Sunday, April 27, 2014

IT'S NOT JUST THE PLAYERS...

...who say dumb things, the owners can be just as insensitive. An audio tape has surfaced that allegedly has the LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, spouting some very racial remarks to his purported girlfriend about associating with certain ethnic groups. NBA president Adam Silver has said he will investigate thoroughly to confirm or deny that it is in fact Sterling on the tape and that the tape has not been altered. If it is Sterling, Silver promised quick and severe penalties. Mike Lupica, NY Daily News, suggests that Sterling be made to sell the team. I don't know if that's possible or if it should even be attempted, which does not mean I condone this behavior. Fine him (millions), suspend him (at least a year) and force a public apology, and do it now.

MLB, in all it's wisdom (Yes Sheldon, that's sarcasm), has corrected an earlier mistake by going back to a long held tradition of allowing a force out at 2nd base even though an infielder drops the ball trying to complete a double play. Forced to clarify a situation that was sure to be challenged during the year, basically said that unless an infielder had the ball in his hand, controlled, when he dropped it, then the runner would be called safe at 2nd. Multiple circumstances and replays showed that the definition of the rule wasn't proper and so now they have gone back to the old interpretation. So if the fielder catches the throw, the runner is out, regardless of any control issues when transferring  the ball to his throwing hand. Good for them.
By the way, I have always felt that when mistakes occur when throwing to first or dropping the ball when attempting to throw (or the firstbaseman drops the throw), it should be an error. Now the rule is that you can't anticipate a double play so there is no error charged. Why not? There are enough double plays that you would think they know how to do it. They are major leaguers - it's an error. Deal with it.

The Buffalo Bills make enough mistakes when it comes to player evaluation and roster decisions, that there is no need to expand their decision making to other areas. The Bills cheer-leading squad has sued the Bills for uncompensated mandatory hours plus inappropriate rules for the members of the squad. The Jill's rulebook has some of the most intimate rules for personal care that I've ever seen in print. Even my old Italian grandmother would never dare to express things that intimate with her daughter. So the Buffalo Jills have attempted to stop this kind of abuse through the use of a lawsuit. The team has responded in the mature, legal manner for which they are noted: they suspended the whole squad. That's one way to deal with the problem.

There is talk that MLB may eliminate the "Pine tar on the pitchers person" rule over the winter. Joe Torre cautions against this change because, "...it could lead to abuse, whereby a pitcher would use it to alter the flight of the ball and that would be dangerous to the hitter." I have never heard of a hitter who, after being hit, said, "It wouldn't have happened if he didn't have pine tar on the ball." Why is Torre always on a different side of a discussion than everyone else? Maybe he needs pine tar to controls his thoughts better.

***THEY SAID IT***
"There are three starters who are throwing a splitter more than 20% of the time: Masahiro Tanaka, Hisashi Iwakuma and Hiroki Kuroda. There's got to be a common denominator here, but I'm just not seeing it."  -- Sam Fineberg.
" To“save” golf, there’s a proposal to make the cups 15 inches wide. At majors this would allow Bob Costas to report from inside the 18th hole."  -- Brad Dickson
"Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda got ejected from Wednesday’s game against the Red Sox when umpires discovered sticky tar on the back of his neck. Guess Pineda wasn’t kidding when he said he needed to grab a little pine."  -- Dwight Perry
"Yankees pitcher Pineda got caught using pine tar: “Pineda missed two full seasons after blowing out his shoulder, and now he might miss two starts after suffering the mother of all brain cramps."  -- Ian O'Connor
"Earth is 71 percent water: “No, wait a minute — that’s Yankee Stadium beer.”  -- David Letterman
"Dan Marino and Joe Montana will play in a flag-football game to say goodbye to Candlestick Park this July. When asked if they knew who will sponsor the game, the 49ers reportedly replied “Depends?”  -- Janice Hough
"A Cubs official told a 100-year-old fan he couldn’t take part in an opening pitch ceremony after he arrived 15 minutes “tardy.” OK, Cubs, that’ll be another multi-decade curse."  -- Brad Dickson
"An entrepreneur plans to open a combination saloon/indoor shooting range in Deadwood, S.D.Just don’t make the mistake of telling the bartender: “Two quick shots, please.”  -- Dwight Perry
"The Buffalo Jills Handbook has many rules. Here's one: #11 - Treat adults as adults.  That's good advice. Shame it doesn't apply to women."  -- Nestor Ramos, Rochester D & C
"The LA district attorney’s office says that Aldon Smith will probably only be charged with a misdemeanor instead of a felony for telling TSA he had a bomb at LAX airport. Another athlete who should be glad stupidity is not a felony."  -- Janice Hough
"What do you call a power runner for the Fighting Irish arrested for DUI? The drunk back of Notre Dame."  -- RJ Currie

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