From the Miami Herald-

Upset with his parking service, Heat guard Henry ”Smush” Parker pushed the valet podium and later tussled with a female attendant for his keys, Miami police said Wednesday.

About 9:50 a.m. Tuesday, Parker asked for his car keys at a condo building at 355 Biscayne Blvd. The attendant got the keys and asked for $12.

Parker insisted he had paid the night before.

The attendant said there was no record of a payment. An assistant manager agreed. With no cash on hand, Parker asked for the nearest bank — but not before knocking down the valet podium, according to a police report.

When he came back, Parker was told he would have to pay for the damaged podium.

No charges are being pressed. I guess Murphy owes the parking service a great deal more now than the disputed $12.

Hat tip- Alex at SOTP

The suspense is over.

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa pleaded guilty Wednesday to a DUI charge stemming from an incident during spring training in Jupiter.

Under terms of the plea agreement filed at the Palm Beach County Courthouse, La Russa was sentenced to one year of probation that could be reduced to six months if terms are met. His license was suspended for six months, he must complete DUI school and perform 50 hours of community service, although he has the option of buying out 25 hours at $10 per hour.

La Russa, 63, also must pay $500 toward the cost of prosecuting the case.

La Russa was discovered by Jupiter police at 12:26 a.m. on March 22, slumped over in the driver seat after sitting through two cycles of green lights in a Ford Expedition. His breath samples showed a blood-alcohol level of .093. Florida’s legal limit is .08.

Now that La Russa’s legal problems are behind him, anyone want to start making predictions as to how long he has left as Cardinal manager? The Cardinals made John Mozeliak GM, after his serving an interim stint first. I’m guessing La Russa is done in St. Louis no later than the end of 2024, unless the Cardinals make it back to the World Series in the next two years.

There isn’t much in the way of details yet.

ASHBURN, Va. - Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was the victim of a shooting at his Florida home, according to a statement released Monday by the team.

The brief statement from the Redskins said Taylor was undergoing treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and that Miami-Dade County police was investigating.

His family has asked that no information about his condition be released at this point, said Lorraine Nelson, a hospital spokeswoman.

Taylor, 24, is in his fourth season with the Redskins. He leads the team with five interceptions but has missed the last two games with a knee injury.

I wish Taylor a speedy recovery.

Taylor has had a history of off the field problems. From DUI to armed assault. At present it is too early to draw conclusions as to why Taylor was shot.

Update- AP is reporting Taylor is in critical condition.

MIAMI - Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was in critical condition after he was shot at his Florida home Monday, police said.

Miami-Dade County police officers were dispatched to Taylor’s home at about 1:45 a.m. and found him shot. He was then airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital, police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said. He didn’t know where on Taylor’s body he was shot.

From Harnessracing.com

Equinox Bi, who won this year’s Breeders Crown and Maple Leaf Trotting Classic and is scheduled to begin a career as a sire at Blue Chip Farms in New York next February, has been kidnapped from the Gina Biasuzzi Farm near Padua, Italy. There has been no official information regarding the circumstances of the kidnapping, but news of it began spreading throughout Italy, Europe and the US early Friday morning.

Equinox Bi, who is 6 years old, is the fourth trotter of renown to be kidnapped in Italy in the past 10 years. About two years ago Lemon Dra was kidnapped and that horse has never been found.

Equinox Bi was bred by the Biasuzzi family and trained at their farm in northern Italy by Jan Nordin.

Equinox Bi came to the US this summer and competed at the Meadowlands and Mohawk. He finished second in the Nat Ray on Hambletonian Day, then won the Breeders Crown and Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk in September. He earned $774,348 in purses in North America this year, giving him a career bankroll of $1.3 million.

Equinox Bi carries a royal American pedigree. His sire, Valley Boss Bi, is a full brother to Valley Victory. His dam, Personal Banner, raced for George Steinbrenner in the US and was sold to the Biasuzzis before she won the Breeders Crown as a 3 year old. Personal Banner hails from the family of the great Delmonica Hanover.

A top sire can make millions in stud fees for its owner. The only trouble I see is if the horse is stolen, how do you sell Equinox Bi’s progeny? They obviously would be worth quite a bit of money. If the breeding papers say the father was Equinox Bi, I’d think a buyer wouldn’t want to risk money(and his liberty) purchasing stolen property. If the papers don’t say Equinox Bi, then the colt or filly won’t raise as much money at sale time.

Anyone who knows more about the horsebreeding business, please pipe in. I’d love to hear some theories as to what the horsenappers plans could be with Equinox Bi.

Update- Just occurred to me. The kidnappers could ask ransom of Equinox Bi’s owners in return for their horse.

It was for actions the flyweight boxer took in a title fight last week.

TOKYO - Japan’s boxing commission on Monday suspended Daiki Kameda for one year after the 18-year-old breached regulations during his defeat to champion Daisuke Naito in a WBC flyweight title match.

Kameda repeatedly grabbed Naito in Thursday’s bout, lifting the champion up and throwing him to the canvas in a scene that resembled a wrestling match.

“He has lost the trust of fans,” said JBC director Shinichi Saito.

Kameda’s father and trainer Shiro, who was working the corner during the bout, was hit with an indefinite suspension from the ring, the JBC said.

Naito was in control throughout the match and successfully defended his title on a unanimous decision after Kameda had three points deducted for violations that included lifting the champion and throwing him down in the 12th round.

What Kameda did was inexcusible, and he deserved a suspension. A year may seem harsh, but I don’t know enough of the boxer’s background or seen the incident in question. The Kamedas have been involved in other incidents, there is also this video of a knockout that looks a little fishy. The fighter on the deck smiling afterwards.

