Before yesterday’s game with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Rick Ankiel and the general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Walt Jocketty, held a press conference to talk about Ankiel’s involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.

The jist of the press conference was that Ankiel said any prescriptions he has received have come from a doctor. Jocketty said that the organization will stand behind Ankiel during the investigation and he will cooperate in any way possible. Here is a look at the press conference.

Troy Glaus didn’t have any comments about his involvement in the probe before yesterday’s game with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The resounding sentiment around the Jays clubhouse yesterday was “No comment”. The Blue Jays player rep, Vernon Wells, offered this statement:

“I don’t know anything about it , except what I’ve read and heard,” Wells said. “I hate to see a teammate and a guy I know in a situation like that. I hope everything works out.

“You never think someone has done something like that. You just don’t judge people like that. Troy will have to deal with everything, with his name being brought into this. Like I said, I hope it all works out.”

MLB has asked to speak with both Glaus and Ankiel as to their involvement. I am sure the former senator from the great state of Maine, George Mitchell, will be giving them a call as well.

The problem right now lies in the fact that if they both did HGH, it was not illegal in baseball until 2005. If they did steroids, that’s another story. The only way to acquire these drugs is through a licensed physician who has treated the person. If either Glaus or Ankiel tried to circumvent this process, they could be in a lot of trouble.

The problem here is that they are supposed to be “innocent before proven guilty” but it’s rather the opposite , “guilty until proven innocent”, being shown. This is mostly created by the media who puts a different perspective on things.

Either way, it’s going to be interesting to see how this all pans out and if more names come out.

Your favorite Texan in the Windy City and mine, the super sexy Texy from Center Field did some research and found out that Jacoby Ellsbury from the Red Sox is the highest drafted Native American in history.

The Yankees Chick is always a safe bet.

The beautiful Gridiron Goddess tells you how Oregon can beat Michigan today.

Lizzy from Babes Love Baseball has a video of Johnny Demon and Roger Clemens onstage Kenny Chesney.

The Starter Wife from Ladies… shows you how to make a 9-Layer Ranchero Dip.

Pretty funny headline on this post from The Feed.

Will, editor emeritus at Deadspin, has a great post about Rick Ankiel.

You Been Blinded has finished Christmas shopping already.

The Big Lead tells us that Mike Tirico passed on Dan Patrick’s radio gig at the four letter.

Richie Rich from Home Run Derby has a pretty funny video of a dance-off between a Mexican mascot and a little person.

Awful Announcing has some information about the Kanye/50 Cent faceoff with Stuart Scott.

Dan from Red Sox Monster has some funny pictures of Blue Jays fans.

Still no new videos from Fitzy over at the Townie News, so instead I bring you a video from Nick Stevens of Burly Sports.

Novak Djokovic is known in the tennis world for doing impersonations of his fellow men’s and women’s competitors. Here is a clip of him after his match last night at the US Open being interviewed.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKj4PdWrK-o[/youtube]

This second clip is video of him doing the same two plus a few more impersonations at his practice for Wimbledon.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM6RUfeGLIE[/youtube]

Funny stuff indeed.

Written by Steve Hofstetter, Adam Hofstetter, Cody Marley, Ryan Murphy, Rich Ragains, Elliot Steingart, and Chris Strait

We can’t predict the future, but we’d like to wish Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr good luck on the new job he’ll probably have soon.

NFL coaches Mike Nolan and Jack Del Rio will be outfitted exclusively by suit maker Joseph Abboud this year. Unfortunately for Bill Belichick, Abboud does not create oversized sweatshirts.

The son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid has been charged with drugs and DUI. Who does this kid think he is, a football player?

Speaking of drunk, the Tampa City Council will not allow the Buccaneers to sell hard liquor at Raymond James Stadium. Clearly, the city council has never had to sit through an entire Buccs game.

Tough break for the Minnesota Timberwolves. A bum shoulder from a jet skiing accident could cause Mark Madsen to miss three months. Only three months. The Wolves are currently trying to negotiate a torn ACL.

In other injury news, one of Canada’s top gymnasts broke both his legs while practicing, forever silencing anyone who’d ever wished him luck.

