These stories show up on Yardbarker every few months...and they're always funny. Rickey is still the man. Below is an excerpt from a phone call Rickey placed to Harold Reynolds after Reynolds beat out an injured Henderson to become the AL's Stolen Base Champ in the early 90's.

"Hello?"

"Reynolds! This is Rickey."

"Oh, hey Rick."

"60 steals, huh?"

"Yeah, I can't believe it. It was amazing."

"60?! Rickey had 60 at the All-Star Break!"

**CLICK**

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Have you ever seen that clip of Victoria Jackson on SNL in the 80's where she plays the worst parent in the world? She's pregnant, reaches for a plate in a cabinet above the microwave and somehow manages to put her belly in the microwave and turn it on. Well, this rugby player is the male version of that. He left his two year old kid in a car on a 95 degree day so that he could attend a BBQ at a brothel. Nice parenting my friend, nice parenting.

This excerpt was taken from Chad Finn's Touching all the Bases, but it's a story posted by Peter Gammons regarding Mike Lowell. Remember Babe Ruth hitting a homerun for a sick kid in the hospital? This is better.

"On April 20, Courtney Butcher of Worcester, Mass., a freshman at the University of New Hampshire, called her father, Jim, to talk about the Monster seats Jim had purchased for the family for the Sunday night game. Lowell was her favorite player. That night, right after Courtney talked to her father, she and three friends were killed in an automobile accident. That Sunday night, Jim took his other children to the game. In the 4-HR inning, Lowell's shot went right to the Butcher family...The next day, a friend of the family called Sarah Stevenson of the Red Sox, who relayed the message to Lowell, and he signed a uniform with these words: "Courtney, May God Be With You, Rest in Peace." He also sent word to Jim Butcher that he would homer for Courtney. The wake was that Tuesday, April 24, and Lowell's uniform was draped over Courtney's coffin. That night, he homered against the Blue Jays."

Look out Drew Henson! If Samardzija continues to suck bad enough over the next few years, people might stop picking on you and turn their attention to the former Notre Dame WR turned Cubs pitcher.

"The season hasn't fared much better for Samardzija since then. He's started 11 games thus far into the 2007 campaign, winning none. He's carrying 5.40 ERA, with a .333 opponents' batting average and 21 strikeouts through 55 innings."

To be honest, I didn't even realize there was alcohol in the clubhouse until the playoffs. I guess I'm naive. The Cardinals, Yankees and A's have all decided to ban alcohol in the clubhouse on account of Josh Hancock's death. It's a nice gesture, but does it really matter? Check Wizbang's take on the situation.

Wow. There are some tight tushies over there at NFL headquarters. Unless you work for nfl.com, don't expect to be posting too much NFL video content on the web.

Did anyone predict Gil Meche would have an ERA under 6 at any point this season? I didn't. I guess my MasterBlaster Meter was off. He has a 1.91 ERA and is outproducing the Kansas City Star's Meche Meter. What is a Meche Meter you ask? It's a rating system that determines whether Gil was worth the $55 million contract the Royals gave him based on his performances to date.

Cricket has it's first steroid user and its first I-Never-Took-Steroids Cricket Player.

"Ladies and gentlment, meet Shoaib Akhtar. He's a cricket player from Pakistan, and he holds the record for the fastest ball thrown in a Test match. That ball registered at 161.4 km/h on the radar gun."

When you throw a ball that fast, just like Shoaib Akhatar did, you're going to get tested...and unfortunately, nowadays that means bad things.

He's likely out in Houston and while ESPN reports that he could step away from coaching, it wouldn't be surprising to hear his name floated around the league over the next few weeks.

Leinart's a bitch. Did it ever cross his mind that SNL might want the QB who just won the Super Bowl instead of an injured Arizona Cardinals signal caller? I don't remember Tim Rosenbach hosting the show either.

This is a great article from the Big Red Network that discusses the importance of the run game in the early days of the West Coast offense (and to this day). People remember Motana and Rice, but Craig and Rathman may have been just as, if not more important to the team's success.

Well, it's actually Wizbang Sports' beef with ESPN, but I couldn't agree more. in case you haven't noticed ESPN has quite the East Coast bias going right now. If you're watching baseball on ESPN, chances you're watching the Yankees or Red Sox. If you're watching basketball, you're probably sitting through a Heat or Pistons game. If it's football gossip, it's likely centered around the Giants. What to do? What to do?

"Barber was supposed to do his first report today, on British motivational speaker Marcus Buckingham. Instead, by nightfall NBC was proving it is serious about the former Giant as a newsman. He was en route to Blacksburg to cover the Virginia Tech shootings."

Tough first day on the job for Tiki. It's good to see the network taking Barber seriously. We'll find out really quickly if he's up to it. Barber is from Roanoke and his father was a Hokies running back.

"Chelsea warned their fans on Friday against throwing celery during matches, saying it was a criminal offence and that anyone caught lobbing the popular salad vegetable could be banned."

Soccer fans are weird.

The talk around Mariners camp centers around the weight loss of Felix Hernandez. The team's opening day starter, many feel a well-conditioned Hernandez is finally poised to become the dominating ace scouts have projected him to be in his prime.

Seth Koellen of the Seattlepi.com shares a more skeptical view of Felix' offseason. Have you ever heard of Edwin Nunez? Probably not, but he 18 years old when he made his debut with the Mariners. A phenom like Felix, he lost weight after his terrific debut season and lost the arm along with it.