Bread and Circuses
The Best of Fox Sports
Archive for July, 2007
July 31, 2007 at 7:39 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Who is this Cal Ripken Jr. the sports media talked about this weekend? A regular American hero. The living embodiment of what can be achieved through hard work. An example to the youth of America. A counterweight to the evil Barry Bonds.
That Cal Ripken is partly truth, partly fiction, and wholly an invention of sportswriters and broadcasters. The contrast between Ripken and Bonds was too good to pass on so they picked it up and passed it around like a joint at a Grateful Dead concert. ‘Here, take a hit of Ripken. You’ll forget there ever was a Barry Bonds’.
It doesn’t work like that. Barry Bonds has children that love him, a wife who is standing by him, teammates who respect and even like him, and has occasionally been seen smiling around fans. And he’s also a churlish egomaniac who called Bob Costas a midget (which surely is an affront to little people everywhere), and most likely an over amped exercise freak who has been practicing better batting through chemistry.
If Bonds is good and bad in some mix of parts, why are we supposed to believe Ripken (also a member of the human race) is entirely sunshine and good feelings? The truth is Oriole fans, at least the ones who followed the team closely in the Ripken era, know him as a complicated man with alot more Barry Bonds in him than the media would ever let on.
Start with the positives. Ripken played baseball hard and played it smart. He was among the best fielders at two different positions (shortstop and third base), and a steady 19 HR and 95 RBI run producer. Twenty one seasons, 3184 hits, 431 HR, and 1305 RBI. Twice an MVP, once a world champion. A winner and a baseball mind you would gladly turn over a team to as manager.
You’ll notice I didn’t say anything about Ripken breaking Gehrig’s consecutive game streak. To the media, it’s evidence of the noble working man’s ethic that propelled Ripken to greatness. But at the time, it was a source of controversy among O’s fans.
In an age of jet travel players need time off, especially players late in their career. Ripken wouldn’t take a day, and some argue he hurt both the team and his stats as a result. In 1992 he slumped to 14 HR and a .251 average. After a slight power rebound in 93 (a second straight .250 season), he snapped back with a .315 average in 94′ but only 13 HR.
Earlier this year Ripken told the author of a book on Gehrig “Yes, I respected him. But I was never obsessed with him or his streak.” He claimed that taking a day off would have “dishonored the game”. It seems, at best, disingenuous and at worst egotistical. Say this clearly and without fear of contradiction. Cal Ripken was no Lou Gehrig on the baseball field. Not even close.
Although Ripken is now considered as much an Baltimore icon as the Robinson’s, Brooks and Franks, and often goes on at great length about the Oriole traditions this didn’t stop him from threatening to leave town during his contract negotiations.
In the clubhouse, Cal was respected but by all accounts never particularly liked. He didn’t go out of his way to interact with his teammates and pressed for perks, such as separate lodging in a different hotel from the rest of the team. Reporters who dared even mildly question his pursuit of Gehrig’s record were frozen out afterwards.
In retirement Ripken has bought two minor league teams, speaks often with feeling about his children, and promotes youth baseball. He is reflective about his career, his values, and place in the game. He is, for good and bad, the same Cal Ripken of twenty-one Baltimore summers.
Bloggers make value judgements, but we’re not alone. Writers and broadcasters do as well. And often we all get it wrong when it comes to athletes. Like a sports version of an inspect collector we want to classify each new athlete as good or bad, from the family “good guy” or the phylum “horsus posterious”.
This week Cal Ripken became a Hall of Famer, and for a weekend was cast as a white knight in untarnished armor doing battle against an impending victory for the forces of steroids. That it isn’t the whole truth doesn’t take away from the Oriole star’s legend. Ripken, the writers say, isn’t Bonds. But Bonds isn’t Ripken either. And that’s not entirely a bad thing.
