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Introduction To The House of Carr
Introduction To The House of Carr

Sports

Sox/No Sox

Quick baseball chat, especially since the Red Sox are my American League team. In the middle of a game Wednesday night, Major League Baseball sent an official to examine the uniform of Boston manager Terry Francona. He wears a pull -ver throughout the game, but MLB rules demand that all personel wear the actual uniform top during the game. Needless to say, Francona was ticked.

First, how stupid is this? Is there any other sport where the coach has to wear the uniform? The only thing dumber is the NFL being against their coaches wearing suits.

Second, it shows the priorities in the game when steroid use/abuse was overlooked for years but no way in Hades are they going to let a manager not wear his uniform. Bud Selig, history will reward you.

No worries. This is the year the Yankees miss the play-offs.

From Worst . . .

. . . to, er, worst. I was telling everyone I knew that the Reds were back in the playoff race. They were only 6.5 games out and the Central was wide open as everyone was choking. Then they go out and lose a double-header to the Pirates.

Nice.

Unless Petey Mac gets them to .500, he doesn't get the job.

Blame The Bears

You gotta follow the story concerning Lance Briggs who wrecked his $350,000 vehicle and left it there, later reporting it stolen. Looks like he's only going to get a fleeing the scene of an accident charge. That's a lot better than what he should be getting. Why would you leave your Lamborghini on the side of the road after an accident? Perhaps it's because you realized that a fleeing the scene charge is a lot better than a DUI.

Perhaps even more disturbing is the Bears' nonchalant attitude with Briggs, stating that he won't be suspended. With all the flack the Bengals have taken for having a team of jail birds I would suggest that the Bears have been much worse with Tank Johnson and now Briggs. ESPN should start spreading the love and calling out the Monsters of the Midway for being, well, monsters.

Hopefully Roger Goodell will man up and throw a suspension on him. It's only right.

I Could've Altered The NFL Season

My friend Tim had the day off so we went out and got some breakfast then came home, grabbed Kaelyn, and went downtown. Former coworker Nate Grella hooked me up with some free tickets to the Reds Hall of Fame museum and, since they expire next week, we decided to use the freebies. The museum was pretty cool. Loved the Pete Rose exhibit. Kaelyn had a blast. As we left, Tim asked if we could swing by the Bengals Pro-Shop. While there we could see the New Orleans Saints on the practice field; they're playing Cincy in a preseason game tomorrow.

When we left the shop, I decided to drive down by the practice field to see if we could catch a glimpse of some players. The Saints had just finished practice and were crossing the street from the practice field back to Paul Brown Stadium. We caught the light and saw former Ohio State Buckeye Antonio Pittman cross with a few other players. Then the light turned green. With no particular place to go I did a U-turn [illegal?] and hit the light again. It was then that . . . well, we saw him:

Number 25.

Reggie Bush.

NFL Superstar.

I mentioned to Tim that I had the opportunity to alter the NFL season. As he crossed the street I could hit the gas and see if the man who's made a career of dodging 300 pound lineman could dodge a 1.3 ton Ford Explorer.

I . . . could've . . . ruined . . . fantasy football . . . for millions.

And I also could've made Michael Vick, PacMan Jones, and Chris Henry happy men. Their PR problems would've disappeared from the headlines with pictures of the former USC All-American being pried from the grill of my SUV.

Sure, I would be in prison for years, not to mention the fact that I'm a minister and that my 18 month-old daughter would've been in the car at the same time. But it would be an interesting story to tell, eh?

Instead of committing vehicular manslaughter and flattening a Heisman winner, I instead decided to take his picture [I had the camera from our museum trip]. But, by the time I grabbed it from the case and aimed, Tim said, "you know he's already gone, don't you?" I looked up and, sure enough, Bush had sprinted across the street to avoid autograph hounds and bolted into the stadium.

Both opportunities lost.

As fast as Reggie ran across the street, I think he had a fighting chance against the Explorer.

But I could've at least put him to the test.

Tennis Love

My neighbor Dustin is covering the tennis tournament for the paper, but we got a glimpse of a superstar tonight. We met newlyweds Justin and Courtney in Mason for dinner tonight. Then we swung by a for a glimpse of the old house and finally a trip to Play-It-Again Sports to get some gently-used soccer boots.

Driving down Fields Ertel, I noticed a brand new Mercedes SUV getting ready to pull into traffic. It had the tennis tournament logo on the side of it. Sure enough, it was Roger Federer. I was in Mason for three years of tournaments and never saw any famous player. Then I move and, voila, one of the greatest players of all time.

I was reminded of my friend and former coworker Howard Pauley who, years ago during the tennis tournament, had a wonderful lunch talking to some tennis player [note: Howard doesn't know a thing about athletics, thinking SportsCenter is where they take injured athletes]. He asked the man if he was any good and the guy responded that he could hold his own. It was Andre Agassi. From my estimation, Federer was either at Barnes and Noble, Costco, Target or Michaels. Draw your own conclusions.

