I was thinking:Major League Baseball should be less concernedabout the fat cat-Yankees, Red Sox and Mets, and more about concernedabout these biennial fire sales by teams like the Florida Marlins.Commissioner Bud Selig should impose, in the best interest ofbaseball, a directive that prohibits a team from gutting its talent.At some point soon, Selig needs to impose a strict deadline on theFlorida owners to move the team-; or forfeit the franchise.
-If Denham Brown continues to play like he did in Maui, coupledwith the return of Marcus Williams and solid play of freshman CraigAustrie, UConn will be the most complete team in college basketball.
-I count seven AFC teams-; Indianapolis, Denver, Pittsburgh,Cincinnati, San Diego, Jacksonville and New England-; that are betterthan any team in the NFC.
-Has anyone seen or heard from the New York Yankees thisoffseason? Their silence is perplexing.
-Arbitrator Richard Bloch, the ex-Dartmouth goaltender, made thebest save of his career last week by deflecting Terrell Owens'attempt to subvert the concept of team.
-I trust the ceremony to honor former Whaler greats Ron Francis,Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson prior to the Jan. 6 Hartford WolfPack game is more than a ticket promotion.
-Coming off the great trade for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, Ithink it safe to assume the Red Sox aren't crippled from the neck upby the exodus of Boy Wonder. One more quality starter, likely comingin a trade for Manny Ramirez, will put the Red Sox over the top.
-Are you telling me that it takes 48 hours to flip a coin in orderto finalize the seedings and opponents for the first round of theClass SS state playoffs Tuesday? Because Brookfield and Holy Cross-Waterbury finished in a dead heat, none of the pairings (includingtop-seeded Brookfield and No. 2 North Branford) will be set until acoin flip settles the issue today.
Couldn't executive director Mike Savage just flip the coin Friday,so everyone could get on with its business? Is there that muchdistrust?
-The defense of the Chicago Bears is outstanding, but to suggestthat it's in the same class with the 1985 Super Bowl champion Bearsand its renowned '46 Defense' is blasphemy.
-Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy) or Julie Bowen(Denise Bauer on Boston Legal-; and of course, Ed's girlfriend)?
-With Pedro Martinez and the resurgent Tom Glavine at the front ofthe Mets' pitching rotation, GM Omar Minaya is shrewdly swinging forthe fences before the window of opportunity goes by. If Minaya getsBilly Wagner and a catcher, he can go fishing for the next fourmonths.
-I'm still not sold on Eli Manning in a big spot, despite thehype.
-The best sports theater of the week, and certainly the mostcontentious, is scheduled for Hartford federal court Monday, whereboxing promoters Jimmy Burchfield and Gary Shaw will throw the legalleather over the rights to New Haven super middleweight Chad Dawson.I'm making Shaw a 6-1 favorite to keep Dawson, while Burchfield is 3-1 favorite to receive monetary compensation.
-The Indianapolis Colts' unbeaten season comes crashing downMonday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
-Charlotte Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff has completely misusedand misunderstood the real the value of Emeka Okafor. I cringe when Isee the Mark Blounts, Adonal Foyles and Michael Olowokandis, guyswith less minutes and far less talent, averaging more blocks per gamethan Okafor, the best shot-blocking big man to come out of thecollege game in the last 15 years.
-Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale wouldn't survive a month if hetrades Kevin Garnett to the New York Knicks.
-The Southern Connecticut Conference has come up big with fiveparticipants in the state high school football playoffs, more thanany other conference in the state. Xavier-Middletown and Hillhousewill bring home championships for the league.
-Willy Wonka I or II?
-The decision by Selig to deny the reinstatement of Pete Rosebefore 2006 virtually dooms Rose's future candidacy for the Hall ofFame, short of an intervention by a court of law. Rose will now need75 percent approval, beginning in 2007, from the Veteran's Committee,seen as largely hostile.
Hamden's George Grande, the TV voice of the Cincinnati Reds, andalso master of ceremonies at Cooperstown's annual Hall of Fameceremony, said that 'in talking to the Hall of Famers, there's atleast 60 to 70 percent that would not vote for him. There are stillsome old-timers who have made it clear to the people at the Hall ofFame that if (Rose) steps up there, they're walking off the stage, orwon't show up.'
Rose's only hope, if reinstated, is to get back on the writers'ballot, arguing that the 15-year clock on his eligibility through thewriters should never have begun if he wasn't allowed to be placed onthe ballot.
-Curtis Deloatch returned to Giants' practice Friday. Is this agood thing?
Dave Solomon, the Register sports columnist, can be reached atdsolomon@nhregister.com
