This is the time for you, Joe Six-Pack Sports Fan, to vent your ire at the dumbasses, retards, idiots, ingrates, and general all around bad guys of sports and throw them Under The Bus. Who do YOU want to see go Under The Bus this week? Here's the forum to throw these retards and a-holes under the Bus! I know I have a few!

MLB

Los Angeles Dodgers: for a team that was expected to do big things in the NL West, they go out on the road for their first eastern trip of the season and promptly get swept by a team they have beaten like a drum in recent years, the Atlanta Braves. Not only did they get swept, they weren't competitive. They are looking like a last-place team rather than a competitive team. If not for the San Francisco Giants, they WOULD be a last place team. The Dodgers get thrown under the Bus.

Andruw Jones: he has gotten WORSE than he was last season. Looks like the Braves made the right decision to rid themselves of a fat, washed-up outfielder that can't catch up to a fastball. And the Dodgers may have made the wrong decision to sign him. Andruw Jones goes under the Bus, along with the rest of the Dodgers.

ESPN: for their chickenshit ambushing of Miguel Tejada during an interview he gave to the network. This brings me to the following.

Miguel Tejada: for LYING about his age when he first signed a professional contract. We already knew he roided up and HGH'ed up. Now he's aged up. Must be from all that HGH and 'roids. BOTH Tejada AND ESPN go under the Bus.

Kyle Farnsworth: for throwing at Manny Ramirez after ManRam took Yankees pitchers deep twice during a recent game. Farnsworth threw at Ramirez' head and said, "It slipped." Sure, it did. What you did was BUSH LEAGUE. Throw inside at his belt buckle to move him off the plate. You're putting a player's livelihood at risk. Now you painted a HUGE bull's eye on Alex Rodriguez and/or Derek Jeter. Now you've been suspended. Now you've been thrown Under The Bus.

Matt Kolbusz: now you're wondering, who the hell is Matt Kolbusz? He's the vendor that was selling offensive Kosuke Fukudome t-shirts. The t-shirts were nothing more than a racial blast aimed at the Asian community. The Cubs pulled the offensive t-shirts. Good for the Cubs. C'mon, M, this is 2008, not 1941. For selling racially offending t-shirts, you go Under The Bus.

NBA

Donnie Walsh: this WUSS has NO BALLS. He had the perfect opportunity to rid the Knicks of any traces of Isiah Thomas and didn't. He kept Thomas as a "special adviser." WTF? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!! This is the PERFECT opportunity for a weasel like Thomas to undermine Walsh and once again take control of the Knicks' basketball ops. Firing Thomas isn't enough. You MUST go Orkin Man and rid the Knicks of this weasel once and FOR ALL. Tune in for the next episode of, "As The Knicks Turn." Until then, Walsh goes under the Bus.

Enver Nuggets: no D in the regular season means no D in the playoffs. Granted, they are playing the Lakers in the first round, and they'll lose, but where was the defensive effort? No one can take the Enver Nuggets seriously until they learn to play good D. Until then, the Nuggets go under the Bus. (I'm glad the Lakers have perhaps the easiest matchup in the first round!)

NHL

Martin Brodeur: for not shaking Sean Avery's hand after the Rangers beat the Devils 4 games to 1. Avery offered to shake Brodeur's hand as a gesture of respect after a hard-fought series. Brodeur didn't participate in the post-series handshake. You're not only a sore loser, you come off as a small man. You go under the Bus not only for that, but the Devils go under because I DETEST THEM!!

NASCAR

Boris Said: he came across as a sore loser after his dustup with Marcos Ambrose. Then to confront Ambrose's crew chief was totally BUSH LEAGUE. I hope Ambrose kicks your #### the next time he sees you. I know I'd be looking for a piece of you afterwards. Until then, you go Under The Bus that Ambrose is driving.

ESPN: can I say it? I will: their coverage is ####. What was it with the constant pimping of Carl Edwards? Are you ESPN or TMZ? Technical glitches, snafus, Rusty Wallace, etc. They all added up to horrible coverage. And they all add up to ESPN being thrown Under The Bus.

Those are my nominees for the week. Come on in with your nominees!! 

In a rare stand-alone day for the Nationwide Series, they went south of the border. For this occasion, we present to you The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, spaghetti western style with a Mexican flavor. Enjoy!

THE GOOD

Kyle Busch: as the winner of this race, he gets first billing. His car got stronger as the race went on. Three wins in a row will get you in this spot every single time.

