You can read through the final chapter in today's Daily News of Jon Secrist's journey to St. Paul, and back home via Amtrak, after he tried to catch on as a 53-year-old knuckleball pitcher. It kind of ties up the five journal entries he submitted for us between taking off on the trip April 17 and finding out he'd been cut on May 5.
Here are the links again to those blog entries again (which include many links to stories done on him during those 18 days):
May 5: "The saga's over"
April 30: "I could have gone nine innings I felt so strong"
April 25: "I got by the first hurdle"
April 24: "I'm in a curious spot"
April 17: "It could be five days or five months"

Sean Aronson, the St. Paul Saints' radio play-by-play man, had this to say about Secrist's time with the team:

"I spoke to Jon about how he felt he was fitting in with everyone and he told me most of the guys seemed to accept it. I'm sure there were a few guys that never got on board because there were a few guys coming into camp that were fighting for jobs and they didn't want to lose out to Jon. They all treated him well, with a lot of respect and when there were team functions at night there didn't seem to be any awkwardness.

"It's funny you hear a lot of people talk about their hey day when they played in high school or college and how they still play against professionals. The thing people don't realize is there is much more to pitching than throwing a baseball. You have to be able to hold runners on, field your position, cover first base and ultimately I think this is what cost Jon his opportunity. I'm not saying he couldn't have gotten better as the season went along, but I'm sure it was a factor in George's decision. For the most part, Jon pitched well and his knuckleball danced. He gave up one homer, but it was to a guy who hit 21 bombs last season, so he isn't the first guy to give up a homer to him.

"All-in-all I have the utmost respect for Jon and he has proven if you have a dream, then go after it."

And, to end it, the Howard Jones' song, "No One Is To Blame":

Posted at 6:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jeanne Zelasko said she's spending Mother's Day today taking both her mom and mother-in-law to see the play "Wicked."
"Is that a bad idea?" she asked, wondering about the name of the play and the connotations it might have.
Anything you do with your mom on Mother's Day is good, no matter what the spectator event.
Not to say this Mother's Day is any more special than others, but the fact that Zelasko says she's cancer-free after treament on her thyroid -- the Fox network reporter/anchor was operated on in early January after doing a bowl game, and then had to endure some radiation treatment to kill the rest of it off -- makes this one she's much more wanting to share with others.
"I know it's 'my day,' but this Sunday ... and quite honestly every day since my diagnosis ... it's about everyone else that has enriched my life," she said. "I remain greatful to God that my mother's work on earth apparently is not done. I remain greatful to God for all the wonderful people in this mother's life. Most especially, my husband (Curt Sandoval, the KABC Channel 7 sportscaster) who, by the way, gets the assist for my actually getting the roll of mother, and my two incredibly wonderful children (Trevor, 10, and Isabela, 2) who have defined that roll and really put everything into perspective. They are my gifts. Do I really need more?"
Some flowers would be nice.

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There's something going on between soon-to-be former one-n-done USC basketball player O.J. Mayo and an event promoter named Rodney Guillory. And ESPN's on the case.

During Sunday's "Outside the Lines" (6:30 a.m., ESPN; 9 a.m., ESPNEWS), reporter Kelly Naqi is to reveal the results of an investigation that took her four months to figure out about their relationship, according to an ESPN press release.

They say Naqi has a series of exclusive interviews with "a former member of Mayo's inner circle who says he served as a trusted advisor to Mayo" and now apparently needs to talk.

We've read plenty of stuff about how Gillory was Mayo's go-between to USC when he was deciding which school to attend, and there's a lot of dirt on him, and Mayo's mother doesn't trust the guy.

Will this bring down the Trojans' basketball program like the pending Reggie Bush situation will bring down the Trojans' football program?

In addition to the TV stuff, ESPN.com says it will post video and a written version of Naqi's report on Sunday morning.

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The marketing tie-ins were too good to pass up.
United Parcel Service said Friday it has signed an agreement with jockey Kent Desormeaux and the owners of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown.
The shipping giant was actually influencial in the naming of the horse -- former minority owner Paul Pompa Jr. decided to name the horse in the company's honor since it was a client of his trucking business. Pompa sold a 75 percent interest in the colt to IFAH Stable for about $3 million after his first race.
The deal calls for the company logo to be the sole corporate sponsor logo on Desormeaux's racing pants during the Preakness Stakes on May 17 and the Belmont Stakes three weeks later. The jockey also will don a UPS cap after the races.
The risk, of course, is if Big Brown goes the way of ... well, let's just not talk about it.

