Mark_Concannon's Blog

*****PSYCHO SOX #1-After five straight losses, Whitesox manager Ozzie Guillen was decidedly fed up with being second-guessed. Said Oz, "I'm tired of all the managers in the press box and at home, watching the game on TV and spilling food on themselves."

*****PSYCHO SOX #2-Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle couldn't bring the heat in Toronto last week in more ways than one. After getting knocked around by the Bluejays, Buehle stomped off the mound, headed directly toward a corner of the dugout and grabbed one of Juan Uribe's bats, then whacked a dugout heater repeatedly.

***** ROYAL RAGE-Appearing embarrassed, Royals left-hander John Bale apologized for punching a door and breaking his pitching hand. He will miss about two months.

*****WHAT A SHOW-OFF! Jobi Wall of Denver's Faith Christian High School pitched a perfect game AND hit for the cycle during a recent playoff game. A senior right-hander, Wall struck out six batters and retired 15 in a row in a five-inning 18-0 victory over Coal Ridge. At the plate, he tripled, singled, doubled and homered in only four innings. In major-league baseball history there have been only 17 perfect games and 274 occurrences of batters hitting for the cycle - none together.

*****SLIM PICKINS-Here's a Miami newspaper's description of some of the receivers who showed up at Dolphins' rookie camp: "Foster is only 5-7 and 170 pounds, which means he is dwarfed by kicker Jay Feely.Bess ran a time of 4.64 seconds in the 40-yard sprint at predraft workouts, and that makes him no faster than many linebackers.Lymon spent his final days at Purdue suspended from the team after being charged with drunken driving. Before that, he was stabbed in the chest during a fracas at a nightclub near the campus."

*****MAN UP!- There is an indoor pro football league whose name suggests it is no home for sissies.The Intense Football League has several teams in Texas, one in Lousiana and two in Alaska, the Wild and the Grizzlies
  
   *****BRITISH INVASION-Up to 50,000 supporters are expected to travel to Russia for the game between English clubs Chelsea and Manchester United at
Luzhniki Stadium. And those fans traveling to that Champions League
final in Moscow on May 21 can use their match tickets as visas.

*****AMERICA'S GAME-The NCAA lacrosse tournament, long a bastion of East coast schools, features Notre Dame, Ohio State and Denver this spring.

*****WHEELING AND DEALING-The Wheeling franchise of the East Coast Hockey league made a late season trade to bolster a playoff run, but never told the league about the transaction. Forgiveness is easier to get than permission and so is a fine. The Wheeling folks will be writing a check to the ECHL

*****WHEN PIGS FLY-Yesterday, runners in Cincinnati competed in that city's annual "Flying Pig Marathon." Was Les Nessman providing commentary?
 
We'll return with more musings well before you see the next airborne sow. We're back next Monday, May 19th.