The Sports Monitor

Badminton is an Olympic sport. Yet baseball isn't. On top of it all, eight athletes have been booted from the badminton competition. I'm still not sure what's more shocking -- badminton as an official sport or a scandal where eight athletes were tossed for intentionally losing. And they were doing a terrible job at losing, too. Maybe they should have been kicked out for being poor at losing. Either way, gimme some good ol' football. Or baseball -- the Pirates still are contenders. One final question: Did NBC have a channel dedicated to badminton?

The game of poker has received a bad rap for years for being too boring. Due to longperiods of inactivity in a game, players tend to tune out of the game. The funny thing is, Baseball is also one that many of these same people happen to like even though sometimes it also has has similar long periods of inactivity, even if those long periods are not shown on TV. In big poker tournaments, such as the highlights we see in the World Series of Poker, has skewed the reality of how long of a process that the game can really be. Sometimes even in baseball, during the World Series there are long period of innings where there isn’t much going on, like in poker except one person raising and others folding. That can change quickly and sometimes just as dramatically as a big solo shot homer. A player can make a raise, followed by a three-bet from another player. The original raiser then moves all-in and gets called. Now, all the people watching the event are on their feet cheering and ...

The Penguins can advance tonight and we're all waiting to see if Ben Roethlisberger gets traded during the NFL draft or sometime after. Before that action takes place, I just have to write about the Pirates. Did you see the score Thursday afternoon? 20-0. Yes. Twenty. And, if you weren't sure, they lost. That makes it 36-1 against the Brewers in the three-game homestand. The Bucs just can't beat the Brewers. And, for this series, they weren't even on the same playing field. That drops the Pirates to 7-8 on the season. To paraphrase the coach from "Bull Durham," how did they ever win seven? You can check out the scene here , it's one of my favorites from the movie.  Beware, there is some R-rated language there.

Do you think the St. Louis Cardinals are getting nervous yet? Probably not, but it's fun to think that they might be looking in their rear-view mirror as the Bucs sit one game out of first place after sweeping the Cincinnati Reds this weekend. What was particularly encouraging is the way the Bucs are going about business. They rallied in the ninth inning Friday and Saturday to win the first two games of the series. With a chance to sweep, Paul Maholm had a strong outing on the mound, giving up just four hits. Meanwhile, the Pirates made the most of their five hits, scoring five runs in the fourth inning against the Reds on Sunday. Key hitting. Strong pitching. Good bullpen. It's a recipe for success, and the Bucs have followed it in four of their past five games. Yeah, it's been fun. And I know the bottom can fall out at any given moment for this franchise. After all, they were 9-6 last season. But at least not everyone is satisfied with the start. ...

The first road trip of the season started with a loud thud in Arizona on Friday night. The Bucs got clubbed by the Diamondbacks 9-1, bringing to a screeching halt any warm, fuzzy thoughts about that quick 2-0 start to open the season. Manager John Russell sent Charlie Morton to the mound and the D-backs sent him to the showers early, tagging Morton for eight runs and nine hits. Morton didn't make it out of the fourth inning. "I just didn't bear down," Morton told reporters after the game. Diamondbacks starter Rodrigo Lopez looked like an All-Star, tossing six-hit ball and giving up just one run. The trouble was Lopez is a pitcher the Pirates should be able to beat. He missed the 2008 season after Tommy John surgery. He had seven uneventful appearances last season and finished with a 5.70 ERA. To add insult to injury, the stoic Adam LaRoche had two hits against his former team. It doesn't get any better Saturday with Arizona sending out Dan Haren, a rea...

Early April is one of my favorite times of the year. College basketball wraps up with the Final Four, the Masters tees off and baseball returns. The return of baseball is the best part. Each year I bust out my favorite DVDs to get ready for the season. Among my favorites: "Field of Dreams", "Bull Durham", and "Major League". Another that doesn't get as much fanfare is "For Love of the Game." It's one of my favorites. I'm not saying it deserves to be mentioned as one of the best sports movies of all time, but baseball fans should like it. As a side note, why doesn't "Back to School" get any credit on the best sports movies list? After all, it features Rodney Dangerfield diving.

I received a flier in the mail today that Pittsburgh Pirates game tickets go on sale Saturday morning. My question: Is it really worth it to buy tickets that far in advance?

