Straight Talk - Joe Henderson

Gone Fishin’ …

Straight Talk will take a short break for vacation and resume in mid-July. I figure the Rays will have clinched at least a playoff spot by then, the Lightning will have coaxed Wayne Gretzky out of retirement, and Jon Gruden will have traded for the rights to Brett Favre. Catch you…

Zim: Longoria Is As Good As I’ve Seen * (and he has seen a LOT)

Wanted to share this nugget from Don Zimmer, who as we know has been around the bases a few times. During a chat with me before Monday’s game against the Red Sox, he had this to say about Rays rookie third baseman Evan Longoria:

“He’s in…

Friedman GM Of The Half-Year? ESPN Says So

Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman is getting a lot of notice for the moves he made to get the Rays to their current position,

Former Mets GM Steve Phillips named Friedman as the American League’s top general manager for the first half of…

You Want It? Then Pay For It

This item from The New York Post about plans by the New York Giants to charge up to $20,000 for the “right” to buy season tickets at the new stadium under construction in the Meadowlands.

People are losing…

Melrose Cracks The Top 15 Of All Time

Our friends at The Love Of Sports.com have come up with a list of the top 15 mullet hairdos of all time and guess who is No. 4?

Yep.

Barry Melrose, new coach of the Lightning.

…

Wagner Hopes To “Finish Strong”

UPDATE: Here’s a link to that column, along with this request by email from Jeff for those wishing to access his web page, which provides regular updates on his condition.

“… any interested person needs to know to go to “WagnersSecondSet” to get…

Griffey-To-Rays Makes No Sense

I’ve been in the news biz for a long time and I still don’t know how things like the recent spate of Ken Griffey-to-Tampa rumors get started, but let’s be clear about something: It makes no sense.

Not that bringing Junior to…

Kazmir’s Rant Latest Rays’ Outburst; Chad Leaves Bengals Hanging

Scott Kazmir probably didn’t do himself any favors with his rant Thursday about the strike zone from umpire Derryl Cousins in a game against the Angels. He said Cousins, a 28-year umpiring veteran, squeezed the strike zone at a critical time…

Elia Back In The Game

This is the 25-year anniversary of Lee Elia’s famous meltdown as manager of the Chicago Cubs.

To commemorate, the Chicago Tribune has posted a page devoted to the subject, including a link to a heavily-bleeped audio. Parental discretion, as always, is advised.

Readers Have Their Say

I wrote a column for Sunday’s Tribune on the issue with Rays attendance. It got a lot of you talking. Here’s some of the feedback I received.

SPOKE FOR TAMPA: Enjoyed your article the other day concerning lack of…