General: Can Pete Rose remove Bud Selig's crown of thorns?

Random ruminations while wondering whatever happened to Reggie Cobb.

Like a sinking politician, baseball's chief nitwit, Bud Selig, will give permission to proceed to allow Pete Rose consideration for balloting into the sport's hall of fame. Though there will be detractors, Selig will see it as a way to improve his image. It will amount to just another of Selig's goofs. It is all speculation on my part, but you do not have to be a Criswell to figure out Selig.

Concerning those latest rumors on Pistol Pete, Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly said on radio today, maybe it would help him (Rose) "to get rid of that tacky sports shop he has near the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown." Reilly went on about Rose: "He's not a complicated guy." Reilly was just warming up, before the zinger: "He's from the wrong side of the tracks and wears a airport haircut."

Who was the last NFL player to not wear a helmet? It was Dick Plasman, from Vanderbilt University. Plasman played offensive end for several years with the Chicago Bears, and later with the Chicago Cardinals. No one seems to know the exact game date he finally joined the crowd and donned a helmet, but he was sans bucket as late as the 1940 championship game when his Bears defeated the Washington Redskins 73-0.

My favorite football name of all time: Jason Gridiron, from Sacramento, Calif. Gridiron was a cornerback and 2001 Fresno State teammate of current Houston rookie QB David Carr, a native of Bakersfield, Calif. Carr has two sons, Tyler and Austin. Does Carr fit like a shoehorn in the Lone Star state or what?

If all the baseball cards sold on eBay in one year were placed end to end, they would have rounded corners.

Baseball's winter meetings are taking place right now in Nashville. It was once a bargaining session where general managers talked trades. A few trades will happen, but the agents now run the show, auctioning off their best wares to the highest bidders.

The Nashville Predators have traded goalie Mike Dunham to the New York Rangers. Dunham was one of three goalies on the U.S. Olympic Hockey team. Dunham's selection spoke more about the U.S.'s dearth of goalie talent than in his ability.