Category: From My Seat

There are two ways to measure the success of a Triple-A
baseball team’s season. The first is rather obvious. Look at the record of the
2008 Memphis Redbirds — who concluded their 11th season on Labor Day — and you
see a final mark of 75-67, the franchise’s best record in eight years. Alas, the
team again missed the postseason. Among Pacific Coast League squads, only three
— Colorado Springs, Fresno, and Omaha — have longer playoff droughts than the
now-eight-year drought suffered by Memphis.

But if you’re able to look beyond the record and
second-place finish in their division, you might find the ’08 Redbirds a success
in the area of player development in ways many of their predecessors — including
the 2000 PCL champs — were not. It doesn’t necessarily help the local brass, as
winning baseball teams sell tickets, and the Redbirds fell to fourth in the PCL
in attendance this year. But considering the team takes the field with the
success of its parent franchise in St. Louis foremost among priorities, Cardinal
fans — here in Memphis and elsewhere — may be looking back fondly on the summer
of 2008.

But the story of this Redbirds revival really began with
the 2007 edition.

You have to go back 49 years in Cardinal history to find a
team that turned over its entire outfield from the previous season. (And who
will ever forget the 1959 trio of Bill White in left, Gino Cimoli in center, and
Joe Cunningham in right.) And the 2008 St. Louis outfield is made up entirely of
players who earned the second bird on their jerseys with their play at AutoZone
Park. Rightfielder Ryan Ludwick was clinging to his pro career before hitting
.340 over 29 games with Memphis at the dawn of the 2007 season. Rick Ankiel
established himself as a legitimate, everyday centerfielder — and slugger — by
hitting 32 homers and driving in 89 runs in but 102 games for the ’07 Redbirds.
Leftfielder Skip Schumaker paid his dues in Memphis, batting .306 in both 2006
and 2007 before taking a permanent spot on Tony LaRussa’s roster this season.
(With multiple walk-off, game-winning hits, Schumaker has established himself as
one of the best clutch hitters on the Cardinal team.)

Looking at this year’s club, you need a deep breath before
reciting the names of players to impact the Cardinals’ extended stay in a
pennant race they weren’t supposed to join: Joe Mather, Chris Perez, Mitchell
Boggs, Jaime Garcia, Kelvin Jimenez, Nick Stavinoha. Perez, in particular, has
been a godsend since the demise of longtime Cardinal closer Jason Isringhausen.
Armed with a slider that would make Bob Gibson proud, Perez has saved six games
in 31 appearances for St. Louis, and looked like a legitimate 2009 Rookie of the
Year candidate on August 27th when he struck out Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun and
Prince Fielder to clinch the Cardinals’ biggest win of the season to date (one
that salvaged any lingering playoff hopes the team had before a weekend sweep at
Houston).

With the emergence of Ludwick and Schumaker (not to mention
Ankiel) in the Cardinal outfield, this year’s Redbird prospects may become next
winter’s trade bait, as St. Louis is lacking a productive bat in the middle
infield and, like every team not named Angels or Cubs, will be in the market for
more starting pitching. Mather, Stavinoha, and David Freese – this year’s
third-baseman in Memphis — will be among names Cardinal general manager John
Mozeliak hears when his counterparts start calling. Freese, in particular, is a
great story. Having never played above Class A in San Diego’s system before this
season, he was considered less a prospect than merely a ticket for a Jim Edmonds
homecoming in Southern California. One Triple-A campaign later, he has 26 home
runs and 91 RBIs on his resume. Only 25, Freese could end up succeeding Troy
Glaus at the hot corner for St. Louis.

Here’s one more name to remember as you consider
yesterday’s Redbirds and tomorrow’s Cardinals: Jason Motte. The flame-throwing
relief pitcher — a converted catcher — struck out 110 batters for Memphis in
only 67 innings. He’ll likely join Perez in a much younger, presumably more
effective bullpen at Busch Stadium next year.

As Year Eight of the Tommy West era at the University of Memphis kicks off this Saturday, the words “Tommy West era” seem more appropriate than they once did. Now the dean of Conference USA coaches, West has three more seasons under his belt at Memphis than any of his 11 C-USA counterparts can claim at their current institutions. (And how about this for U of M stability: no school in C-USA or the SEC has had the same football and men’s basketball coach as long as the eight years Memphis has had West and John Calipari in charge.)

