Occasionally I do go off the board, especially for my favorite teams.

Yesterday it came down from the St. Pete Times that Matt Garza had a special gift for his teammates to thank them for their assistance in his no-hitter this past Monday night:

Image from the St. Petersburg Times

Crown Royal made special embroidered bottle bags for his teammates containing bottles of their premium Crown Royal Black whiskey.

Nikco Sports is producing a special commemorative plaque for the no-hitter. The limited edition of 500 will feature two photos: one of Garza, and one of the scoreboard at the end of the game. It will also contain a piece of one of the balls used in the game. The plaque will cost $99, with proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Call 1-800-345-2868 for order details; it is not available on Nikco’s website yet.

Also coming up: the first 10,000 fans into this Monday’s game against the Minnesota Twins (who happen to be the team we acquired Garza from) will get a special two-sided poster. One side with Garza, the other side with a replica of the lineup placard. Other specials to commemorate the Rays’ first ever no-hitter are being planned.

Also as it so happens, Matt Garza is pitching tonight against the New York Yankees. Game time is 7:10pm on Sun Sports, but the game is sold out. If you really want to come out–because not only is Garza pitching again, but Alex Rodriguez is still sitting on 599 home runs–tickets are still available for a premium on Stubhub.

The Florida Tuskers have unveiled their new personalized uniforms for the 2010 season.

Image from the UFL.

Dominic Rhodes and Chas Gessner took part in the fashion show-style unveiling today at the Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas. The new uniforms are largely black with sky blue highlights. Home jerseys are black with blue type, and away jerseys are white with black type. It also features a new logotype, though the original Tuskers mascot logo will be retained. In fact, the helmet itself is virtually unchanged.

A detailed PDF of the Tuskers uniform design is located here.

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The UFL also announced that New England Sports Network, NESN, will be the third broadcast partner for the UFL in 2010.

The role of NESN is actually quite exaggerated. They will be airing two of the four Hartford Colonials home games.

The announcement does carry the final schedule with airtimes, however.

Saturday 9/18 @ Las Vegas, 11pm EDT on HDNet
Saturday 9/25 @ Sacramento, 11pm EDT on Versus
Thursday 9/30 vs. Las Vegas, 6pm EDT on Versus
Saturday 10/9 @ Hartford, 3pm EDT on Versus
Thursday 10/21 vs. Sacramento, 7pm EDT on HDNet
Friday 11/5 vs. Omaha, 8pm EDT on HDNet
Thursday, 11/11 vs. Hartford, 7pm EST on HDNet
Friday, 11/19 @ Omaha, 8:30pm EST on HDNet

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As an interesting footnote, the current poll on the UFL website about the most anticipated UFL player in 2010, tied for first with 30% of the vote is UCF wide receiver Rocky Ross. Ross is playing for the Tuskers.

QB Daunte Culpepper is third with 25% of the vote. He is playing for Sacramento.

The Orlando Predators clinched the last AFL playoff spot in a 49-21 victory over the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz this past Saturday night.

The victory meant the Predators could close Amway Arena the way it was always meant to.

QB Nick Hill threw 15-of-22 for 217 yards. Robert Quiroga caught for 115 yards and 4 touchdowns.

A loss the previous weekend in Milwaukee dashed any remaining hopes that the Preds might earn a home Arena Bowl, which were already infinitesimal at that point but still mathematically possible.

The old arena is now ready to go quietly into that good night. There’s still a few concerts and one last Disney On Ice tour, but its sports history is all written, with contributions from the Predators, Magic, Lightning, Solar Bears, Seals, Jackals, Titans and so many others.

Although plans are not yet set in stone, the way appears clear for Amway Arena to be torn down and replaced with a new high-tech enclave. Personally I think there are better things to do with the land, like a soccer-specific stadium.

As for the Predators, they have one last regular-season game left Saturday night at Tampa Bay, before heading off to the playoffs. They will be back in 2011 at the new Amway Center. There’s already proposed 2011 season ticket pricing on the website. The floor plan isn’t accurate, but the point is that they don’t plan to change ticket prices.

Character actor James Gammon, an Orlando resident best known for his role as manager Lou Brown in the Major League films, passed away today at his home in Costa Mesa, California, aged 70.

Gammon was a respected character actor who will always be remembered as the fiery but light-hearted mentor of the misfit Cleveland Indians in the 1989 film Major League, and its 1994 sequel, Major League II.

Gammon was a graduate of Boone High School, c/o 1959, and got started in television as a cameraman at WDBO channel 6 (now WKMG), before embarking on an acting career. He had since pioneered a reunion group for the TV station.

He suffered an aggressive recurrence of cancer last month.

Just because you’ve heard no news lately on Orlando Pro Soccer does not mean nothing has been happening. It’s actually been very busy behind the scenes.

I had a talk with Steve Donner last night at the Tuskers fan club organizational meeting.

(He was there because the Tuskers are running season ticket sales out of the Titans home office.)

There hasn’t been an announcement because of scheduling conflicts on the part of the team’s potential European partners. When they’re able to come here and make things official, which Donner hopes will be within the next month, an announcement will occur thereafter.

He did say a name-the-team contest will be forthcoming.

Today is my 30th birthday.

