Justice

Towards the end of the classic musical, "The Music Man", Mayor Shinn announces that the "hand of justice has finally struck down Professor Harold Hill." Well, yesterday, Lady Justice arrived in
Columbus and THE Ohio State University and struck down Coach Jim Tressel.

As I have often said, I take no pleasure in seeing a person lose their job, but in this case, when a hypocritical dude like Tressel, who has made millions over the years, is sent packing, I'm not going to feel sorry for him.

And of course in "The Music Man", we all know what happened. The River City Boys Band actually could play the Minuet in G, and Professor Hill settled happily in River City with Marion the Librarian. In the case of Tressel, I suspect that this will play out as follows:

First, he will be hired by ESPN, where he will show up on the studio shows, complete with ESPN sweater vest, and all the ESPN lapdogs will fawn all over him and continually refer to him as "Coach." (On the bright side, this could mean that mush-mouthed Lou Holtz will be put out to pasture.)

Secondly, after one or two seasons, three at the most, some other win-at-all-cost university will hire Tressel, and the cycle will begin all over again.

Cynicism, thy name is NCAA D-I Football.

Memorial Day at Stonebrook Village

With thanks to all who served and made the Ultimate Sacriface....

Trouble in Morgantown?

Have you been reading the reports about WVU Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach-in-Waiting Dana Holgorsen? Seems that Holgorson has a couple of weaknesses: an affinity for going to casinos, and an affinity for drinking. Drinking too much. Drinking way too much.

Reports are that Holgorsen has had at least six such alcohol related "disturbances" since his appointment as Head Coach-in-Waiting (a ridiculous practice that has somehow come into vogue in the NCAA in recent years). The first five such incidents were covered up, but the last one hit the newspapers and now AD Oliver Luck and the WVU administration has gone into full damage control mode.

Let's see now....Mike Haywood, Jim Tressel, Dana Holgorsen, Bruce Pearl, and I am sure that with a little bit of thinking, we could all come up with about a dozen more examples.

Ain't college coaches a wonderful bunch of role models?

Bieml to DL; Moskos Returns

Yesterday afternoon after the Pirates 4-2 win in Chicago, I posted a question on Facebook asking why was Joe Bieml on the team. I could not recall seeing Bieml have an effective appearance this season, at least not in games that I had seen either in person or on TV. On clever response suggested that he was there to take non-save situations and turn them into save situations for Joel Hanrahan, as he did yesterday.

Anyway, today the team places Bieml on the DL and recalls Daniel Moskos, who pitched very well in a few non-pressure situations earlier in the month.

Another question I posed asked how would you feel if you were a Cubs fan and watched your team getting is collective butt whipped by the Pirates for the last year-and-a-half? Yes, the Bucs, the lowly Pirates, are 16-6 against the Cubs since September 2009. Gotta really be galling for the Bleacher Scums in Wrigleyville.

On Girl Groups, Golf Outings, Harrison, Hines, Haddix, Virtual Chips and Other Matters

Cleaning out the Mental In-Box....

• Marilyn and I took in the show, "The Marvelous Wonderettes" at the CLO Cabaret yesterday. A terrific and fun show that featured much of the "girl group" music of the 1950's and 60's. The four young actresses who played the leads were delightful. It's amazing to see such talented people, especially when you have no such musical talent yourself!


• The show began as an Off-Broadway production, and as I understand it, has been and is being performed all over the country. I wonder if Loyal Reader and musical aficionado Big Poppy has seen a production. I know that he would enjoy it.


• Anyone can get a flavor for the show by going to YouTube and searching out "Marvelous Wonderettes."


• It has been a crazy eight days: I have driven into downtown Pittsburgh six of those eight days, including the last four days in a row. It's like I'm working again. Yikes!!


• But, of course, it's not like work at all. Four of those six days were comprised of two Pirates games, a trip to the Rivers Casino, and the Wonderettes show.


• Back in the Fall, I mentioned that if James Harrison played for any other team in the NFL, he would be one of the most despised men in Pittsburgh. Harrison's inane tweets this week over the NFL rules changes only further prove my point.


• And to all of the blind Steelers loyalists out there, if the NFL was really out to get the Steelers, then how go you explain Ben Roethlisberger's fumble-that-wasn't-a-fumble that enabled the Steelers to beat the Dolphins last season?


