Stan Musial now belongs to the ages. I am saddened by the passing of my childhood hero. Stan "The Man" died today at the age of 92.
As an eight year old kid my Dad would take me to the original Sportsman's Park on North Grand Avenue. I can recall seeing "The Man" hit balls over the right field screen during batting practice. I also saw my share of Musial home runs during the games. He ended his career with 475 HRs and even more impressively 3630 hits. You know what made that even more special? Mr. Musial had 1815 hits at home and 1815 on the road.
The Man appeared in 24 All-Star games, which to this day has been tied by only Willie Mays. Stan the Man won three MVP awards and was a player on three World Series champions. Even more impressively Stan was a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee in his first year of eligibility in 1969.
Yes, Stan Musial was baseball's perfect warrior. On the occasion of his retirement in 1963, then baseball commissioner, Ford Frick uttered the following; "Here stands baseball's perfect warrior, here stands baseball's perfect knight".
January 19, 2013
January 13, 2013
All Hail the Crimson Tide
OK, this is late in being posted but I still need to say it. Congratulations to the Alabama Crimson Tide on winning the 2013 NCAA Football Championship.
If you watched the game you know it was no contest. Had it been a prize fight it would have been stopped in the second quarter. The Tide totally dominated Notre Dame in the 41-14 win. My thought at the end of the game was Notre Dame was about the same level as Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Irish would have been beaten by LSU and Texas A&M. If Notre Dame played Alabama 20 times Alabama would win each time and they would all be mis-matches. The Tide are just that good.
Congratulations to the SEC on winning it's 9th BCS championship in 15 years. The next closest conference in BCS wins is the Big 12 with a whopping two victories.
If you watched the game you know it was no contest. Had it been a prize fight it would have been stopped in the second quarter. The Tide totally dominated Notre Dame in the 41-14 win. My thought at the end of the game was Notre Dame was about the same level as Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Irish would have been beaten by LSU and Texas A&M. If Notre Dame played Alabama 20 times Alabama would win each time and they would all be mis-matches. The Tide are just that good.
Congratulations to the SEC on winning it's 9th BCS championship in 15 years. The next closest conference in BCS wins is the Big 12 with a whopping two victories.
January 03, 2013
I Would Go Broke
Good thing I don't pick college football games for a living. Yesterday I was critical of the University of Louisville football team and compared them to Northern Illinois. Man, was that a mistake.
Louisville dominated Florida last night in the Sugar Bowl and upset the SEC power 33-23. In looking back I should have been more careful. The Gators had been feckless on offense against lesser teams for the past four weeks of the season. One of those games was against my beloved Mizzou Tigers. Missouri had a chance to tie the game on the final play of that game 14-14, only to have a pass sail just over the head of an open receiver.
So, to all of the Louisville Cardinals fans I may have offended, my congratulations to you and your team on a nice win and a good season.
January 02, 2013
Missouri Tigers Basketball
Don't look now, but my beloved Missouri Tigers are the highest rated SEC team in the latest AP Basketball Poll. The Tigers check in at number 12 this week just in front of the Florida Gators. The Tigers and Gators will meet in three weeks at Gainesville on Saturday afternoon the 19th.
The Tigers are ten and two, with a loss to Louisville and a loss to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in overtime last Friday night. Key wins in the Mizzou season include Stanford, VCU and Illinois. The Tigers have one more non-conference game this weekend and that is full speed into the School's first year in the SEC. Go Tigers! M-I-Z!!!
The Tigers are ten and two, with a loss to Louisville and a loss to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in overtime last Friday night. Key wins in the Mizzou season include Stanford, VCU and Illinois. The Tigers have one more non-conference game this weekend and that is full speed into the School's first year in the SEC. Go Tigers! M-I-Z!!!
It was a Good Year for the Rams
The Saint Louis Rams wrapped up their 2012 campaign with a loss at Seattle on Sunday afternoon 20-13. That loss gave them an overall record of 7-8-1. But, what is encouraging is that is six fewer losses than 2011. The Rams also lost just once in their division this year. The division record was 4-1-1. The tie coming at San Francisco and the loss was this Sunday at Seattle. Both of those teams are playoff bound.
The Rams are the youngest team in the NFL and have done a nice job of filling needs with draft picks and free agents. The talent is in place. The Rams have built up a number of extra draft picks this year and next year with trades to other NFL teams prior to the 2012 draft.
Given the current management and the job done by head coach Jeff Fischer I am optimistic about the 2013 season.
The Rams are the youngest team in the NFL and have done a nice job of filling needs with draft picks and free agents. The talent is in place. The Rams have built up a number of extra draft picks this year and next year with trades to other NFL teams prior to the 2012 draft.
Given the current management and the job done by head coach Jeff Fischer I am optimistic about the 2013 season.
Happy New Year!
As the title of this post indicates, I really hope that you and the ones you love have a Happy New Year. It was a good one, except for the hoosier neighbors down the street waking everyone up with fireworks at midnight.
You may have noticed this is written on January 2nd, mainly because I spent New Year's Day sampling the Smorgasbord of NCAA football bowl games.
I also learned, again, that if it's New Year's Day the Big 10 (or maybe it's the Big 12 or possibly the Big 14) will choke big time. The Big Ten went a whopping one and four. The only winner in the group was Northwestern which finally won a bowl game for the first time since 1949. The Big Ten losers list includes Nebraska, Michigan, Purdue and Wisconsin. At the same time the SEC conference played three games yesterday winning two of them (South Carolina in the Outback Bowl and Georgia in the Capital One Bowl).
And a final thought on the Bowl games yesterday; Northern Illinois had no business playing in the Orange Bowl. Florida State had their way with the NIU in a 31-10 romp. My guess is Louisville of the Big East will suffer a similar fate this evening in the Sugar Bowl when they run into the Florida at the Super Dome. For the record I forecast a 31-14 Florida win.
You may have noticed this is written on January 2nd, mainly because I spent New Year's Day sampling the Smorgasbord of NCAA football bowl games.
I also learned, again, that if it's New Year's Day the Big 10 (or maybe it's the Big 12 or possibly the Big 14) will choke big time. The Big Ten went a whopping one and four. The only winner in the group was Northwestern which finally won a bowl game for the first time since 1949. The Big Ten losers list includes Nebraska, Michigan, Purdue and Wisconsin. At the same time the SEC conference played three games yesterday winning two of them (South Carolina in the Outback Bowl and Georgia in the Capital One Bowl).
And a final thought on the Bowl games yesterday; Northern Illinois had no business playing in the Orange Bowl. Florida State had their way with the NIU in a 31-10 romp. My guess is Louisville of the Big East will suffer a similar fate this evening in the Sugar Bowl when they run into the Florida at the Super Dome. For the record I forecast a 31-14 Florida win.
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