OB

Finally, someone intelligently critiques the most annoying thing about professional golf. No, not this guy. It's the obnoxious man constantly yelling, "Get in the hole!" Tease:

"Does the same guy stand at the same hole and yell it twice every 10 minutes while players tee off all day? How old would this get if you were standing beside him? Can you imagine if this was your dad and you were riding in the car to the golf tournament with him saying things like, 'Promise me you're not going to yell, 'get in the hole,' after every shot, Dad' and then your dad keeps doing it anyway?"

HT: Lance

Whoa, Nellie!

Wuske, an original Echo core member, is playing wingman to Dave Ferris, a one-time Echo attender, in an effort to visit all 119 D1 college football stadia [correct plural of stadium there, folks]. They recently got some love at CBS Sportsline that has drawn some national attention to their conquest [HT: SWIND]. Both these guys have roots at the alma mater and are fine, upstanding citizens. Last I heard from Shawn, they're might even be a possible reality show opportunity that could stem from this. Stay ahead of the cool curve and keep up-to-date on their exploits here.

Was It Worth It?

Perhaps you haven't heard this story yet, but it started even days before the Mets fan caught Barry Bond's record-breaking ball.

"As soon as 21-year-old Matt Murphy snagged the valuable piece of sports history Tuesday night, his souvenir became taxable income in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service . . . Even if he does not sell the ball, Murphy would still owe the taxes based on a reasonable estimate of its value. Capital gains taxes also could be levied in the future as the ball gains value."

So congrats on owning a piece of history. The IRS owns you. And they don't want you to know how bad they own you. Even though it would be a debatable part of the tax code, the agency is betting the guy doesn't get a good lawyer.

"The IRS seems reluctant to clear up the confusion. With six-figure treasures so rarely falling out of the sky, the agency declined to comment Wednesday on what regulations would apply and whether they would be enforced in the case of the Bonds ball."

God bless America. Death and taxes. Yada, yada, yada. Full article here.

Home Run

I'm still behind this week, so much so that I couldn't stay up to watch Barry hit his record breaking home run last night [of course, I endured his first two at bats with no pay-off]. I'm sure they'll be televising the game on ESPN Classic later today, so I'll DVR it. I'm not going to talk about the historicity of last night's event; one of my very first blog posts was about the steroid issue. Almost all agree that the record will be viewed as tainted, due a Maris-like asterisk. Instead I will make a prediction that will haunt my father-in-law [a lifelong Hank Aaron fan] and other baseball purists for the rest of their lives: Barry's record will never be broken. Sure, the thought of Alex Rodriguez reclaiming the record has kept a lot of people upbeat despite this record falling to an alleged cheater but I just don't think he'll get it done. There are too many variables involved and I'm not sure A-Rod has the mental toughness to keep at it. Barry's psyche was perfect for the pursuit, a "I-hate-everyone,-everyone-hates-me" attack was what got him there in the first place. Bonds was relentless in this pursuit and I'm not sure A-Rod is truly inspired about anything.

So instead of hitching our wagons to this idea that A-Rod will eventually save us, we should come to realization that the game we love will never be the same. And Bud Selig can distance himself from Barry all he wants, but he created this problem that revolts him; it happened on his watch.

And history will remember.

For Pete's Sake

Full disclosure: I love Pete Rose.

It has to be tough for Pete that another Hall-Of-Fame class was inducted and he wasn't there. I've made a promise to myself that if Pete is ever enshrined, I'm going to Cooperstown to watch. At this rate, my grandkids might have to wheel me there. For the reason why, look at some of these comments he dropped at a recent speaking engagement:

"I was ****ed off that Marge [Schott, former Reds owner] didn't leave me any money in her will; she left it all to the zoo."

"Marge loved to smoke and she would have smoked in her sleep if someone was there to hold her cigarette all night."

"I saw Joe DiMaggio in the shower and he saw more of him than Marilyn Monroe ever did."

Interesting, to say the least. Apparently he also got off a couple of F-bombs. Nice. It's even more interesting when you realize these comments were said at a baseball camp in front of 7 to 14 year-olds. Do seven year-olds even know who Marilyn Monroe is, let alone Joe DiMaggio? I bet only a handful knew who Marge Schott was. As a professional public speaker, I would like to offer the Hit King this valuable piece of advice: know your audience before you speak so you don't reference things they're not familiar with.

Ah, Westside Godfather, how many more times are you going to embarrass me for claiming you as my favorite baseball player of all time? It's like I've run out of defenses. Pretty soon I'm going to have to claim my own addiction to explain my imbalanced choice.

