On a more somber note, exactly 2500 years ago today - - in 490 BC - - Pheidippides dropped dead. He was the Greek runner who was sent from the Plains of Marathon to Sparta to summon help when the Persians landed at Marathon; that run was about 150 miles and it took him 2 days. When the Persians had been defeated at Marathon, he ran to Athens - - a mere 26 miles - - to let the folks there know that the Greeks had been victorious. At that point, he dropped dead from exhaustion. Today, marathons are run at a distance supposedly the same as the run Pheidippides made from Marathon to Athens.

A golfer in California took a swing and his club struck a rock. That generated a spark that landed in the dry grass nearby starting a 25-acre wildfire, which required 150 firefighters and a helicopter to extinguish. When I read that, I had on my clipboard for today a note to say:

“It was so easy, a caveman can do it.”

However, in this era of instant media, I was beaten to the punch. Former Washington Times columnist Dan Daly made this comment on Twitter via Facebook:

“Golfer in California strikes rock with club, causes spark that starts fire. What would the GEICO caveman think of this?”

No, this incident is not going to convince me to open a Twitter account…

Speaking of golf – albeit obliquely – the sport has more than its share of oddball rules and dumb interpretations of many of the oddball rules. In a recent women’s tournament, Juli Inkster was disqualified from the tournament when a TV viewer called in to someone in charge and reported a rules violation. [Aside: I am surprised the LPGA did not issue a press release gloating over the fact that they actually had someone watching one of their tournaments on TV. But I digress…] What rule did she violate, you ask?

The hyper-vigilant viewer noticed Ms. Inkster swinging a club with a weighted donut on the club while waiting at one of the tees for the group in front to clear the hole. That is a violation; she was disqualified. It is OK to swing a club to stay loose on the course; it is even OK to swing multiple clubs to say loose; it is instant banishment if you swing a club with a weighted donut on it. I am sure the golf goofs can explain the serious nature of this rule and how it is there to prevent a player from gaining a horrendous unfair advantage over other players who may have left their weighted donuts in the clubhouse. However, I prefer not to hear anything about that.

Here is what I want to know:

In professional golf tournaments, there are marshals and rules officials and other official/officious functionaries all over the place at every hole. How did all of them miss this egregious behavior only to be shown up by a TV viewer with nothing better to do than drop a dime?

What do those animatronic suit dummies do for a living out there?

Imagine for just a moment if baseball had a similar culture whereby fans at home could “call someone” when they saw something on TV that an umpire got wrong. How would you like to have been the guy at the “call-in desk” in the 1985 World Series when Don Denkinger made his infamous call at first base in the bottom of the ninth inning? Maybe it is time for golf to emulate baseball and every other major sport on this issue.

The word going around is that the Arizona Cardinals are shopping Matt Leinart. Reports say that Leinart believes he should be the starter in Arizona and that he has “outplayed the competition there”. He supposedly wants to be a starter in his fifth year in the league and not a clipboard holder. Understand, that means that Leinart believes he can show up at some other team’s facility and take over the offense with minimum practice and preparation. Color me skeptical there. So, let us first examine his NFL “body of work” to see if he should be a starter. In his four seasons, here are his stats:

Games played: 12
Games started: 11
Comp %: 57.1
Yds per completion: 6.4
TD: 14
INT: 20
Fumbles: 11
QB Rating: 70.8

Those numbers do not bowl me over so perhaps we should look at other QBs and their QB Ratings in the modern (i.e. pass-happy) era to see how Matt Leinart compares there:

Rodney Peete 73.3
Bubby Brister 72.3
Jay Schroeder 71.7
Matt Leinart 70.8
Kordell Stewart 70.7
Trent Dilfer 70.2
Joey Harrington 69.4

That list says “mediocre” and “journeyman” to me far more eloquently than it says “franchise QB”.

OK, so where might Leinart wind up - - assuming that the rosters as they stand now remain as they are at the end of this week?

The Raiders need a back-up to Jason Campbell and neither Bruce Gradkowski nor Kyle Boller is a world-beater.

The Giants have Rhett Bomar and Dominic Randolph on the roster to back up Eli Manning.

The Jaguars have Trevor Harris and Luke McNown backing up David Garrard - - and Garrard is a journeyman starter

The Bills have Brian Brohm, Levi Brown, Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick on the roster as QBs; all are journeymen.

If I had to guess, I would say Leinart goes to the Giants.

Finally, it was only a few weeks ago that White Sox manager, Ozzie Guillen, said that MLB treats Asian players better than it does Latino players and pointed to the fact that MLB supplies interpreters for the Asian players but not for Latinos. I do not know if that is sufficient evidence to draw his conclusion but Greg Cote of the Miami Herald made an astute observation regarding Guillen’s statement:

“White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said baseball treats Asian players better than Latino players. Just once I wish someone would ask Guillen a question and have him say, ‘I have no opinion. Sorry.’ “

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…

There will be a general format to these missives for those of you who are newly arrived readers:

I will follow the fortunes of the Linfield College Wildcats as they attempt to have a winning record in football for the 55th consecutive year.

I will summarize the previous week’s mythical selections.

I will offer “General Comments” on college football.

I will track what I call “Ponderosa Spread Games” - - that will be explained below.

Starting about halfway through the year, I will try to identify the 8 worst teams in the country as participants in a mythical SHOE Tournament. SHOE is an acronym for Steaming Heap Of Excrement; the idea of the tournament is that the teams play and the losers have to continue to play until one sad sack of a team is left face down on the canvas as the worst team of the year.

I will identify “Games of Interest” and make selections in those games.

In addition, I will take the opportunity every week to announce that these picks are mythical and are not intended to be gambling advice. I will try each week to tell readers not to take these words as if they came from anyone who actually knew what he was talking about in terms of gambling. Any reader who does that is dumb enough to believe that bigotry is an Italian oak…

General Comments:

Let me begin NCAA football commentary this year with a Quick Quiz. Which of these is more useless and vapid?

A. Pre-season polls

B. Pre-season All-America teams

Fifty words or less…

Acknowledging the stupidity of trying to make judgments about the season outcomes before a single game is played, I must confess that I have an eye on four teams who could be strong contenders to be in the SHOE Tournament. Just for fun, here they are:

Miami (Oh) University: They were awful last year and it looks as if most of the team is back this year. “Experienced players” are only an asset if the players are also “talented”. We will need to see if this team has talent or merely older players this year.

Tulane: They had no defense last year and just about everyone is back on that unit. As above, that may not be a good thing at all.

North Texas: They have stunk reliably for the past several years and seem to find ways to give up points in torrents.

Washington State: In the last two years, the Cougars have played 25 games and won exactly 3 of them. One was against a Division 1-AA team and another was against a Washington team that went 0-13 for the year. Just to clarify - - not good at all.

As the year progresses, I will hope that the NCAA modifies its sanctions against USC to allow the Trojans to play in a Bowl Game this year - - only if it is the Music City Bowl in Nashville and if the opponent is the Tennessee Volunteers. Schadenfreude is fun…

Here is an item from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times regarding some “poor decision making” on the part of some UCLA prospects:

“Three incoming UCLA football recruits didn’t even make it to the start of fall camp before they got arrested by campus police on suspicion of felony theft.

