Scoreboards

Last week’s “baseball scoreboards” article listed the top 4 broadcasters in MLB history, and in this week’s baseball scoreboards feature, I will take a look at the bottom 4 most annoying broadcasters ever. These are the broadcasters who should not ever have been handed a mic during a baseball game, and the ones who make is think, if they got that dream job, why can’t I?!

4 - Tim McCarver – one has to wonder how a 3-time Emmy Award winner for best sports event analyst ended up on this side of the list? The answer might lie in the fact that McCarver is not a specialist baseball commentator or announcer. Over the span of his broadcasting career, he has covered everything from being a color commentator for MLB to being the announcer for the freestyle skiing event at the Winter Olympics in 1988. He has had stints as a game caller for the Phillies, Mets, Yankees and Giants. His nature to grossly over analyze things during a game is the primary reason he is on this list. Norman Chad criticized McCarver best in a Sport Illustrated issue “when you ask him the time, he will tell you how a watch works.”

At the start of the English Premier League this season, everybody expected players like Rooney, Fabregas, Drogba and the all other big names to be the big performers over the season, however nobody expected the players (in this article) to make such an impact this season. In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have looked at the top four unsung heroes of the 2010-2011season.

Maxi Rodriguez
This Argentine player has played a BIG role in Liverpool’s success this season. He has been amazing for large parts of it and a big reason for their second half (of the year) recovery. He has scored a hatrick twice this season and has scored seven goals in just the last three games. He wasn’t in form at the start and he had a very mediocre first few weeks, but now he is THE man who should be feared in the Liverpool team because he fast is on his way to becoming the STAR of the team.

Last week, in a baseball scoreboards feature, we covered the “Pine Tar” and the “Black Sox” incidents. Continuing from where we left off, let us take a look at the next 2 most infamous scandalous incidents in MLB history.

3. The Pete Rose Gambling Incident – it seems like MLB is more susceptible to gambling than other professional sports, or it may be that they are just not that well versed in hiding their illicit activities. The (baseball scoreboards) Pete Rose gambling incident is not so much an incident as a saga of denials and accusations that spans almost 15 years.

The 2011 NFL draft is now in the books, the teams have drafted the players with the most potential in a step towards replacing the old team players who have long since lost their zing! However, at the same time there are players who are at their prime and as of yet have no danger of being replaced because they are just too valuable for the teams. In this football scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the top 5 players who aren’t going anywhere soon.

5- San Francisco 49ers, LB Patrick Willis – ever since he was drafted by the 49ers in 2007, he has cemented his place in the team as an irreplaceable part of the defense. Besides having the talent and ability, he has the traits essential for mustering a solid defense. He is a methodical and aggressive player; exactly the mix a team seeks in a player to lead a strong defense. The football scoreboards show that in his 4 years with the 49ers, he has managed 595 tackles.

No professional sport is really complete without the occasional scandal; and baseball, of course, is no different from the rest. Over the years there have been quite a few scandals in the MLB. However, there are 4 scandals that are perhaps the most infamous of all in MLB history, and in the baseball scoreboards article, I have taken a look at 2 of the 4 first.

1 - The Pine Tar Scandal – ‘twas July 24th, 1983 when it looked like the Yankees had the Royal’s on their knees in the 9th innings, with the baseball scoreboards showing 2 outs and a runner only on the first. When George Brett came to the pitch, much to the Royal’s delight and the Yankees’ misfortune, he hit a home run, giving the Royals a one run lead. Of course this did not sit well with the Yankees, and in a desperate attempt to win the game, Billy Martin, the Yankees manager, ran up to the umpire (before Brett even had a chance to complete his home run) and spoke to him. After what looked like a heated debate, the umpire laid Brett’s bat on the home plate and soon after declared Brett as out. Obviously infuriated, Brett went up to the umpire and Billy Martin, inquired about the incident and had to be physically restrained from slugging the umpire.

