St. Louis Sports Blog

Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis could be out at the end of the season. But who should replace him?

​As we near the end of another college football season, one of America's favorite subjects rises again: What happens to Notre Dame?

Why is this non-story a story? Yu don't have to look far -- whether in St. Louis or in any other part of the country -- Notre Dame fans, however obnoxious or uppity, are everywhere.

Since Lou Holtz left the Irish after the '96 season, the national relevance of the program has diminished almost as much as Holtz's relevance as an ESPN analyst. Notre Dame has no trouble being relevant to fans or the media because it's, well, Notre Dame. But the program isn't the problem, it's the coach. When Charlie Weis was brought in five years ago, it was because he was an alumni and he had credentials as the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl-winning dynasty New England Patriots. It seemed like a logical choice, right?

Well, it's nice to see the Houston Astros are still a train wreck. 

fortsanders.net

Bad Idea.

​I know I've mentioned before - numerous times, most likely - how much I hate no-trade clauses in baseball contracts. In particular, the no-trade clause in Kyle Lohse's contract has proven to be a source of major irritation to me, not because I don't think Lohse is a useful pitcher, but because I largely expect Lohse to be a fairly useful pitcher with a bad contract that would be hard to move in any circumstances, and damned near impossible when the player has the option of just saying, "Ummmm... nah." 

RETRACTION: This story was based on an inaccurate news report (linked below.) We will leave the post up, but know that Encarnacion is not running for office, and is living in Florida, according to his fiancee, reached by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Juan Encarnacion, the former Cardinal right fielder who lost much of the vision in his right eye after being struck by a foul ball off the bat of Aaron Miles, is running for a Senatorial seat in his native Dominican Republic. 

File under ridiculous douchebag bullshit: Major League Baseball and Topps have reached an agreement to make Topps the only licensed maker of baseball cards. 

That's right, folks; Michael Vick is getting his very own day. 

I try not to get too very sanctimonious over much of anything in life. I don't consider myself a moral relativist, by any means, but I just don't believe things are very often defined sharply in black and white. We all do what we have to to get by in life, and all too often, that means compromising ourselves and our beliefs. You do the best you can, and hope at the end of the day you can still look yourself in the mirror. 

Just a few minutes ago, Mark Buehrle, the lefty from the Chicago White Sox who just also happens to be a St. Louis native, completed the eighteenth perfect game in baseball history. 

Jonathan Sanchez threw the first no-hitter of 2009 last night in San Francisco. It was an achingly beautiful performance, ten strikeouts, no walks. ESPN cut to the game during Baseball Tonight, so that anyone watching at the right time got to see Sanchez make history. 

I wonder what sort of greeting Jason Marquis is going to get from the Busch Stadium crowd? I assume it will be positive, in keeping with the spirit of the All-Star Game and all, but I have to admit, if Marquis does in fact get into the game, I'll be sitting there in the press box, secretly hoping for one of those Whitey-Ford-killed-by-a-hail-of-pretzels-moments. Not because I dislike Jason Marquis all that much - though I do admit he used to make me want to rip my own eyes out of my head to avoid watching him pitch any more - but because the very fact Marquis is an All-Star frankly makes me question the inherent worth of mankind. 

It appears that Clayton Mortensen has been called up by the Cardinals. A poster by the name of cardsfan1 first reported it over at Future Redbirds, and this particular poster has been known to be very reliable. 

Well, here we go, everybody. The Draft is finally here, and now we wait for the Nationals to tell us what we already know. 

I don't have much of anything to really talk about today, and am in absolutely no mood to rehash the ugliness that was last night's game. Suffice it to say I'm disappointed to once again see a Cardinal player not go on the disabled list, only to struggle and end up on the DL anyway, except a couple of weeks later. 

One of my favorite pastimes is to go over to Fangraphs and look at the win probability charts for baseball games after they end. It's especially fun to look at games in which really wacky things have happened, as the peaks and valleys are often marvels to behold. 

Via Flickr.

The Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki.

The sad, sad tale of Dirk Nowitzki's relationship trouble just keeps getting worse. 

The fallout from the suspension of Manny Ramirez is coming hard and fast now. 

Remember in the first series of this season, when the Cardinals were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates, and we all felt really good? We all thought, "Hey, this'll be great! The Cards can get off to a hot start, sort of pad the old record a little bit. After all, what are the Pirates for?" 

Harry Kalas, the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, was found unconscious earlier today in the Washington Nationals' broadcast booth, where he was preparing to work the Nats-Phillies game. He was taken to the hospital, where he later passed away. Cause of death is as yet unknown. 

Photo by Jennifer Silverberg

Latimore, right, with longtime trainer Kenny Loehr

This just in: Fight night is finally set for April 24 for the IBF junior middleweight championship belt match-up between hometown favorites, Cory Spinks and DeAndre "Bull" Latimore.

