EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants today trimmed their roster by waiving five players, including backup quarterback Jared Lorenzen, who had been with the organization since 2004.

Also released were four first-year players: Wide receiver Todd Lowber, long snapper Nick Leeson, defensive tackle Brian Soi and offensive lineman Jacobs Hobbs.

The moves leave the Giants with 81 players (including six unsigned draft choices).

Lorenzen was signed as a rookie free agent in 2004, the same year the Giants acquired Eli Manning. The lefthander from Kentucky did not play that season but served as a backup to Manning each of the next three years.

Link to the article

Google reader keeps improving the feed reader sharing capabilities, and I keep using them.  The newsfeed is located here on A Sea of Blue just below the "Featured Stories" list on the right sidebar.

If you look down at the bottom of that feed, you will see a "Read more..." link.  Click on it and you can see not only the link, but the comments I have made on the article and the important snippet that prompted me to post it.

Use this FanPost as a place for comments about the news articles in the news feed.

The following is the  story as it appears from Scout.com:

The Memphis Tigers are the proud owners of a 6-foot-5 shooting guard. Roburt Sallie, a former Nebraska signee and current San Francisco City Junior College, committed to the Tigers on Monday.

“I’ve spoken to 20-25 different schools and that goes from the highest majors to some of the mid-majors but I narrowed it to three and it came down to Cincinnati, Kentucky and Memphis,” Sallie told Scout.com. “Memphis is just perfect for me because the style fits my game and this is perfect.”

The Tigers building was a big draw and a huge reason why he’s not making a visit to Kentucky later this week. “That FedEx Arena, man,” Sallie said. “It’s an opportunity to play there night in and night out. It’s unreal. Memphis is a great city and it’s a very good community. Cal is Cal, he’s a great coach with a proven track record. He’s got 7 guys in the NBA and half of these guys I played with already.”

This past season, Sallie was the state junior college player of the year and averaged 19 points. He originally signed with Nebraska but was not allowed to enroll and now he’s a Tiger.

“This has been a blessing. Everything happens for a reason in life. Fortunately I’ve been trying to play and I’m finally eligible. For some reason, God didn’t intend me to play for Nebraska. I was dedicated to them and I still wish today I’d have the opportunity to play for them because they’re great.”

John Parker, Sallies’ former assistant coach at the Patterson School, found Memphis’ strength and conditioning program to be an enormous asset.

“To be honest, I think the strength coach (sold him). He physically showed the improvements of the guys. He takes photos and shows them and then 4-5 months later it was night and day. That sold him that he could take his body to another level.”

GBOA  Hoops talks about South superstar Clarence Trent of the Arkansas Hawks, and has the latest recruiting news on the athlete! Where do you think he'll end up? I'm hoping Kentucky! This kid is a hotshot on the court. Trent is playing at the GBOA South Tournament in Norcross, GA on June 28th and 29th with the Arkansas Hawks. You can bet recruits will be watching out for his performance.

Check out the article on Clarence!

GBOA Article

Yeah i am the one who dropped the Jasper story around a month or so ago, it sucks that it turned out to be true.  But tonight I come bearing fantastic news, according to Roburt Sallie's facebook profile...he is now a uk wildcat.  Also wanted to mention that my significant other met someone claiming to be a family member of Sallie's and also told her that Sallie was in fact in the blue and white.  I expect an official statement whenever i wake in the morning, just thought I would let you know my inside info.  But wait for an official statement before jumping in excitement.  I am really glad we were able to land this guy as he will make an instant impact on next years team.  This guy is a future first round draft pick and maybe even lottery pick.  Why can't November come now!

Not a huge surprise but John Cohen resigned as head baseball coach to take the same position at his alma mater Mississippi St.  Assistant coach Gary Henderson was named the new head coach immediately.  Couldn't have caught Barnhart too off guard because Cohen told his AD he was leaving Friday morning and by that afternoon the Bat Cats had a new coach in place.  Here's to continued momentum for the Kentucky Baseball.

Uk athletic's article

Does anyone know the date for BIG BLUE MADNESS? I gotta let my work know my vacation days for Oct.-Dec. And I can't wait to hang out at Memorial with the greatest fans in this BIG BLUE NATION!!! Last year was the first time I'd ever been to BIG BLUE MADNESS. It was pretty cool camping across the street from Wildcat Lodge and meeting all the players as they came in and out. They were all pretty cool and let us take pictures and get autographs with them. I have to say just camping out for tickets has now become an annual event my friends. So if anyone has any info on the exact date it would be great.

