You Make the Call

June 26th, 2009 | by Ray Flowers |

This title is though provoking (I hope), but the truth is I’m going to give you my calls on some of the biggest issues of the past couple of days. Hopefully you’ll agree with my thoughts. Everyone is entitled to their opinion – as long as it agrees with mine.

Moron of the Week?
Jeff Bennett wins the moron of the week honors, quite the accomplishment in this day and age of often lax behavior. The Braves reliever will have to undergo surgery on his hand after punching a door out of frustration after a poor outing on Wednesday. “I’m ashamed of myself. This is a professional sport; you handle yourself in a professional manner. I didn’t do that.” At least he was smart enough to punch the door with his non-pitching hand. Still, I think it would be more helpful to do what I do when I’m angry or frustrated – I head to my kitchen, crack open the rum bottle, add a dash of pineapple juice, and one of those little umbrella’s if I have one handy, and pull back on the hooch. Works for me.

Worst Timing of the Week?
Xavier Nady’s season is over after it was learned that he will need to undergo TJ surgery on his elbow. He tried valiantly to come back, but after his most recent set back in the minors the decision was made to go under the knife. This comes at a terrible time for Nady who is a free agent at the end of the season. As a result, Nady will be leaving untold millions on the field as he will be forced to sign a short-term deal to prove his worth hitting after .305-25-97 last season in a year split between the Pirates and the Yankees. TJ surgery usually takes about 12-18 months of recovery time for pitchers, but being an outfielder Nady might be able to shorten that time frame to the lower end of the estimate, especially if he can find a club that will let him DH. Still, we may not see him until the All-Start break of 2010.

Moron of the Week Number Two?
I wrote an IMPACT REPORT on Milton Bradley early Friday in which I pointed out that he really isn’t as good a player as most people think he is. I also mentioned his somewhat frequent tirades and suspensions. Well, turns out Bradley must have wanted us all to focus on his often asinine behavior as reports from the Cubs game on Friday say that the struggling outfielder threw his helmet and smashed a water cooler our of frustration in the dugout. As a result, he was removed from the game in the sixth inning. However, after the game manager Lou Pinella stated that he was planning on starting Bradley on Saturday. This brings up the following question – is Bradley or Pinella the moron here?

A Victory of Historic Proportions?

For those of you who think I’m not well-rounded, here is some news from “the pitch” – the fancy name given to the soccer field.

For those of you who missed it, Team USA just pulled of their greatest victory in the history of soccer in this country (some have compared it to the ice hockey victory of Team USA over Russia in the “Miracle on Ice” game in 1980). The club defeated the #1 team in the world, the squad from Spain, 2-0 to move into the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup Finals against Brazil.

This is the first FIFA tournament finals that the Americans have ever reached. Play started in 1916.

This is the first loss for Spain in 35 games, a mark which tied the all-time record in international play held by Brazil.

Wave your flags folks- USA, USA, USA.

Moron of the Week Number Three?
Sidney Ponson was slated to start on Saturday for the Royals, but that won’t happen now as the club has decided to go with Bruce Chen instead. We don’t know what the reason for the switch is at the moment, but could it have something to do with the fact that Ponson has been banned for two years from international competition after testing positive for a stimulant while participating in the World Baseball Classic? Regardless, Ponson won’t have his ability to earn a living affected given that the suspension has no bearing on his major league status. “It was a prescribed medication, dietary supplement,” Royals manager Trey Hillman said. “He informed all interested parties that he was taking it and it still got flagged.” What happened to the good old days when if you wanted to lose weight you just exercised and ate better? Get it through your heads morons – STOP TAKING SUPPLEMENTS. Jeez. How many times does someone need to get popped before they take that simple statement to hear?

I’m still trying to figure out though if Ponson should have been the lead story in this section or not since Geovany Soto was also banned from international play for two years after testing positive for blazing up a blunt. For those of you who live as straight life and don’t get that reference Soto was suspended because he tested positive for marijuana. Could it be that Ponson needed the dietary supplement to keep his appetite down while he was under the influence of an herb? Of course that’s pure speculation on my part.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Burce Chen, Geovany Soto, Jeff Bennett, Sidney Ponson, Xavier Nady