Picking from where we left off in the previous article of this football scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the most disappointing draft picks for the remaining teams in the NFL from the last decade.

27. Bobby Carpenter, LB: Dallas Cowboys – he was the 18th pick in the 2006 draft. In the 4 years (and 58 games) he played for the Cowboys, he never managed a single forced fumble from the opposition nor an interception.

28. Alex Smith, QB: San Francisco 49ers – he was the 1st pick in the 2005 draft. This time around, it was the player who was unlucky to be drafted by a struggling team. Smith is not without talent; however, there have been instances where he hasn’t helped himself either. He has 14 touch downs, 10 interceptions, 2,370 yards and a QB rating of 82.1 to his name.

Continuing with this football scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the next 10 most disappointing draft picks for teams in the NFL.

18. Matt Leinart, QB: Arizona Cardinals – he was the 10th pick in the 2006 draft. In the 4 seasons with the Cardinals, Leinart managed a career start record of 7-10, with the football scoreboards showing 14 touch downs, 20 interceptions and 3,893 yards. In 2010, he was acquired by the Houston Texans, for whom he has yet to play a game.

19. T.J Duckett, RB: Atlanta Falcons – he was the 18th pick in the 2002 draft. Even though Duckett has competent career stats, as fate would have it, he wasn’t able to perform well for the Falcons.

Yesterday, I analyzed the most disappointing draft picks for 9 of the 32 teams in the NFL. Today, in a continuation of this football scoreboards feature, I will take a look at the next 7 teams.

10. Ted Ginn Jr., WR: Miami Dolphins – he was the 9th pick in the 2007 NFL draft. The Miami Dolphins made a much criticized decision when they selected Ted Ginn over Brady Quinn. However, even if they had gone with Quinn, he too would be on this list. He may have been a competent return man (the football scoreboards showed 3 TDs for the Dolphins), but he was never a competent receiver.

The 32 teams have cast their dice, signaling the all-too-anticipated NFL Draft 2011 as officially complete. 3 days and 7 rounds are a lot to process, therefore, in this football scoreboards feature, I have taken look at what the teams were looking for on D-Day and what they got.

Atlanta Falcons – the team was in need of a WR, DE and a good pass rusher. In an aggressive move, they traded away 5 picks to the Browns in an effort to get their hands on WR Julio Jones. Next, the Falcons drafted OLB Akeem Dent; however, they could’ve picked a far more able draft. Later, they drafted Cliff Mathews at DE.

In this football scoreboards article, I have taken a look at who the rest of the NFL teams drafted during the 3 days to bring in new talent and bolster their teams.

Jacksonville Jaguars – the Jaguars came into D-Day looking to bolster their QB, safety, DE and LB positions. They filled in their QB spot with Blaine Gabbart, who was in the top 3 of the most accurate QBs coming into the NFL Draft 2011. Next, they drafted OG William Rackley, WR Cecil Shorts, S Christopher Prosinski and CB Roderick Issac.

In a basketball scoreboards feature, I have reviewed the recent victory for the Spurs over the Grizzlies.

The Antonio Spurs shocked everyone by defeating the Memphis Grizzlies in the best of seven play-offs. The Grizzlies were up 3-1 in the series and it was a do or die situation for the Spurs. They had to win the match in order to stay alive in the series, and they showed incredible resilience to get through it in the last few minutes.

Ever since the 2008 banking meltdown, MLB has been facing a major debt crisis spearheaded by the Mets and the Dodgers. Between the Mets’ investment at Bernard Madoff’s ponzi scheme and the McCourts (of the Dodgers) using the team’s assets as collateral to rack up an unbelievable $459 million of debt, Bud Selig has had to come up with emergency loans quite similar to that of the banking industry’s bail-out package. However, not all of the MLB teams are in the hands of such incompetent owners, which, despite the baseball scoreboards showing a general decline in attendance figures, 28 of the 32 teams witnessed a gain in value in 2010. In this baseball scoreboards feature, I have listed the top 5 teams that gained most value last year.