• Speaking of the Steelers, congrats to Hines Ward for winning the coveted Mirror Ball Trophy on Dancing with the Stars this week. Ward is one of my all-time favorite Steelers, but I confess to watching not a single minute of the show.


• Speaking of Ben Roethlisberger, assuming that they are invited, will King of All Creation Roger Goodell allow Steelers front office officials and members of the coaching staff to attend Big Ben's July wedding? Can't just see Roger hitting Dan Rooney with a $100,000 fine for going to his locked-out QB's wedding?


• Hope that all long-time Pirates fans paused to remember Harvey Haddix' 12 innings of perfect pitching on the 52nd anniversary of the event yesterday. SABR and Facebook friend Jim Haller admits to this being his biggest disappointment in the history of his Pirates Fandom. Yes, even more disappointing that Bob Moose's wild pitch or Francesco Cabrera's pinch hit.


• People will also recall that yesterday was also the 52nd Anniversary of the Minadeo Rodeo (pronounced row-day-o). (This is an inside joke among certain family members.)


• Great story by Dejan Kovacevic in the PG today about how the Pirates pitching staff has turned it around in comparison to last season.


• Now, when are these guys going to start hitting? Lots of great pitching going to waste due to guys who, in the immortal words of Munhall's Bill Madden, "can't hit an elephant in the ass with a handful of rice."


• The first St. John Neumann Golf Outing this past Monday was a huge success. So much so that I think we are safe in saying that it can be called the First Annual such outing. By some miracle, we avoided the rain that seemed like such a sure thing that day. We had 106 golfers play in the event. The final tally has not been completed but it looks like funds in the neighborhood of $13,000 were raised to benefit the parish's Youth Ministry programs.


• So, the Miami Lebrons will take on the Dallas Dirks in the NBA Finals this year. Yes, yet another set of predictions that I had wrong this year.


• Played blackjack at the Rivers on Tuesday night at a table that featured a video screen at each spot on the table. There was a scanner in the shoe that reads the card as it was dealt. You tapped the screen to indicate your bet, whether you wanted to stand, hit, double down etc. You were given real chips only when you cashed out; the only chips you got were virtual chips that appeared on your screen. I didn't like it. Half the fun of playing is experiencing the tactile feel of your chips and you stack them, play with them, and watch them grow when you win a hand.


• Only a few tables use these video screens, but I was told that the dealer can deal 30% more hands per hour under this system, so how long until ALL of the tables have this feature?


• For the record, I dropped fifty bucks playing that night.

Best wishes to all for a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend.

Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan!!

Happy Birthday today to Bob Dylan, 70 years young today.

Now, treat yourself to a live version of a Dylan classic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5he1tHbGAc&NR=1

SABR Night with the Pirates

Fifty members and guests of the Pittsburgh SABR had a positively fun evening at PNC Park last night as guests of the Pirates. A pre-game program included a Q & A session with GM Neal Huntington, a look at Pirates history from their second longest tenured employee, Patti Mistick. and a review of the statistical analysis the team does from its Statistical Analysis Guru, Dan Fox.

Before he began, GM Neal asked for assurances that what was said in the room stayed in the room so that he could be as frank as possible with us. To that end, I will respect that requested confidence and not go into in depth detail of his answers to our questions. I will say that his answers were more strait forward and honest than the rambling sound bites that we often hear from him when quoted in the papers or in radio sound bites. While I have been critical in the past (and he did answer a point that I have often been critical of when discussing him), I have to say that he came across as very honest and open with the group. So, kudos to Neal.

Dan Fox discussed the process of data collection and collation when scouting players on the major league, minor league, and amateur levels. It makes your head spin. Trust me, no matter how much you think you know when you watch a guy play baseball, you can't even begin to imagine all that these guys look at. Yet, as I have often said, and Huntington agreed, it is still an inexact science. Which is why so many first round draft picks wash out.

Anyway, it was delightful evening, and the Pirates gave us first class treatment all the way, including the buffet spread that laid out for us!

And then the team itself put the cherry on the sundae with that great 6-2 win before a sellout crowd on a gorgeous night.