So i was just watching FSN and all of the sudden everyone in the ballpark starts to cheer randomly. And next thing I heard was, " We will spare you the video of this moron." The poor guy goes to all that trouble to streak and doesn't even get any t.v. time. Im sure videos will soon surface on youtube! haha

dont you think its about time to get franchione out of college station? i mean really, has he ever heard of a down field pass?

COLLEGE STATION -- Why take to the air when you can take the train? The J-Train, that is.

That was Texas A&M's preferred mode of travel Saturday.

You really don't appreciate good sports announcers until you hear bad ones. I frequently listen to Texas Rangers games on the radio and watch them on t.v. .. wow those guys are great announcers! Along with all other "professional announcers" as I like to call them. After listening to them for a while ill switch over to local talk radio shows, or local high school or college games. Wow those guys are terrible announcers! Now every now and then I'm sure you'll find a good one. Because every good announcer has to start somewhere, and I am not saying the job is easy, but listening to them struggle to find the right words to say, and half the time they don't even know what they're talking about is terrible. Anyone else share my problem?

the headline says it all. lets hear your opinion of the top baseball song of all time.

My vote goes to Centerfield- John Fogerty

World Records as ratified by the IAAF

Symbols:

(A) = mark made at over 1000m of altitude (in affected events only)

i = made indoors

M = miles

m = meters

p = mark still pending ratification





Track Events

100m 9.77 Asafa Powell (Jamaica) Athens, Greece 6/14/05

9.77 Justin Gatlin (US) [pending expulsion] Doha, Qatar 5/12/06



9.77 Asafa Powell (Jamaica) Gateshead, England 6/11/06



9.77 Asafa Powell (Jamaica) Zürich, Switzerland 8/18/06

200 19.32 Michael Johnson (US) Atlanta, Georgia 8/01/96

400 43.18 Michael Johnson (US) Seville, Spain 8/26/99

800 1:41.11 Wilson Kipketer (Denmark) Cologne, Germany 8/24/97

1000 2:11.96 Noah Ngeny (Kenya) Rieti, Italy 9/05/99

1500 3:26.00 Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) Rome, Italy 7/14/98

Mile 3:43.13 Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) Rome, Italy 7/07/99

2000 4:44.79 Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) Berlin, Germany 9/07/99

Steeplechase 7:53.63 Saïf Shaheen (Qatar) Brussels, Belgium 9/03/04

3000 7:20.67 Daniel Komen (Kenya) Rieti, Italy 9/01/96

5000 12:37.35 Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) Hengelo, Netherlands 5/31/04

10,000 26:17.53 Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) Brussels, Belgium 8/26/05

20,000 56:25.98p Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) Ostrava, Czech Republic 6/27/07



56:55.6 Arturo Barrios (Mexico) La Flèche, France 3/30/91

Hour 21,101m (13M,193y) Arturo Barrios (Mexico) La Flèche, France 3/30/91

25,000 1:13:55.8 Toshihiko Seko (Japan) Christchurch, New Zealand 3/22/81

30,000 1:29:18.8 Toshihiko Seko (Japan) Christchurch, New Zealand 3/22/81

110 Hurdles 12.88 Xiang Liu (China) Lausanne, Switzerland 7/11/06

400 Hurdles 46.78 Kevin Young (US) Barcelona, Spain 8/06/92

Relay Events

4 x 100 37.40 United States Barcelona, Spain 8/08/92

(Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell, Carl Lewis)

37.40 United States Stuttgart, Germany 8/21/93

(Jon Drummond, Andre Cason, Dennis Mitchell, Leroy Burrell)

4 x 200 1:18.68 Santa Monica TC Walnut, California 4/17/94

(Mike Marsh 20.0, Leroy Burrell 19.6, Floyd Heard 19.7, Carl Lewis 19.4)

4 x 400 2:54.20 United States Uniondale, New York 7/22/98

(Jerome Young 44.3, Antonio Pettigrew 43.2, Tyree Washington 43.5, Michael Johnson 43.2)

4 x 800 7:02.43 Kenya Brussels, Belgium 8/25/06

(Joseph Mutua 1:46.73, William Yiampoy 1:44.38, Ismael Kombich 1:45.92, Wilfred Bungei 1:45.40)