“Now that’s what’s known as a false start.”

Another fun thing to do before the season starts is to identify “Coaches on a Hot Seat”. What is amazing is the some of the coaches so identified wind up getting fired at the end of the year - - even though these predictions are nothing more than wild-assed guesses. So, in that spirit, here are some coaches – in alphabetical order to avoid any appearance of prioritization – who need to win this year to stay employed where they are:

Ralph Friedgen – Maryland: He worked magic when he arrived in College Park taking Maryland to bowl games but his last few teams have been dreary most of the time and dismal the rest of the time. Another sad sack season and “The Fat Lady” might be singing to “The Fat Man”.

Dan Hawkins – Colorado: He was highly successful at Boise State and has been singularly underwhelming at Colorado. Last year Colorado was 3-9 and next year the Buffaloes jump to the PAC-10. They will likely have a new coach in addition to a new conference schedule if they go 3-9 again.

Rich Rodriguez – Michigan: He has been in Ann Arbor for two years; the team is on probation for practicing too much; nevertheless, his cumulative record is 8-16. If the Wolverines are not “bowl eligible” this year, I think the alums there “go to the hip” and find a way to buy him out of his deal.

Paul Wulff – Washington State: See the comments about Washington State regarding their possible participation in the mythical SHOE Tournament above…

Ron Zook – Illinois: Since taking Illinois to the Rose Bowl - - where they got their lunch handed to them - - not all has come up roses for the Illini. I wonder if the guy in Florida who owns the URL, www.fireronzook.com, has gotten any offers…

Meanwhile, there are a few coaches around who are in a position to get a lot of media attention such that a successful season could make them “media darlings”. Here are four:

Jimbo Fisher – Florida State: He takes over from a legend - - and a legend who claims he was forced out of the job at FSU. Coaches who follow legends typically do not do all that well so folks will have their eye on Fisher and his Seminoles this year.

Brian Kelly – Notre Dame: The coach of Notre Dame always gets lots of attention - - as does the QB at Notre Dame. Brian Kelly has been a winner everywhere else he has coached; if he can put Notre Dame back in the discussion as one of the top 10 teams in the country, he will be a bright star in the firmament.

Lane Kiffin – USC: Talk about an unusual career path, strange doings and controversy hover around Lane Kiffin like BO on a hobo. Win or lose, Kiffin will get attention.

Steve Sarkissian – Washington: Some folks think his Huskies could be very good this year and that his QB might be a Heismann candidate. Considering that this team was winless only two seasons ago, that would put Coach Sarkissian in a bright spotlight indeed…

The Ponderosas:

Years ago, I decided to keep track of the wagering outcome of college football games with huge spreads. I defined a “huge spread” as 24 points or more and merely looked to see if the favorites covered those huge numbers with regularity. Over several years, it was amazing to note that the favorites covered about half the time, which might lead one to think that the people setting the lines really have some idea about how two teams will fare against one another.

Such is not really the case because the person setting the line is not trying to predict the outcome of the game; the person setting the line merely wants to throw up a number that will attract the same amount of money on each side of the bet. That is called “balancing the book”; and when the book is balanced, the book stands to keep approximately 5% of the total amount wagered. Here is how it works:

A bettor has to wager $110 to win $100 betting the spread.

If the line were Team A – 3.5 vs. Team B, the book’s objective would be to “balance the book”.

If 50 bettors picked Team A for $110 and 50 Bettors picked Team B for $110, the total amount in the hands of the book is $11,000.

Assume Team A covers (Trust me, it is exactly the same if Team B were to cover and it is not possible for both to cover in the same game), the book has to pay out $210 to each of the 50 winning bettors. That comes out to $10,500 and the remaining $500 stays in the pockets of the folks who run the book.

Therefore, the proximity of the huge spread game outcomes to 50% coverage for the favorites would appear to be pure happenstance. I found that interesting and so I started to track it each year for fun. In 2008, there was a large statistical anomaly. Favorites went 46-28-3 against the huge spreads. Demonstrating that past performance is not an indicator of future success, favorites in 2009 went 36-38 against the huge spreads. For 2010 - - we shall see…

In case you are wondering why these are “Ponderosas”, I took the name from the old TV show, Bonanza, where the ranch owned by Ben Cartwright was The Ponderosa - - and the ranch was a “huge spread”.

This week there are lots of Ponderosa Games thanks to early season scheduling shenanigans at several major schools. There would be lots more except all the games involving good Division 1 teams playing Division 1-AA teams are “off the board”.

(Thurs 9/2) Marshall at Ohio State – 28.5 (47.5): Marshall had a decent defense last year - - playing Conf-USA opponents. They will not hold Ohio State down for long. Marshall’s offense last year was only ordinary - - playing Conf-USA opponents. They will not light up the scoreboard against Ohio State here.

(Sat 9/4) Western Michigan at Michigan State – 24 (54): Michigan State’s pass defense last year was 112th in the nation - - and there are only 120 schools playing Division 1 college football. They have to correct that if they are going to cover a 24 point spread even against a team from the MAC.

(Sat 9/4) Miami (Oh) at Florida – 35 (53): This is a game that should never have been scheduled. If the outcome is in doubt in the second quarter, it will be a shock.

(Sat 9/4) La-Lafayette at Georgia – 28 (52.5): Here is another game that should never have been scheduled.

(Sat 9/4) Texas – 30 at Rice (59): In the old days, these teams played in the Southwest Conference together. Even then, many of the games were mismatches…

(Sat 9/4) New Mexico at Oregon – 34 (55.5): Last year, Oregon lost its opener against Boise State and then there was the punching incident after the game… Somehow, I think the coaches will use that history to keep the team focused on its business here. I do not know if Oregon will cover, but it should win comfortably.

(Sat 9/4) Arkansas State at Auburn – 31 (58): Under Gene Chizik, Auburn has become an offensive machine once again.

(Sat 9/4) W. Kentucky at Nebraska – 37.5 (51.5): Too bad the Cornhuskers had to settle for W. Kentucky as its opening opponent. I guess Quinnipiac could not make it to Lincoln in time for the game.

(Sat 9/4) San Jose State at Alabama – 39 (53.5): I realize that “shame” and “Nick Saban” should not appear in the same sentence, but Nick Saban ought to be ashamed at scheduling this cupcake.

(Sat 9/4) Utah State at Oklahoma – 34 (57): Here is another one where the outcome will not be in doubt for long…

Games of Interest:

(Thurs 9/2) Minnesota – 3 at Middle Tennessee State (48.5): I did not identify Tim Brewster as a “Coach on a Hot Seat” above, but if he loses to a Sun Belt team to open this season, look for someone to turn the thermostat up in Minneapolis. The Gophers have not been very good for a while now but they have been able to run the ball pretty well. Just because I think Coach Brewster would like some room to exhale for at least part of the season, I suspect he has this team ready. On a flyer, I would take Minnesota to win and cover - - even on the road.

