Cheech nails the observation that baseball continues to show the future of America if only you stop long enough to see it.

If Bill Buckner can prove anything to anyone, it is that you can always pick your up and have a full life years after a very public and very monumental screwup at just the wrong moment.

Maybe he can get Steve Bartman and Moises Alou in a room so they can talk it out?

For some daffy reason I can’t embed this. So go watch and come back.

As a baseball fan, I always come back to this scene when Tebow comes up in conversation.

“Lord, I know I always said I would never involve you in a baseball game. Always seemed silly. You’ve got enough to do.”

Or as the plot reads:

“God, I always said I would never bother you about baseball, Lord knows you have bigger things to worry about.”

Either way, that’s the Billy Chapel approach from “For Love of the Game”.

Hell, that should be EVERYONE’S approach, at least on the outside.

Granted, Billy *does* ask for help on high at that moment, but only to take away some shoulder pain. No bowing, prostrating, or proselytizing.

No signature prayer move. No verses inscribed on his face.

He just did his job, and if the Almighty wanted to have a say in it, that was entirely up to him.

I’m no Pats fan in general, but that game tonight was damned entertaining to watch for the sheer comeuppance value. Tebow needed to be knocked down a peg, and so do his bandwagon fans. Not Bronco fans, Tebow fans. The Bronc fans have earned their share of hope – and misery – and they stick around despite some horrific heartbreak over the years.

The others are just looking to push a message at the expense of all else. Don’t believe me? Then why the hell was Focus on the Family inserting themselves into beer and car ads?

A slightly old article but a good one about Prince Fielder and the work that goes into helping your team succeed. Even, maybe especially, because he’s probably gonna be traded at the end of the season.

Sure, you can argue, the farther he carries his team, the better he looks. And that is surely true. But you’ve seen this before, guys who already have their bags packed by the All-Star break.

I don’t get that vibe here. Fielder genuinely wants his current team, his current city, to get all they can out of him this season.

I like it and I wish I saw more of it in sports.

Manny Ramirez, a legend in his own mind.

Don’t get me wrong, he was one hell of a hitter. Seems lazy as hell though.

Then there’s the steroids business. Twice.

You wanted to like him – at least I wanted to – but he personally made it so hard to do.

Damn shame.

Granted, I’ve watched cricket and some of it still baffles me, but that sport and baseball still have a lot in common. A new exhibit focuses on those similarities.