Dan Serafini to Get Good Look at World Series

Dan didn't get a shot to pitch after that night in Philadelphia, but he has had a great look at one of the great stretch runs and playoff runs in baseball history. The Colorado Rockies have simply torn it up, and are now waiting (cooling their heels would be redundant in Colorado) until the Indians decide whether to choke away the series to the Red Sox.

So, even though Dan won't be eliglble (unless they change the roster) to pitch, he will be in the dugout and/or bullpen, with the proverbial "front seat to history."

Eva Mendes is Good Looking

Righteous Indignation from Knight's Sheep

So, yeah, Kelvin Sampson made some mistakes with phone calls. Things probably Robert Montgomery Knight had no history of. Things that likely would not have seen the light of day had an intern not discovered them.

This has given ammunition to the (coincidentally, white) Knight followers who forgive the litany of excesses from him because of national championships twenty years ago, but cannot stomach a few extra phone calls. Phone calls to recruits that wouldn't give Knight's Indiana program a first, let alone second look.

From the Indy Star:

Reaction by former IU players Monday was swift and harsh. Kent Benson, a two-time All-American, called the situation “a total travesty.”

Ted Kitchel, another former All-American who previously criticized Sampson’s hiring by saying he “wouldn’t hire that guy to coach my fifth-grade girls team,” said the new reports suggest Sampson does not believe rules apply to him.

Joe Hillman, a member of the 1987 national championship team, said it’s embarrassing to “the program, the university and to Rick Greenspan.”

Benson, in particular, blasted the university. “I’m absolutely, totally embarrassed for the Indiana basketball program,” Benson said. “They need to do the right thing. If no tolerance means no tolerance, they get rid of him. And Greenspan should be right behind.”

A teammate of Benson on the '76 championship team, Bobby Wilkerson (coincidentally, black), feels differently:

“All coaches advertently or inadvertently make those mistakes,” Wilkerson said. “He hasn’t done anything other coaches haven’t done. They have a million rules. I think he’s a good coach. He’s a coach IU can grow with. I support him 100 percent.”

Seems to me Benson, in particular, is carrying water for Knight. To continue to beat the drum about "zero tolerence" tells you what this really all about.

I agree with Wilkerson about everything he said.

Soon to be Seen at Great American Cinergy Riverfront Stadium Ball Park

I will say this much for the guy, he is a hell of a good interview. April 15 he will be at Wrigley, dude.

Wait Until Next Year

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.

A. Bartlett Giamatti

Cubs Lose Game One, but it's a Best of Five Series

I hate the idea of facing Doug Davis down 1-0.

I would have more to say, but I was too focused on the “Cub fan” right behind home plate who spent the night talking on the phone, putting up signs, chatting up the blonde with his back to the game before bringing attention to himself on the ninth with the flashing light. The downside to HD, I suppose, is seeing that so clearly.

Tough call to take out Zambrano, but I was in support at the time. Leaves Z with a good feeling going into Sunday, and his arm should be fresh. Assuming we get there. Unfortunately, the Cubs were swinging hard and to pull against Webb, and the result was predictable. Piniella’s post-game comments were right on, and Z just as easily could have given up the bomb to Reynolds…

Listen, you guys, this is only the first game. There's a lot of baseball to be played in this series, OK? Let's not gloom-and-doom this thing."