Posts by Josh Alper at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Who likes short shorts? Not the members of the United States men's indoor volleyball team. Raised in a culture where longer shorts have become the norm, they're chafing at the prospect of wearing revealing uniforms for the competition in Beijing.

Outside hitter Reid Priddy spoke to the New York Times about the team's desire to wear something a little more current than the NBA of the 80's grape-smugglers preferred by most of the volleyball world.

"Volleyball is a European-dominated thing and they really like these fitted, cute little outfits, so that's what we have to wear. But our style is more X-Games, beach kind of stuff. I have tan lines past my knee to prove it."

The sport's governing body, FIBV, mandates a four-inch inseam on shorts worn in competition. The team made a YouTube video poking fun at the ruling and showing them attempting to raise money to pay off a fine for breaking the rules during the Olympics.

I'm for teams wearing whatever length of shorts they want, so long as Misty May-Treanor's uniform remains unchanged during her matches. Hopefully the American side won't let their fashion concerns stand in the way of ending their 16-year medal drought in Olympic competition.

(H/T SportsbyBrooks)

The Yankees have lost their last three games, scoring four runs in the process, which isn't sitting well with a certain member of the organization. If you don't know which member, well, you haven't been paying attention to the Bronx Bombers in the Hank Steinbrenner era.

As is often the case when Lil' Stein spouts off, he buries a perfectly valid point behind bluster that makes it hard to see the forest for the trees.

"We've got to start hitting. It's getting ridiculous. They've got to start waking up. They've shown in flashes what they can still do...We all know they're better than that. I don't know. Maybe a little less outside distractions and a little more concentrating and they'll start hitting better. I thought they would go on a consistent tear, and it hasn't happened yet."

He's dead on about the Yankee bats which, with a few exceptions, have been underwhelming this season. They're right in the middle of the American League, which is much lower than expected for that lineup.

But what are these outside distractions? Is that a reference to the A-Rod/Madonna hullabaloo? The return of ice cream to the clubhouse? I'd love to know if it is. Otherwise, the biggest outside distraction is that every time the Yankees hit a dry spell their owner crushes them in the press. Have the conversation with Brian Cashman or Joe Girardi or whoever, so long as they don't have a press card tucked into their hat band.

It's not been a good year for the groins of baseball players. Before the season even started we saw Felix Pie miss time with a twisted testicle and, on Monday, a fastball found Jose Molina's jewels. Molina's okay and it would appear he got off easy. On the same night, Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder took a foul tip to the groin. He went on the 15-day disabled list yesterday with a fractured left testicle.

I know what you're thinking, one of the things anyway, how can you fracture something that isn't a bone? Fairly easily, it seems.

Each testicle is surrounded by the tunica albuginea, a tough, fibrous covering that often takes the hit of trauma to the gland. Like the shell of an egg, it can be easily "fractured" or shattered when confronted by a blunt or violent force.

Kaz Matsui's anal fissures never sounded so good. We'll take a brief pause at this time to allow our male readers to take a deep breath and thank the heavens that they aren't Chris Snyder this morning.

And we're back! Snyder will have surgery to repair the injured testicle today and is, shockingly, not expected to miss much time. The D-Backs expect to have him back after the All-Star Game. I expect to stop grimacing in pain at the thought sometime this afternoon.

If you've watched either of Tampa's wins against the Red Sox this week, you've noticed that there are an awful lot of Sox fans at the games. That's great for the atmosphere because instead of a soulless dome, the Trop actually has a buzz and some intensity, but they've brought some of the other elements of fandom along with them. From Awful Announcing, via Red Sox Monster, comes a fan who epitomizes grace in the face of defeat.
Has there been some kind of mandate that announcers have to ignore someone flipping the bird? The Fox guys did the same thing with Kerry Wood this weekend. I realize it's unfortunate for the broadcast to pick it up but it's not the end of the world. As a citizen and baseball fan, the pink hat riles me up much more.

It's pretty common to see a college team using a live animal as their mascot. Ralphie the Buffalo leads Colorado's football team onto the field, for example, and a succession of bulldogs named Uga have inspired Georgia. It's not quite as common in the NFL, though. Most of the time NFL players and animals meet up, the consequences aren't that great for either side.

The Ravens are trying to change that, however, by using a pair of actual ravens as part of pre-game festivities. That caught the eye of PETA who are urging the team to rethink their plan.

"[The] bright lights, screaming fans, and loud noises - such as air horns, bands, and amplified sound systems - are terrifying for animals who can't possibly understand what is going on. Regardless of how these birds are trained, they are likely to be severely distressed by the overwhelming confusion of the situation."

Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun asks a good question: Why should they be treated any differently than Kyle Boller?

I'm all for treating animals with respect but judging from the amount of birds that seem to make their homes in stadiums, this seems a bit overblown. They might lack understanding of what's going on but that doesn't seem to affect them enough to steer clear of loud, bright places. The Ravens appear to agree and indicated that they won't be changing their plans.