Some interesting things in sport that happened on July 14:

• In 1969, El Salvador launched bombing raids on Honduras, beginning the Football War. The war was fought over a pair of soccer games for CONCACAF qualification to the 1970 FIFA World Cup, where riots ensued following both matches in their tie as well as a tiebreaker in neutral Mexico City that June. El Salvador won the war militarily, but were sanctioned internationally for the brute force they exerted over Honduras. They ultimately qualified for the World Cup, but failed to score in their group, where they were dominated by the Soviet Union, Mexico and Belgium.
• Being the period of the MLB All-Star Game, several occured on this date. The first was 1953, at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field, when the NL beat the AL, 5-1. Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves was the winning pitcher. (They didn’t name MVPs until 1962.) In 1970, again in Cincinnati but at the brand new Riverfront Stadium, the NL beat the AL, 5-4 in 12 innings. Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox–yes, an AL player–was named MVP. This was the infamous game where Pete Rose careened into Ray Fosse at home plate to score the winning run. Examination of replays showed he initially wanted to slide, but stumbled and rammed directly into Fosse, injuring the catcher. Fosse, an up-and-coming star to that point, would never be the same. In 1987, at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, the NL beat the AL, 2-0 in 13 innings. Tim Raines of the Montreal Expos was MVP. In 1992, at what is now Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the AL beat the NL, 13-6. Ken Griffey, Jr., of the Seattle Mariners was MVP. Last year’s All-Star Game at Busch Stadium III in St. Louis was also on July 14. The AL beat the NL, 4-3. Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays was MVP.
• This date also sometimes falls in the window for the FIFA World Cup. In 1930, the first tournament, two opening round games were played on July 14 in Uruguay. Romania beat Peru, 3-1, and Yugoslavia beat Brazil, 2-1. Beyond that, the date itself has seen no action. It was a rest day in the final group stage in 1950 (the final was determined by a round robin at the time), and was a rest day between the semifinal and finals in 1994.

Among the sports birthdays are football players Roosevelt Grier and Darelle Revis; baseball players Robin Ventura, Jose Hernandez, Tim Hudson and Bernie Castro; basketball players Erick Dampier and Renaldo Balkman; soccer players Nilmar (Brazil), Billy Celeski (Australia), Adam Johnson (England) and James Vaughan (England); and professional wrestlers Jeff Jarrett and Mark Lamonica (Brother Ray in TNA).

It also would’ve been the birthday of golfer Erica Blasberg, but she died earlier this year. Her death in May was under suspicious circumstances, and is still under investigation at this time.

Before I head to the Florida Tuskers fan club meeting today, I just got a new press release.

The Tuskers have announced that their 2010 games will be aired on the radio on 740 the Game, WYGM. The broadcast team will be announced at a later date. They will also have a weekly preview show as part of The Sports Rx with the Shot Doctor, David Buffa and Scott Harris.

It will also be heard in FM on HD Radio at WTKS 104.1 HD-3, which is a WTKS simulcast.

The WYGM website has been done up in Tuskers colors, with prominent use of the Tuskers logo.

A different announcement is expected to occur at the meeting tonight, so head downtown to Ember to find out about the fan club!

Yesterday, while I was wrestling with fixing my blog, the UFL took the conditional tag off Norfolk for a 2011 UFL team.

But the story does not end there. Apparently, Virginia Beach is courting the team to host them at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex. The stadium there, built as a soccer-specific stadium (it claims to be the first of its kind in America, finished in 1999), holds 10,789 people.

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And just a quick reminder that the organizational meeting for the Florida Tuskers fan club is TONIGHT at 6pm at Ember bar and nightclub in Downtown Orlando, 42 W. Central Blvd. (The UFL website is WRONG. They are stating 46 N. Orange Ave.) The nearest public parking is at 55 W. Central Blvd.

If I win the lottery, I want to buy a sports team.

Be it the Orlando Titans, the Orlando Predators, an MLS franchise, or if I had the money the Orlando Magic themselves.

And I would invest all my money to make them the greatest team ever.

Just like George Steinbrenner.

In 1973, George Steinbrenner did what every die-hard sports fan wishes they could do. He used the fortune he made in his father’s shipping business and bought his favorite team. That team happened to be the New York Yankees.

Not by himself, initially, but eventually he would own it all.

He got to work on building a team that would live up to the then-20 championships it already owned.

He did it by spending money. He made it cool, and exploited the new concept of free agency to hire the best players and staff money could buy.

Wouldn’t you do the same if you had the money?

37 years and seven World Series Championships later, the New York Yankees are at the top of the sporting universe again.

It certainly wasn’t foolproof. If it were, the Yankees would’ve won closer to 25 titles under George’s ownership. And not everybody liked the changes his way of doing business brought. But if he hadn’t have done it, somebody else would.

Plenty of people hate the Yankees–and, by extension, hated George–because of their success. But no matter how they try to pass it off as something else, you have to be honest. The primary factor is jealousy.

You want your team to have what the Yankees have. You want what George had.

It’s the same reason why many people hate the Red Sox now as well, because they decided to try to beat George at his own game. It’s the same reason many people hate the biggest European soccer franchises.

George made winning at all monetary costs cool. That is his legacy.

Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t say he didn’t make things interesting.

And you can’t say you wouldn’t do the same thing if you had the ability.

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.

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I am currently researching a new look for the site.