Saturday, August 31, 2013

THEY WON'T GIVE UP

The Yanks won the 2nd game of a 3-game series against Baltimore riding the best pitched game by a Yankee pitcher this year. The best rally the Orioles had came in the third inning - A hit batter and a single. A double play and fly out ended it.
When Cano is in a zone, the only safe place to pitch him is behind him. NY is now a few percentage points ahead of Baltimore in the race for a playoff spot.

Texas and Oakland continue to battle for the AL Western division title, but the best race is the dogfight taking place in the NL Central. Pittsburgh and St. Louis are tied with Cincinnati only 3 & a half games behind. The cards and the Bucs are battling in Pittsburgh as I write this. The Pirates picked up Justin Morneau from the Minnesota Twins, giving them a big, big bat in the middle of their lineup. He's a free agent after this season, so he's basically a rental for the next month plus any post-season games. This is a good indication of how serious Pittsburgh is in trying to get to the  playoffs.

What's up with Yasiel Puig & the Dodgers. Every other day, it seems I read that Puig has irritated somebody - an opponent, an umpire, his teammates or his manager. He's become a five-tool player: he hits, runs, throws, fields and irritates.

Miguel Cabrera is getting the day off, apparently to help him heal from his injuries. What nobody understands is that the more he's in pain, the better he hits.In a three game series against New York in early August, Cabrera could barely walk, yet he played third all three games, went 7-13 with 5 RBIs and 3 homers. Even Jeter, who's got his own litany of injuries, said, "I want what he's got."

***THEY SAID IT***
"After serving his arduous 30 minute NCAA suspension, Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel threw 3 touchdowns, but managed to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting in the fourth quarter. Whereupon he was benched for the rest of the game. Stay classy “Johnny Football.”  -- Janice Hough
"My sister-in-law's terrier will bark when it sees baseball on TV. Honest. Except when the Blue Jays are on; then it rolls over and plays dead."  -- RJ Currie
"In New York, a 67-year-old woman has been charged with vandalism for keying a bingo rival’s car.
Police had no problem winnowing down the latter suspect, since  the scratches went across, down and diagonally.”  -- Ian Hamilton
"It's incredulous that Lindsay Lohan beat Alex Rodriguez to an Oprah sitdown. Maybe the guy has lost more footspeed than we thought.”  -- Mike Lupica
"Texas A & M gave four players two game suspensions today for “violating team rules.” What did they do to get four times Manziel’s suspension? Accept checks instead of cash?"  -- Janice Hough
"James Rosno and Tracy Anderson picked an unusual place to get married — at the Stanton County (Neb.) Fair, during a demolition derby.   Which certainly puts a whole new spin on “crashing the wedding.”  -- Dwight Perry
"UConn was upset by FCS school Towson 33-18. Of course FCS stands for Football at Connecticut Stinks."  -- Brad Dickson
"The Harlem Globetrotters are for sale. Hey, if the Big East is serious about making the league fun ..."  -- Brad Dickson

CP-


 

Thursday, August 29, 2013

TIME IS RUNNING SHORT

## We knew the Yanks couldn't win EVERY game, but to lose two in a row is very painful and devastating to the Bombers chances of making the playoffs. In the ups and downs, of the sport, Kuroda, who has been outstanding all year, has hit a slump. Everyone has them, it's just the timing of this one that hurts. Sabathia and Pettitte are showing signs of being effective and Nova looks unhittable now. Phil Hughes, well he's about worn out his life in New York. He can look over-powering until he turns into a batting practice pitcher.
The lineup looks a lot better now, but it's probably too late. Next year might be more of the same iF the team can't get younger and hold on to Cano.

## In a not-so-startling announcement, the Minnesota Twins have said they will not increase ticket prices next year, the third year in a row they have done that. Raising prices would have been a tough sell in any case because of their record over that span.
2013  57-74  on a pace to lose 92 games
2012  66-96
2011  63-99

Of course, a losing record has never been a deterrent for a price increase in Yankee Stadium.

## Johnny Manziel has been suspended by that illustrious body - The NCAA. Since they couldn't find evidence that Manziel accepted payment for autographing paraphernalia, even after 5 hours of grilling him, they suspended him - are you ready? - for the FIRST HALF of Texas A & M's first game. How silly is that? I can't confirm that they also limited him to passes of no more than 20 yards or bootlegs, longer than 5 yards.
When advised of the penalty, Joe Torre was quoted as saying, "Half a game? Yeah, that seems right."

## A couple of articles on ESPN about score-keeping this morning. Most kids that have an interest in baseball learn to keep score. Probably like most kids, I learned how to score from my Dad. Everybody has their own little tweaks, but my Dad's was great because it was simple. He simply recorded the plays and left the rhetoric to the newspapers.
One of the articles dealt with the headaches of being an Official Scorer for MLB. Since the players contracts are affected by the statistics, hits and errors have a major impact on them. As one scorer pointed out, it doesn't matter if you choose a Hit or an Error, somebody is going to be unhappy with you.

