* Whether it involves the NFL’s Tim Tebow or MLB’s Josh Hamilton, isn’t the sports arena an inherently problematic venue for faith professing? Most recent example: Hamilton’s take on his impending free agency. “God will show up and I’ll be here or somewhere else,” said Hamilton. “It’s not about where I want to be, it’s about where He wants me to be.”
This would have credibility if the process didn’t involve lawyers, agents, bidders and variations on a nine-figure contract. Somehow, it would all resonate more if Hamilton were to say: “Given that so many people associated with the Texas Rangers have gone so far out of their way to support me in my addiction struggles and periodic relapses, I feel I owe it to them to give back what I can. I’m already rich, I don’t need all this money. But I’m blessed with a forum to help others. I want to do everything I can for this community that is, like so many others, hurting in so many ways.
“Sports is how I make my living. But sports isn’t my life. I have more important priorities than to concern myself with a few more millions more or less. I’d like to think I stand for something that transcends numbers and the game I’m fortunate to play for outrageous pay. I think He would approve. Some things you don’t wait for directions on. I’m staying here and not hiring out to the highest bidder. There’s a higher calling than that.”
* Tampa Bay Rays minor leaguer Matt Bush has officially pleaded not guilty to charges related to that March hit-and-run crash in Port Charlotte that seriously injured a motorcyclist. He’s still in the Charlotte County Jail unable to make his $440,000 bail. His attorney said Bush should be declared indigent.
For the record, Bush made $78,000 last year while pitching for the Rays’ AA affiliate in Montgomery, Ala. He had $2,000 in his checkbook.
And when he signed with the San Diego Padres in 2004, Bush received a bonus of $3.15 million.
* Signal sender. Greg Schiano continues to put his no-nonsense, well-disciplined mark on the Bucs. Gone: Free safety Tanard Jackson and his drug issues. Gone: Tight end Kellen Winslow and his practice double standards. On the clock: Cornerback Aqib Talib, whose legal problems haven’t been adjudicated yet. Also makes you wonder about the Bucs’ top draft pick. Everyone had penciled in All Everything LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne. But his Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test was off-the-charts awful. Either he was too dumb to do better or so dumb that he blew it off, as he lamely claimed. The Bucs chose somebody else.
* MLB has announced changes in the playoff format. Best-of-fives will be 2-3 instead of 2-2-1. That means the teams with home field advantage will host games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary). Here’s an even better idea if your only priority is to be fair. Make it 1-4 instead of 2-3. If a team has earned home-field advantage by virtue of a better record over 162 games, it has earned more than a 1-game advantage.
*The Rays are now well over 200 straight games in which their starting pitcher is one they drafted. That’s unheard of and is an all-time MLB record. It’s also one of the many testimonials to their organizational savvy.
*HBO’s “Hard Knocks” continues to have a problem lining up teams to appear. It involves cameras following a team through training camp. It’s a classic conflict. HBO likes the content and ratings, the NFL likes the exposure and marketing, but the teams find it distracting and intrusive.
* Sports Illustrated did a National Hockey League survey to determine the league’s nicest players. The Lightning’s Marty St. Louis finished 5th.