After a several month hiatus, Awful Announcing has returned to posting and is now a part of the Bloguin network. As such they asked one of the most prolific and amazing writers on the network to occasionally contribute. Of course I said "Yes!" So, head over to the redesigned and newly staffed Awful Announcing for my post and for all the other great works from some of Bloguin and the Internet's finest writers.

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When I went to a Mets/Nationals game early this season we spent the entire game yelling at Nationals center fielder Nyjer Morgan. He took it in good humor, dishing it back and playing with and to the crowd. In the last two weeks though he has had several incidents on the field that led up to his beatdown Wednesday night at the hands of the Marlins.

First Morgan threw a ball into the stands with intent to hurt, then he bumped a catcher with his shoulder when he scored, then he ran OVER a catcher when it wasn't totally necessary. All these things led up to last night when he had to know the Marlins were going to be throwing at him after injuring their catcher the night before.

First at-bat, the Marlins plunk him. He took it like a man and went to first base. It's all part of the game. He then proceeded to steal second and third. Fine. I'm ok with that. The Marlins made their point, now you want to give up a free base and can't throw him out when he steals that's YOUR fault, not his. Marlins pitcher Chris Volstad disagreed. When Morgan came up again Volstad threw behind him, Morgan thought about it for a hot second and then he was off, heading to the mound with a fist ready. He got one good chance before Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez straight up clotheslined Morgan and the beatdown was on.

In terms of brawls this was a pretty fun one; providing you weren't Mr. Morgan at the bottom of the pile...

According to a Yahoo! Sports report Alex Rodriguez has dropped Scott Boras as his agent, going with Pittsburgh attorney Jay Reisinger instead. I can't imagine why ANYONE would want the job.

A-Rod is already signed to a 10-year end-of-career type contract which Boras will continue to get a percentage\ of, whether he represents A-Rod still or not. Sure, there's endorsements, but since his move to NYC and his revelation that he used steroids Alex Rodriguez's cache as a spokesman has gone way way down.

When he hit his 600th home run, which should have been a big deal for baseball fans everywhere, everyone instead ho-hummed it and ignored the accomplishment looking on his numbers with disgust or just general apathy. It doesn't seem likely that he's going to be hawking Ballpark Franks and Hershey Bars anytime soon so what's the draw for anyone to represent him. You get a high-maintenance and pain-in-the-ass client with little to no upside.

Why bother.

[USA Today]

Chad Ochocinco is a relentless self-promoter but despite that there are several things that are eminently admirable about him. When he heard that the Patriots' Leigh Bodden would be out for the season with a shoulder injury he immediately tweeted for Bodden to get well soon so that they could continue their excellent battles. When it comes to on-field play, Ochocinco wants to play against, and beat, the best.

The other thing that I find really appealing in Ochocinco is that he recognizes that without the fans he's nothing and goes out of his way to interact, be friendly with and generally endear himself to the populace. It works.

As the Bengals headed to Indianapolis he sent a tweet out at 4:10pm to his followers that he would be taking 65 of his fans to a steak dinner. A line quickly formed, and while he said people needed to be there no later than 5:30 to get a wristband, by 4:40pm the wristbands were all gone.

I know this is a publicity stunt, but you know what, those 65 people got a free steak dinner, got to meet and interact with an NFL superstar and he was one hundred percent DOWN. I respect that. Ochocinco is a whole lot of talk, but he does everything in his power to back it up and that's all you can ask.

[Indy Star]

After being selected 313th overall in this year's draft, Detroit Tigers prospect Cole Nelson (right) pitched 7 no-hit innings for the Lakeland Flying Tigers over the Dunedin Blue Jays. His teammates then picked him up and added in another 6 1/3 no-hit bullpen innings as the game went into extra innings.

Dunedin only managed their first hit in the 14th but still couldn't push a run across the board and the game remained tied 0-0 until the 17th inning. The Flying Tigers came awfully close to matching the record for longest no-hitter by a minor league team which is 16 innings, set by two Fresno pitchers in 1988.