***THEY SAID IT***
"Honda has created a new lawnmower that can travel up to 130 mph. That's when you know you take lawn care too seriously -- your mower could finish fourth at Talladega."  -- Brad Dickson
"There’s already criticism of today’s “semi-suspension” of Johnny Manziel. But in the NCAA’s defense, they say if Johnny misbehaves again they’re going to slap his other hand REALLY hard,"  -- Janice Hough
"As the Blue Jays manager John Gibbons joked with  reporters after getting swept by the Yankees: “I’m wondering if, maybe, on our way to Houston, we should stop over in Williamsport. We might be able to at least get a split there. - At least we think he was kidding."  -- Dwight Perry
"It's hot all around the country. It's so hot, NFL players are getting arrested just so they're thrown in the cooler."  -- Brad Dickson
"In NFL preseason action, Detroit routed New England 40-9. Lions haven't looked so confident since they faced the Christians."  -- RJ Currie
"Germany will reportedly allow a third gender (neither male nor female) on birth certificates. Did anyone just think of those East German Olympic women's teams?"  -- RJ Currie

CP-
 
















Sunday, August 25, 2013

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, STRANGE NEWS

***GOOD NEWS***
Vin Scully has announced that he is returning for a 65th year of broadcasting baseball games.  Imagine that - 65 years! This man is so knowledgeable about the game, yet so laid back, that you almost don't need to actually SEE the game to appreciate the action or become emotionally involved in it, all with that marvelous sense of humor. Plus the man's voice is so mellifluous that I could listen to him read from the phone book for three hours.

This is good news for me but I suppose the people involved don't feel that way. ESPN published a survey to determine the worst sports personalities. The results were predictable: #1 was Skip Bayliss, #2 was Stephen A Smith. The only disappointing aspect of the survey was that Dick Vitale was only 18th. Can you believe there are 15 other worse personalities?

***BAD NEWS***
CC Sabathia has become another Phil Hughes. He has good stuff, but once he gets into trouble, he can't get out of it. Things just snowball.Annie-O noticed it right away last night. "He was great," she said, "until he had to pitch out of the stretch. Then it all went away." And that's been the story of his season.

I say this all the time: Baseball is cyclical. One day you're up, the next day you're down. From Aug 13th through Aug 17th, (five games) Alphonso Soriano was 15 for 22, with 5 home runs and 18 RBIs. Since then, he is 2 for 27, with 1 homer and 3 RBIs in 8 games. Not what you hope for from your cleanup hitter. A-Rod was 10 for 21 in that same period and 5 for 22 since. If the Yanks are going to be any kind of threat, these are the two key guys.

***STRANGE NEWS***
More problems, more players getting fined. RG III, of the Washington Redskins (Can I still call them that?), was fined $10,000 for a league violation. This is ridiculous. He hasn't even begun his second year yet. What did he do? He wore the wrong T-Shirt is practice. Won't these guys ever learn? I mean, really, how can he...wait, what? The wrong T-Shirt? For real? Oh, c'mon. Who's running the NFL, the NCAA? I know, it had an obscene saying on it right? Something disparaging about commissioner Goodell? It said what? "Operation Patience?"       ....I'm speechless.

***THEY SAID IT***
"800Razors.com has offered Dodgers reliever Brian Wilson $1 million to let them clear-cut his trademark bushy beard. Your serve, WeedWacker ... $2 million?"  -- Dwight Perry
"Former Heat player Michael Beasley was arrested for possession of marijuana.Is that even news? That’s like me being found in possession of a donut.”  -- Greg Cote
"Amateurism is dead, smothered by NCAA commercialization. Yet, NCAA drags it around like it’s in a bizarre remake of ‘Weekend at Bernie’s.’”  -- Jay Bilas
"Ryan Braun not only lied about his drug use but accused the urine collector of being anti-Semitic: “I have one question: Is sleazebag one word or two?”  -- Len Berman
"Martina Hingis is the latest inductee into the tennis Hall of Fame. Anna Kournikova wasn’t nominated, despite a great body of work."  -- RJ Currie
"If Wilton Norman Chamberlain slept with 20,000 women, should his nickname really be Wilt?"  -- RJ Currie
"Really? Apparently in regards to an HGH testing agreement, Congress is threatening to get involved because the NFL and the NFL Players Association have gotten so little done. Pot meet kettle. Kettle, pot."  -- Janice Hough
"To motivate his team, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon brought a 20-foot snake into the clubhouse. With all the performance enhancers in baseball, by the time it left it was a 40-foot snake."  -- Brad Dickson
"The undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins just visited the White House. I realize the federal government moves slow, but this is ridiculous"  -- Brad Dickson

CP-






 

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

I DIDN'T THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE

Somebody actually made Bunglin' Bud Selig look good. Jerky Joe Torre has handed down a five game suspension on Ryan Dempster for his personal attack on Alex Rodriquez. Gee, Ryan, I hope your wrist doesn't hurt too much.

