Bleacher Views

There are few things in life as gratifying as picking an impossibly long shot and then rooting him home. Oh, the sweetness of looking around to all your scoffing friends and loudly asserting, “I told you so” and have the betting ticket to prove it.

When there is no baseball, those of us who are fanatic about being fans have to make our annual pilgrimage to YouTube, so we might do a refresher course on the Abbott and Costello classic, “Who’s on First?” I did notice this time around that classic though it is, they did forget to ask a few questions.

Unless you are a person who, like Mark Twain, thinks golf is a good walk spoiled, you know that Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open, held Sept. 17 through the 20th, in a rather controversial manner.

Those who know me know that I can be a bit stubborn about changing my mind — at least in important matters, like wives, children and the designated hitter. I have been a sworn enemy of that last thing for a good 50 years, but I may be on the edge of being converted.

Tom Seaver’s recent passing has occasioned a great outpouring of positive comment and remembrance about his career as well as his impact on the game, and deservedly so.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the dust up following Fernando Tatis Jr.’s grand slam in the eighth inning with a seven run lead. He missed the “take” sign on a 3 and 0 count, the pitcher grooved one, and Tatis hit it out.

Some people, including both managers, called, “Foul! He violated one of the unwritten rules!”

I am a major league fan of the movie, “The Matrix.” For those of you who might not be, it’s a movie about how a future artificial intelligence manages to create an artificial reality in which humans live, well, artificially, all the while thinking it is real.