Tony LaRussa is in baseball's Hall of Fame, and he should be.
He managed for 31 seasons, winning 2,728 games and three World Series.
He was in the Pirates' TV booth last week, and he shouldn't have been.
LaRussa decided to crash the booth after he heard announcer Greg Brown mention LaRussa's history of being involved in retaliatory pitches. He apparently disputed the point.
There's a 33-year body of evidence to back Brown's observation, but that's not the issue here.
LaRussa had no business acting on an impulse and potentially disrupting a broadcast. He's an executive now, and should have enough finesse to make his point without resorting to the kind of juvenile bullying behavior he exhibited as a manager.
Brown handled the situation with a diplomacy other broadcasters might not have exhibited. He got LaRussa out of then booth, then got rid of him as quickly as possible.
At least somebody acted in a professional manner.
LaRussa, who is now the Diamondbacks' chief baseball officer, should have known better. If he wants to argue the point, there's a proper way to do it. He had no business barging into the booth.
But combine a hot temper with arrogance, and you get a cheap show like the one LaRussa staged at PNC Park.
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--AT IT AGAIN
Pete Rose had more hits than anyone else who played Major League Baseball, 4,256.
Since then, he makes people long for a thesaurus that has 4,256 synonyms for "pathetic."
Rose did an interview with Cincinnati magazine in which he promised to shut down all illegal gambling activity if he can get back in baseball. (It's Sunday morning and you may not be thinking clearly, so let that one swirl around a little as you butter your raisin toast).
If MLB will just let him back in the game, he promises he won't break the law. Rose lives in Las Vegas, where it's possible to legally bet on just about everything. So what need would he have for a bookie, other than to stay in touch with old friends?
But he thinks that's a reasonable proposition, which shows that his perspective is warped beyond all repair.
Pitiful. (Only 4.255 synonyms to go).
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--SOLID ADVICE
This is a leftover from a time when a lot more teams were in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but it's too good to pass up.
Mike Milbury, commenting for NBC, chastised Florida Panthers coach Gerard Gallant for complaining too much to the game officials.
"If you continually use that kind of behavior, it can be distracting," Milbury said. "It doesn't work."
This is the same Mike Milbury who once chased referee Denis Morel down the hallway to the locker rooms at the Civic Arena, yelling and cursing at him.
But he's the voice of reason now.
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--THE LAST SERIES
All those years of televised Bill Cowher news conferences reinforced a couple of points: the man had a colorful collection of sweaters that he loved almost as much as he loved referencing that thin line between winning and losing.
The Penguins are in the Stanley Cup final because they beat Tampa Bay 2-1 in the seventh game of their series. That's how close it was.
So now it's the San Jose Sharks, a team the Penguins last saw before Christmas. The meetings were before the Penguins were transformed from an iffy playoff qualifier to a legitimate Cup contender.
Enjoy the series, because it should be excellent. Win or lose, the Penguins have provided a memorable season and slain a lot of the demons that have dogged the franchise since the last Cup in 2009.
This smells disturbingly like the Sharks in seven, but who knows? A bounce here, a hiccup there, and it can all abruptly change direction like a deflected slap shot.
If your favorite hockey team is still playing on Memorial Day, it's been a great season.
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