The Cleveland Browns are bad. Terrible. Pitiful. Awful. Horrible. Yeah, I like to pile on sometimes. But back to the Browns. During their loss to the Steelers on Sunday, it got me thinking that it would be terrible being a Cleveland Browns fan. I know a few at work, and the Steelers' domination combined with the Browns' ineptitude has taken all of the fun out of a Steelers win in the rivalry. Those fans are miserable. They expect bad things to happen. They don't expect good luck. Again, it would be terrible being a Cleveland Browns fan. Their ownership stinks, their management stinks, their players stink. But I stopped myself. I'm a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. I have it just as bad, or perhaps, worse. Our ownership stinks, our management stinks and our players stink. So, I simply ask this: Would you rather have the Nutting ownership running your favorite team or the Lerner ownership that has run the Browns?

The Pittsburgh Pirates season ended mercifully Sunday, Oct. 3, after a 6-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The 62-99 season marked the fifth straight 90-loss season. It was the fourth time in the last five years the team finished in last place in the National League Central Division. The Pirates finished 28 1/2 games behind the Cardinals. The season started Monday, April 6, with promise. The Bucs rallied to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 at Busch Stadium. That optimism spilled over into the home opener. The Bucs beat up the Houston Astros 7-0 behind the strong pitching of Zach Duke. On Sunday, April 26, the team was four games over .500, the highest point all season. On Saturday, Sept. 26, the team was at its lowest point statistically, 39 games under .500. The low point, perhaps, was the trading frenzy that jettisoned outfielders Nate McLouth and Nyjer Morgan, and infielders Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson from the franchise. It certainly was a morale killer for players and fans. The te...

I must admit, I didn't think it was possible earlier in the summer. Back in June, I think I first heard the idea that the Bucs would lose 100 games this season. In the middle of the month, the Bucs had a 31-34 record. Man, that seems like ages ago. I didn't buy the theory then, and I didn't buy it at the All-Star break, either. Oh, I knew they wouldn't have a winning record. That was a foregone conclusion this summer. But 100 losses? No way. The team traded most of their top players and I still was in denial. Even in August, with the team scuffling, I didn't think 100 losses was a possibility. And that five-game winning streak from Aug. 17-22 seemed to justify my thinking. Then, the bottom fell out. The Bucs quickly turned things around and lost nine straight games, and then their date with destiny was on. First, they clinched their 17th consecutive losing season, and the franchise is now the proud owner of the longest losing stretch in professional sports. (Way to ...

We knew this day was coming. It was guaranteed when general manager Neal Huntington began dismantling the team earlier this summer. The Pirates' streak of consecutive losing seasons reached 17 on Monday, a record in all of sports. It was fitting that it happened on Labor Day, since it has been a labor to watch this team for most of that span. The Pirates have had such a storied past, with World Series championships, great players like Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell, and great moments. This one, isn't worth remembering. Many of the players weren't bothered by the streak. You can't blame them. They weren't there for all 17 years. There's been plenty of mistakes through the years, including draft picks, trades and free-agent signings. My favorite was Derek "Operation Shutdown" Bell. But there were others. Too many others. Perhaps the most disturbing problem is a generation of fans in the area have been lost. A high school senior today doesn't kn...

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been taking a lot of heat lately for their string of trades in order to build a winning team. Many people think it's purely based on saving a buck. In their criticisms of the franchise, pundits are quick to point out that the Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992. They're right, of course. How could any Pirates fan forget? But it hasn't been a total disaster since '92. In all of the negative comments about the franchise -- and I've heaped my share in the past -- no one likes to remember the season of 1997. I like to think of it as the last time the Pirates were competitive, not 1992. They weren't expected to compete in '97, as their payroll in the neighborhood of $9 million. They proved many people wrong. The Bucs were in first place as late as mid-July and were .500 or better as late as August. They finished in second place in a weak NL Central. One of the highlights that season was the combined no-hitter from Franc...

Adam LaRoche no longer is a Pittsburgh Pirate. To that, I say, "Thank you." LaRoche came to the Pirates with promise of a home-run hitter from the left-hand side, one able to launch blasts over the Clemente Wall and perhaps into the Allegheny River. Perhaps too much was expected from him. Whatever the case, his term in Pittsburgh was not very memorable. You could count on a terrible first half followed by a solid second half of the season. By the time he started to hit, the Pirates were selling the good players they had. Now, LaRoche is the one being shipped away. According to WEEI in Boston , the Red Sox gave up shortstop Argenis Diaz and pitcher Hunter Strickland. Diaz was playing in Class AA Portland, hitting .253 with no home runs and 24 RBIs. He has seven stolen bases. The WEEI report describe Diaz as a gifted defensive player without much of a bat. Strickland, who is 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, was 5-4 with a 3.35 ERA in the South Atlantic League. If the reports are accurate,...

