Mike Dunleavy is going to assume GM responsibilities as Elgin Baylor leaves the Los Angeles Clippers.

While Dunleavy said Baylor had decided to resign after spending 22 years as an executive with the team, Baylor painted a little different picture when reached by The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.

“There is a dispute, and on the advice of my attorney they did not want me to discuss it,” Baylor said, according to the newspaper. “That’s all I can say.”

Elgin Baylor is one of the greatest players in NBA history.  It doesn’t seem like he “resigned”, but wouldn’t you want to leave the Clippers organization after 22 years?

We are now one month from the end of the 2008 MLB regular season. If the season were to end today, here’s who would be in:

American League: Tampa Bay, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston

National League: Philadelphia, Chicago, Arizona and Milwaukee

American League Races

In the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays have a 3.5-game lead over Boston and the Red Sox aren’t currently playing their best baseball. With injuries to Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria and Troy Percival, I expected Tampa to collapse. Instead they have continued to show their resiliency throughout the season. I have no reason to believe that they don’t hang on in baseball’s final month.

The AL Central is much different than I expected at the beginning of the year. Most probably thought that Cleveland and Detroit would be the two teams to beat. It’s a two-team race but instead between Chicago and Minnesota. I like the White Sox’ experience and think they are the better of the two teams although it wouldn’t be shocking if Minnesota wins the division. Right now, I will pick Chicago but this is my least confident prediction for the final month.

With the exception of the AL West, every race is 5 games or less as August 27th. The Angels essentially have their division locked up with their 16-game lead over Texas.

The Red Sox currently lead the AL Wildcard race by 2.5 games over Minnesota. The Yankees are 6 games back after losing to the Red Sox last night and are likely to miss the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. Not a great way to leave Yankee Stadium. It’s hard to imagine the Red Sox, defending World Series champions, blowing their albeit slight lead in the final month and not make the post-season.  So, I expect the status quo throughout the A.L.

National League Races

In the NL East, the Phillies have the smallest of leads over the New York Mets. I think the Mets have the most talent in the N.L. and I expect them to overtake the Phillies. The Marlins are a good story and have put up a valiant effort, but will fall short.

In the NL Central, the Cubs have the best record in baseball and the game’s best 1-2 starting rotation pitching punch with Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden.  The Milwaukee Brewers, the 2nd-place team, perhaps has the second best pitching duo with C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets.  The Cubs are the most complete team in the National League although I think the Mets have the most talent.  The Cubs will hold on to win although I like how the Brewers are going for it.

In the NL West, the Arizona Diamondbacks have a small lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Both the D’Backs and the Dodgers are on losing streaks of 4 and 5 games, respectively.  The Rockies have moved up to only 5.5 games out after winning their last 4 games.  Even though the Dodgers are 2-8 in their last 10, I think the Dodgers with the addition of Manny Ramirez and his something to prove attitude will help catapult the Dodgers past the D’Backs to win the NL West.

The Milwaukee Brewers lead the NL Wildcard race, but the Phillies (since I have the Mets winning the NL East) and the St. Louis Cardinals are currently right there.  I like the Brewers to hold on to the Wildcard with their solid pitching.

For the first time, a major sport is imposing a mandatory language component.

Learning English no longer is a tour suggestion; it’s a requirement.

Galloway said the policy takes effect immediately, but the “measurement time will be at the end of 2009.” There are 121 international players from 26 countries on tour; 45 are South Koreans.

“The bottom line is, we don’t have a job if we don’t entertain,” Lunke said. “In my mind, that’s as big a part of the job as shooting under par.”

Speaking English makes no difference on how you play the game. The LPGA officials are the same morons that probably demand others speak English to them when/if they travel abroad.

This rule is complete BS. From now on, I’m officially boycotting the LPGA. Of course, since I watched 0 holes of LPGA action this year, last year, the year before that, etc., the boycott might not have a big impact in my life.

Whether or not a track star can make the transition from the track to the football field is a crap shoot. However, in a world where an athletic quarterback with no receiving experience (Matt Jones) was drafted in the first-round because of his size and athletic ability, it makes sense to give Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest human, a shot as Gil Brandt writes for his NFL.com column:

Someone asked me the other day what I thought about the idea of making Olympic gold-medal sprinter Usain Bolt a football player. Let’s put it this way: If Hall of Fame general manager Tex Schramm and I were still running the Cowboys, we’d be in Jamaica right now waiting for Bolt’s plane to land.

That’s not to say anyone can predict what the fastest human being alive might do on a football field. But in a sport that places such a premium on raw speed, why not take a chance on a guy who just shattered world records?

