HOPE'S SOLO ACT IS WEARING THIN

Hope Solo. Is there a better surname for a superstar athlete who is trying pretty damn
hard to squeeze an "I" in the word, team? Isn't Solo the perfect name for a person
hell bent on trying to make woman's soccer and the Olympics all about her?

It's pretty clear the Hope Solo has been blessed with a lot---athletic skills, good looks,
and a physique that she was more than happy to bare in ESPN The Magazine's "Body"
issue. But God didn't bless her with everything. He must've been updating his status
on Facebook when it came time to handing out class to Solo, because the goalie for the
U.S. Women's team has very little of it.

Solo is using the Olympic games in London as a personal platform to take her Q-rating
to a entire different level. She has a book (of course) and a perfume line to promote and
there is no better place to Solo-flex than on the world stage. She wants people to talk, tweet
and text about her and she's certainly off to a great start, managing to gain the Olympic
spotlight for achieving very little.

Give her credit though, Solo has managed to gain a lot of attention in a sport that few
people care about, outside of the Olympics and World Cup. Perhaps, Solo learned the
art of self-promotion while watching Brett Favre, Terrell Owens, and Chad Ochocinco.

In the countdown to the Olympic games, Solo was the centerpiece of an article on ESPN.com
that highlighted all the sex and games that go on in the Olympic village. Solo was quoted as
saying that athletes were getting down and dirty out in the open and that she and her teammates
showed up for an interview on the "Today" show still drunk after a late night of partying. But
that's the kind of stuff that sells and Solo knows it. In today's reality show driven world, one
has to be controversial to get noticed. You have to say something really extravagant to get
attention and Solo has become an expert at that.

Solo continued her selfish act when she got offended by what she felt was unwarranted
criticism by NBC soccer analyst, Brandi Chastain, after the U.S beat Colombia 3-0 last
Saturday. Solo tweeted the world that Chastain should "lay off commentating about defending"
and goalkeeping "until you get more educated" and "the gamed has changed from a decade ago."
Really, Hope? I thought athletes never listened to talk radio, read the newspapers, or pay
attention to analysts. What's the matter, you can dish it out, but can't take it?

Solo certainly couldn't take it in 2007 when she was benched by Greg Ryan in favor
of Brianna Scurry in the semifinals of the World Cup against Brazil, a game the U.S.
lost 4-0. After the game, she lob verbal grenades at her coach and teammate, "it was
the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows
that." Whoa, stay classy, Solo, stay classy. Scurry couldn't escape Solo's wrath, either,

"There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves," Solo said. That's
what you calling being a great teammate! Way to handle it with class and such dignity!

The Solo act is growing really tiresome. I realize this kind of behavior gets you the
headlines, endorsements, and your own reality show these days, but I just wish there
could be more athlete like 17-year old Missy Franklin. She's a class act that I'd watch
over and over.

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UNBORN CHILD SIGNS WITH LSU

The NCAA was hoping to send a message to every college football program in
the country with its "unprecedented" sanctions against Penn State. The governing
body of college athletics admitted as much and warned against schools thinking
they were too big to fail and creating a culture that placed winning above all else.

Yeah, that message really got delivered. The LSU Tigers offered Dylan Jones a
scholarship after watching him run a 4.6 in the 40-yard dash at their summer camp.
Jones is about to enter the eighth grade! On Wednesday, Tate Martell committed to play
quarterback for the University of Washington. Martell is only 14-years old! What the
heck is going on here?! If the NCAA is really serious about cleaning up the craziness
and the culture of college football, they have to make this stop.

This is absurd. The NCAA talks about institutions "protecting our children" and then
lets this kind of nonsense go on? What's next? Nick Saban and Alabama offering a
scholarship to Julio Jones' son, who is not even born yet? It used to be that if a high school
junior got offered a scholarship by a school it was a huge deal, but now we're talking
eighth graders. Hello? McFly? Is anyone home at the NCAA? Colleges and universities
shouldn't be anywhere near a kid who is in the eighth grade. It's a total mockery. These
kids haven't taken an SAT, ACT, or even reached puberty for that matter, and coaches are
offering them a scholarship to play big-time college football? Ludicrous.

Martell, who is being home schooled, said it's a dream come true to play for UW. A dream
come true? Kid, you are only 14-years old, you can't possibly have everything figured out
yet.  Dylan Jones said he dreamed of playing for LSU, "since he was a kid." Um,
Dylan, you are still in MIDDLE SCHOOL! 

