Blogs

Better make that: What Planet Are They Living On? Or: What Are They Smoking?

The other day we blogged about the Post-Dispatch's penchant for ripping off RFT stories by re-reporting them and publishing them as their own.

Today we opened our P-D and encountered this headline, on page two of the Sports section:

"Irons replaced by Bonner"

The brief (280 words) story by Tom Wheatley that ran beneath that headline informs readers that Floyd Irons, legendary boys' basketball coach at Vashon High School, was relieved of his duties last July and replaced by former NBA player (and Vashon and Saint Louis University alumnus) Anthony Bonner.

Wheatley also writes that:

Meanwhile, the FBI reportedly is investigating Irons for his financial dealings. As detailed by the Post-Dispatch, these included foreclosures on three investment properties worth $1.5 million that Irons bought, with no money down, on a district salary of about $90,000.

True, the Post did "detail" Irons' curious real estate investments, in a story by David Hunn that ran December 10.

That story, however, made no mention of any federal investigation, nor has any subsequent Post-Dispatch story.

No, that "reportedly" in Wheatley's piece refers to -- you guessed it -- Riverfront Times. Specifically to a story by Kristen Hinman that we published May 24, which begins:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the actions of former Vashon High School varsity basketball coach Floyd Irons, Riverfront Times has learned.

As RFT readers are aware, Hinman has covered Irons extensively over the past year and a half. "Basketball by the Book," her probe into Vashon's history of tainted basketball titles, netted her a first-place award for investigative reporting from the Education Writers Association.

-Tom Finkel

Arriving in town Friday afternoon after a scorching-hot three-day drive from Seattle, lathered in sweat after toting a carload of junk up three flights of stairs, I promptly crashed on the couch, hoping to test the limits of the a/c in my new apartment and catch the end of the Cards-A’s game. Tuning in late in the seventh inning, I was disappointed to see the Redbirds in the midst of a six-run half-inning that would leave them trailing 14-3. Normally such a lopsided score would cause me to seek out Fresh Prince re-runs, but before I could change channels I was shocked to see...Scott Spiezio warming up in the bullpen.

In case you missed it, here is what followed:

Spiezio, the man who tormented Mariners fans (like me) by hitting .064 with an OPS of -23 in 2005 at the low low cost of $9.15 million, came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth, creating simultaneous glee and depression for fans. The former, in that Spiezio joined the likes of the legendary Jose "Secret Weapon" Oquendo -- not to mention Bobby Bonilla, Gary Gaetti, and, most recently Cody McKay in April 2004 -- as Cards position players to toe the rubber, resulting in the always-enjoyable battle by the opposing team not to strike out against a position player, and the latter in that Spiezio, who hadn’t taken the hill since high school, allowed 0 runs on 0 hits in one full inning of work, prompting the question: How were Looper (now on the DL), Cavazos and Jimenez the best three arms the Cards could muster before Speezer?

Maybe it was Spiezio’s sidearm delivery, which gave his ball a natural sink, or maybe it was the persistent (but ignored) balking by repeatedly throwing the ball into his glove while toeing the rubber, but Spiezio’s one-pitch 92-mph fastball repertoire was much more effective than the slop his predecessors were slinging earlier in the game.

Perhaps the Cards ought to jettison the consistently crappy Jimenez (10.41 ERA in 23.1 IP) in favor of Spiezio. After all, with such innumerable late game pitch-hit/substitution possibilities, it’s a move La Russa should love.

-Keegan Hamilton

It's an account about the contents of the video recording of the drunk-driving arrest of St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. According to the story, Palm Beach County law-enforcement officials have refused to turn over a copy of the tape to prominent south Florida attorney Bruce Kaplan, who represents a Jupiter Police Department officer in an unrelated matter. (La Russa is represented by West Palm Beach attorney David Roth.)

Here's how Kaplan and another source have described the contents of the La Russa arrest tape to Palm Beach Post reporter Jose Lambiet, who wrote up the story for his "Page Two" celebrity gossip column:

"According to Kaplan and a Page Two source close to the JPD, this is what the La Russa arrest looked like: Responding officer John O'Keefe, a rookie, parks behind a sleeping La Russa, then gets scolded by a colleague, who tells him in no @%#$@&^@ uncertain terms to park in front of the manager's vehicle to prevent an escape. A group of laughing cops discuss how to 'scare' the person snoring inside by pushing their faces against the windows and banging loudly. Several officers scram when they find out the motorist is La Russa. And two lawmen prepare a dazed-and-confused La Russa for jail by teaching him gang signs."

Credit to deadspin.com for alerting us.

-Unreal

-Unreal

That's easy to forget when a runner's world is awash in GPS devices, those things Nike makes to link your stride to your iPod and chip-timed 10K's. Want to return to the halcyon days before you knew that your favorite route was 200 meters shorter than you thought (and you are therefore slower than you thought)?

Mark your calendar for next year's Union Founder's Day 10K.

Who needs chip timing with fewer than 200 runners? Course volunteers do call out times -- but they don't correspond to any mile markers.

Needless to say, this race has not attracted sponsors, or goody bags filled with crap products.

What Union does have is one of the hilliest courses around. Mile four will make you want your mommy, and it doesn't end there.

When you cross the finish, you get an index card with a number on it. Walk over to the results board and you'll see your time handwritten next to that number.

If you placed in your age group, your name will go up on the leaderboard. The timing crew has no computer to help satisfy that urge to compare yourself to everyone in your age group or gender.

Instead, while you wait around for the awards ceremony, you can wander the courthouse square. Check out the FFA petting zoo, or enter a raffle for a canoe or a quilt.

Union as a runner's Mayberry might not last. One of the organizers says people have been asking her to post past and present results online. And they have discovered the addictive course-mapping tool on USA Track and Field's Web site.

Let's just hope they don't spring to have the course certified. One of the best things about the Founder's Day 10K is the old-timey price: $12. And no doubt that most of it does benefit the high school band.

-Kathleen McLaughlin

rotoauthority.blogs.com

Just remember: You read it here first.

-Unreal

Get well soon, big guy!

-Unreal

But it wasn't for lack of trying. From 1997 to 2006, Williams says, he applied for at least seventeen positions with the university. Finally in March 2006 he was hired to work for the food-service department.

He was fired six months later. Williams characterizes his dismissal as a "complicit and premeditated agreement to violate my God-given and constitutional rights."

In a handwritten complaint filed May 22 in federal court in southern Illinois, Williams claims his firing violated his pursuit of "life, liberty and happiness in Carbondale." He further alleges that the education he received at the university did little to prepare him for employment at SIUC. "Despite my 3.46 grade point average, I only seemed to be good enough to merit a job as kitchen help," he writes in his lawsuit.

Williams has attached as evidence some of the dozen rejection letters from the university he has accumulated over the years.

He could not be reached for comment. One can only assume he's out looking for a job.

-Chad Garrison