4 x 1500 14:38.8 West Germany Cologne, Germany 8/17/77

(Thomas Wessinghage 3:38.8, Harald Hudak 3:40.2, Michael Lederer 3:42.6, Karl Fleschen 3:37.3)

4 x Mile+ 15:49.08 Ireland Dublin, Ireland 8/17/85

(Eamonn Coghlan 4:00.2, Marcus O'Sullivan 3:55.3, Frank O'Mara 3:56.6, Ray Flynn 3:56.98)

Distance Medley 9:15.56p Kenya Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 4/29/06

(Elkanah Angwenyi 2:50.8, Thomas Musembi 45.8, Alfred Yego 1:46.2, Alex Kipchirchir 3:52.8)

Field Events

High Jump 2.45 | 8-0.50 Javier Sotomayor (Cuba) Salamanca, Spain 7/27/93

Pole Vault 6.13 | 20-1.25 Sergey Bubka (Ukraine) Tokyo, Japan 9/19/92

6.14 | 20-1.75(A) Sergey Bubka (Ukraine) Sestriere, Italy 7/31/94

Long Jump 8.95 | 29-4.50 Mike Powell (US) Tokyo, Japan 8/30/91

Triple Jump 18.29 | 60-0.25 Jonathan Edwards (Great Britain) Göteborg, Sweden 8/07/95

Shot 23.12 | 75-10.25 Randy Barnes (US) Westwood, California 5/20/90

Discus 74.08 | 243-0 Jürgen Schult (East Germany) Neubrandenburg, Germany 6/06/86

Hammer 86.74 | 284-7 Yuriy Syedikh (Soviet Union) Stuttgart, Germany 8/30/86

Javelin 98.48 | 323-1 Jan Železný (Czech Republic) Jena, Germany 5/25/96

Multi Event

Decathlon 9026 Roman Ṧebrle (Czech Republic) Götzis, Austria 5/26-27/01

(10.64, 8.11 (26-7.25), 15.33 (50-3.5), 2.12 (6-11.5), 47.79 [4675],

13.92, 47.92 (157-3), 4.80 (15-9), 70.16 (230-2), 4:21.98 [4351])



Road Events

10K 27:02 Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) Doha, Qatar 12/11/02

15K 41:29 Felix Limo (Kenya) Nijmegen, Holland 11/11/01

20K 55:31p Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) 's Gravenhage, Holland 3/17/07

55:48 Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) Tempe, Arizona 1/15/06

Half-Marathon 58:33 Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) 's Gravenhage, Holland 3/17/07

25K 1:12:45 Paul Kosgei (Kenya) Berlin, Germany 5/09/04

30K 1:28:36 Takayuki Matsumiya (Japan) Kumamoto, Japan 2/16/03

Marathon 2:04:55 Paul Tergat (Kenya) Berlin, Germany 9/28/03

100K 6:13:33 Takahiro Sunada (Japan) Lake Saroma, Japan 6/21/98

Ekiden Relay 1:57:06 Kenya Chiba, Japan 11/17/05

(Josphat Ndambiri 13:24, Martin Mathathi 27:12, Daniel Mwangi 13:59, Mekubo Mogusu 27:56, Onesmus Nyerre 14:36, John Kariuki 19:59)

The Texas Rangers have swept the Seattle Mariners in an exciting 4 game series in Arlington, including a double header yesterday. I would have to give the series MVP to Travis Metcalf. The backup third-baseman filling in for injured Hank Blalock has really stepped it up of late. he went four for four in the third game of the series. He was only a home run shy of the cycle. Tonight Ramon Hernandez hit a go- ahead home run off of J.J Putz, that earned him his first blown save of the year. Well this is just about the best thing that could have happened to the Rangers right now, sweeping a team in your division is really the only way to get back in the race. It seems like as of right now the Rangers are the only hot team in the AL West. Keep it up guys!

Breaking down the offense

For most of last season the Aggies were the only team in the country to average 200 yards rushing and passing. However, there is no doubt the strength of A&M's offense is its running game. The Aggies feature the power of Jorvorskie Lane, the speed of Mike Goodson and QB Stephen McGee running the show. Still, the Aggies need to improve their passing game.