The catch, though, in evaluating West’s growing legacy for the Tiger program is that he has yet to win a conference title or to even reach the C-USA championship game. Of course, with all the turnover in this “mid-major” league, UCF’s George O’Leary — coach of last year’s champs — is the only current coach who has had his hands on the trophy.

West — and anyone associated with the Tiger team — would like to see matters change in 2008. Having taken the program to four bowl games in five years (twice the number Memphis had seen in its history prior to his arrival), West recognizes a league championship as the necessary next step in closing the gap between a perennial C-USA contender and the big boys that compete for national championships.

Says West, “I want to have this program positioned so if we get in a BCS conference, we don’t struggle for five or six years; we’re ready to compete.”

A victory in Oxford this Saturday would be a stride or two in that direction. Sure to be energized by the arrival of former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, Ole Miss will treat the Tigers like SEC teams always have: as the snot-nosed cousin begging for a backyard brawl, but hopelessly underweight. The Rebels, though, are not expected to contend in the SEC’s top-heavy western division, so the underweight cousins will consider Vaught-Hemingway Stadium a staging ground for their own launch party.

Tiger fans will get their first glimpse of Arkelon Hall, the junior-college transfer West insists is a pass-first quarterback, one blessed with a receiving corps that could be the envy of C-USA. Mobile for a big guy (6’3″, 220), Hall will supplement a green backfield led by transfers Curtis Steele and Charlie Jones. But his primary responsibility will be finding an open receiver among the pack led by juniors Duke Calhoun and Carlos Singleton and seniors Earnest Williams, Steven Black, and Maurice Jones.

An experienced offensive line — led by preseason All-C-USA pick Brandon Pearce at tackle — should keep Hall’s adjustment to Division I-A football relatively free of grass stains. (Memphis allowed but 14 sacks a year ago, and hasn’t allowed as many as 15 sacks since 2003.)

West says his chief concern is his defensive backfield. Memphis was ninth in pass defense among C-USA teams last season and will face an early test when Rice comes to the Liberty Bowl — with all-conference quarterback Chase Clement and wideout Jarett Dillard — on September 6th. With four seniors in the secondary mix (Brandon Patterson, Tony Bell, Michael Grandberry, and LeRico Mathis), experience may reduce the big-play susceptibility that kept West’s teeth grinding last year.

West considers UCF the team to beat in C-USA’s East division. (The Knights were picked to play Tulsa for the league championship in the preseason coaches’ poll.) So circle November 22nd on your calendar, Tiger fans. Any visit to Oxford is a big game for the Memphis Tigers. UAB, Louisville (prime time, Friday night!), and Southern Miss are always grinders. But if a league championship has become the top priority for the dean of Conference USA coaches, beating the champs is the top challenge for 2008.

“I want to coach until I can’t compete anymore,” says West. “And I want to win a championship here. That was my goal when we started. I want to see that through.”

• Michael Phelps’s record-setting haul of gold medals at the Beijing Olympics —
eight last week and now 14 for his Olympic career — is enough to make the most
casual sports fan pause. But the quantity — that new magic number of 14 — is
overrated. Considering the number of events, strokes, and relays, an Olympic
swimmer has more chances at earning a medal than any other athlete in the world.
A wrestler or decathlete would have to remain active for more than half a
century(!) merely to get the opportunity for 14 Olympic gold medals.

But here’s what I’ll take with me having watched the greatest swimmer in history
in his sport’s brightest hour: the two golds Phelps earned in less than an hour
on August 13th (Tuesday night, the 12th, here in Memphis). Less than 60 minutes
after Phelps set yet another world record in the 200-meter butterfly, he dove in
the water to lead off his American team in the 800-meter freestyle relay. And
after another four laps of the 50-meter pool, Phelps had a larger lead than he
did at the end of his first race of the evening. (That relay took on an air of
silliness at the end, as American swimmers were swimming the opposite direction
of their seven followers at the turns.)

Swimming is taxing, folks. An exhausting symphony of leg and arm activity, all
the while measuring one’s breath so as not to, well, drown. Michael Phelps
blowing away two fields of Olympic swimmers in less time than it takes to play a
half of American football will be the Herculean achievement of the 2008
Olympics.

• Wondering about the greatest career achievement in Olympics history? It’s Carl
Lewis winning gold in the long jump over four consecutive Olympiads. In an event
that thrives on young, fast-twitch muscles, Lewis was champion for the first
time at age 23 in 1984, and won his last gold medal at Atlanta in 1996 . . . at
the relatively ancient age of 35.

