Coyne's Clippings

Shaughnessy: Dark days have hit the road C.H.B. (as Carl Everett calls him) drags out the Nomar saga again. This article proves pretty telling about the notion that No. 5 was more of a cancer in the clubhouse than a cure. If you missed CHB's piece ripping the soul out of Garciaparra, check this out from the day after the trade.

Hey, at least Mrs. Garciaparra has her gold medal yesterday. Anyone else think Nomar is taking off a couple of days to high tail it to Athens?

BR checks in with an insightful piece on yesterday's USA men's basketball win over Spain, including this snipet.

When the game ended, the action wasn't over. Coach Pesquera was seen going chest-to-chest with Brown, fingers waved back and forth, and courtside sources say Coach Brown was even heard to say, "You want a piece of me?"

Speaking of the basketball at the Olympics, you have to tip your cap to the women's national team who is undefeated. I've really become enamored by head coach Van Chancellor who used to coach at Mississippi. My take is that he's like the No. 3 all-time best women's coach behind Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma. The only knock seems to be the fact he couldn't get farther in the NCAA Tournament than the Elite Eight. According to bball scribe Peter May, Chancellor also sits at the back of the bus on road trips, which as any basketball player will tell you, is far from the norm. Here's to hoping he guides the ladies to a gold medal.