Chalk one up to guts

This year it seems as though we have lost so many famous people, perhaps a few more than usual. We have lost Bobby Murcer and Tony Snow along with others to cancer this year. Here's a story of someone that refused to lose. Doug Davis of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Doug was diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this year.

Anytime you mention the "C" word, it makes you cringe even if you aren't the one that has been diagnosed with this horrific disease. Doug took the news in stride and said I am going to beat this thing, and no one will stop me. Doug decided that before he went on the DL, he was going to give his team 2 more starts. Can you blame him? As far as he or anyone else knew, it could have been the last 2 starts of his career, or more importantly his life. He never hung his head in public. If he hung it in private, I'm not going to call him any less of a man.

Why I am writing about him tonight? Because yesterday Doug threw a masterpiece of a game. I know it was against an inferior team, the San Diego Padres, but last time I checked, they were getting paid to play the game just like Davis is. The other extraordinary thing that comes to mind is that Doug has a fastball, two different kinds, a cutter which moves both in and out to hitters, depending on how he holds it, and a change up that makes his average fastball 84-89 mph look like gas.

Doug went out an was absolutely perfect for 6 and a third innings before Brian Giles broke up his bid at Baseball history. Are you flippin' kidding me? A guy who is a little more than two months removed from thyroid surgery throws a gem like this? Last year John Lester from the Red Sox, threw a no hitter, but he had a little more time to bounce back from the bad hand life dealt him.

I could only wish for the courage I have witnessed this year from Doug. He thanks the main man above for his good fortune, and you have to give him credit for walking around the dugout a few days after his surgery showing off his scar. Yes he is a man's man, and yes, he is a hero.

When things seem like they couldn't be any worse, think about the deeds and courage that we witness on a daily basis from the people that take the field every day. No matter how bad things get, there is always someone out there that loves and cares for you. It is your job to keep your head up, and wait for the time when you can say, Ha Ha, I won.

Ahhhh the beauty of being a survivor.........God bless and be well.

Guilty until proven innocent

Not sure if you've heard the story of Dara Torres, but it is quite a statement for intestinal fortitude.

Dara is a 41, yes a 41 year old woman that has qualified for the Olympics in swimming for the fifth time.

Yes, not only is she a mother of a beautiful young girl, but she is an Olympic athlete. Unfortunately she has been under fire from her fellow swimmers because no one believes she can be that physically fit at her age without the help of performance enhancing drugs.

Dara is an asthmatic, that relies on her puffer to get through the day. She has also been cited for purchasing amino acids from a German company. What do I have to say about that? Who cares. Last time I checked, amino acids are perfectly legitimate, even by IOC standards. The best parallel that I can give you is that of Lance Armstrong. Another superior athlete that has never been found guilty of anything. Dara is being tested three times a week, and even volunteered to have her blood frozen just in case they develop tests that can detect HGH or other drugs that are undetectable at this time. We need to give her a break, and watch her perform magic at the upcoming games.

Swim Dara swim, and make your detractors eat their words.

It's Tough to Say Goodbye

This year has been tough one for celebrities. It seems as is if they have been dropping like flies. I wanted to take a minute and celebrate not only a fine baseball player, but an even better human being. Bobby Murcer was hailed as the next Mickey Mantle. A power hitting outfielder from Oklahoma. That is quite a tough role to live up to, but like everything else that came Bobby's way, he took it in stride.

While he never lived up to the billing that others gave him, he gave us plenty to cheer about. He was a seven time all-star, he had 1,862 hits, 1043 RBI's, 285 doubles and 252 home runs. Quite an excellent career by any one's standards. Will he ever be a Hall of Famer as a baseball player, no. Will he be a Hall of Famer as a human being, absolutely yes. I remember watching Yankee baseball games and Bobby was in the booth. You could tell that he was in a place of comfort and the role he played as announcer fit him like a well oiled glove. He always found the positives in a negative situation, and no matter what the outcome of the game was, I still remember feeling good about myself.

That character trait served Bobby well in the last year of his life. He was going through chemotherapy, and showed up in the booth one day. He spoke like it was just another day at the yard.

Bobby, thanks for sharing your life stories both good and bad with us. Thanks for letting us see the good in all people. Yet again I am jealous of God, because he always know when it's time for him to have a front row seat to one of the best ever.

Rest in Peace Bobby, this year's All Star Game would have made you proud. I hope you enjoyed your front row seats in heaven.

What defines a leader? Where are they hiding?

What defines a leader in a team sport environment? That's a really good question. Someone that many teammates are looking to for an answer when the team is down or not performing that way they should be. Someone that is consistent in their performance on a daily basis. Someone that comes to practice early and leaves late if their individual game needs work. Someone that when they walk into the locker room or clubhouse, everyone takes notice. Are there any more true leaders out there? Sure there are. The question is who are they and do the know they are leaders?

It is just important to understand that your teammates look up to you for support, understanding, and quite frankly a foot to butt if needed. I wold love to share with you a small sample of the athletes that I believe are leaders in sports today.

Baseball: Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Joe Mauer
Basketball: Shaquille O'Neal, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James
Hockey: Jaromir Yagr, Sid Crosby
Football: LaDainian Tomlinson, Michael Strahan, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees.

Do you know that the biggest problem with my list is that so many sports and team do not have a leader in the club house. Either the individuals that should be leaders are too ensconced in their checkbooks to care, or they do not have what is takes to be a leader. I wish there were more leaders in professional sports today. It would be refreshing to see someone stand up for the team during the down times, not blame individuals, forget yesterday and focus on today.