• Call me jaded, but I simply couldn’t get worked up over the age controversy
surrounding the gold-medal-winning Chinese women’s gymnastics team. And here’s
why: we live in an age where mass and strength seem to get in the way of clarity
and decency when it comes to athletic training. The Steroid Era has been
entirely about getting larger, stronger, faster. Along comes the Chinese
gymnastics team and they’re too small to possibly qualify as Olympians? No
75-pound 16-year-old that you know? If you have a problem with the athletic
schools that whisk away Chinese children as part of the country’s Olympic
factory, that’s a fair stance. (But be careful. Check out some of the gymnastics
or tennis academies here stateside.) But if a 13-year-old Chinese girl can
outperform an 18-year-old American on the balance beam, it seems to me we should
acknowledge greatness when we see it.

• Beyond Phelps’s all-too-brief trips through the Water Cube’s pool, my favorite
glimpses from Beijing have come on MSNBC, CNBC, and Oxygen, where “lesser”
sports have been given some airtime. Water polo has to be the most brutal human
endeavor involving a ball and goal. The intensity on the faces of Olympic
wrestlers is much closer to agony than what you’ll see on a gymnast in full
flight. I even enjoyed the half-hour of badminton I watched. To see a pair of
athletes take such a game so seriously is to witness the Olympic ideal . . .
with a shuttlecock.

• On the subject of Phelps, the Memphis Redbirds’ Josh (29 home runs and 93 RBIs
through Sunday) has enjoyed one of the finest seasons in the franchise’s 11-year
history. Local baseball fans owe it to themselves to visit AutoZone park next
week, when the Iowa Cubs come to town (August 25-28). With Memphis clinging to
the possibility of catching Iowa for a division championship, those four games
will be the most meaningful played at Third and Union in eight years. With St.
Louis falling further and further behind the big-league Cubs, Cardinal Nation —
Memphis region — should mobilize in this effort to establish rightful order.

With Elvis Week upon us, I found
myself considering suitable theme songs for certain sports figures (and a local
event). All made famous by the King, of course. Next time you see these jocks,
may their tune be ringing in your ears.

“Big Boss Man” — John Calipari.
Derrick Rose may be history. Same with Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey.
But with Calipari still on the bench, the University of Memphis remains on the
radar of Final Four contenders.

“All Shook Up” — The 2008
Memphis Redbirds. With Joe Mather, Chris Perez, Jaime Garcia, Nick Stavinoha,
Kelvin Jimenez, Mike Parisi, and Mitchell Boggs all shuttling between Memphis
and St. Louis, the local outfit’s roster has changed much more than the weather
at AutoZone Park this summer. Remarkably, these players could play significant
roles for two winning teams.

“Return to Sender” — Kwame
Brown. The “cap space” is one thing. I can be talked into liking Javaris
Crittenton. But Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown? Brown is the poster boy for why the
NBA concocted its age/class requirement for entering the draft. Next best thing
to seeing him in Laker purple again is seeing him sign a free-agent deal with
Detroit.

“Trouble” — The Regions Morgan
Keegan Tennis Championships. If you’re lookin’ for trouble, The Racquet Club of
Memphis would seem to be the place. With the club itself sitting behind a “for
sale” sign, and the sport’s two biggest names — Federer and Nadal — absent one
year after the next, tennis fans have to wonder about the future of what was
once the city’s signature winter sporting event.

“The Wonder of You” — Tyreke
Evans. All of Tiger Nation is wondering just how much weight the incoming
freshman can bear for a program with standards that now anticipate 30 wins and a
deep NCAA tournament run. Evans will likely lead Memphis in scoring but, like a
certain other freshman phenom, can he make his veteran teammates better, too?

“Burning Love” — Alex Rodriguez.
Lord almighty, ARod. It would seem lighting an extramarital flame with Madonna
while playing the hot corner for the Bronx Bombers would be living on a prayer.
But when your brain is flamin’ . . . .

“If I Can Dream” — O.J. Mayo.
Certainly the most mellow (however inspiring) song to accompany the highly
acclaimed rookie to Memphis for his inaugural NBA season. But considering the
needs the Grizzlies have, and the urgency the front office feels for winning,
Mayo will get the kind of playing time that is the foundation for a Rookie of
the Year campaign. As he teams up with Rudy Gay, Mayo offers possibilities
Memphis fans have all but forgotten. “Where hope keeps shining on everyone.”

