Ricky Stanzi Has Surgery And Won't Be Back Before Bowl Game

Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi underwent surgery earlier this week on his severly sprained right ankle suffered during Iowa’s loss to Northwestern on Saturday.  The surgery was confirmed by head coach Kirk Ferentz on Tuesday, and he also confirmed the news that Iowa fans were crossing their fingers would somehow not end up being the case.

As miraculous as Stanzi has seemed at the end of some games this season, he does not have the super-human ability to heal faster at the last minute just like the rest of us, and as a result he’s not going to be playing in either of Iowa’s final two games of the regular season...

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Notre Dame Loses Kyle Rudolph For Rest of Regular Season

While I'll talk about whether or not the Notre Dame Fighting Irish should part ways with their "decided schmatic-advantage" head coach Charlie Weis tomorrow, now I'm going to take some time to kick myself while I'm down.

The sting of losing to Navy at home is one that I'm most definitely feeling, but the Irish found out on Tuesday that they've lost more than just a game - and their dignity, their BCS hopes, etc -- as news came on injured tight end Kyle Rudolph.  Rudolph hurt his shoulder while making a catch on Saturday, and now we find out that the sophomore tight end is going to miss the rest of the regular season because of it.

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Let's Fire Everybody - Lovie Smith Edition

After another disappointing football weekend in the city of Chicago, we're once again hearing that old familiar call echoing through the city streets.

FIRE EVERYBODY.

The Bears got rocked again at home against the Cardinals on Sunday, giving up over 40 points for the second time in three weeks, and have now lost three of four.  Their lone win being quite possibly the ugliest 24-point victory ever over the woeful Cleveland Browns.

In South Bend the Irish carried on a new tradition by losing to Navy for the second time in three years after previously taking 43 straight from the service academy.  The loss leaves the Irish at 6-3 and given that they have a pretty tough schedule to finish the season -- why is it that when Notre Dame's winning against easy opponents nobody shuts up about it yet when their schedule turns out to be tough you don't hear a word? -- with games remaining against Pitt, UConn and Stanford.  Two of whom are ranked.

So, in Chicago, when our football teams are struggling our initial reaction is to fire the coach -- it used to be blame the quarterback with the Bears, but that's no longer the problem -- and it's completely understandable in both cases.

What I'm wondering, however, is if it would be worth it.

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Blog Ten Dean's List - Week 10

Sorry I didn’t get this up yesterday but I had a busy afternoon on Monday and just didn’t have much time to spend blogging.  Again, if not having the Dean’s List up on Monday made your day worse than it usually is, I apologize.  If you’re willing to forgive me then we can begin to pick up the pieces and put our life back together.

Onto the List...

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Phillies Decline Pedro Feliz's Option

Considering that the Phillies made a few changes to their lineup in 2009 after winning a World Series, it shouldn't really come as a surprise that the 2010 version of the team will look a bit different as well. It was announced by the team on Sunday that they would not be picking up the option on third baseman Pedro Feliz who will now become a free agent.

This does not mean that Feliz won't be back with the Phillies next season, it just means that he won't be back at the price of $5.5 million. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. did say that he wouldn't rule out re-signing Feliz this winter in the team's official statement regarding the Feliz option...

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Rich Rodriguez and Danny Hope Are Not Best Friends

It seems there may be an SEC style feud between coaches brewing in the  Big Ten following Purdue’s win over Michigan on Saturday morning.

After the game as head coaches Danny Hope and Rich Rodriguez were  meeting on the field Hope made sure to bring over offensive lineman Zack Reckman.  See, Reckman was suspended for a game earlier this season after delivering a late hit against Northern Illinois and it seems that Hope and the Boilermakers believe Rodriguez is to blame.