Richard Childress Racing: another strong run by the RCR cars (6th and 7th).

Marcos Ambrose: had a strong car all day, as evidenced by starting from the rear of the field due to replacing a faulty clutch. Had a little run in with Boris Said that ended up knocking Said out of the race.

Stephen Wallace: Rusty's kid scored his first career top-10 finish in the Nationwide Series on the most difficult road course in the series. Perhaps he can use this race as a springboard to get stronger as the season winds along.

Adrian Fernandez: overcame a wreck that could have knocked him out of the race to finish 15th, the highest placing Mexican driver. When he emerged from the pits after the wreck, he was 35th. Much kudos to Fernandez and his crew.

Honorable mention: Scott Pruett, Patrick Carpentier, Carl Edwards.

THE BAD

Race fillers: you guys know who you are. The guys that run a lap or two then go into the garage for mechanical "issues." Or the guys that go a lap down 3-4 laps into the race. How about this for a solution: limit the field to 36 cars, with no more than nine Cup regulars running at any one race? We don't need to turn this series into Sprint Cup Light.

Boris Said: sorry, my man, but I've gotta put you into this category. What happened between you and Ambrose was a racing thing. You got loose and Ambrose had nowhere to go. I'm sure when you look at the replay you'll see things the same way I do.

THE UGLY

Kertus Davis: that was a horrible crash he suffered on Lap 1. Glad he's okay. The impact was such that it moved the cement retaining wall back three feet. The crash brought out a red flag, one of two on the day.

ESPN: frankly, their coverage was horrible. Snafus, bad commentary, you name it. And what was it with the constant pimping of Carl Edwards? WTF? Are you ESPN or TMZ? Makes me long for the days of TNT's coverage.  

Here we go again! Here is the forum for you, the Joe Six-Pack Fan, to call out those sports personalities that so #### you off. I'm sure you have personalities that you so badly want to throw Under The Bus (Jerome Bettis Limited Edition, 850 hp) you can smell the burnt rubber and brake dust! I know I have a few!

NFL:

Cincinnati Bengals: for being WAY too permissive in drafting players with shady pasts (A.J. Nickerson, Chris Henry (more on him later), Odell Thurman, etc.). They have become the NFL's halfway house for shady characters. At one point last year, they were averaging one arrest a month. Now it's come back to bite them in the ####. Marvin Lewis had the reputation for being a disciplinarian, but where's the discipline? The Bengals and their bad seeds get thrown Under The Bus (as if they haven't got run over by Jerome Bettis and the Pittsburgh Steelers many a time over the years!).

Chris Henry: this thug just doesn't get it. He's had chance after chance after chance; now he's pissed it all away. His latest crime he's accused of? Punching an 18-year-old boy in the face and breaking his window with a beer bottle. Nice move there, ####. The judge in the case called Henry, "a one-man crime wave." Harsh, but true. After he gets out of prison, Henry gets thrown Under The Bus by his accuser.

Chad Johnson: in the SAME WEEK, he chirps again about not wanting to be in Cincy. The Bengals have said time and again that Ocho Cinco won't be traded. Do I detect a pattern here? It was a BAD week for the Bengals. Chad, let your game do the talking. You're one of the best WRs on the planet. When you score TDs and the Bengals are winning again, then you can do the River Dance. Until then, you go under the Bus.

NBA

Enver Nuggets: there is a good reason for this. There is no "D" in Denver. They blew a 22-point lead to Phoenix and lost. Hence, the "Enver". If they miss the playoffs, they can look to that game. For no "D" in the game at Phoenix, the Enver Nuggets go under the Bus.

New York Knicks: they brought in Donnie Walsh, supposedly to clean the mess that Isiah Thomas left. Now Walsh wants to EVALUATE Thomas before making a decision? Doesn't he know that the Knicks always catch fire at the end of the season and save Isiah's job? For not whacking Thomas, the Knicks and Donnie Walsh are to be thrown under the Bus.

Miami Heat: they're playing for the Derrick Rose Sweepstakes. (Rose is an UBER-stud who will be a great NBA player for the next decade and a half.) They've mailed it in. Just forfeit your regular games and let Pat Riley take his extended vacation. Until then, you go Under The Bus.

FORMULA ONE

Max Mosley: it's rare that F1 is mentioned on my blog. But I must mention it. Mosley has been accused of an orgy with five skanks, errrrrr, hookers in which #### role playing was part of the orgy. If Mosley wants to roll with hookers, that's his choice. The #### role playing went WAAAAAAAAY TOO FAR. Let him roll with hookers on his own time and NOT while he's running F1. Mosley gets thrown under the Bus for his indiscretion.

