Mar 2010
Ole' Mario Does It Again, and a Couple of Other Things
03/21/10 23:30 Filed in: Baseball
The amount of information that Mario Solis does not
know about sports in general and baseball in
particular is mind boggling.
On tonight's KNBC-TV late news coverage of today's Dodgers' preseason game, he demonstrated new levels of incompetence, even for him.
In describing a late-inning hit off the bat of a young Cleveland Indian's outfielder by the name of Constanza, Mario showed a clip of Dodger Xavier Paul having trouble retrieving the ball in center field, and even said, out loud, that Paul bobbled the ball, not once, but twice. Then what does Mario say? Well, that it was an inside-the-park home run for Constanza. An inside-the-park home run! Solis not only showed film of not one, but possibly two errors on the play, he also described the mistakes by Paul. And then he called the triple and error, an inside-the-park home run.
In a much more important note, Vin Scully was back in the booth, with no evidence of any lingering problems after the fall a couple of nights ago that scared all of Los Angeles. At the time, my thoughts, which I'm sure were shared by thousands of LA sports fans, were of how similar the event at first sounded like the fall suffered eight years ago by Chick Hearn, from which he never recovered.
Finally, a word about Cleveland and their evolving pitching staff. In the past decade, they have developed three great starting pitchers. CC Sabathia developed into a star with Cleveland, and when it became obvious that he would take the money and run, they dealt him to Milwaukee. Cliff Lee followed a similar pattern, going last year to the Phillies. The third of this group, and just about as talented as the others, is Jake Westbrook. Westbrook had his best season in 2007, and has pitched little since, missing part of the 2008 season, and all but five games last year. He appears to be healthy and regaining his form, and in 4-2/3 innings against the Dodgers today allowed one run and struck out three. National league teams that need a quality starter this coming August, you know where to look.
On tonight's KNBC-TV late news coverage of today's Dodgers' preseason game, he demonstrated new levels of incompetence, even for him.
In describing a late-inning hit off the bat of a young Cleveland Indian's outfielder by the name of Constanza, Mario showed a clip of Dodger Xavier Paul having trouble retrieving the ball in center field, and even said, out loud, that Paul bobbled the ball, not once, but twice. Then what does Mario say? Well, that it was an inside-the-park home run for Constanza. An inside-the-park home run! Solis not only showed film of not one, but possibly two errors on the play, he also described the mistakes by Paul. And then he called the triple and error, an inside-the-park home run.
In a much more important note, Vin Scully was back in the booth, with no evidence of any lingering problems after the fall a couple of nights ago that scared all of Los Angeles. At the time, my thoughts, which I'm sure were shared by thousands of LA sports fans, were of how similar the event at first sounded like the fall suffered eight years ago by Chick Hearn, from which he never recovered.
Finally, a word about Cleveland and their evolving pitching staff. In the past decade, they have developed three great starting pitchers. CC Sabathia developed into a star with Cleveland, and when it became obvious that he would take the money and run, they dealt him to Milwaukee. Cliff Lee followed a similar pattern, going last year to the Phillies. The third of this group, and just about as talented as the others, is Jake Westbrook. Westbrook had his best season in 2007, and has pitched little since, missing part of the 2008 season, and all but five games last year. He appears to be healthy and regaining his form, and in 4-2/3 innings against the Dodgers today allowed one run and struck out three. National league teams that need a quality starter this coming August, you know where to look.
theHoundDawg
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Merlin Olsen - Second LA Sports Icon To Die This Week
03/11/10 17:41 Filed in: NFL
Following the death this week of Willie Davis was the
news this morning of the death of former LA Ram star
and Hall-of-Famer Merlin Olsen.
Olsen was not only a great football star, an insightful broadcast analyst, and a successful actor, but a class guy, who worked hard to achieve his success. In fact, he was summa cum laude at Utah State where he earned a Bachelor's degree in economics, and continuing with his education during his NFL years, he later earned a Master's Degree, also in economics.
