Heck, the New York Post has even likened his decline to the New York Yankees hitting Alex Rodriguez 8th in the order in the 2006 playoffs. Even they wouldn’t go that far, but still…it was mentioned.

Richards is working on a nine-year, $60 million contract that surely will be examined for amnesty this offseason. The guy who was once thought to be a missing piece to the Rangers’ puzzle is now working with the fourth line.

I said the fourth line.

He saw the least amount of even-strength ice time as any Ranger did in their Game 1 defeat against the Boston Bruins. It was just 9:59 of game time and that includes 26 seconds in the 2nd period when he sat on the bench for eight minutes.

Ouch.

Can Richards find his way? Is he toast? Did not playing during the lockout do this? The Rangers would like to get some of those answers as quickly as possible.

ESPNNewYork.com has been hearing that internal talks have “intensified” regarding the demotion of Davis to Triple-A Las Vegas. Entering Friday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, Davis was on an 0-24 streak.

Yikes.

And it’s not like that was just a cold spell for Davis. He’s hitting a horrific .160 this season, which is a full 40 points below the Mendoza line of what’s considered unacceptable in Major League Baseball. Hell, even if he was in Little League and his dad was the coach, he’d find a way to ship him elsewhere.

If Davis does get sent down, expect the club to call up Andrew Brown.

Not the San Diego Chargers however. After losing Melvin Ingram to a torn ACL, they were in dire need of a pass rusher (and lots of other stuff). According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, the Chargers have signed Freeney to a two-year contract.

“Source: #Chargers have an agreement in principle for a 2-year deal with Dwight Freeney,” he tweets.

Freeney did his best to adjust to the Colts new 3-4 scheme last year, but still only produced five sacks and 12 tackles. It was rumored that he was looking for a 4-3 defense to play, but it sounds like he didn’t have a ton of options. The Chargers have also said that they could tinker a bit with their D to better utilize Freeney’s skills.

But, indeed, he did stupid stuff. As in, he got arrested early Friday morning when he and a friend were “found intoxicated in an SUV” on the side of a highway in Denville, New Jersey. THEY WERE PARKED ON ROUTE 80. Goodson and his friend were hammered and his buddy got arrested for DUI.

Goodson, however, did pitch in. He got rung up on five marijuana and gun possession charges. He was absolutely blitzed and had a fully loaded gun hooked up with hollow point bullets. Well done! Who needs gun control?! As for fantasy football 2013? Move Goodson up your draft boards!

Without getting preachy, this is why I’m for gun control. It’s not about responsible gun ownership. It’s about the vast majority of Americans being too stupid to be trusted with dangerous weapons. He was obliterated, and in possession of a gun with hollow point bullets. That make you feel safe?

Goodson will probably face league discipline if found guilty.

Halladay had a few putrid starts this season before he admitted that his shoulder was bothering him. And it’s apparently quite a problem. According to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca, Halladay underwent surgery on Wednesday to fix his torn rotator cuff and clear out a bone spur.

“Roy Halladay had shoulder surgery yesterday and “may possibly begin a throwing program in 6-8 weeks” per Phillies,” he tweets.

Ugh.

This isn’t good. I’d be surprised if he’s able to contribute much this season. Sure, he’ll come back later in the year, but what will he have to offer? How much velocity will he have lost?

Tough to watch one of the best pitchers in recent memory slowly break down.

You may or may not have heard of standup comedian Dana Gould. He’s been around a long time, but we’ve never heard his Chris Matthews impression. It’s pretty outstanding.

Check out this clip where Gould nails the MSNBC host’s obnoxious ramblings:

They drafted Blaine Gabbert in the first round in 2011 and so far he’s given them nothing. Now working out at OTA’s, it looks like he’s giving them less than nothing. Yesterday, the Associated Press’s Mark Long said that Gabbert was still “(continuing) to struggle with short passes.”

That’s not a good thing. And today, he tweets that things are looking even worse.

“{Worst day of QB play I’ve witnessed at Jaguars practice in years — and that’s saying a lot. … O-line not much better,” he tweeted.