(Sat 9/4) UConn at Michigan – 3 (54): UConn beat Notre Dame and South Carolina last year. A win here in “The Big House” might begin to make people think of UConn as a “football school” in addition to being a “basketball school”. Picture this irony. UConn beats Michigan in the opener in “The Big House” setting up a disappointing season for the Wolverines who react by firing Ric Rodriguez and hiring - - UConn coach, Randy Edsall. If you are trying to find a live underdog in Week 1, the Huskies just might fit that description. I like UConn with the points here.

(Sat 9/4) Purdue at Notre Dame – 11.5 (54.5): Yes, this is the first game of the Brian Kelly Era in South Bend meaning lots of energy and optimism there - - and plenty of the Notre Dame subway alums around the country getting some bread down on the Irish for this game. Neither team is coming off a winning season last year nor do I not think either will be playing a meaningful game in December or January. Nevertheless, that line looks awfully fat to me considering this is a rivalry game and the Irish have a new system to implement. I would take Purdue with the points.

(Sat 9/4) Northwestern – 5.5 at Vandy (44): This is one of those games you can call “The SAT Bowl” because players likely did well on the SATs even though they had to take them for themselves. Last year, Vandy ranked 113th in scoring in the country; Northwestern lost their AB, Mike Kafka, to graduation and the NFL draft. This looks like a low scoring game. I would not make a wager here even with mythical money. However, I will look at the stats for this game to give me an idea of how these teams might fare as underdogs in their conference games.

(Thurs 9/2) Pitt at Utah – 3 (48.5): This is probably the best game of the weekend - - unless you think Boise State/Va Tech or Oregon State/TCU will be a better game. Keep an eye on Pitt running back Dion Lewis; that kid can play. Utah has become a reliably good team out west and I suspect that they are a favorite here because of the venue. Here is a game to teach yourself a lesson. Watch it on TV - - it is on Versus so you may not be able to get it - - and do not have a bet on the game. Believe it or not; that is a perfectly appropriate and natural thing to do. That may be the most valuable wagering lesson that you can learn in this first week of the 2010 football season.

(Sat 9/4) Syracuse – 8.5 at Akron (42): It as been a while since Akron had a winning season and they have a new coach. Syracuse is not the powerhouse it used to be but a new coach last year improved the team and now they hope to build on that foundation. I think Syracuse is too much for Akron here; I would take the Orange to win and cover.

(Sun 9/5) Tulsa – 8.5 at East Carolina (61): These teams scheduled a conference game to start the season; you will not find a whole lot of them on the card for this weekend. East Carolina has been dominant in Conf-USA the last couple of years but they have a new coach; Tulsa relies on its offense to outscore opponents. I think it is too early in the season to see these teams put 61 points on the board. If I were to play this game, I would take it UNDER.

(Sat 9/4) Oregon State vs. TCU – 13.5 (50.5): This game will be in Jerry Jones’ new playpen in Dallas so it is not technically a home game for TCU. A lot is expected of TCU this year and Oregon State should be one of the better PAC-10 teams this year. Should be a good game. Watch it and enjoy it - - but do not bet on it unless your name is Billy Clyde Puckett or “Shake” Tiller.

(Mon 9/4) Navy – 6.5 vs. Maryland (48.5): This game will be in Baltimore so it is a neutral site game. The Navy program has been on the upswing for the last several years and the Maryland program has been floundering. Purely on a hunch, I think this game could go OVER the total.

(Mon 9/4) Boise State – 2.5 vs. Va Tech (50): This game is in FedEx Field so it is a neutral site game - - although Boise State will travel about ten times the distance to the stadium that Va Tech will. People think this is the year Boise State might crack into the BCS Championship Game. If they really have such aspirations, they need to win this game convincingly because there are not a lot of opponents on the rest of the Broncos schedule that will give them a boost in prestige. Here is another game to watch and enjoy…

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…

“Oh, when will they ever learn,
When will they ever learn?”

State and local politicians are so often bamboozled by the owners of sports franchises and by pro sports leagues that it almost ceases to be news when owners/leagues get their pockets lined with taxpayers’ cash. In a sense, these politicians are playing a perverted version of “The Greater Fool Game” - - which is the explanation given to why people buy and bid up the price of speculative stocks that have no real intrinsic value anywhere near their market capitalization. The reason speculators buy those shares is that they anticipate selling them at a higher price to a “Greater Fool” sometime in the near future.

Politicians hand over taxpayer money to billionaire team owners and to leagues to prevent other politicians in other cities from becoming “Greater Fools” and handing over their money to these owners/leagues thereby “stealing a team away” from where it is located. However, remember that for a politician only one thing matters:

Getting elected - - or preferably re-elected.

Therefore, the pols need to convince the local taxpayers that there is a good and sufficient reason to take their tax money and hand it to team owners or leagues instead of using those same dollars to do other things - - like fix the roads or improve the schools or provide unemployment benefits or maintain competent police and fire departments or …you get the idea. And so these politicos fall back onto the economic benefits that will accrue to the locality because the sports franchise is there; the idea is that somehow the presence of the sports franchise and its arena will somehow generate revenues from outside the taxpaying area that will make this investment wind up in the black. If you have not heard this argument in one of its many forms, you just have not been paying attention.

I was having a discussion of this “shell game” with a friend and he told me that it was even more perverse than stated above. With a little checking on two of the situations he mentioned, I found the following:

1. In Kansas City, the local braintrust spent between $270M and $310M on the Sprint Center. It is an arena poised to be the home of a pro basketball or pro hockey franchise. Built in 2007, it was - - and probably still is - - a state of the art facility with one omission. There is no basketball franchise or hockey team playing there. The Sprint Center was to be the “anchor” for an entertainment/retail section of town known as the Power and Light District. However, without a franchise, the arena will only host the circus, an exhibition NBA game, “So You Think You Can Dance – 2010”, Carrie Underwood and an X-Games event in the next couple of months.

Guess what? The Power and Light District is not working out and generating tons of tax revenue with those draws at the Sprint Center and now the KC braintrust is staring at a need to subsidize the entire Power and Light District enterprise to the tune of $10-20M just to keep it alive.

2. In Indianapolis, the city has a pro basketball franchise and an arena – Conseco Fieldhouse – opened in 1999. The Pacers said the arena needed upgrades if the city wanted them to sign a long term lease; the city said the team had to sign the long term lease in order to get the upgrades. So how did the final package come together?

The Pacers signed a short-term lease in which they stay in Conseco Fieldhouse and they get $10M per year from the city/state as an “operating subsidy” plus they get some money each year to spend on improvements that they want. If they want more improvements than they can get from the city/state money, then it is on the Pacers’ nickel. However, at the end of that short-term lease, the wheel of fortune will spin again…

In one case here, the city has to subsidize the arena itself and its occupants about 10 years after opening the doors; in the other case, the city has to subsidize the enterprise around the arena that was supposed to generate the revenue to pay off the bonds and the interest that comprise the cost of building the arena in the first place. That is not the way the outcomes were portrayed by the pols or by the consultants that the pols hired to give them the answer they wanted back when the funding question was up for a decision, was it?

