1
Is everybody ready for a Beltway Series come October? With three weeks remaining in the regular season, the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles are turning into the feel-good stories of this baseball year.
The Nationals have the best record in the game and are close to clinching a playoff berth. A lot of people saw that coming, given their wealth of young talent.
The Orioles, on the other hand, have turned in a stunning performance. With another victory Tuesday, they are tied with the Yankees atop the AL East. Nobody saw that coming, and the fact that Baltimore is 17 games over .500 despite being outscored by 22 runs this season makes them a statistical anomaly.
So, how about a Washington-Baltimore World Series on the eve of a presidential election? Throw in a couple rainouts (well, like, five of them) and the series could end the same night as the election. The D.C. area would be all atwitter.
2
For all of his bombast, Mark Cuban often is the voice of reason. Speaking of the Lakers’ acquisitions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to join Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, the Dallas Mavericks owner said:
“The Lakers have done this before. Gary Payton and Karl Malone and Kobe and Shaq were all together, and it didn’t work. It takes great chemistry. . . . It takes guys wanting to be there. I don’t know if all their guys want to be there.”
Cuban also could have pointed to the first season of the Miami Heat’s Big Three, when his own Mavericks beat Miami in the NBA Finals. The Heat finally got it together this season and won a title. The Lakers have a lot of talent and will be a factor this season, but the secret to winning basketball is a willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team.
3
An 18-year-old football player says North Dakota State College of Sciences kicked him off the team after finding out he is gay.
The college acknowledged Jamie Kuntz was disciplined by the team. But football coach Chuck Parsons told Kuntz in a letter that he was removed for lying.
What Kuntz lied about was a kiss from his 65-year-old boyfriend at a game earlier this month. Kuntz was injured, so he was in the press box. Kuntz was videotaping the game when he says “the kiss just happened.”
When Parsons confronted Kuntz on the bus ride back to North Dakota, Kuntz lied and told him the man was his grandfather.
