Now, before you say, “Hey, I’m not confident in Doug Collins because of some good reasons I have,” allow me to slap you in the mouth and force you to look at these findings of the Temple Sport Industry Research Center which say that you and your thoughts are wrong.

That’s my alma mater!  Always ahead of the… or at least within seeing distance of… the curve. (more…)

"HOOT." photo courtesy of Delaware County Times.com

One is Domonic Brown.  Have you ever seen Domonic Brown play baseball?  Have you ever seen the sun set over the Grand Canyon?  And then beat the throw to first?

Just when you think he’s a power player, he tries to stretch out a double, and yes, was technically “out,” but… it was close.  In a game that doesn’t matter, “close” is acceptable, because it means one of these times, you’re going to be safe.

Which shouldn’t be a surprise, considering Brown is just “one of those guys” who can do absolutely anything with precision, power, and skill.  Until he finally comitted to baseball, the guy was up for a career in the NFL as well.  Despite being really, really, ludicrously good, he went with baseball, explaining that football was “… just something to do, the same with basketball.”

You’d think some people, who maybe tried all the same sports with varying degrees of success (or crap) would resent somebody for a statement like that, and if he was wearing a Yankees jersey, okay, yeah, I probably would, but Domonic Brown’s the big piece.  Domonic’s what’s left in the piggy bank, and this Spring Training, he’s showing us why.

Shane says the next two or three days could see him back to running around the outfield like his hair’s on fire, with his 80-85% “there” shoulder only getting his throws 130 feet.

“He’s coming along well. He’s fine. Somewhere along the way, you’ll see him, dude,” Charlie explained, throwing in a bit of stoner lingo he’s picking up from being in the Phillies locker room on a daily basis.

In list-related news, Larry Andersen was pissed that the Phillies were crammed in at #2 in the Sporting News team rankings.  I guess not “pissed.”  In my head he’s screaming his response into some poor Sporting News intern’s face, which would probably have been the route I took had they called and asked for my opinion.  Not this year, though. That’s okay.

It’s funny to read further down the list and see so many team analysts say “Yup, that’s about where they should be,” about teams that are sure to stumble, fall, or shit their pants (some all three).