Niblets from around the net for 4/11/09

Fryingpan Sports

Niblets from around the net for 4/11/09

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By Bill Smith

Updates on previous articles

Niblets for 4/4/09

As I wrote Rick Serritella, of NFLDraftBible.com, reported Southern California LBs Clay Matthews and Brian Cushing tested positive for steroids. I did verify the original report with another source. Cushing and his agent have both denied the report. Thus far, Cushing has not provided any proof of his claim. The official NFL report will be given to teams next week. Most likely it will be leaked.

Kentucky is no longer THE basketball power—GET OVER IT!

New coach John Calipari will have a couple of the best prospects back out of their commitment to Memphis and announce that they will follow Calipari. This still doesn’t change my opinion about the long term future of Ky basketball. Calipari is an outstanding coach and an excellent recruiter. Memphis fortunes will decline and Ky will be better. But long term the ACC will continue to be the center of basketball with the Big East second and the SEC in the dust of those two.

Several NFL QBs are in the frying pan.

The Sporting News had an article Thursday in their emailed sports paper SN Today listing 5 of my QB’s on the hot seat. I published my column on March 9th.

Home Court advantage is the road to a crown for LA or Cleveland.

The Cavs are still one game up on LA for home court advantage throughout the playoffs. To secure HCA the Cavs must beat Boston Sunday in Cleveland. They had a 2.5 game lead which was tossed away with a 2 game losing streak that included a loss to Washington. Thanks to a loss by LA last night, the Cavs are up by 1.5 games. I predict that these two teams will meet in the finals and whoever has HCA will win. I also predict that LeBron James will be the league MVP.

Owens going to Buffalo says most about the Bills

Terrell Owens finally showed up for the voluntary workouts. When asked about how he liked Buffalo, he said he loved it adding that Toronto was great. This is not a marriage made in Heaven.

Fresh Niblets:

Bills’ RB Lynch gets a 3 game suspension for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge.

It seems that the Commissioner is backing off his 0 tolerance policy. This could be an attempt to win favor with the NFLPA. If that is the case, it is a bad precedent. Fan support is a lot more important than giving the Union an Easter gift.

The player formerly known as Chad Johnson has his name accepted by the NFL.

The league officially but quietly accepted Chad’s name change to Ocho Cinco (85 in Spanish). Now the Bengals should change his number to 19.

French cycling officials complained that Lance Armstrong was uncooperative with a drug tester.

Armstrong asked the official to prove his credentials before taking the test. Now let me get this straight. A country that helped Saddam Hussein steal millions of dollars from the UN’s oil for food program despite a world wide embargo is complaining about having to prove credentials of a tester? That is what’s wrong with France. They planted trees along the major streets in Paris so that the German soldiers could march in the shade.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are in the NHL Playoffs.

After 9 years of total futility, IT’S ABOUT TIME! Now let’s see you get out of the first round.

That’s what I think. Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for and edits https://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on and edits .

My email is [email protected].

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