Sometimes you go through life not knowing what effect your actions have on the lives of others. It is rewarding to know that you make a difference in the world. Back in March, I found this in my local paper. It was possibly the worst written piece of garbage I’ve ever seen in print. You don’t forget the first time you read a Pete Alfano piece; it’s like witnessing a violent death. It just sticks with you. From the bad grammar to the shoddy premise to the factual errors and lack of research; it makes an unforgettable impression of bad humor in the form of referencing semi-current events. Often it is nothing more than a list of things that happened that month or a bitter rant about sports franchises having the gall to make a profit. I made a promise to myself that every time he wrote something even semi-baseball related, I would give him is due ridicule.

After my first piece, the Fort Worth Star Telegram pulled said piece out of the archives. It is still on my site for the public to see. I never knew if Pete read my site or was just blissfully ignorant of my mockery. I am now absolutely certain that Pete is a reader of Lonestar Mets. (Pete, if you would like to comment, I will gladly grant you full commenter status.)

As I side note, I wonder exactly how he came to find the existence of my site because:

A. Pete does not strike me a vain man who would Google “Pete Alfano” to see if anyone reference him or his column
B. As it’s been pointed out on this site several times, Pete hates to do any research of any kind, including typing ‘2008 Luxury Tax team by team’ into a search engine to insure the Mets were indeed over the threshold before writing that they were over the limit.

Since I am fairly certain Pete did not come to find Lonestar Mets on his own, I can assume one of two scenarios occurred.

Scenario One: Employees found this site and began to read it. Pete noticed that anytime he approached a coworker, they closed their browser and Pete noticed several hushed giggles and whispers and glances in his direction. Some anonymous coworker printed out a copy an put it on his desk.

Scenario Two: The publisher found Lonestar Mets and dressed down Pete’s editor to chastising him for the fact he had not been reading his columnist work. The following conversation occurred:

Pete’s Editor: ALFANO, GET IN HERE!
Pete Alfano: You needed to see me boss?
PE: What the hell is this? This is what you’ve been writing? I just got a call from corporate management.
PA: (In sarcastic tone) Pssh, corporate, bastards always trying to make money, capitalist pigs.
PE: Don’t even start that communist rhetoric again, last year you got our summer intern deported. Look at this, Madonna references, that’s like 20 years old!
PA: Yeah, I remember laughing when writing it, funny huh?
PE: You might as well be making Janet Jackson nipple jokes!
PA: (Coyly smiling) Hey, did you read this weeks column?
PE: Just because you make a reference to some pop culture reference when writing about sports does not make it humor. (scrolling down on the screen) Secretary of Sports? what were you thinking? This is supposed to be professional newspaper! You need to start writing in a professional matter, this is your last chance. No more stupid references to pop culture, questions to the reader you don’t answer and tedious lists of things! Now get out of my office!

This week, Pete takes on the issue of firing head coaches or managers and in doing so tackles the issue of racism, perceived or otherwise, and anti-Semitism. Those are some weighty issues for the man who penned “SPORTS LEAGUES, PLEASE GIVE THESE GUYS A BREAK” and tackled the momentous issue of bottled water in baseball. Anyway, this weeks Monday Morning Quarterback isn’t terrible. It does, uncharacteristically, lack random references to current events, an Alfano staple, or hacky attempts at humor.

I normally would let this pass, despite the point of the piece is that coaches sometimes get fired in an effort to appease an aggravated fan base. I may have inspired Pete to try and improve as a writer. Granted, his article is still trite and stale as per usual, but not near as annoying as a typical Alfano piece. I think Pete is trying to bait me, here but it’s worth it.

But worry not Pete, I made a vow back in March and I will honor it now. All appologies to Fire Joe Morgan, blah, blah blah. Here we go…more after the jump Read More…

Posted under FJM ripoff, Pete Alfano

I was going to dive into Willie playing the race card and Iron Mike retiring until I saw this. I’ll get back to the Mets and mediocrity and imaginary racism and a hero’s retirement later. Pete Alfano has spoken.