TEXAS A&M TOP 10

Mike Goodson gives the Aggies an explosive weapon out of the backfield.

1. RB Mike Goodson

2. TE Martellus Bennett

3. QB Stephen McGee

4. RB Jorvorskie Lane

5. DE Chris Harrington

6. C Cody Wallace

7. LB Misi Tupe

8. S Devin Gregg

9. OT Yemi Babalola

10. DT Red Bryant

Best player: Goodson. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry in 2006, though he never got more than 15 attempts in a game. He should get more opportunities this season.

Most overrated: A three-star prospect back in 2003, WR Earvin Taylor has one last chance to prove he's better than he has shown. He has managed just 40 catches in his career, 19 last season. The Aggies don't throw a lot, but they'd still prefer more production than they've received from Taylor.

Most underrated: Big 12 coaches named C Cody Wallace a second-eam all-conference lineman last year, and frankly that just wasn't good enough. He has started 23 consecutive games and has been consistently effective.

Must step up: McGee had a very good year in 2006, but the Aggies simply cannot afford for him to take a step back this season. He rushed for 666 yards and only threw two interceptions while passing for 2,295 yards in 2006. A&M is counting on similar production in 2007.

Impact newcomer: Nine returning starters won't allow many opportunities for newcomers, but WR E.J. Shankle could inject some much-needed speed into the A&M passing game. He actually played last season, though few probably know that. He notched just one catch and one rush. His opportunities figure to increase substantially.

Battle to watch: Four starters return on the offensive line, and guards Chris Yoder and Michael Shumard will vie for the position left open by the graduation of Grant Dickey.

New in 2007: Career backups Pierre Brown and Kerry Franks are expected to move into the starting lineup at wide receiver.

Grade the units:

QB: B-plus. McGee threw just 12 touchdown passes, but only had two interceptions. He runs hard and provides spirited leadership.

RB: A. The bullet and the bulldozer -- Goodson and Lane -- combined for 1,572 rushing yards and 23 TDs. Also, redshirt freshman Cornell Tarrant was the star of the spring game. Incoming freshman Bradley Stephens is a four-star prospect.

WR/TE: B-minus. TEs Martellus Bennett and Joey Thomas raise the grade, but the WRs are mediocre at best.

OL: A. Wallace, guard Kirk Elder and tackle Corey Clark all have at least 23 career starts. Tackle Yemi Babalola has been a starter for two seasons, although injuries limited him last year. He's healthy now, and the Aggies have their best offensive line since the arrival of coach Dennis Franchione.

Breaking down the defense

Overview: A&M made amazing strides in upgrading its pass defense in 2006, and this year hopes to move closer to returning to "Wrecking Crew" status. A few heralded new starters have raised optimism that the Aggies defense can play at a high level. That was once taken for granted in College Station.

Best player: Defensive end Chris Harrington has been overshadowed throughout his career at A&M, but he's coming off a junior season in which he led the team in solo tackles, sacks and tackles for losses.

Texas A&M Schedule

Date Opponent

Sept. 1 Montana State

Sept. 8 Fresno State

Sept. 15 La.-Monroe

Sept. 20 at Miami (Fla.)

Sept. 29 Baylor

Oct. 6 Oklahoma State

Oct. 13 at Texas Tech

Oct. 20 at Nebraska

Oct. 27 Kansas

Nov. 3 at Oklahoma

Nov. 10 at Missouri

Nov. 23 Texas

Most overrated: Defensive tackle Red Bryant has frequently been lauded as a dominant player, but he has never been consistent enough to deserve that tag. To be fair, he was hobbled by injuries in 2006. However, he has managed just eight sacks and 81 tackles in his previous three seasons.

Most underrated: Halfway through his freshman year, safety Devin Gregg moved into the starting lineup and registered a sack on his first collegiate play. He has been in the starting lineup since. Other teammates have received more attention in the past, but last year Gregg posted 64 tackles and two interceptions.

Must step up: Defensive tackle has become a position of concern. Sophomore Kellen Heard (6-foot-6, 330 pounds) played well when Bryant was hurt last season. Heard even managed two sacks against Nebraska. However, he needs to prove he can be productive as a starter.