Well, that didn't take very long. Willie Andrews, arrested for pointing a gun at the head of his fiancee over the weekend, was released by the New England Patriots today.

It didn't take Nostradamus to see this move coming. Andrews had already been arrested once this offseason, a marijuana charge, when police were summoned to his apartment on Sunday night. He faces charges of a assault with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm after allegedly placing the gun on his girlfriend's temple because he thought she was cheating on him.

On the great scale of NFL justice, talent is always weighed against criminal activity. Andrews's importance to the team couldn't overcome the embarrassment he's brought them over the past few months. He'll probably face disciplinary action from the NFL if another team deems him worthy of a chance but I wouldn't hold my breath for the next sighting of Andrews on a Sunday afternoon.

In semi-related news, Andrews's release adds to what's been a hellish offseason for the Boston Herald. The paper lauded Andrews for turning his life around late last month. Time for another retraction.

For Billy Joel, Allentown is a metaphor for the hard-working, patriotic Americans of a bygone era. For a major leaguer with 209 games of experience, like Brett Myers for example, it represents the nadir of a season in which very little has gone right.

Myers got sent to Allentown, home of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs by the Phillies today in an effort to straighten out his pitching. His removal from the rotation isn't that big a surprise. The Phillies were openly contemplating such a move after the shortest start of his major league career on Friday but it was expected that Myers would return to his 2007 home in the bullpen. This is a much longer trip.

Because of his experience, Myers could have refused the assignment to AAA. His acceptance means he'll remain a starter, which isn't something that's always appealed to him, and his attitude received compliments from GM Pat Gillick.

"I can't say enough about Brett's willingness to accept this assignment. He understood and is eager to get back on track again. He is struggling right now, but he is a quality major league pitcher who we are going to need in the second half of the season."

It's not yet known who will replace Myers in the rotation but this is sure to amp up their quest to land a quality starter on the trade market. With three teams within four games of them in the East, they can't afford to stick with their current starters.

Barry Bonds's 756th home run has been celebrated by some and denigrated by others but visitors to the Baseball Hall of Fame won't be able to see the ball he blasted into the stands either way. Talks between Marc Ecko, the clothing entrepreneur who bought the ball at auction, and officials from the Hall have come to an impasse, leaving one of baseball's most infamous artifacts without a place in Cooperstown.

The problem lies with Ecko's reluctance to hand the ball over on a permanent basis, according to a statement released by the Hall.

"The owner's previous commitment to unconditionally donate the baseball has changed to a loan. As a result, the Hall of Fame will not be able to accept the baseball. Should the owner choose to unconditionally donate the ball to the museum at a future date, we would be delighted and of course, accept his offer."

The vast majority of items in the Hall's collection were donated for perpetuity. The Hall already has Bonds's batting helmets from the record-breaker and only makes exceptions when nothing else is available.

Originally, the Hall was queasy about the plan to put an asterisk on the ball. If it were so branded, though, it would help tell the full story of Bonds and the home run record. Regardless of what you think about Bonds, the ball and the homer are a big piece of baseball history and should be exhibited in the game's museum.

Before he put the finishing touches on David Diaz, boxing fans started wondering who Manny Pacquiao would fight next. Names like Nate Campbell and Ricky Hatton got tossed around but, as our own MDS mentioned, promoter Bob Arum kept talking about was Edwin Valero. Arum went even further in a telephone interview yesterday. Via Bad Left Hook,

In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports, Arum said that he was "pretty close to making a deal with (Akihiko) Honda", the well-known Japanese businessman-sportsman who handles Valero, adding "hopefully I will be able to finalize it tomorrow (Monday in the US)"

The fight makes a lot of sense for both men. Valero is having trouble making weight at 130 so moving up is a natural progression while Pacquiao would like to get one defense under his belt before trying to make a fight with seasoned lightweights like Joel Casamayor (if he beats two-time Pacman foe Juan Manuel Marquez) or Campbell.

The only snag could be Valero's failure to gain medical clearance from any state other than Texas. Arum said he'd like to make the fight in Vegas, probably in November, so that's a stumbling block but likely a minor one. Valero's won all 24 of his fights by knockout but has never faced anyone close to Pacquiao. Vanquishing a fighter with that pedigree will only burnish Pacquiao as he moves on to other big fights down the line.

Here's a look at upcoming title and televised bouts for the month of July. It's a pretty light month until July 26 when undefeated Miguel Cotto defends his welterweight title against Antonio Margarito. It's a bout worthy of pay-per-view as both men come in full of confidence and fighting as well as they ever have. Margarito will keep coming no matter what kind of bombs Cotto throws his way and Cotto has rarely been tested by a fighter with Margarito's ability. The winner will unquestionably be the best welterweight in the world.

The other fight that will garner a lot of attention will be Wladimir Klitschko's heavyweight title defense against Tony Thompson. There's not as much question about who will be left standing at the end of this one, Klitschko's a heavy favorite, but lingering questions about the champ's chin should make this a must-see as well. Make no mistake, though, Cotto-Margarito is the one fight you can't miss this month.