In the cleverly-titled column, "City of Brotherly Love? My butt!", Wells hits all the main points one desires to touch on when ripping on Philadelphia ("It's not Brotherly Love in that town - it's Brotherly Hate." - zing!), although to his credit, he managed to show some restraint and refrained from discussing how Philadelphians once booed and threw snowballs at Santa. He does not, however, quell any stereotypes regarding the typical Philly fan, so apparently, the Yankees - and any broadcaster, for that matter - better be ready for the onslaught.

Wells relays a story about how fans called Cal Ripken a homo when the TBS baseball studio crew were doing a broadcast from Citizens Bank Park during the playoffs.

When I was in Philadelphia earlier this postseason with Cal Ripken Jr., Dennis Eckersley and Ernie Johnson for TBS, we got booed. We were just doing our show out in center field and people were walking by saying "You fat piece of [bleep]. . . . Tell Cal he's gay. . . . Ernie Johnson sucks."

I'm like, "Who the hell are these people?" We've got no part of baseball.

We're doing the game and TBS stuff and these Phillies fans are just f-bombing us to death.

How dare they, right? Wells does maintain that there are "true good fans in Philly who are respectable and do the right thing," the bad apples "take away from the good fans they have there, because I think Philadelphia does have some good fans." Aw, that's nice. I'm sure the residents of Philadelphia who aren't mouth-breathing mongoloids appreciate his deference.

Overall, it isn't a bad column given that I didn't even know that David Wells knew how to read, let alone write. I'm thinking Pulitzer!

City of Brotherly Love? My butt! [New York Post]

The lawsuit suit, filed by former MSG Network president Bob Gutkowski says he introduced the idea for a Yankee-centric network to Steinbrenner over the course of several meetings back in the 90s, after which Steinbrenner assured him either an upper-level development position or bags of money in the event of a deal. When neither came, he tried to schedule a meeting to gripe.

Gutkowski never got that meeting, although he did receive a textbook shaft, courtesy of the Boss.

In Gutkowski's words:

"[T]heir position was to stall me, string me along and, in the end, block the meeting. Their actions made it clear that the only way for me to be fairly compensated for the idea that I brought to George and the work that I performed was to sue him."

Sorry it had to come to this, Bob.

[ [NYTimes]

In light of today's allegations that Rodriguez tested positive for two banned substances in 2003, this blunt denial by Rodriguez seems somewhat humorous. But then again, isn't everything A-Rod does kind of humorous? Oh, and Katie - I know you're trying hard to be taken seriously as a journalist, but the soft focus on the interview sure doesn't help the image. Here's your money quotes:

"For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?" Couric asked.

"No," Rodriguez replied.

Asked if he had ever been tempted to use any of those things, Rodriguez told Couric, "No."

"You never felt like, 'This guy's doing it, maybe I should look into this, too? He's getting better numbers, playing better ball,'" Couric asked.

"I've never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I've always been a very strong, dominant position. And I felt that if I did my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn't have a problem competing at any level. So, no," he replied.

I have a feeling this is going to be a fun story.

[CBS News]

In a story published today on SI.com that will probably not surprise the readership of this site but that will provide Around The Horn with weeks of material, Selena Roberts and David Epstein write that Rodriguez tested positive for both the anabolic steroid Primobolan and, in a surprising twist, testosterone:

Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

Surprised? You shouldn't be if you've been listening to the one man who's, oddly enough, been right more often than not throughout this whole steroids issue, Jose Canseco. Last March, Will Leitch wrote about Canseco's book, Vindicated, in which Rodriguez is tied to steroids.

As for Alex Rodriguez, Canseco says he didn't inject Rodriguez, but that he "introduced Alex to a known supplier of steroids." Canseco didn't mention Rodriguez in the first book because he "hated the bastard." He was worried that people would have "questioned [his] motives" had he included Rodriguez.

Why all the hatred, you ask. Well, Canseco claims that A-Rod was trying to sleep with Canseco's wife. Apparently, even after Canseco had been nice enough to help A-Rod find a friendly steroids supplier, A-Rod kept calling Canseco's wife.

