Mattie T’s Blog updating the world of sports….(for the week of September 5th-September 9th)

Ok, so i know most of you there are wondering why is Matt writing a blog at 4 in the morning on a Saturday?

1. I CAN’T GO BACK TO SLEEP!!!

2. I have a VERY busy day ahead of me today…have to clean the ENTIRE house by myself…thankfully my girlfriend is going to help me clean, otherwise i would be TOTALLY exhausted by the time Saturday is over. I’m also going to try and configure this PayPal thing out today, so that i can give DJ Special Blend his $ that he claims he’s going to buy new speakers with WHEN he wins our fantasy football league championship….we’ll see about that buddy!
3. I’m still contemplating on whether or not i should attend this BBQ that my friend is having tonight…this will all depend on how much energy i have after cleaning the house up. My mom is in charge of a Gospel Jazz concert tomorrow in Skokie, so i’ll more than likely miss the Bears game. If anybody wants to text me with score updates, that would be very much appreciated!

Alright, on with the show!

We shall begin in baseball.

The Chicago White Sox continue to trail the Minnesota Twins by just a half game in the AL Wild Card race with 21 games to go. The Sox won 7-6 Friday night in walk-off style against the Cleveland Indians from U.S. Cellular Field on the Southside.

The Sox were able to keep pace with Minnesota (who beat Detroit 9-5 on Friday) thanks to a walk-off homer by C A.J. Pierzynski in the bottom of the 9th inning with Chicago trailing 6-5.

Chicago was able to rally in the 9th despite closer Bobby Jenks’ fourth blown save of the season. (2nd this week)

The Sox are sure to do a lot of scoreboard watching in the next 2 days, with Minnesota and Detroit splitting a game each during their 4 game weekend set in Minneapolis.

Jon Garland will try to join Minnesota Twins’ ace Johan Santana as the only 17-game winners in the majors on Saturday.

Garland will oppose Cleveland’s right-hander Fausto Carmona, who is 1-8 with a 5.76 ERA this season.

Let’s move on to basketball….

Friday marked the Class of 2006’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.

The list is led by none other than 11 time All-Star F Charles Barkley, regarded by many as one of the best power forwards of all-time despite his 6′4, 250 pound frame.

Barkley was a member of the 1992 Dream Team & won the NBA’s MVP award in 1993 while playing for the Phoenix Suns.

Barkley often stirred emotions with his words and actions off the court.

A good example of this is the Nike commercial he did during his playing days, in which he proclaimed “I am not a role model.”

“That commercial is the thing I’m most proud of,” he said Friday, hours before the evening ceremonies and acceptance speeches. “We have got to do something with the black kids in this country. They all think they are going to grow up and play pro basketball, and they’re not going to.”

Some fans have had a hard time comprehending Barkley, who has questioned the racial makeup of his own team, pegged the ball at Shaq during a Lakers-Rockets game, & spat at a heckler and thrown a fellow bar patron through a window.

“I didn’t necessarily agree with everything he said, but I respected the fact that if he had something on his mind, he certainly let people know how he felt,” said USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo, who introduced Barkley for his acceptance speech.

“He didn’t hold back any punches and that was just the way that he was and the way he is,” Colangelo added. “And I don’t think that will ever change.”

Barkley has career stats of 23,757 points scored in 1,073 games (22.1 PPG), 12, 546 rebounds (11.7 RPG), 4,215 assists (3.9 APG), 1,648 steals and 888 blocks during his 16 year career with Philadelphia, Phoenix, & Houston.

Barkley is one of four NBA players (Kareem, Wilt & The Mailman are the other three) to compile 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds & 4,000 assists.

Dominique Wilkins, aka “The Human Highlight Film” was also inducted Friday into the 2006 Basketball Hall of Fame.

Wilkins is the NBA’s ninth all-time leading scorer with 26,668 points. He was also known as the one of the most explosive dunkers in the mid-to-late 80’s.

Fans at the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest at old Chicago Stadium were treated to one, if not the best competitions ever in the history of the 22 year old event.

