Steaming hot from the melting pot

The melting pot is over the fire today with a few bowls to be dipped out for your enjoyment.

Baseball America named Andrew McCutchen their Rookie of the Year and also placed Garrett Jones on the BA All-Rookie team.
I cannot complain about the selection,but I would be surprised if McCutchen won the official award considering the opposition that includes JA Happ of the Phillies and Tommy Hanson of the Braves.

The Cleveland Indians dropped the ball again in hiring Manny Acta as the new leader of the Tribe.
Nothing personal against Acta,who I thought did OK in Washington considering the restrictions he was under,but Bobby Valentine would have brought the charisma,knowledge and resume' that Cleveland teams never seem to get when they hire a coach.
Bet money that Acta was the choice over Valentine for one reason-Valentine would have been an eventual threat to GM Mark Shapiro as eventually Valentine would openly question the less than brilliant moves made by Shapiro.
Another Cleveland missed opportunity.

The New Jersey Devils will have do without their best defenseman and one of their top penalty killers for the next four to six weeks.
Jay Pandolfo is out with an injured shoulder while Paul Martin suffered a broken arm.
The Devils forward situation on the roster should be status quo,while Cory Murphy was recalled from Lowell to bolster the defensive corps.
I am hopeful of Johnny Oduya stepping up to do some of the things that is taken care of by Martin.
If he cannot,the Devils are in hot water.

The Rich Rodriguez era at michigan continues to have issues as the NCAA began formally investigating the program for violations.
I hope they take their time and Rodriguez hangs around.
I want him to stay there until Brian Kelly makes his move to a top notch program from Cincinnati.
Brian Kelly coaching michigan is enough to keep me from sleeping soundly for quite a while...

Here is an interesting take from a Cleveland Browns sufferer from ESPN.
I love his take on Art Modell!

I have enjoyed the ESPN 30 for 30 film series thus far.
The USFL show was the one I liked best,but I had mixed feelings on the film on the Baltimore Colt band.
I understand how the people of Baltimore felt screwed over by Bob Irsay and Paul Tagliabue (who's selection of Jacksonville over Baltimore for expansion started this mess to begin with),but the hypocrisy of so many Baltimore fans has always sickened me.
I have heard from so many fans something along the lines of this "We had our team stolen,so...".
Apparently,these people never were taught by their parents that two wrongs never equal a right.

It has been over a week,but I did watch the first two bouts of the Super Six tourney.
Arthur Abraham brutally KO'ed Jermain Taylor with seconds remaining in the final round,while Carl Froch kept his WBC Super Middleweight title with a split decision over Andre Dirrell.

We had Abraham far ahead before the stoppage and saw Froch winning 114-113 by the margin of a point deduction for Dirrell for holding.
Dirrell held the entire fight and hurt his own cause as he controlled the fight until he refused to work on the inside and elected to grab and hold.

Best part of the night was after Screaming Gus Johnson,who seemed to have a man crush on Dirrell made a statement that "Dirrell clearly won that round" after a Froch round and an astonished Al Bernstein responded with "really? Wow!".

Jermain Taylor has been stopped three times in his last five fights,spent two days in the hospital following the bout and should hang the gloves up.
Taylor was a fine fighter,but he lacks stamina at this point in his career,making him vulnerable to the late power bombs and the jaw doesn't hold up either.
Word is that if Taylor drops from the tourney that the replacement will be Allan Green,although the winner of next month's IBF 168 pound title rematch between Lucien Bute and Librado Andrade is not out of the question and would be a better choice.
Round one of the tourney ends next month in Oakland with Mikkel Kessler defending his WBA strap against Andre Ward,the former Olympic gold medal winner.

The Hagerstown Suns announced a new hire to their front office in Karl Micka-Foos as the team's Director of Ticket Operations.
Now,we usually don't comment on every hire for the Suns,but this one struck my eye,not that I ever have met this young man or remember him despite his working for the team last season.
However,as I read the press release I discovered that he was the fellow I have been slamming all season as the Suns PA announcer!
Congratulations to Micka-Foos for the new job and best wishes from us for two reasons.
One is we try to be positive and not nasty when we can help it and the other is that anything that puts someone else behind the PA mic is something that we are all for!

And finally,the Austin Idol shoot interview is apparently out as the clip below advertises.
What strikes me the most is how little Idol has appeared to age from his prime 20 to 30 years ago.
I can only hope I age that well!


Until later when we either review the tape of Ohio State-Minnesota or get angry with Eric Mangini or both!

Photo Credit
Froch-Dirrell-Nick Potts-AP Photo