The D-List: 2010 August Week 1

Ozzie Guillen - In another rant, Ozzie this time attacks Japanese baseball players, MLB for targeting Latino players to use PED’s, and racism towards drafting Latino players versus American players. He claims that Japanese players who come over are good, but they are privileged because they have translators who make more than minor league players and they aren’t as hungry as Latino players. He also claims he is the only one in MLB who is trying to educate Latinos to not use PED’s. He is on pace to be up for a D-Case lifetime achievement award since it looks like he won’t be fired yet as somehow the White Sox have mustered up a respectable season as the much more talented Cubs disappoint yet again (can you tell I’m a little bitter?).
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AhyPF4Nbc98ilzn7rBJkcD45nYcB?slug=ap-whitesox-guillenrant

ESPN - for covering up a story about LeBron James that they were responsible for in the first place. Shortly after LeBron’s 1 hour TV special, The Decision, aired on ESPN, LeBron spent a weekend in Las Vegas hosting parties for a six figure fee. ESPN sent their own Arash Markazi to tag along with LeBron’s entourage and write a story about the weekend. Shortly after the story was published on ESPN.com it was taken down as it painted LeBron in a not so positive light. It’s fairly obvious that LeBron and ESPN are in bed together, this just solidifies this. Definitely need to read the whole story:
http://sportscasm.com/2010/07/28/espn-deletes-story-about-wild-lebron-james-party-text/

Grant Balfour and Pitching Coach - Balfour has injured himself to the point of needing a 4-6 week stint on the DL because he got hurt wrestling with his pitching coach. Freak accidents do happen, yes, but it seems D-case-ish to me that he was wrestling with the pitching coach, who's like a 50 year old guy.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Rasslin-Rays-Balfour-on-DL-after-horseplay-wit;_ylt=Al.f5f_cNHOEuQNXvnobUUQRvLYF?urn=mlb-259582

Albert Haynesworth - for extending his stay on the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list to start Redskins’ training camp due to his inability to pass his conditioning test. Certainly d-case behavior having all off-season to improve his physical condition, and instead he comes in worse than before. Haynesworth couldn’t pass the test last Thursday, then on Friday took an extended bathroom break in the middle of testing so he could catch his breath, took Saturday and Sunday off, had to stop in the middle of testing Monday, and has withdrawn from testing since then. On top of that, Mike Golic of Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio took the same (or at least similar) conditioning test and was able to pass it despite being out of the league for 16 years.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j4qCGpW8XgotE88x22YewCNmDdygD9HC0GB81
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/08/03/mike-golic-passes-the-haynesworth-fitness-test-after-challenge-f/

Marilyn Garcia, from USA Today - for asking Joe Paterno at Big 10 Media Days “I followed your career for a long time. And I'm thinking you're going to be Penn State's coach until the day you die. What do you think about that?” Garcia then went on to ask about Joe-Pa’ health problems asking “That was intestinal issues, is that right?...You had intestinal issues this past spring?” To which Paterno replied: “it was a little bit below the intestine.” Sure we understand the point that Garcia was getting at, Paterno is old, but I don’t think that using the phrase “until the day you die” nor asking questions about intestinal issues (or issues south of the border as it turns out) were really necessary.
http://www.linebacker-u.com/2010/08/joe-paternos-2010-media-day-transcript.html

Mike Hart, Professional Angler - for illegally adding weight to his fish at the recent WON U.S. Open bass fishing tournament; as a result Hart has been banned for life from all WON (Western Outdoor News) tournaments. Hart “salted” his bass by placing torpedo sinkers rigged with a hook in the belly of the fish. Officials grew suspicious when Hart was the only angler with only 3 fish that was still in the running for the money. I know that performance enhancing substances have tainted much of the American sporting landscape, but I never thought it would come to this…shame on you Mike Hart.
http://www.wonews.com/t-WONBASS-cheater-7-21-10.aspx
http://www.gethookd.net/?p=2948

Les Miles, LSU Football Coach - For deliberating over-signing (signing more recruits than he had scholarships available to give) his 2009 recruiting class. And for waiting until August to finally get around to telling OL recruit Elliott Porter that there wouldn't be a scholarship for him this year. As Porter tells the story: "I got called to coach Miles' office. I had no idea it was coming," Porter said of his being asked by LSU to 'grayshirt' this season and re-enroll next year. "He just told me that they didn't have room for me. I moved out of my dorm today and I am now back home trying to figure everything out. It's been a rough 24 hours."http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/LSU-s-ship-has-two-men-too-many-so-Elliott-Port?urn=ncaaf-260264