I have a baseball hangover today.  I think of the six games on yesterday (on cable TV, not extortion TV) I caught significant chunks of most of them.  One I didn't catch was the White Sox getting crushed by the Indians.  It's only one game, but when you lay an egg in front of a full house and your best pitcher in spring training gets lit up for eight runs in less than two innings, it makes you scratch your head just a bit.

If you drank the kool-aid served up by Sox pitching coach Don Cooper over the weekend you should be ashamed of yourself.

Further adding to my depression, I realized after watching the Twins beat the Orioles, if Minnesota can get any starting pitching at all after Johan Santana they have a really, really solid team.  Jeez, even the Royals were competitive yesterday.

Getting pulverized at home by a bitter divisional rival should be a red flag (which could turn into a white flag by July.)  Add that to another Ozzie post game meltdown and you understand why this team is already a concern.

Well, at least they aren't the deja vous known as the Cubs.  Listening to some of the Chicago sports radio stations yesterday afternoon, there seems to be great joy that the Tribune is selling the team.  I don't understand why, but I guess I am the only person who remembers Phil Wrigley, the baseball equivalent of Bill Wirtz. 

The Trib came in and spent millions to renovate Wrigley Field, long before it became yuppie heaven. They added lights, something no one ever thought would happen. They stole Harry Caray away from the Sox. They brought in Dallas Green, who led them to their first division title in 1984.  Later, they hired respected baseball men Larry Himes and Andy McPhail to try and build a farm system (which never materialized.)  But they were never afraid to spend money, their baseball people made poor choices.  That should not be a reflection on the Tribune. The Tribune paid the money for sexy free agents Andre Dawson, Jeff Blauser, Luis Gonzalez, Glenallen Hill as well as this years cast of characters and Lou Pinella.  They went after and wooed Dusty Baker to Chicago in a move, that at the time, made Cub fans drool.

And you can't fault anyone who works in the Tribune Tower for the failure of prospects like Mike Harkey, Les Lancaster, Dwight Smith, Jerome Walton, Gary Woods, Kevin Orie, Terry Adams, Tyler Houston and the biggest flop of all, Gary Scott.

It wasn't the Tribune that made the ball go through Leon Durham's or Alex Gonzalez's legs.  It wasn't the Tribune who made Sammy Sosa walk out on his teammates.  It wasn't the Tribune that caused Cory Patterson to be a bust.  

One guy on the air talked about how bad the newspaper was, how bad the radio station was and how bad the team is.  Again, I can't imagine that when you are the biggest newspaper and the number one radio station forever in Chicago, that you are a bad company.  I think Cub fans will be in for a rude awakening when some rich, Daniel Snyder type buys the team and uses it to play fantasy baseball.  And if you want to see really frustrating ownership, have a conversation with a Sox fan.  2005 not withstanding, it has been a long, bumpy 26 years between Sox fans and the chairman.

Lightning Round:

• Now that Florida has put an exclamation point on it's season, the Billy Donovan sweepstakes have begun.  Look for him to stay at Florida.  Elsewhere, Dana Altman moves to Arkansas (three years tops before that blows up), Stan Heath goes to South Florida; Todd Lickliter takes over at Iowa and John Bellein will most likely take over at Michigan. 
  
• If Donovan doesn't take the  Kentucky gig, your winner will be John Calipari.  But like the Alabama football coach search, if Kentucky doesn't get Donovan, it will be a PR nightmare for the school which only has pursued one candidate. 
  
• One the women's side, Van Chancellor wants back in the game.
  
• Firing the coach of your first place team with four games left before the playoffs is shocking, unless your name is Lou Lamoriello.
• The Bears and Colts will hook up in the pre-season.  The good news is, Peyton Manning will only embarrass the Bears' defense for a quarter.
• Hey bay-bee.  Guess what PTPer isn't going to the hall of fame.
• Hendrick Motorsports is so good it's not fair.  To their drivers.
• John Seigenthaler, who does a great job for both NBC news and MSNBC is leaving the peacock network because he is a budget casualty.  Look for him to find work very quickly.
• For Sale: Car with a GPS that sounds like Dr. Mark Craig from St. Elsewhere.
• Financial advice from Denny Crane.
• Some parents will do anything to brainwash their children.
• OMG! The President got busted (again).
• Maytag has a new repairman.
• Today's hockey fight, courtesy of Willie Miller and Jerome Iginla