I respect the work of the great Neil Diamond.  He was already a legend in the 1970′s and kept gaining popularity.  He is what every artist wishes to be, both authentic and original.  The best compliment you can pay to any singer is that he has his own sound.  Kudos Neil Diamond, nothing but respect.

Sweet Caroline is one of the big Diamond tunes.  It’s a catchy song with a cool melody and has one of those easy to sing with tones.  The song was released in 1969 and I can still remember the hit from my elementary school days.  The origin of Sweet Caroline came from Diamond’s affection for Caroline Kennedy after seeing her in an equestrian outfit on the cover of Life Magazine.  He wrote and composed the song in about an hour in a Memphis hotel room.

I am confused, however, on when Sweet Caroline became a sports anthem.  There is no mention of sport whatsoever in the song about a girl named Caroline.  Maybe Caroline was a good right fielder in the forties when Diamond was growing up.  So good they called her Sweet Caroline.  Maybe not.

I can accept that maybe in the Carolinas, the song would be better understood as a timeout filler and the kids could go nuts.  Is it that big of a deal to go Ba-Ba-Ba while shaking your arm in the air three times?  I am lost on this whole movement.

Maybe Neil Diamond can issue his whole catalog to sports usage.  Here are some examples of better suited songs and where they might be used.

•  He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother – WWE’s Mark Henry can use this as his new entrance song.
• Song Sung Blue – Even sounds like Sweet Caroline a bit if you lift the lyrics.  Duke could use it.
• You Don’t Bring Me Flowers – Would be a heck of a backround song while showing Tiger Woods putting in slow motion to promote the Masters.

I could go on and on.  The Mets, Red Sox, New York Rangers, Boston College, and Pitt are all using the song.  Diamond performed it live at the Red Sox home opener against the Yankees Sunday night.  Mitch Miller would have been proud, but Simon Cowell would have ribbed Diamond and said his performance was pitchy and self-indulgent.

Poor Zydrunas Ilgauskas.  “Coach Of The Year” Mike Brown, aka LeBron’s ventriloquist puppet, showed poor common sense when he failed to put Big Z on the court against Dallas on Saturday.  Ilgauskas is set to break the franchise record for games played by a Cavalier.  LeBron spouted off about it saying that Brown should have gotten him into the game.  Brown, of course, is defending not playing Ilgauskas saying that Dallas was shorter and quicker and he needed to match ‘em up that way.  When did Shaq start running a 4.5 40-yard dash?  Boo Mike Brown.  Boo.

Here are some stories from other great sites:

• Intentional Foul asks a good question…  What did we accomplish by exposing Tiger Woods?
• Not Qualified To Comment reports that Ron Artest was getting loaded at halftime when he played for the Chicago Bulls.
• PSAMP has the apology of Hines Ward to Ben Roethlisberger straight from Ward’s Facebook page.
• Fansided unveils their Everything Power Rankings segment which is set up like this post, a bunch of links to other great stories.  Think of it as SportsCenter without commercials.
• Globalsports Fraternity has been posting videos of chimps that they say run the BCS.  A new video was posted today, very entertaining stuff!
• A new blog, 7th Inning Stache, has a hilarious piece about what to expect when seeking Pete Rose for an autograph while in Las Vegas.
• Josh Q. Public notates the hot shooting of the Boston Celtics in the article, Celtics: Shooting The Lights Out.
• NESW Sports has a phenomenal video of Florida State’s Zebrie Sanders. There has to be drugs involved with this one…
• Detroit4Lyfe has the audio of the voicemail Tiger Woods left for his mistress. 
• MoonDog Sports dives into the recently made Notre Dame vacancy asking if Cincinnati Coach Brian Kelly is the right fit?
• Guyism takes a look at the eight most dysfunctional athletic relationships.
• Just Blog Baby, a Raiders blog, says that Raider Nation has had enough Al Davis and is now begging for Davis to hire a GM.

WWE Superstar Edge tore a muscle in his leg and is expected to miss about eight months.  The injury took place at a Smackdown House Show in San Diego, CA on Friday night.  Edge injured himself very early in the match and could not finish.  He apologized on the microphone to the San Diego fans for not being able to finish the match.

