A muggy night in Delta Township.

It was a rainy night in mid-michigan. Then the rain stopped and it was damned muggy!! Ok not too muggy...Michigan muggy, not in-your-face, knock-you-on-your-ass Texas muggy...but muggy none the less. The muggy-ness means Spring is here and
that means baseball season. Looking forward to hitting a Lugnuts game this season. Minor league baseball is the best value there is in sports. The ticket prices are pretty good, concessions aren't horribly priced, and there is always some
crazy-ass promotion going on. Plus they have something that personally, I love and I think is underrated...fireworks. Maybe its just the big kid in me (yeah...like none of you knew that!) but I really love fireworks. Sitting back on a summer
night, the smell of grass in the air and looking up and watching the show overhead. It brings to mind a lyric from Boston.."like the shadows linger at the close of day"...nice. Coming soon will be a MLB preview from good friend Melissa Martinez who
is a fellow blogger and you can see her work at http://strangerthings.mlblogs.com

The onset of Spring also signals one of my all time favorite things, the NFL Draft. This year's NFL Draft has been changed up a bit. The NFL has decided to stretch out its annual Selection Meeting over 3 nights with round 1 being Thursday night,
rounds 2-3 Friday night and rounds 4-7 Saturday. I am guessing the move is to get some of the draft into primetime...not sure yet if I like it or not. Something about having a whole weekend of drafty goodness is appealing...this is a wait and see thing. But its 15 days away...woot! Or to quote Blog Queen, Carrie Damon...squee! I will be publishing a first round Mock Draft shortly before the NFL's 75th version of theirs.

Reading the USA Today earlier this week, I came across a story about the Iranian girls soccer team that was sent home from the Youth Olympic Games because they refused to remove their hijab scarves. The hijab is a traditional head covering worn
by Muslim women. Ok...now I have made my share of comments about Iran and their little Napoleon wannabe president...(I still say we can fix the whole US-Iran rift by challenging Ahmadinejad to a little 1-on-1 with Obama. Say what you will about our President, but the dude can hoop. Even Republicans would cheer for him if he was taking Mahmoud off the dribble.)..growing up during the Iran Hostage crisis will do that...but I have to side with the kids on this one. Agree with Islam or not, denying kids a chance to play at the highest level of their sport is criminal. Apparently its a safety issue...no, sounds more like a "Muslims freak me out" issue. There are style of hijab that are flowing and, I guess, get wrapped up with an opponent but there are also styles that are worn close to the body have don't flow and would cause no problem. To punish 11 year old girls like that is wrong on many levels. It takes away the fun and simple pleasure of sport. Its also things like that which can cause mistrust and distaste of the West. Mistrust that can lead to hate and as we all learned from Master Yoda..hate leads to suffering. It also gives petty tyrants reason to say "I told you they hate us". Leave it to FIFA (which I am pretty sure is French for "corrupt" to do something like this. Shouldn't the guys at FIFA be bribing someone or something?

Billy Payne, 2004 Olympic Games chief and current chairman of Augusta National decided to scold Tiger for his recent pecadilloes in his yearly "State of Augusta" or "Watering of the Magnolias" or whatever he does before the Masters every year. Ol' Billy Boy was quoted as saying ""It's not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here. It is the fact he disappointed all of us and more imporantly our kids and grandkids." Payne continued...""Our hero did not live up to the
expectations as a role model that we sought for our children." Really. Ok Billy (said in my best Sidney Deane voice) this from the guy who's the Chairman of a club that, while being Holy Ground for American golf, still doesn't allow women to join
and just 20 years ago finally admitted a black member. I can see the conversation now "Grandpa...how come there are no girls here?" "Don't be silly, darlin'..there's girls everywhere...see? There's one now, bringin Grandpa his pimento cheese sammitch." Hero, huh. Let me tell you something Billy, Heroes don't leave their wife and kids at home to go bang porn stars. By the way, there is no truth to the rumor that when he heard that Tiger was going to "return to Buddhism, the Dalai
Lama was quoted as saying "oy vey".

It was announced today that tennis legend Martina Navratilova has been diagnosed with a noninvasive form of breast cancer. Her prognosis is considered excellent and should be able to beat this. Here is to a speedy and full recovery to one of Tennis'
all time greats, male or female. Cancer better have a good backhand otherwise Martina will destroy you. My money is on her.

Let me wrap up with some odds and ends...

Watching my Spurs play Phoenix....there is no fan base who is more anticipating Tim Duncan's retirement then the denziens in the Valley of the Sun. Its halftime and Fleanix is currently leading 61-52...SA is currently 7-18 from the free throw line.
Hmm....11 missed FT's and a 9 point deficit....do the math, kids. This is why you practice the fundamentals, campers. It is usually the difference between winning and losing...oh and yes, Steve Nash does look like Kelly Leak.

Don Nelson just passed Lenny Wilkins on the all time NBA Coaching Wins list tonight. Nellie scored win # 1,333 with his Warriors win over the T-Wolves. His record is 1,333-1,061 in 31 years of coaching. Break out the fish ties and throw
a party...Mark Cuban will probably pass.

5 University of Kentucky players have announced that they will all enter the NBA draft. In the worst kept secret outside of Ricky Martin's sexuality, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins are one and done in Lexington. Joining these two are fellow Wildcat
freshmen Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton as well as junior forward Patrick Patterson. Looks like Cal will have to fudge some more test scores...allegedly..and rebuild. Word has is that Ashley Judd is inconsolable. Its ok baby...Mikey's here for you.

Peace.