Let’s be clear: THERE ARE NO PADS OR HITTING. One wouldn’t think that Gabbert will magically get better once people are diving at him and the bullets are live.

Is this guy even worth keeping on the team? Will he ever improve? It’s safe to say he’ll never develop into an elite player in the league. Will he ever even become a suitable backup? We hope he saved his money.

Zambrano recently agreed to a deal with the Independent League Long Island Ducks. He didn’t report to the team, however, because he felt he could get a minor league deal elsewhere.

He was correct, and if you’ve ever watched a Long Island Ducks baseball game (which I have), you’d know why he didn’t report. The game I saw, I think three balls were hit out of the infield the entire game by both teams combined, and it wasn’t because the pitchers were awesome.

Expect great things out of Zambrano, who had a 4.49 ERA with the Marlins last year.

-Signed former Dallas Cowboys RB Felix Jones. He’s a former first-round pick who has a career average of almost five yards per carry. His problem? He’s never healthy. He has big-play ability is great when he’s on the field, but that’s not always the case.

-Released WR Marvin McNutt. McNutt was a sixth-round pick last year who didn’t get activated until late November. He appeared in four games, but obviously didn’t do too much because they just cut him.

-Officially moved Todd Herremans to guard. It’s the right guard spot, so that means that Danny Watkins has still not impressed anyone. Although, we saw this coming when they drafted Lane Johnson. He’s officially the right tackle now, and Herremans moves inside to Watkins’ spot. We wouldn’t be surprised if Watkins gets cut in training camp.

Jackson is expected to need the full 15 days to heal up from his strained right hamstring. Can’t rush back with those, or you’re right back where you started from, much like Maxine Nightingale.

The good news in this situation is that the Tigers will be calling up Avisail Garcia from AAA Toledo. He’s been on a tear and it will be interesting to see what the versatile 21-year old can do. He can play all three outfield positions and maybe Detroit gets a good look into its future over the next two weeks.

The “Tri-For-Our Veterans” will begin at 6:30 a.m. (these people must really care!) and benefit the Semper Fi Fund and Sea Isle City’s VFW Post 1963.

It ends with a 3.1-mile run in Sea Isle, preceded by an 8.5-mile bike run, which follows a quarter mile swim. That water is going to be pretty cold, might want to get some wetsuits from All3sports.com.

But, it’s a great event regardless of the water temperature. Get out and participate. You’ll have the rest of the weekend to get hammered.

Here is the rest of the information from the press release:

The Tri-For-Our-Veterans Triathlon’s streamlined structure keeps overhead costs very low – at 5% – because organizers realize that every dollar saved can be put to better use elsewhere. The American Institute of Philanthropy has given this race an “A+” and Charity Navigator has given Tri-For-Our-Veterans “Four Stars” – both of which are the highest ratings from each organization.

The success of the annual Tri-For-Our-Veterans Triathlon relies largely on the efforts of volunteers. This year, over 100 volunteers are needed to direct athletes along the race course and perform other vital actions. To donate a few hours of your time for this worthwhile event, please visit www.triforourveterans.com and click the “volunteer” link.

The cost to compete in the Tri-For-Our-Veterans Triathlon’s ranges from $80 for military personnel to $115 for non-military athletes. The closing date for registration is May 24, at 11:59 p.m. To learn more about the 6th Annual Tri-For-Our-Veterans Triathlon – or to register online – visit www.triforourveterans.com. Athletes can also register in person at the VFW Post 1963, 4001 JFK Boulevard, on May 24, between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m.

The Tri-For-Our-Veterans Triathlon was founded by Matt McCulley in 2007 as a way to give back to those who fight to protect America’s freedom. This year’s race is being held in his honor.

Young was arrested again on Friday on charges of burglary and fighting with police officers. Lt. Joe Balicki of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department says that Young left the residence and then fled on foot. He then decided it would be wise to try to fight with the arresting officers.

“There was a brief struggle,” he said. “He wanted to fight with the deputies. They ended up subduing him.”

