BASEBALL BOWLING

*I’m not as big of a baseball fan as many here....but one thing I love about baseball is that weird crap that happens during the season. Baseball is always good for that. I mean, the season rolls along...then Marlon Byrd goes and knocks down an umpire. After a called strike three on a check swing....Byrd was angered and argued with the first base ump. When coming out to left field at the top of the inning...Byrd ran hard toward the first base ump. Second base ump, Joe Brinkman, tried to step in to intervene and was bowled over. At least no fans were involved.

*Speaking of baseball...but we are now 2 months into the season [roughly 1/3 of the way] and some odd things are still occuring.  As I write this, the Yankees are 28-28 and the Washington Nationals are in 1st place in the NL East.  I mean, if the playoffs started now....the Orioles, White Sox, Rangers, Twins, Nationals, Cardinals, Padres and Cubs would be in them.  No Red Sox.  No Yankees.  No Braves.  None of this means anything....

*The MLB All Star Game is about a month away....and recently the All Star voting number have been released. And, as always, the fans have some wild picks. First off....I am all for the fans selecting the players. It is an All STAR game....and STAR and great player isn’t always the same thing. Roger Maris isn’t in the Hall Of Fame....but he’s better known than many of the men who are enshrined in there. If the fans want to see Cal Ripken Jr in the All Star game 25 straight years...let them. It is "their game". However, Nomar Garciaparra is currently leading all National League shortstops in votes. Maybe they should have an IQ test to fill out along with the voting sheet.

*Gee. After Miami was spanked in the Palace in Game 6....I guess Shaq really needs his "sidekicks" to do anything in the playoffs.

*The winner of Game 7 between the Heat and Pistons will take on the San Antonio Spurs....who've ran quickly thru the Nuggets, Sonics and Suns.  Pretty stunning, actually, and they aren't getting the pub they deserve for that.  Remember, Denver was supposed to be the greatest #7 seed in the history of the playoffs.  Phoenix held the NBA's best record.  Yet the Spurs were really only tested by Seattle [6-game series].  Oh, yeah....they were my preseason pick to win the whole thing. 

*Speaking of the Suns....how can you have the NBA's best record...yet go 0-3 in the Western Conference Finals at home?????

*In Redskins news [yeah, really] Sean Taylor turned himself in for assault with a firearm. All the details are really sketchy...but all I do know is the guy who is holding out for more money from the Redskins just did us a great favor by bring bad press to the team. Again. Taylor was the guy named in a spitting incident against Cincinnati. He skipped a day of the rookie symposium. He was arrested for drunk driving. Not to mention that his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has pretty much every one of his clients holding out. One of them, Plaxico Burress, just got some news that he owes some back taxes and he best not set foot in Pennsylvania [uh, the Giants will have to go to Philly].

*Kellen Winslow Sr. "You guys look at it as a moment in time and you blow it out of proportion. This Jerry Springer mentality of journalism, you guys are better than that. You should be ashamed ofyourselves. Presidents make mistakes. Senators make mistakes. Journalists, if you still call yourselves that, make mistakes."

                                             

*The Dream Team are called in again to bail out USA Basketball.  After a horrible showing in Athens, the "powers that be" want to revamp the whole system.  One move is getting Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, David Robinson and Michael Jordan involved.  All gold winning members of the '92 Barcelona games, they are asked to join Larry Brown, Ernie Grunfeld and Jerry West in selecting members for the 2008 China games.  This sounds pretty good...but a problem could be in the fact that every one of these guys is currently a "front office member"...except for Jordan, who desperately wants to be.  So what??  Well, what if they DON'T want to select a member of their team in order to save them for the season??  I mean, will Magic volunteer Kobe?  Or Larry Brown offer up LeBron?? 

*A good ol' NASCAR battle has started back up.  Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon are at it...vaulted by a wreck today at Dover Motor Speedway.  In the 42nd lap, Stewart tapped Gordon and sent him into the wall...and eventually out of the Top 10 in the Nextel Points.  Gordon's take:  "I guarantee that next time Tony's in my way, it won't take but about a half a lap for him to be out of my way.  Tony was a little bit better than me, and no doubt I held him up. I just think he ran out of patience."  Stewart's take:  "If somebody does something to Jeff, it's always their fault.  Jeff's always whining like that. Everybody else was doing a pretty good job of give and take. It's just when you get around Jeff, I guess the rules are different with him."

*Check Quick Slant's great wrap-up of AMERICAN IDOL [ American Idol: Final Report].