Painting The Corner: Harmon’s Hardball Notes 4.8
I shan’t belabor the point. I wrote about this subject on the Dome early Sunday morning as it was announced and as Chicago reliever Carlos Marmol’s Wikipedia page was corrupted . Marmol was officially removed from the closer role in Chicago. He allowed earned runs in each of his first three appearances, including a two-home […]
SNL Takes On Rutgers And Mike Rice With Melissa McCarthy
The hot topic of the week was not the on-court battle for a slot in the NCAA Men’s Championship. Unfortunately, the NCAA was front and center for a negative topic, as video surfaced of Rutgers (now former) coach Mike Rice berating and physically confronting players. In a quick turnaround, Saturday Night Live put together a […]
FMC: Jack Hoffman At The Nebraska Spring Game
This moment from the Nebraska Spring Game wipes away, if only temporarily, the negativity of the 24-hour news cycle. We talked all week about “coaching” dismissals, questioned decisions of a few universities in their coaching hiring process, debated the marketing of athletes (Louisville and Kevin Ware) and healthy scratches of NBA players. The Rutgers situation […]
Marmol Loses Closer Job: Wikipedia Vandals Take It To The Extreme
According to The Chicago Tribune , Carlos Marmol has lost his closer role to Kyuji Fujikawa following another terrible performance on Saturday. We’ve been watching this situation and sounded the alarm before the season started, so go check your waiver wire now. On Sunday morning, CBSSports.com noted that vandals had taken to Marmol’s Wikipedia page […]
Painting The Corner: Harmon’s Hardball Notes 4.4
As I wrote in yesterday’s PTC, Carlos Marmol’s hold on the Chicago closer job is tenuous. His effort against the Pirates on Thursday afternoon didn’t do anything to help solidify things. Marmol inherited a 3-0 lead, but then surrendered two earned runs on three hits and a walk. The fact that he was able to […]
Painting The Corner: Harmon’s Hardball Notes 4.3
Don’t you just love day baseball? As you ponder TPS Reports and reasons (some legit) to blow off a meeting, you can monitor the diamond and bemoan the early-season exploits of your lineup. Or, you can celebrate “Senior Prom” like the Rays. Let’s get into the notes from Wednesday’s action. I prefer the term “quick […]
Painting The Corner: Harmon’s Hardball Notes 4.2
Welcome to the new world order. This is the first entry in a new series dedicated to the good, bad and ugly of the day’s baseball activity. I’ll peruse the notes in the Twitterverse, monitor local views and get you ready to dominate the office water cooler. Carl Crawford was out of the lineup for […]
FMC: Yu Darvish, SP, Texas Rangers
At some point, I’ll circle off to the world of hitters and celebrate the mammoth home runs launched by slugging outfielders and first basemen. I’ll applaud Mike Morse, Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez and try to estimate the distance traveled by Chris Davis’ moon shot. Perhaps we can bust out the stopwatches and time Elvis Andrus […]
Shaq Says Thank You: The No. 34 Goes Up To The Rafters
The Lakers put another jersey up into the rafters on Tuesday night. All ill feelings dissipated and Shaq was welcomed back to Staples Center for the pomp and circumstance. Oh, and the Lakers and Mavericks were set to renew the rivalry as they battle for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. As you’d expect, […]
FMC: Jeff Samardzija, Chicago Cubs Starter
On Monday, baseball fans celebrated the rebirth of their beloved sport. Our own Jay Mohr painted a perfect picture of our relationship with the game on “Jay Mohr Sports” live from Dodger Stadium. If James Earl Jones narrates it, Mohr’s passionate ode to baseball could be added to Jones’ soliloquy from “Field of Dreams.” And, […]
Jay Mohr Sports on FOX Sports Radio: The Ode To Opening Day
FOX Sports Radio host Jay Mohr took his show to Dodger Stadium to celebrate the opening of another baseball campaign. You know the comedic chops. If you know Jay’s work at all, you know of his love and passion for sports. Toward the end of the three-hour program, he took a break from the impressions […]
Harmon’s Opening Day Ranking Sheets: The Road To 2013 Fantasy Dominance
Prior to Sunday’s opener, I posted updated positional rankings on the FantasyPros.com website. We had great success in the 2012 season on the Dome, producing a top-10 finish (seventh) in the draft cheatsheet competition on the FantasyPros.com site. Injuries dominate the early-2013 landscape, as owners try to ascertain how much to discount injured stars such […]
Hoop Dreams (Or An Obsession?): Shabazz Muhammad’s Road To UCLA
