For One Night At Least, Tip Your Cap To Sammy Sosa
You can bitch about Sammy Sosa all you want. The alleged steroid use. The corked bat. The selfish 
attitude. The loud music in the clubhouse. Dusty Baker coddling him. The early escape in the fourth inning in 2004 and then lying about it even though the surveillance cameras clearly show he left early. 2005 with the Orioles. Yeah, go ahead and bitch, but what Sammy has done in 2007 is far bigger than hit his 600th home run.
Sosa took an entire season off last year to clear his head. Maybe he took it to get off the roids. But in any case, when a player his age takes off a year, he usually doesn't come back. And if he does, he sucks and sucks bad.
But from the ashes rises the phoenix. Sammy signed a minor league contract with Texas and then played himself onto the team. His numbers (.241, 12, 53) aren't great, but he is in the top ten in RBIs in the AL. At 38, he's still got a little something left in the tank. And last night, against the team he was so successful for, he belted his career 600th home run.
If you have no respect for the accomplishment, have a little respect for the guy who accomplished it against all odds. There will always be those that call for asterisks for players like Sosa, who most likely hit over sixty home runs twice while chemically enhanced. But you still have to give it up and salute a guy who came back when everyone gave up on him to join a list that only had four names on it.
Lightning Round:
attitude. The loud music in the clubhouse. Dusty Baker coddling him. The early escape in the fourth inning in 2004 and then lying about it even though the surveillance cameras clearly show he left early. 2005 with the Orioles. Yeah, go ahead and bitch, but what Sammy has done in 2007 is far bigger than hit his 600th home run.Sosa took an entire season off last year to clear his head. Maybe he took it to get off the roids. But in any case, when a player his age takes off a year, he usually doesn't come back. And if he does, he sucks and sucks bad.
But from the ashes rises the phoenix. Sammy signed a minor league contract with Texas and then played himself onto the team. His numbers (.241, 12, 53) aren't great, but he is in the top ten in RBIs in the AL. At 38, he's still got a little something left in the tank. And last night, against the team he was so successful for, he belted his career 600th home run.
If you have no respect for the accomplishment, have a little respect for the guy who accomplished it against all odds. There will always be those that call for asterisks for players like Sosa, who most likely hit over sixty home runs twice while chemically enhanced. But you still have to give it up and salute a guy who came back when everyone gave up on him to join a list that only had four names on it.
Lightning Round:
- So, you're cruising along with a one run lead in the top of the eighth. Your starter, who has been humming like a Swiss watch has a runner on first and nobody out and on a come backer, throws the ball slightly wide of the bag. Your expectations are that your shortstop will pull himself off the bag and at least keep the ball in the infield. Your expectations are wrong. Then, you bring in your closer to face a 37 year-old career minor leaguer. Your expectations are, your closer will blow him away. Your expectations are wrong. Your closer gives up a three run homer and suddenly your trailing 4-2 and go on to lose 5-4. Since the White Sox are dumping their ad agency and looking for a new slogan, here's one they surely can use: The 2007 White Sox: Screw your expectations.
Mr. Commissioner, could you please address the people in Nashville so that they might purchase tickets next season despite the odds are good their team will move in 2008-2009? "Since there is no deal, talk of moving is premature. It isn’t in any shape or form
close to being ready for consideration as it relates to approval of an
ownership change. I’m not exactly sure why people are focused on the
Nashville Predators being anywhere other than in Nashville at this
particular point in time." Because they are already selling tickets in Hamilton, you clueless moron! Meanwhile, nice guy Barry Trotz sees the glass as half full.- The NHL, as only the NHL can, tweaks the rules to include more penalty shots and a possible game misconduct for interference. The penalty shot was cool because it was so rare, now you will see them frequently because the NHL thinks that what fans want. No, boys, what NHL fans want is a cable network affiliation on a network you can actually get on your cable system and more fighting.
- Less than two years after running the Cubs into the ground, Andy McPhail is hired to bring his magic touch to the Baltimore Orioles. Isn't that like putting Jack Kevorkian in charge of the ER?
- The lawyer for the tow truck company being sued by Josh Hancock's family says the Hancock family suit is a frivolous suit. He says if the family doesn't stand down in 21 days, he will countersue. So, who is Dean Hancock's lawyer anyway, Mike Nifong?
- Good news and bad news for the Milwaukee Brewers. The good news is the Brewers have great fans who actually help the team win games. The bad news is, J.J. Hardy is having back problems. Memo to Ned Yost: Craig Council throws like a
girlguy with a bad arm. Move Billy Hall in from center, play Cory Hart in center and Jeff Jenkins in right. That is all. - The Dodgers are kissing up to Canadians after an overzealous security guard seized a Canadian flag because banners and flags are not welcome at Chavez Ravine.
- The Ramblin' Wreck got wrecked.
- Pavel Bure got kicked off a plane because the pilot insisted that he was a soccer hooligan. Bure is now suing the airline for 20 million dollars. Okay, if I'm flying an airline and the pilot can't tell the difference between a soccer hooligan and a hockey player, I'm thinking how is this assclown going to find the runway when he tries to set this thing down?
Needing just just two right side tires and a wedge adjustment, Jeff Gordon's wife has delivered a baby girl Wednesday, so he can get back to work. And the number 1, Dupont, Pepsi, Nicorette baby is doing just great.- A naked couple fell fifty feet to their deaths after apparently having sex on a roof. I don't think that's what James Taylor was singing about.
- Why be involved with what your children watch on TV when the government can do it for you? Learn how to use a v-chip, people. Damn, we are so detached in this country.
- Today's list: We head back to the '80s and remember the hotties of the movies.
I’m not exactly sure why people are focused on the Nashville Predators being anywhere other than in Nashville at this particular point in time." Because they are already selling tickets in Hamilton , you clueless moron!
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Actually, Hamilton will take the first NHL team that would consider moving there. Phoenix is in a lot of trouble right now. Florida and Tampa Bay may also have some issues. It's not as clear cut as the Preds are moving to Hamilton.
Hockey has a solid following in Nashville, so don't assume that they are ready to bolt.
Who's the clueless moron now, big boy?
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