Cats, guitars, baseball cards -
But let us say this right up front. Some people apparently felt we could sometimes be a little unkind to the subjects of our stories. Accordingly we will make a sincere effort to be nice and not say anything bad about anybody. Well, except, of course, UVa. Or golf. Or soccer. Tom Brady. Tim Tebow, who's back in the news. Johnny "Footnote" Manziel, if HE ever gets back in the news. Bad TV commercials. The NY Muts and the Washington Nits. James Harden's looks. And maybe one or two others. But basically it's a "kinder and gentler" newsletter.
First rant of the new year (nice guy over): Why does ESPN have that slimeball Alex Rodriguez as one of their commentators on their baseball broadcasts? Here's a guy who lied, who cheated multiple times, and who generally disgraced the game of baseball. When I see he's on I usually either mute the sound or change the channel altogether.
Diego Maradona was a soccer ("futbol") player for Argentina. He died in apparently somewhat mysterious circumstances last year. But he is still remembered for a goal he scored against England in 1986. Strangely enough, and you may not believe this, but I remember seeing this goal live. Yes, I was watching soccer, and I thought if it was always this good it might be worth watching even more. (Sadly, it is not.) Here's Maradona - click here.
It is being reported (see, for example, here), that Major League baseball pitchers are "doctoring" the baseballs with all kinds of sticky stuff, which allegedly helps increase their "spin rate". Imagine - actual cheating in baseball.
The French Open continues, in France, I guess, but a number of top participants on the women's side have fallen out. They include Elina Svitolina, Aryna Sabalenka, Anna Karenina, Belinda Bencic, Margo Fonteyn, Barbie Benton, and Karolina Pliskova. Okay, we made up some of those names - just tell us which ones if you can!
In sports news reported by BBC sports, the Dutch defeated Ireland in the Amstelveen opener of the (women's) EuroHockey Championships; veteran striker Tevez announces "Boca Juniors" exit (Tevez is 37 years old - makes you wonder what's a "junior"); and New Zealand is leading England by 103 runs in some "cricket" match (makes you wonder if England should employ either the "shift" or possibly sticky stuff on the ball). Bet you didn't see any of these stories on ESPN.
Heritage Auctions is selling a Mahomes card this summer - a 2017 Panini National Treasures Rookie NFL Gear Dual Material Signatures Laundry Tag Brand Logo graded by Beckett a 9 with a 10 for the auto. Expected price: $1,000,000. If you want to bid the auction is 7/22-7/24.
We were in our local Barnes and Noble bookstore yesterday. They have put their Pokemon cards behind the checkout counter and put a limit on them. I think there was one box of baseball packs, maybe Donruss.
Beckett is suspending most of their grading services as of June 7. Only the "Premium" level will be accepted. They join PSA in basically giving up for the time being.
There's a new site selling "cards and collectibles". It's called Slabhub: click here. I took a quick look at it - does not appear to have a lot of items and most of what I saw was graded cards. Did a search for Luca Doncic, and it found two cards. Did a search for Trae Young, and mysteriously it showed two Ronald Acuna cards and no Trae Youngs. Did a search for Acuna and found maybe 15 items, all graded and mostly high dollars. They had a full page ad on the back cover of the latest Beckett Vintage Collector.
An interesting item: the cap that Bobby Thomson wore when he hit the famous "Shot Heard 'Round The World" homer in 1951 to win the NL pennant, was sold at auction in April for $137,866.
The football that Tom Brady threw for his first career NFL touchdown was recently up for sale. There's no word on whether it was deflated.
College basketball coach Edgar Allen Diddle (not making that up): "He's about as big as I was when I was his size."
College football coach Bronco Mendenhall (you may remember him) commenting on a humiliating loss: "It was a myriad of a couple of things".
Racing commentator Murray Walker: "Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin, unless this is the action, which it is".
Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, speaking about Blaine Gabbert: "Hopefully, he's the next Peyton Manning. Who knows?". (Now we ALL know)
Basketball player Sam Perkins, answering a reporter's question "How will you rebound from your 35 point loss?": "We just have to maintain our consistency".
