Barden bestowed Great honor
The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene.
FORMER PREP STANDOUT
AN ALL-TIME GREAT
In his days at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Flintridge Prep graduate Ramses Barden put up some mind-spinning numbers and garnered a cavalcade of accolades.
Those numbers and those performances clearly won’t be forgotten any time soon, as Barden was one of 10 Cal Poly players named to the All-Time Great West Football Team for his days with the Mustangs in the Great West Conference.
The list was released Wednesday.
Barden, who is currently a receiver with the New York Giants, was a two-time conference offensive player of the year in 2007 and 2008. A four-year starter, he tallied career school records with 206 receptions, 4,203 yards and 50 touchdown catches.
This season with the Giants, Barden has played in six games with seven catches for 84 yards. New York is coming off a dramatic 37-34 win against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday to move into first place in the NFC East, though Barden did not tally a catch.
SLATEN NO LONGER
WITH NATIONALS
On Monday night’s Major League Baseball deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players, the Washington Nationals tendered six players slated for arbitration, but cut ties with left-handed reliever Doug Slaten, a former Glendale Community College player.
Slaten was plagued by injury last year, sidelined for much of the campaign with left elbow ulnar neuritis and struggled on the mound with a 4.41 earned-run average in 31 games.
Slaten, who made $650,000 last season, will now move on to find a spot with another team. He is a six-year major league veteran, having played his first four with the Arizona Diamondbacks before moving on to the Nationals. He owns a 7-8 career record with a 3.60 ERA through 137 2/3 innings pitched with 104 strikeouts.
REID GETS COMPLIMENT
FROM COUNTERPART
New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan has never been one to hold his tongue and when talking about Philadelphia Eagles Coach Andy Reid, his adversary this week in NFL action, he heaped some rather big praise.
“Clearly, I respect the heck out of Andy,” Ryan said in a story on Bostonherald.com. “He’s a tremendous coach; probably a Hall of Fame-type of coach. What he’s done, his resume is as impressive as anybody. I know he doesn’t have the big win yet, but he certainly has his team competitive and in the mix every single year. I know this one is kind of an exception right now. But clearly he’s a tremendous coach.”
It’s big praise for Reid, a former Glendale Community College football player, who’s dealt with plenty of criticism during his Eagles’ current 5-8 campaign which followed a blockbuster summer in which the team signed a bevy of high-priced free agents. Reid’s job security has been called into question during his 13th season despite the facts that he’s produced 10 winnings seasons, won six NFC East championships and taken the Eagles to a Super Bowl.