John Feinstein was right.. this really is the worst sports month of the year. My library of college football media guides have yet to arrive, baseball is something I endure rather than enjoy and the start of training camp is about three weeks away. I was thinking about blogging on the over-the-top theatrics of Serena Williams last night but I’ll bite my tongue.. everyone seems to think it was gutsy for reasons I’ll apparently never understand. She said in an interview that she was willing to die out there. I don’t know about you but I haven’t heard of anyone dying of leg cramps before but I’m sure there were some undocumented cases of leg cramp fatalities during the civil war. What I find most mystifying about watching that match is why she thought it would be a good idea to whack herself in the leg with her racquet. I mean I guess I can relate, when I have a headache at work I usually just take the handset of my phone and repeatedly thump myself in the face and head until my headache goes away or until I’m unconscious and bleeding from my ears. Serena, just play tennis. Spare me the performance.

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No, seriously…

Mayor Bloomberg identifies the real threat to the safety of New Yorkers this holiday weekend — unguarded beaches and pools.

Apparently, some people in Japan are still really sensitive about the whole atomic bomb thing.

I’m officially declaring this Arizona woman to be the nicest person on the planet.

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SHOCKING NEWS! Joakim Noah isn’t enough of a front court presence for the Bulls and the team is looking elsewhere for additional help.

It could be a sad end of the road for former Jazz and Lakers guard Derek Fisher.

Sabres fans aren’t the only ones hit hard by the departures of Daniel Briere and Chris Drury. This story reveals one very interesting twist to this story. According to the paper, the Sabres and Drury had agreed on a 4-year deal in the fall but a contract was never presented to Drury to sign. Nice.

A discussion on a Pittsburgh sports talk show about the planned walkout by Pirates fans at Saturday’s game turned heated. I watched the video on the TV station’s website and the altercation in question is about 20 minutes into a show where the central topics of discussion are Zach Duke, Freddy Sanchez and Jim Tracy. Trust me, it’s not worth it. But here’s the link anyway.

If this isn’t a sign that the world, as we know it, is coming to an end, I don’t know what is: Cavs forward and walking muscle spasm Anderson Varejao could make more than $6 million next year.

The Magic corralled free agent forward Rashard Lewis. Watch out for the Magic next year. They’re some good guard play away from being a very competitive team.

T.O. is suing a New York nightclub for using his likeness and name without his permission.

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Well-rounded news…

Drowned in Sound is not at all excited about the prospect of a Verve reunion.

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Inside Baseball

Media Shift’s Mark Glaser says the future of journalism is bright. While I think that most of this piece is maybe overly optimistic. There is one part that I find a little ridiculous, “Bloggers and Internet readers, though they may have personal agendas, provide a free supply of fact-checkers.” That’s a nice way of identifying the role of bloggers in mainstream media.

(photo: Mark Mulville/Buffalo News)
With the start of pro and college football a month away, and the NBA draft over and baseball… well forget baseball.. I’m left to blog about NHL free agency. Hey it’s either that or more stories about the iPhone.

The Buffalo News has dubbed July 1st “Black Sunday.”

I’m not going to say that Buffalo Sabres management low-balled captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury but regardless of how you feel about the deals offered to Briere and Drury, as the Buffalo News put it — they’re history.

Briere signed a massive 8-year, $52 million deal with the Flyers and Drury inked a 5-year, $35.25 million deal with the Rangers.

What sticks in my craw as a Sabres fan is not that the Sabres let Briere and Drury go, the Buffalo News’ Tim Graham said the franchise was never in the running to resign either player, it’s that they went to Eastern conference foes. With Drury in New York and Briere in Philly, Sabres fans will be able to get an up-close and personal look at what used to be and what might have been.

But this is the reality of the modern day NHL, the Sabres had to part ways with J.P. Dumont last year and the departure of Briere and Drury will make them better able to make long-term commitments to Thomas Vanek, who’s emerged as one of the league’s most exciting young players and goalie Ryan Miller, the Sabres’ franchise player.

So what’s next for the franchise? The team has been a non-factor in free agency the past two seasons and still managed to rack up the league’s best record last season and make deep playoff runs but it also hasn’t sustained a personnel hit of this level before. Someone in that locker room is going to have to step up and become a leader.

The Buffalo News coverage of the story:

Sabres’ captains now part of Buffalo’s past

Drury goes to Rangers, Briere settles on Flyers

They’re history

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No, seriously…

Inmates communicate to each other through the toilet.

Domestic cats once roamed wild in North Africa.

Someone updated the wikipedia of wrestler Eric Benoit about the death of his wife — 13 hours before police arrived.

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The Worldwide Leader Andy Katz on players that were rewarded in last night’s draft for staying in school.

Are Knicks fans really betting on the low-post combination of Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph?

Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette telling the world that Amanda Beard posed in Playboy for the money… talk about burying the lead.

The Buffalo News is reporting that Daniel Briere has rejected the offer made by the Sabres earlier in the week.

Congratulations, Bulls! You now have the worst offensive frontcourt in the NBA. I’m going to make a wager that the combined PPG for Noah and Ben Wallace is under 20.

No more Berlin Fire/Hamburg Sea Devils instant classics… (cue emoticon: sad face)

Interesting headline on this story about the Mavs taking Nevada’s Nick Fazekas.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a great piece on Atlanta native Pacman Jones and “where things went wrong.” Despite the claims of some of the dopes in this piece, it seems Jones had a history of being a malcontent.

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Well-rounded news…

Myspace is for dorks.

An interesting column in the Buffalo News today by columnist Bucky Gleason where he puts on Sabres GM Darcy Reiger’s hat for the day. What I like most about this column was the thought Gleason clearly put into this column. I’ve attached a link to what he calls “The Gleason Plan” for the Sabres.

A really great piece in the New York Times this morning by Howard Beck on the NBA coaching carousel and how it doesn’t involve Larry Brown. According to Beck, Brown openly campaigned for the Kings job, which they gave to Reggie Theus — who has never been an NBA head coach.

The Louisville Courier-Journal’s Rick Bozich has apparently gotten a little lazy and bored during the dog days of summer and is asking readers to do his job for him. If you have a story idea for Mr. Bozich, he’d love to hear it. He’s fresh out.

Falcons wideout Brian Finneran will miss the entire 2007 season to have reconstructive surgery on his right knee. This is obviously a blow to the Falcons offense and to Michael Vick who can use all the receiver help he can get. It certainly makes you wonder if Finneran’s career is over. This is the second consecutive year he will miss due to injury.

The Bottom Line believes that it’s never too early to start talking college football and SI.com’s Stewart Mandel broke down the 10 regular season matchups, he believes will determine the National Champion. There are two games on this list I take exception with. One is the LSU/Alabama game in Baton Rouge. Granted it’s Saban’s return to Death Valley but he doesn’t have the talent —yet— to knock off the Tigers at home. And secondly, the game between Boise State and Hawaii. Two overrated teams who have no legitimate claim to the national title in anyway square off — no thanks.

The Supreme Court upheld state rules that prohibit high schools from recruiting athletes. The case began in Tennessee where Brentwood Academy turned itself into a state powerhouse, in part by encouraging young athletes to transfer there. The decision was unanimous.