The Rose Bowl has long used its exalted status to impose the will of its participants,  the Big 10 and the Pac 12, on the rest of the NCAA. These two leagues have always used this Pasadena tie-in to their advantage in discussions about new bowl alliances, the BCS and any other proposal which might enhance the  landscape of college football.  Those days are now officially over. There is a new shot caller in town.

Well, actually two new shot callers.

The SEC and the Big 12 finally grew weary of the Rose Bowl's influence. This week the two leagues announced they will stage their own bowl game beginning in 2014, featuring the champions from the two best college football conferences in the country. The Rose Bowl may have its parade, its tradition and its history. But the new SEC/Big 12 game will have the glamour, the glitz and the power.

From a Big 12 perspective, this is great news. It could even be viewed as an act of atonement on the part of SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. By linking with the Big 12, Slive provided a much needed perception of stability to the very league he almost sank. Losing Colorado to the Pac 12 was not that big of a deal. The loss of Nebraska to the Big 10 stung, but it was understandable. However, the defection of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC hurt the league, despite the addition of TCU and West Virginia. Slive and the SEC more than made good for that with this alliance.

It is also a very smooth move on the part of Texas AD DeLoss Dodds, the de facto commissioner of the Big 12. He found a way to link his school to the star power of the SEc without having to actually join.

We know very little about this new bowl game. As such, this union currently raises more questions than it answers. Here are a few of the more intriguing ones:

1. Will this game actually pit the champions of the two conferences or will it be a glorified Cotton Bowl?

This is the multi-million dollar question. With some type of revamped playoff system on the horizon, this bowl could be a national semi-final in a four team scenario. The same goes in a "plus one" situation. However, if the new playoffs are played outside the bowls, each league's champ will most likely be included, and then the best available team from each conference would play in the new bowl. How all this will go down is pure speculation at this point.

2.  What effect will this coalition have on conference re-alignment?

The timing of this announcement is somewhat curious, given all the speculation of Florida State jumping to the Big 12. As was pointed out earlier this week, the Seminole athletic department is experiencing a severe cash crunch. How much more attractive does the conference look to the folks in Tallahassee now? And if the Big 12 adds FSU, they have to add at least one more team. Will this be Clemson, Louisville or someone else. Of course, Notre Dame is going to get mentioned, to which I have a simple reply - f**k 'em.

Then there is the even bigger possibility. Will this trigger the formation of the four 16-team super conferences we have always heard about?

3. Where will the new bowl game be played?

The early speculation centers on four cities - Arlington, Atlanta, New Orleans and Glendale. Which begs another question - will this be a whole new game or will this new union become the Cotton, Peach, Sugar or Fiesta Bowl?

Just a hunch, but Jerry Jones has a stadium in Big 12 country, strong connections to the SEC and a boatload of cash to throw at both conferences. Arlington has to be considered the early favorite. But with plans to build a new mega-stadium of its own, Atlanta is also a very real possibility. New Orleans will be the sentimental favorite and Glendale has a world class venue as well.

So there are very few definitive answers at this point. However, one thing has become abundantly clear - the Rose Bowl no longer enjoys the same influence it did a week ago. After 100 years as the prima donna of the bowl games, the Rose (Bowl) now has its thorn.

Nearly one quarter into the season...

And it’s over...

In spite of all of his past successes...

He is an abject failure...

Don’t know what happened...

He must have lost it in the offseason...

He must have forgotten everything he knew about hitting...

It’s over...

Good-bye...

Good riddance...

You’ve lost it, Bucko...

I don’t care what Mike Scioscia says...

You are done...

You are toast...

100% your fault...

We blame you...

And only you...

You crushed our high hopes for you this year...

You blew it...

Make no excuses...

Take the blame...

Be a man...

Face the music...

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out...

Mister...

Mister...

Mister...

Mister Mickey Hatcher...

Now that you are gone...

Albert is free...

Free from your stinking advice...

Free from the jinx...

He was doing just fine...

Just fine...

Until he met you...

Now that you’re gone...

Albert can return to his superstar status...

No more P.U.jols...

How could you do this to our hero, Mickey???

You and your Mickey Mouse advice...

Albert listened to you...

But he should have done the opposite...

It would have brought much success...

And now that Jerry DiPoto has kicked you to the curb...

Albert is back...

Two home runs in two days...

No thanks to you, Mickey...

Good thing he was able to recover...

Recover from your lousy coaching...

We should be 40-0...

Even though we’ve only played 39 games...

Thanks for leaving, Mickey...

Come again when you can’t stay so long...

Don't let the door hit you on the tushie on the way out...

Onward and forward...

Another World Series title is right around the corner...

Now that YOU are gone...

Ya big ninny...

dvt

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/images/photos/001/696/475/143967107_crop_650x440.jpg?1336740497

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-05/69963169.jpg

This weekend's Song Wars tune is Dead Flowers, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 1970 and released by The Rolling Stones in 1971. (I always thought it was written by Townes Van Zant and covered by the Stones, but I was mistaken) This is one of my songs and it has been widely covered. Here are few versions which I think show the versatility of this piece.

So tell us - who wins this war?

