Since the Chicago White Sox discovered exactly how to pitch to the Cubs’ third baseman in late June, he’s 9 for 65 (.138) with 3 home runs and 11 RBI.
The last out in tonight’s 2-0 loss to Arizona was a fait accompli. He’s completely useless. He’s 1 for his last 25.
If he’d take Derrek Lee with him, that would be okay, too.
Another one of Jon Gruden’s and Bruce Allen’s high-quality humans was arrested over the weekend.
Yes, folks, this is my team. The one I’ve supported since 1976 and the one I’m stuck with.
Thanks, guys.
Court tosses FCC ‘wardrobe malfunction’ fine
“The Commission’s determination that CBS’s broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast was actionably indecent evidenced the agency’s departure from its prior policy,” the court found. “Its orders constituted the announcement of a policy change — that fleeting images would no longer be excluded from the scope of actionable indecency.”
Thank you, court system. Hopefully this will be a lesson to the FCC.
1. Because someone will buy these seats in the Indianapolis Colts’ new stadium, you watch.
2. And because the team actually put these seats in its new stadium.
Andy over at Desipio.com has this classic open letter to ESPN: The Magazine.
What’s funny is it’s true.
What’s sad is that I’ve been a subscriber since 1998. What can I say? I enjoy the feel of fleece.
Well, this would change everything, wouldn’t it?
It would be a lot harder for David Stern to call Tim Donaghy a “rogue, isolated criminal” if it turns out he wasn’t the only official manipulating NBA games, one would think.
This could turn out to be the biggest scandal in basketball since the point-shaving by City College of New York back in the 1950s.
Just like the discover of life - any kind of life - on another planet changes everything, if a second NBA official is found to have been gambling on and fiddling with games he officiated, we’re no longer talking about a lone gunman.
Keep in mind, no one has accused or charged Scott Foster with anything. The circumstantial evidence, that Donaghy made frequent phone calls to Foster, may not be proof of a wider conspiracy.
But somebody has some ’splainin’ to do.
NBC has announced its announcers for the upcoming Olympic Games.
Some authorities have advocated legalizing prostitution in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup (which would, apparently, make it even more of an idyllic paradise than it is currently).
I’ll say this - somebody’s going to get screwed on this whole deal. But probably not quite like they think.
A good-sized number of South Africans don’t think their country can pull it off (that’s “the World Cup,” not another double entendre).
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter was quoted as saying he had three “Plan B” sites in mind if South Africa was unable to host the event, but local organizers have downplayed that.
Colombia pulled out (get your mind out of the gutter) of hosting the 1986 World Cup three and a half years prior to the event. FIFA put it in Mexico, and things turned out fine.
We’re not in the 90th minute on this thing yet, but someone needs to be watching this very carefully. If South Africa can’t stage next year’s Confederations Cup, the tournament needs to be pulled and put in a major industrial nation.
Buried in this article from the Philadelphia Daily News about the options for the KiXX given the impending implosion of the Spectrum next year is an interesting nugget about the possible direction the new MISL* is leaning:
“(Kixx owner Jeff)Rotwitt also said the league reformation is flowing smoothly and new cities are looking to join. All this since the MISL’s ownership majority group decided that a 16-game season similar to the NFL would cut costs and boost fan interest.”
It’ll cut costs, all right. Revenue, too.
I’m not sure “too many games” was really high on the list of reasons why people haven’t been going to indoor soccer games in numbers like they used to. I see the idea of making each game more of an event and more important (depending on how many of the teams that come out of this make the playoffs). When the NASL first staged actual indoor seasons, they first played 12 games, then 18, 18 and 32 (after sitting out the winter of 1982-83). My man Kenny Stern argued long and loudly for the MISL to cut its schedule back when they were playing between 48 and 56 games in a season.
I just don’t see how you can generate enough revenue from eight home games to be anything other than a low-level league. Maybe somebody can point out how the equation is going to work.
*Or whatever it’s going to be called.
Not to get all Fire Joe Morgan about this (because they do it better), but the latest from Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune just made me laugh and yell at the monitor at the same time.
Look, a Major League Baseball season is long, and it’s a grind. If you’re a beat writer, you have to write something every day and when there’s no game to write about, you have to come up with something. Sometimes you come up with great stuff. Sometimes you’re just filling column inches. Anyone who’s ever been in media knows you don’t win a Pulitzer or a Peabody every day. Sometimes your stuff is just there because something has to be there.
This is one of those “filling column inches” things. It starts off fine, with some rather obvious but fact-based reasons for the Cubs’ success thus far in 2008. But then, there’s this:
“But in general manager Jim Hendry’s mind, the primary reason for the Cubs’ 57-38 record at the All-Star break is the cohesiveness of the clubhouse.”
Yes, Jim and Paul, that’s it. Cohesiveness is the primary reason they’ve got the best record in the National League and are tied for the best record in baseball. Because the players get along.
They’ve cohesively scored more runs than anyone in baseball outside the Texas Rangers. They’ve got the best on-base percentage in baseball because they really, really enjoy each other’s company. Their 3.89 ERA, built largely in a hitter’s park, is better than all but eight other teams’ because the pitchers like to hang out together a lot. Eight of their players are going to be part of the All-Cohesiveness Game tomorrow night, which will be the last major event held at Elks Lodge #418 in Charles City, Iowa before they tear it down in the offseason.
The Chicago Cubs are tied for the best record in baseball primarily because they have a team of very good baseball players, and some other guys who happen to be playing very, very well at the present time. They score a lot more runs than they give up. This is primarily because of their skills at hitting, catching and throwing baseballs, not primarily because of their interpersonal skills.
I’m glad they get along; really, that’s great. But unless you’re going to ignore the 72-74 Oakland A’s, who couldn’t stand each other and still won three straight World Series, or unless you’re going to tell me that the Pittsburgh Pirates have a 5.24 ERA because their guys are so stuck up, I’m going to call bullshit.
I hear Rich Harden is a really cool guy. He also blew away 10 guys in five and a third scoreless the other day. I’m thinking there’s no correlation.