Wilkins won the 1st encounter in ‘85, which was also Michael Jordan’s rookie season.

Jordan recorded some sweet revenge though 3 years later in front of his home crowd.

He used the Julius Erving-inspired dunk from the free throw line to dethrone Wilkins & win his first ever slam dunk title. Wilkins also holds an NBA-record of making 23 consecutive free-throws in a single game without a miss.

Wilkins has career stats of 26,668 points in 1,074 games (24.8 PPG), 7,169 rebounds (6.7 RPG), 2,677 assists (2.5 APG), 1,378 steals & 642 blocks in 15 seasons with Atlanta, L.A. Clippers, Boston, San Antonio, & Orlando.

Joe Dumars is regarded by many as the classiest player out of a late 80’s/early 90’s “Bad Boys” era in Detroit where the Pistons played a very physical and brutal style of defense during their glory days.

Dumars made a name for himself on a team full of All-Stars such as Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, Mark Aguirre & Bill Laimbeer with great defensive and steady offense, leading him to 6 All-Star apperances and the 1989 NBA Finals MVP award after Detroit swept the L.A. Lakers in 4 games to capture their first of two straight championships.

Dumars is currently in his 6th season as the President of Basketball Operations for the Detroit Pistons.

He is largely responsible for building together a Pistons team that has reached the Eastern Conference Finals four consecutive years.

In other basketball news, Miami Heat G Gary Payton signed a one year deal on Wednesday to remain with the team.

Payton waited 16 years to finally capture his first ever NBA title in June with the Heat in a role-player situation, something that he’s never faced before in his future Hall-of-Fame career.

Payton has career averages of 16.9 points, 6.9 assists & 1.9 steals per game with Seattle, Milwaukee, L.A. Lakers, Boston & Miami. He also ranks among the NBA’s all-time leaders in minutes (45,614), points (21,455), assists (8,765) & steals (2,402).

Former Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara signed a one year deal on Wednesday to play for Olympiakos of the Greek league.

McNamara chose Olympiakos because a one-year deal will give him more flexibility with the NBA, said his agent, Bill Neff.

McNamara ended his four-year career at Syracuse as the school’s career leader in 3-point field goals made, free-throw percentage, and minutes played. He is also one of only six players in school history to score 2,000 points. McNamara led Syracuse in assists in each of his four seasons.

Former NBA star Ralph Sampson will serve two months in jail for mail fraud under a plea agreement approved by a federal judge Thursday.

In exchange for Sampson’s guilty plea, federal prosecutors dropped charges of perjury, making a false claim and making a false statement about Sampson’s finances in a child support case.

U.S. District Judge James Spencer approved the deal on the day Sampson’s non-jury trial was scheduled to begin. Sampson faced a maximum of five years in prison and a fine on $250,000 on each count if convicted.

The mail fraud count was related to Sampson’s purchase of a vehicle in 2004.

Spencer agreed to Sampson’s request to delay his incarceration until April.

“I’ve not seen one thing that convinces me Mr. Sampson is a bad person, a terrible person,” the judge said. “He was unable to pay, not unwilling to pay.”

Sampson told reporters outside of court that was eager to put his troubles behind him.

“We all have to suffer some anguishes in life,” Sampson said. “This is mine.”

Sampson, 46, pleaded guilty last year to failing to pay about $300,000 in court-ordered child support for two children who live in northern Virginia and have different mothers. His sentencing was postponed after he was indicted on perjury, false claim, mail fraud and false statement charges.

The indictment alleged Sampson told authorities he was self-employed by “Sampson Communications” and had no income; prosecutors contended he earned $5,000 per month as a consultant and made commercials and promotional appearances for another in exchange for a $200,000 home.

The indictment also said Sampson denied owning a $43,000 sport utility vehicle, which he bought using a corporate identity, and that he sent documents regarding the SUV from Georgia to Virginia for the purpose of defrauding a financing company.

Sampson is to pay the $300,000 in back child support under an earlier agreement with federal prosecutors.

