What we discovered was the Harrisons have a long way to go to crack the Top 100, let alone the Top 20 that we have digested and analyzed for your consideration herein.  This was way more difficult to quantify than one would think.  There were  many siblings that did not sniff our list but were remarkable for their achievements.  A few of the particularly noteworthy are highlighted below.

For example, we all know that Jackie Robinson was arguably the best second baseman of all time, but did you know that Jackie’s older brother, Matthew “Mack” Robinson, earned a Silver Medal in the 1936 Olympics in Munich.  He finished 2nd by 0.4 seconds to none other than Jessie Owens.

We knew that we could not ignore the most popular sport on earth – soccer – but the Charlton brothers finished on the outside looking in. Who were they you ask?  Sir Bobby and twin brother, Jack, won the 1966 World Cup for England.  Jack was FWA Footballer of the year in 1967; won 2 Fairs Cups; a league title and FA Cup.  Sir Bobby survived a tragic air crash in Munich in 1958 that killed many of his Manchester United teammates. He went onto play over 600 games for ManU, with a goals per game average of an incredible .328 while hauling in an array of individual honors.

Here’s a fact that might win a few bar bets for you:  Both Marat Safin and his sister, Dinara, are the only brother-sister tandem to achieve a world number 1 pro tennis ranking – Matt in 2000, Dinara in 2009.  We suspect that you might have an inkling about the tennis sibs who did make our Top 20, however.

Lastly, before we move onto our rankings, we considered the array of brothers who played cricket.  The Aussies tout the Chappells of the 1970s, the Zimbabweans love the Flower twins of the 1990s and currently, the Pakistanis queue up to see the Akmals, but none of us are actually smart enough to really understand which are the best sibs – so we left them all off of the list.

And now without further adieu….let the outrage and second-guessing begin.

Why the Richards?  Over the 100 year history of the Stanley Cup and professional ice hockey, both Henri and Maurice “Rocket” Richard still both rank within the Top 25 of their sport; with The Rocket securing a spot within the Top 5 all time.  Although one could argue that Serena Williams may be one the five best women’s tennis players in history, and Venus did earn a number 1 ranking in 2002, the fact is, second-fiddle Venus is not as dominant in her sport as the lesser (just slightly lesser) Henri was in his.

We welcome your thoughts…but it won’t change our minds.

As if on cue, on August 14^th, boxing’s reigning world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko announced his plans to run for the presidency of the Ukraine in 2015.  Klitschko, nicknamed “Doctor Ironfist,” makes a formidable foe in any ring and his entre into the political scene in the Ukraine will make for a fascinating sideline once the election heats up.  Malaysian news source The Star followed the good doctor’s announcement by offering an article for its readership on …wait for it…. the connection between professional athletes and political office.  That’s another Pat Riley on the back for The Bench Jockeys who again offer our loyalists insights before the larger media outlets can catch up.

Put the stats in perspective.  Let’s start at his ability to just win golf matches.   He will pass the great Sam Snead for most career wins (82) sometime next year because Woods – who is only 37 – is sitting at 79 of them, besting Jack Nicklaus’ career total of 73.  The nearest active player is 43 year old Phil Mickleson with 41 tour victories!  “Okay Christopher, we  understand that Tiger has won a lot of matches but what does that have to do with the PGA putting the ‘kibosh” on him winning majors?”  Tiger Woods is 5 majors short of besting Jack Nicklaus’ record.  Ponder this:  Tiger Woods hasn’t won a major since 2008 (US Open) and that dry spell coincides with his marital infidelity scandal in 2009 where the PGA and Jack Nicklaus stood in silence.  I think a side deal has been made that in exchange for the silence of the PGA and the “Golden Bear,” Woods takes a 5 year hiatus on holding active pursuit of the Claret Jug, the Wanamaker Trophy and the Green Jacket.

