Mark_Concannon's Blog

*****INTERLEAGUE SECURITY-The Cubs called on Whitesox security personnel to help out when the Chicago teams played each other this weekend at Wrigley Field.

*****OLD SCHOOL-Toronto's Joe Inglett, who hit a 9th inning grand slam last Thursday in the Blue Jays massive but failed comeback effort at Miller Park is a real throwback. He spends the off season building houses in Sacramento.

*****JAYS FANS FUMING-And with Toronto spiraling toward the cellar in the A.L. East, there was this reaction from a Jays fan who blogged a Toronto newspaper:"Bring back the steroid brothers: Canseco and Clemens. Clearly the problem with this team is that nobody is injecting anybody in the buttocks with sharp needles to create mutant-like baseball players - or as they are known in America: 'heroes.' Baseball is a joke and this team is the punchline. Go away."

*****MODEST MANAGER-Former Baltimore Oriole Wayne Krenchicki just posted his 1000th win as a minor league manager with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League. Said Krenchicki, " To be honest, I didn't even know I was at 1,000. Hopefully it's more than I lost."

*****MIDDLE EAST DIVISION-Israel's professional baseball league is coming back for a second season after a tumultuous inaugural campaign that left it on the brink of collapse. The Israel Baseball League said Thursday it would begin play on July 27, about a month behind its original schedule and in abbreviated form. The league will consist of four teams, down from six last year, and the length of the season is cut in half to 20 games. The league was founded by Larry Baras, a Boston bagel maker with a passion for baseball and Israel. The biggest challenge to the league was generating fan interest.With its slow pace and complicated rules, baseball is little more than a curiosity to most Israelis, who prefer soccer and basketball.

*****A NIGHTMARE START-The WNBA's expansion Atlanta Dream is hoping to wake up after an 0-13 start.

*****THE NAME GAME-The WNBA's best name? Alexis Hornbuckle, a guard who plays for Detroit.

*****THE NAME GAME #2-Also from Michigan, the worst name for a swimming coach, Mike Bottom, who hopes his team doesn't hit bottom at the University of Michigan

*****THE NAME GAME #3-The mere fact that they're playing on the PGA tour makes Justin Hicks and Kevin Streelman accomplished golfers but their names sound more like American Idol finalists, not co-leaders after the first round of the U.S. Open.

*****HOWDY, COWGIRL!-At the College Rodeo championships, smack dab in the middle of all the schools from Arizona, Texas, Colorado and other "rodeo states" was Adriane Kochie, of Wisconsin Platteville, among the top finishers in barrel racing.

We're "gittin' along little doggies," but we're back with more musings next Monday, June 30th.