A Pinstripe Centurial

By Harry Cummins

     On this day 100 years ago, pitcher Babe Ruth was acquired by the New York Yankees from their rival, the Boston Red Sox.  The price was record-setting at the time, $125,000.  It represented the largest cash sum ever doled out for a baseball player.

     Fast forward a century.  The Bronx Bombers recently emptied their coffers once again, snatching pitcher Gerrit Cole from their modern-day rival for baseball supremacy, the Houston Astros.

     This time the price....$324 million!!

     Unless Cole can miraculously mutate into a home run icon like the 'Babe'........well....I am just doing the math.

     The National Pastime in America ...will it survive another 100 years??

   

Bill Gates, No Apology Necessary

By Gregory Crawford @wchoops

In his always kind way, Bill Gates was apologizing last

 week for his net worth. The co founder of Microsoft figures it is around $109 billion, give or take a few pennies.

Apologies not necessary Bill. All the money you give to charity, all the lives you have saved and the economy you have created. Really Bill, no apologies needed.

The USA is greatest country in the world. It has a major flaw however when it comes to successful people. So many want to tear those people down, shamefully. I am not one of those teardowners and proud not to be.

Six Owls in Double Figures as #2 Oregon Tech Routs Multnomah

Oregon Tech head coach Justin Parnell

By Harry Cummins

     (Portland,Oregon) The nation's Number 2 ranked Oregon Tech Owls parlayed six players in double figures, along with 13 assists from national leader Mitchell Fink to overwhelm Multnomah 118-83, as the out-manned Lions played the contest without Justin Martin, the current NAIA D-2 and Cascade Collegiate Conference's leading scorer.

     Oregon Tech (13-2,3-2) opened the game with blistering shooting from behind the arc by Seth Erickson, Scotty Burge and Tyler Heib to forge a 51-35 halftime advantage.  The Owls shot an identical 54% from the field in each half in recording their highest offensive output of the season.

     Heib and Erickson paced the Owls with 17 points each, while the trio of Matt Van Tassell, Harrison Steiger, and Burge all had 14 points.  Garret Albrecht collected 11 points and 10 boards to record a double-double performance while Lachlan McKimm pulled down 10 rebounds as well.

     Oregon Tech is the nation's number one team in scoring defense and held high-scoring Multnomah (6-7,0-4) well under their average (100.08 ppg)  The Lions were missing their leading scorer, Justin Martin, whose absence was not explained.

    The Owls suffered a crippling setback of their own early in the second half when Kaison Faust had to leave the game with a serious shoulder injury.  Faust, a fast-rising sophomore, was coming off a career high 22 point game in the Owls recent win over Eastern Oregon on December 21.  Faust hit 4 of 7 shots in the first half, scoring all 8 of his points and playing lock-step defense on Multnomah's own sophomore sensation, Zach Richardson.

Dan Johnson photo- Smothering D by Faust on Richardson

     Freshman Jaden Ingram paced Multnomah with a career high 25 points,18 coming in the first half.  Richardson, one of top 3 point marksman in the nation, managed 19 points on 5 baskets from long distance. Richardson is 2nd in the CCC in 3 pt baskets made per game, second only to Martin.

     Fink's 13 assists were his second highest total this year, second only to the 17 career helpers he registered in his last contest against Eastern Oregon.  The two time Player of the Year in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, Fink is closing in on the all-time OIT career assists record.

     The Hustlin' Owls travel to near-by Warner Pacific Saturday night to take on the Knights, who dropped a close 100-92 game to visiting Southern Oregon Friday. Southern Oregon travels crosstown to Multnomah Sat.night.  Once again, Martin is not expected to play for the Lions.

   

   

Don Larsen - 1929-2020

by Harry Cummins


     In our imperfect lives.....cherish those perfect moments.

 

                                      *************

PGA Tour Back

By Gregory Crawford @wchoops

The 2020 run of PGA Tour starts tomorrow in Hawaii. Yes, time does fly.

Here are my five predicted power brokers on PGA Tour in 2020.

5. Collin Morikawa —- Best in my mind of the new breed.

4. Jordan Spieth —-- Will win at least two tournaments this year.

3. Rory—- He is Rory and Rory is so good.

2. Jon Rahm —— Pay attention to how great he really is.

1. Justin Thomas—— Healthy again, will dominate the Tour

A Hole In The World

By Harry Cummins

     Some of you may remember the 2003 release of "Hole In The World", the Eagles song written by Don Henley and the late Glenn Frey, in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

     Much has happened since then, in and to our world , supplying this song with added meaning as we embark on the year 2020.

     My wish is that each of us use the coming year to try to lessen the impact of these empty spaces in our world. In our communities.  May we each work to lessen the greater hole that exists in the human heart.

   There's a hole in the world tonight
   There's a cloud of fear and sorrow
   There's a hole in the world tonight
   Don't let there be a hole in the world tomorrow

          They say that anger is just love disappointed
          They say that love is just a state of mind
          But all this fighting over who is anointed
          Oh, how can people be so blind?

     There's a hole in the world tonight
     There's a cloud of fear and sorrow
     There's a hole in the world tonight
     Don't let there be a hole in the world ...tomorrow.

                             Glen Frey/Don Henley

Replay Needs To Go Away

By Gregory Crawford @wchoops

2020 truly is the year of sports referee. ( think about it)

Let’s start out their year by giving those referees a big present. STOP USiNG REPLAY.

Has replay really helped officiating? No. There are more controversies than ever before.

We don’t need all these delays, the games are long enough without them.

Officials are scrutinized quite heavily these days by their bosses, instead of replay just get rid of horrible officials. Replay has never worked the way it was intended, it is now time to make the right CALL and eliminate it from Sports officiating and put it in the trash.