74 Comments
July 28, 2007 at 9:26 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
It will happen. Barry Bonds will hit a home run to tie Hank Aaron, then one to pass him. Maybe not soon but eventually, and with a finality that won’t be denied.
The morning after will be interesting. The papers will scream the headlines. The internet will just scream. Pictures of an uncomfortable Bud Selig. Analysis of the pictures of an uncomfortable Bud Selig.
The photo will be of Bonds at home plate, right after the ball leaves the park. A smaller photo of the man who got beaten up trying to catch the ball. Followed by an analysis of how much the ball will be worth on the open market.
Bonds won’t say much. Probably find some way to say “bleep you” to the world without actually saying it. His team mates will praise him, as will most players around baseball. He’s part of the brotherhood. But Curt Schilling will call it a travesty, and not be too far wrong.
The ex-girlfriend will put her clothes back on and make a brief statement through her agent. The feds won’t say much of anything, but that’s OK. They get to speak last and loudest.
Baseball experts on the cable news networks will talk to hosts who haven’t seen a baseball game in years but will pretend to have. George Will will be pontificating on ABC, which is his normal mode of conversation. He will say alot of words that amount to “cheat”. But they will spoken with erudition. Tim Russert, a knowledgeable fan, wil shake his head and try to make sense of it all. As will we all.
“I wasn’t going to back down. I threw him my best stuff and he hit. That’s baseball. I have great respect for the man.” The words of a pitcher who threw a bad pitch up in the zone and got taken down town. Probably some reliever you never heard of, whose name nobody will ever forget.
And how are Jack Billingham and Al Downing these days? Here’s one for you. Billingham was a distant cousin of Christy Mathewson. Just thought we’d throw that in before we break coverage and head back to the latest car bomb explosion in Baghdad. “Groundhog Day”, but with a war and without Bill Murray. Nothing is better without Bill Murray. Should have figured that.
There will be milk cartons all over Georgia with Hank Aaron’s picture of them. The great man will vanish. Maybe a no comment. Not today, not tomorrow. But eventually his thoughts will come out through friends. He will not be pleased.
The historic call from ESPN. How will it be phrased? Probably nothing will be said. Just a dramatic pause and crowd noise. The producers love that stuff. Over on radio they’ll come up with something worthy of landing on the Moon.
If it happens on the road somebody will throw a syringe on the field. The fans will boo. There will be endless analysis of the booing and interviews with the booers. Or boors. Same difference. Something might well happen on the field that becomes a legal matter and results in a forfeit. The press can only hope.
In these parts we’ll get ten or fifteen blogs that stay up for five to ten minutes and elbow their way past each other. Most of us will read SoCal’s latest defense of Bonds. And disagree with it.
Me? The day after this blog will be a Bonds free zone.
What is left to say? We’ve heard it all before and it hasn’t even happened yet.
12 Comments
July 26, 2007 at 8:32 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
How scared is the NBA over allegations that a NBA ref bet on games he officiated? So scared there were occasional moments during David Stern’s press conference when he appeared to exhibit humility. It’s was like seeing Darth Vader in a Depends Undergarments commercial.
Stern is the fellow who has fought and won against some of the biggest enemies of society. He fought bravely in the Battle of the Bling. Stood resolute in defending the NBA and college basketball against 18 year old millionaires. Shook down politicians for new arenas across the country despite holding a hand full of sixes and sevens and nines. Faced down the Cuban menace. (Mark Cuban that is).
Now serious people with grave looks solemnly tell us Stern and the league are fearful and trembling. All because one referee appears to have wandered away from the herd and placed bets on games he officiated. Reports of an FBI investigation contain dark hints of wider involvement by other referees and even some players. Civilization as we know it, and the dark lords of Nike portray it for mass consumption, is under seige.
Or maybe not.
As Will Rodgers once said, all I know about organized crime I learned watching the Sopranos. Maybe it wasn’t Will Rodgers, it might have been the Attorney General. He’s had a bad year. But one thing I have learned from TV shows, movies, and occasionally reading the outward facing side of the fish wrap is that professional criminals are practical people.
