FanHouse

This morning, I ever-so-briefly covered the news that John Canning's ownership group, long considered the frontrunner for Cubs ownership, had its low offer laughed out of the room. Initially, it seemed Canning would be able to submit a second, higher bid, but according to the Associated Press' source that's not the case. Canning is out of the picture, and only three remain. This should be fun:

Included in the second round are Internet billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban; the Ricketts family, which founded the online brokerage that is now TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; and a group led by Sports Acquisition Holding Corp. that includes former baseball home run king Henry Aaron and former Republican Congressman Jack Kemp. The last group is believed to be teaming with another bidder who submitted an offer in the initial round.

One name sort of sticks out, doesn't it? All eyes are on Cuban now, as the Tribune Company has officially proven they care far less about Major League Baseball's ownership politics -- the idea that Cuban is too brash for baseball doesn't seem to bother Sam Zell -- than the amount of zeros on the napkin.

How many zeros? All three remaining bidders bid at least $1 billion. (For the Chicago Cubs. That actually happened.)

Chris Mullin told me while in Vegas for Summer League that the Warriors were "definitely going to resign (Kelenna Azubuike) ... or not." Apparently the "definitely going to" was the important part of that sentence.

The Warriors today matched the Los Angeles' Clippers 3 year, $9 million offer for Azubuike, staving off the raiding forces from LA seeking to poach another of their free agents.

Azubuike was brilliant in short bursts but seemed to fade down the stretch last season. With Baron Davis off to Lala Land, it's likely that "Buike" will get more playing time.

It's not a monster signing to quell the masses of Warrior fans nervous about the future of the franchise, even after signing Corey Maggette, but at least it stops the bleeding that seemed to be occuring with the Clippers gouging their Bay rivals. It also signals a commitment to young talent that both Mullin and Nelson have alluded to. Monta Ellis, Azubuike, Ronny Turiaf, Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph. Yup, that's youth. Corey Maggette and Al Harrington? Not so much, but it could be worse. That might be the theme for the Warriors this season. "Not so much, but it could be worse."

Golfweek's Rex Hoggard writes what most people are thinking: Michelle Wie is insane to accept a sponsor's exemption at next week's Reno-Tahoe Open, a PGA Tour event. Wie is fresh off rounds of 67 and 65, which were promptly followed by a "DQ" after she forgot the bit about signing your scorecard immediately after finishing putting out on 18.

And now, with the season winding down and her chances of earning her LPGA Tour card dwindling, Wie (or, more likely, her parents) has decided to tee it up on the men's tour. Shockingly, some PGA Tour members are, well, baffled by the decision.

"When I saw it I actually thought it was a joke, quite honestly," Jay Williamson told Golf Channel. "I know she is going to sell a lot more tickets than I will, but I would say it's surprising. I don't think it's a real popular decision out here."

I can't disagree with that, but, frankly, I'm beyond caring what Wie decides to do with her career. It hasn't reached Jennifer Capriati mismanagement-followed-by-meltdown levels, but there's really no reason Wie, at 19, shouldn't have her tour card and a few tournament wins. Instead, she's gone from teenage phenom to teenage has-been in the span of three years.

Playing the Reno-Tahoe won't do anything to change that perception, but when you're the highest-paid female golfer on the planet and have done nothing to earn such a distinction, maybe playing on the PGA Tour doesn't seems like such a wacked-out idea.

Here's the latest edition of ESPN's great MMA Live program:

This week's installment focuses, of course, on last Saturday's UFC and Affliction shows, followed by a preview of this Saturday's EliteXC show. UFC heavyweight Frank Mir continued to lavish praise on Affliction and WAMMA heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko, although he did suggest that UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva is the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. (I agree.)

I liked the way Franklin McNeill phrased it: "Fedor's presence makes the heavyweight division relevant."

And, of course, the man everyone wants to see Fedor fight is Randy Couture, who appeared as a guest on the show and had some interesting comments.

Hey, you might not be aware of this, but Jeremy Shockey is a normal human. I know that might surprise you, as everything you're led to believe about the guy paints the portrait of a 15-foot-tall demon who breathes fire beneath glowing eyes as he randomly steals babies from their strollers and tips over people in wheelchairs.

So as the Saints took the field this morning for their first training camp practice, attention was understandably focused on what Shockey was doing. But in his first comments since the trade, he seemed pretty ... collected.

"They won the Super Bowl last year,'' Shockey said. "They really deserved it. I'm going to miss my teammates and my coaches, the owners, everything.''
...
"The last thing I wanted was to go back to the Giants,'' Shockey said. "If I had went back, no matter what, it would have been a circus. The last thing I wanted to do was be a distraction. That's one of the reasons I didn't want to go to the Super Bowl. I wasn't healthy. They did a great job. I didn't want to be a distraction to that team. If I went, I was a distraction. If I didn't go, I was a distraction.''

