Tony Gwynn

Always the bridesmaid and never the bride. Always really good, but never good enough. For example, on Sunday, Dale Jr. lost for the 99th time in a row. Sure, he won that 100th race before that, but that race on June 15, 2008, was a rain shortened event, and while a win is a win, it's not a true win. That said... he came close - leading down to the near end when Kevin Harvick passed him and then Kyle Busch, who he had passed for the lead, almost passed him for 2nd. In the end, Jr. nudged him out for second, but a loss is a loss, and second place is the first loser. On Monday night, in a battle of who wants to lose the least of the "great" men's basketball teams, and let's say - it was close, Connecticut pulled a rabbit out of their butts and got the win against Butler. How bad was it? Two teams haven't scored this few of points since 1949. Back then, Truman was in office, Korea wasn't a war, and my mom wasn't born. Butler shot 18.8%, which sucks so badly that they couldn't even get into the paint in the time I watched the game (up until the last 8 minutes or so when I couldn't justify any more time on it and for the fact that I still had to drive home from my parents' house). To this, there came a point where they literally stopped trying to drive in. They couldn't get offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds. When their defense held off UConn, they still gave up 2nd and 3rd chance points. In all honesty, UConn wasn't that good either with a 34.5% shooting rate. And tonight, Notre Dame women came close but no cigar as they lost to Texas A+M, ruining my first cousin, once removed's chance to be national champion for a second time. That said, whooping on TN and UConn means something - just not the trophy. Better luck next year, Moffet. In football, the Buffalo Bills were playing well enough to be in the Superbowl 4 years running, but they lost every year. Eventually, the run and the opportunity ended, and they haven't been back since. And baseball is no different. Sometimes, we go our whole lives and wait for the chance to get in there, and when it happens, we lose 4 straight (Houston) or get beat both times we get in there (San Diego). And what happens for the great players who gave their all to make it happen (Tony Gwynn), but can't get the ring? Do we see them as less, remember them a little duller in the spotlight? Tony Gwynn is in the hall of fame, but he's not wearing the jewelry. To this, there's something about getting the job done... and if we can't seal the deal, no matter what famous pedigree we have or investment there is in the team, eventually we become Kyle Petty or see the team broken up into aging parts for resale. It happens... just ask the Cleveland Indians.

John McGraw

Terry Francona has sounded off regarding his team's poor start - it's Carl Crawford's fault (despite batting .182 in only his first 3 games with Boston, which does at least include 1 RBI) - move him to 7th in the lineup. Brilliant decision we might add. I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with why Boston's pitching sucks - as Pappelbon comes in and lets up a run without the game on the line, which isn't any better or worse than Lester, Lackey, or Bucholz's outings at the Ballpark in Arlington against a team that will be more offensive than a weekend outing with Charlie Sheen, but alas... that's just me. Then again, Wacky Lackey's start really sucked. He was worse than Crapplebon. And so I sit here and wonder why both of my favorite teams have such cruddy managers. Tony Larussa has the Cardinals 1-2 with not much life in them against the Padres (more injuries and Albert Pujols batting .154 with no home runs - at least he doesn't have his fingers on the batting order pen, but who knows... this is a guy who used to bat his pitchers eighth). But yeah... these are some lame and cruddy dinosaurs of managers who need to go. And when I say cruddy, I mean, I want the Ancient Aliens to come back and abduct them - if for nothing better than to get more likable new managers or so Giorgio Tsoukalos and his hair can have something to say about being right about the Ancient (and modern) Aliens truly existing. Well, that and so that they can see if there has been any change in their legendary cruddiness (because these are - "legendary CRUDDY times"). But yes... management... it all comes down to management, and what makes a good manager? What makes a bad manager? John McGraw was a talented, but angry manager who managed to win 10 pennants and 3 World Series champions with the Orioles and New York Giants in the early part of the century. For a career, he won 2763 games over 33 years and he played for a good deal of that time too, getting just over 1300 hits in limited appearances due to being a player manager. He was ejected 13 times in 1905 and 131 for his career - the most until Bobby Cox came along. That's saying something. He campaigned silently for African American integration, compiling a list of players he would have recruited if times were different. While he did nothing actively, he still knew the system was wrong, and if for nothing else other than knowing the difference between wrong and right, that says something. But alas, today we need focus on the other McGraw - Moffet, my mom's cousin (third from the left) and the current Women's Basketball coach at Notre Dame who just kicked Connecticut's butts last night. After taking out Tennessee last week for her first win ever, Notre Dame took out Connecticut for their 2nd loss in 3 years. That's it. Prior to this, the Huskies were 3-0 against Notre Dame this season - but not when it counted, and with this, Notre Dame gets a trip to the finals against the other final 4 underdog - Texas A+M. We wish her the best and hope that she brings herself - and the extended family - a second national title and makes Touchdown Jesus smile a little, too. Girls can play... and sometimes, they can step up and kick some serious ass.