Jermaine Dye, Chicago Baseball Legend, Announces Retirement

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I love Opening Day. I love knowing that from here until October there will be relevant sporting events every single day. And I especially love that my beloved Chicago White Sox have officially adopted a mantra of “all in” for the 2011 season.

But I did not like the news in this tweet, which passed by on my Twitter feed just a few minutes ago:

A sad day in the Fornelli household. RT @Ken_Rosenthal: Just talked to Jermaine Dye. He is retiring.

Now, some may quibble with me calling a guy who only spent five season in the Windy City a legend, but quibble all you want. From Frank Thomas to Ernie Banks, from Sammy Sosa to Minnie Minoso, from Carlton Fox to this guy, over the last 200+ seasons of baseball in Chicago only one man has won a World Series MVP award while leading a Chicago baseball team to a World Series title:

Jermaine Dye.

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Three-Peat for Minnesota Twins Will Be Hard to Achieve

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The Minnesota Twins come into the 2011 season with a lot of expectations. Many people have them pegged to win their third straight AL Central title. Even Skip Bayless has them winning the World Series (which realistically doesn’t mean much since he just says things to get attention).

There are plenty of good reasons for these expectations. The Twins have routinely finished atop their division regardless of any problems they’ve had.

This year could prove to be different however.

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Chicago Blackhawks: Four Wins Will Get the ‘Hawks Into the Playoffs

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Tuesday’s night 3-0 loss to the already playoff bound Boston Bruins was rather tough to watch, but it needs to be forgotten. The Blackhawks still remain on the edge of the playoff race, sitting in the last playoff spot in the Western Conference at eight.

Dallas and Calgary follow close behind with 87 points. Three behind the ‘Hawks. With six games left for the ‘Hawks, seven for the Stars, and five for the Flames, these last two weeks are going to sprint to the finish line.

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MLB Opening Day: Quick Tips, Tricks, and a Checklist for Your Baseball Tailgating Adventure

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There is not a better experience than taking in Opening Day at a MLB Ballpark.*

The sights, the sounds and the aroma in the air are like no other.

There are hundreds of ways to get ready to tailgate for such an event, or for any baseball game, and in this article I will try and help you do just that.

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Cavs Beat the Heat: More Than Just a Win

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The Cavaliers defeated the Heat 102-90 on Tuesday night in a thriller. It was arguably the Cavs best game all season, and good games have been hard to come by.

The obvious importance behind this win is the fact that LeBron is on the Heat. He went from a hero to a villain in a matter of minutes on national television and has done nothing to apologize to the city of Cleveland. There was no love lost during the first meeting between the Cavs and Heat on December 2nd. LeBron heard boos every time he touched the ball. The only problem was that the Heat blew out the Cavs 118-90 and LeBron had 38 points.

Tuesday night was different for Cleveland fans.

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MLB Opening Day TV Schedule and Pitching Matchups for Thursday and Friday Games

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The 2011 MLB Season Opens today!

Baseball is back to relieve us of all the negative talk about the NFL, and to help us forget about our NCAA brackets that went to hell. Today, everyone can say there is reason to believe, as their teams get set to start the 2011 season.

There really is no other day like the Opening Day of the MLB Season. If you’ve ever experienced one, you know what I’m talking about.

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Photo Story: “Ever Faithful, Ever Two” – Starring Matt Painter, Purdue Pete, and Brad Stevens of Butler

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Earlier today, Matt Painter made Purdue fans sing out with joy when he announced that he will be staying at Purdue rather than accept Missouri’s offer to be its new head coach. Painter leveraged Purdue into taking more money out of its privately funded coffers so he could sign an 8-year contract extension, saying, “At the end of the day, my heart is at Purdue, and this is a place where I want to win a national championship.”

That is why all across West Lafayette you could hear choruses of “…ever faithful, ever true, thus we raise our song anew; of the days we’ve spent with you, all hail, our old, Purdue!”

But just because Painter is staying a Boiler does not mean all is perfect. Many people question how Painter handled this situation, including Purdue’s own mascot Purdue Pete, which means Painter has some ‘splaining to do.

And in terms of winning championships, there is that tricky little situation going on at a previously harmless Horizon League “mid-major” that doesn’t seem so harmless, nor so “mid”, anymore.

Details of both aspects of the aftermath of Painter’s announcement are included in our latest photo story.

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Matt Painter Update: Matt Painter staying at Purdue according to multiple sources

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I cannot confirm that this is really what is happening, and it goes against almost everything we’ve been hearing all day, but it’s certainly worth passing along.

Fox 59 in Indianapolis is reporting that Matt Painter will indeed STAY at Purdue, rather than accept an offer from Missouri.

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2011 MLB Predictions: AL and NL Playoff Picks and World Series Champion Prediction

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Over the course of the past two weeks, I have gone division-by-division providing my analysis of each team and predicting how many games they’ll win in 2011. (See all here.)

Now on to the fun part: predicting who will make the playoffs in the AL and NL and which team will ultimately bring home the World Series title in 2011.

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2011 MLB Predictions: Won-Loss Records for Each Team

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It’s post-time for the 2011 MLB regular season…

Just remember that this is a marathon; it isn’t six furlongs, it’s an whole mile and a half. Plenty of teams look promising in the spring, and some teams, like the 2010 San Diego Padres, manage to defy the odds for nearly an entire season.

But over 162 games the cream usually rises to the top, and that usually is because of pitching, not only the starting rotation but the entire bullpen as well.

Here are my projected won-loss records for all 30 teams, and I will hedge my bets on the Padres this time.

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Matt Painter Update #2: “It looks like this will be a happy day for Mizzou fans.”

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Update: This supersedes everything you read below. It now appears that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was either full of it or misled or that Matt Painter had a last second change of heart. He is now reportedly staying at Purdue.

Not five minutes after posting my morning Matt Painter update did I stumble across this new information.

The title of this post contains the words of the highly esteemed Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post Dispatch (h/t @thebiglead), posted just a few minutes ago here.

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Matt Painter Update: Missouri/Purdue decision timetable, Nancy Cross apologizes, Rally fizzles, and Hummel’s future

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It’s time for your daily update on all things Matt Painter.

In today’s episode, we discuss: Painter’s Missouri/Purdue decision timetable; an unexpected apology from Ms. Passive Aggressive Nancy Cross; the Purdue student “rally”; and what Robbie Hummel will do if his coach heads west.
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Heat-Cavaliers in a Nutshell with One Picture (Minus LeBron, of course)

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The following picture, from last night’s inspired Cavaliers win over the Miami Heat in Cleveland for the last time this season, gives us a pretty nice baseline when it comes to these two teams.

The only important piece not pictured is that LeBron James fellow. (He must have been in the restroom…)

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MLB 2011 Predictions: AL West — Rangers look to be top club again

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The Texas Rangers won the West in 2010 with a record of 90-72, finishing nine games ahead of the Athletics. They then proceeded to upset the Rays and the Yankees on their way to the World Series, where they eventually lost to the San Francisco Giants.

In this post, the final in our division-by-division MLB predictions, we analyze whether the Rangers can repeat, or whether the A’s, Angels, or Mariners can rise up and knock Texas down a rung.

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Fantasy Baseball Pitching Sleepers: Hellickson and Harang

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The 2011 Fantasy Baseball draft and auction season is upon us. One great way to improve your team’s chances this season is with high quality stats coming from late picks.

We have compiled a few pitching sleepers that should give you a great return on your investment this year. [Read more...]