Wow, this guy needs serious help. A week ago, he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, shortly after, he broke into the impound lot to steal his car back. Jesus.

This guy is a very troubled individual and we are watching his life spiral out of control. Remember Chris Henry? Yep, that’s where he’s headed.

Oh, and I’m about to get a tractor trailer full of cash this offseason. There’s that too.

Rask was brilliant this regular season with a 19-10-5 record, 2.00 goals-against average, .929 save percentage. He need not look farther than the contract Ilya Bryzgalov got from the Philadelphia Flyers last offseason as a starting point in talks. Ilya got nine years and $51 million and while he’s been very good at times, he hasn’t been worth all that money.

Or how about the deal that the Vancouver Canucks gave to Roberto Luongo? 12 years and $64 million. He was…umm…a guy who split time this season. He hasn’t remotely lived up to that deal. Yes, they went to the Stanley Cup two years ago, but Luongo was horrific.

So what will be the market for Rask? He’s been playing brilliantly and the Bruins are winning.

“Tuukka’s calm,” coach Claude Julien said on Thursday. “He’s in a zone. He’s not getting too high, not getting too low. All he wants to do is stop the puck.”

And that will get him paid.

Roy has had seven (seven) knee surgeries since he entered the league and it’s clearly taken its toll. It’s a shame, he was once one of the top rising stars in the NBA with the Portland Trailblazers.

The Timberwolves were the only team dumb enough to give him a two-year contract, but at least they were able to get out of it. Roy’s knees are flat-out shot and he can’t play anymore.

Luckily for former Trailblazers general manager Kevin Pritchard, the NBA has an amnesty clause so they could get out from underneath of the foolish huge five-year contract they gave Roy back in 2009. They should have known something was wrong back then, but apparently either didn’t, or they just signed him anyway.

Roy is now free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

Nope. He actually started firing shots at a first year player from last year. Ryan criticized former first-round pick Quinton Coples’ work ethic in regards to his effort in the weight room.

“If Quinton doesn’t do a better job in the weight room he might have to…he’s got to compete like anybody else for a job,” said Ryan. “So I’m a little disappointed in Q in the weight room in the last day.”

Ryan could just be trying to send a message to light a fire under a guy who had work ethic concerns coming out of college (it looks like there was truth to them). Ryan still tried to be positive, even if his comments might some to use the “B” word prematurely.

“He’s been doing great, but any time I’ve got a chance to get him, I’m going to,” said Ryan. “I expect so much for him, if he lets up a little bit we’re going to make sure he knows about it.”

Smell that? Something smell like Vernon Gholston?

Since being released by the New York Jets, there have been two teams linked to him in the media (not actual links, just media people making stuff up) and they are the Jacksonville Jaguars and New England Patriots. Many Jaguars observers want him because he’s a local kid who might actually get the locals to give a rat’s behind about the local team.

The Patriots have been linked to him because…well…we aren’t sure exactly. They already have Tom Brady, so Bostonians wouldn’t be clamoring for Tebow to replace him as the starter if – god forbid – Tom threw an incomplete pass or – gasp! – an interception. They also have offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who drafted Tebow in the first round in 2010 when he was the head coach in Denver.

It’s a perfect fit!

Not so fast. According to Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports, sources tell him that Bill Belichick “hates” Tebow as a player. Many want to speculate that Belichick would be the one to get something out of him, but it sounds like he wants no parts of that. An organizational source told Silver that a Tebow-to-New-England scenario ain’t happening.

“No chance,” the source said. “Plus they wouldn’t like the circus that comes with it.”

And that seems to be the sticking point. It’s not that Tebow isn’t a good enough football player to be in the NFL at some capacity, it’s that it’s a zoo having him around. Remember his press conference when he was traded to the Jets in the first place? Who trades a middle round pick for a backup quarterback and has a big press conference for him?

That’s Tebowmania, and that’s what no one wants any part of.

“He seems like a great guy to have on a team, and I’d be tempted to bring him in as our backup,” one NFC head coach told Silver. “But it’s just not worth dealing with all the stuff that comes with it.”