Most of the money bet on the NBA, and estimates run as high as $100 billion annually, is bet on the playoffs. Donaghy only called five playoff games, none in the finals. In those five games, the spread was covered in two. But one of the games it wasn’t was an 18 point win by Golden State over Dallas that no amount of referee misconduct can explain. So if we’re looking at a fixer, we’re not looking at a reliable one.
Nobody seems to be coming forward with stories of 1919 Chicago White Sox like shifts in betting odds. Although it’s early, there are no accounts of windfalls made on games he officiated. No specific crime organizations have been implicated. Just rumors of some low level mob involvement. Which is likely all we have here.
Why would the highest levels of organized crime even want to fix games? There are amazing profits to be made off illegal gambling. If the spreads are set properly, there is little danger that a profit won’t be made. On the other hand, point shaving brings the risk of investigations by the government and disruptions in the enterprise. Not to mention the discouraging effect on the gambling public if they lose confidence in a fair outcome.
The NBA does one smart thing in the playoffs that works against getting to officials. They use different crews within a series. Look at the box scores of the Spurs-Cavaliers final. Four games, four sets of officials. Those aren’t good odds for a fixer. Better to spend your money on a point guard or other key player who can turn the ball over at the right time, or miss a shot late in the game that might be the difference in making the spread or not.
It is a terrible thing Tim Donaghy did, if reports are true. He abused a position of trust. Took away fan confidence in a game millions of Americans love. Cast a shadow that will stick with every referee in the league for years to come. Betrayed his family. But bring down the NBA? Not very likely.
The wheels of justice grind slow, but they do grind. The truth will out in the end. I expect the seemingly enormous cloud over the NBA will fade away before the next season starts and the scandal will start and end with Tim Donaghy. It seems, at least for now, a safe bet.
5 Comments
July 25, 2007 at 7:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Just add opinions and serve…
The death of Tulsa Drillers first base coach Mike Coolbaugh has passed with few remarks from the blogging community. These days blogs, sporting or political, are about heroes and villains. Coolbaugh was neither, just a nice guy and family man doing something he loved and dying in a freak accident.
What can you write? Only the hope, and a realistic one it is, that his last hours were full of sights and sounds that brought him happiness. The chatter in the clubhouse, the joy of taking the field, the enthusiasm of the fans, and the satisfaction of watching players he worked with getting better at a game he loved. Coolbaugh was liked and respected on the field and off. As was said in Hamlet, “He made a good end.”
Heard some call-in listener comments on Tim Donaghy, followed by the host condemning the NBA referee. A few minutes later the afternoon crew was yucking it up over the 5 picks one of them had made in the daily beat the spread contest. Gambling runs deep in sports culture, maybe deeper than most of us realize. Odds the FBI just happened to find the one official in all of the NBA involved in fixing games, and no players were involved, is a the very definition of a long shot.
Why is it not a surprise the same city that brought us Haight Ashbury, The Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane doesn’t seem concerned by Barry Bonds possible involvement with performance enhancing drugs.? Is Barry guilty? Go ask Alice.
Watching ESPN’s “The Bronx Is Burning” you’re struck by the personalities. Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Mickey Rivers. Today’s Yankees are an impressive collection of hired guns, but something is missing. The 2007 Bronx Bombers have no soul. Joe Torre is a good manager, but the old Yankees would have eaten him for breakfast. I miss those days.
Cowboy fans are getting excited about this year’s team, based in large part on the depth. True, there are alot of good backups in Big D, but a fair number of them are talented young guys who haven’t played up to their ability. How does that get a team to Glendale?
It’s late July and I’m five points out in my roto league. Starting pitching is driving me nuts this year. I’m on the verge of cutting Jason Marquis for mental health reasons. I bench him he wins, I play him he tanks. I wait to see two good starts in a row then bring him back. He tanks again. I sit him again and he becomes Cy Young. I’m starting to take this personally.
