Tuesday, August 17, 2010

08/18 Quickie: Favre, Thomson, BYU

Today's Names to Know: Bobby Thomson, K-Rod, JR Moehringer, the Phillies, Jim Thome, BYU, ALS, Michael Weinreb and, of course....

Brett Favre.

I don't want to have to write any more. I don't need to say any more. That is the best service I could provide all of the Favre-weary. God knows we'll have more than we can handle in the 4 months ahead. Stay strong, friends.

(Personally, I like Tim Carmody's series of tweets -- found on Twitter at @tcarmody -- comparing Brett Favre to the Web, which were collected by Jason Kottke. Carmody doesn't write about sports often, but he is one of my favorite Twitter accounts to follow.)

On to more interesting topics:

*RIP, Bobby Thomson. I know that the Mazeroski HR usually takes a place a notch ahead of the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" as the greatest home run in baseball history, but for my money -- and my impossible East Coast bias -- Thomson's "Shot" was the greatest.

Your must-read on the subject, among others: Rob Neyer and Joe Posnanski.

(And another one: Red Smith's original column off the game. It obviously lacks the nuance of a Quickie-esque analysis: "Greatest. Home Run. Ever.")

*JR Moehringer's GQ profile of LeBron: Yesterday was full of Q&A's with Moehringer (who ghost-wrote that incredible Agassi autobiography and wrote the even-more-incredible "Tender Bar" memoir), but I got to read the entire article: It is both fascinating and fair; LeBron seems utterly clueless and utterly unconcerned about The Decision -- or, more accurately, its aftermath. I really liked AJ Daulerio's "liner notes" on Deadspin about it.

*Mets un-guarantee K-Rod's contract: Ouch. (And baseball execs gets a glimpse of what life would be like if they had the brutal -- and brutally efficient -- contract system of the NFL.) You can guarantee this is going to be appealed by the union.

*Your Wild Card leaders: Philly. (Oswalt over Zito) I don't understand the tough talk from Philly players and Charlie Manuel about being focused on winning the division. Of any sport, baseball is the most "just get in the playoffs, any way you can." Taking sole possession of the Wild Card lead by beating your closest rival for the spot IS a big deal.

*Walk-off Watch: Of Jim Thome's many (many) home runs, this one must have felt sweet: The walk-off HR to carry his new team (Minnesota) over his old one (Chicago). In the middle of a pennant race, no less.

*Conference re-alignment: Is BYU going to leave the Mountain West for football to become a "football independent" (with other sports affiliated with the WAC)? Looks like it's a done deal. Seems like strange timing, given that the MWC is about to add powerhouse Boise State to replace the departing Utah. That's a big loss for the MWC. (I love that the official Colorado State football Twitter feed basically broke the story.)

*NCAA honcho wants the NBA to adopt MLB-style draft-eligibility rules. How about this: Let players into the draft after their senior year of high school, period. Then, let market forces work things out -- as they did perfectly well before the one-year age-limit was put in place. The NBA will be fine (it will reward smarter teams with better scouting). And college hoops will be fine; as long as there is a bracket in March, it doesn't matter who specifically plays college hoops.

*Obligatory Tebow item: He didn't run practice-ending sprints yesterday? GASP! (Honestly, when I saw the hit he took on that game-ending TD, my first thought was that he broke a rib or was otherwise injured, because his reaction was not enthusiastic, but subdued.)

*Athlete head injuries are connected to Lou Gehrig's Disease: As if you needed another reason not to let your kid play football.

*Coming later today: Day 2 of my Summer Reading series, featuring Michael Weinreb's "Bigger Than The Game" -- on the short list of Books I Always Wanted to Write (but am happy to have seen written by such a brilliant reporter).

-- D.S.

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