AROUND THE LEAGUE

STRANGE HEADLINES
"Harvey is cleared to toss baseballs by the Mets."  Next week, they're going to let him catch them.

THE PROBLEM WITH HAVING TOO MANY SUPERSTARS
Both Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp have stated that they will not accept being a "fourth" outfielder. Carl Crawford doesn't expect to be and Mattingly doesn't dare put Yasiel Puig in that position. One of them is probably going to have to play first. No, wait.. Andrian Gonzales says that he...   I think Mattingly has a problem.

THIS IS A WEIGHTY PROBLEM
Adding to his manager's headaches, Yasiel Puig showed up at training camp 26 lbs overweight. Actually, that's not so bad. The Mariner's Jesus Montero came into camp 40 lbs overweight. At least now we know where all the weight CC Sabathia lost, went.
Sometimes there is a trade that works out for both teams. I give you the Montero for Pineda deal. It didn't work out well, but it worked out the same: Pineda hasn't played and Montero hasn't produced.

RED SOX VERSUS YANKEES
This is another strange headline. "Lucchino and Levine start war of words" A bit of an overreach by Mark Feinsand of ESPN. Actually, the "war" is kind of one-sided.
"They (the Yanks) are still, this year at least, relying heavily on their inimitable old-fashioned Yankees style of high-priced, long-term free agents. I can’t say I wish them well, but I think we’ve taken a different approach.”  - Lucchino    That's not so bad. At least he didn't refer to the Yanks as the "Evil Empire."
"Ben Cherington and the Red Sox did a great job last year winning the World Series, but I’m confident Cash and Joe and our players will compete with a great Red Sox team to win a world championship this year.” - Levine   Ouch. I guess that Feinsand thinks calling a team 'great' is an insult.

IT IS THE NCAA, AFTER ALL

It is illegal under NCAA rules for an amateur player to be represented by an agent. The Phillies have informed the NCAA that two players they drafted last year both had agents negotiating for them. Some say it's a case of sour grapes, since neither player accepted the Phillies offer. Others say that this goes on all the time and no one cares, least of all the NCAA. You mean in all these years, this never came up? That the NCAA never heard about it? That the NCAA will now step in and severely punish those parties involved? That a full investigation will begin to determine what the scope of these illegal activities is?

The answers are NO, NO, NO AND NO.  What did you expect?

Syracuse needs to beat Duke tonight. If they do, I think they ought to retain their #1 ranking in the polls, Wichita St. notwithstanding.  BTW, Wichita St's final three games are against teams with a combined 42-40 record.

***THEY SAID IT***

"The president of Clowns of America, citing a lack of young talent, says membership is plummeting.Though not for any lack of trying on Dennis Rodman’s part."  -- Dwight Perry

"A guy proposed to his girlfriend on the Kiss Cam during a Toronto Maple Leafs game. First time anybody’s got a ring there since 1967.”  -- Randy Turner, Winnipeg Free Press

"The Daytona 500 is this weekend. Hoping to win points with environmental activists, President Obama will issue an executive action requiring all the drivers to carpool in one vehicle."  -- Brad Dickson

"Rumour has it Tim Tebow has been trying to become a ventriloquist. Unfortunately, whenever he throws his voice it goes way over everyone's head."  -- RJ Currie

"One of this year’s Olympic oxymorons: U.S. Speedskaters."  -- Janice Hough

"Tuesday’s Indiana-Iowa basketball game in Bloomington, Ind., had to be postponed when a 60-pound ornamental plate fell from the ceiling about five hours before tipoff.Thus shattering the Assembly Hall record for flying metal set on Feb. 23, 1985 by Bob Knight’s flying chair."  -- Dwight Perry

"There's a figure skating controversy at the Winter Olympics, supposedly due to a judge who has no place judging Olympic competition. But it was nice seeing Tonya Harding again."  -- Brad Dickson

"U of Missouri College football star has admitted he is gay. Most NFL players say they wouldn’t have a problem with that, as long as he performs well on the field and helps them with their hair styles after games."  -- TC Chong

 

CP-