Let me see if I have this right: The players agreed to a luxury tax and revenue sharing, but the so-called small-market teams, who claim they can’t contend because of an economic imbalance, aren’t obligated to put that money toward competing for better players.
Excuse me?
Then what was the point?
To keep Chairman Reinsdorf in cigars?
To give Carl Pohlad a bigger wad to lend to Bud Selig?
What this agreement seems to do is put greater emphasis on being smarter on the people who created this dumb situation to start with.
But the good news is, now that baseball has an agreement, Selig can get back to trashing the game he loves.
Should Cubs fans be angry that their team’s president was part of the owners’ group that negotiated a way to pay less for talent? I mean, do Cubs fans want their executives to start acting like Sox wonks?
The owners and players struck an agreement just in time for Carlos Zambrano to walk the first two Cardinals hitters.
Word is, Zambrano was going to be on the players’ negotiating committee. I mean, who avoids a strike better than Zambrano?
OK, besides Jim Parque.
Alex Rodriguez stood to lose nearly $115,000 a day–a day–if the players had gone out on strike. Think about that. Every day the guy would lose the equivalent of a Rogers Park condo (one bedroom, one bathroom, must see!).
Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone in Sox management is yelling at the Sox players except the Sox manager?
Worst part is, all the yellers are right.
Jerry Manuel, your plane is boarding.
All the young Sox players I wanted to see–Willie Harris, Joe Crede, Jeff Liefer and Aaron Rowand–are hitting worse than Royce Clayton. Who thought this was a good idea?
A spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control said the Cubs’ bullpen has been infected with the West Kyle virus.
From Tribune op-ed columnist Steve Chapman: “Cubs manager Bruce Kimm says Fred McGriff will get most of the playing time instead of Hee Seop Choi because McGriff needs to fatten his home run stats. Why didn’t he fatten them back in April and May?”
This stuff from Sammy Sosa and Mark Grace about day games costing the Cubs pennants would merit some consideration if the White Sox and Red Sox weren’t working on a combined 169 years without winning a World Series.
Mark Bellhorn, your table is ready.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, explaining why Dustan Mohr would replace Bobby Kielty in right field recently: “Kielty’s sick. He threw up in the batting cage–watching some of his own swings.”
Kenny Christian has earned a spot on the Bears roster more than David Terrell has.
Cade McNown had season-ending shoulder surgery. It was either that or the 49ers would place him on the physically-unable-to-perform-the-simple- act-of-looking-like-a-professional list.
Rams coach Mike Martz, on tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, who is listed at 288 pounds: “He hasn’t been 280 pounds since he was in the 6th grade.”
From San Francisco Chronicle columnist Tom FitzGerald: “Imagine Sebastian Janikowski’s disappointment to hear that the Raiders were bringing in Sam Adams and he couldn’t have even a sip.”
Some guy is trying to start the Tennis Channel. What, did somebody already start the Chia Pet Channel?
The Los Angeles Kings will retire Wayne Gretzky’s number on opening night when Gretzky’s Phoenix Coyotes visit the Staples Center. The Kings tried to retire his number for the last several years, but they had to wait for former owner Bruce McNall to get out of jail.
Jim Thomas, attorney for Evander Holyfield, predicting Mike Tyson’s future to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “He’s going to come out when he announces his next fight and say, `I saw films of myself against Lewis and it made me sick. That wasn’t me. They drugged me.’ Then all of the Tyson fans will say, `Aha! I knew it!’ Hey, it may be true. Tyson needs antidepressants or he’s nuts. But it’s a tricky thing. If you take him off too soon, he eats somebody’s face on Wednesday.”
Baseball and softball might get bounced from the Olympics. But all the corrupt sports stay.
San Jose SaberCats standout Barry Wagner, after his team won the ArenaBowl: “As you all know, there’s no `I’ in `championship.'”