With all apologies to Fire Joe Morgan (who does this much better and funnier), I couldn’t, in good conscience let this pass with out its due mockery…

Well here we are on a Monday and who else to judge the state of sporting world with anecdotal evidence and poorly thought out pronouncements. I probably could have let this go except for the fact it’s completely arbitrary, unfunny, lacks any direction and I hate people that refer to themselves as “we.” It also has the trademark communist Alfano and as always extra pompous condescension, enjoy:

A Secretary of Sports might not be a bad idea
By PETE ALFANO
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
We know there are far greater issues facing the country than what goes on in the sports world, but after a week of routine perusing of the sports news, a question arises about whether the time has come for the next president of the U.S. to consider creating an agency or even cabinet-level position for oversight of sports.

No one- no one thinks that. But at least this isn’t the usual Alfano bitter tripe about sports franchises making money and how government regulation will somehow make the game more enjoyable.

We know that people generally prefer less intrusion from the federal government, but given how sports leagues are usually reluctant to police themselves without some encouragement from lawmakers or law enforcement agencies, maybe a Secretary of Sports is not such a bad idea. This is a billion-dollar business after all,

Oh.

I swear, this man can’t wrap his head around the idea that SPORTS FRANCHISES ARE SUPPOSED TO MAKE MONEY. It is not a new idea to ANYONE except Pete.

and while fans have been patient almost to a fault, no one knows when the tipping point will be reached, and stadiums and arenas will start looking like some of those houses in your neighborhood in foreclosure.

Notice the typical Alfano style “joke” in which the only “humor” is a passing reference to some relatively current event?

The Monday Morning Quarterback is being a little dramatic, but sometimes, that’s how you make your point.

Hold on. In case you missed it (I don’t blame you if you did) this is you go about making a slightly dramatic point:

“…no one knows when the tipping point will be reached, and stadiums and arenas will start looking like some of those houses in your neighborhood in foreclosure.” Is how you go about expressing that, “A Secretary of Sports might not be a bad idea”

The public pays big bucks to attend games, and in this economic climate, it deserves more than the kind of headlines we are seeing on an almost daily basis.

So, “stadiums and arenas will start looking like some of those houses in your neighborhood in foreclosure.” Which is why, “A Secretary of Sports might not be a bad idea” so that the public will have the kind of headlines it deserves. Brilliant.

Maybe the President will grant the Secretary of Sports the dual office of Sports Page Headline Czar. Also, I love, LOVE the irony of Pete complaining about something in the newspaper.

How can you get enthused about Big Brown’s bid for the Triple Crown, the Dallas Stars’ attempt to make history in the NHL playoffs or even the rise to respectability of the Texas Rangers without noticing the litany of sordid events that offset the feel-good news?

Pete is one of the guys that never reads a paper or watches the news because “it’s too depressing” which is a perfectly acceptable (though ignorant) assertion provided you don’t WORK FOR A NEWSPAPER.

Start with the U.S. Attorney’s office that wants to subpoena as many as 100 baseball players in the BALCO steroid distribution case, not necessarily to bring charges against the players, but to learn where they got the drugs. Drug testing aside, steroid use is illegal in this country without a valid medical reason. And the desire to hit 40 home runs a season doesn’t qualify as one.

Incredulous outrage at steroid use doesn’t qualify as comedy. Unless your Whoopi Goldberg, then it’s pure talent (Note: That’s a burn). Also: thanks for the year old news story.

An aside: Did you hear that home runs are down significantly this season? Do you really think that’s a coincidence?

Some people watch baseball, the others that wait to “hear” about baseball work for the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

So, while we all made fun (the MMQB included) of the Congressional hearings into steroid use, would Major League Baseball and the Players Association have toughened their drug testing program and increased penalties without that “circus” in Washington, D.C.?

