Week-in-Review: Werth, Umpires Killing Baseball, Stephen A. Killing Journalism, more
Time for another Week-in-Review, and what a crazy week:
• In July rumors were circulating that Jason Werth was spotted in the wee hours of the morning at a casino in St. Louis during a road trip. Monday night Werth appeared to be sleep walking when he was picked off of second base in the bottom of the sixth inning after Carlos Ruiz walked with two outs. Note to Jason – check out video poker or slot machines right at home or at the hotel. Save some gas money, go to bed at a reasonable hour, stay awake during games – everybody wins.
• I’ve already covered the stupidity that is MLB umpire Scott Barry, but it’s worth repeating. His absolutely childish tossing of Ryan Howard should have ended his career. I don’t want to hear about the strong umpire union. Screw them. These guys have egos that are completely out of control in the cushiest jobs ever created. Look at Joe West. He actually has a publicist who puts out a notice telling where he’s going to umpire, according to reports. Guys could literally be pulled off the street to umpire, and it’s time to consider doing just that. Baseball has been castrated by guys who need to be invisible, yet have thrust themselves into the spotlight. Commissioner Bud Selig needs wake-up and deal with the umpires ruining his game.
• As usual, ESPN missed the point of what happened in Tuesday’s game. Tim Kurkjian actually focused on Ryan Howard needing to control himself. Really? A minor league umpire thrusts himself into a game, possibly directly affected the game – Howard was essentially replaced by Roy Oswalt, who grounded out to end the game after Chase Utley (the potential tying run with a man already on) was intentionally walked – and could affect a very tight playoff race. He absolutely baited Ryan Howard into a confrontation in the most arrogant, punkish style I’ve ever seen from an umpire . . . and Howard was the story? Don’t think so, Tim.
• I read that Tuesday marked the 25th anniversary of Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball. I’ve said it before, and I’ll likely have to say it again. PUT THE MAN IN THE HALL OF FAME. He has the most hits in the history of baseball. I don’t believe anyone from the steroid era has been banned, and it’s a constant debate over whether or not guys like Alex Rodriguez will make the H.O.F. despite using the performance enhancers. Are you kidding me? Rose didn’t cheat to do what he did on the field. There’s no doubt Rose will be inducted posthumously. He’s now 69 years old. Give the man what he deserves – now! Without Rose, the only question is why baseball would even have a Hall of Fame.
• The idiot that hates Philadelphia but apparently can never leave, Stephen A. Smith, has landed at a website called Philadelphia Sports Daily. In a babble filled column on Tuesday that pretends to rip Michael Vick, Smirk actually suggests, “All the dominoes were falling in place, regardless of the faith the Eagles were displaying in Kolb. All Vick had to do was play well.” But the more telling line from Smith reads, “One could make the argument that Vick is worse off that [sic] he was last season . . . McNabb is gone. There’s a guy in Kolb with two career starts on his resume, and Vick looks as if he can barely compete with a career backup.”
A career backup? That’s the most asinine characterization of Kolb at this point in his career that anyone could make. It’s Smith continuing his passive aggressive racist garbage. Of course, he would argue that Kolb has actually been a career backup his whole career. But he’s also the young quarterback drafted with his team’s first pick in the draft whose merely been waiting for the old veteran to get out of the way. Worse, Smith damn well knows it. He continues to be a joke.
I refuse to actually link to the babble, but the “article” was at http://phillysportsdaily.com/eagles/2010/08/24/stephen-a-smith-vick-needs-to-get-his-game-back/.
• It’s clearly going to be a long goodbye to Donovan McNabb, who embarrassed himself again in an interview with GQ magazine. I don’t have the energy to rip him again for everything, but kudos to Yahoo! Sports for pointing out many of his lies. The fact that after all this time he would lie about not knowing the overtime rule, saying, “There were a lot of responses from other players who said the same thing I did, and then when the referee tells you, ‘Hey, you get another five minutes to go after this quarter . . .’” is an absolute disgrace. There is zero chance that happened. It’s worse than him continuing to deny that he yakked in the Super Bowl. It’s on film! Why no one would just show it (again) is beyond me. See the story I link to below to see how happy his teammates are that he’s gone. The guy is a joke.
• The new daily also offered to following headline on Wednesday: “DeSean Jackson finally talks to the media.” The article was fairly typical, but the headline is what irks me. I’m beyond tired of the media’s self importance. No one but the media cares that Jackson hasn’t been talking to them. It’s August. As long as he answers questions after regular season games, I couldn’t care less that the beat writers aren’t getting their quotes.
• NFL commissioner Roger Goodell keeps pushing an 18 games season. I hope this is a negotiating ploy. Doesn’t he say that the players health is a major concern? Adding two games certainly isn’t going to help with that issue. He keeps going back to the idea that the preseason games stink. Yes, they do. But the answer to that problem isn’t to convert two of them to regular season games. Just stop forcing season ticket holders to buy tickets to those exhibition games and eliminate two of them. The billionaire owners and network conglomerates will survive. As a fan, I’m not even sure I want two more games. They likely come with another bye week and more meaningless football in December.
• Johnny Damon had the nerve not to want to go back to the Boston Red Sox, and those ever-so-charming Fenway fans greeted him with a sign reading, “You Really An Idiot.” I realize it’s some sort of reference to Damon calling Boston fans idiots in his autobiography – raising the question of why a guy at his age writes an autobiography – but I’m guessing that wouldn’t have mattered if Philly fans did something similar.
