Bissinger vs. Leitch (and the Internet)

I’m only the 5,000th blogger to mention this, but Deadspin’s Will Leitch was on Costas Now last night, where Buzz Bissinger (author of Friday Night Lights) absolutely went nuts and on a tirade against Leitch and the Internet.

YouTube pulled the video, but Deadspin still has it up.

Leitch could’ve done a better job of defending himself, but it’s good that he didn’t lower himself to the level that Bissinger did. I actually enjoyed Buzz’s book, but I think a whole lot less of him now after watching this. Bissinger seems to think the Internet is the root of all evil here.

Here’s Will’s reaction.

Collison to stay at UCLA

UCLA’s Darren Collison has chosen not to make himself eligible for the NBA Draft and will stay at UCLA for his senior season.

Wow.

I, like many others thought for sure he was gone. Either Collison wasn’t sure he was going to be taken in the first round or he really likes playing at UCLA (can you blame him?). Regardless of why, I’m sure glad Collison’s back and I’m thrilled I was wrong for thinking he was gone. As Ben Howland said Collison’s return means UCLA starts the season with an All-American point guard.

Even if Kevin Love, Josh Shipp, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya all end up leaving early, I’m confident UCLA basketball will still be really good next year with Collison’s return and the incoming freshmen coming in next year.

I’m not the only one excited. Bruins Nation, Gutty Little Bruins and Bruin Basketball Report all beat me to posts about this. Collison’s already been on three Final Four teams. While it’s unreasonable to expect that to happen a fourth time, you never know. It will certainly be a fun senior season to watch.

10 runs in 1st inning and scary incident

The Dodgers scored 10 runs in the first inning in Saturday night’s game, all off of Rockies’ starter Mark Redman, who actually stayed in the game and pitched five scoreless innings after that. What a game. Nine of the runs that inning came with two outs, the last four coming on a grand slam by Matt Kemp. I wonder how many fans showed up late to Dodger Stadium and missed the extremely-rare 10-run inning.

The scary incident came in the fourth inning, when plate umpire Kerwin Danley was hit by a 96-mph fastball in the jaw, right below the mask. David Chalk of Bugs & Cranks uploaded a video of it here. According to the Los Angeles Times, Danley was expected to be released from the hospital sometime last night. We all hope Danley is OK and he is in our thoughts and prayers.

Quick roundup: Passion Bucket and Kenny Mayne

I’m a couple days late with this, but as Palaver blogged about before me, the Lakers gave away Passion Bucket meters at their game Wednesday night:

Very cool — in case you forgot, the phrase “Passion Bucket” was coined by Rick Neuheisel on the Dan Patrick Show, which Dan has since tried to make popular.

Also, the Daily Bruin did a very cool interview and book review of Kenny Mayne’s new book, which I hope to buy soon myself.

Gagne just blew another save

Eric Gagne just blew his fourth save in 10 chances this season. I’m writing this during the Cardinals-Brewers game. (UPDATE: The Brewers still won in 12.) Gagne’s ERA is an awful 8.31, though I’d say manager Ned Yost is partially to blame for Gagne’s last two blown saves.

Today was Gagne’s fifth appearance in the last six days, and if that isn’t pitcher overuse, I don’t know what is. In his last blown save, on Sunday, it was his fourth appearance in four days. Given all of this, I’m kind of surprised Yost didn’t put Gagne in the game yesterday. There was no save situation, but it was tied 3-3 in the ninth.

The Eric Gagne signing hasn’t been what the Brewers pictured. And if you include his time in Boston, Gagne’s ERA over his last 30 appearances is 7.24 — and that’s over 27 1/3 innings. What a turnaround for the once-dominant closer.

Also, what’s gotten into the Cardinals this year? They’re 13-7 and came back from a 8-3 deficit in this game to tie it up. Maybe they’re better than we all thought. Then again, it’s still April.

