Adrian Beltre says Eric Gagne should have 'named names'

Eric Gagne claims in his upcoming biography that 80% of the Los Angeles Dodgers took PEDs when he was with the team.

Former Dodgers teammate Adrian Beltre — who people have speculated  about using PEDs in the past — took offense to Gagne's statement and was forthright in his answer when someone asked him about it yesterday:

"He should have named names.  I don't know what you want me to tell you ... For him to say something liken that, he should have come out with names instead of percentage."

It was understandable that Beltre would bristle at the assumption he was part of the 80%.  He has heard the talk before.

Beltre was teammates with Gagne when the French-Canadian pitcher won the Cy Young in 2003.

Gagne, whose book is in French and titled: "Game Over: The Story of Eric Gagne," admitted using human growth hormone over five cycles in a three year period toward the end of his career.

What better way to stir up publicity for a book than saying up to 30 players on a major league team used PEDs.

If Gagne is trying to fire up interest in his story, Beltre — currently playing for the Texas Rangers — is one person who won't be giving it a read.  Especially when he found out it was in French.

"My French is not good," said Beltre.  "Everybody has the right to say whatever they say.  If they feel the need to write a book about it, what can I say?"

Justin Tuck: Real referees are going to be 'rusty'

The New York Giants don't exactly expect a smooth transition going from the replacement referees to the real ones this week.

Despite the regular referees returning Thursday — after reaching an agreement between the NFLRA and the league — Giants defensive end Justin Tuck thinks the officiating on the field may still be a little tentative.

"It's still going to be an issue when the real guys come back," said Tuck.  "They are going to be rusty; they haven't had a preseason to practice their craft.  It would be like me coming to play a regular-season game, having not practiced or having a pre-season game."

The Giants are probably hoping that the real refs have, at least, been practicing on their Madden '12 as the team heads into the unwelcoming confines of Lincoln Financial Field to face the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's nationally-televised game.

We all know how well the last nationally-televised NFL game ended.

The Giants face their division rival in a important early season game and are thankful they will have a strong and experienced — if only a little out-of-shape — officiating crew calling the game.

"It is especially difficult with a running quarterback like [Michael] Vick; it creates problems," said linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka.  "You don't know if he is running the ball.  Is he looking to pass?  Is he defenseless player?  Is he a runner?  Those kinds of plays are difficult for anybody in real time and they are not always revealed in plays."

The Giants players won't blame the rent-a-refs for affecting how they played any games but some claim that the players could help persuade how the replacement refs called some.

Tight end Martellus Bennett claims it's not only the controversial rulings like Monday night's highly-publicized Packers-Seahawks fiasco that affected the quality of play, it was the intimidation of the fill-in refs by the players and coaches throughout the game.

"Nobody really respects the replacements.  Guys get in their face and do things guys wouldn't do to regular refs they do to these guys," Bennett said.  "They go up to the replacement refs and say, 'Hey, he's holding. You need to call that.' With the regular refs, they would just go up and say, 'Did you see that holding?'

"It works a little bit, if you're persuasive — and a star.  If (Cardinals receiver) Larry Fitzgerald comes up to you and you're a replacement ref and he says, 'Hey, this guy is holding me the whole time,' it's Larry Fitzgerald.  What's a replacement ref gonna do?"

NFL reaches agreement with officials to end lockout

After five straight days of of negotiations — spurred on by Monday night's Packers-Seahawks Hail Mary fiasco — and the slate of Week 4 games creeping closer, the NFL and its referees' union finally came to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Team owners lifted the three-month lockout, allowing the regular referees to return to the field for Thursday night's Ravens-Browns game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

The settlement came after the marathon negotiations went on since last Friday and picked up intensity after the Seahawks defeated the Packers on Monday night's nationally televised blown call in the end zone.

Emotions ran high after the controversial call — one of the many replacement referees' flubs over the first three weeks of the season. The fill-in referees were universally criticized by the players, fans, coaches, gamblers and politicians.  Even President Obama called Monday's play "terrible."