But don't blame Martell, Jones, or any other young kid who can run like the wind and
bench press 300 pounds, for this insanity. Blame the NCAA and blame these win-at-all
cost coaches who are chasing eighth graders. Pretty soon Les Miles will be showing up
at recess of some elementary school down on the Bayou, looking for prodigies who
can be shutdown corners on defense or strip the ball away like that "Honey Badger" guy
with the funny hair.

Cecil Newton's was pimping his kid to the highest bidder when Cam was a stud
quarterback in junior college. Who is to say that some overzealous stage father won't be
trying to sell off his kid who is just entering the fifth grade? Don't laugh. Every parent
who has just read on ESPN.com that LSU and UW have offered scholarships to kids who
aren't even in high school, have the wheels in motion. Private coaching, nutritionists,
two-a-day workout, travel teams, etc, etc, etc. It happens everywhere and parents want to
get their kids noticed-- and a scholarship. A college scholarship has become the holy grail
to parents, hasn't it?

This is almost laughable. Who is to say that Martell and Jones won't get burned out,
injured, or suffer a bad case of puppy love? Heck, even the best high school senior athletes
in the country flame out once they get to college. Now, we're talking about athletes who
haven't even reached high school yet! These kids can't even sign a letter-of-intent until
their senior year. What's the rush?

What intelligent, rational, and level-headed college administrator would allow this stuff
to go on? What college head coach would approve of offering a scholarship to a kid in the
eighth grade? The NCAA did what pretty much everybody thought it should do to Penn
State, but its time they stopped the madness of offering scholarships to kids in the eighth
grade. Pandora's box has been opened, and as we've seen, it can get pretty ugly. The NCAA
needs to nail it shut, and do it now.

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HOW TO BLOW $100,000 IN 2 WEEKS

The last time we saw Amare Stoudemire, the Knicks star was leaving America
Airlines Arena after punching the plate glass panel of a fire extinguish. He gashed
his hand and missed the rest of the playoffs against the Miami Heat. Nearly two months
after that boneheaded move, Stoudemire appears to be suffering the affects of post-
traumatic stress, or flat-out embarrassment.

Stoudemire said he has sought out Hakeem Olajuwon, the Hall of Fame center who once
dominated the NBA with moves that caused opponents to suffer multiple ankle breaks.
Give Stoudemire credit for trying to improve his game, but you have to wonder if he's
caught a case of Antoine Walker disease, where he tries to vaporize his bank account as
quickly as possible.

Stoudemire will pay Olajuwon the hefty sum of $100,000 for a two-week session with
the former Houston Rockets center, airfare not included. In fact, the hotel, car, spa, food
and drinks are not included either. $100,000 is the flat-rate that Stoudemire will pay the
man known as "The Dream" during his illustrious career, for his expertise. He'll get
instruction on how to deliver the most dangerous low-post moves in the history of the
game. That is what you call a bargain, a blue-light special, and a steal of a deal. $100,000
to learn how to drop step and pivot down on the blocks? Woo-hoo!

Now, Stoudemire makes $20 million a year and has banked more than $200 million in
his career, so $100,000 is probably just a drop in the bucket to him. But I'm sure Antoine
Walker, the former NBA star who blew more than $150 million of his earnings, thought
the same thing. "Ah, it's only $100,000, I've got a lot more where that's coming from."

$100,000 for two weeks of basketball therapy? I'm thinking that in this economy, Stoudemire
could've pushed for a better deal. He doesn't even get warm towels after his training sessions.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT....

Chad has his Johnson back. The former Bengals receiver and Patriots dropper is Chad Johnson
once again. He legally dropped Ochocinco from his driver's license and jersey and is back
to his original name. That whole Ochocinco thing might've been funny and flashy, but it really
wasn't working out of him. Check out the stats of Chad as Johnson and Ochocinco:
                 
                    Chad Johnson (7 seasons): 80 rec., 1,195 yards, 7 TD's
                    Chad Ochocinco (4 seasons): 52 rec., 674 yards, 5 TDs

His production clearly went down and apparently, so did his brain power. While in New
England when he was Ochocinco, Chad had trouble comprehending the playbook, never
earning the trust of Tom Brady or Bill Belichick. Perhaps, Johnson can connect the dots
with this new team, the Miami Dolphins.

