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His real name is Covelli Loyce Crisp, but you knew that. What you may not have known, is that Coco Crisp’s father was a boxer, and his mother was a champion sprinter. So the Red Sox outfielder’s actions on Thursday — charging the mound and throwing haymakers after getting plunked by the Rays’ James Shields in the first inning — make perfect sense. As you can see in the video below, Shields really telegraphed that right hook, and left himself wide open for Coco’s counter punch. That also appeared to miss, however. But that was only the beginning.
The first rule about Baseball Fight Club is that you don’t throw any actual punches in Baseball Fight Club, but the Red Sox and Rays are not about the rules this season. In this, the battle for the very soul of the AL East, standard conduct apparently does not apply. I’ll leave you to sort out the details of the fight itself, but here’s what strikes me: Now we know that the Rays are legit. Who would have bothered to throw actual punches at them before? This ongoing retailiation stuff is what real baseball rivalries are all about, and up til now the Rays have not been allowed in that club. So welcome, Dioner Navarro and your Running Tackle of Doom. It’s going to be a fun summer. Here’s some tasty post-game reaction over at Sox & Dawgs.
Oh, and just to confirm that the Red Sox are challenging the Oakland Athletics of the early 1970s as the most dysfunctional baseball family of all time, they also brawled within their own dugout on Thursday. Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis went at it for some reason, and had to be separated by teammates. Oh, and there was a game. Ramirez hit his 503rd homer and had five RBI as the Red Sox won, 7-1. Boston moved a game-and-a-half ahead of second-place Tampa in the division.

deadspin.com

SEATTLE MARINERS VS. BOSTON RED SOX — 052708 — Seattle Mariners pitching coach Norm Charlton, center, gives instructions in the bullpen during the late innings of Seattle’s victory over Boston last Sunday.
Norm Charlton has witnessed the yin and the yang of baseball. He has pitched for teams with personalities as big as the faces on Mount Rushmore. He won a World Series in Cincinnati in 1990 and was the closer for the remarkable 1995 Mariners.
He also was part of a veteran team in Baltimore that rapidly slid toward the bottom of the American League East. And he was a member of a young team in Tampa Bay that quickly understood it wasn’t good enough to compete.
Charlton, the Mariners’ bullpen coach, hates to lose. He treats losses like insults. He sees lack of effort as a lack of professionalism. He takes it personally.
So when I talked with him this week, I figured he’d be chewing on a drinking glass and spitting out the shards as if they were sunflower seeds. I expected his left hand to be bandaged because he had punched a hole in the bullpen wall.
I thought he would be seething. Thought he would have the same reaction to the Mariners’ frustrating 20-34 start as many of the team’s fans. Figured he’d be mad as hell and unable to take it anymore.
Charlton never hides his emotions. He never has been afraid to speak his mind, even if it hurt the feelings of some of the players. If he thought these Mariners were quitting, if he thought the fight, the concentration, the selflessness was gone from his team, he’d be knocking over buffet tables and challenging players to fights.
“That’s not happening here,” Charlton said after the Mariners’ second win in a row, a 1-0 gem over the Boston Red Sox. “Losing games, for me, is very hard to swallow, but it’s hard for these guys to swallow, too. I haven’t seen a lot of guys in there happy for a good, long while. They’re grinding and grinding and trying to get out of this. They haven’t stopped working.