Is Pete implying that it was not a kind of a circus?

How to write a Pete Alfano column:
Step 1: Compile a list of things you’ve heard people talking about going back 20 years or so. IMPORTANT: DO NOT DO ANY RESEARCH; FACTS ARE IRRELEVANT
Step 2: Start writing, use as many marginally topical references to mask the fact you aren’t making any sense. (Note: Do not be concerned with a valid or logical argument)

Now, football types are taking digs at Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania because he won’t let go of Roger Goodell’s pants leg.

Now, columnist types are exemplifying bad writing.

The “law and order” commissioner just wants Spygate to go away, saying that fining the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick and taking their first pick in the recent NFL draft was a sufficient penalty.

20 bucks says Pete wrote this durring a re-run of Law and Order.

“What more can I do?” is what Goodell basically said. Well, maybe Specter thinks that the Patriots’ spying over several years represents a pattern of behavior and not just a one-time transgression. Maybe it is apparent that the Patriots would still be spying if the Jets hadn’t blown the whistle on their hated rivals at the start of last season.

Maybe it is apparent = doesn’t make sense

Maybe this rationale that everybody cheats or tries to cheat is not the kind of image that the NFL should aspire to.

Maybe Pete should be the first US Secretary of Sports and bring his short sighted judgment, haughty ideas and hatred of capitalism to the forefront of the sporting world in order to give us the sports headlines we deserve and sculpt the NFL’s image.

But all of this is child’s play compared to the betting scandal that NBA commissioner David Stern is dismissing as an isolated event. The Feds announced at the end of last week that referee Tim Donaghy had gambled on more than 100 games over a three-year period, among them 14 that he officiated. He also passed on tips to big-time gamblers and received a cash bonus when they won. A little something for his trouble.

I picture Pete typing this on his typewriter with a sneer on his face and chortling while rolling his eyes at the end of every sentence. I am positive he said that last sentence out loud as he typed it in an bad Italian accent.

Stern has called Donaghy a “rogue” and says that gambling is not pervasive in the league. This just in: A Las Vegas casino is bringing legal action against Charles Barkley for non-payment of a $400,000 gambling debt. Barkley, who is an NBA studio host on the TNT network, says it was an oversight. He also says that he has been gambling for 20 years, which means he would have started when he was 25 and entering his basketball prime.

Well you actually have a point that might legitimately an investigation, maybe even by the federal government. Bring it home with your conclusion that convinces me that there is a need for a “Secretary of Sports.” Can Pete reach a valid and logical point in one of these god-awful pieces of crap? Bring it all home Pete!

We’re starting to think that maybe all that smoke Josh Howard is blowing is clouding Stern’s judgment.

Or undermine it with a hacky, unfunny and nonsensical snipe at the commissioner rather than reinforce of what I assume was the point of your article: Commissioners don’t have the authority to regulate their respective sports thus the need for a “Secretary of Sports.”

He was so close.

Also, I would like to point out, Pete’s already reusing joke from his Josh Howard comedy series. You remember the last time one of Pete’s columns was on this site:

Apparently there’s another banned substance problem in sports.
And it doesn’t have anything to do with Josh Howard’s admission on Michael Irvin’s radio show that he likes to chill during the off-season by smoking weed. A whimsical thought here: Given Irvin’s brush with drugs over the years, do you think he and Howard may have a future as the new Cheech and Chong?

