?It?s not about good and bad people, because Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi are two of the kindest human beings ever. Andy Pettite is a fantastic person. That?s seemingly got nothing to do with anything. One hundred and four players made the wrong decision, and it appears that not only was it 104, but three of the greatest of our, or any, generation appear to be on top of this list.?
* * *
If you didn?t catch it two weeks ago, the Bench Press was posted online. The single best reason I can think of to go read it right now is probably No. 6 on the list of reasons the Chiefs would not hire Mike Shanahan.
It?s also a worthwhile read if any of these names ring a bell: Burleigh Grimes, Goose Goslin, Bill Garrett, Jackie Robinson, Jim Thorpe, or Pop Warner.
And if you can help me find out who the Bill Garretts and Jackie Robinsons of the local schools were (or if you can tell me who might be able to help me find out) I?d like you to send me an email or give me a call.
Seriously.
* * *
It blew my mind when I found out that Curt Schilling has a blog.
It double-blew my mind when I found out (from his blog!) that Curt Schilling has a Facebook, and a Twitter, and a Flickr.
I tried to imagine a multiple-mind-blowing string of events involving an MLB veteran-turned-blogger, and typed the name ?Tommy Lasorda? into the Google Blogs search box.
First thing that pops up: ?Tommy Lasorda?s World – http://tommy.mlblogs.com.?
My mind was immediately, irrevocably triple-blown.
In case you doubt, as I did, that it was THE Tommy Lasorda, here?s an excerpt from a recent post that somehow assuaged all my doubts: ?I was born a Catholic, and have lived my life as one. I have been mass too many times to count, but I have one question that has not been answered; why don’t the Corinthians ever write back?
?I have tremendous respect for the Collar. In fact, there was a terrible blizzard and two men were driving and saw a body lying in the snow. They stopped, got out of the car and rushed over to him. He weakly asked for the two men to go get a rabbi. Twenty minutes later they returned and the dying man asked the rabbi to deliver the last rights.
?The rabbi said, ?Sir, you must be confused. You need a Catholic priest.?
?And the dying man looked up and said, ?And what, bring him out in this weather??
?All kidding aside, I have tremendous respect for all religions.?
* * *
OK, I admit it. I don?t have the slightest clue what joke Tommy Lasorda is trying to make. So it would only be fair if you?re wondering what point I?m trying to make with all of this.
Here?s the small point: if Curt Schilling can have a blog, and if Tommy Lasorda can have a blog, maybe everyone can have a blog.
Maybe not everyone wants to have a blog. That?s fine.
But sooner or later, someone, somewhere will start a blog about something you like. The hardest part about reading a blog about something you like is finding a blog about something you like. The only thing that?s hard about finding almost anything is figuring out what you want to look for.
Here?s the bigger point: I want to find out who the first black athletes to grace the courts and fields of the schools of Marion County were, and I?m going to need some help. As far as I know, there is no Google search box for this one.
