Pro Sports Blog

Cliff Lee: Rangers’ TV deal actually worth $1.5 billion

Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News hears that the Rangers’ deal with FOX Sports Southwest is actually worth $1.5-1.6 billion, not $3 billion as reported by Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Grant also hears that the figure could include some up-front money to drive up the price a bit. According to John Ourand of Sports Business Journal, Fox Sports says USA Today published “wildly inflated” numbers when it said the regional sports network signed a $20-year, $3 billion with Rangers. It sounded like an absurd total at the time, so these reports make a bit more sense. Still, it looks like the Rangers are in pretty good shape for the foreseeable future.

(Source: Evan Grant on Twitter)

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – With the distractions of another Manning Bowl behind them, quarterbacking brothers Peyton and Eli Manning can focus on the rest of a demanding NFL season that could end with the ultimate sibling showdown – at the Super Bowl.

Peyton Manning showed no mercy to his younger brother as the Indianapolis Colts crushed the New York Giants 38-14 on Sunday to maintain a vice-like grip on the family bragging rights.

After a Week One loss to the Houston Texans, the Colts looked every bit the Super Bowl contenders they are expected to be this season as they overwhelmed the Giants, Peyton throwing for three touchdowns while a swarming Indianapolis defense harassed little brother Eli all night.

While the Mannings embraced the Manning Bowl II hype they were relieved to have it over with, although Peyton hinted at a game plan that might see them renew the family feud in February in Dallas on one of the sporting world’s biggest stages.

Peyton said he and the Colts are prepared to do what they can to help Eli and the Giants and expects little brother to return the favor, starting next weekend when New York host Indy’s AFC South rivals the Tennessee Titans.

“I think they (Giants) will be fine,” Peyton told reporters. “They will be playing the Titans next week and we’ll be pulling hard for them, hopefully they can help us out in the AFC South and we’re going to do our best to help them when we play all these other NFC East teams.

“So I’m real proud of him and I love him.”

RARE REUNION

Manning family reunions on the field are rare, Sunday’s rout marking just the second time and first in four years they had stared across at each other from opposing sidelines.

When the brothers met in the first Manning Bowl in 2006, Peyton, who is five years older, was already well on his way to a Hall of Fame career while Eli was just beginning his third season and still undergoing intense on the job training.

Since that night at Giants Stadium, both Eli and Peyton have gone on to lead their teams to Super Bowl titles and Super Bowl most valuable player awards.

But despite their impressive resumes, a Super Bowl-like build-up and a prime time television audience, Manning Bowl II failed to produce any drama as Peyton schooled Eli, delivering a quarterbacking master class.

Peyton Manning is known to sometimes wander over to the Colts defense during a game and ask them to turn up the heat on the opposing quarterback.

He might have wanted to ask them to dial it down a notch on Sunday, as Colts pass rushers had Eli scrambling for his life most of the night sacking the beleaguered Giants quarterback four times.

“He (Peyton) didn’t say anything to me,” smiled Colts sack master Dwight Freeney. “I’ll have to give it to him (Peyton).

“He normally gives me a little tap, ‘Get after that quarterback.’”

(L.A. Times) Don Mattingly will replace Joe Torre as manager of the Dodgers at the end of the season.

Mattingly has been the Dodgers hitting coach since the middle of the 2008 season, which was Torre’s first with the team. Before that, they were together with the New York Yankees.

The Dodgers announced earlier this season that Mattingly, who has never been a manager, would guide a team in the Arizona fall league, fueling speculation he was being prepared to take over the major league club.

The Times first reported the news about Torre stepping down, which was later confirmed in a statement from the team.

“It has been an incredible honor to wear the Dodger uniform and I will always carry with me some very special memories from the past three seasons,” Torre said in the Dodgers’ statement. “This was not a decision I took lightly but I believe it’s the right one for myself and my family and I’m truly thrilled that Donnie will be the one leading the Dodgers. It’s time that the Dodgers had a new voice and I have the utmost confidence in him. I know he’s ready for the challenge.”

A news conference is set for 5 p.m., before the Dodgers’ game against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

“The opportunity to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers is truly an honor,” Mattingly said. “There are few organizations in the world with the history, tradition and track record of success as the Dodgers. I’m looking forward to continuing what I came here to accomplish with Joe and that’s to win a World Championship.”

In that team statement, General Manager Ned Colletti said this of Mattingly and Torre:

“Over the past three years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Don closely and have gotten to know him both personally and professionally and I’m convinced that he’s the right person to lead the Dodgers. His work ethic is unparalleled, his baseball knowledge is vast and his leadership skills have been established during more than three decades in professional baseball.

“Donnie has also learned alongside the best in the business. Joe Torre has been a great friend, a strong leader and an incredible presence for this organization and I cannot thank him enough for his service to the Dodgers. I respect his decision to step aside and I look forward to the day where I can watch him take his rightful place in Cooperstown among baseball’s legends.”

Torre, 70, played in the big leagues for 18 seasons and is in his 29th season as a manager, the last three with the Dodgers. He guided the Dodgers to National League West Division championships in his first two seasons, both times advancing to the league championship series where they were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Torre’s contract expires at the end of this season, and with ownership of the team being decided in divorce court, talk of an extension was shelved months ago.

It is still possible Torre will remain with the Dodgers organization, according to one of the sources, who required anonymity because the team had not yet announced the move. Torre has been saying he would remain in baseball, but he has not counted out working for another club.

Torre’s record as a manager is 2,318-1,990, his victories the fifth-most by a manager in Major League history. But the Dodgers are currently 72-75 and are threatening to leave him with his first losing season in 15 years.

Mattingly, 49, guided the Dodgers in one preseason game this spring while Torre was in Taiwan, and it didn’t turn out well: The Dodgers were penalized for batting out of order because the lineup card that had been posted in the clubhouse—which the team was playing by—didn’t match the one given to the umpires.

That was followed by a game-changing blunder in July when Mattingly was filling in for Torre, who had been ejected from a game against the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers led in that game, 5-4, with one out in the ninth inning, the bases loaded, and All-Star closer Jonathan Broxton on the mound.

Mattingly visited in the mound to set the Dodgers defense, then, as he stepped off the mound, turned and stepped back onto the dirt as he fielded a final question from Dodgers first baseman James Loney.

That move — stepping back on the mound after he’d stepped off — constituted a second trip and umpires ordered Broxton removed from the game. The Giants then continued their rally, winning, 7-5.