Sports & Society

A California jury returned a guilty verdict today on three counts of second-degree murder in the death of Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher, Nick Adenhart and two others in April, 2009.

Gallo was charged and convicted of the more serious second-degree murder charges rather than manslaughter because he has a previous DUI conviction and was known to understand the specific dangers of drinking and driving from his own experience.

In 1960, Gene Autry, already famous as a singing cowboy, decided to travel to the Major League Baseball expansion meetings to see if he could find a baseball team to broadcast on his radio station. He walked away with an actual team instead.

Fifty years later, that same team, the Los Angeles Angels, are planning a year-long bash to commemorate their 50th birthday.

Early Friday morning The GM's Perspective reported that the Vancouver Canadians were set to become the newest member of the Toronto Blue Jays family.

I mentioned to a friend in an email this new partnership between the Canadians and Jays brings together two hotbeds of baseball and situates them under one umbrella.

Florida Marlins president David Samson has no shortage of critics these days in Miami-Dade County. He can thank Deadspin.com for his troubles.

On Monday, August 23, Deadspin.com obtained the financial records of the Marlins covering the 2008-09 seasons, and the fallout was not pretty.

You have to love the dog days of summer. 

Since the end of basketball free agency the major sports writers have been trying their mightiest to find a headline. 

Yeah, NFL training camps have opened but it isn't the same.  Baseball is in the summer lull and there hasn't been a no-hitter in almost a month.  So, what have the writers been doing, making up stories on topics that really aren't story worthy. 

I'll give a few examples and how I think they could be solved.

I want you to ask yourself this, what Major League Baseball players deserve to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Does Pete Rose deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? How about Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, or Roger Clemens? Maybe even one day New York Yankess third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who is on the eve of hitting home run No. 600?

While watching Hall of Fame outfielder Andre Dawson give his speech after his induction into Cooperstown on Sunday, he said some things that struck a chord with me and became the inspiration for this article.

Both the calendar page and the greeting card companies dictate that the one day per year we are allowed to "honor thy father" (at least in this country) is the third Sunday of June. Since 1910, children around the globe have annually taken a mere 24 hours out of their busy lives to "celebrate fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society" by dousing Dads with a collection of humorous cards and never to be worn ties.

If nothing else, Father's Day acts to provide a fitting and opposite book end to the prior month's holiday, Mother's Day.

California's upcoming gubernatorial election is about as bleak as the state's financial funk. It's time we made a change.

This state deserves a governor we can believe in, someone who knows how to convince the public of even the most obvious lies and keep a straight face while delivering them.

Someone like Mike Scioscia.

The manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is the perfect candidate to be California's next governor. In the first place, it's not as if he's got any real competition from the rest of the so-called political candidates out there.

In case you have been living under a rock the past week, you've missed perhaps one of the most iconic events in all of Major League Baseball.

The eve that saw Ken Griffey Jr. say goodbye to baseball for good, also brought about a new wave of controversy as veteran World Series umpire Jim Joyce made a horrendous call that cost near-perfect game pitcher Armando Galaragga immortality.

As a fan who has witnessed just about everything in the world of sports, this one stands out as the most odd, and by far the most disappointing.

It's events such as these that proves my frustration towards Philly fan haters is justified. To those who may complain that Philly inhabitants are rude, reckless, and front-runners, read on.

Phillies fans proved they're just as phanatic as ever at the 26th annual Phillies Phestival Monday night. Over 7,000 fans, the most in phestival history, showed up to Citizen's Bank Park for the sold out event which raises money for the ALS Association for the fight again Lou Gehrig's disease.