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ESPN.com is reporting today that Falcons’ QB Michael Vick has been indicted by the Feds on numerous charges involving dogfighting. Among the allegations, the Feds assert that Vick participated in the inhumane killing of several dogs, through methods such as drowning, electrocution, and beating. The reason, of course, was that the dogs were not doing well enough in the fighting pit, and so they ‘deserved’ to die in the eyes of the (allegedly) reprehensibly cruel Vick.

This got me thinking. After all, if Vick feels that dogs that don’t do well in what he considers a ’sport’ should be put down, often brutally, what should we do with Vick himself? After all, dog fighting allegations or not, the guy has around a 50% completion percentage throughout his career, seriously anemic passing yards and TD/INT ratios, not to mention that it’s been about 5 years of ‘This year will be Vick’s year to break out’ on ESPN. It still hasn’t happened, so what to do? Cut Vick’s contract and go with Harrington? I say no. Instead, Vick should be escorted to a local hospital (or back alley), where he can be put down for being a terrible competitor who can’t win an important game to save his life (or could he, with this strategy maybe we’ll find out). Preferably, Vick would be electrocuted, then drowned, but a severe blow to the head would probably suffice. If it’s good enough for his dogs, it should be good enough for Vick.

euthanasia, michael vick, vick, dogfighting, dog fighting, fight, espn, allegations, grand jury, feds

Manager Philip Wellman of the AA Mississippi Braves made the ESPN highlight reel with this recent tirade. It goes on for over 2 minutes, and features Wellman demonstrating his exceptional dramatic and pantomiming skills.

baseball, manager, rant, umpire, mississippi braves, philip wellman, espn

The following is a compensated review of Active-Sandals.com.

Anyone that’s ever met me knows how I feel about sandals. And socks. If there’s any possible excuse to wear sandals, even in the frigid northern clime I live in, I’ll find it. First sunny day in a week? Never mind the 2′ of snow on the ground, it’s sandal time! There’s something about sandals that just beats the daylights out of other types of footwear, especially the kind that make you wear socks. Did I mention I hate socks?

So, what’s the context for this rant? Well, there’s a new store out there on the web that has every kind of sandal you could possibly want, at pretty good prices. Active-Sandals.com features a separate men’s and women’s section, further broken down by brands. They’ve got all the popular brands, including my two personal favorites, Teva and Birkenstock.

While I haven’t ordered anything from them, and therefore can’t really comment on the speed of shipping or the quality of the customer service, a quick price comparison on Froogle leads me to believe the prices are fair and competitive. For example, the Teva Terra Fi2 sandal for men is listed at $80 on active-sandals.com, and Froogle shows other sites selling it for between $80 and $83, although there seems to be another store with the sandals on sale for a mere $50.

One of the nice features for an internet store to have, that I noticed active-sandals.com has included, is free shipping for any order over $75. The free shipping is via UPS Ground, and the website says that average delivery time is 2-4 days, which is not at all bad for free shipping.

I was a little unnerved by the return policy, which emphasizes that sandals must be ‘UNWORN’ to be returned (within 30 days of receipt), and specifically indicates that just trying on sandals can put dirt or perspiration on the sandal, making it ‘worn.’ Now, I completely understand that a company will not take back a product that’s clearly been worn in the mud for two weeks, but if this caveat is merely an excuse to deny returns of a product that someone tried on and found didn’t fit, then this is a business model that will not survive long on the web. I believe, however, that this warning is probably to prevent just the sort of thing I’ve mentioned–i.e. someone wearing the shoes around for a couple of weeks, getting them dirty, and then claiming they don’t fit exactly right. If anyone has an experience buying from active-sandals.com, I’d love to hear how the customer service was, and how quickly the product was received.

sandals, teva, birkenstock, buy sandals online, buy sandals, sandal

“Easy, guys! Same team!”

In a move consistent with their standard policy of being smarter than most other NFL teams when it comes to the draft, the Patriots picked up five-time Pro-Bowl wide receiver Randy Moss from the Oakland Raiders for, basically, nothing. Officially, Moss went for a 4th round pick, the 110th overall. Yet the Pats just traded their 2nd 1st-round pick (#28 overall) to the 49ers in exchange for a 1st-round pick next year and a fourth-round pick this year. So, in essence, Moss was acquired for nothing more than a deferral of 1st-round picks until next year, and a chance to get a much better 1st-round pick in the 2008 draft (from San Francisco).

Of course, there will be the talk of ‘character issues’ and the like, but the point is that, unlike Terrell Owens, a loud-mouthed yet talented idiot, Moss is a loud-mouthed yet talented rather intelligent man, who, like the smart kid in class, has been seriously bored for two years in the football wasteland of Oakland. And if there’s any team that doesn’t tolerate tomfoolery, and will have no qualms cutting a player if he becomes a problem, it’s New England. So, we got freakin’ Randy Moss.

randy moss, patriots, terrell owens, new england patriots, oakland raiders, 2007 nfl draft, 2007 draft, nfl, football

Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez

July 27, 1975

New York, NY

Height: 6-3

Weight: 225 lbs.

Age: 31

Pronounced: Rod-RI-guez

AVG .371
HR 12
RBI 30

OBP .431
SLG 1.048

SportStatisfaction
stats from ESPN.com

Oft-maligned, heavily-compensated Yankees 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez had another monster night yesterday against the Sox, presumably converting some of the haters down in the Bronx to properly supplicating A-Rod toadies, but I’d like to point out one thing: as usual, when it really matters, A-Rod never gets the big hit at the right time.

