The Final Score

Good to see Chicago has returned and is embarking on a campaign to bring back Jack in the Boxes to New York.

Godspeed, Norm.

Meanwhile, Anthony just sent me this text message: "I'm at HERSHEY Park tell all my BLOG friends hello and thanks for a great june"

OK, the moles are on opposite cheeks and Richard Thomas' is larger but as soon as I saw Knicks draft pick Danilo Gallinari's picture, all I could think of was John-Boy Walton.

(For Jim and everyone else born too late, the Waltons was TV show in the 1970s.)

The Chicago Tribune reported that a fan was charged with theft related to a fight in the upper deck at U.S. Cellular Field during Saturday's game between the White Sox and Cubs.

Police said that Brian Nolan of suburban Woodridge allegedly picked up some money that fell out of a woman's purse and refused to give it back. That led to several fans punching Nolan.

It is unknown whether the punchers or punchee were Cubs or Sox fans.

In other Cub-Sox news that you may or may not care about, Chicago Bulls No. 1 pick Derrick Rose threw out the first pitch at Friday's Crosstown rivalry game at the Cell and earned some major brownie points with Chisox/Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf by declaring himself a White Sox fan.

Rose, who grew up on Chicago's South Side, also cast his vote for the city's best pizza. "The Home Run Inn," he said, earning himself major brownie points with Chicago Norm.

You know there's something wrong with the world when you pull into a gas station and one of the guys at the Beerz & Gunz mart comes running out and tells you to hold off on filling up until he can raise the prices on the pump.

In case you're wondering, the very same gasoline that we're guzzling on LI costs about 50 cents a gallon less in Texas and Oklahoma and at least a quarter less in Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey.

Hey, it's great to be back in the Land of $4.32 a Gallon. I can understand why Jim decided to run from Yankee Stadium to Shea between games. Between gas and parking, he probably saved a fortune.

I cannot accept Anthony's challenge to run from the Pizza Hut on Route 110 to the California Pizza Kitchen at the Walt Whitman Mall because the Pizza Hut has been torn down. I will, however, run from the CPK to the mall's Starbucks if I get the right sponsor.

I won't bore you with vacation trip tales, but here's some food for thought:

1. You've got to be crazy to sit out in the sun during a Texas Rangers day game when it's 97 degrees. And when I say you, I mean me.

2. Dear Jack in the Box: Please come back to New York. We miss you.

3. I think that the guys who answer the call buttons at Sonic Drive-Ins are trained to intentionally goof up the order of anyone with New York plates.

4. A list of edible things that woke me up during my visit to Mrs. Norm's family farm in beautiful downtown Middle-of-Nowhere Oklahoma:

A. Roosters who don't understand the "only at daybreak" concept.

B. A choir of insane gobbling turkeys

C. The cow (above).

5. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's ballpark hot dog rankings noted in Anthony's earlier entry is just plain loony.

How can anyone in their right mind vote for Wrigley Field hot dogs? Even Cub fans don't like Wrigley Field hot dogs. A lot of them save their hot dog eating for drunken pilgrimages to U.S. Cellular Field. Fenway Franks are kind of raunchy, too. I'm good with Yankee Stadium and Dodger Dogs being high on the list, but the bratwursts in Milwaukee are the best of all. Comments?

I used to think passed ball vs. wild pitch was baseball's eternal debate. Now I know it's "should the Yankees have traded for Johan Santana."

I had this debate again today at Shea in most spirited fashion with Newsday's highly capable baseball columnist, Ken Davidoff.

My position has always been that the Yankees should have traded Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and two other prospects for Santana. Quickly, the argument is Hughes -- who I think very highly of -- will, if everything breaks right, one day be as good as Santana is right now. So why not just get Santana?

Ken's argument, as I understand it, is it's stupid to pay $137.5 million to any pitcher, even an elite one. Just grow your own if you can. That's not his only point, but I think it's the main one.

Ken's argument is also butressed by Santana's performance as a Met so far. He's 7-7, he abilis more than Ike, he throws his teammates under the bus, and his stuff is declining. He may one day be a true ace pitcher for the Mets, but in his short time here he hasn't proven to be an ace person with his teammates.

Here's Ken's column from Sunday's paper on Santana.

And here's his Sunday notes column.

