TGIF everyone, here's my Top 5 for September 24, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* Seattle's Ichiro becomes the first player to ever record 10 consecutive 200 hit seasons. Can you say Hall of Fame?
* Toronto's Jose Bautista hit his 50th homer yesterday.
* The Giants nudged back into first place as Juan Uribe hit two homers in the 2nd inning, one of them a grand slam, in a 13-0 drubbing of the Cubs.
* Here's what Jets owner Woody Johnson said. Braylon Edwards has harmed his long term prospects in the NFL. Here's what he didn't say. "As for the short term? Hell, play him, don't bench him. We need a win."
* Reports have the Golden State Warriors replacing coach Don Nelson with assistant coach Keith Smart. Nelson is the winningest coach in NBA history.
* At the Tour Championship in Atlanta, Geoff Ogilvy, Luke Donald, and Paul Casey share the first round lead. It gives Casey a leg up to win the $10 million FedEx bonus.
2. I Don't Believe What I Just Saw
Should we be circumspect of the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista? He's never hit more than 16 homers in a season, and now he hits 50. Reminds fans of Brady Anderson, who hit 50 out of the blue for the Orioles in 1996, and never came close again. Because of Anderson's era, some critics suspected steroids. Should we suspect HGH or something else with Bautista? Maybe it's not fair. Maybe after what we've been through in baseball, it's more than fair.
3. Join The Club
Hey, if the Jets are going to be charged with stuff, why not their fans? The famous Fireman Ed, who leads the J-E-T-S cheers, has been charged with simple assault after shoving a Giants fan at a preseason game. Here's the video:
Seems ridiculous. There's rougher stuff in the NBA that doesn't get called.
4. Friday eMailbag
Subscriber R.S. thinks the new George Steinbrenner monument is a tad overdone. "I was shocked and disappointed at how huge the monument is. Was he really larger than Ruth, Mantle, etc? It is too tacky for the Yankees. It is the kind of monument Hussein or the African dictators like Idi Amin would build."
Editor's Note: Ouch.
Joining the fray over how important managers really are in baseball, D.S. opines, "I believe the proverbial monkey could manage the Yankees with their loaded lineup and they'd still make the playoffs virtually every season."
And when I wrote about the anniversary of the famous New York Sun editorial, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," J. S. wrote, "It reminded me of when I got in trouble from my parents for telling my brother that there was no such thing as the Tooth Fairy... but c'mon... he was 43 years old and a dentist! He had to be told..."
Editor's Note: Killjoy.
5. Spanning The World
We go into the archives for an oldie but goodie:
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame will honor Joe Starkey, the "forever" football voice of the California Golden Bears, in November. He had one of my favorite all time calls, "The Stanford Band Play," which I featured in my New York Times best selling book, The Greatest Moments in Sports.
If you listened to that call and didn't laugh, there's something wrong with you.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Happy Birthday: Former Pittsburgh Steeler and Coca Cola pitchman "Mean" Joe Greene. 64.
Bonus Birthday: Actress Nia "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" Vardalos. 48.
Today in Sports: Don Budge wins the U.S. Open at Forest Hills becoming the first man to win all four Grand Slam events. Rafael Nadal just became the 7th. 1938.
Bonus Event: Tick, tick. 60 Minutes makes its CBS Debut. 1968.
Tomorrow I'll be at Mendham Books in Mendham NJ at 2pm. Get your autographed copy of The 25 Greatest Baseball Players Of All Time.
Monday at 8AM I'll be live on The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Radio.