Shoes to fill: Alton Dixon will take over for strong safety Melvin Bullitt, a two-year starter. Many observers feel Dixon actually will be an upgrade.

Impact newcomer: Sophomore safety Jordan Pugh primarily played on special teams last season. He will be a new face in the starting lineup in 2007. He starred in the spring, and A&M coaches are confident Pugh will immediately raise the talent level in the secondary.

Position battle: CBs Jordan Peterson and Danny Gorrer were good at times, and they were burned (badly) at times. The DBs must show they have improved since last season. Peterson and Gorrer will have to be better in order to hold off impending challenges from Arkeith Brown and former starter Marquis Carpenter.

New in 2007: The secondary in A&M's 4-2-5 alignment will have two new starters at safety in Pugh and Dixon.

Grade the units:

DL: B-minus. Harrington is a solid pass rusher, and Bryant - when healthy - is good against the run. But the Aggies need linemen like Heard, Henry Smith and Michael Bennett to raise their games.

LB: B-minus. Junior college transfer Misi Tupe earned All-Big 12 defensive newcomer of the year honors last season. Mark Dodge also had a solid season. Matt Featherston may be ready to challenge for a starting job.

DB: B. The depth at corner is respectable, and Gregg is solid at safety. Pugh and Dixon are new starters, but they should prove to be upgrades over their predecessors.

Breaking down the special teams

Overview: Kickoffs aren't a problem -- booting them or returning them. K Matt Szymanski has a powerful leg and often has little trouble blasting kickoffs out of the end zone. Kerry Franks is a dangerous return man. The punting is solid, too. But no field goal attepmt can be taken for granted.

Season outlook with bowl forecast

This is the best team Franchione has had at Texas A&M, but it's also facing probably the most difficult schedule. In another year, the Aggies might be favored to win the Big 12 South. However, A&M faces road games at Miami, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Missouri as well as facing Texas at home. A&M had good fortune on the road in 2006 and will need that to continue in 2007. The Aggies could be significantly better without improving last year's win total. The most probable scenario is another good year that finishes in a lower-tier bowl game. But this year the Aggies win the postseason game.

Best player: Franks averaged more than 29 yards on 13 kickoff returns in the regular season last year. He also had a 99-yard touchdown on a return against Texas Tech.

Grade the units:

K: C. Long kickoffs are wonderful, but a kicker's worth is judged by his ability to convert field goals. Szymanski hit just two of five in 2006, but he has the ability to become a threat from long range.

P: A. Justin Brantly's 44.3-yard average last season ranked fourth in the nation.

KR: A. Including his Holiday Bowl numbers, Franks ranked 10th nationally with a 27.7 return average last year.

PR: Incomplete. Chad Schroeder, the only player with more than two punt returns last season, is gone and his successor hasn't yet been named. Franks did get 20 yards on his only punt return last year.

Breaking down the coaching

Overview: Dennis Franchione has rebuilt struggling programs several times in his career, but the Texas A&M reconstruction project has taken more time than many fans anticipated. He's been criticized for many decisions, but the fact remains the Aggies posted nine victories last season, upset Texas and came close to knocking off Oklahoma and Nebraska. A big reason for that success was the defensive improvement shown under then first-year defensive coordinator Gary Darnell.

Grade the coaches:

Head coach: C. Franchione has guided the Aggies to two bowl games in four years, but both ended with lopsided losses. His A&M teams are 25-23.

Offense: C-plus. The Aggies have been good, but not great in four years with Les Koenning Jr. as offensive coordinator. They've ranked among the nation's top 20 in total offense the last three seasons and have been among the top 35 in scoring offense the last two seasons.

Defense: B. Last year Darnell took over a defense which ranked last nationally in total defense. Under his supervision, DArnell has improved the unit significantly. In one season under Darnell, A&M reduced its points allowed from 31.2 per game in 2005 to 20.5 in 2006.

Special teams: B-plus. Mark Tommerdahl has presided over solid but largely unspectacular special teams at A&M. The punt and kickoff teams have usually been solid, and kickoff returns are usually good, too.