I’m wondering if the Vick thing sit down isn’t going to blow up in the face of the NFL. What happens if the prosecution can’t make the case? The witnesses are not likely to be members of the Upright Citizens League and it’s even possible that one or two are lying to protect themselves. And what if the FBI and prosecutors are only interested in Vick as a means to an end to get at bigger fish? What if they flip Vick and then give him a pass on the charges against him? In short, what do you do with a Vick who is guilty morally and not guilty legally? We may find out.
Is Jim Rome the Dick Clark of our generation? Rome is 43 but looks, sounds, acts, and dresses like one of his 22 year old listeners. Today’s e-mail. “Jim Rome. You’re in. We’ve already booked the guests for 2014. Signed, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.”
And finally, David Stern.
10 Comments
July 24, 2007 at 6:37 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
So you have a house. It’s a small house, 630 square foot. And the land it’s on is nothing special. But your neighbor wants it.
This particular neighbor has some kids he wants to build housing for. One of them has been in trouble with the law. Under indictment for sexually assaulting a 12 year old girl who some of his friends allegedly got intoxicated. She was dropped a block from her home at 6:30 the next morning with bruises on her neck, scratches on her arms and shoulder.
Not exactly the people you want next to you, but it’s a college neighborhood so you make allowances. Your neighbor has money, let’s just say somewhere around $300 million give or take some spare change (you always find some in the couches and these folks have really nice couches). They offered you $50,000, but you knew they had money so you asked for $89,000.
Normally, this would be a standoff. But your neighbor is a major university and they have decided $62,000 will about cover it. So they go to court and take your land under the right of eminent domain which permits the taking of property by government for a public use.
This is where it gets tricky. The public use the University wants to take the land for is to build a $316 million athletic village. Which will not be open to the public. Just to athletes, including the one under indictment. But it’s a public use. Really.
You can see how people might think otherwise. The college president pointed out in a 2005 release that “Our athletic village, which will be built solely with private dollars, will be nothing short of spectacular.”
So you have a public entity using the authority of the state to take land under eminent domain for a project that does not involve any public money and arguably no public good. All for the noble purpose of promoting what is ironically considered amateur athletics, a non-professional activity that (according to the president) pumps $32 million into the local economy annually.
This past week a lot of people have written a lot of words about Michael Vick and wondered how it could have come to pass that a football hero could wind up involved in a sordid case involving allegations of cruelty. How could it happen?
It starts with universities that build $316 million dollar facilities that isolate athletes from the rest of the campus. It begins when an athlete under indictment for sexual assault is brought onto a college campus to play football. And it continues up to the point where a single private donor writes a check for $165 million to fund a facility that consumes a residential neighborhood. In short, it is the old story of tails that wag dogs and the people who stand on the sidelines and watch it all happen.
There are over two million books in the library of the university that tore down the neighborhood to build the $316 million temple to athletics and admitted the player under indictment for sexual assault. Maybe there are even one or two about ethics. Not that anyone in authority will read them.
I haven’t attached the name of the school to this blog. It doesn’t matter. It could be just about any major university that belongs to the NCAA. And if you don’t believe me, I’ll wager you $62,000 that you’re wrong.
July 22, 2007 at 9:56 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Let me see if I’m understanding this. NFL Europe goes under because
it’s too complicated for the people who gave us Socrates, Da Vinci, and
Neils Bohr to understand. Yet we don’t hear a word from the cultural
critics who brand Americans as backwater yahoos because we haven’t
embraced a mind numbing sport that could have been salvaged if only there had been one sober person in attendance who could have pointed out that the field is too long.
I refer of course to soccer, a celebration of non-productive inactivity rivaled only by the United States Congress.
