The Easy Out

It seems like Heisman Trophy Winner and supremely talented Florida State baseball player Jameis Winston has gotten himself into trouble again but players like him at major football factories like Florida State always never seem to pay for it. All over $32 worth of seafood from a Publix Supermarket. He said he "forgot" to pay for it. When the cops talked to him three hours later, he had made no effort to go back and pay for it or even make a phone call to the Publix in question. The statement that was supposedly released by Jameis Winston yesterday through Florida State University wasd a real pant load because I do not believe Mr. Winston wrote the first word of it or even read the first word of it before it was passed on to the press. It was written and prepared by FSU's Public Relations Department and I am guessing whoever wrote this is preparing for a career as a Presidential Speech Writer because it mastered apologetic double talk and it meant nothing. The baseball coach at least had the stones to suspend him from the baseball team but all Mr. Winston has to do is 20 hours of community service and it will all go away. I can guarantee these 20 hours will be well out of the public eye, he will not be picking up garbage by the side of the road, and they will be well taken care of by the time fall practice rolls around and probably the ACC Baseball Tournament as well. It is the easiest out he will ever have.

Playoffs And More Playoffs

If you like playoffs of any kind, this has to be your favorite time of year. You have the NBA and the NHL Playoffs going on at the same time. Most are pretty tightly contested series in both sports, but I am probably paying more attention to the NHL. There are not too many huge upsets in a seven game series in the NBA, but in the NHL, just about anything can happen. The St.Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks (the #2 seed vs. the #3 seed) have had an unbelievable series in which 4 of the 5 games have gone into Overtime. The Montreal Canadiens swept their series over the Tampa Bay Lightning and I think it would be good for the NHL to see Montreal go far in the playoffs. I am a Philadelphia Flyers fan but goaltending has always been their achilles heel and with Mason coming off an injury at the end of the season, I don't know if he can carry them to the Stanley Cup or not.

Pine Tar Incident #2

The New York Yankees and Pine Tar have had a strange place in baseball history with the most famous of those being the George Brett Pine Tar Incident on July 24, 1983. Who can ever forget an incensed George Brett charging out of the Kansas City Royals dugout with bad intentions after a homerun was disallowed because the pine tar was higher on his bat than the baseball rules allowed. New York Yankees Manager Billy Martin noticed the pine tar on his bat earlier in the game when he got a hold of one of George Brett's bats that landed near the Yankees dugout. He did not point it out to the umpires until he needed to use it. Martin was very shrewd like that. Last Wednesday night on April 23, Pitcher Michael Pineda of the New York Yankees had little control over his pitches in the first inning because of bad weather conditions in a game against the Boston Red Sox. In between innings, Pineda dabbed some pine tar on his neck to help him get a better grip on the baseball. He had done this pine tar thing before (it had also been against the Red Sox) but that time he had dabbed the pine tar on the heel of his hand and it wasn't as noticeable. On Wednesday night, he dabbed it on his neck and it was noticed by the Boston Red Sox, the ESPN cameras, and to most everyone watching it on TV. Even my girlfriend, a non-baseball fan, noticed it. Red Sox Manager John Farrell also caught it and brought the pine tar smear to the umpires attention. Pineda was ejected and received a 10 game suspension as a result. Pineda did not even try to deny it and will not appeal his suspension.