We can't let Selig off the hook completely. He is the one who appointed Torre in the first place and keeps him there in spite of the idiotic decisions he makes.

Let's see what happens when Boston comes into New York on Sept. 5th for a four-game series.

CP-

Monday, August 19, 2013

WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT?

Why is there such an uproar over A-Rod getting hit by a pitch last night? Manager Joe Girardi came tearing out of the dugout, screaming at home plate umpire Brian O-Nora. I don't get it. Baseball has a system that keeps these things from getting out of hand. A player gets hit, the umpire issues warnings to both benches, indicating that the next player to get hit will result in ejections. That's the end of it. Right?

Then Brett Gardner got hit. Nothing

Then Jason Nix got hit.  Nothing again.

Then Robinson Cano got hit. And NOBODY got thrown out.

Wait a minute. Shouldn't they have...? Why didn't the umpire...?

Oh yeah, that's handled. Nice going, O'Nora.

CP-
 

Sunday, August 18, 2013

IN MY OPINION...

## I'm tired of the never-ending saga of A-Rod, the Yanks and PEDs. Can't everybody just shut up and play baseball? Two final thoughts from people smarter than me (like that narrows it down):
Mike Lupica - "If A-Rod is telling the truth about the Yanks attempt to mistreat him, he should file a grievance, sue everybody and let the lawyers and the Union deal with it." 
Bob Klapish - "The Yankees and MLB will have to endure many more weeks of this kind of stuff. It would be wise for them to just stand down, rather than respond. As a wise basketball coach once said, "There's no sense in getting into the mud-throwing contest with a pig, because you both get dirty and the pig loves the mud."

## The Phillies fired their long-time manager Charley Manuel. Most of the sportswriters are upset that the Phillies chose to do it now, rather than wait till the end of the season. Why is that? Wouldn't it be better to let a new manager get his feet wet with the current team, so he would have an educated opinion on how to improve the team over the winter? Charley Manuel was a successful manager, he was a popular manager and he was a nice guy. But, in my opinion, he was also a 'lucky' manager. He sometimes managed by the seat of his pants and made moves that went against baseball precepts, but he had some very good players who pulled it off for him. A manager is only as good as the players on the field. When they fade, he suddenly isn't so smart anymore.  

## Miguel Tejada has been suspended for 105 games for using Adderall. That's a very odd number.

## Is there anybody hotter than the LA Dodgers right now? They have won 10 in a row and 42 of their last 50. Two months ago, they were 10 games under .500, seven and a half games out and Don Mattingly was bringing his suitcase to the ballpark every day. Now they're 22 games over .500 and running away with the NL West. And my sister-in-law is winning our bet.

## There's somebody else that's pretty hot. Alphonso Soriano has had a week he'll never forget - neither will we. In the last 6 games, he was 16-26 (.6215), with 19 RBIs and 10 runs scored. He also slugged 5 home runs. He has electrified the whole team. I know he's a streak hitter, but this is ridiculous.

## There will be new rules for instant replay next year, which involves managers issuing "challenges"  to plays they think are wrong, and they aren't allowed to argue with umpires. I heard this and my first thought was how could you come up with a silly solution like that? Then I found out it came from a committee headed by Joe Torre and I said, "Oh, now I see!"

***THEY SAID IT***
"A computer program called the Predictalator ran 50,000 simulations of the upcoming NFL season, with the 49ers winning the Super Bowl in 20.1 percent of them. And Jim Harbaugh complained about the refs' calls in the other 79.9 percent."  -- Dwight Perry
"The hapless Houston Astros have made a major league worst 89 errors so far this season. The only web-gems this year came on Bring Your Glove Night."  -- Alan Ray
 "Alex Rodriguez hit his first home run of 2013 on the same day as the season premiere of “Breaking Bad”. It was a big day for drug dealers.”  -- Conan O'Brien
"I saw a naked guy running across the field during Thursday night's football game and assumed it was part of the NFL's demonstration of how they'll make the Pro Bowl more fun."  -- Brad Dickson
"Texas A&M will open their season Aug. 31 vs Rice University. Currently, their injury report lists QB Johnny Manzeit as "Questionable" due to Writers Cramp."  -- TC Chong
"No matter how well she drives NASCAR's straightaways, some guys will always grade Danica Patrick on her curves."  -- RJ Currie
"A zoo in Henan, China, was caught trying to pass off a dog as a lion. Hey, don't laugh - Matt Millem got away with it for four years in Detroit."  -- Dwight Perry
"Forbes says the Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.3 billion, are America’s most valuable team. Can you imagine how much the Cowboys would be worth if they could actually win?"  -- Janice Hough
"A village in New York state has proposed using birth control to control the deer population. The proposal was met with approval by all city employees except for the guy whose job it'd be to put the condoms on the bucks in heat."  -- Brad Dickson
"A new residence hall primarily for student-athletes at Oklahoma includes a movie theater. In a related story, a non-athlete dormitory at OU was going to get indoor plumbing, but the regents voted it down."  -- Brad Dickson

CP-









 
 

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

DID YOU NOTICE...?