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JIM LAMPLEY AIN'T A HIPSTER

I thought the foolishness ended with the last press conference of the NBA Finals. I
really believed that the "fake nerd hipster" look that the likes of Lebron James, Dwayne
Wade, and Russell Westbrook helped energize, would go into hibernation for the summer.
The big, horned rim glasses with no lenses made a lot of people say, "What the....?"

I was wrong. Dead wrong. I was surfing through the channels late last night, trying to
combat another bad case of insomnia last night when I happened on to Showtime boxing.
And there he was, Jim Lampley, in all his glory, talking about jabs, uppercuts, and rabbit
punches. But I didn't really hear what the heck he was saying because I was too focused on
those "hipster" glasses, yes, the ones with no lenses. Really? A sixty-something man wearing
that "look" staring into the camera with the huge lens, but with no lenses of his own in his
glasses? That's cool, I guess.

Heck, if it's good enough for Lebron, D-Wade, and the rest of the NBA, then it must
be cool enough for the mouth of boxing. When I was a neophyte in television, the news
directors or consultants always told us to not wearing anything that is a distraction to the
viewer, warning that it could take the focus off what you're saying. By the way, how many
people really remember what these people are saying, anyway? Anchors go on camera and the
first thing people do is check out what they're wearing and see how bad their hair is.
I didn't remember anything that Lampley was saying, I was just amazed that he was
wearing those hipster glasses and wondered if anybody was taking him seriously.

I'm not sure how many of us took the billionaires of basketball seriously this past
season. If birds of a feather flock together, than so do NBA players with hipster glasses.
Lebron and D-Wade don't show up to post-game press conferences without them.
Amare Stoudemire and Kevin Durant wore them proudly for most of the season,
and Westbrook broke out his Sally Jesse Rafael "hipster" glasses with one of the worst
ensembles in NBA history. The superstar of the Oklahoma City Thunder made everybody
say, "OMG" when he showed up to a press conference looking like Urkel. Nice shirt.
What did he say? Did it really matter?

I'm half expecting President Obama to show up for his next state of the union address
with these hipster glasses on. After all, with his approval ratings the way that they
are, the man could use some help, especially with the younger voters. And some young
people have actually taken affront to all these athletes and celebrities trying to be hipsters
with the fake nerd glasses. One girl has step up a Facebook page with a headline that
reads:

FAKE NERD HIPSTER GLASSES ARE RUINING MY GENUINE NERDINESS

She has 24 likes on her page. It might be significantly more very soon. I can see this all
leading to a blockbuster movie, "Revenge of the Nerds: You Ain't Hip."

Last Friday night, I was watching Dateline NBC when Anne Curry broke in with an
update on the shooting in Colorado. For some reason, Curry was wearing these huge hipster
glasses, except that they did, indeed have lenses. They looked awfully nerdy and pretty
ridiculous. When she returned at the top of the hour,  Curry no longer had those glasses on.
Apparently, a producer or the head of NBC News told her to take them off and trash them.

I just wish that would happen with a lot of other people, too.

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DWIGHT HOWARD AND NBA: DIVAS R US

 Say this about the NBA, they know drama. Get a superstar diva with a little bit a
leverage and the league turns into a soap opera like "Days Of Our Lives." The star of
one episode throws a hissy fit and gets his coach fired. The star of another one
demands to be traded, but if it's not a team of his liking, he'll just say no and pout as
he runs up and down the floor while cashing $10 million checks after the game.

All this diva drama really started with LeBron James and the pursuit of his heinous.
During his free-agency period, teams pursued him like 18-year old kids who thought
they had a shot with Angelina Jolie. They dripped, drooled, groveled, and did everything
they could to make sure the object of their desire was happy. It was quite pathetic, actually.

Lebron put the cherry bomb on top of this ridiculous chase by making the "Decision" on
ESPN, which embarrassed not only his former employer, the Cleveland Cavaliers, but
the chosen one, himself. It turned into a nightmare for James, who fumbled away his status
as of one of the most liked players in the NBA quicker than Ernie Byner dropped the ball
at the goal line, ending the Browns dream of going to the Super Bowl. King James became
reviled in Cleveland and a punching bag throughout the rest of the country.