I should note one thing he said that drew a lot of criticism from parents. He told the kids that "winning is everything and if you get second place you're just losers." I bet some of the parents were more put-off by this comment than the F-bombs. Personally, I love it. Who else is going to come out and say that anymore? Parents might deceive little Johnny and Suzie into thinking the world's a big love-fest where everybody wins, but they're liars.

In order to make it in this world, you've gotta go for broke. And Pete Rose actually exemplified that. This guy didn't have the talent to make the Majors, let alone be one of its greatest players. But he clawed his way to the top with his can't lose attitude and made something of himself . . . and then he gambled it all away.

This is a trainwreck from which I cannot look away.

Need More Info

If Roger Goodell is trying to play hard-dog in light of the Michael Vick case by not reinstating Odell Thurman today, then he's a putz. From all we know, Thurman has kept his side of the deal, sought out counseling, and cleaned his life up. If there's something more we don't know, the league better release it quickly so as not to look like inconsistent buffoons. You know who looks like a genius now? Paul Tagliabue who retired as NFL commissioner this past year. Just when everything hits the fan he rides off into the sunset. Best . . . decision . . . ever.

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Yikes [athletically speaking]

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I played softball tonight for the first time in two years. Some buddies from up in Mason needed an extra for a game tonight so I pulled out the softball pants and dusted off the glove. Kelly and Kaelyn tagged along which was awesome. I've never been a great hitter, but I usually have a great glove and can use my speed to make up for everything else. I popped out my first time up when I had to chase a ball outside on a 0-2 count. The last two at bats I ran out a couple of balls for singles. And I ended up pinch-running for this one guy throughout the night which worked out rather well for our team, scoring twice.

The first fly ball hit to me in the outfield is what messed with me. Two years is a long time not to field a fly ball and it showed. A guy hits a can 'o' corn my way and I'm tracking it decently. But I didn't play the breeze at all so I let it sail just over my extended glove. It was rather embarrassing; I'll be thinking about that for a few weeks.  I did get a chance of redemption later proving, to these guys who didn't know me, that I could actually catch a fly ball.

There were some cool moments as we got to see some old friends. And Kaelyn was a blast.

I've taught her to say "baseball" and she was saying it over and over again on our drive up there. And she enjoyed playing with a softball by the bench all night, until one time I took the field and she burst out in tears.

But the best part was earlier today when Kaelyn looked at Kelly's Reds shirt and said, "baseball?" We've never really taught her anything about the Reds, so I guess she picked up on it as we leave the FoxSports game on the television: The Reds "wishbone C" = baseball. Much to the chagrin of her Braves-loving grandfather, this girl bleeds Red . . . figuratively and literally.

It twas a very good night.

I'll Give Him This

If Pete Mackanin, 10-4 as new Reds manager, can get this team to .500 at the end of the season, I could tolerate him getting the job. That would mean them going 40-26 the rest of the season and would prove that these guys will really play for him. But if things calm down, like it most likely will, and they play .500 ball during his tenure, then you gotta go in another direction. Fans deserve more than status quo in this selection.

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Yikes, Mike

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I didn't hear until this morning that Michael Vick [star quarterback of Atlanta Falcons, for the sports-impaired] was indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple counts relating to a dog-fighting ring. The allegations are startling so beware, animal lovers, of reading the details. Not to sure I want to get into this too much but I was thinking whether or not this indictment would've happened twenty years ago. I really don't think so. First, advances in technology yielded a powerful combination: video+internet. Videos are shared virally so what once took place in the secrecy of your own home can now be known the world over in days. When people see first-hand this cruelty that was only rumor, opinions are altered.

But the biggest change in our society leading to the indictment of these acts has been the emergence of animal rights. I'm not sure that PETA can take credit for this [their campaigns get crazier all the time]. Rather, it's a combination of people seeking non-human companionship more as well as an industry that's tailored to take advantage of it. Americans spend $40billion+ per year on their pets. And considering over 60% of US households own a pet, you'd be better of robbing a bank than harming on animal.

Twenty years ago, Michael Vick walks free because no one knows about this. Today, however, he could conceivably lose his job and do considerable jail time.

ESPEN the Magazine

I've been working out a few days a week over at the Xavier Health Center. I do about thirty minutes of cardio which is more enjoyable because of an mp3 player and a television tuned into SportsCenter. Speaking of SC, I'm really fed up with SportsCenter's new "Who's Now" segment they're thrusting down our throat. They taken some of today's most popular young athletes, put them in a NCAA basketball style bracket and have the public vote on who they think is "most now." I still have no idea what that's supposed to mean. All I know is that it's a huge network-sponsored popularity contest with an end nowhere in sight.

