There’s sooooo much political stuff I could post tonight. Alot going on. But I get so sick and tired of being sick and tired of all the political bullshit. So….. I’m posting this story instead. Being a Chicago girl……. this story warms my heart. Is this cool or what?

Ground broke in 2006 for the Little Cubs Field in Freeport, Illinois

The brick core of a baseball stadium stands nearly halfway between the storied history of Wrigley Field in Chicago and the Hollywood-created Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa.

The 18,500 bricks, many of which will soon be covered with ivy and shadowed by a 30-foot-wide scoreboard, are the heart of a stadium built not for ghosts, but for children. The bricks make up the outline of what will be a miniaturized model of the Cubs’ legendary home.

They are the foundation of a modern-day field of dreams.

“Wrigley Field is a shrine to many people,” said Denny Garkey, who came up with the idea of Little Cubs Field almost five years ago. “It’s probably the best place to watch a baseball game, and we wanted to capture a little bit of that ambiance around Wrigley Field by building a smaller version of it.”

Continue reading at MLB.com

By RYAN NAKASHIMA
The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS - Police arrested O.J. Simpson on Sunday, saying he was part of an armed group who burst into a Las Vegas hotel room and snatched memorabilia that documented his own sports career, long ago eclipsed by scandal.

The arrest starts a new legal odyssey for the fallen football star who more than a decade ago was acquitted of the slayings of his ex-wife and a friend, and opens the possibility he could spend decades behind bars.

Simpson was taken away from The Palms casino-hotel by plainclothes officers a day after the arrest of a golfing buddy who police say accompanied him with a gun in the Thursday night holdup. Handcuffed and wearing a golf shirt and jeans, Simpson was placed in an SUV. He was later ordered by a judge to be held without bail, police said.

“He was very cooperative, there were no issues,” Capt. James Dillon said.

Simpson was at the Clark County Detention Center on Sunday night for booking on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit a crime and burglary with a firearm, police said. The district attorney, meanwhile, said he expected Simpson to ultimately be charged with seven felonies and one gross misdemeanor.

If convicted of the booking charges, Simpson would face up to 30 years in state prison on each robbery count alone.

read more and laugh HERE

We didn’t get the NFL ticket this year, so we don’t get to see Da Bears play today. Who are you cheering for?

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Eastern Division

The New York Mets are in first place 5.5 Games ahead of Philadelphia

Central Division

The Chicago Cubs are in first place 1.5 games ahead of Milwaukee

Western Division

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in first place 3.5 games ahead of San Diego

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Eastern Division

The Boston Red Sox are in first place 4.5 games ahead of the New York Yankees

Central Division

The Cleveland Indians are in first place 5.5 games ahead of Detroit

Western Division

The Los Angeles Angels are in first place 7.5 games ahead of Seattle

First time ever……two Monday night games. I don’t know if I like that or not. I love Peyton Manning (not as much as I did before he attended the state dinner at the White House when the Queen was here), but I’m going with New Orleans tonight.

This weeks schedule:

Thursday, September
NO @ IND 8:30 PM

Sunday, September 09
PIT @ CLE 1:00 PM
MIA @ WAS 1:00 PM
PHI @ GB 1:00 PM
DEN @ BUF 1:00 PM
KC @ HOU 1:00 PM
TEN @ JAC 1:00 PM
NE @ NYJ 1:00 PM
CAR @ STL 1:00 PM
ATL @ MIN 1:00 PM
CHI @ SD 4:15 PM
TB @ SEA 4:15 PM
DET @ OAK 4:15 PM
NYG @ DAL 8:15 PM

Monday, September 10
BAL @ CIN 7:00 PM
ARI @ SF 10:15 PM

Schedules and information here

By BETH HARRIS
The Associated Press

GREAT! Only a few weeks after he signs a multi-million dollar contract to come to America to play soccer, Beckham is now on the “disabled list” as a player. Nice way to keep making that big time cash. - JS

LOS ANGELES - It might be a while before David Beckham steps on the field again for Los Angeles or England.

Beckham, whose five-year contract guarantees an annual salary of $6.5 million, could miss the rest of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s season because of a sprained right knee. He’s played 310 minutes in six games, which comes to about $21,000 a minute if he’s out for the season.

The English midfielder underwent an MRI exam that confirmed Thursday he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his knee, the team said in a statement.