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Blog Ten Gameday: Ohio State Snuffs Penn State's Title Hopes

Ohio State 24  Penn State 7  Final

Well the Big Ten may not have an official championship game, but following Ohio State’s victory in Happy Valley on Saturday the conference will have one next week in Columbus.  That’s because Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeyes went into Beaver Stadium and showed the Nittany Lion faithful why they should really be upset Pryor chose Ohio State over Penn State.

Because he’s pretty damn good.

On Saturday it was Pryor who looked like the senior captain quarterback while his counterpart Daryll Clark played more like a sophomore who wasn’t quite sure what to do yet...

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Manny Ramirez Exercises His Option to Stay in Los Angeles

In what wasn't much of a surprising move, Los Angeles Dodgers leftfielder Manny Ramirez has decided to exercise his player option for 2010 and will return to the Dodgers next season. His agent Scott Boras let Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti know about Ramirez's decision on Friday night.

All of which means that Ramirez will make $20 million with the Dodgers rather than becoming a free agent, which is a smart move considering it's highly unlikely Manny would get that much money anywhere else next year. Manny didn't have the greatest season for the Dodgers in 2009, but Colletti is confident he'll bounce back next season...

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Blog Ten Gameday: It Seems Rich Rodriguez Wants To Get Fired

Now I’m of the opinion that the idea of firing a coach in only his second year at a school is idiotic.  I don’t care what a school’s tradition is, a coach needs some time to work his system and players in, and he should be given that time.

All that being said, I can understand all the frustration that is sure to come pouring out of Ann Arbor this week.  Half the town already wants Rich Rodriguez gone — oh Les Miles, Les Miles, where for art though, Les Miles? — and now the Wolverines have lost again.

At home.

To a Purdue team that hadn’t won in the Big House since 1966.

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Blog Ten Gameday: Northwestern Hands Iowa Its First Loss

Northwestern 17  Iowa 10  Final

You felt that it would come eventually with the way the Iowa Hawkeyes always seem to be teetering on the edge of disaster every Saturday, but you would have hoped it wouldn’t be due to an injury.  After the Hawkeyes jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead on Northwestern on Saturday morning in Iowa City, quarterback Ricky Stanzi had to leave the game after injuring his leg while being sacked.

It turns out that Stanzi has a sprained right ankle, and he never returned to the game, leaving the keys to Iowa’s title hopes in the hands of redshirt freshman James Vanderberg...

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What's Going On With Sammy Sosa?

I'm not sure what exactly is the problem here, but does Sammy Sosa look different to you?  Did he have some kind of botched plastic surgery that made his skin change color?  Does he have that Michael Jackson disease?

He looks terrifying.

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Bulls Totally 80s

Since we're talking about the Bulls so much today, I saw absolutely no way I could not post this video after seeing it myself. 

Nice to see Tyrus wasn't too sick to shoot this.

Tyrus Thomas Out 4-6 Weeks

Well I'll commence eating crow now.

Earlier today I went out and said that I was pretty sure that Tyrus Thomas was being a baby with his latest injury as just another reaction to him losing playing time this season.  Thomas hurt his arm while working out at the Berto Center on Friday morning, and I thought he may have been embelleshing the extent of his injury to make some kind of point.

Well, I was wrong.  Thomas is out 4-6 weeks because of this not-so-fake injury.

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The Tyrus Thomas Saga Takes Another Turn

I've been suspect of Tyrus Thomas and his flu all week. To be blunt, I'm of the opinion that Thomas is full of shit when he says he's sick. I don't think it's a coincidence that after complaining about not getting minutes in the fourth quarter and not having his contract extended, Tyrus all of a sudden felt under the weather.

He sees the writing on the wall: The team's drafting of Taj Gibson and not extending him means he's no longer seen as a piece of the future with the Bulls. And he's feeling sorry for himself. Considering all that I've heard about Tyrus' level of maturity from people who actually deal with him on a regular basis, this isn't too far-fetched a theory.

So I'm not surprised at all to find out that now that he's over his little bout with the "flu," Tyrus hurt himself while working out at the Berto Center on Friday morning.