seattletimes.nwsource.com

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Ten-time world champion Oscar de la Hoya kept his plans for a rematch with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather jnr on track Saturday with a 12-round unanimous decision over Steve Forbes.
De la Hoya, 35, has said he wants to close out his glittering career in 2008 with two fights - in September against Mayweather and in December, perhaps against Miguel Cotto.
Forbes, a former world champion himself, could have derailed those plans, but De la Hoya gave him little chance, earning the decision by 119-109 according to two judges, while the third saw it 120-108.
Now De La Hoya is expected to face Mayweather on September 20 in rematch of their first bout, which was won by Mayweather.
“The idea is stand up and fight straight up, use the jab and stay on my toes,” said De la Hoya, who did all of those things. “Now I feel sharp. After 12 hard rounds, now I feel sharp after a year-long layoff.”
“It accomplished my goal, and I’m ready to have two exciting fights come September and December.”
De la Hoya, who has won 10 world titles in six weight divisions, improved to 39-5.
Forbes, 31, showed technical prowess, but didn’t have an answer for De la Hoya’s speed and power in the non-title bout fought at 150 pounds.
De la Hoya had vowed he wouldn’t look beyond Forbes, perhaps recalling his 2004 fight against Germany’s Felix Sturm prior to a middleweight clash with Bernard Hopkins.
De la Hoya nearly lost to Sturm, but escaped with a unanimous decision.
Although he was sharp in this one, De la Hoya admitted he was a little disappointed with the outcome.
“I was looking to knock him out, but I couldn’t,” De la Hoya said. “
In his first fight since losing a split decision to Mayweather, De La Hoya took control in the early rounds.

afp.google.com

Easily the busiest boxer on the planet, Oscar De La Hoya is always working on promoting his fights. It’s something other boxers should take note from and learn from as well. Recently De La Hoya took time from his busy schedule to mingle with the readers of the Los Angeles Times. The Times readers were well informed and asked great question to De La Hoya.
One of the questions asked of De La Hoya was if he’d have Floyd Mayweather Sr. in his corner
against Mayweather Jr. this time? De La Hoya plans to fight Mayweather Jr. in a rematch near the end of this year.
De La Hoya told readers of the LA Times: "Absolutely, Mayweather Sr. has that secret potion to dissect the Mayweather style. Mayweather Sr. created that style, he made it, so working with him on the Forbes fight, I already feel confident I’ll beat Mayweather Jr."
De La Hoya was also asked if he wanted a rematch with Trinadad ?
In regards to fighting Trinidad again, De La Hoya told the readers: "If he can come down and meet me at a reasonable weight, I’ll be more than happy to fight him again."
For more on this and other Boxing news… Check out our Homepage at
www.DoghouseBoxing.com. Always updated often through out the day.
Also have your say at our forum. Registration is Free.

doghouseboxing.com

– Richard “Pops” Picardi, Sr., a 76 year old cab dispatcher, was arrested Friday for dealing drugs from his Chelsea workplace. The Revere man was noted by police for his advanced age and his prosthetic leg. He faces charges that he sold the painkillers OxyContin, Roxicet and Percocet to undercover police agents over a period of about a month. [Herald; Globe]
– Authorities say the South Boston fire that killed Acia Johnson, 14, and Sophia Johnson, 2, earlier this month was the result of foul play. A grand jury has convened, but authorities have not publicized the name of any suspect. [Globe]
– A cell phone video of a brutal teenage fight led Holden police to arrest a 15-year-old Wachusett Regional High School student. WBZTV, always classy, has a link to the video. [WBZTV]
– A Somerville prostitution ring based its operation on Cummings Street, authorities say. Three alleged prostitutes and two alleged pimps were picked up by a police sting. [Somerville Journal]
All charges alleged until proven under law.

bostonist.com

JONESBORO - This time Arkansas State’s Indian Family is gone for good.
Chief Big Track, the Indian princess and Indian brave were retired Thursday as part of the university’s official phasing out of Native American imagery. A movement in the mid-1990s brought the trio back as a part of ASU athletic events, but compliance with the NCAA led the school to retire the mascots Thursday at halftime of the Indians’ 75-64 victory against Louisiana Monroe.
ASU alum John Phillips, who oversaw the return of the mascots to the Jonesboro campus in 1996, was one of 6,651 fans on had as the Indian Family was officially retired on Thursday. He and others who have served as school mascots over the past 77 years were honored at the Convocation Center.
Phillips, a Missouri banker, served as part of the Indian Family from 1969-1973. He worked to revive the group after it was briefly phased out and has since served as an advisor to students who served as mascots.
Even with his connection, Phillips said he had come to support the decision. Either Wolves or Red Wolves will become the official mascot at the end of the spring semester.
"We know we’ve got to move forward," Phillips said. "We’ve got to make Wolves our own now."

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