Sports fans, it's that time of week again. Time to submit the objects of your ire in the sports world to the lovely young lady standing beside this week's bus. She will call out each name, then they will be thrown under the Bus. I have submitted my names to her and she will call them out.

NASCAR

NASCAR Sanctioning Body: how the living HELL could they conduct a race like that? It was basically a glorified test session. The 2008 Brickyard 400 was the WORST F-ING race I have ever seen! I've seen turtle races that had more entertainment!! And they were FASTER! For conducting such a God-awful race, the NASCAR Sanctioning Body gets thrown under the Bus.

Goodyear Tires: why didn't you come to the Brickyard with a HARDER tire, one that won't wear out as fast? You wouldn't have had nearly as many issues as you did today. Go with a harder tire and stick with it. Let the crews and engineers come up with a plan to make the car drive as best it can. THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE PAID TO DO. The people responsible for these tires get thrown under the Bus.

Kurt Busch: this is for racing Kevin Harvick VERY early in the race and knocking him out of contention. Harvick was marching through the field and he was on the verge of the top 10 when he was an innocent victim of Busch's ineptitude behind the wheel. Harvick was passing you; you should have let him go and tuck in behind him. But NOOOOOO, you had to race him and got loose and collected him. You also knocked him out of the Chase in the process. You will be thrown under said Bus until he makes the Chase, and if he doesn't, you'll be thrown under every week for the rest of the season. (Sorry Kristen, I just had to vent at your driver--nothing personal against you.)

MLB

San Francisco Giants: for their fold-up job against the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend. This was a huge series; they could have got into contention with a series win. Instead, they'll be facing a double-digit deficit in the next couple of days. Maybe they wanted to get back at the Dodgers a different way. Either way, they get thrown under the Bus.

Manny Ramirez: he all but challenged the Red Sox to trade him.(Rumors are the Dodgers and Mets are interested.) Boston's feeling the pressure of the Yankees and having to defend their world title. A Yankees win tonight and they're tied with Boston, 2 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays. (And who'd have thunk both Boston and New York would be chasing the Rays this late in the season?) For his "Manny being Manny" outburst and causing dissension among the ranks, ManRam gets thrown Under The Bus.

NFL

Donte Nicholson, S, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: the reserve safety was Tasered twice and was arrested during a weekend scuffle at a St. Petersburg nightclub. How many times do athletes need to be reminded that NOTHING good happens after 2 AM (unless you’re getting lucky)? This came on the heels of his roommate getting arrested as he was trying to reenter the club when it was closing. You can think about what you did as you’re getting thrown under the Bus.

Brett Favre: he didn't report to Packers' training camp today. This ongoing saga is getting pretty tiresome. You shouldn't have retired in the first place. You should have done what you did last April: told the Packers that you're coming back. Ted Thompson deserves some of the blame for this for allegedly rushing your decision. But only you can make that decision to retire or not, Brett. For creating a media circus, you get thrown under the Bus.

AUTO RACING

Danica Patrick: she was unapologetic for her cat fight with Milka Duno. Of course she was. She thinks she's right about EVERYTHING. Then I’ll be unapologetic for a repeat of last week in getting her punk #### thrown under the Bus.

GOLF

Tonight the baseball world stopped. The New York Yankees began a very crucial three-game series at Boston. The Yankees came in as winners of six straight games, three back of the Tampa Bay Rays. Joba Chamberlain was matched up against Josh Beckett in a much-hyped pitching matchup.

The duel lived up to the hype. Both Beckett and Chamberlain pitched very well; Chamberlain in particular was stellar. To go into a very hostile environment like Fenway Park and pitch that well (7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K) is a testament to Chamberlain's toughness.

