RIP Matt McHale

I wish there were a lot more people like Matt McHale. For the year I freelanced for the Daily News, and the summer before when I was an intern, he was my mentor.

He was that old-school newspaper man I had always envisioned. That guy in the movies with the cigar and the notepad, minus the cigar since you can't really do that anymore in the newsroom.
And now, Matt McHale, the former deputy sports editor is dead at 50.

He was a straight shooter. When one of my articles sucked, he told me. When it was good, he heaped praise. Through every conversation I had with him in his office, I knew that he truly wanted to see me get better. He cared.

"He really liked you," another Daily News reporter told me when he called to tell me the bad news.

Steve Dilbeck wrote a great column about Matt that really gave justice to this man who passed too soon.

And I'm sad that I never got to say goodbye and thank him for his help. I sent him an E-mail after he was laid off and given disability leave but all I had was his Daily News E-mail and I'm not sure he ever got it.

I can still hear Matt's voice. "Tell the story through other people. Get rid of the cliches. Don't use the phone, this a face to face business."

It's the same stuff I hear myself saying to my co-workers at The Signal.

My E-mail was simple and short. I think it would have given him a little satisfaction. .

Hey Matt,

I heard about what happened last week and I don't really know what to
say. Both of us know I don't know shit compared to you, but I just
wanted to say thank you for all your help. I really learned a lot in
the short time we got to work together. Good luck with everything.

No Average Joe

Getty Images

I don't usually get excited about celebrity sightings, considering I live in LA, I don't like autographs, and I'm generally unimpressed with too cool for regular people actors, musicians, and athletes.

Saturday, however, was different. Me and a group of friends were at Zuma Beach (between tower 4 and 5 to be exact) and here comes Joe Montana with his wife and son, and sits down about 10 feet from us. Arguably the best quarterback in the history of the NFL, and this coming from a Niners hater and Cowboys fan, and he's in the middle of Zuma Beach. Not on some private beach or on some private island, but with the common folk.

He was nicknamed "Joe Cool" in his playing days and he was "Joe Cool" on the beach.

Perhaps Montana has a mystique around him because he's dropped himself out of the spotlight. While other legendary quarterbacks have transitioned into television, like Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, and Steve Young, Montana has kept quiet.

I'd love to report to you that he was our all-time Quarterback in our four on four football game, which ended after one possession each, but that didn't happen.

Instead, we got a smile out of him when we got up and started tossing the football around.

Here are a few other things we wanted to say/do with Joe Montana, whose son is on a star-studded football team at Oaks Christian High School, along with Trevor Gretzky (you guessed it) and Trey Smith (Will's son).

1. Re-Enact "The Catch."

2. Say, "hey, aren't you Steve Young."

3. Have him throw a pass to one of my buddies and then pick it off, so I could say I intercepted Joe Montana.

Tubby Watch:

Tubby received an award from ESPN.

The Least Valuable Player of the first half award. Here's what Jayson Stark wrote about Tubby and his strikeout smirk:

"If Andruw Jones's second half resembles his first half, he's potentially heading for (ready for this?) the Worst Offensive Season in Baseball History. At this rate, he'd finish with a .172 average, .261 slugging percentage, five homers, 21 RBIs, 125 strikeouts and only 64 hits. And you shouldn't be flabbergasted to learn that the all-time list of players who have had numbers that gruesome consists of, well, nobody."

Don't go Ronny:

It appears my Ronny Turiaf jersey journey is over. Turiaf signed a 4-year, $17 milion offer sheet with the Warriors and the Lakers are unlikely to match the offer according to the L.A. Times.

Who knew Corey Maggette played defense?

The new Warriors forward has Elton Brand's back. He says that Brand wanted to stay in LA but felt disrespected by the Clippers.

Euro Trip

The high top fade decided that "hash brownies man" and making some cash ASAP, are more important than blonde coeds and college basketball glory.

Brandon Jennings is headed for Europe, regardless of the results of his third SAT score.
This of course, is a hit, if you will, to Arizona's chances of extending their NCAA tournament streak of 24 consecutive seasons.

Aside from Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill, the Wildcats have a very thin roster. Nic Wise showed signs of being capable last season and will most likely be the third option. But then what? Jamelle Horne and Fendi Onobun are your next two best players. Freshman center Jeff Withey is a complete unknown. Zane Johnson would be a 13th man on UCLA.

Had Budinger known Jennings was Euro-bound, you think he would have stayed? Probably not.
"I would like to thank the University of Arizona for their interest and support through this process," Jennings said in a statement from his agent.

I'm sure the fine folks in the Arizona program were thinking of a few choice words for Jennings, starting in F and ending in you.

According to this True Hoop blog, Jennings may be overestimating how much he'll make playing overseas.

"He's not strong enough and he's not experienced enough to run an elite club. He has a world of talent, and he'll be unbelievable down the road, but experience trumps athleticism and talent every day European basketball," explained Jonathan Givony. "I'd be very surprised if a top team offered him more than $100,000, at most, but stranger things have happened.

NBA Draft.net's Aran Smith thinks going to Europe will actually hurt his stock as well. Smith dropped Jennings to No. 11 in the 2009 draft.

The loss of the No. 1 point guard in the country obviously hurts Arizona, and I figured this would be the year their tournament run ends. But then I looked deeper at the Pac-10 and reevaluated the original assessment.

Stanford, Oregon State, and potentially Cal, who lost Devon Hardin and Ryan Anderson, are on the downturn, and will battle for spots 8-10 in the Pac-10.

The Cardinal lost the Lopez twins who accounted for both its offensive and defensive strengths. It's now left with Lawrence Hill as its best player and a ton of bad guards led by Mitch Johnson. Oregon State has been horrible for the past decade and that won't change this year.