Most of you have seen the newsfeed I have set up on the right sidebar just below the FanShots.

Google has fairly recently added the capability for me to make comments on the articles that I put in there.  Unfortunately, those comments don't show up in the listing on the front page of the blog -- not enough room.  But if you click the "read more" link at the bottom of the listing, you can see them.

Just in case you are interested.

According to reports I've seen (Kentucky Sports Radio), Pilgrim is now a Wildcat.  I read that he has moved into the Wildcat Lodge.  He's a big, athletic body but also has a reputation as having attitude problems.  He will likely either thrive under Billy Clyde or he won't make it past Christmas.  I hope he's a Heshimu Evans-type transfer who comes in with a great attitude and makes a solid contribution.  I don't recall being blown away by his stats from last season.  I'm wondering about the quality of the competition he faced at Hampton Inn.

Most of the people whining about our supposedly woeful situation at lead guard for next year need to pipe down, because all they are doing is proving how uninformed they are about the game of basketball.  Take this quick test to see where you stack up:

Which Wildcat was our best DEFENSIVE player last year as measured by Steals Per Minute?

Which Wildcat was our best OFFENSIVE player last year as measured by Free Throw per centage?

Which Wildcat shot better than 40% from behind the three point line last year?

Let me make it easy for you by pointing out that only one Wildcat is the answer to all three questions.

Does that help?  Well then, let me give you another hint – it’s not Ramel Bradley, Derrick Jasper, or Jodie Meeks.  Does that help?

That’s right, Wildcat fans!  The man who holds these three awesome distinctions is the man so many of you are saying is too slow to defend in the SEC, and not a serious offensive threat, even though the statistics prove he is the best pure shooter on the team.

Who is this mystery Wildcat?  Why, it’s none other than that slow white boy from California, the much maligned Michael Porter. 

Yes, it’s true that Jodie and Ramel were modestly better rebounders (Reb. Per 40 min.: Porter 3.12; Meeks 4.41; Bradley 4.79), and that both had better “Assists to Turnovers” ratios.  But if you paid attention to the games you could see that many of the turnovers attributed to Michael were really someone else’s fault -- the result of him following the play called when another team mate did not.  Crawford would get late to the spot, Perry would fumble a great pass out of bounds, etc.

Moreover (and this is probably the biggest thing), comparing Michael’s numbers in this regard with those who got to play many more minutes results in an unfair comparison, because those who play longer minutes have time to get into their rhythm, instead of having to come in cold from the bench and spell somebody for two minutes at a time.  (Those of you who’ve actually played the game know what I’m talking about.)

It’s also a lot easier for the other players to “read” and anticipate the guards they play more minutes with.  By all rights, Bradley SHOULD have had a much better Assist to Turnover ratio; indeed, it would have been very strange if he had not.  All of that will right itself when Porter has more minutes with the other starters, and they learn to follow him and the game plan much more closely.

(Incidentally, the Ken Pomeroy numbers show that even with all of this going against him, the team was two points MORE efficient offensively with Michael at the point than with Ramel.  How many of you knew that?)

I’m getting very weary of all of this boo-hoo-ing about the point position next year.  We’re going to be better with Michael Porter at the helm.  The point will have a different personality, but the statistics clearly suggest that the position will be stronger under Porter than it ever was under Bradley.

There is one regard in which I think Ramel had the edge over Michael, and that is that when the game occasionally degenerated into “street ball” (as in the last minute of a game with no timeouts left).  In those situations Ramel could revert to playground ball and often make good things happen.  I have not seen that from Michael Porter, but frankly I can live without it – Adolph Rupp did.

I confess that although I liked Ramel, I can’t say that he will go down as one of my favorite Wildcats through the years.  To be honest, he always seemed to me to be a “not-too-bright Yankee street baller” -- more class clown than class.  I cringed every time he made that stupid diamond shape with his hands, and I’ve never thought anything good could come of associating UK with Gangster Rap.  Contrast his professional aspiration to become a gangster rap artist with that of, say, Richie Farmer, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner, and you’ll see where I stand.  Good luck, but good riddance.

Go ‘Cats!