Sampson was drafted No. 1 overall by the Houston Rockets in 1983 after playing at the University of Virginia. In nine NBA seasons, he averaged 15.4 points.

Sampson’s best NBA moment came in the 1986 Western Conference Finals when he recorded a last second tip-in at the buzzer to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 1 and send the Rockets to only their 2nd NBA Finals appearance in franchise history.

Los Angeles Lakers star G Kobe Bryant said on Friday that the U.S. basketball team will have to work on its chemistry if it wants to perform well at the 2008 Olympics.

Bryant did not play in the world championships because of a knee injury, and the U.S. squad returned home from the tournament in Japan last week with a bronze medal — mirroring its performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Both results were widely seen as disappointments for teams loaded with NBA talent.

“Years playing together will jell us as a unit, (but) if there is no chemistry, it’s going to be tough to beat all those talented teams,” Bryant said, adding he was confident the two years leading up to the Beijing Olympics would be enough time to find that chemistry.

Following up my report on Monday’s blog, Memphis Grizzlies F/C Pau Gasol will be sidelined 4 months after surgery to repair a broken bone in his left foot.

Memphis will now be without their best player until the midseason, at the earliest. Gasol appeared in 80 games last season, averaging 20.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, both career-highs.
Now it’s time for some football!!

Here is a recap of Thursday night’s Miami-Pittsburgh game, along with the rest of my Week 1 predictions for the 2006-07 NFL Season.

vs. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers used an inspiring performance from 2nd string QB Charlie Batch and some big defensive plays to record a 28-17 win over the Miami Dolphins in their first regular-season game since winning Super Bowl XL over the Seattle Seahawks in February.

The game was close until the fourth quarter, when Pittsburgh used two huge plays to put Miami away for good.

Pittsburgh Steelers QB Charlie Batch hit TE Heath Miller with a short pass that turned into a controversial 87 yard touchdown when TV replays showed that Miller’s foot stepped out of bounds between the 1 and 2 yard lines.

Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban had a chance to challenge the play, but waited too long as his red flag went unnoticed by the officials. The touchdown gave Pittsburgh a 21-17 lead that they would never relinquish.

Miller thought the touchdown was good, but Saban thought otherwise.

“They (The refs) said they didn’t see it,” Saban said. “Whose fault is that?”

Saban also added that assistant coaches in the press box first had to watch the replay before notifying him whether to challenge.

“We can’t challenge something until we see it,” he said. “When we saw it, I threw the flag. It was well before the kicker kicked it. The official said he didn’t see it, and when he said he didn’t see it, there was nothing he could do. That shouldn’t happen.”

Referee Walt Coleman said the officials had no choice because Saban waited so long. He said they delayed the extra-point, waiting for the possibility of a challenge, then lined up for the try. Under NFL rules, there can be no challenge once the next play begins.

“We were unfortunately focused on the snap and so forth, and the coach threw the flag and we didn’t see it.”

He said he could never remember a coach being late with the flag before.

QB Charlie Batch finished the game completing 15 of 25 passes for 209 yards, 3 touchdown & no interceptions.

RB Willie Parker rushed 29 times for 115 yards.

TE Heath Miller was Pittsburgh’s leading receiver with 3 receptions for 101 yards & a touchdown. WR’s Hines Ward & Nate Washington also caught touchdown passes.

LB Joey Porter led the Steelers defense with 2 sacks & a 42 yard interception that was returned for a touchdown to put the game away with 3:09 to go in the 4th quarter.

QB Daunte Culpepper completed 18 of 37 passes for 262 yards, no touchdowns & 2 interceptions in his regular season debut for Miami.

RB Ronnie Brown only rushed for 30 yards on 15 carries, but did record 2 rushing touchdowns.

WR Wes Welker was Miami’s leading receiver with 4 receptions for 67 yards.

Miami’s defense was led by LB Zach Thomas, who finished with 8 tackles.

The rest of my Week 1 Predictions are coming up in another blog right now!

Until then,
Mattie T

Sports Writer for BMS Radio Chicago

www.bmsradio.com