Happ was knocked to the ground and needed to be taken off on a stretcher. You just don’t see that in baseball very often.

The good news, however, is that Happ has been released from the hospital and is on the road to recovery. He emerged from Bayfront Medical Center on Wednesday with crutches and a knee brace (hurt his knee going to the ground? Entirely possible).

You can watch it right here:

Charles Ramsey is a Cleveland man who heard a girl screaming in the apartment next door. It turns out, the woman had been held captive for some ten years in Ramsey’s neighbor’s apartment.

And…well, we’ll let him tell his story. Here’s the video where Ramsey gives his take on the entire episode.

Helton has pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired. He wasn’t hammered, but he was at .102, which is above the legal limit. He’ll get 24 hours of community service, a year of probation and a $400 fine, which he may or may not be able to pay.

“I am very regretful,” he said. “I have taken measures to ensure it never happens again.”

Helton admitted to police at the time that he had had two Igloo cups of red wine. Or as OTR refers to it, Tuesday.

He released this statement at the time:

“I exercised poor judgment and was charged with drinking and driving after driving to a gas station near my house. I am very sorry and embarrassed by my actions. I hold myself to a high standard and take my responsibility as a public figure very seriously,” it said. “My entire career I have worked to set a positive example for my family and in our community and I fell far short of this standard. I sincerely ask my family, the Colorado Rockies organization, Major League Baseball and the community to accept my apology. I make no excuses and accept full responsibility for my actions. I humbly ask your forgiveness.”

And go he has. According to his own Twitter account, Kluwe has been released by the Vikings.

“So long, Minnesota, and thanks for all the fish!,” Kluwe tweets.

Kluwe has been very outspoken on gay marriage and other issues. He’s probably the most loquacious punter that we can remember. And surely, his controversial comments will be blamed at least partly on the team deciding to part ways, but this is a business move. He was 17th in the NFL in punting last year and due $1.4 million this year. You’re going with the cheap guy from UCLA and that’s the way it is.

While Halladay has had some nice starts this year, his last two have been absolutely disastrous. And he’s saying now that he’s had shoulder issues dating back a few weeks. It’s laudable that he would fight through them, but not when you are giving up insane amounts of runs in the last few games and barely going a few innings.

“I woke up, didn’t really think anything of it, just regular soreness, it just kind of progressed over the last two weeks or so,” Halladay said. “It’s right shoulder discomfort, gonna have it looked at here in the next few days, and once we get information from that we’ll obviously let people know what’s going on, but it’s not something that I had before. It’s something new this year. I felt good all spring, felt good all year, I just got up after that start in Pittsburgh and had soreness and just wasn’t able to get rid of it. Like I said, we’ll go to L.A. I think and get it checked out, do some scans, get Yocum to look at it and update you guys from there. But that’s really all I have. We don’t have a lot of information on it. We did some tests and obviously they are not completely conclusive as to what it is. There’s a couple of different options and the scans, MRIs, CTs, that kind of stuff will give us more information from there and we’ll address it then. But as far as moving forward, I really don’t have too much for you. We’ll see how it plays out in the next few days. As soon as I can get in to see him we’ll get that done and try to get you guys information as soon as we can.”

Yes, he’s old, worn down and injured. It sucks, but it happens. It’s not his fault; you can’t blame him. He’s likely headed to the disabled list, but for how long? And what will he be when he comes back? What will he be for the rest of his career?

He’s been a horse his entire time in baseball. If it’s finally caught up with him, it’s understandable. He’s a future Hall of Famer who is done as an ace. Here’s hoping that he can squeeze a few more good starts out of his aging body.

It came out earlier in the week that Washington was being investigated for assault. Well now, he’s been arrested on two counts of aggravated assault.

Awesome.

According to the police report, his ex-girlfriend showed “clear indications” of being attacked and she claims that he choked her.

Double awesome. Well done, Daryl.

“These are serious accusations that we are closely monitoring,” the Cardinals said in a statement before he was arrested. “Until all the facts are determined, and out of respect for the process, we will decline any further comment at this point.”