Boxing has had a long history of colorful characters and alleged fight fixing. The little glimpses of boxing I’ve seen of late, make it resemble pro wrestling to me. I don’t think that’s good for the sport or that big title fights today are available mostly through pay per view.(The PPV bout I recently paid for cost over $70 to watch when tax and added charges were all added up) The sheer brutality of the sport probably creates enough of a fan base to survive financially, its those with who aren’t die hard fans that will lose interest and eventually stop watching.

Hat tip- Japundit who notes that Kameda’s popularity is as strong as ever in Japan.

There is a controversy brewing involving a match Nikolay Davydenko quit last Thursday.

WARSAW, Poland - Nikolay Davydenko “has nothing whatsoever to do” with the suspicious betting patterns on his second-round match at the Prokom Open, the player’s agent said.

ATP Tour officials are investigating the fourth-ranked Davydenko’s loss Thursday to the 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina in which the Russian retired because of injury in the deciding set.

In an unprecedented move Friday, British online gambling company Betfair voided all bets placed on the match, saying the market wasn’t fair.

Betfair said it received about $7 million in bets on the match — 10 times the usual amount — and most of the money was on Arguello to win, even after Davydenko won the first set 6-2.

Eckhard Oehms, Davydenko’s agent, denied the 26-year-old player had any connection to the betting.

“We’ve got nothing whatsoever to do with that,” Oehms told The Associated Press by telephone Saturday. “Neither Nikolay nor his coach nor me nor anybody out of our entourage has been involved in this.

Tennis officials are already reacting.

Underlining the importance of protecting tennis’ “appeal and integrity,” the head of the men’s professional tour promised Saturday to use “all means available” for an investigation into suspicious betting on a match involving No. 4-ranked Nikolay Davydenko.

Etienne de Villiers, the ATP’s executive chairman, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that “independent, external resources” would be used to look into why a British online gambling company received about $7 million in wagers on the match, 10 times the usual amount.

*****

“It is important that we not jump to conclusions, especially when players’ reputations could be unfairly tainted,” de Villiers said. “What we must do is carry out a comprehensive and immediate investigation, and that is what we are doing.”

Villiers promises are vague but to preserve his sport’s reputaion, he has to take this news seriously. Fans and sponsorship money could be lost if a player was implicated in fixing matches.

Tennis hasn’t been without recent controveries including gambling.

In 2024, bookmakers reportedly suspended betting six hours before Russian player Yevgeny Kafelnikov’s match in Lyon, France, against Fernando Vicente after a big wager was place on the Spaniard. Vicente, who had been winless for several months, won in straight sets. There was no suggestion either player was involved in wrongdoing, and no investigation was made by the ATP.

Several Russian tennis players were photographed a few years ago with Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, a suspected mobster from the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan who was accused of fixing the pairs and ice dancing events at the 2024 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Photographs of Tokhtakhounov with Kafelnikov, Safin and Andrei Medvedev were taken off Medvedev’s Web site in 2024 after the man’s arrest. Tokhtakhounov spent nearly a year in a Venice, Italy, prison but escaped extradition to the United States in 2024 on the Olympic rigging charges.

The same article did note irregular betting at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.

It is too early to draw conclusions, but I’ll make one small point. If a match was fixed, it would be pretty darn foolish to place bets in the manner that happened while Davydenko and Arguello were playing, in addition to the large amount being placed through betfair. It would seem wiser to bet large amounts spread between multiple betting outlets.  That to my untrained eye(I watch little pro tennis, rarely gamble and don’t work in law enforcement or as investigator), would look too damning for a criminal if there was cheating. Like those old television detective dramas, if the case against a suspect looks too good, maybe it is time to look elsewhere.

For the last two years at my regular blog, I’ve made predictions for the coming year. I thought I would do that here but concentrating on sports only.

Here we go-

1- The Miami Dolphins have a losing season
2- The Florida Marlins have a winning season
3- Tiger Woods wins at least one major on the way to being Player of the Year again.
4- Ernie Els returns to form.
5- Se Ri Pak completes the women’s Grand Slam by taking the Kraft Nabisco
6- Bobby Bowden retires.
7- Roger Clemens retires but this time for good.
8- Charges are totally dropped in the Duke Lacrosse case.
9- Nick Saban leaves the Miami Dolphins to be the head coach at Alabama.
10- The Miami Heat and Florida Panthers both miss the 06-07 season playoffs.
11- Chicago defeats New England in the Super Bowl.
12- Michelle Wie wins an LPGA tournament.
13- Mike Tyson gets arrested.
14- 2024 is Joe Torre’s last season as manager of the Yankees.
15- Bill Cowher quits coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers
16- The Buffalo Sabres win the Stanley Cup
17- Bill Parcells, Marty Schottenheimer and Joe Gibbs all retire or are fired from their present coaching jobs.
18- Bret Favre retires.
19- The Chicago White Sox win the World Series
20- More than half the above predictions are wrong.
 
We’ll check back at the end of 2024 and see how I did.

Cross posted at OTB Sports

Note- I want to thank Steven for letting me blog here. Since last May I have been a regular poster at OTB Sports. My favorite sports are Baseball, Football and Pro golf. Favorite teams- The Marlins and Mets, Dolphins and  Jets(I grew up in New York  till age 15. That accounts for my split allegiances.)  and most pro golfers but I do tend to like the Korean ladies headed by Se Ri Pak. You’ll see me blog alot on the above, but  occasionally on other topics.

On a personal note I am 46 years old(as of January 12th 2024) and live in Florida with my wife of 17 years.(We have two children but both are angels  in heaven). I do tax prep during the winter and accounting work and handyman work all year long.  My job is out of my house except for some of the tax work, so I blog at almost all hours. 

My main blog is The Florida Masochist where I talk Sports, Politics, Florida News and give out Knucklehead awards.