If you don’t live in NYC or the Northeast and/or if you don’t follow pro basketball (and I couldn’t blame you if you didn’t), you might not know the name Jeremy Lin.

Whether he’ll be a flash in the pan or whether he’ll prove to be the phenom he has been for the last six Knick’s games, here’s a terrific article by someone who is well known (primarily?) for his work in the tech world.

Sports and good writing often go together:

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Feb. 11.

Truck Day.

That not so inconsequential time when all the Red Sox Spring Training gear is loaded up at Fenway and leaves for Fort Myers.

Ah, I can feel the juices begin to flow again.

For those of you for whom these major events matter, here’s a list of significant baseball dates for 2012:

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We’re getting close to ‘pitchers and catchers’ and the end of the Stove League.

So how did the 30 major league teams do (there are a few deals left to be made)?

In case you haven’t been paying attention, or have only been paying attention to your own team, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe gives a one paragraph summary of what each team did over the winter.

For What They’re Worth, the Winter Standings

After reading the recent MillersTime post of Sally Jenkins’ articles on Joe Paterno, friend and Penn State grad David Stang wrote a letter to Sally.

No reply from Sally, but if you have one or thoughts about what Dave wrote, please feel free to add your thoughts in the Comments’ section.

David’s letter:

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The Yankee I always feared the most made it official yesterday as he announced his retirement.

It wasn’t only that bloop single off Pedro in the 2003 that made me ‘hate’ him, tho that is still one of the more painful examples of what he could do to the Sox.

Jorge didn’t have as much talent as Derek, Mo, or ______ (put in any one you choose). You always (almost) knew what Mo would do to you in the 9th. And you knew that Jeter would always get on base when he needed to. You didn’t know how Jorge would beat you, but too often he did something to hurt you.

He had grit. Had he been on the Sox, he would have been one of the “Dirt Dogs.”

I can’t think of any better compliment to make about a ball player.

If you didn’t see his retirement announcement in its entirety yesterday, check it out below.

Tek, are you are there?

WaPo photo

Virtually every news source has articles about the death of Joe Paterno and opinion pieces about his legacy, about how he will be remembered, and, particularly, about how his handling of the Sandusky outrage has or has not affected how he will be judged.

Paterno only gave one reporter, Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post, an interview. He spoke to her from his house and his bedroom over a two-day period just before he died.

If you want to see what Paterno himself said, the two Jenkins’ articles (one came out just before he died and then second one came out today) are linked to below.”

If you only have time for one of them, perhaps read the one that was published today.

Jan. 23rd article: After a life of wins and losses, others will judge Paterno’s legacy.

Jan. 14th article: Joe Paterno’s last interview.

MillersTime/GoSox contest contributors are not doing so well so far.

Of the 35 predictions of what would take place during the Hot Stove league, 19 have already proven not to be true, 11 have yet to be decided, and only five have come true.

Here’s where we are so far:

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Those of you who have been long time followers of MillersTime/GoSox (all three of you) no doubt know that I am a big fan of Wash. Post sports writer Thomas Boswell. I always feel I learn something from his columns.

He wrote another one the other day entitled A Different Kind of Moneyball, wherein he looked at the recent deals with Pujols (and to a lesser degree the ones with Reyes, Wilson, Buehrle, and Bell) and asks, “How much is too  much?”

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New England/Florida cousin sent me the following article on life after Pujols for St. Louis.

I don’t know enough about how Pujols was seen in St. Louis, and I hope any of you from St. Louis will weigh in on this (Ben Senturia, for example?). But the article sure reminds me of Manny in Boston, where folks had to overlook so much for so long because he was so good with his bat.

I suspect this story is repeated around both leagues with different players.

Oh for those days of old where players stayed with the same team for their entire career.

Check it out.

Albert Pujols Is Leaving St. Louis. Rejoice!

So I am reading about the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park and all the plans the Red Sox have for showing it off throughout the 2012 season.

No one asked me, but I have a modest suggestion for the Red Sox:

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In an attempt to add a bit of interest to this winter’s ‘Base Ball’ machinations, I added a new MillersTimeBaseball Contest:
this winter’s Stove League.

The prize: two tickets to a game in any stadium of the winner’s choosing for the 2012 season.

Here is the list of what folks predicted:

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As a follow up to the excellent column I linked to at this site the other day (The End of Everything at State College, Click Here if you haven’t read it), I add a column from this morning’s Washington Post, written by the wonderful sports columnist Thomas Boswell.

Boswell always seems to see clearly and say things well, often things we may be thinking but haven’t put words to yet.

Click Here to read Boswell’s column.

Although at this site I tend to focus on baseball, I also follow sports in general.

Those of you who know of what has occurred at Penn State with Jerry Sandusky and all those around him have no doubt read numerous articles about this tragedy. If you haven’t read about it, start with the 23-page grand jury report (you can get to it from this site).

There is no sugar coating possible here.

Thanx to a Facebook posting by a former colleague, Justin Barrasso, I came across the following article and pass it on. It’s not about the facts nor about the outrage(s) per se but about the corollary damage that comes when those we invest with power and prestige fail to do what is right.

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Now that we have to suffer with no beisbol (as my friend Nelson refers to it) until the mid Feb. spring training reporting time, I thought I might offer a small contest for the Hot Stove League participants amongst you.

So here it is:

Predict some occurrence that will happen this winter (e.g., Pujois signing with the Yankees, Tito being chosen as manager of the Cubs, or perhaps Torre going to the Sox as a manager, etc).

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