Hyi-oohhhhh. He isn’t even trying to be unoriginally unfunny anymore. That or he has an extremely limited source of current sporting events. Feel free to drop him a line and ask:

Pete Alfano 817-390-7985
palfano@star-telegram.com

Hacky writing at its best, Pete Alfano

Posted under FJM ripoff, Pete Alfano

With all apologies to Fire Joe Morgan (who does this much better and funnier), I couldn’t, in good conscience let this pass with out it’s due mockery…

Well here we are on a Monday and who else to judge the state of sporting world with anecdotal evidence and poorly thought out pronouncements. I probably could have let this go except for the fact it’s completely arbitrary, lacks any direction and I hate people that refer to themselves as “we.” Enjoy:

I woke up this morning with an inexplicable urge to read a hokey, simplistic contrivance by a small bitter man. Well Pete Aflano of the Fort Worth Star Telegram gives us: The Monday Morning Quarterback. Here we go:

Apparently there’s another banned substance problem in sports.

Whoa, Ok, hang on. There is? That’s a weighty declaration from a man whose last baseball related piece bemoaned about the seasons being too long. I give Pete a lot of grief but has he infiltrated an illegal drug ring not just affecting baseball but sports in general? Wow, I really have to give credit to Pete here; this is a major, major story.

And it doesn’t have anything to do with Josh Howard’s admission on Michael Irvin’s radio show that he likes to chill during the off-season by smoking weed. A whimsical thought here: Given Irvin’s brush with drugs over the years, do you think he and Howard may have a future as the new Cheech and Chong?

What? Get to the “another banned substance problem in sports.”

As fascinating and ill-advised as that revelation is by the Mavericks star forward, you may not have heard about the no-nonsense approach Major League Baseball took last week against bottled water.

Oh.

So it really isn’t another banned substance problem in sports. You lied to me Pete.

Yes, you read that correctly. Water, the stuff that comes out of the tap but we are willing to pay for at the store. The beverage that is generally regarded as the best and purest means of quenching your thirst without adding calories, sugar, salt and some chemical concoction responsible for the rainbow of colors among the sports drinks on supermarket shelves.

I was pretty hazy on what water was, thank you General Jack D. Ripper.

Eight glasses a day is what health experts say should be the minimum amount we consume. It helps cleanse our bodies internally, as well as externally, when we combine it with soap in the shower.

Well last time he told us what a “fitness expert” would have said IF he would have asked one. At least this time, and Pete is implying that he actually did research here. Pete says experts, (being plural so at least more than one) said to him that eight glasses of water per day is what experts recommend we consume. I blast this guy every time he touches on my favorite sport while doing absolutely no research or fact checking. Now Pete implies that he talked to two people during the writing of this story. I have to check, hold on.

Kidney specialists do agree on one thing, however: the 8-by-8 rule is a gross overestimate of any required minimum. To replace daily losses of water, an average-sized adult with healthy kidneys sitting in a temperate climate needs no more than one liter of fluid, according to Jurgen Schnermann, a kidney physiologist at the National Institutes of Heath.

Oh, nope, Pete just pulled the eight glasses thing out of his ass but I like that he cares enough to lie to me. I feel like I’ve made a difference. But more to Pete’s point.

You mean to tell me Baseball has banned water? Players are no longer allowed to drink water, bottled or otherwise, are they mandated to shower with Gatorade? Well I guess that’s still kind of a big story, sorta.

Don’t get me wrong, the Monday Morning Quarterback is not angling for a bottled-water endorsement. If you promise not to tell anyone, we’ll confess to basically disliking water. We’ll tolerate in flavored fitness drinks, but that’s about the extent of it.

You’re really soft selling your argument Pete.

It seems baseball tried to sneak a fastball past us while we were preoccupied with the NBA, the NHL playoffs and the NFL draft. (By the way, we think the Steelers may still be on the clock).

I can’t believe that baseball has banned the consumption of H2O for all players. It’s too bad players don’t have an ultra-powerful union that could campaign for the rights of its members to drink water.

Apparently, Gatorade is the “official sports drink” of MLB. That means baseball players cannot drink bottled water in the dugout even if they remove the brand label from the bottle. They can drink water from a water cooler or fountain but no plastic bottles, even if they are the environmentally friendly kind.

Oh, so they’re not really banning water, just plastic bottles in the dugout. That really isn’t a big story worthy of the outrage that Pete thinks will come from this development.