Woods went through all of the sordid drama of a bad made for TV move and the Professional Golfers Association did not say a word against their cash-producing stud.  They never condemned him for his improprieties.   They never issued an organizational reprimand stating how the Association was tarnished because of Tiger’s salacious actions.  They never suspended him for conduct unbecoming of the PGA Tour professional.   Why not invoke a half year suspension?   They suspended golfer John Daly and all he did was pass out drunk while sitting outside a restaurant and hitting a golf ball off of a beer can!  Who hasn’t?   Daly was suspended for six months as a two-time major winner; surely the PGA would risk a little bit of dirt on its precious image to at least have an opinion about Tiger’s dalliances?

And that brings us to the real reason: MONEY!   The almighty dollar, coin, cabbage, taters, spy- stuff (I got those descriptors off of a Jimmy Fallon commercial.).  Tiger Woods is THE number one draw for the sport.  The man who pushes the financial dial is made of Teflon when it comes to the PGA speaking ill against him.  He pushes attendance in every tournament he appears.  He makes television networks money and so he is only asked a few softball questions by the media.  Most of the other players aren’t going to mumble out anything critical because his involvement in the game raises the purse for each tournament, thus making even his completion more money.

So there you have it. History, Prestige and Wealth.  Sounds like a bit of an old boys’ network if you ask me….

These days everyone is writing a Bucket List.  I wrote my list back in 1999 and one of the items I included was a autographed baseball from the 9 baseball players who I thought were the best n their respective positions.  As with everything I do, I had rules: 1) The signatures have to be on a official major league baseball – no commemoratives, autosigned, HOF or gimmicky balls; 2) all balls have to present with only the player’s autograph, no multisigned balls; and 3) the signature has to be authentic and 4) it has to be a clean and visible signature.

My list of players was developed by looking at each players stats and their overall meaning to the game, while considering my rule constructs and the virtual impossibility of securing a verified autograph from players from the turn of the century like Christy Matthewson and Nap Lajoie.  I will say up front, I did not select Babe Ruth who many consider to be the best player of all time.  Why?  I just do not like him and I really do not want a signed ball from Ruth.  The rest of the list may have a bit of slant to my hometown Birds, but I would challenge the nay-sayers to consider Brooks Robinson and his strong defensive play combined with MVP stats, longevity and and World Series appearances against the typical Schmidt and Brett selections for a 3rd baseman.  The same is true of Cal Ripken and his 2632 games, 19 time All-Star selection, two AL MVPs and ROY honors .  His quest to top Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak came at a time when the next closest player in Major League Baseball with an active games played streak was Albert Belle at 327.

Here is how I size them up:  Pitcher – Sandy Koufax; Catcher – Johnny Bench; 1st Base – “The Hebrew Hammer,” Hank Greenberg (a rather price ball); 2nd Base – Jackie Robinson (that ball is also going to leave a mark in the ol’ wallet); SS – Ripken; 3rd Base – “The Hoover”; Rightfield – Hammerin’ Hank Aaron; Centerfield – Willie Mays,”The Say Hey Kid”; and in Leftfield – Ted Williams (but I am not averse to swapping him out for Stan “The Man” Musial).

Comments and analysis are always welcome but you are free to make your own list and grab your own balls.

Two things that irritated me: 1) Tony LaRussa (who I respect for his years of baseball experience and knowledge) took a shot at the umpire’s strike zone disparities. Strike Zones for both teams were questionable all game, but it’s low to go on national television and whine about it.  Charlie Manuel in his post-game interview said, “I’m not blaming the umpire, they outplayed us on the field.” EXACTLY.  If the umpire gives you a smaller strike zone, then you have to play better defense and also actually hit the ball.  2) Swinging at the first pitch:  Did the Phils not learn from the prior night’s experience (an 11-run rout) that swinging at the first pitch (and causing an inevitable out) yielded nothing?  Swinging at the first pitch rarely gets you a hit and especially in the Playoffs when adrenaline might be running a little higher than usual causing you to hit a quick pop-up or ground out to second base.  