The next tier includes the rest of the Pac-10 except for UCLA, who's head and shoulders above everyone else.

USC lost Davon Jefferson and OJ Mayo, but gain Demar Derozan, who will team with Taj Gibson for well coached Tim Floyd squad. Oregon lost Maarty Leunen, Bryce Taylor, and Malik Hairston. Washington State lost Derrick Low, Kyle Weaver, and Robbie Cowgill.
Washington has pretty much everyone back but it finished 7-11 last season.

As crazy as it sounds, I would vote for ASU to finish second in the Pac-10. The Sun Devils showed a lot of signs last year and finished tied for fifth with a 9-9 record. They return every key contributor including stud sophomore James Harden. It will be Herb Sendek's third season so the players are really starting to become comfortable with the system, and they come off a disappointment at the end of last season when they didn't make the NCAA tournament, which should serve as motivation.

With ASU as the favorite to finish second, at least by my calculations, it goes to show you that the Pac-10 isn't nearly as strong as it was last year. That means Arizona has a chance to finish anywhere from second to seventh.

Barring an injury to Hill or Budinger, this should be another first round exit team. But at least the tournament streak will be alive.

Hot Sauce to Canada
Hassan Adams signed a two year deal with the Toronto Raptors.
The article calls him a tenacious defender, a statement at which I seriously lol. The only thing tenacious about Adams, who played in Italy last season, is his dancing in the huddle.

Turiaf signs offer sheet with Warriors

According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Ronny Turiaf signed a four-year, $17 million deal with Golden State. The Lakers have seven days to match the offer for the restricted free agent. My Turiaf jersey and I, as well as those who love to watch his bench antics and appearance in Kobe commercials, are hoping they do.

Can "The Hit Man" teach the Dodgers to hit?
According to an L.A. Times report, Don Mattingly will take over as the Dodgers hitting coach.
Unless he's bringing metal bats with him, that will be a tough task, but maybe a change in leadership will give the Dodgers a spark.

Tubby watch is back

Back in April, I linked you to a Wall Street Journal article about how Joe Torre is overrated.

Though I agreed at the time -- since managing in baseball is completely overrated anyway -- after watching him manage this year, I concur even more fervently.

Case in point. Andruw "Tubby" Jones. This .155 hitter batted fifth in the lineup on Saturday, relegating the Dodgers second best on base percentage guy, James Loney to seventh. Another veteran who hasn't done much in the form of contributing this year, Nomar Garciaparra batted sixth.

The Dodgers offense hasn't improved. Torre, hasn't made the necessary lineup adjustments to get them going. There's no sign that the young guys and the veterans have built the team chemistry Dodger fans were hoping to see.

There are two things keeping the Dodgers in the race.

1. The NL West is abysmal, and that's putting it kindly.

2. Dodgers pitching has been as good as advertised, for the most part, and that's with a ton of injuries. I'll give another shout out to Chad Billingsley, who threw eight innings without giving up an earned run in his last start in an economic 93 pitches.

Pitching was a strength last season and it is again this year. Hitting was a weakness and it is again. Nothing has changed. Grady Little or Joe Torre, there's no difference.

Managing is a product of the media. Would I like to have Mike Scioscia as the Dodgers manager? Yes. But I don't believe any manager is worth more than five wins during the course of the year. Would that make a difference? Sure. But let's not overstate the importance of a manager, and let's not overestimate the effectiveness of Joe Torre, who won a bunch of World Series with a Yankees team who had a payroll twice the size of any other Major League team.

By the way, Tubby went 0-4, and left three men on base. Isn't that the power hitting RBI machine you've always dreamed of?

And the young guys, Russell Martin, James Loney, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier, are the Dodgers top four on base guys (aside from Rafael Furcal who has been out for the majority of the season.)

Check out my articles on two amazing young athletes. If you are a baseball fan or a softball fan, you'll be hearing about both of them soon.



Trevor Bauer, a junior pitcher who throws 94 miles per hour and is skipping his senior season to go to UCLA.

Jessica Spigner, the Gatorade Player of the Year in California.

Feel the Rhythm, Feel the Rhyme

I just watched the final scene of Cool Runnings and immediately added it to my favorite movies on Facebook. I'm not sure why it wasn't on there already. I've seen Cool Runnings a good 50 times. I love that movie and especially that scene, when the Jamaican bobsled team races down the track crashes, and then gets up and carries its sled across the finish line as someone starts the slow clap and the crowd cheers.

I know it's corny but I watched that movie for the first time when I was like 8-years old. It was one of the first movies I ever saw in the United States -- that and Sleepless in Seattle, which I don't feel as honored about.

Cool Runnings is what sports is all about. It's about rooting for the underdog and not giving up. It's about equality and about ignoring distractions. It's about bringing people together for a common cause.

When people talk about that movie they always talk about the funny moments. "Sanka, you dead? Ya, mon."
But the tear-jerker at the end is what makes it great.

Why am even writing this, aside from the fact that I'm actually not at work for the first time in about two weeks?

Because I saw the Colorado Rockies continuously come back from as much as nine runs down and eventually beat the Marlins 18-17.

Because yesterday was July 4th, and overcoming adversity is what this country is all about.

Because I feel really bad for Seattle Sonics fans.

Because the Dodgers need to come together, the only way they will break this curse of mediocrity.

Because Gilbert Arenas gave up $16 million to make his team better.

Because a 41-year old woman made the Olympic swim team.

Because a 16-year old has a good chance to make the Olympic track team.

Because as I write this, Danny and the Miracles are beating Oklahoma in the 1988 National Championship game.

And because I enjoy seeing those My Wish stories on SportsCenter a lot more than I like hearing about Roger Clemens.