To all carping and nitpicking people who have whined that there was no commentary on baseball and the great spectacle of the World Series, I will offer some observations in addition to repeating the one that says that these two pitching staffs were really miserable ones for World Series teams.

I read that the games averaged 3 hours and 36 minutes this year. As a point of reference, Ishtar did not stay in theaters that long.

In the NFL, people always talk about the "West Coast Offense". Somehow, I think that the Angels should stake a claim to that label in the baseball world.

Tim Tschida, one of the umpires who worked the Series, went to a high school called Cretin-Derham Hall. So for all of you who have always harbored the thought that the umpire was a cretin…

So Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gherig's record was the most memorable moment in baseball, right? Then how come Lou Gehrig's setting the record did not finish second? We have heard lots of bleating that baseball is losing a generation of fans because games start too late - on the East coast that may be true, but in California… Anyhow, if that is really true, how did Cal Ripken get voted as the most memorable moment in baseball? I actually saw the Don Larsen perfect game on TV; I was sick and stayed home from school that day. I heard Bobby Thompson's home run on the radio. In my sentient tenure on the planet, that has to be the choice I would have to make regarding baseball's most memorable moment. As wonderful as Ripken's streak was and as big a "feelgood moment" as he provided in his lap around the park, its status as the #1 moment in baseball history is merely a monument to the age group that voted most often.

Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle had the following observation about this voting travesty:

"And in MasterCard- sponsored voting for most memorable South Africans, Nelson Mandela finishes third behind Nick Price and Dave Matthews."

I'm waiting for the FOX Virtual Manager to ask the following question:

Have you had enough of the nonsense that is the FOX Virtual Manager?

Can you tell me who is making the lenses that are used on the TV cameras in the World Series? If the Pentagon had these things on their spy satellites, they'd not only be able to find Osama bin Laden hiding in some mountain cave, they'd be able to tell what he is eating for breakfast. I swear that dermatologists all over the United States have been diagnosing the skin condition of the players and managers on these teams. If you have HD television, you can probably tell which ones used an exfoliant in the shower before the game…

Have you had enough of the family moments on the dugouts? If there isn't a rule about having your kids in the dugouts, there ought to be one enacted today. Dusty Baker had the audacity to say that his son was "tired of being in the papers". Dusty Baker is probably a nice man, but if he wants his kid to stay out of the papers, then all he has to do is leave the kid at home or in the stands somewhere with his Mom. Enough already.

If Dusty Baker is kicked out of SF for not getting along with the Giants' owner, one rumor has Jim Fregosi as his replacement. Talk about the Great Leap Backwards.

Remember all the brouhaha about José Canseco writing an exposé about all the miscreants in baseball who were using steroids and doing all manner of other nefarious things? I have a question for you. If there were really such a book to be written, wouldn't you want to have it get a boost from the publicity windmill right around the time when the World Series is on so that you can get a push from all the supposed controversy that it will cause? Either José doesn't have much of a story to tell or the "ghost writer" developed "ghost writers' block". You make the call…

Art Howe will go from the low budget overachieving Oakland A's to the big budget underachieving Mets. Howe is probably a wonderful man and so I hope that he has a good financial advisor handling the money he will be making because he is going to earn every last cent of it - and this job just may make him less desirable once he gets fired.

The A's hired Ken Macha to replace Howe. Now what they need to do is to have the Village People come to Opening Day next year and sing "Macha, Macha Man…"

Buck Showalter's hiring by the Rangers is a good thing as far as I'm concerned since that means that he will no longer inhabit my TV set on a regular basis. If he can win with the Rangers, good for him and them. If not, I hope that his next job has nothing to do with him invading my living room on a regular basis.

While I'm at the business of commenting on things that I don't talk about very often, let me also mention a great remark on the NHL form Bill Simmons on ESPN.com:

"My favorite NHL Division is the Southeast: Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina and Atlanta. Lotta history there."

And since he brought up Atlanta, I notice that the Thrashers are stinking out the joint once again and attendance has already begun to sink down toward the 13,000 level. The GM there said that he would "evaluate" the team and the coach after 10-12 games of the season. They are giving up about 5 goals a game; they are already virtually eliminated from the playoffs; attendance is circling the drain; so let me offer him an "evaluation":

The league has it wrong. Your team is not the Thrashers; the other teams in the league are the thrashers. You are the Thrashees.

A note about athletes doing something right: Christian Laettner and Grant Hill each donated $50K to St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City because the school is having financial problems and may have to close. Their Duke teammate Bobby Hurley went there and Hurley's father is the longtime basketball coach there. Neither was asked for a donation but went to the hip - so to speak - when they learned of the financial problems there. Some big time athletes get it.

Finally, I am a big fan of crossword puzzles and Blackie Sherrod offered this closing item in his column yesterday in the Dallas Morning News: "And then there was the crossword nut who died and was buried six down and four across." But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

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