New York Yankees' Joba Chamberlain pitches against the Boston Red Sox in the seventh inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, Friday, July 25, 2008.
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Chamberlain sent a message loud and clear to the Red Sox: we have our mojo back. He kept buzzing Kevin Youkilis inside, at one time playing chin music. Youkilis hit the deck on a high, inside heater. What was lost in all this is that he is fearless. However, the Red Sox could very well retaliate by plunking a key Yankee like Robinson Cano or Derek Jeter.

The lone run of the game came on a two-out Little League infield single by Jason Giambi. The Red Sox shifted, and Giambi cue-balled his grounder to the vacant area that the shortstop would normally occupy. This came on the heels of consecutive two-out singles.

New York Yankees' Jason Giambi leaves the batter's box on an RBI single in the third inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, Friday July 25, 2008.
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

The star of this game undoubtedly was Chamberlain. He basically told the rest of the Yankees, "Come up here on my shoulders and I'll carry you." The Yankees SORELY needed not only this game, but that kind of performance in a place like Fenway, with that much on the line. 

 
Boston Red Sox's J.D. Drew walks back to the dugout after striking out to New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain in the fourth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, Friday, July 25, 2008.
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Now they have won seven in a row and are breathing down both the Red Sox and Rays' necks. Mariano Rivera came in with one out in the eighth inning and shut down a potential Sox rally. Then he notched his 26th save of the season. Rivera is still money in these types of situations: big game on the road, check. Need five outs for the save, check. Shut down the opposition, check.

New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera pitches against the Boston Red Sox in the ninth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, Friday July 25, 2008. The Yankees won 1-0 and Rivera earned a save.

For this game, at least, the Yankees have their mojo back. If they end up sweeping the Red Sox, they definitely have it back. They should expect the Red Sox to retaliate for the chin music Chamberlain made. Nothing like a good old-school rivalry like the Yankees-Red Sox, especially when both teams are among the elite in MLB.

Sports fans, it's that time again to call out those idiots, miscreants, and all around dumbasses that so #### you off. I KNOW you have several that you want to throw under the Bus! Call them out for their idiocy. This is your forum to throw these idiots under the Bus. Remember, you can call out a player, coach, team, owner, a team's fans, or any sports personality and throw them under the Bus. I know I have my share!

NFL

Brett Favre: ENOUGH about coming back already! You made your decision to retire, stick with it!! Brett, I loved watching you play, you were one of my all-time favorite players, but when you made the decision to retire, it was time to move on. Aaron Rodgers is ready to helm the Packers' ship. Just by HINTING at a comeback, you threw Rodgers under the bus. Now it's Rodgers' turn to throw YOU under the Bus.

Reagan Mauia: this will most likely be the only time in the history of the world that Mauia and Favre will show up on the same blog. For those who don't know who Mauia is, he is the Miami Dolphins' starting FB. This bozo punched a man in the face without provocation and fled the scene. A witness took a picture of Mauia's license plate with his phone. Mauia was tracked down and arrested. I don't have to wait for more information to throw Mauia under the Bus.

NBA

Detroit Pistons: losing to the New York Knicks is bad enough, but at HOME? You lost to the Knicks when you ABSOLUTELY had to WIN in order to stay alive for home court advantage? AND on a night where the all-time greats of the Pistons franchise was honored? For all that, you get thrown under the Bus not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR times! Hopefully we won't hear the worst chant in the history of the world, "Detroit Basketball!" in the Finals when the Celtics work you. 

New York Knicks: they have begun the annual Save Isiah campaign. Donations are accepted. They are playing their BEST basketball of the season in order to Save Isiah. I imagine there are buildings all over New York that say, "Save Isiah." (Much like in the movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, there were signs painted all over Chicago that said, "Save Ferris.") The Knicks get thrown under the Bus.

Miami Heat: just quit already. D-Wade has. Oh wait, he's out for the year with injuries. Pat Riley has. He spent the NCAA Tournament scouting Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose. He hearts D-Rose. He hearts him MUCH more than coaching the band of misfits known as the Heat. Mercifully, the season will end this week for the Heat. Until then, the Heat get thrown under the Bus yet again.