"We are glad to be getting back on the field," NFLRA president Scott Green said after the eight-year deal was pushed through 48 hours after the Packers-Seahawks debacle.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell — who's leadership was questioned throughout the lockout — took a lot of the blame for allowing inexperienced referees to officiate games that many did not have the skills or training to handle.  Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said the league had 'tarnished" the league by putting inferior refs on the field and apologized to fans for the NFL.

"We look forward to having the finest officials in sports back on the field and I want to give a special thanks to NFL fans for their passion," said Goodell of the agreement.  "Now it's time to put the focus back on the teams and players where it belongs."

The 121 regular referees' average salaries will increase from $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013 rising to $205,000 in 2019.

The timetable for the final signing off on the deal is expected to be minimal.  The officials need to meet to ratify any proposal accepted by  the NFLRA's board of directors.  They are expected to vote on it in Dallas on Saturday.

A day after the real referees came out looking like winners, the other beneficiaries are the fans and the players — even after suffering through weeks of the rent-a-refs.

Meanwhile, the owners came out looking like arrogant Scrooges.

But the big loser was Goodell — who came out looking unsympathetic to the fans and player's gripes about the poor officiating that had head coaches steaming.  The NFL fined four coaches — including New England's Bill Belichick and Denver's John Fox — for demonstrative acts against the replacements.  Belichick drew a $50,000 fine for grabbing an official after the Patriots lost.

For the Green Bay Packers, the agreement came three days too late.

Autistic basketball hero Jason McElwain qualifies for Boston Marathon

Add another chapter to the amazing athletic exploits of the autistic Rochester, N.Y. man who made national headlines by scoring 20 points in four minutes in the only high school game he ever played in.

Six years ago, Jason McElwain came off the bench to become a YouTube sensation and inspiration for millions.  This weekend, the 23-year old McElwain qualified for the Boston Marathon by finishing the MVP Health Care Rochester Marathon in 3 hours, 1 minute and 41 seconds — the first marathon he has ever competed in.

McElwain finished in 15th place and qualified for the Boston classic by finishing in under 3:05.  The supermarket baker, known as J-Mac, hopes to run in Boston in 2014.




McElwain was the student-manager of the Greece Athena High School team when coach Jim Johnson put him in the final game of the season in 2006.  With four minutes left, J-Mac hit six 3-point shots and two free throws sending the crowd into a wild frenzy.

The video went viral and has been viewed millions of times.  The inspirational McElwain went on to meet then-President George W. Bush and appear with Oprah Winfrey.  The movie rights were bought by former NBA star Magic Johnson.

About his unforgettable game,  the unflappable McElwain explained that he was "hotter than a pistol."

Besides working in the bakery, McElwain  is an assistant JV basketball coach.  He began his marathon training about a year ago.

This is one guy that's never been out of the running anyway.

Aaron Rodgers rips NFL, apologizes to fans

The NFL released a statement Tuesday with a double-discount excuse for what most people concede was an atrocious ruling at the end of Monday night's Green Bay Packers-Seattle Seahawks game.  In case you've been living under a rock, the NFL said it agreed with the decision not to overturn the touchdown on replay although it never said the initial call of a simultaneous catch was correct.  Got it.

A few hours later, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was more direct on his radio talk show on WAUK-AM Milwaukee.  Rodgers was more animated than at his press conference following his team's shocking loss.  He opened up the show by joking to host, Jason Wilde, "I'd say this is a highly anticipated show today."

Rodgers took a more angry tone after the opening crack while discussing the game-winning Hail Mary pass that gave Seattle the debatable victory.

"First of all, I've got to do something that the NFL is not going to do: I have to apologize to the fans," Rodgers said.  "Our sport is a multi-billion dollar machine, generated by people who pay good money to come watch us play.  The product on the field is not being complemented by an an appropriate set of officials.  The games are getting out of control.

"My thing is I just feel bad for the fans. They pay good money to watch this," he continued.  "The game is being tarnished by an NFL that obviously cares more about saving some money than having the integrity of the game diminished a bit."

Rodgers called the NFL's backing of the controversial call "bold" — and not in a good sense.

Rodgers went on to read the NFL statement in a harsh and sarcastic tone and noted how it was worded: "the officials determined both [Golden] Tate and [M.D.] Jennings had possession of the ball" when the players fell to the ground.