Now, Washington himself has released a statement.

“This is a legal matter and I am limited in what I can say other than that my lawyer and I will continue to cooperate with investigators and welcome the opportunity for all the facts to be presented,” he says. “I regret that the situation has brought this kind of attention to my family and my team. I look forward to resolving it as soon as possible.”

Let’s hope 2014 is better for him than 2013 has been so far. Jesus.

Centerfielder Ben Revere was an offseason acquisition who was supposed to at least provide some slap singles and speed on the base paths. Well, it’s tough to be fast around the bases when you can’t get on them. He’s been dealing with a finger issue, but regardless of that, it looks like he’ll be a day-to-day proposition because of how awful he is.

“Mayberry’s been playing good,” Manuel said. “[Revere's] finger, it definitely made it easier to put Mayberry in there, of course.”

Revere is hitting .204 and if they needed him to play through the finger issue, he could. But, he can’t because no one wants him out there. He’s fast in centerfield, but he can’t get a hit to save his life and he’s gotten really good at making two outs when he bats.

Chances are that he’ll eventually get his average back up, but for right now he’s managed to make a terrible outfield even worse.

That’s right, the Rockies have signed Oswalt to a minor league contract, with nothing guaranteed.

Photo Caption: In the past, Oswalt has worn #42 to salute Mariano Rivera.

Oswalt will report to extended spring training before being assigned to a minor league affiliate. Once he lights it up down there, he’ll be called up to again dominate in the bigs.

Oswalt last pitched with the Texas Rangers where he had an ERA of 5.80. Expect big things.

And they are hardly in position to be able to handle possibly losing one of their best players due to illness. Game 5 is coming up and now there is news that James Harden did not feel well at Wednesday’s shoot around.

“James Harden feeling ill this morning. Sore throat, etc.,” tweets Houston Chronicle beat writer Jonathan Feigen.

Ehh…thassnogood. The Rockets can barely beat the Thunder with Harden, although if he’s unable to go the team won’t miss his 10 turnovers from Game 4. Still, expect Harden to play through it, it’s likely their last game of the season.

So, if you play playoff fantasy basketball, you need to get a life.

And while he’s close to returning for the post season, that return won’t come Wednesday night for Game 1 against the New York Islanders. Crosby said the doctors just weren’t quite ready to clear him.

“He said everything was good,” Crosby said. “He just wasn’t prepared to declare me (ready) to play. Obviously, I would have loved to have had a chance to play tonight, but that’s not the way it is.

“I wanted to make sure I’m ready when the time comes.”

Crosby has missed 12 games so far. And while the Islanders have some talent, we still doubt they’ll pose much of a problem for the Penguins regardless of whether they have Crosby or not.

“Whenever I take a regular morning skate,” Crosby said, “I’m sure that will be a pretty good sign that I’m in.”

The club has activated Delmon Young from the disabled list and he’ll eventually be taking over in right field, even though he’s not very good at it. Still, this means that the Phillies can cancel their planned promotion of letting a small child (contest winner) run out to Laynce Nix after he fishes a ball out of the corner, and throw the ball into the infield for him. It would have helped the Phillies tremendously knowing that the ball would only skip twice to the cutoff man.

Despite the outfield’s awful batting, they’ve actually made some great plays on defense if you can believe that. It’s probably because they took bad angles, got poor jumps and generally misjudged fly balls and had to recover, but hey, credit where credit is due. Young should only add to that stellar defense despite the fact that he struggles mightily with baseballs and gloves.

After being activated, Delmon Young is now free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

Who cares, right? Yes and no.

Former Colts G.M. Bill Polian is generally highly regarded in league circles and, by most accounts, should be. He did a great job building the Bills of the early 1990′s and got the Carolina Panthers to an NFC Championship game in just their second year of existence. He later drafted Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, Dwight Freeney and Reggie Wayne on his way to building a Super Bowl champion.

But, what’s he done lately and should he have done more with Peyton Manning?