• In July rumors were circulating that Jason Werth was spotted in the wee hours of the morning at a casino in St. Louis during a road trip. Monday night Werth appeared to be sleep walking when he was picked off of second base in the bottom of the sixth inning after Carlos Ruiz walked with two outs. Note to Jason – check out video poker or slot machines right at home or at the hotel. Save some gas money, go to bed at a reasonable hour, stay awake during games – everybody wins.
• I’ve already covered the stupidity that is MLB umpire Scott Barry, but it’s worth repeating. His absolutely childish tossing of Ryan Howard should have ended his career. I don’t want to hear about the strong umpire union. Screw them. These guys have egos that are completely out of control in the cushiest jobs ever created. Look at Joe West. He actually has a publicist who puts out a notice telling where he’s going to umpire, according to reports. Guys could literally be pulled off the street to umpire, and it’s time to consider doing just that. Baseball has been castrated by guys who need to be invisible, yet have thrust themselves into the spotlight. Commissioner Bud Selig needs wake-up and deal with the umpires ruining his game.
• As usual, ESPN missed the point of what happened in Tuesday’s game. Tim Kurkjian actually focused on Ryan Howard needing to control himself. Really? A minor league umpire thrusts himself into a game, possibly directly affected the game – Howard was essentially replaced by Roy Oswalt, who grounded out to end the game after Chase Utley (the potential tying run with a man already on) was intentionally walked – and could affect a very tight playoff race. He absolutely baited Ryan Howard into a confrontation in the most arrogant, punkish style I’ve ever seen from an umpire . . . and Howard was the story? Don’t think so, Tim.
• I read that Tuesday marked the 25th anniversary of Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball. I’ve said it before, and I’ll likely have to say it again. PUT THE MAN IN THE HALL OF FAME. He has the most hits in the history of baseball. I don’t believe anyone from the steroid era has been banned, and it’s a constant debate over whether or not guys like Alex Rodriguez will make the H.O.F. despite using the performance enhancers. Are you kidding me? Rose didn’t cheat to do what he did on the field. There’s no doubt Rose will be inducted posthumously. He’s now 69 years old. Give the man what he deserves – now! Without Rose, the only question is why baseball would even have a Hall of Fame.
• The idiot that hates Philadelphia but apparently can never leave, Stephen A. Smith, has landed at a website called Philadelphia Sports Daily. In a babble filled column on Tuesday that pretends to rip Michael Vick, Smirk actually suggests, “All the dominoes were falling in place, regardless of the faith the Eagles were displaying in Kolb. All Vick had to do was play well.” But the more telling line from Smith reads, “One could make the argument that Vick is worse off that [sic] he was last season . . . McNabb is gone. There’s a guy in Kolb with two career starts on his resume, and Vick looks as if he can barely compete with a career backup.”
A career backup? That’s the most asinine characterization of Kolb at this point in his career that anyone could make. It’s Smith continuing his passive aggressive racist garbage. Of course, he would argue that Kolb has actually been a career backup his whole career. But he’s also the young quarterback drafted with his team’s first pick in the draft whose merely been waiting for the old veteran to get out of the way. Worse, Smith damn well knows it. He continues to be a joke.
I refuse to actually link to the babble, but the “article” was at http://phillysportsdaily.com/eagles/2010/08/24/stephen-a-smith-vick-needs-to-get-his-game-back/.
• It’s clearly going to be a long goodbye to Donovan McNabb, who embarrassed himself again in an interview with GQ magazine. I don’t have the energy to rip him again for everything, but kudos to Yahoo! Sports for pointing out many of his lies. The fact that after all this time he would lie about not knowing the overtime rule, saying, “There were a lot of responses from other players who said the same thing I did, and then when the referee tells you, ‘Hey, you get another five minutes to go after this quarter . . .’” is an absolute disgrace. There is zero chance that happened. It’s worse than him continuing to deny that he yakked in the Super Bowl. It’s on film! Why no one would just show it (again) is beyond me. See the story I link to below to see how happy his teammates are that he’s gone. The guy is a joke.
• The new daily also offered to following headline on Wednesday: “DeSean Jackson finally talks to the media.” The article was fairly typical, but the headline is what irks me. I’m beyond tired of the media’s self importance. No one but the media cares that Jackson hasn’t been talking to them. It’s August. As long as he answers questions after regular season games, I couldn’t care less that the beat writers aren’t getting their quotes.
• NFL commissioner Roger Goodell keeps pushing an 18 games season. I hope this is a negotiating ploy. Doesn’t he say that the players health is a major concern? Adding two games certainly isn’t going to help with that issue. He keeps going back to the idea that the preseason games stink. Yes, they do. But the answer to that problem isn’t to convert two of them to regular season games. Just stop forcing season ticket holders to buy tickets to those exhibition games and eliminate two of them. The billionaire owners and network conglomerates will survive. As a fan, I’m not even sure I want two more games. They likely come with another bye week and more meaningless football in December.
• Johnny Damon had the nerve not to want to go back to the Boston Red Sox, and those ever-so-charming Fenway fans greeted him with a sign reading, “You Really An Idiot.” I realize it’s some sort of reference to Damon calling Boston fans idiots in his autobiography – raising the question of why a guy at his age writes an autobiography – but I’m guessing that wouldn’t have mattered if Philly fans did something similar.
Comments
1 nitpick - Oswalt grounded out.
MDefl