I think the only reason this is a news story is the shock of Pat playing for the home team.

Le Anne Schreiber is the Ombudsman for ESPN. An Ombudsman is defined as a person who is charged with representing the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints reported by individual citizens. In this case, the public is ESPN. Schreiber is very good, brutally honest and legitimately concerned with the opinions of those who have helped to make ESPN the empire that it is.

In this article, Shreiber addresses the unprecedented complaints of those who were beat over the head with ESPN's recent, Who's Now segment that ran on ESPN over 3 weeks. For seemingly half of every Sportscenter, ESPN dissolved into a gossip show. Who's Now seemed more fitting for US Weekly rather than a legitimate sports news source. We got to hear about Tony Parker and Tiger Woods from Jessica Biel and Kevin James. It was awful.

Schreiber notes, " No single topic has ever drawn the volume and intensity of unsolicited complaints to either my or my predecessor's mailbox that this sports popularity contest has." Unfortunately, the higher ups at the network seem to think that the program was a success and that any complaints about the segments were simply media driven. It would be nice if ESPN would actually listen to the complaints of their viewers rather than the opinions of some out of touch programming director. Time will tell....

Rangers owner Tom Hicks revealed to the Dallas News the reason the Rangers were so intent on trading Mark Teixeira. According to Hicks, Teixeira turned down an 8 year, 140 million dollar extension two weeks ago. Teixeira is very good, possibly a top-5 first baseman, but 140 million sounds like a lot. The Braves sending 5 of their top 10 prospects (including 1-3) to the Rangers seems very expensive now. Teixeira seems like he is primed to hit the open market in 15 months. The Braves have never paid a player anything close to 140 million and I don't see Teixeira giving out a hometown discount.

Yesterday, it was reported that Priest Holmes would be reporting to camp this year with the Chiefs. It's good to see Priest getting back into camp, because at one point, he was the most dominant running back in the game. I live in San Diego and the morning station was making a big deal about Holmes' return. Why? Frequent call in guest Shawne Merriman delivered the hit that was thought to end Priest's career. Merriman even gets a little giddy when he discusses the hit.

Now America has done it's part to crucify Barry Bonds, but the Merriman steroids story got swept under the rug last year. When Merriman tested positive, it was reported, albeit quietly, that the positive test stemmed from an actual Anabolic steroid rather than an over the counter stimulant.

It's making for a nice comeback story, but most likely, Holmes will never be able to return to his dominant level of play. I wonder, are there any legal ramifications to Merriman's hit? Now football injuries happen and that's to be understood. What about convicted cheaters though? Merriman can be accused of breaking both the rules of the league and Federal law as well. Could Priest (who was one of the highest paid players in the league at the point), sue Merriman for loss of income. Is there some kind of unwritten rule between the players in the league? Is that rule wiped away when one of the players is using steroids? Should Holmes sue Merriman? Can Holmes sue Merriman?

After a distinguished career, Craig Biggio will retire at season's end. Biggio, now with 3,000 hits has decided he wants to go out on top: "I'm going out on top. Other than a World Series, the [3,000th] hit thing was unbelievable. To me, I'm going out on top. It makes me feel great, being able to do it this way. And the fans can remember you on a positive note," he said, according to the Web site.

Biggio has been a shell of his former self for years, so i may argue about him going out on top, but regardless, he has had a terrific career and should be in the Hall of Fame.

Now here's an article everyone can enjoy. It seems Dick has been making disparaging remarks about Phil Hartman for years. The last one really got under Lovitz's skin and he slammed Dick's head into the bar 5 or 6 times. This would most likely be the greatest video of all time, but we'll just have to settle for an article and Lovitz's comments.

My new favorite website is willitblend.com. This guy works for a company called BlendTec which features an incredibly strong blender. He puts random, popular items in the blender, such as a can of RedBull or this weeks item, an Apple I-Phone. Heres the carnage...

Fresh off acquiring Zach Randolph on the cheap last week, the Knicks could be looking to add the ultimate character guy; Ron Artest. The Post's Marc Berman notes that the Knicks have 17 players currently on contract and would like to make a 3-1 deal to acquire a small forward. The two players forgotten in the Randolph deal, Fred Jones and Dan Dickau, both have value due to their expiring contracts, but may not have a spot on the Knicks roster. Artest loved playing for Thomas in Indiana and Thomas kept him relatively under control. Right now, the incredibly skilled Artest is available on the cheap due to his countless transgressions over the last couple of years. In the case that they do acquire Artest the Knicks will either completely implode (very possible) or become the best team in the East (definitely possible, but not very likely). As a Knicks fan I know one thing, this season will not be boring.

His son had weed and a bottle of Jack Daniels in his car at the time of the accident. He was also on the phone trying to hook up a 3 AM booty call at the time of the accident. He drove even though he was 2 times over the legal limit putting many others besides himself in danger. But according to Mr. Hancock, Josh is not to blame. The first person being sued is Mike Shannon's bar for overserving Hancock. The next person named in the suit is the driver of the tow truck that Hancock hit while not paying attention to the road. Hancock's father claimed that he did not move the truck far enough to the side of the road. A competent judge should be throwing this case out within the next 5-10 minutes.

Rick Ankiel hit his ninth homerun for Triple A Memphis. He is currently hitting .281 and slugging .579. St. Louis may have to call him up soon to come off the bench. Good for Ankiel who has worked very hard to become a quality outfielder and bat.

Rickey Henderson had a once in a lifetime experience during the Mets-Giants game yesterday. He was able to snag a fly ball that was hit into the seats. While most may feel that during his Hall of Fame career, Rickey accumulated enough memorabilia, Rickey disagreed. Henderson ignored the pleas from children sitting around him and decided to keep the ball for himself. He claimed that he always wanted to catch a foul ball and that the action proved that he could still play in the big leagues. Rickey rules.

The Daily News is reporting that Joe Torre's sister, Sister Marguerite Torre will lose her job as the Principal of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School in Ozone Park, Queens. It seems the school is merging with another and Sister Marguerite will be passed over for the Principal job. Will Joe be next?

This article links to an interesting discussion about who the worst player in the NBA is. The two favorites seems to be Antoine Walker and Adam Morrison. I tend to agree with the Morrison argument, but know that many don't feel the same way. It is from a Sabremetrics website and I know many don't care for Sabremetrics. So Yardbarker, who is the worst player in the NBA?

Ugueth Urbina was sentanced to 14 years in Venezuelan prison for his involvement in the attempted murder of 5 workers on his family's ranch. El Universal is reporting that, Urbina was also found guilty of illegal deprivation of liberty and violating a prohibition against taking justice into his own hands during a dispute over a gun on Oct. 16, 2005. Make out buddy Ivan Rodriguez had no comment.

Not only is he not funny, Eddie Griffin is also quite destructive. In preperation for his new movie, Redline, Griffin crashed a $1.5 million Ferrari into a racetrack wall yesterday, destroying the car. The car, owned by executive producer Daniel Sadek, is one of only 400 in the world. Griffin who was unhurt, had this to say about the accident, "Undercover Brother's good at karate and all the rest of that, but the brother can't drive." I am sure that made Sadek feel much better.