Friday Fryer (March 28, 2008)

I DO have a problem with diva pitchers who "claim" injuries because they don't like long plane flights. If you're on the team, if you're under contract, if you are a TEAMMATE - you go on the trip.

If you have back issues or whatever, the training staff can treat you the whole way there and back. It's not like the Red Sox are flying coach. I have suffered through bouts of back spasms and they are not to be taken lightly. But be warned, Mr Backett - fake injuries have a way of tempting baseball kharma.

Oh, and then you go and pitch just fine a couple days later... eery coincidence!

At the very least, Blister Boy should have personally picked up the travel stipend for the coaches or supply some offer of goodwill to MLB and to his team.

SPLASH! Into the Fryer you go, Curt Schilling Jr.!

Look, I HATE bitching about referees, but it seems they are worse than EVER. Watching the Suns - Pistons game on Monday made me feel like getting kicked in the nuts would be an upgrade. There was no less than TEN blown calls in that game. They totally altered the outcome and after the game Detroit Pistons player Antonio McDyess laughed as he said "Yeah, I was definitely trying to foul Shaq. We got a lot of help from our bench tonight and the other guys out there too." Steve Nash was called with a blocking foul on Chauncey Billups when it was absolutely a charge or at the VERY LEAST a no call. The refs conferred on so many occasions it was ridiculous.

Then against the Celtics two nights later, after a foul call on Shaq in which he stood straight up as the offensive player jumped into him, Nash was called for another blocking foul. As a Celtics player slammed the ball on the court thinking he was getting a charge call, Nash went to referee Sean Corbin to debate the call. Dick Bavetta intervened and tried to disuage Nash as Corbin walked to the scorer's table. As Nash said "Come on, Dick" to Bavetta, Corbin overheard it, assumed Nash was talking to him and gave Nash a technical foul. Replays showed over and over again that it was absolutely a charge and if anyone should get a tech, it would be the C's player who slammed the ball in frustration.

Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal get so little respect from refs it is sickening and can't help but make a NBA fan think of "who is this year's Tim Donaghy?"

The thing that ticks me off the most is Sports Guy agrees with me on this subject...

I will now fry my eyeballs for checking out a Simmons article along with a referee's whistle.

I'm actually ROOTING for all 1-3 matchups in the Elite Eight. And wouldn't an All #1 seeds Final Four be amazing - I don't think it's ever happened before? It seems quirky and I like that... Only Davidson offers a real glimmer of hope as a "Cinderella".

But what's the deal with #2 seeds? Only Texas is left and they could easily get knocked out tonight. Georgetown? Tennessee? Were you even for real??

Then there's Duke. Yes, Duke - YOU ARE DEFINITELY a Number TWO. Yes, this was a weak, veiled attempt to just repeat one of my favorite mantras - Duke Sucks!!!... We know it, they know it! JJ Redick Redick ain't walking through that door!!

So the fryer is a little less sweet (16) and tastes a little more like #2!!!

While Jonathan could be fried for double gunning the fans, the fighting part was following orders from his own legendary Dad.

If you saw the replay, you can clearly see Roy's frustrated face and eyes peer at the nearby camera and then decide to make a scene. He whistled to his son to go get the other goalie and then evilly peered right back into the camera to make sure it was still on him.

It's one thing to be a hothead and a dickhead but to order your kids to live out your "greatest moments" is beyond shameful. He pulled a black cloud over his team, his legacy, his sport and most despicably - his own son.

Patty, I think those two rings in your ears that keep you from hearing sense and rationality may have been pushed in too far...

Ker-splash! Let's turn up the temp on this thing especially for you.