THE ROLLING STONES

KEITH RICHARDS, WILLIE NELSON, RYAN ADAMS, HANK WILLIAMS III

TOWNES VAN ZANT

GUNS 'N' ROSES

STEVE EARLE

GILBY CLARKE

GG ALLIN (see if you can listen all the way through - I couldn't)

The Staples Center had a lot of seats to fill about 10 minutes before game time, but the place was packed at the puck drop.

This game started out like I expected- a hard hitting game, but cleanly played and with PHX trying to establish the tempo and be the aggressor. LA was a bit stiff with their passing, they were too careful, and thus too slow. This meant the Yotes were successful for the first 10 minutes of the game.

However, unlike STL, they lacked the big bodies and the traffic; and unlike VAN, they lacked the speed and playmaking skills in the attacking zone. I think PHX got 8 of the first 10 shots. However, about halfway through the period, LA settled down and started to get their chances.

Smith was very sharp in the last half of the period. The 3rd and 4th lines for LA (Stoll/Lewis/King; Richardson/Nolan/Clifford) continued to create havoc for the opposition. Score probably should've been even and it was at 0-0.

I've been developing a sense of unease at the start of the second period when LA plays at home. They have a tendency to sleepwalk. So, it was here. They were a bit lethargic, then Keith Yandle hit Daymond Langkow (one of my favorite players BTW) and Langkow split Willie Mitchell and Slava Voynov perfectly. He made a good shot through the 5 hole that Quick got a piece of, but it was 1-0 Yotes and they had their first lead of the series.

Silence was in the arena. Literally, I saw about 4 Yote sweaters in the entire arena, before during and after the game.

The crowd then came to life.

After the PHX goal, LA started to turn the game around and gradually took control of it. This team does not panic. Two minutes later Dustin Brown hit Anze Kopitar on a breakaway. He got a goal scorers goal off of Smith, banking the puck on Smith's inside leg.

I have felt that Kopitar is an elite player in the league, but he toils in LA, and he was injured in last year's playoffs. This was his 5th goal, his 14th point, and he's +12. His defensive skills are finally back in form after his surgery last summer.

With the score 1-1 after two periods, the Kings came out and pretty much owned the third period. I thought Jarret Stoll should've been the first star of the game and he wasn't in the top 3. He keyed the 3rd line. His forecheck setup a scoring chance and led to Dwight King's game winner. PHX only got 8 shots in the last two periods, and was outshot 13-4 in the third. Quick wasn't really tested for the last 10 minutes, but made a nice save on a cross ice earlier in the period.

Without Smith, PHX would've lost this game by at least two, maybe three goals. LA was that dominant.

In the last 5 minutes of the game, LA really put the hammer down. Slava Voynov, our rookie mid-season callup on D, who is small, skated into the PHX zone with about two minutes to go and ate up about 30 seconds.

The Yotes couldn't even pull the G b/c they couldn't get the puck out of the zone. When they finally did pull Smith, Radim Vrbata got a slashing penalty and that was that. Once again, the crowd was roaring with about 5 minutes to go and really appreciated the suffocating effort they put on PHX.

I've seen post-season celebrations before for LA, but there was still noise going on in the arena and on the streets 15 minutes after the game ended. These fans (me being one of them) are hungry and we can smell the meat of the Finals now.

I'm not so sure what Tippett tells his troops other than "one game at a time". They will get Hanzal back for Game 4, but he's no Daniel Sedin. They did the things they needed to do more consistently tonight, but they still got outplayed.

This Kings train is on a roll right now, and it's going to be very hard to stop on Sunday.

When the Kings won the Conference in 1993, it was on the road. They have a chance to do it at home. I would love to see the Campbell Bowl presented to Dustin Brown then. I won't go any further than that for now, but I can go to the Campbell Bowl....... because that is next in "One Game at a Time".

If LA can stay focused and healthy, PHX is toast. Morris and Smith should've been suspended, but since the NHL owns the franchise, I don't we can count on that. The owners make more money if the Yotes win, although I think the league makes more $$$ if LA makes the Finals.

I'll try to have a game report out tonight

Current - The team had won five games in a row before last night's loss to Tampa Bay. For the first time all season, they got a cycle through the rotation where all five starters pitched well. Even more impressive was that means Josh Beckett finally showed up to perform. After the disaster that was his last start and postgame press conference, he stood tall for this one game at least and pitched a good game.

The Red Sox aren't out of the hole they dug for themselves yet, but that little five game run shows that the team's pitching staff does have it in them to perform well. Now they just need to be more consistent about it. If they do, then with the offense doing relatively well, the Sox can get themselves out of last place and perhaps make a run at the top of the division.

A lot to hope for based on the recent results but nothing wrong with hoping.

Former - Did you see the news that Curt Schilling's video game company, 38 Studios, missed a million plus dollar payment they were supposed to make to the state of Rhode Island? It seems there is trouble with the company. Schilling isn't talking to the press, despite going to the state and looking for more money. One has to wonder where the 75 million dollars in loans went? The game the company put out has sold over 400,000 copies and gotten pretty good reviews? Where's the money from the sales?

I don't know the ins and outs of what it takes to run a video game company or the fine print of their deal with the state, but if i was in politics and approved this kind of a deal that left taxpayers on the hook for all that money, I'd be VERY VERY nervous right now.

