Two quick takes on the 3/1/10 issue of Sports Illustrated

1) It's bad enough that the following sentence written by Alan Shipnuck made it by the writer himself and then at least two other editors (Dick Friedman and Adam Duerson of the Scorecard section), but to make it the pull-out quote of the piece is quite shameful:

"Is there anything more mortifying for a grown man than having to talk about your sex life in front of your mom?"

Now, unless Tiger Woods was talking about my sex life in front of my mom, the sentence would've been far better, and more accurate, using "his" instead of "your," no? This kind of shift is a common error in a lot of bad writing, but, man, I read SI for the good writing.

2) In Steve Nash's interview with Dan Patrick, who asked the Phoenix Suns' point guard whether the Suns ever "joke about potential trades in the locker room," Nash responded:

"Not really, no. It's a sensitive subject, so we don't bring it up. We try not to listen to all that stuff, because it is speculation."

Compare that bit of "sensitivity" with the constant, albeit loving, abuse concerning trade talk heaped upon Tony Perez by his fellow Big Red Machinists (Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Johnny Bench) during the entire 1975 season -- which ended in, as you may recall, a seven-game World Series victory over the Boston Red Sox. (Check out the great books The Machine by Joe Posnanski and Game Six by Mark Frost for more details.)

The trade talk (and abuse) continued through the next season too (at the end of which they again won the World Series in a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees, BTW), until Reds management finally traded Tony away -- against the very loud public and private protestations of his aforementioned teammates -- and, as a result, brought to an end the Big Red Machine.

Perhaps, with a little more tough love in the locker room, the Phoenix Suns might produce a championship season? Just a thought.