Let’s start with the latter first. The Colts were a consistent powerhouse with Manning at the helm, but have only one Super Bowl to show for it. Shouldn’t they have had more? Blame Peyton’s mediocrity in the playoffs all you like, but where were the defenses? Other than Freeney and decent-but-not-spectacular players like Raheem Brock, Polian never built any semblance of a defense.

To add to that, he paid his elite skill position players top dollar. Manning, Wayne, Edgerrin, Marvin Harrison…all were given tons of money. So, that eats up your cap and you don’t have money to pay good defensive players. It also kills your depth, so even when the Colts had a difference maker or two (Bob Sanders), if they got hurt (he did all the time), there was no “next man up.” As a G.M., you have to be careful to build the entire team. That includes defense and that includes depth.

So, now with this Jerry Hughes trade, the Colts are acknowledging that he was a waste of a first-round pick in 2010. Yet another bust of a first-round pick for Polian.

Let’s go back and look at Polian’s history of first rounders going back to 2005, and it might explain a little bit why they only won one Super Bowl with Peyton.

2005: Marlin Jackson – Didn’t do much and then had his knees blow out on him.
2006: Joseph Addai – Was decent for a couple of years and then quickly went to worthless.
2007: Anthony Gonzalez – Was pretty much never healthy enough to get on the field. And why are you drafting another wide receiver in the first round when you already have tons of capital invested in Wayne and Harrison.
2008: Traded out of the first round. That was probably smart considering the research we’ve done already.
2009: Donald Brown – He’s not very good.
2010: Jerry Hughes – They just traded him.

That’s some pretty awful drafting. And remember, this was back when first rounders still made a lot of money, so there are a few cap dollars invested in each one of these guys.

Ilya Bryzgalov

But, in his exit interview with the media, Bryzgalov was asked if it bothers him when people point the finger at him for the team’s failures.

“Not anymore,” Bryzgalov said. “Not anymore. You guys are just here to blame someone. You never look at yourself in the mirror, right? You’re always good. You never make the mistakes. Your articles are always perfect. But, in reality, what have you done for the city, if you ask yourself? What have you done? Ask yourself that question. Besides to only criticize. Not much.

“You need to be fair. You need to see the whole picture. It’s easy to criticize. It’s tough to find something good.”

Bryzgalov was even asked if he felt like he’d been a professional in the time he’s been in Philadelphia. He essentially answered ‘yes.’

“It’s not like fair or unfair,” Bryzgalov said. “We’ve already had the conversation. It’s just ridiculous. It’s just ridiculous. Sometimes you’re reading and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, who’s this lunatic? What are they writing about?’ Because there was nothing close to the truth or close to related to hockey. You read it and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I have to deal with these people every day.’

“Like I said before, guys, before you write something you’ve got to read what you’re writing. Cause I never saw, I’m two years here, I never saw for two years good article where everything is like, OK, ‘The Flyers lose the game because this, this, this, this, this. Or they need to improve this, this, this or this.’ I never. That’s what to call professional, where you can say ‘This reporter knows hockey. He knows what he’s talking about.’”

Bryzgalov ended the season with a 2.79 GAA and a .900 save percentage. No, those numbers aren’t good, but you had to watch the Flyers night in and night out to see exactly what their struggles were. And those struggles included a horrific defense that had tons of injuries to boot. Bryz’s numbers are not entirely of his doing, even if his interviews are.

Here is the video from CSNPhilly.com:

Two other guys, USC’s Matt Barkley and Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib, were rated above Manuel by a lot of people (not that that means anything). So, it was a shock when they both slipped to the third day of the draft.

But, they now have homes. The Philadelphia Eagles traded up to nab Barkley in the fourth round. And now, the New York Giants made a similar move to jump up and Nassib, who many thought could have been taken by the Buffalo Bills at the No. 8-overall slot.

In a related note, the Pittsburgh Steelers just grabbed Oklahoma’s Landry Jones. While Jones wasn’t in the discussion with Nassib and Barkley, he still was a very successful collegiate quarterback.

All three are now free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.