“I never had the proper guidance,” he said. “Nobody showed me the way.” Shabazz Muhammad’s father has been on a mission to guide his children to big-time athletic success since birth. The L.A. Times offers a fascinating review of Ron Holmes’ drive and the series of maneuvers, meetings and conversations required to get the UCLA […]
Chicago Analysts Tussle: Gill Suspended
This is a story that popped up a couple days ago following the controversial finish between the Bulls and Nuggets earlier this week. Former NBA player Kendall Gill and BTN Tim Doyle got into it on the set of the “Sports Talk Live” show on CSN. Gill has reportedly been suspended indefinitely after going after […]
Bracket Season Continues
It’s only appropriate that I discuss seasonality on the first day of Spring. We compartmentalize our lives and roll through the year with expectations, processes and traditions associated with the weather. Get a chill in the air and we immediately get ready to strap on helmets and shoulder pads. When the ice melts, as they’d […]
A Piece of TV History: “The Office” Casting Sheet, Day 1
As longtime listeners of my run with The Fantasy Freaks on FOX Sports Radio know, Rainn Wilson has been a friend to the program and an active participant in fantasy football leagues. I am curious to find out whether “The Office” fantasy league(s) will continue for 2013, but for now, I take pause to celebrate […]
Low-Down Dirty Shame: Girl Scout Cookies Swiped From Warehouses
I was traversing the Los Angeles Times during my morning coffee break and stumbled across this article from Matt Pearce. Now, I was already aware of a hoax that was perpetrated in Oregon where someone ordered some 6,000 boxes of cookies on behalf of a business. The community rallied to reduce inventory and make up […]
Howland Doesn’t Like His Bracket: Pac-12 Champs Sent To Texas
Perhaps Ben Howland is just angry that he missed Prince, The Smashing Pumpkins or The Afghan Whigs/Usher mash at SXSW this past week? Howland was none too pleased that the Pac-12 champion Bruins failed to be slotted into the San Jose bracket. Instead, the No. 6 seeded Bruins will travel to Austin, Texas to take […]
Spinning My Wheels: Harmon’s Fantasy Auto Racing Team For Bristol
The Sprint Cup Series takes its first run on a short track this week as drivers seek to dominate “The Bullring” at Bristol Motor Speedway. The crews were dealing with weather issues early on Sunday morning, and we’ll certainly be monitoring precipitation as the countdown to the starter’s call winds to zero. Before the flag […]
FMC: General Manager John Schneider of the Seattle Seahawks
Everybody chant with me. “Be aggressive! Be — Be — Aggressive!” Alright, so there might have been a “Bring It On” reference at some point this week that got random cheers stuck up in the Dome. The flag is being raised on a new era for the Dome, and I commemorate this period with the […]
New Mannequins At A Swedish H&M Generate Controversy
A large clothing store in Sweden is drawing attention for a change in the mannequins used at the store. Like fashion magazines and print ads, clothing store mannequins have drawn criticism for failing to reflect reality. That is to say, the clothes being draped fail to speak to and reflect the body types of the […]
The Ravens Have Changed Quite A Bit: Do You Remember Michael Silver’s November Piece?
As free agency loomed, NFL fans, particularly those in Baltimore, were curious to see what Ozzie Newsome and his team would accomplish. We knew that that Ray Lewis was set to retire. Matt Birk did so shortly thereafter. Fans knew that Joe Flacco was coming back on a big contract. And though those fans were […]
Spinning My Wheels: Harmon Rolls The Dice in Vegas
Following The Leaders Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevy Analysis: Sometimes you have to take the chalk. Johnson won the Daytona 500 before finishing second in the Subway Fresh Fit 500. He’s locked and loaded already, and that’s bad news for the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series. The big run continues this week at Las […]
Harmon’s Early-Spring Cheatsheets: Fantasy Baseball 2013
The first run of spreadsheets has been completed and entered into the Dome. I already have a number of players italicized and highlighted for further review as we roll through the second half of spring training. Announcements regarding position battles, rotation slots and closer competitions will necessitate adjustments, of course, and I won’t toss out […]
Harmon’s 2013 Fantasy Baseball Early Rankings: Relief Pitchers 1-25
On Thursday, it was announced that Mariano Rivera would officially call the 2013 season his last. The opening strains of “Opening Sandman” should be retired when it comes to announcing the arrival of a closer. I suspect somebody tries to accomplish the theft, but it would be foolhardy to go up against Rivera’s legacy. Rivera’s […]