Last
night 27,000 people in California, 13,500 of them who came with their agents or publicists, attended the debut of the soccer equivalent of Babe Ruth. David Beckham has arrived and
sports fans around the rest of the country have rolled over and gone back to sleep.
As well they should.
There hasn’t been anything quite this embarrassing since the media went bonkers over Andy Warhol’s prints of Campbell’s Soup cans in 1968.
“The
objective was just for him to be on the pitch and give the people the
dessert they were looking for,” Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho said.
Beckham’s debut was more like a half eaten Oreo. But to hear the pundits and fans of soccer tell it, last night was creme brulee straight from the kitchens of Paris. For comedic effect you can’t top the actual media coverage.
There were cheers each time Beckham touched the ball, the highlight being a corner kick he took in stoppage time.
You reach back in your mind for some corresponding thrill in American sports, but alas the closest we come is Stephon Marbury inbounding the ball after a basket.
Beckham’s only physical contact was when Chelsea’s Steve Sidwell attempted to tackle him.
“I saw him coming and I jumped just in time so my foot wasn’t planted when he hit me,” Beckham said.
And to think, we poor Americans have had to make due until now with Reggie Bush.
Beckham got off the bench in the 66th minute to warm up, exciting
fans who had waited most of the game to see him. He jogged up and down
the sidelines and a roar went up when Beckham tapped an out-of-bounds
ball back to the referee, his first kick of the night.
Just as an aside, I was on hand at the historic moment when Wendell Ladner handed the ball back to the referee in 1972 at a Carolina Cougar game. Ah, memories.
He briefly
ran off the field with the Galaxy’s trainer before returning and
peeling off his warmup shirt to reveal his favored long-sleeved jersey
on a warm night when the other players wore short sleeves.
He said he went inside to use the bathroom and get his ankle re-taped.
“I didn’t want to do it in front of the whole world,” he said.
“I didn’t want to do it in front of the whole world.” Words that will echo through time with these of our greatest sports legends. Makes the whole Lou Gehrig “Today I am the luckiest man alive.” bit seem somehow trivial, doesn’t it.
Beckham displayed his famous fashion sense at a post-match news
conference, appearing dapper in a blue-and-white shirt, buttoned navy
cardigan and navy slacks.
This I take exception to. Beckham may be a clothes hound, but he’s no J.J. Putz.
Beckham’s wife Victoria, wearing her trademark huge black
sunglasses, along with actress Katie Holmes and her infant daughter
Suri, watched from a private box above the field. Actress Jennifer Love
Hewitt was like a lot of spectators, attending her first soccer game.
Eva
Longoria, minus new hubby Tony Parker, comedian Drew Carey, NBA star
Kevin Garnett, movie producer Brian Grazer, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
and English actors John Hurt and Ray Winstone also made what were
likely their first trips to Carson, a downright gritty suburb compared
to the stars’ usual haunt of Beverly Hills.
Katie Holmes and Drew Carey? Guess the inevitable rumors will begin flying. Eva Longoria without Tony Parker, but Kevin Garnett was there? Hey, maybe this was a big event after all.
In typical soccer fashion, the game ended 1-0. And that, when all is said and done, is all you need to know. There will always be an England, occasionally there will be a Beckham, but there won’t be any goals. You wouldn’t want people to get overly excited. It’s not like it was a Spice Girls concert or something.
44 Comments
July 20, 2007 at 8:35 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
How low do you have to sink to have Nike pass moral judgment on you?
Nike Statement Regarding Michael Vick
Beaverton, OR (19 July, 2007)
- Nike is concerned by the serious and highly disturbing allegations
made against Michael Vick and we consider any cruelty to animals
inhumane and abhorrent. We do believe that Michael Vick should be
afforded the same due process as any citizen, therefore, we have not
terminated our relationship. We have however made the decision to
suspend the release of the Zoom Vick V and related marketing
communications. Nike will continue to monitor the situation closely and
have no further comment at this time.
