Jimmy Rollins

After sitting for the last 4 games Phils All Star shortstop Jimmy Rollins will be back in the line-up tonight in Atlanta. The former MVP is hitting 211 so far this season and that just isn't going to cut it if the Phils hope to be a pennant contender. J-Roll is the spark at the top of the line-up for the Phillies. One of the reasons the offense has struggled this season is his inability to get on base.

All that said what is 4 days on the bench going to do? Guys like Rollins are used to playing everyday. What is the other alternative--send him to the minor leagues! Phils skipper Charlie Manuel has done this before with Rollins. But in the previous cases it was mostly a discipline thing. Rollins had stepped out of line the Charlie was going to show him who was the boss. This is not about Rollins being a bad citizen this is a slump pure and simple! Extra BP and patience are the answers here not sitting one of the NL's best shortstops.

Soggy open

I'm sure the U-S Open will be returning to Bethpage Black in a decade or so but this just completed tournament was so ho-hum it may not deserve one. Most of the drama was taken out of the U-S Open due to 3 rain plagued days on Long Island. It never seemed like the event gained any momentum. Lucas Glover won the trophy but the rain tarnished it a bit.

Phil Mickelson is a Hall of Famer but he certainly has let a lot of opportunities slip away. Lefty has finished 2nd a record 5 times at U-S Opens. The loss on Monday, at the Long Island muni, came for an unlikely reason. Mickelson is famously known for his blocked drive at Winged Foot in 2006. Monday it was his putter. Mickelson missed a 4 footer on 15 and a 3 footer on 17 for bogeys essentially ending his bid for his first U.S Open title. I'm sure as he takes some time off, to be with his wife Amy while she undergoes breast cancer treatment, he will be reliving those missed putts. In the scheme of things I'm sure he would trade a completely healthy Amy for those 2 putts.

The other intriguing story to come out of Bethpage is the possible resurrection of David Duval. The former World #1 also missed a key putt down the stretch that would have given him the lead. Duval has fallen to close to 900 in the world since he won the British Open in 2001. His fall has been well documented. Duval has been getting better of late but couldn't put together 4 good rounds to save his tour card. He did it this weekend on a very difficult track...the question is can he do it again this weekend on the PGA tour.

Guts

I wonder if top athletes in our country would take this kind of a risk. 5 members of the Iranian Soccer team wore green arm bands, supporting the democracy movement in their nation, during a World Cup qualifying game with South Korea on Wednesday. The Iranians were opposing the rigged outcome of last week's Presidential elections. The players were forced to remove the arm bands at half-time by security forces from Iran. The game ended in a 1-1 draw and meant the Iranians will probably not make the World Cup next year in South Africa. You have to admire these elite athletes for standing up for what was right despite the possible consequences. Athletes in other totalitarian regimes have been tortured and executed for a lot less.

I can't imagine guys like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, A-Rod or Randy Johnson giving up their cozy lifestyle to make a political statement like the Iranian soccer players.

More Uni stuff

The NFL is taking a tiny step towards allowing advertising on uniforms. The league has approved of teams selling the rights to practice uniforms. This is sort of an odd thing in my personal opinion. For the most part the public has no access to NFL team practices. Often times the media is allowed to attend the final few minutes of a practice but no video or pictures are allowed. Now what I suspect is this is aimed at Training Camps when the media rules are very relaxed. It will be interesting to see what companies pony up big bucks to provide sponsorship of uniforms.

In case you might not have noticed the NFL actually allows for advertising on their uniforms. Reebok is the official provider of uniforms and has logos on team uniforms. Players are allowed to wear the shoes of their choice so Nike, Adidas and Under Armour get some recognition for their footwear in that way.

I suspect, as with the WNBA, the NFL will be allow some advertising on uniforms but don't look for the kind of thing you see in soccer. This will probably be patches on sleeves and maybe on pants but not much more than that.