Quick Hits #4

Manny Being Manny:  Manny Ramirez retired from baseball on Friday as he faced a 100-game suspension for a positive drug test.  Manny had already been suspended for 50 games in 2009 for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and he apparently would have rather retired instead of serving a suspension that would have extended 2/3 into the 2011 season.

Manny Ramirez retired last week after a 19-year
playing career and 555 career home runs.

Manny is one of the most talented, I mean, tainted hitters to ever play the game.  His career 555 home runs and .312 batting average over 19 season stand out as Hall of Fame numbers, but Manny should not be expecting an invitation from the Baseball Hall of Fame anytime soon.  Two other players linked to using performance-enhancing drugs during their careers, Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire, have come no where near the requisite amount of votes to obtain entrance to the Hall.  Still, Manny is planning to stay off the grid just in case the Hall wants to contact him.  Manny released a statement shortly after his retirement that included the following:  "I'm at ease.  God knows what's best (for me).  I'm now an officially retired baseball player.  I'll be going on a trip to Spain with my old man."  Once again proving there will never be another Manny Ramirez.


Minnesota Du-who?:  David met Goliath for the NCAA Hockey Championship in the Frozen Four on Saturday night.  Minnesota Duluth, who had never won a national championship, went skate-to-skate with  Michigan, who had won more hockey championships than any other program in the country (9).  The Bulldogs beat the Wolverines on a sudden-death goal only 3:22 into the overtime.  It was an historic win for Minnesota Duluth as winger Kyle Schmidt netted the winning goal and put the Bulldogs ahead 3-2.  What a great way to win their first national championship!

The Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs dismissed
Michigan with a game-winning goal only 3:22
into overtime for its first hockey national championship.

But more devastatingly, what a way to lose!  The Wolverines went from being positioned to win the national championship in one moment and to having it pulled out from underneath them the next.  Although it actually might be a better way to lose than to do what Butler did last week and watch the championship slip away brick after brick after brick.  Best line from a SportsCenter anchor covering the highlights of the championship game:  "Duluth, Duluth, Duluth is on fire!"


Jimmer Does It Again:  Jimmer Fredette won the Wooden Award on Friday night in Los Angeles and completed a sweep of this year's college basketball national player of the year awards.  Jimmer is the first BYU player to win the Wooden Award since Danny Ainge in 1981.  The Wooden Award voters include nearly 1,000 members of the college basketball media who each selected and ranked 10 players.  Fredette had 3,761 points, followed by Connecticut's Kemba Walker with 3,356; Ohio State's Jared Sullinger with 2,637; Duke's Nolan Smith with 2,371; and Arizona's Derrick Williams with 1,913.  Jimmer's focus now turns to preparing for the NBA Draft and his future career.  Jimmer has not commented on whether he will be going on a trip to Spain between now and then with his old man.

Another day, another national player of the year award for Jimmer Fredette. I
wonder if he will end up donating any of them to Deseret Industries at
some point because he has no place to store them all?

The Glory Days Are Over, Coach: A football coach who coaches 9, 10 and 11 year-old kids in Chula Vista, California was arrested after a confrontation with a parent that included a dispute over the recruitment of a "top" player away from the coach's team to another competing team.  The parent was reportedly punched, kicked and knocked unconscious by the coach.  Are you kidding me?!  And here we thought the recruiting environment in college football was passionate, scandalous and dangerous.  Apparently Chula Vista takes its Pee Wee Football even more seriously.  Can you imagine what Gene Chizik (Auburn's Head Football Coach) would have done to Cam Newton's Dad had he heard about Newton's offer to Mississippi State to "buy" his son's commitment to play football there.  Let's just be glad Chizik didn't grow up and learn how to coach in Chula Vista.