MLB

Tampa Bay Rays: for all the hype that went into the Rays this year, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Rays are looking up at the FREAKING Orioles this year. For that matter, they're looking up at everyone else in the division. This was supposed to be their breakout year. It also doesn't help when a veteran pitcher like Al Reyes gets into a fight in a bar. On his birthday, no less. Some veteran leadership there, Al. He not only got into a fight, he got his #### kicked. Then he got Tasered TWICE. Reyes gets his #### kicked, gets Tasered, AND gets thrown Under The Bus all in the same week. The Rays get thrown under for letting us down. 

Fox Sports: for treating the NASCAR fans of this nation to a slap in the face. Yes, it wasn't your fault that the Yankees-Red Sox was delayed by rain. But you could have switched the game to FX and kept the NASCAR fans and the baseball fans somewhat happy. But NOOOOOOOOO, you had to milk the Yankees-Red Sox for every moment AND you had the game SIMULCAST on FX!! AND you pre-empted the NASCAR pre-race show! Because it was Yankees-Red Sox, you cut into the ACTUAL RACE. Ryan Newman was going into Turn 3 of the first lap of the race when Fox switched from the game to the race. For poor planning and for pissing a LOT of race fans off, Fox Sports goes under the Bus. 

Yankees-Red Sox rivalry: yes, I get that it's a historically bitter rivalry. Yes I get that both teams are good. But they're not the only two teams in baseball!! It's an endless and breathless hype machine! For my money, the NL West rivalry is just as good, if not better, than Yankees-Red Sox. Yankees-Sox rivalry goes under the Bus.

NCAA

#### Vitale haters: been drinking the anti-Dickie V grape-flavored Haterade again? There was one guy (Fox Sports' own Mark Kriegel) that got drunk on it. Love or hate #### Vitale, his contributions to college basketball as a commentator and ambassador to the game cannot be denied. I admire Vitale's enthusiasm and passion for the game of college basketball (even though he's too much of a Duke homer). All the Dickie V haters (Kriegel included) are to be thrown under the Bus of Dickie V's choice. 

Jeff Ehrhardt, QB, Murray State: this genius was charged with second-degree robbery for "a prank gone bad." So now that's what we call pushing and assaulting a campus police officer and taking his book away, a "prank gone bad"? If it were up to me, dude would be in the clink for a MINIMUM of five years. He won a $20 bet for the "prank gone bad". Sure hope that $20 was worth it, E. My bet is that he skates like Dorothy Hamill. He'll probably be suspended for the first play of the season. For such a #### prank, Ehrhardt gets thrown under the Bus.      

Throughout the world of sports, there are enough dolts, idiots, and general miscreants that just totally tick off you, the Joe Six Pack fan. I know I get ticked off by some of these dolts and miscreants. Here is your forum for you to throw these miscreants and ingrates Under The Bus. And away we go!

MLB

New York Yankees: they are thrown under the Bus for TWO reasons: Shelley Duncan and Billy Crystal. Duncan is the genius that decided to pay back the Tampa Bay Rays for a smart, physical play one of the Rays' reserve OFs made when he bowled over the Yankees' reserve catcher, breaking the catcher's wrist in the process. He decided a little payback was in order, so he went up high on Akinori Iwamura. Problem is, Duncan was thrown out by 20 FEET. Duncan spiked Iwamura in the groin, sparking a bench-clearing brawl. If you're going to exact payback, do it with a good, hard, CLEAN slide, such as breaking up a double play attempt. Don't go bush league and go in spikes high. Crystal is a fading comic that wanted one last blaze of glory. So the Yankees accommodated him. What, Richard Mulligan wasn't available? (He played Crystal's stepfather in the 1970's TV series "Soap") There were a NUMBER of ways the Yankees could have done this right, sending him to their FANTASY camp and being a guest in the owner's box for the first Yankees-Red Sox series being two ways. DON'T turn a spring training game played by REAL players into some aging comic's fantasy camp. For mocking spring training and Shelley Duncan's bush league play, the Yankees get thrown Under The Bus TWICE.