And 1967 Masters champion Gay Brewer died at age 75, still hating his parents. But ironically loving beer. Gay Brewer. We had no idea Mike Piazza had been traded to Milwaukee.

For more of the Sports Minute (Or So), visit minuteorso.com

Who is Bill Henry? Is he the same Bill Henry who lives in Texas or is he the one who died recently in Lakeland, FL? The real Bill Henry was a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox other teams in the 1950’s and ’60’s and so was the other Bill Henry, so his family thought.

A Lakeland, FL man, (you guessed it) Bill (Clarence) Henry, deceived his family and friends into thinking he was Bill (Rodman) Henry, the pitcher with a career record of 46-50 and one World Series appearance. The fake Henry’s wife said that they didn’t have a lot of memorabilia and with the stories he told to everyone, they believed that he did pitch, albeit in the minor leagues. But who could doubt the man who was able to recall names of people who played in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.

When a baseball historian, David Lambert, saw an obituary for Bill Henry the former Reds pitcher had died, he started to do some research on him. When he saw the obit, he noticed that some things didn’t match up. So when he found out that the real Bill Henry’s last address on file with MLB was Deer Park, TX, he called to offer his condolences to his wife.

Her response to the phone call was that the real Bill Henry was sitting right next to her alive and well. Henry was ok with the whole mess.

“It’s just amazing someone would want to live someone else’s life,” said Henry, a 79-year-old Houston Ship Channel dispatcher, who once pitched two games in the 1961 World Series. “I say more power to him if it helped him in his career.”

The scariest part of this whole ordeal. They looked very similar.

[Houston Chronicle]

Metropolitan New York is the home to the most professional teams of any American city. It’s kind of appropriate in the city that never sleeps. Now many of theses teams are in the process of getting new stadiums with better fan amenities and more income for the clubs.

The latest to get in on the new stadium act are the Giants and the Jets. Ground was broken Wednesday on a new football stadium being built at the Meadowlands that will house both teams. It is the first stadium to be owned by two clubs. The yet to be named open air stadium will seat 82,500 in a bowl design. It will also feature a 300,000 square foot plaza set aside for tailgating.

The $1.3 billion stadium is being built next to Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands facility. It is expected to be ready in 2010.

This is the latest stadium effort for the New York/New Jersey area.

The New York Mets are in the process of building Citi Field across from their long time home Shea Stadium in Queens. The new home of the Mets is expected to be able to hold 45,000 fans and is scheduled for a 2009 opening. The $610 million facility, like all the new stadiums on this page, was designed by HOK Sport who designed many of the new style ball parks like Camden Yards in Baltimore.

The New York Yankees are also in the stadium act building the New Yankee Stadium across from the current ballyard in the Bronx. The new Yankee Stadium is slated for an April 2009 opening. The new ballpark, which has a cost of $800 million, will seat 51,000 fans or about 6,500 fewer than the current Yankee Stadium.

Other teams in the area getting new stadiums are the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. They move into a new facility, the 18,000 seat Prudential Center aka “The Rock”, this October in Newark after being in the Meadowlands since their inception. It is the first new arena to open in metropolitan New York since the Continental Airlines Arena opened in 1981.

The NBA’s New Jersey Nets are also trying to get a new facility. The team is looking to move to Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn for the start of the 2009 season but while the facility has been approved ground breaking is yet to have taken place due to lawsuits over the construction. The Nets have a lease at the Meadowlands until 2013 but can walk away if the new facility is ready. They also have an open invitation to join the Devils at the Prudential Center.

Miami Heat all-star center Shaquille O’Neal has filed for divorce from his wife Shaunie. The couple have been married nearly 5 years and have 6 children. Four of them together and one each with other people.

O’Neal who has won 4 NBA Championships, three in Los Angeles and one with Miami, had his attorney Ira Elegant file the petition on his behalf in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Tuesday.

According to the petition O’Neal is asking his wife to provide a “correct accounting of all money, funds, stocks, bonds, and other securities” that she had access to or obtained during the marriage.

There is no word on whether he thinks she has taken assets from the marriage.

O’Neal makes $20 million annually with the Heat plus several million more in endorsements. Their home on Miami Beach’s posh Star Island is listed with a value of $32 million. They bought it in 2004 after O’Neal was traded from Los Angeles to Miami for $19 million.

