Johan Santana gets 'trashed' at practice

The New York Mets season hasn't even started and the team's ace, Johan Santana, may already be preparing fans for the dumps.

Santana joked around with photographers yesterday by putting a big gray garbage can over his head during an idle moment at practice.

Call it garbage time in Port St. Lucie.

Maybe the left-hander should have been wearing one of those blue recycling bags since Santana— who missed all of last season while recovering from shoulder surgery— faced hitters Thursday for the first time since tossing four innings in an Instructional League game on Sept. 30

"I felt pretty good," Santana said after the outing. "I was able to throw for the first time having batters standing up at the plate and swing the bat.  It was pretty good."

Santana threw 43 pitched during two stints Thursday, resting in between. 

He is expected to throw a light bullpen session today and have a long-toss before starting s split-squad game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.

If Santana's arm doesn't gain full strength by the season opener, expect to see a lot of Mets fans sporting garbage cans over their heads this season.

Meet the Meh'ts?

Domenik Hixon wants to "repay" Giants for re-signing him

Domenik Hixon is one happy man tonight and vowed to "repay" the New York Giants for signing him to a new contract even after only playing four games— due to two ACL tears on his right knee— for the team over the past two seasons.

The speedy wide-out was in New York this morning to have his knee examined before meeting with Giants GM Jerry Reese at the team's facility in New Jersey.

He signed an undisclosed contract to return for a sixth season with the Giants.

Hixon couldn't contain his enthusiasm and tweeted,"I Just got done officially signing back with the Superbowl champs!!! #blessed #readytoplay."

How doubly refreshing for a pro athlete to know when he's been given an opportunity to play on a great team and for a pro franchise to show confidence in a player with a good work ethic and bad luck by giving him another shot.

"They gave me an opportunity when I got released from Denver (in 2007)," Hixon said in a press release after the signing.  "And then these past two years with knee injuries.  They stuck with me.  They could have cut me and let me be on my way and be done with me.  But they didn't do that.  They treated me the same and I really appreciate that."

Hixon is confident he'll be ready for the start of training camp and was told by the team physician Russ Warren he'll even be able to get some work in during the off-season workouts, OTAs and minicamp.

The 27-year old will follow the doctor's orders and believes he can come back strong after tearing his knee during a spectacular catch in only the second game of the 2011 season.

"We're just fine-tuning things now," said Hixon.  "My goal when I get back is to be at full speed and show the training staff and everyone else I'm physically ready to play and play it for years to come."

It sounds like Hixon will be battling it out with Ramses Barden and Jerrel Jernigan for the third spot in the receiving corps behind Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks if free-agent Mario Manningham leaves.

Manningham— one of 20 free-agents on the Giants— is trying to cash in on his impressive postseason and big fourth quarter Super Bowl catch.  He has already stated that he thinks the odds of him returning to the Meadowlands are slim.

On the other hand, the Giants will be keeping a player hungry to play and who downplays missing the bulk of two seasons as "interruptions."

"I know a lot of times in the NFL loyalty isn't that big," said Hixon.  "But in this situation, I really felt like I wanted to be here.  They helped me  but time and time again.  I wanted to stay here and repay that."

Classy guy and classy organization.

Former Yankees prospect Brien Taylor arrested on drug charges

The former No. 1 overall pick in Major League's amateur draft by the New York Yankees, former pitcher Brien Taylor, was arrested in his home town of Beaumont, N.C. on drug charges.

The flame-throwing pitcher— who's career was snuffed out even before it had a chance to glow— was arrested and charged with various drug charges on Thursday.

After the Yankees selected the left-hander with the top overall pick in the 1991 draft— the East Carteret High superstar— who had 213 strikeouts in 88 innings during his senior year— signed a contract worth  $1.55 million with the Bombers— an unheard of sum back then for an untested prospect.

George Steinbrenner was so desperate for the Yankees to sign their own equivalent of Dwight Gooden, he reportedly told his GM if he didn't sign Taylor at any cost, he would be "shot."

If you never heard of the highly-touted prospect— you probably weren't a pinstripes fan in the '90's— and you're not alone.

Taylor's long and sad road to obscurity began after the normally mild-mannered Taylor injured his shoulder in an off-season bar fight in 1993.  After a couple of decent minor league seasons, he never lived up to expectations after the brawl and was released by the Yankees in 1998.

The current charges against Taylor include possession and intent to sell and distribute cocaine after investigators bought " a large quantity of cocaine and crack from Taylor over a period of several months," according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

"Taylor is charged with 2 counts of trafficking in cocaine by possession, trafficking in cocaine by selling, trafficking in cocaine by manufacture, trafficking in cocaine by transport, and felony maintaining a vehicle."

He was also charged with one count each of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver cocaine.

Taylor was placed in Carteret County jail and scheduled for a court appearance today.

The Yankees went all-in on Taylor and lost it with that one fight.  Fans never got to see him on the mound at Yankee Stadium.

After brief stints of rehab in the minor leagues— he disappeared from the Yankees radar and out of sight within a couple of years.

Taylor was so highly regarded, he was expected to be in the Yankees rotation by the age of 19.   Now, Taylor's only legacy is what could have been.  His name has become synonymous with those few years of Yankees' futility.

After being released by the Yankees, Taylor supported himself with odd jobs and occasionally appeared in the news for various legal troubles.