## The Yanks scored 14 runs last night. No, that's not a typo, it really was 14 runs. It's not really a big deal; they've scored 14 runs before. In fact, they just did it in their last 4 games...total. Is it possible that some of the swagger has come back to their lineup? They had two 4-run innings last night. That's a far cry from when they thought a rally was a walk, a sacrifice, a stolen base and a sac fly. Now they have three legitimate home run threats in their lineup. Four, if your define "legitimate" loosely and include A-Rod.
Just for the record, the Yanks are 4-4 since A-Rod's return.

## Scott Boras wrote an article for ESPN in which he outlined his suggestions to greatly improve the free-agency and draft systems currently used by MLB. He says the current system is flawed and cited a few examples of the inequities involved. Of course, all the examples were of his clients and all his solutions involved getting them more money. Gee, never thought of that, Scott.

## Nine of the Yanks last twelve games of the season are against the Giants, Toronto and Houston. They have a combined record of  144-211 (.406). Of course, the probability is that those games will be meaningless.
There are currently 6 teams with a legitimate shot at the two wild card spots. The Yanks are last, 5.5 games behind the leader. There's a chance, but they'll have to climb over 5 teams to get there.

## What's the best race in baseball today? It's the NL Central, with Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cincinnati all within 3.5 games of each other. It's very likely that all three will be in the postseason, so they're really fighting to finish first and avoid the dreaded wild-card game.

## AJ Mass wrote an article suggesting that the Tigers should trade Miguel Cabrera at the end of the season because that's when his value will be the highest in his career. Yeah, why not trade a guy who is basically having back-to-back Triple Crown seasons? Who is this Mass fellow and what is he thinking? So, I looked him up. He is the ESPN analyst for Fantasy Baseball. Now, I get it.

## Manny Acta , Jim Bowden and Keith Law wrote about which players have the best "tools."  When they discussed speed, they used the home-to-first time to rate them. Mike Trout, Ichiro Suzuki and Norichika Aoki were the fastest at 4.0 seconds. Brett Gardner is second at 4.1 seconds. Impressive, but I seem to recall Mickey Mantle being timed at 3.2 seconds, home-to-first while batting left-handed. I'm just saying.

## Best record in baseball is Atlanta at .608 ((potential 99 wins). The worst is Houston at .322 (potential 110 losses)

***THEY SAID IT*** 
"PGA Champion Jason Dufner’s final round scorecard will be sent to The World Golf Hall of Fame, but not until Johnny Manziel co-signs it"  -- TC Chong
"Mike Trout said anyone caught using PEDs should be banned from baseball for life. Which means either that he’s not using, or he doesn’t think he’ll get caught."  -- Janice Hough
 "Anyone see the viral video of that muscle bound guy unable to get a cap off a water bottle? It makes my wife feel better when she can't open my beer."  -- RJ Currie
 "Bob Gibson was the luckiest pitcher I ever saw. He always pitches when the other team doesn't score any runs."  -- Tim McCarver
 "Breaking news: Johnny Manziel was disqualified from a golf tournament when he refused to sign the scorecard unless he was paid $7,000. -- Brad Dickson
"He looks like a greyhound, but he runs like the bus."  -- George Brett on third baseman Jamie Quirk "The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until the ball stops rolling and then to pick it up."  -- Bob Uecker

CP-
 














Sunday, August 11, 2013

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

***THE GOOD***
There is a lot of good:
->  The Yanks win a series for the first time since...well, Michael Kay told us about 3 times, but I'm so used to ignoring all his useless stats, that I didn't listen.
-> A-Rod hit his first homer and looked better at the plate than last Friday. Couple that with Soriano getting his 2000th hit - also a homer - and we see what the Yanks have been missing: power.
-> The bullpen (except for Rivera) was pretty good even though David Robertson found a unique way to get a double play to end the 8th.
-> Brett Gardner made a couple of outstanding plays in the outfield to go along with his walk-off homer. I've never seen a double play that went 8-7-6-4 before.
-> I am not Michael Kay's biggest fan, but I liked his take on the A-Rod situation. Would fans cheer him or boo him? Kay's answer was short and simple: "If he hits, they'll cheer for him. If he doesn't, they'll  boo him." Right on, Michael.