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If you happen to be in the Santa Clarita area Saturday, stop by the Feed The Children project that former NBA star and curent TNT analyst Kenny Smith is helping to organize to provide 400 families in the area with boxes of food and personal-care items.

Smith, a Valencia resident, will be at the parking lot across from the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry (24133 Railroad Ave.) at noon with his daughter Kayla, son Kenny Jr., and students from Valencia High.

"We are so grateful for Kenny Smith and his family," said Larry Jones, president and founder of Feed The Children. "Four hundred Santa Clarita families will receive food because of this generous gift of kindness."

Founded in 1979 by Larry and Frances Jones, Feed The Children is an international charity based on private, non-government support. Feed The Children is a Christian, international, nonprofit relief organization with headquarters in Oklahoma City.

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Until technical issues are resolved today, here's the media column and notes from today's Daily News/Daily Breeze:

Whatever it is about Pau Gasol that Lakers fans don't know yet, Hubie Brown can help fill in the gaps.

"He's an interesting dude," says the ESPN / ABC NBA analyst with a chuckle.

For parts of three seasons, covering about 200 games, Brown was Gasol's coach with the Memphis Grizzlies - those formative years when the Spanish star barely out of his late teens was trying to figure out this NBA style of play, thrust into a role to carry the hopes of a young team that Jerry West was trying to mold as the general manager.

Brown, working with Mike Tirico on the Lakers-Utah series Game 3 tonight on ESPN (6 p.m.) and Game 4 on Sunday on ABC (12:30 p.m., Channel 7), is personally interested to see how far the gangling 7-footer who thought he had a better future as a doctor has come along to be an integral part of a championship-caliber team.

Continue reading "Missing media 05.09.08" »

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Even more from ESPN/ABC analyst Hubie Brown , following his assessment of the Lakers' Pau Gasol in today's media column, with some more paragraphs to drool over:

==Brown, on how Gasol was in his early years of the NBA when he coached him at Memphis:

"When we coached him in '03 and '04, one of the first things we tried to change was his strength. He started working out more with the weight guys. He was also extremely bright, and no one laughed when he talked about being a doctor when this was all over. Naturally, you can be impressed by his parents (both in the medical profession in Spain, and both played second-division basketball) and they're wonderful people."

==On the impact he's made with the Lakers:

"Everyone talks about how this is the first time he's played with a player like Kobe. Forget that. This is the first time he's been with a power forward as good as Lamar Odom. They compliment one another. You're seeing that in this (Utah) series, no one player can guard Kobe. Or Pau. So Odom's points and assists are up. Odom has to be played man-to-man because everyone else doubleteams Kobe and Pau. What makes it more dangerous is they're all three excellent passers, at the top of the list in the league at their positions. It makes it easy to stay in the flow especially when each can beat their men off the dribble
"The only guys I've ever seen able to guard Pau man-on-man was Kevin Garnett and Karl Malone, otherwise you've got to double him. He can score with either hand, and dribble with either hand."

==On what parts of Gasol's game that he can improve upon:

"You always want to go with more strength, and shoot a higher percentage at the foul line. He'll struggle with that at times. But as far as jumpshooting, his range, finishing with either hand, with his back to the basket ... he's got all that stuff to go right now."

Continue reading "Dribbling out more media slobber" »

Posted at 1:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If the Boston Red Sox fans can forgive Bill Buckner, the Shrine of the Eternals is ready to open it's arms to him as well.

The star-crossed first baseman, remembered through Red Sox Nation for having a grounder go through his legs that allowed the New York Mets to win Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, was one of three named to the 2008 class of electees to the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals on Thursday.

Former Negro Leaguer Buck O'Neil and former big-league umpire Emmett Ashford also received enough votes to be inducted into what's been called the People's Baseball Hall of Fame, based in Pasadena.

The three will be inducted in ceremonies at the Pasadena Central Library on Sunday, July 20 by the Baseball Reliquary.

Of the 50 eligible candidates, Reliquary director Terry Cannon said that O'Neil received the highest voting percentage -- he was named on 53 percent of the ballots, which ties him with Bill "Spaceman" Lee for the highest percentage since the Shrine elections began in 1999.

