THINGS ARE HEATING UP

 **I simply can not believe that professional athletes continually think that they don't have to follow any rules at all. A couple of weeks ago, Steelers cornerback Justin Layne was arrested near Cleveland and charged with a felony. He was stopped in the wee hours of the morning for doing 90 miles an hour in a 60 MPH zone. He was driving on a suspended license, in possession of marijuana and the illegal possession of a gun. Somehow, Layne seemingly ignored the whole situation and complained that he was busted for just "a blunt." Just another product of the college football program. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has never publicly commented on this event. If he did, it would be classified as an "off the field problem." So I guess unless Layne shows up in the huddle smoking weed and carrying a gun, it's not Goodell's problem.

**  Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jose Alverado has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for inciting a bench-clearing brawl with the NY Mets after taunting Mets outfielder Dominick Smith after striking him out. Just another fine example of "letting the kids play." Thank you Rob Manfred.

**MLB teams have medical staffs and training teams to keep the players healthy. The slightest injury can put players on the Injured List within seconds of a problem with these experts watching them. They also design programs to prevent others from injuring themselves. We've heard it all: Left oblique strain, rotor cuff irritation and the infamous "lower body soreness". The medical staffs have solutions to prevent further injuries of each body part. There is a new injury to report but the solution is the easiest to institute. It's simply installing Parental Controls on TVs and video games. The Oakland A's left  hander Jesus Luzardo broke his pinkie finger while playing a video game. The manager claims he accidentally bumped his hand while playing. No, he didn't. He slammed his hand the the table out of frustration while playing. Video games can do that to you, but Luardo won't have to worry about that for a while. The team has blocked the game and won't release it to Luzardo until he's old enough to  learn how to control himself. Luckily, they didn't take away his Coco Puffs.

**As of Sunday, May 5th, the Yankees are in third place in the AL East with a  record of 14-14 (.500). If they were in the NL East, they would be 3 games ahead of the first place NY Mets (11-11, .500) I guess it's true in baseball and restaurants: It's location, location, location.

**The NY Mets have fired their two hitting coaches because the team is having trouble scoring runs and have shown little power. Always true in baseball, you can't fire the players, so the coaches (and sometimes the manager) have to go. The Yankees also went through this, but eventually the players began (as Michael Kay likes to say) to hit up to the standards of the back of their baseball cards. There is too much talent on the Mets for them to continue like this thru the season. Besides they're in first place so  somebody is winning those games.

**First of a three game series NY vs Houston last night, won by the Yanks 7-3. As expected, the NY crowd was very vocal in their harsh treatment of the Astros because of their cheating methods in the 2019 playoffs. Leave it to the NY crowd to come up with some ingenious ways to insult the Astros. Before we become too impressed, I read that the vendors outside the stadium came up with most of them, including some that were very profane. Not that the Astros didn't deserve it.The Yankee broadcasters feel the major reason the fans are so upset with Houston is the fact that the players got away with the cheating. They basically received no punishment, no fines, no suspensions and not loss of the title.

***THEY SAID IT***

"Alabama wide receiver checks in at 6 foot 166 lbs. I'm not saying he's too skinny to withstand the pounding of the NFL, but he's the only player in the draft who uses a Cheerio as a hula hoop."  -- Mike Bianchi

"Thursday, as Yanks-Orioles went to the 10th, Kay had to issue his “Free baseball!” call. Clever stuff — once, perhaps."  -- Phil Mushnick

"LA Lakers owner Jeannie Buss made a list of her all-time important Lakers and not on this list is Jerry West. That’s like leaving Bugs Bunny off of a list of all-time important rabbits.  -- Bill Littlejohn

"In the first half of tomorrow's Husker spring game there will be no tackling & the teams will play a form of touch football. Then, at the end, everybody gets a participation trophy?" -- Brad Dickson

"SF Giants & Rockies rained out tonight in Denver. So this means only 14 scheduled innings for Giants pitchers at Coors Fields for tomorrow’s doubleheader. Wonder if any of those pitchers participated in a rain dance."  -- Janice Hough

"Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen tossed a seven-inning one-hitter against the Braves in the opener and Madison Bumgarner tossed a no-no in the nightcap.In other words, they scheduled an MLB doubleheader and fastpitch softball broke out."  -- Dwight Perry

" Talent evaluation is the most difficult thing in sports. The distance between college and pro football is from Canton, China, to Canton, Ohio."  -- Nick Canepa

 "A recent survey said the U.S. city having the most sex per capita is Los Angeles, averaging 135 times a year. That drops to 12 times a year if you exclude the Lakers and Clippers."  -- RJ Currie

 "NBA box scores often include DNP — “did not play, coach’s decision.” Kyrie Irving has inspired a new entry, DFLP — didn’t feel like playing."  -- Phil Mushnick

"The owners of Stonehenge were seeking a general manager, one experienced in working with ancient artifacts. They asked permission to speak to Yankees GM Brian Cashman."  -- RJ Currie

Chad Picasner