Monday, August 23, 2010

08/23 Quickie: Favre, Mariotti, Top 25

I tuned in to Sunday Night Football long enough to see Brett Favre get knocked on his keister by the 49ers' 1st-team D. I had seen enough -- and so had Favre.

Lou Piniella retires, immediately: I see him as a Hall of Famer. I would love to see the Cubs promote Ryne Sandberg for the rest of the season, but I recognize that puts the owners in a bind if they never intended to give him the job next season.

Should the Nats shut down Stephen Strasburg's season now, even if his forearm is OK enough for him to pitch, say, in a few weeks? Short answer: Yes.

Mariotti Watch: Neither ESPN nor Fanhouse has made any determinations about Jay Marriotti's future with them, but it's pretty simple: If he's guilty of a crime, he's done; if the charges are dropped, he'll remain employed. But as with every other talent in sports media, he could get tossed overboard and neither outlet would miss a beat, audience-wise.

My preseason BlogPoll ballot is out, and I ended up going with my original conviction: Boise State is the best team in the country this season. I rank Texas No. 2, not because they are necessarily better than Florida or Alabama, but because UT will go unbeaten, and Florida and Alabama will give each other losses, Bama beating Florida at home in October, then Florida beating Bama in the rematch in the SEC title game in December. TCU is the new Boise -- simply not respected enough to crack the Top 2. Would love your reaction to the entire 25.

USA Hoops: That 1-point win in Madrid against Spain will be the US's closest game of this trip -- but it should remind fans that it is no gimme that the US will always put the winning team on the court, despite obvious talent advantages. (Love the switch to the Syracuse-style zone for the final play.)

Phelps Watch: The best thing to happen to Michael Phelps is to have had Ryan Lochte whip him all over the place at the Pan-Pacs; Phelps needed to have his competitiveness activated, and it feels like that did it.

Business: On the other hand, at least the Pirates are doing something right. (That said, that ownership has a serious optics problem; I don't begrudge them wanting to run the business to avoid a loss, but if they're making $26.5M in profit and not re-investing back in the business, that undercuts the entire premise of revenue-sharing.)

Yesterday, I took my 4-year-old to his first-ever in-the-movie-theater movie -- Toy Story 3. The movie was incredible. The experience for me as a parent was unforgettable. (He pronounces it "thee-ay-ter," and I'm not going to correct him.)

-- D.S.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

TS3 was terrific, I too took my 4-year old...for grown-ups, we could all relate to Andy letting go of his toys and growing up and feeling sad...although I discovered, and when Andy has a kid of his own, he'll be playing with toys again!