Weather forecast for St. Louis on Tuesday for Game 3….a sunny 77 degrees with no chance of rain.  We’ll see…

It wasn’t the “shot heard ’round the world” or Kirk Gibson’s remarkable one-handed home run off of the Eck in the 1988 World Series, but last night was most definitely one of the most memorable nights in baseball history as the fate of four teams trudging through the marathon of a 162-game season weathered the perfect storm of rain delays, improbable comebacks, momentum shifting plays and managerial “stick it to yas.”   The Rays down a hockey stick in the 8th comeback to force extra innings and beat the Yanks who opted not to trot out their closer Mo Rivera, while Red Sox in control of their game against the O’s with the taste of victory one out away give up three consecutive base hits in the bottom of the 9^th and lose 4-3.  The Cards pound the hapless Astros 8-0 and wait through extra innings for the results in Atlanta where the Braves jump to a 2-0 lead only to lose at home in 13 against Philly.  The Divisional races long settled, baseball needed last night’s drama to kick start the Playoffs.

Boston, which held a 9 game lead in the wild card race on September 3rd, limped to a 7 -19 record over the ensuing 26 days, losing to the AL East doormat, Baltimore Orioles, 5 times in 7 games.  The “2011 Fold” as it will come to be known by the Red Sox sets the new standard for “failing to close” as Boston became the first MLB team to miss the postseason after leading by as many as nine games for a playoff spot entering September.  In the yin/yang of baseball, Atlanta proceeded to cough up the second largest September lead – 8.5 games – as the Cardinals passed them for the NL Wild Card.   Is it also possible that the unholy alliance between LeBron James and the Fenway Sports Group has so skewed the balance of Boston lore that karmic forces also impacted the 2011 Atlanta Braves (formerly of Boston)?  Could be….

Last night, while DVRing the debate, the stars aligned to allow yours truly to snake Ray Rice as the 6^th pick of the draft.  6^th!  Although I had to change draft strategies on the fly, I am thrilled with the opportunity to own Ray-Ray through the 2012 election.   Interestingly, four game-tested QBs were selected in the first 13 picks, as a significant percentage of the owners did not want to be saddled with an inexperienced leader at the reigns.  Does that perhaps portend the proclivities of the populace?

However, the more intriguing development was the way Jamaal Charles (touted by the media as a top five selection) plummeted all the way to pick #11.  He was the fantasy equivalent of Newt Gingrich – chock full of spin and promise but ultimately dropping off of the radar when the doubts started to surface.  The media can try to establish the market, but a discerning and involved public understands far more than the pabulum that it is fed.   As I watched the post-mortem on the debate, I was positively disgusted at the manner in which a purportedly unbiased media portrayed each candidate as hero or villain depending on the particular leanings of each pundit.  Make no mistake, the media control the message far better and far more effectively than any campaign manager.  The media has the forum and the capacity to bombard the airways with any sound bite, whether favorable or devastating to a candidate, relative to any subject matter.  The only way that a voter can make a truly informed decision is through an individualized analysis, and honestly, who has the time to rifle through the interwebs to fact-check every candidate?  No one.  And that’s exactly what the media counts on.

So open up wide, America.  CNN, NBC and FOX will keep feeding you their agendas and you can just keep swallowing or, maybe, just maybe, you will come to the voting booths on November 6, 2012 with a well-researched portfolio of facts, data and trend analysis where you can formulate your own decisions about the leadership of this great country.

In 1987 Southern Methodist University was issued the harshest consequence that the NCAA could levy after it was confirmed that 13 players from the 1985 & 1986 Mustang team were paid a total of $61K from a booster’s slush fund with the full knowledge and approval of SMU athletic department staff and SMU Board of Governors Chair (and eventual Texas Governor) Bill Clements.  The NCAA canceled SMU’s 1987 season, restricted the 1988 season to away games only, banned SMU from bowl games until 1989 and eliminated 55 scholarships over four years.

