Posts by Eamonn Brennan at FanHouse

The Four-Letter's $3 million a year poaching, Rick Reilly, subbed for Tony Kornheiser on PTI yesterday, via satellite from Denver with Michael Wilbon in-studio in D.C., and parroted what I'm fairly sure may be a common impulse among a certain segment of sportswriters regarding the current state of the baseball playoffs: he stated his preference for a Red Sox-Dodgers World Series, proclaiming the Tampa Bay Rays "bad for baseball."

At FanHouse, one man's trash is another man's treasure. But only the few raise to the level of Notable Moments in FanHouse Commenting.

It doesn't matter who the Cubs have of their roster, they will never win the World Series. They lose because they suck and so do their fans. In fact, the city of Chicago sucks also and so does that polluted lake they have. If you wanted to go to the center of the suckiness in universe, that would be in Chicago. I'm surprised that George Bush isn't from Chicago, cause he sucks as well.

''Dumbest thing I ever saw,'' he said Sunday of the fans' rallying tactic. ''Just annoying. Minor league.'' But the Sox' ''rolling blackout promotion'' for fans Sunday at U.S. Cellular Field? ''Whoever came up with that idea is a genius,'' Jenks said. ''It brings electricity to us and excites 25 players.''

But if it were up to Fukudome, would he have preferred to change planes in Los Angeles and continue westward for Tokyo? Does the Cubs' first high-profile Japanese import have the toughness to dig himself out of the hole he has fallen into? Will the Cubs give him the chance? One scout interviewed Saturday suggested a course of action that could be tough to swallow. "He has to go to the minors," the scout said. "He has to get rid of all those habits, pulling out on pitches, collapsing. He'll never hit the way he's hitting now, and this is a tough place to work out your problems. Always has been."

So what's the problem? This is an L.A. team being covered by a locally based outlet. What's wrong with a little hometown loyalty? Nothing, except a loss of credibility. Fans might love being fans, but they want to be informed fans. If they want inspiration, they'll go to a pep rally. If they want information, they go to the media.

But only if they think they'll get balanced analysis. Only if they think they can get an unbiased appraisal of their team. Telling us between gulps how great the Dodgers' chances are to raise the pennant doesn't result in much faith in the prognosis.

"I think the steroid testing has something to do with it," he said. "If there were any guys who were taking it, they're not taking it anymore. I'd say it's a small percentage, but of course it's going to have an impact."

There's nothing harmless in "hazing", so long as it doesn't turn into capital H, high-school-football-team-with-broomhandles Hazing. While that sort of stuff might still happen in small places among youth athletes, one doubts it ever happens among the pros. One hopes not, anyway.

But even among professional hazing, the Marlins version -- as seen above -- is especially friendly. A few funny costumes, like the Burger King dude, Captain America, and so on, and some wandering around on busy city streets. That barely qualifies as hazing.

Maybe it's just because everybody on the Marlins is so young. Technically, everyone's kind of a rookie. Who hazes the hazers?

There were literally 19 pairs of eyes transfixed on the screen as almost all other business in the clubhouse was put on hold. The players, most of whom have seen the movie dozen and dozens of times, knew all the dialog and talked along with each of the characters. Catcher Jamie Burke estimated he'd probably seen the movie 250 times, and said it and Bull Durham remain his two favorite baseball movies. Pitcher Jarrod Washburn, also one of those transfixed during the movie's finale said it was his favorite baseball movie, bar none.