I am in the process of adding a new section to the site that will include humurous and strange sports stories. I am looking for stories that will be more interesting to read than just your average sports article. I have collected some but obviously I cannot find nor will I read every story available. Thats where I am looking for help from the readers. If you come across any stories or articles such as these, please e-mail them to me. I'll be sure to give credit for each story to the reader who sends it in.
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P.S. - I know that was a shameless promotion..... buuuuuutttttt.... what are ya gonna do??

The Bruins horrendous off-season continued today when Tony Amonte signed with the Phoenix Coyotes. You'd figure if the B's could sign anyone, it would be the local guy. But no. There are unconfirmed reports that the Bruins are holding local tryouts for anyone in the Boston area who wants to play for them next year.

Len Pasquarelli highlights the teams that are paying the most "dead money". Dead money is money that is paid to former players that are no longer on your roster. Drew Bledsoe heads the list as the most expensive dead money guy. Len also gives his preview of the Patriots for this coming season. Tom Brady is apparently still keeping himself busy as he attended a party at the playboy mansion on July 9th. "There's just a few things in life you can't pass up, and this is one of them", said Brady.

With training camp rapidly approaching, it might be a good time to revisit how ESPN ranked all the teams in the offseason.

Peter May focuses on the Atlantic Division and gives his assessment of what the C's need to do to compete this year.

The Sox continued to dominate the Blue Jays, winning their 11th in a row over them. This matches their longest winning streak against one team. They also won 11 in a row against Tampa Bay last year.

Michael Holley speculates as to who the 2 teams are that are in serious financial trouble.

The Bruins and Celtics are both interested in players that would have little to no impact on their teams.

With the Cleveland Indians rebuilding, you have to expect changes. That is why many high priced players, such as Bartolo Colon, have been traded. However, you don't expect the manager to be fired when it is obvious that the team is going through a rebuilding phase. That is exactly what happened to Charlie Manuel today though.

Sean McAdam discusses eight questions for the 2nd half of the baseball season, including Pedro's health.

A very candid article by Raja Mishra appears in the Globe today. It details the relationship between Ted Williams and his son, John Henry. The relationship was evidently not very good. Many quotes from those who worked for Ted appear in the article. One assistant, John Sullivan, said ''He signed things and he didn't have a clue as to what they were. I would swear to that,'' . John Henry had video cameras installed in the house so that he could watch what was going on 24 hours a day. Kay Munday worked for Ted for six years. She says, ''Many times Ted would say, `That's enough John Henry. I can't sign anymore.' And they would argue,'' . This is another quote from Sullivan: ''The signing was a very raw nerve with Ted,'' he recalled. ''Ted once said, `That's all for now.' Then the two argued and Ted said, `I hope you can eat, John Henry.' The inference there was that everything came from Ted's labor.''
You'd have to think that all of this will come up in court. Even if JHW had Ted sign a new will saying that he wanted to be frozen, I can't imagine a judge not overruling it. There's just too much evidence that it is not what Ted wanted.

Gordon Edes chronicles what the Sox path will be in the 2nd half. They could easily start out strong as the 2nd half begins. There is a tough 27 game stretch before they play all their games after September 4th against clubs currently under .500.

I don't understand everything there is to know about baseball's labor problems, but why does the strike always have to happen in mid-season? Is that when the deal ends? If so, can't they make the next deal so that it ends in the offseason? Maybe it's simply because they care less about the fans. But you'd think they'd want to upset the fans as little as possible. If a strike were to happen in the offseason and it was announced that the season was going to start late or not at all, I'd be upset. But surely not as upset as I'll be if they play 90% of the current season and then strike. It just seems like common sense. But I guess that's what baseball is lacking right now. Make sure and read Jackie MacMullans article about it today.

Bud Selig says in the Houston Chronicle that 2 teams are in sever danger of not making it through the season. One of the teams may not be able to make their next payroll. "That's it," Selig said Wednesday in an interview with a small group of reporters in his downtown office. "I'm done. Major League Baseball's credit lines are at the maximum. We've done everything we can to help people by arranging credit lines. Frankly, at this point in time, we don't have that luxury anymore. If a club can't make it, I have to let 'em go. I'm a traditionalist, and I hate all that. It pains me to do it. I just don't have any more alternatives."

In Tony Massarotti's Red Sox notebook, he confirms that Dustin Hermanson and Rey Sanchez are close to returning. Sanchez should be in the lineup tonight. Also more information on the Ted Williams tribute.

The Montreal Expos will be gone next year. Either moved or contracted. Stan Grossfeld discusses the plight of the Expos. One interesting quote is from Troy O'leary, who is playing for the Expos this year. In discussing the low attendance figures in Montreal, Troy says, ''It's better than Ottawa, where you had like 10 people. At Fenway, they have more passion for baseball but they scream at you, not for you. I don't need that anymore.'' Hey Troy... maybe they were screaming at you because you were horrible. Ever think of that? I've never seen anyone that was as much as an automatic out as O'leary. Even as much as Tony Clark has struggled this year, I still have hope when he bats. With O'leary, you knew it was an out.

