Summer’s end elicits some gripes

As we embrace the final glorious moments of summer and look forward to an invigorating fall, I have to ask:

Aren’t you tired of …

1. NASCAR commentators sugar-coating poor performances? For example, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his DEI team have stunk. And they made Saco’s Pete Rondeau the scapegoat. The first-year crew chief for Dale Jr. was released after 11 races. Don’t make excuses for Dale Jr. and his team. They can handle criticism.

2. Terrell Owens. Period. I’m tired of daily updates. He signed a contract. He should honor it without complaining about it. He should visit a poor community and Philadelphia. Maybe then he’ll appreciate how fortunate he is.

3. Golf announcers and golfers complaining about the weather conditions. Spend a winter in Maine. Or North Dakota. A little drizzle is no big deal. A blustery day simply makes your task a little more challenging. Just dress accordingly. If it pours or there’s thunder and lightning, you don’t even have to play.

4. Soccer games with few scoring chances. Even when you watch the English Premier League, where gifted strikers make millions of pounds, there are always at least seven players on the defensive side of the ball and most of the games are played between the penalty areas. FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, isn’t going to make any whole scale changes because the popularity of the sport is so high. The positive thing is the games are always close.

5. Manny Ramirez’s antics. But I hope he stays in a Red Sox uniform because not only is he one of major league baseball’s best power hitters, but his inclusion in the lineup enables David Ortiz to see some good pitches to hit. Ramirez took a game off recently because he told manager Terry Francona he was beat up. Beat up? And how about those frequent breaks in the Green Monster? Or his defensive liabilities? Still, I may be tired of his antics but his bat more than compensates.

6. Errant golf shots. You keep your head down, you square your feet, you slow down your swing and then you hook the ball 12 yards. Why Lord? Why? It’s a stationary ball. It shouldn’t be this difficult. The club face is certainly big enough to ensure productive golf shots. I just don’t get it.

7. Baseball traditionalists moaning about the wild card. It’s the best thing to ever happen to baseball. Entering Tuesday’s play, there were seven teams within eight games of the lead in the American League wild card chase and three of them were tied for the lead. In the National League, there were seven within seven games and four were within a game and a half of the lead. That has kept the interest and attendance up in those cities. Teams who fall 10 or more games behind their division leader with 40 games to play have virtually nothing to play for. The perfect example is Houston, which led the wild card entering Tuesday’s play but was 12 games behind NL Central leader St. Louis.

8. The French sports daily L’Equipe insisting that Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancement drugs when he won his first of seven consecutive Tour de France races. Would they be pursuing this witch hunt if Lance Armstrong was French and not American? I think not. Why not write about France’s inability to develop its own riders to win the world’s most prestigious bicycle event instead of trying to dig up dirt on somebody who has overcome cancer and unbelievable odds to dominate it?

Larry Mahoney can be reached at 990-8231, 1-800-310-8600 or by email at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.