The All-Star break came at the right time for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They enter the unofficial midpoint with a 38-50 record. Last season, they were 44-50 at the break and limped to the end of the season with a 23-45 record. But, hey, look at the bright side, there are at least three days this week where they won't lose a game. Unfortunately, there's a little thing called reality. A winning record all is but a dream this season. The team's goal should be to avoid losing 100 games. Not many will notice by then, since training camp for the Pittsburgh Steelers will begin in a couple weeks and the real games start before the Bucs officially close up shop for the season. Here's a look at the Bucs: Catcher: Ryan Doumit missed most of the season with a wrist injury. Those typically can linger, so Doumit's power might not return in the second half. Odds he finishes the season with the Bucs: 65 percent. Odds on him with 2010 Bucs: 60 percent. First base: Adam LaRoche (.2...

Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez is an All-Star. Of course, someone from the Pirates has to be an All-Star, baseball's rules demand it. Go beyond the mandatory selection, and Sanchez still is a darn good player. A former batting champ, Sanchez has proved this year that the title was legit and last year's season was an aberration. Sanchez is hitting at a .316 clip entering the All-Star break. He provides offense at a position where anything you get above .250 is a bonus. In addition, with Sanchez, there's not much sacrifice on defense. So, why would the Pirates want to trade him? There are about 8 million of them and it's all about the money. Since Sanchez is an All-Star, he needs just 600 plate appearances to make $8 million next season, which is a Cardinal sin on the penny-pinching Pirates. I can't blame general manager Neal Huntington for trying to trade Sanchez. You need to sell at the highest point to gain a profit, and Sanchez might not get any higher. So...

The have been some rumors of a Freddy Sanchez trade to the San Francisco Giants. In return, the Bucs would get pitcher Jonathan Sanchez. As luck would have it, Sanchez tossed a no-hitter Friday night for the Giants. My guess is Sanchez heard the rumors and decided the only way to stay away from the Pirates was to pitch the game of his career.

The new Pirates reliever won a game Thursday for the Nationals . Usually, everyone is a winner when they leave the Bucs.

It's nice to see Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson show some energy, however misguided it was. He's since apologized for his remarks after the Bucs traded Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett for Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan. That comes almost a month after players were highly critical of the trade that sent away popular outfielder Nate McLouth. After each trade, the Pirates won. So, the question remains, maybe the players need to be a little more fired up when they take the field. They ripped the Mets, 11-6, after the McLouth trade. After trading Morgan and Burnett, the Bucs beat the Cubs, 3-0. Maybe the players need to carry a chip on their shoulder more often -- or at least show some life. Have you ever seen an Adam LaRoche interview? He makes comedian Steven Wright look like a ball of energy. Or, perhaps, a couple more trades will do the trick. Anyone in the market for an overpaid first baseman?

So, Jack Wilson and other Pirates are tired of these trades ? I think the fans are tired of losing, I know I am. Maybe the players should be tired of losing, too. Like it or not, the management in place have a direction to take this team. Some might argue it's to make more money for the Nuttings. That could be the case, but it seems general manager Neal Huntington has a plan in place to make the team better. I definitely think that's the case. You can see it take shape. They have outfielders in place in the minors or already playing at PNC Park with Andrew McCutchen, Lastings Milledge, Jose Tabata and Gorkys Hernandez. Pedro Alvarez recently was promoted to Double-A Altoona and could be in Pittsburgh next season. Andy LaRoche is showing the promise he displayed in the minors. To review, I didn't like the Nate McLouth trade, but I did like Tuesday's moves. But, I will concede that Huntington has a blueprint. He can't be blamed for the past seasons. Let's give him...

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington was busy Tuesday, making two trades. In the first, the Bucs sent outfielder Eric Hinske to the evil Yankees for a pair of minor leaguers, pitcher Casey Erickson and outfielder Eric Fryer. Hinske didn't have a role or a future for the Bucs. In fact, Hinske goes from the lower class to the elite. He should be happy. The Bucs should be happy that they get some help for their farm system. Erickson was 3-3 with a 2.25 ERA at Class A. Fryer hit .250 in Class A Tampa. The Bucs will be lucky if either contributes in the bigs, let alone has an impact. The bigger trade happened hours later when Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett went to a team that appears worse off right now than the Pirates, and that's the Washington Nationals. In return, the Bucs got toolsy but troubled outfield prospect Lastings Milledge and former closer Joel Hanrahan, who actually lost the job twice this season. This trade works for the Bucs because it's the classic sell-high,...