The Blue Workhorse

Major League Baseball’s All-Star Break is great for many reasons.

Getting to see the collection of baseball legends along with the current stars on the field at Yankee stadium was a truly special moment.

In addition to the festivities, I have always enjoyed the game itself. Watching stud pitchers give maximum effort for an inning, both leagues assembling a numbers-packed studly lineup, and the overall atmosphere of the game is a great treat midway through the baseball season.

Another great reason for the game: we all get a break from fantasy baseball. A mental break is nice from the leagues we have been keeping up with since late April.

Since we have one-more day of the All-Star Break, I want to give some props to players who brought the wood, and others who fell off the baseball map:

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“I got chills,” Josh Hamilton said of hearing his name being chanted by the Yankee Stadium crowd Monday night during the Home Run Derby.

No Josh. You gave us all chills.

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In Bull Durham, Annie Savoy talked about the religion of baseball, and some people equate sports fanaticism to being a religion. However, besides on the occasion of an athlete thanking God, it is rare sports and religion are discussed together.

Even in the movies, the two topics rarely are brought together. The one exception may be the film Saint Ralph.

Saint Ralph is the tale of a young 9th grade Catholic boy, who isn’t exactly your ideal choir boy.

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At one point, I might have married Brett Favre.

Not that I am averse to the female gender, but, instead, why would I not want to spend the rest of my life with one of the most exciting NFL players and seemingly coolest guy ever?

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Evidently, this video has been on the web for a while now, but I just saw it the other day, so I figured I’d share it with anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.

I won’t go as far as calling this kid the “next Reggie Bush” (plus we don’t want people to remember this kid just for his girlfriend) or even the “next Sam McGuffie,” but the video was entertaining at the least, so maybe he can be the “next great white 8-year old hope” or something like that.

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Over the holiday weekend, the University of Tennessee Athletic Department unveiled the new and improved compensation packages for the head coaches of the two headlining sports in Knoxville.

Both Phillip Fulmer and Bruce Pearl received what I will label as “more than modest raises.”

Obviously, the University of Tennessee is not alone in their bursting budgets and a seemingly endless flow of funds that are spent on, let’s face it, a game. The problem is that neither of these raises, regardless of amount, was justified.

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I am by no means a tennis aficionado, but I was captivated by the late afternoon spectacle of Rafael Nadal’s Wimbledon Final victory over the previously unstoppable grass court tyrant Roger Federer.

Since I do not watch tennis on a regular basis and am often annoyed when it takes precedence on sports networks over baseball, football, or even basketball, I will be brief. However, the fierce competition did deserve at least some recognition.

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Every season there are a handful of players that come out of no where to surprise us and become instant stars. We touched on some players who jumped out to incredible starts after the first couple of weeks of the baseball season.

However, there are also a handful of players that play no where near what was expected of them. At the midway point of the season and in lieu of the recent trend of teams demoting established players (Phillies’ starter Brett Myers, Indians’ closer Joe Borowski, and young Braves’ slugger Jeff Francouer — even though Francouer has scored 40 runs, hit 8 HR, and driven in 41 RBI), we examine those players who have failed to meet expectations and would be well deserving of a demotion:

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