“Stuck on You” — Tommy West.
Stability and Memphis Tiger football have not often been mentioned in the same
sentence. But with every winning season, bowl appearance, and aw-shucks
interview, the current face of the program seems more a part of this city’s
cultural framework. And with his son suiting up at the Liberty Bowl? It’s a
family affair.

“It’s Now or Never” — Marc
Iavaroni. It’s a shame “good guy” isn’t among the considerations when contract
extensions are drawn up for NBA coaches. The Grizzlies’ second-year coach would
be on his way toward a decade-plus in Memphis were it his professional conduct
or code of ethics that steered the ship. But it’s win, baby, and win now. The
guess here is that 35 wins — in a rigid Western Conference — will be needed for
Iavaroni to be on the Memphis bench in 2009-10.

“(You’re the) Devil in Disguise”
— Phil Jackson. I don’t care how many championships Dr. Zen has won. Comparing
Memphis to “Dresden after the war” went way too far. Easiest guy to root against
in the NBA.

“Rubberneckin’ ” — Derrick Rose
was the key to the Memphis Tigers’ march to 38 wins and the 2008 Final Four
during his one season in the Bluff City. And he’ll be the focal point (so to
speak) as the Chicago Bulls aim to narrow the gap with the champion Celtics in a
suddenly stronger Eastern Conference of the NBA. Stop, look, and listen, indeed.

“Jailhouse Rock” — Why, Michael
Vick of course; the NFL’s baddest of bad boys. I considered “Hound Dog” only
long enough to recognize how insensitive it would be to the world’s canine
population.

I spent ten days
in China in October 1994. The closest thing to a “red October” I’ll likely see,
that journey — I was part of a press junket previewing the Wonders exhibition,
“Imperial Tombs of China” — was as distant from western perceptions of communism
as my memory can recall. Needless to say, the government officials who hosted
our wide-eyed party of journalists were on their A game, just as all of China
should be when the Olympic Games open in Beijing Friday. But whatever lengths
may have been pursued 14 years ago to close the gap between east and west —
between perception and reality, one might argue — are among the components of
the continued efforts to bridge opposite sides of the world, and balance the
relationship between the last two “super powers” our planet is likely to host.

Whether from Hong
Kong (then still a British territory), Xi’an (where jaw met floor as my party
walked among the long-buried terra cotta army of Emperor Qin Shi-huang-di), or
Beijing (we took a short bus ride to the Great Wall), my memories of China start
with the crowds. Walking around the Forbidden City one afternoon, I made the
comment that on every block we’d seen, whatever day of the week, it always
seemed like a ball game had just finished, with the departing fans filling
sidewalks and streets, cars and cabs bumper-to-bumper, pedestrians young and old
eager to get to their next destination.

But the crowds
were invariably friendly. My group stood out in China, even with a contingent of
guides and translators. Adding a significant language barrier — a barely
rudimentary knowledge of the romance languages will get you nowhere in the Far
East — those of us from the Mid-South were curiosities, but only until the first
smile was exchanged.

I call on these
happy reflections because I’d like to believe that the controversy that follows
any western discussion of China — be it over Tibet, Darfur, or human rights in
general — can become part of the international hug that every Olympic gathering
aims to be, and not the central distraction (violent or otherwise) we remember
from Beijing ’08. China has room for improvement as it gains ground on the
developed world — and it’s gaining fast, folks — but so does every nation with
interests that stretch global harmony. An open mind on the part of Olympic
athletes should be enough to inspire open minds on the part of traveling sports
fans, journalists, dare I say even diplomats and heads of state. Yes, China must
improve its treatment of all its people. That improvement will come quicker
through dialogue — which starts with a visit to Beijing — than it will through
finger-pointing or threats of international action.

A significant
bonus during my visit to Beijing was a college friend joining me from his home
in Tokyo. A Japanese native, Tamio moved to America in elementary school,
graduated with a degree in economics from Tufts, and returned to Japan not long
before my press junket. He emphasized during our travels — probably during our
stroll on the Great Wall — that wherever I go, wherever I live, when I read
about China now, it will feel closer to home. And he was absolutely right.