Links around the interwebs

Before I get to some of the great links I found today, I’d like to remind you all that I’m still blogging at Bugs & Cranks. My latest post can be found here, an archive of my work here. Some great links:

• The Angels are getting a break — Josh Beckett has been scratched from his start tonight. As Center Field points out, Beckett needs his ice cream. (Center Field)
• At first, I couldn’t understand why Tampa Bay locked up Evan Longoria to a long-term deal when he’s been in the majors for a week, but Baseball Mastermind does a fantastic job of breaking down why it’s a good thing for them. (Baseball Mastermind)
• The Devil Rays have the best bullpen in baseball? Has the world gone mad? (Bugs & Cranks)
• A post-game interview with Rick Neuheisel from 1984, when he was a player. (Bruins Nation)
• Joe Girardi is getting rid of candy and ice cream in the Yankee clubhouse even though baseball’s the one sport where overweight players can thrive. (Larry Brown Sports)
• So the Patriots are still trying to trademark 19-0? Really? (Hugging Harold Reynolds)
• Jim Thome keeps moving up the career home runs leaderboard. (Babes Love Baseball)
• As good of a hitter as he is, why does Micah Owings bat ninth in the lineup? (UmpBump)

No more Nomo

As Bugs & Cranks has already blogged about, the Royals have released Hideo Nomo.

Some of you probably didn’t realize he was still in the major leagues, and I don’t blame you. Nomo pitched in only three games for the Royals, giving up 9 runs in 4 1/3 innings. Before that, he hadn’t pitched in the majors, when he had a horrible 2005 in Tampa Bay.

Nomo was at his best in the mid-to-late 90s, and was of course the first Japanese pitcher in the modern era to pitch in the majors and do well. I remember going to Dodger games in ‘95 and ‘96, at the height of Nomo-mania. The fans went crazy when he pitched, and he was an amazing player to watch because of his stuff and his crazy windup to home plate.

Nomo was very mediocre for the next several years, until he came back to LA and was all of a sudden good again. That didn’t last for long though. Check out this four-season span (stats from Baseball-Reference):

2002: 3.39 ERA, 16-6, 193 K in 220 IP
2003: 3.09 ERA, 16-13, 177 K in 218.3 IP
2004: 8.25 ERA, 4-11, 54 K in 84 IP
2005: 7.24 ERA, 5-8, 59 K in 100.3 IP

Nomo’s career is likely over now, which is unfortunate, because it was great to see him pitch when he was at his best.

Luc declares for NBA Draft

It’s official — Luc Richard Mbah a Moute has declared for the NBA Draft. He hasn’t hired an agent, so he might come back.

If he doesn’t come back, I’ll remember him for being a part of that epic comeback against Gonzaga, among many great things he did as a Bruin.

The 22-inning marathon

As I was getting ready to go to sleep, I turned on my radio and found to my surprise that there was baseball being played. I’m not an early bird — this was after midnight. (And I’m on the West Coast — sporting events never end this late here, ever).

The Padres and Rockies played 22 innings last night before Colorado finally won 2-1. The game ended at 1:21 PT (Game time 6 hours, 16 minutes). I only listened to a couple of innings before I fell asleep, but I couldn’t imagine what that game must have been like for Padre fans, either at Petco or watching on TV — they spent all that time invested in the game, and their team lost.

Since I didn’t see the game for myself, here’s some very interesting live blogs and game threads from Mark Townsend (my colleague at Bugs & Cranks), Ducksnorts (a great Padres blog) and two from Purple Row (a great Rockies blog). Fans from both of those teams stayed up for all 22 innings, and that is very impressive.

Love and Westbrook declare for NBA Draft

It’s official now. Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook have declared for the NBA Draft.

Both haven’t hired an agent yet, but I highly doubt they’ll be coming back to UCLA — both are easily talented enough to be taken in the first round.

Both Love and Westbrook played admirably at UCLA, always looked like they were giving it their all and gave us many great, fun memories.

Gutty Little Bruins and Bruins Nation already have tributes up to Kevin Love. So I’ll instead put up two videos of Russell Westbrook dunking.

After it was reported earlier int the day that Luc Richard Mbah a Moute would be announcing he was declaring for the NBA Draft, he instead postponed his decision, and Darren Collison is still thinking about his.