Ashford (31 percent) and Buckner (29 percent) edged Casey Stengel (28 percent), Dizzy Dean and Don Zimmer (25 percent), Effa Manley (24 percent) and Steve Dalkowski (23 percent).

Posted at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A side trip over to the E! Channel on Friday night will provide a couple hours of supposed entertainment concerning .... cheerleading.

What may be seen as a wholesome activity is suddenly turned into a nightmare as the "stunts get more complex, injuries and other disastrous consequences often result" like eating disorders, intense pressure to succeed and " according to the press release issued by the channel for "THS Investigates: Cheerleading" (8 p.m.)

"Financially, an average year can run on a low side maybe about four thousand dollars, on the upside of about 20 thousand dollars," says Jennifer House, a mother of one Ohio cheerleader.

Says Ashley Picard, a college cheerleader who suffered eating disorder: "There's a lot of skeletons in the closet in the sport of cheerleading. You know, along with being able to wear the makeup and the hair and the short little skirts, there comes a pressure of, you know, being considered attractive and being thin."

Posted at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Esteemed NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller actually sees some of himself in PGA Tour sophomore Anthony Kim. Which really can't be all that bad a thing.

"He's quite a good chipper and a great ball-striker, very aggressive, but with his putting, he had three or four chances to win in the past and didn't take it," Miller, the 1973 U.S. Open and '76 British Open champ who collected 25 PGA titles during his career, said of the 22-year-old Kim, who grew up in Studio City and comes into The Players Championship this weekend fresh off winning his first PGA event, the Wachovia Championship, by five shots.

"Last week, he was putting his brains out," Miller continued. "Whe he can put that package together, it's enough to win by several shots, which he did.

"The thing I see in his game that reminds me of mine is I see him inconsistent maybe with his makeup and his aggressiveness. But he's shown he can actually blow away a field, which is a good sign and that's how he can win two or three times a year with that approach. He could be the next great young player with Adam Scott."

Miller, a World Golf Hall of Famer who joined the PGA Tour in '69 at the age of 22 but didn't win his first title until '71, gets another first-hand view of Kim, a PGA rookie last year, as he tries to stay dry at TPC Sawgrass. Miller has his 18th tower spot for NBC's 10 hours on Saturday and Sunday (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day) after the network produces the Golf Channel coverage today (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and Friday.

Continue reading "Johnny Miller on Anthony Kim: I see me" »

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(AP/Kevork Djansezian)
Jack Nicholson has the shirt that James L. Brooks wants at Wednesday's Lakers-Jazz playoff game.

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The Dallas Cowboys have plans to scoot on back to Oxnard this summer for training camp, and with them will include about 24 extra members of NFL Films to revive the HBO series "Hard Knocks."

The Cowboys, who last year trained in San Antonio, are scheduled to come back to Oxnard in late July, where HBO will generate what it calls a five episode "cinema verité series" that focuses on the daily lives and routines of players and coaches.

Owner Jerry Jones, coach-to-be-soon-replaced Wade Phillips, stars like Tono Romo, Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones (maybe) and perhaps a visit from Jessica Simpson would seem to bring enough interest for HBO to commit to some 700 hours of taping and quick turn around to keep the reality show fresh each week.

"HBO's ability to develop sports and entertainment franchises is unmatched in television," Jones, who heads the NFL's TV committee, said in a press release. "They commit the resources to do it the right way, and they know how to effectively reach sports fans. This is an opportunity for the Cowboys to bring millions of our fans closer to our team and the training camp experience."

The series starts Wednesday, Aug. 6 and goes through Sept. 3.

This will be the fifth time HBO has done the "Hard Knocks" series, going back to the first time in 2001 to focus on the Baltimore Ravens the year after they won the Super Bowl. In 2002, the Cowboys were the featured team, under Dave Campo. That team ended up going 5-11 in the regular season. The series resumed last year to follow the Kansas City Chiefs.

"It's the most challenging, high-profile project of the year for NFL Films," said NFL Films president Steve Sabol. "There is no shooting script, no structure, no format. The storylines change weekly. For NFL Films, it is a six-week-long audible."

Hey, how 'bout something with Jerry taking the famed Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders to get some plastic surgery touchups at a private Beverly Hills salon during a break in practice? The storylines are endless.