Spinks and Latimore will face off about 10 p.m. central time Friday, April 24, at the Scottrade Center. St. Louisan Devon Alexander will also fight that night against a yet-to-be-named opponent.

Don King is putting on the card. "I love St. Louis and I'm happy to have the top three prizefighters from this great American city on the same card at Scottrade Center," King said in a statement. "Spring is almost here so it's the perfect time to meet me in St. Louis on April 24 to see the best of the old and best of the new. It's going to be what we call a Lou thing."

Ticket info and more after the jump...

Well, the United States is out of the World Baseball Classic. Honestly, I'm not particularly surprised, and you shouldn't be either. What I am surprised by, though, at least a bit, is how little I care. 

The most important bit of news over the weekend was the big deal that took place in the NFL, when the Kansas City Chiefs acquired quarterback Matt Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel from the New England Patriots for a second-round pick.

You know, I had never really thought about the steroid issue from this angle before, but Ron Kittle thinks that Jose Canseco may want to watch his back. 

Canseco and Rafael Palmeiro engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

"My first thought was: 'I wonder who's going to be the first one to shoot him.' I still think somebody who might have had their life ruined might take vengeance on him. If I were [Canseco], I would think about that..." 

What is the world coming to, when a steroid freak ex-ballplayer can't squeal on all his former teammates without his personal safety being threatened?

Oh, for the love of god. 

The Cardinals just released Adam Kennedy. 

thedirty.com

You stay classy, Adam. What a doucheb- ah, who am I kidding? I'm just jealous that internet columnists don't have groupies.

Hey, you guys remember Larry Bigbie? No? Outfielder? Played a little for the Cards one year, actually? He got hurt quite a bit. No, never really made it big. Oh, yeah, plenty talented; just didn't quite seem to ever get the breaks to fall his way, you know? 

In Saturday's New York Times, in honor of Martin Luther King Day and Barack Obama's inauguration, columnist George Vecsey and the great Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe (pictured above, center) took a look back at the old days 60-some years ago when black players like Newcombe and Jackie Robinson (left) and Roy Campanella (right) first started playing in the major leagues.

It would be wrong to say they were reminiscing, because the word "reminisce" implies a fond remembrance of things past. "Really," Vecsey writes, "how does one explain the way things were 50 to 60 years ago?"

In those days, St. Louis was the only southern city with a major-league team. Say what you will about St. Louis' Midwesternness, its "middleness." The seats at Sportsman's Park, where the Cardinals and the Browns played, were segregated. Robinson told Roger Kahn in The Boys of Summer, his history of the Dodgers of the late 40s and early 50s, that he and his fellow black players were jeered at everywhere in the league, but nowhere worse than here.
 

Darius Miles' bizarre labor dispute with the Portland Trailblazers is coming to a head.

Last night he scored 13 points in 13 garbage time minutes as his new team, the Memphis Grizzlies, lost to the powerful Cleveland Cavaliers.

As previously noted, if Miles steps on the court for one more second this season, Portland owes $18 million in luxury tax -- money they were probably hoping would go toward free agents in the off-season.

If you haven't been following the saga of Belleville native and former East St. Louis high school star Darius Miles and his crazy labor dispute with his former team the Portland Trailblazers, you might want to start now.

"Team Presidents and General Managers, 

"The Portland Trail Blazers are aware that certain teams may be contemplating signing Darius Miles to a contract for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap and tax positions. Such conduct from a team would violate its fiduciary duty as an NBA joint venturer. In addition, persons or entities involved in such conduct may be individually liable to the Portland Trail Blazers for tortuously interfering with the Portland Trail Blazers' contract rights and perspective economic opportunities. 

"Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation."

If you've been to the Loop lately and looked down at the sidewalk, you might have seen Lou Brock's star on the Walk of Fame and thought to yourself, "Wow, base-stealing legend Lou Brock has had his informative plaque -- his base, even -- stolen from the Loop's Walk of Fame!"

But you'd be wrong. The plaque, bowing to the harsh winter conditions, came loose from the sidewalk, says Joe Edwards, owner of Blueberry Hill and founder and chair of the non-profit St. Louis Walk of Fame.

"I have [the plaque] up here in my office. it started to come out of the sidewalk. Winter conditions are always tough on things. Every so often a plaque or a star might come up and rather than have somebody trip on it or anything, We took it up for safe keeping."

The star is near Smoothie King in the Delmar Loop. The next three inductees into the Walk of Fame will be selected this spring.

An aside -- Rickey Henderson, the legendary base-stealer who broke Brock's record, is a shoe-in for Hall of Fame induction today.

Photo of the missing plaque after jump.

Hey, I'll bet you don't know who J.C. Romero is, do you? Well, that's okay, because he's not the sort of person you're likely to hear about on a daily basis. Hell, even if your job happens to consist of writing about sports, you would probably only qualify for "passing familiar" status with regards to Mr. Romero.