BOSTON CELTICS

Current - Remind me to send a thank you note to the Atlanta Hawks owner for running his mouth and ticking off Kevin Garnett willya?

Did you watch Game 3 against Philadelphia last night? The game was over after three quarters and the Celtics just pounded the 76ers all night long. KG had 27 points and Paul Pierce had 24. Garnett has been pretty much on fire since getting insulted by the Hawks owner. Playing like a man possessed, he has been about as dominant a player on the court recently as he has ever been during his time with the Celtics.

They always talk about if you need extra motivation come playoff time, you aren't doing things right. But I'm guessing a little extra gas on the fire is just what kicked Garnett's game up a notch.

Whatever the reason, I'll take it.

Former - Larry Bird, NBA Executive of the Year. Hall of Fame player, solid coach and now outstanding executive. He's not as flashy as Magic Johnson but they remain completely linked during their post playing careers as they were during their playing days.  Congrats to Larry Legend on his success building the Pacers back up to respectability (and the current home court edge over the Heat) and on being recognized with the award for it.

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS

Current and former - The Wareham High School boys baseball team qualified for the state tournament last night with a 12-7 win over Bourne. This is their first appearance in the tournament in years. They went all in this year with a senior laden squad and a coach in his final season. One of my former players, Brandon (who I wrote about in the Looking Back At My Teams Part 38 post last night), hit a two run homer to help out the cause last night. It was the first varsity homer of his career.

It has been covered numerous times, many of which appear below. So tell us - who wins this war?

BOB DYLAN

JIMI HENDRIX

DAVE MASON

U2

DAVE MATTHEWS BAND

NEIL YOUNG

BEAR McCREARY/BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

EDDIE VEDDER

THE 2008 JJA SUMMER LEAGUE DIVISION 1 BOYS CELTICS

Gary and Chris were back as my assistants for this season.

We drafted a pretty decent squad on paper. But being the summer we were affected by one of our best players missing two regular season games and the playoffs.

We went 6-2 in the regular season, a decent season. But the absence of the center and a failure of the team to jell together did us in during the first round of the playoffs. We got blown out by 15 points and the reign of the Celtics in the summer league came to a crashing end.

As for the team:

Tyler - My power forward. Decent kid, had skills but very raw. He played basketball in high school and was on the team that lost in this year's state semifinal. He also plays volleyball. I see him all the time because he lives next door to me.

Dwayne - Another forward. He was a decent player but not quite as good as his brother Dwight who played for me previously. I haven't seen him in a while.

Brandon - He was my leading scorer for this season. I liked the kid, always seemed to get along well with him in games and practices. I see him on occasion. He's playing baseball in high school right now. I also coached his younger sister.

Sean - Once again, Sean played for me for multiple seasons and was one of the best "glue" type players I've had. His brother Chris was my assistant coach and former player as well. I see Sean occasionally. He does MMA training now.

Richie - I had Richie before and he was one of the fastest kids I've coached. He was the nephew of my assistant Gary. He played football in high school. I see him rarely.

Raekwon - Richie's brother and Gary's nephew. He was good with me but became outstanding later in his youth league days. I coached him once more but that season ended badly between us. More on that in another entry. He plays basketball in high school.

Nick - Decent player, more of a defensive guy than an offensive one for the most part. He was a valuable player for the team but he was the one who went on vacation TWICE during the summer season. Really irritated me with that. He plays basketball in high school and was on the team that lost in the state semifinals this year.

Cody - The third time I coached Cody. Great kid, though did have a tendency to drive you nuts with his shot selection. Excellent defender. He plays football and basketball in high school. He was on the basketball team that lost in the state semifinals this year. I see him occasionally. I coached his younger brother and sister.

Kyle - Great kid. Not overly talented but worked his tail off. He lives 3 houses down from me so I see him all the time.

Richard - A guard. I don't know what his problem was but he was just a royal pain. I think it was a behavioral issue but never got it confirmed. He just didn't listen.

Here are your Playoff Pesos for May 16, 2012:

CLANK, CLANK, CLANK

- I was grateful last night when Mario Chalmers missed a his desperation three point shot at the end of Indiana's 78-75 win over the South Beach Bitches. Not because the Bitches lost (although that is always nice), but because it spared me from having to watch another five minutes of this game. This was a pitiful excuse for a professional basketball game. The Pacers shot just 37% and the Bitches were even worse at 34%. The Pacers were 3-15 from beyond the arc and South Beach was a woeful 1-16, The teams had a combined 32 turnovers...need I go on? Indy's Danny Granger played better, scoring 11 points but he still hasn't found his rhythm. The Bitches have Lebron James and Dwayne Wade but little else. Speaking of D-Wade, I thought he fourth quarter flagrant foul on Darren Collison was telling - this is one frustrated team. The Bitches might survive this series. They might even survive the next. But they know in their hearts that they will get rolled by whichever small market power emerges from the West.

RUST NEVER SLEEPS

- The Spurs were indeed a little rusty in the initial game against the Clippers. But in the end their fresh legs proved to be the difference in their 108-92 win over LA, which was a whole lot closer than the final score reflects. The ageless Tim Duncan was amazing, scoring 26 points and pulling down 10 boards. So was Manu Ginobili, who had 22 points and 7 dimes. But I was just as impressed with rookie Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Boris Diaw. Leonard had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Green had 15 and did an excellent job helping Tony Parker slow down Chris Paul. And Diaw had 12 boards and moved the ball crisply. Surprisingly, neither Paul nor Parker scored in the second half. Paul finished with 6 points and Parker was held to 7. For the Clippers, backup PG Eric Bledsoe was magnificent, scoring 23 points. The Spurs have now won 15 games in a row.

