Thursday, November 12, 2020

A LITTLE MORE BASEBALL NEWS

 **Baseball has announced the winners of the Manager Of The Year award in both leagues. Don Mattingly, Miami Marlins, in the National League, Kevin Cash, Tampa Bay Rays, In the American League. Both are fine managers and Mattingly is a gentleman who respects the game and all it's participants. Kevin Cash, I'm not so sure about, but congratulations to both.

**White Sox manager, Tony LaRussa, will be in the news often this coming season as he is not one to shy from controversy. Lets hope Chicago never gets into a feud with another team because LaRussa tends to over-react in these situations. If one of his players gets hit by a pitch, it's okay to want to protect your players, but rather than try to diffuse the situation, he tends to exacerbate the problem: "You hit one of my players, I'll hit two of yours." This is an exact quote and will certainly not help calm any tempers. Now I see that Tony is already in the news being charged with a DUI in October of this year. According to police reports, he had an interesting response to questioning by police officers: "I'm a Hall of Famer baseball person." Another quote. It is the second drunken-driving arrest for La Russa, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI in Florida in 2007. Well, I see we're off and running.

**The Mets new owner, Steve Cohen is making waves already, cleaning house in the front office and setting a goal of a World Series title in 3-5 years. He also intends to spend money to better the team. “This is a major market team and should have a budget commensurate with that.” He also pledged to let his baseball people make the baseball decisions. New York fans are familiar with this promise and the actual result from the George Steinbrenner years with the Yankees. Do you know of any billionaire who got where they are by letting other people make decisions? 

**The Red Sox have officially rehired Alex Cora as their manager. In his press conference, he actually acknowledged his wrong doing with the Astros and apologized for it. "I deserved what happened this year. I'm not proud of it. ... In the end, I got my penalty and served it." I don't think I've ever heard a professional athlete say that before. Usually they talk about their mistakes as though they don't understand what everybody is upset about ("If anyone was offended, I  apologize"). I'm impressed, Alex.

**This is the advent of what I call, THE SILLY SEASON, where all 30 teams think they are just one player short of being favored to win their division. We'll have to discuss this in more detail in the future.

***THEY SAID IT*** 

"Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald once instituted a mandatory nap for his Wildcats prior to games. Not to be outdone, Adam Gase's NY Jets frequently take naps during games."  -- RJ Currie 

"Mets President Sandy Alderson says with new owner Steve Cohen he wants to turn the team into an “Iconic franchise.” Well, for comedy writers, they already are."  -- Janice Hough 

"The Alabama-LSU game has been canceled due to Covid. It's just as well. Bo Pelini's defense probably couldn't hold 'Bama to under 100 points."  -- Brad Dickson

 "During Michigan St.-Michigan, Fox’s Gus Johnson said that MSU RB “Ricky White is having a career game. He was a freshman, playing his second game."  -- Mike Panasuk, Boston, MA

 "As always, follow the TV money. Saturday’s Arizona St.-Southern Cal will begin here at noon, 9 a.m. West Coast time, for Fox money. This allows students the opportunity to be hungover by 1 p.m."  -- Phil Mushnick

"Federal agents are questioning USC football players in connection to a fraud investigation. Penalties may be stiff. Some pf the players may be forced to attend classes."  -- Alex Kaseberg

"A question for Clayton Kershaw and Cody Bellinger: "Was it easier to win the World Series when the other team wasn't cheating.""  -- Jimmy Kimmel

"In a response to inquiries from New York Jets and Houston Texans fans, the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta informed them that they must continue to wear masks, even under the paper bags over their heads."  -- Bill Littlejohn

"The NFL suspended Bears receiver Javon Wims for two games cheap-shotting the Saints’ C.J. Gardner-Johnson — one game for the blows and, presumably, another game for being stupid enough to repeatedly punch a guy’s helmet."  -- Dwight Perry

"Packers beat San Francisco 34-17 Thursday night: The Niners put up a struggle but, with eight starters out of the lineup from the outset, they brought brass knuckles to an ax fight."  -- Jack Finarelli

Chad Picasner





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