Excellent...Excellent...and Not so Excellent

...I'll try to say that in the most menacing voice I know. Very Burns-esque. This article reminded me of perhaps the best thing about next year: a year of baseball NOT played in the Metrodome. That's right, kiddies, you heard right. The Metrodome will be a thing of the past come next spring. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of that hideous stadium with all its glitches and what it cost us in 1987. My hatred for quirky ballparks is no secret...look at the blog's subtitle. But I think I hate the Metrodome even more so than Minute Maid Park. Actually I know I do. Okay, back to the article. It's a poorly written mishmash of interesting stuff. There's good stuff in there, but it was put together with as much care and thought as potpourri in a bag. Not only was it completely random and virtually pointless (as many nostalgic sports articles are), but there were some silly mistakes throughout. It makes me wonder, could I get a job for the likes of Sportsline? Anyhow, I can forgive swapping the Braves and the Cards as you list what years they got screwed in the Metrodome--especially after you already got it right, but then we have this gem:

"In '87, the Cardinals were so helpless in the Dome that Herzog was sure the Twins were stealing their signs.

'Lots of things were funny,' he says.

But years later, when former Twins Tom Brunansky and Tommy Herr came to play for the Cardinals, Herzog asked each of them about it, and both players told him no.

'I believe them,' Herzog says today. 'They're both good guys, and we changed signs an awful lot. Every few innings.'"

Now, maybe I'm missing something but just in case, let's break it down carefully.

1. Tommy Herr was on the 1987 Cardinals. Maybe we can believe that Miller meant that Herr, from 2B, could tell they weren't stealing signs. That is until...
2. Tommy Herr never came to the Cardinals after being traded to the Twins...
3. ...for Tom Brunansky...
4. ...in 1988. "Years later"? Since when does half a year later (Herr was traded early the next season) equal "years? Maybe he meant Herzog talked to them years later on the golf course?
5. But it says "to play for the Cardinals."

This all means I can't help but think this was a completely fabricated insert by Miller. Especially with Herzog's "quote" at the end of it. This silliness makes you wonder about all sorts of inside info stories that Miller shared in this article and in general. At best, and this is a reach, Miller simple doesn't care enough to look over what he writes.

So, yeah, believe it or not, I am not under any contractual obligation to do a rant on a Sportsline article once a year, but I really wonder how these people not only get these cushy internet writing jobs, but more importantly, how they keep them.

-CJ