• No Guts, No Glory analyzes which 5 college football coaches are on the hot seat and better have a good season to keep a job.
• NESW Sports has the video of a recent interview with Rafael Palmeiro.  In the interview, Palmeiro praises Manny, thus trying to cash in on the new love for cheaters.
• PSAMP has a sneak peek at the Pittsburgh Penguins championship DVD to be released real soon.
• The Fifth Corner documents progress on Tyler Hansbrough and Reyshawn Terry at Orlando’s Pro Summer League. 
• Fantasy Pros 911 thinks Busch Stadium will look like Fenway Park with all of the Red Sox on the all-star team.
• PacMan Jonesin’ writes about Tiger Woods sending Anthony Kim to his room with no supper.
• Major League Jerk critiques the fans choices for the 2009 MLB All-Star game.  He agrees with some choices, but presents valid arguments elsewhere.
• Moon Dog Sports questions whether Albert Pujols will get A-Rod money in 2012.
• Sharapova’s Thigh has the new Nike commercial featuring Roger Federer called “Love-15“, celbrating Federer’s 15 Grand Slam titles.
• Zoner Sports lists 5 NL pitchers who should be all-stars.

Boxing lost one of its biggest names yesterday when Alexis Arguello passed away.  I liked Arguello because he didn’t talk with his mouth, but rather used his gloves.  Arguello beat Ray Mancini in a classic battle, but he will unfortunately go down in history as the guy who lost to Aaron Pryor twice.

• Josh Q. Public presents Ken Griffey Jr., A Bronx Tale.  Good piece about Jr’s visit to New Yankee Stadium to face Arod and the Yanks.
• Sports Rubbish has pictures to prove you should never try to rob an old boxer.
• If you are in a fantasy football keeper league, Sharapova’s Thigh has rated the quarterbacks, see where your guy ranks!
• Sportspoop reports in the NFL’s fuzzy new math that the season may be extended to 18 games.
• Hoop Doctors caught up with Danny Granger of the Pacers for an exclusive interview.
• Detroit4lyfe writes about Marion Hossa(ma Bin Laden) and refers to him as a hockey terrorist.
• No Guts, No Glory tells us about 5 athletes who should give up on acting.
• Sir Charles In Charge had a sportswriter think that Barkley was actually doing the writing on the website.
• King James Gospel reports that Charlie Villanueva has signed with Detroit, eliminating Cleveland from the picture.  Focus has now shifted to Ron Artest.
• PSAMP reports that Charlie Batch, aka Nostre Damas, has predicted that there will be no football played in 2011.
• NESW Sports found supermodel Joanna Krupa doing an ESPN interview about T.O. and “The Superstars”.
• PacMan Jonesin’  says Tiger Woods kind of responded to Jim Brown’s harsh words.

Wow, an all-star center in Cleveland.  Welcome Shaq.  Nice to have a big guy who can score underneath and keep the other team’s big guys at bay.  Big upgrade folks, huge.

• PSAMP reports that Tito Ortiz is in Pittsburgh to promote a non-UFC MMA event.  Ortiz showed up decked out in Steelers-looking clothing and was a total suck-up.
• Josh Q. Public thinks the Spurs are back in the saddle again.
• Epic Carnival compiled a list of the top ten tennis shots of all-time.
• NESW Sports has the video of Tiger Woods losing to Jimmy Fallon at Wii golf.
• Sports Rubbish finds Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson comparing the death of Michael Jackson to 9/11, only to apologize immediately.

Congratulation to Lucas Glover, the 2009 US Open Champion!  Here are stories from other great sites!

• PacMan Jonesin’ pays homage to Tony LaRussa on his 2,500th win.
• NESW Sports  has a unique video of Michael Jackson vs Michael Jordan in a 1 on 1 matchup.
• FOX Sports takes a look at the rare Monday ending to the US Open, and poses the question, Tiger is out of it, isn’t he?
• Josh Q. Public invites everyone to enter the John Smoltz era, as Smoltz gets ready to make his long awaited Red Sox debut.
• Major League Jerk has had enough of ESPN’s Joe Morgan and gives plenty of examples of why the network should seriously consider firing him.
• Fanhouse has the scoop on John Daly wrecking his bus into a tunnel.
• Sports Rubbish has video of a jockey falling off of the horse well before a race ends, but the horse still going on to win the race.
• No Guts, No Glory posts six of the greatest manager ejection videos of all-times.  There have been plenty in baseball, but I like the ones shown in this post.
• The World Of Isaac found some funny photos from the US Open golf tournament.

