We are a little more than an hour away from kickoff of the Championship Game of the World Cup....oh, excuse me, the FIFA World Cup....between France and Croatia. At the outset of the tourney, I predicted that a team from Europe would win the whole shebang, so, I believe I had that. I also decided that I would place my rooting interest in France due to the fact that (a) the USA failed to qualify, and (b) because of the wonderful time we had in France on our vacation in May.
So, Vive Le France, and I predict that we shall all be doing a Victor Laszlo impersonation and singing "Le Marseillaise" when France wins it all later this afternoon.
As always, watch, but don't bet.
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On his radio show last Sunday, Pirates GM Neal Huntington admitted that the Pirates were not playing well, and that, depending on how it went between then and the All-Star break, he might be forced to reevaluate the team and consider moving assets. Translation: It will be time to dump high salaried players by any means possible and get younger and cheaper players. No mention if they would be better players necessarily, but that sure would be a happy by-product of such a purge.
In what has to be NH's worst nightmare, the Bucs then proceeded to win seven of their next eight games, and a win today will mean a five game sweep of the Brewers, who were a first place team when they arrived in Pittsburgh on Thursday (they are now in second place).
Truth is, Huntington has to proceed with the fire sale. The results of this past eight game sample do not negate the mediocrity that had been the hallmark of the team for the greater part of the season. Still, NH will face severe criticism if it is perceived that he is trading away pieces from a "winning" team, which the Pirates are not. He will face criticism if he stands pat as well. He is almost in a no-win situation, a corner into which he has been painted by his penny-pinching bosses and by his own condescending attitude towards his paying customers.
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I would highly recommend the Opinion piece on the late Fred Rogers that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this morning. I'll even save you the trouble of looking it up. Here it is:
Would that there be another Mr. Rogers in our midst today.
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To An Absent Friend
Len Chappell
1942-2018
A wire service obituary for basketball player Len Chappell, who died earlier in the week at the age of 77, appears in the Post-Gazette this morning. Chappell was an All-American at Wake Forest, a two time ACC Player of the Year, a first round draft pick if the Syracuse Nationals of the NBA, a one time NBA All-Star, and he had a journeyman ten year NBA career playing with nine different teams.
What that wire service obit didn't mention (or perhaps the PG omitted it in the editing process or the real possibility that no one at the PG had ever heard of Chappell before the death notice came over the wires) was that Chappell was a Western PA guy, hailing form Portage PA in Cambria County.
RIP Len Chappell.
Len was a legend in the town of Portage. The gymnasium at the high school was renamed in his honor a few years ago and he came to town for the dedication.
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