"I call bull on that because they say 'officials,'" Rodgers sniffed.  "There was zero communication between them."

The bitter quarterback went on to rip the simultaneous rule — who has the ball on their chest first.

"That's garbage, obviously," said Rodgers. "They're covering their butt here ... I mean, come on.  That's embarrassing."

Rodgers went on to rip the officials for coming into the Packers locker room to pull out players for a meaningless extra point claiming they "got kind of a rude welcome."  He also beefed about the crowd on the field after the fiasco in the end zone.

"How did all those people get on the field?  It was a mob scene over there," he said.  "It's unbelievable.  It was chaos."

Not as chaotic as it is in the NFL offices right now.

Victor Cruz: I would not take credit for Golden Tate's controversial catch

You can't look anywhere today without seeing replays of Monday Night Football's controversial touchdown call — or non-call, if you prefer — that gave the Seattle Seahawks a last second victory over the Green Bay Packers.

Seahawks rookie quarterback Russell Wilson's Hail Mary pass as time expired was credited as a touchdown to his receiver Golden Tate — even after Packers cornerback M.D. Jennings came up with the ball.  In the mad scramble for the ball on the play,  one replacement referee signaled "touchback" and another raised his arms showing "touchdown."  After a review, the TD call stood.

While Tate told SiriusXM NFL Radio he had no problem saying he deserved credit for the touchdown catch.  "I know I had the ball," he said in the  postgame interview.  Jennings said if Tate was asked to take a lie detector test, he would fail.

On ESPN's Mike & Mike Morning Show Tuesday, New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz told his hosts that he doesn't think he would have taken credit for the touchdown catch like Tate did.

"Probably not.  I would have been honest," said Cruz.  "Obviously, the film shows, the video shows that I obviously didn't catch the football.  I wouldn't have owned up to catching it, if I didn't catch it."

The salsa-dancing Cruz thought the replacement referees made the wrong call.

"I thought it was a tough play," said Cruz.  "Obviously the refs at least have to agree on the call at the very end.  But obviously I felt like it was the wrong call.  We hated it, we wished it wouldn't come down to something like this with the replacement refs, but unfortunately it has.  And it cost Green Bay the game."

Cruz went on to confess that players are getting more physical and getting away with more infractions because of the replacements.

"I feel like the defenders — and I would do the same thing, if they're seeing that some of the refs aren't calling some of these downfield holding calls or pass interference or whatever the case may be.  I would start using that to my advantage, start holding a little bit and stuff like that."

And the frustration goes beyond the New York Giants' players.

The blown call even has New Jersey politicians calling for the rent-a-refs' heads.  Just hours after the Packers were victims of the inept referee crew,  a State Senator wants to block replacement referees from working pro football games in New Jersey.

They take their football seriously — and honestly — in the Garden State.

Jets linebacker clarifies remark on injured Reggie Bush

A day after New York Jets linebacker Calvin Pace's remarks made it sound like his team had put out a bounty on Miami Dolphins running back Reggie Bush, Pace claimed his comments were taken out of context and misunderstood.

Bush injured his left knee right before halftime and didn't take the field for the rest of the game.  After the Jets emotional 23-20 overtime victory over the Dolphins, Pace was asked about Bush's injury and said, "I guess he was doing his thing for a quarter or two.  We had to put him on out.  I didn't see him again."

On Monday, Pace threw out the notion that the comment was referring to a New Orleans Saints-like "bounty" arrangement.

"I wasn't trying to say it as if we were trying to hurt him," Pace said.  "I'm sad to see him get hurt.  We aren't running any kind of bounty system or anything like that.  Actually, just looking at the play, somebody just kind of fell on his knee.  It wasn't anything malicious ... I guess I need to say things in a different manner.  I'll do a better job of it next time."

Pace sounded like he was trying to say that Gang Green's defense had to keep hitting Bush to wear him down.  Bush gained 61 yards on 10 carries before he got hurt running out the clock before the half.

An MRI showed that Bush knee suffered no structural damage but his return to the field is unclear.  He could suit up this Sunday against Arizona if his the swelling goes down.