A-Rod posts first rehab photos on Facebook

Alex Rodriguez finally came out of hiding and posted a few photos of himself on Facebook doing what he does best — looking at himself in the mirror.

All kidding aside, the New York Yankees’ Centaur — aka the player who makes more money than the entire Houston Astros team put together — posted three shots of himself working out at an undisclosed New York City gym.

“The rehab continues. Ready to support the New York Yankees,” reads the caption above the photos of A-Rod in a tight, gray T-shirt doing squats with a ball weight.

A-Rod is still recovering from surgery on his hip and has only recently been publicly spotted hitting restaurants and watching a tennis match with his girlfriend Torrie Wilson in his hometown of Miami during the past week.

Rodriguez has kept a low profile since posting post-surgery photos of himself in January and been in the news more for his reported links to the Biogenesis scandal than his association with the Yankees roster. It looks like he’s ready to come out of hiding.

As fit as Rodriguez looks, he isn’t expected to be available to play until the All-Star break.

Taiwanese fans welcome Manny Ramirez with photo of Johnny Cueto

You have to love the enthusiasm of the Taiwanese fans at Manny Ramirez’s first home game with the EDA Rhinos in the Chinese Baseball League.  Too bad a couple of fans thought every major league baseball player with dreadlocks looks like the same and put a photo of the wrong player on their poster: the Cincinnati Reds’ pitcher Johnny Cueto.

These two women probably went through a lot of trouble to make the professional-looking poster just for the big night but ended up with an epic fail or amusing comment about how long Manny has been out of the public eye — depending on how you look at it.

Here’s a photo of the real Manny being Manny for the next time.

Klinsmann not happy with US ‘victory parade’

The U.S. Soccer Federation has announced a special “victory parade” in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the scoreless  0-0 draw in a World Cup qualifier against Mexico, reports Yahoo! Sports.

The officially ended in a tie. But it was only the second time the U.S team earned a point in World Cup qualifiers and it felt like a win — especially since it came in the raucous, sold-out Estadio Azteca. American reaction to the stand-off was as if the third-place team had won a tournament and now the USSF is pulling out all the stops to show their affection.

“This is a historic event for the U.S. national team and the fact that it comes in our federation’s centennial year only makes it more special,” USSF president Sunil Gulati told reporters. “So, like Spain does after winning every real trophy, we will hold a victory parade through our nation’s capital to mark this momentous occasion. There will be balloon animals for the kids and the fan who had the most mystery liquids thrown on them at the Azteca will be awarded the Medal of Honor. By Morgan Freeman. Dressed as Abraham Lincoln.”

The tie leaves the U.S. in third place three games into the six-nation, 10-game qualifying tournament for Brazil 2014 after a game in which they were outshot 19-1 and helped by a referee who ignored Mexico’s penalty shot in the second half.

The U.S. squad’s coach Jurgen Klinsmann doesn’t sound like a big fan of twisted balloons or even “The Shawshank Redemption” actor in a beard and stovepipe hat.

“I think it’s a stupid idea,” said Klinsmann when asked about the parade. “We need to act like this has happened before — which it has in 1990-freaking-seven — and move on with the qualification process. Now let’s focus on actually winning matches and things instead of Morgan Freeman in a Lincoln suit.”

Mexicans weren’t as jubilant about the tie as their U.S. counterparts. Fans south of the border booed their team off the field after it fell to fifth in a qualifying tournament in which only three teams are guaranteed berths in Brazil.

For the U.S., it all sounds like the trophy-less, self-esteem building, “everyone’s a winner” coddling — that is rampant in kid’s sports  today — has finally made it to the big leagues.

Nike’s Tiger Woods ad ‘Winning takes care of everything’ has its critics

Tiger Woods’ new Nike promo is creating quite a social media storm with its online ad’s tagline.  The ad — which has a picture of Woods overlaid with a quote from him, “Winning takes care of everything” — has already garnered over 8,000 likes and 2,000 shares on Facebook but also has its critics, reports The Associated Press

Woods — who regained his ranking as No.1 golfer in the world Monday — has reportedly used the phrase many times with reporters since 2009 when they asked him about rankings.

The ad, posted on Facebook and Twitter, is supposed to champion the fact that the golfer recovered from career setbacks to take over the the top spot once again after losing it in October 2010.

While many people are congratulating the one-time pariah for his comeback, others are commenting that the ad sends out the wrong message in light of Woods’ past marital woes — including the end of his five-year marriage to Elin Nordegren after a serial cheating scandal in 2010.

It’s the latest controversy from the athletic giant’s marketing department. Nike recently had to cut ties with cyclist Lance Armstrong and runner Oscar Pistorius due to their own respective scandals.

Critics on Twitter say the ad “sets a bad example for children” and call Woods a “poor choice” for Nike. Or they claim the 36-year-old is rubbing it in their faces after two-and-a-half years of being called over-the-hill.

Nike spokeswoman Beth Gast said that the ad references Wood’s refrain that he competes to win.

“When asked about his goals such as getting back to number one, he has said consistently winning is the way to get there,” she said in an email response to a query. “The statement references that sentiment and is a salute to his athletic performance.”

Allen Adamson, managing director of branding firm Landor Associates in New York, said the ad signals that Nike believes it is time Woods — who in addition to his new No. 1 ranking is now in a much-touted relationship with Olympic ski champion Lindsey Vonn — is back in the spotlight.