Carmelo Anthony also pulled the diva act while he was with the Denver Nuggets. He was
the best player on a very good team and he knew it.. He wanted respect and superstar treatment
so he turned into a soap opera diva. Anthony wanted to be traded, then he didn't want to be
traded. Then he demanded to be traded to the Knicks, and told the Nuggets to make a call to
New Jersey, as well. Anthony was in his walk year, so the Nuggets wanted to get something
for Anthony knowing he was going to walk away from the Rocky Mountains and his rocky
relationship with his team. Anthony got his wish and was traded to the Big Apple and the
Knicks. His diva act got him to where he wanted to go, but like James before him, his image
took a hit.

Now, we have the ultimate diva, the superman of spoiled superstars, and a player whose
popular is falling fast towards the, "I despise you" zone. Dwight Howard seems to have been
acting like a petulant 5-year old girl who doesn't get her piece of candy for about 2 years
running. The center for the Orlando Magic clearly wants to be the center of attention in
the NBA, at least until the season starts. He wants to be traded, oh, no he doesn't want to
be traded, wait, he wants to go to New  Jersey, but hey, Los Angles looks good, but he
won't sign a long-term deal and will test  free-agency where he'll probably sign with
the Nets, anyway. This is so ridiculous. Howard helped his coach, Stan Van Gundy, get
fired. Ownership wanted to make Dwight The Diva happy and didn't want to have his
feeling hurt, so they fired a really, really, good basketball coach, and their GM, too.
Whatever Dwight The Diva wants, Dwight The Diva gets.

Can a owner, for once, just step up and say, "Hey, Diva, this is my team. I'm paying your
inflated contract. You play 82 games. Will you just shut up and play!" Where in the world
does one employee hold the ownership group hostage like they do in the NBA? It's absurd.
These diva docu-dramas has become like the pettiness and childishness of the high school
cafeteria. Can somebody please stop the nonsense? Can some owner make a statement and
trade one of their diva's to Detroit instead of Dallas, or Minnesota instead of Miami?  Can
one of the them get quoted in the paper saying, "I'm paying the guy $20 million a year, can
the guy just shut up and make a free-throw in the clutch?"

Wishful thinking, but I don't think it'll happen. As long as a diva has a little leverage, this
ridiculous part of the NBA will keep turning and turning.

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PENN STATE AND STATE OF THE STATUE

I can almost hear Allen Iverson now, "We're talking about a statue, not a person, but a statue.
We ain't talking about a living, breathing person, but a 7-foot, 900-pound piece of bronze.
No, no, no. We're talking about a statue, not a person, but a statue."

The look of disbelief that blanketed the former NBA MVP's face during that wildly
entertaining press conference in 2002 where he talked about practice vs. actual games, is
now washed across the faces of millions of people throughout the world, including mine.
Less than a week after the Freeh Report stated that Joe Paterno took part in a massive cover-up
that tried to shroud the most despicable crime in the history of college sports, a spokesman
for Penn State professed the university will decide in the "next 7-10 days" whether or not
the statue of the "legendary" football coach will stay up or come down. Well, thank you.
I guess I can sleep better now.

In essence, Penn State was just hoping the controversy surrounding the Paterno statue could
be swept under the rug, just as JoePa and the leaders of the university had prayed the
child-sex abuse scandal would be camouflaged, as well. School officials seemed to be hoping
for a quick rinse of the news cylce so they wouldn't have to make a difficult decision that
would have made them unpopular with a good majority of Nittany Lion Nation. They are
turning out to be just as cowardly as Paterno, who instead of doing the right thing, tried to
do what he felt was the right thing for his reputation and coaching "legacy."

This is so unbelievable that it's almost comical. Children were sexually abused on campus,
Paterno and the Penn State hierarchy tried to cover it up, and the football program might be
on the verge of the death penalty, and everybody in State College is worried about a statue.
Are. You. Kidding. Me?

I've heard people say that Penn State is nowhere close to what it is today without Joe Paterno.
Boy, isn't that the truth? Yes, he put a cow college on the map, leading the football team to
409 wins and two national championships. Every student and alumnus took great pride in
screaming, "We are... Penn State!" But Paterno also helped put the university in the predicament
it's in today. When Penn State is mentioned, those students and alumnae now say, "We are
not proud." This scandal has disgraced the university and ruined the lives of many children,
forever. Kids were raped on campus and all people are concerned about is some statue
outside the football stadium. What is wrong with this picture?