Poker analyst Chuck Humphrey: "Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you will be a mile away, and you will have his shoes".
June 1st was "Say Something Nice Day" - I'll (belatedly) start: "Tim Tebow is not as ugly as James Harden". I find it amusing that "World Giraffe Day" and "Tall Girl Appreciation Day" both fall on the 21st (not coincidentally, I guess, the longest day of the year). The 19th is "Garfield The Cat Day" - here's one of my favorite Garfield strips: click here. This could also be used to celebrate "International Men's Month". The 14th is "International Bath Day". Our show is the 19th, so please feel free to take a bath on the 14th.
And to help you celebrate the return (somewhat) of post-covid normalcy - the 5th was "National Bubbly Day" as well as "National Moonshine Day", the 14th is "National Bourbon Day", and the 25th is "International Rose' (wine) Day". Be careful if you over-celebrate these days. You may wind up on "Decide To Be Married Day" - the 27th. Of course, the 10th is "Alcoholics Anonymous Day".
Big Slick is the Ace-King, whether matching suits or not. The hand is sometimes called "Anna Kournikova", because it "looks good but never wins".
Don't believe we messed anything up ... yet.
Hi there, sports fans! A last minute newsletter so you can be sure you're getting all the up-to-date latest news!
We'd like to report that our circulation has now passed the one million mark. But, of course, we print only the truth in this letter, so we can NOT report that. However, though our circulation may be small, our influence is large. Consider that last month we just mentioned the problem of MLB pitchers putting gummy stuff on the baseball, which leads to better control, supposedly, and higher "spin rates". And almost immediately MLB came out with new rules to prohibit this sticky violation. Glad you're listening, MLB!
And while we're on the subject, here's a new rule or two we suggest. Every time a batter adjusts his batting gloves, call an automatic strike. They do this after every pitch! Even when the pitcher throws a pickoff over to first base! If the gloves need that much adjustment, for goodness sakes get some gloves that fit better! You can afford it! We believe this would cut at least 90 minutes out of the average baseball game.
And on a more serious note, put a time limit on replays - 30 seconds sounds about right. If those of us watching at home, with our less than optimal "senior" vision, can make the call that quickly, then why can't a whole crew of umpires do the same? Is it because it's the only chance they have to get face time on TV ("Hi Mom!")?
What's new in sports, you ask? Hero pitcher Trevor Bauer of the Dodgers is accused of horrible violence towards a San Diego woman. Even the dedicated follower of LA teams, sportswriter Bill Plaschke, is calling for the Dodgers to dump Bauer. Who would ever expect that a guy who is angry and dislikeable on the field would also be angry and dislikeable in the "real" world?
The Washington Football Team will continue another year as the No-Names, as they evidently cannot decide on a new nickname. Some have suggested changing "Washington Redskins" to "D.C. Redskins". Perhaps "Snyder's Follies". By the way, to confirm that Washington is not a great place for quarterbacks, Dwayne Haskins' wife was arrested for allegedly knocking out the quarterback's tooth. The couple were in Las Vegas "renewing their wedding vows" - hahahahaha!
The subtly named "The Match" was played this month. Featuring footballers Aaron "No More Cheese, Please" Rodgers and Tom "Look At Me, Ain't I Terrific" Brady and golfers Phil "I'm Not Old" and Bryson deWhatever, the golf match was evidently the biggest TV event since the MASH finale - at least according to Turner Broadcasting who showed the event live on all 137 of their stations. We at the Newsletter don't know who won, and coincidentally, we don't care, but we do know that Brady had his special balls labeled with the years he won Super Bowls. There's no word on whether his balls were deflated (Hahaha - the gift that keeps on giving).
What constitutes a "personal foul" in the NBA? (Answer below)
Here's an interesting article about card sales on Ebay in the first quarter of this year. Click here. Basketball sales were up, and so was soccer (futbol). No surprise to most of you: Pokemon sales were way up.