These are the guys who are over in Southeast Asia getting cozy with the Friends of John Kerry Society and paying $3.70 a day to workers whose productivity is measured in fractions of seconds. The company that markets sinister images of brooding athletes staring down at cameras on rain soaked, poorly lit streets. That markets $120 shoes made for about 1/10th the price to kids from families that are just getting by. A warm, caring, concerned company marketing shoes with names like “assassin” and “bad”. A company that wouldn’t let an American worker make their shoes anymore than they would market a shoe endorsed by Joey Harrington.
These are the people sitting in judgment on Michael Vick.
Not really. All Nike is doing is withholding a decision on Vick until questions about his marketability can be clarified. The Zoom Vick V is on hold, but four other shoes bearing his name remain in stock. The game isn’t over until the informants sing in court. And if they don’t, or they do and Vick is acquitted, or found guilty but doesn’t do jail time? Then what?
Nike probably already knows that the people who are offended by Vick’s conduct aren’t the target market for the shoes. Somewhere in Oregon the results of the focus group are in and probably don’t look that bad. Will the young men who buy, or get their parents to buy, these shoes turn on Vick? What do you think?
Who knows, maybe Vick will come out of this with his career intact. If sales go up on his gear, maybe the next move we’ll see is a commercial with Brian Urlacher on the phone driving through bleak looking back streets cursing at his wife on a cell phone and running down dogs in the street. Maybe they’ll have Tiger Woods breaking into cars with a five iron.
Bring back the guys who did the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video and pair them with the next big thing. Revenue is up 9% and the guys in Ho Chi Minh City aren’t getting raises anytime soon. Go for it. Might win an ESPY for best ad next year.
When the Third Reich fell there were probably parts of Bavaria where you could buy “Air Adolphs” until as late as the Fall of 1946. After the fact, the guys down at the beer hall where all shocked at the little Corporal and all the mischief he caused. Never saw that coming. Just like Nike had no clue for the last six years that Vick was something less than a role model.
Here’s a thought. Let’s keep Vick around. There is always room in the human spirit for redemption. But instead of suspending Vick, let’s suspend Nike from our TV sets, our college athletic programs, and our playing fields for a couple of years. Take the fuel out from the fire that created the media image that is Michael Vick. I’d hate to see Vick off the field, but I can live without the swoosh for awhile.
July 20, 2007 at 10:54 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Wow!! I got a great response for this. About 30 moderately functional bloggers have expressed an interest in participating. I’ll be sending around a representative to collect urine samples. Anyone found drug or alcohol free will need a note from your doctor / spouse / long time companion.
I’ve been begging for e-mail addresses, so far eighteen have responded. If you’re serious about doing this and you haven’t already contacted me, you need to shoot me a note to bob480618@yahoo.com, asap. If I don’t have your e-mail address, you can’t vote. I sent out a test e-mail to the group. If you sent me your address and you didn’t get my response, I’ve probably screwed yours up somehow and I need you to try again.
ksp was one of the first to sign up, and he had had a similar thought about doing something like this. I asked and he’s agreed to help me administer this, so we may alternate posting the results.
Okay, so here’s how it’ll work. I’ll send out an e-mail on Mondays. Select your teams from 1-20. A first place vote is worth 20 pts, 2nd 19, etc. down to 1 point for 20th. Just send it as a reply to my e-mail, and I’ll compile the points and post. Who knows, I may bring in some celebrities to help blog. Last season I featured guests at the Hogpen like Charlie Daniels, Jimy Buffett and Larry the Cable Guy. Stay tuned, I’m gonna try to make this fun.
I’ve already received some peoples’ preseason picks, you can send those to me any time between now and August 4th. If you want to include some of your reasoning and comments, that’s be great. I can plagiarize you and put it in the blog. (Actually I would quote you and give you credit. And I’m thinking of featuring different bloggers votes from time to time.)