OK, insert your own punchline.

Hello? Pete? Hello?

Most people we heard jumped on the fact that baseball was quicker to crack down on bottled water than steroids, HGH and amphetamines. The next question may be this: Why is that, exactly?

Most people he’s heard, not his idea, then another question. I think we should look for answers from what an aging iconic pop star from Detroit who speaks with a British accent and that’s really into Kabala sang about 25 years ago.

Well, as Madonna sang in her formative years, “we are living in a material world,” and baseball needs a lot more than the hard-earned money you spend for tickets and concessions to pay multimillion dollar salaries to players and still turn a handsome profit.

Here comes the “baseball making money = evil” half thought out point Pete is famous for on this site.

That’s where the television revenue, merchandising (all those alternative jerseys and hats) and product licensing cone into play. It’s why the NFL requires players to wear designated caps on the sidelines when they remove their helmets. The fear of alienating corporate sponsors because of image reasons is what prompted the NBA to institute a dress code before the 2005-2006 season when the impression was that many players looked like rappers than hoopsters.

First off, Pete’s a racist. Secondly, who gives a damn what baseball players drink in the clubhouse on the bench or at home or what hat they wear? Does it really add or detract from anyone’s enjoyment of any sport?

And it is why MLB wasted no time having signs placed on clubhouse doors that say “No Bottled Water on the Bench.”

Hey, Grand Theft Auto IV comes out tonight at midnight. I took tomorrow off work to play all night. I remember how much I played San Andreas on the PS2. Man, GTA IV is going to be sick.

The Newark Star-Ledger blew the whistle on baseball last week when a reporter noticed a sign at US Cellular Field in Chicago when the Yankees were in town to play the White Sox.

It was Ed Price, not that details are important to any Alfano piece. Also, kind of a dick move naming the paper but not the reporter.

Another digression: Remember when it was simply Comiskey or White Sox Park ? See what we mean?

Well I remember that field used to be called New Comiskey Park . There was another stadium called Comiskey Park . The building known as US Cellular Field has only once been known as New Comiskey Park . I have not ever heard of such place as “ White Sox Park .” Was that a play on words marketing for the parking lot? So no, I don’t see what you mean.

All you need to know about the top priority of professional sports leagues these days is to see how quickly they respond to anyone jeopardizing a marketing agreement. That’s because steroid use, alcohol abuse, felonies and other crimes and misdemeanors have failed to slow the gravy train. Baseball’s steroids era may have given the game a black eye with historians and pundants, but it was also a time of growth and prosperity.

Read that first part again:
“All you need to know about the top priority of professional sports leagues these days is to see how quickly they respond to anyone jeopardizing a marketing agreement.”

That’s all you need to know. I’m not sure why Pete’s so angry at Major League Baseball for making money. Apparently, Pete was of the belief that baseball was not a business. With every MMQB piece, I find him becoming more and more bitter toward capitalism in general. I think Pete is some kind of closet-radical communist with a secret agenda to have the government take over control of baseball and run it as a non-profit organization. We would all get free tickets and tax payer funded merchandise while the players make minimum wage. But what kind of catcher are you going to get for minimum wage. He probably wouldn’t be very good a blocking pitches in the dirt or calling a game, but it would teach those bastard owners to run a successful business.

Baseball should toast its good fortune – with a bottle of Gatorade of course.

I think this was an exercise to make some haughty self righteous point about the benefits of steroids to owners done in such a way that muddles any reasonable concept that may or may not exist. If players were injecting themselves with steroids on the bench, Pete might have a fair point or if Major League Baseball was attempting to stop all players from drinking bottled water 24 hours a day, seven days a week he would have a point. On top of that, he didn’t even think of it. He wrote:

Most people we heard jumped on the fact that baseball was quicker to crack down on bottled water than steroids, HGH and amphetamines.”

