Little E wins it and Hoodwood is happy for him!

Greetings from the Hoodwood, where your humble scribe is enjoying the summer and the company of Princess Katie.

Not Guilty! Clemens beats the rap

Now if there was anyone who should have been shouting miscarriage of justice it should be the ones who like me were convinced that Roger Clemens was going to get the gate after allegedly lying to Congress in the wake of the steroid hearings in Congress. But what do you know; Clemens was acquitted on all six counts of perjury. I still think that his more or less clean image and fan friendly fireballer carried a lot of weight; he will get a lot more benefit of the doubt than Barry Bonds will ever get. Bonds deserved reputation of a surly moody enigma of a superstar didn’t get him totally off, he caught one case of obstruction of justice and is still awaiting sentencing on that charge, but one has to wonder if these charges will keep Clemens and Bonds outside the gates of Cooperstown.

Perfection! Another No-no

After Matt Cain struck out 14 en route to throwing the 22^nd perfect game in MLB history and the 2^nd this season, not to mention this is the 5^th no-hitter this season (2 AL 2 NL , one interleague)  people are starting to wonder openly is this a year of the pitcher?  Trust and believe that this won’t be a repeat of 1968 where the batting champ in the AL will bat .301 and one in every five games is a shutout. You don’t see complete games as much as you did back in the day. James Shields led the AL with 11 complete games, but considering that was the most in four years and that no one has more than 20 complete games in better than a quarter century, the no hit feats are more an anomaly than a worrisome trend. Pitchers are balancing out the offensive trend that was so dominant in the 90s and early 2000s. You won’t see a 60 home run hitter any time soon.

Is this finally LeBron’s year?

When LeBron James and the Miami Heat vanquished the Boston Celtics in 7 games many thought they would be too spent to give the young hungry Oklahoma City Thunder any more than cursory resistance, but it seems that the Heat have taken the fight to OKC winning a pair of tight games to take a 2-1 lead. Now your humble scribe is sticking by his pick of the Thunder winning it in 6 games, but the Heat has me seriously worried. James has a look about him almost like a dude I used to watch in the 90s, it seems like the Heat are following his no time for bullshit play. James is playing with almost an anger about him and the Heat are riding his angry play to wins and are getting closer to a title that wonks like Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd are having nightmares about. If LeBron wins this title he would have legitimately carried the Heat to the title and the wonks would have nothing left to say…but I’m hoping that Kevin Durant steals his…ummm…Thunder and OKC wins the title. Not to give the braying wonks more fuel but to keep others from getting the idea of combining players to get a title.

NFL: Is Goodell running a kangaroo court?

Monday suspended Saints LB Jonathan Vilma stalked out of the appeals hearing on his yearlong suspension. Vilma who has maintained his innocence throughout thinks that the appeals hearing which is being run by the same person who handed out the suspension, one Roger Goodell, is a sham. I tend to agree with him. Now it is no secret that I’m no Goodell fan. I think he’s sneaky, egotistical and that he is the NFL. One time Saints defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams has been suspended indefinitely for organizing a “bounty system” to take out other players and Vilma was purported to be the leader of the players making the hits. Vilma has argued that he can’t get a fair shake with Goodell as a judge, jury and executioner, and he won’t.

PHAT DAP/HEAD SLAP

Phat Dap

Phat Dap to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Little broke a 143 race winless streak with a rousing win at Michigan Sunday, doubly sweet that it was on Father’s Day. Little E won by nearly 5.5 seconds over Tony Stewart and ironically won four years to day of his last win in the same place, Michigan Speedway. Hoodwood isn’t a big NASCAR town but there has always been a soft spot for Earnhardt Jr.

Head Slap

To Argentinean tennis player David Nalbandian whose temper tantrum cost him quite a bit. Nalbandian was mad at losing a game point in the finals of the Queen’s Club tournament, a warm up tourney ahead of Wimbledon next month and kicked an advertising board.

The kick shattered the board under the chair of line judge Andrew McDougall, and left him with a gashed shin. Nalbandian was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct and had to forfeit the match and championship to Marin Cillic. Nalbandian not forfeited his prize money about $57,000 but was also fined $12,500. Nalbandian was apologetic saying in a statement that he "ashamed and sorry for the kick that unintentionally hurt the line umpire." But his actions now have him under investigation by English police for assault. See what a bad temper gets you?

Ill add more as the day goes…more about the retirement of LT. Until Next Post Fellow Sports Fans!