Therefore, if the politicians in your area begin to engage in “The Greater Fool Game”, listen to what they say but do not assume that all of the projections for future economic gravy are based in fact.

“Oh, when will they ever learn,
When will they ever learn?”

Stephen Strasburg is supposed to undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow this week. The Washington Nationals’ announcer, Rob Dibble, belittled Strasburg for a lack of toughness when he came out of a game with pain in his forearm. Living in the DC area, I get to hear Dibble far too often doing Nats’ games; perhaps the silver lining in all of this is that the Nats’ owners will find a new color commentator at the end of this season. A random selection from the Washington homeless population would not be that much worse.

Scott Ostler had these two comments in the SF Chronicle on the Nats/Strasburg situation:

“The Nationals signed 17-year-old hitting phenom Bryce Harper, whose contract calls for him to donate one of his right-elbow ligaments to Stephen Strasburg.”

“Rob Dibble, a member of the Nationals’ radio/TV team, ridiculed Strasburg on the air for not pitching through a little discomfort. The Nasty Boy turned Nutsy Boy called Strasburg a major wussy with no heart and no team spirit. While Strasburg undergoes Tommy John surgery, Dibble will undergo Bozo the Clown surgery to have a huge comic shoe removed from his mouth.”

Finally, here is something from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times that should make Cubs’ fans feel really good:

“Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and 38 other U.S. billionaires have pledged to give half their fortunes to charity.

“Sort of like the Cubs do with their $146 million payroll.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…

“If you are speaking the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”

That statement really only applies if truth telling is your goal while being caught in a hypocritical position is embarrassing to you. It is because of the Mark Twain quotation that I had been looking forward to the indictment of Roger Clemens. Mind you, I have no great animus towards Roger Clemens and I suspect that he will not be convicted on all of his counts and serve the potential of multiple decades in a Federal prison, as these charges would imply. I was looking forward to his indictment and the subsequent silence of Rev. Al Sharpton on the matter to highlight Rev. Sharpton once again as a humongous hypocrite.

It was about a year ago – maybe a tad more – that Sharpton went on one of his rhetorical flourishes to proclaim that the reason that the US government was so dogged in its pursuit of a prosecution for Barry Bonds was that Bonds is Black while Roger Clemens was being given a pass because Roger Clemens is White. Well, Rev. Sharpton, now the two gentlemen in question find themselves equally treated in the eyes of the law; both stand accused of perjury – lying under oath – with regard to their use of steroids/performance enhancing drugs while playing baseball.

Ergo, one should have expected some rhetorical flourish from Rev. Sharpton praising the fact that in August 2010 a milestone of racial equality had been achieved in our society. Athletes alleged to have lied under oath are indicted without regard to the color of their skin… Instead, we have had only the sound of crickets.

Memo to Rev. Sharpton: That silence is the sound of hypocrisy.

Speaking of recalling statements from the past, it was not more than six weeks ago that Maurice Clarett enrolled at Ohio State University with the stated intention of earning a bachelor’s degree and setting his life on a positive course based on the time he had to reflect on “stuff” while serving about three years in prison. At the time, I praised Clarett for making a mature decision and wished him well in that endeavor. I suspect that goal in Clarett’s life has now been put on hold based on an announcement made yesterday.

Maurice Clarett signed on with the Omaha Nighthawks in the UFL yesterday after a tryout with the team. He reportedly needed the permission of the court to leave Ohio to participate in the tryout - - and presumably will need similar permission to maintain that out-of-state employment since there are no UFL franchises in Ohio. However, that ought not to be a barrier thrown in his way. Maurice Clarett paid his debt to society - - just as did Michael Vick and just as will Plaxico Burress - - and once that debt is paid, he should have a chance to become a professional football player if his skills are sufficient. It has been a long time since Clarett has been in a football game that counted; it is up to head coach, Jeff Jagodzinski, to determine if he is good enough to play for the Nighthawks.

Memo to Maurice Clarett: Do not give up the goal of getting a college degree even if you make the Nighthawks’ squad. It will serve you well for the duration of your life after football.

An ESPN “Insider” posted a note on the website that Warriors’ point guard, Baron Davis’, weight had gone to a stratospheric 260 lbs. Davis denies the report; and obviously, I have not spoken with or seen Baron Davis in the past few days so I have no idea what his weight might be. However, if you want to experience cognitive dissonance, think about a 260 lb point guard playing in Don Nelson’s style of game…

Another way to make your brain “go tilt” is to consider the potential energy contained in the Chicago White Sox locker room now that Manny Ramirez and Ozzie Guillen cohabitate there. All may be peaches and cream – as things were for the short season when Manny forced his way out of Boston to arrive in LA. Now he has worn out his welcome in LA and moved his act to the south side of Chicago. One big difference this time is the manager in the clubhouse. Tito Francona in Boston and Joe Torre in LA both tend to give players lots of space and minimal criticism; Ozzie Guillen on the other hand…

Will this be a love-fest or a super nova? Or, might it be completely insignificant? We should know in about 6 weeks…

Meanwhile, we can now ask Dodger fans and Dodger execs if they think that they got their money’s worth for Ramirez in his two-year stint in LA. It will have cost the Dodgers a little under $40M - - considering the rebate Manny gave the team while on suspension. Other than Dodger fans having a dreadlock wig stored in their attics, what might have been his lasting contribution to the Dodgers?

Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot had this comment in a recent column:

“Over and out: The rules for NFL exhibition games should be changed to eliminate overtime, especially if most of the crowd already is in the parking lot. Not as bad, but also unnecessary for preseason: official reviews of plays. The games don’t count, after all. Just keep ‘em moving.”

I agree with Professor Molinaro on the overtime part of that statement; fans need overtime in an exhibition game about as much as they need war, famine, pestilence and plague.

Having said that, I disagree with Professor Molinaro regarding the need for use of replay. After all, the officials need to be prepared for the regular season too and having their calls challenged and second-guessed is what the officials will have happen all year long. The players need to hit; the officials need to get used to the little red flag…

Finally, here is a comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald:

“LeBron said in a GQ interview that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert ‘never cared about LeBron.’ Greg Cote hates it when people refer to themselves in the third person.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…

“It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”

The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) names its annual college football national champion and presents the school with a trophy named for Grantland Rice. Therefore, it is highly fitting that the FWAA has asked USC to return the Grantland Rice Trophy from 2004 when USC won the mythical national championship with Reggie Bush - - and probably others on the squad - - who were not playing the game exactly according to the rules. Nevertheless, once you get beyond that highly appropriate circumstance, the trophy recall demonstrates fecklessness at the highest level.

