<LOST> Oakland @ Pittsburgh

<LOST> Atlanta @ San Francisco

<LOST> Denver @ Indianapolis

<???> Chicago @ San Diego

I remember sitting at the pub, sipping my Pale Ale, and thinkin', that's a wrong call. Not a 'bad' call, just wrong.

Garret Anderson, Brad Ausmus, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Luis Castillo, Roger Clemens, David Eckstein, Jim Edmonds, Nomar Garciaparra, Troy Glaus, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark Grudzielanek, Mike Hampton, Trevor Hoffman, Jason Kendall, Jeff Kent, Mike Lowell, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Mike Mussina, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, Lee Smith, Sammy Sosa, Mike Sweeney, Alan Trammell, Billy Wagner, Larry Walker, Randy Winn.

Looks like Griffey is the only sure thing.

I think Raines and Piazza also belong, maybe Trammell and Bagwell. Garciaparra's career as a great was too short, plus big steroid suspicions. Mussina had 270 wins but his ERA was never below 3.00 after his second year, which surprises me.

There are Bonds, Clemens, McGwire and Sosa who are obviously qualified by their records, but tainted by drugs.

Griffey: Mortal lock.

Nuff ced.

Bagwell: Had he played in another epoch, would already have got there; for his numbers leave no doubt whatever.

Piazza: Greatest hitting catcher of all time.

Trammell: Has not done at all well in HOF balloting and I have never understood why.

It is true that Trammell was never as good defensively as Ozzie Smith (an impossible standard for ordinary mortals), but he was more than adequate, and far better with the lumber in hand than Ozzie. Should already have made it in.

Raines: Another player who is a no-doubter for me, but suffered by comparison as a leadoff hitter with the incomparable Rickey Henderson and Paul Molitor. One terrific player whose shortcoming seems to have been not posting eye-popping numbers in categories other than stolen bases.

OK, Trammell wasn't a Wizard like Ozzie, but he was a good shortstop. How many more runs would Ozzie save compared to Trammell in a year? One run every three games? Every five games?

Raines had a lifetime OBP of .390 over twenty years. That's eyepopping enough for me.

In 1987, for example, he put himself in scoring postion (or scored) on his own 130 times. Extraordinary. (Might be a bit high, as it counts steals of third.)

Despite his stature, Bill James remained a geek around good players, as he freely admitted. He said once he was helping Raines with his arbitration hearing and there was a break.

James headed straight to the bathroom, and Raines came in to the urinal next to him a minute later. James said, "Now I can tell my kids I beat Tim Raines in a footrace." And Raines couldn't stop laughing.

I was twice named AP Comeback Player of the year, first time with New York Jets, and two years later with Miami Dolphins.

In those same two years, I was also named Pro Football Weekly Comeback player of the year.

<ESPN Monday Night
@ESPNMondayNight

Cutler has the MOST game-winning TD passes in the 4th quarter since 2009. (12)>

Makes me wonder how many third quarter game winning TD passes Cutler have, or second quarter game winning TD passes...

The ball bounced off the guy into the court, and Curry picked it up and dribbled down the court.

Maybe the refs didn't see it or they just said what the heck.

If you are guarding the inbound man, you are always told to not take your eyes off him, in case he bounces one off you.

Curry was inbounds after a basket. He tossed the ball to a teammate out of bounds who was going to inbound the ball. But that player was talking to the ref and didn't see the ball.