You probably thought it was a soft job to play professional sports. You just play the same games
you played as a kid at Key West High School and get paid to do it. If you play it really well, you can make tons of money.
Young Jaden Rashada, though, doesn’t have to wait until he goes pro. The 4-star quarterback recruit from California is heading for the University of Miami, where a NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deal will pay Rashada – are you ready for this? – $9.5 million. As a college football player.
What about college baseball? The draft is next week.
Oklahoma had lost the first game of the best-of-three College Baseball World Series Saturday
to Mississippi. Sunday’s second game at Omaha was scoreless in a late inning. So, the Sooners
tried some trickery – a bunt with two out and a man on. The Mississippi pitcher fielded the ball
cleanly, but his throw to first hit the bunter in the back and the base runner scored a lone run.
But, it wasn’t to be. The umpire called the bunter safe at first, allowing the run to score, but was
overruled by the reviewer in New York, who called the bunter out for interference, ending the
inning and putting the score back at 0-0.
Later, in the top of the eighth and ninth, with the score tied at 2-2, and a man on third, the
Oklahoma pitcher threw wild pitches. The runs that scored ended the game and series, 4-2, in favor of Mississippi.
Now to hockey. First the Florida Panthers fired coach Joel Quenneville for dirty deeds in his previous job as Chicago coach and replaced him with interim coach Andrew Brunette. Brunette led the Panthers to a 51-18-6 regular season record, the Presidents’ Trophy and the Panthers’ best record ever. So, naturally, he was dumped and replaced by Paul Maurice. Hmm.
In other hockey news, the Denver Avalanche rallied on the road to win, 2-1, over Tampa Bay
and took the Stanley Cup, 4 games to 2.
And some coaching news: Mike Martin Jr. got his dream job – succeeding his father, Mike Martin Sr., as baseball coach at Florida State University. Unfortunately, it was not like father, like son. Junior was fired last weekend with a less than stellar record and replaced by Notre Dame coach Link Jarnett.
Steve Clifford was fired as coach of the Charlotte Hornets a few years ago. However, after
several years and several coaches, Clifford has been rehired as, yes, the Hornets’ coach.
In basketball, until the NBA Draft was announced, we didn’t know how at least the top three would fall. Any of three college players – Paolo Banchero, who went No. 1 to Orlando, Chet Holmgren to the Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 2 and Jabari Smith to Houston at No. 3 – could have been selected in any order with no surprise to any of us fans.
But not next year. From what I’ve read, No. 1 almost certainly will be Victor Wembanyama (Yes, I’ve spelled it correctly). He’s 7 feet 3 inches, 240 pounds with a wing span of 7 feet 9 inches. He’s been playing professionally in France.
As I write this, 40-year-old Serena Williams is still alive in her efforts to win her 24th Grand Slam
tennis title, which would tie Margaret Court. Yes, “we” have our best chance to win a Wimbledon
title with a woman who won her first of seven Wimbledon titles 20 years ago in 2002.
Did you know it was 25 years ago that Mike Tyson bit off a section of Evander Holyfield’s
ear during a bout? Iron Mike called it “justified.”
On June 25, the division-leading New York Yankees had no hits in their game against the Houston Astros, and suffered 15 strikeouts. The Yankees were coming off a 15-game winning streak. We might have expected better.
Freddie Freeman took millions to jump from the Atlanta Braves to the Los Angeles Dodgers,
then cried his head off when the Atlanta fans greeted him with loving applause. So, was the
money worth it?
Meanwhile, back in Key West, a dozen or so of my apartment mates and I were engrossed last week by the assembly of a modular house across the street. (See photo.) It came in two pieces that were parked overnight around the corner. A major lifting machine brought them both to an empty lot in the 1700 block of Duck Avenue, where an elevated base had been installed a week or so prior. It took seven men 2 hours and 15 minutes to place the first section and about the same for the second. A couple days later, a few men were still cleaning up. There was still work to be finished. But we sidewalk superintendents had left our perch when the heavy lifting was done.