It is sad that he suffered from and ultimately succumbed to the terrible asbestosis disease of mesothelioma. It has been reported that he was in the midst of litigation over his having contracted the disease from the inhalation of asbestos fibers while working on construction sites many years ago.
A charter member of the original Ram's "Fearsome Foresome", Olsen is perhaps best known to most people as one of the stars of the long-running TV series Little House on the Prarie and later stared in his his own series, Father Murphy.
Just like The Three Dawg, Olsen was 69 at the time of his death.
Olsen was not only a great football star, an insightful broadcast analyst, and a successful actor, but a class guy, who worked hard to achieve his success. In fact, he was summa cum laude at Utah State where he earned a Bachelor's degree in economics, and continuing with his education during his NFL years, he later earned a Master's Degree, also in economics.
It is sad that he suffered from and ultimately succumbed to the terrible asbestosis disease of mesothelioma. It has been reported that he was in the midst of litigation over his having contracted the disease from the inhalation of asbestos fibers while working on construction sites many years ago.
A charter member of the original Ram's "Fearsome Foresome", Olsen is perhaps best known to most people as one of the stars of the long-running TV series Little House on the Prarie and later stared in his his own series, Father Murphy.
Just like The Three Dawg, Olsen was 69 at the time of his death.
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theHoundDawg
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Willie Davis - THE THREE DAWG
03/10/10 17:20 Filed in: Baseball
Word came last night that longtime Dodger Center
Fielder Willie Davis, who Vin Scully usually referred
to as "The Three Dawg", has died at the age of 69.
Davis, of whom former Dodger GM Buzzie Bavasi described as having Hall-of-Fame talent and a 10-cent head, was the Dodger center fielder for 14 seasons, and holds many team records. He was a great talent, possessing blinding speed, and though he had several excellent years late in his career, he never developed into the great player envisioned early in his career.
In fact, Davis will always be best remembered for his defensive lapses in the last game ever pitched by Sandy Koufax, Game Two of the 1966 World Series, which Sandy and the Dodgers lost to Baltimore, thanks in great part to Davis' World Series Record Three Errors in one inning.
Besides that, I will always remember Davis for the stats he compiled in the 1968 season. Playing 160 games in center field and coming to bat 643 times in the number three slot, and though recording 161 base hits, including ten triples, Davis managed to drive in the absolutely incredible number of 31 runs.
He was a personable guy, and his deep, resonant voice lead him to a part time career of guest-spots in a handful TV sitcoms. Later in life, he made the news a few times due to some erratic behavior, including threatening his parents with a Samurai sword and Ninja-type weapons.
He made games, and life, interesting. So-long, Three Dawg.
Davis, of whom former Dodger GM Buzzie Bavasi described as having Hall-of-Fame talent and a 10-cent head, was the Dodger center fielder for 14 seasons, and holds many team records. He was a great talent, possessing blinding speed, and though he had several excellent years late in his career, he never developed into the great player envisioned early in his career.
In fact, Davis will always be best remembered for his defensive lapses in the last game ever pitched by Sandy Koufax, Game Two of the 1966 World Series, which Sandy and the Dodgers lost to Baltimore, thanks in great part to Davis' World Series Record Three Errors in one inning.
Besides that, I will always remember Davis for the stats he compiled in the 1968 season. Playing 160 games in center field and coming to bat 643 times in the number three slot, and though recording 161 base hits, including ten triples, Davis managed to drive in the absolutely incredible number of 31 runs.
He was a personable guy, and his deep, resonant voice lead him to a part time career of guest-spots in a handful TV sitcoms. Later in life, he made the news a few times due to some erratic behavior, including threatening his parents with a Samurai sword and Ninja-type weapons.
He made games, and life, interesting. So-long, Three Dawg.