In the 17th inning the Blue Jays managed to score one run but in the bottom half of the inning the Flying Tigers managed to put two runs up on the scoreboard and win the game.

All told, the game was scoreless for 16 full innings, the Blue Jays were held hitless through 13 1/3 by 3 pitchers until giving up two singles in the 14th.

Sure, it's only the Florida State League, but still. Awesome!

[MiLB]

As part of my usual Wednesday morning routine I searched the Internet for Justin Bieber videos, fortunately, FINALLY, now I can share one WITH you guys. Shaquille O'Neal's television show, Shaq Vs, pit him against the Bieber in a pop music challenge. Taking the stage to perform the Ludacris part from Bieber's masterpiece "Baby" Shaq ROCKED the house.

In the audience were WAY too many adult-types, and I don't mean parents, I mean like 20-somethings who were cheering loudly and were super into The Bieber. Terrifying. Almost as terrifying as the tweens who go nuts over the talentless Canadian. Also in the front row were Shaq's children who, besides his son, seemed to be enjoying themselves and seeing their dad perform.

While Shaq did a good job I have two complaints: 1) Shaq didn't DROP The Bieber when he picked up the tiny pop artist, think of how much better everything would be if Shaq had just broken the kid's hip! 2) Shaq already is a rap superstar, or am I the only one left with a cassette single of "I'm Outstanding"?

The Washington Nationals made a big statement when they fired Rob Dibble from their telecasts, unfortunately it was the wrong one. After Dibble made critical statements about the team's prized possession, Stephen Strasburg, Dibbes was removed from the broadcast booth by the team. At the time the MASN network claimed that Dibble had requested a few days off and that was the reason for his absence.

Obviously that was a lie.

The most egregious offense is that Dibble wasn't fired for cause. When he appeared on XM Radio and said "you can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow," only to have Strasburg diagnosed with needing Tommy John surgery a few days later, it was embarrassing but not a fireable offense. The team SHOULD have fired Dibbes long ago because he is an absolutely abysmal broadcaster.

Keep reading by clicking the READ MORE link below

Viktor Troicki took on his best friend Novak Djokavic during Wednesday's play at the US Open. The center court thermometer read a balmy 109 degrees as Djokavic outlasted his compadre who put him in a first set hole.

While Troicki -- currently ranked 45th in the world -- lost, he can at least take comfort in something off the court that is equally as hot as the temperature was on it; his lady-friend fellow Serbian model Suncica Travica. Let's just say she's an EXCELLENT consolation prize.

For a much larger gallery of this luscious European beauty click the photo above or the Read More link below

After Tuesday's practice Miami Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano told reporters that he's never lost an earring anywhere, "I can't afford them," he said. Defensive End Kendall Langford probably wishes he could say the same.

With the help of a number of his teammates who were crawling around on the field after practice, Langford was feverishly looking for a nearly 2.5 carat diamond earring that he had forgotten to take off prior to taking the field. Over 9 teammates on hands and knees or using rakes scanned the grass for an hour, to no avail, looking for the earring that likely cost in the range of $50,000.

"I've got a great group of guys out here helping me - family-type guys," Langford said.

Finally, the Dolphins players were forced to leave the field as the grounds crew started mowing the grass and they were all due for a meeting. The earring remains missing.

[Sports Illustrated]

As Dario Frnachitti -- or Mr. Ashley Judd if you prefer -- and his crew were celebrating their win on Saturday at the Chicagoland Speedway, Andrew Browne, a fan in attendance, tried to take home a special souvenir.

As everyone's attention was focused upon the Park Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 winner Browne was stealing an unattended tire cart and attempting to drive away with 4 of Franchitti's winning tires. Police spotted the 30-year-old relatively quickly and after a short pursuit were able to catch up and arrest him.

The tires are worth $10,000 but the police only charged him with misdemeanor theft; Browne has no other criminal history.

[Trib Local]