By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave after paying $100 for a couple of turkey breasts and holding back from giving the store manager the bird. Whatever happened to turkey for ten cents a pound? Yeah, I know. Get off my lawn.
—Qualified members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (ten years as members) soon will mark their ballots for the 2022 Hall of Fame class.
And it is significant. Four players from the PED era are on the ballot for the tenth and final time — Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa.
If a player isn’t elected after 10 years on the ballot, his name disappears. After five more years, he can be considered by a veterans committee.
Schilling, the pitcher famous for bloody socks, is on the ballot against his request.
After he fell 16 votes short of enshrinement last year on his ninth try, he made a formal request to not have his name on this year’s ballot.
“I will not participate in the final year of voting,” he wrote. “I am requesting to be removed from the ballot. I’ll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player. I don’t think I’m a hall of famer as I’ve often stated, but if former players think I am then I’ll accept that with honor.”
The Hall of Fame denied Schilling’s whiney request and he will be on the ballot. What he must not realize is that in addition to former players on the veterans committee, there also are writers and team executives.
It shall be interesting to see how the voting turns out for Schilling, Bonds, Clemens and Sosa in their last hurrah, and how many writers hold out against them for their alleged dabbling in PEDs.
And another PED guy, Alex Rodriguez, appears on the ballot for the first time.
—QUOTE: From former New York Yankees pitcher Goose Gossage on PED users: “I saw guys go from Barney Fife to Lou Ferrigno from one season to the next. It made me sick. It made me sick for Roger Maris, sick for all the guys who set the records that fell. Just sick.”
—While Joe Mixon of the Cincinnati Bengals is an outstanding running back, he may be only the third best in Ohio behind Cleveland’s Nick Chubb and, uh, Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson.
A final judgement on this one will be made when we see how Henderson does against TTUN (-ichigan) this week.
—Top Ten Ohio Quarterbacks: 1. C. J. Stroud, Ohio State, 2. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals, 3. Desmond Ridder, University of Cincinnati, 4. D’Angelo Fulford, Mount Union, 5. Dustin Crum, Kent State, 6. Brett Gabbert, Miami (O.) University, 7. Zach Gibson, Akron, 8. Jack Cook, University of Dayton.
There is no nine or ten, but Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield doesn’t make my Top Ten, unless he beats the Ravens in Baltimore this week, if he plays.
—From Stanley Jackson, former Ohio State quarterback and Big 10 TV analyst, talking about current Buckeye defensive tackle Haskell Garrett during University of Michigan week:
“The guy is a hero. He broke up a domestic violence fight and took a bullet in the face. How is Michigan gonna stop him? Bullets don’t stop him.”
—It must be something in the Great Miami River affecting the local college basketball teams, UD and Wright State.
First, UD loses three straight home games to non-descript mid-major teams.
Then Wright State goes to the Naples (Fla.) Invitational. In the first round, the Raiders face George Washington, picked to finish 13th in the 14-team Atlantic 10 (Dayton’s conference). George Washington had lost four straight, the last three by double digits. And one was to UMass Lowell, one of the three teams to whip Dayton at UD Arena.
Need you read on? George Washington throttled Wright State. 74-63.
Loudon Love, where are you?
—What is it with all the college football teams that schedule ‘cupcake games’ in week 12.
What is Texas A&M doing playing Prairie View A&M (52-3)? What is Georgia doing playing Charleston Southern (56-7)? What is Mississippi State doing playing Tennessee State (55-10)?What is North Carolina doing playing Wofford (34-14)? What is Tennessee doing playing South Alabama (60-14)?
And finally, what is Ohio State doing playing Michigan State (56-7)? MSU recently signed coach Mel Tucker to a 10-year $96 million contract and his team trailed the Buckeyes at halftime, 49-0.
Meanwhile, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who was given a five-year $21 million extension, is 0-and-5 against Ohio State. If they subtract $5 million from the deal every time he loses to OH-IO, he’ll be broke at the end of the contract.
On Saturday, it will be 3,654 days since Michigan beat Ohio State. After Saturday you can tack on another 365 days.
—QUOTE: From Ohio State wide receiver Chris Olave on how the Buckeyes feel about Michigan: “It’s a 365 days happening at the facility, our hatred for them.” (If you think that’s bulletin board material, well, it has been how both schools feel about each other since former OSU coach Francis Schmidt first inflated a football.)