The End (?) of the 'Favre-a-palooza'

Minnesota Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe calls it the "Favre–a–palooza."

Well, that's probably as apt a description as any of what appeared, in recent years, to be Brett Favre's annual exercise in ego. But that is too simplistic a summation, it seems to me.

I know many NFL fans have grown weary of this Hamlet in a helmet routine. But I can understand how Favre has felt torn between wanting to play and coming to terms with the fact that his body can't do that kind of thing anymore.

In recent days and weeks, it seemed more and more likely that Favre would take the money, put on the Viking purple and try to lead Minnesota back to the Super Bowl for the first time since Favre was a little boy. And, in the process, possibly give the Vikings their first Super Bowl title in their existence.

Unlike many, I have never been convinced that he was the difference maker, that his presence would put Minnesota in the Super Bowl and save coach Brad Childress. Sure, he got off to a great start in New York last year, but he collapsed in December, which seemed to confirm my suspicion that 39 was really too old for anyone, even someone as talented as Favre, to be starting at quarterback in the NFL.

Now, it seems Favre has reached the same conclusion.

Of course, things may change. Favre may yet throw everyone a curve and change his mind. But, for now, we have to take him at his word.

And, as Judd Zulgad reports for the Minneapolis Star–Tribune, the recently reinstated Michael Vick doesn't appear to be an option the Vikings are considering at quarterback.

So that apparently means that Minnesota will stick with Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels at the quarterback position.

I have to wonder what state of mind those two guys are in, given the fact that their organization has been publicly pursuing Favre this summer. What does that tell them about the franchises's faith in their abilities? Not much, I would guess.

So now begins the really hard part for Childress and his staff — trying to convince Jackson and Rosenfels that the coaches and the players have always had confidence in them.

Sounds like a tough sell to me.

Pennant Races

They played major league baseball's All–Star Game the other day, and now the baseball teams all have resumed their regular schedules following the three–day All–Star break.

How does it look in each division?

Well, let's start with the American League.

• In the Eastern Division, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees could be about to treat baseball fans to one of their epic duels. The Red Sox lead the Yankees by two games — but if the season ended today, New York would clearly win the wild–card spot.


• In the Central Division, the Detroit Tigers have a 1½–game lead over the Chicago White Sox. The Minnesota Twins, 2½ games behind the Tigers, are also in the chase.


• In the Western Division, as I have been predicting all season, the Texas Rangers have fallen behind the Los Angeles Angels by 2½ games. The slumping Rangers are 5–5 in their last 10 games while the Angels are 7–3. And don't look now, but the Seattle Mariners are 4½ games out of first place.

It's probably a little premature for this, but I think fans in Cleveland, Kansas City, Oakland, Baltimore and Toronto can probably turn their attention to football season.

The playoff picture seems to be in sharper focus in the National League.

• In the Eastern Division, the world champion Philadelphia Phillies have built a six–game lead over the Florida Marlins. Atlanta is 6½ games out, and the New York Mets are eight games behind.
  
  At 24½ games back (with a winning percentage of .292), I think it's safe to say that the Washington Nationals won't be playing in October. The Nats would need to win about 75% of their remaining games just to finish at .500.


• In the Central Division, the St. Louis Cardinals have been surging lately, thanks in large part to MVP favorite Albert Pujols, who leads the major leagues in home runs and RBIs, and they have taken the division lead. It isn't a done deal, though. Chicago, Houston and Milwaukee are all three games behind, and Cincinnati is hanging in there at 5½ games out.


• The Western Division is the only division in the major leagues that has looked like a lock all season. The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the San Francisco Giants by 6½ games, but the Giants have given the Dodgers some spirited races in the past and could well do so this season. As it is, they are well positioned to take the wild–card slot, But if they falter, the Colorado Rockies are seven games out in the division and next in line in the wild–card standings.

Along with the Nationals, I think it is safe to conclude that Arizona and San Diego are not in the picture. And I am inclined to think that Pittsburgh also has no chance. But all three of those cities have football teams they can get excited about.

We're making our way into the dog days of summer. Baseball's pennant races won't really heat up until the weather starts to cool in the Northeast.

It will take longer before it starts to cool down in this part of the country, but I predict that it won't be long before local attention turns exclusively to the Dallas Cowboys and the approach of football season.

Presidential Pitch

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They played the major league baseball All–Star Game last night.

When I was growing up, it was a rare opportunity to see the best players that baseball had to offer. We didn't have televised games on numerous channels every night of the week because we didn't have cable. We got to see one game a week — two, on rare occasions — via the "Game of the Week" on Saturday afternoons.

It was special because, in those days, you just knew that the players you saw in the All–Star Game would end up in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., some day. Maybe it was because I was a young boy who avidly collected baseball cards and didn't have adult worries, like finding a job or a place to live or being able to put food on the table, but I knew the starting lineups of just about every major league club (there were fewer of them in those days).

Today I know the names of a handful of players in the majors, and the rest of them sound like minor leaguers to me, even though most of them probably aren't.