ON TAP

- The Celtics and 76ers hook up in Philly tonight with their series knotted at a game apiece. Boston should win if they share the ball better than they did in Game 2. Paul Pearce has a banged up knee, but there is no way he won't play.

- The Thunder thumped the Lakers by 29 in Game 1. Expect the Lakers to play much better, but still expect OKC to win....by double digits.

- There has been a lot of discussion about Mike Brown's future with the Lakers. If the Bitches don't make it to the next round, I expect the same type of discussion about Eric Spoelstra.

Tonight's song is The First Cut is the Deepest, by Cat Stevens in 1967. P.P. Arnold was the first to record this tune. It has been subsequently covered by Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt and Sheryl Crow. There may be other versions out there, but these are the ones we are working with.

So who wins this war?

SHERYL CROW

ROD STEWART

LINDA RONSTADT

CAT STEVENS

P.P. ARNOLD

I did the only logical thing I could do with that information. I reported this development to my favorite Aggie, Roy Wayne Thorton.

Upon hearing that his alma mater was already a topic of discussion in Gainesville, Roy Wayne chuckled and said, "Thats just plum crazy. Tell you what, T-Sip. Next time you talk to them Gators, tell 'em they's got way more important things to be worryin' 'bout besides them Ags. This here is an election year, and we already know how bad them sumbitches are at countin' votes. Tell them Gators to worry 'bout that."

I have been down the political trail with Roy Wayne before, and it is not an experience I wish to repeat. So I gently tried to steer him back to the topic of football. I told him the citizens of Florida had most likely corrected their system of tabulating ballots.

"You probably right, son," he replied. "Last time I looked neither Obomber or Romnette had a brother in the guv'ners office what could rig the election for 'em like 'ol Jeb did for little George. But I still aint figured why them Gators is worrying 'bout the Ags. They's gonna kill us."

I told Roy Wayne that I could not believe he was admitting this to me.

"T-Sip, anybody thinks differnt is livin' in the land o' wish," he explained. "I know ol' Oscar Meyer din't manage Flo-ree-da's scholarships worth a she-it, but Moose-Camp is damn fine youngun'. He coordinated them dee-fences at Ah-bern, Louis-ee-anya and then over at t.u. Them Gators got 'em some studs ducks on dee-fence. We got that new fella from U of H coachin' us, and its a long step up from Confrence USA to the SEC. And we ain't got a quarterback who's ever played a down o' college ball."

I agreed with Roy Wayne and then asked him if he would care to guess what the score might be.

"Son, you's askin' me to pree-dict a the score o' a game that damn near four months off," he said. "I's kinda hopin' some of the Gators will get arrested before then. But if'n I gotta pick a number, I'd say 28-0. I doubt them Ags even score."

And with that, he said a few profanities and hung up the phone.

So there you have it Gator Nation. Sleep well, rest easy and be assured that your first trip to Texas will most likely be a successful one.

For instance, consider the cases cited below. 

In December of 2006 came the news from the Indian Express of New Delhi that Santhi Soundarajan won the silver medal in the women’s 800 meter race at the Asian Games. The Asian Games are qualifying competitions for the Olympic Games.

Regular readers of this blog will remember that, after the death of Stella Walsh, the International Olympic Committee has dropped compulsory gender testing as a prerequisite for Olympic participation. Athletes may, however, be asked to submit to examination and testing when certain conditions exist.

Such conditions apparently existed in this case. Sounderajan, 25, took the gender test in Doha, Qatar. Soundarajan failed the test and was stripped of the medal.

The test reports sent to the Indian Olympic Association indicated Soundarajan "does not possess the sexual characteristics of a woman," The Times of India reported.

An Indian official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Soundarajan almost certainly never had sex-change surgery.

Instead, the official said, Soundarajan appeared to have "abnormal chromosomes." The official also said the test revealed more Y chromosomes than allowed.

In other words, she is a he.

We remember this condition as mosaicism.

Try wrapping your mind around that concept in the 7th grade.

Then, to further addle the mind and confuse the sensibilities, comes the case of Caster Semenya.

In 2009, Caster Semenya, a middle distance runner, was directed to submit to testing. She had just run the fastest 800 meters of the season, improving her time in that event by 8 seconds in the course of one year. Along the way, she had dropped 15 seconds from her 1500 meter time.

That sort of improvement will raise eyebrows among the governing bodies of Olympic sports, and suspicions of drug use (PEDs) arose. At least, that was the official line.

In Semenya's case, she was also “secretly” given a gender verification test. That is, it was secret until a leak developed. Then came the furor in her native South Africa.

Her father, Jacob, needed no such test.

“From the time she could walk, Caster only wanted to play with boys. Her three elder sisters wore dresses, as little girls do, but Caster refused. She has never had a skirt, only trousers.

“I knew she was different to the others, and even now if you speak to her on the telephone you might mistake her for a man. But I used to change her nappy, and I know she's a woman. What better proof do people need?”