Sure, this year he’s won a couple of games with walk-offs. But we all know that the reason that Yankees-Red Sox is so amazing isn’t that the teams are so much better than the rest of the league–they’re not–but rather that these games are about a psychological edge for the playoffs.

Jose Alexander Cora

October 18, 1975

Caguas, Puerto Rico

Height: 6-0

Weight: 200 lbs.

Age: 31

Pronounced: N/A

AVG .333
HR 0
RBI 3

OBP .385
SLG .583

SportStatisfaction
stats from ESPN.com

The Sox had it in ‘04, courtesy of the Captain and his skill at fisticuffs. They have it when it comes to Mo Riviera, now a broken shadow of his former self against whom a comeback is an exciting possibility, not an inevitable impossibility. So, even though A-Rod cranked two homers last night, they don’t count in any statistic that really matters, because they never seem to come in the games that really matter.

Last night, that honor belonged to Alex Cora, a guy who almost never seems to have the statistics, but always seems to do the most efficient thing at the best possible moment. His bloop single put the Fenway Faithful into a frenzy of energy that Okajima fed off of to cap a truly momentous win.

alex cora, alex rodriguez, homer, rbi, red sox-yankees, red sox, yankees, fenway, 4/20/2007

It’s really coming down heavy now. As if that weren’t enough, I also just found out the Red Sox game is officially cancelled today. Not really surprising, considering the forecast for Boston included a 100% chance of rain all day. I’m off for Chinese food now-I’ll be returning by 1:30pm to take the next picture…

april snowstorm, chinese food, red sox, weather, postponed

Jeffrey Charles Weaver

August 22, 1976

Northridge, CA

Height: 6-5

Weight: 200 lbs.

Age: 30

Pronounced: N/A

REC 0-1
SV 0
ERA 31.50
WHIP 4.50

SportStatisfaction
stats from ESPN.com

Thanks to the not-so-stellar pitching of one Jeff Weaver (check out the sick-nasty ERA), the Sox had an easy romp through home Opening Day yesterday, crushing the Mariners 14-3. The game wasn’t serious for long-by the time the Mariners had recorded an out, the Sox had put up a crooked number and were well under way to more.

This game was the offensive breakout that Sox fans had been waiting for. J.D. Drew broke out his home run swing, victimizing Weaver en route to a 3-RBI game. V-Tek basically doubled his batting average with a solid 3-hit performance, and Beckett was, well, the nail in the Mariners’ coffin, mowing down hitters after being staked to an early lead. But most important was the arrival of the offense, a relatively quiet force in spite of the gaudy appearance of the lineup on paper. Of course, the beginning and end of the season is when pitching really matters, as the cold weather and early shadows affect hitters’ ability to see and hit the ball. In that department, the Sox are stacked, with Schill, Dice-K, and Beckett leading the charge, and Papelbon providing the ‘inevitable’ conclusion to games. Now that the offense has shown signs of what it could be, I’m content to wait until August to watch the bats go nuts.

red sox, mariners, red sox vs mariners, beckett, weaver, opening day

Joshua Patrick Beckett

May 15, 1980

Spring, TX

Height: 6-5

Weight: 222 lbs.

Age: 26

Pronounced: BECK-it

REC 1-0
SV 0
ERA 1.80
WHIP 1.20

SportStatisfaction
stats from ESPN.com

Coming off a masterful performance in his last start, Josh Beckett will take the mound against the Seattle Mariners today in the Red Sox’ Fenway opener. Today’s game is scheduled for 2:05pm, meaning it happens in the middle of the work day. Now, I know the Sox never have a problem filling Fenway, let alone on Opening Day, but for those of us in the New England area, this means we can’t even watch MLB.TV on our computers, since we’re blacked out. I think it’s time for NESN to start streaming over the web to paid cable or satellite subscribers.

Jonathan Robert Papelbon

November 23, 1980

Baton Rouge, LA

Height: 6-4

Weight: 230 lbs.

Age: 26

Pronounced: PAP-ill-bon

REC 0-0
SV 2
ERA .00
WHIP .00

SportStatisfaction
stats from ESPN.com

Turning back to the game, I think it’s paramount that the Sox offense gets going soon, especially with the mostly quality pitching the team’s been getting this season. With the exception of Schilling’s first start, and the obvious and not unexpected Tavarez debacle, the starting pitching has been solid, and Papelbon’s first save was a masterful one. Barring any injury or fatigue, Papelbon is the kind of closer that makes you relax in the ninth inning. He’s got the passionate anger and cold fury necessary to end a Major League game, and his pitches have that rare Mo Rivera quality: they look like they should be hittable, but hitters keep missing them, until it clearly isn’t an accident or luck.

jonathan papelbon, josh beckett, red sox, schilling, tavarez, sox offense

What is the point of SportStatisfaction.com?

SportStatisfaction.com was created to give sports bloggers the ability to quickly and easily insert a stat box for their favorite player inside their blog posts. By choosing a team and player from the list below, you can generate a stat box for any Major League Baseball player that will add visual appeal to your posts and hold the attention of your readers. Many thanks go out to Tim at Armenian Eagle for his help with coding, and to Matt at BorkWeb for the CSS help.

For now, SportStatisfaction exists as a code-block service. In the very near future, it will become a WordPress plugin, allowing you to select-and-paste players on the fly.

Since SportStatisfaction is very much in its infancy, we welcome your comments below:

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