in your column about ownership mishaps," writes Matt Wilkins. "Only an idiot could not make money i
n LA.
What's giving you a rash this week?
The out-of-control arrogance in professional sports today? The latest in labor? The price of a lousy stadium hot dog?
An overpaid player? An underhanded agent? An owner who would sell the carpet from underneath his own mother's feet for the right amount of PSLs and luxury boxes?
Where can you get off your chest something boiling inside your belly?
Right here. Right now. Buckshots, a weekly dish-it-out-and-duck feature, is designed to give you, the subscriber, a chance to take your best shot at Ray Buck, national columnist for SportsLine USA.
Agree or disagree, let 'er rip. Sign your name -- if you dare -- and tell us a little about yourself: age, city, state, occupation/student. Just remember, Buck has the last word.
E-mail your comments to: buckshots@sportsline.com
(Editor's Note: Todd Stottlemyre of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins over the weekend to propel the Stottlemyres -- father Mel (164 career wins) and son Todd (94) -- into a tie with Dizzy and Steve Trout for most combined major-league v ictories (258) for a father-son team.)
"Doesn't Early Wynn, or some other 300-game winner in major-league history, have a son? Wouldn't THEY then have more combined wins than the Stottlemyres?
"Also, do any of the 300-game winners have a daughter, giving them the most father-daughter total wins?"
BUCKSHOT: Ray, you've gotta stop drinking in the mornings.
"YOU FORGOT TO MAKE FUN of Georgia Frontiere in your column about ownership mishaps," writes Matt Wilkins. "Only an idiot could not make money i
n LA.
"Now Georgia goes home (St. Louis) as the Queen of The River, is guaranteed $20 million a year ... and she still doesn't have to produce a winner! College ball starts soon and, unlike the NFL, the
y don't have a preseason. In college, it's the real thing!"
BUCKSHOT: Every year the Rams' media guide is the last to go to press. Every year it's held up while Georgia ponders which air-brushed picture of herself to use. If only she knew ... they all look like Zsa Zsa Gabor.
what will?
"No tampering in the Shaq deal? Ha! How many times did Shaq fly out to LA and have dinner with Jerry West? Oh, I'm sorry ... that was to talk about Shaq's upcoming movie about some genie!
"Except in this case, Shaq got 120 million wishes!"
BUCKSHOT: As you know, "Howardgate" really riled Riles, who vows to get to the bottom of this, so to speak. His first phone call was to his proctologist, after all.
"I've heard of new math, but this is ridiculous!"
BUCKSHOT: But have you heard of the Larry Bird rule, which allows NBA team to sign back their own for whatever they want?
"Joe Montana and 40 thieving buddies are liars and cheats with high priced lawyers, a k a crooks who use the legal system to make them rich at the expense of the
fans who admired them and helped them become legends and rich men.
"We need to start boycotting professional sporting events, sports card shows and other venues that fill their coffers to protest their greed. Wake up, America! We're getting it in the ass again."
BUCKSHOT: Have you been talking to Pat Riley?
"What ever happened to proving yourself on the turf of which you are to earn a living? It sure don't work like that in the Real World.
"P.S. -- Whoever said, 'kill the lawyers first' should have added 'but not until after the agents.'"
BUCKSHOT: Biakabutuka reportedly signed for $12.7 million over seven years -- including $4.1 million signing bonus. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Kim, but his agent will probably make more than you'll make in your lifetime.
"I HOPE THE CITY OF Baltimore is happy with Art Modell," writes a sarcastic Timothy Boyer. "He is in the group of inept NFL owners that constantly meddle in affairs that they know nothing about -- i.e. football.
"Anybody in Cleveland can tell you that Vinny Testaverde won't take anybody to the 'Sub-Par Bowl.' So Cleveland and its fans are the long-range winners in this ugly ordeal. We get rid of Art; we get a new stadium, and we don't have to watch Vinny pad t he statistics of opposing defensive backs."
BUCKSHOT: Sounds like the trifecta to me!
"When she cried after being forced to withdraw from the heptathlon, I cried. But afterward, I felt joy because she had nothing to prove to anyone. She had already put her hometown on the map!"
BUCKSHOT: Indeed she has! And as you probably know, she has made East St. Louis look a whole lot better with her generous -- yet quiet -- donations to the civic community over the years. The new women's basketball league is getting ins tant class and creditability with someone like Jackie J.
"(Pro players) may have heard Aretha sing about R-E-S-P-E-C-T, but they're clueless to how it applies to team sports since all they think about is ME! Where have all the flowers gone?"
BUCKSHOT: Didn't the Cowsills sing that one, Texkan?
"I think Jim Lefebvre or Sparky Anderson would be a great start!"
BUCKSHOT: To manage or play second base?
know how it is to be bashed, esp
ecially by the know-it-alls of the American press.
"We've been told how to run our lives, what is wrong with our cultures ... and how the American way is best. Learning how to coexist takes some maturity!"
BUCKSHOT: Maturity? I'll show you maturity! Check out all this gray hair. P.S. -- Lighten up, Ed.
"It's been a long, long time."
BUCKSHOT: Not long enough for Ed Picson, obviously.