In late 2009, the ASA (Athletics South Africa) announced that Semenya and her attornies had reached an agreement with the ASA that would allow Semenya to keep her medal and prize money. There was no announcement as to whether she would be allowed to race as a woman again.

That pronouncement came in July of 2010, when Semenya was cleared for international competition. As a woman.

In other words, she is a she, and that is that.  Science says so.

Hope I cleared up some questions which may have lingered from your middle school years.

Here are your Playoff Pesos for May 14, 2012.

MOVING ON

The LA Clippers officially brought the first round to end with their 82-72 win over the Grizzlies in Memphis. As a Spurs fan, I did not particularly care who won, as both teams have strengths that could give SA some trouble, and both have weaknesses that the Spurs should be able to exploit. But as a fan of the NBA in general, I was really happy for the Clips and their fans. In the franchises 42 year history, this is only the third time they have advanced to the second round.

ROUND TWO PREDICTIONS

As we move into the conference semi-finals, we now have the NBA's version of the Elite Eight, complete with the traditional powers and a few Cinderellas. There are some intriguing match-ups, and as always there is the potential for a few upsets. But I frankly don't see that happening, and I expect the seeding to hold true to form. For what it's worth, here are my takes on each series:

Indiana-South Beach: The Pacers are big, tough and physical. They have some really good players and are well coached. I would love to see them slap the South Beach Bitches. And although the odds are against it, it could happen. The Bitches won the series' first game 95-86, pulling away in the fourth behind a stellar performance from Lebron James. The bad news for South Beach is that Chris Bosh suffered an abdominal strain. He undergoes an MRI today and his status for game 2 is unknown. The Bitches have little depth and can ill afford to lose Bosh. Indiana's Danny Granger had a terrible game, and I look for him to come roaring back in Game 2. However, having said all that I still think the Bitches will win the series. But I am reserving the right to re-visit this pick if Bosh is gone for any considerable amount of time. BITCHES IN 6.

Boston-Philadelphia: I picked Boston to win the East at the start of the playoffs, and I continue to stand behind that pick. The only danger I see for them in this series is taking the upstart 76ers too lightly. I believe that is what happened in Game 1 of this series. The Celtics found themselves down by 13 late in the first half, and had to rally for a 92-91 victory behind Rajon Rondo's triple double. Boston seems to have gotten its head in this series in the second half, and that spells trouble for Philly the rest of the way. The Sixers are scrappy, and I think they will push Boston, but they just don't have the firepower. CELTICS IN 5.

LA Lakers - Oklahoma City: I can't wait to see the reception Metta World Thug gets tonight in OKC. MWT, who we all know is the dirtiest player in the NBA, has stated that he will not shake hands with the Thunder's James Hardin, who the Thug viciously and intentionally elbowed in the regular season. But putting that to the side, the fact remains that this could be a brutal series. If the Lakers are hitting on all cylinders they could give the heavily favored Thunder a run for their money. They have the length and athleticism to pull the upset. On the flip side, if the Thunder plays up to their talent level, they could easily sweep LA. The final result will be somewhere in between. THUNDER IN 6.

LA Clippers - San Antonio: Any team with Chris Paul is dangerous. And Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan have improved this year by leaps and bounds. But this series is where the Clips will really feel the loss of Chauncey Billups. If he was healthy and playing, I would give LA a shot at winning. But he is not, so I don't. The Spurs are too deep, too talented and too experience for the Clippers. And do you really see a Gregg Popovich led team getting beat in a seven game series by a team with Vinny Del Negro on the opposite bench? Me neither. This will be an entertaining series with five close games - and the Spurs will win four of them. SPURS IN 5.

BOSTON RED SOX

The relative free fall of the Boston Red Sox organization continues and if there was any doubt about who was the poster boy for everything that is wrong with the team, Josh Beckett has left no doubt that he is the face of the organization for everything bad.

Remember last week when he skipped a start. It was ostensibly to rest something on him that was aching. Good move by the team to rest him so that he didn't aggravate the injury further, right?

Well you would think so until you learned this week that the day after skipping his start, he was out playing golf with Clay Buchholz.

When confronted with this and asked for his reaction, Beckett brushed everything off and said, "It was an off day. We only get 18 of them all season." He effectively implied that what he did on his off days was not the media's or the fan's concern. Normally I would agree with him.

However, YOU SKIPPED YOUR DAY ON THE JOB! You pitch once every five days and you skipped your turn in the rotation for an (and I'm being sarcastic on this point) "owie!", and then you have the gall to think that we the fans shouldn't ask what the hell are you doing?

He's never taken any real responsibility for his role in Chicken and Beer-Gate and he's just a surly SOB now. Management foolishly tries to back him up. Bobby Valentine continues what is turning out to be his reign of error. The players are backing him up still, but for all those that remember the Manny Ramirez situation, it got to the point where even the players didn't back up Manny.

You skip a turn in the rotation, go play golf and then get shelled in your next start, then get snippy when called out on your actions? If Beckett keeps acting like this and then gets whalloped around on the pitcher's mound, how much support do you think he'll continue to receive from the team and the players?

He's a physical assault on the traveling secretary away from BEING Manny Ramirez. Perhaps it is time to consider parting ways with him. He's bringing the team down and not providing many positive results. So in the old school way of professional athletes Josh, "What have you done for me lately?"

