Night of the Jasons

One of the beauties of today's information culture is this: you can double-check your memory.

Sometimes, you find out the old memory is a little lacking. Other times, you're thrilled to find you had it exactly right.

I was watching Jayson Werth of the Phillies lay waste to his old Dodger teammates in the NLCS when I flashed back to a night at Coors Field 4 years ago. A big bunch of my extended family had gone to see the Dodgers and Rockies play (a distant cousin is a Rockies employee and we'd all been together for a family reunion in Estes Park).

I don't know if Dodgers manager Jim Tracy was aware of the history he made that night, but I feel fairly certain that never before in the history of baseball had a team started a game with four Jasons (well, technically, three Jasons and a Jayson) in the lineup. To make it more epic, when the Dodgers trotted to the field in the bottom of the 1st, the outfield was pure Ja(y)son: Werth, Repko, and Grabowski. The fourth Jason had a great view of all this: Phillips was behind the plate.

My then-16-year-old son and I commented on the Jason-ness of all this at the time. In fact, we were amused even further that three of these name-mates were in consecutive slots in the batting order.

At least that's the way I remembered things. And lo and behold, it really did happen that way. Here's the boxscore to prove it.

It's just a shame that only 21,000 people were there to see history unfold.

Super Socks

You either loved them or you hated them.

But you couldn't ignore them.

I'm talking about those yellow-and-brown vertically-striped "throwback" socks (some would call them "throw-up" socks) the Broncos wore in their game against the Patriots.

Yes, youngsters, those really were historically-accurate uniforms. The Broncos wore that look in 1960 and 1961, and famously, retired the socks in a public bonfire after the '61 season.

This season's celebration of the AFL's 50th anniversary has produced some cool looks (how about those original Chargers' uniforms?) and some not-so-swell ones (there's probably a reason
the New York franchise retired the uniforms along with the "Titans" nickname).

But until the Broncs brought out the verticals, nobody had managed to put a personal stamp on the archive-wear. Give Denver wide receiver Jabar Gaffney credit for that. Look closely at the photo and you'll see how Gaffney has put a little twist into his socks, creating the never-before-seen barber-pole look.

Check it out. You might be looking at a streetwear trend in the making. Where can a guy buy a pair of mustard-and-brown socks anyway?

Enough's Enough

I'm sure it will be little noted nor long remembered, but I'm hereby drawing my line in the sand.

We will no longer book interview guests who have something to sell (with one important exception, which I'll address in a moment).

My new policy starts immediately; we'll take a pass on an offer to bring golf guru Hank Haney on with John Madden. I'm sure Haney would be a great interview, what with the President's Cup getting underway. And I'm sure we'd have some fun letting John ask Haney for swing advice (after all, this is the swing doctor who tried to fix Charles Barkley's hack).

So where's the downside? Here it is: the pitch from the marketing people says the following: "Hank is appearing on behalf of Charles Schwab, and would also like to talk about a few quick money saving tips for retirement".

With all due respect, if we wanted to talk to a retirement expert, we wouldn't call Hank Haney.

This pitch is part of a burgeoning trend. If you don't believe me, just listen to sports-talk radio or watch the sports TV shows around Super Bowl or World Series time. You'll see and hear a parade of big names chatting about sports, but also slipping in a pitch for whoever's paying them. Car companies, insurance companies, financial planners, you name it.

We've played this game here at KCBS. And we've always felt a little uncomfortable about it. It probably reached its low point one morning when former Raider great Kenny Stabler joined us on the Madden segment, and then proceeded to deliver some of the clumsiest pitches for whatever it was he was selling (I honestly can't remember). It got so bad that John Madden began poking fun at Stabler's shilling.

We may reach the point where we can't book a sports celebrity interview, because everybody's selling something. So be it.

Now, I mentioned earlier that I'm willing to consider an exception to my new rule. Here it is: if the guest is selling himself, I'm OK with that. In other words: if you're talking about your new book or TV show or charity event, you're welcome here. In that case, we're talking about you and your work, as opposed to letting you deliver a commercial message for somebody else.

Bottom line: if you want to sell something, talk to our sales department. They're fine people, and they'll happily take your money in exchange for access to our fine listeners (that's how our business works).

Go Figure

Cal takes its #6 ranking into Eugene, and gets destroyed by an Oregon team that seemed to be sputtering in its first three games.

Washington comes off a stirring victory over USC and loses to Stanford.

Arizona State goes into a tough road game at Georgia and sees its backup placekicker miss a late field goal before the Bulldogs hit their own FG to eke out a 3-point win.