The injury also means he won’t be joining England’s national team. Beckham had planned to fly to London on Sunday for 10 days with the team as it prepares to play Israel and Russia in two Euro 2008 qualifying games.

The 32-year-old Beckham was injured in a tackle with Pachuca midfielder Fernando Salazar in the first half of Wednesday night’s SuperLiga title match. The Galaxy lost 4-3 on penalty kicks.

read more HERE

National League

Eastern Division

New York Mets are in first place, 6 games ahead of Philadelphia

Central Division

Chicago Cubs are in first place, 1.5 games ahead of Milwaukee

Western Division

Arizona Diamondbacks are in first place, 2 games ahead of San Diego

American League

Eastern Division

Boston Red Sox are in first place, 6.5 games ahead of the New York Yankees

Central Division

Cleveland Indians are in first place, 1.5 games ahead of Detroit

Western Division

Los Angeles Angels are in first place 1 game ahead of Seattle

Avoid being implicated. Let someone else take the fall. Gee, I wish I had a dad like that… NOT!

Vick’s plea won’t include killing dogs, gambling

QB’s father also reportedly says he asked Falcons star to stop dogfighting

Atlanta Falcons quarterback, Michael Vick

[...] Thursday night, a report on ESPN.com cited an unidentified ESPN source saying Vick will not admit to killing dogs or gambling on dogfights when he enters a guilty plea in a Richmond, Va., federal court Monday.

The source told ESPN that Vick’s defense team met with federal attorneys Thursday afternoon to determine the “summary of facts” to which Vick will plead. But the source says Vick maintains he never killed dogs and never gambled on a dog fight. The source said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback will plead guilty to the charge of interstate commerce for the purpose of dogfighting.

On Monday, Vick agreed to plead guilty Monday in the federal dogfighting case in Richmond. He faces up to five years in prison and the possible end of his football career. Three co-defendants already pleaded guilty and were expected to testify against Vick if the case went to trial. In addition, a Virginia prosecutor is considering bringing state charges against Vick.

Associated Press

Source: MSNBC.com

DAVID GINSBURG
The Associated Press

BALTIMORE - The Texas Rangers became the first team in 110 years to score 30 runs in a game, setting an American League record Wednesday in a 30-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles.

Trailing 3-0 in the opener of a doubleheader, the Rangers scored five runs in the fourth inning, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth and six in the ninth.

It was the ninth time a major league team scored 30 runs, the first since Chicago set the major league record in a 36-7 rout of Louisville in a National League game on June 28, 1897, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Marlon Byrd and Travis Metcalf hit grand slams for the last-place Rangers. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vazquez, the bottom two batters in Texas’ lineup, each homered twice and had seven RBIs.

David Murphy had five of the Rangers’ 29 hits, the most by a major league team since Milwaukee had 31 in a 22-2 victory over Toronto on Aug. 28, 1992, according to Elias.

Texas also set a team record for runs scored in a doubleheader - before the second game even started.

Hours after announcing manager Dave Trembley would return for the 2008 season, the Orioles absorbed the most lopsided loss in franchise history and set a team record for hits allowed in a game.

read more HERE

The Atlanta Humane Society said they are receiving donations from across the country — and you-ll never guess what people are sending.

More than a dozen Michael Vick jerseys have been sent to AHS, and they are putting them to good use.

“When I first saw them, I was kind of shocked. I was like, A-Why do they have Vick jerseys here,- said Julie Sentner.

Vick is innocent until proven guilty, but his association when men pleading guilty to federal dog fighting charges makes the number 7 jersey an unexpected find at the Atlanta Humane Society.

“At first we were like, A-I wonder what we-re going to use this for,” said P.J. Smith with AHS.

And the jerseys kept coming. About a dozen or so jerseys were sent from people wanting to make good from a bad situation. In fact, the Humane Society is getting flooded with e-mails about Vick.

So what are volunteers doing with the jerseys?

“We discovered like any donation we get, any shirt or towel, we put it to good use here at Atlanta Humane Society. We-re always using things to clean kennels, use for bedding and stuff like that,” said Smith.

More at WSBTV.com

National League

Eastern Division

The New York Mets in first place, 5 games ahead of second place Philadelphia.

Central Division

The Chicago Cubs are in first place, 1 game head of Milwaukee

Western Division

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in first place, 4 games ahead of San Diego.

American League

Eastern Division

The Boston Red Sox are in first place, 4 games ahead of The New York Yankees.

