Fall-out and other thoughts...

Some of the fall-out from the disintegration of Roger Clemens' reputation before our very eyes in the form of an instant message conversation with my wife this morning...

me: evidently a stripper from Detroit went on the radio yesterday claiming an affair with Clemens

Kelly: egad

8:17 AM me: yeah

so

8:18 AM with Clemens

how is it he isn't a syphilis ridden space case at this point?

Kelly: steroids kills stds?

I guess now we know why he didn't want to travel with the team between starts. Maybe no actual skeletons in his closet, but that's an awful lot of T&A in there.

Rolling stones gather no Moss...

But, evidently, really fast cars do.

Moss has announced plans to get into NASCAR as an owner.

I can't say that I have ever understood the attraction of car racing. The idea of watching people drive in circles for hours at a time just strikes me as the pinnacle of absurdity - only slightly higher on the mountain than golf about which Mark Twain famously said, "golf is a good walk spoiled."

However, if this is what Moss wants to do with his bonus money, then more power to him. If he moves forward with this, he joins the likes of Joe Gibbs (car), and Bill Parcells (horse), who are already involved in racing as a side vocation.

One final C-Note...

A happy birthday/anniversary shout out to our seventh inning stretch traditions...

It's not just the 100th anniversary of the Cubs last time winning the World Series, it is also the 100th anniversary of the writing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." At the time of the song's writing, neither the lyricist, nor the composer had been to a baseball game. It would be two decades before one of them finally made it to a game.

I won't spend a lot of words writing about this, as the link to the Wikipedia link above is quite thorough, but I will note that we seem to sing only the chorus during the seventh inning stretch. There are two versions I have included below.

1908 Version Katie Casey was baseball mad, Had the fever and had it bad. Just to root for the home town crew, Ev'ry sou1 Katie blew. On a Saturday her young beau Called to see if she'd like to go To see a show, but Miss Kate said "No, I'll tell you what you can do:"	1927 Version Nelly Kelly loved baseball games, Knew the players, knew all their names. You could see her there ev'ry day, Shout "Hurray" When they'd play. Her boyfriend by the name of Joe Said, "To Coney Isle, dear, let's go", Then Nelly started to fret and pout, And to him, I heard her shout:
[Chorus] Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowds; Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win, it's a shame. For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, At the old ball game.
Katie Casey saw all the games, Knew the players by their first names. Told the umpire he was wrong, All along, Good and strong. When the score was just two to two, Katie Casey knew what to do, Just to cheer up the boys she knew, She made the gang sing this song:	Nelly Kelly was sure some fan, She would root just like any man, Told the umpire he was wrong, All along, Good and strong. When the score was just two to two, Nelly Kelly knew what to do, Just to cheer up the boys she knew, She made the gang sing this song:
[repeat Chorus]

Remember when...

Welcome to my little nostalgic trip down memory lane in professional sports -

Remember when covering the courts was synonymous with covering basketball, not football?

When you didn't need a degree in chemistry to follow home-run chases?

Or have a degree in law to follow the NFL and NBA?

When hockey was relevant?

When NASCAR wasn't?

When the MLB All-Star Game was a good game because players had pride in the way they played - whether the game mattered or not?

When the Eastern European Olympic squads were vilified for their steroid use while American athletes were supposedly winning cleanly?

When athlete's hat and shoe sizes didn't mysteriously increase due to using "flax-seed oil?"

When basketball was still primarily a team sport?

When Al Davis still knew football?

When Matt Millen still had an untarnished legacy in football?

When Bill Belichick was the head coach that would ever only be a great defensive coordinator?

When 49ers-Giants was the NFL's marquee match-up?

When Pete Rose was a sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer?

When you heard James Earl Jones deliver this line, "America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come," and some naive part of you actually still believed it?

when you could actually turn on ESPN expecting sports, MTV expecting music, and CNN expecting real and relevant news?

When the big scandal in sports usually involved Yankees pitchers swapping families?

When the Orioles were a contender?

When the term doubleheader meant that you were going to get to see two games on one ticket?

When going to the ballpark on the major league level cost less than $15.00 for bleacher seats a dog and a beer?

When it was hard to get into a Redskins game in DC?

When pitchers regularly started 35 to 40 games per season and it wasn't unusual to have between two and three starters with anywhere from 15 to 25 wins each?

When sportscasters didn't feel the need to turn every player's name into a nickname while showing highlights?

When George Michael was the man and The Sports Machine was the show to watch for the week's wrap-up of sports news?