I Have A Lot Of Nothing To Say

I don't have much to say about yesterday's congressional hearings about whether or not Brian McNamee ever stuck some needles in Roger Clemens' ass. The truth is, I didn't watch a single second of the hearings.

From all the "highlights" I did see and hear throughout the day though, I'd have to say Clemens came out of all the proceedings looking the worst. It's as though he was under the impression that the louder you talk the more innocent you are, and he never seemed to really answer any questions.

So since I didn't really watch it, everybody else is talking about it, and there are no other real big stories in sports to talk about right now, I'm just going to hit a whole bunch of different topics today. It is Valentine's Day after all, so think of today's post as a heart-shaped box full of all different sorts of chocolates.

Foul Balls

Devean George Is Doing Dallas a Favor - I already wrote about the Mavs/Nets trade that didn't happen yesterday thanks to Devean George in The Basketball Diaries this morning, but I didn't say why I thought that George was doing the Mavs a favor.

Did you see all the people the Mavericks were going to send to the Nets for Jason Kidd? Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop, Devean George, Maurice Ager, $3 million, two first-round draft picks, a couple of Cowboys cheerleaders, a cowboy hat, 15 head of cattle, and the first born of every family in Dallas.

All for a soon to be 35-year old point guard who isn't going to get the Mavericks to the NBA Finals anyway. If Jason Kidd couldn't lead the Nets to a better record in the Eastern Conference with Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter at his side, what in the hell is he going to do in the Western Conference with Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard?

Don't get me wrong, I think Jason Kidd is one of the greatest point guards in the history of the game, but he's not the answer in Dallas. At least not at that cost. Devin Harris is never going to be Jason Kidd, but at 24 he still has all the potential to become one of the top point guards in the NBA for years to come. Kidd has a season or two left in him.

Then there's the fact that the Mavs would have sent two future first round picks to the Nets as well, thereby assuring that in a few years when Kidd does retire, the Mavs will be left with nothing but an aging Dirk Nowitzki and no draft picks to bring in new talent.

Dallas isn't going to get through the Western Conference this season, with or without Kidd, but by not making the trade they give themselves a better chance of getting back to the NBA Finals in the next few years.

Ryan Dempster Is Confident - Ryan Dempster has always been the "class clown" of the Chicago Cubs clubhouse. He's also the team's only ninja. I'm not sure whether Dempster was joking around with the media yesterday, but he made a rather bold statement about what he expects the Cubs to do this season.

"I think we're going to win the World Series, I really do," Dempster told reporters as pitchers and catchers reported to camp. "I wouldn't show up here and have worked as hard as I did, and everyone worked as hard as they did, to not believe that. I think it's funny when people make predictions or they say things and people are like, 'Oh, how can you say that?'

"You believe it. You really do. Enough of all the … curse this, the curse that, the goat, the black cat, or the 100 years [without a championship]. … Whatever it is, we're a better team than we were last year. And last year we made it to the playoffs, and it was a battle to make it, to have a rough April and be 10 [games] down and kind of grind our way to first place. I just feel like our chances are better."

I admire Ryan's confidence, though I'm not sure I can really support what he's saying. Will the Cubs get to the playoffs again this season? Probably, I mean their division was horrible last season and it's only gotten worse this season, so it's damn near impossible for the Cubs to not win the division just by showing up to the park everyday.

Will they win the World Series though? Well, they'd have to win a playoff game first, but if the Colorado Rockies can get to the World Series, I see no reason why the Cubs can't get there. There's no way in hell they'd win a 7-game series against the Red Sox, Angels, Tigers, or Indians, but they can get there.

I Hope Terrelle Pryor Doesn't See This - With the nation's top football recruit, quarterback Terrelle Pryor, still undecided about where he's going to go to school, there's still a lot of recruiting being done by the three teams apparently left on his list: Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State.

Obviously, I want Pryor to go to Penn State because I'm a Nittany Lions fan, and Michigan and Ohio State suck.

The recruiting isn't just being done by the schools themselves though, as fans have taken to posting YouTube videos on the internet trying to convince Pryor to attend their school.

I'm just praying Pryor hasn't seen the following video because, if he has, I don't think he's going to go to Penn State.