O’Neal, a 1992 first round pick out of LSU, has played 15 NBA seasons with the Orlando Magic (4 years), Los Angeles Lakers (8 years) and the Miami Heat (3 years). He has played on 13 NBA All-Star teams and was named NBA Finals MVP three times and league MVP once.

Well we all know what happened this week, Michigan lost to Appalachian State at the “Big House”. This was the first time a 1-AA team beat a ranked (#5) team. For their efforts, Michigan was rewarded with not being ranked this week. Polls at the bottom of the post. Not to anyone’s surprise, head coach Lloyd Carr said he didn’t prepare his team well enough and will start from scratch to get the Wolverines on track for their game against Oregon.Colt Brennan had a pretty nice game for the Hawaii Warriors on Saturday at the Aloha Bowl. All he did was throw for 416 yards and 6 touchdowns against Northern Colorado. The scary part is that he didn’t play in the second half. That wasn’t the biggest talk though about Brennan. It was his strange hair style.

After a 33-3 ass-whipping by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis might be under the microscope now. He used all 3 of his quarterbacks, none of whom could do anything against the Tech defense. Today, Weis named true freshman Jimmy Clausen his quarterback. Clausen had actually won the job out of spring practice (never announced) but had surgery to remove bone spurs from his elbow. Now that he is healthy, the job is all Clausen’s.

UCONN’s foe in two weeks, the Pittsburgh Panthers, will be without their starting QB for the next 4-6 weeks. Bill Stull suffered a ligament injury in his right thumb during his first collegiate start. The injury is similar to the one that Louisville QB Brian Brohm suffered last season.

Nebraska Cornhuskers head football coach Bill Callahan was given a 3-year contract extension by the university. Callahan led the Cornhuskers to the Big 12 North title last year and has compiled a 23-15 record in 4 seasons. He has helped put Nebraska football back on the map.

Tom O’Brien is off to a rough start at North Carolina State. The Wolfpack got some bad news when they found out their star running back, Toney Baker, will miss the rest of the season after injuring his knee in Saturday’s 25-23 loss to the University of Central Florida. O’Brien also announced that he will be making a quarterback change and starting Nebraska transfer Harrison Beck instead of the incumbent Daniel Evans. Beck will get the start against O’Brien’s former team, the Boston College Eagles. O’Brien coached the Eagles last season before taking over for Chuck Amato at N.C. State.

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Normally you hear that players are suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs not coaches.

Dallas Cowboys QB coach Wade Wilson was suspended 5 games and fined a $100,00 by the NFL for violating the drug policy. I didn’t know this pertains to coaches as well so color me surprised.

Wilson took HGH and steroids while he was a member of the Chicago Bears coaching staff from 2004-2006. He maintains that they were for personal use and he never distributed them. Wilson is a diabetic and hoped that the drugs would help improve his overall quality of life.

His name came up during the same investigation that caught the Patriots’ Rodney Harrison. He will be able to come back on October 9th.

What is surprising to me is that he said he only took them for a limited time. But if the investigation revealed that he received him for a period of 3 years, how can he say he only took them for a limited time. I understand his reasoning for taking them but it makes me wonder if he gave them to any players.

It will be interesting to see what the rest of this investigation brings out as 10 WWE wrestlers were suspended by the WWE, Harrison and now Wilson from this investigation so far.

New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison will be suspended for four games after being linked to Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

According to sources Harrison admitted to federal investigators that he acquired HGH through an internet pharmaceutical ring that the federal government and New York state officials investigated for two years.

Although the admission by Harrison has never been made public he is believed to be among several athletes in various sports to be involved in purchasing HGH and other performance enhancers.

Harrison had a meeting in New York City with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday sources told ESPN. The Patriots could announce the suspension as soon as Saturday.

An NFL spokesman had no comment on Harrison, who along with the Patriots could not be reached for reaction to the report.

Harrison would miss games in New York against the Jets, home games against the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills and a Monday night game in Cincinnati against the Bengals.  He would return in Week 5 for a game against the Cleveland Browns in Foxboro.

Update: This is the same investigation that netted the 10 WWE wrestlers earlier this week.

Harrison’s Statement is after the jump.

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