***THE BAD***
-> Andy Pettitte just does not look like he has it anymore. He can't get out of the 5th inning, And teams should be bunting him because he doesn't get off the mound very well anymore.
-> In spite of what Ken & Michael said, I don't think it was Mariano's location of his pitches that was the problem. They didn't look to me like the 'cut' was there. The movement on his cutter has been sporadic all year.
-> The umpires made their usual number of bad calls, but I hate when they try to intimidate the players on the field. After home plate umpire Paul Emmel blew a call and Verlander reacted mildly to it, Emmet had to walk out toward the mound yelling at Verlander. Luckily, catcher Brayan Pena held him back or Verlander might have been ejected needlessly from the game.

-> Mike Lupica thinks the NCAA should not punish Johnny Manziel at all, because "...what would the college football season look like without the one kid we really want to watch." Sure, it doesn't matter that he broke the rules if he accepted money for autographing merchandise, or has been taped being ejected from a frat party, that he has been know to drink and party like crazy and that he doesn't have the sense of responsibility to fullfil his obligations at Peyton Manning's football camp. All that matters is that Mike L:upica gets to see him play.
-> Tim Kurkjian sometimes likes to make up situations to defend his point of view. In discussing the hidden-ball play the Tampa Bay Rays pulled off on the Dodger Juan Uribe the other day, Kurkjian said it was another example of how bad today's base runners are, that they don't pay attention to the situations around them. He believes the hidden-ball play happens more and more often than ever before. Right, Tim. I could only find 7 instances in the last 10 years. Most of the ones I could find occurred over 50 years ago.
Even Michael Kay and Ken Singleton commented that if this happened more than twice in a season, managers would beat it into their players head on how to prevent this.

***THE UGLY***
This category is for Stephen A. Smith alone. Smith is a paid analyst and commentator for ESPN. Remember that fact.  Stephen couldn't rag on Riley Cooper enough for his use of the N-word in a video, saying at one point, "...the word shouldn't be used by anyone -  including black folks." Former football player, Hugh Douglas and Michael Smith both work for ESPN. Douglas as an analyst and Smith as host of "Numbers Don't Lie," an ESPN regular show. At an event  in Orlando, Florida, Douglas and Smith - both black - got into a little spat and Douglas referred to Michael Smith as a "...an Uncle Tom and a House N---."
A caller to Stephen A.'s show said he had been listening for two days and "had not heard the Douglas situation discussed." Stephen didn't like that very much. "That's a very ignorant question," he said. "I am not going to bring up  an internal (ESPN) matter and discuss it on these airwaves. The company is handling it. It's none of our damn business." You sure are fair and reasonable, Stephen A. Apparently working for ESPN allows you freedom that all us peons aren't entitled to. We shouldn't ask ignorant questions, either.

***THEY SAID IT***
" If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life - without even considering if there is a man on base."  -- Dave Barry
"The Johnny Manziel autograph controversy has football fans divided. His detractors call it a bad sign; supporters say it's just a signature move."  -- RJ Currie
"As of July 15, the Las Vegas betting line on the Houston Astros winning the World Series: 5,000-1. To provide a little perspective, the odds of a space alien landing at midfield during the Super Bowl halftime show are 4,500-1."  -- Brad Dickson
" Is it just me, or has Johnny Football turned into Johnny Paycheck?"  -- Mike Bianchi
"A massive sinkhole opened up at Ste-Catherines and Guy Streets in downtown Montreal. The hole goes so far down, witnesses say, that gawkers could even see the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East."  -- Dwight Perry
"Curt Schilling of ESPN, on Alex Rodriguez’s return to the Yankee lineup: “Playing third, batting fourth and pleading the Fifth.”
 "A man once told me to walk with the Lord. I'd rather walk with the bases loaded."  -- Ken Singleton
"The University of Miami is considering renaming a baseball stadium now named for Alex Rodriguez. This is a new low — you’re told you’re too corrupt for the University of Miami."  -- Brad Dickson

CP-






Saturday, August 10, 2013

WHAT'S GOING ON?

Actually, that's a question AND a statement.

## Mariano has blown his second save in a row. That should be the biggest news of the day, just ahead of the news that the Yanks beat Detroit and miles ahead of this A-Rod nonsense.

## Speaking of A-Rod, the Yanks sent A-Rod a letter saying that he was going to be fined for getting a second opinion from a doctor without informing the team. The amount of the fine wasn't announced, but A-Rod was seen counting the change in his pocket.

## A-Rod's suspension could cost him anywhere from $32-$35 million. Don't worry about it. A-Rod just sold his Florida mansion for $30 million, and because of the terms of the Texas-New York trade that brought A-Rod to the Yanks, Texas still owes him $40 million, money that will not be affected by his suspension. Phew!