“They’re looking at this and saying, ‘Time has passed, he’s winning again, it’s time to turn up the volume on our association,’ ” he said. “But it’s risky when you associate with a celebrity only based on winning or losing. Consumers care about how you play the game: both the actual game and the game of life.”

Apparently many people don’t see the difference.

High School Girls basketball team poured urine into rival team’s water cooler during game

Parents at Monett High School in Monett, Missouri are raging mad after four Cassville High School female basketball players poured cups of urine into the Monett team’s water cooler during a game. The entire team drank from the contaminated urn.

According to Daily Mail.com, public health officials are testing members of the Monett Lady Cubs team to determine if any players caught any diseases or risk serious health problems from the urine-spiked water.

The Cassville High School players urinated into cups and dumped one of those cups into the drinking water cooler that Monett used during their February 4 game at rival Cassville, which Cassville won, 37-26.

Superintendent Brad Hansen pleaded with the students not to retaliate against the disgusting prank. The two schools are about 20 miles apart.

Monett High School officials sent a letter to parents of the players last week informing them of the incident, but didn’t reveal when they learned of the twisted stunt.

“We are asking you, as parents, to help us work with our girls and their friends to handle this situation with professionalism and restraint,” Monett High School Superintendent Brad Hanson wrote in the letter. “We encourage you to support our stance that retaliation in any way stoops to the level of the offense committed against us and is counterproductive.”

Cassville Assistant Superintendent Jill LeCompte issued a statement on March 22, which read in part: “Cassville R-4 School District believes that sportsmanship and maintaining high standards for our students is important. We do not condone these actions and regret that our students were involved in this unfortunate incident.”

“Student discipline is a private matter that we cannot discuss,” the statement read. “We are in communication with the other school district and are working cooperatively with them to address questions or concerns.”

Four members of the Cassville girls basketball team have admitted their involvement in pouring urine into the water cooler provided to the Monett team, reported The Monett Times.

Lauren Davis gets stung at Sony Open

When Lauren Davis lost her third-round match at the Sony Open in Miami Sunday, it wasn’t just the defeat that stung.  The 19-year-old also had to deal with a wasp sting to her behind.

During the gruelling loss to No.36 Alize Cornet under the hot Florida sun, a wasp buzzed Davis and stuck its little stinger right in her backside.

Davis was in obvious pain but refused to blame her 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat on the insect’s sting.  The heat was another thing though.

Davis started the match — which lasted two hours and 36 minutes — with on-court temperatures soaring into the 90’s with high humidity.  WTA rules let both players takes a 10-minute heat break at the end of the second set. But by the end of the third, the ladies were so exhausted they had to be wheeled off the court in wheelchairs.

Davis — who trains with Chris Evert’s brother John — got off to a great start against the experienced Frenchwoman before the heat took its toll.

“My energy level started to drop and she broke back before I actually won the set,” said Davis. “It got a lot hotter and the points were long. She played well in the end and just wore me down.”

 

Jeter likely to end up on DL Opening Day

It looks like that rehabbing left ankle of Derek Jeter’s isn’t the only thing that’s getting cranky these days and, prior to his Triple-A game Saturday, the New York Yankees shortstop made it clear that questions about his health and the ankle’s setbacks and progress are growing old.

“I will not address how anything feels anymore,” Jeter said. “It’s good. It’s not broken. Some things you’ve got to work through, so it’s really pointless to sit here and say each and every day, ‘How’s it feel; does it feel better?’ It’s pointless. Some days are good, some days are bad, but you’ve got to work through it. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

 

 

 

If the Yankees Captain banned the ankle talk, before playing for the first time since being scratched Tuesday due to stiffness in his surgically-repaired left ankle, he was more than willing to talk about his at-bats after the game.  Even if he did go 0-4 with four groundouts.

 

 

“Results, just like when you start, aren’t the most important thing,” Jeter said. “It’s just to see pitches and that’s what I did, and then we’ll move from there.”

 

It probably wasn’t the groundouts that people noticed but the way Jeter gingerly trotted down to first base on the wet field after he made contact with the ball.

 

“No, not at all, ” The 39-year-old Jeter said when asked if he was running to first at full speed. “It takes time, but I was also cautious, the field was kind of wet and I almost wiped out twice coming out of the box, but that is something you build up to.

 

“I feel good,” he added. “The good thing is that I am seeing it good.”

 

 

Jeter — who also has his eyes focused on Opening Day —  never tested his ankle running the bases, trotting down the first-base line each time on the slippery field. In between at-bats, Jeter hit some balls off a tee with Reggie Jackson, who was on hand for Jeter’s game.

 

He will “more likely than not” miss the Yankees’ April 1 season opener with continued soreness in his surgically repaired left ankle, general manager Brian Cashman said about his shortstop on Sunday, according to The New York Post

The Yankees have sat the captain for the second time in a week. The team leaves Florida on Thursday. It would take a miracle for Jeter to not be left behind to start the season on the disabled list — and he knows it, according to Cashman.

 

“I’ve met with Derek Jeter today,” Cashman said. “I told him what I think and he didn’t fight me on it. That’s reality.”

 

Jeter was not available for comment.

 

“I think that he understands the reality of the situation more today than maybe the other day,” Cashman said. “Because he went out there and DH’d in a minor-league game and then, lo and behold, he’s feeling some more discomfort . . . For me, I’m kind of there already.”

 

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