gave out in the overtime period.They simply had nothing left after going 4 quarters at the feverish tempo of the game. Steve Nash, and the rest of the Suns, played like it was the first quarter with plenty of energy to spare.

The second reason, the final game of the series moves back to Pheonix where the Suns are 2 - 1 against the Lakers in the series. With the momentum the Suns have coming back from a 3 -1 deficit, I don't see them loosing at home where a pumped up Phoenix crowd will be in force to cheer on their home team.

And finally, Raja Bell comes back  into the line up. This will only complicate things for the Lakers, who failed to stop Phoenix without him. Look for the Suns to continue running and gunning on the Lakers in game seven with Bell well rested and eager for some payback. I know everyone has given Raja a hard time since he threw Kobe down by the neck but, he has a great argument because, Bryant throws the elbow almost everytime he shoots. Just ask Barbosa who took four stitches from one. 

NETS  96    PACERS  90

The Indiana Pacers season came to a close last night at the hands of the New Jersey Nets. The Nets finish the first round series, winning 4 games to 2 in a rather dominating performance.

The Nets took full advantage of Indiana's inability to stop Vince Carter, who scored 24 and Richard Jefferson who topped that with a team leading 30. It was as if, no matter what Indiana did, whether playing man to man or zone defenses, Carter and Jefferson were able to score with ease.

Vince Carter finished the series averaging 29.8 points per game, while Jefferson had scored at least 20 points in five straight games. These pair of MVP like performances, are what brought the Nets back when they were facing a 2 - 1 deficit. The Nets had also lost the home court advantage by the third game.

The Pacers who once again were without forward Peja Stojakovic, kept up with the Nets thanks largely in part to guard Anthony Johnson. Johnson recorded a career and personal playoff best 40 points. The Pacers shooting percentages were similar to the Nets, so the shots were going in. It is obvious the lack of defense lost the game and the series for Indiana.

The game was very close and the Pacers only trailed by two 92- 90 with 57 seconds left. Good foul shooting by Nets forward Krstic, down the stretch, coupled by Indiana's missed chance to tie the game after a defensive stop with 35 seconds to go, sealed the Pacers fate in this elimination game.

 "I'm too old to play ride the horsey, I said ! !"

Mike Tyson comes out to the world as a cannibal. 

AWWWW !  Give me a newspaper and 10 minutes, then you can take your drop.

Have a good game gentlemen.

 Should priests really be allowed to coach wrestling?

Just a bit inside !

You may want to bring your wood to the green.

We decided to move him up in weight class this year.

Facing elimination is nothing new for the NBAs' Indiana Pacers, the most memorable, Reggie Millers' Knick killing game six, where he hit four three pointers in 20 seconds to force a game seven in that series. Trailing 3 - 2 in a first round match up against the three seeded New Jersey Nets, the Pacers try to keep themselves from being sent home tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse. Indiana's' power forward, Jermaine O'Neal, was quoted "It's win or go home for us right now." He went on to say "We feel like we can win on our floor and push it to game seven." Well one things for certain, if they don't win, days like these will be over for Pacer fans until next season.        

The most compelling reasons for the Pacers downward turn in the series, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter. Carter who is averaging 30.2 points per game in the series, has had little trouble driving down the lane on the Indiana defense. In his performance in game five, Carter recorded yet another double double on his way to 34 points and 15 rebounds. Richard Jefferson, not to be outdone by Carter, has scored 20 points in four straight games. Indiana has yet to find an answer.

 Indiana hopes to have some key players back for tonight's' game six. Peja Stojakovic(knee), Jeff Foster(back), and Jamal Tinsley(foot) all of whom are starters that missed game five due to injury. If these players are back, Indiana has a good chance to force a game seven where the series bounces back to New Jersey. The Pacers are 2 - 1 against the Nets in Indianapolis including the regular season.

I must admit, SoCal is right about one thing for sure, most of a universities' money does not come from athletic programs.

Universities generate billions of dollars from anything a student might do, whether it be playing football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, tennis, golf, field hockey, hockey need we go on? They generate money from ticket sales to these events, money from concessions. They generate money, by claiming rights to any find they might discover while taking  courses. They do the same with anything that a student may invent while attending courses. That isn't even scratching the surface folks. Then after all that, the student graduates and here comes the bombardment of letters wanting you to make an appearance, donate money, or wanting you to become a booster, speak at a lecture. Yes, the university gives and gives. 

  Again I agree that education comes first, but how often have you thought about a college, without thinking how good or bad their athletic program is. Even students that are only fans want to attend a college with a premier athletic program. Would we know so much about UCLA if not for their dominance of their dynasty in the 70's and 80's ? Would local or regional students want to attend ? What about Duke, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Florida State? I'm not convinced they would. Students may want a degree but they'll take it as cheap as they can get it, I wouldn't go to Indiana if Ball State offered the same degree, if not for the athletic entertainment, the school spirit.

As far as athletes receiving enough by getting free tuition and dorm rooms, evidently they don't which is why they go pro they want he cash. Just because they don't pay any money doesn't mean it's free. You don't have to give up any money to pay for what you've done. These student athletes go to practice, travel all over the U.S. for games, make appearances for the school, on top of trying to obtain a Bachelor or Masters degree. Sounds like they are already paying the price. An athlete runs the risk of being hurt also, then they don't even get that smothering press coverage that only the top 10 teams get. Saying that most of the athletes are there to get the attention of the pro sport organization isn't accurate and it's obvious when only one percent of Div. 1 athletes go pro in their sport. Just like any other student most athletes are there for the education.

Well, Well, Well ! It looks like the old Machine, is once again ready to take the league by storm. With the Cincinnati Reds Win against the Houston Astros yesterday they take over the lead in the National league standings.

My god, that feels so good to write. I can't express how good it feels to have the Reds on top again. Now I realize it's a long season, but these guys are playing very well. I'm going to predict a post season appearance right now, you heard it here first.

I can't say they'll win the Pennant because St. Louis still looms on the horizon. I will say the Reds are going to give it their all, here's to hoping they get the job done.

Cincinnati can attribute their success to the continuing resurgence of their pitchers. While they aren't a pair of "Wild Thing" type of speed burners, Harang and Arroyo are a model of consistency. Harang with 39.1 innings pitched has 33 strike outs and 19 earned runs he's 4 -1.

Arroyo boasts 30 strikeouts in 34.2 innings and only 9 earned runs. He's 4-1 with an ERA of 2.34 and getting better. The addition of Elizardo Ramirez 10 days ago will only make them more lethal. There will be, without a doubt, a lot of disappointed fans when the BIG RED MACHINE rolls into their town.

Look, there has to be a limit to how long the NCAA can continue to use collegiate athletes to generate millions of dollars, with the only compensation being a grueling 4 year class schedule.

It's no wonder these athletes are dying to jump into the pro ranks, they can't make it on minimum wage. A steadily increasing number of them have tried to go pro before they graduate and miserably fail.

I propose the following ; we recruit these athletes , they sign the letter of intent and they get a four year deal for 50,000 a year till they graduate. The details would, of coarse, have to be worked out, grades etc. Every player should make the same amount every Div 1. college can afford this.

I'm sure this would cure the athletes wanting to go pro too quickly. What's your opinion??????????