Sports Buffet for 06/29/10

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NFL

Lions president Tom Lewand was recently charged with DUI. That got him a not so friendly visit with Comm. Goodell this week. While there is no decision yet on punishment for the charge or from the league, the players and NFLPA Ex. Dir. DeMaurice Smith will be watching this case very closely. They will want to see if management is held to the same standard as the players.

UFA RB Brian Westbrook was charged with DUI in February but has been found not guilty.

Bengal RB Cedric Benson is in trouble again. This time he was charged with assault with injury resulting from an altercation at a downtown Austin Texas bar. He reportedly punched a bar employee in the face. He paid his bond but the charge is a class A misdemeanor. It will get him a ticket to meet with Comm. Goodall sometime soon.

Steelers OT Willie Colon’s hurt his Achilles’ tendon and will miss the entire year. He had started 54 straight games. The team is searching for a replacement but the good ones are gone.

NBA

We are getting closer to knowing where the big name UFAs will be going. One thing that looks fairly certain is that LeBron will leave Cleveland. Current bets have LeBron and Bosh in Chicago, Wade and Amar’e Stoudemire in Miami, Boozer in New York or New Jersey. Sorry Clippers, it doesn’t look like any of the top level will be going there.

Dirk Nowitzki has reportedly officially opted out of his player option with Dallas. The team believes they will be able to resign him soon. Don’t hold your breath. Nowitzki is going to get a max deal from a team that misses out on the big 3 UFAs.

MLB

If the Cubs don’t have enough problems, SP Carlos Zambrano threw a temper tantrum last week. Unfortunately, it was the best thing he has thrown all year. He has been suspended indefinitely by the team and has yet to hear from the league. He is paid like an ACE and thinks of himself as one. He has never thrown like an ACE. At some point the team is going to have to just cut bait with Zambrano.

The Red Sox have more injuries and that will keep them out of the playoffs. Victor Martinez was added to the list yesterday with a broken thumb. Perhaps the biggest loss was Dustin Pedroia who went down a couple of days ago with a broken foot.

Soccer

The US team is out of the World Cup. But that won’t impact the interest in the sport in the US. Just like the NHL failed to capitalize on their international success, the US team wouldn’t have impacted pro soccer here even if they had won the World Cup. The lack of interest prevents both leagues from getting a big time TV deal for regular season games. Soccer doesn’t have a big enough fan base despite the fact that young adults from 20-40 grew up playing the game.

Part of the problem is that the best athletes go to the NBA or NFL for both the money and the glory. MLB is next in line and what is left over falls to soccer. That limits the interest of Americans that expect to see the very best from professional sports.

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 .

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