We'll start with a Terry Pluto note on an upcoming appearance in Cleveland for Rocky Colavito.
The 85-year-old "Rock" will appear Thursday with a few former teammates at an All-Star fan week event as well as promote an upcoming book about the former Indian slugger.
Colavito, who I place firmly in the "Hall of Very Good" hit 374 homers in his fourteen-year career with 190 of them in his eight years and two stints with the Indians has been struggling with health issues in recent years that cost him his right leg (below the knee) from circulatory issues and diabetes in 2015.
The Athletics Tom Reed writes a tremendous article on former Browns tight end Gary Barnidge and Barnidge's life after football, which is a template for players today on how to prepare for their post-career.
Barnidge, who put up the best two seasons of his NFL career with the Browns, was then released in 2016 and would never play again in the league, will turn 34 before this season and could very easily still be playing football.
The article looks at Barnidge's various interests including studying the Bible and Koran as an agnostic, living in a home twenty minutes from almost anything in any direction and his friendship with wrestling legend Jerry "the King" Lawler among several interesting items on the former Cleveland tight end.
ESPN is working on a recurring series during the college basketball season titled "Chasing Ghosts" that looks at programs that possess plenty of tradition, yet for various reasons have struggled and slid from once-exalted status.
The edition that caught my eye was the N.C. State version ( I also had interest in the UNLV article as a fan of the Runnin' Rebels of the Jerry Tarkanian years) that looks at the peak of the program, coaches that contributed to the decline and the chances of the program returning to prominence.
I have written before of my fondness for the Wolfpack, who ranked behind only Maryland in my college basketball fandom under the late Jim Valvano and even today (since the sad defection of the Terrapins to the Big 10) battles with Wake Forest as my favorite school in the ACC and I do not completely agree with the article where they don't believe the Pack can ever return to past status.
Where there is a commitment to winning, there are possibilities of glory, it simply comes down to making the correct hire for your program and as the article notes, N.C.State hasn't been able to land that coach since Valvano's departure.
The Athletic makes the inbox again with an article on just what the San Francisco Giants would be losing when the likely trade of Madison Bumgarner at the trade deadline goes through.
Bumgarner's the type of old school pitcher that guys like me love and would have fit right in with the past eras of baseball.
He's grouchy, cantankerous and everything that modern baseball is not, which is exactly why the Giants and their fans will miss him so much.
Deadspin discusses a new pro wrestling promotion that has jumped the first hurdle that infant wrestling promotions have placed in the path to success- gaining a major television outlet.
The new All-Elite promotion that is funded by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan has agreed to a deal that begins in the fall with TNT.
Wrestling was a major portion of the success of the "Turner" networks from the early days with Georgia Championship Wrestling to their time with Jim Crockett Promotions and then World Championship Wrestling after the network bought the promotion from the Crockett family before selling the library and assets to the WWE and folding everything else.
This is an excellent article that covers the history of Ted Turner and his network's involvement with pro wrestling and even offers a piece of information that I never knew.
In 1970, Turner's then WTCG did not televise the local Georgia promotion which was on another network but wanted to televise wrestling.
What program did WTCG broadcast for a year before GCW moved over to them?
Capitol Wrestling- the WWF show promoted by Vincent McMahon Sr.
The WWF didn't run shows there, but this shows how long the Turner networks and their current descendants not owner by Turner have owned a relationship with wrestling.
We wrap up with the oldest item in the inbox from May as SI.com takes a deep look over two articles (found here and here) at the short life of the Alliance of American Football.
As some of you remember we covered the leagues and (mainly) the Arizona Hotshots and the league not surviving was a disappointment to me.
However, when you read these articles (and two podcasts that I'll mention soon in a podcast post), it is easy to see how the mistakes of the league sealed its doom.
I'll be around later with another inbox version with either recent passings of note or cleaning the non-sports version of the inbox.
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