Such a waste of talent and life.

Ref gets hit in the shnozz then lands on pom-poms

During Kentucky's rout of Georgia last night at Rupp Arena, a Bulldogs' errant pass was kicked squarely into the face of referee Antonio Payne who staggered back and fell but was lucky enough to land in a cushy pile of Wildcats cheerleaders and their pom-poms.

The wayward pass— which was accidently kicked out of bounds by a Kentucky player— seemed like one of many Georgia mistakes as top-ranked Kentucky steamrolled the Bulldogs, 79-49, to back up their No. 1 ranking.

While the Bullgogs were hitting the ref in the sniffer, Kentucky players hit 15 three-point shots.

The referee was fine— maybe too fine.

Obama: I knew about Lin before everyone else

You can agree or disagree that President Barack Obama knows more than most people when it comes to foreign policies or national budgets and will probably be the first person alerted to a nuclear attack but— on a podcast recorded earlier this week —the country's number one basket fan said he he knew about about Jeremy Lin long before Linsanity struck.

In an interview with ESPN's Bill Simmons, the President told him he knew Lin would become a star.

"I knew about Jeremy before you did, or anyone else did, because Arne Duncan, my Secretary of Education, was captain of the Harvard team," Obama said.  "And so way back when, Arne and I were playing and he said, 'I'm telling you, we've got this terrific guard named Jeremy Lin at Harvard.'  And then one of my best friends, his son is a freshman at Harvard, and so when he went for a recruiting trip he saw Lin in action.  So I've been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while."

Suddenly, Obama sounds less like the Leader of the Free World and more like Cliff— the know-it-all mailman— on "Cheers."

Duncan does know the game and was the MVP in last week's Celebrity Game at the NBA All-Star weekend in Orlando.

"What's interesting is the fact somehow folks were missing it in practice," said the Harvard-grad Obama about Lin.  "It's a terrific story.  He's seems like a wonderful young man.  And, look, it elevates this great game all around the world."

The President also revealed that he, and former top-aide Reggie Love, a former-Duke player, used to pass notes to his daughter's basketball coach during games— until she finally let them run practice.

Call it bi-partisan coaching.




"You want them to win so bad," he said.  "And when they run a play and it works— you're just ecstatic.  And a couple of heartbreaking losses and you're just feeling terrible.  But they're wonderful."

Kind of like The House and Senate voting on his health plan.

Obama said he is such a huge basketball fan, NBA League Pass is on his iPad.

The President also keeps his eye on college basketball.  Obama's annual tradition of picking the NCAA brackets live on ESPN is anticipated almost as much as his State of the Union addresses— without all of the hand-clapping.

If the President falls short of being re-elected in 2012, he shouldn't sweat.   I'm sure there will be a few NBA teams who could use a scout who was the first guy to spot Lin's talent.

VIDEO OF INTERVIEW

Navy SEALs deny training with Tiger

Tiger Woods never trained with the Navy SEALs and there was never any indication he planned to quit golf to join the elite team, a Navy SEALs spokeman said yesterday.

SEALs spokesman Capt. William Fenick told foxsports.com that Woods had visited the Naval Special Warfare Center on Coronado Island, Calif. "on a couple of occasions."

Fenick characterized Woods visit to the camp as a "walk and talk."

This is in stark contrast to Woods' former coach Hank Haney's assertion in his upcoming book, "The Big Miss," that the golfer was obsessed with becoming a SEAL and undertook "a program that approximated the training for a Navy SEAL candidate."

"The purpose was sort of a dry run to determine whether he could physically and mentally handle the demands," writes Haney.

No wonder Woods got so testy at that press conference yesterday when he was asked about the book— due to hit stores March 27, right before the Masters.




Fenick added that Woods did come to the camp but visits by celebrities are not uncommon and the SEALS are more obliged to accommodate requests from people of high visibility.

"We did give him the opportunity to shoot a couple of guns at out range but as for reports that he was doing SEALs training, he didn't do that with us," said Fenick.

In his book, Haney goes on to write: "To my knowledge, he [Tiger Woods] did train in parachuting, self-defense, urban-warfare simulations and shooting."

The portrait of Tiger being painted by Haney sounds a lot grander than Fenick's.

The Navy captain depicted Woods' visit to the base as ordinary in the sense that other persons— including CEOs and actors— have made similar trips to the SEALs base in order to get a better understanding of what the elite special forces group does.

Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, claims Haney has twisted the legendary golfer's words into what he called "something negative."

Jennifer Lopez looks like a knockout in photo spread

Jennifer Lopez strapped on the leather and gave a photographer her best shots for a photo spread in the upcoming issue of V magazine.  And she comes off looking like a knockout. 

The "American Idol" judge put on a pair of bright red Everlast boxing gloves along with a matching groin protector and a high-riding sports bra for the photo shoot.

J.Lo doesn't look like she is too worried about any wardrobe malfunctions here.

Lopez sparked some controversy at Sunday night's Oscars when she had nipple reportedly slip out of her low-cut gown.

She was teased about it by her American Idol co-hosts.

The V magazine shoot was meant to convey the singer's survival skills and the 42-year-old mother of twins looks like she could still throw down and go toe-to-toe with women half her age.

I bet there are more than a few men who wouldn't mind getting into a clinch with the Latin beauty.

Lopez was shot by fashion photographer Mario Testino for the upcoming issue.