It is as if the FWAA - - and its members - - are doing this because they were duped into believing that USC had followed all of the NCAA rules and regulations with regard to the 80-or-so members of that 2004 football team and now these folks found out the truth. Excuse me, if you dig deep enough, you will find that every Grantland Rice Trophy winning team since 2004 has skeletons in its closet too - - and so did ones preceding 2004. I do not know who originated this line, but it surely does apply to major college athletics in 99% of the cases:

If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t competin’. “

The other component of FWAA fecklessness here is that their “Trophy Recall” seeks to re-write history. According to the FWAA version of history, that USC football team in 2004 did not exist. Well, if living in a fantasy world is what makes the football writers who comprise the Football Writers Association of America comfortable and happy, a cynic might suggest to them that they turn in their journalistic credentials. Journalism and fantasy tend not to co-exist well; Google Jayson Blair or Janet Cooke…

In recent months, we have seen situations where current actions seek to right wrongs from the past and yet nothing changes. So, which is the most useless of these recent actions?

A. USC – or any other college team – forfeiting victories in some prior season.

B. USC – or any other college team – forfeiting some trophy or award for a bowl win or a Final Four appearance in a prior season.

C. A referee apologizing for blowing calls in a Super Bowl game in the past.

José Canseco is back in the news. He just signed on to play baseball for the Laredo Broncos in the United League - - one of the independent minor leagues. The league has six teams; all of them are in Texas. In his first plate appearance for the Broncos, Canseco hit a home run. When I first read this, I thought that Canseco might be trying a huge grandstand play here to attempt to get back into MLB despite his history of admitted steroid abuse; I thought he might be challenging the Commissioner to do something to him that he could fight in a public forum to draw attention to himself. I thought this was a “spotlight-grab”.

Then I read that TMZ.com reported that Canseco had been evicted from his home in Southern California and that reminded me that Canseco has had financial problems for a while now. Recall that he tried to sell “The Canseco Experience” where you could pay money to spend a day with him, hang out, and see what it was to be like and live like José Canseco. At that point, I started to think that he found someone who would pay him some money - - not a lot mind you but something - - to do something that he actually can do, play baseball. According to the United League and the Laredo Broncos, Canseco will be a hitting coach, pinch hitter and DH for the team.

I realize that this kind of job is hardly something that will return him to the lifestyle he had as one-half of the Bash Brothers, but it has to be better than for him to try a boxing career…

Speaking of washed-up baseball players who just might have “juiced”, Sammy Sosa evidently is miffed at the Chicago Cubs organization because the Cubbies have not retired his jersey number. [A quick Google search reveals that outfielder, Tyler Colvin, is wearing #21 this season for the Cubs.] Chicago Magazine will report in its September issue that Sosa believes his number should already be retired

“…because of the things that I did for that organization.”

Here are two words that ought to remind the Cubs’ braintrust just why Sammy Sosa’s number should never be retired:

Corked … bat

As things stand now in MLB, there is the possibility that three teams from the list of the “Ten Lowest Payrolls in MLB for 2010” will make the playoffs. Tampa Bay, Texas and San Diego are in good position with 6 weeks to go.

Meanwhile one of the high payroll teams - - the LA Dodgers - - are on the outside looking in part because their owner(s) are spending tens of millions of dollars on lawyers for their divorce action and on a variety of mansions around the globe. Paraphrasing Grantland Rice from above:

“It is not how much money you spend, but how effectively you spend it…”

Ray Didinger is a writer who covered the NFL for years; as the winner of the Dick McCann Award in the 1990s, he is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a journalist. He wrote a column recently on the abnormally high incidence of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) among NFL players – it is 8 times the national average for that disease. His column should be read in its entirety; it should make you stop and think about what ought to be done to understand the connections here and what might be done to minimize this situation.

Finally, many folks have commented that I have a warped mind - - and I am not sure that I would be able to plead “Not Guilty” to such charges. However, I think that Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot makes a strong case for his ownership of a warped point of view with this comment:

“Idle thought: Brett Favre might not make it through another NFL season, but you know that somewhere, somebody’s dreaming up a production of Favre, The Musical. “

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…

A few weeks ago, Jim Gray embarrassed himself, his ancestors and his progeny for the next several generations by affixing his lips to LeBron James’ posterior sphincter for much of ESPN’s hour-long presentation of “The Decision”. About the only thing Gray did not do in that pathetic performance was to pledge fealty to “King James” for all of the rest of eternity. Just watching that interview made me need to go and take a shower.

When Gray thought he had a golf scoop, he ran with it and announced to the world that Tiger Woods was a shoo-in to make the Ryder Cup team.

When Pavin said that the report was premature and speculative, Gray said that Pavin was “going gown”.

First of all, Jim Gray made himself part of both of these stories instead of reporting the stories. That makes him a D-List celebrity and not a journalist. Secondly, he made a threat and then did not deliver on it. Journalists live and die by their credibility; at this point, Jim Gray has precious little left.

By the way, in case anyone has not looked this up yet, the decision that Corey Pavin needs to make here involves the nominal best golfer ever to live and one who is too intimidating to play against when it matters - - and yet the “greatest golfer ever to live’s” lifetime record in Ryder Cup events is 10-13-2.

Greg Cote put a nice punctuation mark in this matter in the Miami Herald:

“Much debate over whether U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin will select a struggling Woods for the team. Cannot confirm LeBron will announce Pavin’s decision in a one-hour special on ESPN.”

With regard to a related matter, Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot had this observation recently:

“Wondering: What does it tell you that Nike’s three biggest superstar endorsers happen to be serial philanderer Tiger Woods, basketball villain LeBron James and rumored drug cheat Lance Armstrong? I’m not sure, but it probably means more work for Nike’s public relations department.”

Recall that Phil Mushnick of the NY Post reported that in order to assure yourself of tickets to the Notre Dame/Army football game in Yankee Stadium in November, you had to buy a $300 seat to a Yankees game against some team other than the Red Sox or the Rays AND a seat at the Pinstripe Bowl game. I just found out that tickets to the Notre Dame/Army game are priced in a category that matches some of the other outrageous prices charged at Yankee Stadium. Top shelf seats will be $175 each; end zone seats will be $125 each. Remember this is Notre Dame versus Army in 2010 and not Notre Dame versus Army in 1948…

John Canzano writes an interesting column in The Oregonian. Recently, more than a couple of Oregon and Oregon State athletes have been arrested under bizarre circumstances - - ones that might make you giggle at first. Canzano’s last column looks at these circumstances from a perspective that takes the “giggle factor” out of play. This column should be read in its entirety.

In yesterday’s Washington Post, a front-page headline read:

“Upset likely in Alaska primary”

Can someone explain to me how something that is “likely” can also be an “upset”? No, the aftermath of a dose of Ipecac does not count here…

On November 4, the defending NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils will host the defending NCAA Division II champion Cal Poly-Pomona Broncos in an exhibition game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. This is not a game for the record; it is akin to a scrimmage; and according to one report, Duke is picking up the tab to get the Broncos to the game and then back home. Obviously, this game does not mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but I think this is a cool thing and maybe it is something that all defending NCAA Tournament champions should do before the next season begins…

Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle had these two cogent comments in one of his Sunday columns recently:

“Al Davis compared this year’s Raiders to his 1980 team that won the Super Bowl. Davis is being modest. This year’s Raiders would wax that team. Hell, Jim Plunkett is 62.”