There was a free
night we had in Beijing, in which Tamio and I bravely took to the streets
without our formal supervisors or translators. We happened upon a small
restaurant (maybe five tables) not too far from the Forbidden City. If there
were other diners in that restaurant, I don’t remember them. What I do recall is
the most energetic and friendly wait staff I’ve seen before or since (and, alas,
a bathroom upstairs that was outdoors and alongside a fire escape). Tamio and I
enjoyed a full meal — rice, dumplings, some chicken and vegetables — and a tasty
bottle of red wine. All for five American dollars. I’ve tried to do the
economics on this for 14 years now, and still can’t grasp how fundamentally
different two societies are when a meal in one would cost ten times what it does
in another.

Suffice it to say,
that same meal in central Beijing would cost more than five dollars today, and
it’ll cost much more 14 years from now. It’s but a tiny sample of a gap being
closed, a bridge being slowly built between east and west. And over the next two
weeks, as, couch-bound, I watch runners, swimmers, and gymnasts compete
for the world’s attention, China will, indeed, feel quite close to home.

There are times I
wonder what the British make of sports coverage in America. New York tabloids
have nothing on the rags you can pick up in London. But with the exception of
the Wimbledon fortnight each summer, the English tend to focus their bold type
on royalty. Who is Will dating? Has Harry been drinking? Did you see Fergie’s
dress?!

Here stateside,
though, tabloid journalism — well, at least a division of tabloid journalism —
revolves around professional athletes. The New York Daily News has
treated Alex Rodriguez’s romantic life with the same alarmed — shocked! —
sensationalism Princess Diana endured right up to her sudden and horrific death.
And those are savvy editors at the Daily News, for they recognize that
New Yorkers thirst for Madonna-related rumors connected to their beloved Yankees
far more than they do actual information on how those Yankees are playing these
days.

Which brings me to
the national American tabloid sports drama of the year: Brett Favre’s retirement
deliberation. You know the basics:

• Having struggled
in 2005 and 2006 (47 interceptions, 38 touchdown passes), Favre seemed to shave
a decade off his aging process last fall, throwing 28 touchdown passes and only
15 picks in leading his Green Bay Packers back to the playoffs for the first
time in three years.

• At age 38, Favre
was named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. A first-ballot Hall of
Famer had he retired five years ago, Favre’s legend grew exponentially with his
rediscovered joy of playing a game that cripples many and exhausts most (both
physically and mentally).

• Late last
winter, in the most tearful and public retirement ever seen near “the frozen
tundra,” Favre stepped down. His standard explanation was that his body could
still play in the National Football League, but his mind had simply grown tired
of the preparation needed to excel.

• Amid speculation
over an “unretirement” that began the moment his tears had been dabbed, Favre
has now indicated a desire to play a 17th season. And with Green Bay ready to
hand the play-calling duties to Aaron Rodgers, Favre and the Pack are at odds in
what until a few weeks ago was the most harmonious partnership since Fred and
Ginger. Tabloid headlines, here we come.

I have a cocktail
of reactions to the Favre story, not so much directly related to Mr. Packer, as
they are well-worn observations on the comic/tragic elements to a great athlete
stepping down.

First of all, it
will be sad for football fans, sadder for Packer fans, and saddest of all for
Brett Favre if he ends up wearing a Tampa Bay Buccaneer helmet, or a New York
Jet helmet, even for a single season. This would be Namath in a Rams uniform,
Unitas as a Charger. Favre in anything other than that iconic Packer helmet
would be Joe Louis as a casino greeter in Vegas. Legends don’t die, but they can
diminish.

On the other hand,
Favre is a commodity, and he knows this. For my money, I’d take a 38-year-old
Favre over at least half of the 30 men who will start for NFL teams when the
2008 season opens. In Favre’s mind, he’ll never have the earning power he does
as an NFL quarterback, so why not extend that market value as long as possible?

Finally, I say “in
Favre’s mind,” because he is singular in that he built his legend in a place
where “legend” is this side of hyperbole. For as long as the name Lombardi
defines coaching in or around Wisconsin, so Favre will be the name and face of
playing football the right way. If Favre can overcome this middle-age itch to
suit up again, he’ll never have to buy a meal in the Badger state. He can sell
his name — that commodity, remember — to any business establishment from
Sheboygan to LaCrosse, and simply count the checks in his mail.

Athletes play
hard. They die hard. But nothing is harder for the greatest of players than to
admit they can’t quite play as they once did. (Take a look at Greg Maddux the
next time he takes the mound for San Diego and you’ll know what I mean.)
Indecision wrapped up in lost youth are twin devils on a human being’s
shoulders. Perhaps this is why the tabloids — and all their readers — love the
Favre story so much. Has he ever seemed more like one of us?

