Offseason but Good Rule Change

The NCAA has eliminated the most frustrating rule in basketballwhen it eliminated the rule allowing players to call timeout when falling out of bounds or into the backcourt.

It was always so frustrating to see often fake hustle rewarded like that.

Of course, this will be the year that IU players hustle enough to need to try to call that timeout...

The Cubs Stink, So Here is a Pretty Girl

No word on her (Danneel or Daneel Harris) next career move, but she is good to her fans, I guess. Sophia Bush looks so different with just a regular digital camera...

Barry Manilow's Wardrobe Is Now Safe

Dear Mr. Vernon,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us...In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club

P.S. Too bad he’s dead.

He'd Rather be Seen with Mark McGwire

It breaks this Cub fan’s heart to know that two alleged Saint Louis icons are feuding. Still.It has to be Ozzie’s fault, because no one may ever question Tony LaRussa. I think LaRussa believes that Ozzie used performance enhancing drugs to do those obnoxious flips.

Let’s hope these two crazy kids can get together.

"When my time is up, they can welcome him with open arms, but I don't want to be anywhere that he is. I won't ever be around when he's around. Cardinals fans can embrace him all they want to, and it won't be uncomfortable because I won't be there." -- Tony La Russa

Bizarre that feels that way about Ozzie, when the quote would make more sense if he were tlking about Mark (Let's Not Live in the Past) McGwire.

Cubs Lose Again, Blah Blah Blah

From Barry Rozner’s column today:

Raise your hand if you’re sick of seeing Jacque Jones drop his head on every flyball he hits as if he just missed it and can’t believe it’s not a home run.

Maybe it is unfair to pick on him, since he is one of the few bright spots (relatively) on this team right now, but this is a symptom of what is wrong with this team. If the manager is getting in their face away off the field, it sure doesn’t show on the field.

Lloyd, Lloyd, Null and Void

The AFLAC Trivia Question tonight was “What Cub set a record with five intentional walks on this date in 1990?” I knew it had to be Andre Dawson, and it was tipped in by the fact that he is a special assistant in the Marlins’ organization. My question was, who was hitting behind him?

I checked the box score and saw it was Lloyd McClendon (0-6) and later Dave Clark, who ended up driving in the winning run, after the fifth intentional walk.

I also saw Mike Bielecki threw ten shutout innings. They didn’t keep pitch counts in the box scores then, so I have no idea how efficient he was. The Cubs won 2-1 in 16 innings, with Chris Sabo hitting a homer in the 13th off Jeff Pico, but Luis Salazar answered with a homer in the bottom of the inning off Randall Kirk Myers.

Not Quite the Seven Year Itch

James Hardy was jailed for two days following his arrest for domestic battery in Fort Wayne.

The police report says he and his girlfriend have been together for seven years. He will be a sophomore on the football team. At the most, he is twenty-one years old. So, they have been together since he was fourteen. That is quite a durable relationship. She says he hit their child, but there is no evidence detailed in the Indy Star report. The complaintant also says that some of her red marks on her neck came from an earlier confrontation she had with another woman.

I am not saying Hardy didn’t do it, but the claim (seemingly uncorroborated) that he hurt his child makes one suspicious.

I'm Not Saying He's Right, But I Understand

The circumstances were perfect for what happened at the Cell Saturday. The Sox, coming off the World Series championship, beat the Cubs on Friday, badly, and their fans just want more. The want the Cubs (and their fans) humiliated.

The Cubs, on the other hand, have been playing very poorly recently. The fans are increasingly frustrated and visiting that frustration on their players. They get trounced on Friday, and look as bad early Saturday.

Last August and earlier this month, Michael Barrett has been cited here for stupidity.

Saturday, he was at it again. He was all instinct, and his instincts are bad. To his credit, he admitted Pierzynski's play was clean, and he was wrong to punch Pierzynski.

Thing is, Pierzynski is an instigator, and you simply cannot take his bait. He is all about the fake rah-rah (slapping the plate), the bending/taking advantage of the rules, and all around needler. You hate him unless he is on your team. I hate him. You take his bait, like Barrett did, and you show you are mentally weak, which he is.

If this team couldn’t win with Corey Patterson on it, I say you cannot win with Micahel Barrett on it. Yes, he got the big hit yesterday, but his reptile-like brain will screw it up in a crucial situation, and you simply need a smarter guy behind the plate.

That said, you cannot be too down on a guy that punches A.J. Pierzynski.

Yet Another Reason to Ignore the Blackhawks

Typically, when you are releasing bad or unpopular news, you do it on a Friday night. In Chicago sports, it is also good to do it in the midst of a Cubs-Sox series. The Blackhawks have screwed up royally again, letting Pat Foley go.

He’s only been with the team for 25 years, and been the best reason to watch or listen to their games. The story indicates he has been treated shabbily by the team, which is not surprising.

Can we get one more “Bannerman!” call?

Here’s the Classic Hawks’ Theme Song , the only decent thing still standing about this wretched franchise.

Hot Neifi Action

Two outs, bottom of the Ninth, runners on first and third, down two, Neifi Perez comes to the plate...

...and he bunts!

ARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It was great what he did in 1998, but the statue has run. YOU SUCK!