WNBA

The fun part of training camp is always Media Day:

Sadly, Stefanie Murphy was cut from the Connecticut Sun.

But Carolyn Swords was featured in Media Day:

So was Katie Smith!

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS

The first part is about my own personal rooting interests.

Upper Cape - The baseball team is 10-4, the softball team is still 7-5 because of rainouts, they've got four makeup games this week. I actually saw Allison this weekend because I had breakfast where she works. The last game they played they lost 27-1.

Oh and here's a look at the softball team, which features at least 6 girls that play on the basketball team:

Wareham High - The softball team is 3-8 and in danger of missing the tournament. One of my former players that is on the softball team and the basketball team has been getting talked about a lot in the papers. She's had an individually good season. Something I didn't know is that last season she was on the track team as well.

The baseball team is doing decently as well, they are still in the running for a tourney berth.

On the spring track team, my former player Paige is really a jack of all trades. Besides basketball, she did equestrian activities. As an 8th grader on the track team, she does the following events: high jump, long jump, 800 M, the mile and the 4X400M relay.

In the team's meet on May 10th, despite losing the meet, Paige won the 800M event and was part of the winning 4X400M relay team.

In other high school news:

A mother in Arkansas is suing the school her son goes to after he was cut from the varsity basketball team. The initial reason she sued kind of had me on her side. It seems the team had two tryouts after which the team was set. Her son made the team. Then for some reason, they decided to hold a third tryout for the school's football players and 9 of the 11 kids that had made the team were suddenly cut from the squad in favor of the football players. I can see her making an argument.

But then when I saw some of the language that was used in the filing, I completely changed my mind. She is suing saying that his constitutional rights to a full and complete education are being violated because he is not on the team. HELICOPTER PARENT MUCH?

Being on a team is a privilege, not a guarantee. It is scummy thing the school/team did to say the kids made the team and then cut them. But it is not a constitutional issue. The mother went from making sense to being nonsensically asinine.

Read the story here: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/arkansas-mother-sues-district-state-constitutional-violation-son-113537254.html

The other high school story that really chapped my buttocks this week was from the state of repression...er...I mean Arizona.

It seems some fundamentalist catholic high school's baseball team made it all the way to the state championship game. And then promptly forfeited the game (and the state title) because they wouldn't play their opponents. Why? Because the other team had a Big Mean Scary Evil G.I.R.L as the starting second baseman.

Yep, once again religion proves to be a prime breeding ground for the most idiotic of behavior. You can read the story for yourself because recounting it myself makes me want to hurl. Story link: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/lady-sorrows-ariz-baseball-team-forfeits-state-title-041333504.html

I have to say that I was very disappointed that the G.I.R.L. sat out the regular season games against the team, but I'm also proud of her that she refused to sit out "the biggest game of the year".

YOUTH SPORTS

The summer basketball league signups started yesterday so it is likely that I will be coaching.

Oh, and here's a nice story and quick video of a 6 year old making an unassisted triple play: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/move-over-mlb-6-old-little-leaguer-turns-144924879.html

MISCELLANEOUS

Comic Book Show - Last Sunday I attended the Southcoast Toy and Comic Show. I went in the dealer room but didn't really find much to buy. I attended the Q&A session with actress Erin Gray (Buck Rogers) and got a photo with her! (Fanboy dream come true!)

TV - The Funny or Die website got some of the cast members of The West Wing to reunite for an amusing video to promote the "least controversial thing ever". You can read the story and see the video here: http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=724976

RP=M Darlington Points Recap

Group A

Jimmie Johnson- 48pts

Carl Edwards- 37pts

Jeff Gordon- 9pts

Martin Truex Jr- 40pts

Kasey Kahne- 37pts

Greg Biffle- 33pts

Jamie McMurray- 10pts

Group C

Aric Almirola- 25pts

Streak to the Finish

http://fantasygames.nascar.com/streak/leagues/321, Next weeks race is the NASCAR ALL STAR RACE, no points will be awarded. The next points race is on Memorial day weekend for the Coke 600, NASCAR'S longest race. Have a safe holiday coming up and I will be back with power rankings and RP=M for Charlotte.  Thanks!

I was walking home from high school one nice spring day; the weather was so great that day that I decided not to take the bus. When you are 15 years old a three mile walk home amounts to almost an afterthought, and if one is in a hurry you can always run home if you choose. It was an eventful walk for, as I was cutting through a residential neighborhood, my eyes came upon a most awesome sight. Parked in some guy’s driveway was the most macho looking car that I had ever seen. Another 50 years have passed, and the vision of that day has never been topped. Parked in the drive-way was a brand new shiny black 1963 Shelby Cobra, and I walked up to it to gawk at its awesome beauty. It was a very stark looking machine, and as I stared inside the auto my eyes met with a stark matte black metal dash filled with silver Stewart Warner gauges. The two bucket seats were jet black, with a silver steel roll cage encompassing the interior. I then noticed that there were no doors on the race car, and it was also devoid of windows. The outside mirror was chromed, as were the shiny silver wheels that were wrapped in huge, fat tires under its flared fenders. I have just described the entire sight, except for the wondrous Ford 289 power plant that was laying in wait from the driver's seat and through that flat windshield and under its long hood.

