(USA Today Sports Images)Mostly, we think of Alabama's Nick Saban as a football coaching robot. And he plays it up many times.

There are always those weird attempts by certain media outlets to portray him as a normal happy-go-lucky guy, and Saban awkwardly grits his teeth and gets through it. Then he'll answer another question about how he refuses to take any days off or sit through another feature on how he didn't smile through the Gatorade bath at the title game, and move on.

He's not a secretly joyous practical joker. He's a focused, intense individual. That's how he presents himself in just about every setting. It works for him and his profession. But, this week we are seeing a bit of his human side.

Florida assistant Tim Davis referred to Saban, who he worked under for three years, as "the devil himself." And even though Saban never likes to show emotions, having a former assistant say that clearly hurt him.

"It's just disappointing," Saban said, according to The Sports Xchange. "If somebody has a problem with me, I'd appreciate it if they'd tell me. If I'm doing something to offense somebody, I'd certainly like to do whatever I have to do to fix it. It's not our intention. It's not what we try to do. We're in a tough business. It's very competitive. Sometimes you've got to demand that people do things that maybe they don't want to do, but it's not personal."

Saban appeared on the

Jets running back Mike Goodson was arrested on Friday morning (USA Today Sports Images)

New York Jets running back Mike Goodson was arrested on drug and weapons charges early on Friday morning, reports News 12 in New Jersey.

According to the report, Goodson and another man, identified as Garrett Evans, were found intoxicated in a parked SUV along Route 80 in Denville, New Jersey, which is about 15 miles northwest of the Jets' headquarters in Florham Park. A loaded .45-caliber handgun was found in the SUV and when the 25-year-old running back was transported to a hospital for evaluation, marijuana was discovered in his possession.

Both Goodson and Evans were released from the hospital and into the custody of State Police who transported the two men to the unit's Netcong's barracks. Mike Garafolo of the USA Today reports that Goodson was the passenger in the vehicle and that Evans has been charged with a DUI.

Goodson played his college ball at Texas A&M and was selected in the fourth-round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers. Goodson spent three seasons with the Panthers before he was traded to the Oakland Raiders last offseason. In 40 career games, Goodson has rushed for 722 yards and three touchdowns with 59 receptions for 524 yards and one touchdown as a receiver out of the backfield.

(Getty Images)

Former West Virginia and current St. Louis Rams receiver Tavon Austin recently said that he can't believe how many people are crawling out of the woodwork asking for money now that he's set up as the eighth-selected player in the 2013 NFL draft. "Everybody wants to be around you," Austin told the Rams' official website. "My phone doesn’t stop ringing now. It feels like they’re counting my bank account now. So that’s probably the hardest thing for me."

If Austin wants to know how tough it can really get, he should talk to Dallas Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith, who was selected with the ninth pick in the 2011 draft out of USC. Smith signed a four-year, $12.5 million deal and went about becoming one of the best young blockers in the game. Considering what he was going through, it's amazing that Smith would be able to get his head together enough to find the field at all. As he recently told the Dallas Morning News, Smith agreed to pay his stepfather, Roy Pinkney, and his mother, Frankie Pinkney, a substantial sum of money in four installments to insure that they would want for nothing. But that wasn't good enough for the Pinkneys, or some of Smith's own siblings.

“There was a certain amount I agreed to give them, but it went way beyond that and I was just like, ‘I’m done,’” Smith said. “I feel like I shouldn’t have given them so much. There was nothing wrong with helping them out and making sure they were taken care of, but not something to where they live the same lifestyle as you.”

According to the Morning News story (and as we recalled on Shutdown Corner at the time), things got a lot worse when Smith tried to set some boundaries.

Last October, John Schorsch — Smith’s Dallas-based attorney at the time — said Smith’s “mom and/or the stepdad threatened the physical well-being of Tyron and the life of his girlfriend.” Smith filed a protective order against his parents last summer to keep them from having any contact with him. The order also prohibits contact from Smith’s parents through his siblings. During training camp last year in Oxnard, Calif., one of Smith’s brothers whom he said he hadn’t talked to “in a long time” showed up and had to be removed from the facility.

Six months ago, his attorney said, Smith discovered that his family had taken more than $1 million from him. “There was money missing, but I just don’t know where it went,” Smith said in the report. “There were times I would check my statements and it wouldn’t make sense and I hadn’t authorized it at all. I just felt betrayed and I was like, ‘Who can I trust?’”

Smith had been using a financial advisor recommended by his parents.

Safeco Field on opening day 2013 (Getty Images)

Have a baseball road trip coming up? Well, in a bid to help you with your upcoming journeys, Big League Stew has solicited the help of the locals. Over the next month or so, we'll be hitting up our usual guest blogger crew to feature 10 tips for enjoying each of the 30 ballparks like the locals do. Have a suggestion in addition to the ones listed here? Make sure to list it in the comments below.

Welcome to Seattle! You’ve grabbed your cup of Starbucks and watched them throw fish around at the Pike Place Market, but now what? There’s a lot to consider when you visit Seattle, and believe it or not, you won’t always need an umbrella! Yes, Seattle gets a lot of rain, but there’s one place you’re guaranteed to stay dry, and that’s Safeco Field.

The Seattle Mariners' miracle run in 1995 was a turning point for a baseball team that was on the cusp of moving to Tampa Bay. An Edgar Martinez double down the left field line against the Yankees cemented the team’s legacy, and fast-tracked the approval to build Safeco Field in time for the 1999 season. Its retractable roof, one of the few in the major leagues, was a key component of the proposal and guaranteed that not only was baseball here to stay in Seattle, but that the game is guaranteed to be played every scheduled day, rain or shine.