## Former slugger Jack Clark, has accused Albert Pujols and Justin Verlander of taking PEDs. He says a trainer admitted to him that he "shot up" Albert over 10 years ago. The radio station Clark worked for has fired him, the trainer has denied talking to Clark and Pujols says he is suing Clark & the station.

## The Atlanta Braves have won 14 in a row and have the best record in baseball in the worst division in baseball - the NL East. They have a 151/2-game lead over the Washington Senat...er, I mean the Nationals, who may be the biggest disappointment in the Majors. Is it too early to talk about 'magic numbers'? (It's 31, so, yeah)

## The reigning champs, the San Francisco Giants are in last place, 13 games under .500.  And Janice Hough is so upset, she only wrote 3 A-Rod jokes this morning.

## It's August 10th, and ESPN is full of news from the NFL and there has already been two games on TV, if you can call these games. the starters play a total of 5 minutes (including commercials). If this trend keeps up, ESPN will begin showing 2 hours of calisthenics from the training camps every morning, with appropriate commentary: "That's right, Sal. I've never seen anyone sweat like that before. This could be a pre-season record."  I can hardly wait.

## The PGA Championship is being played here in Rochester and Tiger Woods is tied for 38th, which explains why the size of his name in the headlines has gone from 72 pts. to 18. I won't say that Tiger is the ONLY reason people are flocking to the event, but there are reports that fans have to get in line to take a picture of his "Parking Reserved for Tiger Woods" sign.

***THEY SAID IT***
"A pick-six on the fourth play of the first game of the preseason…. Good to know that the the NY Jets’ Mark Sanchez is already in midseason form."  -- Janice Hough
"A-Rod has apparently hired the same private-detectives Dominique Strauss-Kahn used when he was accused of rape in 2011. Wonder what the firm’s name is “Sleazebags-R-Us?"  -- Janice Hough
" The Bills’ offensive coordinator says they are going to keep giving running back C.J. Spiller the ball until he throws up.   Are they aiming to be the “Barfallo Bills?”  -- TC Chong
"Canadian women's hockey star Tessa Bonnehomme is one of Sportsnet's top five most beautiful female athletes. So despite playing defence, she has a lot of shots on the net."  -- RJ Curry
"This weekend, the Nebraska (Hot-Air) Balloon and Wine Festival comes to Omaha. There's a good combination."  -- Brad Dickson

"Atlanta's Turner Field opened a Waffle House restaurant - and the Braves immediately reeled off a 14-game win streak. Batter up, indeed."  -- Dwight Perry
 "Eagles receiver Riley Cooper made a racial comment that was caught in a video. Living proof that Marge Schott and John Rocker once had a romantic fling."  -- Scott Ostler

"A college baseball player participating in a summer league in Missouri suffered a concussion after a skydiver landed on him during a pregame ceremony. To make matters worse, an umpire rushed in and shouted "Safe!"  -- Brad Dickson
"Have you seen any Bikini Basketball Association games? You can tell it's the BBA because the cheerleaders wear more than the players."  -- RJ Curry
"Red Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway tied the MLB record with four passed balls in one inning, trying to corral Steven Wright's fluttering knuckleball. Lavarnway's nickname, needless to say, is not the Sultan of Squat."  -- Dwight Perry
"Pay-Rod joined the Yankees on Monday in Chicago. Brian Cashman wants to fire the person who gave him their schedule."  -- TC Chong
"Major League Baseball has suspended Alex Rodriguez for 211 games, but A-Rod is still fighting. He's vowing to come back 10 times bigger and 10 times stronger. I don't know if that's a good sign or not."  -- Jay Leno

CP-







Thursday, August 08, 2013

NO VIRGINIA, THERE ISN'T A SANTA CLAUS

What there is, however, are druggies, cheaters, racists and thugs.  I remember a phrase I heard a lot back in the 60's, "Playing just for the pure sport," but you won't hear that anymore. It's not a sport anymore, it's a business. And it's certainly not pure.

My attitude toward the use of PEDs has changed in the past year or so. I used to think it was just a couple of dozen baseball players that 'juiced,' but it seems now that that was a pretty naive view. The Biogenesis scandal has produced 13 ballplayers guilty of using banned substances, and we think that's a lot. Well, consider this: Some of the people on the list were never caught before, in spite of the continuous testing that goes on. How many other players found sources of the drugs through areas not involved with Biogenesis? How many are still out there, confident in their ability to circumvent the testing? There are 750 players on Major League rosters. Do you really believe that only 13 are guilty? That's less than 2%. And let's not forget the 600 players in the minors who are on the parent clubs protected list. Some of them were caught, too, but certainly not all of them.