MLB: for scheduling a couple of spring training games in China featuring mainly AAA ballplayers with the major league managerial staffs of the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. I wonder if the Chinese REALLY think these are the best players the Dodgers and Padres brought to China? The Dodgers only brought a handful from their major league roster. They left the rest of the major leaguers in Florida. I'm fine with a traveling all-star team going to Japan or China or South Korea after the season. MLB gets thrown under the Bus for false advertising, particularly to a new and potentially explosive market.

NASCAR

Jamie McMurray: this guy can't seem to get out of his own way. He's reverting to the early 2007 Jamie McMurray. It's not like he's forgotten how to drive. And with the early season success of teammates Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards, even more pressure is on him. He's not even a top 35 car now. He's a GOGH driver, and if he doesn't qualify for Martinsville in two weeks, he'll have dug a hole he cannot get out of. He would make Jack Roush's decision to cut one team a whole lot easier. The pressure is really on McMurray at Martinsville. If he does end up qualifying for the race, and has a strong finish, he'll safely be in the top 35. Dust yourself off from being thrown under the bus, qualify strong at Martinsville, and have a good solid finish. (I HATED to do that to a good guy like McMurray!!)

Tony Stewart's spotter: after the wreck (and subsequent apology) of Stewart, Kevin Harvick apologized, and his spotter apologized to Stewart's spotter. Stewart's spotter was wanting to kick some ####. Spotter should take FULL responsibility for telling Smoke that Happy was coming right behind him. He fell asleep. Smoke's spotter goes under Smoke's bus.

That's all I have for now. Come in with your nominees!

As I sit on the patio, my lapper fired up, I just thought I'd muse randomly about things in sports and culture.

• The subhumans that burglarized Marquise Hill's mother's house as she was burying her son are the worst people on the planet. Satan is preparing a room for each of them.
• Is Michelle Wie becoming the Paris Hilton of the LPGA? Or the Anna Kournikova of the LPGA?
• We have another sports soap opera, this one NOT involving the Los Angeles Lakers for once. (The Lakers have their own SERIES)
• We are roughly six weeks away from NFL training camps. WOOHOO!
• Has anyone noticed that every year in the MLB draft the same three teams draft 1-2-3 (the order varies from year to year): Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh? Get the GMs from those NFL teams to run the MLB teams and see how quickly they improve!
• If you suffer from insomnia, just tape a few soccer games and watch them and time yourself nightly on how quickly you'll fall asleep.
• USC will play in the BCS national championship game. Unofficially, they are the NFL's 33rd team. They are LOADED this year.
• Prediction for the NBA Finals: Spurs in 6, Tony Parker wins Series MVP. A perfect wedding gift for him.
• If not for Kobe Bryant, the Lakers would be a lottery team for years to come. Maybe it's time for Jerry Buss to relinquish control of the team and retire with a 23-year-old (or younger) hottie of his choice. Hmmmm, is Buss the Hugh Hefner of the NBA? I've got to know.
• The Philadelphia Flyers are stuck in a time warp. They're slow, stodgy, and can't put the biscuit in the basket. That style worked in 1975, the last time they won the Stanley Cup. Today's NHL is free-flowing, with a lot more scoring. Gooning it up no longer works. Buffalo exposed them big-time in last year's playoffs.
• MMA is for real. It's not a fad that will go away. At UFC 71 there were plenty of good action-packed fights. I was surprised how quickly Quentin "Rampage" Jackson KO'd Chuck "Iceman" Liddell.
• Boxing is on the ropes. (Pun intended)
• Last but not least, congratulations to the Anaheim Ducks for winning the Stanley Cup. They earned it. Ottawa has nothing to be ashamed of. The Sens simply ran into a better team. They'll be back.