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Blog Ten Cheat Sheet - Week 10

Before we get to the breakdown of this weekend’s games, I’d like to take a moment to thank the Big Ten for giving me a chance to have a social life on Saturday nights.  This weekend will be the first of two consecutive in which the Big Ten will play five games in the 11am slot, and then have only one game at 2:30 to finish the day’s schedule.

Which means I’m going to suffer a seizure the likes of which I haven’t endured since the first few weeks of the season as I try to follow five games at once on Saturday morning, but I’ve made it through before, and I’ll make it through again.  Though I suppose nobody will be happier about this than my girlfriend who, good sport as she may be, can’t be telling me the truth when she says she’s cool with us spending our Saturday night watching Indiana and Illinois together...

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So About This Mark Teahen Trade

I first heard about this trade while I was at work on Thursday morning, and my initial reaction was of complete surprise.  I hadn't even heard a whisper of the White Sox being interested in Teahen or one that said Chris Getz may be traded this offseason.

As for Fields I was hoping that Kenny Williams would find somebody dumb enough to take him off the team's hands.

Still as the day went on there were never any confirmations of the deal, and thanks to the rigorous training I've received at FanHouse from the likes of Ed Price and Jeff Fletcher -- by the way it's been pretty invaluable to have those two around this year -- I knew better than to worry about figuring this deal out before we even knew it was happening.

But it's happened now.

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Mark Teahen Traded to Chicago

The rumors started early on Thursday morning that the Kansas City Royals had agreed to trade Mark Teahen to the Chicago White Sox for Chris Getz and Josh Fields. Neither team would confirm the deal throughout the day, but 24 hours later it has become official.

Teahen and cash will be heading to Chicago for Getz and Fields. While it can't be known for sure, odds are the amount of cash the White Sox will receive from the Royals for the arbitration eligible Teahen is what kept the trade from being completed for 24 hours...


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Blogpoll Ballot: Week 9

While you can see the final Blogpoll over at CBS Sports along with a breakdown of the poll, you can just stay here to see my ballot.  I mean, why would you even want to see anybody else's?  Mine's right.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	1
2	Texas	1
3	Alabama	2
4	TCU
5	Boise State	1
6	Cincinnati	2
7	Iowa	2
8	Oregon	1
9	Georgia Tech	1
10	LSU	5
11	Penn State
12	Houston
13	Pittsburgh
14	Southern Cal	7
15	Ohio State	3
16	Miami (Florida)	1
17	Utah	4
18	Oklahoma State	4
19	Notre Dame	6
20	Wisconsin
21	Brigham Young	3
22	Virginia Tech	6
23	South Florida
24	Oklahoma
25	California
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Central Michigan (#19), South Carolina (#20), West Virginia (#22), Mississippi (#23).

Reasoning and more after the jump.

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Vicente Padilla Shot Himself

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Vicente Padilla is back home in his native Nicaragua now that the Dodgers season has ended, and while there he's decided to do some hunting. Unfortunately for Vicente it seems his aim with a gun is a lot like his aim with his fastball. Sometimes he loses control of the thing and ends up hitting somebody.

Though this time it was himself.

Padilla was treated in a hospital on Tuesday after suffering what is being called a "minor" gunshot wound to his right leg...

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Michael Floyd Will Be Back On Saturday

Some incredibly good news for Notre Dame fans out of South Bend this morning.  Wide receiver Michael Floyd -- the same Michael Floyd who has already tied Tim Brown for most touchdown receptions in school history (12) after only 12 games -- who broke his collarbone during the Irish's victory over Michigan State on September 19th is expected to be back for this weekend's game against Navy.

When it was first learned that Floyd had broken the collarbone the initial diagnosis was that he would miss the rest of the regular season.  Thankfully Floyd is not just a superhuman on the football field, but in the trainer's room as well.

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