In addition to the high profile matters involving the Hurricanes, the Buckeyes and of course Cecil Newton Jr’s. proposed sale of his son, Cam, to Mississippi State , this past year’s investigations regarding player pay-outs, recruiting violations, expenses to “scouting services” and informal agent relationships involving major college programs at Alabama, Auburn, Oregon, Michigan, Texas, UNC, LSU and Georgia Tech are just the beginning.  Mark Emmert who was appointed as CEO of the NCAA last fall, has his hands full, but unless he takes firm action, this cavalcade of indecorum may only be the tip of the iceberg.   If shady dealings are happening at all of these schools, who is to say it is not the norm, rather than the exception?  No matter what the intentions of the recruiters, local merchants, boosters or would-be agents, cash-strapped 17 to 21 year olds who have been heralded for their athletic prowess are going to be easy pickings.  And because many of these improprieties do not come to light until after the students graduate, future student-athletes within these programs will be the ones who suffer.  Sure, Reggie Bush lost his Heisman, but he is still playing in the NFL and he is still paid for what he can do on the field.

The NCAA has to do more than just the forfeiture of games and the reduction in scholarships.  Given the interconnectedness of schools in viewer-rich conferences, airplay bans will adversely impact the TV revenue of schools which have committed no wrongdoing.  Although such a ban might create more accountability among conference members, at this rate, the SEC would lose half of its teams to black-outs.  And again, these actions impact future students, coaches and leadership, not the ones who actually committed the infractions.  The scenario is not unlike our toothless United Nations.  Unless unified and comprehensive military action is invoked, all of the sanctions and public derision in the world do not change behavior.  It has been several years since the UN issued sanctions in North Korea and Iran, what is different?   In 1992, the UN invoked its initial set of sanctions against Libya.  It took 19 years for the regime to change, but it did not happen until the rhetoric ended and the airstrikes began.

Right now the reward for breaking the rules far outweighs the risk.  Just like Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thumb their respective snouts at the world’s cooperative assembly, so too will college football insiders continue to violate the rules and roll the dice with the NCAA.  Winning college football programs mean piles of money to the university, prestige for alumni and future individual professional deals.  And because the so-called “death penalty” is more like a 2 year sentence in juvie, there is no reason to not conduct business as usual with multi-layered pay-outs and an array of strawmen doing the bidding of the programs.  Unless the NCAA follows the money and levies more individualized and career-altering consequences, the days of college football as an amateur sport will draw to a close.

Until 2002, the All-Star Game had no impact on the MLB post-season.  It was purely an exhibition game where fans could simply enjoy a game that featured the league’s best players all on the same field, but in 2003 current baseball Commissioner, Bud Selig, mutated the Mid-summer Classic from a passive, easy-listening showcase into an ill-will-inducing, results-driven competition with a significant post-season impact.  The League that wins the All-Star Game earns home field advantage in the World Series when the AL and NL Pennant winners square off in October.  The baseball season is a punishing 162-game marathon which occurs over the course of 183 days.  Using the results of an exhibition game to establish home field advantage (or have any influence whatsoever) for the league championship of the sport is positively idiotic.

The very composition of the all-star team is incongruous with the critical effect of the game’s outcome.  At least one player from every major league team must be included on the all-star roster in this “everyone is a winner” play date.  In consideration of this requirement, this year, the following players are being deemed All-Stars:

These five players are perhaps the better players on their respective teams but in no way, shape or form do any of them merit All-Star status.  Gio Gonzalez has a solid ERA, but he is 7-5 and other AL pitchers are more worthy.   Yes, closer, Brandon League leads the AL in saves, but he is far from dominant. (I don’t get this one; Ron Washington already had King Felix from Seattle on the squad and didn’t need to add League.)   Wieters has a gun for an arm at catcher, but he is not the 3^rd best catcher in the AL. (Granted, he is better than Russell Martin of the Yanks who was inexplicably selected, but Victor Martinez is having a better season.)  Cuddyer’s numbers are very pedestrian for an outfielder just as Sanchez’s are for a first baseman.