Olin Buchanan

here is a funny and painfull video which many of you have probably seen. just another example of the fearlessness of polevaulters haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjXlSs95hWc

wow. i had no idea.. today i was randomly flipping through ESPN channels and saw 'softball' on the menu guide, i clicked on it and i saw a male player wearing a japanese hat. well at first i just thought it was a misprint on the guide, and that it was actually a world baseball tournament of some kind that i didn't know about, but a few seconds later i was stunned as the Japanese player chucked a huge yellow ball underhand to the catcher. i don't know why this is such a shock to me, I've just never heard of, or imagined men playing softball, well competitive fast pitch at least.. I'd like to hear from someone with a little more insight on the sport. whats so wrong with baseball that men now have to play fast pitch softball?

lately ive been watching more and more tennis. and i cant get enough of rafael nadal. one thing i cant get over is that nadal has one four of there last five meetings. and almost everyone considers federrer a large favorite? Even in the french open where it is obvious nadal is the favorite, roger takes the 1 seed. how ever the federer- nadal matchups seem to end it is very apperent that federrer has a much better record over all facing other competitors giving him the over-all number one world ranking. but no one can deny that when nadal meets up with federer no matter what surface, nadal brings his best. i for one cant wait to see the matches to come between these two. who would you rather face?

Mike Celizic





I can't imagine anything worse for the NBA than allegations that one of its refs was betting on games he was officiating for the past two seasons.

Devastating is too soft a word to describe the fallout from the news that first appeared in The New York Post today and has been confirmed by other organizations, including the Associated Press.

The ref's identity so far has not leaked out of the same FBI officials who confirmed the story, but reports say that he is expected to surrender next week. The NBA is aware of the investigation and apparently know the identity of its target.

The NBA isn't saying anything -- at the request of the FBI, an NBA a spokesman says -- which is probably a good thing because it's going to be real hard to put any kind of positive spin on this one.

No one is in a better position to influence the outcome and score of a game than a ref. The reports say it's not known whether the ref in question shaved points, but they do say that he's a gambler who fell in arrears to some associates of the Gambino crime family and apparently paid his debt -- and earned a tidy sum for himself -- by betting on his own games.

That spells point-shaving, the same scandal that nearly brought down college basketball more than 50 years ago. It doesn't matter that it's apparently just one ref. One is more than enough.

What is especially hideous about the reports is that NBA refs are the most criticized officials in professional sports. They are regularly accused of favoring superstars and home teams, of making arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable calls, and sometimes of acting as if the game is about them, not the players.

Just this past season, ref Joey Crawford tossed Tim Duncan from a game, apparently for the crime of sitting on the bench and laughing. Commissioner David Stern suspended the veteran official for what Stern said was a failure "to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees."

What's Stern going to say about this one when it all hits the fan?

He'll probably say the league has been aware of the situation and has been working with the FBI. It will say it's just one guy and there's no reason to question the integrity of all the fine officials in the league. The league may even announce some kind of new get-tough review policy or its own investigation.

And it may well be that it's just one man. But for two years he was working games and betting on them. Which games? Which teams? Did some make or miss the playoffs because of calls he did or didn't make? How can we accept the integrity of two entire NBA seasons?

It's doubly troubling because the league says it reviews every call in every game and talks to its officials about them. Yet, here's a guy who's on the make for two seasons and nobody noticed there might have been something fishy going on in his games?

What does that say about the quality of the oversight?

There's a reason why gambling is the cardinal sin in every sport, why baseball bans for life anyone who is found to have gambled on games. In the early days of baseball, players gambled frequently; there have been persistent reports over the years that Ty Cobb himself was one of them. In 1919, baseball's existence as a professional sport was threatened when it was revealed that nine members of the White Sox conspired to throw the World Series to Cincinnati. That was when the lifetime ban was put into effect.

Some people will simply give up on the game. That may not be a reasonable thing to do, but it's a very human reaction to an outrage like this, especially one that allows the cynics to say, "See. I've been saying for years the games are fixed."

There's no way to combat that, as the NBA is going to discover, no way to make people believe the game is now clean because one bad guy has been nailed. Some wounds even time can't heal. This could be one of them.