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theHoundDawg
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Texas Coach Rick Barnes: He is What is Wrong With College Sports
03/04/10 14:55 Filed in: College
Basketball | NBA
Rick Barnes, Head basketball coach at Texas, actually said this out loud.“We would love to win a national championship, but we’re not obsessed with it because we’re obsessed with these guys trying to live their NBA dream. What’s happened to Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, T.J. Ford — I’d give up a national title for all of our guys to be able to live their dream.”
Early defections to the NBA have destroyed college basketball. Fact. No Debate.
Where would the UCLA Bruins be today if Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday were still Bruins and not raking in NBA millions? What would this year's NCAA Tourney be like with these guys playing, plus the likes of Hasheem Thabeet at Connecticut, Tyreke Evans at Memphis, Gerald Henderson at Duke, Jeff Teague at Wake Forest, DaJuan Summers at Geogetown, etc., etc., etc.?
And Barnes has the audacity to say he cares not about success for his Texas team, so long as the one-and-out prima donnas get their asses into the NBA? Does he maybe collect a share of their contracts? How else can he insult not only his team and his school, but ALL OF COLLEGE SPORTS and expect to get away with it?
The lure of professional sports glamour and riches is poisoning not only college sports as a whole, but doing a horrible disservice to the student-athlete. How many of these young guys have given up a free education to follow little more than a dream into the NBA (and for some the NFL), only to see that dream burst with their future destroyed? Far more then the handful who succeed.
People like Barnes, the head coach at a major university, are feeding this disease, to the detriment of the NCAA, the fan, and primarily to the student-athlete.
Barnes is not fit to coach in a softball beer league.
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theHoundDawg
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Pirates Guarantee More Years of Failure, Hire Military Guru to Indoctrinate Minor Leaguers
03/02/10 12:31 Filed in: Baseball
17 consecutive losing seasons are not nearly enough
for the Pirate brain trust. They have just taken
steps to destroy their productive minor league
system, guaranteeing more years of mediocrity.
The dolts now running the Pirates have chosen to place the development of the team's future players in the hands of one Bernie Holliday, a "mental conditioning expert" who spent the last five years at West Point, injecting his methods into the training of the US military. In my research for this post, I found not a hint that the current leadership of West Point, or the Army at any level, made any attempt to persuade this "mental conditioning" guru to stay.
What amazing new methods does he plan to utilize to turn young ballplayers into major league stars? Get a load of this:
This idea is just as brilliant and has just as much chance of success as the Cub's plan of rotating managers, circa 1962.
The dolts now running the Pirates have chosen to place the development of the team's future players in the hands of one Bernie Holliday, a "mental conditioning expert" who spent the last five years at West Point, injecting his methods into the training of the US military. In my research for this post, I found not a hint that the current leadership of West Point, or the Army at any level, made any attempt to persuade this "mental conditioning" guru to stay.
What amazing new methods does he plan to utilize to turn young ballplayers into major league stars? Get a load of this:
Wow. Listening to scripts on an iPod. (Note - The Pirates could have gotten some old Tony Roberts, Dr. Phil, or even Dale Carnegie tapes at a swap meet and saved a bundle.) Who would ever have thought that you could become a major leaguer by thinking about doing well, not to mention listening to yourself talk about it. No more wasted hours practicing. Why bother. Oh, Holliday says that the success of this program will depend on getting all of the Pirate coaches to get on board. You know, coaches - veteran baseball people, who, well, actually have played and taught the game. Sure, they'll be more than willing to help with this madness. Though they will be shaking in their spikes that they will be iPoding themselves out of their jobs."We’re introducing technology into the process. We will create personalized visualization scripts for the players. They’ll come up with the way they want to play the game, put together the scenario they want to experience and the way they want to perform in that scenario, and we put it on an iPod or iPhone and they can listen to it and rehearse it." Can a military mind whip Pirates into winners? Yahoo Sports, March 1, 2010
This idea is just as brilliant and has just as much chance of success as the Cub's plan of rotating managers, circa 1962.
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theHoundDawg
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