In major league baseball, the Cincinnati Reds are ascendent, while the Cleveland Indians head in the opposite direction. The Reds are, at the moment, owners of the best record in either league. They've been hotter than habaneros since the All Star break, in one stretch winning 10 games in a row. Much of this hot streak has been without the services of their best player, Joey Votto. A big series against the Pirates starts tonight. Go Reds!
The Tribe, on the other hand, peaked early, shot their wad, and will now limp to the finish line. They're banged up, their pitching has gone in the toilet, they've fallen well under .500, just got swept by the lowly Royals, and can't buy a break. Next year. Yeah, that's it! Next year.
Like most people, I've been watching my share of the London Olympic Games. And, like always, the competitions offer brilliant performances and inspiring stories. So naturally, I've been more interested in some of the less-than-heroic stuff; the Olympic low-lights:
In a cash-for-medals scheme, a boxing referee gave an outrageous decision to an Azerbaijani boxer who'd just been whipped like a rented mule for 3 rounds by his Japanese opponent. Officials promptly overturned the decision and banned the referee from the sport.
Eight bad girls of badminton were disqualified for obviously tanking matches and trying to lose, so as to set up more favorable matches in the next round. That's badminton for you.
An ex-cop German rower was sent home after she acknowledged having connections to neo-Nazis. Dummkopf!
And in a secret survey, nearly 100% of the world-class swimmers at the Games admitted to peeing in the Olympic pools. Yuck!
The Cleveland Browns were sold for $1 billion to Jimmy Haslam, a truckstop tycoon from Tennessee. (Who knew truckstops were so lucrative? Who believes the Browns are worth a billion dollars?) Haslam is, of all things, a Steelers fan and minority owner of that team. He says he's hiring a former Eagles executive to run the team, and he will of course divest himself of his interest in the Steelers. He says he'll do his best to become a Browns fan, but will consider renaming them the Flying J's.
Right now, Paul Brown is spinning in his grave.
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