His Pitch Has More Spin Than a Curveball
Alex Rodriguez insists he’s happy to be playing shortstop for the Texas Rangers after a potential blockbuster trade to the Boston Red Sox fell apart.
Rodriguez, the reigning American League most valuable player, recently met with owner Tom Hicks and General Manager John Hart to discuss the direction of the club.
“After that meeting,” Rodriguez told Associated Press, “I feel like we have a great plan in hand. I feel very comfortable about where the Texas Rangers are going.”
He must have meant to Arizona, for spring training.
Trivia time: Who was the first Dodger to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season?
Hype machine: If Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune had his way, services that rank college recruiting classes would be banned.
“Sorry, but rating recruiting classes is a sick, ridiculous thing,” he wrote. “You’re talking about forecasting success based on snot-nosed, pimply faced 17-year-olds. Come on.
“The same snot-nosed, pimply faced 17-year-olds are having smoke blown up their backsides the way they have since the 5th grade, or close. Teach perspective, not how to build a posse.”
Spin zone: St. John’s expulsion of one basketball player and suspension of two others under the vague “violation of team rules” heading has Jon Heyman of Newsday steamed.
“It’s refreshing to know it’s against team rules to be caught in a nudie bar at 2:30 a.m., a group sex scene after that and a police interrogation at their hotel,” Heyman wrote.
“The season’s shot, as if anyone would care or notice. This program, disturbing and revolting as it is, should be blown up, and frankly, it wouldn’t matter to anyone beyond the confines of the campus on the misnamed Utopia Parkway.”
Bored no more: Tired of watching NHL games that end in ties, espn.com’s Graham Hays has a solution for breaking deadlocks: Zamboni races.
“Each team selects one player to pilot the behemoth on a complete resurfacing trip, with the home team having the option to go first or second,” Hays wrote. “Quickest time -- after adding in penalties for missed spots -- gets the extra point in the standings.”
Garbage time: Woody Paige of the Denver Post has had it with Colorado Avalanche fans, who pelted the rink at the Pepsi Center with plastic beer bottles and garbage Thursday after the Detroit Red Wings scored in overtime for a 3-2 victory.
“I’ll never again criticize St. Louis or Vancouver or even Detroit for their boorish fanatics,” Paige wrote. “Colorado has as many louts and oafs as other cities. We went to a hockey game on Thursday night, and civil unrest broke out.”
Trivia answer: Raul Mondesi hit 30 home runs and stole 32 bases in 1997, then hit 33 homers with 36 steals in 1999.
And finally: Steve Rushin of Sports Illustrated, speaking on a College Sports Television show about the presidential race, said the Howard Dean campaign reminds him of Kansas basketball under Roy Williams.
“They peak early, they’re No. 1 for a long time,” Rushin said, “but when it counts at the end, they can’t win it.”