The Bruins announced their schedule yesterday, as if anyone cares. The team will be horrible. Not even worth watching. I guarantee they will not make the playoffs.

The Herald previews the AFC East of the NFL and shows what each teams needs to do to succeed. They pick the Pats to repeat as division champs.

The 911 tape made to report the Allen Iverson incident has been released. Iverson allegedly threw his wife out of their home while she was naked. Later on, he went to find her and that is when the incident occurred. Charles Jones made the call. Some clips from the call:
"He was like, 'Where my (expletive) wife at?' " Jones told 911 in a calm voice. Jones also said: "He told her the next time he see her he was going to kill her, and this, that and the other." "He was like, 'You got to tell me where he's at or something is going to happen.' He had a gun on his hip. He was sitting there threatening to shoot me this morning ... ."

If you are interested in what happened at the ESPY awards, they are covered here. Tom Brady won Best Breakthrough Athlete and was the only local winner. Bill Belechick was robbed out of the Coach of the Year award.

Some interesting things took place last night at the All-star game. Some good... some up for debate. The 30 greatest moments at the beginning of the game was great. It was fun and even a little exciting to watch. It was great to see Ted Williams number 9 unveiled in left field. And a nice touch having three current Red Sox players unveil it. (Do they paint that number 9 on the grass? If so, how do they get it off? Do they have to tear up that portion of grass and put down new grass after the game? Maybe a landscaper can e-mail me and let me know.) The not so great moments involved Bud Selig. Dennis and Dickerson were ripping him this morning. I'm not so sure if he did anything wrong. I know I wouldn't want a Sox pitcher to wear out his arm in an All-star game. I guess the only thing that could have been done was to announce it earlier that the game would be called after 11 innings. Maybe they'll make an announcement for future games and put a limit to the number of innings that can be played. 12 seems like a good number to me. The other thing that people are harping on is that the 2 managers didn't use the players properly. But they are in a catch 22 situation. If they try and save players and then the game ends after 9, some guys don't get in the game. If they use up all the guys and you go to extra innings, then you run out of players. Tough call. And there should have been an MVP named, especially after it was just renamed the Ted Williams award. Even if you have to name Co-MVP's, it's better than none at all. Anyways, take the poll on the left side of this page and let me know what you think.

As for the game itself, it ended in a 7-7 tie. Some more good things to come out of it were that all the Sox players played really well. Lowe gave up a cheap run (has a balk ever been called in an all-star game before?) and Manny looked great. Hopefully, Manny can carry this over. Maybe it will be what gets him going. He looked real good in his 2 at-bats. Damon had a hit, stole a base, and scored a run. Oogie was overpowering in his appearance. Good signs out of the Sox players.

Dan Shaughnessy calls the game an embarrassment. Three times he uses the word "brutal" three times to describe the way it all ended. It must be Dan's word of the week.

John Henry Williams was supposed to be at the All-star game but he left early because he was afraid for his life, or so he says. John Henry said that he has received death threats since freezing his father.

Pedro has said from The Dominican Republic that he hopes to get a new deal in the offseason. He states that his contract goes until 2003. Kevin Shea noted that the club has an option for 2004. Maybe the beginning of a battle here. I don't think Pedro would be happy if the team used the option instead of resigning him. But considering his health issues, it would be the smart thing for the team to do. Stay tuned.

Allen Iverson is evidently in trouble again. Allegedly, him and his wife had an argument that resulted in his wife leaving and going to her cousins house. (You ever notice it's always a cousin in these types of stories? Why not a brother or a sister? Anyways...) So Iverson went to track her down but he brought a handgun that he is not registered to have. He has a whole slew of charges against him now. If convicted, he could wind up in jail.

The Celtics summer league starts next week. Ticket information can be found here.

The Patriots have announced that 2 practices will be open to the public. These will be held on July 26th and 27th at Bryant College.

If you have grown to dislike Dan Shaughnessy in recent years, or if you always did, you are not alone. Dan seems to be consistently negative about everything he writes. Many of his articles seem as though you have read them before, almost like he just changes the names around and republishes it. If you want to read about specific examples of this, Bruce Allen wrote a great article exposing Shaughnessy. Many examples are listed in the article. A must read if you want to know the truth about Dan.

My Home Run contest commentary has been completed and posted. You can read it here.

Dan Shaughnessy likes the idea of renaming the All-Star game MVP to the Ted Williams Award. Some comments from Dom DiMaggio near the end of the article about Ted.

The Sox still covet Jim Thome more than any other player, says Gordon Edes. Some other trade rumors are listed in the article as well.

The Globe's All-star Notebook from Shaughnessy. Derek Lowe says ''To be here, starting an All-Star Game is more than I could have anticipated, coming into the year. Looking at that lineup, it's going to be tough, but a great challange.''. Pedro Martinez and Trot Nixon were named co-players of the week in the American League. There are 4 current websites that are trying to get fans to boycott all MLB games on Thursday. This would be to show the players and owners what would happen if there was another work stoppage.