If you’ve got any questions, now is the time to ask them.
In the words of Demonicume, I’m outta here like a black man at a white girl’s funeral.
3 Comments
July 17, 2007 at 9:02 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I’ve decided to do something this fall that should be fun. We’ve got a bunch of great college football fans here, from all over the country. I want to run an in-season weekly bloggers poll. If you’re interested in participating, leave me a comment. I’ll try to arrange a group of bloggers that covers all regions and conferences as equally as possible. I need folks with at least a semblence of fairness and a good knowledge of teams outside your region. Let’s do this right if we’re gonna do it.
The number of bloggers used will depend on how many people from different areas are willing to participate. I won’t load up the panel with fans from any single conference, and you should be prepared to defend your picks if I think they look too far out there. To simplify things, we’ll each select a top 20. I’ll compile the points into a top 25 and list all teams receiving votes. Let’s prove we’re smarter than the computers, coaches and writers…or maybe not.
Operators are standing by.
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July 17, 2007 at 8:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Joey Harrington is the backup QB in Atlanta. In case you were wondering.
On FOX’s website the WNBA is under "More". Same thing on CBS Sportsline. At ESPN’s website it’s right up there beside men’s basketball. ESPN just signed an eight year deal with the WNBA. Is ESPN more enlightened, is it self-promotion, or some combination of both? Is ESPN signing the WNBA because it has arrived, or will the WNBA arrive because it’s on ESPN? One thing is for sure. You can kiss your off season NHL coverage goodbye.
The New York Times had a story Sunday on the internet as a source on leads for NCAA violations (fans on School "B"’s website ratting out School "A"). That’s how the Oklahoma "make work" scandal got exposed. Knowing that school websites have alot of "in the know" alumni, how is it they never rat out their own school? If you’re concerned about cheating at Oklahoma, why not when it happens at a place you’re supposed to care about, like your old school?
When the Cubs traded good hitting catcher Michael Barrett management said it was because they wanted better defense at catcher. Nothing to do with Barrett, or his fights with pitchers, or his attitude. Now the catcher they got from San Diego (Rob Bowen) has been traded for Jason Kendall, a hitting catcher with average defense at best. Kendall isn’t the hitter Barrett was, which says to me the rumors were true. Lou Pinella and the Cubs just didn’t like Michael Barrett.
Surprised to read that Ryan Howard is approaching 28. Bothered by injuries after his 53 HR season, Howard is on pace for a 39 HR, 121 RBI season. Well and good, but he’s also 256 pounds at 27, raising the possibility he may be about to take the Mo Vaughn off ramp on the John Kruk Expressway. Howard took until 24 to get out of A ball. Maybe he’ll have a long career, but it makes you wonder.
David Beckham will be playing in America and his pop star wife is coming with him? Well, that changes everything. Quick, find out what channel it comes on. Let’s run down to the store to buy a Beckham jersey. Maybe I’ll even try to find out the name of at least one of the teams. All my preconceived notions about soccer are gone and it all seems so clear to me now. Yes! Of course. Why didn’t I see it before. I’m mad, mad I tell you, about professional soccer.
Maybe not.
Before you judge Michael Vick, remember, this is America. We are a nation of law. Where every man is guilty until his high priced lawyer gets him off. Where the Constitution protects our right to keep and arm bears. At least I think that’s right. I missed alot of class the year I took civics.
In 1984 the Portland Trailblazers picked Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. In 2007 the Portland Trailblazers picked Greg Oden over Kevin Durant. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Gosh darnit, doesn’t that Tiger Woods seem like a nice young man? As a blogger, though, I can’t stand the guy. He doesn’t try to work with us at all. One scandal is all I’m asking for. One tiny little indiscretion so we can tear into him like a pit bull at Michael Vick’s house on….oh, wait, the innocent until guilty thing.
Never mind.
And finally, the Duante Culpepper.
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