I was shaken back to reality when a voice boomed, “Hello kid, do you know what you are looking at?”

“Sure mister”, I said. “It is a Shelby Cobra. I read about it in Road and Track magazine. The title to the article said ‘Zero to 100 mph to Zero in ten seconds flat!’”

The man smiled at me and said “Catch”, and he threw the keys at me. “Let’s go for a ride”.

“I am only fifteen”, I said. “I do not have a drivers’ license yet!”

“Just kidding”, he said. “Come on, let’s go around the block and I will give you a ride home. Step right into the car, there are no doors”.

The man talked at length to me as we roared around the neighborhood and took the long way to my house. He explained that he could have purchased a 1963 Corvette for $5800, but decided instead on the Cobra for only a thousand dollars more. In retrospect both vehicles were excellent purchases, but the Cobra has trumped the Corvette in 2012 dollars. A pristine 1963 Corvette (the only year of the split window coupe) is worth about $90000 today; a prime 1963 Shelby Cobra would top the $200,000 dollar mark. He also told me that he had not read that “Road and Track” article that I had mentioned. I told him to wait a minute when he dropped me off, and I ran into my house and came back out and handed him the magazine.

“Thank you mister”, I gushed, “I will never forget that ride!”

“Thanks for the magazine kid”, he said as he roared off in that incredible machine.

I learned that Carroll Shelby passed away Friday morning at the age of 89, and the vision of that black beauty suddenly emerged from the recesses of my memory, as did the unbelievable ride home that I received from a very nice man so long ago. I was compelled to share this story with you in deference to Mr. Shelby, and I hope that you have enjoyed it.  Keep on rolling on down that highway Carroll!

Welcome friends and baseball fans to another edition of This Week in Small Market Baseball. This week, we tackle the Pirates, the Nationals, the A’s, the Twins, and the Cleveland Indians, so let’s jump right onto the diamond and hit the bases.

- Pirates’ starter James McDonald is having a solid season despite his team’s offensive struggles. He is 2-2 on the year with a 2.42 ERA and 39 strike-outs over 44.2 innings pitched. Still, the 27-year-old righty deserves better, as he’s allowed 3 earned runs or less in all 7 of his starts and has taken a loss or a no-decision in 5 of those. He can blame the offensively challenged Pirates who are last in Major League Baseball with only 89 runs scored in 32 games. You can’t win a lot of games when the offensive can’t give you at least 3 runs scored.

- Just when I was ready to admit that Bryce Harper had become the mature player that I had previously said he needed to grow into, he proves me right. His leap to the majors has been successful, minus the power that will come, but his ability was never the question. He has shown the need to become more professional and on Friday night, he showed why he still has a long way to go. Harper took a strike-out badly and decided to take his frustration out of the dugout wall. The only problem was that this was the one time he didn’t have good bat control, and the bat rebounded off the wall and clocked him in the melon. The subsequent wound required 10 stiches to close up and cost Harper a little bit of the luster from his star. Hopefully it is a lesson learned because Kevin Brown and Amare Stoudemire are horrible role models for a young player.

- Think the Tigers are wishing that they had waited out Brandon Inge’s struggles? The third baseman, now with Oakland, has 4 home runs and 17 RBI in 10 games since joining the A’s.  More impressive is the streak he is on, with 4 RBI or more in four of the last five games he’s played. Inge is still batting only .197 on the season, but he’s been a solid boost for an A’s line-up looking for a power bat.

- At 29-years-old, Joe Mauer should be entering the prime of his career, yet he is starting to look like his best years are behind him, with a .274 average and just 7 extra-base hits in his first 113 at-bats. Since signing the biggest contract in club history prior to the 2010 season, Mauer has played in just 250 games, hitting .308 with a total of 13 home runs and 120 RBI. Granted, he’s had trouble staying healthy through the last two seasons, but his lack of power makes paying $23 million a season to an Ichiro type hitter a bit much. It was a contract that the Twins needed to sign in order to show the fans that they were committed to fielding a winner, but six more seasons at that rate may be a big chunk to swallow for a team that cannot afford to make those kinds of mistakes.

- Watch out folks, but the best trade in the entire off-season may have been the Indians acquisition of right-hander Derek Lowe from the Braves. Cleveland sent minor-leaguer Chris Jones to the Braves for Lowe and $10 million to offset his salary prior to the 2012 season, and Lowe has made them look brilliant. The 38-year-old is 5-1 with a 2.47 ERA for the first-place Indians. Causes of concern include the fact that batters are hitting him at a rate of .303 on the season and he sports a meager 2.7 strike-outs per nine innings pitched, but Lowe is also getting a solid 2.33 ground-outs to air outs. He may not keep it up throughout the season, but it may almost be safe to say that the Indians are getting their $5 million worth.

I wasn't expecting to do it, but the guy running it lost his original assistant and then found himself unable to make a couple of practices towards the end of the prep time due to work commitments.

He called me up and asked me to fill in. I was free so I agreed to do so. (I actually work as his assistant in the winter league on the boys side now).

The final practices ended up being a farce however, because only 5 players showed up each time.

In the end we brought just 8 players to Boston. Past teams had done well, finishing as high as third place.