Central Division

The Cleveland Indians are in first place, 1.5 games ahead of Detroit.

Western Division

The Los Angeles Angels are in first place, 2 games ahead of Seattle.

United Press International

RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 20 (UPI) — Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick, indicted on dog fighting charges, has been offered a plea agreement that includes up to three years in prison.

CNN said Monday that two unnamed sources said federal prosecutors are recommending an 18-month to 36-month prison term for Vick, but the NFL player’s attorneys are reportedly trying to have their client spend less than a year in prison.

Vick was among four men indicted on charges related to an alleged dog fighting and betting operation on property Vick owns in Virginia. Vick has pleaded innocent but the other three co-defendants have entered into plea agreements in which they admitted to a role in the dog fighting scheme.

In court documents last week, two of Vick’s co-defendants said the quarterback was involved in the operation and helped kill dogs that lost fights. They also alleged that funds behind the operation — called Bad Newz Kennels — came almost entirely from Vick.

Vick, 27, has been barred by the NFL from joining the Falcons training camp.

LiveScience Staff
LiveScience.com

Major League Umpires are more likely to call strikes for pitchers of the same race or ethnicity, a new study finds.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin analyzed every pitch from the 2004 through 2006 major league seasons to explore whether racial discrimination factored into umpires- decisions to call a pitch a strike or a ball.

Just as discrimination in the labor market can affect disparities in wages, promotion and performance evaluation, the researchers said, possible discrimination by umpires could affect the outcome of games and careers.

During a typical baseball game, umpires call about 75 pitches for each team (they call about 400,000 pitches over the whole season-this figure excludes foul balls), so an umpire’s evaluation heavily influences pitcher productivity and performance.

“Umpires judge the performance of players every game, deciding whether pitches are strikes or balls,” said study leader Daniel Hamermesh, who will present his findings next month at his campus and later at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “Discrimination affects the outcome of a game and the labor market, determining the pitcher’s market value and compensation.”

The researchers found if a pitcher is of the same race or ethnicity as the home plate umpire, more strikes are called and his team’s chance of winning is improved.

The power to evaluate players- performances disproportionately belonged chiefly to white umpires, while negative calls particularly impacted minority pitchers, Hamermesh said.

read more HERE

By Jerry Markon and Mark Maske
Washington Post

Quarterback’s Attorneys Negotiate Potential Plea

Michael Vick’s attorneys are engaged in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors, who are pressuring the Atlanta Falcons quarterback to admit guilt in the dogfighting charges against him now that two more co-defendants have scheduled plea hearings for later this week, sources familiar with the case said yesterday.

Prosecutors asked Vick’s attorneys to give them an answer by Friday, said the sources, who declined to characterize the Friday request as a deadline. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

The government said at a recent court hearing that prosecutors are preparing a new indictment with additional charges in the case, and prosecutors are expected to seek that indictment by the end of the month if there is no plea deal with Vick.

As of yesterday afternoon, no plea deal was imminent, and Vick’s representatives declined to comment on the talks. “I don’t think we’re going to make any statements on that,” said Christopher Garrett, a spokesman for Vick’s Washington-based attorney, William R. Martin.

One source said last night that the plea agreement being discussed would involve a year or less of jail time for Vick and, if it’s accepted, would be designed by Vick’s legal team to ensure his release from jail while he’s still young enough to play football.

read more HERE

By PAT MILTON
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy planned to plead guilty in federal court on Wednesday to charges alleging he wagered on games he officiated, a person familiar with the betting scandal probe said.

Donaghy was to surrender at Brooklyn federal court, the person said on condition of anonymity because charges had not been made public yet.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank told the AP the league was informed Tuesday that Donaghy would plead Wednesday but was given no further information.

Donaghy’s attorney, John Lauro, and federal prosecutors declined to comment. NBA commissioner David Stern said last month the referee’s lawyer told the league his client was contemplating a plea.

Besides allegedly placing his own wagers, investigators also examined whether Donaghy provided inside information to others, including referees’ schedules. The referee had a gambling problem and was approached by low-level mob associates through an acquaintance, a law enforcement official said.

The FBI first contacted the NBA on June 20 to talk about a referee alleged to be gambling on games, and the two sides met on June 21, Stern said last month. Donaghy resigned July 9 after 13 years as a referee, though Stern said he would have fired him sooner but was told it might affect the investigation.

read more HERE