With baseball
season’s second half now officially underway, a few observations from last
week’s All-Star festivities:

• The Texas
Rangers’ Josh Hamilton is the best individual story the sport has enjoyed in at
least a decade (if not since the dawn of the mythical Steroid Era in the late
Eighties). A former can’t-miss prospect in Tampa Bay’s system, Hamilton fell
into drug addiction, leaving him out of baseball, and very nearly out of his
marriage. Now clean, Hamilton is well on his way to the American League’s MVP
trophy, pacing the junior circuit in RBIs by a large margin.

Then came last
Monday’s Home Run Derby. In a “house” made famous by the most famous home-run
hitter of them all, Hamilton hit 28(!) over the wall in the first round of
baseball’s version of the NBA’s slam-dunk contest. You have to believe it was
the kind of exhibition — literally — in which the athlete is proclaiming, “Look
at me, ma. I can do it!” (The format of the Derby must be changed, though. Why
even declare a “winner”? To suggest Justin Morneau won anything that night —
other than perhaps a gawking contest during Hamilton’s display — is to diminish
the spectacle.)

• The Memphis
Redbirds were well represented, with four All-Stars having suited up in the
Bluff City: Boston’s J.D. Drew, Arizona’s Dan Haren, and Albert Pujols and Ryan
Ludwick of the St. Louis Cardinals. From the standpoint of Cardinal Nation,
seeing Drew in a Red Sox uniform isn’t all that troublesome (his trade to
Atlanta after the 2003 season brought the Cardinals Adam Wainwright), but the
sight of Haren in a D’backs lid? Coming merely days after Mark Mulder — the
lefty for whom Haren was traded before the 2005 campaign — walked off a
big-league mound (arm in tatters) for perhaps the last time, Haren appears to be
the worst trade decision St. Louis has made since Steve Carlton was sent to
Philadelphia for Rick Wise almost 40 years ago.

• Drew became the
third member of the 1999 Memphis Redbirds to earn MVP honors on a big-league
stage. Adam Kennedy was MVP of the 2002 American League Championship Series.
Placido Polanco earned the same award in 2006. And now Drew has the 2008
All-Star Game MVP hardware for his trophy case.

• The Florida
Marlins’ Dan Uggla — a former star at the University of Memphis — took his share
of heat from the local and national media after a positively dreadful showing in
the All-Star Game. The second baseman hit into a double play, struck out three
times, and made three errors in his All-Star debut (Uggla was selected in 2006,
but didn’t play). For the critics who made fun of everything from Uggla’s name
to his swing, I’d offer this: a bad day in baseball’s All-Star Game beats a good
day anywhere — anywhere — else.

• The most
uncomfortable man in America at midnight last Tuesday was baseball commissioner
Bud Selig. With the game moving into extra innings, anyone still awake had
flashbacks to the fiasco of 2002 when Selig declared the game a tie once each
club had run out of pitchers. I have two thoughts on eliminating such discomfort
for future All-Star Games:

1) If the game is
tied after nine innings, why not decide the outcome with a meaningful Home Run
Derby? Each manager selects five players, who get a single swing each (from the
opposing league’s batting-practice pitcher). Most dingers wins.

2) For this to be
made a reality, MLB must do away with the game deciding home-field advantage for
the World Series. A ludicrous notion to begin with, the concept has made a
mockery of the American and National League’s historical equality. (The last NL
team to host Game 1 of the Fall Classic was Arizona seven years ago.)

• I’ve read
reports suggesting the Cardinals are now considering Colby Rasmus among their
trade assets as the team searches for a dose of offensive support (the Pirates’
Jason Bay tops their list of pursuits, apparently). Such a move would be counter
to the franchise’s relatively new mission of developing talent (read: saving
money) while merely filling gaps with affordable free agents and trades.

Rasmus is just shy
of his 22nd birthday. He offers power, speed, and defensive strength at a
premium position (centerfield). If I were in St. Louis general manager John
Mozeliak’s shoes, I’d deal Rasmus solely for a young, power-hitting middle
infielder. And Hanley Ramirez appears to be in a Florida uniform for good.