Because of the lack of quality practice, expectations really weren't high for a good tournament.

On day one we had two games. The first game was against the Housatonic Hornets and a tight nip and tuck battle saw us come away with a 48-47 victory.

The second game matched us against the Ayer-Shirley Crush and we blew them out 59-29.

So coming back on Day 2 we had a 2-0 record in the division and were practically guaranteed to play more than one more game in the tournament.

The second day started off against a town team from Dedham. It was a tough game and our kids didn't respond to the challenge they were faced with. We lost 45-41 and it signaled the wheels coming off the cart because our kids spent the end of the game complaining to each other and about the refs. This was stuff that didn't happen on Day 1.

The head coach, Brian, was ticked off at the way the team behaved and after the game was over we found an isolated spot and he calmly but effectively gave them what for!

During the break in games, we wandered the building watching different games being played. We saw our next opponent playing a game and were just blown away. The team was the Massachusetts Thundercats. They had a 6 foot 8 inch kid who was in the 8th grade that started varsity in high school. One play I saw the kid took off from the foul line and the only reason he didn't dunk the ball was one of the defenders came over and fouled him to foul up the dunk attempt. When he got fouled he was still RISING in the air.

We were in a very tough spot, there was no way we were going to be able to play them in a run and gun style game. So we took the air out of the ball.

For most of the first half we came down and just passed the ball around until we got the perfect shot we wanted. And it worked. We were leading the game for most of the first half. Then we got lazy a few straight times down the court and the Thundercats took advantage to blow our doors off. They had a 13 point lead at the half and went on to win 76-45.

After the game was over the coaches of the Thundercats gave a couple of our players cards and invited them to try out for the team.

Our final game would come in the bronze medal game. We took the floor for warmups and no referees appeared. Finally, one of the organizers came to the court and said they were having trouble locating the refs. Apparently a bunch of them had simply left before the day was over.

So they told us they were going to take one of the refs off the championship game to ref our game. We turned the corner and saw which ref they meant and I couldn't stop myself fast enough and said "OH F*** NO!"

The ref turned out to be this woman who refs in our youth league and she's horrible. Nice lady but not a good ref. But that's who we got. And the game against the Bay State Magic was on.

It was ALMOST over as it started because the kids got blown out to start. They started acting like fools and arguing. Brian called a timeout and blasted the team. He benched one of the kids and went off on the rest to knock off the crap and play ball. 

It worked in the first half because we got back into the game and were down just 6 points at the break.

Unfortunately we had no answers for them in the 2nd half and lost 72-49 to finish the tournament in 4th place.

The team:

Nick - He played for both me and Brian. He was on the 2007 summer league title team for me. We both loved the kid because he was such a hard worker. He played soccer and basketball in high school.

Marcel - One of our bigs, decent kid but I never thought he lived up to his size. I can't recall if he played in high school or not.

Jeff - I coached him on two teams of my own. He always thought he was better than he was with me, but got a lot better with other coaches. He was on the state championship basketball team three years ago and on the team that lost in the state semifinals this year.

Aaron - He was our leading scorer in this tournament (16.4 PPG). Great talent who had maturity issues for most of his youth league career. Played much better with me because I laid out what I expected from him from the start. Played basketball in high school and was on the state semifinal team this year. He also coached 1 season with me in the youth league.

G - To be honest I can't even remember this kid at all. Not even his first name. G is the first letter of his last name. I'm going to talk to Brian and see if I can figure out who this was.

Robbie - Unbelievable size but incredibly immature. If he had harnessed his behavior he might've done something in sports, but he didn't and thus he didn't play in high school.

Brenden - Speedy guard. I coached two of his cousins. He was the kid who got benched in the last game for his behavior. Playing high school ball, he's nicknamed Jet. He was on the state semifinal team this season.

Danny - Played for me on the team I wrote about in part 36 of this series. He was the only other player on the team to average double figures in scoring during this tournament. I see him all the time. Really liked the kid. He got over some behavior issues and seems to be doing well. 

An article this morning suggested that Terrell Owens was a shoe in for the Hall of Fame. I gagged. But it reminded me of all those lists of people, some based on statistics, some on popularity some based on....well, I'm not quite sure what they're based on but some one thought that it was sufficiently important that a list be made so that whatever is on it might be enumerated. And some of them aren't half bad, I now know that among the most comfortable cars for a man who is big and tall is a Porsche Carrera. Although I have no need for a new car just now, I'll certainly put Porsche on the list for the next time.

Then there are lists that exist, one suspects, just to flatter the egos of those appearing on it. Here's an example:

Most Worthless Town Tarts

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian

...ad nausea but you take my point.

Then there are lists that haven't been made for one reason or another, fear of retribution may be one. But, I'll go where angels fear to tread. This could apply to almost any sport but as there are more football players on a team, I'll limit this list to the NFL. It's called...

Worst Bozos, Bad Characters, Poor Sports and Criminals to ever play on an NFL team. Even if they were booted off after one half of one game, they qualify. I'll start.....Terrell Owens.....

And Now Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen, it's up to you. Pull out your Rapiers, veg-o-matics-Samurai Swords, Guillotines, garrottes, Ginsu Knives and put names on paper. (As it were.) Hang 'em high and let us all admire your indigestible choices.....