I'll Never Trust Kevin Hart Again

On Tuesday of this week, I wrote about Kevin Hart and how he had been tricked into thinking he was being recruited by Cal and Oregon. The kid held a press conference in his small hometown of Fernley, Nevada to announce his decision.

Then a few days later Hart found out that it was all just a prank somebody was pulling on him. At least, that's what he told us. As it turns out, Hart was making the whole thing up.

The Kevin Hart recruiting saga came to an abrupt end this afternoon when the Fernley offensive lineman admitted the entire process was a fraud.

“I wanted to play D-I ball more than anything. When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be reality,” read a statement sent out by Teri White, assistant superintendent of the Lyon County School District, on behalf of Hart. “I am sorry for disappointing and embarrassing my family, coaches, Fernley High School, the involved universities and reporters covering the story.”

Reached Wednesday afternoon, White said the district continues to conduct its internal investigation into how so many people were duped by the high school senior.

Well, I understand how I was duped. I don't live in Nevada, and I've never seen the kid play, so how could I know? What I don't get is how his coaches couldn't figure it out. They see him play every day, shouldn't they have realized there was no way that Division I schools were recruiting him?

Still, even after finding all of this out, I still feel bad for Hart. Obviously at first I felt bad for the kid because I thought he'd been tricked. Now I feel bad for the kid because there's obviously something wrong if he went through all this trouble to try and convince the entire town he was going to Cal.

I guess he just never thought about what would happen this fall when he was supposed to leave for school.

To make matters worse for Hart, all of this could get him into a bit of legal trouble as well.

Lyon County sheriff's detective Lt. Rob Hall received the case Wednesday morning. By late afternoon, he was relieved to hear of Hart's confession.

"What I am intending to do is request Kevin sit down with me," Hall said, adding he wants to know more details of Hart's web of deceit.

From there, Hall said he will write a report and forward it to the district attorney.

"The district attorney will see if charges (filing a false report) will be filed," Hall said.

Not to worry though, if he does somehow end up having to do some time in prison, he can just tell his family he's taking that recruiting trip to Texas A&M.

Foul Balls

Pedro Martinez Loves Cockfighting - While Mike Vick is currently serving two years for running a dog-fighting operation, Pedro Martinez is smart enough to leave the country before he partakes in any animal fisticuffs.

A video surfaced on Home Run Derby yesterday of Pedro Martinez in the Dominican Republic with another former pitching great, Juan Marichal, as the two attended a cockfight. Actually, they weren't attending the cockfight as much as Pedro's cock was taking on Marichal's cock in a poultry battle to decide who the greatest pitcher in the history of the Dominican really is.

The video has since been taken down by YouTube, though SportsbyBrooks has an animated GIF of some of the scenes from the video.



I'm not exactly a fan of cockfighting, as I prefer my bloodsports to involve people, but it's important to point out that in the Dominican this is all perfectly legal, so Pedro did nothing wrong.

Still, if I'm Pedro I'm probably going to be a little more careful when I attend these things. With the way this country reacted to the Vick story, I'm not sure having video on the internet of you participating in cockfights is the best way to make new fans here in the States.

And We Wait On Terrelle Pryor - As I'm sure you're all completely aware of, yesterday was national signing day in college football when recruits from all over the country put on fake press conferences to announce they're going to schools that didn't recruit them.

No wait, that's just Kevin Hart. Everybody else means it.

Of course, the one player that everybody's been waiting on to see where he's going, quarterback Terrelle Pryor, came out and said he hadn't made his mind up yet. Which is generally pissing everybody off except for his father, and Penn State fans.

Most people seemed to figure that Pryor was either going to Ohio State or Michigan, but now Penn State has jumped back to the top of Pryor's list, and he'd like more time to consider them and also Oregon, where his father's a coach.

I'd like to personally tell Terrelle to take all the time he needs to make up his mind, and weigh all the options because it's a big choice. Then, when you're done doing all that, hold a press conference to tell us all you've chosen Penn State. Thanks.

Also, for those of you wondering, Notre Dame had a pretty good day yesterday, as their recruiting class has been ranked 2nd in the nation. Illinois came in at #23.