“Rich Rodriguez got his hearing before the NCAA, and now he and Michigan will wait six to eight weeks for the final verdict on the football program’s punishments. Six to eight weeks? What is this, a war crimes trial in The Hague? It’s football goofballs breaking rules. Study the evidence, make a ruling and announce it by dinnertime.”

Finally, let me quote from a recent Associated Press report that has nothing whatsoever to do with sports. A woman in Pennsylvania is:

“… suing Walt Disney Parks and Resorts because she claims she was inappropriately groped by a man dressed up in a Donald Duck costume.”

Making no judgment whatsoever with the validity of her claim, can someone at the Associated Press explain to me and all of its readers how a man dressed up in a Donald Duck costume might “appropriately grope” a woman? Just asking…

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…

Let me start with the continuing chatter about the NFL going to an 18-game season and dropping two exhibition games. Generally, I am in favor of more “real games” and fewer “meaningless games” so this idea has plenty of appeal to me. In the process of working out how this will come about, let me say that there needs to be serious consideration given to a few ancillary matters:

1. Somehow, the rosters and/or the development squads have to be expanded to account for more injuries. This will increase owners’ costs but it should make the union happy because it gets more members who are collecting checks and paying dues.

2. The playoff rules need to be examined carefully. With 16 games, there are already too many “meaningless games” at the end of a season where teams know where they are in the playoff seeding and just do not play hard. Expanded to 18 games, the possibility exists that a team can “mail it in” for a month. That does not help.

3. If the NFL wants to expand the playoffs – which the owners surely would love to do, let me suggest adding a third wild card team to each conference to raise the number to 14 teams. That would give only one team in each conference a bye week - - meaning good teams still have something to play for - - and it would not add a week to the playoff schedule.

Reportedly, there is strong opposition to this idea from the players and the union. Now, if the NFL thinks that it will increase the length of the regular season and still hold the players to their existing contracts, then the players are right. They signed on to play 16 games a year for however many years the contracts run. If the season expands to 18 games - - a 12.5% increase - - then salaries/bonuses and the like contained in any contracts that would bridge the time when the new schedule goes into effect should also increase by 12.5%.

Question of the moment:

With Stephen Strasburg on the DL for the second time in two months, is he destined to become a great pitcher or is he destined to be known as a “China Doll”?

Running back, Glen Coffee, has left the SF 49ers and there are reports that he will go into the ministry. In his rookie year, Coffee gained 226 yards for the Niners on 83 carries. He looked like a prospect coming out of Alabama but you would have to consider last year ordinary. Here are two comments on this matter from columnists:

“The 49ers will reportedly seek to recoup three-fourths of the $828,000 signing bonus they gave second-year running back Glen Coffee, who abruptly quit the team to go into the ministry.

“Lawyers for Coffee, no doubt, will claim insufficient grounds.” [Dwight Perry, Seattle Times]

“San Francisco 49ers running back Glen Coffee revealed last week he was retiring at age 23.

“He told the Mobile Press-Register he was thinking of going into the ministry.

“Makes a lot of sense — having played for the Niners, he’s already in the habit of praying daily for miracles.” [Brad Rock, Deseret Morning News]

Here is another unusual sequence of events involving an NFL player:

In 2009, KC Chiefs’ WR Chris Chambers filed 11 different stalking complaints against a woman with whom he had had an affair.

Recently with his marriage ended partly on the basis of his affair, Chambers married the woman who allegedly was stalking him.

I have seen people propose marriage on the scoreboard at sporting events and by flying an airplane with a sign trailing behind it and things of that nature. However, I never heard of anyone expressing the thought, “Will you marry me?” by filing a bunch of stalking complaints seeking restraining orders. Who said that romance is dead…?

Norman Chad had this insight in his syndicated column recently:

“How did the greatest golfer of his generation - potentially the best of all-time - go from birdie machine to broken man? Well, at some point, Tiger forgot that he puts on his pants one leg at a time, just like everyone else. Actually — more to the point — I guess he forgot that he takes off his pants one leg at a time, just like everyone else.”

A long time ago, I wrote that Roger Clemens was putting himself in harms way testifying before the Congress and that he was definitely getting bad advice. Now Clemens has been indicted for perjury and some other stuff. When he showed up for his day before the Congress, Clemens was not under subpoena; he had merely been invited to come and testify and he agreed to do so. How did that happen? Hubris? Very possibly. Bad PR and legal advice? Certainly.

By the way, this matter does not involve the prosecutor who is always called “dogged” by the press for his work on the BALCO matter. I think there are other adjectives that could be used here since the BALCO matter has been ongoing for about 5 years now and the successful prosecutions can be counted on one hand. Given all the evidence that has been dismissed in the Barry Bonds case, it looks as if he will skate when he comes to trial sometime in 2011 unless he fires his current lawyer and hires Algonquin J. Calhoun to represent him. [Google is your friend…]

If you are even a little bit surprised to learn that Brett Favre managed to finagle an extra $3M out of the Vikings in this uncapped year to report to training camp and play another season, then you would probably also be surprised to learn that martial arts are not paintings done by a sheriff.

Finally, Greg Cote had this item in the Miami Herald a while ago when a grand jury was considering whether to indict Roger Clemens:

“Jose Canseco testified before a grand jury on Roger Clemens’ behalf regarding steroids. Dear Roger: To mind comes the phrase, ‘With friends like that . . .’ “

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…

Our first stop was in Pawtucket, Rhode Island to see the PawSox play the Buffalo Bisons. These are AAA teams and we expected this game to be the best minor league game that we would see since the rest of the games would be AA. Such was not the case; the PawSox had no talent left on the squad; with all of the injuries to the Boston Red Sox, anyone who had been in Pawtucket with any promise or with any impressive statistics had already been summoned to the north. At one point, the scoreboard was flashing the International League leaders in various statistical categories and then focused on the leaders on the PawSox in those categories. It listed the top four batting averages for PawSox players who had 150 at bats or more. The fourth highest batting average on the scoreboard was .239. No one was over .290.

The PawSox starting pitcher was Fabio Castro – a small lefthander with a decent fastball and a good change-up. He had one bad inning, which cost him the game; but for the other seven innings, he looked as if he might be useful to the big league team. However, recall that left-handers and Fenway Park do not often co-exist very well…

The Buffalo Bisons are the Mets’ AAA club. Luke Duda is an outfielder who hit a monstrous home run on that night - - it probably went 450 - 475 feet - - but he also struck out twice looking bad each time. I would have to see him a few more times to decide if he is of any likely help to the Mets. The Bisons’ shortstop, Luis Hernandez, made two excellent plays in the field. However, if there is one thing that the Mets do not need it would be another slick fielding shortstop.