But, whether the players in the All–Star Game were truly worthy of ending up in Cooperstown or they were just being rewarded for a great season, one thing is certain in my memory. I remember the next–day reports on the game actually being about the game.

Not about whoever threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

That is not the case, apparently, in 2009.

Numerous blogs that I have seen today asserted that, based on his pitching form (and, presumably, the "mom jeans" he wore), Barack Obama "throws like a girl." You can judge for yourself, I guess. I have attached the video of his pitch to this post, but I can't really reach a conclusion from Fox's camera angle.

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The assertion that I would take issue with, though, is Carol Lee's claim at Politico.com that Obama "checked a signature presidential tradition off his list" with his pitch last night.

Throwing out the first pitch at an All–Star Game is hardly a "presidential tradition." Presidents seldom throw out the first pitch at the All–Star Game, as one of Lee's former employers, the New York Times, reported last weekend.

Before last night, Gerald Ford was the last president to throw out the first pitch at an All–Star Game back in 1976, the year of America's Bicentennial. Perhaps in honor of the occasion, Ford threw out two first pitches, one with each hand. Or perhaps it was a way to show how inclusive he believed himself to be. At the time, Ford was involved in a heated campaign for the GOP nomination with Ronald Reagan.

In fact, if there is anything resembling a "presidential tradition" of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game, it is at the season opener. Every president from William Howard Taft to George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a season–opening game. Obama did not do so this year because he was attending the G–8 summit in Europe. Vice President Joe Biden threw out the first pitch instead.

I suspect that, aside from the obvious political differences, much of the negative reaction to Obama's pitching form was more the result of a comparison to George W. Bush's first pitch at the World Series that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. That pitch, most observers felt, was a strike.

Oh, and by the way — the American League beat the National League again, 4–3.

Arturo Gatti Is Dead? Who's That?

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There was a time in my life when I followed professional boxing pretty closely. Guys like Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman were in their primes in those days. Of course, those guys were in the heavyweight division. I didn't pay much attention to the lower weight divisions.

That didn't change much as I got older.

So when I heard — over and over — today that a retired fighter named Arturo Gatti was dead, I couldn't place the name.

I've done a little research this afternoon, and apparently Gatti, whose weight must have been in the 130–pound range (think Barney Fife) through most of his career, fought in 49 fights between 1991 and 2007. He won 40 of them, 31 by knockout.

Four of his fights were dubbed "fight of the year" by Ring Magazine, and two of those fights, in 2002 and 2003, were against Micky Ward. Ward won the first fight, then there apparently was a rematch, which was won by Gatti. Their third fight — and I have attached a video clip from that fight to this post — sounds like it was pretty dramatic. Gatti broke his right hand in the fourth round, but, in spite of fighting pretty much one–handed for several rounds, came back to win the bout.

Entertaining stuff. No wonder he appeared on HBO nearly two dozen times in his career.

And perhaps, as is being suggested, he really was a Canadian legend.

Well, I don't mean to be flippant. The man was only 37, after all. Too young to die — and, apparently, his wife, Amanda Carina Barbosa Rodrigues, is being detained by Brazilian authorities. It appears that she is suspected of strangling him.

But I never heard of him. That doesn't mean he wasn't talented. The clips I've seen this afternoon show an aggressive fighter. But if someone asked me to compare the Ali–Frazier trilogy to the Gatti–Ward trilogy, I'm sorry, but it's no contest.

In my mind, Ali–Frazier will always be one of the classic, legendary rivalries in sports — the standard against which all other boxing rivalries will be judged.

Which reminds me of a wonderful moment from "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

Back in the days when he was still a professional fighter, Ali was a guest on the show. During his conversation with Carson, somehow it came up that Carson had been a boxer when he was in the Navy. Ali observed that Carson "must have been pretty good" because he didn't see any marks or scars on Carson's face.

Carson replied that he couldn't see any marks on Ali's face, either.

Ali smiled and said, "Well, I am pretty good!"

Steve McNair Found Dead

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Of all the sports news stories I might have anticipated on Independence Day weekend, the shooting death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair certainly would have been the last one on my list.

The Nashville Tennessean reports that an autopsy has determined that McNair, 36, was murdered. That seems fairly obvious to me. He was shot four times, twice in the head.

His 20–year–old girlfriend apparently died of a gunshot wound to the head. A pistol was found under her body.

Yesterday and earlier today, I heard reports that police were treating it as a "murder–suicide," but the Tennessean is reporting that police have not determined whether she was a murder victim as well or a suicide.

Whatever the truth turns out to be, this is a tragic turn of events for both families.

And there is no disputing McNair's tenacity on the football field. Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean writes that McNair was tough and resilient.

He was tough, all right, tough enough to take the Tennessee Titans to their only Super Bowl appearance, their memorable loss to the St. Louis Rams nearly a decade ago.

And he played through more pain than any of his contemporaries.

But he wasn't resilient enough to shake off four bullets.