-Earlier in the week Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield finally won his 200th game, on his eighth attempt to do so. Personally, I'm really happy for Wakefield because he has been a great ambassador for the team, not only on the field but in the community. Seriously, it seems Tim is always the guy who gets sent when the team needs a player to make an appearance somewhere. I just hope now that he has reached the milestone the rest of the team can relax and get back to just playing. It feels like they have been pressing during all his starts and they've played tight. I'm not blaming Wake for all of the team's poor play as of late, I'm just saying that the last thing they need is to have another issue hanging over their heads while they try and hold off the Rays for the wildcard spot.
-Staying in baseball, during last Sunday's game the New York Mets planned to honor those who answered the call that day by wearing baseball hats for the FDNY, the NYPD and other first-responding units, as their own way to pay tribute on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. They did this after the tragedy first occurred so no one thought it was going to be a problem. Only this time Major League Baseball didn't think it was fair to let the Mets break the uniform rules and had someone from their office go down to the dugout and physically remove the hats from the Mets players. Instead they made the Mets wear special 9/11 hats which, in a move that I'm sure was purely coincidental, were for sale on MLB.com for only $37. Reportedly, Commissioner Bud Selig is furious with the Mets that the story was made public. Yeah, because that's what is wrong in this story. Remember last week when I mention that the NFL allowed players to break the uniform rules and wear patriotic cleats and gloves because they understood this was a special occasion? It's really too bad that baseball was too stupid to come to the same conclusion. Again, sometimes professional leagues need to just stay out of their own way. And baseball wonders why it is no longer the national pastime.
-During the closing laps of last weekend's NASCAR race, Jeff Gordon had just passed Kevin Harvick for the lead when Paul Menard, Harvick's teammate at Richard Childress Racing, spun and brought out the caution. Harvick beat Gordon out of the pits and held on to the lead for the remaining laps. Late in the week Gordon publicly questioned whether or not Menard intentionally spun-out to help his teammate since he had nothing to lose. First off, I doubt a guy is willingly going to lose control of a car going 200 mph, I don't care how amazing of a teammate he may be. Secondly, whether Menard spun on purpose or not, that is not what caused Gordon to lose - getting passed in the pits did. If Gordon had beaten Harvick off pit road or passed him during any of the subsequent laps he wouldn't have raised this issue, so don't complain just because you lost. It's like the Raiders and the "Tuck Rule" game. For some reason no one seems to remember that the Raiders still had multiple chances to win that game on their own and couldn't. Stuff like that only becomes an unfair advantage if you let it.
-One of the best debates people ever have in sports is whether or not certain players belong in their respective Halls of Fame. Some of those debates can last for hours and have to take into account things like the quality of the teams the person played for. I mean, what how good could some of the guys who pitched for the Royals in the early 90s have been if they ever had a real line-up behind them? But, because a sport like golf is such an individual competition, members become eligible for election into the Golf Hall of Fame as soon as they meet a few specific criteria: age, time on tour, number of wins. It completely takes all the other gut instincts out of the equation. While it not only takes away the fun of debate, it also leads to the very awkward situation in which active players are in the Hall of Fame. For example, Phil Mickelson is on this year's ballot and is almost a lock for election. That's just weird. I mean, what if you start to play like crap after you're in the Hall? Would they kick you out? Every time you missed a putt, people would be off to the side, whispering, "That guy is a Hall of Famer?" Imagine what it would be like if Hall of Famers were active in any other sport. I like to think it would be like practice, where the quarterbacks get different colored jerseys: if you're already in the Hall you get a mustard-color jersey to go with your jacket. Actually, that might be kind of cool.
-Speaking of guys who could be put in the Hall of Fame while they are still playing: during Monday night's Patriots/Dolphins game, Tom Brady threw an interception. The announcers in the booth said that was Brady's first interception in 350+ passing attempts. Well, regular season passing attempts. He had been intercepted in the playoffs. Do you know what that means, fellas? It was, in fact, not his first interception in 350+ pass attempts. Because I don't care if a streak is broken during the postseason, it is still broken. Actually, I would contend that a streak broken in the postseason is actually worse, because at that point everything is magnified. It would be the same as passing all your pop quizzes in school and then failing the final. I don't know when we started breaking up streaks into regular versus postseason, but we need to stop doing it. A streak is broken when it is broken, no matter what the calendar says.