As Shockey notes, he's real. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. And that might rub you the wrong way, but it doesn't make him a bad guy. I'd rather know where I stand with someone than not. Which is why I believe that what he's saying is genuine; he's never had a history of putting on a different face for the camera. And maybe moving south will allow everyone a different perception of the supposed monster.

If I've said it once, I've said it ... well, once: John Daly seems like the type of player who would risk injury to play tournament golf. Actually, nothing seems further from the truth, even though JD one-armed his way around Royal Birkdale last week to a scintillating second-round 89.

Whatever, it wasn't enough to keep him out of this week's Russian Open.

The 42-year-old American played at last week's British Open, the tournament he won in 1995, despite a painful elbow injury before flying into Moscow to make his first appearance at the Russian Open.

"It's hurting pretty bad, but luckily the ground here is soft so I can get through the ball," Daly said after shooting a two-under-par 70, five strokes behind early leader Joakim Backstrom of Sweden in the first round on Thursday.

Reuters' Gennady Fyodorov writes that Daly, in defying doctors' advice, is "risking serious injury."

Yeah, unless "risking serious injury" is a euphemism for "so hungover he's a threat to himself and others," I'm not sure how a sore arm could be such a big deal. I suppose it could come flying off after a shot off hardpan or something, but I'm not convinced Daly's a better player with two arms, anyway.

The Mets have no reason to second-guess their decision to replace Willie Randolph. Since putting Jerry Manuel in charge, the Mets have been one of the hottest teams in baseball and are in sole possession of the first place in the NL East. That said, owner Fred Wilpon does regret the way Randolph was fired, in the dark of night just one game into a west coast road trip. From Bloomberg News:

``I know I screwed up,'' Wilpon told reporters at SportsNet New York's Manhattan studios. ``I should have said, `wait a second.'''

[...] Wilpon said he regrets not speaking up when Minaya told him the next day that he was going to fly to California and tell Randolph in person after the game. Because of the three-hour time difference, the announcement of Randolph's firing was left out of New York newspapers.

``I wasn't smart enough to say, `you are going to cut the New York press out?''' Wilpon said. ``I didn't even think of it.''

This won't make Randolph feel any better -- in other words, all Wilpon is saying is that he regrets not being able to tell the world sooner that he canned his manager. But reading between the lines -- which is always dangerous but so, so fun -- am I the only one who thinks it's interesting that Wilpon is pinning all of the blame on Minaya? It's one thing to say, "I know I screwed up," and it's another thing to say, "I know I screwed up by not reining in my GM." It wasn't all the long ago that Minaya was on the hot seat -- is this Wilpon's way of telling Minaya not to get too comfortable?

Watching the Red Sox play baseball on NESN is usually an enjoyable experience for viewers at home whether they're actually Red Sox fans or not. The combination of Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo in the booth makes for the most entertaining booth in baseball by far, as the two men often spend their time making fun of themselves, fans, and others.

Of course, sometimes they have too much fun while calling games and can't even talk. This is what happened on Sunday afternoon.

So what set off the laughter? Cows, of course.

(Hat tip: ThePhinsider)

Interesting interview on HBO's Real Sports the other night. Former Dallas Cowboys coach and current Miami Dolphins czar Bill Parcells discusses when he knew it was time to hang up his whistle: after Dallas lost to Seattle in the 2007 playoffs when Tony Romo fumbled the hold on a chip-shot field goal.

"We'd just lost to Seattle and I'm flying back,'' Parcells told Andrea Kremer of HBO from his summer home in Saratoga Springs. "I'm sitting up with the pilots, you know, I have a little fear of flying so I ride up in the cockpit. And I said, 'This is probably going to be my last trip.' And you just know. You don't want to go through the whole process again, to get to right where we were. You know?

"And all you got to do is kick a field goal, the most elementary of plays, and then you just don't do it. And so I don't want to go through that process again. Too much blood."

Wow. Now, I'm sure no matter how Dallas lost that game that Parcells would feel like that ... but, uh, yeah. Just watch the YouTube video above and you can almost feel Parcells' heart get ripped from his chest.

The Summer League in Las Vegas is a time for rookies to get some run before their first NBA season, and a time for fringe players and D-Leaguers to try and get a contract. Rod Benson falls into the latter category, but an injury kept him from seeing the court for the Raptors. But hey, the trip to Vegas wasn't a total loss. Check out this trick that Rod learned while hanging in one of the Palms' (many) hot spots.



"All you gotta say to these breezys is" ... that was awesome. I doubt that an articulate professional basketball player like Benson needs tricks like these to lure women back to his room in a Vegas hotel, but the rest of us usually can use all the help we can get. Thanks, Rod!