PSoTD

As a Bears fan living in the San Francisco Bay Area, and then Sacramento, during the era of Bill Walsh, I did not like the San Francisco 49ers, mostly because they were, in general, just a bit more successful than the Chicago Bears during the 1980s and the 1990s. For the most part, I chalk that up to two difference makers they had: Joe Montana, and Bill Walsh. Even though they were the key leaders of a rival, they were too good, too smart, too... advanced, to not deserve all the respect they received for their efforts on the football field.

Bill Walsh died today. NFL fans everywhere should feel the loss of one of the great "architects" of the modern game of football. RIP.

Tomorrow, The Baseball Hall of Fame inducts Cal Ripken, Jr and Tony Gwynn and Cooperstown, New York overflows with baseball nerds.

Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame, fans pressed against glass display cases like teenagers rushing the stage of a Green Day concert. They whipped out their camera phones and took grainy photos of socks and shoes and caps worn by men whose sole claim to fame was the ability to play a game better than most.

When fans exited the museum, they saw some of those same men in person and paid hundreds of dollars to watch them write their names on a photo or a piece of cardboard or a ball.

I'm not an Oriole fan but was raised in Bird Country (York, PA) so I've had plenty of exposure to the legend of Cal, Jr. There were two schools of thought on Junior. By far, the most prevalent was Cal as "Mythical God", savior of Baltimore baseball. However I'm a bit of a Cal basher and a subscriber to the "Selfish Cal" school.

Cal's got the numbers to be going into the Hall of Fame under any circumstance. But he will always be defined by his streak of 2,632 consecutive games played. Unfortunately as the seasons rolled on, the Streak became simply about Cal and not about the Orioles winning. I doubt there was an Oriole manager who wouldn't have liked to rest Ripken occasionally but wasn't allowed to - by Cal!

Anyways, congrats to Tony Gwynn and "Selfish" Cal Ripken, Jr. on their election to the Hall. They certainly both deserve to be there. Now how about voting Jim Rice in?

One of the things I did while on vacation in Sedona, Arizona last week was golf. This is a pretty rare event for me - the last time I golfed was in 1995, and I have no immediate plans to golf again in the next dozen years. I am, perhaps, the world's worst golfer when I'm on the course, and if I'm not, then there are some seriously scary duffers out there.

And when I have golfed, I have mostly played on scrabble courses that are cheap to play. I've only played 3 rounds in my life where I used a driving cart, and all were for special occasions.

Of course, playing a course as beautiful as Sedona Golf Resort kind of requires the usage of such a cart. (Go ahead, take a look at the pic on their site. It really did look like that.)

And that's really the point of this post. I'm in awe of the GPS system our driving carts had at SGR. They showed a couple of different views of the hole. They showed where the cart was in relation to the fairway and the hole, so when you drove up to your ball, you knew where you were - including an estimate of how many yards to the front of the green and to the hole. It showed where other carts on the course were, whether they were stacking up in front or behind you, and also how we were doing compared to average time on the course (we were slowing folks down. Bad golfers do that. Quit pointing at me.)

Now, if they could only put GPS in the golf ball, and link it to the cart. I lost about 10 balls, with the houses, roughs, and water hazards. And then if I could get an electronic guidance system... I might play again before 2019.

You know who is probably hating the news most about the NBA ref who bet on NBA games?

Think about who would like to have a franchise in Las Vegas. Why, it's those loveable owners of the Sacramento Kings, the Maloof brothers!

Wonder if you can file a class action suit against the mob?

July 20, 2007 -- THE FBI is investigating an NBA referee who allegedly was betting on basketball games - including ones he was officiating during the past two seasons - as part of an organized-crime probe in the Big Apple, The Post has learned.

The investigation, which began more than a year ago, is zeroing in on blockbuster allegations that the referee was making calls that affected the point spread to guarantee that he - and the hoods who had their hooks in him - cashed in on large bets.

Federal agents are set to arrest the referee and a cadre of mobsters and their associates who lined their pockets, sources said

Annoyed Oriole fans want to do it. They're frustrated that the Red Sox über-pwn their ballpark ten times a season. The target date is September 8...

What is it?

An event to wrest control of our beloved Camden Yards from the clutches of Red Sox Nation, if only temporarily.

This is not a “protest”. It isn’t about Peter Angelos or Mike Flanagan or Jim Duquette. It’s about the guys on the field who play hard in a Baltimore Orioles uniform. They deserve better than playing extra road games every year on account of (there, I took it out) Red Sox and Yankees fans invading our city. What’s more, the city itself deserves better. Why should local bartenders and waiters and vendors have to suffer the indignity of those fools with the funny accents walking around like they own the joint?

Simply put, it’s not right. So for at least one night we aim to restore balance as best we can.

Good luck with that. Hate to be the one to throw cold Natty Bo on a plan but if the Birds want to restore balance with the Beantowners, it's going to have to happen on the diamond. And Frank and Brooks and Boog ain't coming back.

This kind of cracks me up. Bud Selig used to own the Milwaukee Brewers, and during his ownership they were terrible, and his ownership management was terrible. He was asked recently about the Brewers, who are currently leading their division:

The Brewers haven't been to the playoffs in 25 years but currently lead the National League Central. Selig was acting commissioner from 1992 to 1998, when his position became permanent. In August 2004, his contract was extended through 2009. Before arriving in San Francisco for the All-Star Game, Selig was interviewed by The Chronicle.

Q: How 'bout them Brewers?

A: I always tell people I'm neutral, and they chuckle a little bit, of course. It's a wonderful young club. You look around the infield, and no one's older than 24. They play with a lot of determination. It's a wonderful story just like Detroit last year and again this year. It's a rather dramatic manifestation of how well our new (economic) system is working. This couldn't have happened a decade ago. The Brewers are a case study of a team that drafted well and signed its players and, as a result, are an awfully good ballclub.

The Brewers may be a nice story in baseball in 2007, and they have definitely improved their talent, both on and off the field, since 10 years ago, but this isn't that unique.

Apparently Bud Selig slept through the Cleveland Indians of the 1990s. Several postseason appearances, two World Series appearances, and built on drafting.

It's not just the economic system that's helping the Brewers - it's being rid of the management ability of Bud Selig. Just imagine where MLB could go if he'd move on?

Derek Fisher has them.

God, it just keeps sucking to be a Cincinnati Reds fan.

For those who follow the NBA on television, the meteoric rise of one Stephen A. Smith as commentator/expert has been an amusing experience. He is quite entertaining for the first few minutes, but his schtick wears off quite quickly and as that happens, you realize the shallow level of expertise as well. Which is why this piece on the NBA draft gave me the laughs.