Manny

Manny Ramirez. Manny Ramirez. It bears repeating. What can you say? Sometimes they make them, and then they break the mold. One highly doubts we'll see another Manny. And as much as the Clarion was critical of Manny's lousy behavior and piss-poor attitude before his departure from Boston, and as much as we thought he be good in LA, we never thought he'd be this good. He is singular and unique in an age that hardly comprehends such.

The guy is hitting .419 since he got to LA, with 9 dingers in 105 at-bats, averaging nearly an RBI a game. He is out of his gourd. He is demonstrating that he is the best offensive player in the game bar none. (If A-Rod makes $30 million per, what are they going to give Manny on the open market?) Los Angeles is a town that loves star power.

What boggles the mind is that after a brief surge upon arrival the Dodgers have been unable to take advantage of Manny's offense. Manny has been pounding the ball all over the yard and before yesterday the Dodgers had still lost eight straight. How many times during that slide did the Clarion look at a Dodger box score that showed Ramirez with two or three hits and the rest of the LA line-up with a pathetic two or three hits. Nomar is finished. Kent is close. The kids, Martin, Loney, Ethier and Kemp, are they ready for prime time?

The Clarion is rooting for a Dodger surge, for Joe Torre's sake and because we had the Dodgers over 86.5 wins at the beginning of the year. There is still enough time, but just barely. Manny is more than doing his part, can the team come through?

College Football Quickies

The Clarion read recently that the Big 12 has eleven out of twelve possible starting quarterbacks returning. Yikes! Chase Daniel of Missouri has to be a leading Heisman candidate. And then there is Graham Harrell of Texas Tech, he threw for a mere 48 TDs and 5700 yards last season. He has the best wideout, and possibly the most dynamic player, in the country at his disposal, Michael Crabtree. Many prognosticators pick these two squads no higher then 3rd and 4th respectively in the Big 12 behind perennnial powers, Oklahoma and Texas. Either way, look out the conference is positively loaded.

The are only two squads the Clarion could envision stopping the Big 12 from winning the national championship. One is, of course, Pete Carroll's USC Trojans, who are dripping with pearls all over the defense. Unlike the Big 12 squads however, the Trojans do have some question marks at QB, where starter Mark Sanchez is returning to action from a dislocated kneecap. And egomaniacal back-up, and Arkansas transfer, Mitch Mustain is channeling the bad Brett Farve, "I can throw any pass I want to. I'm Mitch Mustain. Who is that old guy(the coach) to try and tell me what to do. He can't throw the ball like me." (Our spies with the parabolic mikes at USC practice are paraphrasing.)

The other squad that the Clarion could see derailing a Big 12 national champion is West Virginia, new coach and all. They have a solid returning starter at QB, with an outside shot at the Heisman, Pat White. Folks think they will miss starting running back Steve Slaton, but the Clarion believes they will be even better with the diminutive but lighting quick, Noel Devine.

As for the other contenders, Ohio State: we don't believe the hype, USC will beat them going away in September. The SEC will beat up on each other as usual, which is not to say that the BCS frauds might not let a two loss SEC team play for the title ahead of a host of other deserving contenders.

One other note, not a team that will contend for a title, but a team far too many of the so called experts are underestimating, it says here, "Don't sleep on Rutgers. Yes, superb running back, Ray Rice, is off to a big time NFL career, but Greg Schiano's boys won't miss a beat."

National Championship Game prediction: USC-Oklah0ma

Tampa Bay-Minnesota

Tampa Bay-Minnesota. Tampa Bay-Minnesota, we were flicking around the radio dial yesterday morning in the Clarion's offices, when we hit ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning program. The first words we heard out of Mike Greenberg's mouth, were Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

And for the first time, possibly ever, in early August, the Clarion mistook a NFL discussion about those two places for a baseball one. Greenberg and Golic were chewing over what cities' franchises might went old Brett Favre.

Here the Clarion was, thinking about the Twins and the Rays, both in first place. The Rays surely for the first time ever this late in a season. We're talking about a franchise that has never won 70 games.

Baseball is ruling in Tampa and Minnesota?? Though the first place Rays still aren't selling out the Trop, it was only 67% full last night. Now that Farve has been dealt to the Jets, the next time Mike and Mike talk Tampa Bay-Minnesota, might it really be about baseball? Possibly even in September or October?

Same old Michelle Wie

Michelle Wie once again this week followed her typical path, happier to be the sideshow freak than the competitor. She decided to skip the Women's British Open, an LPGA major, which she would have to qualify her way into, to take a wild card to appear at a men's PGA tournament. Why do the work of qualifying when you can be handed an entrance ticket, albeit to an event where you will be a non-competitor? Which will generate more hype failing to qualify for the Women's British Open or failing to make the cut (again) at a PGA event?

As usual Wie opted to play with the men, as usual she garnered scads of media attention, and as usual she failed to make the cut. She shot an 80 on Friday to finish tied for a cool 118th place. Not to mention, this was the B men's tournament of the week. The top 50 male players in the world weren't playing with the scrubs and Michelle in the Reno-Tahoe Open. No, they were at the WGC event, the Firestone, battling it out for supremacy. That is not Michelle Wie's style or mantra, she isn't interested in winning, just publicity. She needs to find a carnival or state fair, since she can't and is afraid to compete with the world's best women.

Not yet

Manny Ramirez, aka the Man-Ram, had a chance to do something spectacular in his debut for the LA Dodgers. He came to the plate in the ninth against the NL West division leading Arizona Diamondbacks with the Dodgers trailing 2-1. The heretofore punchless Dodgers are a couple games behind the Arizona for the West lead. Facing their closer, Brandon Lyon, with Russell Martin on first base and nobody out after a leadoff single, Ramirez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, and the Dodgers went quietly into the night.

Fear not Dodger faithful, it was only one night and Manny did have a couple of hits. They'll be more late inning situations to come, more big at-bats and the Man-Ram will come through like the October bopper he is. As part of the trade that shipped Manny from Boston to the left coast, the Dodgers agreed to waive the option years that the Red Sox held on the end of Manny's contract. This means Ramirez is set to be a free agent at the end of the year. Says here, the Man-Ram will be motivated by the contract drive and will be mashing down the stretch.