The stadium in Pawtucket is old but it still in top condition. The foul areas off first and third base are huge; I doubt there is any other park in the country with such large foul areas. One batter hit a foul popup just behind first base that would have been 20 rows into the seats in any other park; it was an easy put out here in Pawtucket; the first baseman still had a half dozen steps before he reached the rail. Despite the fact that we spent only one day and evening in Pawtucket, I would have to say it seems to be a dreary place with not a lot to do. If I lived there, I would probably buy season tix to the PawSox to assure that I would have “stuff to do”.

The next stop was in Boston where we met up with our two other classmates - - both of whom are huge sports fans in general and baseball fans very specifically. One of them had access to what she called “prime season tickets” and she secured tickets for the Tuesday night game against the LA Angels by asking for them back in March. Let me explain what she meant by “prime tickets”:

We were in the front row - - the real front row and not where they sat Bob Uecker in the famous Miller Lite commercials of yore - - in the field box just to the first base side of the net that protects folks sitting behind home plate.

In the section next to us, one gentleman was wearing a Boston Red Sox World Championship ring. That section is also where owner John Henry sits when he attends games.

One of us got a ball tossed at us by Mike Lowell. Another one of us almost fell over the wall and onto the field reaching for a ball that was rolling by the wall there.

All of that stuff describes the seats only. Here is a sense of how exciting the game was from sitting in those seats. One of the attendees - - who shall not be identified here for safety reasons - - is a diehard Yankees’ fan. The Red Sox won this game; and yet, he too had a great time. That is how enjoyable the evening was…

Our cultural events in Boston included a visit to the Boston Science Museum for an afternoon and to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library for the better part of a day. The Boston Science Museum is excellent; it is on a par with the Field Museum in Chicago and the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. If you are of “a certain age” and remember where you were when you heard that President Kennedy had been shot, you will probably enjoy a visit to the library. We had a great time there - - even though getting a cab to take us back from the library to the center of the city was only slightly more complicated than the logistics for the D-Day invasion.

The next stop was Portland Maine to see the Portland Sea Dogs take on the Atloona Curve. This was a game that started at noon on a bright sunny day without a cloud in the sky. The temperature was in the high 70s and there was a slight breeze. When the radio guy in Portland said - - as he surely did - - that this was a perfect day for baseball, he was not exaggerating. The game was a slugfest. Altoona led 6-0 after two innings; Portland rallied to take a 9-6 lead with a grand slam followed by another home run in the eighth inning; Altoona rallied for two in the top of the ninth but fell short by a score of 9-8.

The most noticeable things about the Portland stadium and the relationship of the town to the team were the sponsorships.

The left field foul pole was labeled as the “Bingas Fowl Pole”. Based on a chat with one of the locals, Bingas sells chicken wings.

The third to fifth batters in the Portland line-up - - the meat of the order - - is sponsored by a local meat company.

The clean-up hitter is sponsored by ServiceMaster.

The Sea Dogs’ first hit was sponsored by someone that I forgot to write down.

The ninth batter in the Sea Dogs’ line-up was sponsored by a local pizza joint.

Before the game started, there was a Sea Dogs’ player at a table in the concourse signing autographs for anyone in the stadium. One of my traveling companions is a compulsive autograph obtainer and so he took a piece of paper and got a signature - - in case this player blossomed into a future Hall of Fame player. Then we looked at the stats; the player was hitting .164 for the season in AA ball. Just to clarify, that is not a good thing. Given that he was only hitting .164, we considered it a victory that he was able to have his pen make contact with Frank’s piece of paper to produce the autograph…

From what we saw of Portland Maine in our day-and-a-half there, I would say that there really is not much of a reason to go there other than to see a minor league game. Our cultural event was a trip to the Maine Historical Society Museum and the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow house. Not to be too flip about it, but nothing much of any historical significance happened in the Portland Maine area. The Maine Historical Society Museum was about as interesting as watching re-runs of the old ESPN program Cold Pizza. The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow house - - this is where he was born and grew up not where he lived as an adult and wrote his poetry - - is your typical period house with old artifacts and a docent with a canned presentation. Neither place was offensive in any way; at the same time, neither would be worth a revisit even if we were on the same street as the museum with a parking place open out in front.

The downtown area of Portland would politely be described as seedy. There is an obvious effort at gentrification going on there, but there is a long way to go to make it approach the level of “attractive”.

The next stop was Manchester, NH to see the New Hampshire Fisher Cats play the New Britain Rock Cats. Without question, the Fisher Cats’ stadium - - MerchantsAuto.com Stadium - - was the best minor league facility that we saw on this trip and possibly on all of our baseball trips in the past years. It is easy to get in and out of the stadium; the lighting is excellent; there is not a bad seat in the house; the concourse area is spacious. Since the Fisher Cats are affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays, it is highly appropriate that there is a Hilton Hotel looking over the left field wall with large viewing areas in the hotel for folks to see the game just as there is in Toronto.

As with every other minor league game in the country, the Fisher Cats do all kinds of silly stuff between innings. They have a young woman dressed up as a fairy with wings on her costume; she carries a large toothbrush and so she is the tooth fairy representing someone in the dental health “industry”. She uses the toothbrush to clean the bases between some of the innings. The Knights of Columbus provided the color guard on the evening we were at the game. These senior gentlemen were in full regalia but had obviously not practiced marching in step for about 5 decades. There were five of them; no two were in step; nonetheless, they got a hand from the crowd.

The Fisher Cats look like a very good AA level team. They hit well and the pitcher that evening, Randy Boone - - described to us by one of the locals as the #3 starter on the team - - pitched a dominating two hit game for the full nine innings. He gave up a triple and a single in the first inning and then shut down the Rock Cats from then on. Meanwhile the Fisher Cats’ centerfielder, Darrin Mastrioianni, made several excellent defensive plays in the outfield and hit well and stole a base. He looks like someone who will be promoted to the next level next season and may play in the major leagues some day.

The New Britain Rock Cats’ third baseman that evening was a player listed at 5’3” tall and 145 lbs. At the beginning of the game he was hitting .201 with 0 HRs and 12 RBIs for the season. I checked his stats of this morning and he is now hitting .193 in 81 games this season. At age 25, the likelihood that he will have another growth spurt is minimal. You have to assume that he continues to play minor league baseball because he loves the game and not because he aspires to a major league career.

The Fisher Cats have one of the most useless mascots ever. He/She/It is “Fungo the Fisher Cat”. Mascots are annoying creatures at their very best; this one is inert, lethargic, torpid, lackadaisical, apathetic - - and annoying - - all at the same time. If someone were to take a fungo bat upside the head of this lump, no jury composed of Fisher Cats season ticket holders would convict the assailant.

The next stop was Cooperstown, NY for two days at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. If you have not been to Cooperstown and you have even a passing interest in baseball, you need to put this on your “bucket list”. Of the three major sports in the US, the baseball Hall of Fame is far and away the best museum. This was my third visit to the baseball Hall of Fame – the last one was about 24 years ago – and the new exhibits are definitely worth a look.