And here's his Wednesday Web-only notes column.

Dude's had a mad-busy week.

We both stood our ground. It made for an interesting pre-game, as did Jerry Manuel's comment that the Mets are the No. 2 team in town -- yes, it's true, but does the Mets manager have to say it? -- and the fact that I misplaced my tape recorder for about an hour.

What do you think, Final Score nation? Am I right or is Ken wrong? It's not like there's another choice.

And how about wild pitch vs. passed ball?

A long, long time ago Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played on Long Island...

For tomorrow's newspaper I wrote a story about an exhibition game Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played in Lindenhurst on Oct. 18, 1930.

You know how I found about this story?

From you guys.

I was reading the comments on the Yankees blog one day, and some reader complained that he wouldn't read Newsday again until the paper finally did a story on the elderly man named Sydney who worked at the Lindenhurst Village Museum and was at the Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig game.

When I finally got around to calling the museum, I was told bad news: Sydney died a few months ago. But, they said, his wife is the village historian and might be able to help. She had loads of info of that game, and even introduced me to a 90-year-old lifelong Lindenhurst resident who was at the game. He was 12 at the time and remembers riding his bike to the park, putting a dollar in a man's hat and watching the Babe in action. Pretty cool.

I'll post a link to the story tomorrow...

I don't know if that's true.

But my run interested Mel enough that he had me on his ESPN Radio show this afternoon to talk about it.

Just bizarre.

BTW, who knew Kiper has a radio show and talks about things other than the NFL draft? I didn't.

Okay, I'll stop posting about the run now.

It's jumped the shark.

I feel a lot better than I expected after yesterday's 9.8-mile run from Yankee Stadium to Shea in between games. My legs are stiff. Walking up stairs are a pain. Otherwise I'm fine. Thanks to everyone who followed along with the updates on the blog.

One person emailed me today and suggested I do the run once a year, and see how many readers would come along for the run. I'd be interested to see how many people would be interested...

I'd do it again...

Here's the story I wrote about it for today's paper.

...Chicago Norm jogs from the Pizza Hut to the California Pizza Kitchen on Route 110 in Melville.

I've gotta bang out a story for the paper on how insane I am. I'll come back later and give you more details. Thanks to Marcus Henry for listening to my ramblings from the road and making sense of it...

Greetings New York baseball fans. It's Marcus Henry live from Newsday's Melville office all set to chart Jim Baumbach's progress as he makes the trek from Yankee Stadium to Shea Stadium. Jim's goal: to make it to Shea before the first pitch of game two.

Update: 6:02 - Jim is officially off to the races. The odds, thanks to the failure of both teams to get anyone out in a timely fashion, are against him. But he's determined to make it happen. For anyone interested in the route, check the previous post by Jim.

Update: 6:12 - "I feel better about my decision," Baumbach just told me. Jim has made great progress. He just passed 153rd street and seventh avenue in Harlem. At this rate he could make it to Shea with time to spare. But the heat and humidity could be an issue. "In the press room the air conditioner was on and it was cool," Baumbach said. "Running from there into this humidity is like running into a wall." Not to worry, Jim said he has $6 in his sock in case he has to restock is water supply.

Update: 6:29 - Jim's at 126th and Lexington and he can see the Triboro Bridge now. "I feel good about that," he said. Of course one concern is the pedestrian ramps at the bridge. Jim said he talked to the MTA yesterday and was told the ramps will be open. If for some reason the ramps are closed, we could have a problem. Stay tuned.

Update: 6:34 - Jim's on the pedestrian ramp leading to the Triboro Bridge now and is well on his way. There was a little bit of angst, however, as one of the pedestrian ramps leading to the bridge was locked. But the second one was open, allowing Jim to go along his merry way. Barring some major turn of events, he could do this.

Update: 6:37 - Jim just checked in to let everyone know that he passed Journal News baseball writer Sam Borden. Borden, who left Yankee Stadium in the eighth inning, is doing a walk to Shea Stadium for charity. Although determined to make his deadline, there was some trepidation in Jim's voice. "The distance from the Triboro to Shea looks far...Really far," he said. If he made it this far, the remainder of the trip should be a piece of cake.