Nike gets it. As soon as the Freeh Report was released, Joe Paterno's name was ripped off
the child care center that's on the campus of the shoe company. A student organization that
runs the tent village outside of the football stadium gets it. They dropped "Paternoville" and
re-named it "Nittanyville". Not as catchy, but smart. A plane with a banner saying, "If you
don't remove statue, we will," has been doing flyovers in State College.

The statue of Paterno shows him leading his players with his right arm raised, his index
finger pointed skyward. It suggests that Penn State is the best, but it sure feels like
Paterno, is just looking out for number one. Paterno did a lot of good things for Penn State University, that's for sure. But he helped bring it down, as well. He lied. He looked away.
He didn't help those who couldn't help themselves. He always told his players to do the
right thing and have "success with honor," yet, he couldn't live by the laws that he laid down.
It's a sad, sad story. But there are a lot more important things than football, like protecting our children.

Paterno didn't do that and he shouldn't have a statue. It's a terrible reminder of evil, the
evil that he was a part of, and the evil that he tried to cover-up. The statue should come
down, because after all, we're talking about a statue.

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DOS EQUIS GUY VS. BOBBY VALENTINE

The Dos Equis Guy is clearly the most interesting man in the world while Bobby
Valentine is, well, just interesting. Here's the tale of the tape between the Dos Equis
Guy and Bobby V.

There are many who feel the Dos Equis Guy invented the world. Bobby V tells
everyone in the world it was he, who invented the sandwich wrap.

The Dos Equis guy is the life of parties he has never attended. Bobby V gave life to
one helluva party that was attended by New York Mets players after management fired
him.


Every camera loves the Dos Equis Guy. Bobby V makes loves to every camera he sees.

The mother of the Dos Equis Guy has a tattoo that says, "Son." Bobby Valentine's mother
has a tattoo that reads, "He's not mine."


The donation card of the Dos Equis Guy also lists his beard. The donation card of Bobby
V says something about a giant ego.


The Dos Equis Guy often has to wear a disquise to find some peace from his female 
admirers. Soon enough, Bobby V will have to locate his famous disguise to keep from 
being stoned by Larry Lucchino, his lone remaining admirer.

The Dos Equis Guy has been known to cure narcolepsy just by walking into a room. When
Bobby V walks into a room people no longer have to worry about overcrowding.


The small talk of the Dos Equis Guy has altered foreign policy. When Bobby V talks, it
usually turns off Red Sox Nation.


The reputation of the Dos Equis Guy is expanding faster than the universe. The reputation of
Bobby V has wasted away quicker than Antoine Walker's bank account.

Enemies of the Dos Equis Guy still list him as their emergency contact. The number of
enemies that Bobby V has once caused a state of emergency.


The Dos Equis Guy once made a mistake just to see how it feels. Bobby V could never
sink to that level.


The Dos Equis Guy lives vicariously through himself. I guess he and Bobby V have at least
that in common.

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THE BIG FLUSH AT PENN STATE

On Thursday morning, Louis Freeh will release the findings of his investigation into
the filth and corruption that occurred at Penn State while Joe Paterno and Jerry
Sandusky were employed there. The board of trustees, who fired Paterno just days
after his assistant was arrested for his role in a child sex abuse scandal that rocked
the university and its football program, hired the former FBI director and federal judge
to find the truth about who knew what when and the details of the ensuing cover up.


The nation awaits the findings of the worst scandal in college sports, but will anybody
really be shocked about what is revealed? What will it mean, anyway? There is nothing
in that report that is going to change anything. Those kids who were abused on the
sacred grounds of football facility will never be able to get back what they lost and will
continued to be haunted by the nightmares that began as soon as Sandusky put his hands 
on them for the first time.

Last week, e-mails were "leaked" to various news outlets that painted Paterno as a man
who was more concerned about the reputation of the football program and school that he
built, than the children who were being abused by his former defensive coordinator. The
Paterno family responded by asking the Freeh investigators to release all the e-mails, not
just a paragraph of one that showed the legendary coach in a bad light. The investigators
ignored the proposal.

