A strange sad day in sports.
The word out tonight that the great Arnold Palmer has died. The 87 year old Palmer passed at a Pittsburgh hospital. With the rise of Jack Nicklaus and later Tiger Woods Arnie may not have been the best golfer of all time, but he was the game’s most charismatic player, it’s first TV superstar, and Arnie’s Army followed him everywhere he went for as long as he played the game. Got the chance to meet him a few years ago … what a gentleman.
Meanwhile with a week to go in the regular season what a tragic day/and yet what a wonderful day it was in baseball …
A tragic day in Miami, where the news came this morning that one of the brightest young lights in the game, Jose Fernandez, had died overnight in a boating accident. The Marlins cancelled their game today with the Braves … they will attempt to resume what is left of their season Monday night when the Mets come to town … how they will react, how they will perform is really anybody’s guess … it will be a big game … the Mets are in a three way battle for the two NL Wildcard berths … but somehow that will become secondary. Jose Fernandez was one of the young stars baseball was laying its future on … a Cuban refugee who had been dogged by injury problems in his young career but who was still expected to be a rising superstar on the hill for years to come. His sudden passing at age 24 is way more than any of us can understand.
Wonderful in Los Angeles where the great Vin Scully worked the last home game of his 67 year career, and in a storybook ending no one would have believed if it hadn’t actually happened, he got to call a come from behind walkoff win that clinched the NL West title for the Dodgers. Down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth the Dodgers tied the game on a Cory Seager homerun, and then in the bottom of the 10th they won it on a walkoff homer by journeyman infielder Charlie Culberson. Vin called it like any other game … until the end when he serenaded the fans with “The Wind Beneath My Wings” … Schmaltzy? Yeah, but give Vin a mulligan. If anyone has earned the right he is the guy!
Meanwhile ho-hum … the Red Sox won again. That is ELEVEN WINS IN A ROW! If you haven’t seen it yet go on line and checkout Dustin Pedroia scoring the winning run in the 10th inning … you won’t believe it! Oh, and Eduardo Rodrigues struck out 13 Tampa Bay Rays in 5 1/3 innings … and four bullpen guys combined for 10 more K’s. It is magical right now … Magic # is 2.
Prognostication this weekend … I went 10-4 in the Free Press picks … sorry Middlebury … I have no explanation for why I ever even considered picking Bowdoin.
Overall in the high school picks I went 13-3 … that is 49-15 through four weeks.
NFL … as I write this I am 8-6 in the NFL picks … got the Cowboys tonight and the Saints tomorrow night … could be headed for 8-8.