Posted at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kobe Bryant's name is barely etched on the 2007-08 NBA regular-season MVP trophy, which probably means the transfer is still warm on these yellow T-shirts that people will be grabbing up to buy around town and the Team L.A. Store at Staples Center prior to Wednesday's Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Today, the Kobe MVP T-shirt made its debut for $19.95 on the NBA Store site (Item No. 3120314, if they need to restock). Can't find it yet on the Team L.A. Store site, unless you're looking for some other kinda goofy Kobe apparel that says nothing about MVP on it but is still celebrating his 81-point game ... when was it, a couple years ago now? Ask Joel Meyers.

This new MVP shirt replaces the one that Adidas put out in recent months -- and the NBA Store apparently stopped selling, but is still available on Amazon.com.

And this is much different than what's been selling on eBay from a shop in, no less, Denver. Or this other one from something called Zazzle that's far more understated.

Posted at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Associated Press/Petr David Josek)

By BRADLEY BROOKS
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD -- The weight of the 9-iron felt just right. My first swing off the first tee was smooth and the ball sailed straight and true.

For a brief moment I forgot where I was. Then I gazed down the fairway -- actually just a few clumps of grass, scrub brush and plenty of rocks.

This is golf, Green Zone style.

One recent afternoon -- squeezed in between sandstorms and incoming mortar rounds -- a colleague and I hit the links. We dubbed it the Baghdad Open.

But there's nothing really open about it. The nine-hole Crossed Swords Golf Course is closed in by 15-foot concrete blast walls and watched over by humorless Gurkha guards from Nepal.

Black Hawk helicopters buzzed overhead. Bursts of gunfire interrupted backswings. The threat of incoming rockets and mortars was ever present.

The course -- a total of 479 rugged, dusty and nerve-fraying yards -- was created a year ago by a British military officer who was part of a NATO training mission. Its name comes from one of Saddam Hussein's eccentric architectural legacies that's now a Green Zone landmark: two giant hands holding curved sabers that served as an archway for the late dictator's parade grounds.

Continue reading "The Baghdad Open, with real bunkers" »

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You may stumble upon the Dodgers' schedule on their website and note the opponent later this month on May 22 is ...

The same opponent that the Washington Nationals have on May 22.

And the San Francisco Giants ...

Which is the same opponent -- sort of -- that the Angels face on May 22.

Which is the same opponent that every MLB team has on their calendar for May 22.

Remember when they wanted to put the Spider-Man logo on all the bases when that movie came out a couple of years ago? Welcome to the digital age of advertising. You know have another reminder about what move is coming out that day.

Posted at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was probably more than just one lousy inning in an exhibition game this morning, but the fact that the St. Paul Saints have decided that 53-year-old knuckleball pitcher Jon Secrist's dream of making the team has ended doesn't make it any easier for him to take.
"The saga's over," the Westlake Village resident out of Monroe High said just hours after Saints manager George Tsamis called him into his office and told him he wasn't going to make the opening day roster as it works toward the start of season Thursday.
Secrist was trying to rejoin the team that gave him a cup of coffee nine years ago, when he was 44. He was the oldest rookie in pro baseball back then, and would have been again had he made the roster.
In an 8-8 tie against the Winnipeg Goldeyes before 3,637 at Midway Stadium, Secrist came in to start the fifth inning and gave up three runs, walked two and surrendered two hits while striking out two. A home run by Goldeyes shortstop Brent Metheny, who had hit a two-run homer earlier in the game, is what Secrist thinks did him in.
"Jon did a good job here," said Tsamis, who got his roster down to 21 players, including eight pitchers and three more pitchers on the inactive roster. "He fit in well and worked hard. We wish him the best of luck."
Secrist ended up pitching in two exhibition games, three innings total, giving up four earned runs.
In 1999, Secrist pitched in two regular-season games for the Saints and was 0-1 with a 9.34 ERA in two games.
Sean Aronson, the Saints' radio play-by-play man, tried to put Secrist's time with Saints in their training camp into perspective: "A lot of guys pay $4,000 to go to Florida and play in a fantasy camp, but for Jon, I think he got to do all this and it didn't cost him a thing. It's unfortunately that he didn't make the team. He was a great guy to have around."

Here's Secrist account of what happened today:

Continue reading "The Jon Secrist Diary: No. 5: "The saga's over"" »

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