Update: 6:56 Randall's Island was an adventure for Jim, who said it took forever to actually get to the bridge. Randall's Island looked desolate with maybe six or seven cars, he said. And there were at least 10 signs pointing him to the bridge. "I'm tiring, but I think it was more mental from thinking about the Queens journey."

"I'm at the halfway point now," he added.

Update: 7:00 - "I'm at the tip of the Triboro and there is three-and-a-half foot fence between me and the water," Jim reported. "I thought, for a milli-second, about turning around when I saw the water."

On a side note: The Mets police escort just passed him by. There were two buses followed by the media bus.

Update: 7:13 - I'm in Queens now. I've been here for about five or six minutes. I'm on Astoria Blvd. approaching 41st," Jim reported. "The hard part is behind me. The rest of the way should be a straight shot."

As for his well-being, Jim seems to be getting stronger. "I'm feeling good now," he said. "I still have my water, but it's warm now."

Update: 7:19 - Jim is home free now. There's no doubt he'll make it to Shea Stadium with time to spare. "I just passed over the Grand Central Parkway at Astoria and 49th," Jim said. "The Yankee bus and police escort just passed me."

A more telling fact that he's on his way is his location on the Grand Central. "I'm at exit five on the Grand Central Parkway," he said "I can't see Shea yet...I think it is exit nine. I can't wait to see that."

Update: 7:38 - He's on Astoria and 29th Avenue and can see CitiField now.

Update: 7:57 - Eureka! He made it! Kudos to Jim Baumbach for completing his journey. According to our clock it only took an hour and 55 minutes. Not bad for a sportswriter. I wonder if he'll get a standing ovation in the press box. Jim is undoubtedly exhausted and will call back with details of his incredible run.

I've decided I'm going to go through Harlem, not the South Bronx, and I'll take the 126th Street / 2nd Avenue entrance onto the Triboro Bridge.

I left all my stuff at Shea and took the media bus here to Yankee Stadium. All I have with me are my cell phone, media credential, $9, keys and a bottle of water (which I'll keep filling).

I'm going to leave immediately after the first game ends, and I sure hope to get to Shea before the second begins. I'm planning to call in some updates during the run, so check back if you want.

View Larger Map

I'm trying to watch the Mets and the Yankees, but how can I when Neil Best is updating the Mike and the Mad Dog breakup story on his blog!

I saw Francesa in the Yankee Stadium press room today. I wanted to ask him about it. But I think that would have crossed some line since we're both media members. Plus, it's not my story.

Media members covering media members. Neil does have a strange job.

I've thought all along since Neil broke this story that a) Francesa's people were the source and b) he's ambivalent about doing the show anymore and c) could be talked into staying with more moolah. I don't think it's a straight cash grab. Nineteen years in the kennel with Dog is a long time for anyone.

I'm supposed to be watching the Mets-Yankees game, but then an e-mail with this information comes across my laptop:

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has ranked the hot dogs at big league stadiums. There is a tie at the top spot.

1. Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium
3. Fenway Park
4. Comerica Park
5. Dodger Stadium

If Chicago Norm is out there, I'm sure he will feel qualified to comment on this. I haven't had a stadium dog in many years, so I have no idea if the NHDSC has gotten it right.

By the way, how is there a National Hot Dog and Sausage Council and Chicago Norm ISN'T employed by it?

Sam Borden of The Journal News is also attempting a similar trek - he's walking the course. We just went outside Yankee Stadium to check out the best way to get onto the Macombs Dam Bridge after the game -- never hurts to be prepared -- and we bumped into Mets general manager Omar Minaya outside the press gate.

I told Omar about my plans to run it, and he actually said he would have considered running, too, if I told him about it. What a story that would have been. Running from Yankee Stadium to Shea Stadium with Omar Minaya. "I would have thought about it," he said, "but I don't think I would have made it."

He said as a kid he used to walk from Corona to Rucker Park in Harlem. To get there he said he crossed the Triboro Bridge by foot, and said it was no problem.

We'll see.

Maybe Cashman will come along. I'll go look for him.

I'm sitting in the Yankee Stadium press room in a t-shirt and running shorts hoping and hoping it doesn't rain on my run.

But, more than that, I'm still concerned about getting over the Triboro. On the ride over I looked at the pedestrian ramp to Queens and there were construction people doing work. Please, let it be open later!

