Posted on by Patrick

The Regular Season Is Over Now, For USC, It’s A Question Of Coaching

The 2017 Pac-12 regular season is over, so what have we learned? Well, some of the most compelling stuff was revealed about its coaches. We learned that, in Gary Anderson, Oregon State made one of the worst hires in recent memory. The state of Arizona has two overrated coaches who will dazzle in September, pretty much suck in Autumn and would have been fired if the desert programs had any tradition or aspirations for greatness. Jim Mora was a chap ass who failed wonderfully despite having two of the very best quarterbacks in the program’s history. Colorado’s a stranger in a strange land and any recent success was a fluke. The Mike Leach experiment is mostly over even though I appreciate a fat, sloppily-dressed coach as much as the next guy. And there’s reason for hope at Cal … not really, I just wanted to see who was paying attention.

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Posted on by Patrick

Bobby Doerr, Teammates And The End Of The “Gray Area”

Joe Morgan says anyone who used steroids doesn’t belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He says, “By cheating, they put up huge numbers, and they made great players who didn’t cheat look smaller by comparison, taking away from their achievements and consideration for the Hall of Fame. That’s not right.” This isn’t controversial, it’s common sense. Society creates gray areas (he only used once, he never officially tested positive, everyone in that era was juicing, etc.) to justify and rationalize bad behavior. There’s no gray area here. MLB can simply close the door on the entire subject by following the lead of Joe Morgan. And the gray area contingent will accuse baseball of being a stodgy old man who won’t change with the times … and so what? Cheaters don’t get in. Next question. If you want “gray area,” if you want to make up the rules as you go, if you want to stand for vagueness instead of greatness, well, that’s what the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is for.

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Posted on by Patrick

Tell Me A Joke, Let’s Have A Smoke

Cigar Salutations From The Old Glory Society*

There was a time when the funniest guy in the room was a short Jewish guy holding a cigar. It’s possible that cigars make you funnier. Or maybe cigar smokers are just lazy and instead of getting a real job they first try to make a buck by telling jokes. When’s the last time someone came up to you and asked (someone other than your five-year-old), “Hey, wanna hear a good joke?” Shit, I get it, if someone offers to tell you a good joke in 2017 you figure he’s gonna drop his pants or something. Still, life would be simpler, more enjoyable if we told more jokes and smoked more cigars.

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