Who knows if the Pac-10 is any good? But you can't argue it isn't exciting.

A couple of games into its conference schedule, Stanford is leading the Pac-10. Supposedly superior Cal has to get its act back on track by beating USC, or it'll find itself fading in the conference race.

Or will it? UCLA is still out there and apparently a force, though the Bruins haven't played a conference game yet. Heck, even Washington State, the most outmanned team in the conference last year, looks like it's a team that could pull off an upset somewhere along the way.

Don't make any Rose Bowl plans just yet.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

We sports fans are besieged with statistics. They can illuminate, but they can often obfuscate.

Case in point: the Raiders' 13-10 win over Kansas City in NFL Week 2.

Don't ask me why, but I watched the whole game. My esteemed colleague Steve Bitker did not, and was incredulous that the Raiders could have won a game in which the Chiefs outgained them 409-166 yards. He was even more incredulous that I could maintain the Raiders actually controlled the game.

Allow me to explain. Let's start with those 409 Chiefs yards. 205 of them were amassed on 4 drives that netted KC exactly zero points (one drive ended in a field goal, one in an interception that led to a Raiders field goal, and two in punts).

So really, I can argue that Kansas City wasted over 200 yards of offense. Shiny numbers, but meaningless.

Oakland's offense was feeble overall, but when it mattered, the Raiders delivered. A 58-yard 2nd-quarter drive led to a long Sebastian Janikowksi field goal (by the way: will this guy make a 70-yarder someday?), and then JaMarcus Russell salvaged his horrible afternoon with the 69-yard 4th-quarter drive that led to their only touchdown.

Total offense? Not so important. Turnovers? Important (KC had two; the Raiders, none). Field position? Yes. KC's average drive started on their own 24, and 7 of their 11 possessions started inside their 21-yard line.

Bottom line: the game stats failed to tell the story of this game. While Steve argues there's wisdom hidden in the stats, I argue the stats can lead you astray. What would a stat-head make of the Miami-Indianapolis game, also in NFL Week 2? That's the one where the Dolphins won the time-of-possession battle by a more than 3-to-1 margin (the Dolphins had the ball for less than 15 minutes), outgained the Colts, and still lost the game.

Statistics are interesting, but it's the game that matters.

Rooting For Laundry

I don't know who first said it, but I've always loved the phrase. "You don't root for teams anymore. You just root for laundry."

The implication is that in the era of big-money player transactions, teams don't stay together for long. So if you are, say, a Warriors fan, you're cheering for the team colors, because the guy you loved last year could very well be gone this year.

Our latest Bay Area example is the San Jose Sharks, who just traded Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek for high-scoring winger Danny Heatley.

Cheechoo led the league in goals scored a couple of years ago and has always been a fan favorite for his gritty play, exuberant goal celebrations, and remarkable backstory (he's the first and only NHL player from Moose Factory, Ontario).

My wife is shattered; she loved Cheechoo's style of play and sweet smile. My son, the biggest Sharks fan in the family, is worried.

You see, this is the third Sharks star to be dealt after my son bought that player's replica jersey. Owen Nolan and Steve Bernier preceded Cheech (Bernier even signed my son's jersey before he was shuffled off to Buffalo).

My advice to anyone who wants to stay in San Jose? Find out whose shirt Geoff has in his closet.

Too Much Emotion?

Musings after a few days in which athletes and their emotions were front and center, to wit:

• Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount cold-cocks a Boise State player after a game (and winds up suspended for the season)
• Milwaukee Brewers slugger Prince Fielder orchestrates a choreographed home plate celebration after a walk-off homer (and ticks off everyone in a Giants uniform)
• Giants pitcher Brad Penny barks at Padres slugger Adrian Gonzalez for supposedly taking too long to admire a home run (and later admits he uses emotion to stoke his performance)

What's it all about? Emotion.

Playing sports is not like working a spreadsheet or building a cabinet. You have to play like you care. Paradoxically, you can't let your emotions get the best of you, but without emotion, you're pretty useless.

Most agree that Blount crossed the line with his punch (even if they think his punishment was too harsh). Many feel that Fielder was a bit clownish in turning a thrilling moment into a bit of goofy street theater. And Penny? Well, if he's on the other team, you can't stand him.

Penny freely acknowledges his outburst at Gonzalez and his shouts and gestures at the Padres dugout when the inning ended are part of what fuels him. For Brad Penny, it's adrenaline or nothing. By contrast, we've seen pitchers like Greg Maddux, whose demeanor never varied, no matter what.

Bottom line: you go with what works for you. But that emotion stuff can be dangerous; a little goes a long way. Too much, and you're in trouble.