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The Headline

And a most pretentious one at that... Manny Ramirez went 0-for-2 for the Albuquerque Isotopes in his first action since his suspension.

The bigger story here is the fact that Manny Ramirez's playing in Triple-A is such a big freaking story. ...

ESPN made sure we knew how each of Manny's 2 at-bats turned out (K, ground out to short). And John Kruk graciously expanded on why the guy's swing is out of sync. Clearly, knowing Manny hasn't played in a game since his May 7 suspension isn't enough.

It's a slow day in news when Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the country's newsline boom. It's not like Ozzie Smith, Don Mattingly, Daryl Strawberry, Mike Scioscia, Steve Sax, and Doc Gooden didn't all play for the Isotopes 15 years ago. What? That was an episode of The Simpsons? I don't believe you.

Does anybody else feel weirdly sympathetic to Manny Ramirez? In today's LA Times, T.J. Simers' article headline reads "Even He Can't Stay Mad at Manny."

Manny's a cocky, show-boating, selfish player, but, god dammit, I love watching him hit. **Sentiments not applicable to Yankees fans living outside of the Washington Heights neighborhood**

Can we think of any other athletes who fit the Manny Ramirez criterion of being a shitty-teammate-and-makes-no-qualms-about-it-but-people-like-him-anyways?

The NBA Draft Started Last Night and Nobody Told Me...

The Minnesota Timberwolves basically own the first round of tomorrow night's draft. The post-Kevin McHale Era begins with Minnesota's sending Randy Foye and Mike Miller (White Guy with a jumpshot!!) to Washington in exchange for the No. 5 pick in the draft, Darius Songalia, Etan Thomas, and Oleksiy Pecherov.

With this trade, the T-Wolves now own the Nos. 5, 6, 18, & 28 picks. I call bullshit. There's no way the T-Wolves need All Those 1st Round Busts when they have Darius Songalia.

And raise your hand if you know who Etan Thomas or Oleksiy Pecherov is? I'm pretty sure Oleksiy Pecherov is the chick from Dodgeball with the messed up teeth. ... No?

Has there been a draft with a less intriguing crop? After Blake Griffin, we're talking about Tyler Hansbrough, Louisville's & Pitt's front court, Steph Curry, Eric Maynor, and Brandon "Loopholes Live in Italy" Jennings.

Here's to Not watching Feburary 2010's Rookie-Sophomore Challenge.

Richard Jefferson Just Got Traded Again...

This time he's leaving Milwaukee and headed to San Antonio in exchange for 800 year old Kurt Thomas, Bruce Bowen, and Fabricio Oberto.

Milwaukee then went ahead and traded Oberto to Detroit for about 10,000 shares of GM... oh, and Amir Johnson. (who ARE these guys...)

In the Most Entertaining Baseball on TV for the Last Week...

Texas beat LSU 5-1 last night in Game 2 in the best of 3 College World Series.

Seriously, turn off whatever slumping MLB team you're watching and get some metal bat PING sound effects in your life.

In last night's Game 2, Texas owned LSU all night. Tyler Jungmann pitched 9 innings scattering 5 hits for 1 run, 9 strikeouts, and only 2 walks. And TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF from the previous night's relief appearance of 6 pitches, 6 balls, and a shower.

Watching the game, though, you just kept waiting for LSU to storm back. The Tigers have been an offensive powerhouse all series scoring 6+ runs 10 times throughout the CWS tournament.

Like I said, much more entertaining than whatever terribleness the Sox, Cubs, Yankees, or Mets put on last night.