If Freeh was hired and is being paid by a group that fired Paterno, I don't think the group
is going to go out of its way to make Paterno look very good. I'm sure they will draw
a picture of JoePa as a control freak who knew everything that was going on inside his
program. But really, that's not going to be cause for a breaking news alert. Every 
successful coach in the nation from Nick Saban to Urban Meyer possesses the same 
type of qualities as Paterno. They wouldn't have made it as far in the coaching profession.

I'm sure the report will say that Penn State was guilty of a "lack of institutional control"
which the NCAA made famous after investigations of programs that had become too big,
too powerful, and too controlling of the common folks on the rest of the campus. That won't
be a shock, either. The Penn State football program generates about $50 million in revenue
for the university every year. When the cow spits out that type of cash, administrators have
a tendency to loosen the reigns or just give the program total control and do whatever they
want to do as long as the golden goose keeps laying the eggs.

I would like to see the report answer the question of why Sandusky "retired" in 1999 at
55 years old while he was considered one of the best defensive coordinators in the country.
Many pegged him to be the heir apparent to Paterno and a man of great character and
integrity, just like Paterno. After all, Sandusky had started the "Second Mile" foundation 
which helped underprivileged children find their way in life. How sad was that? They found
their way into the hands and hugs of a sexual monster.

I want to know why Sandusky, with all the rumors swirling around him, was allowed to have
an office and free reign to bring children into the football facility and on trips to bowl games.
Why did everyone just turn their heads and look away? Did Sandusky have something on
Paterno that allowed him to keep all of his privileges? The entire coaching staff knew it,
saw it, and lived it for almost 10 years. Were they sworn to secrecy by Paterno? They
must've known that Paterno could control their fate and careers in the coaching profession.

The Freeh Report is probably going to be akin to the joke that was the Mitchell Report. MLB
hired George Mitchell, a former U.S. Senator, who also happened to be on the board of the
directors of the Boston Red Sox at one time, (conflict of interest, anyone?) and was tight 
with the league to investigate the use of steriods. The investigation lasted 21 months, cost 
millions of dollars and produced 89 players who were connected with PED's, which anyone 
knows, is comical. 89 players? LOL. 


Mitchell concluded that MLB was slow to react to the  steroid use around the league. You 
think? Good old Mr. Mitchell was about 10 years too late with that proclamation. The 
Mitchell Report was an incredible waste of time, energy, and money.


The Freeh Report is going to turn out the same way. Yes, Joe Paterno could've done 
more and probably was given too much power and control when it came to everything 
on campus.Those findings will not be shocking. There will be a few interesting findings 
in the report, I'm sure. But don't look for any bombshells or smoking guns. There was
a massive cover-up at Penn State. We don't need an elaborate report from an ex-FBI 
chief to help figure that one out. The football program ruled the campus just like the ones 
at Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio State, and many others do. Nothing earth shattering there.

The report can point all the fingers it wants at Paterno, athletic director, or the Nittany
Lion mascot, for that matter. It's not going to change a single thing for those kids who got
abused. It happened and they were destroyed forever. A lot of people screwed up, we know
that. There was a cover-up well beyond Watergate proportions. We know that. Is this report

going to cleanse the university and flush all the nasty waste down the toilet? We shall see.

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REGGIE JACKSON: THE STRAW THAT'S STIRRING IT BAD

Shortly after signing with the New York Yankees in 1977, Reggie Jackson summed

up his importance to the franchise when he uttered the words that stuck to him like the

peanuts to the caramel on the god-awful candy bar that was named after him. They

came out just as bad as the "Reggie Bar's" did when they rolled out of the chocolate
factory.

"This team, it all from me," Jackson told SPORT magazine. "I'm the straw that stirs the

drink. Maybe I should say me and (Thurman) Munson, but he can only stir it bad." If anyone

had come up with, "WTF?" back in the late 70's, it would've been plastered all over those

comments by Jackson. Jackson had dissed Munson, the Yankees captain and one of the

most beloved players in franchise history. He not only announced his presence with

authority, but made a blasphemous remark about the heart and soul of the Bronx Bombers.

Nearly 25 years after dropping that bomb on Munson and the Big Apple, the Hall of Fame outfielder, had another case of brain freeze and diarrhea of the mouth. In an interview with
Sports Ilustrated, Jackson, who has been paid handsomely to represent the Yankees, turned
into sandpaper once again. He said the admitted PED use of Alex Rodriquez tainted his 
numbers (true, and I don't have problem with it) but it almost certainly will cause a 
distraction the Yankees don't need, especially from a person who has long since hung up 
the spikes.