Of course, Brandt’s opinion is partly based on their success with drafting speedster “Bullet” Bob Hayes with their 7th-round draft pick in 1965. But asked would Bolt make a successful transition, Brandt says:

There’s no way of knowing for sure. He’s got a tremendous body. The thing that would concern me is that he’s such a long strider. Those long legs help him run fast, but they wouldn’t do a lot of good making cuts.

That said, he could probably fly past most any cornerback. If he had any hands at all, he’d be scary. Certainly worth giving him a look if you’re a team in need at receiver.

You never know when you might strike gold.

Before Willis McGahee needed to have his knee scope, Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron indicated that he was going to increase McGahee’s workload this season.

“There is no question in my mind that Willis McGahee can be a three-down back,” offensive coordinator Cam Cameron said. “I think this is the right time in his career to do it. With his ability, there is no reason why he shouldn’t excel on three downs.”

But the Baltimore Ravens invested a second-round draft pick on Rutgers RB Ray Rice.  With Willis McGahee out, Ray Rice capitalized in their pre-season loss to Minnesota.

The only bright spot for the Ravens’ offense was Rice, who ran for 77 yards and a touchdown.

The Vikings led the league last season by allowing 74.1 rushing yards a game. By halftime, Rice had darted for 71 yards.

Harbaugh downplayed any potential battle for the starting running back job.

“[When] Willis is healthy and he’s ready to go, he’s our starter,” Harbaugh said. “But [Rice] played like a starter.”

I agree with Harbaugh that Willis McGahee should be the starter.  However, should the Ravens be increasing McGahee’s workload when he comes back and he’s healthy like Cameron suggests?  It doesn’t make sense to me.  In today’s era, RBs should share the load.  It’s such a physically demanding position.  Why not try to preserve both?

Manny Ramirez is tearing it up in LA (.464 BA, 4 HRs, 9 RBI in 7 games).  Most people haven’t questioned his ability to hit a baseball, but rather his motivation.  Apparently, his motivation now is to play for the Yankees to get back the Red Sox:

“He wants to play for the Yankees so he can get at the Red Sox,” a close friend of Ramirez’s told The Post.

Of course, every free agent says he wants to play for the Yankees. They pay well, will always have a chance to make the postseason, and when they show an interest in a free agent, the price from other clubs skyrockets.

Considering Ramirez is represented by Scott Boras, every imaginable angle will be played when the 36-year-old, a product of George Washington High School in Washington Heights, will become a free agent following the World Series.

The Yankees should stay away. They’ve stuck to a plan of trying to groom younger players and to not go after big time players like Johan Santana.

Offense isn’t the team’s problem.  And even though he’s still one of baseball’s best hitters, he’s beginning the downward slope anyways.

For a franchise that views success and lack thereof in terms of World Series rings, how much success has signing vets past their prime brought to the Yankees?  So, why should the Yankees pursue a 36-y.o. headcase?  They shouldn’t.

Ed Werder of ESPN has reported on Sports Center that Brett Favre has been reinstated by Roger Goodell.

Favre with agent Bus Cook will be met by Packers personnel when they land in Green Bay at 5:30 CT today. However, according to ESPN, Favre will not be at tonight’s “Packers Family Night“.

He could report Monday at noon, but supposedly both sides will continue to negotiate.

Although I can understand why Favre would have been tempted to accept the $20 million “marketing” offer from the Packers, he’s making the right decision to not accept it. There’s no doubt that his legacy has taken a hit throughout this whole process. To be fair, the Packers rep has taken a hit as well. However, for Favre to take the money and run, his legacy would take much more of a hit.

Here are the Top 25 (first place votes in parenthesis):

1. Georgia (22)
2. USC (14)
3. Ohio State (14)
4. Oklahoma (4)
5. Florida (5)
6. LSU (3)
7. Missouri
8. W. Virginia
9. Clemson
10. Texas
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Kansas
14. Texas Tech
15. Virginia Tech
16. Arizona State
17. BYU
18. Tennessee
19. Illinois
20. Oregon
21. South Florida
22. Penn State
23. Wake Forest
24. Michigan
25. Fresno State

I’m not a big believer in pre-season college football polls. Too much TBD and if a team starts high/low, the status quo is usually maintained unless there are losses.

In college basketball, pre-season polls are fine b/c they don’t mean too much. There’s a tournament to decide the champion and there are more games.

In college football, what happens if 3 teams run the table. Chances are the teams that were ranked the highest the earliest will be playing for the title. Not fair in my opinion.