Karate kicks, putdowns and punches

To pass the time during my nights at home last week with no cable and internet, I pulled some random DVDs from our collection to watch ...

"Love Actually" ... "Ben Folds Five: The Complete Sessions at West 54th" ... "Friends: Season 10" ...

But my best night was arguably Tuesday night. I popped in "The Karate Kid." It was a blast -- I just laid back on the couch, vegged out and allowed myself to get totally caught up in the movie ... and all of the '80s nostalgia that came with it ...

With that, check out this mega-montage of '80s bullies ...

John Wooden

When the news of John Wooden’s death broke Friday night I was saddened but had a hard time getting the immediate impact. His legend was formed and retired before I was born, and my most vivid memories of him are nothing more than the camera shots of him sitting in the stands during NCAA tournament games.

My friend Tom was less sentimental, tweeting, “John Wooden dead at 99. Sure, it's sad... but not THAT SAD... he was NINETY-NINE.”

Indeed, the wise man lived a long, good life.

Then yesterday morning I found myself engrossed in the Sportscenter coverage of Wooden and the stories being written about him …

I’d known about the dominance of his UCLA teams and the big names he coached.

But I’d never heard of his “Pyramid of Success.” That he made a name for himself playing college ball at Purdue. That he might have ended up coaching at Minnesota had it not been for a snowstorm that kept school officials from calling Wooden to offer a coaching job. That he was such a big baseball fan. That he was such a man of faith …

One of my favorite stories of the day was about a serious offer he received during the 1960s to coach the Pittsburgh Pirates. But he turned it down, the story went, because he didn’t think the players would respect him.

Then there’s this heartwarmer …



More good reads ...
a John Wooden, Who Built Incomparable Dynasty at U.C.L.A., Dies at 99
a Joe Posnanski: Wooden and Love
a Bob Ryan: No loose ends with Wooden

Meant to be

In the too-cool-not-to-post category ...

EASTON, Pa. (AP) -- An engaged eastern Pennsylvania couple were born on the same day in the same hospital - and their mothers even shared a room in the maternity ward.

Amy Singley and Steven Smith were born at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill on April 17, 1986.

After the mothers were hospital roommates, the two families continued to interact through their church in Easton. Smith asked Singley on a date to the movies when they were sophomores in high school.

Singley says she knew Smith was the right guy for her after their second date. She says people are convinced the 24-year-olds were "destined to be together."

They plan to get married June 12.

Near perfect

Among the things I missed during my disconnect to the world this week were the events in Detroit on Wednesday night …

Because I had no cable, I was utterly oblivious to any of it until I booted up my computer at work Thursday morning and started skimming through my e-mail, Facebook updates and my news alerts for the morning …

Then, there was the headline …

Umpire Jim Joyce's blown call costs Armando Galarraga perfect game

I hadn’t seen the game. I hadn’t seen any highlights, and I hadn’t taken the time to find the play on YouTube.

… Until now. After writing that last sentence, I logged on and spent the last hour reviewing clips from the game.

Clearly, the runner was out.

(There’s some good amateur video of the play, too. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a big moment in sports or pop culture if there wasn’t someone reimagining the cinematic Hitler scene in good fun … See: Northern Iowa beats KU and Michael Jackson’s death.)

On a side note ... Holy Cow! A THIRD perfect game in the span of a month!? A second in the span of a week!?! Are you kidding  me!? It will be remembered as a perfect game, after all ...

The debate about overturning the call started immediately. And Jim Joyce’s candid admission after the game was an awesome turn of events …

Based on that, initially, I would have said overturn the call -- for the reasons Michael Wilbon cited in his column.

But later Thursday afternoon, I saw the headline that Bud Selig had declined to reverse the call and I could immediately understand his hesitation.

By reversing the call, he sets a precedent, and then what? He opens up a gargantuan can of worms that represents more than a century of questionable calls …

...The Bartman play?

...The entire 2005 ALCS?

...The Jeffery Maier play?

...Don Don Denkinger’s first base call in the 1985 World Series?

...Barry Bonds and the home run records?

Selig would get pummeled by the historians and traditionalists if he reversed the call.

In the end, it is what it is. It happened, within the rules of the game. Baseball will go on, just like it always has. It's a game played by humans, umpired by humans, as it should be.

And all of us will debate it for years to come.

Here's some of the good reads -- and mentions -- on the situation ...
a Perfect Game Thwarted by Faulty Call
a Third perfect game? Joyce’s botched call in ninth denies Tigers’ Galarraga
a Bernie Bytes: Jim Edmonds, Bud Selig, Lakers and “Dexter”
a Kristen Stewart leads the Week of Apologies
a Morning Jolt ... Scroll down to see the Photo of the Day
a Replay Gets Another Look After a Gaffe Seen by All
a Worst Call Ever? Sure. Kill the Umpires? Never.
a One day after botched call, Motor City takes higher road
a Ump impressed with support
a Nearly Perfect in Detroit ... An excellent op-ed piece by Paul Clemens

Crazier yet, the entire episode overshadowed the abrupt retirement of Ken Griffey Jr.

He was a great one.

Here's a classic about the enduring popularity (and ubiquity) of the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. card ... Oh, how I know the card.

Update 06.07.10:

Selig doubts replay use will expand ... After all that's happened, I'm a little dissappointed by this.

An excellent read about Jim Joyce: How Jim Joyce went from Toledo to the bigs to national scrutiny