And, in case there's any further confusion about Canseco's true feelings, he ends the chapter by saying:

So A-Rod, if you're reading this book, and if I'm not getting through to you, let's get clear on one thing: I hate your fucking guts.

It's hard to admit it, but it looks like Jose Canseco was right again.

Former Yankee and Country Buffet enthusiast David Wells gets his licks in on Tim Montemayor's show on Sporting News Radio recently. Let's listen to the fun.

Joe Torre should be called J-Fraud. He managed guys like Jeter — guys that were very easy to manage — those everyday players. But when there were guys under the bubble that were struggling, or basket cases like me I guess, he didn’t want anything to do with us.

Joe, he wasn’t tough on guys, he just treated you like crap. If you weren’t in his little circle — the circle of trust — then he could care less about you. I’ve had quite a few confrontations with him. It’s like guys get to fly early … I had to fly with the team — it’s stuff like that. If you’re going to do it for one guy, you might as well do it for the rest, and that’s what he didn’t do with the majority of guys.

Among Torre's boys, according to Wells, were Paul O'Neill, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens.

Then, on "The Mason & Ireland Show," 710-AM ESPN Radio in Los Angeles, Wells talked about the line in the Torre book in which he wrote "The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to."

"I'm kind of like blown away because of the fact that he's coming out and he's bashing," Wells said. "I found out last night that he was bashing me and Kevin Brown. He bashed Kevin Brown as a player, when he said he tried to make his life miserable. Nobody tries to make anybody's life miserable out there on the diamond. You're there for one reason and one reason only, and that's to win. If I was trying to make his life miserable, I would have succeeded.

"What we do as athletes, that's our problem, our business, and a lot of guys have come out and destroyed that," Wells said. "That's why they don't have any friends. You just don't do that, and that's what Joe did. When you break the code, you're a punk."

No telling where this will end; I'm just hoping it doesn't end soon. Any bat boys or security guards who have a Yankee story they'd like to relate? New York cabbie: "Torre was a lousy tipper." That book, co-written by me, will be out in May.

David Wells Calls Out Joe Torre: J-Fraud [Larry Brown Sports]
Wells Comments On Torre's Book [MLB.com]
David Wells: Joe Torre Had His 'Boys' [Newsday]

There's a slew of big free agent names (none bigger than LeBron James) that threaten to completely change the League landscape in a couple of years.

Speaking of James, he finally decided to throw Cavs fans a bone yesterday, hinting at the possibility that might not only stay in town for a few more years, but also sign his contract extension well before 2010.

James said Saturday that he is going to consider signing an extension with the Cavaliers this summer, well before he can become an unrestricted free agent.

"You play out this season of course; I will consider it," James said Saturday before the Cavs practiced at the Pepsi Center. "The direction we are headed is everything I expected and more."

Of course, the above means nothing at all - James didn't explicitly say he was going to sign the extension this summer; it is merely a possibility. But it's enough, for now.

It's also a lot better for the mental sanity of folks living in Ohio, than when their most iconic sports star gleefully tells the media how much he loves Gotham whenever he's asked about it.

LeBron James tells The PD's Brian Windhorst he'll consider signing extension with Cavs this summer [The Plain Dealer]

"I think the New England Patriots have won the division over the last couple of years, so the New England Patriots are the team to beat," the Patriots' all-world wide receiver said on a national conference call, responding to a specific question about the Jets' seemingly improved chances. Tom was a big, big, big component to make the offense move, and with him gone, we have to find other ways to make the offense move. But we're the team to beat, and we'll see what happens."

How about a real mooning this time instead of the fake variety? That should do it.

Randy Moss To Jetrs: Patriots Are Still 'The Team To Beat' [New York Daily News]

The creative sword-rattlers at ANIMAL New York decided that the Pope's visit was a perfect opportunity to promote their magazine/website and decided to hire two odd looking ladies to distribute specially made "Popeylactic" condoms outside of Yankee Stadium to those hoping to catch a glimpse of the old guy in the funny looking hat.

If you're going to sin, you might as well be safe.

On The Street: The Pope-ylactics Edition [ANIMAL]