-One of the best debates people ever have in sports is whether or not certain players belong in their respective Halls of Fame. Some of those debates can last for hours and have to take into account things like the quality of the teams the person played for. I mean, what how good could some of the guys who pitched for the Royals in the early 90s have been if they ever had a real line-up behind them? But, because a sport like golf is such an individual competition, members become eligible for election into the Golf Hall of Fame as soon as they meet a few specific criteria: age, time on tour, number of wins. It completely takes all the other gut instincts out of the equation. While it not only takes away the fun of debate, it also leads to the very awkward situation in which active players are in the Hall of Fame. For example, Phil Mickelson is on this year's ballot and is almost a lock for election. That's just weird. I mean, what if you start to play like crap after you're in the Hall? Would they kick you out? Every time you missed a putt, people would be off to the side, whispering, "That guy is a Hall of Famer?" Imagine what it would be like if Hall of Famers were active in any other sport. I like to think it would be like practice, where the quarterbacks get different colored jerseys: if you're already in the Hall you get a mustard-color jersey to go with your jacket. Actually, that might be kind of cool.
-Speaking of guys who could be put in the Hall of Fame while they are still playing: during Monday night's Patriots/Dolphins game, Tom Brady threw an interception. The announcers in the booth said that was Brady's first interception in 350+ passing attempts. Well, regular season passing attempts. He had been intercepted in the playoffs. Do you know what that means, fellas? It was, in fact, not his first interception in 350+ pass attempts. Because I don't care if a streak is broken during the postseason, it is still broken. Actually, I would contend that a streak broken in the postseason is actually worse, because at that point everything is magnified. It would be the same as passing all your pop quizzes in school and then failing the final. I don't know when we started breaking up streaks into regular versus postseason, but we need to stop doing it. A streak is broken when it is broken, no matter what the calendar says.
-Also during that game Brady's new Uggs boots commercial debuted. And just like when he started growing his hair out or was caught on camera dancing rather dorkishly during Carnival in Rio, people are saying that this somehow makes Brady seem like less of a tough guy. Well, when that commercial came on that allegedly less-than-tough guy was in the process of lighting the Miami secondary up for 517 yards. I've said it before and I'll say it again (although the sentence does seem to be getting longer): as long as he can dissect a team like that, I don't care if he's growing his hair into pigtails, selling Uggs or holding his wife's purse, he can play for my team any time.
-One last NFL note: a few days ago Colts quarterback Peyton Manning received a large roster bonus, despite not being healthy enough to play anytime soon. Also, there are reports Manning didn't take a physical before signing his new deal. While that's just stupid on the part of the Colts, it doesn't make Manning look too great either, almost as if he knew his neck injury was worse than previously thought. Still, it reminds me of a story about another Indiana boy, Larry Bird. In 1992 Larry knew he was too hurt to play anymore and went into the GM's office to tell him he was going to retire. Knowing full well Larry was due a large bonus if he was still an active player on a certain date (which was a couple of days), the GM told him to go home and think about his decision for a week. Allegedly, Larry narrowed his eyes and said, "I know what you're trying to do. If I'm not gonna play, I'm not gonna take the money." Now, I'm not saying Peyton should have pulled that same move. If I were in Manning's shoes I'd probably take the money, because I'm not better than Peyton Manning. I simply wanted to point out that clearly Larry Bird is.
-One last NFL note: a few days ago Colts quarterback Peyton Manning received a large roster bonus, despite not being healthy enough to play anytime soon. Also, there are reports Manning didn't take a physical before signing his new deal. While that's just stupid on the part of the Colts, it doesn't make Manning look too great either, almost as if he knew his neck injury was worse than previously thought. Still, it reminds me of a story about another Indiana boy, Larry Bird. In 1992 Larry knew he was too hurt to play anymore and went into the GM's office to tell him he was going to retire. Knowing full well Larry was due a large bonus if he was still an active player on a certain date (which was a couple of days), the GM told him to go home and think about his decision for a week. Allegedly, Larry narrowed his eyes and said, "I know what you're trying to do. If I'm not gonna play, I'm not gonna take the money." Now, I'm not saying Peyton should have pulled that same move. If I were in Manning's shoes I'd probably take the money, because I'm not better than Peyton Manning. I simply wanted to point out that clearly Larry Bird is.
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