Okay, enough whining. Here's my where-are-they-now on Jim Abbott.

Bad news from Ryan Church's Brooklyn Cyclones rehab game last night:

After going 3-for-3 as the DH, Church thought it would be fun to ride the Cyclone.

Bad move!

Joe Girardi, Yankees manager, former Yankees catcher, just asked this question about the two-stadium SUBWAY SERIES:

"Can you take a train easily from here to there?"

Uh, Joe, it's called the subway series for a reason. you take the 4 to the 7. Try it sometime. It's not that bad. I made it from Shea to Yankee Stadium this morning in less than an hour.

And that's not a euphemism.

Check out the story here.

At least that's my idea here.

In 2002 Newsday's Chuck Culpepper made Subway Series history by walking from Yankee Stadium to Shea in between a day-night doubleheader in 3 hours, 51 minutes.

Tomorrow, I'll try to cut that time in half.

The difference is Chuck walked the 10-plus miles; I'm going to jog it. My hope - first and foremost - is that I arrive to Shea safely. Second, I'd like to break two hours. But as I try to ascertain what route I'll be taking, I'm now questioning my two-hour goal. It may be ambitious, considering it seems there is no easy way to cross that Triboro Bridge.

Down below is the route I have been thinking about taking. The reason I was going to follow the Harlem River Drive in Manhattan, and not go through the Bronx, is because I think it'd be easier to navigate and I know I can cross the Triboro at 126th or 103rd.

View Larger Map

However, I just received an e-mail from a nice woman from the MTA who spoke to the GM of the Triboro Bridge and suggested I take the Bronx entrance.

"For your Yankee-to-Shea odyssey, you would use the pedestrian path over the Bronx span of the Triborough Bridge, which you can access via Cypress Avenue, between 132nd and 133rd Streets (one on each side of bridge); then you basically walk across Randall's/Wards Island toward the Queens suspended span to Astoria (Hoyt Ave./Astoria Blvd.); you're on your own for route directions to Shea from there. My best guess is this will take you awhile, and it's going to be a hot one, so wear sturdy shoes and bring a canteen of water (no delis or stores of any kind on Randall's!). Good luck."

Decisions. Decisions.

And, yes, I'm insane.

ANTHONY: MY FEAR IS DONNIE'S GONNA BLOW IT

Like most execs, Donnie Walsh has a mixed draft record. Here are his first-round picks for Indiana. Thanks to www.knicksonline.com.

1987 Reggie Miller
1988 Rik Smits
1989 George McCloud
1990 None
1991 Dale Davis
1992 Malik Sealy
1993 Scott Haskin
1994 Eric Piakowski
1995 Travis Best
1996 Erick Dampier
1997 Austin Croshere
1998 Al Harrington
1999 Vonteego Cummings
2000 Primoz Brezec
2001 None
2002 Fred Jones
2003 None
2004 David Harrison
2005 Danny Granger

Miller and Smits are a pretty good start to a drafting record. But how many All-Stars since then? The Knicks need impact players, not role guys.

It’s important to note Walsh picked Jones in 2002 over Tayshaun Prince. Isiah Thomas usually gets blamed for that, but Walsh was the man who made the final call.

The Pacers were usually in the middle to the end of the pack of the draft, so finding a star player was hard.

But…

Walsh hasn’t drafted an impact player since Al Harrington a decade ago. And Harrington took a long time to develop.

Can the Knicks afford for Walsh to swing and miss here? No. And of all of the trade proposals I’ve read today on Alan Hahn’s Knicks Fix blog – yes, I’m a Fixer – the only one that makes the Knicks better is the one that lands them O.J. Mayo.

And Alan says that one probably ain’t happening.

The Knicks are 3-for-3 in their last three decisions: dumping Isiah, hiring Walsh, hiring D’Antoni.

Sorry, but it’s hard to imagine them going 4-for-4.

JIM: WALSH WILL MAKE RIGHT CHOICE

Donnie Walsh's draft history is not encouraging, and that certainly should worry Knicks fans. But, rest assured, when it's the Knicks' turn on the clock for the sixth pick, I think the choice will be an obvious one. And that's Danilo Gallinari.