Baseball is trying to clean up its act.  Unfortunately, most of it’s biggest stars over the past ten years are somehow linked to steroids and HGH.  As baseball continues to try to weed out the artificial enhancements, the point is raised that there are plenty of other sports where steroid use is obviously rampant.  When will the other sports be forced to take the same stance as Major League Baseball?

Tony Mandarich can be called the Jose Canseco of the NFL.  He has not outted guys the way that Canseco has, but he has been quoted as saying that steroid abuse is very popular in the NFL.  Is John McCain a baseball purist?  He spent almost a year scolding MLB’s testing policies but said very little about football players.  Let’s face facts here.  Steroids are all about adding bulk and muscle.  NFL lineman are the bulkiest athletes in sports, yet you are not hearing about too many of them using steroids.  Football has adopted the slogan “bigger faster, stronger“, in its description of a complete player.  In a league where bulk is everything, we all know they are using.

Boxing may be the most corrupt of all sports.  For years, talk of fixed outcomes and political agendas have scarred the sweet science.  Recently, the names of “Sugar” Shane Moseley and Bernard Hopkins have come up in steroid discussions.  They are both in the “old man” bracket, but have come off of recent performances where they looked like they were 20 years old.  I wouldn’t put it past boxing to hide the drug testing results of any of its participants to keep the popularity wave on an increase.  The heavier the fighter, the more likely he is on something. 

There has also been plenty of chatter lately about the use of steroids in golf.  Maybe that is why many of us common folk can’t hit our drives 300.  Granted, I am not dropping any names in this category and the reason I chose the Tiger Woods picture is simply because of the pose.  Golf, questioned to even be a true sport by many for years can quite possibly be the next big list of names we see dropped when the muscle police get done with baseball.

Call Dana White a genius, I will continue to call him a weasel.  MMA may have the highest percentage of users.  Many MMA fighters have more muscular definition than bodybuilders and it isn’t because they can jump rope for an hour straight or learn how to pass a guard in an octagon.  I look for MMA to head down the same path as professional wrestling soon.  Not in the sense that the match outcomes will be predetermined, but rather it’s stars start dying at young ages due to all of the substances used in training.  The UFC is not a legal sport in many states.  The states that do permit MMA would be wise to start drug testing as a mandatory requirement.

Bodybuilding and pro wrestling do not need to be mentioned, I would be stating the obvious.  Batista of the WWE is way too big, too muscular and has to be on something.  He is only one example.  Vince McMahon is a weasel, moreso than Dana White, but is awfully bulky for a man at his age. 

Bottom line, any athlete who competes and brings home a check needs to be tested by an outside company before and after competing.  If this were ever going to happen, America’s new #1 sport will become archery.

Ah… victory.  Congratulations Pittsburgh Penguins!  What a great show of heart in the decisive game 7.  Here are some stories from other great sites.

• Total Pro Sports has video of Sidney Crosby hoisting the Stanley Cup out of the sunroof of the bus while still in Detroit.
• Bootlegger Sports brings footage of Ray Mercer vs Tim Sylvia in a boxing match with MMA surroundings.  See what happens when you piss an old man off…
• Sharapova’s Thigh takes an in-depth look at what is wrong with Johan Santana after the worst outting of his career.
• On the other end of the pitching spectrum, Mighty Matt Cain is having a great year and putting up solid numbers as told by Josh Q. Public.
• Fanhouse has a disturbing video of LA Lakers fans rioting after the championship was decided last night.
• NESW Sports provides an EA Sports video of Tiger Woods clowing around with Scott Van Pelt.
• No Guts, No Glory thinks the Cavs would be making a huge mistake if they obtained Shaquille O’Neal.
• PacMan Jonesin’ found Shaq sending tweets of congrats to Kobe and calling Stan Van Gundy a panicker.
• Sports Rubbish has an entertaining story of an umpire who ejected the entire crowd at a high school game recently.