Perfection rules

    It's been a quality week.
    Certainly many others were gratified to know that we live among examples of perfection as well as compassion when umpire Jim Joyce blew the call and perfect game Wednesday night.
    It's was as if all the gutless yet perfect posters at the bottom of stories online had a meeting.
    People, the guy made a mistake, in public, recorded for history. And he admitted it. Didn't make it on purpose, didn't hide, didn't take a day off. Came back the next day behind the friggin' plate where his work would be judged on almost every pitch.
    What's your level of perfection under such - ehhh, yeah, all of our screwups tend to come away from that spotlight, nowhere near a collection of drunken fools who throw stuff on the field and whine about everything.
    Get a grip.

    No salary will lead to perfection.
    No amount of practice will lead to perfection.
    No amount of study will lead to perfection.
    And no amount of lecturing will make idiots - truly the majority party in our country - lucid.
    Will Detroit fans go equally apecrap when Armando Galarraga gets lit up for 12 runs?
    The hypocrisy is annoying and laughable, the whiners difficult to take seriously as substantive members of society.
    It was another "Pot calling the Kettle" week in the USA.
    We will always know that Galarraga threw a perfect game. At a minimum, he threw a magnificent no-hitter, and damn, it's hard to cry about that. We won’t forget it.
    Bud Selig was right not to reverse the situation and create problems that the simple-minded don't see, and will change their opinion on before July 4, and again around the start of football. And there are rules in place that have to be followed until they’re changed. Expect some to be changed.
But yes, a replay system - managers get two reviews a game, and umpires can review in the final two innings - is in order, although let's remember: this was a game in early June.
    Calm down.
    Naturally, our species being poster children for birth control, there were death threats. Several such lowlifes who deserve a random kick in the privates did so while dialing a wrong number.
    Wow.
America hasn't been much better than the violent soccer fans of countries "Americans" love to make fun of for awhile.
    There are times when life is actually an escape from sports, when people are less idiotic, rather than the reverse.
    And that's saying something.   

A MASSIVE LOSS

    We all know about John Wooden, the man and coach.
    He was a confusing enigma for most people. Wooden wasn't a brute (hello, Bobby Knight), a rule-stretcher (greetings, Mr. Calipari), a raging hypocrite (see "too many to name").
    There are so few coaches who can identify with Wooden, or who have anything in common with Wooden except the job title. He carried his responsibilities to the next level, upward. His former colleagues keep taking steps down.
    Wooden's death takes from us another rarity: the selfless, humane, open-minded, fair, compassionate, humble and brilliant.
    Increasingly few - and nobody who has cable TV politically based talk shows on their menu - can relate.
    Indeed, the timing is notable. Two days after the sports world goes stupid again because a human was human while umpiring first base, one of the planet's classiest human beings dies.
    Not a good week at all. More ammunition for the aliens who laugh at our planet while plotting its easy takeover.

LOUGHDMOUTHINGS

    Ah, now I see why everybody loves Jason Heyward.
    He struck out five times Friday to match a big-league record in the 5-4 loss to L.A.
    A Brave for the people. ...
    Georgia College & State gets to within a game of playing for the Division II NCAA baseball championship, and Mercer goes to its first NCAA tournament.
    Didn't somebody note awhile back the quality of college baseball within 35 miles of Macon?
    Mercer plays again today, and the hunch here is that the Bears aren't done. They broke the seal of playing in the tournament and certainly weren't inept.
    The hunch was for a closer game Friday than 10-0, though. ...
    Ah, I kid about Heyward (who is still hitting only . 274, which is nice, not Cooperstowny) and the hype.
    The guy to feel for and root for is pitcher Kenshin Kawakami, whose lottery numbers I want nothing of.
    He's 0-8 with a 4.91 ERA, which is a little high, but not for a guy who's 0-8.
    And speaking of calling it, who warned the Braves fans reaching for the medication and life rafts during the losing streak to calm the hell down?
    Indeed. Troy Glaus is up to .278, has matched Heyward in homers and has more RBIs. ..
    College football magazine publisher Phil Steele needs to have a party, 'cuz I want to see what he's brewing in the backyard.
    Georgia can run the table? The Georgia in Athens? With a rookie quarterback yet again? And a new defensive staff and scheme? And, at this point, the same “don’t give it away don’t give it away don’t give it away” offensive scheme?
    "I think they’ve got a shot of even winning the SEC East and could very well run the table.”
    And I've got an even shot of winning Wednesday's Powerball and could very well get a phone call from Erin Andrews. ..
    Memo to David Stern from Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald:
    "I wouldn't say the NBA playoffs are dragging, but the first round was just re-run on the History Channel."