For those who have not been there, Cooperstown is “out of the way”. There is no Interstate that runs next to the town where you get off at some exit, drive 3 miles and you are at the city limits. It is a small, isolated, quiet burg; as one of the local bars advertises on the T-shirts its’ servers wear:

“Cooperstown: A drinking town with a baseball problem.”

We ate dinner at a restaurant that had been recommended to us that is basically across the street from the Hall of Fame. The food was very good. The service was the worst I have encountered in my life - - and I have been in 48 of the 50 states and 41 different countries. I shall be sending a letter describing the “issues” in detail to the Maitre d’Hotel there later today…

The final stop was disappointing. We went to Saratoga for a “day at the races”. We left early because the weather was dreadful and trainers were scratching horses left and right. The first race had 14 entries; only 6 ran in the race. The second race had 12 entries; only 5 ran in the race and two of them were coupled as an entry. The $2 Quinella for Race 2 paid $2.10. The third race had 14 entries; only four went to the post. You get the idea… We left having won the grand sum total of $1.20.

But that is not why the stop at Saratoga was disappointing. The last time I was at Saratoga was in the early 1990s. I have always said that Saratoga and Delmar (in California) are my two favorite tracks in the country. Saratoga always exuded class and stature; the facilities were always kept in A-1 condition; there was a charm to the place. Horseracing has gone through a decline in the past decade or so and the New York Racing Association has had serious financial problems for a while now. There was even some doubt that the Saratoga meet would be held this summer due to the NYRA financial situation. Nonetheless, Saratoga today is nothing like the Saratoga of 20 years ago. The place needs a new coat of paint pretty badly; even if a paint job is too expensive, the place could use a good cleaning and power washing. The TV sets that show the races in the grandstand area and that show the simulcast races from other tracks are at least 5 years out of date - - and maybe 10 years out of date in terms of size and definition. Let me channel Thomas Wolfe here:

“You can’t go home again.”

And by that I do not mean that your parents moved and did not leave you a forwarding address!

Despite the disappointment of the final stop, this was a wonderful Baseball Odyssey meeting up with old friends and enjoying several cultural events along the way. Naturally, the discussion turned to what kinds of plans we might make for next year. No final decision has been made, but I can give you a hint.

My assignment once the 2011 MLB schedule is announced is to see if there is a day during the season when the Cubs and White Sox play on the same day…

Finally, let me close with a comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald regarding Halls of Fame:

“The College Football Hall of Fame inducted 22 more new members, including former Cane Gino Torretta. Not real exclusive. Evidently, all you need to do to get inducted is drive past a college football stadium.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…

This is my annual baseball excursion with two of my high-school clasmates. This year our trip is an extensive one taking us to New England for 3 minor league games plus a Red Sox game in Fenway Park. [We will meet up with two other high-school classmates in Boston for that game.]

Then we will visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and spend a day at the races at Saratoga.

Toss in a few museums and other cultural events and that will fill up a little more than a week. I will be back on the air on August 25.

Stay well.

According to Floyd G. Lounsbury - - noted scholar of the Mayan civilization - - the Mayan calendar began on 13 August 3114 BC.

For astrology buffs, August 13 was the birthday of two major league pitchers with unique nicknames:

Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell
Jim “Mudcat” Grant.

August 13th was not a good day for former Yankees’ stars. Died on this day were:

Phil Rizzuto
Mickey Mantle.

Sticking with baseball, Jeff Francoeur is not happy with the Mets and has asked to be traded to a team that will play him every day. That is not so odd; most players would rather play every day than sit on the bench half the time and spit seeds for three hours onto the dugout floor. However, I think that Messr. Francoeur would have a better case for him being on the field every day if his batting average were above .239 and if he had not already struck out 65 times this year playing only part-time.

If indeed pitching is 90% of baseball - - I think that fraction is a tad high, but pitching is the most important part of the game - - the Mets have an interesting pair of situations ongoing at the same time.

Mets’ closer, Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod), was arrested – and then suspended by the team for 2 games – after an altercation at the ballpark where K-Rod allegedly punched out his father-in law. Baseball has been around for about 125 years and I would wager that this is the first time that has happened anywhere.

Mets’ ace starter, Johan Santana, faces a civil lawsuit by a woman in Florida who alleges that Santana raped her last October even though the authorities did not prosecute Santana. According to the woman’s lawyer, the civil suit, which seeks damages “in excess of $15,000”, was filed partly because “his client thought Santana was not taking her accusation seriously.”

Two years ago, my wife and I went on a safari to Southern Africa. Two of our safari companions were from Los Angeles and both were avid Dodgers’ fans. They were rapturous about the Dodgers’ recent acquisition of Manny Ramirez and were certain that he would take the Dodgers to the World Series at a minimum. My response to them at the time was that Manny Ramirez’ skills were on the cusp of serious decline and that the way he finagled his exit from Boston should be a bad omen for Dodgers’ fans. They would hear nothing of that.

Today, the Dodgers are cash strapped due to the divorce proceedings involving the McCourts where attorney fees have been projected to reach a total of $20M. Manny Ramirez has started less than half of the Dodgers’ games this year and has appeared in only 53% of the games. [He has been on the DL three times in 2010.] The Dodgers owe him deferred money from his contract in 2009 plus part of his salary for 2010 and then deferred payments ranging from $3M to $8M through 2013. Ramirez was never a stellar defensive outfielder but his lethargic approach to fielding seems to have increased a bit this year. I have to believe that the Dodgers would love to trade him just to have some other team pick up the responsibility for the approximately $20M he is to get in deferred payments over the next three years.

The question is: Who would want Manny Ramirez today given his baggage, his waning skills and his unreliable availability? Probably the best bet would be for Dodgers’ GM, Ned Colletti, to get on the phone with the Mets …

Phil Mushnick writes a column in the NY Post and often takes folks to task for sinful behaviors such as greed, lust and pride. Sometimes he goes a bit overboard for my tastes but with this reporting Phil Mushnick is directly on point. Recently he reported that the NY Yankees – still playing to empty seats in their new stadium because of their price structure – have started calling folks in NY to offer them a deal. Remember that Yankee Stadium will host some college football this year including a game between Notre Dame and Army in November and then the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl on December 30. In case you forgot, the Pinstripe Bowl will match the third place team in the Big East against the seventh best team from the Big 12. Be still my beating heart…

According to Phil Mushnick, here is the deal the Yankees are offering:

In order to get two seats at the Notre Dame/Army game in November, you must also buy 2 tickets for the Pinstripe Bowl Game in December PLUS you have to buy 2 of the $300 seats to one of the remaining Yankees’ games this year - - but not games against the Red Sox or the Rays.

Such a deal… As Mushnick said after laying this deal out,

“Seriously.”

Finally, here is a comment from Scott Ostler in the SF Chronicle regarding a baseball happening from earlier this season:

“The Pirates fired their pierogi - a man who dresses like a piece of Polish fried meat-filled dough and races other ‘foods; at the ballpark - because he criticized the team’s general manager and manager on his Facebook page. The Pirates should have just sent him down to the minors for more seasoning. I’ve heard baseball teams criticize ballpark food, but never the other way around.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…