Mr. October also questioned the enshrinement of Kirby Puckett, Bert Blyleven, Jim Rice, 
and even the late Gary Carter into the Hall of Fame. Many felt the jab at Carter was in 
extremely poor taste after the former catcher succumbed to cancer just a short time ago.

The Yankees couldn't do very much when Jackson, who belted 563 home runs during his
career, talked stupid and insulted Munson in 1977, but they didn't have any problem making
him go away this time around. The franchise ordered Jackson to stay away from all things
Yankees, including players, games, events, and just about everything that involves the
pinstripers. They have pretty much put an electric fence around Jackson and his mouth 
and said bye-bye for now. Jackson did try to apologize to manager Joe Girardi, A-Rod, 
and the front-office, but it didn't do any good. Jackson is persona non grata until he's told otherwise.

I'm sure there are thousand of people in the baseball circles who are smiling, laughing, and
saying, "it's about time somebody shut that guy up." Jackson, like Brett Favre, Tiki Barber,
and Terrell Owens always had the disease of me. Great talents for sure, but everything always
had to be about them. And when nobody is talking about them, they get a bad case of Attention
Deficit Disorder. However, there isn't a box of Ritalin big enough to help them with their
problem when they feel the need for attention. They either do something, or say something 
that's puts them back in the spotlight, where everyone talks about them, whether it's good 
or bad. 

Good for the Yankees, they did something few people have ever done to the "straw
that stirs the drink." They put a muzzle on him and made him to disappear. Jackson 
struck out 2,579 times, the most in Major League history. But his recent
comments about A-Rod and the questionable Hall of Famers, rank as a few of the 
biggest of his career.

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IS TIGER BACK? DOES IT REALLY MATTER?

Almost as soon as Tiger Woods tapped in a four-inch putt on Sunday that secured the
AT&T at Congressional last Sunday, people were debating whether or not he was
"back". Even though he had just won his third tournament, most on the PGA 
Tour this year, the experts, analysts, and sports radio hacks everywhere started the debate 
on whether the former number one player in the world was "back." They all pontificated
if Tiger had come back from that dark period where he napalmed his marriage, reputation, endorsements, friendships, and to many, the swagger and game that made him the most
feared and dominant player in the sport.


My question is, why the heck does it even matter? Why is it important for Tiger to be
back? Does he get any extra points in the Fed Ex Cup standings for it? If he is, will he be
allowed to scale a mountain and scream from the top of his lungs, "I'm baaaaaaaaack!"?
If he satisfies everybody's requirement for being "back", will he get his own Facebook
page? Or perhaps, Tiger will get a special edition of a Topps Baseball card.

People....why the heck does it matter to us if Tiger is "back"? Is it fodder for us to use for 
cocktail, pool,and naked twister parties to show how golf-educated we are? What will any 
of us get out of it if Tiger is "back"? Some of the so-called experts say that Tiger won't be
considered back until he wins a major. They say Tiger has won so many tournaments on
the PGA Tour (74) that the regular ones have become boring, (as if winning a single event
is an easy thing) and that he needs to win a major to be considered whole again. So, if Tiger
never wins another major his "comeback" won't be complete?


Tiger dominated golf and sat atop the perch as the number one player in the world for so
many years, we got spoiled to just how brilliant he was before he ran over that fire hydrant
in his SUV and the sordid details of his double-life came spewing out. Who has been number
one in the world since Tiger's reign ended? Luke Donald? Wow, if Tiger's is still trying to
come back, then Donald has yet to really arrive. Rory McIlroy? Oh, he had a nice spurt, but
he has yet to prove that he can sustain a great deal of a success. Phil Mickelson has never even
been ranked as the number one player in the world, not even in Tiger's absence. In his career,
Tiger has spent more than 600 weeks as the top-ranked player in the world. Mickelson? Not
a single one.

What will it mean to other players on Tiger is "back"? Probably fewer wins and less money
in their paycheck, but there's nobody on tour who's wondering if Tiger is "back". They know
the answer. Whether or not Tiger is "back" means absolutely nothing? If he is, nobody gets
extra credit, money, or a place in the Hall of Fame for making a statement that means absolutely
nothing. If he's not, then there are a heckuva lot of players who would like to be Tiger Woods
right about now.

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