MLB

ESPN: they get thrown under the Bus for two reasons.

1. They glorified that patently absurd position known as the Designated Hitter. I call it the Disabled Hitter. Today marked the 35th anniversary of this "momentous" occasion. (Ron Blomberg was the first DH in MLB history on April 6, 1973) I've long been an advocate of eliminating the DH and replacing that slot with an extra player. For glorifying the absurd, ESPN goes under the Bus, along with the man who thought of the DH.
2. For endlessly hyping the first Yankees-Red Sox series of the season. It's only been in recent years both teams have been good at the same time. When the Yankees have sucked, the Sox have been good, and vice versa. Yes, it's a bitter rivalry, I get that. But don't act like they're the only two teams in MLB that matter. For that, and for perpetuating the hype machine that is the Yankees-Red Sox, ESPN goes under the Bus.

NCAA Football

Florida State Seminoles: for firing its college football color analyst Peter Tom Willis for no apparent reason. Why? Because he stepped on some toes with his brutal honesty regarding the Seminoles' program? Was it because Emperor, errrrrrrrr, Coach Bobby Bowden wanted him run because he DARED to criticize Jeff Bowden's handling of the offense? For more reasons, go to Lisa H's blog on this. She did a tremendous job on this! Florida State goes under the Bus.

Those are my nominees for the week. Feel free to come on in with yours! If you have someone in sports you want to throw under the Bus, feel free to do so here!

Throughout the world of sports, there is no shortage of people and teams that tick fans off. It could be due to a lack of effort, an "I don't care" attitude that reflects in the player's or team's performance, an overpaid player, etc. I found many sports figures that ticked me off this week. So I'm throwing them Under The Bus (Jerome Bettis Limited Edition, 850 hp). This is a forum for you, the sports fan, to call out the object of your ire and throw them under the bus.

NFL

Oakland Raiders: they overpaid to resign Tommy Kelly and to sign Gibril Wilson via free agency. While Kelly is a decent player, he’s NOT one of the top DE’s in the NFL. Yet the Raiders paid him a king’s ransom. If Wilson were that good, the Giants would have kept him. Overpaying by the Raiders further exposes their inability to draft quality players. The front office is a mess. Lane Kiffin could be on the way out, replaced by James Lofton, who Al Davis DESPERATELY wants as his head coach. For making an unnecessary big splash in free agency and spending money like drunken sailors (I apologize to all the drunken sailors out there for lumping you in with the Raiders) the Raiders are to be thrown under the Bus.

San Francisco 49ers: for overpaying to sign DE Justin Smith away from the Cincinnati Bengals. Smith was a good player on a very bad defense in Cincinnati. He may end up being a good player, who knows? But for overpaying a slightly above average DE, the Niners get thrown under the Bus.

MLB

Sam Zell: this Nimrod wants to sell the naming rights of Wrigley Field. You GOTTA be FREAKING KIDDING!!! This is Wrigley Field we're talking about! The Friendly Confines. One of the last bastions in the entire country to remind us of a purer and more honest era. If some bozo owner wants to sell the naming rights for 30 pieces of silver, he's become the Judas Iscariot of sports. Nothing is sacred anymore in this era of corporate greed. When will it stop? At least I give the City of San Francisco kudos to restoring Candlestick Park back to its original name. No wonder the Cubs are destined to lose for the next 100 years while this Nimrod runs the team. You're messing with the baseball gods, and if you do, they don't take kindly to that. So Under The Bus you go, Sam Zell, being thrown under by baseball fans everywhere.

Roger Clemens: enough said.

ESPN: for showing Clemens' mug during the Rockets-Nuggets NBA game on its network.

NBA

New York Knicks: see Isiah Thomas.

Phoenix Suns: for their effort, or lack thereof, against the Philadelphia 76ers. Philadelphia was coming off a loss against Golden State the night before. They were playing their second game in as many nights. Yet it was the 76ers that looked like a playoff team and the Suns a lottery team. This was a game the Suns should have won handily. Suns fan, time to beat the panic button to a pulp. For this dispirited effort, the Suns get thrown under the Bus. At least Steve Kerr will have a TNT gig waiting for him starting next season.