I would like to know exactly how much money Pete spends on Major League Baseball in general per year. I bet it’s under twenty bucks. If Pete wrote a story about how little work goes into writing a story it would open a rift in the time space continuum and the universe would end.

Posted under FJM ripoff, Humorous, Pete Alfano

With all apologies to Fire Joe Morgan (who does this much better and funnier), I couldn’t, in good conscience let this pass with out it’s due mockery…

Well here we are on a Monday and who else to judge the state of sporting world with anecdotal evidence and poorly thought out pronouncements. This one isn’t the worst thing in the world like the last time Pete explored Mets related issues. (Note: The article was removed from the website shortly after I posted it on this site. All other columns are available dating back to January) I probably could have let this go except for the fact it’s completely arbitrary, lacks any direction and I hate people that refer to themselves as “we.” Enjoy:

Monday Morning Quarterback
SPORTS LEAGUES, PLEASE GIVE THESE GUYS A BREAK

The too-long seasons mean more injury problems and a diluted product.
With everything that is going on in professional and college sports, we’re not going to predict the winner of the NCAA basketball final, or whether Tiger will win the Masters, or even if the gods are conspiring against the Rangers because major roadwork on I-30 coincided with the start of baseball season.

Good, because the last thing I wanted to read in the NEWSPAPER was in-depth analysis of both teams in the championship’s strengths and weaknesses as it relates to a head to head match up. Analysis of facts is not why anyone reads this stupid column. Also, how would he “predict” if the gods are conspiring against the Rangers because roadwork on I-30 coincided with the start of the season? I predict that Mookie Wilson hit the ball that went through Buckner’s legs allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run…22 years after it happened.

No, we have assessed this embarrassment of riches and are offering a radical suggestion to sports leagues- call a time out.
We don’t mean during the actual season.

Good because that would be ridiculous.

We understand the business of professional sports dictates that no one is going to shorten the regular season or playoffs, not with all those multi-million dollar salaries to pay. So fans will continue to enjoy a full time calendar of events in September and again in April, when baseball, basketball (college and pro), hockey, golf and auto racing are all in high gear.

I love how Pete takes a resentful tone towards the business of the sports world and then recognizes both college and pro basketball as legitimate enterprises, however college baseball, a non-revenue sport, is not included in Pete’s list of worthwhile April sports. At the Fort Worth Star Telegram, hypocrisy reigns supreme.

But if you’ve taken the time to look at the injury reports, you have to wonder what price is being paid by the athletes and teams and whether fans are getting their money’s worth.
There is an allstar team of pitchers who have recently returned from injury this spring or are on the disabled list – Josh Beckett, Pedro Martinez, John Lackey, Brandon McCarthy, Chris Carpenter, B.J. Ryan, Mike Hampton, Chad Cordero, Mark Moulder, Andy Pettitte, John Smoltz – we could go on.

Yep, a bunch of pitchers, most of them at the end of their careers and histories of injuries. Before I read this, I couldn’t imagine Mike Hampton on the disabled list, what a concept!

Among position players, Eric Chavez, Scott Rolen and Moises Alou would look good in the middle of a lineup.

Chavez is recovering from back surgery, Rolen broke a finger during a spring training drill, and Alou had to have surgery to repair a hernia. I just thought someone might wonder what their injuries were…since this is an article about why they got injured; Pete did not.

NBA players such as Yao Ming, Dwyane Wade, Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry and Shawn marion have had their seasons cut short, while Paul Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry Stackhouse and Dirk Nowitzki (who must have the best recuperative powers in sports) are among the higher profile players who have had to sit out.

Your Dallas Stars lost…

Ok, I wouldn’t make anyone read this. Lets go to the next paragraph after Pete cuts and pastes injury reports from NHL.com

Sure, we know the mantra of injuries are part of the game, but how many of them can be attributed to constant wear and tear and not a freak accident?