The Herald's All-star Notebook from Jeff Horrigan. Johnny Damon chartered a plane and offered to fly all his teammates to the All-star game. A generous move by Damon. The Sox may have interest in Kenny Rogers, who is in the last year of his contract. Manny skipped the media session, which prompted this quip from Shea Hillenbrand. ``We had a feeling he wouldn't show,'' Hillenbrand said. ``He probably didn't even know we had this media session.''

Chris Snow continues to make his mark as a fine writer at the Globe. His article today focuses on Derek Lowe and his background and what got him to where he is today. Lowe talks about his poster night last year. ''I can visually remember poster night, when they threw 15,000 posters at me,'' Lowe says. ''I can remember veins popping out of people's necks.'' He received death threats ''From the same guy three times. You could tell because it was the same writing.'' The article talks about what a great athlete Lowe is. He hit .952 as a seven year old. As a basketball player, he averaged 33 points and 10 rebounds a game as a senior. Jason Varitek talks about the day he and Lowe were traded to the Sox. ''We were in Colorado Springs, and after our game, Derek comes strolling up to me,'' says Varitek, about to imitate his boisterous batterymate. ''`Hey, we just got traded, doo-do-do-do-do-doo.' I was like, `Yeah right.'''

The Patriots picked up Tony Scott from the Jets. Terrell Buckley signed with Tampa Bay.

The Bruins signed Shaone Morrisonn yesterday. They also missed out on Teemu Selanne when the sniper decided to re-sign with the San Jose Sharks. Print Those Playoff Tickets!!!

I'm did a running commentary of last nights Home Run contest. I'll be posting that later today. Be sure and check back for that. Also, make sure and take part in the poll on the left side of this page and pick your favorite team. Every vote counts!

Derek Lowe has been selected to start the All-star game. He will be going up against Curt Schilling. Shea Hillenbrand will bat second for the AL All-stars and Manny Ramirez will bat fifth. Joe Torre said that Lowe will go 2 innings as the starter.

Brian Murphy from ESPN's Page 2 has devoted his most recent article to Ted Williams.

Jayson Stark hands out his midseason awards. He picks Derek Lowe as the Cy Young winner and Grady Little as manager of the year.

I actually enjoyed this Larry Johnson photo. It's rare that that happens.

The Red Sox are still listed as 5-1 favorites to win the World Series. Only the Yankees are better at 2-1.

Many people are not aware that Boston has a professional lacrosse team. The Boston Cannons play their home games in Lowell but are named as a Boston team. Now I don't claim to be a big lacrosse fan and probably don't even know half the rules, but lacrosse is a very entertaining game to watch in person. It is a very fast moving game with a lot of action. And at $12.50 per ticket, you can't beat the value. Their next home game is Thursday, July 18th at Cawley Stadium at 7:30 PM. With baseball the only one of the 4 major sports playing right now, why not take some time to go see a Cannons game? For more info, go to the Cannons homepage. There is a link to it on the left side of this page.

I have tried as hard as I could to stay away from everything related to John Henry Williams. I have not talked about him here. I don't think he is anything worth talking about. He doesn't warrant the ink. But this is too much.

Freezing Ted? I don't agree with that anyways, but that's just my personal opinion. If someone wants to freeze themselves after they pass away, it's their decision. The problem is, by every account Ted didn't want this. Ted wanted to be cremated. He told everyone that he ever spoke with about his death that. It was plain and clear what he wanted. I can't imagine the courts ruling with John Henry Williams on this one. Another problem, though, is that Ted had power of attorney over his father in the last few years. That means that he would have been able to change his fathers will if he wanted to. Who knows if he did that? He could have made the will say anything he wanted. Turns out JHW is more of a slimeball than we thought.

Enough of that. Bud Collins and Bill Nowlin share their memories of Ted. The tribute times for the ceremonies have been set. MLB has also decided to rename the All-star game MVP award after Ted.

Grady Little is pleased with how the first half went. The only thing he'd really change is the injuries. An interesting comment he makes is that "We've seen the Yankees make a couple of moves, but we expect that, given the resources they have.'' Trot Nixon also made a similar comment saying that the Yankees have made some trades but that the Sox are not concentrating on them. That they are only focusing on themselves. Problem is, how can you focus on yourself when all you do is talk about the Yankees. All we hear from a lot of these Sox players is what the Yankees are doing. They always follow it up by saying that they are not worried about what the Yankees do. Well why bring it up then? Maybe it's not a big deal, but I just don't like the trend.

Speaking of Trot, Chris Snow has a nice article about him today in the Globe. It talks about the adjustments Trot has made over the past month that has enabled his batting average to rise almost 30 points.

Nick Cafardo has the Red Sox Notebook today. Comments on how the Sox will be getting Hermanson and Sanchez back shortly after the break. Mike Port says those are the best 2 mid-season acquisitions the team could make. A short blurb on Carlos Pena, who is from my current residence of Haverhill. Manny Ramirez offered to give up his number 24 for Dwight Evans but Evans declined. A nice gesture by Manny.

Tony Massarotti fills in his Red Sox mid-season report card. Tony Clark and Rich Garces get the only F's. Jose Offerman gets a D-. The highest grades? Johnny Damon and Derek Lowe with A's.