Not only does the entire premise behind this bracket make me want to yak but their feeble attempt at being politically correct adds insult to injury. They named their four brackets after former "now" athletes. Tell me which one of these four doesn't belong:

Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Billie Jean King.

If you picked the chick on the end, congrats: you're conscious.

How can you even pretend to put King into that group? Why bypass athletes such as Wayne Gretzky, Jesse Owens, and Willie Mays to include her? King's selection is even more interesting considering that ESPN ranked her the 59th greatest athlete of the 20th century, behind Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. If she's not better than other female tennis players, how is she worthy of this bracket being named after her?

Obviously, the network felt obligated to include a woman in that group to perpetuate the idea that women's athletics are influential as men's. Even though some would like for this to be true, it's not. Notice that in this current voting, only one woman has advanced in this bracket [and one could argue that Maria Sharapova's athleticism isn't why men watch her]. And included in this comprehensive list was Amanda Beard, an Olympic swimmer who's recent claim-to-fame is that she posed nude in Playboy [no hyperlink available]. Are they really trying to lift up women's sports or objectify them? Sure, I want my daughter to have some role-models, but are they put into that position because they're worthy or because they're hot?

And if they really felt it was necessary to include a female, that's fine. But Babe Zaharias was a much more influential all around athlete than Billie Jean. Choosing her makes no sense. As I stated earlier, this was definitely a PC decision that ESPN made and it was a dumb one at that.

A recent Newsweek article asks similar questions about ESPN, as they not only report sports news but are forced to promote a wide variety of sports to survive [rock, paper, scissors, anyone?]. Was Beckham going to the LA Galaxy really that big of a story, or is it covered exhaustively because ESPN shows MLS games?

Regardless, I'll still keep watching the network. Me loves me some Baseball Tonight.

UPDATE:

After doing a little more research, this "Who's Now" segment is even dumber than I thought. The rules behind it states that "The winner of each match-up will advance based upon fan voting (70 percent) and ESPN's three-person panel (30 percent). In the first round, the panel consists of Michael Wilbon, Kirk Herbstreit and Keyshawn Johnson." So this "panel" can actually change the fan voting. Now I like Wilbon and Herbstreit, but Keyshawn is as in touch with the general public as Liza Minnelli. The panel has already overturned four of these match-ups already.

Dream Job

Stick with me here: story and lesson learnt to follow. I'd say we're huge sports fans. I mean, you have to be to watch the All-Star game, right? But in our household, as a result of my wife's rearing, college basketball reigns supreme. I'm not fanatical enough to know all the new recruits to my favorite program. I am, however, always interested in keeping up-to-date on what the team will look like next year.

So I had a good time last night as I went with my neighbor to check out the Deveroes Summer League up at Woodward High School; it's where all the local college players play off-season ball. And my neighbor just happens to cover Xavier basketball for the Enquirer so it was cool opportunity to get some additional insight about some new recruits as well as inquire about the chances for the local teams for the upcoming season. Although there are times that his job looks freakin' awesome and I get insanely jealous, last night helped me realize that there's crap that can offset the cool.

Example: Dustin had to correct something for an article while he was at the game so he stepped out to make a phone call. A Xavier fan recognized him, cornered him [literally], and tried to grill him for info. The fan didn't seem to mind that he was on the phone trying to do his job.

Later, he admitted to me that it happens all the time. When I saw that it was some old codger I suggested that he toss a few Viagra pills on the ground as a way of luring him away.

So good lesson for me last night. Not about Viagra, mind you, but about my present employment. I always thought a sports gig would rock, but I observed last night that even the best jobs can suck at times. I'm extremely happy doing what I do and, even when shown the alternatives, am still feeling good about the career path I chose. But free admission and front row access to major sporting events would be . . . um . . . very nice.

Maybe if I started a church specifically for athletic superstars . . .

Why I'm Watching Home Run Derby . . .

. . . is beyond me. I guess it's just ambient noise as Kelly and I try to get some work done. But even though I'm not really paying attention to it, I can't stand listening to Chris Berman do play-by-play of anything. So Dan Patrick is leaving ESPN and Berman's still there? We live in an unjust world.

The worst part about Berman doing the home-run derby is that you know he pulls the same crap every year.  That's why I offer you:

THE CHRIS BERMAN GUIDE TO DOING PLAY-BY-PLAY OF THE HOME RUN DERBY

Step One: Arrive in city of All-Star Game

Step Two: Go to local convenience store.

Step Three: Purchase map of area.

Step Four: Make a list of neighboring communities and/or landmarks.

Step Five: Wait until someone hits a home-run.

Step Six: Reference list, announcing, "he just hit that ball [Insert location here]"

Acceptable locations this year in San Francisco: San Jose, Alcatraz, Sausalito, Golden Gate Bridge, Oakland, Chinatown.

Step Seven: Wait for football season to begin.