Arturo Gatti, RIP

I haven’t done posts on the overload of celebrity deaths recently, but Arturo Gatti deserves mentioning because; one — he’s not that well known, and two — he was a decent boxer and a truly good guy. It’s sad to hear his wife was likely involved in Gatti’s untimely death.

From the link:

Police said 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues was taken into custody after contradictions in her interrogation. Gatti’s body was found early Saturday in a hotel room at the Porto de Galinhas resort in northeastern Brazil.

The former junior welterweight champion was apparently strangled with the strap of a purse, which was found at the scene with blood stains, said Milena Saraiva, a spokeswoman for the Pernambuco state civil police. She told The Associated Press that the Canadian also had a head injury.

The investigation was not complete, but Saraiva said authorities were preparing to present a formal accusation against Rodrigues, who denied being involved in her husband’s death.

Police said Rodrigues, a Brazilian, could not explain how she spent nearly 10 hours in the room without noticing that Gatti was already dead.

Umenyiora out for season

I almost blogged about this last night with the conceit Giant’s fans probably collectively had their hearts in their mouths.

Well, the other shoe did drop and Osi is done for the season. A thinned D-line is now essentially depleted.

From the link:

Umenyiora was hurt in the second quarter of Saturday’s preseason game against the New York Jets, but early indications were that there was no ligament damage.

However, an MRI Sunday found a torn lateral meniscus, Dr. Russell Warren told the team. The two-time Pro Bowl choice will have surgery Tuesday and be sidelined for the season.

The loss is a major one for the Super Bowl champions in the wake of the retirement of seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan a few months ago.

Just in time for the NFL season, TMQ is back

Gregg Easterbrook’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback is an NFL season staple. When he’s on it’s a great read and when he’s off the column is almost insufferable.

One aspect of TMQ is either a bonus bit of fun or just annoying depending on your perspective, but it’s a guarantee that along with pro football you’re going to get a random bit of commentary on either some of Easterbrook’s pet causes or maybe just something he’s researching for a magazine piece.

This week’s TMQ had a riff on the ongoing problems facing Fannie Mae, and a focus on corporate overpay scandals.

Easterbrook makes a great point with this bonus bit of business commentary.

From the link:

This is the core lesson of CEO overpay scandals: The corrupt or incompetent executive always keeps the money. He may be caught and embarrassed by bad press, but he keeps the money while someone else — shareholders, taxpayers, workers — is punished. Raines recently settled a federal legal complaint by agreeing to return about $3 million of his $50 million, but kept the rest; his employment contract was worded such that even if he was malfeasant, whatever he took from company coffers was his. Hilariously, federal prosecutors claimed victory because Raines “surrendered” to the government a large block of stock options — options now worthless, owing to the Fannie Mae decline Raines helped set in motion by lying about Fannie numbers. Until Congress enacts a law that allows money taken by corrupt or incompetent executives to be recovered, the lying will continue. Lying by CEOs is what society rewards!

Best of luck to all those Packers fans out there

You’re going to be hostage to the whims of Brett Favre all summer.

Update: Hate to say told you so, but this soap opera is just getting started.

From the second sentence, second link:

Indeed, the Packers’ chaotic ride has played out in front of a national audience at a time when most NFL teams are on hiatus. The opening of training camp is usually a time of fresh starts, new beginnings and clean slates. But Packers players will report Sunday to St. Norbert’s College amid a national firestorm that threatens to engulf their season the same way it consumed their summer.

Update 7/28/08: Looks like Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN.com just submarined Packers’ GM Ted Thompson:

Thompson isn’t interested in putting the best product on the field. If he were, he’d let Aaron Rodgers, his handpicked successor to Favre, compete for the starting position. Sure, there’d be off-the-charts media and fan scrutiny. Isn’t that part of it?

 

If Rodgers can’t handle the pressure of Favre’s presence and open competition for the job in July, what makes you think he can handle the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in December? But Thompson doesn’t want the best man to win. He wants his man to win. So no quarterback bake-off.

My $0.02, not that have any reason for an opinion other than it’s fun to have one here, is the Packers really shit the bed in this process. If they honestly wanted Favre to stay retired, and it seems that is the case, and they have no spot for him at camp or on the team, he should be given his release.

If they want value for the QB, they ought to at least demonstrate they value the QB by allowing him to compete for the starting position. I think the public reaction to this has wavered up until yesterday. Favre has the upper hand at this point.

Thompson gambled and lost miserably, and will likely lose his job under a crescendo of boos at Lambeau as soon as Rogers coughs up a handful of winnable games early in the season because he will. That’s what first-year QBs do, they find a way to turn a win into a loss because the situation is a bit too much.

Update 7/31/08 — If the Packers brass is actually attempting to bribe Favre into staying retired, they have drifted into loony-toon land. Thompson should be fired if this is the case, and there is no longer any argument on who is trashing Favre’s relationship with the team. Maybe long term if the top management isn’t immediately removed.

From the link:

WTMJ television in Milwaukee reported that the team offered Favre in the neighborhood of $20 million over several years to stay retired. The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported on its Web site that the team offered Favre “a substantial salary” to stay away. Both reports cited sources close to Favre. But signs still point to the quarterback reporting to Packers camp.

Tiger done for season

It looks like Tiger Woods’ US Open victory was a bit more heroic than it seemed.

He’s having season-ending surgery for a torn ligament and stress fractures in his left leg.

From the link:

Tiger Woods walked tenderly out of Torrey Pines with a U.S. Open trophy he was destined to win on a left leg worse than anyone imagined. A group of children called out to him and Woods looked over and waved.

It turned out to be a most symbolic gesture.

So long, Tiger.

See you next year.

Woods revealed Wednesday he has been playing for at least 10 months with a torn ligament in his left knee, and that he suffered a double stress fracture in his left leg two weeks before the U.S. Open. He said he will have season-ending surgery, knocking him out of the final two majors and the Ryder Cup.

 

Clemen’s lawyer gets slapped …

… by Congress. Roger Clemen’s lead lawyer, threatened an IRS Special Agent and witness in the BALCO trial who is scheduled to appear before Congress. Henry Waxman, head of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took offense at Hardin’s statement.

From the ESPN article:

Rusty Hardin, Clemens’ lead lawyer, told The New York Times on Saturday that it would be “brazen” and “unbelievable” if IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky, a key prosecutor in the BALCO drug cases, attends the hearing.

“If he ever messes with Roger, Roger will eat his lunch,” Hardin was quoted as saying.

Waxman, the committee chairman, wrote a letter to Hardin on Sunday saying that some comments by Hardin and McNamee’s lawyers were “inadvisable.”

“I do not know your intent in making this statement, but under one interpretation it can be seen an attempt to intimidate a federal law enforcement official in the performance of his official duties,” Waxman wrote. “It is not your client’s prerogative to dictate who attends or does not attend the hearing. … I trust you did not intend your comments to be a signal that there could be adverse repercussions to a federal law enforcement official for attending the hearing or taking other official actions.”

Hardin wrote to Waxman late Sunday, saying his comments were “inelegant” and “I regret it.” Hardin said he meant that if Novitzky pursued legal action against Clemens he would lose, and the remarks were “not meant as a threat of personal action against agent Novitzky.”

I can say with certainty if a lawyer I’ve retained ever got on the wrong side of Congress, that attorney would no longer represent my interests. Effective immediately.