Notes from leftfield

After a breakfast of two eggs over easy on top of Eggo waffles smothered in Log Cabin syrup and sweet yellow finger bananas chased down by two cups of joe laced with French vanilla cream, I offer the following crumbs.

Alex Rodriquez has the looks but not the talent to be a television soap opera star. His acting is terrible. But then, most actors are lousy baseball players.

For staying in jail for a year for not ratting out B*nds and facing even longer time, former trainer Greg Anderson’s refusal to testify continues to amaze. I wonder what motivates him to sacrifice like that, whether it’s pure principle of character and integrity or if he will be taken care of later or both or neither. Honestly, I would have squealed instead of sitting in the pen like him, and not the bullpen either. I mean the clink.

Any of the Top 20 college basketball teams could win the championship. No favorites this year, as it’s wide open as any in recent memory. All it takes is a six-game win streak. I’m taking Pittsburgh for no other reason than it sounds good. Hey, it worked in football.

Ken Griffey Jr. going back to Seattle is the Major League feel good story of 2009.

Tiger Woods coming back to the PGA tour is another feel good story.

Much has been made of the sportsmanship from the high school basketball team that intentionally missed two free throws after a technical foul was called on a player, whose mother had died earlier in the day, for entering the game. He had not been listed on the score sheet at the start of the game. Officials made the right call; coach’s fault for not including his name. In light of the circumstances, penalizing the team seems cruel. That someone deliberately missed the free throws as a gesture of sportsmanship to me is nice but the fact that this became a national story boggles my mind. Is that how rare sportsmanship has become? Is the media that desperate for a feel good story?

Spring training about to start and Manny Ramirez is not on a team. Unbelievable sign of weird times. Apparently the Los Angeles Dodgers are in bidding war against …. themselves?!?

Anyone hear how Roger Clemens is doing? Miguel Tejada faces jail time for lying to Congress. If Clemens did the same, why wouldn’t he get time too? Maybe they could all room with Greg Anderson.

Let’s suspend reason for awhile and believe Clemens told the truth and never used performance enhancing drugs, and that he was a saint among so many sinners. Now that the truth is coming out about other players, that would make the Rocket even greater by comparison, a natural wonder boy. Now back to reality.

Does $10,000 mean much to you? That’s how much Santonio Holmes has to cough up for his “excessive celebration” following his Super Bowl-winning catch. I simply don’t understand how anyone can celebrate too much after the accomplishment of a lifetime. How come there are no fines for “not enough celebration”?

Does $10 million mean much to you? That’s possibly how much Andre Smith cost himself by leaving the NFL combine before working out. The offensive tackle was projected to be one the Top 5 players in this year’s draft but his stock is dropping faster than, huh well, the stock market.

That would buy a lot of breakfasts but none of them better than eggs, waffles, and homegrown bananas.

****
[I] Coldeen is a longtime journalist in the CNMI and is currently the news director of KSPN2[/I]