Monday, June 9, 2008

Rookie of the Year or Little Big League?

It's Little Big League, right?



Two interesting things about this ...
-- The guy looked safe.
-- If I'm not mistaken, it's still an illegal play, no? Maybe Maguire can weigh in here.

Anyway, Monday morning links for your viewing pleasure.
-- Sad news: Kenny Stabler gets another DUI. Snake, bro ... seriously, get a driver. Coach Bryant had one, remember (Billy Varner)? You can afford one. It's time.
-- The Spin has a recap of last night's Game 2. As someone who has a) loved the Celtics since my youth and b) always thought the Lakers got games handed to them repeatedly by the officiating crew, I can say with some confidence that the refs really hurt the Lakers last night. We'll see if they get homecourt back this week.
-- Maybe the most bizarre story of the weekend: a completely healthy Big Brown failing to finish the Belmont. Pat Forde writes the column pretty much everybody knew was coming. I have to admit, when I first saw it, the first thought that crossed my mind was probably the same as everybody else's: "There you go, guys ... you ran this horse too hard, didn't scratch him when he got hurt, and now you've killed him." Then it came out that there was nothing wrong with him ... which, even in my limited horse-racing experience, I've never even heard of. Thoroughbreds want to run, right? So why would he pull him up if he wasn't hurt?
My guess: the jockey (Kent Desormeaux) had the injury in the back of his mind going into the race, and had his mind made up to jump ship the second he thought something was wrong. And he did just that. Of course, there's another possibility, suggested by my wife (a horse owner and lover, someone who thought the same as me and swore violently when it happened): the horse was frustrated after some early mishaps and pulled himself up. Hey, I don't know anything about horses, so I can't argue too much.
-- Druid takes us inside Tony Franklin's America.
-- The Wiz has the skinny on the new online playbooking in football.
-- Finally, EDSBS' weekend corrections. Always, always, always worth the read.
Monday’s lead story reported that Florida quarterback Tim Tebow was instrumental in the weekend capture of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden. A US government spokeswoman informed us late last night that while Mr. Tebow has been an active participant in the manhunt, he has aligned himself with numerous federal agencies in a strictly advisory capacity. As of this posting, bin Laden remains at large. We regret the error.
wlh

1 comment:

-D. said...

A) He certainly did look safe, regardless of whether Irvine "sold it" or not.

B) It's not illegal. It took the announcers forever to mention this (I watched the clip all the way to the end, when they finally said it), but the key to the legality of the play is whether the pitcher is on the mound or not. If he's on the dirt, then it is a balk. He was on the grass, so it was completely within the rules. The baserunner should have noticed that the pitcher was on the grass (and since he was the offensive player closest to the pitcher, he has no excuse).

I've never seen Rookie of the Year (I've never been able to find it at Blockbuster). The play in Little Big League is completely legal as well. (The usher/security guy's involvement is suspect, but since no one can prove that he was in on it, the point becomes moot.)