I dare you to go ahead and look at your own favorite team no matter what the sport, and tell me who their leader is. I am going to tell you that being a perceived leader is way different than being an actual leader.

Not only that, but you can also understand why there are so many mediocre teams today.It has nothing to do with parity, it has to do with dishevelment. That is a direct cause of the lack of someone to steer the ship.



Ahhh thank goodness for the north star, or we would all be lost.

Welcom to Beijing. Please bring your own respirator!

I am a big fan of the Olympics, but I have to say that I think that Beijing may be the worst location to host the games ever. I have no problem with China, except that they are kicking our collective tails in the import/export business, but when you hear of the poor air quality there, it makes you wonder, what the hell were they thinking when they picked that location. I know we had olympics in LA, but the air quality is still miles above that of China. All of that aside, how will the US fare in the games?

Will the basketball team win the Gold? It depends...they certainly have the best coach for the job. Coach K. can certainly deal with the egos quite effectively. My guess, and it is a guess, is that we will be triumphant.

As for the other events, the US will take their share of the gold in swimming.
Gymnastics will not do as well as they have in the past. I think that ther are a few better teams than us this time around.
Tennis, who really cares?
Baseball? Maybe we can actually qualify and win a game or two, after all it is our national past time.
Softball, the gold is ours, there is no one else that can carry our collective jocks out there.

You can sift through the rest of the sports, but I think that we will not have as great a showing as we would like.

Ahhhh the beauty of doubting the Chinese equivalent of our EPA.

Thank God Americans never really do well in the marathon. This year, instead of a gold medal, the winner gets their own iron lung.

Award winning writer should give it back

Dan Wetzel is an award winning writer for Yahoo sports. Who cares? Good question. I had to get into Mr. Wetzel's grill after reading his less than intelligent column this morning regarding the winners and losers of yesterday's NBA draft. I told you I hate this topic, but I felt compelled to write this blog to call out a less than responsible Caucasian writer. Especially after yesterday's blog. Here is the email I sent to Mr. Bavarian Pretzel, as well as what he wrote in his column. Oh, and I wonder how he would feel if he were to be called an "afterthought" of a human being. As far as I am concerned, he is.

Here are the particulars: Minnesota sent its third pick, O.J. Mayo, along with a guy with a bad contract, Marko Jaric, and two afterthoughts and bad contracts in Antoine Walker and Greg Buckner to Memphis for the No. 5 pick, Kevin Love, still-reliable scorer Mike Miller and two afterthoughts with useless contracts, Brian Cardinal and Jason Collins.
Memphis got the best player. Minnesota got "whiter". And they got more good players.

Hi Dan,

I see that you are an award winning writer. That's really nice. But with all of the racial feuds that are happening right now, Johnny Miller and Rocco Mediate, Shaq and Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Imus and Adam Jones, do you think that you could have used a more socially responsible comment than Minnesota got more whiter? What exactly does that mean? That most of the NBA is a ethnicity other than Caucasian? Thank you Captain Obvious. I am a Caucasian male, but I can't stand that the greatest country on the face of the planet still has to deal with racial blunders. Before you put pen to paper, can you please take more than a nano-second to think about the words you use? I and I am sure others would greatly appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Jay Gallen

I will fill in the blanks should Mr. Warm and Salty Pretzel respond. What a douche bag.

Ahhhh...... the beauty of kicking an ass in the ass.

Will the real racist please stand up?

Man oh man do I hate this topic. I am so sick and tired of people having issues with people of different ethnicities. Once again I will state my stance. It does not matter what color your skin is, black, yellow, green or orange. We are all human beings. We all breath the same air, and we should all have each other's back.

There have been a couple of incidents that have been in the news. One concerning Imus and Adam Jones, and the other with Shaq and Kobe. Here is my take on both of them.

If Imus didn't have a history of using derogatory comments against people of diverse backgrounds, this would be a slam dunk. There was nothing in his comment to Warner Wolf that was derogatory. He asked what color he was, and Wolf said he was African American. Imus' response was oh, well there you go. His statement was vague at best, but yet again, he is under fire. The only advice I would have to Mr. Imus is look, if you were convicted of arson, you should probably not play with matches anymore. When it comes to race, just shut up and you will be fine.

Now the incident with Shaq and Kobe. Shaq apprently feels like he can say whatever he wants whenever he wants, and this time he is catching grief for it. What Shaq needs to do is let it go. Turn the page in your life and move on. It is like a divorced couple that keeps sending each other hate mail. Get over the split and grow up.

The biggest problem I have in all of this is that Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona took away Shaq's deputy badges for rude and derogatory language. Shaq apparently used the "N" word and other expletives in his rap to Kobe. Mr. Arpaio said that if one of his sherrif's had used that language he would be fired. Hmmmm. That sounds to me like it is a bit racist. You are taking a badge away from an African American man for using a term that is socially accepted amongst fellow African Americans. Shaq is in no trouble what so ever for sayng these words, yet this is from a man, Mr. Arpaio, that makes his male inmates wear pink underwear and eat green bologna. That sure doesn't sound like it falls into the realm of cruel and unusual punishment too much now does it. It is my feelings that Mr. Arpaio is the true racist here. He is trying to make an example out of an African American employee for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Get out the pens and write to Sheriff Joe and tell him how you feel about that.


Sheriff Joe Arpaio
100 West Washington
Suite 1900
Phoenix, AZ 85003