So these players are filling All-Star roster slots while players who could actually help either Bruce Bochy or Ron Washington win this game will be watching on television.  Enjoying the play-at-home version will be:

The All-Star Game used to be a way that baseball gave back to the fans; kind of a breather from the daily grind where the best in the game played something akin to a pick-up game, just for kicks. Everyone got to play because the outcome was irrelevant.  Bud Selig extinguished the light-heartedness of the original game, causing fans began to consider more weighty discourse relative the match-up.  If the All Star Game is going to affect the post-season, isn’t it time to re-examine the roster composition requirements?  Shouldn’t the managers set the starting rosters instead of the fans?  If winning is the new objective, why wouldn’t the best players simply stay in the whole game while the more marginal selections ride the pine?  What value does the “player form every team” requirement add to a game? It is no coincidence that players from NY and Boston dominate the starting rosters in the AL, should the teams with the largest fanbase hold such selection power?   Over countless hours, fans can debate the highlights of every season, the merits of every team, the strengths and weaknesses of every player and the true value of every statistic.  This is the constant of baseball.  Courtesy of Bud Selig, the All-Star Game is now no different.

Fast Fact:  In the two-wrongs-don’t-make-a-right department, the modification of the All-Star Game to establish World Series home field advantage was devised by Selig in response to his 2002 all-star gaffe where he was roundly criticized for letting the 2002 game end in a tie.

Baseball has a several unwritten rules:

1. Opposing batters do not walk across the pitching mound on the way back to the dugout;
2. Hitters do not work the count or steal bases when you are creaming your opponent – just get the game over with;
3. If there is a brawl, all players must leave the bench and either engage or act like they are going to engage;
4. You don’t stand and admire your homers; and
5. You don’t blow a kiss at a pitcher who just served up a meatball.

On monday night, The Chosen One violated rules 4 and 5 within a span of 30 seconds. However, the Rook failed to consider Rule 6: If you violate any of the unwritten rules, there will be blood. (It may not be your blood, but you or someone on your team is going to get a ball in the ear.)

In Harper’s next at bat – two innings after the pucker he directed toward pitcher Zack Neal – Greensboro reliever Grant Dayton threw at the Harper, backing him off of the plate. Dayton missed him, but major league pitching won’t.

Greensboro is an affiliate of the Florida Marlins, an NL East foe of the Nats.  It may not be public, but I am reasonably certain that Harper now has a bounty in the minors and I would also speculate that there is an underground ‘plunk pool’ funded by the Grasshoppers.

It was two years ago today that Sports Illustrated ran a feature on Harper and his phenom-like potential.  Then-sixteen year old Harper declared, “I love the way people talk crap. I hear it all the time. Overrated. You suck. I’ll just do something to shut them up, like, I’ll show you. It’s like in regular pregame work. I like to show off my arm. Just so it’s like, There you go. Don’t even think about trying to run.” The Chosen One was anything but humble in adding, “I love showing up the older guys.”  That’s not going to earn him many points around the clubhouse.  Yes, he was only 16 at the time of the SI piece, but the last two years have not yielded much in the way of maturity. Having moxie is one thing, but acting like a d-bag is entirely a different can of fish.

Harper is not far from his days of leaving piles of empty bowls of Fruity Pebbles in his bedroom, but someone in the Nationals organization needs to take Harper aside and teach him what is expected of a major league ballplayer so that he can fill out the Nationals’ Uni with honor and integrity in 2012.  And while the Nats continue to mold him for the bigs, the Hagerstown Suns better school the Chosen One in some Matrix-like ball avoidance maneuvers because the idiotic warpaint, the newly-groomed porn moustache, and the overly-cocky MVP attitude all add up to a recipe for big game head-hunting for opposing pitchers.