Pete is really good at two things; lists and asking questions he has no intention of even answering. I want to try, here goes:
Companies such as Ford, Chevy, Honda and BMW are all automakers. How many more car companies are there? How much do they cost?

Given the money invested in athletes, teams are more demanding than ever about what players do with their so called “down time” during the offseason. The NFL is just one minicamp after another, while baseball players are expected to stay in top condition, and also do some throwing and hitting, which is easier for many teams in sunbelt cities. Many Latin players take part in winter ball.

Many writers took an English class after middle school and are expected to craft thoughts together to form valid points and logical opinions. Others work for the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
I assume that Pete is talking about Dominican Winter League Baseball, The Mexican Pacific League, the Puerto Rico PBL and the Venezuelan PBL etc. Winter ball is for young players that need to develop. Latin heritage is not required to participate. None of those injured pitchers played winter baseball, nor did Alou, Chavez or Rolen. Next

Demands are made on the NBA to provide stars for international competition, and not just in an Olympic year. Imagine the angst in the front office of the Houston Rockets, where team officials are wondering whether Yao will risk returning too soon from foot surgery to represent China in the Beijing Olympics.

For that matter, how many NBA players can resist the siren call of a pick-up game during the summer?

53 NBA Players can resist the siren call of a pick up game during the summer. Not 52. Not 54. Exactly 53 players.
.
If you believe that athletes – like cars – have only so many miles on them no matter how much regular maintenance they receive, the perhaps we should encourage them to give it a rest during the offseason. We’re not advocating that they become couch potatoes with a severe case of the muchies, but what’s the bid deal if they report to camp several pounds over their playing weight and easily winded?

Is this a joke? Is he actually asking why professional athletes shouldn’t maintain good physical health?

We know this is Heresy. Fitness experts will say that athletes are at a greater risk for injury if they are out of shape. But that wouldn’t be true if team trainers and coaches allowed players time to gradually build up their strength and stamina.

I hope Pete thinks heresy means ridiculous.
(Editor’s Note: Pete would have asked a fitness expert to go on the record to provide credible testimony as to positive and negative aspects of a player falling out of shape and then the aspects involved with that said player working to get back in shape, but he doesn’t know how a phone works. Also, he made up the occupation of “Fitness expert”)

Would a pitcher, for example, have a better chance of avoiding rotator cuff or Tommy John surgery- or at least delay it – if he didn’t pick up a baseball until January at the earliest?

Do you think Bill Belichick can survive with one less minicamp and more time to kick back with Bon Jovi CDs?

Didn’t he just advocate players reporting to their respective camps out of shape and then be given more time to get into shape?

It’s just getting harder to get enthused about the start of the season – any season- when the fans aren’t the only spectators.
Pete Alfano, 817-390-7985 palfano@star-telegram.com

It’s just getting harder to get enthused about reading a column – any column- when the author is also a spectator.

As per usual when reading a Pete Alfano op-ed piece, I’m never quite sure if he is making a point or if he is trying to express that there is no solution or that he wrote this in 2 minutes. Feel free to call his office or shoot him an email. He should change it to either, “More Questions than Answers” or “What’s your point, Pete?”

Posted under Angry Rant, FJM ripoff, Pete Alfano

Sorry for this rant but this caught my eye in my hometown paper and it really pissed me off. In case you were wondering what passes for baseball journalism in the Dallas Fort Worth, behold Pete Alfano’s whiney pointless drivel. With all apologies to Fire Joe Morgan (who does this much better and funnier), I couldn’t, in good conscience let this pass with out it’s due mockery…

It’s stale, it’s out of date, its hackneyed, it’s the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I give you Pete Alfano. Don’t let his good looks deceive you folks; he is a testament to inept, over simplistic analysis in baseball “journalism”.

Monday Morning Quarterback
Mets-Yankees fiscal fight may affect everyone
Read More…

Posted under Angry Rant, FJM ripoff, Pete Alfano