The first matchup of the season between Post 22 and Post 320 comes in the championship round of the South Dakota American Legion State Baseball Tournament.
Follow the action pitch by pitch and talk with Journal reporter Padraic Duffy as he covers the game live from Fitzgerald’s pressbox.
Now it’s David Ortiz, the lovable Dominican slugger who helped the Red Sox break an 86-year World Series drought, who has joined the likes of A-Rod, Manny, Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, Caminiti, Clemens, etc., whose reputations have been tainted in the performance-enhancing drug era of Major League Baseball.
While watching Ricky Henderson and Jim Rice get inducted in the Baseball HOF recently I started to wonder: Will anybody who played in the 90s and 00s get into Cooperstown?
- Padraic
I was camping in the eastern part of the state this week when the news broke.
A cheer went up from my wife’s family, a group of long-suffering Minnesota Vikings fans, seated around the campfire during breakfast.
The report came over the radio that Brett Favre had finally decided to stay retired and not make Comeback 2.0 (or 3.0, I’ve lost count) with the Vikes.
This pleases most of all my father-in-law, who has just about worn out the purple Nerf brick that you’re supposed to toss at the TV when the Vikings play badly, which is apparently most of the time, in Bob’s opinion.
He had threatened to move his allegiance to another team, or shut it down entirely if Favre had taken the field in a purple No. 4 Vikings jersey. I had visions of Bob exchanging the foam brick for a real one.
So while Minnesota casts its still-iffy QB lot with either Tavares Jackson or Sage Rosenfels under center, they may have kept a few fans on board with Favre’s decision. And certainly his call maintained some family unity for us close to home. That’s a good thing.
–Jim Holland–
I had a chance to cover my first Little League baseball game on Tuesday and let me tell you the hometown kids couldn’t have done more to impress me.
First, the grand slam that proved to be the winning runs. I don’t care what level you are playing it is always an awesome sight to see a granny.
There are always things that can be worked on at that level, but in sports where so many things are overdone the one thing that I think holds true is that nothing is more fun then watching kids play the game for the love of it.
Good luck to whichever team makes it to regionals. You make us all proud.
Jeff
Listening to ESPN Radio (As I always do when I am out driving my wife to work), I heard the most interesting topic. Doug Gottlieb was hosting the first Sports Movie Character Fantasy Draft.
I got a good laugh out of this, and the radio show’s Web site has a list of 30 sports movie characters to rank.
Here is the link:
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/rank?versionId=1&listId=335
And here is my list:
1.Rocky Balboa
2.Happy Gilmore
3.Bobby Boucher
4.Paul Crewe
5.Rick Vaughn
6.Ivan Drago
7.Kelly Leak
8.Benny ”The Jet”
9.Norman Dale
10.Herman Boone
11.White Goodman
12.Clubber Lang
13.Cole Trickle
14.Carl Spackler
15.Shuttlesworth
16.Ty Webb
17.Jimmy Dugan
18.Roy Hobbs
19.Forrest Gump
20.Shooter McGavin
21.”Steamin”’ Beamen
22.Roy Munson
23.Rod Tidwell
24.Apollo Creed
25.Crash Davis
26.”Nuke” LaLoosh
27.Roy McAvoy
28.”The Dude”
29.”Reg” Dunlop
30.The Hanson brothers
How does yours compare? There is a link to the national vote on the site.
- Russo
The Little League season in Rapid City is winding to a close with the ND/SD District 1 Little League Tournament drawing to a conclusion.
Anyone who played Little League Baseball probably has fond memories of their time playing the game, myself included. Hopefully, the kids that are out there competing right now, are also developing memories that will last a lifetime.
Andrew
Talking with new South Dakota Mines AD Dick Kaiser I realized rather quickly that the college is serious about looking into moving to the Division II level. Will it happen? Maybe or maybe not.
One thing I can promise you from talking to him is this will not be a Brett Favre-like decision. They are not going to string this out forever. They will take their time, weigh all of the options and then do what is best for Mines.
There will be plenty of hurdles to clear, but maybe the biggest one is this question: Can Mines be competitive at the Division II level?
What do you think?
Jeff
Since Michael Vick is dominating the national sports news right now, maybe I should ask the general public about its opinion in the matter.
Case for reinstatement:
Vick, if he returns to football shape (big if), can still wow fans. Football is his business, and do you really think he is a danger on the football field? Vick has served his debt to society in his more than 20 months in federal custody. Why should he be punished any further than the extent of the law?
And he served his debt during the prime of his athletic career. Despite losing millions, he has also lost time and earning potential. Ask any athlete past the age of 33 if they would like two years of their late 20s back. If reinstated, Vick would be better able to pay his creditors. Vick could also serve as an ambassador against animal cruelty. There is no greater platform.
The United States is the land of second chances. Why not give the man a chance to redeem himself? Others have been given that chance in this country that gives out harsher punishments for stealing a car than $1 million.
Case against reinstatement:
What he did to his dogs is enough for many people to never see him in the NFL again. But since we pretty much all think that what he did to the dogs was heinous (I sure hope so. If it isn’t in your case, you better re-examine yourself), lets move forward.
Vick had his chance at a prolific career, but he squandered it. Think of the many athletes that are struggling to make an NFL roster, and then think of Vick, who made millions and squandered it. Not only did he get convicted of dogfighting charges, he initially lied to the NFL commissioner and the league.
Vick is a felon, which means that he cannot even vote. The NFL can choose against hiring felons just like many major companies do. There is a message here for young athletes as well: If you get convicted of a felony, you can still play in the NFL. Dangerous precedents here.
Which side do you fall on?
- Russo
Gotta love post-season tournament time. Unless you’re Rapid City Post 320, which suffered a 9-2 stunner at the hands of Pierre Post 8 in the opening game of the American Legion Baseball Region 3A tournament in Spearfish on Wednesday. Now the Stars must rebound against Sturgis, a team they’ve lost to this season, in a loser-out game Thursday afternoon (320 was 4-0 against Pierre). Rapid City would have to win again on Thursday, but still has but one mulligan left to advance to the state ALB tourney at Fitzgerald Stadium. The Stars can still go with a runner-up region finish.
The eight-team state tourney field is made up of the top two teams from the three Class A regions, the host team (Rapid City Post 22) and the State B champion.
–Jim H.–
The resigning of Jon Pelle by the Rapid City Rush shows just how big of an emphasis the team is putting on bring in offense for season No. 2.
Of the six players the team has signed so far this season four of them are forwards and they are all offensive-minded forwards. The Rush looks like it is serious about making the playoffs next season.
Not only is Pelle smart — hello Ivy League — but he can score and he is a good team player that is good for the lockerroom as well.
The Rush look to be a good young team heading into their second season. Hopefully the wins and goals will pile up next season.
Jeff