http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/ Newsday's Jim Baumbach, Anthony Rieber and (sometimes) Chicago Norm bring you the best -- and the worst -- of the sports world. en Copyright 2008 Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:37:06 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss a link to a story I wrote for Sunday's Newsday about the five people listed in the headline above. A-Rod and Madonna being linked certaintly made a lot of people think of Joe D. and Marilyn. Yogi Berra was there! So here's what he remembers of the Yankee Clipper and Marilyn. Thanks to ol' Daily News pal Dave Kaplan of the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, N.J., for helping out on this story on very short notice. If you get a chance, you should check out the museum. It's a must for any baseball fan.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/arod_madonna_joe_dimaggio_mari.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/arod_madonna_joe_dimaggio_mari.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:37:06 -0500 Who was Dan Cook? Read on. Then ask yourself: What will the first line of your obit be? What is the most important thing about your life that people will remember you for? From the AP: SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Dan Cook, a San Antonio sports writer who helped popularize the phrase "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings," died Thursday. He was 81. The San Antonio Express-News, for which Cook worked for 51 years, reported that he died after a long illness. Cook was also the sports anchor at San Antonio television station KENS for 44 years. Cook uttered the now-ubiquitous phrase while discussing an NBA playoff series between the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Bullets on a 1978 newscast. The Yale Book of Quotations later concluded it was first quoted in print in 1976, attributed to Texas Tech sports information director Ralph Carpenter, and was a variation on an old Southern saying. Between his newspaper and television duties, Cook wrote six columns a week and delivered two sports telecasts and two radio commentaries each day. He was also the executive sports editor for the Express-News from 1960 to 1975. http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/goodbye_to_dan_cook.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/goodbye_to_dan_cook.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:28:02 -0500 The first sports star she's been linked to, we mean According to www.usmagazine.com, The Material Girl has been romantically linked to Dennis Rodman Jose Canseco Charles Barkley ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/if_its_true_arod_is_not_madonn.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/if_its_true_arod_is_not_madonn.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:43:43 -0500 Teen sensation Miley Cyrus wants to be like Madonna. Does that mean she wants to (allegedly) date A-Rod, too? Says Hannah Montana in "People": "Madonna always reinvents herself, and that's what I want to do. Whatever comes my way that sounds good, that's what I want to do. Whether it's designing clothes or photography or whatever." Whatev!]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/madonna_arod_and_miley_cyrus.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/madonna_arod_and_miley_cyrus.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:31:34 -0500 A-Rod and Madonna should date. They have a lot in common. She hasn't had a hit in 15 years. He hasn't had a clutch hit in 15 years. Yes, I'm back. Anything happen while I was away?]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/arod_and_madonna_update.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/arod_and_madonna_update.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:50:38 -0500 You probably heard that Joey Chestnut won the Nathan's dog-biting contest Friday in overtime. He and Takeru Kobayashi finished with 59 each at the end of 10 minutes and then Chestnut finished first in a five-hot dog overtime period. I think it would have been really cool to do the overtime in shootout format. Chestnut eats one, Kobayashi eats one, Chestnut eats No. 2, Kobayashi eats No. 2 until one of them exploded or tapped out. I wish there was a Chicago version of the contest, with the contestants having to eat fully loaded dogs. That would slow 'em down. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/what_would_64_hot_dogs_cost_at.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/what_would_64_hot_dogs_cost_at.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:18:42 -0500 Chicago-style all-star salute. This was suggested by Isles505. And happy birthday to him on Sunday. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/happy_birthday_usa.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/happy_birthday_usa.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:17:33 -0500 Larry Harmon, the original Bozo, passed away Thursday and the world will miss him. Why is this a sports story, you ask? Well, it's not. Unless you consider Bozo's Ring Toss to be a sporting event. If so, Bozo's Ring Toss was the first sporting event my sister ever witnessed live - and it's directly responsible for my first trip to Wrigley Field. I must have been 10 and my sister was 7, and my mom somehow got tickets for a Bozo's Circus show. This was the Chicago version, of course. So, we went downtown to the WGN studios, which I believe were in the basement of Tribune Tower. I was too big to sit in the gallery and had to watch the show from the sidelines with the adults but my sister got in and got an up close personal look at Bob Bell, Chicago's longtime Bozo, and the ring toss, the bucket game and Grand Parade. Me, being 10, thought the whole thing was stupid and I let my mom know it. So, a week later she decided it was my turn and the three of us went to a Ladies' Day game at Wrigley Field. As we got off the bus at Clark Street, I could already hear Pat Peiper's piercing voice announce the lineups. We took a one-block walk to the park and my mom plunked down $1.20 for two kids tickets and we all walked into an empty ballpark. You have to remember that in 1960, there were no Cub fans and even on Ladies Day Wrigley was a ghost town. So we sat in the first row of the grandstand (now $100 box seats) and watched