From everything I've read about the draft, this guy is the most intriguing player after the can't-miss stars. And the fact that he has a relationship with the new Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni and is a big man who can run the floor and score, score, score also are positives.

Now the last thing I want to hear from Knicks fans who disagree is that Gallinari doesn't fit the Knicks' needs. So, tell me, what are the Knicks' needs? They need talent. Forget about how he fits. The Knicks are rebuilding, and when you rebuild you take the best player on the board and then make everyone else fit around him.

So, for tonight, I have faith in Donnie Walsh that he won't take another Fred Jones like he did in 2002 or Primoz Brezec like he did in 2000. He'll go for Gallinari, and history will soon prove it was hands-down the right call.

This week's where-are-they-now is a former lefthanded Yankee pitcher who played in the Bronx for only two seasons but undoubtedly left a lasting memory with the fans here.

Here's another one of those Chicago Norm contests.

I don't know what the criteria is. Just pick one. Or write in a vote.

Nothing like a story about a player putting both hands around his boss' neck to start your morning... Here's former Yankee Shawn Chacon explaining how he tried to beat Astros general manager Ed Wade into oblivion, according to the Houston Chronicle:

"I said, 'What do you want to speak to me about?' " Chacon said. "He said, 'We just want to talk to you.' I said, 'Anything you can say, you can say to me right here. I don't want to go to the office.' He looked at me, and I said, 'There's nothing for me to say to you guys.' And I don't think whatever they had to say to me they were going to make me happy. I didn't want to get in a closed-room conversation."

"He started yelling and cussing," Chacon said of Wade. "I'm sitting there, and I said to him very calmly, 'Ed, you need to stop yelling at me. Then I stood up and said, 'You better stop yelling at me.' I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling and stuff and was like, 'You need to (expletive) look in the mirror.' So at that point I lost my cool, and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him, because at that point I wanted to beat his (behind). Words were exchanged."

(BTW: Chacon and Torre once went at it, but Chacon didn't attack him.)

Just went for a four-mile jog before leaving for the Mets game, and as I waited at a red light I heard a humorous exchange between two men.

They were sitting in front of a store in the shade, looking at the new SI with Bill Russell and Kevin Garnett on the cover, and one guy said: "You know what would happen if Bill Russell and Morgan Freeman would have a baby? You'd get Jerry Manuel."

Reminds me of a similar concoction my brother and I came up with many years back. We decided if Fidel Castro and Billy Joel had a baby, you'd get Davey Lopes.

Chicago Norm, please return soon.

I'm covering the Mets game tonight, and I'm interested to see what the team looks like after Jerry Manuel all but promised to make changes in last night's postgame news conference.

Part of the problem here is you can't really change too much. Move Oliver Perez to the bullpen? Okay, but who takes his rotation spot? Bench Carlos Delgado? Okay, but is Marlon Anderson really going to be that much better every day?

Ken Davidoff wrote last Sunday about the Mets fans' man-crush on Xavier Nady, and I'd say second on their man-crush list is Mike Carp. So many want him up to play first base. If Anthony wasn't in his car, we could debate if that would be a good move.

I don't know how he feels, but I'd say no. It's June 25. Way too early to dip into your Double-A squad and rush someone into a big spot. If it was August 25, then I'd be for it. But right now I suspect Mets fans are falling into the backup quarterback syndrome.

Not too long ago Chicago told us he's in Arlington, Tex., not far from Pac-Man... er... Adam Jones.

I'm not sure when Chicago Norm returns. But I just spoke with Anthony, and he believes these are the top five reasons Chicago is in Arlington these days.

1. He's thinking about ditching the White Sox for the Rangers and the Rangers are wooing him with all type of free stuff. Then he'd be Arlington Norm.

2. He really is looking for Pac-Man Jones to talk about Don Imus ... or simply hang out with the Pac Man.

3. He's convincing Mark Cuban to buy the White Sox, not the Cubs.

4. He's checking out the new Cowboys stadium.

5. He's visiting the set of the hit show Dallas.

Or maybe Chicago is simply looking for Jessica Biel to give her the trophy for winning that popular write-in contest he ran on this blog last month.

Those are the names that have been brought up by commenters on our debate post about Imus' Pacman Jones comments.

Fascinating.

Please, continue the discussion here.

There's no question how Barbara Barker feels about Don Imus.