I just
returned from the North Carolina coast, my first two-week vacation in 14 years.
(The last time I took such a hiatus, it should be noted, half the trip was spent
planning a wedding.) During my week at Oak Island (just north of Myrtle Beach
and the South Carolina border) and another at Corolla (pronounced kuh-RAH-luh,
at the northern tip of the Outer Banks), I learned once again that you can take
a sportswriter away from Memphis, but – even with limited Internet access – you
can’t take Bluff City balls and games away from a traveling scribe.

* On
Sunday, June 22nd, I touched base with a familiar outfielder, though instead of
AutoZone Park, Nick Stavinoha was in Tony LaRussa’s lineup as the St. Louis
Cardinals tried to sweep the world champion Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Having been called up to add some pop during interleague play – when National
League teams can use a DH in American League parks – Stavinoha blooped his first
major-league hit into rightfield. Alas, another recent Memphis Redbird (relief
pitcher Chris Perez) later walked in the tying and go-ahead runs in what would
be an extra-inning Bosox victory. I was in the surf, by the way, after Perez’
bout of wildness. Beats shouting at the TV.

* On
Thursday, June 26th, I sat with my family and some old beach-combing friends as
the NBA draft got started above an appetizer of oysters on the half shell, with
a random Corona to help count down each team’s “on the clock” drama. And what a
night for Memphis basketball fans. Derrick Rose, of course, continued the
biggest one-year star turn in the city’s history, becoming the first player
drafted (by his hometown Chicago Bulls) and less than three months after taking
the U of M Tigers to the Final Four. (Even Carmelo Anthony had to wait “on the
clock” in 2003.) The two other Memphis draftees were surprises, first Joey Dorsey for going as high as he did (drafted 33rd by Portland,
Dorsey was traded to Houston and will cut his NBA teeth on Yao Ming’s
elbows),
then Chris Douglas-Roberts
plummeting all the way to 40th, where he was finally taken by John Calipari’s
former employer, the New Jersey Nets. CDR’s falling stock said much about the
state of college basketball today, as he’d been a first-team All-America as a
junior for Memphis. Either that, or he was carried by the best supporting cast
since Sinatra was closing clubs in Vegas.

As for
the local outfit actually doing some drafting of its own, the Memphis Grizzlies
gave local headline-writers a dream team – for one night, as it turned out – by
adding Kevin Love (with the fifth selection) to a club already starring Rudy
Gay. Twenty-four hours later, though, it was O.J. Mayo – the third selection, by
Minnesota – heading to FedEx Forum, where he’ll aim to be this city’s
one-and-done collegian-turned-franchise-savior. With Mayo and Gay on the wings
and a healthy Mike Conley at the point, Memphis will gain in athleticism what it
may have lost in professionalism (and familiarity) by trading veteran Mike
Miller (along with a lost Love) to the Wolves.

*
Driving up the coast on June 28th, we stopped in Washington, North Carolina,
long enough to enjoy lunch at the Mecca Grill, across the downtown street from
the former residence of Cecil B. DeMille. And I couldn’t have felt further from
Memphis – no ‘cue on the menu at the Mecca – until I walked to the back of the
restaurant to discover signs welcoming me to “Pirates Country!” No disrespect to
East Carolina University – a tough match on the gridiron for Tommy West’s
Tigers, if no match for Calipari’s basketball bunch – but I didn’t think there
was room between various ACC hot pockets (Heels, Pack, and Devils, oh my), to
consider a “country” for any other NCAA outfit. Needless to say, I’ll see
purple-and-gold in an entirely new Conference USA light. And wonder what kind of
football fan DeMille might have been.

* When
I left Memphis (all the way back on June 20th), Mark Mulder had just been beaten
around like an unruly yard dog in a rehab assignment at AutoZone Park. On ESPN’s
Monday Night Baseball ten days later, he recorded the last three outs for the
Cardinals in a home victory over the New York Mets. He wasn’t as sharp two
nights later, blowing his first save opportunity of the year, but perhaps he’s a
touch of insurance for a Cardinal rotation that has relied on the names Pineiro,
Wellemeyer, and Lohse more than any expert would have forecast . . . however
many empty Coronas might lie at his side.

It’s
barely a month till Tiger football opens camp. Less than two months to go in the
Pacific Coast League season (with the Redbirds actually in contention for a
playoff spot). And roster moves will be plentiful in the NBA, so the Grizzlies
have time to build around their new nucleus of Gay/Mayo/Conley. While it’s gonna
be tough reintroducing myself to deadlines after two weeks in (or near) the
Atlantic, the local sports scene should go right on filling my down time. With
the sound of waves still crashing comfortably in my memories.