the Cubs and Dodgers. All I can remember from the game is that Ernie Banks didn't hit a home run and the attendance was about 5,000. I should mention that my dad had been taking me to White Sox games for years and I was used to much bigger crowds, especially since the Sox had won the pennant the year before and Comiskey Park had a brand-new exploding scoreboard. But even though I didn't like the Cubs (I once got into a Patrol Boy Belt fight with David Herzog over whether Banks or Looie Aparicio was the better shortstop. Apparantly, I won, as Banks was moved to first base.), I did see how easy it was to get to Wrigley and started going to games alone. Or with my sister or cousins. Imagine a 10-year-old and a 7-year-old going to ballgames on their own today. Well, if you've read this far you must be pretty bored, and I apologize. So, again, have a great Fourth and remember that fireworks are illegal in New York. UPDATE FROM JIM: I believe one of Bozo's relatives is a first-round pick of the Angels from a few years back. I know this only because I recall being in Anaheim for a Yankee series and hearing the kid interviewed by Rex Hudler. I may have just dreamed this, of course. I'll do some research later on and get back to you. Carry on.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/were_all_bozos_on_this_bus.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/were_all_bozos_on_this_bus.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:11:46 -0500 I know most people are taking a vacation from their computer today, but just in case you dropped in for a Final Score fix, here's what happens when an ambidextrous pitcher faces a switch hitter. Have a safe holiday and please be sure to come back with same number of fingers that you started off with today. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/happy_fourth_of_july.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/happy_fourth_of_july.html Baseball Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:30:55 -0500 Remember how bitter the divorce between George Foster and the Mets was back in '86? It was over those comments Foster made about how the Mets promote white players over black players (he claims he was misquoted and taken out of context). Anyway, Foster and the Mets are back on good terms, so much so that Foster does work for the Mets. He is on call to go to meet-and-greets, autograph signings and softball games with team sponsors. And he even pulled down the countdown to Citi Field before a game recently. And why is back on good terms? "A lot of people that were in the organization who were instrumental in that happening are no longer there," he told me today. Here's the story.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/where_are_they_now_george_fost.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/where_are_they_now_george_fost.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:50:13 -0500 Best. Pitch. Ever. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/homer_simpson_threw_first_pitc.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/homer_simpson_threw_first_pitc.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:57:39 -0500 This Lenny Kravitz quote comes via PerezHilton.com, a site I have Chicago Norm to blame for introducing me to. "There is absolutely no affair between Cynthia Rodriguez and myself. This is unequivocally 100% not true. Cynthia is a friend and is here with the godfather of her baby, who is also Alex's trainer, his wife and their baby girl. She came here to escape from everything happening in New York City. I opened my home to her as a friend and I find it extremely hurtful that I am now being referred to as an adulterer." Reports: A-Rod's wife runs off with Lenny Kravitz]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/lenny_kravitz_denies_affair_wi.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/lenny_kravitz_denies_affair_wi.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:13:37 -0500 And I don't blame them. Two years ago when the Yankees brought Tony Pena on board, Posada became one of the best throwing catchers in all of baseball. I remember a series in Tampa Bay when he threw out Carl Crawford twice. That season Posada threw out 38 of 102 would-be basestealers, a 37.5 percent clip that ranked behind only Ivan Rodriguez and Ramon Hernandez in the AL. This year, with a shoulder that will be operated on next offseason, Posada has only thrown out six of 35. His 17.1 percentage is better than only one other regular catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia of Texas (he's six of 36). ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/opponents_keep_running_on_jorg.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/opponents_keep_running_on_jorg.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:06:22 -0500 Of course they do! And of course they've found a way to beat the system, just like players in every other sport. It's just a sign of the times. The drugs and the drug makers will always be ahead of the tests. That should be the lesson America learned from BALCO. Anyway... I bring this up because of this story from the Baltimore Sun: In the months before his 2005 death, former NFL offensive lineman Steve Courson wrote a 5,000-word letter expressing disappointment that more players aren't open about their steroid use and saying the league's enormous popularity relies on a "myth" of its players as drug-free heroes. "I believe the NFL is a prisoner to their own public relations myth," Courson said in the letter, which was found on the computer of his western Pennsylvania home after he was crushed to death at age 50 by a tree he was cutting down. "The level of deception and exploitation that the NFL requires to do business still amazes me." BTW, died cutting down a tree? Yikes. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/do_nfl_players_use_steroids.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/do_nfl_players_use_steroids.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:38:41 -0500 This story is really annoying. Just pick one and go with it. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/brett_favre_retiringreturning.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/columnists/jimbaumbach/blog/2008/07/brett_favre_retiringreturning.html Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:35:21 -0500