Other sports, all sports actually, are just as screwed up. Johnny Manziel  is the poorest representative of a Heisman Trophy winner ever. College football players violate every rule we can think of. The coaches are just as bad. There are a number of them who violated recruitment rules and when they got caught, they simply moved on to another job, leaving their former school to suffer for their wrongdoings. Pro football players seem to think that getting arrested is a badge of honor. Golfers cheat and make racist remarks.
I just finished reading a book called, "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes," about amateur gymnastics and ice skating. AMATEUR. These girls are willing to risk their long term health by taking pills, training and working out to the point of exhaustion, and suffering eating disorders, all to win an Olympic gold medal. Some have died, most have health problems for the rest of their lives. The coaches, however, are fat, healthy and rich, emphasis on the rich.

Bud Selig is currently basking in the glory of "...the best drug prevention program in professional sports." Bud, you haven't cleaned up a thing. What about the previous violations? What about all the 'sacrosanct records' that were obliterated?
In the movie, "My Blue Heaven," Steve Martin tells this joke: "What's the difference between a pregnant woman and a light bulb? The answer: "You can unscrew a light bulb."
So Bud, how are you going to unscrew all these tainted records? Get back to me on that, will you?

There is no THEY SAID IT section. I'm not feeling very funny today.

CP-
 





Sunday, August 04, 2013

THE FALLOUT

I keep saying to myself, "Okay, this is the last time I'll write about this," but it doesn't seem to happen. That's because every day, it gets more ridiculous. As Michael Corleone said, "Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in."

Is A-Rod delusional? Has he thought any of this through? He insisted yesterday that he will be flying to Chicago Sunday night to play third base for the Yankees. If Bud Selig has his way, on Monday, A-Rod won't even be able to say the word 'Yankees,' let alone play for them. He's like a petulant little kid who believes if he doesn't admit it, it doesn't exist.

The trouble is, he's not just affecting himself. Sure, he can dance around the pointed questions and act like there's nothing wrong, but what can the Yankee front office say? What can his teammates say? There are rumors that a number of his teammates and the Yankee front office are all disgusted with the whole mess...and with A-Rod. They can't outwardly condone his actions nor can they dismiss him. So they are forced to publicly answer questions about him with blank stares, clenched fists and bitten lips.

A-Rod's own union doesn't know whether to back him fully, walk away from him or find some middle ground. There is no middle ground - there's only a quagmire called Biogenesis. MLBPA president, Michael Weiner, is doing his best to ride the fence, but that's hard to do with one guy shaking it.

Through it all, Rodriquez hands out quotes that stun everybody.
"We have to get rid of PEDs, no question"
"I'm not willing to negotiate with MLB."
"I will have my platform to answer all the questions soon."
...and my favorite:
"I'm flying to Chicago and I'll be playing on Monday night."

Will someone please make him an offer he can't refuse?

***OH YEAH, BASEBALL***
The Yanks won yesterday in typical 2013 Yankee style. Their pitchers threw a shut-out and NY scored three runs on only five hits. Their biggest rally these days is the 2-run homer. And, of course, another injury is reported. It's Jeter again, who is having a hell of a time just staying on the field. He claims, of course, that he's fine, but you can see that he can't run. But he can still outrun CC Sabathia, who can't seem to beat a runner to first base unless he has a 50-foot head start and the runner is carrying the umpire on his back.
If the Yanks are going to play small ball, then they HAVE to go after every advantage that they can. Friday, a Padre appeared to miss third base on his way to home. Did Girardi appeal to the umpire? Nope! Maybe it wouldn't have worked, but it costs nothing to try. The Umpire can't call it on his own, you have to appeal.

Speaking of which, have you ever seen a worse performance of an umpiring crew than the show put on by the crew on Friday in San Diego. Every umpire - EVERY UMPIRE - blew at least one call. If they really do grade the umpires after every game, this crew shouldn't have gotten a score in double figures.

My grandsons' soccer season is over. This will give me a chance to do some research on the game, because I don't understand a lot of it. The ref blows his whistle and every body changes directions. I don't know why. 


***THEY SAID IT***
"Those PED users awaiting the announcement of their suspensions must be sitting on pins and ...
Nah, too easy."  -- Dwight Perry
"Ex-journeyman Robert Fick admitted to twice using steroids to rehab injuries  Time to put an asterisk next to those 69 career homers and his .258 batting average.”  -- Torben Rolfsen
"The NCAA finally cleared Husker basketball player Tai Webster. Unfortunately, he’s now 32."  -- Brad Dickson
"Maria Sharapova hired tennis legend Jimmy Connors as her new coach. So my application must have got lost in the mail."  -- RJ Currie
"In case you missed the latest baseball news, Joe Mauer's wife had twins and David Ortiz had a cow."   -- Dwight Perry

