August 2007 - Posts
Billy Wagner is going to kill the Mets just as certainly as Armando Benitez used to do half a dozen years ago.
He blew another game Thursday, throwing a heroic Mets comeback against the Phillies in the trash. Thanks to his inability to come through when his team really, really needs him, the Mets, who had a six-game lead four days ago, now have a two-game lead in the suddenly exciting NL East.
Wagner is going to retire as one of the great closers of all time – at least that’s what his statistics will say. He’s got 353 saves, which is seventh on the all-time list. That’s more than Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage or Rollie Fingers, and that’s the problem with statistics, because who would you rather have pitching the final inning of a seventh game, Goosage or Wagner? Fingers or Wagner? Sutter or Wagner?
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The taxpayers of Miami and Dade County may not even realize it, but they owe University of Miami President Donna Shalala a standing ovation. She just saved them more than $200 million.
The money was the estimated cost to the city and county of renovating the 70-year-old Orange Bowl, home of the Hurricanes and not much else. It is one of the most dilapidated stadiums in the nation, a rusting relic with a proud past but no future.
It is downtown, though, and handy enough to the campus of Miami, which is a private university that had a deal with the Orange Bowl to play its home games there. The current contract runs out at the end of this year, and the city wanted the university to sign a new lease and offered to pour all that money into the old building to make it habitable. CONTINUED >>
Sportsmanship isn’t dead, not by a long shot. And if you wanted to see it in its highest form, all you had to do was watch the championship game of the Little League World Series.
Warner Robins, Ga., beat Japan, 3-2 in extra innings in game that was just about as good as baseball gets at any level. Given the high level of pitching at that level of Little League, hits and runs are hard to come by. So you kind of knew after the sixth inning – the final inning of regulation – passed, it was going to be a home run that decided it.
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I know that college football is more than just a game, maybe more than life itself. It’s the reason colleges were built – to serve as homes for football teams. So I’m not going to be the one running around saying that there are other things in life more important than football, because there aren’t any, including breathing and eating and going to the bathroom after six beers.
So I guess I can’t get on Charlie Weis’ case for pulling a Dick Cheney on reporters who asked him who his starting quarterback is going to be when Notre Dame opens against Georgia Tech. CONTINUED >>
Two years ago, he retired at the age of 40 from the Indiana Pacers and went on to a life of genteel retirement as a paid mouth on basketball broadcasts, a movie producer and a sometime television host. He’d given the game everything he had, cemented his reputation as one of the most cold-blooded gunners in NBA history, saw his jersey hoisted into the rafters in Indianapolis. And now he’s thinking of coming back?
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Even in baseball, $18 million a year is a lot of money, and to make that much, you’d expect a player to actually be good. But when it comes to pitching, good is a relative term.
Apparently, the Cubs are about to commit $90 million over five years to retain the services of 26-year-old starter Carlos Zambrano. And if you’re a Cubaholic, you have to congratulate your team on being willing to do what it takes to keep the team’s best pitcher.
Still, what exactly has Zambrano done to merit that much cash?
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The Yankees’ determined charge to the playoffs might have hit the one bump from which there is no recovery. After converting 19 straight saves, Mariano Rivera has blown two straight games, one that the Yankees came back to win, and one that they lost.
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The best way I can think of to describe the kind of personality Phil Rizzuto was is to tell you about coming to New Jersey nearly 30 years ago with my new bride to embark on a career of annoying Bergen County’s sports fans. Although she grew up with three brothers in a family of five in Ann Arbor, Mich., where her father, Maurice J. Sinnott was the associate dean of engineering and a member of the athletic control board at the University of Michigan, she managed never to be bitten by the sports bug.
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The NFC East used to be the toughest division in the NFL. Not anymore. The Eagles are totally dependent on the state of Donovan McNabb’s health. The Redskins continue to try to find themselves under the second coming – and, soon, the second departure – of Joe Gibbs. The Cowboys are on the rise and are probably the class of the division, but they have an unproven quarterback and a new coach who may or may not be an upgrade on gnarly old Bill Parcells.
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It used to be that you had to do something to merit a lead story on the sports page. You know, win a game, contribute to a win, be involved in a big play, make a big error, strike out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. But then along came Michelle Wie, who had only to show up at a golf tournament to get the star treatment for doing nothing. And now we have her male equivalent, David Beckham.
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Two historic baseballs left the playing field in a space of four days. Alex Rodriguez’ 500th at Yankee Stadium on Saturday and Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th on Tuesday. Both players would probably like to have the baseballs back. And they should have them – if they’re willing to pay hard cash.
We know more about A-Rod’s ball. That was caught by Walter Kowalczyk, of Trenton, N.J., who is thinking about law school and who doesn’t have a lot of money. The Yankees offered him a bunch of signed memorabilia in return for the ball, but Kowalczyk’s no fool. He’s hanging on to it and weighing his options. Sure, signed jerseys from Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens and who knows who else are swell souvenirs, but the ball could be worth $100,000, which goes a long way toward paying law-school tuition. And while the Yankees were offering signed stuff that costs the team very little, neither the team nor A-Rod were offering actual cash. CONTINUED >>
I’ll give Bud Selig credit for being in the park when Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron, and I’ll double that for saying that either he or someone from his office will attempt to be on hand when the BALCO Bomber breaks the record.
But after spending most of his life in the game, can’t he deliver a simple statement in public?
After Bonds hit No. 755 in San Diego, Selig didn’t address either the media or Bonds. He sat and watched and then sent out a press release. This is how it began:
“Congratulations to Barry Bonds as he ties Major League Baseball’s home run record. No matter what anybody thinks of the controversy surrounding this event, Mr. Bonds’ achievement is noteworthy and remarkable.” CONTINUED >>
I have for years taken pride in saying that Notre Dame doesn’t admit dummies. That’s self-serving coming from a Domer, but I’ve always believed it to be true.
But Brady Quinn is destroying that little truism.
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If the season continues in August as it has so far for Alex Rodriguez, look for an offensive explosion. And if it doesn’t come, look for what began as one of the game’s all-time great seasons to turn into just another very good year.
But as good as it will be, if he doesn’t pick it up, the year will end with the same question with which it began: Is he really worth it?
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