NHL

Bryan Murray: let me preface this. He was the head coach for the Ottawa Senators last season, when they came up short in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Anaheim Ducks. He then became the Senators' GM and hired John Paddock (the head coach of their AHL affiliate at the time) to be the Sens' head coach. Fast forward to last week. The Sens are second in the Eastern Conference and first in goals scored. They are going through a rough patch. Every team does at some point in the season. So what does Murray do? He FIRES Paddock and takes over the head coaching duties and bogarts all of the credit for any success the Sens may have. What a greedy, selfish, Machiavellian son of a ####. Machiavelli thinks that's messed up. I will be rooting for every team the Senators face, until Murray is no longer in the Senators' organization. Even if I have to root for the other teams in the Atlantic Division that face the Sens. For this Machiavellian stunt, Bryan Murray is to be thrown Under The Bus. I'm giving the keys of the Bus to John Paddock. 

Those are the objects of my ire in sports for this past week. What were the objects of your ire for the past week? Come in here and tell us!! 

Scanning the world of the NFL, there are no shortage of players, teams, coaches, fans, owners, and officials to throw Under The Bus (Jerome Bettis Limited Edition, 850 hp). Football fans everywhere, you are welcome to chime in with your nominations! I have a few nominations myself.

NFL

• The officiating crew in the Denver-Kansas City game: for giving Brandon Marshall a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after Marshall's rendition of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow." Marshall had just caught a TD pass from Jay Cutler and was throwing snow high in the air in celebration of a TD. He wasn't showing ANYONE up!! If he's taunting a KC defender, THEN you throw the flag! Officials, Under The Bus you all go! I'll add the NFL Rules Committee to be thrown Under The Bus as well.
• Anthony Smith: this genius guaranteed a Steelers' victory over the Patriots earlier in the week. So what does he do for an encore? He gives up THREE TD passes!! Not ONE, not TWO, but THREE. As I write, 54fulltiltfulltime is having a whole pot of chilled crow delivered to one Anthony Smith. For this foolish guarantee, Anthony Smith gets thrown where? Under The Bus!!!
• Carolina Panthers: embarassing. While J-ville is a good, but not great, team, I expected a MUCH better effort from the Kittens. ONE HUNDRED FORTY-NINE TOTAL YARDS?? WORSE THAN PATHETIC!!! Not only that, but J-ville amassed 427 yards in total offense. Time for Fox to go and be replaced by Bill Cowher. Give Cowher total control of the football operations. For this God-awful "effort", the Kittens get thrown Under The Bus.
• Detroit Lions defense: it is inexcusable blowing a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter! The Lions' offense played well enough to put an ####-kicking on the Cowboys' defense. If the defense played half as well as the offense, the Cowboys would be tied with the Packers at 11-2. Paris Lenon had a chance to put the game away with a fumble recovery, but he tried to scoop it up and deflected the ball to Andre Gurode of the Cowboys. ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS FALL ON THE F-ING BALL AND THE LIONS WIN!!! IS THAT SO HARD TO DO?? Instead, Tony Romo completes a clutch fourth down pass on the next play to keep the drive alive. The Lions' defense gets thrown Under The Bus.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers: I've been propping you guys for most of the year, and you reward me with THIS?? A beatdown administered by the Houston Texans' second-string QB? I can see this if it were the Cowboys or Packers putting the beatdown on the Bucs. But the TEXANS??? The Bucs get thrown Under The Bus. 
• ESPN: for single-handedly making Monday Night Football irrelevant. You have matchups like New Orleans-Atlanta?? Which Head #### decided that this would be a compelling matchup? The Four-Letter gets thrown Under The Bus.
• NFL schedule makers: for putting another couple of overexposed NFC East teams on NBC next Sunday night: Washington Redskins vs. New York Giants. The Redskins' playoff hopes are BARELY on life support. A MUCH better matchup would be Buffalo at Cleveland. Admit it NBC, you have a bias towards Eastern teams from the Eastern Seaboard no matter how BAD THEY SUCK (NY Giants, Washington, Philly, New England). Just get it done and sign an exclusive contract with the NFC East. So Under The Bus you go!

NBA

• New York Knicks: too much drama. Between Isiah Thomas and Stephon Marbury, it would be too much for even the most hard-core Knicks fans to handle. There WAS a time when the Knicks were a well-run franchise among the NBA's elite. It's going to take Thomas' departure, either by firing or resignation, plus some very good personnel moves, to make this franchise good again.

That's all I have for now. I have expanded this to include all sports. Feel free to come in with your nominations!!!