There are a ton of things to do in and around the park, so these 10 tips are designed to help you make the most of your time in Seattle and at Safeco Field!

1. Downtown! I think most casual fans visiting from out of town are in Seattle for longer than just a day or two. There are the easy things like walking downtown Seattle and hitting the Pike Place Market, but then there’s the “rest of it." Walk the rest of the Piers and take a ferry across Puget Sound. Pioneer Square is close to Safeco Field and is basically a cluster of bars, restaurants, and more. Take an Underground Tour of Seattle and see the city beneath the city. Check out Ye’ Old Curiosity Shop at the Pier, take a ride to the top of the Space Needle, enjoy the view from the new Ferris Wheel, or spend the afternoon at the Experience Music Project to see the history of Nirvana, Taking Punk To The Masses. Seattle is a beautiful city that’s easy to walk, make the most of your time here!

Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals was like a kick in the stomach for San Jose Sharks fans whose stomachs have already been kicked frequently than a game ball at the World Cup. Two goals in 22 seconds, with the Sharks taking two costly late-game penalties. Ouch.

You want to feel sorry for them. OK, most of us do. This Los Angeles Kings fan didn’t, and decided to troll hard with a dramatic reading for a San Jose Sharks fan’s sad lament on the HF Boards about the defeat. This is deliciously brutal (one PG-13 word):

Well that was a hundred paper cuts treated with a lemon juice and salt mixture and then slapped with a ruler for two hours …

The original post was by “StreetSharks”, who cites “#19 Joe Trollton” under its HF Boards name. The post:

What else do you expect him to say? When you lived the same failures the Sharks lived before last year, you know how it feels to be disappointed as a die hard fan.

Then put yourself in our place, a bunch of people taunting, trolling, and being cocky as hell against us after your win last year, how would you feel?

Basically, you were one of us.. respected us.. and somehow it all went downhill to a bunch of new age cocky jerks.

I'll accept the Kings win, it was a badass comback, but to come back here after being silent when it was 3-2 sharks to taunting the living **** out of us, how do you expect many of us to react?

Sorry I'm ranting to you bro, the trolls got to me tonight, cheers.

That last line might replace “don’t let the bastards get you down” as our favorite post-frustration mantra of all-time.

s/t reader Jim

A typical high school baseball game features 21 outs, across seven innings. With the shorter length of game, as well as a general population of batters who lack the plate discipline of your garden variety MLB backup infielder, its more common for pitchers to last the entire game, particularly when all their pitches are working.

Jake Shortsleff, here at bat, struck out 20 batters among 21 outs in a complete game victory — Facebook

That being said, what Hannibal (N.Y.) High pitcher Jake Shortslef achieved on May 14 was still absolutely remarkable. Across a complete game, 3-1 victory against regional rival Jordan-Elbridge, Shortslef struck out 20 batters.

As one might expect, Shortslef’s 20-strikeout gem set a new Hannibal record for strikeouts in a game, tying a New York Section III record with two other pitchers. Those performances -- by West Genessee (N.Y.) High’s Kevin Krause in 1991 and Mexico (N.Y.) High ace Jeff Hains in 2006 -- are among the only other recorded performances where a pitcher has struck out nearly the entire slate against him. In his performance, Shortslef walked precisely zero batters. In a remarkable twist, Shortslef isn't even the most successful strikeout pitcher in his own family; his sister, Marlena Shortslef, once struck out 22 batters in a victory for the Hannibal softball team.

Yet Shortslef’s mastery of the Jordan-Elbridge lineup goes beyond the simple stats. As noted by the Syracuse Post-Standard, the game in question was played in downright winter conditions, with sleet and snowflakes coming down on the teams throughout the game.

That Shortslef could maintain his control so masterfully under those conditions is almost absurd. Then, consider that Shortslef wasn’t even feeling on top of his game, either.

This was Jerry Sloan's reaction the last time he had to coach in Milwaukee (Getty Images)

Depending on what the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, and Los Angeles Clippers decide to do with their fluctuating situations over the next few weeks, there could be as many as ten NBA coaching openings to fill during the 2013 offseason. Despite walking away from a potential playoff team in Utah two years ago, a team he’d worked with as an assistant and then head coach for the previous 26 years, former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has tossed his name into the mix of available candidates to fill one of those job openings.

Unless you’re the Milwaukee Bucks, an available team that is closest to Sloan’s home in rural Illinois. You can take that gig and stick it.

(I think that’s how the song goes.)

NBA.com’s David Aldridge was the first to report Sloan’s indifference, through quotes from Sloan’s agent Keith Glass. Glass, Aldridge relays, also represents former Bucks coach Scott Skiles:

"The bottom line is, Jerry doesn't really feel it's the right fit for him right now," Glass said Thursday.

(USA Today Sports Images)Since finishing one of the greatest college football careers of the past couple decades, Vince Young has been a bit of a lightning rod.

He started his NFL career in a promising way, winning the NFL offensive rookie of the year award. And it never really got much better after that. Due to some admitted immaturity, Young clashed with Titans coach Jeff Fisher, and his departure from the Titans was messy. His most memorable moment during his season in Philadelphia was a regrettable "dream team" comment, and he was cut by Buffalo before last season started. He's still trying to make a comeback but hasn't gotten a team to give him a chance yet.

But whatever has happened with Vince Young since he left Texas, he's providing a good example for all college football players. One day before his 30th birthday, Young will walk across the stage and graduate from the University of Texas.

About to get this workout in before my big graduation day thanks for everyone who supported me through the good and bad. HookEm

— Vince Young (@VinceYoung) May 17, 2013

Young had a heck of a football career at Texas, including a starring role in one of the sport's all-time great games, the national title win against USC. But he told