In Other News: 7/29/10

Quick hits from around the sports world for your afternoon delight. Note: reading In Other News NOT an established rookie tradition

Dez Bryant earning his stripes stars at Dallas camp

Yep, Sunday Cowboys Rookie receiver Dez Bryant made news by refusing to carry Roy Williams' pads after practice and thus disrespected one of many rookie traditions. This caused huge backlash from the media, and everyone seemed to get involved, even Super Mario, who claimed Bryant should "fall in line." Ultimately, Bryant did fall in line, lashing out at the media while proclaiming, "Me and Roy are great at grammar." It was reported that at the most recent practice, Bryant did carry Williams pads, but joked, "I won't carry the helmet though," and threw it back to Williams, who dropped it.

In other news...

U.S. All-Stars Get Crushed By Man U

Remember when we thought the U.S. was competitive in soccer and that the sport, in general, was exciting? That was fun while it lasted. As yet another nail into the U.S. fanhood coffin, Manchester United defeated the U.S. All-Star team 5-2 in an exhibition match yesterday. Look, I understand barely the difference between international soccer matches and club matches, but I still don't know if this is great for soccer. What's Kansas City's attendance look like after the Yankees come through and steamroll them? But whether or not it causes soccer to be the next futbol football, this tradition is here to stay. We just have to find the silver lining. Luckily, Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson provided that for us, commenting on how Major League Soccer has made dramatic progress recently immediately prior to giving MLS coach Bruce Arena a noogie and saying, "One day little bro."

In other news...

Strasburg Feeling the Effects of the Heat

Not the temperature, mind you. Strasburg has been experiencing shoulder tightness which has resulted in him being scratched from back-to-back starts. Apparently not a verbose character, Strasburg shied from details when describing the pain, which causes confusion for whether this is the Nationals being overly cautious or Strasburg downplaying a potentially nagging injury. Comically, Nationals fans responded to his scratch and the starting of Miguel Batista by booing their own pitcher (way to root for the name on the back of the jersey, Nats faithful). Not wanting to worry his adoring followers, Strasburg stated that he's taking this as a learning experience and a blessing, explaining how now he knows how his body reacts around the 100 game mark so that he'll be better prepared for next year when the Nats are in "playoff contention." Wow, bad news, Nats fans. If he's exaggerating that hopefully about the National's potential next year, this arm injury might actually be career ending...