In the "If we'd only known then what we know now" category, a sealed copy of a 1996 Super Mario 64 video game sold the other day for $1.5 million. It broke the record set just days earlier of $870,000 for a copy of "The Legend of Zelda".
In horrifying collection news (which we are sorry to say, we are NOT making up), an investment group belonging to Alex Rodriguez is in negotiations to merge with Panini. Reports are that, if the deal goes through, the first new set from Panini will be "World's Greatest Cheats, Liars, and Narcissists".
A Babe Ruth autographed ball sold this month in a Memory Lane auction for $34,000. What makes it unusual is that it came with a video made from an original home movie which was filmed while the ball was being signed. The video also shows Babe hitting two home runs. Unfortunately, we can't see the video (not surprising). But here's a story about it. Click here.
Sadly, counterfeiting remains a problem in our hobby. Federal authorities reportedly seized 284 fake "sports championship rings" from a store in Oviedo, FL This follows the seizure last November of 84 fake rings coming from China and headed for this same store.
Not only players can make the great play; so can referees. In 2006, University of Houston basketball coach Tom Penders fell to his hands and knees on the court. Referee John Hampton, thinking the coach was mocking him for an earlier foul call, called a technical foul on the coach. Penders, who had a history of heart problems, actually had a dizzy spell and had to be carried out on a stretcher. The kind-hearted referee refused to rescind the technical.
There appears to be no end of strange variations of games played in countries around the world. Today we present the so-called "National Game of Columbia - Tejo". It is similar to that ESPN favorite "Cornhole", except it ramps up the excitement with exploding gun powder and (apparently) lots of beer drinking. A sample: here.
In a succinct summary of Cleveland Browns history, former coach Romeo Crennel: "Until we win more than we lose, we're going to be losers."
Former NBA player Yinka Dare, when asked about Beirut: "You mean the great home run hitter?"
Basketball coach Jim O'Brien, after his team had just lost to a last-place team: "In my mind, unquestionably they are the best last-place team in America."
Former NHL coach Jean Perron: "This type of injury is very painful, especially when it hurts."
Unidentified golf broadcaster: "Arnie, usually a great putter, seems to be having trouble with his long putts. However, he has no trouble dropping his shorts."
Soccer (futbol) commentator Ian Darke, reminding us once again of the excitement of that sport: "And with just four minutes gone, the score is already 0-0."
From 7/2 to 8/15 we celebrate "Air Conditioning Appreciation Days". Some of you youngsters may not remember the days before A/C was ubiquitous (that means it is everywhere); if you were lucky your house had a large window fan, which didn't cool anything, but merely moved the hot air from one place to another, and you rode around in your car with all the windows down sucking in exhaust fumes.
July is "National Anti-Boredom Month"; clearly we are doing our part here.
July 1-23 is "Tour de France Month", which is sort of the antithesis of Anti-Boredom month.
July 9-13 is "Sports Cliche Week"; we here at the TSCS Newsletter took this week one day at a time, each team member giving 110%, because there's no "I" in "Team", so every month we have to pin our ears back and turn up the intensity.
The 14th was "Shark Awareness Day", and we here at the newsletter office kept our eyes peeled all day for sharks. We saw not a one, except, of course, for the 493 shows all over cable TV.
Hahaha! Trick question! There apparently is NO particular definition of a PF in the NBA! If you brush the opponent's hand with your pinky fingernail while he's shooting, it will probably be a foul. If you hit the opponent with, say, a ball peen hammer, it may very well be called a foul. If you outweigh the opponent by 300 pounds and push him backwards from mid court to under the basket, and then possibly stuff him IN the basket, the announcers will say, "Wow! He used his strength!", but you probably WON'T get a foul. On the "block-charge" call, the refs are frequently seen flipping a coin - a three-sided coin: charge; block; no call. And we won't even get into the special "James Harden rules". YOU tell US what constitutes a personal foul in the NBA. (For more info see last night's game 4 between the Bucks and Suns.)
Don't believe we messed anything up ... yet.