"A-Rod says he’s set to return to the Yankees unless he’s ‘struck by lightning’. Someone hand him a kite"  -- Howard Fox
"Mark Sanchez was booed today during the New York Jets Green and White Scrimmage. Well, it may be early, but good to see that Jets fans at least are in mid-season form."  -- Janice Hough
"The Ohio State football team recently introduced its alternate uniforms, which I think are pinstripes featuring ankle monitoring devices."  -- Brad Dickson
LeBron James is seriously giving "some very heavy thought" to running for the top spot in the NBA players' union. He's already king - and he wants to be president, too?  -- Dwight Perry
"It is not looking good for Alex Rodriguez. There's a good chance he could be banned from baseball for life. How good? He got 2-to-1 odds from Pete Rose."  -- Jay Leno
"Lindsey Lohan has been in rehab. This is her sixth visit. You know what that means. The next one is free."  -- David Letterman

CP-
 











Thursday, August 01, 2013

IS IT OVER, FINALLY?

How can a player who hasn't played an inning of baseball at the major league level this year, end up in the headlines in all phases of the media all year? In case  you've been living in a igloo in the arctic for the last 10 months, we're talking about Alex Rodriquez, of course.
Alex was quoted saying he, "...wants to be a role model."  I think the "role" he's referring to is on "Breaking Bad."

He's been shown to have used PEDs in his time in Texas (denied at first, of course), MLB believes it has proof that he's been using again since 2009 (denied again), and may be guilty of lying to investigators in the BioGenesis investigation and may even have interfered with the investigation.

His punishments for all this range from 50 games to a lifetime ban. I'm in favor of the lifetime ban just because I'm sick of hearing the denials of the use of PEDs, which ultimately turn out to be true. What is wrong with athletes that make them think they must steadfastly deny these allegations and then end up being found guilty? Or they go the Ryan Braun/Jason Giambi route, where you apologize for "something," accept a punishment and walk away shaking your head as though you have no idea why.

Buster Olney brought up a good point. Years ago, Paul Hornung and Alex Karas, major pro-football stars, were caught gambling on the games. Rather than go thru a ridiculous denial phase, they both admitted it immediately, took their punishment (a one-year suspension for both) and moved on. Overall, it proved not to hurt their reputation very much, and, in fact, both made the Hall of Fame. Bonds, Palmeiro, McGwire, et al. should take note.

Back to the actual sport:
Hiroki Koroda pitched another beautiful game in LA last night, going 7 innings with no runs. In his last 5 games, Kuroda has thrown 33 innings and has given up only 2 runs. He's 10-6 for the year and if the Yanks could give him just 4 runs a game, he could be 15-4. He and Sabathia should switch salaries. The Yanks won 3-0 after Tuesday night's hero, Mark Ellis, dropped a two-out pop-up that allowed two runs to score. Everybody looks to heap an extraordinary amount of praise on Yasiel Puig, LA's phenom, but there is evidence that he actually knocked the ball out of Ellis' glove in the ninth. You won't hear anything about that, because that doesn't fit with the image the media has built around him.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have taken four in a row from second place St. Louis Cardinals, and have a 21/2 game lead in the NLCentral. The Bucs have the best record in baseball, 65-42.

***THEY SAID IT***
"A Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman proposed to Brooke Hogan, daughter of Hulk Hogan. He wants to be a part of the Hogan family. Here's another good argument for testing NFL players for concussions -- Brad Dickson
"The Milwaukee Brewers are giving away about $3 million in food and drink vouchers to fans at the ballpark for the rest of the season, basically spending the money they would have paid Ryan Braun. Gosh, if/when A-Rod gets suspended the Yankees could afford to  turn their stadium into an all-inclusive resort."  -- Janice Hough
"Kim Kardashian and Kanye West reportedly spent $750,000 on four gold-plated toilets. I recall an ex-friend installed one of those for a party; I found out later it was his tuba."  -- RJ Currie
"Justin Bieber's tour bus was stopped by Canadian border patrol agents. And they found marijuana. The agents said Bieber was a disgrace to Canada and should never come back. Then they found the marijuana."  -- Craig Ferguson
"David Ortiz destroyed a dugout phone with a bat. Coincidentally, the same night a Miami Marlins hitter took three swings at a dugout phone and missed"  -- Brad Dickson
"Must say since the SF Giants don’t appear likely to make the playoffs, it would be fun to see a Rays-Pirates World Series. Especially as it would probably make Fox executives heads’ explode."  -- Janice Hough
"Pope Francis today said he will not judge priests who are gay. In response, gay priests said they will not judge Pope Francis for wearing that robe with those shoes."  -- Conan O'Brien
"Russian President Vladimir Putin was on vacation last week, and apparently he caught a giant 46-pound fish. Putin called it a crowning achievement, while the manager of the aquarium said, “What am I supposed to do? He's president.”  -- Jimmy Fallon

CP-